Castle Paradox

msw188 · Joined: 02 Jul 2003 Posts: 1041

Suppose there exist three enemies on the screen currently, enemies A, B and C. Now they are all incredibly weak, but enemy C is set to spawn two new enemies when it dies. To accomodate this, I have set up empty slots in custom.exe, so that if I use my hero to kill enemy C, two new enemies pop up in those empty slots and everything is good.

However, my hero is so awesome he kills all three enemies at once. The problem is that the enemies that are set to spawn from C now try to appear in the slots that A and B were in, and actually get part of themselves 'destroyed/faded out', but not entirely, so what I'm left with is two enemies that are about half-there graphically (they are correct statistically, however).

Any ideas? Or has this been brought up before? Again, this is with Rusalka. I believe that it only happens if enemies A and B are in lower-numbered slots than C was, but I'm not really sure.

LeRoy_Leo · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:30 pm Post subject:

This sounds like a bug. The enemy graphics in slots A and B are being "depixelated", torn apart by pixels as they fade out. When the new spawns come in, it's in an instant, so they appear under the missing pixels, which causes them to look partially missing. I had the same problem a long time ago. I don't think they have to be the same enemy graphic for this to happen or not, but then I am not sure. Are they different enemy graphics? Also note, large enemies don't dissapear correctly on the windows version.

A possible solution would be to make the enemy spawn the two guys on it's own attack, which would mean it wouldn't be on death. Of course, that is only in desperation, otherwise it'll be a spawning machine. If that isn't what you want, then it gets more complicated. Have enemy C spawn two enemys on death that have a blank graphic (you can't see them), of which then spawn a new version of enemy C by killing themselves with their own attack. The two invisible foes will be dead, and one of them will be used to spawn a different version of enemy C. This version only knows two attacks, They both are a different element and hit enemy C (Target: self), but one only does enough damage to it to make it desperate, the other kills it. That attack does the spawning trick for the two new enemies in two, new, clear areas. I haven't exactly tested that yet, but maybe it can be something to test later. Work around the problem, is basically what I am saying.
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---msw188 ---
"Seriously James, you keep rolling out the awesome like gingerbread men on a horror-movie assembly line. "

Moogle1 · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:06 pm Post subject:

I believe what is actually happening is that they are appearing in the position that A and B occupied, not really appearing in slots A and B. The workaround for this bug is to make sure your enemies don't spawn in overlapping locations.
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msw188 · Joined: 02 Jul 2003 Posts: 1041

Hmm, I think I understand what Leroy is saying, but it is a bit confusing, and I'm afraid the same problem would occur if, say, enemy C is killed, and then while it's invisible spawning partner is killing itself, another hero kills enemy A (basically, there will still be the chance that an enemy is spawning while another enemy is dying)

And to Moogle1, your idea is not the problem. I have all of the enemy slots positioned in different places (including the empty ones), so that if the new enemies from C were being put in different slots, they would not be near the old enemies. I think this is really a bug. Should we put something on Bugzilla, or is there still a chance I'm missing something?

PlayerOne · Joined: 07 Sep 2005 Posts: 143 Location: UK

Sounds like a bug to me. Possibly an annoying one to try and fix, though. The fade is done by erasing random bits of the sprite each step. The spawn is putting a new sprite in the same place, but not telling the game to stop erasing. It either needs to avoid reusing slots until the disintegration is complete or to stop the destruction.

Mike Caron · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:59 am Post subject:

This is a known bug (or, at least I've run into it). The problem is that the OHR marks the "death" flag before the sprite is gone. We can't change that because a fading enemy is dead, and if we were to delay it, the enemy would still attack, could still be targeted, etc., while in it's death throes.

Perhaps we need an "empty" flag, which is set when the monster is gone... I'll look into it.
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LeRoy_Leo · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 2:39 pm Post subject:

Just maybe this could be solved if someone changed the script so the enemy dissintegrates faster. Hey, maybe we could have a choice between appearance of said dissintegration. Like, the enemy could fade to black and dissapear or flash, or something like that. I know that's most likely impossible at this time, but maybe some other time. In a 32 bit version, perhaps.
_________________
Planning Project Blood Summons, an MMORPG which will incinerate all of the others with it's sheer brilliance...

---msw188 ---
"Seriously James, you keep rolling out the awesome like gingerbread men on a horror-movie assembly line. "

Mike Caron · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 9:10 pm Post subject:

Actually, I made it not mark a slot as empty until the monster is done dying.
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I stand corrected. No rivers ran blood today. At least, none that were caused by us.

Final Fantasy Q
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LeRoy_Leo · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject:

Lol. "I'm not quite dead yet."
_________________
Planning Project Blood Summons, an MMORPG which will incinerate all of the others with it's sheer brilliance...

---msw188 ---
"Seriously James, you keep rolling out the awesome like gingerbread men on a horror-movie assembly line. "

msw188 · Joined: 02 Jul 2003 Posts: 1041

Thanks once again, Mr. Caron. I can't wait for the next official OHR release, which I'm guessing will have a lot of these updates that have been discussed.

Mike Caron · Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 10:50 am Post subject:

I suprised myself at the quantity (and, even, quality) of work I've been doing. Now, what to do today...? Oh right, that numbering thing in Custom...
_________________
I stand corrected. No rivers ran blood today. At least, none that were caused by us.

Final Fantasy Q
OHR Developer BLOG
Official OHRRPGCE Wiki and FAQ