Profile for -silver-

Error message

Deprecated function: implode(): Passing glue string after array is deprecated. Swap the parameters in drupal_get_feeds() (line 394 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).

Recent posts

Pages

AuthorRecent posts
Since you asked, in General
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Thursday, March 9 2006 22:08 Profile #0
Since I've been contacted twice in off-topic forum posts, and once in private messages, I guess people want some answers, so here they are:

In July I moved somewhat suddenly to Seattle (hi, Jeff!) to take a job at Amazon. This followed a few months without network, during which silverchat.com (and thus my mapsite) was down. It's still down, because I work too much at my new job. WAY too much. WAY WAY too much. But I have arranged a place to host it and should have it back soon. Thanks for the offer(s), though. silverchat (the service, not that any of you used it) has been running at chat.fnord.org for a year or three (they still mysteriously call it silverchat, even though I don't log in).

Now you know :)

(Not like my map site is all that much to look at since all it covers is Avernum 1 and I lost the source .pdf files so I can't modify it very well)

[ Thursday, March 09, 2006 22:09: Message edited by: -silver- ]
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Avernum 4 Bug in Avernum 4
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Tuesday, March 7 2006 18:04 Profile #4
I switch between Av4 and a text editor a lot, with no freezing problems (windows 2000).
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
How to kill Kravit-Bok? in Avernum 4
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Sunday, March 5 2006 23:54 Profile #11
I have a pole fighter, an archer, an archer/priest, and a mage/thief.

the mage hastes the archers, who go around the corner and shoot the pillars at a distance, none of my party gets acid. Bok and the other pillars got it all (and the golem, not that it mattered. the golem neither got hurt much nor dealt much hurt).

the fighter and the mage clean up any summons that approach me. the hasted archer/priest sometimes shoots only once to toss out a heal if bok actually throws something dangerous.

zzzz. the necromancer hrickis was more dangerous because he had a good chance of throwing out a multi-character-instant-kill (at my HP level).

[ Sunday, March 05, 2006 23:55: Message edited by: -silver- ]
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Newbie Alert!!! in Blades of Avernum Editor
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Wednesday, June 1 2005 08:06 Profile #31
perhaps Salmon could use this in the init state of the town script:

quote:

void put_item_on_spot(short loc_x, short loc_y, short what_item) - Places an item of type what_item on town space {loc_x,loc_y}. If that spot is a container, the item won’t be contained inside it.
though I haven't tested this application (*) of that method and sometimes the docs are... um, less than entirely correct.

(*) by which I mean the "containment" clause

[ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 08:08: Message edited by: -silver- ]
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Newbie Alert!!! in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Wednesday, June 1 2005 08:06 Profile #31
perhaps Salmon could use this in the init state of the town script:

quote:

void put_item_on_spot(short loc_x, short loc_y, short what_item) - Places an item of type what_item on town space {loc_x,loc_y}. If that spot is a container, the item won’t be contained inside it.
though I haven't tested this application (*) of that method and sometimes the docs are... um, less than entirely correct.

(*) by which I mean the "containment" clause

[ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 08:08: Message edited by: -silver- ]
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Question about design contest. in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Wednesday, June 1 2005 08:02 Profile #9
been a while since you've been in school, I see. whenever a teacher/professor is foolish enough to be so unspecific, students take that as "the last possible instant which could conceivably be referred to as the last date mentioned". hence, 20050601 2359'59 (Pacific Time).

This has real world precedent as well, my lease says "rent is due by the 3rd", this means the 3rd is the last date to put rent into the office (including their night drop) without receiving a late fee.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Newbie Alert!!! in Blades of Avernum Editor
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Wednesday, June 1 2005 07:22 Profile #26
quote:
Originally written by Thurylandon:

Yes, it would not be hard to make a custom terrain that looked like one of the container terrains but is not a container. Import the original terrain and change its te_special_property to 0.
in deference to Salmon's newbishness, this is a desk that doesn't contain things:

begindefineterrain 500; // change to actual least number in your data file
import = 229;
te_special_property = 0;

begindefineterrain 501;
import = 230;
te_special_property = 0;
No need for custom graphics or changes to the edtior code.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Newbie Alert!!! in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Wednesday, June 1 2005 07:22 Profile #26
quote:
Originally written by Thurylandon:

Yes, it would not be hard to make a custom terrain that looked like one of the container terrains but is not a container. Import the original terrain and change its te_special_property to 0.
in deference to Salmon's newbishness, this is a desk that doesn't contain things:

begindefineterrain 500; // change to actual least number in your data file
import = 229;
te_special_property = 0;

begindefineterrain 501;
import = 230;
te_special_property = 0;
No need for custom graphics or changes to the edtior code.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Question about design contest. in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Tuesday, May 31 2005 15:34 Profile #4
I don't believe he submitted it to the contest, I think he just submitted it to the scenario table as a timer.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Sudden discovery in A3 in The Avernum Trilogy
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Saturday, May 28 2005 04:41 Profile #10
as per C/C++, 'int' is defined to be "up to the compiler author but at least 2^32". short is similar with a 2^16 minimum (+32767 to -32768 for signed short). many modern compilers just treat short as equal to int, though, and make both 2^32. 'long' is always 2^64.

However, as Kelandon said, I don't think any of that is relevant to the gold limit. I think JV just pulled a number out of his... well, anyway. there you go.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Undead Valley RELEASED in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Thursday, May 26 2005 14:11 Profile #18
great. now I can annoy kelandon by playing this scenario with the same party I've been using since I got BoA :)
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Forcing custom graphics in Blades of Avernum Editor
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Tuesday, May 24 2005 14:29 Profile #9
Most PC users will ignore a "do this change which will change everything for every OTHER scenario as well" request, anyway. Unless it's a bugfix, in which case they might do it if they don't expect JV to fix it in a future patch.

For a limited number of monsters/items you can do the import/override trick and set their graphics to your new sheets. But if it's a HUGE change, then I guess you're out of luck.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Forcing custom graphics in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Tuesday, May 24 2005 14:29 Profile #9
Most PC users will ignore a "do this change which will change everything for every OTHER scenario as well" request, anyway. Unless it's a bugfix, in which case they might do it if they don't expect JV to fix it in a future patch.

For a limited number of monsters/items you can do the import/override trick and set their graphics to your new sheets. But if it's a HUGE change, then I guess you're out of luck.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
get_what()? in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Tuesday, May 24 2005 14:24 Profile #7
or use a better editor? UltraEdit32 has a find/replace across many files.

or if you have perl (ActiveState Perl for Windows would work, too), then, of course, you can

perl -pi -e's/get_sdf/get_flag/g' *.txt
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Okay I give in The Avernum Trilogy
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Thursday, May 19 2005 20:37 Profile #2
that slith corpse is the exit B on level1/2 . I only found a blessed buckler on him, but perhaps because I already had 6? weird about the two on the altar thing. I'll have to recheck that one of these months.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
KPPP moved (again) in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Thursday, May 19 2005 08:48 Profile #10
Foul, ad hominem.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Bahss Rated... in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Wednesday, May 18 2005 16:43 Profile #29
quote:
Originally written by The Almighty Doer of Stuff:

It's not an opinion in this case. Things such as "technically advanced" can be measured.
The original statement was (in paraphrase) "Bahs is better than Canopy". That is an opinion.

TM said (in paraphrase) "no, it is a fact that Canopy is better than Bahs."

Had either of the two people said "ScenarioX is more technically advanced than ScenarioY" then we would be talking about measurable facts.

However, the operative word is "better." "Better" is a relative term. What is better for you is not necessarily what is better for me. In the case of entertainment, "better entertainment" is and always will be a matter of opinion only.

EDIT: I am wrong. I assumed "Tek," was someone's name, not a perversion of the phrase "In regards to technology,". He was making a statement of something which is measurable. However, since he chose to spell "tech" incorrectly and leave out some key words, it wasn't communicating to me until I re-re-re-re-re-re-read the statement.

So nevermind.

EDIT2: However, I must say that technology alone is not entertainment. I was more entertained by Avernum1 (having never played Exile, the whole world was new to me) than any Avernum game or BoA scenario since.

[ Wednesday, May 18, 2005 16:49: Message edited by: -silver- ]
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Bahss Rated... in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Wednesday, May 18 2005 13:29 Profile #19
quote:
Originally written by Kirk Johnson:

Eh, I may end up designing in BoE again. There's a high probability, at any rate. My interest is hitting a low regardless. I feel like I'm stretching myself, trying to restart a fiery and impassioned wedding- and it was a good one too. But it might just be time to let it die.
Perhaps you should.

From some of your quotes, you seem to hate JV and everything his world and scenarios and games stand for. You only seemed to enjoy what some people did with one of his games once, some years ago.

quote:
And Silver, are you saying that I'm being cogent with BS? If so, then by all means, expound on that.
The original message said (something like) that because other people besides yourself called the stuff in Canopy 'philosophy', you must be good at marketing.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Bahss Rated... in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Wednesday, May 18 2005 12:58 Profile #16
TM is a great marketer.

I'd tell you why I have come to this conclusion, but I decided that my rant had some mean spiritedness to go with the complement, so I'll leave at this: He's actually a good marketer.

[ Wednesday, May 18, 2005 13:08: Message edited by: silver harloe ]
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Learning to script in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Wednesday, May 18 2005 12:51 Profile #2
Khoth said everything I was going to say. So let me add: he's absolutely right.

You will not learn to script porting a BoE scenario. You'll simply not do the original scenario justice, nor will you do yourself justice.

You will not learn to script reading the docs, however many times.

You will quickly learn to script if you skim the docs, and then start to make a town and try to make people in it have interesting conversation. Once you start asking yourself: "how can I make it so he doesn't say that twice? how can I make it so he gives me a quest here? how will he reward me for the quest?" and start trying things and putting them in, and fiddling... you will be scripting. Then you start to ask new and better questions about the environment and setting, and...

then you scrap that scenario and start the one you really want to write :) .

--

I hope there's one you want to write.

If you don't have an idea burning in your head that you can't get rid of that says "write me! write me!" you will never slog through the days and days of tedium involved in placing knick-knacks, writing shopkeepers, describing rooms, etc. If you don't have a passion for a story, you will never make the story believable or interesting to anyone else. If you don't have a goal in mind, you will never reach it.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
I CANT WAIT FOR A4!! in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Tuesday, May 17 2005 10:20 Profile #14
quote:
Originally written by Micawber:

and (only those in the UK will understand this)
In the 80s, Dr Who played often on my local Public Broadcasting Station and I watched it over and over and over...
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
i am just wondering.. in Blades of Avernum Editor
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Sunday, May 15 2005 11:13 Profile #7
I didn't rename the tutorial, I got rid of it. I put another scenario in its place on my local machine. it's undistributable in that form for hopefully obvious reasons. I'm well within the EULA.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
i am just wondering.. in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Sunday, May 15 2005 11:13 Profile #7
I didn't rename the tutorial, I got rid of it. I put another scenario in its place on my local machine. it's undistributable in that form for hopefully obvious reasons. I'm well within the EULA.
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Debuging mode in Blades of Avernum Editor
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Saturday, May 14 2005 20:43 Profile #4
Probably the easiest place to put it to ensure it happens is LOAD_SCEN_STATE in YourScenario.txt (i.e. the text file that matches YourScenario.bas)

And if that's what your English looks like after you edited for typos... EEK. It must have been illegible before hand. Remind me not to play your scenario, as I'd go insane reading more than a couple of lines of text like that.

[ Saturday, May 14, 2005 20:47: Message edited by: silver harloe ]
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00
Debuging mode in Blades of Avernum
-silver-
Cartographer
Member # 995
 written Saturday, May 14 2005 20:43 Profile #4
Probably the easiest place to put it to ensure it happens is LOAD_SCEN_STATE in YourScenario.txt (i.e. the text file that matches YourScenario.bas)

And if that's what your English looks like after you edited for typos... EEK. It must have been illegible before hand. Remind me not to play your scenario, as I'd go insane reading more than a couple of lines of text like that.

[ Saturday, May 14, 2005 20:47: Message edited by: silver harloe ]
Posts: 206 | Registered: Thursday, April 18 2002 07:00

Pages