Rune-based ID

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Cross posted from the comp 186 thread:

New builds for Windows and OS X. Changes:

• Player starting gear and shop objects update properly
• Shop pricing for unknown jewellery is correct
• Dice and base AC are known at birth (and the competition character should update shortly)
• Learning of runes at sufficient character level has been replaced by Derakon's ?Identify, which learns a single unknown rune on an object

There has been no change to ID of flavored things yet, nor is there a screen for viewing runes.

This build appears to be broken on OSX. Here's what I did:

1) Deleted the old Angband folder completely.
2) Downloaded new build.
3) Attempted to start new @, Human, Warrior, Point-based, Random Name, Accept history, --CRASH.

[Nick]

This build appears to be broken on OSX. Here's what I did:

1) Deleted the old Angband folder completely.
2) Downloaded new build.
3) Attempted to start new @, Human, Warrior, Point-based, Random Name, Accept history, --CRASH.

Works fine for me. What version of OS X? Does it open a crash report window? Anyone else having problems?

[StMicah]

I'm experiencing the same (?) sort of crash. It happens when I open a dead character to play its next incarnation. If I change the name or some other stat, the game starts fine.

Here's a recent save file...try opening the file from the game menu and selecting Y to start the character as is.

EDIT: I'm using OSX too.

EDIT 2: Just tried changing the name a second time (suffered a quick death) and that fix is no longer working.

[Derakon]

Works fine for me. What version of OS X? Does it open a crash report window? Anyone else having problems?

I can confirm this happening erratically; it'll work sometimes and crash sometimes with no discernable pattern. No crash report window, nothing in the Console. Repro steps are simply to mash through chargen; when you hit the last key (which should eventually result in you appearing in town), the game just exits after a brief moment.

[Nick]

I'm experiencing the same (?) sort of crash. It happens when I open a dead character to play its next incarnation. If I change the name or some other stat, the game starts fine.

Here's a recent save file...try opening the file from the game menu and selecting Y to start the character as is.

OK, I can confirm this crashes for me too, but opens fine in Linux. Will investigate.

[Nick]

While I'm here, newer builds - Windows and OS X. Maybe I fixed the problem accidentally.

Deliberate changes are:

• "Learn after time" runes only get learnt when you're actually using them
• Flavored items don't get spurious ??s
• Shop items do get ?? (when they deserve it)
• Flavored consumables are ID'd after a single use
• Light sources are properly identified

[StMicah]

It seems to address the crash problem...thanks!

[Nomad]

For some reason, new characters created in the latest build now start the game with no money.

[sandtrap]

Squelching gloves said the gloves were average

On competition character 186 using build angband-4.0.3-198-gbba6817

Wielded leather gloves. Then squelched Gloves while they were equiped. Received the message the gloves were average.

Message used to be squelch Excellent but not Splendid without saying anything about the gloves themselves.

[Nomad]

Still getting the {??} tag on Slime Molds even though they don't have any secret powers I'm aware of. Even eating one doesn't make it go away.

Some thoughts on the new identify scrolls, more for future implementation than really necessary to deal with during testing:

• They should probably be renamed "Identify Rune" or something like that, or else players of older versions are going to be annoyed/confused that the scroll says you've got nothing to ID when you're carrying unidentified consumables.
  
• Might be good to have some sort of "This item is still not fully identified" message when you use the scroll on an item that has more than one unknown rune, just to clarify that there's still more to be learned without relying on the player checking the equipment list and noticing it still has question marks. (Or conversely, maybe there should be a "Your [x] is now fully identified!" message that triggers once you learn all the runes on an item you're wearing/wielding?)
  
• Probably not worth fixing until the ID-by-consumable system is finalised, but the tile mappings will need to be updated at some point, as the new scroll doesn't have a tile at the moment.

[Nomad]

Items with activations don't ID correctly if the activation is the last thing you learn. (e.g. If you find a Ring of Flames and you already know the runes for armour bonus and resist fire, activating the ring will not update the name, so it just remains "a [flavour] ring" even though you now know all its properties.)

[Derakon]

• They should probably be renamed "Identify Rune" or something like that, or else players of older versions are going to be annoyed/confused that the scroll says you've got nothing to ID when you're carrying unidentified consumables.

Any other opinions on this? Currently we have Scroll of Identify which identifies a single unknown rune on a selected item, and I have a pull request pending that adds a Scroll of Runes that identifies a single unknown rune of any type (i.e. you read it, and learn a rune you didn't know before). Renaming these is of course trivial, and adding flavor text is pretty easy too.

[Nomad]

• They should probably be renamed "Identify Rune" or something like that, or else players of older versions are going to be annoyed/confused that the scroll says you've got nothing to ID when you're carrying unidentified consumables.

Any other opinions on this? Currently we have Scroll of Identify which identifies a single unknown rune on a selected item, and I have a pull request pending that adds a Scroll of Runes that identifies a single unknown rune of any type (i.e. you read it, and learn a rune you didn't know before). Renaming these is of course trivial, and adding flavor text is pretty easy too.

Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be "Identify Rune", I just think it should be something other than plain "Identify" to distinguish that the effect has changed. But maybe "Scroll of Identify Rune" and "Scroll of Runic Knowledge" would work as a pair?

[sandtrap]

On competition character 186 using build angband-4.0.3-198-gbba6817

Wielded leather gloves. Then squelched Gloves while they were equiped. Received the message the gloves were average.

Message used to be squelch Excellent but not Splendid without saying anything about the gloves themselves.

That was a game i started on a previous version. on a new game I was asked if I wanted to squelch artifacts. That sound like the correct behavior.

So I was unable to reproduce on a fresh game.

[Nick]

For some reason, new characters created in the latest build now start the game with no money.

Still getting the {??} tag on Slime Molds even though they don't have any secret powers I'm aware of. Even eating one doesn't make it go away.

Items with activations don't ID correctly if the activation is the last thing you learn. (e.g. If you find a Ring of Flames and you already know the runes for armour bonus and resist fire, activating the ring will not update the name, so it just remains "a [flavour] ring" even though you now know all its properties.)

All confirmed and fixed in development. And agreed on naming, message and tiles.