FAangband 0.3.0

[Nick]

I tried running with a debugger attached, and it says that FA segfaults in line 644 of util.c:

Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x00000000004bd637 in macro_add (pat=0x7fff9a42fd50 "\037M_20\r", act=0x7fff9a42fdd0 " ") at util.c:664
664                     macro__pat[n] = string_make(pat);

I'm not sure why this would only occur on "X11"... maybe some sort of missing call to an initialization function? Anyway, I hope that helps in tracking it down.

OK, macro_add is called by the X11-port function that turns X11 key events into angband keypresses. It looks like in your case the keypress is not being recognised as a normal keypress, and then the macro_add function is being called before macros are initialised - this is happening on the splash screen with the pretty ascii circle, right? Is there likely to be anything unusual about the way your system handles keyboard input? Does a mouse click work any better?

[Nick]

Why Enter always opens a menu of somekind? Is it possible to disable? I use Enter as a -more- key, so nearly always end up forced to press Esc few times to close menu that I don't need at all...highly irritating feature I must say...

This is a new V feature that I wanted feedback on - and people have been making the same complaint there, too I'm afraid there is no way to turn it off; my startegy when I first played a game with this feature (Steamband) was to start using the spacebar as a -more- key instead. This may be changed in future when other bits of the interface change (which they will - the interface was really unfinished for this version, but I wanted to get the gameplay changes out to get some idea of whether I'd broken balance).

[andrewdoull]

This is a new V feature that I wanted feedback on - and people have been making the same complaint there, too I'm afraid there is no way to turn it off; my startegy when I first played a game with this feature (Steamband) was to start using the spacebar as a -more- key instead. This may be changed in future when other bits of the interface change (which they will - the interface was really unfinished for this version, but I wanted to get the gameplay changes out to get some idea of whether I'd broken balance).

Nick, as an aside, you might want to look at the easy_more implementation I've just done for Unangband. Screenshot of it in action here http://angband.oook.cz/screen-show.php?id=1352

Andrew

[Seany C]

Minor gripe (more fresh meat for The Complainer): are the 'p' and 's' keys in stores gone for good? I'm sure I'll get used to 'd'ropping and 'g'etting items eventually, mind, but it's annoying for now...

[Seany C]

Oops, one more - I just got a +12 Deadliness ring showing up as squelch - maybe because a previous -10 one got the squelch flag?

[Nick]

Nick, as an aside, you might want to look at the easy_more implementation I've just done for Unangband. Screenshot of it in action here http://angband.oook.cz/screen-show.php?id=1352

I had vaguely thought about having multiple message lines at one point, but hadn't thought of just overlapping them onto the screen. I like that a lot.

[Nick]

Minor gripe (more fresh meat for The Complainer): are the 'p' and 's' keys in stores gone for good? I'm sure I'll get used to 'd'ropping and 'g'etting items eventually, mind, but it's annoying for now...

... and it may get worse. I don't know if you've seen the new vanilla shop interface, but I was planning to implement that, too - it didn't get in this time because (a) I wasn't sure if I wanted haggling to go and (b) it would have been potentially a lot of work getting the multiple towns, race-town probabilities etc in there, so it joined several other things in the "later" pile. As always, any opinions on this listened to politely

[Nick]

Oops, one more - I just got a +12 Deadliness ring showing up as squelch - maybe because a previous -10 one got the squelch flag?

Not exactly a bug - if you squelch rings of deadliness, they all get squelched, cursed or not. Currently quality squelching only deals with stuff you get a pseudo-id for - so weapons and armour. Eddie Grove is currently developing a squelch patch for vanilla which includes (IIRC) pseudo-id for some other stuff too, and I'll probably be putting that in when it's ready.

[AnonymousHero]

OK, macro_add is called by the X11-port function that turns X11 key events into angband keypresses. It looks like in your case the keypress is not being recognised as a normal keypress, and then the macro_add function is being called before macros are initialised - this is happening on the splash screen with the pretty ascii circle, right? Is there likely to be anything unusual about the way your system handles keyboard input?

I shouldn't think so, it's a pretty standard X.org setup, no particular keyboard customization (well, except that I'm using a Danish keyboard layout).

Does a mouse click work any better?

Yes, it does! And afterwards using keys seems to work fine.

[Seany C]

... and it may get worse. I don't know if you've seen the new vanilla shop interface, but I was planning to implement that, too - it didn't get in this time because (a) I wasn't sure if I wanted haggling to go and (b) it would have been potentially a lot of work getting the multiple towns, race-town probabilities etc in there, so it joined several other things in the "later" pile. As always, any opinions on this listened to politely

Hmm, not actually played V since about 2.9.2 or so (I really should make time for it one day) - so no informed opinion on it yet...

In terms of gameplay balance, the extra HP for a Druid are making it easier in the early stages (CL24, DL 27 in Amon Rudh) but not unbalanced-easy - I've been down to less than 20 HPs several times - and the balance between Druids and, say, Priests or Necros at that level feels about right so far.
Interesting work with the Gravity Bolts - I'm not sure I like monsters being blinked away when I've got enough firepower to splat'em but it'll be handy as a combined offence/defence move on dangerous monsters...

[Seany C]

Not exactly a bug - if you squelch rings of deadliness, they all get squelched, cursed or not. Currently quality squelching only deals with stuff you get a pseudo-id for - so weapons and armour. Eddie Grove is currently developing a squelch patch for vanilla which includes (IIRC) pseudo-id for some other stuff too, and I'll probably be putting that in when it's ready.

That's interesting - the only squelch action I've made so far to toggle the option (is it "Squelch known worthless items"?) to 'yes' - so maybe that's setting all instances of object X to be squelched if the first one encountered is cursed?

I'll probably turn the option off - IMHO, FAA doesn't have a big TMJ problem - less than earlier versions of V (dunno about recent versions) and not on the same order of magnitude as Z/ToME/etc...

[Nick]

Yes, it does! And afterwards using keys seems to work fine.

Good. I'm still mystified as to why a key didn't work. Let me know if anything else comes up.

[Nick]

In terms of gameplay balance, the extra HP for a Druid are making it easier in the early stages (CL24, DL 27 in Amon Rudh) but not unbalanced-easy - I've been down to less than 20 HPs several times - and the balance between Druids and, say, Priests or Necros at that level feels about right so far.

Good - I can't really work out why Druids were less than Priests in the first place.

Interesting work with the Gravity Bolts - I'm not sure I like monsters being blinked away when I've got enough firepower to splat'em but it'll be handy as a combined offence/defence move on dangerous monsters...

Excellent - this sounds like what I wanted Unresistable, but not without drawbacks.

[Nick]

That's interesting - the only squelch action I've made so far to toggle the option (is it "Squelch known worthless items"?) to 'yes' - so maybe that's setting all instances of object X to be squelched if the first one encountered is cursed?

The only ways of setting anything to squelch should be by the squelch menus, or by answering s to a "Destroy x? [y/n/s]" question.So I'm really hoping that you destroyed the cursed ring with 's' and then forgot about it...otherwise it's a bug, and a very annoying one.

[Nick]

Quick sum up of other bugs I've found, so they don't need to be reported:

• it seems to take a couple of keypresses to set or modify a monster trap, and a "Repeat 98" message appears when modifying - probably to do with the alter command;
• bonuses are not always applied (or removed) properly when changing form one-handed to two-handed weapons and back again;
• monsters that speak are saying stuff in non-ascii characters - either I have broken lib/file/bravado.txt or the changed file handling is causing a problem.

And a note to myself - next time, playtest before release