Calls that we wish existed

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AuthorTopic: Calls that we wish existed
Apprentice
Member # 4127
Profile #25
quote:
Originally written by Drakefyre:

has_num_of_item(item) will return the number of charges.
If you have two wands of the same type, it will sum the charges. These are wand-only functions that I am thinking of. That function is great for potions and objects.
Posts: 48 | Registered: Saturday, March 20 2004 08:00
Warrior
Member # 1505
Profile #26
quote:
Originally written by Drakefyre:

has_num_of_item(item) will return the number of charges.
Yeah... that's what I thought.

So, it works as long as you don't use it for wands.

[ Wednesday, April 07, 2004 06:09: Message edited by: Newtfeet ]

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-Newtfeet
Posts: 151 | Registered: Saturday, July 13 2002 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4154
Profile #27
Wands combine anyway, no matter what the docs say. At least, they do in Valley of Dying Things. Not that this bug is bad. It saves a lot of space for my 1-PC parties.

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You're a moron if you think I'm not.
Posts: 213 | Registered: Friday, March 26 2004 08:00
Apprentice
Member # 4127
Profile #28
quote:
Originally written by Eldiran:

Wands combine anyway, no matter what the docs say. At least, they do in Valley of Dying Things. Not that this bug is bad. It saves a lot of space for my 1-PC parties.
Now that's just bizarre. Can you elect to split the wand back up when you trade it between characters like you do with potions?
Posts: 48 | Registered: Saturday, March 20 2004 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 455
Profile #29
I've been trying to reproduce this, and I can't. Do you remember where precisely you got those wands? Presumably, you need wands with the same ability_str. Let's hope! Otherwise it's not a harmless bug.

EDIT: I take that back. From further tinkering, there seems to be at least one condition in which wands combine. Identical wands picked up in the same town will combine with each other, but not with identical wands from different towns/scenarios (which includes different play-throughs of a single scenario). Once combined, they cannot be split.

[ Wednesday, April 07, 2004 11:28: Message edited by: Boots ]

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Forgive them, for they are young and rich and white.
Posts: 265 | Registered: Saturday, December 29 2001 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4154
Profile #30
So far every wand in Valley of Dying Things that I acquired of the same type combined. Wands of Ice combined, Wands of Slow combined, and Wands of Bolts (Is that what it's called?) combined. I eventually had a Wand of Bolts with 15 charges. These were all from varying towns in the same scenario.

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You're a moron if you think I'm not.
Posts: 213 | Registered: Friday, March 26 2004 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 455
Profile #31
Crazy. VoDT is probably the more reliable test, but I've made a sample scenario with two towns, and I can't combine wands between them. I can however combine a wand with another that I pick up after leaving and re-entering the same town in which I acquired the first. Meanwhile, the inability to combine across scenarios seems pretty hard and fast. That all seems eccentric enough to need repairing in one direction or another.

[ Wednesday, April 07, 2004 12:21: Message edited by: Boots ]

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Forgive them, for they are young and rich and white.
Posts: 265 | Registered: Saturday, December 29 2001 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4180
Profile #32
I'd like to see either:

A.) A "fade" parameter added to move_to_new_town(), so we could optionally make the screen fade to black before the move and fade from black in the new location; OR (better yet)

B.) fade_to_black() and fade_from_black() added to the cutscene calls.

It's the best way I know of to let the player quickly grasp the cutscene has changed the time and/or location. I can put up a dialog to "fill the gap", but it still feels rather odd to just suddenly be in the new town when you dismiss the dialog.

To "feel" right, in a (more :) ) perfect world, my cutscene needs to fade to black, put up a dialog with brief text about the transition to the new location, then fade back in with the party in the new town.

-spyderbytes

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-spyderbytes
Posts: 200 | Registered: Wednesday, March 31 2004 08:00
Apprentice
Member # 4231
Profile #33
Has this horse that follows already been beaten past death?
Party manipulation like I remember from Avernum 1. Storing, adding, etc.ing characters.
Among the reasons for this would be if you wanted to control the player's party level and type without just shipping with a party.
Also, if you wanted a game like - does anyone remember Final Fantasy 6? (3US) You started with one character, Terra. Later you met Locke, Edgar, and Sabin. Then Locke left to go spy on South Figaro, and his slot was filled by Banon. Etc.
Then in the second half of the game, you had more than 4 characters available, and they waited in your base of operations while you chose four to explore.
It would let the characters be more than 1 character-unit in the game, and instead be a personality apiece, nicely complementing cutscene ability.
If I read right this is not in BoA now at all.

[ Saturday, April 10, 2004 16:28: 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
...b10010b...
Member # 869
Profile Homepage #34
NPCs are in, but you can only have 2 of them at a time, and they're controlled by the AI.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Apprentice
Member # 4231
Profile #35
...ok. That's what I thought I had read.
Aaugh!
So they use slots 5 and 6, like in Nethergate. And they can only follow the main party, not be a part of it. They can't be the whole thing, and they can't be player controlled. And if I read right, you can't take them outdoors.

So at any one time, the party can only be 3 'characters' in the plot, 1 player controlled!

I hope to goodness this is fixable in the engine.
Just think of the greatness of plot possible if it'd run like FF6, or even FF5 (which used the same 4 for most of the game after the initial meeting-period, save at one point trading one character for his daughter).

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Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer
and Fan of Classic Style Graphics
Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
BANNED
Member # 4
Profile Homepage #36
Correction-
The characters in slots in 5 and 6 are part of the party, you don't control them, but they also join you in outdoors fights.

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Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00
...b10010b...
Member # 869
Profile Homepage #37
Theoretically, you can use scripts to have as many NPCs as you like follow the party around. But they'll still be AI-controlled, and having too many at once will probably slow down the game pretty badly.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4180
Profile #38
Not really a call, but...

I'd like to see some sort of token we could put in strings that would expand to a given party member's name. E.g., something like %char0% would expand to whatever name the player gave the first character in the party.

-spyderbytes

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-spyderbytes
Posts: 200 | Registered: Wednesday, March 31 2004 08:00
Warrior
Member # 1016
Profile #39
I wish that there was a call that would cast a certain spell on a certain character. example

void cast_spell(short target_char,short mage_or_priest,short which_spell)

that would then cast the selected spell on the target character.
Posts: 141 | Registered: Saturday, April 20 2002 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4180
Profile #40
You can "fake" it by applying the effects of the spell to a character, then using the appropriate sparkles and sound effects, as if the spell had been cast. More work than your requested call, but it works. :)

-spyderbytes

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-spyderbytes
Posts: 200 | Registered: Wednesday, March 31 2004 08:00
Post Navel Trauma ^_^
Member # 67
Profile Homepage #41
Is it just my imagination, or is there no way to get a creature's memory cells outside of its own script?

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Barcoorah: I even did it to a big dorset ram.

New Mac BoE
Posts: 1798 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4180
Profile #42
AFAIK, that's correct Khoth. You can set creature/terrain memory cells from outside their own script, but not get.

Bit of a kludge, but you could have the creature set a SDF to the same thing a particular memory cell contains (and make sure you keep it in synch if it changes), then you could get the SDF from anywhere.

-spyderbytes

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-spyderbytes
Posts: 200 | Registered: Wednesday, March 31 2004 08:00
Warrior
Member # 4186
Profile #43
add_char_to_party that works for more than 2 npc. I think numbers 5 to 9 and 0 are available so up to 5 or 6 npc.

And in order to keep compatibility :
set_max_char_in_party
A global call that set max number of npc in party the default is 2.
This call won't remove npc already in party but will not allow to add more npc than the max set after this call.
Posts: 175 | Registered: Friday, April 2 2004 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4180
Profile #44
0 is the first char in the party. When you start placing NPCs in a new town, the editor makes the first one char number 6. So 0-5 are really the only numbers that could be used for party members (and the ones that ARE used).

Jeff could (theoretically) change the starting number for NPCs placed in towns to add more potential party members, but it would break all existing (and half-written) scenarios--including Jeff's own scenarios that come with the game. IOW, not at all likely to happen at this point.

In my own experience, a party of more than 6 at any given time becomes quite unwieldy anyway. You spend more time futzing with party members than actually playing the game. YMMV, but it's a good limit IMO. :)

-spyderbytes

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-spyderbytes
Posts: 200 | Registered: Wednesday, March 31 2004 08:00
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
Profile Homepage #45
A call that would place a text bubble at the top middle of the screen, like the effect in the intro movie to A3.

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Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens.
Smoo: Get ready to face the walls!
Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr.

Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me
The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever
Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
Triad Mage
Member # 7
Profile Homepage #46
Just do what I did and use an invisible monster.

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"At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." - Menander
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Drakefyre's Demesne - Happy Happy Joy Joy
Encyclopedia Ermariana - Trapped in the Closet
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You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse!
Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
Profile Homepage #47
What you *did*? Have you released a scenario yet? :P

Seriously, though, this is a good idea. I'm not sure that it will exactly do what I want, but it's worth a shot.

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Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens.
Smoo: Get ready to face the walls!
Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr.

Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me
The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever
Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
Warrior
Member # 4186
Profile #48
quote:
Originally written by Thuryl:

Theoretically, you can use scripts to have as many NPCs as you like follow the party around. But they'll still be AI-controlled, and having too many at once will probably slow down the game pretty badly.
Will they really follow the party when they leave the town?? Then in outdoor will they follow the party and it goes in town? Same question when a telporter is used, or when it's just from an area to another.

[ Tuesday, April 20, 2004 02:24: Message edited by: Vent ]
Posts: 175 | Registered: Friday, April 2 2004 08:00
Warrior
Member # 4186
Profile #49
EDIT : I think you thought I wanted add new chars in the party itself not npc joining that party. That wans't my purpose, just the ability to add a bit more NPC in the party but they stay NPC.

Well, a row of 6 is already long and 8 will be even more long. But that would be a design choice. Also to match npc in party with numbers coud be a problem for the player when there are 4 instead of 2. But perhaps some solution not too tough could be applied like mention in the console the npc name for each number shortcut.
END EDIT.

quote:
Originally written by spyderbytes:

...Jeff could (theoretically) change the starting number for NPCs

The starting number doesn't need to change. just the max number.
quote:
Originally written by spyderbytes:

...but it would break all existing (and half-written) scenarios--including Jeff's own scenarios that come with the game. IOW, not at all likely to happen at this point.

I can't say for sure but I don't see why. The game should just manage a max default that will keep compatibility with older scenario. But will allow change that in a scenario through a call.

At least if the starting number doesn't need to change but I don't see why it needs.

[ Tuesday, April 20, 2004 02:57: Message edited by: Vent ]
Posts: 175 | Registered: Friday, April 2 2004 08:00

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