[net.games.rogue] yet another rogue bug

dan (05/10/82)

I just finished a game in which my hit point maximum was 126.
When my actual hit points reached my maximum, they became
negative.  This made me rather nervous, but I didn't seem to
die and my points began to climb back up past zero to reach
maximum again (at which point they became negative again ...).

I decided that I didn't like this strange behavior, so I found
a vampire and let him have a free shot at me.  Unfortunately
my hit point capacity was negative at the time.  It seems that
the program only checks for non-positive points immediately
after you get hit.

dan (05/31/82)

I think I have identified one cause of the missing staircase problem.
When the rogue program generates a new level, it places objects in
rooms at random.  It probably selects a random room and then a random
position withing the room.  If the position is occupied, it loops
and generates new positions until it comes up with one that is not
occupied.  If the room is already full, the only way to continue the
game is to hang up and restore.  This leaves the new level only partly
furnished as the staircase (and traps!) were not created before the
program hung.

I think this is what happens because whenever I restore one of these
games, I find that there is a small room with an object in every position.

P.S. Has anyone got the new distribution yet (the one with the negative
gold bug fixed)?  I only got the mail from dungeon management announcing
its impending release (two weeks ago!).

		Dan Strick
		...!duke!mcnc!idis!dan

hartman@sri-unix (06/02/82)

Depending on versions of rogue, some interesting bugs can appear:
   
   Leprachauns and nymphs if they hit you dump core and kill the game

   Arrows found on the floor after being narrowly missed from the
   arrow trap have incredible damage numbers.  (I.E.: One maybe
   two hits for a dragon or xorn...)

   The restore game bug might be due to a mv or cp of the saved 
   game filename.  If you try to use a file that is not
   the one you saved the game in, it will be detected as phoney
   (Mr. Mctesq alone knows why!), and you will not get to play.
   Solution: save the game in a filename you won't have to move.

   In addition.  Games saved after a certain level (sometimes 5)
   just bomb for no apparent reason.  Save games early if you
   ever expect to see them again.

	-rmh