EXCOM

Added Weather. See new Weather section for in-depth details.

• Weather is decided by TWSRS (Temperature, Wind, Sun, Rain, Season) Combination.

  1. Temperature, Wind, Sun, and Rain are decided by the similarly named value fields within $BasicGeneralVariables, Cells C33 through C36. Cell C32 determines the current season.

     • Values are determined based upon multiplying AI Month Value and AI Hour Value, alongside the CHOOSE command to dictate values. This leaves a four, 24 by 12 matrices which govern the four values.

     • Once value are determined, string interpretation of the values are combined together. The string interpretation is then cross referenced against Table8 within the sheet to find the appropriate weather tag.

       • So long as no new string interpretations are added for Temperature, Wind, Sun, and Rain, then Table8 Contains all 288 possible combinations.

       • Please also note, these are just the possible combinations and not the order of combinations. Some of the combinations may never trigger but are there for completeness.

• Added Weather Maker sheet to the helper tool in order to help visualize values and provide an easy way to generate strings for AI Hour and AI Month values.

  1. This can be useful if a different climate is wanted, for some reason. For instance, snow in a desert environment doesn’t make sense or if you want to use the Southern Hemisphere’s weather pattern instead of the Northern Hemisphere’s weather pattern (December becomes more like the start of Summer instead of the start of Winter, etc.) for your own immersion.

     • I suppose you could also make a few different weather years, and use the either the MOD or Year() function to determine how the weather will be for that year.

Added alternative image type selection.

• The default priority for image types is .gif, then .png, and lastly .jpg. But this can be changed to any priority or for any other image types, and can be any length so long as it follows the form [First Priority$Second Priority$Third Priority$...$Last Priority].

• This priority can be adjusted as the player wants, and other image types can be added. If EXCOM finds a picture with the right file name and type, the search stops and it will load that image.

• This works for all processes which loads a picture. This includes, and is limited to;

  1. Player Sprites

  2. NPC Talking Heads

  3. ETCS, MPB (Only if not loading from the $Image sheet)

     • This includes Map Splashes

  4. Backdrops

Player Character’s sprite can now be set up to use 2-Directional sprites, 4-Directional, and 8-Directional.

• Base EXCOM will only use the 2-Directional sprites.

  1. If using 2-Directional sprites, EXCOM has built in the ability to flip the sprite. So only one sprite is needed per animation state type (Default, Wet, etc.).

  2. The default assumption for 2-Directional sprites is that LEFT is the direction to face.

• Testing images for the Default animation state for 4-Directional and 8-Directional sprites can be found within EXCOM\Files\Images\Player.

• Player Sprites will also use the same image type priority search as described in the above note.

Dialogue has been updated.

• When the NPC greets the player character, or says goodbye to the player character, DSC can now be triggered.

  1. Additionally, different talking heads can now be called when greeting the player character.

• The backdrop is now properly searched from within the game files instead of being everpresent in the Excel file. See “EXCOM\Files\Images\NPCs\TalkingHeads\Backdrop”.

• Each NPC can now have a unique backdrop, this is done by changing the “Backdrop Name” value in Stat Value column to a specific name. Please note, this is case sensitive.

• NPCs and “Monsters” (see Table18, $MonsterTable) have backdrops pulled using the form [Backdrop Name]@[File Location].

  1. For example, “Backdrop@Files\Images\NPCs\TalkingHeads\” will pull the file labeled as “Backdrop” from the TalkingHeads folder within the NPCs folder which is within the Images folder, which is also within the Files folder.

• Backdrops and Talking Heads will also use the same image type priority search as described in the above note.

ETCS Updates (please read the added sections for more information):

• Added Entry Search type.

• Set Image Scale and Position (SSAP)

• Force Weather Selector (FWS)

• Check Container (CCONT)

• Use Container (UCONT)

• Save Container (SCONT)

• Remove Container Data (RCONT)

• Change Key in Keyring (CKTR)

Item drops from monsters can now be a random range.

• To have a random range you must write the random range as [Minimum]@[Maximum] within the Loot Amount of the tier you want randomized.

  1. For instance, if I want River Gobbos to have a Common Loot Amount with a minimum output of 5 and maximum output of 14, I would write in 5@14.

• To have a static value, just write in the value you want.

Containers System has been added.

• Items (Consumable, Materials, Key Items, and Spoils) can now be stored away from the player’s main inventory into objects. This data is saved to text files similarly to NPC Data (See EXCOM\Files\Data\Objects).

  1. This means that containers can be persistent and therefore do not reset unless set to do so within the object data.

     • In other words: potentially able to now make player “homes”. More work is needed though.

Lockpicking has been added (cheekily called Logicpicking).

• Long story short: It’s sudoku. Solve the puzzle, unlock the locked object and get a prize.

  1. Right now there’s no “ownership” or “theft” system. There may never be either and just let it be a fun quirk of the game.

     • Heavily leaning towards that.

  2. The levels of locks follows Oblivion rules; Novice is easiest and Master is the hardest.

     • Each step increases the size of the puzzle by 2 in both directions. Novice is a 4x4 grid and Master is a 12x12 grid.

       • Why? LinkedIn has a 6x6 daily challenge, and it’s fun and takes no more than a minute or so. It’s better than just copying the Skyrim/Fallout lockpicking minigame.