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Porting between Mac and Windows in Blades of Avernum
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Monday, August 6 2007 18:28 Profile #9
gz is short for gzip is short for GNU zip; it's a more GNU / Unix file compression. Mac OS X, with its Unixy heritage, handles it just fine. Windows PCs don't like it so much, though, so it's safer to zip.

Also, Expander's content to unZip, so it's supported everywhere Spiderweb runs.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Porting between Mac and Windows in Blades of Avernum
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Monday, August 6 2007 16:43 Profile #6
Please don't use .sit files. Macs are quite happy to open .zip or .tar.gz.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
River and Leaf Port in Blades of Avernum
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Friday, August 3 2007 10:06 Profile #14
Archive Formats
.zip and tar.gz are supported near totally, and should be preferred for compatibility. The former is more prevalent on DOSsy systems, and the latter on Unixly systems..7z does in fact achieve delightful compression. While its use is not widely supported, it is easily decompressable on any recent Mac, Windows, or Ubuntu, with lovely free packages. In particular I strongly advise anyone sending/receiving compressed files on Mac OS X have The Unarchiver. It's free, decompresses anything I've seen, and can be set to integrate as well as the OSX default.
The principal problem here might be that there doesn't seem to be a good un-7Zipper for Mac OS 9. Against this I can only counsel as does jg.faust: that you should offer also a zip or a tar.gz for compatibility..sit is deprecated for use on anything newer than Mac OS 9. Stuffit software has become obnoxious since its purchase by Smith Micro, who appear to have turned Stuffit Expander into spamware. Even previously Expander didn't compress; you need the payware Stuffit. Use The Unarchiver instead..rar is an odious proprietary format. Eschew.Windows Programs on a Mac

I understand Ishad Nha to have been referring to the recent trend toward Intel Macs, which can simply run Windows if so configured. While these do exist, they are not the majority of Macs running Spiderweb games. A PowerPC or older Mac cannot run Windows programs without extensive arcane rituals.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
source code blades of exile in Blades of Exile
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Saturday, July 28 2007 12:28 Profile #1
I would suggest to you that unless you're interested in changing the game, you'd probablybe better off downloading a precompiled copy that'll just run.

The top link at Khoth's download page will provide you with such a file.

To answer your question, though, you'd have to take the source code and compile it with something like Xcode.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Compiling BoE source code for Windows in Blades of Exile
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Sunday, July 15 2007 19:21 Profile #41
I'm quite sure that the scenarios are in Kelandon's source code releases. I seem to recall that either the ones in the mac side or those in the windows side are broken, though.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Thrown Missile Bug? in Blades of Exile
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Sunday, July 15 2007 19:18 Profile #3
Well, Returning weapons can simulate the usefulness of A4's, I imagine. My higher-level archers never go out without them.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
The Future of Blades of Avernum in Blades of Avernum Editor
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Wednesday, July 11 2007 21:12 Profile #101
BoE also limited you to Valley, as I recall, and still claims to if you download the binary from the game page. This means that the open-sourcing is the first time ASR and ZKR have been available to play for free.

And VoDT, I agree, doesn't have the same hook effect as all the other games - although it can be a good place to start for players as they can get a complete story pre-registration.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Avernum 5, June Update in Avernum 4
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Monday, July 9 2007 20:24 Profile #71
Looks great, and it's nice to see elevation return. I'm eager to see how these disciplines turn out.

The one thing that distresses me a bit is at least one of the portraits still doesn't match the corresponding character graphic. I'm thinking of Aldous, worst offender of Avernum 4, who resembles himself not-at-all.

Then again, the rest looks shiny, so I oughtn't complain.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
BoAEdit in Blades of Avernum Editor
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Sunday, July 1 2007 16:33 Profile #34
No, but it would require an operating system check or best-case getting the local menu lookAndFeel. Which probably wouldn't be too bad on the whole but I couldn't figure it out last time I tried. The option is there, since this is bright shiny Java.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Item Call Global Special Ability in Blades of Exile
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Sunday, July 1 2007 16:02 Profile #9
Or you could just have the scenario special call a town special, as explained in Drizzt's article on beating Magic Map. Does that accomplish the desired effect?

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Blades of Exile Source Code Released in Blades of Exile
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Saturday, June 30 2007 16:40 Profile #69
quote:
Originally written by Khoth:

If it doesn't work for you, let me know. If it does work for you, let me know too, because I currently don't know what the system requirements are, beyond "OS X".
Release 4's editor doesn't want to create a scenario on my Core Duo MacBookPro. I'm not nearly sure what's at fault but it gives that lovely error code 40 - something bad happened in loading/saving/creating so try again and see if that fixes it. Which it doesn't. It also asks for more memory, but I don't think you can even do that on OS X.

Edit: Upon closer inspection I suspect that this has something to do with the total absence of any bladbase.exs. Pasting in the one from the source release 3 is ineffective, though.

[ Saturday, June 30, 2007 17:06: Message edited by: Octavo ]

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Errors when compiling with Winelib in Blades of Exile
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Saturday, June 23 2007 12:48 Profile #6
Ah, I see. Then perhaps it is a file that is supposed to be compiled out of your files and indeed you do need a target for it, but I don't know what you'd need to do to make it.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Scenario Download Help Needed! in Blades of Avernum
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Thursday, June 21 2007 07:11 Profile #11
I have a man page for tar, so presumably it's installed.

My experience is that Stuffit's onetime power to open whatever can be reclaimed by using a certain app called The Unarchiver, which can be used on its own or substituted for the system default. I haven't found an archive I couldn't un since I got it.

[ Thursday, June 21, 2007 07:12: Message edited by: Octavo ]

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Affect PC nodes affect monsters in Blades of Exile
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Thursday, June 21 2007 06:47 Profile #5
Excellent, you're all way ahead of me. Keep up the good work. At this rate you'll have a finished-quality project (though when does one ever call a project finished!) before I can notice.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Errors when compiling with Winelib in Blades of Exile
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Thursday, June 21 2007 06:42 Profile #4
That's not exactly a problem with your Makefile. What that means is it can't find the shared object (like a DLL on Windows) that is called windows.so. I'm guessing that that's something winelib is supposed to be providing?

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Errors when compiling with Winelib in Blades of Exile
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Wednesday, June 20 2007 19:58 Profile #2
As far as make knows, townout.c is a c file, not a cpp file.

[ Wednesday, June 20, 2007 19:58: Message edited by: Octavo ]

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Affect PC nodes affect monsters in Blades of Exile
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Tuesday, June 19 2007 07:37 Profile #2
I am having visions of a monster type that, on its death, creates two more of its kind and then kills them. Does the current loop protection guard against this, since they're not in the same chain?

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Who has the REAL OLD Exile: Escape From The Pit??? in The Exile Trilogy
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Thursday, June 14 2007 06:51 Profile #36
Ooh, shiny. Thank you. I've always been puzzled why the guy with the brown robes and staff disappeared in E2 only to return in E3... he was one of my party members and I had to use a different one.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Who has the REAL OLD Exile: Escape From The Pit??? in The Exile Trilogy
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Wednesday, June 13 2007 08:38 Profile #34
On a tangentially related question, does anybody have the (old!) E2 player character graphics in a lossless format? This topic had them, but in JPEG and against a white background so some people lose their white parts visually.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Compiling BoE source code for Windows in Blades of Exile
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Thursday, May 17 2007 13:39 Profile #1
Specifically, there seem to be none of the files alphabetically after "PARTY.H".

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Best Game Ever? in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Tuesday, December 12 2006 18:55 Profile #16
Certainly keyword and response are good at different things. Response is much better, however, at the reputation bit in Geneforge. (I'd say that keyword is better for the pump-information-out-of-people we got to do in Exile, and thus was better for Exile.)

G4 has its very high points, as above listed. They've been well-addressed, and I shan't expand on them further just now. What I loved absolute most about A4, though, was the dual-accessibility - I could move with the numpad or the mouse. That was something I'd been waiting for ever since our creator of games first introduced mouse movement.

It would be nice to have total dual accessibility. Perhaps in the new Nethergate.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Easter eggs? in Avernum 4
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Wednesday, March 8 2006 19:53 Profile #31
quote:
Originally written by Dikiyoba:

The item descriptions are usually great in Spiderweb Software games.
Thus why I was distressed at their absence in BoE.

quote:
Originally written by Dintiradan:

Also, A4 seems to have a cameo of TM:

Your conversation with this sailor is very short. It mostly involves his asking why you are in his room, combined with several harsh comments regarding your appearance, ancestry, and the availability of your mother.
Which dialogue, when I discovered it, reminded me of the shifting target audience. From Burma Shave to this... Well, G4 and A5 are yet to come, and I look forward to what Jeff has for us there.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Notice of Eviction in General
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Wednesday, March 8 2006 18:18 Profile #27
quote:
Originally written by Dikiyoba:

Say, one topic for igod and no more than ten lines of a conversation could be printed. Of course, absolutely no double posting. That might reduce the amount of junk material.
Hmmm, sounds eminently workable. I should rather like to confine it than banish it altogether... better the Abyss than execution.
quote:
Further written by Dikiyoba:
Dikiyoba can't think of a reason to use igod. There are just so many entertaining people on Spiderweb.
And, I should think, there is therefore no need to invent more people who are less entertaining.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Moral dilemmas in Avernum 4
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Tuesday, March 7 2006 21:52 Profile #29
I agree with Randomizer's morality suggestion; something like the reputation in Geneforge, but general rather than specific-to-Serviles. Oh, and stealing would of course be bad. :evil:

(Yes, I know that smiley doesn't exist here. But it should.)

quote:
Originally written by Milla:

Or would it be Aranae?
In Latin, a plural ending in -a usually comes from a singular ending in -um.
Lots of aranea, one araneum?
Sometimes it's stranger, as with nomen -> nomina.
Lots of aranea, one aranen?

On the other hand, a singular -a becomes a plural -ae.
One aranea, lots of araneae?
Of course, not being neuter gender, this has the side effect that the accusative changes. Therefore,
The aranea casts a spell.
The araneae cast spells.
I vanquished an araneam.
We vanquished many araneas.

Or does Latin even apply to Avernum?

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Next Game/Series in General
Octavo
Apprentice
Member # 4231
 written Tuesday, March 7 2006 21:34 Profile #7
I feel safe leaving it with him, although of course there's always room for improvement in any creation.

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00

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