Modded VGame client (10/19/2023 - v1.1.3)

[Seifens]

The flickering is tricky... it seems to come and go based on processor load and how much is going on (and more load doesn't always equate to more flicker, either)... I certainly didn't touch anything related to the renderer in this update, so likely your environment is just slightly different than it was the last time you ran it. I have a fix for it in mind, but it's a bit involved so I don't know when I'll get to it.

Krishna3ca had a patch for the flickering, but I've already integrated that. I'll bump it up on my list. Hopefully I can get to it sooner than later.

[wsensor]

Hmm... stupid flickering lol. I am using this modded client from now on lol.

(You should ask Krishna3ca if there is any features that could be added. Like extra features not currently in the engine at all... even if you have to modify the save file some/program file.)

Could you program an visual editor? (That lets you create the levels/monsters/weapons/armors/stuffs) without modifying the save file directly?

[Firon]

the patch krishna provided causes the game to freeze....and it caused the bug where loading the game makes images stick to the background

[wsensor]

I noticed that I had a save file in the my documents folder 0.o...
Not sure how it got there but it did...

[Aces]

I'm having an insane number of problems... Have I installed it wrong?

The hell am I doing?

V-Game doesn't even play for me. Works damn fine for everyone else though who runs Windows 7...

I can make the game start, but the screen is ALWAYS blank.

[Seifens]

It's possible you have the .jar file in the wrong directory. It needs to go into VGame/Production/vgame.jar. If you have the default install, there will be a bunch of .class files and another .jar file in the directory, along with the two .mdb files (VData.mdb and VSave.mdb).

When I start it up in the wrong directory, that's basically what I see (though there's a bunch of error popups first... not sure if I added those recently or not).

[Seifens]

Just uploaded v0.4.

Major updates include sorting of the main screen lists, color coding in the lists for certain things, and a fix for the flicker. Also, my first one and a half gameplay changes are in, though hopefully they won't affect the actual gameplay.

'Wandering' creatures now wander much less frequently (though hunting ones will still go after their target at full speed), and map props will sort correctly with respect to characters, meaning that theoretically a modder could add a tree or a column or something as a map prop instead of as a creature and still allow the player to move 'behind' it. I'm not anticipating this to be widely used, as it's not supported by the original engine and therefore wouldn't look right, but anyone modding specifically for this client can keep it in mind.

Check the first post for the download and full changelist.

[Leika]

I had an idea for your next version, sort of inspired by Diablo. Would it be possible to make the text for your armor and weapon change to red when they get down to 10% of their durability, so you know they need to be repaired urgently?

[justaname333]

Under 30% durability would be a better point for the game to display a warning, you can take some pretty big hits to durability if you're not careful.

[Seifens]

I was thinking about this myself, and it's definitely important information, so it should be available somewhere. Usually when I get eaten the first thing in my mind is "I hope my equipment doesn't get digested".

The only question is where. A red name might be sufficient, though I'm using the foreground color in the list to represent other things right now, and your current equipment isn't necessarily always visible in the limited list view. The other thing I was considering was a secondary display the way Diablo does it where icons for severely damaged items will show up in a common spot, but only when they are so damaged.

I already have icons for each of the equipment types, so it wouldn't be hard to organize them somewhere in the dash - maybe the character panel.

[justaname333]

Also, with the latest version it's been a little bit annoying to cast certain spells I like, because the auto-sorting is putting all my most used spells far away from each other. Grow/shrink, televore, natural way skills, etc, get quite annoying to constantly scroll between.

The auto-sort for the inventory is very much appreciated, the spells menu, not so much. Perhaps add a settings menu to toggle auto-sorting for spells or items on and off, although there may be a problem on how to save such settings without breaking save compatibility with the original client.

Anyway, with all the major issues fixed, I guess I can begin with the nitpicking.

-A few cases when I was button mashing the move keys, I would bump into an NPC and open up two dialogue windows at the same time.

-Occasionally when some events are run, the game freezes for 5-8 seconds or so before continuing as normal, this could just be my shitty processor however.

-This is a bug that I also noticed in the original client, but when something that has already dead characters in it's womb is killed by digestion, the characters in it's womb are placed in the womb of whatever was digesting it's unbirther.
For example, if a breeding demon unbirths a sewer mutant and kills it, putting it's status as "Absorbing sewer mutant", and the player eats and digests the demon during this, the sewer mutant is placed in the player's womb after the demon is killed.

-Perhaps a "rest" button could be added, that doesn't recover any health or mana, but will jump you to the beginning of the next night or day cycle, at the cost of food. But this obviously shouldn't be available for use if there's any hostiles in the area, or if saving/item use is disabled. (So it can't be used to break something during heavily scripted areas, such as while being imprisoned at the arena.)

-Goddamn harpy/faerie/demons and their sleep/paralyze effects.

[nanakra]

Also, with the latest version it's been a little bit annoying to cast certain spells I like, because the auto-sorting is putting all my most used spells far away from each other. Grow/shrink, televore, natural way skills, etc, get quite annoying to constantly scroll between.

The auto-sort for the inventory is very much appreciated, the spells menu, not so much. Perhaps add a settings menu to toggle auto-sorting for spells or items on and off, although there may be a problem on how to save such settings without breaking save compatibility with the original client.

Feature request time!!!!!

So, I was thinking about Seifens last post and I said to myself "Self, wouldn't it be cool if Seifens VGame client had a hotbar, kind of like WOW and other MMOs?"
And then here is your comment and *ding* the light bulb goes on.
If there was an MMO style hotbar, you could add your fave items / spells / commands to it and assign them to hot keys! (1,2,3... ctrl+1, etc)
In this manner, the auto-sorting can stay (which I love!) and the most used fun stuff can be added to an easy to use hotbar!
Best of both worlds!

-A few cases when I was button mashing the move keys, I would bump into an NPC and open up two dialogue windows at the same time.

Yes, this happens to me, and bugs the hell out of me too!
Would be nice if there was a toggle that could be checked that keeps that from happening when in combat.
Also would be nice if it would only open up one window.

This also happens on the info and status buttons.
Hit the button more than once and multiple windows open.
For the status and info buttons, they should act as a toggle.
Press it once and it opens, press again and it closes.

-Occasionally when some events are run, the game freezes for 5-8 seconds or so before continuing as normal, this could just be my shitty processor however.

This happens to me too, usually during combat.
I don't think it has anything to do with the processor as I have a quad-core with 8gig of ram.

-Perhaps a "rest" button could be added, that doesn't recover any health or mana, but will jump you to the beginning of the next night or day cycle, at the cost of food. But this obviously shouldn't be available for use if there's any hostiles in the area, or if saving/item use is disabled. (So it can't be used to break something during heavily scripted areas, such as while being imprisoned at the arena.)

I second this request! A button with a pop-up that asks you for how long to reset, kind of like the RPG Arcaneum.

-Goddamn harpy/faerie/demons and their sleep/paralyze effects.

I'd also love to have a button I could click on that would show me a MAP!!!!!
I can't tell you how easy it is to get lost in this game.
The map doesn't have to be elaborate and can be setup so that it only shows you the areas that you have visited.
This way, NPCs that give you quests, can mark your map as to where it is that you need to go!
Also, it can show important areas, caves, towns, shops in towns, etc.


You are doing a great job on this Seifens! I can't see myself ever going back to the original client!

[Seifens]

All good ideas, so hopefully I won't forget any of them, but in no particular order:

Manual arrangement - The auto sort is actually built on a manual sort feature I added during v0.4 development. I had figured the auto-sort worked so well nobody would want to manually arrange anything any more, but I'll totally put it back in. And the save db does record the order of the items in the list, so however you arrange them, that's how they'll stay.

Hotbar - A good idea, but tricky to pull off. The biggest issue is that It wouldn't save - there's nothing like that in the current db, so there wouldn't be a good place to store it. I'll look into it at some point, but no promises.

Event pause bug - I haven't seen this issue. Are there any specific events it happens with regularly?

Dialog issues - I've been spending most of my time on the main window, but the sub windows are definitely on my radar as well. I hadn't been aware of the duplicate story dialogs, though, so it's good to have that brought to my attention - I'll make sure to look into it when I get there. Being able to open multiple info/status windows was a request by Throku back on the first page to enable easy comparison of items/enemies/etc. It was a feature of the original client, so makes sense to leave in.

Womb digestion bug - That's a wacky scenario, but I think I know why it's happening. I'll look into it.

Rest button - Stuff like this is gameplay related, and I'm a bit reluctant to change it. What if, for example, Krishna3ca added a 'survive until nightfall' quest somewhere? The button would effectively bypass it. I also know for example there's a script trigger based on passed time, and a feature like this could easily break something like that as well. However, I do have other time related stuff to look at, so I'll take this into consideration.

Maps - Great idea, not gonna happen. The nature of the game data makes this exceedingly difficult, particularly since rooms aren't contiguous. i.e., if you go north, then south, you may not end up in the same room you started in. Obviously this is not the case in most places, but there's nothing about the engine that enforces it. Second, there's a lot of overlap/compression. Think about the second or third town (I forget which) - the whole town is basically compressed into a single 'outside' square (i.e., you can circle around it as if it were a single map square, and enter from the north or south, but the town itself takes up several squares internally. Inconsistencies like this make it very difficult to auto-generate a coherent map.

Harpy/fairy 'bug' - Have you considered simply accepting your role as a food-creature for these majestic sky-goddesses? I find that often works best, as everyone gets what they want.

[wsensor]

Could you add in Tabs (Equipment Slots) that use your auto sort feature but group the inventory into subgroups? (You don't have to change the sub groups just use the auto sort)
I would still love to see all weapons in one tab all armors in another all food items in another all non sellable items in another and all misc useable ones in another.

[Aces]

Is there any way to let the game run on its own? "Skipping your turn" so to speak?

In Duamutef's VRPG, it ran by its self sometimes. I'd like the option at least to have it run on its own, repeatedly giving the "stand" command every number of seconds for example.

[Revx_Z]

I'd like to repeat the request for a map and suggest a way it might be doable - AFAIK the overland world is consistent. Display that with a "You are here" red circle, and when the protagonist is inside a city or a cave, don't try to map those, but just show the cave entrance or city tile. Would that work?

[nanakra]

Maps - Great idea, not gonna happen.

*Cries* But... but please?

I'd like to repeat the request for a map and suggest a way it might be doable - AFAIK the overland world is consistent. Display that with a "You are here" red circle, and when the protagonist is inside a city or a cave, don't try to map those, but just show the cave entrance or city tile. Would that work?

I was thinking along similar lines.
Having a mapping system that consisted of "Areas"
For example:
Area 1 is the overworld for Chapter 1.
On Area 1 there are the cave entrance for the vore temple, the entrance for the town, and the entrance to that gypsy lady.
The entrance to the dark elves cave would be hidden as it only appears at night and is supposed to be secret.
Once one enters any of the entrances, the map changes and then shows only the new Area, i.e Town map 1 if you were to enter the town or Cave map 1 if you entered the cave.
If one were to enter an area that shifted, like the maze forest in zelda, then when you looked at the map it could have a message that stated "Here there be dragons!" or some such nonsense. Also, things could get interesting if you were to look at the map when swallowed by a beastie or girl. Hmmm, would be cool if there were a baddie that swallowed you and then you were transported to a digestive system map... outside the scope of the client, but still a neat idea content wise. Hope Krishna3ca is reading this!

All in all it could work that way.

Hotbar - A good idea, but tricky to pull off. The biggest issue is that It wouldn't save - there's nothing like that in the current db, so there wouldn't be a good place to store it. I'll look into it at some point, but no promises.

For the hotbar, could it be possible to make a second save database or maybe even a text file that stored the client preferences?
Would make it possible to add other features without mucking up the normal save database.

Also, just a tangent rant, I never quite understood the reason for keeping things arranged in one database the way it is with Vgame.
It makes much more sense to have each chapter modularized and have its own independent database structures and associated game files in it's own data folder. This would make it so that new updates didn't mess up past game data, would make it easier to issue a game patch, and would also make it infinitely easier to add a mod that wouldn't then be messed up by a new chapter release. The way it is now, it is like a nightmare trying to install the game from scratch, Phantom_One will easily attest to that, and having such a large database can't help with game speed issues any as it has to scan a 46Mb file regardless of what chapter you are on, rather then say a 5Mb file for just the current chapter.
Okay, tangent rant over.
Move along, nothing to see here...

Event pause bug - I haven't seen this issue. Are there any specific events it happens with regularly?

For me it tends to happen the more baddies that are on screen, even when that speed button is set to 7.
The client seems to handle 2 - 3 hostiles with no issue, but more than that and things start to slow down.
After that, the game will randomly pause for a few seconds when there are more than 5 hostiles on screen.
I don't know much in the way of java, but it sounds to me like there is a for - while loop that is bogging things down, but it is definitely something going on in the logic structure. Looking at the issue again, it seems that the game logic is handling each hostile in a one after the other kind of way rather than in parallel. I.e hostile girl 1 attacks hostile girl 2, hostile girl 1 makes attack sound, changes graphic, calc's damage, calc's vore attempt, etc. Then hostile girl 2's logic is processed and so on. It's possible that those sub processes could be broken up so that they are executed in parallel outside of anything that would slow the responsiveness of the client down, but like I said, I don't know much about java.

Dialog issues - I've been spending most of my time on the main window, but the sub windows are definitely on my radar as well. I hadn't been aware of the duplicate story dialogs, though, so it's good to have that brought to my attention - I'll make sure to look into it when I get there. Being able to open multiple info/status windows was a request by Throku back on the first page to enable easy comparison of items/enemies/etc. It was a feature of the original client, so makes sense to leave in.

Then I humbly request a check-box that can control how the dialogs behave.
A best of both worlds solution.

Is there any way to let the game run on its own? "Skipping your turn" so to speak?

In Duamutef's VRPG, it ran by its self sometimes. I'd like the option at least to have it run on its own, repeatedly giving the "stand" command every number of seconds for example.

I know what you mean.
It'd be nice if the game was running some logic on its own with out waiting for user input, which would allow things like the status info on the game client screen to update on it's own. VGame is currently a turn-based game with all of it's code as things stand now, from what I can tell.
As much as I'd like it to be an active type system, the problem will be that the game logic is geared towards the turn-based system.
That and there would have to be some sort of logic structure put in play to stop hostile swarming, maybe some sort of aggro type system.
That was the one thing that bugged the hell out of me with Duam's vrpg.

Actually, hostile swarming is kind of an issue as it is without it being an active type system.
Perhaps there could be a logic change that makes everyone, except certain enemies, be neutral so that they don't immediately attack you, but are attack-able and will aggro on you if you cast a spell or start attacking them.

Could you add in Tabs (Equipment Slots) that use your auto sort feature but group the inventory into subgroups? (You don't have to change the sub groups just use the auto sort)
I would still love to see all weapons in one tab all armors in another all food items in another all non sell-able items in another and all misc usable ones in another.

I'd like to see this too. I love tabs for organizing things.

Harpy/fairy 'bug' - Have you considered simply accepting your role as a food-creature for these majestic sky-goddesses? I find that often works best, as everyone gets what they want.

Hmmm, you've got a point there.
Who wouldn't want a personal tour of a fairies digestive tract only to become fairy droppings and help plants grow?
Sounds like fun! Sign me up!

[Seifens]

@Map enthusiasts
I was all set to put a giant explanation here about why it wasn't possible to do area maps within the scope of my project, but I've just figured out how. It's still outside my project scope, but just barely... if anything gets an exception it'll be this. It's not easy, it's not something I can do by myself, and it likely won't be in any time soon, but it's not impossible either. You may thank Nanakra for the inspiration.

@wsensor
Tabs for equipment was one of my original plans, but I've been putting it off for a variety of reasons. Primarily the extra vertical space it would take up to have a tab bar at the top of the list, but also some of the usage issues since the lists can get pretty lopsided, and if you get a message that says 'You got X', you'd potentially have to search through all the tabs to figure out where/what it was. For now, I think the sorted list will work well enough, though I've certainly still got tabs in mind. I'm looking in the next version at doing some kind of stacking, so for certain things you'll see something like 'Greater Healing Potion (x25)', or 'Roasted Elf Ears (x3)' instead of a bunch of individual entries, and that should further reduce the clutter.

@Phantom_One
This was something I considered early on, and it's still on my list, but not for quite a while (after v1.0). The game was tuned and built from the ground up to work turn-based the way it is now, and changing that might look simple on the surface, but it would likely be quite difficult. I can imagine all kinds of balance issues cropping up, having to tune action frequencies, move speeds, how hunger is applied over time, and then there are all sorts of other UI conventions that are used for real-time games that would have to be put in to make it usable.

@nanakra
Adding a second save db for the hotbar (and other potential features) is actually pretty clever and something I hadn't considered. My only concern would be if someone is hopping back and forth between the original client and this one, they could corrupt something since the original client won't update any new dbs. I'll give it some thought.

Regarding checkboxes for features it's problematic, again, because they wouldn't save (barring something like the above). Also, my own experience is that every time you decide to support two different feature sets you just cause trouble for yourself later when you have to make changes to one and inevitably forget about the other one. At this point I'd like to just work towards a single feature set that works 'well enough' for everyone, and worry about tweaking bits of it per-user later.

[Revx_Z]

On a more basic level: Is there even a map available anywhere at present? Can one be generated from the files in any manner more efficient than walking through the game and pressing PrintScreen repeatedly?

[Seifens]

The only one I know about is a map someone made that went through chapter 3, but I don't think it's been updated since then. Don't remember where I saw it originally, though. I believe it was created exactly the way you suggest, by walking through the game and doing screen captures. You can sort of see the kind of stuff you'd have to deal with if you wanted to try auto-generating a map.

Credit goes to the person who made this originally, whose name I no longer have. I couldn't find the original post that contained the map, either, so here it is. If someone can provide a link to the OP I'll take this one down.