Search results for query: *

  1. More modular for modding purposes

    Bump!  It's currently very tiresome if you want to make any changes to skills, music, etc. in a mod.

  2. SP Musket Era Modern Pirates mod! Released! V2.5 for 0.751 updated 18/4

    Why don't you change the skills' names and descriptions to better fit their functions?  And set the max value of the disabled skills to 0 to prevent players from upgrading them accidentally.  (Of course, this would screw up modularity, since skills.txt is shared, but maybe it should at least be an option.)

    Does riding do anything?  The first mate doesn't say it's disabled.  How about power draw?

  3. Wish the next edition of m&b supports Unicode:)

    sneakey pete said:
    A fifth of the languages, and a lot more than a fifth of the worlds population. 
    Click to expand...
    I was syntactically ambiguous.  "A good fifth of the world's native language" was meant to be "the native languages of a good fifth of the world", not "the raw number of native languages times point two".  China is around 1.2 billion, Arabic speakers are another 250 million or so, Japanese is 120 million, Korean 70 mullion, Vietnamese 70 million, Farsi 70 million, Thai 30 million, and not many others are significant.  That gives us around 1.8 billion, or somewhere between a third and a fourth.  So yeah, I underestimated the smaller languages.

    dagorkan said:
    Sure but isn't it possible to write Chinese in Western characters? I know Arabs read/write their language in both the calligraphic form and with the Roman alphabet.
    Click to expand...
    Yeah, it's perfectly possible, but the native speakers find it harder to read.  Otherwise they'd use it everywhere and save themselves the trouble of font incompatibility.

    Eogan said:
    Personally, I'd also like to see accented roman characters as well.  (Boy, that brings up a funny image of 1950's "period" movies if you don't know I'm talking about letters: "I say, Caesar, jolly good show, chap!")  And of course Æ as well.
    Click to expand...
    Unicode has more accented characters than any sane person could ever possibly want.  At least, if you count the combining diacritics, which lack good support in most applications.  Even without those, you still have probably a few hundred accented Latin characters in Unicode.  (I think the extended Latin character set covers somewhere around a thousand code points.)

  4. IMplement storymod into the actual game

    Majestic7 said:
    I'm against any kind of limited, railroaded storyline in the game. I think what really makes the difference between a good and a great game is replayability and having a dynamic, changing story is the prime way to do so.
    Click to expand...
    One of the most replayable games I've ever had the pleasure of playing through (about seven or eight times, I'd estimate) was Deus Ex.  Its storyline was close to totally linear.  I would agree with the idea of going for random quests—they should just be far more interesting, varied, and lengthy than "bring me 10 sumpter horses at some point within the next 65522 days".  With no small amount of effort, I think this could be accomplished satisfactorily.  The framework would need to be armagan's, but it could be built upon by others for official inclusion.

    HardCode said:
    I kind of like M&B as a game construction set. The core M&B should be developed to allow people to do many different things, such as Armagan's addition of seige in 0.731. This way, us players will have a plethora (nice word) of settings, stories, textures, etc. available via mods.
    Click to expand...
    If that's going to be a major selling point, then a central, official mod index should be created, with a prominent link to it on the splash-screen-thingy.  Most people don't download mods for ordinary games, so they'll need encouragement if they're to get the idea.  But since game reviewers rarely include mods in their assessment, this is probably still not a good way to go if we want good press.

  5. More guards in castles

    Juicy_jae said:
    how about some innocent npcs such as townsfolk just walking around town. More merchants ( even if just for aesthetics).
    Click to expand...
    Definitely.  The limit should be determined as maybe two-thirds of the max battle size setting.

    Deus Ex said:
    He would have to spend a LOT of time adding a bunch of NPC's and working through many towns and scenes to "Flesh" the idea out for the vanilla game. 

    But that would take away time he might be working on the next cool feature he wants to add.
    Click to expand...
    That's why armagan should work on the code and leave the content to slaves paid or unpaid dedicated co-developers.  Ibek with the graphics, that new guy with sounds, etc.  Someone should just be brought on board to do nothing but add detail to the cities and dialog—someone'd probably be willing to do it for free, or for a nominal amount.

    Ingolifs said:
    Finally, when entering an enemy town and dressed as a pilgrim, It's be neat that instead of that text prompt saying that you've been discovered etc, you just enter the town, and the guards will randomly start attacking you.
    Click to expand...
    Even better, have a random chance of being stopped by a suspicious guard for interrogation, the result of which will determine your fate.

  6. Hi! Im working with Armagan on M&B vocals...

    Sir Saladin said:
    Authentic knightly swearing was all blasphemy like "gadzooks" rather then the vulgar four letter words we use as insults these days, although I'm sure they used words like **** when they were relaxing and drinking ale or mead.
    Click to expand...
    Terms like 'sblood were like ****.  Or at least roughly.  Curse words change over time.  :smile:

  7. Another Saving Method

    bryce777 said:
    The issue, or perhaps an issue, is that a lot of stuff is stored in the save game that does not seem to need to be.
    Click to expand...
    Like what?  I know some games do store an excessive amount in the saved games, but I don't know what M&B stores.

    Manitas said:
    Simetrical said:
    an extra second or two of loading time is probably worth slightly smoother gameplay.
    Click to expand...
    That ain't gonna affect gameplay smoothness in any way, neither in plus nor in minus.
    Click to expand...
    Every disk access carries slightly more latency than a memory access, in addition to substantially less throughput (which is irrelevant for the data quantities we're discussing).  Granted, we're talking latency in the vicinity of 15 ms or less, so you're doubtless right that it wouldn't be perceptible.

  8. Wish the next edition of m&b supports Unicode:)

    Let me clarify the problem: according to txtxp, M&B does not support Unicode.  Unicode is a character set consisting of some tens of thousands of characters, including the characters used by all major languages today.  What M&B uses is an eight-bit ANSI standard, and that means that no more than 256 characters are possible to use in the game.  Clearly, this makes it entirely impossible to implement Chinese, which includes some 50,000 characters by a fairly standard count.  A translation into ordinary Chinese (hanzi) is, at this point, impossible; the best that could be done is pinyin, which I assume Chinese people are not generally as comfortable reading.  This is a problem for internationalization into partially- or near-wholly-logographic languages (Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese).  I suspect as well that right-to-left text probably doesn't work correctly, which rules out Arabic (as well as Hebrew, Farsi, and a few others).  Combined, these limitations mean that M&B can't be translated into a good fifth of the planet's native languages.

  9. IMplement storymod into the actual game

    Winter said:
    Armagan has told me via e-mail that he no longer intends to put a plot into Native M&B, but wants to leave it as a useful construction set for lots of varied mods -- the way it is now.
    Click to expand...
    That's going to take major points off its reviews when it finally becomes non-beta. :neutral:

  10. solution to the lance problem

    sac said:
    in reality that does not resemble how the lance was used. rather, the lance was tucked under the shoulder and the horse charged. the knight using the lance didn't make any actions to strike with it other than some aming. it was entirely the speed of the horse that drove the lance into it's unfortunate victim. should the knight have thrust forward (a clumsy manuever that would have compromised the stability of the weapon) the additional force of impact on the target from that action would have been entirely marginal (and his arm would probably have been dislocated from his shoulder for taking the impact in a less rigid manner).
    Click to expand...
    Not at all.  Stabbing with lances (often two-handed) was a very effective tactic used in pre-medieval times.  I'm not aware of whether it was used in medieval times as well, though.  Certainly couching provides better stability and aim, but I would imagine stabbing gives you a wider target range (although M&B's is way narrower than actual for couched lances; remember that in jousts your enemy was to your left) and probably slightly better range (and every bit counts when your opponent has some type of polearm as well).  The damage a lance does under such circumstances is greatly understated in the game—possibly it shouldn't be as effective as a couched lance, but it should certainly be damaging nonetheless.

  11. Ragdoll physics?

    Merentha said:
    Why not just have more death animations, and have the program pick based on the situation?
    Click to expand...
    Because that just can't work for situations where, say, a tree or castle wall is in the way of the falling corpse.  The only way you won't have either floating or clipping in such a scenario is using at least basic ragdolls.

  12. Unofficial Editor error: what does it mean?

    These are the problem lines:

    Code: 
    dlg_0 65676 466  0 What_are_you_talking_about?_'Go_back'_where?  469  1 20033 33554859 1 0 
dlg_0 430 467  0 You're_not_bloody_kidding,_{sir/madam}._This_sot's_drunk_half_my_stock,_and_retched_most_of_it_back_up_in_the_bloody_corner!  470  0 
dlg_0 430 471  0 Two_endless_weeks,_{sir/madam},_and_I'll_be_throwing_him_out_the_very_moment_he_runs_out_of_coin._You_heard_that_right,_Rezzik!  472  0 
dlg_0 430 468  0 You_paying_attention_to_that,_Rezzik?_There's_not_been_one_new_customer_in_here_since_you_decided_to_come_stink_up_my_inn,_you_animal!_One_more_broken_flagon_and_you're_out!  473  0 
dlg_0 430 474  0 Two_endless_weeks,_{sir/madam},_and_I'll_be_throwing_him_out_the_very_moment_he_runs_out_of_coin._You_heard_that_right,_Rezzik!  475  0 
dlg_0 140 481  0 What_._._.?_It_was_on_the_steppe,_on_the_steppe_between_Reyvadin_and_Curaw._We'd_just_made_camp_for_the_night._I_remember,_they_were_like_a_sandstorm_on_the_horizon_._._._Khergit_flying_a_ram_skull_on_a_pike,_as--_as_a_standard_._._._No,_can't_think,_can't_think!_Where_is_my_wine?_-hic-_I_need_more_wine!  6  4 20033 33554787 1 0 20033 33554786 1 0 10290 117440527 0 0 10280 117440527 0 0

    Unless it means these:

    Code: 
    dlg_0 144 687  0 I_shall_give_you_my_finest_stallion._He_has_carried_me_through_many_a_great_battle;_may_he_do_the_same_for_you,_my_friend.  691  5 4 0 0 0 20067 16777218 83886080 0 30 16777218 1 0 10530 83886080 67108900 22 3 0 0 0 
dlg_0 144 689  0 Say_no_more!_I'll_have_my_armourer_adjust_a_suit_to_your_preference_immediately._I_sincerely_hope_it_saves_your_life_someday,_my_friend.  691  15 4 0 0 0 20067 16777218 83886080 0 30 16777218 1 0 10530 83886080 67108950 15 3 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 20067 16777218 83886080 0 30 16777218 1 0 10530 83886080 67109147 15 3 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 20067 16777218 83886080 0 30 16777218 1 0 10530 83886080 67108923 15 3 0 0 0 
dlg_0 65680 691  0 I_thank_you,_my_lord,_your_generosity_will_be_remembered._Farewell.  6  4 20033 33554881 1 0 10064 5000 0 0 10251 83886224 0 0 10250 83886224 167772260 21 
dlg_0 144 693  0 Of_course,_my_friend._What_is_it?  694  0 
dlg_0 144 696  0 By_all_means,_one_of_my_servants_will_show_you_to_your_room._Goodnight,_{playername}.  6  5 20251 16777217 0 0 20033 16777218 24 0 20006 16777218 16777217 0 20005 16777218 7 0 10030 16777218 0 0 
dlg_0 178 707  1 31 33554736 0 0 Look_out,_{playername},_he_has_a_knife!_Archers!  708  0

    . . . i.e., the ones with the actual index numbers listed, rather than the zero-based line numbers.  Now, troop index 430 doesn't exist, if I'm reading the number "355" at the top of the file correctly—that means that there are only 355 troops, right?

    So.  Looking at the first set, I see four of the lines start with 430, one starts with 140, and one starts with 65676 = 140 plus the seventeenth bit switched on.  Interestingly, there are exactly two additional lines that do start with 430:

    Code: 
    dlg_0 430 476  0 Excuse_me,_{sir/madam},_but_it_shan't_do_you_any_good_asking_Rezzik._He_won't_talk_about_it_unless_you_press_him,_and_even_then_'tis_only_fragments_and_babbling._Come_talk_to_me_by_the_bar_and_I'll_try_and_tell_you_what_I_know.  6  0 
dlg_0 430 482  0 Oi!_This_is_my_inn,_friend,_so_don't_upset_the_patrons_again_or_I_will_have_you_thrown_out!  6  0

    So possibly the editor somehow got confused and mistook the innocuous two for these two.  Maybe.

    Now, this number we're looking at is presumably a troop index, sometimes with an extra bit switched on to indicate something or other, and with 65535 = 0xFFFF reserved for something or other.  I'm guessing it indicates the speaker.  The seventeenth bit, if I recall correctly, means the view is focused on the player.  Now, it seems Mr. Rezzik is speaker 140; examination of troops.txt bears this out.  Judging by the lines' content, 430 is meant to be an innkeeper or something of the sort.  What happens if I change the 430 to the number of a troop who isn't present?

    I've changed the 430s to 320s, and the editor seems to accept that.  I'll see if that works out.

  13. How do you assign a packhorse?

    I wonder what in heaven's name the function is mapping encumbrance to speed.  I tried figuring it out, but no obvious functions seemed to work.  A fairly close approximation is w = 80(10 − s)1.175, or equivalently s = 10 − (w / 80)1/1.175, but that's just a fudge.  Likewise did the horse-burden-reduction equation elude me.

  14. Another Saving Method

    Manitas said:
    Funny that you mention virtual memory. It's nothing else than physical memory part image saved onto HDD, except it's poorly managed by windowz, and you have little control over it.
    Click to expand...
    Well, I was really using it (perhaps imprecisely) to refer to temporary files.

    Manitas said:
    Back to the unique troops example.
    Another thing, you do not battle every single party in a single game session, so why keep useless data?
    Click to expand...
    Because a certain percentage is going to be useful.  You just don't know which percentage that is, so you have to either store all or none.  The point about initial loading times is of course correct, but an extra second or two of loading time is probably worth slightly smoother gameplay.  It all depends on how much info we're talking about, and how often it's accessed over the course of the game.

    It's always easier to code less flexibly, of course, so failing an evaluation of the amount of info we're talking about, highly expansible files that will generally be used only in small part over the course of the game (e.g., conversations.txt, but not item_kinds1.txt or troops.txt) should perhaps not be loaded into memory by default.  Given the degree of current moddability, however, I don't think it makes a big difference either way; what possible files could be made large enough to increase load time or memory usage nonnegligibly?

  15. Unofficial Editor error: what does it mean?

    Effidian said:
    You get this with the current StoryMod and the current editor?

    I've tried it and it works fine for me.
    Click to expand...
    Maybe I'll try redownloading both and retesting, but for the time being, what does it mean?  What are the record and key numbers?  I had to manually hack my conversations.txt because it wouldn't save.

  16. Unofficial Editor error: what does it mean?

    When I tried loading up Storymod to see if I could get around a persistent freeze, the editor gave me the following error: conversation.txt: Error reading record 687.  Error: Cannot find key.  Key: 430, Table: Troops conversation.txt: Error reading record 689.  Error: Cannot find key.  Key: 430...

  17. Migration to the new server and software

    BulletproofTurban said:
    Simetrical? The same Simetrical who I know from TWC?
    Click to expand...

    Well, either that or I'm an impostor who uses the same avatar and has the same profile info.  Take your pick.

  18. Forum Improvement (work now in progress)

    Janus said:
    From my understanding, that differentiation is further up the chain than the regular template code; besides, without recognition of them as a block rather than individually, every sticky would have it's own little gap below rather than the stickies as a whole.
    As I said, it should be possible to modify some of the code further up to make it work, but I'm not sure how much work that would entail.

    EDIT: I might play around further with the idea as I otherwise mess around with my version of the template.
    Click to expand...

    Hmm.  I know in vB this is a fairly easy change.  Don't know the specifics, though.  We could at least have a more distinct icon.

  19. More realistic physics (easy! simple equations!)

    Papa Lazarou said:
    Methinks friction, strain on joints etc. and biological safegaurds.

    As speed increases so does strain of various sorts. Your body has to tell you so that you don't run yourself to death.
    The other thing is that running is quite inefficient in some ways. You have to plant your foot, move the other one, and then pull the first foot forwards again. In other words: your legs are (in a way) always stopping and starting.

    For a car (wheels) constant energy would be closer to equalling constant acceleration I guess.
    Click to expand...

    But the thing is, if you put a car on a highway, bring it up to 60 MPH, and then take your foot off the gas, it would slow down to a stop.  If air resistance were the only factor there, it should dwindle to insignificance once you get to a few MPH (shouldn't it?), but the car stops nonetheless.

    thesneakster said:
    For one, these 'simple' equations will none the less be very hard to implement
    Click to expand...

    No they wouldn't.  At least, not once we're agreed on what they should be.  :smile:

  20. Another Saving Method

    Ideally the game should try to figure out how much free RAM you have and how much it needs, and write the infrequently-used stuff to virtual or physical memory accordingly.  I have a gig of RAM, and I would be kind of peeved if I got regular slowdowns just because it didn't want to use an extra fifty or hundred megabytes of RAM when I had four hundred free.

    Manitas said:
    Not to say that managing a lot of memory is no good to performance.
    Click to expand...
    Managing any amount of RAM is faster than managing the same amount of hard disk space, assuming the RAM is available.

    Manitas said:
    Remember, several years ago authorities claimed that 640kB RAM is much more than any PC will ever need. :wink:
    Click to expand...
    Which seems to me to be closer to what you're saying than what I'm saying, but not really similar to either.
Back
Top Bottom