eytanz
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Ok, I'm wondering - I know there have been several minor changes to monster behavior since 1.5; I'm not sure what they are, though, especially the serpent one that broke the level 7 demo. Could someone list them, please?

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ErikH2000
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eytanz wrote:
Ok, I'm wondering - I know there have been several minor changes to monster behavior since 1.5; I'm not sure what they are, though, especially the serpent one that broke the level 7 demo. Could someone list them, please?

Eytan, I don't think Mike or I knows off the top of our heads. It takes a fair amount of work to figure this out. If you're really interested, I'd recommend browsing the repository:

http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/drod/Caravel/DRODLib/

The files that give information related to your question are named after monsters, i.e. "brain.h", "goblin.cpp". For example, if you click on "goblin.cpp", you'll learn that Mike changed goblin's brain-directed movement about 2 weeks ago. I know you've done some programming (EyAngband!) so I think maybe this interface isn't so bad.

Sorry for no short and simple answer.

-Erik

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eytanz
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Ah, that makes sense.

Unfortunately, I can't read C++ very well (I program in C usually)... And the comment in the CVS regarding the serpents just says that they are fixed to match webfoot behavior. Oh well, guess this will remain a mystery to me...

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mrimer
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Uh...no, I haven't changed goblin behavior that I recall... (I made some portability changes for Gerry recently though.)

I changed serpent behavior to match Webfoot: in Caravel DROD 1.5, the serpents would not keep going forward if you were standing behind them. Now they will again, like they did in Webfoot.

Fixed a bug in brain-directed behavior: in 1.5, if a brain-controlled roach was better off standing still than moving "toward" the player (path-wise), then it would revert to its normal movement, often causing it to move "away" from the player. It doesn't show up too often.

Also changed the sort being performed on possible brain-directed moves. So now, given a set of equally-valued moves, a different one might end up being chosen than was chosen in 1.5. Doesn't change game play much, but makes tie-breaking of brain-directed moves more predictable, and has the side-effect that some brain-directed saved games made in 1.5 have broken.

I think that's it.

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eytanz
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Thanks

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zex20913
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File: The room.hold (1.5 KB)
Downloaded 49 times.
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Hmm...while we're on the topic of brains, I've found something very interesting with them. Look at the attached room, and play it. The brain-directed eye movement seems very odd.

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eytanz
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Assuming the problem is what I think it is (the eyes stepping out of their rows, seemingly at random), the problem isn't with the brain - you get the exact same movements if you remove it from the room.

The cause of the problem is the way DROD monsters are sequenced. What's happening here is that the monsters in the back (or the middle, in some rows) are moving before the ones in front of them. That means that they can't move directly towards beethro; so they choose the next best movement, to move around the eye in front of them.

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Scott
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No I think what he means is if you open the door the eyes suddenly don't realise that they can go across the force arrows and use the much longer door route.

eytanz
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Oh... Yeah, I didn't notice that. Interesting.

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StuartK
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Scott wrote:
No I think what he means is if you open the door the eyes suddenly don't realise that they can go across the force arrows and use the much longer door route.

Also, if you go to the bottom left on the light blue squares, then move back to the top right, attracting the eyes as you go, a few eyes will go through the force arrows, but once you're in the top right corner (in the entrance to the upper area) the remaining eyes stay where they are, behind the force arrows.

Oneiromancer
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mrimer wrote:
Fixed a bug in brain-directed behavior: in 1.5, if a brain-controlled roach was better off standing still than moving "toward" the player (path-wise), then it would revert to its normal movement, often causing it to move "away" from the player. It doesn't show up too often.

Actually, I think I saw this happen while trying to solve eytanz's 1N room...it saved my butt a few times.

Game on,

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mrimer
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No, the bug's long since been fixed.

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Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.