[3.3] Targetting using *

[Narvius]

It used to select the nearest enemy by default, now it seems to go for the next-nearest.

[Magnate]

It used to select the nearest enemy by default, now it seems to go for the next-nearest.

Interesting - you may have won the prize for First Genuine Bug in 3.3.0. AFAICT there were no intentional changes to targetting mechanics in 3.3's development, and the only change I can think of is the one to display the path-to-target (which we borrowed from NPP). There's no reason this should have changed the behaviour of '*' though, so it may be related to the input layer changes instead.

Grateful for confirmation of this bug from others, and also for a savefile from which it can be immediately reproduced.

Late thought - is it by any chance only ignoring mimics? The behaviour could be related to the mimic changes, unless it's demonstrably happening with no mimics in sight ...

[Narvius]

Savefile attached. It should target the bottom left orc, instead it targets the one above him (so, no, not mimic-related).

If it helps, Windows XP SP3, no tiles, with minor modifications to the prf files because I severely dislike the atrociously-coloured block walls.

Edit: Also, "target nearest" works as intended.

[Timo Pietilä]

Grateful for confirmation of this bug from others, and also for a savefile from which it can be immediately reproduced.

Works well for me, so this isn't case for all copies.

[Magnate]

Savefile attached. It should target the bottom left orc, instead it targets the one above him (so, no, not mimic-related).

If it helps, Windows XP SP3, no tiles, with minor modifications to the prf files because I severely dislike the atrociously-coloured block walls.

Edit: Also, "target nearest" works as intended.

Hmm. Given your edit and Timo's comment (thanks Timo), I am now wondering whether '*' has ever explicitly looked for the shortest distance from @. Perhaps it just starts at the first monster in the list. I'll check with 3.2.0 to see if things have changed. (For this we need a 3.2.0 savefile, but it shouldn't be hard to arrange.)

[Timo Pietilä]

Hmm. Given your edit and Timo's comment (thanks Timo), I am now wondering whether '*' has ever explicitly looked for the shortest distance from @. Perhaps it just starts at the first monster in the list. I'll check with 3.2.0 to see if things have changed. (For this we need a 3.2.0 savefile, but it shouldn't be hard to arrange.)

What I did was getting between two townsfolk so that distance to one was 8 and other 9, then moved one step so that distances were reversed. '*' changed target just like it should do.

[EDIT] checked with attached savefile, and for me '*' does target bottom left orc, not the one above it.

[EDIT to EDIT] Both orcs are BTW 5 steps away from '@', so both are valid "nearest" targets. Might be random which one it chooses.

[Narvius]

Did you try it with the savefile I provided?
(load up, *)

[Edit]
Okay. Now I'm in town, a drunk at 0N4E, and a beggar at 3N16W.
* targets the beggar, ' targets the drunk.

Weird.

Second try.
Cat at 1N1E, Cat#2 at 5S1E, beggar at 0N8W.
Selects Cat#2, which is incidentally the next-nearest target.

Attached: Situation @Second try.

[Second Edit]
I just redownloaded 3.3.0 off rephial and started a brand new character without any prior modifications to the game files. The problem persists, so it's not caused by any of my tinkering.

[Timo Pietilä]

Did you try it with the savefile I provided?
(load up, *)

[Edit]
Okay. Now I'm in town, a drunk at 0N4E, and a beggar at 3N16W.
* targets the beggar, ' targets the drunk.

Weird.

Second try.
Cat at 1N1E, Cat#2 at 5S1E, beggar at 0N8W.
Selects Cat#2, which is incidentally the next-nearest target.

Attached: Situation @Second try.

[Second Edit]
I just redownloaded 3.3.0 off rephial and started a brand new character without any prior modifications to the game files. The problem persists, so it's not caused by any of my tinkering.

Your savefiles work in my copy just fine, both of them. First one targeted the bottom left orc, second the nearest cat.

Maybe this has something to do with platform?? Mine is Win XP SP3.

[d_m]

Okay. Now I'm in town, a drunk at 0N4E, and a beggar at 3N16W.
* targets the beggar, ' targets the drunk.

I will look into this more closely. I'm don't think that (') and (*) are expected to necessarily target the SAME closest monster, although maybe it would be nice if they were guaranteed to have the same behavior.

[Narvius]

Well, that's at least what I'm used to.

Just to make sure my mind isn't playing tricks I tried it on 3.20 - works fine, the way I expect.

[Magnate]

Well, that's at least what I'm used to.

Just to make sure my mind isn't playing tricks I tried it on 3.20 - works fine, the way I expect.

Good. It's interesting that 3.3 works for Timo with both your savefiles (thanks again to Timo for taking the time to test). That would imply that there is something about keymaps or user prefs or local settings that is making the difference. Fortunately d_m is more knowledgeable than me about this stuff, and I'm sure will find any bug that exists!

FWIW, I think * and ' ought to be guaranteed to start at the closest monster every time - and select the same one if two are equidistant.

[Blue Baron]

Second try.
Cat at 1N1E, Cat#2 at 5S1E, beggar at 0N8W.
Selects Cat#2, which is incidentally the next-nearest target.

This happens to me as well. It happens when I use the asterisk on the numpad, but not shift-8, so it seems to because of the double numpad keypresses mentioned in another thread. (this would be easier to see if there were 4 creatures instead of 3, it would only switch between two of them.)

Edit: I guess the internal translation is working again and the translations for ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, DIVIDE, and DECIMAL, should be removed again from handle_keydown() in main-win.c?

Edit2: removed VK_CLEAR from the above list, because it is still needed, and added a missing character.

[Nomad]

it seems to because of the double numpad keypresses mentioned in another thread.

You're right. I've got a group of five monsters on-screen now: pressing Shift+8 repeatedly moves the target from 1st to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th in order of closeness; pressing * on the numpad targets the 2nd then the 4th.

[Timo Pietilä]

This happens to me as well. It happens when I use the asterisk on the numpad, but not shift-8, so it seems to because of the double numpad keypresses mentioned in another thread. (this would be easier to see if there were 4 creatures instead of 3, it would only switch between two of them.)

Ah, I did use the asterisk on actual keyboard-section of keyboard, not the numpad one. That could explain the difference between my experience and OP:s....testing....yes, now I get that too. Numpad '*' acts differently than the other '*'.

[Magnate]

Ah, I did use the asterisk on actual keyboard-section of keyboard, not the numpad one. That could explain the difference between my experience and OP:s....testing....yes, now I get that too. Numpad '*' acts differently than the other '*'.

Ah, good. I mean, good that we've established the problem precisely, and that it is a(nother) numpad problem, not an inherent problem with targeting!