[Custom dungeon] Theron's Quest Conversion [DM PC, CSBWin] [Guillaume Bastard (a.k.a Sphenx)]

Sphenx · Post by **Sphenx** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 8:35 pm

Platform: DM PC, CSBWin
Author: Guillaume Bastard (a.k.a Sphenx)
Email address: gb_sphenx@hotmail.com
Date published: 2004, July 28
Date last updated: 2004, August 8

You can now play the converted maps of Theron Quest using either DMPC or CSBwin.
Enjoy!

Notes:
The 7 dungeons from Theron's Quest for PC Engine have been converted so that they can be played with Dungeon Master for PC or Chaos Strikes Back for Windows.
A custom graphics.dat file is also included for Chaos Strikes Back for Windows.

Download:
Download this dungeon from this Shared OneDrive (in the 'Custom Dungeons' folder)

Post by **Paul Stevens** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 9:17 pm

In the original file all the levels were in a single file.
Why could we not add another level as a jumping-off
point to any one of the seven quests? And a way back to
the beginning?

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 9:36 pm

Nice to see you back with a bang : )

Sphenx · Post by **Sphenx** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 10:03 pm

I totally agree with Paul. There two possibilities:

1) put together all levels in one dungeon, plus a jumping point; that would make a total of 27 levels. If CSBwin can handle it, then there is no problem.

2) put all together with the jumping point, but keeping them in a 16-levels dungeons (and then still compatible with DMPC), but that would make some minor problems with mixing different quests on same level (mainly level XP-multiplier and creature color).

Well, I just imagine many would prefer solution 1)

One bit that annoys me much is that the "champion vs. creature balance" of the quests is just too much in favor of champions. It prevents much fun for regular players. I would suggest to make a more balanced version..

But before, let's players try this current version and report any missing stuff or wrong stuff if any ...

Post by **Gambit37** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 1:10 pm

Woohoo! How did you get the data files off the CD?

Sphenx · Post by **Sphenx** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:30 pm

I got the data from the image files of the CD: only two files (tq02 and tq19) are binary data (other are musics).
So I looked into them to see if I could find something that seemed as maps, according to what I know about the DM dungeon structures.
First I found dungeon layouts description in (tq02), and a little after I found the items records not too far.
But the whole structure is different from standard DM, and some data (as level headers) are arranged in a different way.
I took me some time to understand them enough to make a semi-automatic extraction process.

I also noticed that the 7 maps where one after the other, within blocks of exactly 256 Kb (I will call them "quest-blocks").
Actually, there is maybe only 10% - the maps - that I can (understand) extract within these "quest-blocks".
And I still need hard-coded address offsets to extract the maps for each quest.
I suspect that there are also graphics, maybe sounds and item statistics in there - axe gfx is graphically visible in the hex-file.
But I am not going to deal with this.

Recently, I tried to exchange two "quest-blocks" within the tq02.iso to see if the game was able to accept such changes .. but it did not work.
Froze the game. Then it makes clear to me that there are some needed data outside the "quest-blocks" that tell how to read them ..
In other words, one would need to understand more than the blocks to program a real "quest-blocks" reader/writer.
Anyway, I have doubt someone would find interesting and useful to do so.

Those interested can get those "quest-blocks" at
http://dmweb.free.fr/Forum/read.php?f=7&i=562&t=562

Post by **linflas** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:00 am

Sphenx wrote:But before, let's players try this current version and report any missing stuff or wrong stuff if any ...

After playtesting :
- Champions : Pentai is too strong (550 health for a craftsman fighter !), there's a "WINDOW" hit when you use "The Conduit", don't know what it's supposed to do...
- TQ1 to TQ5 : no problem to complete the quests, but monsters are very easy to kill. i probably missed many hidden stuff... especially in TQ5.
- TQ6 is very very weird so i loaded the dungeon into CSBuild. Ruby locks are opened with empty flask instead of ruby key, money lock is opened with a green magicbox (there's none in the dungeon) instead of gold coin.
- haven't tested TQ7 yet

Post by **Zyx** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:11 am

I tested TQ1 and TQ2. It's ridiculously easy!!! Champions are overwhelming more powerful than monsters.

@linflas: The "window" action of the conduit: test it when looking at a wall...

TQ2: the room with the 3 gem holes: any gem hole can absorb infinite gems. Each gem hole should work once only.

Post by **Zyx** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:13 am

Some more bugs:

TQ6: see linflas comments about coin slot and ruby locks
lock opened by ruby key instead of topaz key

TQ7: locks opened by empty flask instead of topaz key
demon generators work only once instead of always

Well, it's a nice dungeon, combining puzzles from DM and CSB. Thank you for converting it, sphenx.

Post by **linflas** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 9:12 am

oops.. sphenx, forgot to thank you too

this is excellent work !

Sphenx · Post by **Sphenx** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:16 am

Concerning the wrong activation locks: I corrected this, some activation items were shifted by one slot ...
For your information, that also means that in the first level of "city of formicia", the trolin generators are now activated by "clubs" and not by "morningstar", which makes more sense ..

you can get the new version still here:
http://dmweb.free.fr/Forum/read.php?f=7&i=562&t=562

@zyx:
in TQ2, the room with the 3 gem holes:
Mhh... I checked that 2 holes are "activated once" and 1 is not.
Did you play the original? I am not sure if the infinite hole was there, but I have the feeling it was.
Anyway, it appears this is not a conversion problem but rather how it was designed. Should it really be modified?

In TQ7, for the demon generators, I don't really know how it is supposed to be in the original. I should inspect more. Maybe the creature generators work a little different from those in DM?

@linflas:
I agree Pentai is too strong - it even seems to be a debug character! Anyway, all champions are too strong. I even suspect that the engine of TQ makes them a little weakier than they are within the engine of DM.

life_matrix · Post by **life_matrix** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 1:43 am

you can get the new version still here:
http://dmweb.free.fr/Forum/read.php?f=7&i=562&t=562

I did go there and successfully downloaded the TQConvertedDungeonData.rar file. I could even open it up just fine using CoolZip and looked at the contents. However, whenever I tried to extract the files, it kept giving me error messages about the file being corrupted, damaged, incomplete or some such thing. I also tried to extract the files using WinRAR, expecting a program designed for .RAR to work. ...No such luck. I even used WinRAR to try to fix the errors in the damaged file. Still did not work...

Finally, I downloaded the file again and, this time, a straight download without my download manager. STILL - same problems. Has anyone been able to sucessfully use the new version?

Are there any mirrors for this file or could someone please post a new one? It would be much appreciated.

Post by **Paul Stevens** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 2:04 am

I just downloaded it a minute ago and unpacked it with WinRar 3.30 successfully.

JCG · Post by **JCG** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 7:29 am

Your version of Winrar may be too old. I had to upgrade winrar a few months ago to be able to open recent archives.
I made a few tests : files from TQConvertedDungeonData.rar can be extracted with version 3.2, but not with version 2.8 ( files are visible, but you get an error message if you attempt to extract them )

ADDF_Toxic · Post by **ADDF_Toxic** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:21 am

Sphenx wrote:catch the files at:
http://dmweb.free.fr/Forum/read.php?f=7&i=562&t=562

Well, I'd love to, but the links are broken in the first post. I got the updates for 3, 6, and 7, but that's all I could get. Is there anywhere else I can find the rest of TQ for DMPC and CSBWin? Thanks.

Adamo · Post by **Adamo** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 11:53 am

Sphenx, could you put that to the "Custom Dungeons" topic on the forum? Thx

Post by **ChristopheF** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:04 am

I have updated the links on the first post of the forum thread.
You can now download the archives.

ADDF_Toxic · Post by **ADDF_Toxic** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:55 pm

Thank you Christophe.

$eoub!!! · Post by **$eoub!!!** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 10:18 pm

Sphenx wrote:You can now play the converted maps of Theron Quest using either DMPC or CSBwin.

catch the files at:
http://dmweb.free.fr/Forum/read.php?f=7&i=562&t=562

Enjoy!

Well... That link seems to be dead

ADDF_Toxic · Post by **ADDF_Toxic** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:22 am

The forums over there are migrating...here are the new links
http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/990
http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/990

$eoub!!! · Post by **$eoub!!!** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:02 am

1 000 000 thanks

ADDF_Toxic · Post by **ADDF_Toxic** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:06 pm

Your welcome

Adamo · Post by **Adamo** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 5:29 pm

where to download Theron`s Quest for CSBwin? The links are dead.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 5:43 pm

i downloaded it recently, so the links are active somewhere. look on the encyclopedia directly or the dungeon list

Adamo · Post by **Adamo** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 5:53 pm

http://dmweb.free.fr/files/CustomDungeo ... ersion.zip
OK, got it. Thanx Beo! BTW. I never played TQ...

Dungeon Master Forum

[Custom dungeon] Theron's Quest Conversion [DM PC, CSBWin] [Guillaume Bastard (a.k.a Sphenx)]

[Custom dungeon] Theron's Quest Conversion [DM PC, CSBWin] [Guillaume Bastard (a.k.a Sphenx)]

Re: Play Theron Quests with CSBwin and DMPC

Re: Play Theron Quests with CSBwin and DMPC

Re: Play Theron Quests with CSBwin and DMPC

Re: Play Theron Quests with CSBwin and DMPC