Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Hmm. What version of the game are you using? Are you making this with the version from the Google Code site? Because, if so, there's a masking problem with some of the items that Chokboyz will likely want to look into... Don't worry the "custom items masking problem" has been fixed in the first beta (thus he doesn't use it). Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Also... "Argh, Windows graphics". Nothing essential here, if he isn't using any custom graphic, it's ok ... Chokboyz Edit : find Classic BoE beta 1 here : http://code.google.com/p/openexile/downloads/list Hum, 49 downloads ? Either someone is repeatingly losing his copy of the game or i'm going to have to upload some kind of release quite soon (to test/take advantage of the new drawing method for example) ... Edit2 : Originally Posted By: lampshade custom scenario loading problem Fixed Originally Posted By: lampshade and using his scenario editor BREAKS the scenario Never encountered that since, so i think it's fixed (keep a save copy just in case ...). In case you wonder : Classic BoE is fully compatible with the original BoE (and even with PPC Mac BoE Savefiles/Scenarios), the mechanics being essentially the same. The scenario editor and the character editor have also been updated (see changelog). When GoogleCode will have finished maintenance, i'll upload a new version of the code with some changes (and maybe release Beta 1.1 ...) Ah, and nice to see a new scenario being designed

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Did you also get rid of the party template sheet? It seems that the game basically loads the PC graphic sheets and rearranges the graphics into the party template sheet, or something. This seems as pointless as the storage sheet. Seems indeed as pointless as the storage sheet ... I'll then remove it, thanks for mentioning. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel does the custom scenario icon show up in the Pick Scenario dialog? It should It does show in Pick Scenario. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel I would also suggest a different value for "first icon on the custom sheet", for example 100, in case we decide to add additional default scenario graphics. If I chose the second method (dedicate 32x32 sheet) I would probably implement it in that way. Ok, I've change the value to 100. Note that intro_pic is an unsigned char so using the 1000 + x method is impossible (or we need to change the scenario structure). The dedicated sheet approach seems fine to me ... Nonetheless, all i've done concerning the custom intro_pic is very crude and not supposed to be more than a test Chokboyz Edit : the party_template_gworld is now gone.

First of all : Originally Posted By: Chokboyz i've found a bug with the current kill_pc() function : in a combat, if a pc is killed by backshots (i.e when running away from monsters), the first pc alive is set active with 0 AP, thus having a free extra action. To avoid this, i've changed the lines While the bug is annoying, this "fix" is far worst because it give all monsters a free turn if they manage to kill a pc during the monsters turn (needless to say, that makes them wipe the party really fast). A real fix to this bug is to set the variable done_something to TRUE after pc_combat_move() call (in the handle_action() function) if the pc is dead (a possible way to see if it's the case, is to check if the current_pc variable has changed ...). I've checked the Mac code in the repository and the previous faulty "fix" has, thankfully, not been applied. The current fix has been tested and works Concerning the graphic corruption bug : (from the repository issue description) Originally Posted By: dlev89 Every once in a while, on entering or leaving a town, random graphics (everything from monsters to objects to terrain) are shown on the screen instead of town or outdoor terrain. This one's going to be difficult to reproduce... Closing and reopening the game fixes it, and it really does appear to be random - a saved game that produced the graphics corruption once will not necessarily produce it again. I suspected the problem was with the storage sheet and a possible out of bound item to draw or an index out of an array ... Unfortunately, the whole graphic process was quite awkward, filling three arrays with informations about what graphic to copy on the storage sheet and such, not to mention the actual copying/drawing ... At this point, i decided that drawing the graphics directly from the terrains/monsters sheets was a much better option ... So, i've rewritten the terrains/monsters drawing code so that no intermediate storage sheet is used. I've also change the loading procedures so that the terrains and monsters sheets are always loaded in memory. Advantages : drawing is done faster, graphical limits are gone (no more "out of memory" error), the Mac/Windows graphics swapping can be done "in the fly" (without restarting the game), ... Note that, after deleting all the storage sheet loading/using related functions, the executable was 10Ko smaller. Disadvantage : a little more memory is used by the game (nothing really noticeable, some Ko at most). That should also fix the previous graphic corruption bug (then again, it may be something else, since i wasn't been able to reproduce it). I've also implemented a very crude custom intro picture handling : if the scenario.intro_pict is set to 30 (29 is the last one in SCENPICS.BMP), then the first picture of the custom sheet is used as the scenario intro icon (note that the dimensions of the intro picture are the same that the talking portrait ones, so the first two squares of the custom sheet will be used and they need the same formatting as the talking portrait). Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Hey, you misattributed that quote! Damn copy/paste buffer ! Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel I think this is what Thuryl already said, but we should change the display rather than the actual mechanism; and if the damage is divided by 100, than that's the value that should be shown. That's what i've done : if the monster has the invulnerability skill, then display the boom with damage divided by 100 as how_much (that is with argument how_much/10 since it has already been divided earlier). The other cases are left untouched. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Hmm, I haven't looked into this much. Are you saying that the graphics are actually copied onto the storage sheet rather than being drawn directly from their sheet of origin? If that's the case, I see no reason why the storage sheet is needed at all. I'll most likely do away with it at some point, since it's rather useless (it may have provided a speed boost when the game was originally released, but I don't think there's any advantage to it now). Yes, the graphics are stored in a temporary (deleted on shutdown) 240 graphics bitmap. I agree with you : we should draw graphics directly on the screen (i've already changed that with the boom animation, while fixing the "red dots appearing on map" (windows only) bug). When i will have better understanding of the whole graphic process (and found the issue 17 bug), i'll probabily change this ... Doing so would also remove the actual limitation concerning the maximum number of differents terrains/monsters graphics in a game area (ever been attacked by a dreaded cave floor ? Quite spooky ... ). Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Thuryl My instinct is to do the latter; given that some scenarios use invulnerable monsters and expect you to kill them while others use them and expect you not to kill them, I think anything we do to change the way invulnerability behaves risks breaking compatibility. Then, we agree on this one, compatibility being (for the moment ?) one of the key word (but the community opinion is always something to ask ). I've thus make a special case (if monster has invulnerability skill, then add_explosion(...,how_much/10,...) that will display the actual damage done (likely to be at most 1 since doing more than 200 damage is quite hard) if the monster is invulnerable. Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Thuryl Invulnerability has a few quirks. If you cast a damaging spell on an invulnerable monster, a damage number will appear in the animation, but the creature's health won't go down at all. Yup, i've noticed that too and ... Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel But that "quirk" looks like a bug to me – I'll see if I can fix it so that the number does not appear. The problem is that for spells the damage_monst() function is called two times : the first time is to calculate damages, add the result to monster_marked_damage[monst_num] and display the animation; the second time (called by handle_marked_damage() ) is to process the damage as usual: nothing is done to the amount of damage since the type is now marked ... except that Quote: // Rentar-Ihrno? if (victim->m_d.spec_skill == 36) how_much = how_much / 10; as you can see, the invulnerability check applies to all damage type; the spell damages are so divided by 100. But, since the animation is drawn the first time the function is called, it may display the remains of dam/10 (hence the number appearing); the damage being processed on the second time, the health does goes down despite damages being shown. How should we fix this ? Do we align the spell damage with the other damage (i.e they're divided by 10, not 100) or do we keep the current behavior, but have the animation display with dam/10 instead of dam ? I've also noticed, trying to tackle the graphical corruption bug, that the 50 first terrains are always stored in the storage sheet. Is there a reason to keep that ? For information, the current size of the storage sheet is 240 pictures (24 lines, 10 columns) and terrains/monsters pictures are stored on the sheet when entering/leaving places, if needed ... Chokboyz Edit : i've found a bug with the current kill_pc() function : in a combat, if a pc is killed by backshots (i.e when running away from monsters), the first pc alive is set active with 0 AP, thus having a free extra action. To avoid this, set the done_something variable to TRUE after pc_combat_move() call (in the handle_action() function) if the pc is dead (a possible way to see if it's the case, is to check if the current_pc variable has changed ...).

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel And what about fear? Fear and morale work on them ... (In fact, the invulnerable skill divide the main damage done to the monster by 10 (doesn't affect how_much_spec special damage). Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel What do you mean? I mean that i've updated the Blades of Exile Base file (the one in the mac repository) with the fixes, some times ago (cf the update log). Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel The raw fact of the matter is that there is no observable fact of nature that “proves” the universe is billions of years old, nor “proves” that all lifeforms evolved from an original common ancestor” It all depends of the definition of "to prove" (empiricism, existence of absolute truth and so on ...). Then again, what does it have to do with BoE ? Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel I was just wondering if there may be some reason to use them. Probably not though. I would delete them already ... Besides they seems to be using some party.stuff_done array that is not a good thing ... Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel No, don't upload the dll – that's a "product" and doesn't belong in the repository. You should probably upload whatever is needed to create the dll though, unless you'd prefer to load directly from the files in sounds.exa. Basically, it should be possible for someone to check out the source and use what's there to build a fully functioning set of executables without needing to download anything else. The dll is Ormus' work ... I'll download the source and see if i can compile/upload it. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel You could change ter6 and ter7, at least; Ok, i will, if i find some time ... Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Um... there is no bladbase.exs in the repository. If you do upload it into the rsrc directory, though, it should probably replace the Blades of Exile Base that's already there. The best way to do that is to rename Blades of Exile Base in your svn client, and then replace it with your version. You may want to compare them quickly to see if I have any fixes you don't, but it's rather unlikely. I've done that ... Oh, i didn't mentioned that bladbase refers to Blades of Exile Base file, did i ? Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Oh... speaking of traps... is there any reason to keep these macros around? No, Ormus has already removed them from the Win32 code (besides they're not used anywhere in the original code as far as i can tell). Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Whoa. I just noticed that you have not put the graphics or the sounds into the repository. I just added the sounds (in /trunk/rsrc/sounds.exa/), but if you could upload the Windows graphics, that'd be great (they can go in /trunk/rsrc/graphics.exd/win/). There no sound to compile with anymore, since all sound handling is done via the sound dll (do i upload the dll in the sound ressources folder ?). Since we have a ressource repository, i'll upload the windows images. Unfortunately, i can't make them match Mac graphics files because it would break the current code ... Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel It would be useful to have someone to fix bugs in the scenarios and the bladbase, by the way... I've uploaded a corrected bladbase some times ago. The only remaining bugs (that i'm aware of) are those in this thread http://www.ironycentral.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=164683#Post164683. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel It seems that TRAP_SLEEP_RAY actually paralyzes you. Is this right? Yup, it paralyses you. (i think Ormus called it that way because it calls the sleep function, that handle both the sleep and paralysis cases.) Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel I think it should be fixed, anyway. Consistency a good thing. Yup, i've fixed it already ... Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel By the way, I'm thinking of allowing the designer to choose a bladbase when creating a new scenario, and providing them with 3 preset ones (one optimised for surface, one for grey cave, one for blue cave). That's a good idea. Note that in the current version of the Win32 Scenario Editor, the bladbase.exs name is stored in the ini file, so that it can be edited if needed. With minimal efforts, it can be adapted (i.e changing a variable) to the behavior you're describing (the files and dialogs are to be done though ). Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel But I'd rather allow the designed to explicitly specify the attack sound for the monster, so it won't make much difference if you change it. I'm not going to bother. Giving the designer the choice is indeed the best choice ... I'm leaving it alone. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel No, don't change it. We just need to document it. Alternatively, we could do the increment upon loading an old-format scenario... Agreed. The old-format switch would requires the new scenarios to use a modified bladbase.exs (legacy monster attacks up by one to preserve consistency) but that's an idea ... Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Note: I thought this only affected lava in the original game? The danger of copy/pasting : the swamps and diseased lands still poison/disease the party while on horse, of course. What has been fixed is : if the horses refuses to enter a square (lava, but also magic and cold damage), you don't take damages (legacy behavior was you take damages then you are said you can't enter). Chokboyz Edit: by the way, i've found that horses can cross lava if it's outdoor ("horses quite sensibly refuse" when in town). The party, of course, takes damage. The problem is i've found a piece of code that is supposed to prevent that, but is misplaced. I don't think fixing that would break any compatibility, since the party can always cross lava on foot, but i may be wrong ... Edit2: ah, that's more problematic : the previous glitch also applies to horse blocking terrains. Fixing it would prevent horses from entering such terrains (after all there not supposed to enter them in the first place ) when outdoor and, again, force the party to continue by foot ...

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel This in itself makes little sense, since sound 3 is "poison cough". (Sound 2 is "swish short" which may be the sound indicating a miss.) This is because 2 and 3 are not the number of the played sound, but rather the index of the sound to play in the sound array of the boom_space() function (2 is loud sword, 3 is pole). Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Therefore, it consists of the number of dice, multiplied by 100, plus the number of sides per die. As such, it's always greater than 100 (unless 0 dice are specified, in which case there's no attack at all). Absolutely right, it's always true. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel My guess is that the intent was to play a "punch" sound when the monster does less than 10 damage per hit, and a "sword" sound otherwise... though I was unable to find a "punch" sound available. So, basically, I'm quite confused about this. There's the "club" sound (72.wav) that is used for punches, but i'd say the original intent may have been to play the "small sword" sound (69.wav, the dagger sound). I think we should remove the check already, i don't see a soldier attacking me with a dagger ... Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel EDIT: But wait, what's this? In monst_attack_monst and monst_attack_pc it adds 1 to the number of dice, yet in the scenario editor it doesn't subtract 1 from or add 1 to the number of dice to compensate. So does this mean that monsters have one more attack die than you give them? Or am I missing something? Exact, using a 0 stat character vs a 1d1 monster, i take 2 damages each time ... I don't think we should fix that, that would alter the balance of the game ... By the way, i've finished porting the scenario file IO functions to Win 32 bits (were using old 16 bits functions) and wonder if i should finish/implement the experimental (apparently Ormus') "import outdoor" function ... Chokboyz Edit : by the way, i think it would be correct to give a little report of activity for those that don't check the repository. So here are the last things done in CBoE (Win32) : Game : - Giant Strength ability and Skill ability now use the ability strength rather than the item level to calculate effect. - Won't take damage when moving boats over damaging terrains (fire, cold, magic, poison, disease) anymore. (update previous faulty fix) - Won't take damage when horses refuses to enter a damaging terrain (fire, cold, magic) anymore. - Boom effects won't be displayed at random places when being damaged outdoors anymore. Scenario Editor : - Dumping functions won't change current town/outdoor section anymore. - Finished porting the file IO functions to 32 bits.

Originally Posted By: King InuYasha What happened to BoE for Linux? Is it dead or what? Haven't heard a peep about it in a month.... Let's hope not ... Supposely, it's still being ported ... Nikmind if you're fed up with that (i can understand it's quite draining ), please upload what you've done (pretty much judging from your previous posts) to the repository or wherever you like and we (at least I) will continue your work ... Then again, if you're still kicking, take your time Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Quick question, for future reference: which file+function is the extended debug mode implemented in? In file ACTIONS.cpp, function handle_keystroke(). Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Well, I was able to load savegames created by the Carbon BoE, which apparently was compatible with the original BoE's savegames (it claimed it was somewhere, I think). I'm not sure if that's proof or not though. If you want to make sure, there's a legacy Mac savefile in the Quintessence scenario package (it is actually in a pseudo "test.exs" scenario and in a town, but you can always test the mainscreen loading). I've uploaded an updated copy of the code in the repository, fixing the boat problem (entering a square with a boat did damage you) and the giant strength/skill ability. Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel ...Wait, what's this "Scenario Shopping" function? Originally Posted By: Chokboyz Ok, I've finished completing the last feature that Ishad Nha added to the scenario editor (i.e the dump of all shop related things to a text file). It's basically a big dump in a text file of everything shopping related in the scenario, be it outdoor (Number of node, Name of Store, Store type, Number of first item in store , full name of item, Number of items in store, Cost adjust) or in town ( Number of talking node, Store type, Name of Store, Cost adjust, Shop-specific fields). The feature was being implemented by Ishad Nha; i've just finished the work before uploading the case/releasing the executable. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel P.S. I featured your download – it may be only a beta, but my impression is that it's a fairly stable one. When you upload a new version, be sure to deprecate/un-feature the old one. Yup, it's quite stable/bugfree but still needs serious betatesting, hence the beta version I'll try to make sure the feature version is always up-to-date. Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Ishad Nha When you choose the Scenario Shopping function, there is one slight glitch. If the town loaded has no shops, a town that does have shops will be loaded, but the town name displayed will remain the same. Fixed, the town (and outdoor section) won't change anymore. It was little trickier than loading a town with shop : the last town (the same with outdoor sections) edited before saving the file would be loaded ... seems like last_town_edited and scenario.last_out_edited were not what they appears to be (present in original code) The data and text dumps were also affected. Originally Posted By: Miramor Huh... Anyone know what causes the "Unfortunately you die!" special node to be wrongly triggered in Bandits 2? If anyone can tell me what is going on there, that will be my first bug report... It went off when the Ultimate Weapon's first form died - when Katothen opened up a way out of Deacon's lair and the invulnerable blue second form appeared. One of my PCs was wearing Lenin's pendant, so I'm pretty sure this wasn't supposed to happen. I'm not familiar with this scenario (i.e never played). Can you give me the name (or directly the number) of the town where the encounter takes place ? If you feel we need to know some specials instructions about the encounter don't hesitate to tell them ... Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel You should get the code in the repository before uploading the executable. That's done. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Don't include the executable in the repository. Of course not So here we go, i've uploaded the first beta of Classic Blades of Exile (Win32 only ...) at the Downloads section of the repository (http://code.google.com/p/openexile/). Some new preferences have been added and the new Compatibility Options menu could be worth looking at ... The package also includes the updated Character Editor and an updated Scenario Editor. A (maybe partial) changelog can be found in the archive. Report any bug found here (except about grass trims : it's nothing more than a test as we're intending to redo completely the frills drawing procedure). Tested and working on Vista. Have fun, Chokboyz

Here is the repository : http://code.google.com/p/openexile/ . If you're always on Windows (like here http://www.ironycentral.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=167074#Post167074), you won't find an executable for the moment; but you should in an hour or so (i'm actually testing/packaging/... the game and the scenario editor). Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel If the party takes damage from lava when in a boat, it defeats the point of giving them a boat to cross the lava. If you used non-damaging lava, they wouldn't need a boat; if you used damaging lava, the boat is useless because you take damage anyway. This has been fixed in the Mac version, so it should also be fixed in the Windows version. And Thuryl also said that there are a few scenarios that rely on the correct behaviour, and don't work as expected due to the bug. Ok, so i'll implemented it ... Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Will you have both the game and the scenario editor in the repository soon? Yup, tomorrow in the worst case ... Chokboyz Edit: it's done. Surprisingly, poisoned and diseased land were already not doing damages when in a boat ...

Ok, i've fixed Generic Portal and Generic Stairway nodes so that choosing leave will not call the next node in the chain ... I've also fixed the fact that the game was displaying a message if the (labeled unused) messages fields were not set to -1. I've also added a description of a non-documented feature for Generic Portal/Portal which is : if extra2a is set to 0 just move the party and don't play SFX, if not play SFX. Finally, i've added a better description of the extra2b field for Generic Stairway to display the fact that there are 8 differents messages to choose from ( 0 - stairs up, 1 - stairs down, 2 - path slopes up, 3 - path slopes down, 4 - slimy stairway up, 5 - slimy stairway down, 6 - dark passage up, 7 - dark passage down.). I've also made a check that would prevent the game from locking if the extra2b value was more or equal to 8. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel I think it'd be useful when rearranging the special nodes to allow the designer to separately choose a node to be called if Leave is picked and a node to be called if the other option is picked. I was thinking the same; it would definitely give more flexibility to the designer ... Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Oh, Chokboyz, you may want to implement this bugfix. The implementation should be quite easy; you'll have a few more cases since you haven't yet incorporated my terrain rehaul, but it'll still be very easy. Hum, isn't the party supposed to take damage/status affliction when moving over those terrains (even if in boat) ? The non-damaging lava is there for lava you're supposed to move over and the same can easily be done with swamps/diseased lands ... If i appears the party is indeed supposed to move unharmed over lava/afflicting terrains, then applying your fix would be indeed quite easy Nonetheless, I'll correct the fact that the game thinks you're moving to a bridge square if moving over lava (it thus displays a "Land or under" dialog). Chokboyz

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel You're saying the Generic two call the JumpTo special if you choose the Leave button? What do they call if you choose the Enter/Ascend/Descend button? Yes. The same node as Leave. Originally Posted By: Thuryl This is a known bug, and I'm pretty sure no designer has relied on the buggy behaviour. Suspected as much, so i'll fix it (i'll also fix the fact that if the m1 or/and m2 field is set to something other than -1, a message would be displayed despite being labeled as unused). Originally Posted By: Thuryl Jump To special not to be called if the player chooses Leave; I'm pretty sure that's what the documentation says should happen. The documentation says exactly the opposite (the JumpTo is called if Leave is pressed and the event ends if the party teleport). I've assumed the right behavior was the portal one and that documentation was wrong. Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Or do you mean that a node in town x can claim to belong to a personality in town y, x != y? Yup, that's it. I understand that it expands the talk tree (by giving more node) and have no intention of "fixing" that. Originally Posted By: Thuryl Designers didn't bypass the error message: they simply edited the personality from the town which it belonged to. As far as I know, this feature currently works as intended and documented. I guess there isn't really any good reason to prevent designers from editing personalities belonging to one town while in another, though, assuming it can be done. I agree with that; i was just wondering how someone could edit a talking node and give it to a personality of another town (that prompt an error message when i do). Hope it's clearer, Chokboyz

Ok, I've finished completing the last feature that Ishad Nha added to the scenario editor (i.e the dump of all shop related things to a text file). If i found no critical bug upon testing, i'll upload the code tomorrow ... By the way, i've found that in several scenarios talking nodes were used for personalities outside of the town range (e.g talking nodes for personality 20 when editing town 3). The problem is that the editor refuses to save the changes when the personality is out of range (thus you can't change those already existing nodes) ... That leads to two questions : how could designers bypass the error message and should we remove it ? Chokboyz Edit: i'm a little confused on how portals work : with the generic portal node the chain of event will continue whenever you choose to enter the portal or back away, but with the portal node choosing leave will break the chain of event ... Is that normal or should it be fixed ? (and, should we fix it, what behavior is the right one ?) Idem with Stairway/Generic Stairway.

Confirmed, the next node to be called will be taken in the new town special list (i.e if you take a stairway from town A to town B and the next node to be called is node X, then the node X from town B will be called). Chokboyz