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<div id="content"> |
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<h2>History of Deliantra</h2><br /> |
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<a class='button' href='about.html'>Introduction</a> |
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<a class='button' href='faq.html'>FAQ</a> |
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<a class='button' href='history.html'>History</a> |
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<div style='clear: both; margin-bottom: 20px;'></div> |
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<p> |
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Deliantra is a heavily rewritten version of Crossfire. A lot of work |
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has been done on the game server engine and the content. |
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Not only has the server code been improved but much work has also been done to help |
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balance the game. This page lists some of the significant changes from Crossfire |
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to Deliantra. |
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</p> |
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|
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<h3>Code Changes</h3> |
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|
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<ul> |
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<li> |
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lots of bugfixes, mainly crashfixes |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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better handling of file saving, allowing more reliable regular backups |
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and also a more crash-safe behavoir. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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a Perl plugin system which is actively used to improve interactivity features, |
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like the tradeshop, mana fountain, and NPC behaviour and dialog. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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the server code has been converted to C++ and a few structs are improved with |
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C++ features (templates, methods, ...) |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Perl has been moved further into the core of Deliantra, allowing more stable |
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and more interesting plugin extensions to the game. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Lots of the loading/saving code for players and maps has been rewritten/changed |
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to handle serialized Perl data. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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The 'shutdown' command has been improved to save maps and players now before |
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exiting. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Updated the server with a linux-specific improvement to the socket handling, |
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The old code sent out 2 TCP packets per command, the new one will bundle them |
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into one segment. This will decrease bandwidth requirements a lot, decreases the |
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chance of packet loss a lot and greatly reduces chances for lag. As a side effect, |
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it decreases latency without the ill side-effects of disabling nagle. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Added Linux-specific fast timeout code that kicks players out when the client |
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doesn't ack data after 20 seconds. This makes it possible to quickly re-login |
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after a "catastrophic" even such as losing your internet conenction. Also |
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player-stealing between hostile players is possible. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Added a plug-in that asynchronously pre-fetches adjacent maps from disk |
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whenever a player enters a map. This make ist highly probable that maps entered by |
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the player are already in memory and comes at almost no cost (they are loaded into |
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the OS disk cache only). As a net effect, most short freezes due to map loading |
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should be gone. |
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</li> |
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</ul> |
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|
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<h3>Balancing changes</h3> |
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|
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<ul> |
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<li>reduced draining effects by about a factor of 8</li> |
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<li> |
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Enabled limited playerkilling again, when both players are |
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hostile (there is no luck penalty). If one of the players isn't |
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hostile, then you can't attack him/her. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Rods are now limited by the use_magic_item skill of the player (+ some extra). |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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The experience table has been adjusted and made a little bit harder. |
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The 'nimbus', where you get back the lost experience compensates this a little bit. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Some of the treasurelists have been changed, for example nearly all |
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occurences of rings in monster loot have been replaced by gems. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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The IPO and Bank don't use the Python plugins anymore and have been replaced by |
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more featureful Perl plugins, eg. live mail notification of the new IPO or the handling |
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of the new royalties in the bank. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Added 3d models for some houses and monsters, unfortunately there weren't enough |
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people who had time for modelling, so the graphics set looks more mixed now, more |
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modellers are needed. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Furthermore, a setting has been added that allows players to cast town portal |
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in their personal maps such as apartments, big chests in guilds etc. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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A 'suicide' command has been added. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Stealing now never yields more exp than the monster has and also reduces monster experience. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Greatly reduced availability of skill scrolls and (to a lesser extent) enchantment scrolls, |
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to enhance class-based gameplay. Also reduced amount of generators in raffle. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Greatly reduced experience for playerkills. Disable friendly fire logic in the arena, |
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so you do not have to be hostile anymore just to visit the arena. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Put a bargaining scrolls in the Gem shop in scorn for a low price. |
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So that players can begin levelling bargaining early. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Monsters don't drop rings anymore, only gems and money instead. |
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Expanded the magic shops a bit, because monsters don't drop rings or spellbooks anymore. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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Shops have now a default maximum. |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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the difficulty calculations for maps were adjusted together with the generation |
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of scrolls, rods, wands and staffs, which are now more close to the level difficulty. |
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</li> |
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</ul> |
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|
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<h3>New systems</h3> |
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|
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<p> |
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Some sub systems have been rewritten in Perl: |
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</p> |
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|
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<ul> |
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<li> |
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The event objects have been completly removed from the archetypes and have been |
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replaced with an 'attach' field, which describes a linking point between extensions and |
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objects.<br /> |
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Look at the <a href="http://cvs.schmorp.de/deliantra/maps/perl/">perl extensions in the cvs</a> for |
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examples. |
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</li> |
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|
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<li> |
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NPCs have now a greatly increased functionality, they have a map-local states and |
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player-states. Look at the |
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<a href="doc/development/NPC_Dialogue.html">NPC Dialogues</a> |
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documentation, which explaines the Perl interface. |
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The interface allows direct script integration, dialog trees and more. |
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</li> |
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|
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<li> |
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Chat commands, NPC dialogues and lots of other things have been rewritten. |
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One new function that has already been implemented is the 'ignore' commmand. |
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One can ignore shouts/chats, tells or both from one person for a specified amount of |
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hours. |
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</li> |
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</ul> |
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</div> |
