Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Originally Posted By: icelizarrd Petrification ray, as mentioned above, does have the same 'odds' on both versions. But it ignores petrification protection on Windows. Seems like that shouldn't be. [monst_fire_missile(), boe.combat] Yeah, it should check petrification protection As mentioned above, it does. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel I'm going to say that this is more or less correct. The way it should be done is that if the scenario make version (ie the version of BoE it was made with) indicates that it is "legacy", any monsters with Petrification Touch should have their ability changed to Disease Touch. This avoids cluttering up the actual abilities handling section with extraneous code to check if the scenario is legacy. I don't know if that's how Chokboyz did it. This is exactly what happens. Quote: Originally Posted By: icelizarrd The Mac code has an extra check during treasure selection for monster loot. I don't have a full grasp of how the process works, but in return_treasure(), when the monster's loot variable is 4, the random treasure category gets pushed up a bit extra. So you're generally more likely to get rings, necklaces, and poison; less likely to get food or weapons. [boe.items] I'm not really sure on this one, but unless Chokboyz specifically changed it in the Windows version I'd probably go with the Mac version. As far as i know, this function has never been altered since Jeff's release of the Windows code. Chokboyz

Actually, petrification protection is checked in the kill function of the adventurer class in the Windows code, so it's indeed checked (from changelog : - Fixed class pc_record_type::kill, so that it checks if the character has a protection from petrification item equipped before stoning him. (PC.cpp)) The petrifying chances are completely arbitrary; if i remember well 1/3 was the most accepted one, so it stayed that way. If playing a "new format" scenario, the touch is indeed petrifying. The petrifying touch is indeed fixed, but with a twist : if the scenario played is legacy (that is almost all scenario out there), every monster template with petrifying touch is changed to disease touch. That way, the "vorpal cockroach" symdrom is avoided. Concerning the other "odds" problems, there's been, as far as i know, no consensus on it, so good luck with that Hope it helps, Chokboyz

A rather important bug, in the last (and previous) version of Classic Blades of Exile, recently came to my attention : a massive use of stairway nodes (or any "entering/exiting town" nodes) in a special node chain could cause a buffer overflow in the pending special queue (at least one scenario, Roots with its nice "stairway powered" cinematics, has been known to cause it). I've fixed that, along with not crowding the pending special queue with unvalid specials, especially when the special to call while entering/exiting town is < 0 (i.e none). This glitch doesn't occur in the legacy game, since the pending special queue, while present, is largely unused/not implemented : the first slot is always filled with the "special on entering town" node, the second one with the "special on exiting town" node and the last 18 are unused. While i was at it, i've aligned the to-hit, assassinate and lockpicking random checks with icelizarrd attempt to merge both codes, as described in this post : http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=221550#Post221550 Given the relative severity of the bug, i've release a patch, as well as replacing the full version with a fixed one (given the download numbers, people don't patch their game much ). Upgrading, for builds 26.11.2010 and 09.01.2011, is strongly recommended. Chokboyz

You're welcome Originally Posted By: icelizarrd Out of the ones I posted, that settles them all except for the 1-100 versus 0-100 random numbers with respect to to-hit checks and lock picking checks. If we follow the rest of the code for consistency, it looks like most of those types of rolls are supposed to be 1-100 rather than 0-100, I think? In fact, almost all types of rolls were 0-100 (in both Windows and Mac codes) We've (Celtic Minstrel and I, if i remember well) changed that some times ago, exactly for the reason Niemand is invoking (and it fixed the summon chances problem, along the way). Concerning the to-hit and assassinate checks , i've checked the code this afternoon and i think we should change it to 1-100 (in the Windows code that is, since it seems to have already been changed in the current Mac code). Indeed, the to-hit check is capped at 99, so i think the 100-base was supposed to be used. Another reason is that <= are used for the hitting chances (< for assassinate, but chances are supposed to be lower than hitting anyway),i.e 99% max with no modifiers. Concerning the lockpicking one, in order to have a 100-base random check, the first one should be 0-99 (the following check is < 75, so picks with no ability strength would break with 75% chances) Idem with the second check, in order to have 90%/75%/60%/45%/30% chances to lockpicks a difficulty 0/1/2/3/4 door. Hope it helps, Chokboyz

Like CRISIS on INFINITE SLARTIES said, almost all those differences are fixes, done by me (with the community) in the successive Classic Blades of Exile patches. Browsing the (two huge) threads in which we explained the reasons of such changes may be a daunting task, so i'll explain them here. Originally Posted By: icelizarrd Skill items and gauntlets of giant strength apparently detract from your ability to hit in the Mac code, while they enhance it on Windows. The right answer here seems pretty obvious. (That is, go with the Windows code). [pc_attack(), boe.combat.cpp] You found it right on the Google Code page : the giant strength and Skill items were have a negative effect on hitting chances, so i've fixed that. (http://code.google.com/p/openexile/issues/detail?id=16) Originally Posted By: icelizarrd 2. Relatedly, both the hit bonus and the damage bonus for those two item types are calculated based on the item's "ability strength" on Windows, but on the "item level" on Mac. I don't know which is better here. Also, it comes from discussion that ability strength should be used, not item level (it should retroactive, since i don't think anyone figure out the way it was originally calculed) Originally Posted By: icelizarrd 4. This is also the case for the chance to assassinate: 1-100 base to-hit roll on Mac, 0-100 on Windows. 5. When picking locks, there is a base roll for whether the pick breaks and a separate base roll for the picking success, and again, both are 1-100 on Mac, 0-100 on Windows. For the break roll, higher is better, but lower is better for the pick roll. [pick_lock()--boe.town.cpp on OS X, classes/location.h on W32] I'll have to see that, i may have overlooked it... Originally Posted By: icelizarrd -- I would almost start to suspect that the random functions were different, but no, they're identical on each platform, and there are too many other places where the rolls ARE the same. Yup, because i had to change lots of random checks Originally Posted By: icelizarrd 6. For the actual lock pick chances, the formula for failure is like this: Mac: r1 > (unlock_adjust * 15 + 30) Windows: r1 > (90 - unlock_adjust * 15) ... Where r1 is the modified roll, and unlock_adjust is a flag from the scenario's terrain type. If I'm understanding this right, a higher unlock_adjust means it's easier to pick on the Mac (at 6, almost guaranteed to fail the above check unaided) but harder on Windows (practically no way to avoid passing the check at 6). Difficulty implementation was wrong in the original game : difficulty 4 doors were easier to lockpick, difficulty 0 were harder (and i'm not going into how town_difficulty is not even set in the original game ). That has, thus, been fixed in the Windows version (Mac version may be lacking some feature/fixes from the past year or so). Please note that you can't successfully lockpick doors with difficulty > 4, you have to use magic. Originally Posted By: icelizarrd 7. Same deal with bashing doors, only there's no pick-break check, and the numbers are a tiny bit different. Same as above : fixed in Windows (the numbers are supposed to be different, by the way). Originally Posted By: icelizarrd 8. When selecting a monster to summon, the Windows code rolls from 1 to 255, while the Mac code rolls from 0 to 255. This is, you might notice, the opposite of the previous discrepancies, where this time the Windows code has 1 as a lower boundary instead of the Mac. This means we're either including or excluding monster number 0 from being considered for summoning. (Regardless of whether it actually qualifies as one of the summon types.) I think the 0 is preferable here, but I don't know if monster 0 has some kind of special significance that should keep it out. [get_summon_monster(), boe.combat.cpp) The 0 is avoided, because that would (or not depending on the place monster functions, i can't remember) allow to summon Empties. Originally Posted By: icelizarrd Empties occasionally showed up in scenarios for reasons nobody ever really understood. It was a consequence of not cleaning the special encounter group flag on town monsters when leaving town. If a place "town special encounter" node was called subsequently in another town, empties would then appears. Originally Posted By: icelizarrd About the item dropping, hmm, the number being generated is 1 to 100, which should be fine. That has indeed been fixed some time ago and should be working. You're right though, no item are forced placed Hope it helps, Chokboyz Edit : Originally Posted By: icelizarrd I'm not having a lot of luck finding discussion about the other issues, though. I'll keep looking. In case you want them, here they are: http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=27627&page=1 (oldest, 34 pages; may not be up-to-date) and http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=179512&page=1 (newest, 7 pages). If i remember well, the second thread began when the first one became unreadable

Hi Nikmind, welcome back... Originally Posted By: Nikmind Interesting to see that no one has been able to make a linux port of this one yet. It's nearly two years ago since I worked on this and my port is fully playable. Unfortunately, time has become too scarced on my part to continue with the wxWidget port (it should be doable, but if i remember well, Celtic Minstrel has already begun coding a new multiplatform version from scratch, partly inspired by the wxWidget one). Originally Posted By: Nikmind My port is totally dead though and I'm not going to do anything more about it. Anyone who is interested in taking over the code? It will come as is with no comments or anything so take it for what it is. And I will probably not be much use in answering questions on the code. Don't remember much about it. On the other hand, if you have a fully functional Linux port, adapting the already existing Classic Blades of Exile to make it run on Linux should be doable fairly easily (provided the graphical/sound/etc functions haven't changed too much...). I've then PM you with my mail address, hoping you can send me your sources (don't worry abouthaving to explan it ). Originally Posted By: Nikmind Take this as my way of getting some kind of linux version out there more or less quick Hope you can make some use of the countless of hours I spent on this. And thank you for sharing your work with us. Thanks to it, if all goes well, we may have a Linux running version in the (hopefully not sot distant) future (while waiting for a multiplatform port). Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: CRISIS on INFINITE SLARTIES Exile never distinguishes between doses of potions, and different copies of the same potion. In other words, a stack of two one-dose potions and a two-dose potion are the same thing; you can't have a stack of multi-dose potions. Seems like i overlooked that... Charges are indeed both doses and copies in the stack. That should be fairly easy to implemented then (i.e we only need to decide what type_flag to use for what item) Thanks, Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel So, I'm assuming it's related to what Slarty just said then. In fact, it's exactly what he said (browsing posts linearly, i saw it after typing my answer). Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel As for node 50, it's basically like a duplicate of the Secret Passage node then? For blocked square, it is (that the reason i think it's an old "secret passage" leftover); for unblocked ones, it acts as an usual secret node, plus the move is forced (i didn't try it with "can't enter" nodes, but it's basically as if you were in "Ghost Mode"). Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Since there are some type flags explicitly mentioned as being reserved for internal use, maybe we should change it so that created and default ones do have a type flag. At least put it on a to-do list somewhere. That could indeed be a nice idea, to add to the list. We should be careful of the potions in stack/charges interaction though (e.g a stack of two doses potions, you drink one dose of one potion then split the stack : we should take in account that one potion now contains only one dose). Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Scrolls are irrelevant since you can't create them anyway. (Besides, have they ever stacked in Exile? I can't quite remember...) If i remember well, scrolls never stacked. Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel What do you mean by this? Items that are stackable (e.g sapphires) are stacked when identified in a shop. In case stacking occurs, to avoid wondering what the identified item was, the item name is now added in the message window along the "Item identified" string. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel What's special node number 50? Another leftover i found (mentioned in this post : http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=219497#Post219497) : if trying to enter a square containing the special node number 50 (i.e the 50th special in the current town/outdoor/scenario special list), the party is forced moved through the square (i.e it can go through walls, etc). If the square is blocked in the first place, the special is not triggered, but the move is forced nonetheless. Originally Posted By: CRISIS on INFINITE SLARTIES This also happens when creating potions with alchemy. Created potions (or default ones) don't have type_flag, thus don't combine. The same with scrolls, if i'm not mistaken... Chokboyz

Taking advantage of the christmas/new year's eve break, i've done some cleaning on my computer and stumbled upon some minor corrections/enhancements i did to Classic Blades of Exile, which, some way or another, strangely didn't make it in the main release. Since it would have been a waste to just delete them, i've made a patch that regroups them all. Click to reveal.. (Changelog) - Dying to a trap while attempting to open a container won't display the "get items in container" dialog with no alive character anymore. - Casting the priest Light spell now updates the surrounding areas automatically (like Light and Long Light mage spells; moving or waiting isn't required anymore). - Debug and Ghost mode are now turned off when loading a game. - The shop scrolling bar is now properly cleaned up when loading a game while shopping. - Items are now automatically combined when identified in a shop. To avoid any loss of information, the game now gives the identified item name in the message window (format : "Your item is identified. (full_item_name)" - If an "active" character (i.e solo fighting) is incapacitated (AP reduced to 0 because of webs, sleep, paralysis, etc) the rest of the party (if present) is now activated the next turn. - Entering a space containing the special node number 50 won't "force move" the party anymore. - Added a compatibility option (mainly testing purpose) : "specials are triggered when on boat". - The restart option of the death menu now works as intended. - Finally renamed the "Heal All" monster priest spell from "Full Heal" to "Revive Self". That should prevent any further confusion. - Using items now always updates the ap counter. - For the sake of consistency : changed labels "Power Potion" to "Energy Potion" potions in the Alchemy menu. - Redrawing the screen is now correctly handled by specials in all mode (e.g a special that changes a terrain will correctly redraw the screen, even if it was called by looking or moving). Scenario Editor : - Redid the custom pictures drawing implementation : custom pictures should now always appears and redraw (terrain, animated terrains, monsters, items, preset items, ...). - It is now possible to directly give the "Drain missiles" ability to bows and crossbows (use the "Weapon Ability" menu). (as you can see, it's mainly minor corrections...) As usual, download link : http://code.google.com/p/openexile/downloads/list Hoping i won't find any leftover again, Chokboyz

I've just checked, the only Classic BoE specific node used is indeed Display Picture (by the way, that's the first "non-testing" use of this node i know of, don't hesitate to report any weirdness). Concerning "Old Blades", it will simply do nothing for this node and skip to the next (if any). The scenario is then basically compatible with vanilla BoE, provided the player is told (in the readme for example ) to manually check the picture at the right moment, if they are essential to the plot. Also, a word of warning : don't play the game with Classic BoE 1.1 (using both editors is ok) as it has a rather inconvenient bug that prevent lots of variables to be moved to zero (e.g infinite bless, haste, poison, webs, ...). Anyway, nice to see a new scenario Chokboyz

Your questions are completely legitimates, as you've indeed found a "sore spot" : as Celtic Minstrel said special nodes are not triggered when in boat (in town mode/combat mode only, specials are indeed triggered outdoor). My previous answer was hence incomplete (i wrongly assumed you were outdoor) : the creator(s) of the scenario just used a workaround (the two cave floors) for the lack of "boat-triggerable" specials. The fact that you were supposed to row into the land may be mentioned in the readme file, but the lack of clear instructions induced a little confusion... Originally Posted By: Cryolemon Would it be possible to change this? Or would it break things? On a technical side, the problem is that the function that is suppose to check if there's a special in a entered town square, doesn't take into account the possibility that the party is in boat. The special is indeed supposed to trigger if the square is not blocked (i.e the party can enter it) and that excludes water. Simply checking if the party is in boat and can boat over the terrain solved the problem. On the compatibility side, i have no idea if any scenario uses this "feature" (e.g to force the party to use a boat passed a certain square, a special node prevent the party from entering the square, forcing one to boat over it to bypass the node). To be on the safe side, we can implement it as a compatibility switch and/or for the new scenario format. Chokboyz Edit : Just found another glitch with the special check function : if trying to enter a square containing the special node number 50, the party is forced moved through the square (i.e it can go through walls, etc). The special is not triggered if the square is blocked in the first place though. This seems another leftover (old implementation of "secret passage" ?) and can probably be fixed without any compatibility issue.

The name of the scenario, along with some additional informations (number of the town, outdoor sector in which it happens, error message, etc) would be nice, in order to check if there's indeed a faulty behavior. Nonetheless, Originally Posted By: Ahbleza I removed the two land masses, assuming that the Special Nodes could be put back in the same place on the water so the Player wouldn't make the mistake of leaving the Boat, but had no luck. Changing the terrain (using the pen tool; in this case, from "land mass" to water, if i understood correctly) doesn't affect any special node in the square. In case you don't know, there's a whole set of commands dedicated to dealing with special nodes (5 last icons in the third row of the panel under the terrain icons). Without any further informations, i'm only guessing though... Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Ahbleza At present, the BoE Editor does not allow for the placement of a 'Special', or 'Node' on water, does it? There's no problem with placing Special Nodes on water... Maybe you've run out of nodes for a given town/outdoor section ? (does it display an error message ?) Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Ahbleza How about another one... Regarding a Node that calls for, "Cure/Cause" (whatever)... I've noticed that some lean more toward the "Cure" and others toward the "Cause". Is the action performed by the Node a random choice and/or does "Luck" have anything to do with the result? Are you talking about the "Affect PCs" nodes ("Affect health", "Affect curse/bless", etc) ? If so, there's a field in the node dialog that let the designer specify if the node helps or harms the party (usually it's extra 1b). Hope it helps, Chokboyz