Rocks'n'Diamonds with Krissz game engine

[igormakovsky]

Unbelievable.

Like a lifetime stock of high quality vanilla bd levels that leaves you with the feeling that every cave idea was already designed.

1. Is there a limit for cave sizes in Krissz caves?
2. How do I change the tile size inside the editor like in Mona Lisa to make them smaller or larger? I see these settings inside .conf files.

[igormakovsky]

Is it normal setting in Krissz compatible engine to snap elements diagonally?

[artsoft]

1. Is there a limit for cave sizes in Krissz caves?
2. How do I change the tile size inside the editor like in Mona Lisa to make them smaller or larger? I see these settings inside .conf files.

1. Yes, the cave size limit in the cave construction kit on Krissz' BD site is 100 x 100 tiles.

2. This is indeed a custom graphics set configuration value that cannot be changed in the editor.

To use half-sized tiles when playing any cave, you can use the "small game graphics" setting in the setup menu (under "graphics"). To use a much smaller tile size like in the "Mona Lisa" cave set, you would have to add a custom graphics configuration file that defines an even smaller tile size. But once you have such a custom graphics configuration, you can use it for any cave set you want, by setting "override level graphics" to "yes" in the setup menu (under "custom artwork").

Is it normal setting in Krissz compatible engine to snap elements diagonally?

Definitely not! It's a nasty bug that was quickly fixed in version 4.4.1.2. Which version are you using? The latest version is 4.4.1.3.

[igormakovsky]

Thank you for your answers and for info on the outdated RnD version — I was using 4.4.1.1

Where do you write information on the newly updated releases of the Krissz compatible version?

On the Gdash thread there are no updates since 4.4.1.1 (why not update info there as well?)
https://www.boulder-dash.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=688

I couldn't find info on the new release here, as well. Maybe I missed, though.

[quimby]

Artsoft -- are you going to convert more Krissz's engine levels from more authors? I think you should do the levels from Insch and Lemming, just to name a couple of authors.

[artsoft]

Thank you for your answers and for info on the outdated RnD version — I was using 4.4.1.1

Where do you write information on the newly updated releases of the Krissz compatible version?

I should write it here, but just forgot it!

Hope to remember it next time!

In general, you will always find announcements of new R'n'D versions here:

https://www.artsoft.org/rocksndiamonds/news/

To also get notified of new versions by mail, you could register at the R'n'D forum:

https://www.artsoft.org/forum/

Forum members can then enable notifications for new posts there, for example for all new posts in the "Announcements" forum section.

But you are right, I should post it here, too, at least for new versions that contain changes affecting the BD engine.

On the Gdash thread there are no updates since 4.4.1.1 (why not update info there as well?)
https://www.boulder-dash.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=688

I couldn't find info on the new release here, as well. Maybe I missed, though.

No, it was my fault -- also forgot to update that thread regarding the last two new R'n'D versions.

Just updated it, too! Thanks for the reminder!

[artsoft]

Artsoft -- are you going to convert more Krissz's engine levels from more authors? I think you should do the levels from Insch and Lemming, just to name a couple of authors.

Yes, there's more to come -- thank you for your suggestions of authors that you would like to see in the next release of the cave collection!

[artsoft]

Happy to be able to announce another update of the "Krissz Engine cave collection"!

Caves created by the following "new" members have been added: Atarakushi, Chayan, Electronvolt, Heywood, Insch, Lemming, PMilan, Shredder and Zsom. Then, a number of caves have been added for the members already present in the previous version of the cave collection.

As an addition, many classic caves have been added (most of them already known from the GDash collection, which have been re-created for the Krissz BB engine), which were created by the following original cave creators: Arno Weber, CWS, Don Pedro, Firefox, Marek Roth, Rolf Roth, Ron van Schaik, Stormbringer and Tropyx.

Download the package using the updated link in the first post of this thread, or directly here.

Have fun playing all those great new caves!

[igormakovsky]

I'm playing Trischi numbered set of caves (without skipping) and want to be sure if caves are finishable no matter old engine.

This is cave 101 and fireflies are cycling from the beginning and I want to be sure if that is normal behaviour in this cave.

At the start, they're facing down. Here's illustration:



What's the main differences between old and new engine, so that I should be aware of these incompatibilities when playing cavesets?

[artsoft]

I just have checked this case, and found the reason why this cave does not work as expected: The two fireflies that are just cycling should not start moving down, but moving left (which makes sense here, and results in the expected movement behavior)!

So apparently this cave (and probably a number of other "old engine" caves) has been converted incorrectly regarding filefly start direction!

I will check how this problem occurred in the first place, how it can be corrected, and which other "old engine" caves are also affected.

Thanks a lot for reporting this problem!

Update 1:

Forgot to answer your second question:

What's the main differences between old and new engine, so that I should be aware of these incompatibilities when playing cavesets?

In fact, as far as I know and as I can tell, the main difference is indeed in how butterflies and fireflies are handled, which probably renders a number of "old engine" caves unsolvable with the current BD engine implementation in R'n'D.

Update 2:

This difference between the "old engine" and "new engine" implementation regarding butterfly and firefly behavior is also a reason why the cave "Arno 19 Flying quartet" (from the "Arno's Numbered Caves" cave set) you mentioned earlier in this thread is still not solvable (even after fixing the "open borders" in that cave with the latest package, which were not there in the original cave and caused the immediate death of the player).

Update 3:

I was wrong in "Update 2": This cave ("Arno 19 Flying quartet") has the same problem of fireflies starting in the wrong direction as the cave mentioned in the previous post! (Well, probably as expected, as this seems to be a general problem with all converted "old engine" caves.)

After manually fixing that specific cave, it is in fact solvable (even though it seems to be specially designed to require a frame-perfect solution)! That's a cool cave indeed!

So this seems to affect all converted "old engine" caves. I will try to check if there are other wrong starting directions, and if they can easily be fixed...

[artsoft]

All "old engine" caves in the Krissz BD cave collection that were incorrectly converted could be fixed!

The updated package can be downloaded from the first post of this thread, or here.

At least cave "Arno 19 Flying quartet" (from the "Arno's Numbered Caves" cave set) you have reported here is solvable now, and the fireflies in cave "Trischi117" now move correctly (although I wasn't able to solve that cave so far).

[igormakovsky]

Can't find words to say that ...



Since Krissz seem not to react to my personal email for his site access, I'd ask here: where do players discuss on how to finish some BD levels (especially tough ones, based on Krissz engine that are 100% finishable)?

[artsoft]

Thank you, igormakovsky, I'm pleased that you like my efforts to preserve the BD legacy!

Regarding your mail to Krissz to ask for access to his BD site, I would suggest to just friendly ask again -- in my experience, he usually answers mails to him, but it may take some time.

Regarding discussion of how to solve tough BD caves, I think you're at the right place here! At least I don't know any better, even though this forum is really very quiet in the last time. But the die-hard BD fans are somewhere around here, I would say, like Dustin posting some ultra-expert BD playing posts every now and then.

So I would suggest just opening a new thread in this forum for this purpose, with a subject like "How to solve these hard Krissz BD caves?" or something along these lines.