Zelda Classic ongoing Beta reports

Thanks DC. Alrighty folks, here's the stuff for Beta 120:

Originally posted by Dark Nation
Stability should be improved some (fixed a lot of nasty bugs that crashed things).

Here's what's fixed since beta 115.

1. Palette crash bug.
2. Conveyor belt crash bug.
3, Triforce pieces editor crash bug.
4. Bitmap loader bug.
5. MIDI loader/player bug.
6. Magic mirrors and prisms.
7. Link's shield (magic shield and small shield somehow got swapped).
8. Zoras facing the wrong way in classic enemy mode.
9. Dodongo vertical collision bug.
10. "Exit to DOS?" has been changed to "Exit Program?"

Hopefully this will keep you busy until I can fix some more bugs.

I'm mainly concentrating on bugs at the moment, so don't expect any new features for a while (though there may be some, but I'll tell you if I throw one in).

Also, I'm considering making 1.92 dual-platform. Instead of just a Windows version, I'm thinking about keeping the DOS version, too, for people who can't run the Windows version for some reason.

But, for the moment, it's Windows only.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
What's new:

1. Fixed the zora always starts at 0,0 bug.
2. Fixed the enemy conversion bug.
3. "Finalized" the new enemy tile positions.
4. New quest encryption method for better security.

Also, I've included a quest with this version (newfirst-fixed.qst) that has all of the new enemy tiles set up correctly. Also, I've included a PDF file that shows each enemy and what tile they start on.

Usually, if an enemy is one tile and it spans one row, then the sequence goes: up (1-4), down (1-4), left (1-4), right (1-4).

If a one-tile enemy spans 2 rows, the second row is: up-left (1-4), up-right (1-4), down-left (1-4), down-right (1-4).

These correspond to the enemy direction. Sometimes an enemy is moving that way, and sometimes it is just looking in that direction. Also, you will notice some new enemies that aren't in the game. A few examples are: boulder, BS Aquamentus, Flame Dodongo, and Stalfos 3. These may show up later, they may not.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
Just fixed up the enemy code some more.

1. Removed the debugging window that popped up when you took off a Gleeok/Gleeok2 head.
2. Gleeok flying heads were using the attached head graphics.
3. Gleeok2 flying heads were invisible.
4. Patra Oval, Patra 2, and Patra 3 were using the wrong graphics in normal mode.
5. Mirrorrobe and Batrobe were using wrong graphics in standard mode.
6. Newfirst-fixed wasn't quite fixed right.

Can't remember any of the others.

The newfirst-fixed.qst should be right now (no more shadow octoroks in normal mode and no more trippy Aquamentus butts in the graveyard).
New.til is an exported tileset of the new enemy tiles. To use it, clear pages 6-32. Move the tiles from those pages down so they start on 35 if you have to (that's what I did to fix newfirst-fixed). Next, import the new.til file and tell zquest to start importing into page 6. There you go!

If zelda.exe or zquest.exe die immediately after starting, download beta 115 and install that. Then, this one.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
What's new in this version:

1. Dual-platform support. After several hours of pain-staking backtracking through the Windows-modified code, I was able to put in conditional code that would allow me to compile a Windows [B]or a DOS version from the same source code. So, for those of you who couldn't run the beta before, this should bring you back into the fold.
2. Fixed the Level-Color keese tile bug for the new enemy tiles.
3. Updated the credits in Zelda to include information about the Windows port (under the Etc menu, choose Credits to view them).
4. Fixed the screenshot function in ZC and ZQuest (I hope). Let me know if it doesn't work. I already know that screenshots taken of the game select screen are still messed up. I hope to fix that by the next beta.

As you will notice, the DOS and Windows versions have different filenames. This will allow you to use both of them on your system if you choose. If the Windows version dies immediately after start, try downloading the Windows support archive. If that doesn't work, look in the ZCBeta folder for a file called 'allegro.log'. It should have information about what happened to make the program die.

After I get a few more bugs worked out (mainly cosmetic problems caused by compiling with Allegro 4, such as screen elements not being large enough to hold the text inside them, thus making the text disappear), I'm thinking about releasing another public beta. [/B]

Originally posted by Dark Nation
What's new in this version:

1. Fixed the dialog glitches (I hope). What would be [b]great would be if someone were to open the dialogs for beta 104, take screen shots of them, and compare them to the dialogs here. You would need to overlay one on top of the other and set the opacity to like 50 or so to see where things don't line up right. This would require knowledge and possession of a program such as Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.
2. Fixed the leech function so that it will now leech tiles from til and zgp files (I hope). I tested it in DOS on a .til file. Anyone wanna run some more extensive tests?
3. I think I fixed the weapons. The glitches were caused by a feature I was trying to add that didn't work right.
4. Took out the code that makes items move on conveyors. This should solve the subscreen items moving bug.

Next, I hope to fix the Aquamentii (Aquamentusses?) not using the new enemy tiles in new enemy tile mode. Still trying to figure out why the NES title screens are goofed. [/B]

Originally posted by Dark Nation
Yeah, I'm releasing this a day early. So, sue me. 😃

What's new in this version:

1. Totally rewrote the hookshot code. This makes it more stable (no more crashing on conveyors, I hope) and allowed me to make it the way I had originally intended, like the Z3 hookshot (after a few links, it will stretch insted of extend). Now, for people who were using the hookshot as a whip, where stretching is a bad thing, the number of links before stretching is customizable. So, you set it to 6 for a Z3-style hookshot, and set it to a high number, like 100, for a ZC 1.92 Beta 127- style hookshot.
2. Split the hookshot chain sprite into vertical and horizontal sprites. Now, you can make a proper whip.
3. Added a few more initialization data things. Now, you can tell how many (or what percentage of your maximum) hearts you need to be able to fire a sword beam. Each sword can be set differently. You can also set different damage percents for each sword beam and it's not locked to 50 and 100 like before.
4. Re-added and fixed the "items move on conveyors" feature.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
This is more of a Beta 129b than anything else. I think I finally got the game loading routine fixed. It works for me anyway. Other than that, the only change is I tweaked the hookshot so it doesn't go off the screen when you fire downwards.

There is one known issue in the Windows version that I noticed but haven't had time to debug. When you use the hookshot and latch onto something to pull Link over to it, sometimes, the game will crash when Link reaches his destination.

One thing I haven't had a chance to check... Can someone try to take screen shots of the game select screens and the load custom game screens in DOS and in Windows?

Originally posted by Dark Nation
New in this version:

1. Fixed the hookshot crashes sometimes when pulling Link bug.
2. Added new push blocks. In addition to the push up/down and the push 4-way blocks, there are now 19 others:
-push left/right
-push up
-push down
-push left
-push right
-push up/down (no secret trigger)
-push left/right (no secret trigger)
-push 4-way (no secret trigger)
-push up (no secret trigger)
-push down (no secret trigger)
-push left (no secret trigger)
-push right (no secret trigger)
-push up/down infinitely (no secret trigger)
-push left/right infinitely (no secret trigger)
-push 4-way infinitely (no secret trigger)
-push up infinitely (no secret trigger)
-push down infinitely (no secret trigger)
-push left infinitely (no secret trigger)
-push right infinitely (no secret trigger)

There is also a "no push blocks" flag that allows you to set up where blocks can and can't go without restricting Link's movements. Simply put, you can't push a block onto a "no push blocks" flag.

Finally, there is a "block trigger" flag. If you push a block of any kind onto it, the secret is activated and the block becomes immobile. Why you would need this for anything other than the infinite push blocks is beyond me. :shrug: Unless you want to use it with one of the 2 or 4-way no secret trigger blocks so that it only activates the secret if they push the block in the right direction.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
New in this version:

1. Fixed the bug where activating a trigger with a pushblock turned all infinite pushblocks on that screen (maybe everywhere on the DMap or possibly in the game, haven't checked yet) into push-once blocks.
2. Added the ability to have more than one trigger block so you have to activate all of them to activate a secret.
3. Fixed the default quests bug and put the real 3rd quest in the support archive.
4. Altered the pushblock code. Now, anything with a push flag will appear on top of layers 1 and 2. The reason is, Link is walking on layers 1 and 2, so he can't very well push something below those layers. If he could, then the block would slide along under those layers when it is moving. While this may be a desired effect at times, if you wanted to have some sort of animated combo on layer 1 attached to the push block, it wouldn't work. So, to simplify things, I made push blocks be above layers 1 and 2. This also hase the added side-effect of allowing you to push a pushblock over different combos and it not change them all to the same thing (it is actually still doing this, but if you set up the real floor on layer 1, then the block won't be erasing it, just layer 0, which is covered up by layer 1).
5. The Windows versions of ZC and ZQuest can now run in a window (like in fatcatfan's post). To do this (I may make an in-program option later), you have to use a switch. Here are the options (these only apply to the Windows versions):

"[b]-fullscreen": Makes the program run full-screen, using a directx hardware accelerated driver (default)
"-fullscreen -directx": Same as above
"-fullscreen -directx -soft": Makes the program run full-screen, using a directx software accelerated driver
"-fullscreen -directx -safe": Makes the program run full-screen, using the safe directx unaccelerated driver
"-windowed": Makes the program run in a window, using the directx driver
"-windowed -directx": Same as above
"-windowed -gdi": Makes the program run in a window, using a GDI driver. I think you can use this even if you don't have DirectX. It is very slow, though.

I would have included the updated quest default (what shows up when you start zquest), but I left it at work. Maybe Tuesday morning. :shrug:
[/B]

Originally posted by Dark Nation
New/fixed in this version:

1. In response to Cloral's Suggestion in ZC Suggestions, I've renamed the 'all-purpose' flag to the 'lens marker' flag. I checked through the code and he was right; it serves absolutely no other purpose other than to mark things for the lens.

2. I tweaked the lens so that it now shows bombable walls in dungeons with a 'bombed wall' state instead of the white square it was showing before.

3. In response to KJAZZ's post, I updated newdefault again. It's now in the Zelda Classic 1.92 Beta 135+ Support Archive, and also available separately (save it to your C:\ZCBeta directory, or wherever you've been extracting the betas).

4. Added item bubbles. This should make things a lot more interesting. :evil:

For some reason, the 256 combo bug that corrupted your saves vanished. I'm beginning to thing it's a roaming bug, so whenever you save, export a .QSU as well, just in case.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
New/fixed in this version:

1. In response to bigjoe's post, I've once again switched the F1 key back to it's original purpose, toggling VSync.

2. In response to KJAZZ's post, I updated newdefault yet again. I will update the support archive later. For now, it's available as a separate file (save it to your C:\ZCBeta directory, or wherever you've been extracting the betas).

3. Stalfos 3. Nothing too special yet. I threw him it just before I had to go to work. I will update him some more tomorrow. For now, he's does 3 times as much damage, has more hit points (6, I think, compared to 2 for the other Stalfos enemies), moves faster (not crack speed, though), follows Link more often, and currently drops magic jars sometimes when defeated. Other than that, he acts like a Stalfos 2, I think. I'm planning on tweaking him to fire more often and fire in 4 directions instead of 2.

4. 20 New map flags:
+boomerang
+magic boomerang
+fire boomerang
+silver arrow
+golden arrow
+red candle
+wand fire
+din's fire
+wand magic
+reflected magic
+reflected fireball
+sword
+white sword
+magic sword
+master sword
+sword beam
+magic sword beam
+master sword beam
+hookshot

These allow you to trigger things with your items. For the most part, higher-power weapons will trigger lower power flags. For instance, the wooden, silver, and golden arrows will all trigger the arrow flag. The silver and golden arrows will trigger the silver arrow flags and the golden arrow will trigger the golden arrow flag.

A few odd ducks, though:
+fire flags: Anything that generates fire (the flame trail from the fire boomerang doesn't count) will trigger a burn flag. Anything that triggers a burn flag except the blue candle will trigger the red candle flag. Anything that triggers a red candle flag except the red candle will trigger the wand fire flag (this is the fire that the wand creates when you have the book). And only Din's Fire (still not put back in yet, sorry) will trigger the Din's Fire flag.

+magic flags: Wand Magic and Reflected Magic are mutually exclusive. They will not trigger each other's flags.

+sword and sword beam flags: Putting a sword flag on something is basically like setting that combo as a slash combo. the white sword, magic sword, and master sword flags make you have to use that sword or better on the flag to activate it. The beam flags work the same way, but are only triggered by the beam; the blade of the sword won't work. Also, the beams won't trigger the sword flags.

+reflected flags: Yes, you have to reflect magic or fireballs (like from zoras) at them to trigger them. No, they are not interchangeable. Also, I forget what mirrors and prisms do to wand magic, enemy magic, and reflected magic (I think they are all changed to reflected magic when they hit a mirror or prism). When testing, you may want to sprikle some mirrors around and set up some flags and maybe some wizzrobes so you can test what happens.

I loaded up zquest to look at the flag list just now so I could write them down here (as I don't have the source code with me) and I noticed a bug. I forgot to put a comma in the flag list after the master sword flag. So, for the moment, the white sword beam flag is really the sword beam flag, the magic sword beam flag is really the white sword beam flag, the master sword beam flag is really the magic sword beam flag, and the last entry (it says L^^ on my system) is really the master sword beam flag. I will fix the wording in the next beta. However, none of these additions/changes except for the fixed newdefault (and the flag listing) have been tested. So, please test thoroughly and give me as much information about this as you can by tomorrow morning so I can fix them if needed.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
What's new/fixed:

1. The new triggers should be working now and I've added the wand and hammer triggers. The wand itself, not the magic, activates the wand trigger.

2. The hookshot now goes through any gap that is 1/2 combo size or larger. Before, it wouldn't go between combos that were together and had their touching walk flags turned off.

3. Weapons should trigger things at the right times now. For instance, before, an arrow would trigger an arrow flag even if it was combo lower. This should be fixed now.

4. Stalfos 3 should be pretty much finalized now. Fires 4 swords instead of 1 now.

Gotta run. I'll try to update this post later with more details. Until then, see what you can find on your own.

One thing that you might notice immediately different, there are now 4 more template screens at the bottom. Secret combos use screen 84 instead of 83 now.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
Well, it's been a while since the last update. I hope you all think it's worth it.

What's new/fixed:

1. Fixed zgp.dat to account for the new template screen.

2. Enhanced the import combo function so you can now specify a starting page like with the import tile function.

3. JayeM has done a new zquest.txt file for beta 136.

4. Items now animate in ZQuest.

5. Items continue to animate when Link picks holds them over his head now (before, they stopped). I suppose I could put this as a quest rule if someone has a reason that an item should stop animating when Link is holding them.

6. The trigger enemy finally works.

7. When you push a non-heavy pushblock onto a trigger, it will now make the secret sound when it's supposed to like the heavy ones do.

8. Pushblocks now flicker when viewed with the lens, instead of disappearing. Should I change this back? Or should I find another way to represent them?

9. Enemy placement flags no longer show up with the lens.

10. The "Lens Hints" quest rule works now. Basically, when you view a flag under the lens, you will see what item triggers it flickering there. For instance, a burn flag will show a flickering blue candle. Some flags have multiple things showing up. For instance, the "reflected fireball" flag shows a mirror shield with a fireball reflecting off of it. Reflected magic and wand magic exhibit similar behaviors. Strike flags cycle through all of the weak items that will trigger them: blue candle, bomb, arrow, boomerang, sword, sword beam, wand magic, reflected magic, reflected fireball, hookshot, hammer (not necessarily in that order). Give the new lens rule a try and tell me what you think. Also, if you have the "whistle->stairs" screen flag set, then a whistle will blink slowly (instead of flicker) on at the place where the stairs appear. Also, the fairy flag has a fairy on it now. Should this be taken out or changed in any way? Before, it was a flickering white square. If you want to see what this square looks like, look at a walk-through dungeon wall with the lens (like in level 2 of the second quest, I think).

Tomorrow morning, I plan to add the autobackup feature. It will, when you save, export a qsb file (qsu file with a qsb extension) with the same name.

Now that I think of it, I think the map and qsu export and import functions are wrong now because of the new quest format. I'll look at them tomorrow morning and fix them as well, if needed. The zgp import/export functions should already be fixed, since I had to use them to export a new zgp.dat file.

Another feature I plan to add soon is the ability to select a graphics pack when you start a new quest. Right now, it defaults to newdefault, which is included in the zgp.dat file. I can add more easily. Thoughts? Any ones I should definitely include? Already plan on using newfirst (with Warlock's permission) and BS1st. What about Glenn's CGBZ set or Orion's Z3 set? Maybe even demo.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
What's new/fixed:

1. Auto-backup option (under the Etc.->Options menu). Turn it on and every time you save, your quest will also be exported with the same name and a qsb extension.

2. More strings. Around 65k of them. If anyone thinks they need more, their quest is just too long. 😛

3. Red candle flame fixed when it was broken due to the new red candle flag.

4. Quest rule for holding item animation has been done. I forgot to rename it, though. It's the first reserved rule on rules page 2.

5. Now, if you hit cancel on any of the rules or init data pages, your previous information comes back. Before, it would only restore the previous information for the page you were on.

6. Found the cause of the titlescreen and "All of Treasures" screen bugs. I've fixed the "All of Treasures" screen (I think), and plan to fix the titlescreen tomorrow.

As for the format of QSU files now (this is for FCF), I will be changing the format again with beta 141 (I forgot to enhance the string function in the QSU importer/exporter). You might want to wait until then before updating mapmaker.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
What's new/fixed:

1. Modified the QSU import/export so that is doesn't waste space due to the increased string limit.

2. Gohma 3. Need 3 silver (or 2 gold) arrows to kill. Shoots 3 fireballs (like Aquamentus, only downward).

3. Gohma 4. Need 2 gold arrows to kill. Whenever the eye is open, shoots a stream of flames (like the Fire Gleeoks do).

3. Fixed the bug where the windows version would sometimes crash when looking at light (not requiring a bracelet) pushblocks with the lens.

4. Tweaked the pushblock viewing with lens code. Now, the pushblock blinks slowly. If a bracelet is needed for the pushblock, then that bracelet flickers on the pushblock.

5. Finally fixed the titlescreen. Requires a new zgp.dat file.

6. Began work on a modified map import feature. With it, group quests will be easier. Imagine you have two maps set up like this:

ABCD   ----
---E   NOP-
-HGF   M---
----   LKJI

Basically, two interlocking spirals. Before, you had to import one onto a separate map and manually copy screens over. Now, blank screens are not imported (unless you specify "full copy"😉.

So, before, an import would overwrite what you already had. Now:

ABCD        ----
---E        NOP-
-HGF        M---
----        LKJI
    <-import

produces:

ABCD
NOPE
MHGF
LKJI

What if you already have a screen where an imported screen will be? There is an option to specify which screen (original or import) takes priority.

Unfortunately, this feature isn't complete yet. Selecting any of the options other than "Full Copy" will clear your map for some reason. *shrug*

As for the format of QSU files now (this is for FCF), it's the same, except the string part is now like that of the string export:

typedef unsigned short word
typedef unsigned char  byte
typedef struct message {
 char s[73];
 char s1,s2,s3;
} message
short version
byte  build
word  strings
strings * sizeof(message)

Before, it would store all the message strings in the file, even if you only had 1.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
What's new/fixed:

1. Completed the biased map importer. The easiest way to describe it is to think of an exported map as a piece of paper. Same thing with the map you are currently working on. Screens that aren't there (deleted) are holes in the paper. When you do a full import, you make a copy of the imported map and place it where your current map is. With the other two options, you are holding the two pieces of paper together, one behind the other. If there is a hole in the one in front, you can see through it to the paper behind. Now, look at your set of papers and copy what you see into the current map.

2. New import/export format: ZQT (Zelda Quest Template). Basically a packed (compressed) version of the ZGP. Reason is below.

3. Began work on quest templates. Basically, a quest template allows you to select what your quest will look like when you start. It's equivalent to starting a new quest, then loading a ZGP file. Now, however, you can have a list of commonly used templates that you can pick from when you start a new quest. When you select New from the File menu, you will see this dialog first:

This is actually a half-mockup. I have written the code to show this dialog, but it doesn't work yet. All the things you see there are fake values I hard-coded in to show you what it will look like. Thusly, if you actually do a File->New in beta 142, you won't see this, as I've disabled it.

There are a few advantage of this over my previous idea (putting all of the defaults into a zgp.dat file). First, the user can add their own templates to the mix, and can order them any way they wish (I need to add buttons and code for that). Second, if a change is made to one of the templates, since each one is separate now, the user only has to download that changed template.

Thoughts on this idea? I'll probably add a feature to the Options menu where you can tell whether or not you want to be prompted for this (you'd also be able to select a default template to use if you don't want to be prompted).

All right, I've included the version history in this thread.

Damn software...just because I posted it once in the private forum, it doesn't want me to post it here. :uhoh:

This copy addresses up to beta 141. And goes back even further than beta 120. 😉

Cyclone
[email][email protected][/email]

Originally posted by Dark Nation
What's new/fixed:

1. Gold ring is now selectable in the equipment dialog that's called up from the cheats menu.

2. Equipment dialog has been redesigned in the JWin style as apposed to the flat, Allegro style. The reason this was never done before is because PM never wrote checkbox and radio button dialog elements for the JWin style. I wrote them over the past 2 days and this is the result. Comments welcome.

2. Fixed the bug where pushblocks would turn off if you hit one while another is moving (unless you knew what was going on, it would look like some pushblocks would, at random, refuse to work unless you left the screen and came back).

3. Continued work on quest templates. Not finished, but I left the dialog in this time so you could all make comments about it. Right now, you can create new entries and give them names. Can't associate them with files yet, though and it doesn't save your listing when you leave ZQuest.

4. JayeM update the zquest.txt file to beta 142.

5. Compiled with the newest Allegro, 4.01. Might fix some stability issues. [B]YOU NEED TO DOWNLOAD THE NEW WINDOWS SUPPORT ARCHIVE IF YOU USE THE WINDOWS VERSION OF ZC!

6. Using a new compressor on the executables. This one works on both DOS and Windows files, so the Windows version is now WAY smaller. It compresses better than the previous program I used, so the DOS version is a little smaller, too.

7. ZQuest and Zelda now have their own icons in their titlebars when you run them windowed. Before, it was just a generic application icon.

8. Updated the zgp.dat file again to fix the cset of the golden arrow item.

9. Fixed the problem in Zelda where ALL drives were listed in the drive list box, instead of just the ones you actually had.

10. Fixed a bug where the lens wouldn't show undercombos on the bottom of the screen.

11. This was actually done a few betas back, but I forgot to mention it: If you destroy a statue combo (hammer, burn, anything that gets rid of the combo if you've set a flag on it), it should stop firing at you now.

Yes, I know there is still a problem with the template screens (now, they show up blank or scrambled when you start a new quest). I know how to fix it, but I have to finish the quest template stuff first.[/B]

No new beta yet, for testers, but this is being added to my file.

• Finally completed the quest template system. I like it, at least.
• Fixed the bug where if you had a dmap intro string set and had a guy there with a string and you walked into the room, both would start showing up at the same time. Now, the DMap intro shows up, vanishes after a moment, then the guy string shows up.
• Fixed the bug where a DMap intro string might show up twice.
• Fixed the bug in ZQuest where the F12 key would turn the vertical flip bit on.
• Began work on string linking. About 75% done. Now, when you edit strings, you can hit a check box to make the string linked to the next string. Then, when you play, after the first string shows up, the second one shows up. All I have to do is add a small delay between them, force the player to hit a button between the messages, and maybe set some kind of indicator that you need to press a key.

More when we get our new beta. DC, if you beat me to this, only copy any different items between the above and the new beta.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
[B]1. Finally completed the quest template system. I like it, at least. A new option under the File menu is Quest Templates. This is where you set up your quest templates. These are exported .zqt files. Then, when you select New from the file menu, you can pick what template to start from. The defaults menu will use whatever template you set, as the template filename is saved with the quest now. If you rename the quest template filename, then load a quest that used it, the default menus will fail until you point the quest back to a valid template file. How do you do that? With the template menu in the Quest menu. This is also how you set up a quest template for an older quest you may have. Whether or not a quest has a quest template (valid or otherwise) associated with it has no bearing at all on gameplay.
2. Fixed the bug where if you had a dmap intro string set and had a guy there with a string and you walked into the room, both would start showing up at the same time. Now, the DMap intro shows up, vanishes after a moment, then the guy string shows up.
3. Fixed the bug where a DMap intro string might show up twice.
4. Fixed the bug in ZQuest where the F12 key would turn the vertical flip bit on.
5. Added string linking. Now, when you edit strings, you can hit a check box to make the string linked to the next string. Then, when you play, after the first string shows up, the a short delay occurs. After that, you hit a button and the second one shows up.
6. Fixed and tested the expanded strings. Set up a string in slot 259. Worked for both the room string and the pay for info strings.
7. Fixed problem with some text being garbled (the triangle indicators showing you have more than 3 saved games, the copy indicator for the enemy screen, and the Paused and frames per second indicators, for example).
8. Removed the feature where tiles would not be saved if you were using the default tileset. While it makes quests larger for original-style ones where you don't edit any tiles, it makes things easier on my end. Plus, it makes it where you don't have to edit a tile just to get the MapMaker to work right.

FatCatFan, let me know when you get back and I'll send you all the important information about the new file format.

I'm thinking of going ahead and starting work on combo revamping. When completed, this will eliminate combo pages entirely. I could even double the number of available combos.

Or, I could hold off on that for another beta or two. Maybe add a few new minor features, like the trigger events that Jigglysaint mentioned or the frame for messages that I had talked about.
B]

I'm NOT using QUOTE tags.

• Possibly fixed the bug where older quests that were imported wouldn't display strings when you play them. Couldn't reproduce the bug, so couldn't test it. Any takers?
• Potion shops now work in dungeons
• Fairy ponds now work in dungeons
• Fixed a bug with dmap intros and fairy ponds where link would remain frozen after the dmap intro.
• Changed the string linking so you can pick any string you want now. Quests saved in beta 147 should automatically be updated by this beta to point to the right string.
• Fixed the keyboard mapping bug.
• Fixed the message string display bug. Now, if there are no overhead (3-6) layers (as with older and original quests), the message appears under link, like it did in LoZ. But, if there is an overhead layer, then the message strings display over everything.
• Fixed a bug with string linking and prices. Before, if you paid for an extended string in an info room, the prices would disappear when the second string in the current "string thread" started.
• Tweaked the new enemy tile animations. Previously, for the animations to work smoothly, I had to force the frame rates to be a power of 2 greater than or equal to 4. Now they just have to be a multiple of 4. For an example, check out the octorok animation in beta 147 as compared to beta 148.
• Added a new item: kill all enemies. When you touch this, all enemies in the room die. Useful when used with the trigger enemy. This item is never dropped randomly.
• Added a new screen flag. Invisible Link. Can't remember what it's supposed to do, though.
• Added a new screen flag. No subscreen. Not finished yet. At the moment, it blacks out the subscreen and prevents it from being used. Useful for cinemas, I guess. When it is finished, the subscreen should be totally gone instead of just black (click with the mouse to see what I mean) and the current screen should be centered on the monitor.
• Fixed a bug where the menu bar that doesn't have the cheat menu in it could appear in a different place than the one with the cheat menu if you have a high screen resolution set.
• Fixed the bug with money or life rooms where choosing to lose a heart container if you had 3 or less of then would set you to having 3. Also, you can no longer choose the heart container if you only have one left.

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Now, my additions.

Those in the contest: I hope I can give you this one. Look for the new QDB forum for the contest, and I'll eventually have you guys in there if you've already entered.

Those simply downloading the player: check the relevant topic for updates. I believe it's this one.

Cyclone
[email][email protected][/email]

New update. In DN's words:

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• Added a breakable shields rule. Old quests have this enabled by default. With if off, you can't break darknut shields with the hammer anymore.
• Potions now restore magic, too.
• Magic refilling is 4 times as fast now.
• Fixed the zoras. When I fixed the new enemy tile animation code, I broke the zoras. They became very... fast.
• Fixed the range on the super bomb for triggering bomb and super bomb flags. Now, If the inner smoke patterns hit the flag, it will trigger. Before, the very center smoke pattern hat to hit the trigger.
• Fixed the "no subscreen" quest rule. Now, the subscreen won't activate when you hit the "start" button and there is no black border on the game field when you activate the menu.
• Fixed (for real, this time, I hope) the bug where Link would sometimes freeze for an intro string and would stay frozen.
• Fixed (again, for real, this time, I hope) the bug where intro strings would show up more than one time (it might show up again if you enter a DMap a second time).
• Fixed string linking where the correct string is displayed now instead of just the next string in the list.
• Not a biggie, but a small asthetic changeL Now, message strings, intro strings, and dmap titles only display the edit cursor in ZQuest if you are actually editing the string.

I'm currently checking into the possibility of making it where you can set the compas and continue points for DMaps by holding down Ctrl or Alt and clicking on the grid area. Also, looking into allowing each DMap to have its own custom minimap. If its not set, then the correct minimap (overworld or dungeon) will be used instead.

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When 150 comes out, the contest folks will likely be getting it.

Cyclone

What's new in this version:

• Added a test feature to ZQuest (under the Quest menu). All it does is run Zelda, so you need to save before you use it or you won't see your changes. Also, in the DOS version (haven't tested the Windows version yet), when you come back from testing, the menu is blacked out and mouse movement is jerky. No idea why. :shrug: If I can't get this problem licked soon, I'll take it back out.

Originally posted by Dark Nation
What's new in this version:

1. Fixed combo flipping bugs. Combo displays correctly when flipped while using a cset2. Also, the walk flags and cset2 flags flip with the tile now.

2. Fixed (I hope) the bug where enemies would not show up sometimes.

3. Added new map stuff to dmaps. Click on the edit maps button when you are editing a dmap to access it. However, this isn't quite complete yet (on the ZQuest side). When you close the map chooser dialog, you will be back to the dmap chooser dialog instead of the dmap editor dialog. This should be fixed in the next beta. Also, anything you did on the dmap editor window might not be saved if you make changes and click on the edit maps button instead of the ok button.

4. Fixed the gohma bug.

5. Fixed (I hope) the bug where levels above 32 would have glitches (especially regarding information that is saved into the save file).

6. Fixed the Alt-key bug in the game engine. That should be the last of the port-related bugs.

7. Constant moving traps now obey walk flags on layers 1 and 2.

Now, if there aren't any new major bugs found in beta 152, I will concentrate on trying to remove combo pages altogether. This will probably be the greatest single change since combo animation.

The latest:

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What's new in this version:

Nothing. Well, nothing you should be able to notice. I did some internal work on the combo and cset system. Before, on a screen, the combo and cset were stored together in a word (the combo was a byte long and the cset was 3 bits long. screen flags used to be stored there as well and were 5 bits long, but I moved them out a long time ago). Now, the cset is stored separately. The purpose for this beta is to make sure I didn't break anything.

The next step (now that the combo is stored by itself) is to eliminate the combo pages altogether and let you use any of the available combos anywhere you want.

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Cyclone

Ok this update is really to let you all know DN is still working on it. We have an exciting new feature that is heavily experimental at this point so DN makes us no promises as to whether it will stay or not, but if it does I can assure you it will make many Zquesters happy 😊

It's about time I update this, isn't it? This one's been out to us for a few days, now; four, to be exact.

In the words of DN himself:

What's new in this version:

1. The secret combos should work now. Before, they were referencing the templace screen. Now, they do not. Also, before, when you activated a secret combo, the flag that was set on the template screen for that combo would be copied over. Now, it is stored with the secret combo. To select what flag you want (I may need to tweak this later), hold the ctrl key when you click on a secret combo and you can pick a flag for that combo.

2. Doors should be separated from the template screen now.

3. Moved some things around in the quest menu.

Known issues:

1. Import/Export doesn't work right, because of the change in the file format. Beta 159 will fix this. This also causes the zgp.dat file not to work (your default blank quest when you start ZQuest).

Future updates, as usual, will be made known.

Cyclone

More stuff from DN.

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What's new in this version (make sure you get the beta 159 Support Archive as well):

1. More fixes to the combo-pagelessness code.

2. Fixed the bug where combos past page 4 wouldn't show up in the big combo list (where you select combos to edit).

3. Added some more shortcuts to the menus.

4. Added a new screen flag "No Secret Sounds". Supposed to prevent secret sounds from sounding on the current screen. Hasn't been tested yet.

5. Added a new screen flag "NMEs Always Rtrn" Makes enemies always return for that room.

6. Added some speedups for the combo scrolling. Try holding shift, control, or alt (or a combination of these) while scrolling using either mouse scrolling, the scroll buttons, or the page up, page down, up arrow, or down arrow keys.

7. Removed the code that exists ZQuest if no key file is found or if an invalid keyfile is found. It will still tell you if one of these things is happening, though. This will help me find bugs in the system.

8. Fixed the import/export functions.

9. Separated the sound effects from the rest of zelda.dat. The sound effects are now stored in sfx.dat. This is the first step toward customizable sounds.

10. Fixed the problem where moving tiles to their original location will delete them.

11. Fixed the sword beams, I hope.

12. "I-Warp Total" has been renamed to "Full-Screen Warp" or something like that.

Can't remember any other changes at the moment. I may add more later.

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Cyclone

Dark Nation writes:

"DO NOT SAVE OVER OLD QUESTS WITH THIS VERSION! THERE IS A VERY GOOD POSSIBILITY THAT YOU WILL CORRUPT SOMETHING! THE NEXT BETA MIGHT NOT READ QUESTS FROM THIS BETA! USE BETA 152 INSTEAD!

What's new in this version (make sure you get the beta 159 Support Archive as well):

1. More fixes to the combo-pagelessness code.

2. Fixed the code for moving combos. Now, screens, doors, secret, and undercombos are updated as well.

3. Fixed the 'R' key in ZC.

4. Fixed the '*', '+' and '-' keys in ZC. '*' refills your life. '+' give you 1 more unit of life. '-' takes away a unit of life. Hold down shift when you press '+' or '-' and it will affect magic instead of life. Holding control will make it affect containers (heart containers or magic containers). Hitting the '/' key refills your magic meter. Should I make this shift+'*' instead?

5. The combo misalignment arrows are back in.

6. Walk flags now appear on top of everything.

7. Fixed some problems with overhead combos in relation to screen effects (warping and such) and text.

8. Screenshots now work properly with the "No Subscreen" screen flag set.

9. Updated the door combo set creation code (used when loading older quests) so that the top and bottom combos of left and right bomb doors are pulled from the current screen instead of from the template screen.

10. Added 2 new combo types. "Eyeball A" and "Eyeball B". Both change their appearance based on where link is located in relation to them. Basically, you could use them to make eyeballs that look at Link wherever he is. I can't really think of a better way to describe it. Test it and see what you think.

Can't remember any other changes at the moment. I may add more later.

I'm sure that the bug that previously was corrupting quests that had exactly 256 combos is still around. I think it's a roaming bug, though, so something else may trigger it now. You might want to turn on the auto-backup feature."