Coldstone issues

Quote

Originally posted by cgoran:
I'm still waiting for that workaround and bug fix Dee

Cgoran,

You have mentioned this same bug 3 times now in this thread. Unless you have something further that will contribute(read: a bug that hasn't been mentioned) to this thread you will cease posting in this thread.

I don't mind you trying to get this bug fixed; I would like it fixed as well. But as I posted above this thread was started by the administration in an attempt to get a list of outstanding issues and bugs so that they may be addressed. And this topic will stick to that purpose.

I am more than willing to let you say what you will in a seperate topic as long as it remains civil. But this is not the thread for it.

*** Everyone else ***

I've not slapped anyone in this thread and at the moment I do not intend to. The next off-topic post in this thread will be slapped however. And I define off-topic as being a post that is not about a bug of Coldstone that you have already reported in this thread.

Please, keep this thread for this purpose only. Make a new thread for anything else you want.

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(This message has been edited by Stark Bledfast (edited 01-13-2003).)

In addition to everything anyone else has mentioned,

Bugs:

My game inexplicably becomes obscenely slow at 800x600 when I add my own interface graphic. When I added a much more simple graphic, just in terms of number visible fields and shape complexity, the framerate returned to normal. However the difference in fps was much more than could ever be explained just by have more numbers on screen and some parts on my interface that jut out a little.

In addition, the info fields for race and class will only accept a certain number of characters, regardless of how big you make the field in the layout editor.

Feature complaints (and I may be dreaming with some of these, but please at least read 'em!):

My main complaint has to be the extreme uncustomizeability of the built-in interfaces. There is no way whatsoever to create new fields or change the properties of existing ones beyond size and location, and if there is a way to create new custom interface screens, I have yet to find it...

Which leads me to my other complaint, that the stamp control actions, which could be used to create custom interfaces, layer things in such a way that you cannot construct an interface with them. There is no way to layer new stamps because all new foreground stamps go into one layer and are dynamically y-sorted. Therefore any full-screen picture that would be a background for an interface would always go on top of any smaller stamps that might be numbers or buttons or somesuch. You cannot simply add smaller stamps to a higher layer. If the appropriate new capabilities were added to the stamp control action, I'd drop my previous complaint. I'd also settle for someone revealing to me that custom interfaces are possible and how to do them.

Someone already mentioned this, but I'd like mention it again for emphasis - more NPC control PLEASE! I'd really really appreciate being able to make NPCs run in fear with a spell, or cause them to come flocking to your character like moths around a light or anything else that would be possible with an alter NPC settings action. NPCs could also really stand to have "team" field so that they could be caused to follow the player around and help in a a fight - or, like in the game I'm working on - take part in large battles. NPCs could just stand to be more advanced, period.

And those gray buttons that are drawn on the fly by Coldstone are ... bad. They should be editable like the buttons in EV Nova, and, if this change is implemented, they should display the "lit" version when clicked, not when the mouse rolls over them.

Lastly, some way to have a global variable be checked before the player does damage and an event that would modify that damage would allow me to make skill levels (e.g. Broadsword level 😎 thus making my (or our, actually) warrior path interesting. We can sort of get by without, but multilevel skills (instead of just on and off) would add a whole new dimention to our game and make being a warrior almost as interesting as anything else. Again, if anyone can show me a way to do this, I'll drop the feature request.

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The autotrophic organisms are decidedly more verdent when located on an adjacent surface.

(This message has been edited by LoneIgadzra (edited 01-17-2003). Deleted a dumb complaint.)

(This message has been edited by LoneIgadzra (edited 01-19-2003).)

I agree the stamp control needs to become a more integral and better defined function.

and NPCs should be controlled by magnets, ie sources to which they are drawn to, perhaps having up to 3 attractions.
((example, if you have a mac running OS 7-8.6, see (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/ellrx/download/drawmaze.hqx")DrawMaze(/url)...you can learn a lot from a dinosaur. ))

but in Response to one of Lonelgadzra's issues... you can change the player's name at anytime during gamePlay, use the attribute wizard action.

THe biggest downside to not being ablee to change race/class after the intial inset, is the inability to switch skillTables(which definitely cuts down on the amount of scripting i have to do)...I can understand why you can't switch your race during a game but you can always move up the ladder to bigger better jobs...perhaps class should be changed to caste

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Something I should have posted earlier... 😉

When creating a map, Coldstone seems to have issues with the access layer. Whenever I build a map, in OSX or in Classic, it all displays fine, but the ground layer appears to shift several tiles to the left and up. This means that all access tiles, and event tiles appear approximately two tiles to the right and two tiles down from where they should appear. I've tried to work around it, but it isn't an even move, and doesn't move in exact tile dimensions. As such, map production, for me, has rather halted. :frown:

And just a quick reminder to stay on topic, in case anyone has started to feel like wandering off again. Stark is itching to excise his moderating abilities, so let's not give him any reasons, shall we? 😄

-Andiyar

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"Any good that I may do here, let me do now, for I may not pass this way again"

Hey everyone. Here's my list. If I say anything that anyone else has already said, please understand, while reading through each and every post, which is like 30some, you start to forget some things, or become impatient and read faster and miss things. Well, anyway, here goes:

-actions in the endgame event: I recently wanted a death sequence in my game, so i put a stamp control in the endgame event. This caused it to crash, and I can NOT find a workaround or solution.

-getting rid of that horrible build and release bug that builds the game entireley, but then when the game starts up, it says that it was built with an unregisterred version, though it wasn't.

-projectiles that can't fly through walls.

-NPCs that cant see you through walls.

-defining keys: instead of having a built-in system of keys (z, x, up down, numbers, etc.) being able to define them. e.g. Space Bar = Attack.

-distinguishing between the keypad and the numbers on top of the keyboard: I recently wanted a system where you can switch weapons by pressing the numbers, but instead, pressing 1 on the top moves the player SW.

- Being able to turn off mouse control: Maybe it's just me, but who plays an RPG by moving and attacking by clicking the mouse?

- able to remove the NPC health indicator, The ring around NPCs, the damage numbers that appear and float, and recieved experience numbers. Those get really ugly and needless sometimes.

-tag values everywhere.

-having a race global.

-adding an undo command in the map editor (Please!!!!)

thanks guys! I'm hoping that a bug fix will be coming soon! 😄

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I'm not laughing at you,
I'm laughing with you in
mind

(This message has been edited by OgreBob (edited 01-18-2003).)

Every time I work on my game and I quit Coldstone, my Finder crashes. I doubt that this is really supposed to happen. I have to restart-jumpstart my computer in order to shut it down.

Powerbook 1999 OS 8.6

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-- Debra
Danillitphil Productions

Quote

Originally posted by Debra:
Every time I work on my game and I quit Coldstone, my Finder crashes. I doubt that this is really supposed to happen. I have to restart-jumpstart my computer in order to shut it down.

Yep, this happens to me as well. It has gotten to the point that anytime I use Coldstone I make sure it is the last application running on my computer before I close it, and then I reboot immediately to prevent a crash.

This is also under 8.6.

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A similar, though far less horrible problem occurs with OS 10.0-10.1.x. Coldstone will unexpectedly quit after you hit quit. The only reason that this does not crash the computer (in my opinion) is that OS X was built to keep the applications running seperately so that one application can not affect the others. This problem seems to have disappeared in the latest version of Jaguar. I decided to see if some of the other problems were fixed as well. For a minute I thought that all of the real basic problems were fixed when I attempted to create a map preview picture and CS did not crash. However, I could not repeat this and came up with repeated crashes. However, CS did manage to quit normally on a steady basis, so (I)that{/I) problem is fixed (in Jaguar, at least).

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CI-I@()s
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I have had some problems with coldstone making the location pcts for maps. I have to use classic on my 10.2.3 machine to get the graphics right. I did use 10.2.1 originally with coldstone, and this function worked, so I think that it is an Application/OS conflict. Also, I had some trouble with maps. Whenever I add objects, when I test it, It moves the objects one movement square to the right. It would be much appreciated if that were fixed.
Otherwise coldstone is great!

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Whose cruel idea was it to put an 'S' in lisp?

(This message has been edited by BlackLite (edited 01-21-2003).)

My computer has two monitors, when I play a game made with CS the mouse still moves freely between the two when it should be restricted to the monitor the game is running on.

My apologies if this was already mentioned.

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Another thing: Also variables that you could have that would not be cleared to 0 at the running of the program and would keep the same value with the game running or not wouldn't be bad. You could use for example, in a Serial Code for ShareWare games, or just a simple additional program you could distribute that would have the same code function.

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Whose cruel idea was it to put an 'S' in lisp?

Hey, I'm actually working with LoneIgadzra on our game. I'm actually the idea man behind most of the system and since he's opened up the discussion I figure I'll add some things I would want that Coldstone apparently doesn't support.

  • More access into the guts of Coldstone, even insofar as opening it up (at least partially) at the code level, giving us access to some of the functions that the program uses. That allows those of us with some experience to adjust some of the finer points of how Coldstone works, like adding / removing variables and checks from attacks and damage calculations, for instance. I understand that legal and commercial issues with that, but the Aurora Toolset that Neverwinter Nights uses actually gives a lot of flexability at the code level without opening up the guts of the engine to the player.

  • Additional dialouge options. As the writer of the game I cannot describe just how limiting it is to forced to give the player only 3 options for conversation, especially when trying to convey the nuances of a political discussion or at major points in the story where characters could react in an almost endless number of ways. With 40+ classes and 3 alignment options 3 dialouge options doesn't really cut it.

  • The ability to add/subtract stats. There's no way to have more than 1 custom stat which is stored in karma. I know I have at least 5 or 6 I'd like to add and have show up on the statistic screen. This bleeds into LoneIgadzra issue of customizable interfaces.

In any case, I'm probably the wrong person to comment on this, since I am not (unfortunately) working directly with Coldstone. Just thought I'd pipe up in case there's something we either haven't thought of or something can be easily changed.

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The greatest thing he can do is fight it.
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This is kind of an afterthought really, but it would be nice to have a few more inventory slots to use like in Angband - i.e. additional slots for things like "about body," both the left and right hands, and "around neck" along with the appropriate settings in the item editor to make this work.

Another minor "bug": At 800x600 resolution, the Coldstone splash screen is obviously off-center (way too low). It doesn't look the greatest... probably easy to fix too.

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The autotrophic organisms are decidedly more verdent when located on an adjacent surface.

(This message has been edited by LoneIgadzra (edited 02-02-2003).)

This may be off topic, but to BackLite's earlier problem w/ the movement squares, did you make the maps the right size? remember, if you are using the included graphics, the ground tiles dimensions must be 96x96.

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[HardKOR
Games](http://www.evula.org/<br />
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Game Site!

Ability to disable the keyboard and mouse. Or the ability to remap the arrow keys and the zx keys.

How about allowing for scripting movement? IE walking the player without the user's input.

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-Joseph
"The Cruelest Lies Are Told in Silence"

I know I'm reopening an (how old is this topic) ancient topic, but I have just found something I would like to add. When I use graphics:

PICT files are visible in the map editor, but never show up in the game. PNGs that are small look like a block of color in the map editor. ALL of them have a white border. Why not just implement Photoshop graphics so that there is such a thing as invisible!?!

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CI-I@()s
(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/cha0s/")The Homepage of Cha0s(/url)

I wasn't going to post this, but since someone else opened up an old topic, thought i might as well.
It would be very nice if we could use rectangular tiles. This would make isometric files infinitely easier.

Quote

Originally posted by CI-Ia0s:
**
PICT files are visible in the map editor, but never show up in the game.

**

I've never had this happen. PICT files work fine over here.

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"Logic is futile"-Scott Adams

Quote

Originally posted by Bandit_Keith:
**This may be off topic, but to BackLite's earlier problem w/ the movement squares, did you make the maps the right size? remember, if you are using the included graphics, the ground tiles dimensions must be 96x96.

**

I was having the same problem and that advice help fix it. Thanks a bunch.

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Another issue that I just recently remebered:

When you cast a targeted spell, you automatically run towards the target after clicking on it. Not only is this really annoying, but it also ruins the ability to have a real "Stand-back-and-cast" caster. The caster always runs forward to attack the better armored and heavily armed enemy instead of sitting back and blasting away.

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CI-I@()s
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bump

First I want Beenox to see this.
Second, I know there is more stuff we want, and more bugs:

Please note that the reasons for this are pure speculation and intuitive guessing.
Copied from another post and edited:
Many people have had problems with animations being placed in the wrong location when placed through the map editor. I have found A reason (maybe not all of them). Coldstone places things in the map editor, as if they were stamps. It takes the top left pixel corner. However, the actual thing that places the stamps in the game places them differently...
In the animation editor there is a grid. The map editor records the top left pixel, while the placement tool thinks this is the corner of the grid. Therefore, animations placed on the map editor come out oddly. The solution is to make the grid's top left corner match your image's top left corner.

Now, any other bugs/wishes?

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