Do stairs always show up on the level map (M key)?

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  • smbhax
    Swordsman
    • Oct 2021
    • 340

    Do stairs always show up on the level map (M key)?

    It seems to me that the drawing of stairs on the level map (M key) is prioritized, so that they always draw there even when parts of rooms and so forth do not due to the map's low resolution.

    Is this in fact the case? Are (known) stairways always drawn on the level map?

    If yes, bonus questions:
    - Has this always been the case in all versions and variants?
    - Are there any other features that always show up on the map?

    The manual is somewhat nebulous on the question, saying: "Only the major dungeon features will be visible because of the scale, so even some important objects may not show up on the map. This is particularly useful in locating where the stairs are relative to your current position, or for identifying unexplored areas of the dungeon."

    Stairs are emphasized there, but it isn't COMPLETELY clear if they qualify as a "major dungeon feature" or if that just means big rooms/halls or something, and stairs are perhaps merely "important objects."

    (And as for being useful for identifying unexplored areas of the dungeon, that is *definitely* not always the case, as tunnels for instance may only be shown as solid hash blocks, so you can't tell if the end of them shown on the level map actually represents the tunnel dead-ending, or if it's still open for exploration there.

    I keep thinking that some color coding or something (red? orange?) for the unfinished edges of the explored area on the level would help a lot for spotting where you haven't quite finished exploring.)
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  • Nick
    Vanilla maintainer
    • Apr 2007
    • 9634

    #2
    The level map basically represents blocks of actual terrain by a single feature by picking the highest 'priority' feature from the block. You can see the priorities in the 'priority' field in terrain.txt; stairs get a priority of 25, which is the highest, so should always be represented. There is nothing especially smart done for tunnels - the walls showing up is because walls are prioritised over floors (and unknown terrain). I think basically this system has been used for a long time.
    One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
    In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

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    • smbhax
      Swordsman
      • Oct 2021
      • 340

      #3
      Thanks! That's pretty clear. = )

      I happen to have 3.0.9b installed (last console version for Windows : ) and it doesn't have the priority parameter in its terrain.txt--stairs on its map still look to be prioritized over walls somehow, though.
      My Angband videos

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      • smbhax
        Swordsman
        • Oct 2021
        • 340

        #4
        Ah, in 3.0.9b the terrain priorities are hard-coded ("Hack -- priority array" : D) in cave.c.

        Zangband "2.7.5 preview I" has them in maid-grf.c. ...

        Angband 2.4.frog-knows has them in io.c, where they're just by symbol rather than terrain type: "@" is 10, "<" and ">" are 5, "#" is -5, "." is -10, etc.

        They're the same in UMoria (tcio.c, checked HunterZ's UMoria 5.6-win32-msvc1 version), although # and . were abstracted to [wallsym] and [floorsym].

        So yes I guess it's always been in there. : D
        Last edited by smbhax; December 10, 2021, 00:30.
        My Angband videos

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