Finally... the long awaited Keyring Mod!

[marzo]

I tested it with translucency effect (like the lamp light has) and it looks rather good. I think I'll keep it.

[Crysta the Elf]

yay!

to be honest i was expecting it to look terrible

[dazed and confused]

I've been using Exult for a while - the latest snapshots with the "SI fixes" so I could play through with added features. The snapshots have always been hit-or-miss; sometimes exult will crash, but most of the time it's just fine. In any case, I just finished SI without cheating or having any major issues.

However, this latest patch is causing me to tear my hair out. I decided it would be safest to start fresh, so I removed all traces of Exult from my system. I installed the latest snapshot "2006-01-21 14:36 1762 KB", pointed it to my BG directory (also copied fresh from my Collection CD), and installed the patch.

Now Exult is even less stable than it has ever been. SI still works fine, but BG won't let me create a new character with the SI paperdolls. Sometimes, if I'm lucky and Exult doesn't crash, I can load a generic blond character with the "Avatar" name. In this case, all of the patch seems to work fine.

Starting over again fresh and reinstalling everything (Exult and BG) *w/o* the patch gives me the same problems. Again, SI seems to be fine. Has something changed int he last snapshot that would account for this?

Sterr *sometimes* says that it's an SDL issue, but not always.

Stout usually says the following (just the last few lines):

Serpent Isle : found
exult_si.flx : found
Creating 'gamedat' files.
Support for SI Paperdolls and Multiracial Avatars in BG is enabled.
Loading /exult_bg.flx...
Loading default keybindings

[marzo]

No, nothing which might cause this has been changed. And I have no problems creating multiracial avatars here, with or without the patch. Hmmm. I have a few ideas, but I will need you to post the first 40 lines of stdout; post stderr also just in case.

[Crysta the Elf]

uh... i realized.. i dont know if i uploaded the right 'skull' portrait before...



the only difference between the two seems to be that this one is a bit lighter.. and i cant remember which one it was that i considered the final one.. so.. yeah x_X

[Crysta the Elf]

ok... new bug to work out now that the newest snapshot lets the second map work right

using the moongate to leave the new shrine of spirituality nly lets the avatar travel through.. and causes the game to crash when whatever companions were following him would 'find their way back'

[Crysta the Elf]

*only lets

[marzo]

The bright side in all of this is that multimap will be working much better by the time mikefictiti0us starts working on the Underworld of his Ultima 6 patch...

Re: Spirituality moongate: The crash will be gone in the next snapshot.

And BTW, the second skull you posted is identical to the previous one.

[Crysta the Elf]

it is? I coulda sworn it was lighter... guess I was jsut tired when I was looking at it again last night

ah well, dont have to choose between them now i guess



they're both amalgams of the UO and U9 versions, as those were really the only true visual representations

I think the bell of courage is perfect as-is

[marzo]

they're both amalgams of the UO and U9 versions

And neither of which I particularly care about I based the candle on the one from the Moongate Ultima IV Annex; the significance of the color is that yellow is the color of love (in Ultima, anyway).

I'll see if the book looks good in game. If you care to try, I'd love if the Book of Truth were similar to the one in http://www.moongates.com/u4/hints/items/Book.htm; but given the small size of the sprites, it will be VERY difficult...

[marzo]

The book looks kind of odd in the game. I am assuming that the yellow thingy in the right page wasn't supposed to be cycling, right?

[Crysta the Elf]

oop..... i kinda had a minor idea that that might happen. sorry bout it, yeah it isnt supposed to cycle.. lol



does it look better in game minus the misplaced cycling palette?

[marzo]

The cycling palette is still there, but it is not what is making it look strange. I tried it again, and now I can finally put my finger on it: the pages are too greenish, giving an odd look to the book (specially if scalers are used). I think I'll keep the old (closed) graphic, though; as I said, the sprite is too small to look really good given the kind of detail that is needed (although yours was a very nice try).

[Crysta the Elf]

ah well, i tried


much more basic, but how about this instead just to differentiate it from other books in the game

and if theres still a damn cycling palette snuff the thing out. lol.

[marzo]

I reduced the darker area in the left by 1 pixel in width, eliminated the two pixels with different colors in the lighter blue area (they looked very odd in game) and darkened the 'page border' by one shade. The result looks very good, and I think I'll use it.

[Crysta the Elf]

sounds good to me, so long as it looks good

[drcode]

Let me know if you want help with the multi-map bugs. I only get the mailing-list at work. I'm anxious to play this.

[Crysta the Elf]

another new minor problem?

Shamino seems to think that the Shrine of the Codex is the Shrine of Humility... misplaced a location marker? or was this wrong before and I just cant check now to find out?

[marzo]

Crysta: Ah, yes, I forgot to edit *that* egg. He was *supposed* to say that it was the Shrine of the Codex. For now, pretend that he does

DrCode: the more 'serious' I know of right now (and which I haven't fixed yet) are with multimap and using Flex save/restore and Zip Level 2 save/restore (Zip Level 1 has been fixed). I haven't been able (yet) to find a way to fix them without breaking older saves, so if you want to give it a try...

[Dominus]

The zip level problem is probably more something for wjp and colourless to look at, since they implemented it ages ago.

[marzo]

I fixed the zip level problem. All that remains now is the flex one.

[Gunnar]

Is it possible to combine the different patches and or Mods? (eg Quests & Interactions v0.5beta + Keyring Mod)

[marzo]

No. But I can probably merge the two of them. I will have to talk to Alun Bestor about it first, though.

[Achile]

Great Mod. As Always, Thank you sooooo much.

[Vistaer]

Excellent Mod! I cant wait to see future versions!

[Azulmagia]

Looks good, i've got to try it sometime soon. Although, the lock lake cleanup part made me wonder... As the garbage disappears, will the fish containing the key to the shack (you know, -that- fish) also vanish?

[Wizardry Dragon]

I believe when containers are deleted, their contents are left on the ground where the container was by Exult.

~ Wizardry Dragon

[Wizardry Dragon]

So, out of curiosity I tried to install the mod and play it (used install.bat with no problems) but now whenever I try to make a game it crashes:

Digital SFX's file specified: jmsfx.flx... but file not found
Assertion failed: shapes!=0, file ./shapes/vgafile.h, line 253

(I tried both with and without FoV in case that may be the issue but it didnt seem to change anything)

~ Wizardry Dragon

[marzo]

Yes. The key will then be in possession of Cove's mayor, and he can give it to you.

[Wizardry Dragon]

Any thoughts on my install problem? Its crashing when it goes to make the GAMEDAT folder...

Since the batch didnt throw any errors, Im at a loss.

~ Wizardry Dragon

[marzo]

Can you post sdtout and stderr?

[Wizardry Dragon]

Stderr.txt:

Digital SFX's file specified: jmsfx.flx... but file not found
Assertion failed: shapes!=0, file ./shapes/vgafile.h, line 253



Stdout.txt:

Exult version 1.4.01cvs
Built at: Jan 23 2006 16:48:46
Compile-time options: USE_FMOPL_MIDI, USE_EXULTSTUDIO, HAVE_ZIP_SUPPORT
Compiler: gcc, version: 3.4.4 (mingw special)

Platform: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Version 5.1 Build 2600
Exult path settings:
Data : data
Digital music : data\music

OGG Vorbis Digital Music: Disabled
Trying: `Windows'
1 Midi Devices Detected
Listing midi devices:
-1: Microsoft MIDI Mapper
0: Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth
Using device -1: Microsoft MIDI Mapper
Success!
Midi Output: Enabled
Black Gate : found
exult_bg.flx : found
Serpent Isle : found
exult_si.flx : found
Starting a BLACK GATE game
Game path settings:
Static : D:\ultima\static
Gamedat : D:\ultima\gamedat
Savegame: D:\ultima
Patch : D:\ultima\patch

Serpent Isle : found
exult_si.flx : found
Creating 'gamedat' files.

[marzo]

Out of curiosity (and just a wild guess): is there a "map01" folder in the gamedat dir? Or any files at all? If there are files (but not the folder I mentioned) try creating the folder manually and starting a new game.

As I said, the above is a wild guess. I will also have to take a peek at your exult.cfg ad stdout and stderr did not shed any light in the situation.

Can you also take a look at your patch dir and confirm that it has 28 files and one "map01" folder, and confirm the existance of 3 files in the latter folder?

[Wizardry Dragon]

Everything checks out.

Oddly enough, I renamed back my old patch dir with my own mod, installed the keyring mod to it, and it works completely fine now.

Quite odd.

~ Wizardry Dragon

[marzo]

Odd indeed. Well, glad it is working now. Let me know what you think; and send in any ideas for improvement too.

[Wizardry Dragon]

One thing that irks me is that all the quotations for the speech of the characters are all left open. They have an opening quotation mark but no closing one. ^^;;

I'll post other ideas as I work through the mod's quest. ^^

Also, mind if I use this in conjunction with my own mod, which I mentioned some of in my thread?

~ Wizardry Dragon

[marzo]

Not at all. I recommend that you take a look closer look at the files in the src/headers dir (and the contained subfolders) as there is a lot of stuff there that will likely make your lofe easier when writing new usecode.

As for the opening quotes: it is deliberate. I used it to indicate that the NPC hasn't finished saying what he is saying. When they are done talking, there is a closing quote.

[Wizardry Dragon]

Ah. Just irks me because its inconsistent with the rest of the NPCs in the game

And I admit, half the reason I downloaded it was to fiddle with the usecode

~ Wizardry Dragon

[marzo]

The behaviour of the mod's NPCs when double-clicked is also inconsistent with the rest of the game, but I didn't see you complaining about that

[Wizardry Dragon]

I noticed it with the guy at LBs castle but I havent come across others yet, thought it mighta just been a bug with the guy

It just irked me that it always starts with " even half way through a sentence, watch the longer bit of Julia's convo, (or Iolos, etc, its just Julias Im looking at now) and you'll see they *only* have a open and close quotation mark, not the repeated open one

Its just a pet peeve, really, but it irked me nonetheless.

~ Wizardry Dragon

[Wizardry Dragon]

So having powergamed through the keyring quest last night I have to say that my only other complaint is that the ending is rather anticlimatic.

Also, would be nice to have her able to rejoin at some point.

(And for the less Virtuous or at least more self serving avatar, would be nice if we could use the potion to get Mariah back ^_~ )

~ Wizardry Dragon

[marzo]

the ending is rather anticlimatic.

How so?

Also, would be nice to have her able to rejoin at some point.

I don't know if you noticed, but the mod ships custom graphics for her (including paperdoll faces and a standard BG gump). I have plans for the future (after a lot of things in Exult are de-hard-coded) which include her joining (check also her dialog usecode and you will see a commented-out section which does just that). But since she *is* a mage, I will first make sure that she can cast her own spells (and when that is done, Jaana will get her spells back -- after you destroy the generator -- and Mariah will be joinable and have spells too -- again, after the generator is destroyed).

[Wizardry Dragon]

You come against the epic spellcasting type, and I beat him without even magical arms and armour (and no I didnt cheat) . Seemed if he had a daughter that could destroy chunks of the world youd need something powerful (like the Blackrock sword) or something crafty (liked Rudyon's wand on the gate) to defeat him. Seemed kinda ... easy just hacking at him with a serpentine sword.

What Im working on myself is a modular type spell system, you will still only have a certain amount of spells per circle, but you'll have more choice (incl. spells left out from older Ultimas: undead, iceball, etc., also its aprt of my attempt at bridging the gap between SI and U7 and I plan to make the non SI-unique SI spells available in U7 also). Ambitious, but if I pull it off it will be high on the cool factor, methinks.

And yeah, I saw the personalized spellbooks. Those have some neat potential I think. Could have personalized spells in my system for them ^_~

It'd be nice if the Paladin (Durpe) got spells too, as I remember the Paladin had (limited) spellcasting ability.

~ Wizardry Dragon

p.s. I think one of the joinable NPCs in my mod would have a lot to say about Z's plans and magic ^_~

[Wizardry Dragon]

So trying to add on a bit to your mod and work on mine, and Im having difficulties adding new dialogue modularly (#include was just being added when that real life thing came and took me away ^_^;;)

Anyways, in usecode.uc at the end I have

#include /npcs/mykellah.uc // TFL npc

and in mykellah.uc I have a simple conversation script (I dont expect the formatting to work here):

Mykellah 0x517 ()
{
var bark;
var met_miki;
var answers;

answers = ["Name", "Job"];
say("This woman exudes an aura of calm. She seems at peace.");
converse($answers, "Bye")
{
case "Bye":
say("@Fare the well,@ Mykellah says with a wave.");
break;

case "Name":
say("She turns to address you. @I am Dame Mykellah Amaranth,@ she replies with a small smile.");

case "Job":
say("@I am the Dame of this castle,@ she thinks for a moment and adds, @I serve in whatever capacity my husband requires.@");
say("Her expression becomes pained. @These are trying times; enemies are at our heels and the people suffer;");
say("One day I must heal and tend to the wounded, the next, try to drive back the demons that plague the land.");
say("Once I followed the path of Honesty as a mage, if only I could return to those simple times...@ Her eyes glaze over for a moment,");
say("as if lost in a distant memory.");
}
}

The usecode compiles fine, and yet, the conversation doesnt appear. It doesnt crash, it just doesnt work. I remember I had a pretty bad old habit of misnumbering the NPC convo functions, but I doublechecked and its the right number. So Im at a loss once more.

~ Wizardry Dragon

[Crysta the Elf]

yeah.. i kinda beat him with level 4 iolo and avatar without more than chain armor and low-end magic weapons.. needs to be pumped up a bit

[Wizardry Dragon]

Hmm, okay looking now I see errors in the convo script, my question is why ucc.exe doesnt tell me about this *twitch*

Still not working even with a fixed script though x_x

~ Wizardry Dragon

[marzo]

I recommend that you don't work too much on the modular spell system, as I already have a fully functional one which (incidentaly) has reimplemented versions of every spell (to allow non-avatar spellcasters); there is also a spellbook override that makes the avatar use the same rules as NPCs. The system supports more than eight spells per circle (but all levels must still have the same number of spells -- but you can add dummy filler functions, though). I also have added a few extra spells (and am working on more), and I am planning a usecode-based pseudo-AI for spellcasters to determine which spells to cast. I will use these to make Laundo and Zauriel more powerful in future versions of the mod; the reason I have removed it from this public release of the mod is that I haven't done much work on the AI yet.

If you want to take a look at the usecode, send me a private e-mail message and I'll upload it to you.

As for the usecode: UCC *should* tell you about the errors. Also, if Exult is running, you must use Exult Studio to reload the usecode. In the usecode you gave, replace 'converse($answers, "Bye")' with 'converse([answers, "Bye"])' and it should work fine. And the include should have the filename between doble-quotes and have a ';' before the comment.

[Wizardry Dragon]

I did change that (noticed it as soon as I posted >_< ) and still no dice, same story with the include.

I have to say, Im not entirely sure the include is including the code. Its not throwing errors from mykellah.uc even when I intentionally add them, but it is from other includes (kept saying get_usecode_fun didnt exist in the inn script till I commented it out, although Im sure that probably broke the code)

And damn, someone beat me to it. Id be interested in seeing the code, and I still would like to apply some of my ideas to it (giving the paladin back spells, personalized spells) if you don't mind.

~ Wizardry Dragon

[marzo]

Ah, your version of UCC is not up-to-date. *checks download page* Damn, no wonder you can't compile it... the version of UCC there is six months old! Who is responsible for updating it?

Is there an e-mail address I cans end the code to? You can click on my name to send me a message with the address if you don't want to post it for all spammers to see

[Dominus]

Kirben does all the snapshots. He probably just needs a nudge so he remembers to build that one too. Probably we should ask him to package ucc with the Exult snapshot.