New version (1.0.28) released, Twilight customs, fixes

[telengard]

Long time since the last release. I've just put up 1.0.28. Maybe a little early given the number of changes (look at that CHANGELOG, phew). But there was a pretty annoying hanging bug on Windows (wx version) which I've fixed w/ the help of mm75 here on the forums (thanks!!).

About 1/3 of the pieces from the Twilight expansion are implemented with more to come. Along with the fix mentioned above, a fix for the no-show Chrysotic Plague images, and a bunch of fixes for abilities.

This release also had a lot of plumbing changes done to how abilities are coded. It is now a lot more flexible (but requires a little more difficulty) with regards to ability definitions in XML. You can create lots of different takes on basic options like moving pieces, exchanging pieces, etc.

At some point I'll document all of this for anyone doing customs.

Since so much has changed and I really couldn't do regressions on all the pieces affected, if anyone sees anything odd as far as abilities, post it in the bug thread and I'll fix it right off.

Have fun!

~telengard

[melkor75]

I noticed a bug i discovered some time ago on past versions.

Sometimes AI avoid to spawn pieces. Example: Valor.txt agaisnt Fear.txt (to just take some common bands).
Silver rolls 3 and Gold 2 for Initiative at 2nd turn. It skips to spawn (buthe could spawn more than a mini as Scarab Warcharm for example).

mm75

[melkor75]

A request possibly more than a bug.

Is there a chance to insert a "pause" (input anyway to continue) during opponent's turns? Usually when AI takes decisions, move and attacks u just don't understand immediately what's happening or happened and u have to dig into the screen input to get the picture. It would be great for example to add an input to "continue": Initiative rolled 5,3 (awaiting input). I press space bar for example, now AI spawn Piece "A" (awaiting input), then it spawns another one eventually, etc... Same thing when he rolls or move, it would be easier to understand what's happening on the board (and catch bugs eventually ),

thanks again,

mm75

[melkor75]

Another bug: expel ability. I noticed it doesn't let u expel a creature in a contested cell.

Example: i attack in C3 an opponent minis and activate my expel blade ability. In D3 cell another of my minis is engaged with an opponent's mini. I cannot move the enemy from D3 to C3.

mm75

[telengard]

Sometimes AI avoid to spawn pieces. Example: Valor.txt agaisnt Fear.txt (to just take some common bands).
Silver rolls 3 and Gold 2 for Initiative at 2nd turn. It skips to spawn (buthe could spawn more than a mini as Scarab Warcharm for example).

Ok, I'll keep a lookout for this one. Only bad spawning behavior I've seen is w/ Appease (which I'm looking into).

Also, is this new version working OK as far as not hanging on you anymore? Just want to make sure.

Another bug: expel ability. I noticed it doesn't let u expel a creature in a contested cell.

Example: i attack in C3 an opponent minis and activate my expel blade ability. In D3 cell another of my minis is engaged with an opponent's mini. I cannot move the enemy from D3 to C3.

This is a result of all the re-tooling I did. I will fix this and post updated XML files w/ all the pieces affected (one of the benefits of moving the logic out is I can do this without having to spin a new build).

A request possibly more than a bug.

Is there a chance to insert a "pause" (input anyway to continue) during opponent's turns? Usually when AI takes decisions, move and attacks u just don't understand immediately what's happening or happened and u have to dig into the screen input to get the picture. It would be great for example to add an input to "continue": Initiative rolled 5,3 (awaiting input). I press space bar for example, now AI spawn Piece "A" (awaiting input), then it spawns another one eventually, etc... Same thing when he rolls or move, it would be easier to understand what's happening on the board (and catch bugs eventually )

Yep, I have this in the console version and I can add it to the GUI too. I'll put this in the next release for sure. Great idea.

thanks for the reports!
~telengard

[telengard]

Another bug: expel ability. I noticed it doesn't let u expel a creature in a contested cell.

Example: i attack in C3 an opponent minis and activate my expel blade ability. In D3 cell another of my minis is engaged with an opponent's mini. I cannot move the enemy from D3 to C3.

mm75

Hi mm75,

Just tested out theh Expel ability (using Jack of Blades). Worked OK for me.

Do you recall which mini w/ Expel you were using when you saw this? I'll try out the other ones too.

~telengard

[melkor75]

It was with Dreadmorph Ogre.

As soon as i can i'll check the hung issue with random bands (as for now, just played a couple of games, but without the Dream Lords, it is fine)

mm75

[telengard]

It was with Dreadmorph Ogre.

As soon as i can i'll check the hung issue with random bands (as for now, just played a couple of games, but without the Dream Lords, it is fine)

mm75

Awesome thanks. I just tried out Dreadmorph Ogre and with my basic testing Expel seems to work. I wonder if some other piece was interacting such that it didn't work.

You don't happen to have the 2 warbands you are using do you?

I really need to enable logging of actions taken so I can get everything I need to repro these bugs. Next release I'm going to enable it. That way I can get the warbands, random seed, and all actions taken in a game.

~telengard

[coffeecoffee]

Hey telengard,

First off, THANKS for all of your work on this game! I'm relatively new to the game, and this has helped me to really learn the ropes, especially since I don't own any minis (yet).

In my playing, I've noticed what I think are a couple of bugs with certain abilities, and I wanted to ask about them, since I don't see them mentioned anywhere else:

1) The 'trample' ability doesn't seem to work correctly. The piece I've used is the Unsated Ragedrake, and each time I activate the ability, not only will the trample not apply, but there will be no damage applied to the opponent's creatures during the attack at all. When I am prompted to use the Trample ability, I always end up with four options, but they're always the same cell, something like this:
Trample [C4]
Trample [C4]
Trample [C4]
Trample [C4]
I'll try to be more specific the next time I play.

2) The 'Mutation' ability doesn't seem to do anything at all. I've used the Whispering Imp and this ability is triggered, I do see the "Whispering Imp's ability 'Mutation 6' activated" event over in the sidebar. However, nothing happens, and I am never prompted to do anything with it, despite having many qualifying creatures in my reserves.

Again, I'm very grateful for your work; like others here, I hate to come across like I'm just finding the problems... KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

[telengard]

Hey telengard,

First off, THANKS for all of your work on this game! I'm relatively new to the game, and this has helped me to really learn the ropes, especially since I don't own any minis (yet).

In my playing, I've noticed what I think are a couple of bugs with certain abilities, and I wanted to ask about them, since I don't see them mentioned anywhere else:

1) The 'trample' ability doesn't seem to work correctly. The piece I've used is the Unsated Ragedrake, and each time I activate the ability, not only will the trample not apply, but there will be no damage applied to the opponent's creatures during the attack at all. When I am prompted to use the Trample ability, I always end up with four options, but they're always the same cell, something like this:
Trample [C4]
Trample [C4]
Trample [C4]
Trample [C4]
I'll try to be more specific the next time I play.

Hi there,

Thanks for the complements. This looks like a bug, although things like Trample and Bodyguard don't work exactly like you would think. I will check this out.
The key thing is you will be able to assign damage after activating the trample, but it won't apply if the conditions for Trample aren't met. I won't bore you with the details of why it is that way in the computer version.

2) The 'Mutation' ability doesn't seem to do anything at all. I've used the Whispering Imp and this ability is triggered, I do see the "Whispering Imp's ability 'Mutation 6' activated" event over in the sidebar. However, nothing happens, and I am never prompted to do anything with it, despite having many qualifying creatures in my reserves.

Sounds like a bug. My guess is you are using the latest version (1.0.28)? I pretty much re-did a lot of the abilities so there are bugs in there for sure. I will make sure Mutation works in the next release.

Again, I'm very grateful for your work; like others here, I hate to come across like I'm just finding the problems... KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

[/quote]

Oh, don't feel bad about it at all. There are bound to be bugs as it's a complicated game and I can only test so much. I really appreciate the bug reports and feedback, so thanks!!

~telengard

[telengard]

Just wanted to post that the bug w/ Trample is fixed and will be in the next release. Was specifying the wrong zone to the action to choose a target zone (piece's current zone instead of the adjacent cells).

I'm investigating the other issues mentioned (as well as ones reported by other players).

Thanks again or the bug reports!! Keep 'em coming and I'll fix them.

~telengard

[coffeecoffee]

Wow - you're really on top of this! I love it.

Yes, am using 1.0.28, as you guessed. And, I think I have one more small bug...sometimes, if I don't close the program in between games, I'll start to see some issues with pieces disappearing in the second game. This disappearing has happened when using abilities that move a piece in the middle of a turn, such as Advance or even when disrupting. When it happens, the piece just disappears. The game itself still knows the piece is there (i.e. will count it for conquest points), but the AI seems to play as if it is not there (won't engage), and strikes don't work as they should.

I just finished trying this out - I played two games w/o closing, and it happened the 2nd game. I then closed and reopened the program, selected the same warbands & settings, and everything worked properly - no disappearing.

It's not a big deal, because at worst, all you'd need to do is close and reopen the game. But I still thought it worth mentioning, since from a programming perspective, I always hate settling for "workarounds," and it sounds like you're the same way

Please let me know if I can help clarify in any way!

[telengard]

Wow - you're really on top of this! I love it.

Yes, am using 1.0.28, as you guessed. And, I think I have one more small bug...sometimes, if I don't close the program in between games, I'll start to see some issues with pieces disappearing in the second game. This disappearing has happened when using abilities that move a piece in the middle of a turn, such as Advance or even when disrupting. When it happens, the piece just disappears. The game itself still knows the piece is there (i.e. will count it for conquest points), but the AI seems to play as if it is not there (won't engage), and strikes don't work as they should.

I just finished trying this out - I played two games w/o closing, and it happened the 2nd game. I then closed and reopened the program, selected the same warbands & settings, and everything worked properly - no disappearing.

It's not a big deal, because at worst, all you'd need to do is close and reopen the game. But I still thought it worth mentioning, since from a programming perspective, I always hate settling for "workarounds," and it sounds like you're the same way

Please let me know if I can help clarify in any way!

Hi again,

Hehe, it's the weekend and I was bugged that Trample was broken since it is a fun ability. I do try to fix things as soon as possible though.

As for the disappearing piece. I've seen this same behavior once in the past too w/ the GUI version although I was never able to pin it to any particular reason, thanks for that info, will help to track it down!
Makes sense that it is w/ the second game since I never see it with the console version because you have to restart the program after every game. My guess is something is not getting cleared between games.

And yep, I don't like workarounds unless they are *absolutely necessary*. The only workaround I can think of that fits that category is the Bodyguard/Trample assign-ee logic. Someday, if people are interested I can post why it is the way it is (long story short it has to do with damage being applied as one operation, combined with other stuff like damage modifiers, i.e. Twin-Skull Archway). I spent many, *many* hours trying to avoid that workaround.

~telengard

[Incantus]

Someday, if people are interested I can post why it is the way it is (long story short it has to do with damage being applied as one operation, combined with other stuff like damage modifiers, i.e. Twin-Skull Archway). I spent many, *many* hours trying to avoid that workaround.

+1
You know I'm always interested to hear design stories.

[telengard]

Someday, if people are interested I can post why it is the way it is (long story short it has to do with damage being applied as one operation, combined with other stuff like damage modifiers, i.e. Twin-Skull Archway). I spent many, *many* hours trying to avoid that workaround.

+1
You know I'm always interested to hear design stories.

Hehe, you, me, and MageKing chatted a LOT about this one in the IRC channel.

I'll make a post in the Magic Engine programming forum, maybe someone will have some fresh ideas.

~telengard