My dungeon

[Ameena]

I've started making my own dungeon and it's not going too badly, but I seem to have done something wrong although I don't know what it is...I was trying to put a button onto a wall but the first tiem I tried it wasn't there. Then I realised it was 'cause I hadn't put a direction...so I did and the button was visible but didn't do anything. I added the "OPBY=(MOUSE)" 'cause the previous button I did had that and it worked fine. But now the button isn't even visible on the wall! What have I done wrong?
At the moment, this is the command I have -
164 WALLITEM_SWITCH_TINY 6 0 0 SOUTH OPBY=(MOUSE) ACTION=(TOGGLE) TARGET=(140) OPTIONS=(DISABLE_SELF)

This is the error I get...
*** CRITICAL ERROR (line 251, item 164 - WALLITEM_SWITCH_TINY): Tile position "SOUTH " not supported (expecting NORTH, NORTHEAST, EAST, SOUTHEAST, SOUTH, SOUTHWEST, WEST, NORTHWEST or CENTRE).

But I'm not sure what it means.
The other button I already did is...
133 WALLITEM_SWITCH_SMALL 11 3 0 EAST OPBY=(MOUSE) ACTION=(TOGGLE) TARGET=(129) OPTIONS=(DISABLE_SELF)

...and that works fine.

One more thing is, what does this mean?
*** CRITICAL ERROR (line 213, item 105 - FLOORITEM_TRIGGER): Floor trigger option "DISABLE_SELF" not supported. Expecting one or more of CONSTANT_WEIGHT, SOUND:ssss, DIRECTION:dddd (where dddd is NORTH, EAST, SOUTH or WEST), DELAY:nnnn (where nnnn is an integer) or PROBABILITY:nnnn (where nnnn is an integer from 0 to 100)

I have that for four different pad stone thingys but I dunno what it means. They work fine as far as I can see.

[Ameena]

And something else I've just come upon...how do I make a teleporter to zap the party to another location? Is the command something like "TELEPORT_TO=(X,Y,Z)"?

[Gambit37]

1) Your code for the WALLITEM_SWITCH_TINY looks OK. It might be that you have spaces instead of tabs between some of your keywords. Also check that your coordinates do actually specify a WALL and not a floor, 'cos obviously it won't appear (plus you'd get a warning anyway stating that the object isn't on a wall...). You could also try adding a STATE=(VISIBLE) after the SOUTH parameter, but you shouldn't really need it as all objects are visible by default.

2) The critical error you're getting for the floorpad states exactly what the problem is: that floor pads don't support the DISABLE_SELF option. If you want the pad to work once only, then you can use a relay to target the floorpad with an action of DESTROY.

3) Syntax for teleporters is this:

Code: Select all

1020 FLOORITEM_TELEPORTER 1 3 0 STATE=(ACTIVE) OPBY=(ALL)DESTINATION=(9,1,0)

[Ameena]

Okay cool thankies for the info Gambit I'll check that the switch inof is right, maybe I did two tabs or something...it was after midnight so maybe I slipped up somewhere.
As to the floorpad thing, what do you mean by using a relay to destroy it? Do you mean add an "OPTIONS=(DESTROY_ITEM)" into the line?
The teleporter info is most useful too, thanks
Incidentally, if I wanted something activated by monsters only, is the command "OPBY=(MONSTER)"? And can I have something only activated by a certain type of monster eg "OPBY=(MONSTER_SCREAMER)"?

[Gambit37]

More than one tab between each option is fine, but make sure you don't use any spaces.

For the floorpad, say you only want it to work once and to open a door, you'd do something like this (Hope this is right, I'm sure George will correct me if it's not -- doing this from memory):

Code: Select all

100 FLOORITEM_TRIGGER 1 1 1 CENTRE OPBY=(PARTY) ACTION=(ACTIVATE) TARGET=(101,102)
101 DOOR_WOODEN 1 2 1 STATE=(CLOSED)
102 WALLITEM_RELAY 0 1 1 EAST ACTION=(DESTROY) TARGET=(100)

DESTROY_ITEM is only used for wall items when you want to remove the object from the player's hand (e.g. a key or a coin).

For monsters, you're right, you can either use OPBY=(MONSTER) for any monster to trigger it or OPBY=(MONSTER_XXX) for a specific monster to do its thang...

[Ameena]

Okay cool I'll give that a go and see if I can get it to work hehe...darn game won't even load now, keeps coming up with an error message...think I changed something in my file it doesn't like hehe...well I do have about 74 crit errors and 13 warnings or something...blergh

[George Gilbert]

Just a quick post to confirm Gambits postings are right!

Ameena - from you're original post the error message is saying that it doesn't recognise "SOUTH " (i.e. there's a space after the H). I believe that was the source of the original problem and when you changed it to EAST then you deleted the space "by accident" which is why it started working again!

I've emailed you privately about the whole dungeon failing to compile as I have a suspicion it's a bug and therefore my fault rather than yours ;-)

[Ameena]

Ah yeah the wall switch thingy I got sorted - there was indeed a space after the "SOUTH". That's now working fine and as it's meant to
Now there's the problem of the stairs to finish sorting which may be why is bugged entirely, but I sent my file to you, George, as requested, so you can weed out the (probably obvious) problem for this newbie to dungeon creation

[Ameena]

Something else I've just been wondering...is it possible to change a character's starting inventory? I take it that the "CHARACTER_NAME" part of the command where you have all the characters near the top of the text file automatically includes their starting stuff (eg I know Leyla for example starts with a rope). Or is there a way to create a "new" character so you can give them whatever stuff you want?

[Gambit37]

Characters can have anything you want at startup--all you need to do is place the items you want them carry on the same tile and in the same position as their mirror.

If you look at DM.TXT, answers to everything that you've asked so far are in there... Take a look at items 001-024 (Mirrors) and also items 1012-1172 (Items). You'll see that items share the same coordinates as their associated mirrors. Hope that helps!

[Ameena]

Ah cool, I see. Thankies Gambit

[Ameena]

Yet another really annoying bug thing...well, a log file of errors rather than a bug...no idea what I'm doing wrong. Here is a small quote from my log file...

*** CRITICAL ERROR (line 176): Attribute identifier "LIGHT_LEVEL=(80)" not supported. Expecting string of form WALLSET=(xxxx).
*** CRITICAL ERROR (line 176): Wall Set not found - "NULL_STRING"

This continues from line 176 (shown here) to line 232. What have I done wrong?

[Gambit37]

Not a bug...

Make sure that for each level you've defined all the level data in the correct order. Again, I suspect you have a rogue space in there instead of a tab. EG:

Code: Select all

; Level 0  // don't necessarily need this line but useful for you
WALLSET=(WALLSET_DEFAULT)
LIGHT_LEVEL=(100)
OFFSET=(0,0)
SIZE=(18,19)
0010101010101010101 etc...

[Ameena]

Hmm can't seem to find anything wrong there...I copied and pasted that bit from another file, probably The Zoo, and then change the numbers etc to fit my own dungeon...it's worked for all the other levels fine. I dunno quite what I've managed to smeg up here but if I can get it sorted then all I've got left to do (of what I've done so far) is a few minor bits I've done wrong (which I'm sure I'll figure out) and those damn floor trigger things which I still don't have much of a clue about but I think I need to re-read what you posted before about relays and see what to do hehe
Of course, if could happen that I do finally get all these problems sorted and go on to finish my dungeon and it turns out to be total crap but...well we'll see won't we hehe

[Gambit37]

You can email me your file if you like. I'm at home right now, so I can look at it for you and get back to you. Send it to me at mh12225054@htomail.com.

[Ameena]

Just in case you haven't checked your e-mail, I sent you the file as soon as I read your post

[Gambit37]

I went out! the sun was too tempting...

Anyway, I've had a look at your file and found the problem. You've specified level 1 and 2 as size (20,20) and level 3 as size (20,30) but they are actually only (20,19) and (20,29). If you correct this, most of your other errors should disappear.

Remember, even though RTC level coordinates count from 0,0 the SIZE of the level is +1, so a level that only has one cell is size (1,1) NOT (0,0).

[Ameena]

Woohoo!
Okay that huuuuuuuge long list of errors has now gone. Game still doesn't load but hopefully George can maybe explain why that is 'cause he said it's probably a bit where the thingy thinks a tile is there but it isn't 'cause it's at really weird co-ordinates...will have to wait for a reply from him I suppose. I sent my file to him a couple of days ago.
Anyway, thankies for the help again Gambit I'm sure I'll have some other silly problem in a couple of days' time that I will come back and spam this board out with lol

[Ameena]

Okay I really don't get that relay thing...the pads seem to work fine as they're meant to but I dunno why the error thing keeps coming up for each of them...

[Gambit37]

Here's some tips on clearing up the mistakes in your dungeon:

You have two items numbered 160. Rename the first one to something like 099 (it's between 105 and 106).

Your actual item 160 is a relay that targets 10 other objects. You can only target a maximum of 8 objects per relay, so you'll need to split this.

Remove ALL the OPTIONS=(DISABLE_SELF) from the floor pads (for now, until you work out the DESTROY thing I talked about)

Item 205 has too much text, only 15 characters per line are allowed

Item 159, stairs: You've added OPTIONS=(ROTATE_LEFT) which you should remove. Stairs don't support any extra options and any rotation that's required is handled automatically. This should have been caught as an error by the compiler, but it wasn't so that's one for George to add...

The other stuff are warnings about stairs and pits not matching up. I think you should be able to compile and play the level with those warnigns, but obviously you should correct them as they will cause problems...

[Ameena]

Okay before I checked and found this post I looked through the log file and renumbered those items that needed renumbering, and added in a relay for every trigger (although still don't have a clue there). And somehow IT WORKS NOW yippee Well the dungeon works I mean. I went and had a look round and all the pads work as they're meant to, once only, despite the fact that all the error messages are still there.
Anyway, just logged off to do something to stop all the mobs running around (might see if I can figure out how to do one of those "Monsters an'te come through this square" squares)...The only errors remaining are those ones about the triggers and the ones abot pits dropping into walls but I haven't got round to doing the next level yet so that's okay.

[Gambit37]

OK, I've messed around with your dungeon and got it to a state where it compiles and is playable. Unfortunately, I can't get anywhere because the first black door blocks the way through the first corridor; it appears to be in the wrong place because there's a gap to the left where there should be wall.

Have you not yet played this dungeon yourself? It seems like you may have got a bit carried away with the building before testing . Instead, I'd suggest that you get in to the habit of building a little bit, test that, correct any mistakes, then build a little more, test that, etc. etc. Except of course if you're a genius. Doug Bell (FTL) could code massive routines and programs without any testing at all; they would compile first time with no errors, and would work exactly as intended! He was known as "Bugless Douglas".

Anyway, you'll save yourself a lot of frustration later on if you build,test,correct; build,test,correct etc. This is a basic approach to programming so it's a good habit to get in to.

[Ameena]

Yeah I have been playtesting it a bit, and the entrance door was buggered up 'cause I think I changed some of the numbers but I've changed them back now and it works fine - the entire first level works fine (except those annoying error messages about the triggers even though the triggers work as intended). I'll send my altered dungeon to you. It has 13 critical errors (triggers) and 5 warnings (pits dropping into walls but ignore it as I haven't done the next level yet).

[andyboy_uk]

Gambit, have you worked with Mr Bell? Thats a pretty cool bit of name dropping youve done there on a DM forum

[Gambit37]

Nope, I've not worked with Doug, but I am in touch with him as part of my research for my Dungeon Master site. Having said that, I haven't spoken to him for nearly a year.

[Ameena]

Woo the good news - I now only have one warning (stairs down do not have a matching stairs up on the next level but I haven't started the next level so that's okay ).
The bad news - I have about 21 critical errors now lol. Any help on wall shooter thingys? My intention - stepping on a plate causes two shooters to lob Fireballs but also opens the door. I can get it to open the door okay but it seems I have no clue on makign shooters work

[Gambit37]

Shooters are quite straightforward; you just need the shooter wallitem and a trigger. Check objects 5200-5204 in DM.TXT which will show you what to do.

[Ameena]

Okay I'll give that a go then...one more thing on shooters - there is a number for spell strength, obviously that must relate to how much damage they do, but what numbers are what dam? Eg item 5200 in DMO has strength of 25. Is that like a Mon Fireball?

[Gambit37]

Strength is from 1-100. I'm not sure how that equates to LO-MON, but put it this way; you wouldn't want to stand in front of a double shooter that launches 100 strength fireballs. At the very least it'll engulf you in flames; at worst you'll be a charred pile of dust...

[Ameena]

Cool Now guess what? There's something else I don't know how to do...
Invisible wall thingys that don't let mobs through, like the two in level 12 of DM (well, level 11 in the file but 12 in my guide) at those corners where you can hide and htey can't chase you (muahahhahaa )