Pre-release 3 of Rocks'n'Diamonds 4.4.0.0 available!

[ncrecc]

in Marek Roth->Crazy Dream->Crazy Dream 2, level 9 ("Cave H"), bombs are incorrectly set to explode into gravestones instead of time penalties. when playing this in gdash, the bombs are set to contain time penalties, and a bomb exploding results in 5 time penalties being placed, each with a 5-second penalty, resulting in a 25-second penalty total. however, when playing it in rnd, there is no penalty whatsoever when a bomb explodes, because the bomb is set to spawn purely-visual gravestones instead of time penalties.

to avoid confusion: 1. time penalties applying their penalties when emerging from bombs is correctly working; the problem is that the .gds parser incorrectly substitutes time penalties with gravestones, which look identical but do nothing. 2. you will not see any bombs placed directly in Cave H; they have a chance of emerging from ghost explosions, which fireflies in this level are set to produce.

[Holger]

ncrecc, thanks a lot for all your detailed comments, remarks and bug reports regarding the new pre-release version! I really appreciate your detailed descriptions of what's not working as it should yet! I will check them all and try to fix everything you have mentioned here!

Some comments:

Code: Select all

Effect=AMOEBADIAMONDeffect DIAMONDBIRTH0
...
Effect=DIAMONDfallingeffect EXPLOSION0

Both game elements "DIAMONDBIRTH0" and "EXPLOSION0" (or generally all that end with a "0") were not recognized by the old GDash code that I used, and still have to be backported from the current GDash code base. Once this is done, all BDCFF tokens should be read and handled correctly.

I will also (try to) fix all graphics and sound bugs you have mentioned. And thanks for the graphics updates for "sand ball" and "loose sand" which I will also add.

Regarding the last one (about time penalties and gravestones), this sounds a bit complicated, but I will check this, too, and should be able to find out what's going wrong here.

However, please allow for some time to fix all these things -- I will be away for a month starting tomorrow, but will continue working on all these BD engine issues in August.

[BryanFRitt]

[Debian Linux Stable]
For all levels in the 'BOULDER DASH' folder I'm now getting all dots when I click on 'START GAME'.

Blank Boulder Dash Levels - RnD 4.4.0.0 Test 3.png (18.59 KiB) Viewed 4743 times

The 'LEVEL CREATOR' still shows the level. Don't remember if it was working before or not, but last thing I remember was when looking through the level choices seeing one that played an animation, then started.

Level Creator Boulder Dash Levels - RnD 4.4.0.0 Test 3.png (55.16 KiB) Viewed 4743 times

[Holger]

If I see this correctly, the first screenshot was taken either when you pressed the "pause" button, then started the game, or if you have set the setup option "Start game in pause mode" to "on" (which effectively does exactly the same).

That said, everything works as expected. Just press "pause" again to really start the game engine running. This will start (well, continue) the typical Boulder Dash style "uncovering the playfield" animation. As the playfield starts completely covered, the first frame will always look like on that screenshot.

If you don't like this animation, just go to "setup -> game engines" and set "Skip (un)covering screen" to "on".

[BryanFRitt]

If I see this correctly, the first screenshot was taken either when you pressed the "pause" button, then started the game, or if you have set the setup option "Start game in pause mode" to "on" (which effectively does exactly the same).

That said, everything works as expected. Just press "pause" again to really start the game engine running. This will start (well, continue) the typical Boulder Dash style "uncovering the playfield" animation. As the playfield starts completely covered, the first frame will always look like on that screenshot.

If you don't like this animation, just go to "setup -> game engines" and set "Skip (un)covering screen" to "on".

Cool. That got it back to showing level/player, but the player can't move/snap. Pause/UnPause/tape still work. Other level types the player can move.

[Holger]

Cool. That got it back to showing level/player, but the player can't move/snap. Pause/UnPause/tape still work. Other level types the player can move.

That's strange ... in which level set and level have you encountered a player that cannot be moved (although it should be)? Then I could check this.

[BryanFRitt]

That's strange ... in which level set and level have you encountered a player that cannot be moved (although it should be)? Then I could check this.

It's seems to happen for all the one's in the 'BOULDER DASH' folder/subfolders. I just noticed this non-movement happens only when in 'NAME' mode, but not in 'TEAM' mode. In 'TEAM' mode movement seems to work, but it's a single player not as a team like the word 'TEAM' implies.

MAIN MENU > TEAM/NAME (click on the first word in the main menu)

[Holger]

Just to be totally sure (as you were also surprised by the uncovering animation of BD style levels): You do not mean the "hatching" delay when the "inbox" (where the player starts) is blinking until the level really starts? During that time, the player indeed cannot be moved (but can be moved after a few seconds after the level starts).

So the level has started, playfield is uncovered, hatching of the player is finished, monsters are moving, but you cannot move the player using the cursor keys? But it works once you switch to "team mode" in the main menu?

Really strange! I really would like to be able to reproduce this behavior! Or find out what's going on here!

Can anybody else confirm such behavior, or has encountered anything similar when playing one of the levels from the new BD level collection?

[BryanFRitt]

Just to be totally sure (as you were also surprised by the uncovering animation of BD style levels): You do not mean the "hatching" delay when the "inbox" (where the player starts) is blinking until the level really starts? During that time, the player indeed cannot be moved (but can be moved after a few seconds after the level starts).

So the level has started, playfield is uncovered, hatching of the player is finished, monsters are moving, but you cannot move the player using the cursor keys? But it works once you switch to "team mode" in the main menu?

It sounds like you get I meant to say. For 'BOULDER DASH' folder/subfolders, When in 'NAME' mode the player character can't move even after the "hatching"/"inbox" delays, and in 'TEAM' mode, it's playing a single player game that can move after these "hatching"/"inbox" delays.

In trying this 'TEAM' 'BOULDER DASH'** as a single player out some more, so far something seems off with scrolling, and the tape is messed up more than normal. (but these could be my imagination?, I had been playing in 'CLASSIC GRAPHICS' some when I'm used to a 'WIDESCREEN MODE 1920x1200' type mode.)***

**(1st levelset/level alphabetically, 'BOULDER DASH' > 'ACHIM HAETEL')
*** viewtopic.php?t=2221
'MAIN MENU' > 'SETUP' > 'CUSTOM ARTWORK' > 'CUSTOM GRAPHICS' > ...

[BryanFRitt]

Is the player supposed to be move to been seen as moving at a spot after finishing a level? Also, How to turn on/off showing R'n'D fps? Didn't see this option in the menus. **(1st levelset/levels alphabetically for 'BOULDER DASH' > 'ACHIM HAETEL')

[Eizzoux]

Well, player walking on spot is indeed a thing of BG engine, whether you walked onto the exit or snapped it.

[BryanFRitt]

For the pushing picture, There was an exit there I barely pressed to the right to get into the exit, but it looks like the player kept on going to try to push the rock(even though I didn't press to the right anymore) after the game hid the exit.
See "RnD Boulder Dash - Level finished but still pushing.png" above for a screenshot of what this post is talking about.