[Announce] NPPAngband 6.0.0

[nppangband]

The final NPPAngband 6.0.0 has been released.

I changed the version numbering system, as I recently realized that software programs numbered less than 1.0.0 are condsidered experimental or beta code. NPP has been stable and playable for over 8 years, so this version is numbered 6.0.0.

A complete changelist is below. The main features of NPP 600 are:

Revised mimic code.
Revised player ghost code.
Completely revised quest system, including 4 new types of quests.
Labyrinth levels (and Labyrnth quests)
Greater vault Levels (and greater vault quests)
Wilderness level quests.
Arena Level quests.

The links are:

Souce Code:

http://download.nppangband.org/npp-6.0.0-src.zip

Windows Binary:

http://download.nppangband.org/npp-6.0.0-win.zip

Github respository:

https://github.com/nppangband/NPPAngband

[nppangband]

Complete NPP 6.0.0 Changelist:

Broke savecompatibility with NPP 0.5.4.
Changed numbering system to indicate from 0.6.0 to 6.0.0, to indicate NPP is a finished and fully playable game.
Revised Mimic Code
Changes to the savefile structure.
Player ghosts can only appear at dungeon creation.
In Wizard mode, editing a character now gives lets the player to edit player fame as well.
New mimic monsters.
Changed some of morgoth's flags : removed teleport_to, added teleport_away and native_water.
Multiplied the scale of player fame by a factor of 10.
Added Servants of the valar pits, nests, and themed levels.
Made "wakes up" and "stirs a blended monster message.
Removed redundant save of the "call hourns" timer to the savefile.
Completey revised player ghost code - should eliminate the savefile issue with Macintosh savefiles with an active player ghost.
Added Rob Fiala as a permanent player ghost template (drew countless NPP unique tiles for the 32x32 tileset).
Bugfix: The player ghost name was cut short to 3 letters.
Scrolls names are now made by the random name generator rather than the old "scroll syllable" table.
Added new wizard mode command to know everything about every object kind, monster race, and feature.
Updated DVG tileset to Rob Fiala (buzzkill)'s U32 Tileset.
Sorted flavors.txt, along with the corresponding flvr pref files.
Eliminated function from util.c that did not work properly on the MAC port.
Wilderness level quests.
Arena Level quests.
Major cleanup of the quest code.
Potions, scrolls, and food, including mushrooms, now have a chance of appearing in multiple quantities.
Two new quest rewards - permanent stat increase and permanent stat augmentation.
New wizard command to give information on quest status (more info than cheat).
Quest rewards are now generated when the quest is chosen in the guild, and the player chooses their quest reward from a menu after they complete the quest, rather than the game trying to figure out the best reward for the player.
The player may defer their quest reward if they don't see anything good, and instead enhance thier next quest reward choices.
Bugfix: The character screen was not properly showing object resistance and immunitiy flags for the player equipment and home.
Bugfix: Normally rings and amulets were cursed too frequently.
Added 3 new spells: Meteor ball, Gravity bolt, and Lava Beam.
Added 8x8 tiles for all servants of the valar, adamantite, and all mimics.
Added two more patterns for the monster in the "pit" rooms.
Eliminate GTK and X11 ports
Added labrynth levels (from Angband 3.4).
Added labrynth quests.
Bugfix: Fix html screenshots so they wrint default ASCII when when in tiles mode.
Monsters now can be summoned on levels where it was previously restricted, but limited to monsters currently on the level.
Added greater vault levels.
Added greater vault quests.
New makefile.osx.
Made cloaks of aman more common (rarity of 16 to rarity of 8).
When studying or casting, the player is now only offered books with spells they can cast or study.
Fix multiple bugs in the randart code (reported and fixed by "runningaway")
New function for teleporting the player and teleporting away monsters.
Added new object, Faded Scroll Fragment, for use in labrynth quests.
Stat gain potions can be good or great quest rewards at the lower depths.
Added message for when a putrid flower the player cannot see fires at a player.
Bugfix: Fixed a misspelled word in the descriptions for the Servant of Tulkas and Greater Servant of Tulkas.
Bugfix: Traps couldnt be disarmed if the player was standing on a disarmed chest.
Bugfix: Non-spellcasters were sometimes getting spellpoints.
The message verifying a command now specified the action (eg really quaff that potion?)
Add monster character to targeted monster display. (patch by Runningaway).
Fixed some instances of functions that, when searching all squares around a certain square,
was referencing the wrong table, causing it to ignore the down direction and downard-left direction.
Quest monsters standing in dangerous terrain get teleported off.
Bugfix: Player sometimes regenerated hp after dying.

[Derakon]

Congrats on the new release! If I find time to play some roguelikes this holiday season, I'll have to give the new version a shot.

[getter77]

Some fine work there---good capper for the year unless you assume some sort of mythical pace towards v7.0.0.

[Malak Darkhunter]

Great Job npp team! So is this the final release or do you plan on doing future updates?

[nppangband]

@Derakon - Thanks! The next comp is in NPP, and is designed to let players experience all the new quests. It should start in a day or two.

@getter77 - Next for NPP will be to update to the Angband 3.4 main files, so I can use Shockbolt's tiles, and UTF-8 characters, plus fix whatever bugs are found in NPP 6.0. Plus I am going to make a much more useful and dynamic sidebar. But it probably won't be final until early 2013.

@Malak Darkhunter - No, this isn't it. There will definitely be an NPP 7.0 in 2013. I have an extensive chagelist of things I want to do (true wand/rod stacking, multiple PVALs, randart special artifacts such as rings and amulets, additional deep monsters, 5GAI, and some more UI improvements.

[Magnate]

@Derakon - Thanks! The next comp is in NPP, and is designed to let players experience all the new quests. It should start in a day or two.

@getter77 - Next for NPP will be to update to the Angband 3.4 main files, so I can use Shockbolt's tiles, and UTF-8 characters, plus fix whatever bugs are found in NPP 6.0. Plus I am going to make a much more useful and dynamic sidebar. But it probably won't be final until early 2013.

@Malak Darkhunter - No, this isn't it. There will definitely be an NPP 7.0 in 2013. I have an extensive chagelist of things I want to do (true wand/rod stacking, multiple PVALs, randart special artifacts such as rings and amulets, additional deep monsters, 5GAI, and some more UI improvements.

Updating to the 3.4 codebase will get you multiple pvals, but you could also look at v4 which handles them a different way (allows many more but doesn't display them all on one line - in v4 all slay and brand multipliers are done using pvals). v4 also allows randart rings and amulets - the code for artifact generation was mostly rewritten during the introduction of affixes, but it should be possible to use it separately (i.e. without the affix stuff).

Very interested in your ideas for 5GAI. Fancy writing them up in a think-piece somewhere? We're just starting to think about AI for pyrel, so no harm in joining up thinking and then trying implementation in two different languages!

Congrats on the release - as ever clearly a huge labour of love.

[half]

Very interested in your ideas for 5GAI. Fancy writing them up in a think-piece somewhere? We're just starting to think about AI for pyrel, so no harm in joining up thinking and then trying implementation in two different languages!

I agree, it would be great to see this. Sil has got a lot of value out of improved AI and particularly distinct AI types for different monsters. For example:

- archer AI (stay at least a square away, try to move to get LOF)
- scout AI (try to stay at the limit of LOS)
- troll AI (don't flee)
- territorial AI (don't pursue when they leave LOS, and head back to your starting location)
- mold AI (don't move -- I didn't invent this one!)
- orc AI (involves a collection of tricks to do with similar monsters and positioning, based on the 4GAI)

Many of these were really easy to add, all were pretty fun to add, and they create a lot of fun for the player. I'm sure plenty more fun things are lurking out there.

Great work on releasing 6.0 (and on moving to a better numbering system).

[half]

And also, thanks so much for the excellent codebase that Sil was based upon (0.4.1). I particularly benefitted from the addition of 4GAI. You have such good taste in working out which patches to add in and ideas for improving the game. I was one of the people who thought it should have been called Cinnamon and considered a core flavour of Angband, or even that it should have directly replaced Vanilla.

[Magnate]

And also, thanks so much for the excellent codebase that Sil was based upon (0.4.1). I particularly benefitted from the addition of 4GAI. You have such good taste in working out which patches to add in and ideas for improving the game. I was one of the people who thought it should have been called Cinnamon and considered a core flavour of Angband, or even that it should have directly replaced Vanilla.

It's funny, we were discussing recently what might happen to Vanilla given the current focus on Pyrel - Jeff for Maintainer!

[nppangband]

I agree, it would be great to see this. Sil has got a lot of value out of improved AI and particularly distinct AI types for different monsters. For example:

- archer AI (stay at least a square away, try to move to get LOF)
- scout AI (try to stay at the limit of LOS)
- troll AI (don't flee)
- territorial AI (don't pursue when they leave LOS, and head back to your starting location)
- mold AI (don't move -- I didn't invent this one!)
- orc AI (involves a collection of tricks to do with similar monsters and positioning, based on the 4GAI)

Many of these were really easy to add, all were pretty fun to add, and they create a lot of fun for the player. I'm sure plenty more fun things are lurking out there.

Great work on releasing 6.0 (and on moving to a better numbering system).

Nice! I will definitely look at this. What I had in mind for 5gai was:

1) group monsters - they should have a collective group ai, and all follow the same, single decision (charge, flee, hide). Sometimes a group of monster hides and waits for the player to come into a room before attacking. However the player just detects and casts ball spells into the room and kills them. I want the group to figure out they are being killed and attack or run away further.
2) escorts/summons. They should be marked as such, and should take commands from their "leader/summoner", who should stay out of the battle until the escorts are killed. For example, Glarung, faher of the dragons escorts don't factor much in a battle, because Glarung is the fastest dragon. Plus, he just pushes past his escorts to get to you in an anti-summoning corridor.
3) Multiple, simpler AIs - (exactly like what is described above in Sil). No matter how good a single AI is, if every monster follows it, the players quickly figure out tactics to beat it and use that every time. The monsters need unprediactability
4) When the player is in a corridor, I think I can get a group of monsters to split in two squads, wait until the second squad is in position to flank the player, and then have the group attack from both sides at the same time.

To do most of this, I would add a variable to track which group the monsters are in, and variables to track how big the group initially was, and how many have been hurt or killed. For escorts or groups, the m_idx of the leader will be placed with the escorts/summoners, and the leader will stay out of sight while the escorts or summoners soften the player up. For the multiple AIs, I would add a bunch of flags to specify which AI the monster has, and then use subsets of 4gai to give the monsters simpler instructions. To get groups to surround the player, when the player is in a corridor with only 2-3 empty spaces to move into, I would have multiple monster flows, each one going out on either side, to give monsters a choice of paths to get to the player.

[nppangband]

Updating to the 3.4 codebase will get you multiple pvals, but you could also look at v4 which handles them a different way (allows many more but doesn't display them all on one line - in v4 all slay and brand multipliers are done using pvals). v4 also allows randart rings and amulets - the code for artifact generation was mostly rewritten during the introduction of affixes, but it should be possible to use it separately (i.e. without the affix stuff).

Congrats on the release - as ever clearly a huge labour of love.

What I want to do is have all object flags that currently use the pval column to have their own variable (there are 14-15 of them, I think). That way, for example, Ringil can have +2 to dex while still having +10 speed. Then, I can use that array of pvals to handle tracking separate charges for stacks of wands/staffs/rods. How many pvals are there now in Vanilla? Interesting idea about having custom multipliers for the slays/kills. I like that.

NPP has a randart code that can already handle randart rings/amulets. What it doesn't have is room on the artifact list and object list. That just needs to be re-arranged and re-sorted. It should be simple. It is just that I had put this off for years to preserve savefile compatibility.

[Magnate]

What I want to do is have all object flags that currently use the pval column to have their own variable (there are 14-15 of them, I think). That way, for example, Ringil can have +2 to dex while still having +10 speed. Then, I can use that array of pvals to handle tracking separate charges for stacks of wands/staffs/rods. How many pvals are there now in Vanilla?

This is set by the global MAX_PVALS, which defaults to three. In theory you can set it to any number you like and it will Just Work, but I didn't add any safety checking of the display, so it will look ugly with more than about four. v4 gets around this by just displaying a single pval and using two dots to indicate that more exist: <+2..> - these are then shown in full on the 'I'nspect screen. It should be possible to cherry-pick just that change from v4 if you want to go up to ~15 pvals.

[LostTemplar]

I think FAangband also have a value for every bonus on an object, including resists and slays.

[jevansau]

Congratulations on the release.

I've been playing the earlier versions of 6 and found a couple of things.

As a Druid, the dungeon books seem a bit too rare - at PL 40, DL 59 still haven't seen a copy of Radagasts.

When playing no selling, early to mid gold seems OK, but later it seems much lower than you would get selling. Might be nice to always have a gold reward option when playing no selling - at least with selling a valuable but useless reward could be sold.

You don't seem to be able to target a monster on the other side of an open door. You can target the square it is on.

Otherwise it has been great fun - the new quests are challenging and nerve wracking, and the system of picking a reward is fun and sometimes gives hard choices.

Thanks for all the hard work.