Shadowdarke's site

How do I save MySQL blobs with Dantom.DB?

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 04:48:36 +0000

I'm using an external MySQL server in my current project. One of the core features is the icons table:
icons (iconID, iconFile)
where iconFile is a longblob.

I have no idea how to store an icon to the iconFile column using Dantom.DB. The documentation is rather sparse and none of the examples I have found help with this particular issue.

Any help is greatly appreciated! :)

Darke Dungeon Beta 0.2

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:07:41 +0000

New Features:

GM subscribers can now host the game, even if they are not a BYOND member. Since a GM may only host one server at a time, it is very important not to share out your DarkeDungeon.sav configuration file with anyone else.
Werd files for critter languages were added to the default files that come with the game.
New ?-update GM command allows the server owner to update (or rollback) the language and tips files to the current default files. The update comand does not yet alter the critter or prototype files.
Auto-overwrite on update is no longer a default setting for servers.

Bug Fixes:

Corrected several issues involving valuable prototypes were given a value of zero or less. (Thanks to Zxcvdnm)

Darke Dungeon Open Beta Release

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 22:24:46 +0000

Darke Dungeon is finally available for download. It's still somewhat buggy and many of the features still aren't completely ready, but for those of you craving to host your own DD server, your wishes have been granted! :)

BYOND Members may host the game for others to come play. Unfortunately, my Dantom hosted Darke Dungeon hub is not working right now, so you likely won't be able to host the game for long before it automatically locks the server because it can't confirm the DD hub location. I'm working with Tom to correct this problem ASAP. (The problem has been fixed. Thanks Tom!)

If you want to customize your server beyond the basic hosting admin options, you'll need to get the Darke Dungeon Gamemaster subscription at http://www.byond.com/games/Shadowdarke/ DarkeDungeonGamemaster. GM Subscriptions are $15 for a lifetime subscription, or $13.50 for BYOND Members. Remember that even if you are a Gamemaster, you must have a BYOND membership to host the game.

I encourage fans to advertise the release in any other guilds or venues which might be interested!

BigAtom Update 5

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:45:54 +0000

Over a year of silence from tall, dark, and shadowy, but I am still alive and kicking.

I have finally updated BigAtom to correct a problem with it not reporting Bump() messages as it should have. Now BigAtom parts will call Bump() whenever they are blocked by a dense atom.

I'm not 100% certain that it will handle Bump() exactly the same as the default Move() system does, but to make up for that I have made the bumping system customizable through the new bigatom_BumpCheck() proc. The bigatom_BumpCheck(turf/T) proc will be called whenever a BigAtom part is blocked from moving into turf T. By default, bigatom_BumpCheck() will call Bump() for the turf if it is dense, or the first dense atom found within the turf.

I hope this helps everyone who has been experiencing problems with BigAtom Bump()ing.

Now if I can just finish Darke Dungeon. ~.~

Solid Reasoning

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:33:16 +0000

I received an interesting bug report from Winter Tail on my Beta 3 Darke Dungeon server. it read:

"Haunts are incorporeal, right? Why do they trip traps then?"

The primary reason is for game balance. In Darke Dungeon, phasing is only a movement status. It allows you to move at a reduced rate through solid objects and prevents suffocation while you are inside solids.

I honestly gave this a lot of thought when I implemented the "phased" status effect that represents the ability of haunts and other creatures to pass through solids. Originally, I had planned to make only phased projectiles able to strike phased critters. This made phasing entirely too powerful.

The "in character" reason is that phased creatures still have a body. They are not technically "incorporeal", which means they have no material body at all. To solids that are not within their phasing effect, the critter will feel something like the consistency of Jello. You can feel them and interact with them, but if you push hard enough you pass right through. There is a definite resistance between phased objects and non-phased objects, which makes traps react to them. Weapons damage phased beings by disrupting them more rapidly than the phasing magic can compensate.

Haunts also have the floating effect, which gives them immunity to a number of basic traps like pits.

Big Overlays

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:31:13 +0000

Version 4 of BigAtom implements the bigatom_Overlay() proc, which is a step in the right direction even if it doesn't have all the nifty features I would like it to.

There are two important things to keep in mind if you are using this early version of bigatom_Overlay():

First of all, it only works in BIGATOM_NOOVERLAYS mode. ("NOOVERLAYS" in this case refers to how the BigAtom is displayed. It forces each tile of the BigAtom to have an individual atom.) Since this is the default bigatom_mode there shouldn't be many problems with this.

The other issue is that your overlay should match the base icon in size and icon_states, or it will display the basic 32x32 mini icon on parts that do not satisfy the condition. For instance, if you have a 64x96 person and try to overlay a 64x64 shirt on them, the top left and top right icons will have mini shirt icons on them. If your shirt doesn't have a "punch" state and you flick "punch", every tile will have a mini-shirt until the flick is finished.

New light on an old library

Tue, 27 May 2008 23:56:13 +0000

I've finally updated sd_DynamicAreaLighting to take advantage of alpha transparency, but it's actually much more interesting than a simple icon change. You can now use your own custom darkness icon for the overlays.

The coolest part is that you can decide exactly how many shades of darkness there are in sd_DAL version 10. The old sd_DAL had 4 basic shades of darkness. Now you can increase or even decrease that number to match your custom icons.

Compile the library in BYOND 4.0 or greater to play a demo with the new features. You can change the darkness icon between several demo icons using the "dark icon" verb.

For those of you who absolutely refuse to update to BYOND 4.0, don't worry. You can still use custom icons and shade counts without being forced to use BYOND 4.0 and transparent icons. The demo even compiles in older BYOND versions and shows developers how to selectively compile code based on compiler version.

Hope you all enjoy it!

HELP! Need testers for an IE javascript error

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:52:35 +0000

One of the long standing errors in Darke Dungeon that has probably cost me a great many players is a javascript error on the Appearance Page of Character Generation. The reason I have so much trouble with it, is that it works perfectly on every single computer I have access to. Many of the people experiencing trouble even have the same OS and browser configuration I do, so I haven't a clue what the trouble is. If I can't reproduce it, it's hard to fix it.

That's why I come here pleading for testers. Anyone willing to help, especially people who have experienced script errors at character creation in Darke Dungeon, please try these pages using Internet Explorer. Since BYOND currently only supports IE, I haven't even begun to make Mozilla or other browser versions.

http://samples.msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/samples/author/ dhtml/overview/filt_14.htm is the Microsoft demo of the filter I'm using. Everyone should have no problem getting it to work.

http://shadowdarke.byondhome.com/dd/test/old_method.htm uses the old method and should produce the same errors that you experience in Darke Dungeon, if you get them.

http://shadowdarke.byondhome.com/dd/test/index.html is the revision and I'm hoping it corrects the script errors.

http://shadowdarke.byondhome.com/dd/test/i2.html is another possible fix.

Please try each version and post your results!

All visible sections of the interface should work without errors.

Click or drag the 3 sliders on the color bars to adjust the colors of the icon on the left.
Click "Skin", "Eyes", and "Hair" to select which part to adjust.
Click the 1x, 2x, or 4x buttons to change the preview's zoom factor.
Click the hairstyles under "Hair Options" to change style.

Thanks for the help. :)

Time for the next batch of open libraries

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:10:19 +0000

Several of my libraries have been BYONDscape exclusives for years now. I've decided to set them free. :)

These libraries are now full access for anyone:

sd_DynamicAreaLighting: Fast and easy dynamic lighting. (Needs some serious work for BYOND 4.0. The changes to view() have been a real problem.)
sd_tree: Navigate lists of datums through a collapsable tree view.
PixelProjectiles: Pixel based directional projectiles

Darke Dungeon in Game Tutorial

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:55:23 +0000

I love blogging, can't you tell?

I'm looking for opinions on improving the tutorial in Darke Dungeon. I welcome your discussion at http://shadowdarke.byondhome.com/forum/ forum.cgi?action=message_read&id=3288&forum=4. :)