Re-enabling bones

[GrimBob]

I miss bones files, they were so crunchy...
all kidding aside I'd like to, working from Vanilla, re-enable this. I know Ghosts aren't planned till what looks like 4.0.fk but what would be a good place for me to start? I'd just like to have the files back, any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Death.c is probably the best place to start, no?
Any constants I need to revive?
Does anyone have the old bone file generation code handy I could uses as reference?

Thanks,

GrimBob

[Derakon]

There's any number of variants with working player ghost systems and a strong resemblance to Vanilla's source code; it seems like it'd be easiest to pillage one of them. And I bet that if you had a working and reasonably balanced patch the devs would be willing to include it in 3.4.

[GrimBob]

Thanks Derakon (you may pass) I'll have a look see, any suggestions as to which provides the least complication in understanding what they did?

I'm not sure exactly what to do about my 'flavor' for ghosts so I'm just starting at the ground , well 6 ft under it, with bones for the moment. Perhaps mine won't be an actual ghost so much as a game effect. eg

"You recall a whispered tale of X the Warrior who perished here... Some of his/her belongings may still remain in these depths" with artifacts placed on the level based on what X had.

Shrugs,

GrimBob

[Magnate]

I think it would be excellent if you made a branch with player ghosts and put it up on github (see the stickied thread if you are new to github). It would, as Derakon says, be a very good candidate for 3.4. It's also one of the oldest outstanding tickets (#39).

As well as looking at variants, you could look at older versions of V - player ghosts were removed somewhere in the 2.8.x series. Although lots of the code has changed beyond recognition, I have a suspicion that the code for generating monsters hasn't changed much, and the old player ghost code might be hooked back in without too much trouble.

This is just a guess though - it might be easier to backport from a variant (try NPP) and/or start from scratch.

[CunningGabe]

Bringing back player ghosts is on my todo list for 3.4, and I've done a little thinking about them. NPP's system seems really cool, but there are a few hackish bits of code I find a little unsatisfying. For instance, getting monster recall to work in a sensible way for player ghosts is messy due to how they are implemented. I'm planning on reimplementing player ghosts from the ground up, but stealing the NPP code to change the ghosts depending on the race/class of the expired adventurer.

I'm also hoping that I'll be able to roll the "monster champion" idea in at the same time -- this is the idea that if a non-unique monster finishes you off, it would appear later as a pseudo-unique.

That said, please feel free to give it a stab, either by porting from NPP or starting from scratch. I'm not sure when exactly I'll find the time to do it myself!

[artes]

Yeah, ghosts are cool. Please let them rise from their graves again.

Monster champions sounds cool too.

[Therem Harth]

I always thought player ghosts - including the default set - were one of the cool things about OAngband; they helped spice up the low levels, which would have been very boring otherwise. Anything that makes low levels less boring is good IMO. Also, I just like the idea of Angband being haunted by the ghosts of adventurers past. It adds atmosphere.

Monster champions (or random uniques, whatever) would be cool too...