Elfstone
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File: 2nd floor:totals.jpg (220.9 KB)
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I'm aware that some of you may already be at the point of cringing if you see my name in the 'topic starter' column, but at the risk of taxing your patience, another technical "oddity" has occured. This time though, I managed to get some evidence using 'Grab'.

I am working my way slowly through Blast Castle (and enjoying it; thank you to the architect, whose name escapes me at the moment) and I have reached the Second Floor. I had done all the rooms except 1N, which is causing me problems. I suspect that I should enter from the West, but can't find the access route. I was looking around for secret walls and eventually went back through 1E; I decided to try the blue stairs and on doing so I got the Hold Totals screen and then the Conqured screen.

May I repeat I have not completed 1N and according to the search page in Hints and Solutions there are another 4 floors which I have not yet attempted.

I have attached the 'Grab' pictures, which I hope you will be able to download. One is of the Hold Totals screen; one is of the Conquered screen; the third is of my restore screen to show that I haven't got any further than Second Floor.

I will ask for help on access to 1N in Hints and Solutions, but would anyone like to explain to me why this is happening and how I should get to the remaining levels?

Thanks,
Elfstone.

____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

---

[Last edited by Elfstone at 07-03-2006 05:27 PM : problems attaching the files.]

Elfstone
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File: 2nd floor:end.jpg (90.6 KB)
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Next file (I can't get more than one to attach)

____________________________
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FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

Elfstone
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File: 2nd floor:restore.jpg (191.2 KB)
Downloaded 46 times.
License: Public Domain

Final one.

____________________________
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FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

Doom
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I did the same thing when playing through this hold... You entered the wrong stairs. The architect didn't block those well enough, and left them to end the hold. That's why you got the stats for conquering it.

Once you've completed 1N, you'll be able to go to the correct destination behind the blue door in that same room.

Briareos
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Elfstone wrote:
I will ask for help on access to 1N in Hints and Solutions, but would anyone like to explain to me why this is happening and how I should get to the remaining levels?

Yeah, there's stairs like this in many a hold, as "End hold" is the default destination for stairs when they're placed, so if the architect forgets to change that you'll have finished the hold prematurely in no time.

And, of course, you finish a hold by exiting through hold-finishing stairs, not by beating every room...

(Incidentally, there's another such stair in "Don't you just hate it...", 4S)

np: Dabrye - Tell Dem (Two/Three)

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

Elfstone
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Thanks to both of you.

Following Chaco's hint in Hints and Solutions, I finished 1N and exited by the correct stairs this time. Actiually the stairs here seem a bit like those in Hogwarts!

On to The Roof (in a manner of speaking).

Elf.

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FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

UrAvgAzn
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I'm having trouble downloading the files...

To post 2 or more files at the same time, you must put the files into a Compressed (zipped) folder. You can make one of those by going to your desktop, right-clicking, then going to new, then going to Compressed (zipped) Folder. This only applys to Windows, I believe. So if you have a mac or something else, I'm sorry, I can't help you. So after you created a new compressed (zipped) folder, instead of attaching the files, you attach the compressed (zipped) folder.

Keep posting,

P.S. The author of Blast Castle is sims5000 I believe.

____________________________
"The leaf, still green, must someday fall.
Such grief, such joy, to live at all."
- T.A. Barron, The Lost Years of Merlin

Briareos
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UrAvgAzn wrote:
I'm having trouble downloading the files...

Those work fine for me - maybe the colons in the filenames (yes, Macs and *nix will do that to files, as opposed to Windows) confuse your browser?

And yeah, 3 or more files should probably be zipped and attached as one file, but there's a lot of stuff that's worse then 3 posts to attach 3 files...

np: Dabrye & AG - My Life (Two/Three)

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

Elfstone
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UrAvgAzn wrote:
I'm having trouble downloading the files...

Sorry.

To post 2 or more files at the same time, you must put the files into a Compressed (zipped) folder.

Right - I didn't know that. It possibly explains why I couldn't get all 3 onto one post. I'll work on that if there's a next time.

You can make one of those by going to your desktop, right-clicking, then going to new, then going to Compressed (zipped) Folder. This only applys to Windows, I believe. So if you have a mac or something else, I'm sorry, I can't help you.

Yes I have a mac - iMac G5 with 10.4. I'll have a look at the Missing Manual. Actually I know that Stuffit 'un-stuffs' things so maybe I can make it work the other way?

Elfstone.


____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

Elfstone
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Briareos wrote:
And yeah, 3 or more files should probably be zipped and attached as one file, but there's a lot of stuff that's worse then 3 posts to attach 3 files...

Both thanks and apologies.
I didn't know about compressing. In fact the original 'Grab" files were each between 1 and 1.9 MB and I do have enough computer knowledge to know that that is fairly big and that they probably wouldn't do like that as attachments. So I made them into JPEG files which seemed a lot smaller.

If I ever have to post multiple files again I will do a bit of research first.

Elfstone.


____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

coppro
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Or you could just press good ol' F11. The screenshot button.

Oh, and PNGs tend to be better than jpgs in quality and size.

michthro
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Elfstone wrote:

Briareos wrote:
And yeah, 3 or more files should probably be zipped and attached as one file, but there's a lot of stuff that's worse then 3 posts to attach 3 files...

Both thanks and apologies.
I didn't know about compressing. In fact the original 'Grab" files were each between 1 and 1.9 MB and I do have enough computer knowledge to know that that is fairly big and that they probably wouldn't do like that as attachments. So I made them into JPEG files which seemed a lot smaller.

If I ever have to post multiple files again I will do a bit of research first.

Elfstone.

Yes, three posts for three attachments really isn't a big deal. Compressing to JPGs, on the other hand, was very considerate of you. (And if I were UrAvgAzn, I wouldn't talk too much about saving space and such, considering that his avatar used to be a full wallpaper )

Elfstone
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coppro wrote:
Or you could just press good ol' F11. The screenshot button.

I tried that just now and all it did was compress (chuckle) my Safari window sideways - not very useful 'Grab' seems very verstile, although I confess I haven't used it much since I got this new computer.

Oh, and PNGs tend to be better than jpgs in quality and size.

I'm afraid I have no idea what a PNG is. Anyway I thought the problem was the files being too big, certainly at 1.9MB, and maybe even as JPEGs.

Elfstone.

____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

Elfstone
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michthro wrote:
Yes, three posts for three attachments really isn't a big deal. Compressing to JPGs, on the other hand, was very considerate of you. (And if I were UrAvgAzn, I wouldn't talk too much about saving space and such, considering that his avatar used to be a full wallpaper )

Thanks michthro Elf.

____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

UrAvgAzn
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michthro wrote:
Yes, three posts for three attachments really isn't a big deal. Compressing to JPGs, on the other hand, was very considerate of you. (And if I were UrAvgAzn, I wouldn't talk too much about saving space and such, considering that his avatar used to be a full wallpaper )

I do it one time, ONE time! And you don't forgive me. Besides, I didn't know it would take up that much space. And you don't see me verbally assaulting your avatar!

Never, ever, ever, ever post again,

Click here to view the secret text

×sarcasm...

____________________________
"The leaf, still green, must someday fall.
Such grief, such joy, to live at all."
- T.A. Barron, The Lost Years of Merlin

---

[Last edited by UrAvgAzn at 07-04-2006 12:11 AM]

Tim
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Elfstone wrote:

coppro wrote:
Or you could just press good ol' F11. The screenshot button.

I tried that just now and all it did was compress (chuckle) my Safari window sideways - not very useful 'Grab' seems very verstile, although I confess I haven't used it much since I got this new computer.

I do not personally has a Mac, so I'm not too sure about this, but what coppro probably meant was to press the F11 key while playing DROD, and it should make a screenshot somewhere. The funny thing is, I don't know where it is supposed to be created...

Oh, and PNGs tend to be better than jpgs in quality and size.

I'm afraid I have no idea what a PNG is. Anyway I thought the problem was the files being too big, certainly at 1.9MB, and maybe even as JPEGs.

PNG is just another way to save your picture to, like BMP and JPEG. For example, my avatar is saved in PNG. Most of the time it doesn't really matter whether you save it in JPEG or PNG, and perhaps 'Grab' cannot even save it in PNG.

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TripleM
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Tim wrote:
I do not personally has a Mac, so I'm not too sure about this, but what coppro probably meant was to press the F11 key while playing DROD, and it should make a screenshot somewhere. The funny thing is, I don't know where it is supposed to be created...

It goes in your player export directory - ie whatever directory you have set up as the default for exporting in DROD. I think this was originally drodfolder/data/HomeMade, but you may have changed it to something else.

Tim
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TripleM wrote:
It goes in your player export directory - ie whatever directory you have set up as the default for exporting in DROD. I think this was originally drodfolder/data/HomeMade, but you may have changed it to something else.

I actually found it before I made that post. But I don't know much about Macs, or how it is organised.

What I also (just) found, was that I couldn't find this explained in the help files. It does explain that 'F11 = save to export directory'. But they never said what 'export directory' means. (At least I can't find it.)

But thanks for looking up. Sorry if I wasn't clear on this.

Edit: What I meant was, people who do a lot of exporting know what that means, but what if you have never done that?

Edit 2: If anyone who is reading this and think they have never exported before, then I suggest you to export your player file as soon as possible (and back up it somewhere). It is a good way to ensure you have a back up in case something terrible happens.

____________________________
The best way to lose customers is to let little kids running loose on a forum with too many mod points.

---

[Last edited by Tim at 07-04-2006 01:08 AM]

michthro
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UrAvgAzn wrote:

michthro wrote:
Yes, three posts for three attachments really isn't a big deal. Compressing to JPGs, on the other hand, was very considerate of you. (And if I were UrAvgAzn, I wouldn't talk too much about saving space and such, considering that his avatar used to be a full wallpaper )

I do it one time, ONE time! And you don't forgive me. Besides, I didn't know it would take up that much space. And you don't see me verbally assaulting your avatar!

Never, ever, ever, ever post again,

Click here to view the secret text

×sarcasm...

Alright, alright, you're forgiven. Ok if I post again?
It's not easy to forget, though, so I couldn't resist pointing it out.
Oh, and to you too... Cheeky brat.

Briareos
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coppro wrote:
Oh, and PNGs tend to be better than jpgs in quality and size.

Eh - that depends a lot on the content. Graphics with a lot of same -colored areas (like your typical windows UI) probably are smaller as PNGs, but a photograph or even a screenshot of DROD (at least as long as it has the UI around the game area) will probably be smaller as JPGs, and the quality loss is rather negligible.

Well, that's my .02€ anyway...

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

Briareos
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michthro wrote:
Alright, alright, you're forgiven. Ok if I post again?
It's not easy to forget, though, so I couldn't resist pointing it out.
Oh, and to you too... Cheeky brat.

Hey guys, it's everybody's favourite German word in action - "Kindergarten"...

*grins, ducks and runs*

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

michthro
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UrAvgAzn
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<---Briareos
<---Tomato-Thrower (me)




Keep posting,

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"The leaf, still green, must someday fall.
Such grief, such joy, to live at all."
- T.A. Barron, The Lost Years of Merlin

Mattcrampy
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So very weary.

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coppro
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Briareos wrote:

coppro wrote:
Oh, and PNGs tend to be better than jpgs in quality and size.

Eh - that depends a lot on the content. Graphics with a lot of same -colored areas (like your typical windows UI) probably are smaller as PNGs, but a photograph or even a screenshot of DROD (at least as long as it has the UI around the game area) will probably be smaller as JPGs, and the quality loss is rather negligible.

Well, that's my .02€ anyway...

No, I can't stand the quality loss. JPGs can't even display a white square inside a black square without fudging it up.

I hate them, and I am biased against them in every regard.

Briareos
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File: BlackNWhite.jpg (5.8 KB)
Downloaded 186 times.
License: Public Domain

coppro wrote:
No, I can't stand the quality loss. JPGs can't even display a white square inside a black square without fudging it up.

I hate them, and I am biased against them in every regard.

Uhhh...



np: Clint Mansell ft. Kronos Quartet - Meltdown (Requiem For A Dream OST)

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

---

[Last edited by Briareos at 07-04-2006 06:08 PM]

coppro
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Hmmm.. must be my software then. (and yes, I was using bare minimum compression, before you ask.

Maurog
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File: BlackNWhite.png (1.2 KB)
Downloaded 156 times.
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But, it's all fudged up! Look closer - I took the liberty of painting the inconsistencies in red:



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Slay the living! Raise the dead!
Paint the sky in crimson red!

coppro
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Maurog wrote:
But, it's all fudged up! Look closer - I took the liberty of painting the inconsistencies in red:

I was examining the wrong corner

Oneiromancer
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...so?

I mean really, is it that big a deal? Maybe I'm not one to talk, since I record my mp3s at 128 kbps, but still...

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams