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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 03-Jun-09, 01:59:20 | ||||
| --NOVA [b][i]One such method (which is what I had in mind for my own module) was to create extensive "recipes" which would be actual items in the game (like a small rune) which you could FIND or get as quest rewards.[/i][/b] Lot of script support for working on items. More than there is for spells. Many unconventional things can be done, and they are not shown in the regular game. Do not limit your imagination to what you see in the modules you play. -fox |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 02-Jun-09, 21:13:00 | ||||
| Nova: I know you would be willing to host, and that is appreciated. Yet I want to be the first one myself to host the mod once it's finnished. And preferably in a situation where players are eager to play. Which would most probably not occur if the few players we have already played the whole summer. So I probably would have called for a break anyway, until the mod is finished. As for your recommendations: Alternatively I could take a little bit of everything. Like spreading some shop items to monster droppings, making small forges with a special line of clothing, reducing the Omega Forge's power by allowing only 8 upgrades, adding a random loot system where (high level) monsters can drop about every item ever created (which would make you want to kill them over and over for the real special drops). It would still take a lot of time, but it can be done. |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 02-Jun-09, 19:58:53 | ||||
| As to your inability to host during the *hot* summer days, my previous offer to host the module during the summer still stands. I'd be happy to host it from my air conditioned room. As to the Omega Forge: I agree it is far too powerful (at least in its current configuration) and pretty much ruins the game. I only added it myself to the Rhun module as a cheap shortcut for already EPIC characters to access. The Rhun module is notoriously missing many key magical items for many of the character classes. And since Rhun is a PW module it was intended to be played by large crowds. We don't have crowds and I didn't want to take the extensive effort to make so many detailed changes to Rhun so that it would accomodate solo play. So I took a short cut and simply added on this Forge. It was only made available to EPIC characters who had already damn near completed the module anyway, but it did make the few remaining IMPOSSIBLE SOLO areas suddenly possible to defeat. My suggestion for a decent alternative for Allods would be to spread the essential capability of this Forge across several other smaller forges AND/OR incorporate some sort of item crafting system whereby players can create their own magic items. One such method (which is what I had in mind for my own module) was to create extensive "recipes" which would be actual items in the game (like a small rune) which you could FIND or get as quest rewards. These recipes would list the necessary additional ingredients (in addition to the actual recipe item itself) necessary to collect and use in the various forges in order to create (craft) many of the powerful magic items. Yes this solution is going to be very labor intensive because you have to create all this game content in advance (the items, the scripting, etc). You could also morph the essential idea of the Omega Forge a bit. For instance, the Omega Forge has the option of requiring TOKENS to use the forge (in addition or in place of gold). You could spread these TOKENS through the game as quest rewards or as random loot drops. This at least would severely limit the use (abuse) of the Omega Forge. Bottom line, if you replace the Omega Forge, you will have to find or create suitable replacement(s). If you get rid of it entirely, you will leave a GAPING hole in the available equipment for the multitude of character classes. Either solution has it's pitfalls. -NOVA |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 02-Jun-09, 01:06:13 | ||||
| Haha, of course you may suggest content! But basically the test period was there for this reason: tell what you guys like or dislike. And the testperiod has ended, so what we have now is more or less the final mod. No big changes. Mind that the reason for the long break is *not* the need to make big changes but the simple fact that I cannot host a server during the summer. Anyway, planned changes are: -Removing Rhun content. -Adding a satisfactory (I hope lol!) end-of-game-level. -Smoothing some maps, especially the starter maps (which were made when I was a 'noob' in editing). -Spreading gear througout the game, rather than letting players buy everything in shops. -And actually I am seriously thinking of removing the Omega Forge because editing your gear makes the game last *much* shorter... Well sugestions are welcome there hehe! |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 02-Jun-09, 00:53:12 | ||||
| Are we allowed to suggest additional content for the module? Or is this intended to be a "one man band"? -NOVA |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 01-Jun-09, 15:13:16 | ||||
| Testserver is no longer up. During the summer the mod will be updated. Now and than you may see a server up. If it's not password protected, feel free to join, but your old accounts are no longer there. I will play in the Rhun server now and than. And play some other games, go out and enjoy the weather :) In october there will be a restart for the Allods mod, including new content, and some changes (mostly getting rid of Rhun stuff). I am planning a short testperiod, than continue playing the 'real' game (but you may keep your test chr's). Once some players have 'finished' the game, comment will be gathered for the last update. After that the mod will be released. |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 22-May-09, 00:27:08 | ||||
| And in less than 3 days the old pc has been ressurected! Yes it lives once more! Unfortunately there will be disbelievers, but we cannot show the old wounds because they are gone too :) Question is for how long. I replaced the broken Power by the power of an even older pc (meaning the output is 70W less, how long will that last? - I don't know how to calculate the necessary power output lol!) So play as long as it lasts, up to may 31. Have fun! |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 19-May-09, 01:24:24 | ||||
| RIP old pc ;( Started it up because the printer is attached to it. In the middle of the printing queue it went down: Power failure. I will keep the allodstestserver online tonight on the 62.194.19.144:5121 IP. But if no one plays I'll turn it off in the morning and stick to the schedule of the postings below. |
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Author: Jultknight (jultknight [at] gmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 18-May-09, 02:29:32 | ||||
| me too i want to play :) | ||||
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 18-May-09, 01:20:43 | ||||
| Aight, see message below: Server will be up in the next 2 weekends and on weekly days at evening (local time, that is -6 - -9 USA time). I think only Nova will miss it, but he played the whole weekend had now he has to kick off. Cold turkey ;) |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 16-May-09, 17:41:25 | ||||
| The 8 year old rom2/nwn server is about to die. The power smells like burned bakelite. Files are stored on the external HD, which is now connected to my 'working' pc. This means a change in plans. The current pc will be in use often for other applications and I cannot predict how this works out with serverplay. Probably the server will only be up during the weekends (until may 31) and on the evenings (local time). I'm going to look for replacement of the old server during the next months. So the restart of the server will still be as planned: October. | ||||
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 14-May-09, 21:33:45 | ||||
| Thank you Jult. I hope you will enjoy the higher levels as well. Don't know if you can make it to the horrorquestmaps in time. I'm curious how different your Rodion map will be compared to mine. Hope your server will be open by the time my testserver closes (may 31). | ||||
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Author: Jultknight (jultknight [at] gmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 14-May-09, 04:52:40 | ||||
| Hi Albadaran , i have tested your Allods server and i must says you have make very very good job :-) i have starting with a fighter and i must says is not easy for starting loll. My fighter are level 6 completely different then rom2 but i like it. nothing to add at this time for the time can I play. I promise to play 1-2hour each day time to evoluate my character. -JultKnight |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 13-May-09, 00:31:47 | ||||
| Are there any chr's yet on level 40 at my testserver? Need to know how the 40+ bonusses work out. But you guys need to get lots of experience to use them. And since hardly anyone seems to play I'm afraid that this part of the project won't get the necessary feedback. C'm on guys, 2 more weeks and a few days. Play, play and play! |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 08-May-09, 13:55:06 | ||||
| Actually I did not notice anything this week. Played online until 1.20 am tonight and nothing happened. Maybe the update was already finished lol. | ||||
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 03-May-09, 14:46:26 | ||||
| Ok, so post your ISP's email and we can send our flame messages straight to them....hahah. | ||||
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 03-May-09, 13:15:20 | ||||
| Unfortunately my ISP will do maintenance during 5 this week, starting tonight. I got a message that every day the servers will be down from 1 am - 7 am local time. That is 7 pm - 1 am USEast time or 4 pm - 10 pm USWest time. But in reality it may take longer since there is a fair chance that I need to reset my modem manually to regain access to the internet. At monday and wednesday that would be around 8 am local time, at tuesday around 10 am, and on thurdsay and friday around 11 am local time. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 02-May-09, 23:37:49 | ||||
| Aight, the update is there! Have fun and do report bugs and wishes. :) | ||||
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 02-May-09, 04:55:16 | ||||
| Sweeeet !!! We are going to get the actual Allods module file. That rules. Bummer that we will have to wait and bummer that there will be a planned "dead zone" where the server will be down, but we'll take the good with the bad. Looking forward to every subtle alteration to this module. -NOVA |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 02-May-09, 01:10:48 | ||||
| Change of plans. Due to increasing heat in the computer/hobby room I'll update the mod within a few days. That is roughly the final version, but probably without adjustments suggested by Fox (I check his latest scripts later this weekend and try to apply the weapon script but I don't promise anything). Than you can play the mod for the rest of this month, and add comments. I close the server at the end of the month. Hopefully Jult will jump in by than with his rom3 project. Meanwhile I will try to remove most of the Rhun content, add some new stuff and restart the server in October with all chr's erased. Than some final adjustments wil be made. And THAT is supposed to be the final version, which I distribute to you all. |
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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 30-Apr-09, 17:31:12 | ||||
| --Albadaran --NOVA Check your e-mail. -fox |
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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 29-Apr-09, 22:05:46 | ||||
| I prefer the post to stay. Makes good reminder to cool down before speaking. Check your e-mail. -fox |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 28-Apr-09, 20:00:40 | ||||
| That's ok Fox. Too bad this forum has no option to edit old posts ;) |
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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 28-Apr-09, 19:11:04 | ||||
| Poor Albadaran. You are innocent. Of course you do not understand. Can you forgive this crazy man? I had a ugly ugly day. But I should not have said those words. I was seeing Bad where it was not. I am sorry. Today is a better day. Almost opposite of yesterday. And an old saying I know comes to my mind: [i]Time is gentleman[/i]. I believe it true. Time always returns you what was stolen from you. In a form or in another. -fox |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 27-Apr-09, 19:13:36 | ||||
| I do not understand Fox. I sent you a mail where I told you that your script stops working after a player logs out and than returns. That is your [i]unmodified[/] script. I spent halve the sunday on trying to find out how to solve it. Than I found a workaround and mailed you what I did, and at the same time I told you that you probably would have a better solution. And that's about it. As for the rest, we are testing the module. When I notice things are correct there is no need to mention them again. I want to discuss what is [i]not[/i] good, and I want to do that here, on the forum, so everyone can tell what he (or she?) thinks. I take no offence in critics and advice. In fact I try to bring those who critizise most together here :) This community is too small. If we don't take persons the way they are, than this place will be empty within a year. And that would be sad. My mod will hopefully be finished next month. I am still looking for a decent cleanup script for the shops. I noticed the shop on Midnight is getting very laggy with all those items sold. Something completely different: I cannot host any games during the summer. The hobbyroom where the computer is simply gets too hot. Even with the window open. Maybe we should all take a break... |
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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 27-Apr-09, 18:30:19 | ||||
| Now, for Albadaran: The Truth must be told. Listening to him I almost appear like the Demon Fox. Not all I said was harsh. Good things were said too. But no mention is made of them. Nor a generic mention that good things were said. Yes I did see and explore good part of the module before I formed my opinion. I did not explore all the module. It too was told in my e-mail. But Albadaran does not mention it. It is my turn to wonder: I wonder if he reads what I write. I praised Albadaran for the good maps he made, and told him they were fun and good to play. I said many other things. Harsh things I said were accompanied with motivations, and countered with proposal of alternatives. Nothing is mentioned here. So I treat people fairly. I use gloves of courtesy. This is the reward I receive? First he posts this here, speaking the Bads and unspeaking the Goods. Then he sends me a kiss-kiss e-mail and dismiss this very post as "a bit cryptic", and asks for my help on another thing. And after that, he does not add nothing to this discussion here to fix the wrongs. He must think I am a fool he can toy with. No more gloves for him. I got nine tails instead. Before anyone complains about stuff originating from me, I will tell: Albadaran modified my cursed weapon script, and removed from it a portion that was [b]clearly explained[/b] to be required. Clearly explained in a human readable english comment inside the very script. Maybe no perfect english, but impossible to mis-read to a point you believe it is code safe to cull. And impossible to believe that by removing that code nothing bad will happen. Albadaran ignored it all the same. That too is untold here. One more time I wonder if he reads what I write. I do not write stuff for nothing. I do not expend my time for others for nothing. I take no responsibility for what happens with his weapons using my script he modified. The original script I gave him does work as intended, and does answer the original request it was made to me, and does fit the original scenario the script was born for. Things have been changed after that. It is my problem no more. But Albadaran says [i]Leeching Sword problem solved![/i] So I believe he shall need no further aid from me. -fox |
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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 27-Apr-09, 18:29:13 | ||||
| --NOVA [b][i]First let me say that I do not have the benefit of knowing what Fox' comments to you were[/i][/b] Hello. And you shall not have it. My parents taught me to praise people in public. For when I have harsh things to say, they taught me to do it in private. So I did. And sent private e-mail to Albadaran. I gave him my honest opinion. He is right: it was a objectively hard opinion. My honest opinion none the less. --NOVA [b][i], so I can't really react or have an opinion about that.[/i[/b] A wise choice. You have only been told a part of the truth. And the part got twisted in the process too. -fox |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 25-Apr-09, 01:43:18 | ||||
| First let me say that I do not have the benefit of knowing what Fox' comments to you were, so I can't really react or have an opinion about that. Second, let me say I for one would have to think long and hard to find anything significant that might be "wrong" with your module. I think what you have put together is a friggin masterpiece. Any tweaks from now on are just that....minor tweaks, nothing major left to "fix". Now.... 1. As to so called "cleanup" scripts, you will likely never find a golden one-size-fits-all answer. Yes there will be spawned monsters left all over the place. Yes there will be dropped junk all over the place. But unless you plan for your module to be hosted for a vast number of players, what's the real harm?? Granted those remnant items tend to lag the server and chew CPU time unecessarily. So what? Unless there are 50 players online at a time and unless there is horribly obvious server hesitation which makes the gaming experience a chore rather than a joy, who cares? I do agree with you that the realism of having all spawned monsters still waiting for you if you decide to "run the gauntlet" is a good thing. There may be issues if someone is capable of spawning and then luring all the monsters into one spot leaving the rest of the module a monster-free candy store, but I don't think that's happening on your module. If that were the case, it would be a strong argument for despawning and then respawning the monsters back at their original "homes". 2. The problem of the stores filling up with crap and ultimately lagging the server is indeed a tough one. I never came up with a satisfactory answer myself. I partly like the idea of having the player sold items in the shop for others to buy later. But I also like the idea that periodically the stores simply reset so newer characters/players have to muddle through with the same limited supplies for sale in the stores that those of us who started the module early had to deal with. For this latter scenario, Fox previously described an excellent script idea that would reset the shops every X period of time provided that shop was not actively in use at the time. If it was, it simply get's reset the next time round if it is not in use then. This solution gives players a short period of time to buy stuff from the stores before they reset to their original stocks but keeps the stores from eventually cramming full of junk. Since the number of players was so small on our little group, I simply periodically went in and manually trimmed the lagging shops' inventories using a dummy gazillionaire character and then deleted that character (thus deleting all the gear too). I suppose you could also put in some scripted "trash cans" that destroy the contents once you close the can. I think YOUR best answer will come from what the size of your intended audience is. If that audience is to be large, you probably need a fool-proof automated solution. If small, then some amount of admin manual intervention is probably an acceptable solution. -NOVA |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 24-Apr-09, 23:16:36 | ||||
| Fox made me aware of the fact that too much rubbish remains in the mod, after players leave. It caused me a pain in the brain but I finally managed to combine 2 scripts so the Ingos Arena now both deletes monsters and bodysacks. Question is: should I apply this to other maps? That would mean when you leave instantly all encounters reset. To my opinion that is cheating, since someone who flies from a map should always find the monsters he fled for back at the entrance. Opinions? I still need a script to reset shops, without deleting the complete inventory of player sold stuff. I must say Fox hard opinion made me realize that roleplayers probably won't like this mod at all. At the other hand, I strongly have the feeling that Fox only played the first 3 maps: Uzra, Alitribute Forest and Rigel, and than got stuck in The Butcher Dungeon. But that dungeon is an Easter egg. Literally. Only the first level was meant to be, and the rest was added as an Easter bonus for experienced players (and shortly after changed because it really was too hard, but Fox has the older version - that is what testing is about). So I wonder if he made it to the Village of Ingos, where low/med level chr's find a 'home' and lots of quests. Midnight where you can level fast and find decent droppings, Sareth with the first forge NPC, Port Suslanger where the Horror level chr's have their home, The Cave of Eternity where Expert chrs can do the Horrorquestmaps... If not, than his judgment is very premature, and makes little sence. For I am quite sure that even 100% Roleplayers would like this mod IF they use what they find to their advantage (teleport stones, special shops, forges, chests with special rewards, etc.). Patience is a virtue... |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 18-Apr-09, 23:23:20 | ||||
| Fox, please read your e-mail. | ||||
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Author: bbKing (arsnova30 [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 13-Apr-09, 13:19:38 | ||||
| a fox with bunny teeth :D | ||||
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 12-Apr-09, 14:27:47 | ||||
| BB, Atton and Nova mostly play when its night or early in the morning here. But maybe they have some spare times on Easter so we can play together? :) Fixed some bugs: -Entrance to the Omega Forge is now a portal; you have to Knock... -Tyrek now spawns correctly -Butcher now gives XP -Sareth should be easier to kill for players who match the general maplevel (around 25-30) -check it out this is a tough one! -Dragons in Sareth now drop better loot. Fox sent me the scripts for the sword. That will be part of the final version. Thx Fox! |
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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 12-Apr-09, 02:57:39 | ||||
| But I am a vegetarian fox... Good Easter to all :-) -fox |
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Author: bbKing (arsnova30 [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 12-Apr-09, 01:56:59 | ||||
| Happy Easter to all!! Where are the bunnies? Nova, Atton, Jult and all (LOL) the others? We don't need a fox here, for obvious reasons (no offence fox). It's fun here on Albadaran's server even on my own (and Albadaran ofcourse), but it could be more fun if people join. Come on!! |
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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 10-Apr-09, 14:52:58 | ||||
| I downloaded it. On my end too hotmail said it could not virus-scan the attachment. But I persisted, and got it. I thank you for the present :-) I have free time. I go play now. -fox |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 10-Apr-09, 12:49:54 | ||||
| BB, it would be nice to see you :) Either connect direct using this ip: 62.194.19.144:5121 or use my hamachi ip: 5.52.251.77 The maps are based on rom1, rom2, Evil Islands, with a little bit Diablo and Guild Wars ;) Starting map is Uzra. Try to find your way to the Cave of Eternity, where you have access to horrorquest maps. Many maps are based on playermaps from Rom1, Rom2 and Evil islands. There are a few converted 'original' maps from these games: Rodion and the Suslanger maps (Evil Islands). Also there is a mini dungeon based on Diablo. The maps all connect, so you play the game like an adventure, exploring the world. Give it a try! |
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Author: bbKing (arsnova30 [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 10-Apr-09, 03:07:54 | ||||
| Hey Albadaran Is it a NWN-engine based ROM2? What maps are you talking about? And what do I need to do/know to play on the test server? I think I have some time to kill. |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 09-Apr-09, 22:59:59 | ||||
| Almost friday here. I already activated the new version of the Allods project. I also sent the rar map to Fox by email, hope he will be able to download it (hotmail said it could not scan the file). Have fun! |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 06-Apr-09, 22:53:06 | ||||
| Easter weekend: Testserver will be updated on Friday with the latest maps. I'll send the file to Fox too, so he can participate offline (tell me when you want me to send it, without reply I send it friday). Note that I will distribute the game to other players once the mod is finished; the reason I send a testmap to Fox is that I would like his valued opinion too ;) It would be nice if more players could be around on the Easter weekend. Jult? BB? Others? |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 29-Mar-09, 15:18:38 | ||||
| My vote would be about a 2.6 (somewhere between options 2 and 3). With such a small crowd, I personally think it's best to plan for primarily solo play (and thus for the possibility of solo success). On the other hand, I also like to feel as though I have EARNED the rewards in some way. For my ROM2 HATs that meant trying to walk the delicate balance between challenging yet possible to complete solo. Most of my efforts in the CHAOS series of ROM2 HATs were spent on trying to balance (as best as possible given that very limited game engine) the rate of character advancement so that it took a while to gradually build up but not so long that you never sensed continual achievement. Failure to feel like you are advancing generally leads to frustration and quitting. One nice thing the NWN game engine offers that ROM2 does not, is the possibility of custom gear (so no two players look exactly alike). This is achievable via the type of gear, coloring of the gear, and the magical stats of the gear. Add this to the wide range of playable character classes and you have considerably more variety than ROM2. That was part of the intention behind including the Omega Forge into Rhun when I ran it (a quit fix you might say, because I haven't the talent to create my own custom forges and crafting systems). Such item crafting and gear customizing is what I had intended to morph Rhun into had I the talent and the time (all the while balancing my level of effort with the small crowd of players of course). Taken to the extreme (probably too far of an extreme) I had envisioned even potions and scrolls needing to be made rather than simply bought. But that level of play pretty much requires a much larger group than we have (thus I abandoned that goal). That's my two cents worth. NOVA |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 29-Mar-09, 12:05:50 | ||||
| Feedback needed: Balancing the high level maps is difficult. Is Rodion too hard? Remember jus like in rom2 it's not about killing the spiders, but getting the gear. Is that impossible? Before I continue I would like you to make a choice out of some options (also vote if you don't play, its always good to get the broader picture). What would you like, and what would you absolutely not like: 1. Forget about rom2, let us have a cozy game with hard, but not impossible maps, lots of gear and no special horrorquestmaps. 2. We like horrorquestmaps like in rom2, with decent rewards, but no unbeatable monsters. 3. We like it to be tough! The game is easy as it is, let the horrorquestmaps come with terrifying monsters and traps. Only 1 out of 10 runs should have success soloing. 4. Same as 3, but impossible for solo players. 5. Make the whole game, and especially the horrormaps, easier, but implement the rom2 death system: when you die you leave a lootable sack and find yourself stripped and naked back in the void. 6. Your own idea if you think its better than any of the previous 5. |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 23-Mar-09, 18:56:00 | ||||
| Alright, given the situation that we don't know when Jult starts with his server, I'll keep my testserver up until he shows up with his project. You only won't see any new content until the final version is ready. Which may take some time. Have fun! |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 22-Mar-09, 13:14:52 | ||||
| It was only testing, and I learned what I needed for improving the mod. Besides, I promised Jult to have his ROM3 server first. And that is what we eagerly await: Jult's ROM3 project. So unless his project is delayed, you guys will have to do it with occasional test sessions. I can schedule some more weekends if players like it. Just let me know. And let's hope Jult's server will start soon! |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 22-Mar-09, 03:34:07 | ||||
| Wow, what a bummer...on two counts. 1. Last day for testserver tomorrow and I'll be gone visiting family for most of the day....shucks. 2. A LOOOOOONG wait until late summer for the official unveiling of the server. Crap. I may not be alive that long. Ok, so maybe I exaggerate a tiny bit. Seriously though, it has been a blast playtesting your module-in-progress. I look forward to the official launch. Really cool stuff in there. So while we wait for late summer.... Let's all go over and hack into Atton's Rhun server so we all have GOD gear...hehehe. Later -NOVA |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 22-Mar-09, 01:21:57 | ||||
| Final day. Thank you for participating. Sunday march 22 will be the last day for the testserver. I'll take it offline the monday after. With the feedback I will workout the horrorquestmaps, adjust existing maps, and add some new basic maps. What's next? We await Jult's Rom3 project to start. Meanwhile let's play on Atton's Rhun server. I'll be around too on the Legion of Rhun. My own server with the Allods project will start after summer. Maybe there will be a short testsession in may or june. Depends on the progress. Before I launch the server I want to get rid of the unused Rhun content. But that probably means I have to rewrite a lot of scripts (replacing tags and blueprints) to make it work outsite the Rhun environment. I want to do this because it would make the module 80% smaller, reducing lag and making it easier to distribute. So... One more day. Use it wisely :) |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 20-Mar-09, 22:09:22 | ||||
| [B]To Rodion![/B] The first Horrorquestmap is ready to test: Rodion. It's one of the easiest horror questmaps in ROM2 once you understand how it's build. And so is the NwN version! To make it a truely horrorquestmap I had to do something I don't like as a player: nerf a set of items. Only Nova will face the consequense, since the other players did not reach the shop with the particular set yet. I think the horror maps are more balanced this way. It's still possible to clear them fairly fast with the available gear and (lots of) potions. And it make the horrorquestmaps really exceptional, but not undoable. As for Rodion: either clear it with a decent party (should not be that hard), or figure out the weaknesses... Have fun! |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 15-Mar-09, 02:58:25 | ||||
| Excellent module so far. And put together very fast indeed. A few bugs here and there, but fully expected given this is playtest only. Frankly, I'm amazed at how FEW bugs or problems there are. What you have already is amazingly stable and complete considering the short time you've had to put it together. Has a nice combination feel of ROM1/ROM2 combined with NWN. Mages are going to be sadly disappointed, but then mages are pretty screwed by the NWN base game just like in the ROM series, so. Need Grey Fox to re-write every spell to narrow the gap I'm afraid. Looking forward to seeing what you add on next. Having a great time playing what you have so far. I hope more people join in and get a chance to see what you've done. Well done !!! -NOVA |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 14-Mar-09, 01:27:24 | ||||
| Nephew fixed part of the router connection problem: new firmware did the trick to get the complete serverlist! But it's not possible to post my server on Gamespy with this router because it does not allow the correct ports to be forwarded. Yet its possible to direct connect if one has the ip. Testserver is online this weekend on Hamachi (see post below). If you don't have Hamachi you can use direct connect with this ip: 62.194.19.144:5121 Saturday (14/3) I hope to perform a little 'stresstest'. Starting at 1.00 pm NYC time. Be there! |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 13-Mar-09, 01:24:00 | ||||
| I moved the testserver to my old rom2 hamachi ip: 5.52.251.77. This makes it possible to host permanently and still be able to use my other computers on the internet. So the testserver will be up to play for a longer period of time. I need feedback to balance the game, espcially for magic users and fistfighers. So what do we have? Framework is finished. Endstation is the Cave of Eternity. That is the place where you can access the Horror questmaps in future. To get there you will need to beat a lot of nasties, upgrade your gear (or just run very fast hehe) and be nice to the DM :) So give feedback everyone. Note that the game may be laggy because of the old computer hosting (in fact it has no room to install the game; it uses a slow USB port to access a USB drive with the server and maps). |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 14-Feb-09, 23:55:35 | ||||
| The framework of the mod is ready. It contains these maps: Maps: Uzra (rom2)-easy Ancient Ali Tribute forest (rom1/2 - stripped) -easy Lord of Atlantis Domain (Evil Islands) -easy/medium Rigel (rom1)-medium Midnight (rom2 - winter version) - medium/hard Ingos (original Evil Islands map) - hard Ingos village - arena and quests (well, 1 quest until now lol) Sareth (rom2) - horror -several in-map events like exploring caves, dungeons, etc. Next will be adjusting and fine tuning these maps, adding quests, special events, traders etc. I also plan to add the Omega Forge (already downloaded it), maybe in a village with portals to horror questmaps, which you would access after Sareth. If there are players who like to test what I have until now, just let me know. I can setup a testserver. Chr's are saved to use in future (that is, until the mod is finished and we start anew). |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 09-Feb-09, 23:22:19 | ||||
| Fox, Lol, yes I knew about cloning. But mostly I use the standard creature sets to create a group, than remove some creatures and add a few custom creatures. About C: You are right, it should be easy to learn. But at the moment my priority is painting the maps, not adding the finishing touch by editing scripts. Thanks for the offer, Í'll remind you when I start with the scripts. :) |
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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 09-Feb-09, 22:11:45 | ||||
| -- Albadaran I assumed you knew about scripting :-) You are in luck. Syntax of NWScript is copied from syntax of C. You learn to read C = you learn to read NWScript. You are more in luck than that. NWScript is a simplified version of C. No need to learn C syntax from begin to end. Many free tutorials on C are available on www. [i](I may teach you myself, if you ask nicely. Want to bet you learn in no time?)[/i] Ignore those who say that C is a difficult language. Their brain is too small. It is their tragedy, not yours. Too bad their brain is so small they do not realize their tragedy. So it is a tragedy in the tragedy for them. Vicious circle... You can learn full C (and C++) syntax in 2 hours if you care. You can learn all the C syntax you need to read NWScript in like 10 minutes. Give it a try :-) Once you familiarize with NWScript syntax, it is only a matter of "problem solving" skills. Anyone can solve problems. Skilled programmers are skilled because they find the best solutions in less time. ------------------------------ [b]Besides... If I have to do this for every creature in a group, on every single map, creating duplicates of them (because the original creatures can't be edited), and creating duplicate scripts (because its too risky to overwrite the originals), it would take ages lol![/b] You are not entirely correct. Original creatures can not be edited. True. But they can be cloned. And you can edit and use your clones. That is why in Aurora you see a "Standard" palette and a "Custom" palette. Open any Module (maybe Rhun). Load any Area. Select the Standard palette. Select Paint Creatures. Select any creature in the list. Right-click on that creature and read the voices in the menu that appears. Why do you think you are given a voice "Edit Copy"? Now select the Custom palette. Select any creature in the list. Right-click on that creature and read the voices in the menu that appears. Now why do you think you are given the voices "Edit" and "Edit Copy" (and "Delete" too)? [b]Standard palette[/b] houses the original un-editable game resources. You can Edit-Copy them. A clone is created on-the-fly and you can edit all aspects of it. [b]Custom palette[/b] houses YOUR edited game resources, cloned from those in the standard palette. You can choose to Edit your custom resource. Or you can choose to Edit-Copy it again, so creating a clone of a clone. Look in the Rhun module. See how much stuff you can find under the Custom palette. Rhun modders have "invented" monsters and items that do not exist in the standard game. Where do you think those new things are from? They are replicas of the standard ones. And so they have become editable. And then they were used in place of the standard game stuff. Back to my suggestion to alter the creatures AI: You do not alter every single creature individually on all the maps you decide to place that creature. It would be suicide :-) Instead you clone the original creature (like a Silver Dragon) and you provide her a new set of AI scripts (modified to suit your needs). And you use THAT custom dragon of yours in your maps. All Encounters spawning that dragon, will spawn YOUR altered dragon. If you place a million dragons and then want to change their AI again, you do not change a million individual dragons. You go change the set of scripts shared by those dragons. And all of them will automatically receive the change. See how things work? -fox |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 09-Feb-09, 20:04:13 | ||||
| Hmmm Fox, though I understand what you mean I must admit that I don't know much about the language in which the scripts are build. Applying Setlocallocation() in the line directly above Determinecombatround() often results in error messages like this when I want to save: 9-2-2009 19:44:32: Error. 'nw_c2_default6' did not compile. nw_c2_default6.nss(69): ERROR: NO SEMICOLON AFTER EXPRESSION And I don't understand what its saying lol! Besides... If I have to do this for every creature in a group, on every single map, creating duplicates of them (because the original creatures can't be edited), and creating duplicate scripts (because its too risky to overwrite the originals), it would take ages lol! The only reason I brought this up was Nova's test of my maps, and his experience that he could not enter a shop because a dragon kept waiting for him instead of returning to its spawn position. Which makes me think, it would only be the most dangerous creatures I would need to edit this way, but stil... Alternatively I can put immortal guards around shops and map entries. Until now all I did in scripting was changing some numbers and some copy/past actions. But the logic needs to be studied more if I want to understand it. For the moment I'll concentrate on drawing maps. So unless there is a oneliner to solve this all, thanks but leave it for now :) |
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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 09-Feb-09, 15:55:51 | ||||
| One thing occurs to me. I thought again at the reason you may want your creature to not stay where she last ended the combat. Perhaps the approach I suggested is not the best for your needs. I explain: Suppose your creature spawns at the center of the map. That is where you want her to return when combat ends. Suppose a player lures the creature away from that point. Maybe the creature is lured 100 meters to the West. The two fights and the player dies. The creature returns to her "spawning" point. That is, the center of the map, or 100 meters to the East from her current position. But suppose another player join the picture. He intercept the creature while she is on her way to the spawning point. The interception occurs when the creature is 50 meters to the West of her spawning Location. Using my method, the creature would now save her current Location and begin combat with this new player. The new player lures the creature 20 meters to the South. The two fights, and the creature wins. The creature will now head back to her last saved Location... which is now 20 meters to the North... which is 50 meters to the West of her original spawning Location: the center of the map. Which is not where you may want her to return at all. In case you do NOT want this to happen, but you always want the creature to return to her original spawning Location, you can follow another method. In the OnSpawn script of the creature you make her save her current Location. And when combat ends you make the creature travel to that Location. The spawning event occurs only once per creature. And so your creature would always attempt to return to the same place, regardless of how many times she fights or where she is lured. This method may work better for you. But there are potential problems in it. When an Encounter spawns a pack of creatures, they are likely packed together. If they all save their own spawning Location, they will all attempt to return to it, meaning that they would attempt to return in the packed formation they were when they spawned. When you have enough creatures, or maybe when the creatures are few, but are large, the risk is that they stomp on each other way, preventing each other to reach their destination. If you are unlucky, you could have some creatures forever stuck in attempt to place their feet in that exact spot they can never reach, because the rest of the pack is blocking access to it. Unluckily, this attempt may not be cleared in case the pack comes under attack. And you risk to have some creatures that will not respond to the attack because their first priority is to return in formation. You can fix this by making the creature travel to her destination without running. The command can be used to that the creature will attempt to nicely reach her spot. But if she can not get to it within reasonable time (you specify how much time is reasonable), she will teleport in place bypassing all obstacles. The drawback is that this behavior is ugly to see. Think it carefully. -fox |
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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 08-Feb-09, 23:57:43 | ||||
| No no no. Encounters have nothing to do with it. They only serve to spawn creatures. What a creature will do after spawning, is business of the creature alone. You wish your spawned creatures to return to where they were before they entered combat. The place to introduce this behavior is in the creature AI. There is no escape. NWN works like that. The commands to use are trivial. You already know them. Here I will help you understand [b]where[/b] to insert those commands. The rest you can work out on your own without problem, I am sure. ------------------------------ The key-point is to make your creatures take note of their current Location when they are about to enter combat state. And then you want your creatures return to that Location when they exit combat state. This should sound very logical. All creatures implement their AI routines in a set of scripts designed to work together. This AI seem complex at first. It is easy and liner instead. You only have to look at it with the right "concepts" in mind :-) I will give you these concepts. But do not ask me "how exactly" to modify the AI to do what you need. Reason is: if you can not do it by yourself, you are trying to lift more weight than you can pull. It would be wiser to spend some time in the gym, instead. Okay. Do this now: Open the Aurora toolset. Locate a creature, maybe a Drow Wizard. Right click it and select Properties. In the new window, select the [b]Scripts[/b] tab. The AI of the creature is all there. (Open paren... You will notice that the majority of creatures use the same set of AI scripts. ... close paren) What you see in this tab are Events. To each may be attached a script. These events are fired in response to very precise happenings. When an event fires, the attached script (if any) is executed. All clear so far? I will not explain what each event is fired in response to. You can make it on your own. And there are comments in the scripts too. Your modifications have something to do with the combat state of the creature. But there is no OnCombatBegin, or similar, event. Instead you have things like: -- OnCombatRoundEnd -- OnDamaged -- OnDisturbed -- OnPerception -- OnPhysicallyAttacked -- OnSpellCastAt Is one of these related to combat? Yes, all of them. NWN creatures may decide to enter combat state for a number of reasons. Just like you could in real life. Examples: -- If you dislike me, you may wish to fight me. -- If I throw a rock at you, you may wish to fight me. -- If you like me, but I call you names, you may decide to dislike me and fight me. -- You look at me, you understand I am weaker than you, and you may decide to fight me. The same is true for NWN creatures. Those AI events are to provide to a creature the "sparkle" that will set her brain in motion. The creature will operate a series of decisions which will lead to an action to take. And so the outcome may be that the creature decides to attack. Or she may decide to do other things (like walking away). Or she may choose to take no action. Makes sense so far? Now you do this: Open each of the scripts attached to the 6 events I listed above. Give them a quick look. I want you to notice that all contain one or more calls to a specific function: [b]DetermineCombatRound()[/b] DetermineCombatRound() is the universal "entry point" for entering combat state. It is a huge function. To understand it fully is horrible task. So stay away from it, and pray you never have to go inside there! For now you need to know that when DetermineCombatRound() is called: it is War. Simply put, DetermineCombatRound() tells a creature how to fight. Things like: -- equip this weapon -- use this spell -- switch to this target -- attempt a knockdown -- enter stealth mode -- move to that point are all decided inside DetermineCombatRound() Notice the word [b]Round[/b] in the function name. The function is called at every new round of combat. Actually it is called many more times than that. But in most cases the function will return immediately, doing nothing, because "it's not yet time". To better understand: -- if it is Peace time, and DetermineCombatRound() is called, it becomes War time. -- if it is War time, and DetermineCombatRound() is called, it stays War time. How does a creature know when she should return to Peace mode? In the real world "Darkness is absence of Lighting". Correct? In NWN "Peace is absence of War". Take it to the letter. When a combat round ends and DetermineCombatRound() is NOT called, the creature quits combat state and resume her Peace routines. With all this said, we can draw conclusions. You want to save the creature current Location immediately before her AI calls DetermineCombatRound() for the [b]first[/b] time only. And you want to get back that Location, and order the creature to travel to it, when it is about to become Peace mode. That is, when the current combat round ends, and the decisional pattern taken by the AI does not lead to a new DetermineCombatRound() call. Now go take a good look at the AI scripts that contain calls to DetermineCombatRound(). Understand when and why DetermineCombatRound() is called, and you will know where to place the code for your modification :-) -fox |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 08-Feb-09, 17:50:47 | ||||
| Fox, You mean like making a setlocation script like this? void main() { SetLocalLocation() } Than load it in the Encounter properties 'OnEnter? But where do I use: DeleteLocalLocation() And why? |
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Author: the.gray.fox (the [dot] gray [dot] fox [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 08-Feb-09, 17:20:05 | ||||
| -- Albadaran ---------------------------------------- [b]Things that need fixes: -Strong monsters who pursue weaker players should return to their spawning point after a player dies or leaves the map. I don't know yet how to do this in the encounter setup.[/b] You must alter the AI of the creature spawned by the Encounter (open Creature Properties window, look at the Scripts tab). You can do in many ways. I give you one: When a spawned creature begins combat, you make her take note of her own current Location. Save that Location on the creature, using SetLocalLocation() When combat finishes you make the creature go back to the Location you did save on her. Good parctice is to release local variables if you do not need them any more. So after issuing the command to return to her own Location (meaning: combat ended and creature is alive), use DeleteLocalLocation() to make cleanup on the creature. If the creature is killed, local variables on her are released automatically. So no worry in that case. ---------------------------------------- [b]-Opened doors don't close; I suppose there is a script for this.[/b] You can find example in Rhun. All auto-closing doors are custom to the Rhun module (so look in the Custom palette). You will see they have short scripts attached to their events. -fox |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 08-Feb-09, 15:11:37 | ||||
| Thank you Nova. -Fixed lag on Uzra: cause was drawing too many placables (so not the encounters). -Monsters spawn scale according to player level: there is a max limit for every group. Once the player level is higher, the monsters will be easier. Things that need fixes: -Strong monsters who pursue weaker players should return to their spawning point after a player dies or leaves the map. I don't know yet how to do this in the encounter setup. -Opened doors don't close; I suppose there is a script for this. Btw, I noticed you overlooked some nice 'features' ;) |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 08-Feb-09, 07:14:21 | ||||
| Many of the map screens lag for me...not just uzra (though uzra is by far the worst). Much of the lag seems to be coming from the encounter spawn events. Pretty good start to your server. I have serious troubles with the monsters that spawn which I cannot even hit (like the vampire warriors and the ancient dragons). Sadly, one ancient dragon killed me near the midnight shop, so now that dragon is parked over and effectively guarding that shop. I can't go anywhere near the shop now...oh well. I did manage to get my character up to level 10 though. There are a few corners of midnight map I have not revealed yet (can't get to them cuz the dragons knock me down and kill me on the spot). The rest I believe I've explored now. Nasty part is....many of the monster spawns scale according to your char level. This means if you can't beat the group, gaining levels will generally not help you either, cuz the monster spawns effectively gain levels too. Nasty bit of business there. Other than the lag being annoying as hell, and the handful of un-hittable monsters...pretty fun server. -NOVA |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 07-Feb-09, 23:46:35 | ||||
| Testserver will close in 12 hours from now. Please help testing, I really need feedback. Noticed the Uzra map lags in the middle, no matter at what side. Wonder what causes this. The server is running with a direct connection to my ISP, outsite the router. Should give no connectivity problems. IP still like below. Server name: Nhomis' server. |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 07-Feb-09, 16:30:36 | ||||
| Current ip: 62.194.34.241:5121 |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 07-Feb-09, 16:13:05 | ||||
| I don't see the server anywhere on the list. Could you post your IP so we can direct connect instead? Thanks, NOVA |
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Author: Albadaran (simondekker [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 07-Feb-09, 15:48:34 | ||||
| I have a testserver of the playermade Allod maps running. You can find it in the Action section: Allodstest. I intend to keep it up until sunday 8/2. Maps: Uzra (rom2)-easy Ancient Ali Tribute forest (rom1/2 - stripped) -easy Lord of Atlantis Domain (Evil Islands) -easy/medium Rigel (rom1)-medium Midnight (rom2 - winter version) - medium/hard There are several caves and dungeons which sometimes are significently harder than the maps where they are found. I think it wont be possible to beat the Midnight endlevel boss in this short session... So: explore, have fun and report back what you like and what not. |
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