MSDOS Version Bugs

Any developer realated stuff
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Maven
Posts: 138
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:39 pm

MSDOS Version Bugs

Post by Maven »

When adventuring at night in Skara Brae, you meet tougher monsters and get better booty then in the daytime.

Unless you drop into the Catacombs for a second (like, to play a song), and come back out.

It's still night, and you can't go visit Garth or the Review Board, and you don't regenerate Spell Points. But you also don't meet any Wolves or Zombies or Jade Monks, and you won't find any helms or instruments or Mthr Swords.
drifting
Posts: 152
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 10:21 pm

Post by drifting »

That's a good one. I can confirm it from looking at the disassembly. It's not limited to the Catacombs. It will manifest when the party enters any dungeon at night and then leaves again at night.
drifting
Posts: 152
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 10:21 pm

Post by drifting »

In the DOS version of BT1, a melee attack by an illusion (Wind Wolf, Wind Ogre, Wind Giant and Wind Dragon) will never miss. It's due to an overflow in the melee to-hit check.
Maven
Posts: 138
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:39 pm

Re: MSDOS Version Bugs

Post by Maven »

When you first start or re-load a game, whether you can hit an opponent or not seems to adhere to the expected rules. However, there is a point after which you can ALWAYS hit any monster. I think I tracked it down to the point where you are first out in town when it turns night time. After that, even level one Conjurers with no armor can hit Skeletons and Spiders. And later on, even level one Wizards can hit Spectres.

Update: I finally found the correlation. It's after you fight a group of Magicians, and one of them casts a spell. Not the one that withers you or gives the "no effect" message -- the other one.
Last edited by Maven on Wed Jun 20, 2018 8:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
Maven
Posts: 138
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:39 pm

Re: MSDOS Version Bugs

Post by Maven »

When fighting against a single opponent, like a Samurai or Mad God or Spectre or Crystal Golem, if the opponent strikes first, any successful attack against it after that will kill it. Even if you only do 1 hit point of damage.

If the opponent doesn't go first, you have to hit it twice. Again, it doesn't matter how much damage you do as long as you do at least one hit point.
Maven
Posts: 138
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:39 pm

Re: MSDOS Version Bugs

Post by Maven »

I encountered a doppleganger in the catacombs. My party consisted of a Bard and a Conjuror. I had no special and failed the flee. I killed the doppleganger before he had a chance to jump into my party, but somehow the game decided my Bard WAS the doppleganger. My Conjuror and the doppleganger Bard fought it out to the bitter end, and the doppleganger won. I got the "Sorry, Bud" screen and ended up back in the Adventurer's Guild, even though my Bard/doppleganger still had hit points left. I removed my Bard/doppleganger from the party so I could add a Wizard and go resurrect my Conjuror.

After that, every time I added my Bard to the party and went adventuring, the first time I got in a battle he would turn hostile. If I cast Disrupt Illusion, he would turn into a doppleganger and fight until I killed him, at which point he would disappear.

This was incredibly annoying, and I tried everything I could to get him back to normal -- healing at the temple, possession or Mind Warp spells, Disrupt Illusion, Flesh Restore and Restoration spells... nothing doing. The only thing that would end the battle was killing him. I tried various methods, all of which ended up with him disappearing. Which didn't help, because then I couldn't remove him from the party and save over the bugged file.

Eventually I resorted to editing the .tpw character file. There were two 01 bytes, at offsets 95 and 97, that I had never seen before. All of my other characters have 0's at those offsets. I changed them to 0 and my Bard returned to normal.
Maven
Posts: 138
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:39 pm

Re: MSDOS Version Bugs

Post by Maven »

I have known for a long time that there are issues with the game when you reach level 256. It's easy to guess why, but I recently did some tests to see how it actually acts in different situations.

1) Somehow the level advancement code is broken. If you attempt to advance additional level at the Review Board, they will advance you even though you don't get any additional experience. Basically you get free advancement just for the asking. Your hit points and spell points will continue to go up, and after they get beyond 9999 they show up as ****, although internally it goes higher.

2) If you subsequently get hit by a spectre, vampire, or spectre mace and lose a level, you experience number loses 256 levels. For example, if you keep advancing up to level 300, and then you get hit by a Spectre, your experience goes down to what it would be if you were level 43, which is (300 - 256) - 1. Then you lose the ability to get free advancements.

3) Monks continue to hit 8 times for max damage.

4) I was able to run from things 100% of the time at level 256 in town. Although my lead Monk had Luck 18 and was wearing a luckshield, so it probably wasn't a conclusive test.

I'm going to try it with a magic user and see how much damage their MindFist does.

5) Your initiative continues to increase, even with low battle count. At level 125 or so, Monks are faster than Demon Lords and even Thors. Fighters, Paladins, and Hunters need to be level 250 or so to beat the Thor, Bards and Rogues need to be 500, and magic users, around 1000.

6) This makes it so you are pretty much invincible. You can win any fight without anyone getting hit. You just Hypnotic Image or Mage Star the front 2 groups, and maybe any opponents on the back row that might cast spells or do group damage. Although magic users or paladins level 36 or up with a luckshield will resist any spell or breath weapon.

7) At level 1000, Wizards often do 8,000+ damage with Mind Fist. Typically, 4,000-7,000. Once in a while less than 4,000 or over 9,000. I have seen over 10,000 damage, but it is rare.

8) About level 3500 or so, your Mind Fist starts to do negative damage at times. At level 7600 or so for wizards, your hit points start showing up negative on the main screen. A few levels later, hit points roll over.
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