FAangband 1.2

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Whelk

I just had several crashes while opening the savefile of a recently-deceased character. It would reliably crash every time I tried to open the savefile.

OK, looks like this is because of faulty UTF8 handling on OS X. My plan is to wait until V3.4 is finished, then steal the front end. I think this is fair because I have contributed to the V OS X ports; on the other hand, I did mostly contribute bits that didn't work properly...

[Whelk]

Sounds good. Thanks for looking into it, Nick.

[Nick]

Well, that was a long week.

FAangband 1.2.11 is now available for windows, OSX or as source from the download page.

The help crash bug, standard roller bug and lack of shapechange key are fixed; there are also some UI updates.

My current plan is:

1. Fix all gameplay bugs
2. Get the UI in order (proper Shockbolt tile support, good default layout on Windows, Cocoa port properly operational, etc.)
3. Call the resulting thing 1.3

I hope this release substantially achieves step 1, but I believe there are still some sporadic bugs around that are unfixed - in particular, I have not been able to reproduce the weird gold-in-the-inventory bug, so I'd appreciate a savefile if anyone comes across that. In fact, any gameplay bugs are ardently sought.

Thank you all for your attention.

[LostTemplar]

Fix all gameplay bugs

Good plan.

[guanlongwucaii]

Thanks for the update! It is working very well on OSX, no more crashing unlike the previous versions. However, after fiddling around a bit on wizard mode, I realised that the 'ultimate' spellbooks for the mage classes (e.g. Necronomicon, Book of Runes, Powers of Aman) are unusable. I get the message "You cannot browse that" even at CL 50.

Wilderness is harsh; I haven't gotten very far out of wizard mode (though it can also be attributed to my lack of skill). Spellcasters are nastier in the open. The lack of rings is odd, but the system is an interesting one. The new artifacts (e.g. Dramborleg) are cool too.

Lastly, some general comments. Why are the Nazgul still in-game? They didn't arise until the SA, although I suppose that they're there more for gameplay purposes than for flavour; there aren't any 'groups' of powerful evil characters that are like the Nazgul, so they are really hard to replace. I'd also like to see more unique Balrogs!

Anyway, thanks again for the great variant, and I hope I didn't just repeat stuff that you already knew.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by guanlongwucaii

However, after fiddling around a bit on wizard mode, I realised that the 'ultimate' spellbooks for the mage classes (e.g. Necronomicon, Book of Runes, Powers of Aman) are unusable. I get the message "You cannot browse that" even at CL 50.

Confirmed - that's a bug.

Wilderness is harsh; I haven't gotten very far out of wizard mode (though it can also be attributed to my lack of skill). Spellcasters are nastier in the open.

Yes it is - if it's any comfort, it used to be worse Advanced races (especially High-Elf, Adan, Druadan and Grey-Elf) are hard to start, but strong later.

Lastly, some general comments. Why are the Nazgul still in-game? They didn't arise until the SA, although I suppose that they're there more for gameplay purposes than for flavour; there aren't any 'groups' of powerful evil characters that are like the Nazgul, so they are really hard to replace. I'd also like to see more unique Balrogs!

You'll notice that there are seven unique wraiths, but they are not formally identified as Nazgul - the two that Tolkien named as Nazgul (the Witch-King and Khamul) have been removed. I really should rework them to make it clearer. As for Balrogs, Gothmog is really the only one named, but it might be nice to identify a couple of others (particularly the one that fought Glorfindel).

Anyway, thanks again for the great variant, and I hope I didn't just repeat stuff that you already knew.

Thanks for your feedback - very helpful.