Boulder Dash Forum

I really like what you've been doing with this lately!

Unfortunately, I've noticed two problems in this edition:
1) [tiny problem] The join icon has gone missing from the editor (even though it can still be accessed from the tools menu)

2) [large problem] The magic wall is universally broken. Anything dropped into it disappears even when the wall is active and has space below.

Please tend to the second one ASAP! That aside, I must say you're doing a excellent job!

oops sorry. it was a huge mis... mistype

uploaded the fixed version. version number is the same.

bye

One thing I always want to request: autoscroll in the cave editor also for the cursor. If I reach one border with the cursor it should scroll in this direction. The same as with rectangles but also with the cursor. Otherwise I have to use the scroll bars. It would be easier for continous drawing...

By the way: I do not fully understand the Transporter element. I tested it a little bit and it does not work all the time. Sometimes I have to enter always from the right side to be teleported to the next one, sometimes I can walk through and nothing happens. Moreover I would recommend to add another feature in the object properties of the Teleporter: the order in which I'm teleported to which teleporter. Maybe this way: use numbers. So I could give one teleporter number 1, the next number 2 and the next number 3. So if I enter 1, I'll always teleported to number 2 and then 3. Or if I enter 3 I'll always come to 2 and then 1.

Maybe you could also describe the CD7 elements a little bit more. I do not fully understand some of the new elements. Why does the Player explode when collecting the key in CD7 "Bone cruncher"? How do I exactely use the gravity switch (in combination with the pot)?

CWS wrote:I do not fully understand the Transporter element.

Providing they work as intended, which I didn't test yet. You step in and come out on the opposite on the next teleporter found (including the one you stepped in), which has space there. If there in none, you can't step in in the first place. Therefore, it may be necessary to block some teleporters first in order to reach other destinations. If placed well, this might allow interesting puzzles.

Why does the Player explode when collecting the key in CD7 "Bone cruncher"?

This is not related to the new CD7 elements. There is simply a Firefly touching a Voodoo Doll. Take a closer look at the bottom left corner, and you can see what happens. The map is a clone of the first Bone Cruncher map, and at the place of the key, there is also a deadly trap in the original map.

How do I exactely use the gravity switch (in combination with the pot)?

This is also Bone Cruncher inspired, but not completely identical, though. In Bone Cruncher, you need to collect 5 skelletons, then cook, and then you are be able to change the direction with a countdown. In CD7, it is basically the same, except you don't need the skeletons and the pots are used up. It's quite simple: "Collect" a pot, and the gravity switch will be activated. You can only collect a pot when the gravity switch is inactive, which also might be used to create interesting puzzles.

hi

i will think about the autoscroll and other things. the way you describe it can't be fully used, as you normally exit the drawing area with the mouse pointer (for example, when you use the menu or the object list). also, it is normal that you have the pointer near the border... so clicking is necessary. maybe i will use something like a right-click-to-scroll-here solution.

teleporters search for the next suitable teleporter found in the cave, starting from the player using the teleport; it was written by disassembling cd7. (the only difference that there is no delay when teleporting up or left.)

the gravity you select with the switch can be selected by the direction FROM where you push the switch. this is how crazy maze is to be solved. (in bone cruncher, switches can only be pushed from one side.) to activate switches, you stir a pot.

these are (well, only marginally) described in the help.

bye

After some testing, I noticed a few incompatibilities.

Biters eat dirt first and then dirt2. There should be no such priority. In fact, the graphics is the only difference, as dirt2 really converts to normal dirt via the effect table and only the different graphics stay. Acid, bladders and slime are also effected by this, ie. their behavior and effect settings should handle dirt and dirt2 exactly the same.

Water grows in all 4 direction in Gdash. Even if this behavior seems reasonable, it is not the way CD7 has implemented it. The water was inspired by Miniboulder in which it also has the odd property of never growing down. Maybe you could add a switch to make growing down optional.

Suicide produce a 9x9 explosion. In 1stB, CrLi there is only one explosion puff. This sure makes a difference in puzzle design.

In 1stB and CrLi imports, Voodoo Dolls are flagged "can be destroyed" which shouldn't.

In 1stB and CrLi imports, "uppermost player active" is not checked, but it should.

In 1stB and CrLi imports, "Magic wall timer waits for hatching" should be checked, but isn't.

In CrLi import, "PAL timing" should be always active. The CrLi engine has NTSC detection, and even adjust the game to PAL timing on those machines.

"C64 scheduling" is getting close, but explosions are far too fast. Very noticeable in "Crazy Dream 9" "Two Deaths" for example.

In 1stB V2.2 caves, you can assume dirtmod always active and give amoeba the same color as slime. V2.6 caves should remains as they are now, though. That would be the only difference between V2.2 and V2.6, not even directly related to cave format. Since there is a bug turning V2.6 caves into V2.2 under certain conditions, you should assume all V2.2 caves actually V2.6 if there is any V2.6 cave present.

In the HTML gallery, falling walls are not marked as such.

If "slower explosions" are checked, the bdcff files says "ShortExplosions=true" and vice versa. Which should be the opposite as a slower explosion really is a long and not a short explosion.

In BDCFF files, caves shouldn't contain a map section and a objects section at the same time. There is a map object defined which should be used instead.Also defining random settings don't make sense when the cave is covered by a map.

And I agree, the auto scrolling seems a bit strange in the editor. Maybe you could capture the mouse, so it can't leave the cave window and just scrolls instead when moving against the borders. Similar to the CrLi construction kit.

If I'm not mistaken, the Skeletons are not discribed in the Help menu.

What they are there for?

By the way: Shouldn't water always growing (flowing) from an upper position down? But ok, optional would be ok.

"C64 scheduling" is getting close, but explosions are far too fast. Very noticeable in "Crazy Dream 9" "Two Deaths" for example.

I maganed to make it even more precise, but it never will be. For "two deaths", it would require to make (we guessed that...) 2-seconds hatching AND timing to be precise at the same time... Which is even more hopeless.

In CrLi import, "PAL timing" should be always active. The CrLi engine has NTSC detection, and even adjust the game to PAL timing on those

Well, the BD-Inside-Faq says, that:
0370 0003 000-999 Cave time in seconds (this seconds are for real on both NTSC and PAL systems)
that is why i thought that i would NOT use pal emulation for importing those. But now I measured it, and seconds are slower in CrLi, so this way, PAL emulation should be turned for _ALL_ c64 engines. 20 crli seconds did last 24 real seconds, that is 20*6/5, perfect match.

cirix wrote:I maganed to make it even more precise, but it never will be. For "two deaths", it would require to make (we guessed that...) 2-seconds hatching AND timing to be precise at the same time... Which is even more hopeless.

As you plan to have the games as BDCFF eventually, it should be no problem to just tweak the hatching delay to match the original. This cave was just mentioned as an example. There are many caves where a lot of explosions are going on. Even more noticeable on "Crazy Dream 2" cave e.

hi

In 1stB V2.2 caves, you can assume dirtmod always active and give amoeba the same color as slime. V2.6 caves should remains as they are now, though. That would be the only difference between V2.2 and V2.6, not even directly related to cave format. Since there is a bug turning V2.6 caves into V2.2 under certain conditions, you should assume all V2.2 caves actually V2.6 if there is any V2.6 cave present.

i don't know how i could detect this. for 1stb-engine games, the version number is overwritten by the packer. is this true for crli-games?

1stb caves, for example crazy dream 2, work like this. are there any 1stb-engined games, which are do not like this?

bye

cirix wrote:i don't know how i could detect this. for 1stb-engine games, the version number is overwritten by the packer.

Well, you could just disregard the version number and read out the actual dirt graphic in 1stB games, since there is none with custom dirt graphic, and due to the lack of an graphic editor, there probably never will. One byte should do as there really are only two cases.

is this true for crli-games?

No, there is no dirtmod graphics available for the CrLi engine at all, thus you can always assume no dirtmod. However, I can't promise it staying that way, once I release the CrLi Enemiedesigner. Although, a dirtmodded set is unlikely to appear even then, since the few dirtmod fans (mainly Prof. Knibble and No One) aren't active in the Boulder Dash scene for many years now.

A very special case is "Crazy Dream 3" where I could set dirtmod separately for each cave, but I don't remember how I did it there. I really would have to disassemble the code to find out.

I notice that not only the skeleton is not listet in the help file - it's also not available in the element box! Please add it to the element box just to be complete!

What do you think of optionally counting the skeletons separately? Would be interesting to create caves you need to collect e.g. 5 skeletons and 5 Diamonds...

hi

i uploaded 20080621.

changes include:
- highscore bug fixed
- suicide bug fixed
- 1stb and crli compatibility bugs fixed
- bdcff slower explosions tag fixed
- ghost, water bugfix
- explosions are slower now for c64 scheduling
- slime lets bladders pass
- objects can be enabled on specific levels (for example, "there is a firefly on level 4 only")
- dirt-dirt2 are now totally the same
- enhanced mazes: perfect, unicursal and braid mazes. also, there are no walls around them
- random fill object
- crazy dream 9 maze and random caves work
- added intermission instantlife and rewardlife flags
- enhanced random new cave colors
- skeletons are needed to use pots (also compatibility flags for crdr7)
- enhanced random eleement setup for objects and caves
- exporting caves and cavesets into a format loadable by c64 crazy light construction kit (with that, you can create a c64 executable of your gdash caves!)
- other bugfixes

hope everything works.

bye

Teleporter and Bladder Spender is not in help.

And autoscrolling for drawing behaves a little bit strange sometimes.

cirix wrote:- exporting caves and cavesets into a format loadable by c64 crazy light construction kit (with that, you can create a c64 executable of your gdash caves!)

Interesting feature indeed. I noticed 2 bugs there, so far:
Effects have no delay state, thus Diamonds fall throughout the entire cave at once, for example.
Magic Wall is silent, despite there is no such option in Gdash.

And if someone really wants to design CrLi caves with Gdash, a restriction feature would be quite handy, ie. all options not available in CrLi would be grayed out in the editor and automatically set to whatever the target engine supports.
Maybe a menu where you could just tick the target engine and have a choice between "Gdash native" and "CrLi", and probably others in the future like my upcoming engine or in case there will be more exporting options.