Dungeon Craft FAQ?

[ProphetSword]

As I've started messing around with designing in DC, I've come up with a ton of questions. But, after looking around, whereas I can find a bunch of information about some things, I can't find any kind of definitive FAQ.

So, I guess I'll ask some questions here. If folks want to answer them, that would be great. And maybe they could be compiled into some sort of FAQ for future use.

The questions are as follows:

1) What is the maximum size map you can create for DC?

2) How many different types of walls can you use on a single map?

3) How many backdrops can you use for a single map?

4) Is there a limit to the number of Quest variables you can create?

5) Is there an option to do "highlighted" text like in UA (where the words actually change color instead of being highlighted like DC currently does it...which I really don't like).

6) Can you change the text colors in any other way?

7) Is there an option to create/add classes or races to the game?

8) What is the highest value an attribute can have? Can I create monsters or characters with attributes over 18? Over 25?

9) Is there an option to password protect your module? UA had the option, but they made it to easy to break the password protection.

10) How hard is it to do things requiring hacks with UA? Things like changing the frame, the font, or the mouse pointer?

11) What formats does DC use for music, movies and pictures?

12) Is there a maximum number of pictures you can use in a design, or is it unlimited? What about combat icons?

13) Is there a limit on text or events per map? I always assumed it was unlimited...but I'm not sure.


That's all I can think of for starters.

That said, I'm excited by the prospects of DC (always have been), and I hope it reaches a point where some serious designing can start soon.

[Dinonykos]

I try to answer all I know, but I guess others will know more... Manikus or any other may correct me in case I am wrong...

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 1) What is the maximum size map you can create for DC?

100x100

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 2) How many different types of walls can you use on a single map?

96

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 3) How many backdrops can you use for a single map?

96

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 4) Is there a limit to the number of Quest variables you can create?

around 16000?

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 5) Is there an option to do "highlighted" text like in UA (where the words actually change color instead of being highlighted like DC currently does it...which I really don't like). 6) Can you change the text colors in any other way?

Simply add...
/r for red /r
/y for yellow /y
/g for green /g
/b for blue /b
/c for a custom colour /c

in any event. The colours can be altered in the config files...

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 7) Is there an option to create/add classes or races to the game?

Yep, but you have to do it via the specific text files. There are several posts related to this in the forum...

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 11) What formats does DC use for music, movies and pictures?

Sounds: MP3, WAVE and MIDI for music. To my knowledge, DC can handle several Waves at the same time...
Movies: Avi
Pictures: pcx, jpg, png (png is the format used most often)

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 12) Is there a maximum number of pictures you can use in a design, or is it unlimited? What about combat icons?

Unlimited

[manikus]

Originally Posted by ProphetSword As I've started messing around with designing in DC, I've come up with a ton of questions. But, after looking around, whereas I can find a bunch of information about some things, I can't find any kind of definitive FAQ.[ So, I guess I'll ask some questions here. If folks want to answer them, that would be great. And maybe they could be compiled into some sort of FAQ for future use.

The F.A.Q. is part of the DC Wiki -
http://uaf.wiki.sourceforge.net/F.A.Q.

Originally Posted by ProphetSword The questions are as follows: 1) What is the maximum size map you can create for DC?

100x100

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 2) How many different types of walls can you use on a single map?

96 per level

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 3) How many backdrops can you use for a single map?

96 per level

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 4) Is there a limit to the number of Quest variables you can create?

65000 variables per quest, 248.5 million quests per design.

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 5) Is there an option to do "highlighted" text like in UA (where the words actually change color instead of being highlighted like DC currently does it...which I really don't like).

It "/h" to begin and end the highlighted area - without the quotation marks of course

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 6) Can you change the text colors in any other way?

I assume that you already know that you can turn the text a specific color (per your previous question), that method and highlighting are the only ways right now. What do you need?

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 7) Is there an option to create/add classes or races to the game?

Not from within the editor. But, there are three text files to look at - baseclass.txt, class.txt and race.txt If you do a search of this forum, you'll see this talked about a bit, some folks have good luck, some don't. It all depends on what you want to do.

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 8) What is the highest value an attribute can have? Can I create monsters or characters with attributes over 18? Over 25?

For monsters and NPCs, it's 25, when creating a PC it's 18 (or 18/100), but these scores can be modified in your design up to 25

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 9) Is there an option to password protect your module? UA had the option, but they made it to easy to break the password protection.

I don't believe so. No one has ever asked for this optioin.

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 10) How hard is it to do things requiring hacks with UA? Things like changing the frame, the font, or the mouse pointer?

Super easy. Go to you top menu buttons and choose Global->Global Settings. Walls are changed in the wall editor and backdrops in the backdrop editor. Literally every graphic in DC can be changed, and all from within the editor. For fonts, you can choose any true-type font, though if you choose a font that is not on the player's system, DC will choose another from the same font family. There is a FRUA true-type font, btw.

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 11) What formats does DC use for music, movies and pictures?

graphics: pcx, jpg, bmp, tga and png
sounds: midi, wav and mp3
movies: avi, though some mpeg4 work, depending on which codec you use

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 12) Is there a maximum number of pictures you can use in a design, or is it unlimited? What about combat icons?

There is none stated but, you're allowed 16 million events per level and 255 levels per game, with the possibility of one picture each.
for icons- 2.1 billion monster, 2.1 billipon NPC and 2.1 billion PC

Originally Posted by ProphetSword 13) Is there a limit on text or events per map? I always assumed it was unlimited...but I'm not sure.

16 million events per level, but the amount of text is limited to the amount of memory on the system.

Originally Posted by ProphetSword That's all I can think of for starters. That said, I'm excited by the prospects of DC (always have been), and I hope it reaches a point where some serious designing can start soon.

Ask any questions you want. The more we talk about DC, the more everyone learns.

[ProphetSword]

It "/h" to begin and end the highlighted area - without the quotation marks of course

That's the kind of highlighting I dislike. It's completely different from the way that UA highlights (UA changes the color of the font).

I assume that you already know that you can turn the text a specific color (per your previous question), that method and highlighting are the only ways right now. What do you need?

The previous response answered this. I didn't know how to change the color at all. I only knew how to highlight, which is horrible for creating dialogue the same way we do it in UA.

For monsters and NPCs, it's 25, when creating a PC it's 18 (or 18/100), but these scores can be modified in your design up to 25

Don't some races have the option to start with base scores over 18? I was pretty sure elves could get a Dexterity score of 19, for example.

There is a FRUA true-type font, btw.

Excellent!

There is none stated but, you're allowed 16 million events per level and 255 levels per game, with the possibility of one picture each. for icons- 2.1 billion monster, 2.1 billipon NPC and 2.1 billion PC

Is that all?

[manikus]

I totally misunderstood your question about highlighting.
/r for red
/b for blue
/g for green
/y for yellow
/w for white
/c for color defined by you in the config.txt
You just need to use the tag again to stop the color. They will not carry over into another event, however.


The Elf Dexterity can max at 19, and the Dwarf Constitution can max at 19. That is implemented in DC, I just haven't tested it, so I can't say that it works. Normally that wouldn't stop me, but one of our users has said it doesn't work.

[Jadefang]

ability.dat controls all the racial stat modifiers, but is broken so the game basically doesn't read them at all, and hence elves end up with a max dexterity of 18 and such. It's even more broken in that if you try to add entries (such as for new races), for any stat that you modified, the dice roller will only roll the absolute minimum value required by race/class combination for any new character.

[manikus]

Originally Posted by Jadefang ability.dat controls all the racial stat modifiers, but is broken so the game basically doesn't read them at all, and hence elves end up with a max dexterity of 18 and such. It's even more broken in that if you try to add entries (such as for new races), for any stat that you modified, the dice roller will only roll the absolute minimum value required by race/class combination for any new character.

I verified this last night. If you set maximums lower than 18, like dwarf charisma, that works.
Interestingly, I have a working race addition of a half-orc, that works as it should (except for the increased maximums) I will look into this more today and post a but tracker report with a level 9 priority so this gets taken care of sooner rather than later.

[Uatu]

Yeah, I remember testing this out on a previous version - scores seem set to 18 or less for now... Should be (fairly?) easy to fix this in the code, though... I hope?

[manikus]

Originally Posted by Uatu Yeah, I remember testing this out on a previous version - scores seem set to 18 or less for now... Should be (fairly?) easy to fix this in the code, though... I hope?

This is something I'll be working on this weekend. I think that it might be able to be fixed without a change to coding, if so I will fix it, if not I will ammend the bugs on SF and raise their priority level.