DC Release 0.842

[CocoaSpud]

{cc: DC mailing list}
Dungeon Craft version 0.842 is available. This release is primarily about enabling spell casting during combat. There are still some aspects of magic that are not supported yet. These things should be taken care of in the next few upcoming releases. There were some enhancements made to animations to support spells, and more sounds/animations were added to each spell.

Paul was very busy with a couple of new things in DC. First, you can record your game play session to a file and then play it back. In fact, anyone can play it back as long as they have the same engine executable design files. This will be a big help in some cases when you need to demonstrate a bug that I can't reproduce on my own. Simply turn on recording, play until the bug happens, and send me the files. To start recording, press CTRL-R at the title screen and all game actions will be stored in a Recordxxx.log file. Each time you record, the 'xxx' part is automatically incremented to avoid
overwriting the previously recorded session. To enable playback, rename the recorded log file to Playfile.log and press CTRL-P at the title screen. Second, Paul added some code which should keep animations animating at about the same speed on all supported CPU's.

Currently, we are both working on replacing the LUA scripting with GPDL scripting. GPDL is Paul's very own invention. Since GPDL can be compiled, and we can modify it for any needs we may have for spells and monster AI, I decided that DC should switch to it and drop LUA. This current release still contains LUA, but the next one will not. I have converted the existing LUA script commands into GPDL, and most any existing LUA script should work fine once we convert to GPDL.

Richard

>>>> UAF Version 0.8.4.2 <<<<

April 22, 2002

For the first time in DC history, you can cast a spell in combat. Spells still have problems though, but they will be worked out.
Most of the available spell options in the editor should work, except for the duration 'By HP of Damage'.

Some limitations:

- No way to target a path, as a lightening bolt would need.
- No way to target a cone-shaped area, as a cone of cold would need.
- animations that linger, such as for a Stinking Cloud, aren't supported yet.
- casting multiple spells that affect the same character attribute, where one spell is permanent and one has duration, won't work right.

Example: Cast spell that reduces hit points by one point for two rounds. Then cast spell that restores hit points permanently {Cure Lt Wnds}. The character will still show the reduced hp total from the first spell until the duration expires.

**** New Features ****

Editor:
- transfer dialog shows level name along with level number
- Special Keys can be assigned as the key which unlocks wall blockages of type 'Locked, Special Key' 1-8.

Engine:
- You can record a game session and then play it back later.
- Changed internal game timer to use a virtual tick count. This should keep everything moving at about the same speed for different CPU speeds.
- combat uses much less cpu power than in previous releases.

Both:
- Includes a new version of the BASS sound lib which is supposed to decode MP3 files faster.
- Updated the ZLib library to latest version.
- Added a configurable limit to the number of times an animation will loop.
- Added more spell sounds.
- Added ability to set/get character attributes using Logic Block event.
- Updated the help file for recent Logic Block and GPDL changes.

**** Bug Fixes ****

Editor:
- There was no button to edit the Thief starting equipment.
- Fixed overland map scroll problem

Engine:
- only show memorized spells for cast spell menu