They are embedded scenery objects, like trees etc, that have a teleport location (from jumppoint.tab) attached and the blue door icon. Clicking on them automatically teleports the party. I don't think changing them to some other type of object (other than scenery) will work, but we can give them other icons, yes.
Removing secret doors is obviously not an option for a bug which is random and relatively rare (think of how many times you play and how many times you get this bug..). I fully support any attempt at creative workarounds, although I think the solution will lie somewhere in the actual game code - we need a hacker to go and find it If any changes are put forward, it might be an idea to document them extensively so that they can be removed with the minimum of fuss once a real solution is available. When I was trying to test for the secret door bug a couple of years back, the only real solution I could see was the hacking option. Everything else seems to have drawbacks and side effects which then cause a ripple effect. eg how will elves' auto-detect work with a change? Just a couple of pence from me (roughly 4 cents US atm).
Fair points all, Zeb, and I likewise don't want to negate Search / Elvenity. But the bug is just killing the KotB beta test: KotB has a number of secret doors in crucial areas that (currently) can't be worked around.
Well, first off, my experience with ToEE is that if one secret door doesn't work, then all the others don't either, and vice versa. If that is universally true, then how about doing a test early in the game? I don't know how the game starts, but if it has anything like the shop map, you could be prompted by the Jade Empress (or some pop up text like the tutorial) that your adventuring party needs to pass this one little test to see if they're cursed (or something to that effect). This test would involve detecting a secret door with an easy DC of course, just to see if that particular game is bugged or not, so if it is, the player would know that they have to restart.
As a player, I would be perfectly fine with that. It's quick, simple, and doesn't require a lot of workarounds. Anyone who has been following TOEE for any amount of time is well aware of its many qwirks and should be willing to accept it. If the secret door bug finds its way into a later savegame for the campaign, then there would be a problem, of course.
The secret door bug is a bit more inconsistent than that in KotB - some doors in a cellar always show even after those in the wilderness are clearly broken. That might have to do with starting on the same sector. I can think of a way to implement this though for KotB: might be a very viable idea
Just one question, did you change anything on the maps between the third arc and the beta? Because I never got the bug while testing the arcs.
Well, you'd think so, wouldn't you Cap'n? That does sort out every similar problem - but no, Agetian checked and said they are all correctly sorted. Pity I am certain this has to do with how sectors 'load' as you enter them, and believe we can work around it by having the players enter the map in the same sector as the secret doors (an inelegant fix for the two widlerness maps in KotB where they happen, but certainly doable). Otherwise I have been working on this but haven't come across anything more definitive. Question - has anyone ever had the secret door bug on the ladder in the ruined Tower, outside the Temple?
I never had that problem, but I've had it where I was unable to detect the secret door to the back way in the 3rd floor of the temple.
Is that after you go down the ladder and through that little under-passage thing? btw, I have thought of a very simple, albeit incredibly ugly, workaround for this problem in KotB. It's bound to get a cat killed though :nervous:
I recall (eons ago) having to find the door by going the long way around through the dungeon when I couldn't find it by searching in the officer's bed chamber. This may not have been the bug, just a failed check.:scratchhe