Editing the monster.txt file

[Jothar Hillpeople]

1. I notice that all of the whitespaces and n00b explanations of the data structures being used have been stripped from the edit files, which makes it hard to read and edit. Can i request that these be put back in?

2. I'm trying to change the non-canon Rogrog the Black Troll with the more canonical Cave Troll of Moria (existed in book, but given orc chieftan's role of skewering Frodo in movie). Is there any way I can give him orc escorts?

[will_asher]

1. I notice that all of the whitespaces and n00b explanations of the data structures being used have been stripped from the edit files, which makes it hard to read and edit. Can i request that these be put back in?

That's weird, the explainations are all in my monster.txt file and it's from 3.0.9, but I'll copy it here for you:

# This file is used to initialize the "lib/data/monster.raw" file, which is
# used to initialize the "monster race" information for the Angband game.

# Do not modify this file unless you know exactly what you are doing,
# unless you wish to risk possible system crashes and broken savefiles.
# After modifying this file, delete the "lib/data/monster.raw" file.

# === Understanding monster.txt ===

# N: serial number : monster name
# G: symbol : color
# I: speed : hit points : vision : armor class : alertness
# W: depth : rarity : unused (always 0) : experience for kill
# B: attack method : attack effect : damage
# S: spell frequency |
# S: spell type | spell type | etc
# F: flag | flag | etc
# D: Description

# 'N' indicates the beginning of an entry. The serial number must
# increase for each new item. Entry 0 is used for the player.

# 'G' is for graphics - symbol and color. There are 16 colors, as
# follows:

# D - Dark Gray w - White s - Gray o - Orange
# r - Red g - Green b - Blue u - Brown
# d - Black W - Light Gray v - Violet y - Yellow
# R - Light Red G - Light Green B - Light Blue U - Light Brown

# (note that "black" is the same color as the screen background, and
# thus the monster will appear to be an empty black space if its
# color is "d".)

# 'I' is for information - speed, health, vision in tens of feet,
# armor class, and alertness. 110 is normal speed. Alertness ranges
# from 0 (ever vigilant for intruders) to 255 (prefers to ignore
# intruders).

# 'W' is for more information - level, rarity, and experience for
# killing. The third slot is currently unused.

# 'B' is for blows - method of attack, effect of attack, and damage
# from attack. There may be up to four of these lines; effect and
# damage are optional.

# 'S' is for spells. The first S: line must be S:1_IN_X with X the
# number of monster turns, on average, before the monster will cast
# one of its spells. X must not be zero. If X is 1, the monster will
# never move while the player is in sight, and will thus never attack
# in melee, as it will cast spells every turn: if the monster is to use
# a melee attack, then X must be 2 or greater.

# 'F' is for flags. These are fairly self-explanatory. As many F:
# lines may be used as are needed to specify all the flags and flags
# are separated by the '|' symbol.

# 'D' is for description. As many D: lines may be used as are needed
# to describe the monster.

# === Understanding monster.txt flags ===

# UNIQUE monsters are just "special" monster races, with the requirement
# that only one monster of that race can exist at a time, and when it is
# killed, it can never again be generated.

# ATTR_CLEAR monsters appear the same color as the floor, terrain feature or
# object underneath them.

# ATTR_MULTI monsters are "multi-hued" - they change color, every player turn.

# CHAR_CLEAR monsters are totally invisible: the symbol shown on the screen
# is the same as the floor (or other terrain feature) below it, or the item
# that is lying on that floor. These monsters can currently be targetted as
# normal monsters: perhaps this can be changed so that the player must KNOW
# the monster is there (by bumping into it, or having the monster wake up
# and attack the player?)

# CHAR_MULTI monsters are those which look like objects, and use the symbols
# of objects. They are in plain sight, but the character should not know that
# a monster is there. At the moment, such monsters can be targetted normally
# (which means that this flag currently has no effect), but this may change
# in the future, as with CHAR_CLEAR monsters.

# (Note that currently both CHAR_CLEAR and CHAR_MULTI monsters are treated
# as normal monsters that are just a little hard to see... if you "l"ook
# for them, you will find them unless they are invisible and you cannot
# see invisible, and if you use the * command for targetting mode you
# can pick them as a target.)

2. I'm trying to change the non-canon Rogrog the Black Troll with the more canonical Cave Troll of Moria (existed in book, but given orc chieftan's role of skewering Frodo in movie). Is there any way I can give him orc escorts?

Nope, at least not without changing the code, and I haven't figured out how.

[zaimoni]

1. I notice that all of the whitespaces and n00b explanations of the data structures being used have been stripped from the edit files, which makes it hard to read and edit. Can i request that these be put back in?

They have not been removed from standard V installs (e.g., V3.0.9 from Rephial).

2. I'm trying to change the non-canon Rogrog the Black Troll with the more canonical Cave Troll of Moria (existed in book, but given orc chieftan's role of skewering Frodo in movie). Is there any way I can give him orc escorts?

The game looks at the rendering character when deciding what escorts are valid.

If the Cave Troll of Moria looks like an orc ( o ), he'll get orc escorts regardless of what his name is.

[bpleshek]

I notice the same thing if i open it in notepad. But if i open it in wordpad or MS Word, I can see it just fine.

Question: There are monster editor programs found online. If i create a new creature and add it to the bottom of monster.txt, do i just have to delete the raw file and nothing else or do i need to update some other file as well?

Same question applies to items.

Also, does it only apply to new games or will my current one be also affected? For example, i wanted to add my ex-wife as a nasty monster.

Brian