feature requests

[Tibarius]

I would like to request for the next version the following features:

(A) town level generation:
+ an option available in dungeon_profile.txt to have the town generated by the rules used in version 3.5.1 (rectangle with 4 shops above and below the horizontal middle line)

something like name:town_rectangle and town_lava

I realy think that lava should not be in the town terrain, furthermore i prefer the structured town. The town level itself is basically just an equipment level, since monsters give 0 xp on this level ... no need to randomize it.

(B) labyrinth level:
+ If the labyrinth level in dungeon_profile.txt have a cutoff of -1 they should please not be generated at all.

(C) monster knowledge:
The groups should correspond to the templates defined in monster_base.txt

Even tho i expect my requests to not be backed up by too many people, i allow to point out that the changes required for A+B should be minimal. There must already be a town generation routine available in 3.5.1 and earlier versions which just needs to be included into the actual version.

And the labyrinth levels must basically be a number of checks (if or case statements) which just need to be commented out or modified in a way that the function is only called if defined in dungeon_profile.txt.

Hard to judge why people came upon the idea to NOT use the groups from monster_base.txt at all? Well, basically all what is required should be, that
the hardcoded table of groups is replaced with the already defined groups from monster_base.txt plus making sure that the code for identifing monsters plain stupid follows the structure from monster_base.txt instead of making any assumptions about how groups should be merged or not (for example dragons and ancient dragons).

Hope the devteam takes a look, thanks!

[wobbly]

I agree that labyrinth & moria levels should be able to be switched off in dungeon profiles.

Surely its just changing:

if (labyrinth_check) to if (labyrinth_check) && (profile > blah) or something similar.

[Nick]

In reverse order:

• C is probably sensible, but a bit of work; there are other bits of those menus which are a bit sub-optimal too and could use an overhaul. So low priority, but may happen.
• B is easy to do, and sensible, and already done in development. The way it works is -1 as cutoff still acts as is in dungeon_profile.txt, but you can turn off labyrinths and/or moria levels by setting the cutoff to -2 (or -42 or whatever)
• A is actually quite a lot of work; I'm also reluctant to start with the "bring back this feature" business. That said, I have been thinking for other reasons about rewriting the code for town generation, so you never know.

[tangar]

Originally Posted by Tibarius

I realy think that lava should not be in the town terrain, furthermore i prefer the structured town. The town level itself is basically just an equipment level, since monsters give 0 xp on this level ... no need to randomize it.

I like lava in town. It gives some special atmosphere..

[Tibarius]

Originally Posted by Nick

In reverse order:

• C is probably sensible, but a bit of work; there are other bits of those menus which are a bit sub-optimal too and could use an overhaul. So low priority, but may happen.

Thanks for your reply Nick.

=> (C) Can changing the monster_base.txt file lead to data corruption, which causes the program to stop working properly?

If i want to modify the monster_base i could leave all current types / templates in the file and just not use them in monster.txt.
But what if i add new templates? Is there a check of some kind that ensures that all templates used show up in the monster knowledge somehow?
Edit: Wobbly's post concerning monster knowledge answered that already, thanks!

=> (B) cool, would be nice to include it into the next version, or can that be done in 4.2.0 already?

=> (A) i agree that bringing the town back in 'old' style is low priority

Can't realy understand why you consider it quite a bit of work, even tho i guess you know what you are talking about (at least i hope so, since you are the vanilla maintainer currently).
Isn't there basically an include file named dun-list.h (or similar) which contains the different level generation functions called based upon the name found in dungeon_profile.txt ?
If 'name:town' is found in dungeon_profile.txt i thought that is either passed through as parameter to a generic level generation function or it is used as index / pointer to call a specific code block inside dun-list.h
That's all just guessing tho ... didn't pull the code to my local PC. But that's why i expected it to not be major wizard stuff