unused bits: suggestions

[cowsmanaut]

just want to point out that we have that see through walls spell.. that means there is code in there to make walls translucent.. and.. since there are atleast a few types of alcoves in DM.. the square ones, the vi altar, and is there a seperate one for corbum? or were they square too... brain is not working..

Anyway, if you can just apply an "alcove" assignment to a wall without needed alcove graphics specifically you could use one of the other ornaments to make up the table image.. then use it by placing it on every side of the wall. if we can make walls simply invisible then no problem.. otherwise you need to have something on your alcove to cut it out.. which is why I mention the look through walls thing.. since as I remember there was one masking colour to mask the glowy cirlce onto the wall and a second masking colour to cut the hole in the wall.

Perhaps this can be done again with something else?

moo

[Paul Stevens]

I tried this 'see through walls' business. And it confirms my notion
(stated earlier in another thread perhaps?) that the engine does not
know how to draw objects at alcove height on the far side of a cell.
The 'see through walls' shows what is in the next cell but not what is
within the cell made invisible. (I guess you see through objects
within the wall as well.). Did you try this with different results?

[cowsmanaut]

so the stuff in the other alcoves were not visible? That bites..

I guess it makes sense though since that see through walls spell wouldn't do well to have a scroll or potion sitting in front of it when you looked through a wall... They probably thought of that..

is there a way to "offset" floor items? would that work? simulate that the floor is raised here thus alowing her table? I'm reaching now I know.. it's all my brain has left..

[Paul Stevens]

is there a way to "offset" floor items

Not that I know of. I cannot imagine what it would have been used for.

[Guest]

Anyway, if you can just apply an "alcove" assignment to a wall without needed alcove graphics specifically you could use one of the other ornaments to make up the table image.. then use it by placing it on every side of the wall.

So I would draw an "alcove" with the same size as the wall, and paint it with "transparent" color. For now, only things straight in front of you would be visible.
It is possible to use wall decorations with the same size as the wall, right?

I am at a loss to think of any puzzle or whatever that could be done with your tables that cannot be done with what exists already. All I can think of
is the 'eye-candy' that a table would add. No functionality. Can you enlighten me?

I'll write something down and mail it. Don't laugh at it!

[Adamo]

Paul Stevens wrote (non-agressive monsters):

Neutral should be relatively easy. We clear the bit when he loses his first HitPoint.

bumped. Is that already possible with CSBwin?

[Paul Stevens]

You can probably do this with a
Monster Attack Filter/Party attack filter.

Give the monter(s) in question an
extreme value of HP so you can recognize
them. So long as they have an extreme HP
you can disable their attacks. When the
party attacks such a monster, you can set their
HP to the normal value. Or you avoid the party
attack filter by seeing that
the monster has lost HP but is still in the
extreme range and assume that they were
attacked. In either case, you could stop
blocking the attacks by the monster.

If there are only a few such monsters then you
could keep track of them by their IDs.
Use a case statement in the DSA.

Or you could have all Gigglers start attacking
if any one of them comes under fire. Or you
could have Gigglers start attacking when their
God, the Red Dragon, is killed. Etc.

[beowuuf]

The alternate graphics could also come into play - you can have neutral versions of the monsters (say graphic 1) and the hostile version as graphic 0 chested inside each.

You can check to see if the monster is a graphic 1 monster, and if so, you can then disable its attack

Version 0 graphics of the monster will get their attacks let through!

[Suule]

Yes you can, but the work of the dungeon is stalled because I cannot find a way to make "tables".

I'm sorry if I made this sound like "I want this effect, and this, and this...". I just wanted to ask if there was a solution to the problems I have encountered. The reason to why I even said something about these "unused monster bits" is because I belive it would be wasteful to use them for some hardcoded things like speed or double attack.
Why not leave the bits unused by CSB? Perhaps someday their meaning can be defined by the level designer instead of CSB... (one possible solution could be as a monster "subclass", that some future DSA receieving monster events could use).

If I would be allowed to alter one single piece of functionality in CSB, then it would not be anything monster-related at all. It would be this "alcove issue" that I asked about in another thread, because that's somewhat the heart of the dungeon I've tried to create. Whithout something with at least the slightest resemblance of a "table", then I'm out of luck. So you may ignore my requests if you like. But you could perhaps have them in your mind?

My analysis of the DM2 behaviour and data files led me to believe that the DM2 tables is a special case of a monster. When you place an item on a table it is 'swallowed' by the monster and attached to him (like he would be possesing it). The direction and stuff like that is saved. The main problem is that the table has dummy AI module: It swallows items, spits them back, gets pushed around, gets killed (ohnoes!), gets rotated. My guess it also has "Hi, I'm a table" bit set somewhere. Making it possible for the item to be drawn on top of it. (That's what I got from the DM2 behaviour analysis).

I made this assumption monstly on the fact tha:

1) Items and a table can coexist on a tile
2) If you move a table around, the items stay on the table instead of being dropped on the ground. Also moving a table onto a square doesn't make items magically appear on it
3) Entry in Graphics.dat under 'Monsters'

ANOTHER case is the buy/sell table... but that's a very diffrent case and I've YET to see about it.

[Zyx]

You can probably do this with a
Monster Attack Filter/Party attack filter.

I used a DSA too. All the Grey Lords are neutral except if they are Unique, which means that in the Monster Attack Filter, I cancel the attack if the Unique flag is not set.
When they're hit the Unique flag is set.

[Adamo]

non-agressive monsters.

That can be already simulated without DSAs etc. For example, creating a "peacefull" mummy would actually cost me TWO monsters of 26 (including their AMG versions, so eight in fact).

First monster, for example "Grey Lord" with mummy`s bitmaps and with proper behaviour set on ADGE Monster Editor (its attack speed set to 255, hitProb-0, strenght-0, health-1, armour-0; speed identical to mummies speed etc.), holding a "regular" mummy inside.

So first monster, wchich walks around a dungeon (and not sensing a party: proper sightrange, awareness, spellrange etc. settings), when is being hit, dies instantly and reveals another type of monster with the same bitmaps, but normal mummy behaviour this time. That should give an appearence of a peacufull mummy walking around the dungeon and not attacking unless being hit by a party; if being hit, then starts behaving like a regular mummy (hunts a party trying to kill them, unless being scared).

Minuses of that solution:
- it would cost a designer 2 of 26 types of monsters,
- there is an interruption (short) between monster`s death and next monster`s appearance,
- second (agressive) monster would try to kill you even if first (peacefull) was killed by an event not caused by a party (for example fireball from a wall shooter etc.).