Creation/Dev/Releases/Client/1.3
From Graal Bible
Release date
December 1999 - September 2000 for Windows
1.32
in no-playerkilling levels you can walk through unpaused players
Alt+1 works correctly without drawing npcs from other levels onto the screenshot
removed a bug with the backtile (in the editor); when you specify a backtile and press 'New' then a level will be created which has that backtile as background
npc weapons cannot do 'hide' anymore (caused a freezing bug with the Q window)
you cannot cheat by editing bigmap.txt anymore
when you double-click on the Graal window then the game goes to fullscreen
in the options window (Graal->F1->More options) you will find the new option 'Ignore mass messages'
when reading signs you can scroll back by pressing 'up'
in the npc script window: when a command has more than one parameter and one of that parameters is wrong, then the right paramter will be highlighted
you can directly drop an npc script onto the editor: to test it make a text file with the content 'if (playerenters) setgif brother1.gif'; drop it from the windows explorer onto a level in the editor and you will see a new npc
in the offline mode there is a new start level that explains how to use the controls
the server sends a 'message of the day' when you login
the function 'strcontains' doesn't care about capitalization anymore
F6 doesn't work on the graalonline.com server anymore
when resizing the editor then npcs on the right side of the screen will be displayed
1.322
the npc command 'putnpc' doesn't crash the game anymore
npcs will only be displayed in their levels
custom letter.gifs look correctly now
sending PMs doesn't cause problems
while sending PMs the server will not diconnect you for no movement
1.323
when you unpause then the server start message window will automatically be closed
objects (extras, bombs, etc.) will only be displayed in the right level, not in the nearby levels too
1.324
added an option to handle DINPUT.DLL problems (see DINPUTDLLbug.txt for more)
reconnect works better
1.33
the player list (F7) has now 4 sections (GPs,Guild,Normal,Ignore)
there is a history button in the message window and player list popup menu; it shows the last 50 messages received from/sent to the other player; the messages will not be saved on hard disk yet
added PNG support, but only for 16 color /256 color palette images; no support for alpha channel and interlaced images
removed many memory leaks / ressource leaks
removed a bug that disconnected the client often at startup
1.331
fixed problems with the script command 'destroy'
removed the old 'seteffect' command
less memory use (png buffers are freed)
removed a memory leak caused by explosions
when message windows are minimized then new message windows will not automatically be minimized
when other players are carrying an exploding bomb then it will be displayed correctly
collision detection for flying objects (bushes etc.) uses the right y-coordinate of the object
in 2/3/4-player mode: when throwing another player into water then he doesn't disappear
npc characters can swim
1.34
the debugger (F6) works now; you can select npcs and set break points by clicking left to a command in the list; the debugger is disabled in online mode
new npc commands: showlocal, hidelocal, dontblocklocal, blockagainlocal
when saving screenshots with Alt+2 then the image format PNG is used, that means: 24bit, loss-less, better compression than GIF
in 2/3/4 player mode you can now change the focused player by clicking on the players view rectangle; if the player is focused, then you see a little 'CHAT' right to the D icon; when you type in text, then it will be displayed over the focused player.
sound effects are now limited to only one sound effect of the same type in the same frame; so when 100 bombs explode at the same moment, then you only hear 1 sound effect; max 8 sound effects are played at the same time; that mass-sfxs messed up many computers.
midis only loop when they are longer than 10 seconds; actually this should solve some problems with sound cards which doesn't play the file but producing a loop event which then freeze the game
when you hit someone who is on a horse then his horse looses 1 energy point (1 bush); when it only has 0, then the player will be pushed away from the horse; so you need to eat more bushes to keep your horse fast and healthy
when you ignore players in the player list then the account name will be saved into ignoredaccounts.txt; when you restart Graal then the other player is still ignored
when someone ignores your messages then his name turns red in the player list
you can push/pull npcs which use the showcharacter thing
you can only pull npcs which did the canbepulled command (instead of canbepushed)
there is a new script flag 'isweapon' which is true when the npc is an npc weapon
in offline mode there can ride two players on the same horse; the horse must have 5 bushes to be able to carry two players; I plan to enable that feature in the online mode if you like it
removed a big bug that had to do with loading images from the server
1.35
removed the screenshot-bug (Alt+2)
you can drag text files onto the editor again (to place npcs); it crashed Graal in v1.34
you can have two characters with the same head image in headsconfig.txt
the server startup message is only displayed once; it's saved to servermessage.rtf
you can see toalls when in pause mode
PMs are now displayed with HTML; links are automatically added when you write 'www...'; if you have problems with this new feature, then you can turn HTML off in the options window (Graal->F1->More Options)
the default joystick selection for player 2/3/4 is '(none)'
1.341
the player list works similar to v1.33 again; there is now a special 'buddy' part in the player list; to move players to that section right-click on a name and click on 'buddy'; the account names of the buddies are saved in the file buddyaccounts.txt in the Graal folder
when you are hit by a healing sword or similar 'hurting' device then your horse doesn't loose power (bushes)
you can use message codes when doing setplayerprop #Cx and setcharprop #Cx
when sending player positions the x/y positions will be rounded instead of truncated; this solves some problems in sparring fights where players coming from down/right cannot hurt other players easier anymore
super bombs will be displayed correctly when carried
in the editor you can press 'M' to make a map of the current bigmap levels
if you carry a player in the two-player mode then he doesn't disappear when an npc does 'hideplayer' on you
removed a little memory leak that has to do with npc scripts (else statement)
modal message windows (e.g. error windows) doesn't disappear behind the main Graal window when you switch between tasks
when pressing D when riding on horse then the script event 'firedonhorse' is fired
1.36
the server can now hold up to 28000 players instead of 220
you can limit the lenght of nicknames in the option window (Graal->F1->More options)
fixed a bomb-dropping bug
there is no error message anymore when there is no sound card
the TWebBrowser class (for HTML PMs) is loaded dynamically, so people who don't have Internet Explorer can PM again
when you select a player in the player list then you see his nickname displayed on the M map
in the editor you cannot select fields which are outside the level anymore
when you press F4 while the debugger frame is open then the game doesn't crash when you press F6 again
showtimer works for 'showcharacter' npcs too; the amount of money is shown over the npc's head when it got some
there are a lot of new variables and script functions that let you access objects in the current level; the variables can only be read, not changed; if you think changing the variables would be good for some effects then let me know which variables you want to access (bomber@graalonline.com); here a short list of the new stuff (for more read npcprogramming.doc): bombs[index].x/y/power/time arrows[index].x/y/dir/dx/dy/type/from items[index].x/y/type/time explos[index].x/y/power/time/dir horses[index].x/y/dir/bushes/bombs/bombpower/type removebomb index; removearrow index; removeitem index; removeexplo index; removehorse index; explodebomb index; reflectarrow index; takehorse index; take2 index; lay2 itemname,x,y; takeplayerhorse; In future Graal versions there will be also ways to access the attributes of other npcs
the script editor shows an error message when a command gets too many parameters
message codes can be used with the setstring command and inside #s()/#v() codes; here a little example: i = 3; setstring testvar#v(i)yeah, 5; j = strtofloat(#s(testvar#v(i)yeah)); You get j=3. You see that you can simulate arrays of string variables by appending a number to the string variable. A second example: var3 = 7; k = strtofloat(#v(var#v(i))); You get k=7. That way you can access nomal variables like they were array variables, although it might be a lot slower than accessing normal arrays.
you can use message codes for filenames; you already could do that in previous versions, but now the editor doesn't check for the file when the filename contains a # (and doesn't show an error message when the file doesn't exist)
1.37
many small bug fixes and improvements (e.g. support for non-transparent pngs, support for 4bit-pngs with odd width, the tiles list is resized to the window size, when using the sword while riding on a horse then the horse is animated instead of looking like standing still)
no crash when editing an npc which has an 'if ()' in the script (empty boolean expression)
throwing tons of bombs doesn't crash the game anymore (it crashed when two of your bombs were flying at the same time)
the sound effects system has been changed: the sound effects are played with different volumes depending on the distance to the player
the script command 'showimg' works for normal npcs too; but only the current player can see it
new npc commands: * carryobject - carries an object, only works for 'showcharacter' npcs; see commands.rtf for a complete list of possible object names * throwcarry - throws the object * playlooped - plays a wav file looped * stopsound - stops playing a (looped) wav file
message codes can finally use ALL variables, so it's now possible to do message #v(rupees) #v(this.myvar);
when doing setarray on a variable which is already an array variable, then the array will only be resized and the previous content copied to the new array
you can initialize arrays by doing 'myarr = {var1,var2,..,varN};'
there are now built-in flags 'true' and 'false'
with 'hasweapon(weaponname)' you can check if the player has a special weapon
when you get a fullheart then the flag 'gotheart_currentlevelname' is set; so you don't need to set such a flag manually in your npc scripts
1.371
only for GPs: the remotecontrol has been updated, you can write PMs / toalls, players can see you in the player list with a (RC) guild tag
fixed the hide/show command for 'showcharacter' npcs
fixed a problem with invisible bodies when changing the window mode
the npc baddies are more intelligent when hunting the player
when moving the mouse over the minimap then the nicknames (displayed in a yellow hint window) doesn't hide the toalls anymore
in the debugger 'else if' is displayed correctly (green)
when pressing F6 in fullscreen then the debugger will be resized to screen size
with Alt+8/Alt+9 you can zoom in/out; this is only a feature just for fun
when a gif image doesn't have a transparent color, then black is taken as transparent color again; I have only re-added for compability with older levels; pngs are still only drawn transparent when a transparent color is specified (the first color index with full transparency)
1.38
jailed people can write PMs to RCs
'setnick nickname' command on the server
'warpto x y levelname' or only 'warpto x y' - commands for GPs on the server
when logging in with the account name as nickname then you get a * before your name which shows that you are the owner of the account, other people can't have have that name; Example: You have the account name Stefan, setting nick name to 'Stefan', then the server will change it to '*Stefan'; other people can't have the nick name '*Stefan'
PMs are saved on hard disk with date and time; they are saved to the 'pms' folder; when you click on the 'history' button in the player list then the messages will be loaded from that files; when you 'ignore' someone then his messages will be deleted; you can also delete them manually if you want (delete pms/messages_accountname.txt)
you can't dupe items (rupees) anymore, because when you get the item then the server increases your rupee count (in case no one else has taken the item yet)
with pressing Ctrl+A/B/D/E/F/G/H/L/M/O/P/R/S/T/W/X/Z you can display an emotion icon, the icons for brb (B), afk (A), zZ (Z) will be displayed till you move; the emotion icons were made by Ibonic, MrHack and Linkson
a gif2mng converter for command line use; do 'gif2mng filename.gif', it will create an 8bit png or mng (=png animation); the mngs are not optimized yet, so they will be bigger than gif animations, but we are working on it
better support for mng files
New npc script commands/functions:
* onwater(x,y) - tells you if (x,y) is water
* testcompu(x,y), testplayer(x,y), testnpc(x,y), testitem(x,y),
testbomb(x,y), testexplo(x,y), testhorse(x,y) tests if there is
and object on (x,y) and gives you the index of that object
in the object list, otherwise it returns -1 (except testplayer:
returns -2 because -1 means the current npc character);
Example:
i = testbomb(x,y);
if (i>=0) explodebomb i;
* you can do 'if (myvar in {1,2,3})' or 'if (array1==array2)'
* changeimgpart index,x,y,width,height - changes the
visible part of a 'showimg' image; it will be reset
to the whole image when calling showimg again
* you can access npcs[index].<attributename> variables (read/write):
x,y,width,height(fields not pixels),rupees,darts,bombs,
hearts,timeout,glovepower,swordpower,shieldpower,hurtdx,
hurtdy,id,save[],dir,sprite,ap
* new command 'hitnpc index,halfhearts,fromx,fromy'
* setlevel2 levelname,x,y
* some calculations of variables and boolean expressions are
optimized/precalculated, like '1==1' will be converted to
'true'
* the 'Test' button gives you more error messages when
you type variable names wrong
'only' 1024 explosions will be displayed
new color 'transparent'
you can change the keys by editing graalconfig.txt, there can be 3 different keys for each action, each key can only be used one time; only some keys can be used: A-Z,0-9,Tab,Enter,Shift,Space,P_Up (page up),P_Down (page down), Up,Left,Down,Right,N0-N9 (numpad 0-9),Add,Sub,Mul,Div,Dec (numpad +,-,*,/,.), F9-F15; in future Graal versions there will be a special window where you can change the keys and the joystick buttons
when you lay your shield down then other people can see that you don't have a shield anymore
the M map is displayed in the vertical middle of the screen when it is smaller than the screen
better level linking when walking on outside levels (no invisible walls)
the F6 debugger shows bombscount, npcscount etc.
when opening the maximized editor then the scrollbars will be resized correctly
empty lines at the end of signs will automatically be deleted
In the editor: when moving the mouse then in the status bar you see the mouse posiiton and the tile under the mouse
In the editor: when double-clicking then the tile under the mouse will be made to the background tile (like when double-clicking in the tiles panel)
in the starting window: the languages in the languages combo box are sorted alphabetically
when pressing F5 in the online mode and loading a non- existing level then the game shows an error message and closes instead of letting you play the level that you was in
you can lift an npc that is carried by another player
when you eat a bush with the horse then you will only get a the bush count increased when you have finished eating
the flags 'gotbow','gotsword' etc. aren't supported anymore
in the offline mode the baddies doesn't follow you to other levels anymore
in the npc script window the font name is now 'courier new'
when pressing 'Test' in the npc script window then it doesn't jump back to the beginning of the script
in the online mode other people doesn't look like they are jumping randomly around when going to another level
using the sword on an npc / calling the hitplayer command doesn't change the timeout variable of the npc, the sprite will only be set to 39 if hearts>0, the hearts will only be decreased if the sprite is not 39 or 40
the editor doesn't produce errors when you drag a selection outside the regular 64x64 area
some new tiles in pics1.png
a lot more (little bug fixes)
1.381
there is the new option 'don't connect levels' in the option window (Graal->F1->More options); if you enable that option, then you only see one level when walking through outside levels; this also means less data to send / receive, so enable that option if you have problems with lag in regions with many players like Graal city
fixed the warping (was a problem with empty signs)
the 'bombs' attribute of npcs works again
fixed the alignment bug with npcs (were sometimes drawn one pixel beside the real postition)
normal animation speed when walking diagonally
dragging a selection half out of the regular 64x64 area doesn't mess it up
the function to retrieve the message code doesn't hang on some codes like the previous version (e.g. when you say '#c' on the Mantara statue machine)
your horse doesn't get a bush when it eats a bomb
added caching of up to 50 toall-messages for each player; when a player sends several toall-messages in short time then you can see all of them by clicking several times on the toall-bubble of that player; this feature has been added to make future Graal extensions like a separate chat client possible
the new water tiles from v1.38 are now recognized as water tiles
forgot to mention: there is a new flag 'isonmap' which tells you if the player is currently in a level which is showed on the M map
1.39
completely different handling of head images, this should speed up Graal and drastically reduce the resources needed by the game
Profiles: In the player list click on 'profile' to change your own profile or right-click on a nickname and select 'profile' to see the profile of a player (Antago suggested profiles in Dec 1999)
there is a special option window for the player list: just click on the 'options' button in the player list; there is the option to turn off HTML in PMs, to ignore mass PMs plus two new options: * No images in HTML: deletes <img> tags out of PMs * sort player list by nickname: sorts the playerlist in alphabetically order
<script> and <object> tags in PMs doesn't work anymore
New options in the Graal->F1->More options window: * Ignore toalls: doesn't show 'toall:' messages anymore * Don't load heads for the playerlist / map: the game will not load the head image for the icon of a player for drawing it on the playerlist / map; all players will have the head of you except players which were in your level when they connected to the server (so the head needs to be loaded anyway); this reduces the login time / lag while the game because the game doesn't need to load images so often
When you type in chat text, then you can go back to previous messages by pressing the UP key; you can navigate through the last 100 chat lines by pressing UP and DOWN; when you edit a line or press RETURN then it will became your current chat line
in the editor you can 'draw' with tiles - select a single tile in the tiles panel, then click on the level, hold the left mouse button down, move around; you will paste tiles till you release the left mouse button
In 2/3/4 player mode: when you open the weapons list and press the key 'Delete', then the selected weapon of the currently 'focused' player will be deleted instead of the selected weapon of the first player; the focused player is that player who has the 'chat' icon near his status bar and can be changed by clicking with the mouse on the visible screen area of a player
you don't see 'failed' when warped between levels of a player world anymore
faster sending of messages to the server
removed some problems with floating point values in the npc scripts (e.g. 0.1+0.1+0.1-0.1-0.1-0.1 is now 0)
the M map shows a normal head for you too instead of a stretched player which sometimes freezed Graal
the M map is much faster (no drawing in the background anymore)
dead people are non-blocking
on the minimap PM-icons are drawn above toall-icons
the filenames for PMs on the hard disk have been changed to allow special characters like '\' or '/' in the account name; you should delete the old PMs in the pms folder if you already have a lot of files there, otherwise Windows could get problems with it
the weapon list (Q) is drawn using the function which also draws signs and the Continue/End window, so it works correctly with custom letters.gif (setletters); the background of the selected weapon is still blue
the weapon lists of player 3 / 4 are scrolled down too when it gets too big
by mouse-clicking on a weapon in the weapon list you can directly select a weapon without needing to navigate with the arrow keys
added some tiles and corrected the tile type for the dirty water; the futuric house tiles weren't added yet (must find a way to get around the 2MB-image limit)
you can directly drag image files (gif/png/mng) onto a level; the game will automatically generate an npc with that image at the mouse position
1.391
fixed a bug with transparent heads when starting Graal in 32bit video mode and switching to fullscreen
when sending messages to more than 50 people then the message will not be saved on hard disk (so it doesn't take a half minute till you can play again)
when viewing a profile of a player then you also see the kills/deaths/onlinetime that the player has in the current world; you only see it when the player already made a profile (pushed the 'send' button in the profile window)
<applet> tags in PMs doesn't work anymore
1.392
removed bugs with caching levels on hard disk, this version should work better with playerworld servers running on different ports
when someone is invisible (hideplayer) then you still see his shadow and nickname
npc script enhancements: * functions Example:
if (playerenters) {
myfunc();
playerdarts += 50;
}
function myfunc() {
message Hello!;
if (playerrupees<50) return;
playerbombs += 50;
}
With 'function' you define a function, with funcname() you call it. It doesn't matter at what place in the script you define the function. With 'return' you immediatelly return to one line behind the caller script position. There are no function parameters yet and you cannot use it in calculations. You can only call functions from the same script. With this new function thing it's much easier to make scripts look simplier.
* new npc script variables: signscount, signs[index].x/.y * testsign(x,y) * callnpc index,playertouchsme; you can use this for calling the scripts of other npcs; calling that function doesn't run the npc's script immediatelly, it might take 0.05 till the script of the other npc is actually executed * a function keydown(0..10) which tells you if a key is pressed 0..3: movement, 4..6 A/S/D, 7 map, 8 tab, 9 Q, 10 P * you can use break, continue inside of loops to end a loop / continue with the next loop round * you can do myvar = (timeout? 5 : 3); * you can assign 'boolean' operation results to normal variables like myvar = (timeout && myflag); then myvar is 1 when the boolean expression 'timeout && myflag' is true, 0 otherwise