The Drunken Lizard Pub

Borrawk wrote:One thing I would like to see is some sort of "paint bucket" feature and/or bigger brush to paint with (and for erase too!) I was about to create an island but it is quite time consuming to do one (even with the new blank map feature I suppose) One thing what could be nice is when you create a new blank map you could automatically choose if it is filled with certain floor tile, like water or grass. I haven't yet tried the new version so dunno if you made it like that already.

Heh, seems we think fairly similarly; I actually implemented a global "fill" (so that you can quickly fill up a map with water/grass/etc) shortly after releasing 0.7.3. I suppose I could release that version sooner rather than later.

The idea of a larger "brush" is a good one; I'll have to think about how I might do that. That one may involve a more substantial change to the way the editor does its thing, so it may take a bit for that to get implemented. I'll note it in my TODO, anyway.

I was also wondering if it could be somehow possible to use those special character NPCs as common townsfolk etc somehow? Or to create new shopkeepers using the existing ones as a base or something?

Not with the current editor (and unlikely to be there in future versions either) - all the shopkeepers and stuff are defined elsewhere in the game data that the map editor can't touch, so you're restricted to the NPCs already defined in the game.

Also, would be really cool if those scripts were listed somewhere, like the bed script you can snatch from the bed at your home (where the game starts).

I had been planning on digging around in the game's scripts and make up a page about scripting; I just haven't gotten around to it yet (the time I'd otherwise probably spend tinkering with the maps has usually been spent working on the editor itself, instead. :)

And one last thing, how in vanilla maps is that map port done for wilderness maps?

I haven't actually taken the time to verify it myself, but I'm pretty sure that Book 2 wilderness maps link based on the "coordinates" in their filename. For example, one map West of 5050.map (your starting map) would be 4950.map. Book 1 actually explicitly links in the North/South/West/East exits, but those appear to automatically happen in Book 2. Shouldn't take too long to verify or discount that theory; I just hadn't done so yet.

Be sure to let me know of anything else you want in there! Glad you seem to be enjoying it thus far.

... aaand there's a new version, at http://apocalyptech.com/eschalon/

Changes in 0.7.4 (all in the map editor component) -

• Added a "Fill" function to make fresh maps a little easier to deal with
• Undo and Redo will redraw "large" graphic changes completely, now
• Fixed a regression where tall torches (around Talushorn, etc) weren't being drawn with the flame
• Fixed an exception which could get triggered while drawing near the bottom of the map

So, some useful stuff in there. I swear I'll try to take it easy on the release schedule for a bit. :)

Oh, and it should be noted, perhaps, that the character editor component remains basically unchanged since 0.7.0, so if you're just editing characters, not much has been updated.

Sigh, yet another release. 0.7.5 is available: http://apocalyptech.com/eschalon/

Anyone using the editor to edit Book 2 maps is strongly encouraged to upgrade to this version, as it fixes an insidious little bug which could leave wall images scattered about the map without you knowing about it. Specifically, it'd leave (or erase) one wall image underneath the most-recently-mouseover'd tile whenever you Loaded or Reverted on a map, but wouldn't actually redraw that tile on the map, so you wouldn't know that it had done so unless you did another Load or Revert (which would then, of course, do the same to yet another tile, and so on, and so on). The wall image in question would be the one most recently selected in the square editing window.

Under "ordinary" map-developing conditions, where you'd tend to just load at the beginning and then do nothing but Saves, the bug wouldn't do much damage, nor of course would any harm be done if you were just loading maps to look at (but not save them back out).

Anyway, something you'll want to avoid regardless, so grab 0.7.5 if you're doing Book 2 map editing. This doesn't affect Book 1 map editing.

I'm guessing this will be of interest to some folks, so as a heads-up, I've put out a sort-of reference to scripting out on my page, which details all the scripting commands that I'm currently aware of. I'm sure there are mistakes and whatnot, and I'd guess that it's probably incomplete, but it should help regardless. Be sure to let me know if I have anything wrong, or anything missing.

Book 1 Scripting Reference
Book 2 Scripting Reference

Enjoy!

xolotl wrote:I'm guessing this will be of interest to some folks, so as a heads-up, I've put out a sort-of reference to scripting out on my page, which details all the scripting commands that I'm currently aware of. I'm sure there are mistakes and whatnot, and I'd guess that it's probably incomplete, but it should help regardless. Be sure to let me know if I have anything wrong, or anything missing.

Awesome, awesome stuff. I'm dying to try making some new maps now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hey all - I just got a report from someone who got these utilities working on OSX, which may be good news for other Mac folks out there. I've put up a list of instructions at the project webpage. Let me know if that works for you! Also, if anyone feels like figuring out how to package it up into a .dmg or something, that would be pretty great, too.

Nice finds. I wonder about the brass knuckles, too. I feel like the Unarmed skill could use the help. It has a nice feat, but not being able to use weapons with it really hurts it in comparison to the other combat skills.

Haha, Bronze Brass Knuckles? Wouldn't that just be "Bronze Knuckles"?? Stupid game designers!

BasiliskWrangler wrote:Haha, Bronze Brass Knuckles? Wouldn't that just be "Bronze Knuckles"?? Stupid game designers!

Can i haz bronze brass knuckles? Monks are awesome but extra kick always helps

There an heirloom. baby's first brass knuckles got bronzed.

Jedi_Learner wrote:I've just had a look at the entities list for Book II and noticed that Chancellor Pylot never made it to the final game. I'm guessing you would of met him in the inaccessible tower in Port Kuudad. Perhaps he was part of the main story at one time?

This brings up something that I've been meaning to mention for a long-time, but have forgotten to:

If you get your Cartography up to Level 16 (or whatever it is...), high enough so that NPCs (and mobs) show up on your Minimap as the black-bordered-red-dots - there is an NPC on "Level 2" of Port Kuudad THAT YOU CAN'T GET TO!!

IIRC, he's roughly in the South-Central area of "Level 2" of Port Kuudad, and you can only see him with the high Cartography if you're in the very SE corner next to the stairs of the "Level 2" building with the stairs and the small room with the teleporter pad.

If someone can crack open xolotl's map editor, they should see if they can figure out who the NPC in that "Level 2" area of Port Kuudad is! Maybe it's the Chancellor!!

Jedi_Learner wrote:Blackcoat Privateer, Buccaneer and Liche never made it either.

The interesting part about the first two is that they strongly implied there was going to be a on-the-seas, ship-based portion of Book II that was cut! I wonder how that part was going to work...

If I had to place these elements anywhere it would be around the Picaroon part of the story. Blackcoat Privateer and Buccaneer at least.

Picaroon has a different feel from the rest of the game, but not an awful lot is going on there. Probably more was imagined initially.

Jedi_Learner wrote:

The NPC is Becka. It appears the map for Port Kuudad was duplicated so the buildings would be the same size. The floor graphics and a handful of characters around these buildings were removed to give the player the illusion they were upstairs.

Ah, that's a little disappointing. I can totally see how that would happen - BW just copied the 'Level 1' Port K map to make the 'Level 2' Port K map, as that's the easiest route to go. I'm a little surprised he didn't just eliminate all the 'Level 1' NPCs from the 'Level 2' map first thing - maybe eliminating NPCs from maps is a little more involved than I thought?... Or maybe just copying an earlier version of the 'Level 1' map before the NPCs were added to the map would have been better?...

Anyway, I'd be pleased as punch if 'Level 2' of Port K was one of the things that gets filled out if there's ever a Yoma Springs Cavern expansion to Book II published...

IJBall wrote:I'm a little surprised he didn't just eliminate all the 'Level 1' NPCs from the 'Level 2' map first thing - maybe eliminating NPCs from maps is a little more involved than I thought?...

It's probably just the case where doing that is technically more work than not doing it. :) I assume that BW's editor would make it as easy do delete entities as you can in my editor thing. I'd guess that this was just never noticed.