Checklist Before Releasing Mod

[atrueprincefanfrom18]

Because what I like to do is analyse some DAT files and alter some graphics to confuse/trick the player. For example, in my latest MOD (not released yet, doing testing now), I used some BMPs of Repetition Of TIme, chompers from Prince Of Wateria (nice, I must say ) and a custom SKEL.DAT, VDUNGEON.DAT, VPALACE.DAT from PoPOT, edited GUARD.DAT myself, edited dying frames myself, VIZIER.DAT myself, got SHADOW.DAT from here because those contain the dying frmaes. So, in short, getting permission all these people would cause a lot of of trouble for me, so that's why I wanted to confirm.

But, anyway, thanks for confirming!

[Emiliano]

I will reveal my formuler for next mods:
Custom graphics: •Yes •No •Not exactly
Custom audio: •Yes •No •Not exactly
Life potions: •Yes •No
Wda in Vpalace: •Yes •No
Does the mod use broken rooms?: •Yes •No

Let's use Root Planet as example
Custom graphics: Yes
Custom audio: Not exactly (some silent sounds, other as the original)
Life potions: Yes
Wda in Vpalace: No
Does the mod use broken rooms?: Yes
That's all the information I will reveal, the most important for me and the other changed options will be discovered by the player
I chose these information because some of my mods don't use custom graphics, I recently altered audio, I will make a mod which maximum hit points is 3, some of them use WDA, and further to Lihinghntom's Palace some of my mods will use broken rooms…
As you can see, the importance of revealing changes depends from the player; or at leats a required formuler is made and appliable to all mods…

[yourantumayel69]

I used some BMPs of Repetition Of TIme, chompers from Prince Of Wateria

🙄🙄🙄
What are you talking about?
🤔🤔🤔
My mods, Indonesian Masterpiece (on the way for create) used some BMPs of Istaria's custom maps, chompers from Prince of Wateria. It's great for you😏😏😏

[atrueprincefanfrom18]

[P] Do the background stripes look okay (no unintentional empty spots in between lines)?

I still frequently see mods where palace wall patterns do not continue on empty tiles.

My first mod Dangerous Dungeons, had this thing. To be honest, I had no idea how to create a mod, what to do, I didn't know any shortcuts in Apoplexy, nor any command line parameters. After a couple of mods, I got a clear idea about almost everything.

So, now I'm wondering if maybe I/we should create a how-to video about modding.
It could also go into modifying images, mention SDLPoP and MININIM as alternatives, and so on.
Then again, maybe I should invest my time into improving the in-development Settings window of SDLPoP.

Yes, that was the thing that I was finding, but I just found two supplements and a single video of Apoplexy and some videos by Aram Sev. It didn't gave me a good idea on how things worked and what I was expected to do. Till that time, I didn't even know how the DAT files can be altered, etc. And one fine day, I was into it and now I can almost do everything that I want.
I didn't even know what SDLPoP was and what MININIM was. And funny enough, now I only playtest my mods in SDLPoP.

A video guide would be great for new modders. I think lazy people, who find it difficult to create mods, leave modding and then the community misses amazing ides in unreleased mods.

[dmitrys]

Numerous mods seem to have chompers and gates that have nothing on top of them which looks weird.

Sometimes windows are partially blocked by a wall which can cause a weird glitch where sometimes they flash though walls as prince passes the wall.

Those issues combined with inconsistent striping can cause rooms look a memory dump.

[atrueprincefanfrom18]

Numerous mods seem to have chompers and gates that have nothing on top of them which looks weird.

Yes, I think maybe if it's easy to do, Apoplexy should be adding this guide in some section, so modders know what to do. I think I found this topic after I created a couple of mods. It may also be good if Apoplexy could detect some of these things, for example, asserting if there's something (no empty) above the chomper, asserting something if there's something (not empty) above the gate, etc. That way, modders can add something above the respective gate.

It maybe a little time-consuming activity, but can definitely lead to modders making good looking mods.

The best design I have ever seen is the Repetition Of Time mod. It just never feels as if something should be made more good looking.

[dmitrys]

Torches can also look okay in Apoplexy while in the actual game they are shifted more to the left and can interfere with walls causing the same type of a glitch as windows.

In my mod I actually added logic to SDLPoP that mirrors and tops of large pillars to add striping if the tile to the left has it.

[atrueprincefanfrom18]

In my mod I actually added logic to SDLPoP that mirrors and tops of large pillars to add striping if the tile to the left has it.

That seems interesting! I would recommend you to send a PR on GitHub, so SDLPoP also gets all the good features which maybe could be possible to inherit from the SDLPoP.ini file.

[Norbert]

Torches can also look okay in Apoplexy while in the actual game they are shifted more to the left [...]

Could you give an example of this?
If I understand you correctly, this would mean the game shifts torches away from their default position depending on certain nearby objects - or something like that.

[dmitrys]

It has more to do with how objects are drawn in the game. Torches and windows can be visible through walls in the game while it is not obvious in Apoplexy.

editor

game

[Norbert]

It has more to do with how objects are drawn in the game. Torches and windows can be visible through walls in the game while it is not obvious in Apoplexy.

Ah, right. Yes, that's true.

[atrueprincefanfrom18]

It has more to do with how objects are drawn in the game. Torches and windows can be visible through walls in the game while it is not obvious in Apoplexy.

Ah, right. Yes, that's true.

To-do list?

[David]

It may also be good if Apoplexy could detect some of these things, for example, asserting if there's something (no empty) above the chomper, asserting something if there's something (not empty) above the gate, etc.

RoomShaker can find such errors. Its help file contains a list of supported error checks.
(I wonder if we had fewer glitchy-looking mods back when RS was the most popular PoP level editor?)

This page has another list of possible errors: http://harom.tizennegy.hu/prince/edit/edit.htm (at the bottom, with pictures)

And finally, here is a collection of (screenshots of) errors I found some time ago:

level_errors.zip

(62.53 KiB) Downloaded 268 times

Sometimes windows are partially blocked by a wall which can cause a weird glitch where sometimes they flash though walls as prince passes the wall.

I'm not sure how can a wall cover a window only partially.
I've seen something similar with floors, though:

window-floor.PNG (1.77 KiB) Viewed 14803 times

[dmitrys]

I'm not sure how can a wall cover a window only partially.
I've seen something similar with floors, though:
window-floor.PNG

That is what I meant. Typically there is a wall below a tile.

[Norbert]

viewtopic.php?p=21771#p21771
These should also mention the SDLPoP benefit of save states, which many (most?) players prefer to have available to them.