Announce NPPAngband 0.5.2 (final) released

[nppangband]

This is mostly a release to fix about 10 bugs, the most prominent of which were that the disturb_near option and probing were broken.

Here are the links:

source:

http://download.nppangband.org/npp-0.5.2-src.zip

Windows executable:

http://download.nppangband.org/npp-0.5.2-win.zip

Here is a complete changelist:

Added a flag to monster_type "project" to indicate when the monster is in projectable los to the player.
Fixed a typo in the message when the player gets their constitution drained by a GF_TIME attack.
Fixed a bug causing memory leak when a savefile is loaded.
Fixed a bug that caused probing not to work.
Fixed a bug that prevented the disturb_near option from working.
Changed monster AI so monsters will have the option to breathe when the player is in line of sight. Previously they
only breathed with clear LOS and with no other monsters in the way.
Reduced the amount monster breaths dissipate with distance. 100% damage now goes out about 8 squares (instead of 5),
and it dissipates at a lower rate. 20 squares away, the damage is around 40% and was previously around 25%.
Added checks to reduce or eliminate splash damage from monster breaths and ball spells for uniques, quest monsters,
monsters of the same race, or of the similar race, or for monsters who breathe the same types of breaths.
Slightly changed how monsters handle being attacked when damaged by the player when the
player is out of LOS.
Made changes to the makefiles to make it easier to compile for MAC.
Added a routine that ensures there are always enough monsters on a themed level quest.
Added project files for MS Visual C++ Express (Created by Brian Bull)

[Philip]

What does the handling of being attacked out of LOS mean? I'm thinking maybe tries to cast spell, if the player is impossible to damage, wait up? That means you would see quylthulgs very nasty, and since NPP has 4GAI or whatever the AI is, would it mean it could also ball spell you?

[nppangband]

What does the handling of being attacked out of LOS mean? I'm thinking maybe tries to cast spell, if the player is impossible to damage, wait up? That means you would see quylthulgs very nasty, and since NPP has 4GAI or whatever the AI is, would it mean it could also ball spell you?

When the player is out of line of sight, standard 4gai allows the monster to heal, cure, teleport to or away.

In NPP, when the player is out of LOS, monsters who cast ball spells will try to cast one at a square next to a player if they can (for example, if the player is pillar-dancing the monster), to hit the player with splash damage.

The change in 0.5.2 is, previously they would only go for splash damage if the target square next to the player was empty. Now they don't care if another monster gets hurt, they just want to damage the player. Monsters of a similar race, uniques, quest monsters don't take any damage, and similar monsters (such as a 7 headed hydra hydra getting caught in a ball spell breath from a 12 headed hydra hydra) take greatly reduced damage.

[buzzkill]

NPP 5.2.

Hey honey, I found the stairs, all of them. Might need to tweak the 4GAI stair placement.

Also, unrelated, I can't be certain, but I'm sure that some snagas, though asleep (or possible awake but out of LOS), were taking note of my cunning ways.

[Derakon]

Yep, that seems to happen a lot in NPP. It likes certain kinds of wall arrangements for its stairs, and that particular room type is chock-full of 'em, so lots of stairs end up there.

[PowerDiver]

I don't look that often, but so far when I look at coins, real money descriptions include a numeric value and mimic descriptions do not.

[buzzkill]

I've got 2 (minor) 'problems' with NPP.

1. Picking stuff up off the ground (get) seems to take a full turn, which breaks tradition with every other variant I've ever played. Also, get doesn't pick up GP that your standing on. Must use rest (5) for that.

2. Rooms full of stairs. If it's not a feature, then it's a bug. I can't tell you the number of times I encountered 6 or more staircase in a room, and I've only played about 30 dungeon levels of NPP, ever. It was quirky the first time or two, now it just annoys me for some unknown reason. Other 4GAI variants IIRC don't have this problem. Would it be possible to simply put a hard limit on the number of staircases that can appear in one room, like 2, 1 up and 1 down.

[nppangband]

I've got 2 (minor) 'problems' with NPP.

1. Picking stuff up off the ground (get) seems to take a full turn, which breaks tradition with every other variant I've ever played. Also, get doesn't pick up GP that your standing on. Must use rest (5) for that.

GP? What does that stand for?

As for energy use, I will check & make sure it is consistent with vanilla.

2. Rooms full of stairs. If it's not a feature, then it's a bug. I can't tell you the number of times I encountered 6 or more staircase in a room, and I've only played about 30 dungeon levels of NPP, ever. It was quirky the first time or two, now it just annoys me for some unknown reason. Other 4GAI variants IIRC don't have this problem. Would it be possible to simply put a hard limit on the number of staircases that can appear in one room, like 2, 1 up and 1 down.

That is an attempt to place the player in a safe spot where they can detect when they enter a new level. Stairs are put on squares that are surrounded by three walls. Unfortunately, those pillar rooms are loaded with squares like that, and they aren't safe. My ideal is for all stairs to be at the end of a corridor, right by a corner so there are 2-3 squares in LOS, tops. But it isn't there yet. I have this issue on my to-do list.

[Derakon]

GP stands for AU.

[PowerDiver]

1. Picking stuff up off the ground (get) seems to take a full turn, which breaks tradition with every other variant I've ever played. Also, get doesn't pick up GP that your standing on. Must use rest (5) for that.

I think (get) worked for gold in 3.2, but stopped working for gold in some nightly. I haven't checked so it may have been fixed since. NPP may be *too* up to date.

diff --git a/src/cmd1.c b/src/cmd1.c
index 515a5fd..3563a58 100644
--- a/src/cmd1.c
+++ b/src/cmd1.c
@@ -471,6 +471,9 @@ byte py_pickup(int pickup)
        /* Objects picked up.  Used to determine time cost of command. */
        byte objs_picked_up = 0;
 
+       /* always get gold without energy cost */
+       py_pickup_gold();
+
        /* Nothing else to pick up -- return */
        if (!cave->o_idx[py][px]) return objs_picked_up;

[Matthias]

Has the quest failure rate when leaving the quest level been increased in a recent version? I've now failed twice to recall back down before failing when having to flee the level from hunger.

Also I think potions don't provide food anymore (but object text still says so), as two healing potions couldn't get me back to weak from faint when quaffing them the turn i became fainted

[nppangband]

I think (get) worked for gold in 3.2, but stopped working for gold in some nightly. I haven't checked so it may have been fixed since. NPP may be *too* up to date.

The pickup system got a complete re-write in NPP 0.5.1. It is different than vanilla.

As for energy use, in vanilla:

Holding on a square takes up 100 energy.
The specific pickup command takes 10 energy for every item picked up.

In NPP:

First, gold gets picked up automatically, no energy, every time the player moves. Also automatically picked up are items that can be merged into current inventory/quiver, and items marked always_pickup in the squelch menu (this option is useful for things the player would always want, such as potions of life).

I suppose it is possible that gold is dropped on the player square when a monster dies, or if the player teleports. Neither of those prompt an autopickup. But those should be the only way that gold can appear beneath the player. You can get those by either the hold command (uses the same energy as in vanilla), or by walking back and forth. You shouldn't have to rest(5).

So I guess the answer is NPP doesn't have a specific pickup command that uses only 10 energy for each item picked up, but it has many more ways for picking up items without expending any energy.

[nppangband]

Has the quest failure rate when leaving the quest level been increased in a recent version? I've now failed twice to recall back down before failing when having to flee the level from hunger.

To answer your first question, accidentally, yes. I just checked the line in proces_world

if (p_ptr->cur_quest) /* playtesting && !(turn % QUEST_TURNS)) */

Looks like I was testing quest failure & was trying to make it happen, and forgot to change it back....

[nppangband]

Also I think potions don't provide food anymore (but object text still says so), as two healing potions couldn't get me back to weak from faint when quaffing them the turn i became fainted

Correct, potions don't increase the food counter. It has been like this for a while. This is to prevent the player from being gorged when quaffing a healing potion in battle. I will change the object text.

[PowerDiver]

It is very nonintuitive that 'g', which gets a normal item beneath you, does not get the gold item beneath you. Sufficiently so that it feels like a bug to me. I'm not talking about energy use or anything like that. It just seems strange.

The way it comes up is that I kill a few monsters without moving. Then I 'g'et the item(s) under me before moving forward, then am surprised I left money behind. I default to 'g' rather than '5' so that I can choose which items to pickup.