Since people have still been building holds in AE, and also considering that people are playing both those and older holds in later versions of DROD, it seems like it would be useful to go over the changes that occur when you play an AE hold outside of AE itself. I'll split this into two main types of changes: Architectural Changes (how the hold looks) and Behavioral Changes (how the hold plays).
1 - Architectural Changes
Architects' Edition
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AE has 9 official styles. In the picture above, these are Cavern (NW), Cliffs (N), Slime (NE), Voids (W), Ice (Center), Lava (E), Palace (SW), Catacombs (S) and Sanctum (SE). The picture shows how several elements in a room change their appearance as different styles are used.
Pits, Walls, Floor, Obstacles and Force Arrows have the most striking differences between styles. Stairs tend to just change color, and Trapdoors are pretty much identical *except* in Lava where they're a dull brown color instead. All other tiles in AE do not change between styles.
Importing into JtRH/TCB
When you import an AE hold into one of the later versions, several graphical changes must occur. For starters, JtRH only has 3 styles, and TCB has the same three styles plus another three for 6 total. And now, GatEB has all six previous styles plus yet another three for a total of 9. These styles are very different from the original AE.
JtRH introduced 3 styles: Foundation, Deep Spaces and Iceworks. TCB added 3 more: Aboveground, City and Fortress. And GatEB has a final 3: Beach, Forest and Swamp. The same room in AE looks markedly different in these updated versions.
When you import a room that uses a particular AE style, that style is mapped to one of the new styles. This is done as follows:
Cavern ----> Foundation
Cliffs ----> Deep Spaces
Slime -----> Iceworks (JtRH), Aboveground (TCB/GatEB)
Voids -----> Deep Spaces (JtRH/TCB), Swamp (GatEB)
Ice -------> Iceworks
Lava ------> Foundation (JtRH), Aboveground (TCB), Forest (GatEB)
Palace ----> Deep Spaces (JtRH), City (TCB/GatEB)
Catacombs -> Foundation (JtRH), City (TCB), Beach (GatEB)
Sanctum ---> Iceworks (JtRH), Fortress (TCB/GatEB)
Incidentally, there is another mapping if the hold is a 2.x file that was originally imported from AE. The original style IDs are kept in JtRH, and are mapped slightly differently in later versions of DROD as a result:
Cavern ----> Foundation
Cliffs ----> Deep Spaces
Slime -----> Iceworks
Voids -----> Deep Spaces -----> Swamp (GatEB)
Ice -------> Iceworks --------> Forest (GatEB)
Lava ------> Foundation ------> Aboveground (TCB/GatEB)
Palace ----> Deep Spaces -----> City (TCB/GatEB)
Catacombs -> Foundation ------> City (TCB), Beach (GatEB)
Sanctum ---> Iceworks --------> Fortress (TCB/GatEB)
Finally, it pays to remember that people who play using the demo versions of JtRH and TCB will see all their holds in the Foundation style when playing JtRH and City when playing TCB. The demo version of GatEB - on the other hand - has three styles included: City, Aboveground and Forest. In this case, the remaining six styles will all map to City in the GatEB demo.
Changes to Detail
On top of the above, there are a few subtle changes that occur as the style and the hold is updated which may also cause differences to the hold's aesthetics.
Obstacles: When an AE hold is imported into a later version of DROD, any Obstacle tiles in the room that share their tile with objects that could not co-exist outside of AE - for example, Tar on an Obstacle - will be converted into Walls. All remaining Obstacles and parts of Obstacles are then replaced with 2x2 and 1x1 Obstacles, randomly using the two different rock obstacle types throughout the room. This random choice is done once when you import the hold. If the hold is deleted and then reimported, which rocks are used for which obstacles will likely be different. 1x1 Obstacles will only be used to fill in gaps though, so you should only see them if a part of an Obstacle was indeed replaced with Wall.
Light/Dark Squares: Each style has its own configuration of light/dark squares - some have a light square at (0,0), whilst others have a dark square at (0,0) instead. Only the following listed AE styles will not swap the light/dark tile locations when played in the indicated game versions:
JtRH Demo: Lava
TCB Demo: All except Lava
JtRH Full: Slime, Ice, Lava, Sanctum
TCB Full: Ice, Lava, Palace, Catacombs
This may be important if the hold relies on light/dark squares being in certain places. Note that no official style leaves the squares untouched throughout all versions, but Ice is the safest style to use since the only version it won't stay the same in is the JtRH Demo.
Open Doors: Do note that in AE and JtRH, Red, Blue and Green Doors vanish when opened, leaving floor tiles behind. This does not occur in TCB, allowing open doors to remain visible.
2 - Behavioral Changes
There are not only differences in architecture and graphics between AE and the latest versions of DROD. There are also some major changes in the way certain elements interact. Some of these were bugs that were fixed in later versions, whilst others were conscious design changes. This may not be a complete list, but it should cover the more important points.
Spiders
Spiders in AE were designed for the Palace style only, in that their color made them completely invisible on dark tiles in that style, unless you happened to catch them blinking.
In JtRH and TCB, in order to make their difference more general, they are now always visible if they have moved last turn, or if you are within two squares of them. As such, the style they are used on does not matter.
Brains
In AE 1.67, there is a bug with brain pathmaps, such that if Beethro walks over a Force Arrow, then the brain will be allowed to plot a valid route through it to Beethro, no matter which direction the arrow faces. Note that the brain won't be able to tell the difference between different Force Arrow directions, so this can often result in enemies being directed into dead-ends. This bug also applies to Closed Doors (if Beethro is standing on a door that was closed, it will be considered a valid path until it is opened and closed again), Scrolls, and even Trapdoors that used to have Scrolls or Force Arrows on them. This bug was fixed in JtRH onwards, and a brain will never deliberately send a roach over a Force Arrow in those versions.
Brained Serpents
Brained serpents in AE will never be asked by the brain to Wait: that is, the only options they will consider are N, W, E and S, with that priority.
Whilst this is still true in JtRH onwards, the brain now also throws away all paths that are *farther* away from the target than the distance given for Waiting. Of course, if the square the monster is on is a Brain-Invisible Obstacle, then Waiting will have no score and so this isn't a problem. And most AE monsters will, when ordered to Wait, just do an unbrained move. However, Serpents were never ordered to Wait, but the brain will now refuse to give them paths it considers to be more distant than waiting. So a Serpent is forced to make an unbrained move now in that situation.
In short, JtRH Serpents will essentially behave as if they were ordered to Wait and make an unbrained move like other monsters do, and unlike their behavior in AE where they could make a brained move even if it took them farther away.
Standing on Serpents
If the player enters a room onto a square that originally contains a Serpent's head, then in AE, that Serpent will be deleted. In JtRH and TCB, however, a Serpent's head acts as an obstacle that prevents room entry, just like the rest of a Serpent's body.
Revisiting Levels
Whenever you use a staircase in AE, the completion status of all rooms on the level you just left is reset. If you later return to this level, or even if you just take a staircase to an entrance elsewhere on the level, all rooms on that level will no longer be completed, causing all green and blue doors to reset.
[Last edited by TFMurphy at 04-02-2012 04:26 AM]
