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by **eggmceye** » Mon May 19, 2003 11:20 pm

This is where I rant incoherently about what I might or might not be working on.

by **eggmceye** » Mon May 19, 2003 11:25 pm

There's a problem with the client such that if the player exits it by hitting the X in the top right of the window (like you kill most windows progs) - it sometimes doesn't actually exit (check your task manager). I imagine this has something to do with Allegro (the gfx lib) and will search their forums about it when I get more bandwidth.

This has the side effect of keeping your character on the server, even tho you've killed (or so it appears) the client.

So in the meantime, I added a check on the server so that if you connect and there's someone already connected with your name (probably you anyway - a stale client) - you'll get a polite message then get kicked. If this happens, check your task manager and kill off properly any EUO's still running.

by **eggmceye** » Tue May 20, 2003 10:21 pm

Spent the afternoon and tonite rewriting the algorithm for what monsters drop when you kill them, so that it is more flexible. I actually reinstalled Diablo 1 and played it for a bit to see how they did it. I was pretty unsatisfied with EUO's treasure system - monsters were dropping plenty of leather gloves and torches and not much else.

So now what a monster drops is determined by 5 numbers, each from 1-16. A monster can drop gold, an apothecary item, a weapon/armour or something else (4 categories).

The first of the 5 numbers determines the quality of whats dropped, the higher the better. The other 4 numbers indicate the chance of something being dropped from the 4 categories.

So say our treasure code is

61b3d

6 is the quality of the treasure (its a hex num)
1 is the chance (out of 16) of something misc being dropped
b is the chance (out of 16) of a apothecary item being dropped
3 is the chance (out of 16) of a weapon being dropped
d is the chance (out of 16) of gold being dropped.

These codes appear in sdat/monsters.dat which is server side.

by **eggmceye** » Wed May 21, 2003 5:21 pm

Today I added boss monsters that are spawned in certain places. Boss monsters are derived from a regular monster, but have beefier stats, have their name in red above their head, and drop a magic item when you kill them. They're pretty rare so be sure to kill them on sight. Not live yet but soon - requires client patch so will add some more client side fixes in before releasing.

Also added treasure chest spawners for dungons - be sure to search any chests you find lying around. Not live yet but soon.

by **eggmceye** » Thu May 22, 2003 12:30 pm

Been busting my ballzors on this latest patch but i think it's ready - I'll play test some more then probably release within the next 12 hrs. Levelling's now in for better or for worse, and that created about a 100 bugs I spent more time on that anything else fixing.

Stat building via combat and misc skills is now on ice for the time being - you now boost your stats when you gain a level by spending 5 points on your stats as you please. Levelling might be a little fast, with:

level 2 at 125 xp
level 3 at 250
level 4 at 500
level 5 at 1000
level 6 at 2500
level 7 at 5000
level 8 at 10000

and subsequent levels at 10k exp after that. I'll reintroduce stat building via skill use later, maybe when client files go server side.

I found that a new char can get to about level 4 in about 15 mins, and level 8 in about an hour. Combined with the new treasure spawners & bosses dropping magic weapons, I'm finding bashing the same old levels strangley addictive.

Can't wait to have 100 or so levels - maybe 7 dungeons at 7 levels a dungeon + towns and underworld + ethereal plane (that broden's working on). That would all be awesome. Will have to polish off randomly generated levels and that would be the nail in the coffin.

So this next patch will have:
* boss monsters dropping magic weapons
* random chests in dungeons that are worth searching
* player levelling
* statbox now shows more weapon & armour details, such as AC, damage and required skill.
* Tactics has been fixed - you get a tactics bump when you hit, just like with wep skills, but it goes at half the rate. So if you started with tact 0 and mace 0, then by the time yr mace is 100, yr tact s/b 50, theoretically.
* other crap i've forgotten about as i have a memory like a sieve

I should probably do some other work. I'm not sure whats on the EUO hitlist after this patch - probably sus out copyright laws regarding sound FX (I have a feeling there aren't any) - then I'll redo all the sounds, as the quake 3 ones shit me. I'll probably release a retro Ultima 5 sound pack with sounds taken from the actual game. ALso have to get rid of all the dransik tiles before they sue me, as well as make some more tiles anway.

by **eggmceye** » Sat May 24, 2003 11:59 am

First thing this morning was to fix class spawner weighting - this means if you make a undead spawner, the chance of spawning a powerful creature like a lich is much less than spawning a skeleton. The weights are definiable in monsters.dat (server side).

Also tweaked summoned creature AI. They now follow you between levels, and don't run around you in circles if they don't have anything to attack. If the player who summoned the creature leaves the game, the creature becomes evil aligned and will wander around. It will still be unsummoned however when it's timer runs out.

Summoned creatures are awesome - I suggest getting Kal Xen Corp asap.

Also finally coded Kal Xen - the generic summon spell. In server.cfg you define what class of creature to summon (I'll made it class 4 - undead for the live server).

BTW, you can have more than 1 summoned creature. If you had enough mana, you could have an army of undead following you around everywhere.

Also changed Sanct Lor (invis) so that if you hit a creature you lose the invis.

by **eggmceye** » Tue May 27, 2003 2:10 pm

Today's client patch fixes the close-button dramas, as well as some fiddly quest related things.

Since last post, all I've been doing is getting quests working properly, and I think finally they are. They're not quite live yet as I want to play test the quest system some more. But probably within a day I'll unleash it on the world, along with Broden's awesome Lich Quest and associated levels.

I've also written 3 new quests to do in Nordhausen. So thats 4 to do there including the rat quest. I've got one more figured out which I'll get done soon, and when 2 more are dreamed up (a total of 7) I'll make the new quest-enhanced server live. All of the nordhausen quests are activated by talking to guards, either in town or in the jail.

Quests will be like, return some item, or kill some dude, or goto some place. I'm going to have a rescue quest, which will actually be a kill quest in disguise. Hopefully the new quest system is flexible enough to suit 90% of stories, and 100% of stories with practical modifcations.

Rewards are experience points and items. Soon I'll make single use scrolls which boost skills or stats - so they could be rewards for doing quests. A scroll that boosted a skill could be sold by trainers as well, solving that problem. That's all to come tho.

by **eggmceye** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 12:19 am

So this is what I did this weekend.

Due to popular demand, I've done the client side changes so that unique merchants can be created. This means merchants between different towns will have different stock. Changes aren't made server side but are top priority next week. Initially, simple lists of items will be given to merchants. Maybe one day there will be merchants who's stock changes dynamically, creating a mini economy. I can even envisenge travelling merchants. Imagine a merchant who's some badass fighter, and his AI is just to go round killing bosses and collecting magic stuff, and selling it to players. I can see this happening.

Another big ball rolling is ranged weapons. I've made a simple auto targeting ranged weapon interface. It's easy and effective, but selecting particular targets is not on yet. Go into combat mode, ready yr bow (or whatever) and keep hitting [insert key here - using numpad-0 for dev] to shoot arrows at yr nearest target. When it dies, you'll shoot at the next nearest target. Good for dungeon bash. Way overpowered - will need to create monster interference - so that if u dont have room to move you can't shoot. Also will have to create a requirement for actual arrows in inventory, but I can see a 'ranged weapons' being the 5th weapons class, and a useful, not token, one at that.

I haven't done the 'ballistic special effects' yet - ie you or other plays wont see the missles fly. I'll have to think about it some more. I have some ideas but other things are taking priority atm.

With Questatholon coming up, I spent like 3 hrs writing a story for it. Ive started making maps too, and drawing others on paper.

Engine side, I've given the DM power to possess NPCs. This is 'meat and potatoes' according to one prudent player. A DM can narrate plot, act, fight , move, die, cast, all thru the body of an NPC. This will be happeneing a lot during Questatholon.

And finally, DM's can now give NPC's names on the fly, chg their alignment, and change their appearance. These were all requirements of the story for Questatholon.

by **eggmceye** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 11:48 pm

Well I've almost (as in 90%) completed ranged weapons. Will be letting loose on the world for player testing and opinion. Here's whats in:

* ranged weapon skill
* short bow with a set range (4 squares)
* generic ammunition
* crude animations
* bowyer merchant

whats to do:
* proper gfx for the flying ammo
* proper sounds
* definable ranges for different weps (eg shortbow might be 3 and longbow might be 4)
* possible range increase depending on skill
* other players seeing your missles

Let me tell ya, doin the anims for missles is the worst. First you have to sit down with pencil and paper and work out the trig. Then all the maths involves floating point, which is a pain in C as u have to cast everything (well not really, its still a pain tho).

The missle graphic is crude but will have do do until the graphics expansion.

Also added targeting recticle? is that the word? it's like a corsshair but a square. Since the targeting system is automatic (nearest threat), the crosshair lets you know what yr shooting at. You can turn it on and off by pressing shift-t (T).

Also snuck in Grav Por - a level 3 ranged attack spell - infact its just An Mani with a 4 sq range. It's way overpowered, but works. No anim for it yet - infact i think the anim may suck as it will be lag influenced, unlike regular missles. Proly put in Vas Flam too eventually.

Other bits:
* moved almost all item usage server side - now you won't get lag resurections and experience sync errors and the like. So if you reckon you might die, do the runner, then do a potion - no longer rely on the potion working straight away - it will work as fast as your ping is (proly about 300ms).
* more dm commands, mainly merchant related
* bugfixes as usual

Also tweaked monster AI some - now they chase harder, and if at first they don't see you, they will chase once you shoot at them. Otherwise it was way too easy. They even chase thru doors, which is something that I didn't expect. Some idiot once said once a program gets over a certain size and age, it aquires a personality and AI of its own, and becomes chaotic. Hell, he might be right. I don't know what's goin on half of the time.

by **eggmceye** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 2:20 am

Have migrated to 3rd edition (modified of course) DnD combat rules - ie no more THAC0 and negative AC's! It's all Attack Strength (known as Attack bonus in dnd) and positive AC's - the higher the better.

Also me and brdoen are testing slower combat and a slightly revised interface. The general concensus is thumbs up.

Monsters have been redone and now hit significantly more often.

Levelling has been slowed down a bit. Now will take a million xp to get to level 40, where previously it took about 340k. Levelling significantly slows down after 40. Level 50 requires 7.5M exp.

Fixed the epileptic flashing statbox in the client, and also the health & mana bars no longer go black when yr current is over yr max (this happens when u remove a item with a str bonus for example, leaving you with more HP than your regular maximum - requires attention server side).

Flashing cursor now defaults to on for when ranged weps are equipped, and off for when melee weps are equipped. You can still press T to toggle it on and off. Be sure to turn it on before casting Grav Por.

Mandrakes awesome 8 level mages tower is now live - you find it in the mountains down the west coast of Talenorne (the 2nd continent made by Dvalin). Good job.

by **eggmceye** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 11:57 pm

Firstly I'm really enthused about the wizard's tower and the abyss mk 2 - much kudos to broden & mandrake for the maps.

The abyss is at 27' 21" on Tanelorne.
The wizards tower is at 23' 24" on Tanelorne.

Of course, Tanelorne was made by Dvalin so kudos to him too! Incase you don't know how to get to the other continent (that being Tanelorne), get to the docks near Old Porte (north of Nordhausen), and press space. You'll get like, taken by a ship or something, to the other continent.

Glad ppl are pleased with the patch. I'm probably going to just work on new maps for a while. I'm actually working on the random map generator, which is working, however the maps its makes aren't very inspiring. However once it's done, you can expect bottomless pits of random hell littered all over the place.

by **eggmceye** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 3:06 am

I think the next patch is ready, will release when things quiten down a bit. Here's what's in:

* Groups/parties (where xp is shared when monsters are killed)
* Mani, Vas Mani, and An Nox all can now be cast on other players (and creatures!)
* You can now see other player's missles
* improved (but not final) missle tile
* waterfalls (lava maybe next time)
* new troll tile (thx broden), new wizard tile, boat parts, mandrake's wizard tower (thx mandrake), lighthouse tile
* boat travel slightly more sophisticated than just pressing space on the dock

backend stuff
* rewrote magic slightly to allow for easier expansion. look out for spells like In nox, more summon spells, hell, whatever's in the UO playguide that doesn't suck
* hopefuly fixed server crashes
* turn now is de-powered. it kills creatures depending on yr inteligence. if it doesn't kill them, it doesn't harm them either. Also, it's now unlikely anyone will ever turn a vamp or lich.
* an-mani does damage proportional to yr inteligence. It might be too powerful now.

Along with the patch will be stage one of the underworld open, and one new town, + a replacement for Izumi. To get between the contients, go to Izumi (yes its a port now) and take a boat. You'll need to buy a ticket - just talk to bluebeard if you can't figure it out.

With parties, type /inv whilst standing next to another player to invite them to your party. If you don't have a party, one will be created. It's all not very fancy - however it does work. Any monsters killed by a party member will give a portion of XP to any alive party member within sight of the player who killed it.

If you leave the game you'll lose your party membership and have to be re-invited. You can kick ppl out of the party, and list who's in your party - these commands have yet to be finalised.

Things I'm thinking about working on:
* a pseudo class system (ie more skills, magic schools, and a slightly restricted character generator)
* gota fix some AI. got to get those last 3 spells working. Want to add more spells.
* party chat, global and local chat
* moving the system messages somewhere else on the screen
*magic casting monsters - this will make some monsters incredibly difficult. first cab off the rank will probably be demons gating demons and possessing you. quiet strolls thru the abyss will be a thing of the past. liches will summon more undead, and mages will attack you with an mani, and will heal themselves.

by **eggmceye** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 3:16 pm

patch is live, last minute fixes that made it in:

* ai fixes
* an mani now does 3d4+1 per 20 int (thx dudes)
* an xen ex (charm) now works
* claymore does 2d6, 2h axe 1d11, halberd 3d5 !
* damage bonus +1 per 30 str for combat
* skill and xp gains reduced again
* fixed quest xp bug
* fixed stat bonus/levelling bug

there's still a problem with pet ai in that they may not attacked if surrounded and blocked - will fix one day

by **eggmceye** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 11:13 pm

All I've been doing this week it seems is fix bugs. Here's a list of outstanding issues:

* player dies when changing a level and their gold vanishes
* free ship travel if u have high dex and a high ping
* pet kills don't give the owner or party XP

Things high on the todo list

* banks
* local chat

Might add the abilty to fly when polymorphed, and the abilty to drown if you un-polymorph over water. Am expecting to break a lot of things by adding this in.

More things on the todo list

* rewrite combat code so I can code XC and more offensive magic, as well as have magic using monsters
* develop the skill system into a pseuo class system
* more maps, some are really showing their age, e.g. ogre cave is 3 years old now! Mon ferrato is high on the hit list. The noob dungoen needs a massive expansion. Going to move the library somwhere else.

by **eggmceye** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 3:41 pm

Well the bank is live. I take no responsibiltiy if it's broken and you manage to lose all your gold. It shouldn't tho, i spent hours debugging it.

I'm more excited about Buccaneers den than anything.

I gota do lots of other crapy real work this week, but will be working on Monster Magic soon.

Oh btw, encumberance will be turned on in 3-5 days. Be sure to unload yr goodies, and sell the rest in the meantime.

by **eggmceye** » Fri Jun 27, 2003 12:00 am

This is what's in next patch (will update this list as stuff makes it in):

* Encumberance is on
* health bars are different colours depending on creature alignment
* potions will now heal a random amount - you might get fully healed, or there may be only a small effect. Same goes for Mana (blue) potions
* Xen Corp and Quas An Wis now work (finally)
* maximum effective dex for walking speed is now 100
* fix quest / NPC not accepting item bug (hopefully)
* fix dissapearing gold on death on stairs bug (hopefully)
* client won't allow movement of player in heavy lag (so now you can't cheeze yr way thru locked doors) - if this makes your movement a little jumpy, which it won't, then tough
* boss monsters now drop magic weapons & armour only 1/3 of the time, instead of 100% of the time
* merchants will pay only 1/3 of an item's value instead of 3/4 when selling
* Town portals can only be placed on empty squares
* when invis and polymorphed, you'll see the correct avatar (shadowed dragon)
* fixed/removed 'target moved' splats in PvP & other combat
* changed 'attack with NOTHING' to 'attack with bare hands'

All in all, gold will now be a hell of a lot harder to get. I'll probably make the patch live as soon as possible.

by **eggmceye** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 8:47 pm

Haven't been doin much lately - too much "real work" atm, and a bit burned out too.

I have actually rewritten some of the server side combat routines, but am not making live as I haven't tested them properly. However, when you see your summon creatures' and confused creatures' victims dropping treasure, you'll know the changes are live.

Next big server change will be magic casting monsters. Surprisingly this wont take long to do - I just gota find the time and the enthusiasm.

Also thinking about a pseudo-class system, it has its own thread devoted to it.

by **eggmceye** » Sat Jul 05, 2003 2:09 am

Well as promised, monsters now cast some spells and some attack with ranged weapons. Players with a high Int might resist the magic, which is a good thing. If you thought demons, drags and balrogs were hard, wait till you see them now. And they're not even casting heal or VS - just grav por, quake and XVC. Walk into a room with demons and watch them multiply.

With the ranged attacks, ettins, trolls & giants are using ranged attacks. They hurt. Might need to make a separate Attack strength / damage for creatures attacking with ranged.

IVPY doesn't hurt allies anymore. This also means you can't use it for PVP.

Summoned demons and drags don't cast magic btw.

by **eggmceye** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 1:27 am

New patch coming soon. Mainly stupid fixes, eg the one ore giving you infinite ingots bug that no-one bothered to report - no wonder everyone's a fucking millionaire.

Added meditation skill (meditation means fast HP healing at the expense of being blind and not being able to move). Combined lumberjacking and woodworking into one skill. Got rid of tinkering. Smithing and woodcrafting now have sensible make-lists, as well as things such as plate armour requiring an assload of skill and a lot of ingots.

Will probably turn on a 400-500 pt skill cap, to encourage multiple characters. Will probably put in penalties for casting in heavy armour. Mana will defiitely regenerate faster in light armour than heavy armour - this may be all that is needed to discourage battlemages.

I still haven't decided on whether (and how) to split magic into arcane & divine schools. Now that meditation is in, no-one is going to need Mani anymore, so I might just move all defensive/creative spells into Divine, and Desctructive/offenseive spells into Arcane. Divine spells won't have armour/weapon penalties for casting. The fact is no-one is going to be 100% happy with it, whatever I do. I'm hoping the best answer will fall in my lap.

by **eggmceye** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 10:09 pm

I've just patched the server so you can do ultima-V style conversations with NPC's. Note that at the moment, only the Lich/Xile quest (in monferrato) as well as Max the trainer Druid in Nordhausen actualy use this new feature - the old guard quests and the book quests use the old style. I can't be bothered at the moment updating them all.

However, I have a 5 level quest made by Urgue which I'm just polishing off, and it will feature the new conversation system. As you may imagine, a whole lot more info, story, whatever can be packed into the dialog with the NPC.

As far as dropping trade skills, classes, magic, and rumored combat changes go, I've put it all on hold - it's all stressing me too much. However I think a guild system will be devised, which will miraculously cure everything and keep everyone happy *

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