Dwelvers Journal - 2014.07.10 - Alpha v0.7e is now released

[Rasmus]

Dwelvers Alpha v0.7e has now been released to the pre-orderers, you can download it at the Dwelvers website.

(This version is still not considered stable, and I will not do a bigger public announcement until it is.)





Download:
To download it you need to go to Dwelvers website, then login with your username and password.
Once this is done a new tab leading to the members page should have become available. Here you can download the latest version.

Upgrades since v0.7e

• Trading System 2.0 - This enables the player to trade different goods with the surface world.
  
• Rotating Buildings - A new way to rotate buildings have been implemented, this is a test version for now and I would love some feedback on it to see if this should replace the previous rotation system.
  
• Shortcuts - After many many requests I finally implemented so that it is possible to use keyboard shortcuts to select what to build.
  
• Miscellaneous Production Chain Upgrades - I decided to make a larger post collecting all the upgrades made to the production system since the 0.7d release. This topic is a collection of quotes from other topics that are directly related to bug fixing, but as they have a large impact on the production chain I think they are worth reading.
  

Patch fixes since v0.7d

• Not sure what went wrong - It happened a short time after i attacked my first portal. I got the human and then the rogue and after that it crashed when i was looking at them in the production menu
  
• Game crashes after long time running - Today I had it running for a couple of hours, playing it now and then, when suddenly in the middle of a game it crashed unexpectedly.
  
• Ogg crash - Game crashed with the message that the Ogg file were being unable to load.
  
• Resolution list empty in the launcher - The resolution dropdown list is empty.
  
• Scrolling in save menu scrolls main menu too - I created alot of saves to test if the save limitation is gone and realized that part of the main menu was gone ( the menu scrolled down too i think ).
  
• Higher priority for feeding to the dark mother needed - Higher priority for feeding to the dark mother needed...
  
• Creature needs - I think the creatures tend to their needs too late sometimes they down to 18 percent before they eat or sleep.
  
• Water bug - While digging around a lake the water started going crazy, showing intermittent waterfalls, that would build up and then disappear continuously.
  
• Can see behind fog of war, crazy hallucinations - Playing the tutorial I've noticed something reaaaally weird that reminded me of the Matrix human plantation fields...
  
• Possesed orcs can see through walls - Orcs' camera when possessed is apparently a bit more separated from the body than the one from the imps, as I can clip through walls with it...
  
• Farms/wells stop working after save loading - Loaded my save after a few minuts break and every antroot farm were empty. Also, none of the workers seems to go fetch water to restart the farms or anything that needs water.
  
• Really weird storage/imps behavior - Dunno what causes that, but i had all the coal in one storage, decided to share it between two, so i changed the state to green on both storage rooms, and the imps puts all the coal under the flag in the DM room lol. And after some time, they put the coal under the flag in one storage room, and then other imp take it and bring it back to the DM room.
  
• Smelter not working after loading save - My smelters stopped working after loading the game.
  
• Orcs randomly attacked bat - Out of a group of 6 orcs chasing an impanzee 3 just started attacking a bat near them.
  
• Imps fail to pick up Impanzee - After a fight multiple imps failed at picking up one of the impanzees.
  
• Prison storage - If you turn off storage to Dark Mother. Any item on the prison floor will not be collected. No way of linking Prison to storage rooms. Seems Prison is linked exclusively to Dark Mother.
  
• Error when equip Cyclotaur - I get a error message when I equip a Cyclotaur with a iron fist, spike guantlet or wooden shield.
  
• Can't sacrifice prisoner, rotating buildings takes up whole tile - Because of this it is impossible to feed creatures to the dm when they stand on the same tile as the prison door is.
  
• LoadXMLDocument Error - Unable to load the launcherconfig.xml file.
  
• (Black) Blocks, not rendering wall faces under construction - It is different, it changes with the angle and its only when the wall block is under construction.
  

If you want to contribute with ideas:
http://forum.dwelvers.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=11

Just make sure that you read the post of already suggested ideas so that you don't double post. And there are also some layout requirements for the suggestion posts that you need to follow to make it easier for us.
Link to the "The list of already suggested ideas"

If you want to report a bug or issue:
http://forum.dwelvers.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=19

Just make sure that you read the topic about the already known bugs and issues so that you don't double post.
Link to the "Known bugs / issues Alpha v0.7"

[Rasmus]

I would like to add that this is the post with the threadid = "1000"

[Sebt]

1000, nice.

I watched the video and regarding to way of showing connections I have suggestions:
- maybe instead of showing chain connections between rooms on rooms directly they could be showed only on minimap? In Dungeon Keeper 1 when you hover mouse on room/trap/door or room/trap/door icon in room/9trap/door panel you can see blinking on white highlight of selected room/trap/door on minimap. I think player could see it better on minimap especially if could zoom in/out it to see more and white borders would not exist and a little harm the game look like now,
- ...zooming minimap in/out option - just by clicking + or -,

[Mello Tonin]

I think that's a good idea Sebt, and it couldn't hurt to show the chain as it does now too. It's gonna be interesting to try out the trading system. Right now there are loads of resources, but I can see this feature really coming in handy later once that becomes more balanced. Good work Ras!

[Seriously Unserious]

I would like to add that this is the post with the threadid = "1000"

Fitting that milestone was reached while announcing a new version!

@Sebt: I like your idea, IMO things like this should be available in an options menu for how this info is displayed, a simple toggle option to turn it on/off in the minimap, and another to toggle the chains display in the main dungeon view.

EDIT: Yeah, I know, we're probably gonna need a terabyte just for the options menus alone!

[Rasmus]

1000, nice.

I watched the video and regarding to way of showing connections I have suggestions:
- maybe instead of showing chain connections between rooms on rooms directly they could be showed only on minimap? In Dungeon Keeper 1 when you hover mouse on room/trap/door or room/trap/door icon in room/9trap/door panel you can see blinking on white highlight of selected room/trap/door on minimap. I think player could see it better on minimap especially if could zoom in/out it to see more and white borders would not exist and a little harm the game look like now,
- ...zooming minimap in/out option - just by clicking + or -,

- I don't think having the chain connections on the minimap only will be enough for the player, it can be hard to see even now.
- Yeah I like that!

[Sebt]

Test it then.
It's much harder to see connections in main 3D view at higher angle then on 2D minimap especially if you regulate range of chain connections visibility by zooming minimap out you could see much more then from main view especially if you don't want to change your camera view and I think these white borders are little disturbing, but that's my opinion.

If you want, try to zoom out the main view for different angles and find out places that are chained - I'm sure as angle is closer to 90 degrees as better overall outlook you get. Try also with rooms that are chained with each other in longer distances, only 2D view will give you the clearest view what is where and with what chained, especially that as far you try to look as more blured view of farther positioned point. As bigger is dungeon as harder will be to see everything chained.

SU: Definitely great idea, what's more maybe we cold give the player a choice - to see chain connections in main view or minimap and option to turn them on/off. +2

[Seriously Unserious]

Test it then.

...

If you want, try to zoom out the main view for different angles and find out places that are chained - I'm sure as angle is closer to 90 degrees as better overall outlook you get. Try also with rooms that are chained with each other in longer distances, only 2D view will give you the clearest view what is where and with what chained, especially that as far you try to look as more blured view of farther positioned point. As bigger is dungeon as harder will be to see everything chained.

SU: Definitely great idea, what's more maybe we cold give the player a choice - to see chain connections in main view or minimap and option to turn them on/off. +2

You bring up some very good points... and thanks.