Cthangband Update Log

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The 'Updates.txt' file for Cthangband 4.1.0

Cthangband is based on Zangband 2.1.0e

Changes are added to the top of this file, so for a chronological order read from the bottom up.

Cthangband 4.1.0

Any character starting with Shaman skill gets one free spirit bound.
Any character with hermetic magic skills will get one free spellbook to start.
Pets will not be targetted by the "*" key.
There are new base skill levels, essentially the level learnable at 0', and these are subtracted from the skill learnable at the current dungeon level; for example, it is possible to raise Toughness above 3% at 50'.
Raising Martial Arts skill now does not depend soley on Close Combat skill.
Certain changes have been made to allow the roguelike keyset to work better.
Characters with sufficiently high missile skill get extra shots, depending on weapon type. The most shots are available with a bow, next a sling, next a crossbow.
There is now a visual cue, in the "depth" area, as to whether you are in a dungeon or tower.
Corrected bug whereby characters with Mindcrafting of 80% or better did not get ESP.
A character trying to cast a cantrip from a charm unsuccessfully may get no effect, rather than destruction of the charm, at very low skill levels.
Additional documentation has been added. Most of the differences between Vanilla Angband and Cthangband are now in the "Help" files.
(Thanks to Kieron Dunbar for the following ideas, and, sometimes, code.)
The display has been changed to show spirits and how annoyed they are.
*Identified* weapons show what skill they need.
The restriction on a 6% failure rate to learn magical skills has been replaced by a restriction that character skill must be no more than 50% greater than the minimum skill for that spell, mindcrafting power, cantrip, or spirit favor.
Minimum annoyance for spirit favors has been raised to 2, so a spirit will not immediately become placated for the next turn.

Cthangband 4.0.1

Wizard Mode moved to 'Cheat Options' page.
'graf-new' flag removed since we only have Adam Bolt tiles these days.
Paths are now lit like floors.
Startup options have their own option page, to reduce the number of questions the player is asked when creating a new character.
Dungeons (but not towers) display offset depth, rather than true depth.
Player ghosts now use graphics if possible.
'Dungeons' may now be towers (tiny levels heading upwards) as well as caves (larger levels heading downwards).
5 new dungeons added.
Dungeons now have a 'bias' towards a certain type of creature.
Charm destruction and identify staff bugs fixed (thanks to Greg Wooledge).
Bug in spell energy calculation fixed.
Skills can only be improved if you are not bored (i.e. there is a minimum depth requirement based on your current skill value.)
Hedge magic is now easier to learn.
Skills are now slightly randomised on character generation.
Fixed bug with 100% Toughness reducing your hitpoints.
Spirits now have elvish/hobbitish names, rather than Cthuloid.
Character dump now dumps last 10 messages (so you can see how stupidly you died).
Problem with 'missing' options fixed.
'Wizard Mode' flag is cleared with cheat flags on character creation.
Extra cheat option - 'cheat_skll' to view skill checks.
Toughness is only increased when you lose more than 1/20th of your current hit points in a single hit.
Magic skills only improve if there was a 10% failure chance (or greater) for the spell/favour/power/cantrip.
No experience is gained on the surface, only in dungeons
Attacks only improve your attack skill (and/or martial arts) if you have less than 75% chance to hit.
Attacks with mutations (Horns, Tail etc.) give experience to your 'close combat' skill, not your weapon skill.

Cthangband 4.0.0

Windows version has updated menus and faster repaints and can now use monospaced system fonts as well as bitmap fonts. (From Tim Baker's version of Kamband.)
Player breath weapons (from dragon plate or mutations) and 'wands of dragon breath' now use cone shaped attacks.
Bug in 'unified commands' fixed so that objects on the floor no longer get prompted for twice.
Angels (and their uniques) have been removed and replaced with extra Cthuloid entities.
Implemented Drangband style player ghosts.
Corrected 'time of day' algorithm and added time display.
Added Eric Bock's code to combine similar messages in message recall.
Monster breaths are now cone shaped, rather than ball shaped (from Zangband)
Speed system cleaned up (a lot) with regard to spellcasting.
'help.hlp' is now system specific ('help-dos.hlp' etc.) so that it can point to a different set of files for the different interfaces and systems.
Windows version asks for a savefile name when starting a new file, rather than automatically naming it after the character that is generated.
'New Game' and 'Load Game' on Windows interface changed to 'New Savefile' and 'Load Savefile' as some people were confused and thought that they needed to use the 'New Game' command after they had died.
'Help' menu on Windows interface updated.
Hedge magic added as a third type of magic.
Shamanism added as a second type of magic.
Mindcrafting no longer uses 'Mana' but uses 'Chi' instead.
Levels and classes removed and replaced with a skill system.
Missing directories are re-created on Windows version.
Added Zangband's view centring code.
Reorganised and cleaned up 'options'.
Added (and modified) ???'s point based stat generation code.

Cthangband 3.1.2

Fixed bug with Corporeal Books not stacking properly.
Most object commands (e.g. 'q'uaff, 'z'ap, 'E'at, 'b'rowse, etc.) have been unified into a single 'u'se command that will do whatever is most appropriate for the item.
Added 6 'Pouch' equipment slots that can each hold a scroll, potion or wand. Items readied in a pouch only take 1/10th of the time to use that normal items do.
Message about 'Library' when trying to gain spells changed to 'Bookstore' as it was confusing people.
Most (but not quite all) documentation files updated.
Stats over 18/100 are no longer displayed as 'silly' percentages.
Class 'sub-names' (used in documentation) are now used in game as well.
Vault code updated to properly handle large array of vaults.
Chopping down of trees and bushes is now included in 'repeat obvious commands'.
Characters who can't learn spells are no longer asked to study in the library.
Roads added between towns and forest made denser.
Chris Weisiger's 'v_info.txt' file updated to the new version.
Cleaned up lots of dead code in Load/Save routines.
Fixed bug in home which gave the wrong inventory after resting for the night.

Cthangband 3.1.1

Chaos Patrons now have more descriptive names on the 'C'haracter display, and have been changed from the 'Warhammer' Chaos Gods to the 'Glorantha' Chaos Gods.
Adam Bolt's Graphics for bolt and ball spells are now used.
Eric Bock's bias remover for the RNG added.
Chris Weisiger's new 'v_info.txt' file used.
'Mutations' renamed 'Chaos Features' to make them more in-genre.
'Wizard Help' command (<ctrl>'A','?' in Wizard Mode) added to list wizard commands.
'Debug' mode and 'Wizard' mode combined to make things simpler. Wizard commands are now accessed through <crtl>'A' in wizard mode.
Hack added to 'fix' savefiles saved from versions with guardian bug by resurrecting dead uniques so that they can re-used as guardians.
Guardians now drop their normal treasure as well as extra guardian treasure.
Last vestiges of hangs from invalid guardian placement now removed (hopefully...)
Uniques that appear as guardians now have their escorts with them.
The Inn will now sell scrolls of "Satisfy Hunger".
Examining store books now tells you what's in them.
Wilderness now uses the same lighting model as the town.
Secret doors may now be locked or jammed once found.
Huge code clean-up should make porting easier.
Wilderness map is now coloured.
3x and 2x experience for first kills downgraded to 2x and 1.5x.
Chaos-Mage class added.
Windows version no longer looks for the unused '8x8.bmp' file.
Druid class added (a specialist nature priest).
Removed sound/midi options from main options menu as they did nothing anyway.
Fixed bug in 'Mutate Body' spell so it no longer always gives the same mutation.

Cthangband 3.1.0

Priests and Rangers no longer get Sorcery as it is to 'magey' for them.
Water now behaves properly (you can see over it and cast spells over it).
Occasional crashes when moving diagonally off edge of wilderness grids fixed.
The 'Monk' class has become the 'Mystic' class, and is now based on corporeal magic.
A new realm ('Corporeal') has been added. All the spells are self-affecting. It has a reasonably large overlap with Life (for the healing spells) and Planar (for the movement spells). It has sensing spells *very* early.
Characters will no longer start in the town of Nir.
The 'M' key displays a proper wilderness map with town and dungeon locations.
Allies (formerly called 'Pets') can move from level to level with the player.
Characters are now given randomly generated names when created.
Vampires no longer start on the stairs (no longer necessary now they start at night).
Experience for creatures now varies depending on how many you have killed.
Ironman option added.
Long Stairs is now a standard option, rather than a character generation option.
New speed system implemented.
Shops now have a unique set of owners each, rather than a selection per shop type.
Dungeon name printed with level feeling.
Quest info moved from <crtl>'Q' to <ctrl>'F' with level feeling.
Option for always having small levels added.
Fixed bug in home that turned it into an inn after resting for the night.
Breeder dying code removed (but generation limit left in).

Cthangband 3.0.1

Keys 'O' and ''' mapped to racial power and time respectively in Rogue-like mode.
Robert Ruehlman's 'Equippy Chars' code added.
Monsters can now cross bush tiles.
Jeff Duprey's extra 52 mutations added.
Keldon Jones' patch to automatically update '.raw' files added.
Trees, bushes and water now handle tunneling correctly.
'Quick Start' option generates an entire character with a single keypress.
Windows version can cope without its '.ini' file.
Robert Reuhlman's improved pet AI added.
Preserve mode now preserves artifacts left in dungeon when Ritual goes off.
Changing the character name no longer creates a new savefile.
Menu structure for Windows version rearranged.
Source code fixed to make Windows version compile properly and use Adam Bolt graphics.
It is now possible to rest for the night (or day) at your home.
Undead races now start the game at night.
Dungeon names displayed on wilderness grids to make dungeons easier to find.
Bug in display code preventing unidentified potions/scrolls being shown properly in text mode fixed.

Cthangband 3.0.0

Finding secret doors earns 1xp, like picking locks.
Wilderness areas with dungeons have tougher monsters to make it easier to find the dungeon entrances.
15 different dungeons added, each with their own Guardians.
Wilderness levels added.
Extra functions added to most shops.
Pawnbroker, Inn and Hall of Records added to town.
QUESTOR and FORCE_LEVEL flags for monsters replaced with GUARDIAN and ALWAYS_GUARDIAN as part of clean-up of quest code.
Many more cosmetic changes to artifact names and most text files to keep them in genre.
Breeders can now only breed to 10 generations.
Breeders can no longer be Quest monsters.
Tim Baker's Easy-Angband code added.
Robert Reuhlman's quest generation algorithm used to tone down the level of quest monsters.
Fixed 'Infinite Paralysis' problem with floating eyes - They will now do at least 1pt of damage with each hit.
Store Owners' Purses have been altered (generally but not always an increase).
DOS version now has Adam Bolt graphics for different race/classes of the player.
Bug in Pattern Vault fixed - it now cannot teleport you below a quest level.
Breeders now have 1 in 5 chance of dying off instead of reproducing, so they don't get out of hand quite so much.
Level feelings are now only given after 2500 turns (about 250 moves) instead of immediately on entering a level, but there is no longer a prerequisite of staying on the previous level for a period of time.
Hit-Point rolls changed to give fixed totals at 50th level, making 'Life Rating' redundant.

Cthangband 2.1.0

Huge amounts of cosmetic changes to remove Zelazny stuff and replace it with Lovecraftian.
Warrior-Mages can now choose Sorcery.
Monster-Health bar now gives status of monster as text.
Heino Vander Sanden's quest code ported from Quangband with minor changes.
Out of genre 'Rockets' replaced with 'Shard balls'.
Most 'silly' monsters removed or replaced.
Multi-stair option for quick level ascending/descending.
'How many?' question for multiple objects now defaults to all rather than 1 ( except for buying things).
Adam Bolt's graphics used for DOS version.
Lots of redundant code removed.