[Custom Dungeon] [Conflux] Feedback

[Rico Len]

I downloaded Conflux the other night and started playing it. After a few days I can say that this is a pretty damn good uh... expansion? of the game. I've been working on my own dungeon.dat for a while, I tell'ya this puts what I've been working on to shame. I just wish I could find a way to get to the other charactors without opening up the dungeon.dat file in DMute (don't want to cheat). I'm stuck below the mines now leveling up cause the spiders are kicking my ass. At anyrate good job on the dungeon. It's a blast and I figured I'd let you know since I doubt anyone will take the time to tell you so after downloading it.

[Zyx]

Well, thanks! (I was wondering if anybody played this dungeon!)

[Sophia]

I'm not sure if it's my system, or the dungeon, or what... but I've experienced a lockup problem with this dungeon.

It happens the same every time. I take the teleporter in the first HoC like area, and end up face-to-face with a stone golem. This is a bad situation, so I turn and run, down some stairs. There's nothing down there but a closed portcullis and some more stairs down, so I take those stairs down... and it locks up.

Anyone else seen this?

[Gambit37]

Yes, all the time; I've not been able to play many of these dungeons because of the various lock-ups I've experienced.

That's why I'm keen on RTC!

[Jardice]

D/led it.
Playing it.
Dying in it(this is a good thing for me)
Constantly saying "Damn it all man" (see above)
Neat dungeon But i'm not gonna rate it yet until I get at least one ending.

Long live Dungeon Master! (I'll think Of something to put here soon)

[beowuuf]

Yes, this lock up thing is weird, i've never experienced it unless there has been a genuine piece of bad coding

The old way round it was to

a) have a teleporter going from the hall of champions to the last level
b) have a teleporter goign from the last levl to the HoC

this addition was supposed to cure lock ups, but i have never seen it so never knew if it really worked

Of course, there could just be something evil happening on that level like a cloned object, etc
The more you push the engine limits the more you realise that there can be some nasty bugs waiting if there are too many objects floating around!

[Zyx]

I cleared the teleporter bug. Maybe I'll release another version of conflux with a better balance.

[Zyx]

9 months later...
I will definitely release an enhanced version of this dungeon, ported to CSBwin. With CSBuild I should be able to expand the concept behind conflux to its full meaning. I still need a few features not yet implemented by Paul.
If you have comments or suggestions about how this dungeon should be enhanced/modified/balanced, then go ahead!

[Charlatan75]

Hello,

I'm currently playing your dungeon "Conflux". Hmmm... I would say it's quite excellent! ^^

Well, in fact, the first 3 or 4 times I tried to play it, I found it too hard... and got discouraged when I did meet pain rats in the cave and water elementals in the sewers (I think I fell at least twice in the trap with the rope)...

Hmmm... but I'm stubborn, so I gave it a fourth (or fifth) try! ))
And then my team (Leif, Zed, Gando and Chani) reached one of the possible endings (the end with the crown and the Archmaster of Mampang...). And after that I started again and reached the end with the black armor (with Leif, Stamm, Sonja and Halk). For now, I'm playing with
Iaido, Alex, Wuuf and Leyla, trying to reach a different ending (I'm in level 9 and it seems to be somewhere here, as a door I could not open before has just opened!).

While playing, I found some little things that were a little bit "weird", and I thought you would like to know about them :

- in level 3 (the sewers) I once fell in one of those pits that opens when a water elemental walks on (ok, I'm a bit clumsy!^^) and it seems there was no way to exit from where I fell...

- in level 6 (it seems there are only Oitus there), I used my rope to go down the pit in the South-East area, to check what could be under. I landed in a cell, in level 7, then a pit opened just under my feet and I fell in level 8... but here again there was no way out!

- in level 4 (the mines), there is a wall in the North area that seems to be a rockpile (!?? I don't know how you did that but I found this very good! ). When I walked near this wall with Leif/Stamm/Sonja/Halk, I could read something like "Iaido says : this wall is about to crumble!"... Hmmm... Iaido was in his mirror, how could he speak to me? ))

- in level 2 (the temple), there is a big graphic glitch around the wall saying something like : "I will only bow before my equals, you... hmmm... naughty persons!" (sorry, I don't remember exactly what he says ^^). The first time I went to this room (with Leif/Stamm/Sonja/Halk), this graphic glitch appeared only after I showed the demoniac face the item that I had to show him, but the second time (with Iaido/Alex/Wuuf/Leyla), it appeared even before... I don't know what could cause this.

- Charlatan75 -

[Zyx]

Thank you for your reports Charlatan75 , I will check and fix the bugs in the next days!

[Charlatan75]

Hello,

Hum... I'm sorry to bother you again...

Well, I finished the game with Iaido/Alex/Wuuf/Leyla, then with Zed/Nabi/Wu-Tse/Mophus and now I'm playing with Gando/Chani/Tiggy/Gothmog and I've got a problem in level 11...

After a few "attacks / deaths / successful retreats / suicidal expeditions / strange rituals to win gods' favor", I could draw the map of about a half of this level and found some stairs going up, somewhere in the middle of this level. Then I used a green magic box to reach those stairs without being hit, because I thought it could be a good starting point to draw the rest of the map...

But after a few "attacks / deaths / successful retreats / suicidal expeditions / strange rituals to win gods' favor", and an ultimate savegame in the top of these stairs, I was not able to draw the rest of the map... and I cannot go back in level 11, because the game crashes with the following message:
"System error 71"

Hmmm... As it's the first time I see that, I was curious and I looked into my savegame with Dmbuild... and... hum... I saw there are currently more than 60 groups of materializers and about 30 groups of beholders in level 11! )))

Maybe something went wrong with monster generators (?). Could this amazing amount of creatures be the reason of the "System error 71" message?

- Charlatan75 -

[Paul Stevens]

The original Atari code certainly had a problem if there
were too many monsters on a single level. I think 90
would be too many.

PAul

[Zyx]

Hello Charlatan75,
Several of the bugs you discovered were already fixed in a version done with DMbuilder, so I can make a quick release of V1.1.
However I didn't playtest thoroughly the conversion from Dmute to this newer editor... Please report any new bugs!
This Conflux V1.1 has other features, like two paths of wisdom in the temple and several tweaks for a better balance.

Bug fixes:
Sewers: the floor grates swallowing the water elementals are no longer fatal to party
Spider level: the SE pit fall has now an exit
Mines: Iaido now talks only when supposed to!
Temple: "Puny shrimps" glitch at least fixed. (this has been bogging me for 2 years!)



As for the error 71:
Right now I suggest you delete with dmute (or better, with Dmbuilder) a dozen of materializers and of beholders. Make a backup of your savegame, because I remember I had an idea to make Dmute unable to modify savegames. I don't know if I implemented it. It should work with Dmbuilder anyway.
I you still experiences the error 71, send me your save game, I'll have a try to solve it.



I knew the design of this level was flawed, but as I never had any problems during the playtest, I forgot about it.
I will try to correct the design of the monster generation in the next version.

[Charlatan75]

Hello,

Thank you for your answers and the new version of Conflux ^^

I followed your advice and deleted some materializers and beholders in my savegame, and... it worked! But, as I feared, it did not take long for those creatures to overpopulate again the level... and soon the "system error 71" message was back! So, I think the wiser solution for me would be to wait for the next version to explore this level...

Hmmm... and I'm in haste to explore this version 1.1 ^^

- Charlatan75 -

[Charlatan75]

Hello,

I started a new game with version 1.1 of Conflux, and I saw many great changes!

The new beginning is a very good idea in my opinion, because you feel much more the importance of the expedition you must lead.

The new texts you added are really pertinent, because you understand better some puzzles (for example the one with the scroll and the fountains in level 1), and it adds a lot in the global atmosphere.

The new Temple is really fantastic!! You gave this level a real great dimension, and it was a pure pleasure for me to explore it again! ^^

Here are now a few bugs I found :

- in the Black Crypt, there is a big graphic glitch in the corridor in the North-West area (it's a new corridor with dead ends).

- in the Cellar, I've been teleported directly in the pillar in the middle of the Officers' Canteen when I was walking in the very South area (near some new stairs). If I'm not wrong, this teleporter should be only for monsters, as it seems to be a way to provide some fresh food in the canteen. )

- in the Temple, there are some bugs with some of the texts that are written on the walls (it looks as if another text was written over the one that you should read). That's in the North-West area and the texts are "The way up and down", and something with "...everliving fire...".

- (this one I don't know if it's a bug, maybe something I did not understand ^^). In the Temple, in the North-West area, there are ghouls faces on the walls that emit a "clic" sound when you touch them. I found 7 ghouls faces like that, and they are all facing East.

- Charlatan75 -

[Zyx]

Thank you again for your comments, Charlatan75. I will try to fix these bugs the sooner, but I'm leaving for a travel of 3 weeks in Spain...
So if you don't see any answer for this weekend, you'll have to wait for august... 8-o

[Zyx]

V1.11
FIXED: Cellar: the teleporter in the rats'nestle now only affect monsters.
FIXED: Crypt: the acces to an unfinished puzzle in the NW area was removed.
FIXED: Temple: Inscriptions on walls now have a correct wordwrapping.

[Christopher]

I am also having a problem with which ever level has the Faders and Beholders as there are too many of them. It was mentioned above that you could go in dmute or dmbuild to delete some of the monsters yet I have not been able to successfully upload the savegame in any of these editors. Is there a certain version availible so I can do this?
In the Sewers level near the area that triggers three Trolin generators has appeared a floating Zo/Des Ew spell glitch. I don't know what brought it about and it so far has not seemed to alter the game in any way, just thought you should know.
With the exception of Sudden Death (had to restart the game two different times because of the poison slime number), several puzzles I can't figure out, and too many monsters on that one level, I'm still enjoying this game.

[Zyx]

Hello Christopher,
I just wanted to thank you for your comments and let you know that I am working on it. I think I solved the overpopulation problem, but you'll have to wait for confluxv1.3 on CSBwin to play it. I am adding several changes that will hopefully enhance the gameplay... but I need some tweaks from the CSBuild first...