Faldon Forums - Development Forum

2026/6/22 Update (Server-Side-Only)

2026-07-10T21:48:42Z

I've changed the game scripting, so there is no longer any distinction between an "NPC ID" and an "NPC tag ID" inside scripts.

You shouldn't notice this unless there I introduced any bugs with this, but if you see any quest bugs, etc., definitely let me know. Thank you!

God bless.

James

2026/6/26

2026-06-26T22:08:15Z

No major update this week. I only had time to work a little bit on scripting earlier in the week. I hope you are all doing well. Have a good weekend!

God bless.

James

2026/6/16 Update (Server-Side-Only)

2026-06-24T00:39:16Z

I've updated the server's scripting language from Pawn 3.3 (2009) to Pawn 4.1 (2024). I had to change a few scripts to make them work again, but, definitely let me know if any scripts are still broken! Thank you!

God bless.

James

2026/6/3

2026-06-08T16:47:39Z

Still no time to work on the game this week.

I still need to till beds for tomatoes, peppers, and squash.

Hopefully I can get back to this once that's all done.

God bless.

James

2026/5/28

2026-05-27T14:29:24Z

Still more summer work to do. I have not had much time to work on the game this week (only about three hours).

I hope you all have a good weekend.

God bless.

James

2026/5/21

2026-05-19T16:53:59Z

There won't be an update this coming week. I need to get my chicken fence finished and the garden planted. I hope you all are enjoying the summer weather.

God bless.

James

2026/5/14

2026-05-15T21:07:42Z

No update this week unfortunately. I've been converting some of the Visual Basic server code into C, so that I can move monster spawns into the map editor.

(There are advantages to doing this beyond just editing. For example, I think it would be useful to be able to set arbitrary properties on the monsters themselves at spawn time. Scripts could access these to alter behavior. It will require script changes, though, as monster IDs will no longer be stable, so I'll be adding things like "get monster ID by script name" to the scripting to accomodate that...)

However I did not get too far. Hopefully next week or the week after.

Have a good weekend!

God bless.

James

2026/5/6 Update

2026-05-07T09:02:54Z

Not a huge update. My kids wanted more character creation options. I may make different starting areas (tutorial areas) based on these choices in the future...

May 6, 2026:
Added hair color, hair style, and age options to character creation.
Unified part of the network protocol relating to character display.

2026/5/1 Update

2026-05-02T18:27:19Z

May 1, 2026:
Happy Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker!
Fixed some emote animations.
Fixed the day/night cycle brightness.
Login and character creation have been improved.
The map editor can now preview lighting.

2026/4/23 Update

2026-04-28T17:28:46Z

The server doesn't use the map editor's area options: they are now in the map file, but it still uses the old sectors. Hopefully I can get that working in the next few days.

April 23, 2026:
Happy Saint George's Day!
Area options can now be changed in the map editor.
Music and sound have been combined into a single layer in the map editor.

2026/4/20 Update

2026-04-23T00:34:38Z

This change may introduce some issues -- it drastically increases the number of properties on maps -- so for testing, it's worth making it as its own update.

April 20, 2026:
Area names, music, and sounds can now be changed in the map editor.

2026/4/17 Update

2026-04-16T22:49:58Z

The client now uses the new map file format.

The new map file format is about 10X smaller, will patch more quickly, and no longer needs a separate file for versioning.

It allows an arbitrary number of properties on tiles (and properties can contain more data), so HSV/RGB colorization can be done on ground, walls, etc. at the same time.

It supports Ground 1-4 and Wall 1-2 on all Z levels. (The previous format supported Ground 1-3 on Z=0 and Ground 1-2 on Z>0, but if you had a property on the same tile, it only supported Ground 1-2 and Ground 1.)

Long term, the file format is also more extensible and maps do not have to be 512x512 (though the rest of the code does not yet support this). The way it is laid out also allows the map to be loaded one sector at a time, but I load it all at once right now.

Technically, there is one another change. Much of the map patching code, and some other network code, has been moved out of the Visual Basic code into the C code.

If this all works correctly, you won't notice any difference.

Have a good weekend!

God bless.

James

April 17, 2026:
The client now uses the new map file format. If this change works correctly, you won't notice any difference.
File->Save now works in the map editor.

2026/4/9 Update

2026-04-09T10:42:45Z

This week's update is server-side only.

The server previously stored map files in per-sector Map Patch .MPT files.
It now stores them in Faldon Map .FMP files.

Right now, it re-encodes the map sectors before sending them to the client (or when the client uploads a map sector), because the client still uses the old format.

You'll notice this change because the client will want to repatch every sector, despite no visible change. If there IS any noticeable change let me know, because there should not be.

If there are no problems, this coming week I will move the client over to the new map file format as well.

Have a good weekend!

God bless.

James

2026/4/4

2026-04-06T16:09:37Z

No update this week.

I have been redoing the map file format. It's now slightly slower to load, 2X slower to save, and 1/10th the size. It supports Ground 1-4 on all Z levels and allows multiple properties on the same tile.

It also supports map sizes other than 512x512 (though the server won't for some time) and stores sectors in such a way that (long term) they can be loaded individually instead of loading the entire map, and it tracks them with hashing instead of version numbers.

Before I can make an update, I will need to change the map patching code on both the client and the server, as well as the server's map loading code (it uses special per-sector files, not even .MAP files right now).

So, no update this week, but hopefully one next week.

Have a happy Easter!

God bless.

James

2026/3/27 Update

2026-03-28T00:15:47Z

Small update this week.

March 27, 2026:
Added in Master Wu's 4K art update for the short forge and the teleport gates.
Ground and wall tiles can now be colorized. (With the current map format, this only works for one piece of art per tile, and only where no other properties are present.)
Holy Aura and Teleport will no longer when using the old client.