Paperdoll Questions.

[Daniel]

Hi there.

I was just wandering if there was ever going the paperdoll function whereby your Sleeping Bag, Two handed weapon or anything else could sit nicely on your back like they do in Serpent Isle?
That also reminds me about cloaks. In Serpent Isle you could wear cloaks on your back and see them in the paperdoll. It look cool, so I was wondering if this feature will ever be implemented into BG?
Also, is anything going to be done about the original but aweful graphics with Great Helms?

Thankyou For Listening.

[Dominus]

No, BG is restricted to the slots you have when the SI-style paperdoll is disabled.
Cloaks is probably the same problem as the Avatar costume - ask Colourless for details why you can't equip them.
Graphic of great helm, probably not as someoen would have to draw a substitute...

[Daniel]

Oh I see

[Colourless]

In BG cloaks and the avatar costume equip in your Armour slot. So if you want to equip them, you need to remove your armour.

-Colourless Dragon

[Skutarth]

Hmm, I thought about something. Has anyone tried equiping the costume without the paperdoll and turning the paperdoll back on? That might work...

[Dominus]

Skutharth: it won't work! 1st we don't have paperdoll art for the costume, 2nd we still do not have more slots.

[Skutarth]

I know! how about you take the magic armor paperdoll art and just take the blinking colors out?

[Oblivious]

I'll probably work on the paperdolls some more when I get back from my vacation.

[Daniel]

Skutarth has a good idea.

[Ignitus Dragon]

Slots must be some type of function in the usecode, so instead of just uhh 6 slots is it? Add a few more.
Well if you know where in usecode it is.

[wjp]

> Slots must be some type of function in the usecode

Uh, what do you mean by that?

[wjp]

Also, it wouldn't really be too hard to add the SI slots to BG, but it would break the non-SI-paperdoll display, which would mean BG wouldn't be playable properly anymore if you don't have SI.

[Kiwi]

There's no way to add the extra slots to the original BG inventory screens?

[wjp]

Well, I guess that would be possible with a little shuffling, but why?

[Ignitus Dragon]

Well I mean't, the slot structure is probly controlled in usecode, so I figured that maybe something like the backpack slot had its own function in usecode, which is called when the player views his inventory.
This is based on my understanding of what usecode controls, so I've not taken a look at usecode really, but anyway, if you could possibly add another instance of the backpack slot...you'd have room for something else, like a bedroll.

[wjp]

No, usecode has nothing to do with the slots. The function called (if any) depends on the object in the slot, not on which slot.

[Ignitus Dragon]

Well the image shown depends on the object, but how does the slots work, boolean(in this case, empty or full) or item number?
I'm confusing myself.
OK, so the usecode is basicly the stuff that tells where everything goes?

[Ignitus Dragon]

The question still stands though, why can't you add another instance of a slot? You can't put a sword in the backpack slot(except for BG) so does this mean that SI and BG have totally different item-allowances in each slot? SI rejects swords in backpack slots, which leads to the conclusion that each slot is made for one thing only(but then they have many different objects for each hand which totally erases that slot), if you only had one item this would be easy, if I were going to add the use of more than one item in one slot, I would have some type of object number system , and an outside segement of code(or as I'd say a function) named after the item number would be called when dealing with that object. Perhaps this is totally confusing and makes no sense, or else sounds very complex and not worth dealing with, but thats just how it was when I tried my hand at inventory coding in text-adventures. I know text parser games and Ultima 7 are much different, but in a way the way the objects are utilized can very well be alot alike.

[wjp]

> OK, so the usecode is basicly the stuff that tells where everything goes?

Usecode is the code that handles what objects 'do'. It drives the game plot, and all the world-interaction U7 is famous for.

It does _not_ handle inventory management. What goes where is all specified by us. (by Colourless, specifically)

> why can't you add another instance of a slot?

a 'slot' isn't something of which instances exist. There are just several inventory slots. In BG there are fewer slots than in SI. We (tried to) duplicate this as closely as possible, even when using the SI-style paperdolls in BG.
It wouldn't be hard at all to add _all_ of the SI slots to BG, but as I said, this would break the BG-style inventory graphics. This is fixable, but with lots of tedious work, and I can't think of a good reason why you would want it.

[artaxerxes]

willem:

who cares if it breaks the BG-style inventory graphics, since you need SI to have paperdoll support.

I see it like that:
* you have both BG and SI and option for BG paperdoll is on => same functionality for BG as SI
* you have both BG and SI and option for BG paperdoll is off => identical to orignal version
* you have only BG => no paperdoll support.

Now the question is, what if the option is "on" and then turned "off" during the game ?

Well, any object appearing in an "unauthorized" slot would be automatically transfered to the backpack if there is room, otherwise it is put on the floor.

Do I make sense ?
Artaxerxes

[wjp]

Well, the same would have to happen if you toggle between SI-style paperdolls and BG-style paperdolls in BG. And if you load a savegame from someone who has the full-SI-style paperdolls while you only have the BG functionality... etc.. etc..

I really don't like the idea of having something as critical as internal inventory management changing by toggling an in-game option.

[Ignitus Dragon]

Excuse me for my ignorance on this subject, I was just offering what little I understand. *cute little smirk* My experience with the internals of Ultima go little beyond simple hex editing, but your definition of the usecode is basicly the same as mine(I think), however I still don't fully understand how the inventory slots work(but its not worth explaining to me, being that I'm thick headed lol) .
Also, you could probably add SI's inventory slots with out actually having SI, however that would still result in corrupt savegames if you played the savegame on a computer with out Exult. Then again, this probably already exists, with the changes that Exult has already made.

[wjp]

> I still don't fully understand how the inventory slots work

They don't really do anything. They're just there, and you can put items in them.


> if you played the savegame on a computer with out Exult

How would you play Exult saves without Exult?

[Ignitus Dragon]

Wow...I didn't notice that before. So you can't...hmm...

[Daniel]

Okay, I haven't really been bothered reading all of the above programming arguments so what's going to happen now?

[SB-X]

You will have to remove your armour to wear a cloak or the avatar costume.

[IgnitusDragonn]

I agree with the avatar costume part of it, but not with the cloak. You still have the neck slot right? Why not put the cloak in the neck slot.

[Colourless]

/me looks around

*cough*

I take it you haven't even tried to wear a cloak lately in Exult. Cloaks are now equiped in the Neck slot in BG since about a week ago.

-Colourless Dragon

[IgnitusDragonn]

I haven't played Black Gate in a few weeks, wow, you people musta read me mind or sumfinks eh?
So did that just go to me or to both me and SB-X ;p

[SB-X]

No I havn't played Exult for a month. I was just repeating your original answer again since you sounded pretty definate.