Dungeon Master Forum

Thanks a lot Trantor! And such a speedy reply too! I'm now delving deeper and deeper into the dungeon again. But I still come back for food and water.

Oh, that reminds me! I was resting up, when suddenly my guy's HP plummet! I wake up just in time, and he has <i>6 health!</i> I make a potion and heal him, just before thirst would've killed him! Talk about a close call.

Thanks a lot Trantor!

Yeah, that was me.

Food shouldn't be too much of a problem from now on, as there are a few monster generators and fairly frequent fountains. However with a team of 4 it might prove fairly hard: I usually use 1 or 2 men in a team and the food does seem to drain quick in CSBWin

Once I found the first food and water sources in the beginning, I never ran out again. Actually, I'm having an easy time feeding my 4 players. I just keep going back for more food from reliable sources. In fact, I've hardly eaten any bearog legs, breads, or cheeses. Thank you so much for putting shortcuts back!

I'm in Armaggeddon now, just trying as many things as I can think of. The 2 knights in the hallway were pretty easy to beat, because I could just run up and down the stairs and they would get hit by lightning. Once I got the lightsaber I had an easy time with all the monsters. It's the puzzles I'm having a hard time with. But you don't have to tell me what to do, I'll figure it out. I'm actually making my second written map now, starting from the hidden side of the gem column. My first map was of the Catacombs, and it helped tremendously!

I didn't realize you could add new items to the CSB list; I thought you could only edit the names and looks of existing ones. The lightsaber and the crystal armor seem completely new! Did you edit old items or create new ones?

I haven't played any custom maps besides this one yet, and I only beat DM and got halfway through CSB, but I'll write a review of your level when I'm finished if you want me to. Hmm, where should I put it?

Reviews still tend to go on the DME forum under the dungeon download, otherwise just start a new thread or put it here if you like : )

Items can also have their attacsk changed now, so 'new' items can be created

Great to hear you are enjoying The Black Flame! I wrote a review of it as well, it can be found here:

http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=24508

You could either write your review in that thread or create a new one. I hope that one day we will have enough reviews so that every custom dungeon gets its own review thread, but since there are not too many reviews here yet, you might as well create a new thread (if the mods let you).

If you like The Black Flame, you should definitely check out Towers of Chaos as well, PaulH's other and even better big dungeon.

Ah, Beo beat me to an answer... I once again state that I'd prefer reviews on these boards as well, since I never really read DME forum, and I suppose others don't as well. But it is my firm belief that reviews popping up is an important part of spreading custom dungeons. With more reviews, more users (especially guests) will notice they actually exist, and that they are often very good. So more reviews = more players = happier designers = more dungeons. At least that is how I see it.

Considering that the DME forums all point to this forum for discussion, and that I'd rather there was 1 thread per dungeon instead of 4, I think I'll post my review here when I finish.

when I finish.

Haha! Armageddon is so twisted! I finally found a spot for the cross key and put in the 3rd gem, and where did it get me? nowhere. I'm getting really irritable, and I need a nap! I'm in the process of mapping out the Cellar, to use in conjunction with my Armageddon map. DON'T give me HINTS! Hmmph.

I'm hoping I can make a dungeon too, but I have, like, zip programming skills. Does anyone want to help me out with the basics? I can't seem to find any helpful posts (in my language) about DMute.

I've tried to play a DMute dungeon, but when I trade the dungeon.dat file with my CSB (for Windows) dungeon.dat file, I get an error as soon as the door opens. I would use RTC, but I don't much like the "feel" in the gameplay. It would take me a long time to adjust.

Dmute - the basic GUI should allow you to do most stuff. The reason that nothing is in your language is to go beyond the basics you need to hex edit. I started a tutorial (should be available on the DME somewhere) that says some of the thigns found.

Are you trying to put a CSBwin dungeon file directly into PC DM, or vice versa? Either will crash. What you need to do is open the PC DM dungeon file in CSBuild first. It will ocnvert it to the corrent format. Unfortunately you won't then be able to use DMute, but that doens't matter, as CSBuild should allow you to do most stuff. You don't need any programmign skills, there is a thing called a DSA that lets you do cool stuff, but you don't actually need to touch it to create what you need

Yep, just use CSBuild. I was told by several people that DMute was quite complicated, but CSBuild works like a relatively simple editor that should allow you all the usual effects with no programming skills at all. You need some time to get into it, but if you look at the original games and how the things in there are done, you should be able to figure out almost everything by yourself. I didn't know anything about this stuff at all and was still able to build the beginning of my own dungeon, though I will probably abandon it.

And yes, I agree that RTC, despite being a tremendous effort and some very cool new features, doesn't have the same feeling as CSBWin.

I have no problems with RTC, but the DSA is definitely a great thing in CSBwin - it adds a level of flexibility that people originally asked for in RTC for things like new spellcasting etc

I still have a notepad full of an RTC 'dungeon' that I would love to do one day : )

I downloaded CSBuild, and it is a lot easier for me to use. But I still get an error every time I try to load a new dungeon: PRINTLINE SAVED GAME DAMAGED! It happens with new levels and old levels, even from CSBuild.

Sounds like you have a mismatched copy of CSBuild and CSBwin. Paul S is constantly dealing with bugs and putting in new features. It's usually a safe enough bet to download the latest versions of CSBwin and CSBuild at http://www.dianneandpaul.net/CSBwin/ - umm, I think the ones available in http://www.dianneandpaul.net/CSBwin/Cus ... Demo17.zip are the latest just now.

The rule is that CSBuild should load anything.
But if you write a dungeon with CSBuild then only
the latest CSBwin is guaranteed to read it.

And that is a Double-Your-Money-Back guarantee.

Hi TyGuy6, a review would be much appreciated!

Sounds like you haven't far to go now, Armageddon is quite evil.

I altered a lot of items using ADGE. The Lightsaber is infact the Dragon Spit, but I invented new attacks for it and combinations. Same for a lot of the armour.

Ok, I give up. If I'm ever going to finish The Black Flame, I need a second hint. I just put the third orange gem in the column. (after going through secret passages to get there) What did this do? Or, more importantly, what should I do next?

Hard to tell, actually. You have to put four orange gems in their places; then a door will open and you can continue your way. You could send me your savegame to trantor42@aol.com. I will take a look which gem you are still missing and give you a hint then.

Yes, you need four orange gems. The central column has provision for 4: once all 4 are in place, the door at the far west will open down to the final levels.

Armagedon has quite a few little secrets, so I guess it is a case of carry on searching!

The problem is, I can't get into the fourth gem hole room. It is the North side. There is a closed gate in that area, and the teleporter puzzle, which I never understood. I got Zo spells, items, and 6-4-4 fireballs to go through, but I still don't know if anything happened.

On the North side, there are two gates: the one on the west side is a portcullis that you can throw a few poison bolts/clouds through. This kills a scorpion and opens the door.

If you have the lightsabre, the teleporter puzzle is complete as it opens the door to the sabre and knights, who carry a gem.

Thank you, this will help very much.

Oh, Paul, can you give me a link to ADGE? I tried one you put on another thread, but it was a dead link. It sounds really cool. I want to change graphics and/or weapons too.

Do I have to go looking for another VB for the second eye in the Cracks of Doom? I really don't want to.

Yes you have missed the 2nd VP. Sorry!

There are new links to ADGE in the editors forum I think

There are to VPs: one in the Vortex area, the other in the 'patience is a virtue'.

Here's my review. I hope you like it.

Gameplay:9 The game was a blast, from the very start! I was not expecting an Oitu right in the beginning, and certainly not that my characters could beat it! I actually quite like infinite food supplies, and teleporters for shortcuts backwards.

Originality: 9 The style and most of the puzzles were new. I think the Patience is a Virtue and Cast your Influence/Might puzzles were same old. But I like how later on you expanded that last puzzle. I also liked how some puzzles couldn't be solved - they just had an alternate solution.

Difficulty: 9 Perfect monster difficulty. I never found a monster I couldn't beat, but they weren't too easy either. With 4 characters.

Puzzles: 10 My favorite part of this dungeon. I had an especially hard time with some of the more hidden and difficult to follow puzzles, like the secret wall in the mines. Those footprints didn't help, exactly. And I was really frustrated with Armageddon sometimes. Oh, did you know that the Vortex instantly kills any monster that steps on it?

Size: 5 I think I'm a less patient type, and I would like custom dungeons to be about 2/3 the size. I'm not sure about this.

Replayability: 8 I actually think I might go through it again. By the time I finished the game, I forgot much of the beginning. And I sometimes like to know the answers before I get to the questions, anyway.

Craft: 9 Though the dungeon was long, it never repeated itself. I liked having those twisted Catacombs thrown in there. Needing to map out something on a rare occasion is fun. My only problem was that some puzzles were not clear enough. That teleporter right before Armageddon was difficult to use. (with the Oitu generator after it) I still don't get it. Also, excellent use of below-pit areas.

Game Ending: 8 I've never seen any game endings besides the 2 DM ones, so it was good. It was cool how the *ire**lls changed into Z* sp***s. Don't want to give it away, you know. I started the ending and ran to watch it, but I fell in a pit! I got out just in time to see it. Nice timing. Also, I would've liked some scrolls about how, "the Black Flame is fed by fire," or, "only the powerful item can convert the Flame's power source to good," or something.

Atmosphere: 10 There wasn't too much wall writing, and it was all in "character" of the DM. It was pretty hot down in the Cracks of Doom! My eyes were kind of bugged when I look at the screen. I guess that's the point. I loved the monster and door graphics. It looked professionally done, my Dad agreed.

Overall: 8.5 Thank you for that great time! I could tell that you put huge amounts of time and effort into it. It's like a whole new game!

Best part: Fighting Dragons and Demons*or Balrogs (why did you make them look almost alike?) and winning. I also liked the beginning a lot.

Worst part: Armageddon. The atmosphere was nice, but I didn't like the puzzles. I don't know why I was so annoyed at this part. Perhaps I just don't like spending so much time dodging lightning. And I got fed up with the water elementals in the Cellar.

May I add your review to my 'games' section? And, if so,
what name should I attach to it?

I've noticed you do this before...what is your games section? I'd like to remain TyGuy please. It is my online name. With or without the 6.