[Most Variants] Better savefile handling

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

Christer Nyfalt wrote:
> The handling of savefiles in most variants could be improved.
> To state the problem more precisely, in most variants,
> (ToME is an exception that handles it better) the -u flag is used
> to select savefiles.
>
> Why is this a problem?
> Because a player will in most cases use the same flags all the
> time when they play a *band, but if they plays multiple characters
> at the same time, one of the flags needs to change at startup.
> This requires a launcher file that isn't trivial to write.
> (I have written one myself that fullfills my own needs, but
> it is not portable to all platforms.)
>
> So, what do I suggest?
> Move the savefile handling from a flag to an ingame choice at
> startup. The first question the player gets at startup should be
> a choice between to create a new character or to open a savefile
> containing an old character.
> Take a look at how ToME (or Diablo II) handles it for examples.
>
> Finally to avoid misunderstandings, this is a suggestion to make
> it easier to manage multiple characters per player. I'm NOT suggesting
> anything about multiple savefiles per character.
>
I would prefer this to be optional. In fact, this is different between
platforms: In Windows, you choose your savefile by a file requester,
while the Linux version automatically loads your standard savefile.
Personally, I consider this to be a major advantage of the Linux
version. I hate having to select my savefile every time. (In the Windows
versions, I usually create a link to "angband.exe lib\save\player",
except in Oangband, where this approach only works if all my characters
share the same name).

The advantage of your approach is that savefile handling would be more
consistent among platforms. But please, leave a way to easily
automatically start the one and only character you're playing.

Matthias

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

Christer Nyfalt wrote:
> The handling of savefiles in most variants could be improved.
> To state the problem more precisely, in most variants,
> (ToME is an exception that handles it better) the -u flag is used
> to select savefiles.

> So, what do I suggest?
> Move the savefile handling from a flag to an ingame choice at
> startup. The first question the player gets at startup should be

This is what windows port does. Unfortunately it does not support
command-line swithes. So both is good, one of the above is not.

Timo Pietilä

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

On 2005-06-06, Tormod Haugen <tormodh@GOOGLES_POPULAR_EMAIL.com> wrote:
> Christer Nyfalt wrote:
>> The handling of savefiles in most variants could be improved.
>> To state the problem more precisely, in most variants,
>> (ToME is an exception that handles it better) the -u flag is used
>> to select savefiles.
>>
> [snip problem]
>>
>> So, what do I suggest?
>> Move the savefile handling from a flag to an ingame choice at
>> startup. The first question the player gets at startup should be
>> a choice between to create a new character or to open a savefile
>> containing an old character.
>> Take a look at how ToME (or Diablo II) handles it for examples.
>
> Just talking here: I've not looked at ToME in quite a while, but
> recently had a look at SAngband again. (Windows version).
>
So, it was Sangband which was the other place I had seen that
kind of savefile handling before.


> At the start screen you press a key, and are presented with your most
> recent saved character - the character screen, or the "new character"
> screen if no save. When presented with your character, you are prompted
> to play this, or load another save file. Or quit.
>
ToME works the same way, except that it doesn't have the quickstart
screens. So instead of pressing 'L' when the character screen comes up,
ToME goes from the variant selector directly to the save game selector.

> It is posible that this is from ToME, but you didn't specify *how* it is
> done there. SAngband's way seemed brilliant to me, and should (I guess)
> work just as well on other OS'.
>
As I said, ToME handles nearly in the same way as in Sangband.
The quickstart solutions is the main difference, which makes the
Sangband method better in light of the objections that some has posted.

> tormodh.

--
Christer Nyfalt