dik@zuring.uucp (Dik T. Winter) (03/08/86)
Very regularly a game of mine bombs. This occurs in general when I am
carryint a lot. In that case when a request is made for an item and
I answer '*' the game is saved (but not really restorable because the
restored game has the same symptoms). I suspect the inventory data
base is corrupted. I have corroborating evidence for this from transcripted
games. In one case an inventory listing has gotten bogus (mentioning 3
brown potions on separate lines; one indicated by i); the other two
indicated by ().). In another case a Nymph stole 2 potions of restore
strength, but my inventory listed afterwards still 2 of those left
(while I had 3 originally).
I have heard that the problem is still more pronounced with 5.4 rogue
under 4.3 BSD unix (a vax next door, but I have not used it).
My questions:
1. Who maintains this and is he/she aware of these problems?
2. Is it likely to be fixed?
(I am really angry at it as it happens generally in promising games at
level 13 or so.)
--
dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland
UUCP: {seismo,decvax,philabs,okstate,garfield}!mcvax!dikcs2532bn@unmc.UUCP (Mr. Modem) (03/10/86)
In article <> dik@mcvax.UUCP (Dik T. Winter) writes: >Very regularly a game of mine bombs. This occurs in general when I am >carryint a lot. In that case when a request is made for an item and I believe that the bug is when one reads a scroll of create monster and a nymph appears. If that nymph steals anything from you, you might as well quit. Your inventory is shot thereafter. Try dropping everything and attacking her. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stefan Chakerian CIS: 74365,231 {ucbvax|pur-ee|csu-cs|convex|nmtvax|lanl} unmvax!unmc!cs2532bn This is my girlfriend: ~. Her name is Tilde.
boyce@daemen.uucp (DWB) (03/12/86)
In article <284@zuring.UUCP>, dik@zuring.uucp (Dik T. Winter) writes: > Very regularly a game of mine bombs. This occurs in general when I am > carryint a lot. In that case when a request is made for an item and > I answer '*' the game is saved (but not really restorable because the > restored game has the same symptoms). I suspect the inventory data > base is corrupted. I have corroborating evidence for this from transcripted > games. In one case an inventory listing has gotten bogus (mentioning 3 > brown potions on separate lines; one indicated by i); the other two > indicated by ().). In another case a Nymph stole 2 potions of restore > strength, but my inventory listed afterwards still 2 of those left > (while I had 3 originally). > I have heard that the problem is still more pronounced with 5.4 rogue > under 4.3 BSD unix (a vax next door, but I have not used it). > When we received "Advanced Rogue Version 2.0", (rogue from Bell Labs) it too had a problems like that. (i.e. fighting a monster in a maze (not dungeon) was the surest way to bomb the game.) The remedy to that was very simple, it has to do with a global varible called `version[]' in vers.c. It is used by the "save" functions as the "lowest" memory address for the write to the file. This will only work if it linked first in the final compilation (i.e. cc -O vers.o ..... -o srogue). When I first got it wasn't like this, but since I had worked on adding a save routine to midway (by uc berkeley) I changed it, recompiled it and haven't had a problem since. Since the source to 5.{3,4} is not distributed I would suggest you switch to a rogue clone like hack or any other. Nothing is more frustrating than `attempting to' play a game with buggy code. -- Doug Boyce Daemen College, Buffalo NY UUCP : decvax!sunybcs!daemen!boyce or ihnp4!kitty!daemen!boyce ARPA : boyce%buffalo@csnet-relay.arpa "Of course the Nielsen ratings are accurate... We proved it in a taste test!"
tims@zeus.UUCP (Tim Stoehr) (03/18/86)
> 1. Who maintains this and is he/she aware of these problems? > 2. Is it likely to be fixed? Everyone whose ever played the game is aware of the problem. Remember, only bugs that help you win will be fixed. At ANY time, rogue 5.3 can die on you, or otherwise terminate your game with some bug. Remember, rogue is designed to prevent you from winning, period. With that in mind, where's the incentive to fix this type of bug? Or should I say feature? Your inventory problem sounds like the infamous nymph bug. Below is a list of some game-ending bugs and how to avoid them: 1.) Nymph bug Don't let a nymph take something from you. If it's an item that condenses in your inventory, (3 scrolls of ...), and you have more than one, then your inventory data base gets fatally corrupted, I've never been able to recover from this. Some people claim this bug happens whenever a nymph steals anything. Nymphs may be safely fought by dropping everything except the armor that your wearing and the weapon that your wielding. They won't take these. Standing back and launching weapons works great, just don't fall down a trap-door after you drop all your goodies. BUT REMEMBER, YOU CANNOT PICK UP A SCARE MONSTER SCROLL ONCE IT HAS LEFT YOUR PACK. 2.) Fly-trap bug Never teleport, or drop down to the next level, while being held by a fly-trap. Oh yeah, and don't teleport it away with a wand of teleport. You will be eternally held with no means of defeating the fly-trap that is holding you. This is a simple oversight of rogue's author in failing to clear a flag when you escape from the arms of a fly-trap by any means other than defeating it. 3.) Save-game bug Everybody runs into this now and then, when you least expect it, the game saves itself and quits. Attempts to restore the game immediately result in the game saving itself again. The chances of this happening seem to be greater in games that have been been legitimately saved and restored. There is nothing you can do to avoid this bug. You can possibly reduce its frequency by saving as few games as possible.
tedrick@ernie.berkeley.edu (Tom Tedrick) (03/18/86)
> [ ... ] Nymphs may > be safely fought by dropping everything except the armor that > your wearing and the weapon that your wielding. They won't take > these. The rings you are wearing are also safe. Well, I hate to mention this for fear it will be fixed, but noone has mentioned the bug about identifying wands/staffs yet ... Also, has anyone noticed that "naturally" enchanted leather armor is safe from aquators, while if you enchant it with scrolls of enchant armor it isn't safe (ie if you find +3 leather armor lying around you can wear it and aquators won't harm it, while if you find +0 leather armor and enchant it aquators will do it harm). I wonder what happens if you enchant "naturally enchanted" leather armor. -Tom tedrick@ernie.berkeley.edu