Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!mcvax!ukc!stc!datlog!dlhpedg!cl
From: cl@dlhpedg.co.uk (Charles Lambert)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d
Subject: NetHack 2.2: objects[] bug
Message-ID: <337@dlhpedg.co.uk>
Date: 15 Dec 87 16:45:01 GMT
Sender: news@dlhpedg.co.uk
Reply-To: cl@datlog.co.uk (Charles Lambert)
Organization: FSG@Data Logic Ltd, Queens House, Greenhill Way, Harrow, London.
Lines: 23

I have built NetHack 2.2 for HP-UX (Hewlett Packard UNIX-like).  To keep
the game simple, I didn't switch on all the optional stuff: specifically,
I left SAC undefined so there are no soldiers.  When I tried to run the game,
it printed the message

	init-prob error for * (80%)

To cut a long story short:  leaving soldiers out means that there are fewer
objects (to wit, no dead soldier) in objects[] (see objects.h).  As a result,
the defined constant indeces for objects[] were wrong;  the code that sets
initial probabilities for valuable gems was overwriting the probabilities
for "worthless piece[s] of coloured glass";  and the sum of probabilities
for all gems was coming out wrong.

I still haven't worked out the most elegant fix.  I think the whole design
of the objects database and access to it ought to be rehashed, to allow
for dynamic sizing, but that's a big job.

As a quick-fix,  I'll probably replace the defined indeces with variables
calculated early in the initialisation.

--------------------
Charlie