Issues on current master

[Sky]

i'd like a buff to the light area spell. currently it can light up an entire cave, but when cast in a map area which the game doesnt see as "room", it only lights up a 3x3 square (1 in each direction). i'd like this to be buffed to 5x5 (2 in each direction), which is equivalent to a lantern.

[Gwarl]

i'd like a buff to the light area spell. currently it can light up an entire cave, but when cast in a map area which the game doesnt see as "room", it only lights up a 3x3 square (1 in each direction). i'd like this to be buffed to 5x5 (2 in each direction), which is equivalent to a lantern.

Level up a bit, it gets better.

[Sky]

does it? i was under the impression that light area always did the same size. (i dont really use it once i get ESP ..)

also: still finding ridiculously OOD items on a regular basis . Annihilation on DL3, rod of healing DL25 !!, two useful staves DL2, etc. too many drops. just had another westernesse dropped by a minor mob on DL25, and i found a freakin' amulet of trickery on DL21. these are all drops i have found since typing the post on page 3.

[Nick]

Latest builds are up, with the following changes:

• Randarts are now restricted in power to 3/2 times the average for the slot, in an attempt to prevent overpowered lights, cloaks, etc. Please let me know how this seems to be going
• Secret doors now get properly dealt with on detection, preventing doors opening out of sight bug (thanks PowerWyrm)
• Fix buffer overrun in monster_flag_table (thanks t4nk)
• Potions of Enlightenment now detect rather than sense objects (PowerWyrm again)
• To-hit chance in monster memory is now correct
• Fix to "roll beneath your feet" message (thanks Pete for these last two)
• ssize_t replaced with int

[gameplay appreciator]

I have no plans at this point to remove teleport other or summoning. My feeling is that they support one of Angband's distinguishing features: things happen suddenly, and the player needs to react quickly.

It's true that instant deaths, monster removal, teleportation, and generation of large numbers of permanent monsters make angband different from other games.

[PowerWyrm]

From the old thread:


You are probably right, but I'm probably going to ignore that

Although I have just looked at my original plan post, and monster list is firmly under 4.2. I will consider further. What do others think?

That was just for selfish reasons, as I'm currently already revamping the monster list for PWMAngband (new monsters, tile remapping)... and after spending probably half of the last three weeks doing that, I've just completed dungeon level 40 and I have 87 more dungeon levels to go. Sigh...

[PowerWyrm]

I don't mind waiting for the monster list, but I think once pathfinding has been worked out the changes that have gone in since 4.0.5 (sans status effects ) justify a new minor version.

Looking at the following list of changes (taken from my own changes.txt file from the list of changes implemented in PWMAngband since 4.0.5 up to Mar 16, 2017), I don't really think that's a *MINOR* version:

- Add ?? inscription for unknown runes
- Improve player screen object property grid
- Add rune knowledge screen
- Give messages on learning jewelry and ego types
- Remove trap detect edge
- Add shimmer to shimmering monsters
- Add flicker to blink dogs, phase spiders
- Make known to-dam/to-hit values appear when only one rune is learnt
- Remove text screen dumps
- Change monster names to appropriate English case
- Adopt some of James Doyle's suggestions from the forum (flavors)
- Don't notice brands on wield (only notice when hitting a monster susceptible to the brand)
- Transfer object knowledge on walkover
- Don't learn the flavor of jewelry with obvious properties until all of them are learned
- Remove IDENTIFY activation
- Remove staves and rods of Identify, scrolls of Identify still exist but are not sold in the Alchemy Shop anymore
- Remove IDENTIFY_PACK effect (from potions of *Enlightenment*)
- Remove pseudo-id
- Temporarily swap all stats around when hit by nexus in addition to teleporting
- Make dice and ac (runes) known at birth
- Make IDENTIFY effect (scroll + spell) identify an unknown rune on an item
- ID flavored consumables on first use
- Make basic lights and diggers have innate not magical properties
- Make *Slay*s have a random power or base resist
- Learn sustains if their item also boosts the stat
- Identify obvious effects on abort (IDENTIFY, RECHARGE...)
- Make devices that affect monsters require a target to ID
- Make standard body armor to-hit penalties not part of the to-hit rune
- Remove search command and searching status
- Remove search frequency skill
- Introduce trapsafe status and trap disabling, change trap destruction spells
- Secret doors only inside rooms
- Only set traps in corridors, replace some tunnel junction doors with traps
- Make door detection miss secret doors, generate many fewer secret doors
- Nomad's new template rooms with placed traps
- Split disarm skill to physical and magical
- Add new traps, improving effects where necessary
- Add rubble fall effect
- Allow summon effect to have an added out of depth element
- Change pit behaviour
- Make chests rarer and more valuable
- Add DRAIN_LIGHT effect
- New curses: defined by power (1 = easily breakable, 100 = permanent), to_a/to_h/to_d values, object flags/modifiers/elements, effect, tval
- New curse system: implement curses as runes, update object info and description, restore curse removal, allow branding of cursed items, know curses on wield (instead of pickup), turn cursed egos into curses, replace OF_TELEPORT with OF_NO_TELEPORT, redo teleportation jewelry as cursed
- Enable fizzix's probability tweaks from 2012
- Allow passable rubble in the dungeon
- Activate new dungeon profiles (modified, moria)
- Activate new room types (moria room, Interesting room, huge room, room of chambers)
- Activate new vault types
- Make lava passable and hurt the player
- Allow hot and cold projections to create or destroy lava
- Allow lava to appear in vaults
- Stop monsters from moving into lava, hurt them if they're pushed
- Weight slays and brands by fixed weights, adjust monster feelings
- Make player know all combat runes at birth
- Tone down greater vaults for non-classic profiles
- Adjust slays, brands and modifiers on randarts
- Some improvements to curses on randarts
- Distinguish between ratings for template rooms
- Remove "Find Traps, Doors & Stairs" spell (priest, paladin)
- Replace "Find Traps, Doors & Stairs" spell by "Detect Stairs" (rogue, ranger)
- Remove trap/door/stair detection from "Detection" spell (paladin)
- Remove trap/door/stair detection from CLAIRVOYANCE and DETECT_ALL activations
- Remove DETECT_TRAP and DETECT_DOORSTAIR activations
- Remove scrolls of Trap Detection and Door/Stair Location
- Remove trap/door/stair detection from potions of *Enlightenment*
- Move objects when lava is created
- Make stone to mud destroy passable rubble
- Reduce the supply of gold, in line with its value in older versions
- Make a hard cap of 6 on non-speed randart mods
- Curse a few randarts
- Adjust class and race searching skills
- Implement basic trap searching
- Add visibility ratings for traps
- Change create traps to radius 3, make created traps and vault traps only appear one in four times
- Add heal-other monster spell and low-level healer monster

And I left out all bugfixes and coding changes, which would add another page or two of changes...

[Nomad]

Just downloaded 1782d7a and randart generation is now extremely slow. The first time I started a randart character the game hung so long at the end of character generation I shut the program down because I thought it had frozen. On subsequent tries it did eventually load the town after pauses of about 10-30 seconds.

ETA: randart.log is 66,854 kb for this game, compared to files of 2-6k generated in previous nightlies.

[Nomad]

Still encountering big mobs of breeders. Is waking in response to noise still determined by straight-line distance rather than how far the sound has to travel? I'm wondering if what's happening is that breeders are waking up when the player is close by in straight-line terms but still has to travel a long distance to actually get to the monster, e.g. this sort of situation:

  #.#   
###.####
#......#
#...l..#
#......#
########

  ##########
  #.@.......
  #.########
  #.#

[t4nk]

Nick, I think what's happening is: process_monsters() -> monster_check_active() -> monster_can_hear_or_smell() -> (monster smell is > 0 and scent == 0) -> process_monster_timed() -> monster_reduce_sleep() -> stealth check fail (I recall Nomad likes warriors).

[Nick]

Nick, I think what's happening is: process_monsters() -> monster_check_active() -> monster_can_hear_or_smell() -> (monster smell is > 0 and scent == 0) -> process_monster_timed() -> monster_reduce_sleep() -> stealth check fail (I recall Nomad likes warriors).

Aha, thank you.

[Nick]

Just downloaded 1782d7a and randart generation is now extremely slow. The first time I started a randart character the game hung so long at the end of character generation I shut the program down because I thought it had frozen. On subsequent tries it did eventually load the town after pauses of about 10-30 seconds.

ETA: randart.log is 66,854 kb for this game, compared to files of 2-6k generated in previous nightlies.

Yeah, I was kind of afraid that would happen. My fix was pretty crude, I'll try and add some finesse.

[Sky]

well, looks like it falls on me to be the bearer of bad news.

the new pathing does not work. i've had instances of mobs just standing still because "they cannot get to me" while i happily blast them with spells.

i have kept a save to show you what is happening.

there is a corridor which ends in a 1-block turn. bunch of storm giants, all awake, at the end. they are trying (as far as i can tell) to walk through the stone to get to me, instead of 1) moving north 1 step and then 2) walk the corridor directly towards me.


POST-TEST EDIT

this happens, well, always. i dug a corridor parallel east-west to a door leading to a hydra pit. all the hydras are bunched to the sides of the door, because they are trying to walk straight and and they can't, and they can't find the door one square away from their position.

[Nick]

well, looks like it falls on me to be the bearer of bad news.

the new pathing does not work. i've had instances of mobs just standing still because "they cannot get to me" while i happily blast them with spells.

It's OK, that's not terrible news - I was expecting problems with it. What you need to understand is that when you are playing the latest master, you are doing my playtesting for me

i have kept a save to show you what is happening.

That would be very helpful.

[Sky]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cl5vz3smvwbacfl/bugged%20save?dl=0

first time using dropbox, not 100% sure if it works.