oboe/Win32/todo.txt

ToDo :

Game : 

- Jobs page ? 
- Check Spell on space Node ? <= mostly done only a check when casting needs to be programmed (see check_spell_on_space() function )
- Implement new trims method (align code with Celtic Minstrel's).

/* => should be done
- Changing Terrain with different light radius will have no effect. The town will remember the value of the original terrain, and display the light radius for that terrain, regardless of what it mutates into. I have been told this effect may work on MACs, I can say for certain it will NOT work on PCs. 
- Make the variables for day, level, etc unsigned so that a roll-over does not leave you in the negative ?
Note: Anywhere an unsigned char variable is used to store a terrain type or a monster type it must be changed to unsigned short! Otherwise we won't be able to extend the limit on the numbers of monsters and terrains. Local variables in particular should be looked out for.
- When an item is placed and the Amount/Charges field is filled in with a number other than -1, it has no effect (unless the item is food or gold).
- Outdoor terrain changes are forgotten after loading saved games. If you call a special to change a piece of outdoor terrain, that change will be forgotten if the player loads a saved game. This can be a VERY problematic node — the only way around is to surround the terrain with special nodes that call if upon a certain SDF. Problem is, Outdoor sections have very limited special nodes, limiting the ability to do this in relatively open areas. It is the same with Towns.
- Merging items wipes special classes if some of the merged items do not have a special class. For example, if you have arrows in your scenario that you give a special class, and the party brings in arrows from another scenario, and merges the two, NONE of the arrows will contain the new special class. For any combinable items that have a special class, make sure to give them a unique type class, so items from other scenarios won’t wipe them clean. You’ll still be vulnerable to the party taking items from your scenario, leaving the scenario, and then coming back in, but unfortunately there’s no way around this. 
/*- Empties! Occasionally, for no known reason, the BOE editor will stick in little “EMPTY” monsters, who appear with the Dwarf with the two-handed axe graphic, are hostile type “A”, and have no stats whatsoever. No one has quite yet figured out why this happens, but the effect has surfaced in several different scenarios. 
- If you put a special class item in a crate and a party moves the crate in the game and then the special node checks where is the item (If-thens, Item with special class on a space), the node reacts as if the item was on the original space of the crate. This bug is especially bad because it makes a workaround for the lack of the node checking if the crate is on the space. (Thanks to Tigrene for pointing this out.) 
/*- Changing the visibility (i.e., opaque, transparent, etc.) of terrain types often does not work. I’m not sure if it always fails, but it definitely does sometimes. Make sure, through beta-testing, that the terrain type works properly. The work-around is this: if you want an opaque custom terrain type, don’t replace a terrain that is transparent. Instead, replace one that was already opaque. I’m not sure if this bug is also present with blocked vs. passable, but once again, during beta testing check all changed terrains by looking at them, looking through them (if possible), and trying to walk into them. 
/*- 100% in Blades doesn’t equal 100%. It’s closer to 95% as near as I can figure. Places where this becomes problematic are many, the two most notable are affect Statistics nodes, and creatures dropping items when killed. NEVER make a single creature drop something that is vital to continuation of the scenario, even set at 100% it will still fail to do so fairly often.  <= this is normally fixed
- On an unrelated note... Is it possible to alter any member functions that call add_string_to_buf so that they return the string to add instead of adding it themselves? That's what I'm going to do when I get there (and already have done with the splitting functions). Since add_string_to_buffer only exists in the game (and not the editors), it's necessary in order to be able to use the exact same code for all three. (Unless we do some conditional compilation stuff, I suppose.)
- Check Trait Node ?
- Just wondering, did you implement an "enchanted" flag yet? I'll be doing it soon if I haven't already (I suspect I added the code to set it when enchanting a weapons but forgot to add the code to check it when deducting a charge from an item). 
- Add a "strong_barrier" field to match Mac behavior.

Suggestions :

- Oh! One thing that could be done with the Extra values is allowing custom messages when being pushed or prevented by a conveyor belt. Right now, when you step on a conveyor belt and it pushes you, you get a small message in the text area that says "You get pushed." and if you attempt to move in the opposite direction of the conveyor belt, it says "The moving floor prevents you." Perhaps one Extra value could correspond to a scenario message that defines the two messages, separated by a | (the same character that creates line breaks in signs).
For instance, let's say you select scenario message 10 to be the conveyor belt's messages. Message 10 says "You float down the river.|The water's too fast to move upstream!" Now, when the party moves along the "belt", it says "You float down the river." and when they try to move against the direction of the "belt", it says "The water's too fast to move upstream!" 
- Outdoor conveyor belts ?

Scenario Editor :

- Make an option to disable the editor's automatic placement of terrains. This includes the conforming of cave wall, mountains, water, hills; placing hills around mountains; placing the second half of the 2-space rubbles.
-Inverted/Skewed Values — many things in the BOE editor have the wrong value to start off with. Crystal Wand and Prismatic Wand are inverted. Many monsters are this way as well — One of the Unicorns begins the game as reptile. (Thanks to ‘A Short Term Effect’ for pointing this one out.)
If you change these values in Bladbase.exs, they will remain changed in any new scenarios you create, saving you the trouble of fixing these in every new scenario you create. => should be done.

/************************** Unchecked Facts *********************************/

First, I was reading a section under the BOE FAQ, and it mentioned something
along the lines of a lock-picking sword. Which would presumably be a weapon
with the special ability "lockpick." They mentioned the trick of changing the
item's type from Tool (the item type of the lockpicks already included in the
default items list) to something else. But I'm afraid that this is the only
way that I seem to be able to create the standard type of lockpicks as a new
item. When I click on the "reagents" button, it tells me that an item of that
type (tool) cannot be given an ability of that sort because it can be
equipped. But only equipped lockpicks are usable by the player character,
right? What I have to do is to select an item type of "non-use item" for
example, set the ability to "lockpick" and then change the item type back to
"Tool" without opening the "item special abilities" menu, since the editor
seems to automatically clear any item ability that doesn't seem to belong for
a certain item type.

3) If the kill/raise dead special is called during combat mode, and the
special brings a dead member back to life, strange things will happen.

*4) To enhance a steel wave blade with the flaming weapon ability, it will
cost 10000 gold, but with the steel halberd (Which is worth a lot more) it
only costs 1500 gold! steel halberd => flaming : 28139, +1 : 13813
					  steel great sword => flaming : 28093, +1 : 13409
					  steel great mace => flaming : 28069, +1 : 13206

12) If you have two items with the same ability equiped, it seems that it
will give your character the lower ability strength of the two.

13) When you creat a new scenario, it will ask you to name it. What ever
you type in for Scenario Name seems to not do anything.

14) If you have the special node, Call Global Special, and you have already
set which global special to call as a number over 99, and press the
Creat/Edit button, instead of taking you to the number that you typed in,
it will creat a new special.

15) Here's a strange bug that I don't quite know how to explain: Lets say
you are in town #x, and you step on a stairway special that is on the
coordinants a,b and the town that the special takes you to is less than x,
and the coordinants that it takes you to are something other than a,b and
there is a special in the new town on the coordinates a,b then the game
will call the special that is on coordinates a,b in the new town. (And no,
I did not set the advanced settings to call any special when that town is
entered) I know I worded that a little strange, if you need me explain it
better, please let me know.

16) Here's a good way to cheat, use the mage spell Simalcrum and capture a
basilisk, then you can summon it and have it kill a boss enemy. I did this
in A Small Rebelion and killed Stalker without even having to get near him.

20) On faster computers, it is hard to see the animation on animated terrains.

21) If you use a custom graphic for an item, it doesn't seem to center it
properly.

23) At high levels, casting the bless spell once will make your character
impossible to be hit by physical attacks.

24) Using the refresh jobs/shops debug option while shopping in one of the
Magic Shops will produce strange results. Also there are no jobs, so
souldn't it be called just refresh shops instead of refresh jobs/shops?
/***********************************************************************/