Celtic Minstrel

2. When I did get Boost somewhat linked and tried to compile src/game, I got a ton of syntax errors. Is the src directory not completely stable?

Perhaps you need to tell your compiler to use the C++11 standard instead of C++03?

 

3. Can you explain how the custom dialog engine works? I know Jeff had a note on that, but I still don't understand.

Though Jeff does have a note on that (it's even there in doc/), it's no longer relevant. The current dialog engine defines dialogs using XML files. There's a schema for this at rsrc/schemas/dialog.xsd (not dialogue.xsd, that's something different), though the schema might not be a good way to explain the format. There's also a Doxygen config to generate fairly detailed documentation of the dialog engine in src/doxy/; if you don't have Doxygen, most of this documentation can be found in the various header files in src/dialogxml/, and the rest can be read online here on GitHub.

 

4. Meanwhile, I've been looking at the win32 source. I noticed that changing the size of fields will screw up scenarios in the old format. I'm guessing you took this in account?

The old structures are preserved in src/oldstructs.hpp and used for nothing other than loading in old scenarios. They're not quite identical to the old structures, but they should be functionally the same.

I see. Well, if you do manage to fix any bugs, I'd like to see how you did it, at least. Also, if you want to make and distribute your own separate version of BoE with different features, I would request that you change the following line in scen.fileio.cpp:

 

data.PushElement("type", "oboe");

 

Just replace oboe with something else. That way, if someone tries to load a scenario created with your version, it'll show an error message instead of trying to load things it doesn't know about (or worse, silently ignoring them). You only really need to do this if you've changed other stuff in the same file, mind you.

 

If you only know the standard C library, you might have a bit of difficulty, since I use the C library almost nowhere. You should definitely learn the standard C++ library as well.

Oh! There might be another option for you! It's very possible that Code::Blocks has an option somewhere to import a Visual Studio solution. If you can find such a thing and import the existing solution, that might get you started a lot quicker. As mentioned before, if you save make a folder called "BoE.cbproj" in the "src" directory and save your Code::Blocks project there, I'll even consider including your project in the official repo.

1. Should Martyr's Shield on monsters be dealing the monster's remaining health, because that's the current behavior and seems overpowered.

I'm not quite sure, but that does sound like it might be wrong.

 

2. Using the linked-to CBoE on Windows 7, the scenario editor crashes with a memory error if you try to open a non-existent BoE Scenario File.

How do you open a non-existent BoE scenario file? Launching from the command-line or something?

The easiest way to compile the source on Windows is to obtain Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 (I believe there may be an Express version available as a free download from the Microsoft site) and use the MSVC solution located in src/BoE.vsproj. However, if you want to use Code::Blocks, go ahead and create a project (preferably, in a folder named "BoE.cbproj" in the src directory) and then come talk with me in the IRC channel - I can help you figure out what is needed to build a workable project.

 

As for what this update is, that's hard to describe, but... the game no longer accesses WinAPI for most things, instead relying on open source libraries such as Boost (for filesystem stuff) and SFML (for windows, graphics, audio). There's also a brand-new scenario format and a new saved game format.

Well, that version has another save/load bug (fortunately nowhere near as serious as the last one). This time, it only affects new-format scenarios, messing up the status effects that monster abilities inflict.

As promised, here's another release fixing the save/load bugs and some other things.

 

Download: Mac | Windows | Windows installer

 

Note: There may still be a few minor issues with the uninstaller; some things might not be removed properly. However, using the installer has the advantage of letting you double-click BoE saved games and scenarios.

I discovered a bug in the above build that will cause loss of data in some situations when saving. The special abilities of your equipment will become corrupted, and in the scenario editor, terrain type abilities will also be shuffled. In particular, do not save on the above build if the party is split up.

 

I'll have a new build to replace it soon, maybe later today, maybe tomorrow (depending when I get around to it; feel free to poke me if you want it sooner) - the bug has already been fixed in my local repository.

Here's another release, with more bugfixes and some new features (like Resize Outdoors and Import Outdoor Sector, and recursive search for scenarios so that you can put them in subfolders).

 

Also, if you drop the docs into doc/ in the BoE directory (so that you have three folders editor/, game/, img/ under doc/), the game will use that when Help Contents is requested, rather than connecting to the online copy on Sylae's website.

 

Download: Mac | Windows | Windows installer | HTML documentation

 

The Windows Installer now includes the documentation as an optional module. The main advantage of using the installer is that you'll be able to double-click saved games and scenarios to open them; I'm assuming this won't work if you're running under WINE, though.

 

Note: There are still a few minor issues with the uninstaller; some things might not be removed properly. However, using the installer has the advantage of letting you double-click BoE saved games and scenarios.

There's a "hint book" for the Valley of Dying Things scenario in the default documentation. Do the other scenarios also have hint books available somewhere? If so, I'd like to include them with the open source project, if Jeff is okay with that.

That's okay, there's no obligation for you to help fix things, after all. Still, if you happen to find time or motivation later, that would be nice.

 

For now, if you could send me the crash report from when you tried saving in the Scenario Editor (with the stack trace and everything), that would be great. (Or if it was an "Error!!!" dialog, then copy the error message with the Copy button and paste it here.

 

As for your messing around, I'm not really quite sure what you've done to make that wand, but I'm glad you like my work.

It seems like that unimplemented function is something to do with threads. I already put up a new Windows version which should fix it (by using a different thread class).

 

If you're going to try and fix stuff, I'll go make sure I've pushed everything I have.

Just in case it's a bug in legacy scenario loading, I suggest you hold onto that corrupted copy. I don't think it's very likely (after all, the preset scenarios load for me without any major issues both on Mac and on Windows), but the possibility does exist.

And now, another release! Lots of bugfixes, a few new features.

 

Download: Mac | Windows | Windows installer | HTML documentation

 

Note: There are still a few minor issues with the uninstaller; some things might not be removed properly. However, using the installer has the advantage of letting you double-click BoE saved games and scenarios.

 

There's also a makefile in progress (currently it works perfectly for compiling on Mac, but makes no allowances for Windows), so perhaps Sylae's automated build setup can finally be put to use soon. See it here (also notice build.sh, which is the main entry point for building the game).

Working cutscenes!

 

 

(Actually, there are a few things to iron out still, like showing terrain changes during cutscenes, but still, most of it works.)

Out of curiosity, why do you want to compile the original source?

 

In any case, it's very likely that GCC won't be able to compile it - it's very old code and may reference stuff that no longer exists.

I have no idea how to document the effect of setting path_type to 1... any ideas?

 

// Where place?
temp_rect = missile_origin_base;
temp_rect.offset(-8 + x2[i] + (x1[i] * t) / num_steps, -8 + y2[i] + (y1[i] * t) / num_steps);
temp_rect.offset(ul);
temp_rect.offset(current_terrain_ul);

// now adjust for different paths
if(store_missiles[i].path_type == 1)
temp_rect.offset(0, -1 * (t * (num_steps - t)) / 100);

While this is certainly nice and amazing, I wonder if this discards the main strength of BoE over BoA when you replace special nodes with Python scripts. Did you rewrite the authoring tools too? BoE's main strength over BoA seems to have been the ease of creating new scenarios, part of which was due to the special node system.

 

Is it my imagination or did you rescale the tile graphics to be 32x32 instead of 28x36? What's the point of that?

 

I kind of hope this will not fully replace the updated Blades of Exile that I have been working on. It's certainly taking it in a completely different direction.

I am strongly considering having area of effect spells do friendly fire damage on Hard and Torment level. I want combat positioning in my games to make a difference, and this will be a key part of that. I will also make the more nasty foe abilities (like charm and fear) be more common on higher difficulties.

I personally prefer having direct damage AoE spells (eg, fireball or icy rain) do friendly fire damage, though with something like a Mass Slow spell it would make more sense to only affect enemies. (You might not consider such spells to be AoE, though.)

did the throwing book actually work as designed in E3? i thought that the code for infinite ammunition items was broken until BoE (and sketchy even then)

If you're talking about the Tome of Missiles, I'm not sure. It was equippable, but I don't think I ever tried actually using it in combat.

That's kinda strange, then. Though, does possessing it make a character's missiles return? For example, if you give it to your nephil. It doesn't strike me as likely, but maybe...

dang I cant figure out how to attach a photo

If you already have a URL to the image, just post that here. If not, you'll need to upload the image to an image-sharing site, such as imageshack, photobucket, imgur, tinypic, etc.

 

Does the item's name go italic to show it's equipped if you click on it?

 

ammo-less missiles still use MODE_FIRING, so they would use the Archery skill in CBoE. Not sure how that works in E3 though.

Ah, you're right, I remembered wrong. (Mind you, in latest BoE, you can choose either skill.)

I recall seeing this book in the game (it's called "Tome of Missiles" or something, right?). Basically, you equip it like any other missile weapon. I believe it works the same way as slings in Blades of Exile, so it probably requires Thrown Missiles skill rather than Archery (but I could be wron about that).

Interesting. It's not cut off for me on the Mac. I suppose it could be a Windows thing somehow. In any case, it's good to hear that you managed to get it working; maybe that'll motivate me to work on it more. (Especially if you find specific gameplay bugs.)

istr one of the ideas he was tossing around at one point was that Homeland would be played with a fresh level-1 party and the Bahss/Exodus party would show up as a semi-antagonistic force

...it would be nice if that sort of thing could be literally implemented, somehow...