The 3.3.0 release thread

**Napsterbater** · June 19, 2011, 06:37

Just happened to me:

Code:

You hit the Cutpurse.
The Cutpurse hits you.
The Cutpurse misses you.
You hit the Cutpurse.
The Cutpurse flees in terror!
The Cutpurse hits you.
The Cutpurse touches you.
Your purse feels lighter.
44 coins were stolen!
There is a puff of smoke!
The Cutpurse is no longer afraid.

The last six messages all happened in the same turn.

**jens** · June 19, 2011, 10:33

Originally posted by Magnate

Hi all,

The release of 3.3.0 starts today, with a "freeze" of development activity. This means that the devteam effort will be focused on bugs and issues which have been deemed fixable in the next month. This thread is for updates on the release - grateful if specific issues could be discussed in their own threads.

Great!

I suppose that bugreports should still be posted to the Development forum?

Originally posted by Magnate

The intention is to release 3.3.0 in about four weeks time. There will be a series of "release candidates" which will temporarily replace the dev versions, because we will need people to playtest them for bugs and niggles (typos etc.). I hope to have the first of these available in the next few days, including jens's artifacts, qwerty's help files and artes's changes to doors and spikes.

I'll post a few niggles I have ;-)

Originally posted by Magnate

The good news is that frantic change will slow down for a bit and we'll focus on fixing bugs and balancing. The bad news is that change will slow down for a bit and whatever it was you were hoping we'd get in for 3.3 has probably been postponed until 3.4 or later.

One problem here is that very much can be considered balancing. Do you have a definition, or a feeling, for what would be considered to belong to the category of balancing?

Originally posted by Magnate

- ensure that fixes for bugs in 3.3.0 are released as 3.3.1 et seq.

I've been wondering how this will work in practice at GitHub. I see two ways:
1) Dev stays frozen while 3.3.x fixes go on, until some level of stability has been reached.
2) In practice 2 master branches are kept, one for 3.3.x and one for 3.4.

How will you do it?

**Magnate** · June 19, 2011, 12:58

Originally posted by Napsterbater

The last six messages all happened in the same turn.

Thank you. This is part of ticket #726 - I'll open a thread in the Development forum about it. It's quite complicated so I think the best thing is just to capture and fix as many examples as possible.

**Magnate** · June 19, 2011, 13:18

Originally posted by jens

I suppose that bugreports should still be posted to the Development forum?

Yes, sorry for any lack of clarity about that. Bugs in dev versions (including RCs) should be reported in the Development forum. But debates about what features or balance changes are must-haves ought to go in this forum to reach a wider audience. That's kind of what I meant about "issues" having their own threads. Like the General Store's buying habits, for instance (#1181).

One problem here is that very much can be considered balancing. Do you have a definition, or a feeling, for what would be considered to belong to the category of balancing?

Yes. Anything that's already coded, and can be adjusted by changing numbers (chances, frequencies, rarities, power levels, etc.) is the kind of balancing that we should be focusing on for 3.3. This includes things like chances of caverns/labyrinths/pits/vaults appearing, rarities/strengths of monsters and items, saving throws etc. Quite a lot. It won't be perfect in a month, but it should be possible to improve things.

Anything that needs a whole new chunk of code ought to wait for 3.4. This would include things like new race or class abilities, item flags, spell realms, spells/effects, ID/squelch behaviour, etc.

I've been wondering how this will work in practice at GitHub. I see two ways:
1) Dev stays frozen while 3.3.x fixes go on, until some level of stability has been reached.
2) In practice 2 master branches are kept, one for 3.3.x and one for 3.4.

How will you do it?

Git makes this easy. There's a "master" branch, which will continue in development (but will no longer be published as dev versions until 3.3.0 is released). There's a "3.3-release" branch, which is what will be published as the dev versions for the next month (the release candidates). Once 3.3.0 is released, master will resume being published as dev versions, and the 3.3-release branch will cherry-pick bugfixes from master and be periodically released as 3.3.1, 3.3.2 etc. as necessary. Once 3.4.0 is released, the 3.3-release branch will be mothballed or deleted.

**Magnate** · June 20, 2011, 00:08

Ok, I've just pushed the first set of changes to the 3.3-release branch. If d_m's wizardry has worked, the first release candidate should be available shortly from the usual page (rephial.org/nightlies). There are a number of bugfixes and changes since the June 10th dev version:

- the "gold remaining" bug is fixed
- the "loading prefs does not load subwindow settings" bug is fixed
- some Windows input bugs were fixed
- the 'T' and 'f' characters in the 5x8x font are fixed
- the distribution of level feelings is smoother, and "special" feelings are no longer triggered by monster drops (only artifacts on the floor)
- some squelching anomalies are fixed (rings of Dog, weapons with +hit and -dam or vice versa)
- Dreads and gnome magi now only appear once in monster recall
- the spellbook browser has column headings again, and lists spells in the right order
- the 'n' command should now behave properly (e.g. when you're confused, or when your stack of ammo runs out)
- the SDL port looks a bit better (fonts in order, options box and About box tidied up)
- the tilesets all have a tile for a pile of items
- there are changes to doors and spikes, including the ability to lock doors with the 'D'isarm command (there is no help text for this yet though)
- there are some changes to artifacts, including three new artifacts (and a returning Evenstar)
- ego heavy armours now retain their to-hit penalty (unless it is explicitly removed by the ego type)

All feedback and bug reports gratefully received (in the Development forum).

On a side note, I didn't mean this thread to discourage anyone working on contributing stuff. If you're doing any of the stuff in this list, for instance, you don't have to wait until 3.3 is released to do it. Just carry on and someone will look at it and merge it if/when it's ready to go in.

**Thraalbee** · June 21, 2011, 09:50

I just upgraded from the May 24 to June 19 release. cLvl 44.

One problem found so far: When editing a keymap it says "Press Control-Return to stop inputting characters" but on my win7 pc it is impossible to break that input sequence. When I try ctrl-enter and other sequences it crashes. 100% reproducable for me both for a new character and the one from May 24.

Overall I really like the way V has gone over the last year. Thanks guys!

/Mathias

**Derakon** · June 21, 2011, 16:13

Yeah, there's a thread for that in the development forum. I rather doubt that particular bug will make it into the release.

**Magnate** · June 21, 2011, 23:08

I just pushed a new RC build to fix the bug with wands of slow monster being too powerful. Monsters should now save more often, and when they are slowed they should only slow to half speed, and the effect should last for much less time. Grateful for any further reports on the balance of this.

This new build also shows pStun on the character details screen. Slow digestion has moved across to the last column, displacing ImpSP (which is not yet used).

**d_m** · June 22, 2011, 00:51

Originally posted by Thraalbeast

I just upgraded from the May 24 to June 19 release. cLvl 44.

One problem found so far: When editing a keymap it says "Press Control-Return to stop inputting characters" but on my win7 pc it is impossible to break that input sequence. When I try ctrl-enter and other sequences it crashes. 100% reproducable for me both for a new character and the one from May 24.

Overall I really like the way V has gone over the last year. Thanks guys!

/Mathias

I made a patch for this that I will apply when I get a chance. Should be fixed tonight, and hopefully a new RC will be pushed soon.

**scud** · June 22, 2011, 04:30

Is 3.2 the basis for 3.3, ie will what I've seen in the 20 June OS X nightly be of any value/interest to anyone? I've just spent 45 minutes writing some astonishingly insightful stuff, but then lost it. Herewith an executive precis...

*****

1. Nice work on removing the clunky 1000' steps in threat and goody level - much smoother progression now.

2. Too many potions of +1/-1, at too early a level.

3. Recharge times on rods and Activateables are now too quick? Have just picked up two DSMs which allow me to blow balls every 35 turns!

4. Ring of the Mouse is now absolute trash; Ring of the Dog is perhaps too good (or my perception of the impact of -1 stealth and 5-10 points off AC is flawed).

5. Rings of Protection and Elemental Rings (especially given that they don't appear until quite deep) are rubbish. Kill the Elementals or reintroduce weak branding. Boost Protection with a random pFear/pBlnd/pConf.

6. Generally there should be more competition for my valuable ring fingers. You lower race types might appreciate See Invisible, but for me it's a couple of Dogs, an Open Wounds (if they're still there - haven't seen one for ages), Damage, Speed, and perhaps a nice randart if one presents itself. Either I'm very stuck in my ways or it's all a bit formulaic.

7. Mushrooms. Does anyone ever knowingly eat one in response to a threat? I collect Vigors. I squelch all others.

8. Combat. Has there been a recent retweaking of blows/round? I'm STR 18/115 and DEX 18, which doesn't seem too shabby, but I can barely lift a pike. You're pretty deep into the game before anything other than a whip / dagger / main gauche / rapier is your weapon of choice. I appreciate that heavier weapons have an increased chance of 'great hits', but it still seems unbalanced. Has there ever been any consideration/experimentation with heavier weapons having a stunning effect on monsters?

*****

That's it. A quarter of the length of the original and probably all the better for it.

**d_m** · June 22, 2011, 04:39

Originally posted by scud

Is 3.2 the basis for 3.3, ie will what I've seen in the 20 June OS X nightly be of any value/interest to anyone?

Yes. The June 20 nightly (and nightlies going forward) are direct ancestors of what will be 3.3.0. So thanks for your comments!

I'm interested to hear if anyone else shares your DSM concerns. I dropped the recharge time down really low in the hope that someone would actually find DSM activation useful. Right now my sense is that (non-ego) DSM is not overpowered.

I like the idea of a random extra effect on rings of protection. But that may be moving things in the wrong direction (e.g. making items better, making game easier). What do other people think?

Given how rare mushrooms are (and the allocation problems discussed in other threads) I think mixed-blessing mushrooms are mostly terrible right now. It'd be nice to improve them but I'm not sure there'd be time to balance them for 3.3.

**Philip** · June 22, 2011, 05:00

Please don't say ring of the mouse is trash if you haven't actually played a mage or anything. A mage might also appreciate some of the mushrooms(debility). You also forgot free action as a usefull ring. Combat: AFAIK only fractional blows, which should actually make wielding pike's and stuff easier than before, especially with 18, rather than 18/10 DEX

**Derakon** · June 22, 2011, 05:42

The problem with =Mouse is that only pure casters can use it; everyone else has enough reliance on melee for it to be nonviable. That's sufficiently niche that it could use some reworking.

**scud** · June 22, 2011, 05:55

Originally posted by d_m

I dropped the recharge time down really low in the hope that someone would actually find DSM activation useful.

To be honest I've stuck with my Scale Mail for 26 extra AC points, so those DSMs probably aren't overpowered

That said I'm a Ranger and I've found a few half-decent arrows so I can match the DSM's damage. Would be a useful range weapon for some classes, though.

Originally posted by d_m

I like the idea of a random extra effect on rings of protection. But that may be moving things in the wrong direction

My feeling is that the Ring of Protection is junk, and it should either be made useful or ditched. Ditto Ice, Fire etc given the depths at which they occur. I'd question the real benefit of AC +15 once you're beyond AC 60, but by the time you're finding elemental rings you're probably hovering around the AC 200 mark.

Here's a thought to get things moving back in the right direction: what if all offensive rings only functioned on the first attack of each turn?

Originally posted by Philip

Please don't say ring of the mouse is trash if you haven't actually played a mage or anything. A mage might also appreciate some of the mushrooms(debility). You also forgot free action as a usefull ring.

I'm too attached to bashing things to play as a mage, but I can't see the benefit of the dex boost if you're unable to hurt anything, and stealth seems a very 'uninfluential' attribute - I alternate between High Elf Rangers and Dwarven Paladins and the stealth difference between race/class is 6, but I find it makes bugger all difference to anything.

I'd hate to be in a position where a Debility was my best option, unless I was within sight of the next Character Level.

I did forget Free Action, yes. I don't bother with rings of FA, I'll wait until it's available in some other form. I can't remember the last time I was paralysed which, speaking as a player who regularly melées Death Molds, suggests that paralysers aren't that hard to avoid over the first 25-30 CLs.

The 3.3.0 release thread

The 3.3.0 release thread

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