Dungeon Master Forum

I remember hearing (waaaaay back when) that the atmospheric lightning in Dungeon Master II would, on the remote chance it hit your party's current square (or you walked into it) cause massive damage and probably an instakill. I don't recall this ever happening to me but I do recall that at least one sludge got killed by lightning in one of my games.

Is this effect duplicated in the RTC version of DMII? I have to say it was one of the things that put me off the original DMII, so it would be nice if we had the option to at least turn it off.

P.S.: Dual weapons++.

I think it will do electrical damage, I don't think it will kill you instantly...even in DII (sure I got hit once mself and shrugged it off)

I got blasted a couple or three times, and it always insta-killed, but I can't vouch for my party's toughness at the time.

I can remember getting hit once and dying straight away. 'Twas yonks ago, but I'm pretty sure that was what happened. Think I shat meself .

Well, thanks for clearing that up...

Seriously, so what does it do in RTC:DMII?

You have the text file, is it possible to reduce the area outside and recompile to ensure you get instantly zapped?

I'm weird about that sort of thing, though - it bothers me when my entire party instantly dies. This probably has to do with the fact that I started playing DM at like 2 or 3 - repressed childhood issues and whatnot.

Looking more closely at the dungeon source it looks like the lightning is done as a set of floor items:

H5906-2 FLOORITEM_LIGHTNING_FLASH 63 3 7 STATE=(INACTIVE) STRENGTH=(150)

(and a bunch more identical except for the coordinates). But I can't find where FLOORITEM_LIGHTNING_FLASH itself is defined due to unfamiliarity with what is stored where in the RTC data files (it's not in DMII.txt).

STRENGTH=(150) would seem to indicate damage when it's activated but could also indicate, say, a light level change.

It always used to scare the crap outta me, since I usually play games at a rather high volume level

Walking, listneing to the music, then suddenly CRACKK! followed by the loud screams of your electrified party.

Never failed to make me jump.

Where are the lightning and lightning flash files found? I am trying to make a custom dungeon and use as many of the features as I can for practice but I can't find these items anywhere. I just keep finding the "lightning Rod" flooritems and the reguler light item.

LIGHTNING_FLASH is a cloned FLOORITEM_LIGHT. The mechanics just trigger it with a OBJECT_ACTIVATE, using a WALLITEM_ACTION. It's rather simple to duplicate.

As for the DM2 dungeon in RTC, it DOESN'T duplicate the original lightning zaps, that I've been hit by many times. They've NEVER insta-killed any of my characters, I guess that you guys ran a different version or something. All RTC does is alter the roof/floor tilesets to reflect the current weather, if raining heavily, then flash a light on every so often. I've recreated this effect quite easily.