Build 13 bugs

Jason · Nov 20, 2006

The Beach at Cayman Kai is locked. You can sail to it or walk to it. You cannot walk off, but you can sail off.

ged · Nov 20, 2006

are you starting on cayman? and playing the tut there?
prolly a mighty stupid question, that.
but still. if you start there, and follow malcolm, the exit will be locked, until he walks out.

if you cant start there, and im being just major annoying here, sorry to have wasted your time.

IncredibleHat · Nov 20, 2006

Think of it as "The trees just fell behind you and you cannot get out! OH NO!!!".

*cough*

hehehe. Add the issue to the BT.

Jason · Nov 20, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>are you starting on cayman? and playing the tut there?</div>

I am playing stormy start on Cayman.

Dammn Trees.

Thanks Hat

Black Bart · Nov 20, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Gedscho @ Nov 20 2006, 04:20 PM) [snapback]172704[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
are you starting on cayman? and playing the tut there?
prolly a mighty stupid question, that.
but still. if you start there, and follow malcolm, the exit will be locked, until he walks out.

if you cant start there, and im being just major annoying here, sorry to have wasted your time.
</div>

this could be the cause? - i had written it up as a bug but for the start in Oxbay. Basicaly if you go into the malcolm tutorial at all, when you exit the ship and say to malcolm "Its ok you can leave now" and he says he will be in the tavern if you need him, two things happen:

1. you cant save(the save button is greyed out)
2. you cant enter Oxbay(it shows a 'locked' sign and gives the "knock knock" sound effect).

UNTILL malcolm enters Oxbay town himself. He is walking when he leaves you - so if you rush off you can notice this oddity.

Suggest: make malcolm run to enter Oxbay?

If you skip the tutorial: "its okay i remember everything" - then these things dont happen.

IncredibleHat · Nov 20, 2006

Cayman is different. It skips tutorial altogether when you do a stormy start. It has to do with a locator being locked somewhere when it shouldn't. CCC or PirateKK know how to tackle those really quickly.

Black Bart · Nov 20, 2006

<b> Possible bugs/issues list:</b> - will get updated as i find more things, then if confirmed/agreed upon will get moved to the bug-tracker.

<b>Build details:</b>

1.PotC
2.Build13(full) - ran runme.bat at end

<b>Bugs/issues/suggestions:</b>

<b>1. Non-Issue:</b>
ref: getting attacked by guards after killing bandits.Happens if you attack bandits without starting dialogue.

<b>2.Bug/Balance?/Blades(Resolved):</b>

Its broken. Have the settings to how often your likely to find one of the exclusive blades been re-adjusted from what had been used in beat6(i think?) onwards?

Anyway at Level4 i currently have: 1xBosuns choice, 1xSoligen Rapier, 1xwindmill slayer, 1xvagrant, 1xbrezo de colon.

<b>FIXED</b> - check hats fixes on bug tracker and link below, post #23

<b>3. bug/tutorial(minor):</b>
Basicaly if you go into the malcolm tutorial at all, when you exit the ship and say to malcolm "Its ok you can leave now" and he says he will be in the tavern if you need him, two things happen:

1. you cant save(the save button is greyed out)
2. you cant enter Oxbay(it shows a 'locked' sign and gives the "knock knock" sound effect).

UNTILL malcolm enters Oxbay town himself. He is walking when he leaves you - so if you rush off you can notice this oddity.

<i>Suggest:</i> make malcolm run to enter Oxbay?

<b>4. Bug/Sounds(minor):</b>

From old versions. After a storm screen event - the storm sounds still plays in the navigation map sailingmode.

<b>5. Bug/Gamestate(medium):</b>

From old versions. On the transition for the Captains Cabin/Deck/Crew Quarters back to 3D sailing mode. This always triggers a weather change, which nearly always sets the weather to 7 knots and flat sea+blue sky(even if its night time!). Can seem weird if you had a rageing storm before or been sailing at night.

<b>6. Documentation:</b>

The "About 13.0.0.2" section of the game menu - i thought all this info was going to include all the Beta-tester/modder update info? As we have in the build13 info doc? Plus there are a few typos in this in-game document(spelling/grammer). So what file holds all this info - i'm happy to update it for inclusion in 13.1 etc

<b>7. Bug/Quest/Interface(major):</b>

During the quest to help the english spy in Oxbay, when you aid the french captian+ship to escape. If you have more than 9 Officers in the passanger list - the 10th one gets overwritten by either the french captain or the english spy when they join your passanger list.(i had reported this in an earlier build)

Even stranger was this series of events involving this bug:

I had 9 Officers during this quest - went to pub and while waiting for the wind to pick up speed(by watching the grass) before leaving on the french ship, i decided to run in and out the tavern in Oxbay to recruit some officers(so i could take their skins for my main char).

So i recruited one 'tough' - took his Korsar1 skin as my own and gave him a spare skin from my collection. He became Officer number 10.

Then i recruited a second Officer(for the same reasons) took his skin then fired him straight away.

During the flight from Oxbay to redmond(on the french ship) i noticed that the french captain had sat in my 'no:10' passanger slot - my recently recruited 'tough' was gone!

On arrival at redmond - and completion of the mission. I checked my passanger list again and i did have 10 oficers again - trouble was this was the officer i had fired in Oxbay!(he was a first mate - so i know i didnt keep him, and his stats were naff).

So my 'tough' had become the 'first mate' i had fired. And worse i couldn't get rid of the firstmate by the normal method. When i talked to him - i got the 'fired but still friendly with you' dialogue - not the 'about you mate' dialogue of your officers.

The only way i could get rid of him(and i wanted to - he cost twice in wages what my other officers did! and he was rubbish!) was to knock him out(using my fist) then stab him to death on the floor while he was unconcious!

thats about it - and something we probaly need to look at if we want to enable more officers in the later build13 updates etc?

<b>8. Bug/Gamplay/Perk(major):</b> - i seem to be immortal know,and i think the 'Tuffness' perk is the culprit. An example: That part of the 'deliver a locked box to redmond' quest, where those two un-dead pirates attack you outside the inn; well today i could just stand there, not defending(sword sheathed) and they couldn't do enough consistant damage to kill me - the 'perk' made me immortal.

Suggest: look again at how it calculates its effects, check they are not wrong - and if its working as it should we need to reduce its effectiveness. If i want to cheat - i'll put the cheatmode on.

<b>9. Bug/Quest Text(lots of bits):</b> (All this stuff has been reported on before) - still seeing '\n' in the conversations. So what are the rules for not having this appear in game? I can see looking through the dialogues its needed, but without knowing the rules on how its used(like amount of spaces before or after the text it should be etc) i'm not comfortable fumbling around. Any pointers? And then i'll clear all these up, as i'm loggind where they happen.

Evaristo Filho still has no dialogue, and various other minor npcs could do with better/clearer dialogues, some words are joined together(typos etc).
I'll put a full list of these things on the bugtracker once i'm done with the mainquest. Still what dialogue files should i look for, as i know they are sometimes in a few different places? I can start changing things in my game to fit better, then can post the 'fixed' files for Pieter and others to give approval of.

IncredibleHat · Nov 21, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Black Bart @ Nov 20 2006, 04:18 PM) [snapback]172781[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
<b>1. Bug/gamestate(minor):</b>
I still find that sometimes after a combat the combat music doesnt dis-engage, and the icons still flash. Its a rare thing but when it does happen it can cause problems. e.g one time it happend not far from the gates of Oxbay(4 bandits were killed) and when i got close to the english soldiers they attacked my group, even though i'm certain only bandits had been engaged?
</div>

Nothing is wrong with the gamestate because there are 'hostiles' in the area (the english soldiers). Why they got hostile with you? Well, here is a little story: I was playing stock game for a bit, and was in the jungle trying to kill a lot of bandits to raise my rep (which apparently did squat, as my rep kept slowly decreasing in the game no matter what I did, stupid bugs). Anyhow, at one time I was killing bandits outside of the oxbay town gates. When I walked up to the gates to go into town (to get to my ship and leave this stupid island), I was attacked by the english gaurds.

You see... this 'bug' has existed since the stock game. For some reason, the english gaurds just want to get angry with you when you kill bandits in the area. Not sure why, or how, but it happens on occassion. Maybe it can be fixed, maybe not?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Black Bart @ Nov 20 2006, 04:18 PM) [snapback]172781[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
<b>2. Balance?/Blades:</b>
Have the settings to how often your likely to find one of the exclusive blades been re-adjusted from what had been used in beat6(i think?) onwards?

Anyway at Level4 i currently have: 1xBosuns choice, 1xSoligen Rapier, 1xwindmill slayer, 1xvagrant, 1xbrezo de colon.

All but two of those were found in random pickups as 'broken' quality - so i dont know if that might be why i've found so many this time?

In previous betas(after mentioning this to Pieter) they had been tweaked to be found much less often. Infact in the last few betas at around level 4/5 i would normaly only have 1 or 2 of these super-blades.

So what settings should i change to make them rarer in my game? As it is i dont have a lot to look forward to on the blade front already <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />
</div>

Adjust RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE in internalsettings to a lower number. Also, if you happen to be playing with the Weaponsmod off (thats the one that generates 5 degrees for every weapon) then higher blades will be found as the scale of 'minlevel' on them isnt as high.

Heed the warning on that setting in the settings file.

Petros · Nov 21, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IncredibleHat @ Nov 20 2006, 08:36 PM) [snapback]172803[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
...Nothing is wrong with the gamestate because there are 'hostiles' in the area (the english soldiers). Why they got hostile with you? Well, here is a little story: I was playing stock game for a bit, and was in the jungle trying to kill a lot of bandits to raise my rep (which apparently did squat, as my rep kept slowly decreasing in the game no matter what I did, stupid bugs). Anyhow, at one time I was killing bandits outside of the oxbay town gates. When I walked up to the gates to go into town (to get to my ship and leave this stupid island), I was attacked by the english gaurds.

You see... this 'bug' has existed since the stock game. For some reason, the english gaurds just want to get angry with you when you kill bandits in the area. Not sure why, or how, but it happens on occassion. Maybe it can be fixed, maybe not?
...</div>

I have seen that in stock and all of the builds I've played.
It would only happen however if I pre-empted the bandits by attacking them first.
That is before they initiate dialogue.

The work around is to let the bandits speak before killing them.
The guards then never attacked me, and sometimes, depending on my luck/reputation/whatever, actually come to my aid.

Black Bart · Nov 21, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IncredibleHat @ Nov 21 2006, 02:36 AM) [snapback]172803[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>

Nothing is wrong with the gamestate because there are 'hostiles' in the area (the english soldiers).....
You see... this 'bug' has existed since the stock game......</div>

Ok your comments and Petros's make sense and it reminded me that i also saw this in the xbox version. It is to do with not talking to them first - i usualy get into pistol range then fire at one to avoid the dialogue - now i know the game sees this as an 'evil' act(doesnt change rep though?) and the soldiers get p*ssed.

I'll yake it of the bug/issue report <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Incredible Hat @ Nov 20 2006, 04:18 PM) [snapback]172781[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>

Adjust RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE in internalsettings to a lower number. Also, if you happen to be playing with the Weaponsmod off (thats the one that generates 5 degrees for every weapon) then higher blades will be found as the scale of 'minlevel' on them isnt as high.

Heed the warning on that setting in the settings file.
</div>

I play with Weaponsmod on. And thanks for the pointer - i had looked but wasn't sure exactly what did what in relation to this - cheers!

CouchcaptainCharles · Nov 21, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jason @ Nov 20 2006, 03:48 PM) [snapback]172698[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
The Beach at Cayman Kai is locked. You can sail to it or walk to it. You cannot walk off, but you can sail off.
</div>
Do you get the "locked padlock" icon when you are at the usual exit?

And the things you posted elsewhere, are they still an issue?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CouchcaptainCharles @ Nov 20 2006, 01:48 PM) [snapback]172685[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jason @ Nov 19 2006, 08:18 PM) [snapback]172571[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
. 1. Went to the map at St martins and wound up immediately off the coast of Hipanola!

2. When going to the map after capturing three and sinking one.. CTD
....
</div>
1. How did you get to St. Martin before that, by Stormy Start or by regular sailing?
....
Any error or compile log entries?
</div>
With the necessary details I can tackle all that tonight <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Black Bart · Nov 21, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Incredible Hat @ Nov 20 2006, 04:18 PM) [snapback]172781[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>

Adjust RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE in internalsettings to a lower number. Also, if you happen to be playing with the Weaponsmod off (thats the one that generates 5 degrees for every weapon) then higher blades will be found as the scale of 'minlevel' on them isnt as high.

Heed the warning on that setting in the settings file.
</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Black Bart @ Nov 20 2006, 04:18 PM) [snapback]172781[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
I play with Weaponsmod on. And thanks for the pointer - i had looked but wasn't sure exactly what did what in relation to this - cheers!
</div>

Ummm no this didnt have much effect oldly enough. My chars Luck level = 2(i dont ever go over this due to the imbalance luck has on the game).

Changed RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE 10(default) to 5.

Then in redmond while looking in the random loot items places(one in the 'barn' near the exit from the blacksmith shop, and one at the other endof that section - up the steps at the base of the tree in the corner), found a 'good' Solingen Rapier!! + an 'average' Conquisterdor!! way way too easy imho <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />

So then i went back into Internalsettings.h, changed RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE 5 to a 1(just to see) - reloaded to my entry to redmond, went looking in those places again and this time my first random loot find was a 'Master Spyworks' spyglass. This sucks <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" :yes

" border="0" alt="yes.gif" />

So any other suggestions as to what could be changed to avoid finding all the best items near game start?

I guess it could be a good thing if you only play in patches(to test stuff out) and dont plan on playing the entire story line. but otherwise its giving the player too much good stuff too soon - so they lose the sense of worth of these items and over the span of the game very quickly run out of items to look forward to finding/buying.

The more i see this kind of thing the more i feel these blades+excelent quality items should be exclusively only available from merchants, after all who in their right mind would loose/drop such good items on such a regular basis?!

<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> level 4 and i have 3 of the best weapons + the best spyglass! HELP!!! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

Jason · Nov 21, 2006

<b>Do you get the "locked padlock" icon when you are at the usual exit?</b>

Yes

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>And the things you posted elsewhere, are they still an issue?</div>

I just started playing the build so I don't know.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>How did you get to St. Martin before that, by Stormy Start or by regular sailing?</div>

Stormy start.

IncredibleHat · Nov 21, 2006

Bart: did you by chance turn OFF "IT_RPG_STYLE" ? That has a big affect on all item generation and sales. I highly doubt you turned it off, but I have to ask as a precautionary.

Because the code is extremely simple with this process.

For "RARE_RAND_RETRIES" (default of 2 times), it randomly grabs any item in the game, then asks:

if ( RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE > 0 && sti(randItem.minlevel) > levelCut ) -> do not use

"levelCut" is the sum of RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE + Your Level + Half your Luck. So, if you set that to "5" and you were a level "5" character with "2" luck, it would be no items higher than 11. And the Soligen is 23 at "average". Conquistador is 20.

There is no 'beta patch' I can make up for this, as there simply is nothing to try for how basically simple the whole process is.

Now, you have to realize, if an item was MANUALLY placed anywhere, then ALL of this does not apply. Manually placed swords are all over the game, even from stock. Those had been left mostly alone by modders.

Black Bart · Nov 21, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>
Bart: did you by chance turn OFF "IT_RPG_STYLE" ? That has a big affect on all item generation and sales. I highly doubt you turned it off, but I have to ask as a precautionary.</div>

No - i dont turn anything of actualy, i'm more than pleased with all the mods the build has introduced and have been so from the start of testing it. [just saw your post Hat]

And no these are all 'random finds'(in barrels, behind trees, in long grass, in roof thatch etc).

From you description of the process there should be no way i should be finding these things? very weird!!

check my comments about needing to start a nw game maybe? But then even on the default numbers with my level 4 char with 2 luck - i should not have found those 'soligen rapiers'?

[I'd already posted the stuff below - you must have been posting as i was just about to].

Ok well i'm going to restart, as this is definately not playing as it should - even with my attempts at slaying the numbers <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

<b>The quest for rand-items balance(cont):</b>

Ok this is horrible - so i've done the following:

Most are in internalsettings.h:

#define IT_QUAL_ABOVESCL 2.5(was 1.0) - 2.5 was the old setting(so i'm hoping better?). Although is this just relating to the shops stores?

#define IT_OVER_RANDSPREAD 8(was 4) so its more 'curved'(what does it mean compared to 'flat'?) should i make this less to decrease the better rare goods rand item finds?

#define LUCK_RARE_MAX 1.0(was 1.5)

#define RARE_RAND_RETRIES 1(was 2)

#define RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE 1(was 10) - (still found a master spyworks spyglass on this setting just by itself, so before i changed all the others here.)

#define RAND_ITEM_NOSKIP 0.3(?) - not sure so i left this as is.

#define OBJECTS_IN_BOX 2(was 3)

After i ran F11(the new better place for 'Initialise' <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> ) - not sure if i need to and after my few hours playing today i'm begining to wonder if i actualy need to start a complete new game for these settings to work?

So with my new 'extreme' version on the rand-items numbers i think things improved. Instead of finding the best weapons/items falling out my ass in 30mins of playing - it became i little more drawn out, it took about 2 hours untill i had found a similar selection of awesome items like those listed in my first post on this issue. Thats with those new settings. So in that 2hours i found these items in rand pickups:

1x 'broken' nicholas sharps sword(cool - it is broken)
1x 'worn' needle (looking much better at this point - around 1hr 40mins)
1x 'worn' Atwood F100(oh oh! here we go!)
2x 'average' silver leaf(darn! what the ....!?)

So i can see some improvement, i was finding lots more normal stuff(potions/normal blades etc), compared to the build13's default - but its still way of for a game that potentialy the player can sink a few months into.

So maybe there are some lists that define all these items rareity? If so can someone point me in their direction please?

hmm maybe it might be easier to just copy/paste the numbers over from beta8/9 - i know the format for buildsettings+internalsettings.h has changed, but if i just move the old numbers across will it be ok?

Anyone else noticing this kind of thing? (you'll probably all keep quiet about it "shhh dont say anything - i want all my officers to have the best weapons at level 3" <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> ) <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" :cheeky

" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />

ledhed · Nov 21, 2006

What if you dont actually mind finding badly worn rare Items and saving your money to take them to a smith ?

Since I have never played the stock game ...nor do I desire to...My having found A Bosuns something or other that cost a small fortune to repair was no big deal it sits in my inventory.
I am using a perfect Needle...and a brace of large pistols I got from a ship locker along with some decent armor .

Is there a smith that fixes armor in the game ?

IncredibleHat · Nov 21, 2006

Excuse me while I shoot this to pieces.

The "IT_..." settings have not changed in a long while (they are for Item Traders). Beta 8 9 whatever, those numbers wern't changed. In the comments of those settings where it may say "was blahnblah"... thats nathan kell's comments, from eons ago from when he had tweaked them prolly 2 years ago.

The new RPG settings all have "(RPG_STYLE only)" in the comments. Those are new settings, and pretty much the only settings that affect what you may find in relation to your LEVEL.

IT_QUAL_ABOVESCL only affects the ability to find broken or badly worn stuff for sale. It is not a setting that has changed for over a year. NOT related to random items you find on the ground. All the "IT_QUAL..." settings are for figuring out the quality of items a trader may have.

IT_OVER_RANDSPREAD is basically a joke in comments (like most of NK's useless comments are). It just means how many of an single item a trader has for sale. But this is affected by so many other things, setting this doesnt appear to do much of a big difference. NOT related to random items you find on the ground.

RAND_ITEM_NOSKIP this is only for filling a box of items. How often it tries to fill a slot when one item is tossed due to many checks. Its a factoral, 30% chance to find a new item... if that new item fails, then another 30% chance to find another item... if that fails, so on and so forth. ALL items it looks for all follow the same checks. NOT related to random items you find on the ground.

LUCK_RARE_MAX is another one of those impossible to decipher NK math modifiers. It is hypothesized that your luck affects the 'rare' attribute of items for sale by a trader. Which has nothing to do with minlevel or level of your player... nor finding things on the ground.

RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE 1 is still going to let you find a masterwork spyglass, as the minlevel for that is 7. Level 5 char, +1, +1 is 7... 7 is not greater than 7, so thus you can find it.

Finding good stuff within your characters level zone is purely based off chance. One time you may find something good, another something bad. The rare attribute also has an affect, the more rare, the more it will be skipped. Thats why the RARE_RAND_RETRIES exists, so that possibly something is put into the item spot on the ground.

The only thing that affects the stuff you find on the ground in relation to your character level, is RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE.

Black Bart · Nov 21, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ledhed @ Nov 21 2006, 03:36 PM) [snapback]172879[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
What if you dont actually mind finding badly worn rare Items and saving your money to take them to a smith ?

Since I have never played the stock game ...nor do I desire to...My having found A Bosuns something or other that cost a small fortune to repair was no big deal it sits in my inventory.
.......
</div>

What level are you/were you when you found that 'Bosuns choice' blade?

This was something i was meant to talk about - so thanks for reminding me. And no i have no problem whatsoever with finding 'broken' rare items(i'll draw the line at broken for now as you'll see why).

I also had a broken 'Bosuns choice' - cost me 29600(something like that) to fix in the smith, which didnt leave enough money left to also fix my collection(!) of 'soligen rapiers'.

So in fact finding 'broken' quality should be the only state you would find these great weapons in - in the role play sense it goes back to my question, "who in their right mind would leave these kinds of things laying around?" - certainly if someone had been killed maybe? but then the killer is bound to take the item(40,000 for a new soligen rapier - it wouldn't get left, no way). But what about a bust one - its a lot of money to repair - most bandits/regular guys dont have access to that kind of money, so maybe it would get left behind.

Out of role play reasoning and into gameplay reasoning: only finding broken weapons(of the excellent stat type) helps keep the players money usefull. we can get alot of money in this game as a ships captain/trader/pirate, so we need to come up with things for the player to spend that money on. If not then money loses its importance, when we should be trying to make the various aspects of the game have importance.

Bottom line: these weapons/best items(masterworks spyglass etc) are far too good to be common finds at any stage of the game, especialy near game start because you want the player to have things to look forward to as they progress through the game. You will run out at some point, but atleast the player has in the meantime had a number of "wow! that's a great sword/item - i'm really lucky!" moments, all spread out over the gaming timespan.

So i was hoping my tweaks would move me towards finding the rare items on occasion, but always at a poor quality - i'm not sure if i achieved that with those 'tweaks' - it did seem better for a while, but still i shouldn't have been finding these things at all(according to what Hat has said)? weird.

But i'm going to de a re-install and start again to see if its the same situ or maybe just pure total fluke/luck?

Black Bart · Nov 21, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IncredibleHat @ Nov 21 2006, 03:59 PM) [snapback]172883[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
Excuse me while I shoot this to pieces.</div>

Please do! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" :cheeky

" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" /> - i was stabbing wildly in the dark(as a non coder) in my desperation to try to get all this BACK to how it had been playing prior to build13(full) - evey single game i played since around beta6(Pieter will know exaclty when...and hopefuly what was changed after my first complaints over this kind of thing in earlier versions) , which is about 30 give or take; did not have the rand items issue i've been finding in build13(full).

It could be chance - so i'm doing a complete reinstall and starting again to see if i see the same things.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IncredibleHat @ Nov 21 2006, 03:59 PM) [snapback]172883[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
The only thing that affects the stuff you find on the ground in relation to your character level, is RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE.
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ok how come i've found an (worn)Atwood F100+2x(average)Silver leafs since i switched RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE to 1? whats the math for that? I'm level 6 at this stage -still 2 luck(although my party officer 'first mate' has a '3' in luck?).

IncredibleHat · Nov 21, 2006

Silver Leaf minlevels: 17 - 22
Atwood minlevels: 22 - 27

For items on ground this must be true:

Item.minlevel <= Your Level + rounddown(Luck / 2) + RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE

ex:
17 <= 5 + (3 / 2) + 5
17 <= 5 + 1 + 5
false

For items in boxes this must be true:

Item.minlevel <= Your Level + roundup(Luck/2)

ex:
17 <= 5 + (3 / 2)
17 <= 5 + 2
false

The reason boxes chance and ground chances are different, is it is not as often you find something on the ground. Because items on ground have to have a model (so they show up visually), and it has to pass the random chance, the rare chance, and the minlevels chances. usually you find potions, gold, and antidotes, as those are the 'last ditch effort' item grabbed to fill the spot.

Also, you should not have to start a new game for that RARE_MAXLEVEL_ABOVE setting. Its a 'active' setting, meaning that only when you enter a new location and it spawns items on ground, does it use the setting.

However if you walked into the same location as you just saved, you have to leave the location for some unknown amount of time so that items are respawned.

And another... make sure you have "RANDOM_DUNGEON_BLADES" set to 0. Setting that to 1 does somethign weird.

Build 13 bugs

Buccaneer

Landlubber

Landlubber

Buccaneer

Corsair

Landlubber

Corsair

Landlubber

Captain of "La Nao"

Corsair

COO (Chief Oddity Officer)

Corsair

Buccaneer

Landlubber

Corsair

Freebooter

Landlubber

Corsair

Corsair

Landlubber