graphics.dat items 558-562

[Adamo]

I know that Christophe was working on revealing the graphics.dat 558-562 secrets:

item 558:
http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/1394
item 559:
http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/1395
item 560:
http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/1396
item 561:
http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/1397
item 562:
http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/1398

Any news about those? Is there any progression? Any thoughts, unanswered questions? Some parts of his work is in french, so I can barely understand them. But as I see it, almost anything in these items are modifable. There are a lot of yet unknown stuff, that could modify any aspect of the game.

[zoom]

impressive work. Certainly helpful in trying to understand how to edit the dungeon with csbuild.
one Thought I have is about "unused bits" and csbwin..

csbwin does use "unused bits" in one occasion or the other.
don´t know if these unused bits are the same unused bits as seen in the above links, or not.
Would it make sense to note (=somewhere else?) this use?

[Bit]

I hope I'll pass all those things sooner or later, because I really want to rearrange the code that way that it has all those unreadable bitmasking functions 'hidden' and only easy readable lines remain. For that I'm thankful for any information about problematic stuff. It's just - if you say that this is for some versions only, I'm not sure if the version that I got includes this. If it's the time, I will ask for those codes to check differences.

[Adamo]

On
http://www.dianneandpaul.net/CSBwin/Tec ... atures.htm
I found an interesting info:

The type 32 timer appears to cause the monster to look about for the party. If the party is nowhere near then it will look again in a time specified by BITS 4-7 of word14 of the Monster Descriptor. Nothing random. Tick-tock-tick-tock like a clock.

Are you sure that`s the bits 4-7 of word14? Encyclopedia says bits 4-7 are unused:
http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/1395

Maybe they were bits 11-8 (awareness)? If not, it seems those bits are really used in the code.
As for the bits 11-8, according to Encyclopedia:

Detection range (Awareness). Maximum number of tiles between creature and party needed to detect and "turn" towards the party, perhaps to shoot a projectile. This applies even if the creature is not facing the party.

If those bits (4-7) are really used by a game, we should add an information in the Encyclopedia.
Bits 4-7 are generally very similar to the awareness (bits 11-8). So MAYBE it was intended to be used as a kind of second awareness used in some particular cases, like detecting the Torham, or when the party uses some spell/ wears some item, I don`t know.. :

Code: Select all

creature             valueA valueB difference
Scorpion             5      1      -4
Slime Devil          3      1      -2
Giggler              7      3      -4
Flying Eye           0      2      +2
Hellhound            5      5       0
Ruster               3      2      -1
Screamer             1      1       0
Rock Pile            6      4      -2
Rive                 2      4      +2
Stone Golem          2      0      -2
Mummy                2      2       0
Black Flame          1      3      +2
Skeleton             1      0      -1
Coualt               4      3      -1
Vexirk               3      3       0
Worm                 10     10      0
Antman               4      3      -1
Muncher              3      4      +1
Deth Knight          0      0       0
Zytaz                5      2      -3
Water Elemental      8      3      -5
Oitu                 9      5      -4
Demon                4      3      -1
Lord Chaos           6      3      -3
Dragon               4      6      +2
Lord Order           6      3      -3
Grey Lord            6      3      -3

valueA is an "unknown" factor (word14, bits 7-4)
valueB is "Detection Range" (awareness) factor (word14, bits 8-11)

There`s also "sight range" factor in that word (monster detect the party only when it`s faced to them in a line), but as it`s changed by the current light level in the dungeon (the value is halved for each level of darkness), I didn`t add it to the table above.

[Adamo]

On
http://www.dianneandpaul.net/CSBwin/Tec ... atures.htm
I found an interesting info:

The type 32 timer appears to cause the monster to look about for the party. If the party is nowhere near then it will look again in a time specified by BITS 4-7 of word14 of the Monster Descriptor. Nothing random. Tick-tock-tick-tock like a clock.

Are you sure that`s the bits 4-7 of word14? Encyclopedia says bits 4-7 are unused:
http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/1395

So, in other words, this value says us either:
- what is the delay between one monster`s attempt to be switched into the "chasing mode" (look about for the party) and another,
- how long the "chasing mode" would last in ticks or whatever?