Realmz/Revisional Differences

This is a sub-page of Realmz.

To do: Make subsections for added/changed/removed files in each version.

Version 1.5.4

Changelog

Whats new in 1.5.1

Interface and Rule Modifications

• I have cleared up a couple of bugs.  One having to do with PC and Monsters getting charmed and not acting accordingly.

• Caves that are supposed to be dark on the perimeter will now be dark and not some mottled grey.

• Added Escape and Undo options in combat.

Look just to the right of number 13 above.

• The Escape button or 'E' on the keyboard will will allow your PC to break away from combat.  Your PC must be at least 10 paces away from the nearest enemy and cannot be affected by Slow, Tangle, Confusion or be Helpless.  PCs that escape from combat will not be awarded any experiance at the end of combat.  (Cowards!)

• The Undo button or 'U' on the keyboard will allow you to revert your PCs position to the beginning of that combat round.  Your PC must not have been involved in any combat attacks either offensive or defensive.  For example, if your PC moves away from an enemy who then takes a swing at your PCs back, that PC cannot UNDO their movements.

Terrain (updated text)

• Different types of terrain take longer to travel over than others.  Roadways and open fields are the easiest to traverse, while tunnels, rocky, muddy or shorelines take more.  If you are in an area that is frequented by wandering bands of monsters, you are more likely to encounter them while moving in areas of slow progress because you are in the area longer.  So to minimize your chance for unwanted encounters, try to stay in open areas.

Mountains: Impassible
Road: 5 Minutes
Cave Entrance: 10 Minutes
Open Ground: 15 Minutes
Wooded Area: 25 Minutes
Rocky Ground: 30 Minutes
River/Shoreline	35 Minutes
Buildings/Tunnels: 40 Minutes


Whats new in 1.5.2

Bug Fixes

• The game will no longer freeze when a friendly monster kills the last enemy.

Interface Modifications

• Modified the character information sheet.  It now displays the entire party in the upper right hand corner.  To change the view to a new party member you just click on portrait of the desired PC.

• Monsters will now get tougher as time goes by.  In addition to the difficulty level you set at the start of an adventure, enemies will also gain additional stamina and attack skill as time passes.  The speed at which enemies get stronger over time varies by the difficulty level you set at the start of the adventure.  i.e.  Novice games will get tougher but at a slower rate than veteran games.

Rules Modifications

• The Bandage button or 'B' on the keyboard will allow the current PC to bandage another PC.  This will stop the wounded PC from bleeding to death.  It takes a FULL round to bandage a PC.  You cannot be involved in ANY combat prior to bandaging a PC that round.

1.5.3 clears up a couple of bugs that would cause the game to freeze in combat.

It also will cause a friendly monster to turn against you if you attack him with a physical attack.  i.e.  If you hit him with spells he will still be friendly.

What’s new in version 1.5.3 over 1.3.x?

• Updated manual.

• New graphics.  That is the most obvious change.

• Fixed a bug that would cause a PCs load to go negative and thus reduce the maximum movement of that PC.

• Fixed a bug that would cause the scroll screen to close as soon as it opened.

• Fixed a bug that would cause summoned monsters to have only 1 point of stamina.

• A whole bunch of other bug fixes, too many to name each one.

• During questions you can now type the first letter of the choices instead of having to click with the mouse.

• Added a revert to previous game option in the file menu.

• Aborting the casting of a spell or the use of a missile weapon does not penalize you nearly as much as in previous games.

• You can switch it to the background and back like a good Mac application now.

• New preferences.

• Fixed the beastiary so it wont get stuck at the top of the list.

• Added an undo command in battle.

• Allow PC to flee from battle if they are far enough away from an enemy.

Im sure there are a whole bunch of other little tweeks I have made but I cant' recall them all off the top of my head.

• Attacking friendly monsters will turn them against you.

Version 2.0.1

Changelog

What's new in 2.0.1

• Fixed a bug that would cause the game to hang when you tried to use the money button from within a temple.

• Fixed a bug that would cause the screen to not update properly or freeze when switching between screens.

• Modified a few keyboad shortcuts so they would be more consitent.

- The S key will now activate spell casting in combat.
- The A key will now activate Auto Character Movement in combat.
- The L key will now activate spell casting from a scroll.
- The I key will now activate the items screen in combat.

- Changed the S key that used to Shift you around the screen in combat to the M key for Move.


What's new in 2.0

• Updated chapters 3 & 4 to include information on how to order Fantsoft products using your Visa or Mastercard.  (About time!)

• Added the ability to view dungeons/crypts/castles etc.... in 3D.  This is the first release of the 3D code so it is limited in scope and variety.  To get maximum benefit from the 3D view you will need to update to version 2.0 of each scenario.  Otherwise you may only see plain walls, doors and stair cases.

• Added the ability to scroll around the combat map using keys.  You can move around the map by holding down the option key and hitting an arrow or a number on the keypad in the direction you want to view.

• Added keyboard shortcuts for most functions from the shop/trade, items and main game screen.  In general, you can go to another screen by typing the first letter that appears as the title of a button.  If that is not the case then the letter to type will be displayed in the upper left hand corner of the button.  There is also a new chapter 'Keyboard Commands' that outlines all the keyboard commands throughout the game.

• Added a chapter that gives a complete rundown on all keyboard commands.  I suggest you glance over this.  You might be suprised to find a handy dandy function you did not know about.

• Back by popular demand, you can now display the characters class on thier portraits again.  To do so just select the option in the preferences.

• You are no longer held to a maximum level limit if you modify your party once you have started an adventure.  In the past, you could not swap characters if you would end up with more experience levels than what you started with.  That is no longer the case.

• You can now alter the difficulty level of the game at anytime.  In the past you had to set the difficulty at the beginning of the adventure.  Now you can modify it anytime by selecting "Modify Party" under the adventure menu.

• I now vary the actual frequency of random battles in relation to the difficulty level.  In the past it would only affect how hard the battles were.   Now it affects both how hard and how often they are.  This does not reduce the frequency of special encounters in any way, just the random battles.

• When you load a saved game you will see a cool little scene to show which scenario you are loading.  Just a little spit and polish.

• Some spells can only be used within encounters.  (Teleport for example)  For this reason it was confusing for some people as to when and how to use some spells.  Now, when you try to cast a spell that can ONLY be used in an encounter, it will ask you to click the ENCOUNTER button first.

• Fixed a bug that would cause spells cast from scrolls to not be detected while in an encounter.  i.e.  If an encounter required you to cast a fly spell to succeed, and you cast fly from a scroll, the game would not see this and would not take the appropriate action.

• Updated the weapons table to allow some weapons to be equiped at the same time as others.  A flaw caused some weapons like throwing daggers to be seen as both a melee AND missile weapon.  This would prevent the PC from equiping one of each.  (My heart goes out to all your rangers and thieves that have suffered from this.)


What's new in 1.6.3

• Fixed a memory bug that would cause all kinds of havoc.


What's new in 1.6.2

• Fixed a bug that would keep the saved game descriptions from working.

• Altered the way the game keeps track of which scenario is saved in which saved game slot.  A little less flaky.


What's new in 1.6

• Added the info about our next RPG game release.  Exile 1.0.  See the end of chapter 1 for the shameless plug.

• As always, a heap of bug fixes.  A couple critical ones but most were small and would only apply in special or remote situations.

• Enemy spell casters are now much better at targeting.  A lot less self destruction.

• You can now have up to 10 saved games instead of only 5.

• Changed the way you select PCs for action in both the items and shop/trade screens.

When in a shop, to get the shopkeeper to show on the right if not already, simply click on a catagory of items to trade/buy/sell and the shopkeeper will appear again.

• If an item is unique you can now see this in the items info screen.  (Option - Click in the items/trade/shop window)

• Spells that have a duration and affect an area such as stinking cloud or blade barrier now end their duration at the same point in a round at which they were cast.  Example:  If a stinking cloud spell was cast with a 3 round duration by an enchanter who moved 3rd.  The spell would last until it was that PCs turn 3 rounds later before it would dissapear.

• Added the ability to add custom icons/sounds.  For instructions on how to do this see the chapter, "Custom Icons/Sounds"   You will need to know how to use ResEdit.

• Added to the spell descriptions as they appear in the spell description window.  (If you have that option turned on in the preferences)

• New interface for selecting/changing character icons/portraits.

• Improved import feature.  To import characters from previous copies you do so by moving their files into the "Character Files" folder.  Then when you click the "Import" button you will be able to select them using the standard apple file dialog.

• New character portraits.  All the new portraits are larger and of the same artistic style.  If you liked the old portraits you can still use them.  Get your hands on the file, "Realmz Goodies" available on AOL, Compuserve and many major ftp sites.

In a nutshell, this file is a resource file containing the old portraits.  To use it you simply put the file in the same folder as Realmz and it will override the default portraits of Realmz.

• Because of the new portraits being larger I had to remove the option of displaying the characters class below the portrait.  I liked this feature but I felt it was more important to have the larger portraits.

• New experience table.  See the table near the end of the chapter titled  "Appendix of Tables" earlier in this manual.  It is followed by a couple of examples to give you a better idea of how experience is calculated.

• You can now increase or decrease the power level of a spell after you have selected a spell but before you hit the <Space Bar> to cast it.  To do this you can either click on the buttons with yellow arrows on them  (#7 below) or hit the left or right arrow key on the keyboard or keypad.  (Very Nice!)

• You can now remove the charm from a charmed character by either charming them back OR by casting dispel magic on the charmed PC.

• The bestiary has been modified a bit to show a little more info.  I also hope to have fixed a bug that would cause it to get stuck on one monster.  (Giant Frog)


What's new in 1.5.5

• We can now except checks drawn from a foreign bank.  The chapter following the registration / order form has a list of exchange rates.  We are still working on the ability to accept credit card orders.

Bug Fixes

• Lots of minor bugs.

• Fixed some spells that were not working correctly.

• Fixed some monsters that would lock up the game if they attempted to use a missile weapon.  (Driders in particular)

New Preferences

• You may now set a preference that will eliminate PCs from automatically bandaging a bleeding PC when you click the AUTO button.  With option turned on, you will have to click the Bandage button or type 'B' on the keyboard.

• You may now set a preference that will eliminate the warning message at the end of each combat round that reminds you that you have PC's that are bleeding.

• You may now set a preference that will eliminate the message at the end of each combat round that reminds you that the next combat round is beginning.

New Things

• Updated the chapter Experience & Gaining Levels.  It now includes information about how some actions like turning undead, picking locks and forcing doors can award your PC experience immediately.

• You may now be surprised in ANY battle.  In the past, this option was only possible on random battles.  Now the game can specify SPECIAL battles where you will be surprised.

• A chapter has been added just previous to this one that explains some handy dandy shortcuts.  These shortcuts are all in the manual, but they may not stick out.  I have compiled a quick list of shortcuts and put them in one place.  This list of shortcuts will hopefully grow in the future.

• You may now heal a character that has become unconscious during battle.  That character must be between -9 and 0 stamina to be healed in combat.  (Dead PCs cannot be raised to reenter battle.)  To heal unconscious PCs, cast any healing spell during combat.  Select the character to be healed by  clicking on the shaded portrait of that character.  If the healing spell heals the PC to the point of raising them above 0 stamina, that PC will once again be in the battle.  This is not all peaches and cream.  Your returning comrade will be helpless for the remainder of that round, so protect them from being slaughtered right away.  The following round they will be slow (1/2 movement and attacks) and stupid (no spell casting).  The round after that, they will be able to cast spells but will still be slow.   All rounds thereafter, they will be at full speed and capable of anything.

New Stamina Table (Previous values in red)

Class        Initial	 Per Level   *Max Bonus
Fighter      1 - 10      1 - 10      Unlimited
Paladin      1 - 10      1 - 10      Unlimited
Ranger       2 - 16      1 - 8       Unlimited
Monk         2 - 12(2-8) 1 - 6(4)    Unlimited(3)
Thief        1 - 6       1 - 6           3
Magic User   1 - 4       1 - 4           2
Cleric       1 - 8       1 - 8           3
Enchanter    1 - 4(6)    1 - 4(6)        2

Monks now have an unlimited constitution bonus and will gain stamina at a much better rate.  Enchanters however will now gain stamina at a reduced rate.

New Damage for Monks

Hand-to-Hand Damage:  Ranges between 1 and 2X ability level plus 2 points. 
 
Examples:
1st level monk does 2 x 1 + 2.    Capable Range of Damage = 3 to 4 pts.
10th level monk does 2 x 10 + 2.  Capable Range of Damage = 3 to 22 pts.
15th level monk does 2 x 15 + 2.  Capable Range of Damage = 3 to 32 pts. 

Interface Modifications

• Modified the note keeper.  The note keeper now displays not only the text of the note but also its location.  You may also view other notes and their locations by clicking on the arrow buttons.  To edit a note, you must be standing on that particular note.  It is possible that saved games created with previous versions may not deal with notes correctly.  The new format of notes contain more information than in the past, so they may not work with saved games.

Version 2.0.4

Changelog

What's new in 2.0.4

• Fixed some minor bugs with the setting of preferences.

• Fixed a bug that would cause the game to freeze if you cast spells that would affect all enemies.


What's new in 2.0.3

• Added a preference that will allow your PC to  automatically switch weapons in combat.  If you attempt to attack with a missile weapon but are are too close to an enemy your PC will switch to your melee weapon and attack.

• Added a preference that will allow Realmz to switch to 256 Color mode without asking you first.  If you hate having to click that button every time you run Realmz then this is for you.

• Added a Journal.  You can now keep track of text as it is displayed on the screen.  For info on how to use the Journal, see the revised chapter  "Maps/Journal/Note Keeper"

• Altered the 5th level Magic-user spell "Wizard Eye".  In the past it did nothing (Big loss).  Now it allows a party to use the "Look Down" or "2D" view in dungeons that normaly will only allow the 3D view.  In order to have this spell work in this manner you need to have version 2.1 or later of the scenario you are playing.  Otherwise the spell "Wizard Eye" does what it did before. (Nothing)

• The game will now warn you if you try to drop a PC from the party that has a scenario specific item.  This will keep you from loosing a critical item by accident.

Bug Fixes
• Fixed a bug that would cause the game to crash after loading/reverting a game 6 or 7 times.

• Fixed a bug that would cause the game to freeze if several PCs would run from battle and then the last PC would be killed incombat.

• Fixed a bug that would allow some monsters to cast spells even after they had been attacked in the current round.

• Fixed a bug that would prevent monsters from gaining extra attacks if they were under the influence of a haste spell.

Version 2.2

Changelog

What's new in 2.2

• Added some new graphics for Wall of Thorns, Insect Plague and spells of that nature.  The icon that represents them on the battle field may not be correct unless you download the entire new version of Realmz 2.2   It is so minor that I did not want to include updated graphics files in this patch because it would really crank the size of the patch.

Thanks for the art goes to    Troubador@aol.com

• No more unique Items restriction.  Too many people complained about it and I got tired of hearing the complaints.

• You can now drop items when in the treasure collection screen.  A button has been added just to the right of the PCs portrait that you can use to select items to drop.

• Updated the armor category table to reflect what class can use which type of armor.  That table appears in the Index of Tables.

• Realmz now has the ability to use NPCs (Non Player Characters).  At the end of battle, if any creatures are friends with the party, you may select some of them to accompany the party.

Only certain creatures will be allowed to join the party and by doing so, it will reduce the amount of experience you receive for battles.  Creatures like royal guards or other very special unique creatures will not be allowed to join the party unless the scenario is programmed for them to join.  In general, if you can summon a monster, it can join the party.

There will be special NPCs that will be involved in the story and will interact with the party but that will require updated scenario files and I have yet to make the changes to the existing scenarios.  You will have to wait a bit for that.  Im not too sure how much of that kind of NPCs action will be in the existing scenarios.  I may just plow ahead with the new scenarios and make those have special NPCs.  Not sure yet.

The experience will be distributed so the creatures aiding you get an equal share just as if they were a member of your party.

Example  1:  Your party has 6 characters and has 3 zombies in attendance.   The total experience will be divided 9 ways.  Even though the zombies cannot use the experience to gain levels, they still get a piece of the pie.

This reduction will apply even if the zombies are all destroyed before the end of battle.  This reduction is calculated at the beginning of battle.


What's new in 2.1.1

• Corrected some minor problems with banking and the music driver.


What's new in 2.1

• Most important!  We have changed our P.O. Box.  If you want to mail anything to us you will have to do it at our new P.O. Box.  Our new address is:

Fantasoft, LLC
P.O. Box 14261
Madison, WI 53714-0261
USA

Our phone is still the same.  You can still call/fax us at:  (414) 963-4429

• As always, a slew of minor bug fixes/tweaks/new graphics.

• Realmz now supports the playing of MOD, S3M, Midi, MTM, MADx, snd, WAV, AIFF, AIFC music files in the background at up to 44Khz and in stereo.  I have included one small music file so you can get an idea of what this is all about.  If you like it, you can download tons of different music files from all over the internet, AOL, Compuserve or a lot of local BBSs.

To support this new ability there is a new menu titled "MUSIC".  It is pretty self evident on how to use it so I won't go into that too much.

Since the playing of music can slow down your machine a bit there is also a new preference that allows you to eliminate the background music all together.

• You can now fill out and print the registration/order form by selecting "Print Order Form" from the Apple Menu when Realmz is the active application.

• You can now run Realmz in 16 colors or 16 shades of gray.  I don't have any alternate graphics for running under these color depths.  It will not look as nice as with 256 colors, but at least it's possible.  Personally I think it looks better in 16 shades of grey than in 16 colors.

• You can now use the mouse for movement in dungeons again.  When I added the 3D dungeons I had to scrap the code I had for mouse control to get the 3D code working.  I now have it working again.  The movement works different in 3D than in 2D so I will just let you figure it out on your own.  It's pretty simple.  Space still toggles between 2D and 3D view whenever possible.

• When you begin a new adventure or select Modify Party from the menu you will see a new setting called "Use Monster Set".  This allows you to play a scenario using alternate monster sets.  (You will need version 2.1 or higher of the scenario for this to work)  These monster sets may include alterations of existing monster or complete substitutions.  i.e.  In a normal monster set you might encounter ordinary goblins, but in a hard set you may encounter trolls instead.  YIKES!

      Because of this, the text in the game may not match the actual monsters you see if you use a monster set other than the NORMAL monster set.

• By popular demand I have added banking to Realmz.  How it works is simple.  If you walk onto a shop/temple that offers banking, the game will tell you about it.  To add to the bank just walk off the shop/temple and all money left in the money pool will be banked.

To get at the money that is banked you need to once again find a location that offers banking and walk on.  Now when you go to the money swapping screen, all the money you have in the bank will be in the money pool.

I will tell you right up front that this system is not very hard to cheat with.  It has always been pretty easy to duplicate items/money and that is why I don't put a lot of prime goodies in the shops.  It would be too easy for everybody to get a ton of cool things.  I stick enough in the shops so if you start a new character you won't have to go naked but you won't be able to outfit "Death Paladin Incarnate" either.

Version 2.4

Changelog

What's new in 2.4

• A long time I ago, many items in Realmz were unique.  i.e.  Your party could only have one of them.  I took that out because a lot of people were not happy with that.  Well, I put it back in because just as many liked it.  Even though many of the items appear in more than one location, they are still considered unique and you will only be able to have one.  With the addition of FUMBLING, this makes it more important than ever for a warrior to possess several weapons, yet nobody will be toting around a whole sack of +8 Death Cleavers.

• Added FUMBLING.  From time to time your PC may make a bad move with their melee weapon that causes them to drop or FUMBLE their weapon.  If this happens, your PC will need to equip a new weapon or use their bare hands for the rest of the battle.   All fumbled weapons will NOT be available to PC until after combat.  During treasure collection, all fumbled weapons will be returned to the party.

• Changed a few spells.

		- Magic User,  3rd Level HOLD PORTAL is now Major Fumble.
		- Enchanter,   2nd Level SUGGESTION is now Fumble.

• Changed the way I handle some data to reduce the amount of hard drive access.  This should help speed the game up on some slower systems.

• Fixed the last of the missile weapon bugs.  They should all work properly now as should the Horn of Summoning.

• Changed the way unidentified items are identified.  If an item is not identified, it will be displayed with a generic icon (Not in all cases) until it is identified.  You will see a new button in the treasure collection screen next to the PCs portraits.  This is the ID button.  If the PC has an identify scroll -OR- if the PC is capable of casting identify they cast/use it when you click that button.  Identify will ID any one group of items.  i.e.  All of the items in the treasure collection screen -OR- all items a PC has in their inventory.

Also,  the cost of the identify spell has been raised to 25 points and acts as a combination of identify and detect magic in the treasure collection screen.

• Added the version of the Spells data to the preferences list.  Much like the items file, we can update the entire selection of spells used in Realmz via a new file.  This version info will let you determine if you know what version you have.

• NPCs will not take off and disappear if they get to close to the game map.  They will hang around for good now.  This was a problem with battles that started near the edge of the map where NPCs would just walk away.

• Death arrows are no longer a given.  The target will get a chance to resist the magic (As they should).

• Fixed a bug that would limit the choice of NPCs to the first 6.

• Fixed several other minor bugs that would only crop up in very particular cases.


What's new in 2.3.3

• Changed the way bows are handled.  You no longer need a quiver to use a bow.  All bows have unlimited numbers of arrows.  I had to do this to accommodate new missile weapons and magic arrows.  You can still wear a quiver and get any magical abilities it gives.  If you have a special arrow equipped, that will be used instead of the normal arrow the bow shoots.  In a nutshell, this makes the standard quiver a total waste of leather.


What's new in 2.3.2  • Minor bug fixes, Minor bug additions.
What's new in 2.3.1  • Minor bug fixes, Minor bug additions.


What's new in 2.3

• Updated contact information for Fantasoft.  Our current address, phone number and e-mail address is:

Fantasoft, LLC
P.O. Box 14261
Madison Wi, 53714

Tel:  (608) 249-5418

Fantasoft1@aol.com

• Updated the order forms to include information for "Destroy the Necronomicon"  That's the latest scenario and it's a good one.   I want to shake the hand of anybody who can finish this thing on Mega Monsters without tricked up PCs.  I double dog dare you to even try!

• Fixed a countless number of minor bugs (And added just as many new ones I'm sure).

• Moved the location of the file "Data CD" from the "Data Files" folder to the "Character Files" folder.  The info in this file is character related and it would be better to keep it in the "Character Files" folder.  If you have not already done so, you should move the "Data CD" file from your "Data Files" folder, to the "Character Files" folder.  Do it now so you don't forget.  I will wait......

• Added version information to the bottom of the preferences menu.  It will list the current version of Realmz, all installed scenarios as well as the items data used.  I have changed the way I keep track of items data so it will be easier to upgrade/add new items.  This will allow me to add/update items and have them available to ALL scenarios, even if that item did not exist at the time we created a particular scenario.  i.e.  This will eliminate the "Scenario Specific" items.

• Made it tougher for Clerics and Paladins to turn undead/demons/devils.  In addition to making it harder to turn them, there is also a maximum 75% chance to turn ANY undead/demons/devil creature.  I have updated the Turn Undead/Demon/Devil table in the Appendix of Tables chapter.

• Modified the bestiary menu.  Not all monsters will be displayed.  Most unique or special monsters will not be displayed.  i.e.  Don't expect to see NPCs you meet along the way in your travels to have an entry in the bestiary.  (This was giving too much info away.)

•  Unidentified items will not show how many charges they have, if any.

•  Items with unlimited charges will show a    X !   in blue after their name.

• Your party should now be better formed in most battles.  In the past, your PCs would often be scattered all over the battle field.  They should now be formed into a tight knot if at all possible.

• Changed the way secret doors/passages are detected.  The new method is by averaging the percent chance of detection for the whole party.  i.e.  If 3 members have a 50% chance to detect secret, and 3 have a 10% chance.  The actual chance for the party as a whole will be 30%. (I know this does not make a whole lot of sense, but it was TOO easy to find secret areas in the past)

• When your PCs equip an item that is only available in the scenario you are playing, it will have a red background instead of gray.  This will make it easier for you to know which items are not available in other scenarios.

• NPCs will now be healed along with the rest of the party when you click and hold the HEAL button on the main screen.

• Added a new preference that will allow you to eliminate some of the jerky screen movements in battle.  If you get a lot of errors with this option on, turn it off again.

• Changed a few spells around.

4th Level Magic User spell, Locate Object is now      Tongues.
4th Level Enchanter spell, Spectral Hut is now          Fly
7th Level Enchanter spell, Transverse Plane is now   Move Earth

• Added the order form for Exile II:  Crystal Souls.  Exile and Exile II are fantasy RPGs created by Jeff Vogel at Spiderweb software.  They are both shareware and are available at most major ftp sites, AOL and Compuserve.


What's new in 2.2.2

• Fixed a bug that would cause the game to freeze when you view some maps or revert to saved games if you have system 7.5.1

Version 2.5

Changelog

What's new in 2.5

• Increased the maximum number of monsters that can be in any one battle.  The old limit of 50 has been doubled to 100.  This was no small feat as it involved recoding a lot of stuff to get it to work.  Thank the makers it's now done.

• Some monsters will now be vulnerable to some types of spells and will take extra damage from them.  For example:  Red Dragons are resistant to heat but will take extra damage from cold based spells.

I have modified the beastary screen to show the monsters vulnerabilities but not to what degree.  i.e.  It will show that a creature will take extra damage, but not how MUCH extra damage.  That can vary by creature and by difficulty level of the game.

• Some monsters may now only be affected by specific types of weapons.  i.e.  Some require sharp weapons like swords and axes to damage while others may only be hurt by smashing weapons like maces or staffs.

Example:  Slimes and Giant Slugs reqire sharp weapons to inflict damage while something like a minarite (A heavily armored, 3 legged eating machine) requires a weapon that can crush armor plateing.

• Some monsters may now do special things when destroyed. Example:  Yellow Mold Men, when destroyed, will explode, leaving a stinking cloud behind.  They may also split in half and continue to attack as two seperate Yellow mold men.  

Other monsters may be life linked.  Example:  If you destroy a Mush Mound, all of its attacking podlings (Move and attack independent of the mound) will wither and die.  Thus, by killing one creature, you can cause the demise of those that are life liked to it.

There is more stuff that can happen when special creatures are destroyed, but that is up to you to discover.

• Added new keyboard equivilents to select spells from within the spell selection screen.  You can use the arrow keys to select the SPELL, SPELL LEVEL & POWER LEVEL you wish to cast.  You can hit the "C" or "Return" keys to cast a spell and "A" to ABORT the spell casting.

• Added some keyboard shortcuts for toggling between your missile and melee weapons.  You may also activate your missile weapon from the keyboard as well.  See the chapter "Keyboard Commands" to find out what the keys are.

• Added new keyboard equivilents to aim a spell during combat.  The arrow keys will now move the map around.  The spell area will not move, so place the spell towards the center of the screen.  Then adjust the position  of the combat map with the arrow keys.  To launch a spell you can hit "Enter" on the keypad.

• The arrow keys use to be used to adjust the power level of a spell that is currently being cast.  This has been changed to account for the changes I just mentioned above.  You can now change the POWER LEVEL of a spell by using the +/- keys.  The "Keyboard Commands" chapter has been updated to show the new keyboard commands.

• Holding the <Option> key down during startup of the game will disable the check Realmz makes for screen size and colors of the display.  If you have an oddball display, or one that may be patched together in an odd way, Realmz may have difficulty in testing it.


What's new in 2.4.1

• Added preferences to turn WEAPON FUMBLE and UNIQUE ITEMS on or off.  Note: There are some penalties if you turn these items off.  Make sure you check your preference settings, so you know what you're in for.

• Made age a factor in a PC's development.  There are five age classes to which a PC can belong: Young, Prime, Mature, Elder, and Ancient.  There are a couple of new tables in the Appendix of Tables, as well as in the chapter "Creating Characters / Importing Characters" that give the breakdown by age group and race.  The changes that your PC will go through are outlined in those tables.  Also, there is no limit to how long your PC can live.  Once they hit a certain age, there will be an ever-increasing chance that they will just up and die on you.

• Fumbled weapons will be identified automatically when you retrieve them in the treasure collection screen.

Version 3.0

Changelog

What's new in 3.0

• Added a chapter just prior to this one named "Realmz Support Files"  It lists some interesting web sites and documents.

• Changed the Magic-user spell "Portable Hole" to "Thought Lace"  This new spell makes the party more resistant to charm spells.

• I have gotten a LOT of complaints that the spells for the Magic-users just don't pack the punch that the other classes spells do.  I have increased the damage and lowered the spell points cost of a number of Magic-user spells to give them a leg up.

• Added a top down view of many indoor areas.  Now, only true dungeons will have the 3D view.  Have also added some new areas to Bywater to explore in this new view.

• Modified the Magic-user spell "Wizard Eye".  It will now allow you to see past walls in the new indoor areas.  However, the cost of the spell has been increased and the duration reduced.

• Added code that will allow the use of boats/ships.  You will not see boats used in the current scenarios in release, but they should show in future scenarios.

• Added a small button next the your PCs portrait.  It looks like a small "A"
This acts as a toggle between AUTO mode and normal mode in combat.  This way you can make some of your PCs move in permanent AUTO mode during combat.

• Removed the effects of AGE on your PCs.  It caused more problems than it was worth.

• Added a chapter that replaces the TEXT ONLY copy of the spell list.  It now appears after the chapter on keyboard commands.

• Completely revamped the music menu.  You can now install music files by various names and have them play at specific times in the game.  For more info on this, select "How to Alter Music" from the MUSIC menu.

• Made some changes to the experience charts to account for massive amounts of experience gained at upper levels.

• Bunch of tweaks/bug fixes.

Version 3.1

Changelog

What's new in 3.1

Note:  All your previous saved characters and saved games will work 100% with this new version and there is no need to begin any adventure over provided you have begun that adventure with version 3.0 or higher.  The only exception is any journals stored with a saved game will be wiped out as I have changed the way the journal works.  See below for more details on the journal.

• You can now predefine up to 10 spells for each PC capable of casting spells.   You cast them via keyboard commands.  i.e.  You can define Command-1 to cast a Power Level 7 Fireball, Command-2 to cast a Power Level 5 Light spell etc... etc...  For more information on how this new feature works, see the last 2 sections of the chapter titled "Spells • Scrolls"

• Fixed an error with the music code that caused some systems to freeze when activating the music.  To find cool Mod files for use as music in Realmz access the web site at           http://www.watson.org/mods/
Note: There are several formats of music files at this location, only the .MOD files are supported by Realmz.

• Modified the cost/duration/effectivness of the following spells.
								- Mage: Wizard Eye                   (Made it last longer, cost less)
							 - Mage: Thought Lace               (Made it last longer, cost less)
								- Enchanter: Poison Cloud      (Made it cost more, less effective)
	
• PCs will now recieve the equivilent of +1 Magic To Hit for each 8 levels of ability when using their bare hands.  This +1 is only in the determination of the "Need Magic Weapon To Hit" determination.  i.e.  If a creature needs at least a +2 magic weapon to hit, a PC of 16th level or higher will now be able to do so with their bare hands.  NOTE:  This ability only applies when using your bare hands.  If your PC is using a weapon, then you still need the magic + required to hit.

• Renamed a LOT of spells and a couple of monsters and character races.  Don't ask why, just accept the fact.

• Revamped the way the journal works.  It's now a lot easier to deal with than before.  To sum up how it works now,  you can add the current text being displayed to the journal anytime the cursor is displayed as a small pencil with the letter "J" in the corner.  To add the text, just hit the "J" key on the keyboard.  Then, to view the text at any time just hit Command-J -OR- select Journal from the Maps/Notes/Journal Menu.

Because of the new way I handle the journal, your old journal will no longer work.  If you play a saved game, all journal entries will be lost.  NOTE: This does not pertain to the NOTE KEEPER.  That has not changes and any notes you have laying around will work fine.  Only the journal is affected.

• Added a preference to make the entry of all text into the journal automatic.  Though this can be nice, it can also be a pain as you may find yourself swimming around looking for some specific text amid all the other stuff you don't really care about.  Note:  The first time you run Realmz it may turn this option on.  You may want to turn it off right away.

• Perform the check to see if the fade will work on the current video setup.  If not, it skips it.  For those of you who had to hold the option key down while launching, this should solve the problem.  (I hope) 


What's new in 3.0.2

• Tweeked a few things and fixed a few bugs.  You can now get OFF boats using either keys or the mouse.

• The alternate "Realmz Portraits" and "Realmz Sounds" files will now work again.

• Some powerbook users had trouble with the initial fade locking up the computer.  You can now bypass this fade by holding the OPTION key when you launch Realmz.


What's new in 3.0.1

• Added the ability to change the icon you see on the screen to represent the party while indoors.  You choose a new icon, select "Set Preferences" from the Preferences menu.

• Cleaned up a few minor things having to deal with the 3.0 changes.

Version 3.2

Changelog

What's new in 3.2      (Sort of rhymes huh?)

• We have a new phone number.  (608) 222-8468   Our mailing and e-mail address has not changed.

• We have a new web site:  http://www.outreach.com/fantasoft

• All new interface graphics.

• Enhanced treasure collection screen.  The new improvements allow you to see at a glance some of the important stuff about items you may want to pick up.

• Modified the experience required in the advancement charts again.  Made it a fair bit harder to advance early on in the game.

• Bunch of minor tweaks to the gameplay.  Mostly minor stuff few will ever notice.

Version 3.3

Changelog

What's new in 3.3

• During treasure collection, the cursor will change to a STOP sign if the current character is not capable of using the item under the cursor due to either a class or race restriction.

• Recoded a lot of the locations with battles.  In almost all cases, if your party ran away from battle, Realmz would treat that as a victory.  In version 3.3 of the scenarios many of these battles will remain in place and you will have to complete the battle as a victory in order to clear that area.  If you use a version of the scenario that is older than 3.3 or used a saved game that was started prior to version 3.3 it will be treated like it was in the past.

• Made it even more difficult to turn creatures.  It still seems way too easy to turn creatures so in addition to their normal resistance to turning, creatures with a high magic resistance will be harder to turn.

• Added a preference that will show detailed item info below the name of the item in the items/shop/trade screens.  For more info on this see the chapter named  "Preferences • General Info"  This is pretty nice.

• A plethora of small fixes only noticed by the most stalwart of players.

What's new in 3.2.2

• Fixed a bug with the character generation menu.

What's new in 3.2.1

• Added support for "Alternate Realmz Interface" files.  This lets you customise the look of Realmz.  If you want more information on this sort of thing it can be found at our web site.    http://www.outreach.com/fantasoft

Version 4.0

Changelog

What's new in 4.0

• Everything!  Or so it seems.

• The term CLASS is now refered to as CASTE.
   - The old Mage Class is now Scorcerer Caste
   - The old Ranger Class is now Archer Caste
   - The old Paladin Class is now Crusader Caste
   - The old Cleric Class is now Priest Caste

• With the addition of some of the changes below I had to modify the character file format.  When you load a character that's of the old format, Realmz will convert them to the new format.  i.e.  It will do its best at changing some of the old statistics into the new ones.  Of course there is always a chance for something to be off a bit but it should not be too bad.

• Had to make some major changes to one specific type of item, namely scrolls (NOT Scroll Cases).  If you have not noticed already you will shortly.   When you load a saved game it eliminates any scrolls your characters had.  If you find any new scrolls in the future they should be OK.  For reasons too complicated to go into here I could not make a fix for scrolls so your old scrolls must go to the great eternal void.  (Thats on top of a pile of socks that dissapear in your dryer.)

• A THIEF is now called a Rogue.  Along with this change, some of the old abilities have been eliminated.  Stuff like HIDE IN SHADOWS and MOVE SILENTLY etc... have been trashed.  (Never used them anyway)  Also, those abilities that do remain are now common to ALL castes.  However, even though all castes can now Pick a Lock etc... etc... the Rogue is still the only caste that stands a chance of performing these tasks with any real zeal.

• Added a preference that will show detailed item info below the name of the item in the items/shop/trade screens.  For more info on this see the chapter named  "Preferences • General Info"  This is pretty nice.

• Big time change in the way characters select spells.  Instead of having them get to pick from X number of spells as they gain levels, you can now choose any spells you want until you run out of spell selection points.  For more info on this change see the chapter named "Spells  •  Scrolls"  Its all explained in more detail there.

• Changed the names/workings of some spells.  You may want to breeze over the chapter "Spell List" to see if there is anything there that interests you.

• Added two new statistics.  Attack Bonus and Defense Bonus.  These are really just composit values that give you a general idea of how easy/hard it is for your character to hit/be hit in melee combat.  Higher is better.  They take into account your characters attributes, magical abilities, items worn, conditions  etc... etc...

• Changed the way armor works.  The statistic that shows how hard it is to hit a characters/monster is now called "Armor Rating"   Armor Rating or AR for short is a value that ranges from 0 to 100.   0 (Zero) being the worst while 100 being the best.  It is possible to fall below 0 or go above 100 in extreme cases, but for the most part it will be a value from 0 to 100.

Do to the change in AR most items that provided armor protection have been modified.  i.e.  A suit of plate armor now provides +27 to your AR vs. what it did for your old Armor Catagory (AC).  As a general rule, items now add 3 times the value to your AR as they subtracted to your old AC.  (Confused?)

Version 4.1.2

Changelog

What's new in 4.1.2

• Fixed a number of small graphical glitches.

• The DETECT MAGIC button will now be anchored to the correct location in the treasure screen.  On some systems it was out of wack.

• No more negative victory points awarded for extremely large battles.

• Fixed the problem with scroll cases and parchment and other supply items getting deleted if you begin a new adventure immediatly after starting up Realmz.

• Characters will now swap positions when they are in AUTO mode in an effort to get to thier target.  Before you could only SWAP POSITIONS when in manual mode.  This really helps the AUTO/ANIMATED characters stay in the battle.

• If your character goes above level 127 or gets an Armor Rating above 127 it will now be displayed correctly.  They were always treated correctly as far as the numbers are concerned in battle, but it will now be displayed correctly as well.


What's new in 4.1.1

• Fixed a major bug that would cause characters and monsters to hill an opponent in battle a lot less often than they should have.


What's new in 4.1

• Fixed a lot of little things that went wrong during the update to 4.0.  Of course there may still be some so if you see anything that still looks wrong, please let me know so I can get it fixed.  Don't assume somebody else has told me.

• Changed the spell selection costs a bit.  The upper level spells now require less spell selection points than before.

• You can now swap positions during combat with any other character/friend who you are adjacent to.  If you attempt to move into an adjacent character or friend who is one square in size, you will be asked if you want to attack that character/friend or if you want to swap positions with them.  If you do not want to do either, you can hit the Esc (Escape)  key to back out.  This makes it easier for those in back to push to the front where all the grunt work is.  If your friend is a two square creature or larger, you can't swap positions with them.

• Eliminated the preference "Never attack friends"  This option is now obsolete with the change above.  If you are asked if you want to "Attack your friend" or "Swap Positions" you can hit the Esc (Escape)  key to back out altogether.

• Any allies with the party can now be affected by spells while in camp under certain conditions.  If you cast an area spell, they will be affected.  If you cast a spell that affects all friends, they will be affected.  If you cast a spell that increases the number of targets as the power level goes up, they will ALL be affected if you cast it at a power level 1 greater than the number of party members you have.  i.e.  If you have 6 members in your party and you cast a power level 6 Invisible skin, only the 6 party members will be affected.  If you cast it at power level 7, ALL of the allies will also be affected no matter how many you have.

• Changed the way spells that have a duration work.  Now, instead of a creature/characters taking damage for each step they take inside the area of effect of such spells, they only take damage from those spells one time per turn.  They still take damage from the spell at the time it's cast and at the end of each round however.  i.e.  Each spell can cause damage up to 3 times the round it is cast and 2 times per round for each round thereafter.

If multiple spells overlap, you will take damage for each spell separately,  but only once for each spell as you move through the area and once again for each at the end of each round.

This should make the game a lot tougher as well as make special friends a lot less likely to kill themselves.

• Physical attacks are now considered both sharp AND blunt attacks for the purpose of determining if you can hit a specific creature.  Example:  A giant slug requires a sharp weapon in order to be hurt.  You can now hurt them with either sharp weapons OR any physical attack.

• Changed the way creatures will behave when they attempt to attack a creature that requires a blunt/sharp/special/magical weapon.  If the creature requires a blunt/sharp weapon to be hit and they have the wrong type, they will disarm themselves after the first attack and continue attacking using physical attacks.  i.e.  They will not sit there and attempt to kill something they will never be able to hit.

• Changed the way AUTO characters will behave when they attempt to attack a creature that requires a blunt/sharp/special/magical weapon.  If the creature requires a type of weapon or special weapon the character does not have in hand, they will loose AUTO status after the first attack.  That way you get control back before they try and pummel something 5 times in a row for no reason.


What's new in 4.0.1

• Added the ability to for the USER to redefine character races/caste names as well as rename all spell names.  i.e.  If you don't like any of the new names in version 4.0, you can now just type in the names you do like.  You can do this by selecting EDIT RACE/CASTE NAMES  or EDIT SPELL NAMES from the preference menu.

 In order to do this you MUST place the file "Custom Names" in your Realmz Data Files folder.  The "Custom Names" file should be included as part of the 4.0 to 4.0.1 updater.  If you don't have a copy, you can get one at our web site.   http://www.fantasoft.com

• Fixed a few errors with generating new characters.  A few bad statistics were weeded out.

• Do to the renaming/moving of the spells in version 4.0 a few encounters did not work right in version 4.0 of some of the scenarios.  I have fixed those I know about in version 4.0.1 of the scenarios.

• Version 4.0 of the White Dragon Scenario had a big flaw in the Armor Ratings of monsters.  Those have been fixed in version 4.0.1 of the scenario and you may want to get version 4.0.1 of White Dragon if you plan on playing that scenario.

• Added the Registration/Order Form for Monkey Shines (Our newest game) to this manual.

• Aborted spells now only return 2/3 of the spell points originally used to cast the spell.  You know why don't you Claus?

Version 4.2

Changelog

What's new in 4.2

• A pile of small things only noticed by the most hardcore players.

• Fixed the DETECT button problem in the treasure screen.

• Retreating characters will no longer move through large creatures.

• Made adjustments so characters over level 127 will be treated correctly.

Version 4.3.4

Changelog

What's new in 4.3

• Added a new chapter just prior to this one titled "Making Your Own Scenarios"  It gives you information on:

   - Divinity:  A scenario development kit that lets you design your own scenarios. You can either give the scenario away so anybody who owns a copy of Divine Right can play it, or you can ask for a shareware fee much like we do.

   - Divine Right:  A special version of Realmz that lets you test scenarios you create with Divinity, as well as play scenarios developed by others.

• Added new races.  Note:  Though some of these races have higher starting stats, they may be limited as to the maximum stats they can have.  All races now have a Maximum value they can attain on any particular attribute.  With the addition of 10 new races many of the tables in the Appendix of Tables grew too large to be practical.  I removed those tables.  However, all that information plus other stats are displayed right on screen when you select your race during character creation.

• All new character portraits and battle icons.  If you want info on the old portraits or icons check our web site under the area "Realmz Portraits.

• In addition, your character will now change facing depending on which way they moved last in battle.

• Redesigned the character race and tactical battle icon selection screens during character creation due to all the new races and portraits.

• New Table 8.1 in "Appendix of Tables" that shows the initial and maximum attacks per round by race.

• Race limitations of items has been removed.  This is one bad side effect of the addition of new races.  In order to keep the items data compatible, I had to remove any limitations of items vs. race.  As an example, in the past, two handed swords could not be wielded by very short races.  Limitations of that nature no longer exist.

• Now Rogues, Sorcerers, Priests and Enchanters gain extra attacks as they go up levels just like Monks, Fighters, Archers and Crusaders.  The amount that Sorcerers, Priests and Enchanters go up is very slight.  See Table 8.0 in the chapter "Appendix of Tables" for more info.

• The maximum number of attacks per round is now 6.  However, the maximum attacks per round is now limited by race and caste.  Most races have a maximum number of attacks per round of 4 but some can go as high as 5 or 6.  In addition, some races start out with up to 2 attacks per round.  See Table 8.0 and 8.1 in the chapter "Appendix of Tables" for more info.

• Archers now gain a bonus to damage with missile weapons that increases with skill level.  The bonus is a random amount from 1 to Skill Level/2.  Example:  A 10th Level Archer will do normal bow damage plus 1 to 5 points of damage.  A 16th Level Archer will do normal damage plus 1 to 8 points of damage etc.

• Made some small changes to clean up some OS 8 compatibility issues.

• When you target spells, all participants in the battle will show which side they are on while you target the spell.

• Expanded the bonus given for brawn and agility.  Before it only covered characters with these stats as high as 21.  It now covers them all the way to 25 which is the max.  Also made a few corrections to some stats shown in the manual.  Some bonuses given to some races were different than what was stated in the manual.

• Changed a few of the preferences.  Got rid of 'Smooth Battles' and added  'Spell Casting on Allies in Camp' This should help make it more stable on most machines.

- Smooth Battles.  This option was always flaky at best	so I  just pulled the plug on it.

- Spell Casting on Allies in Camp.  Casting spells that affect the entire party and all allies seems to cause the game to crash on some people.  Why?  Good question.  It should not and I can't ever get it to happen to me so I can't really track it down.

If you want certain spells to affect your allies while in camp, select "Cast Spell on Allies in Camp" from the preferences.  If you find the game crashes on you when you cast spells with this option on, then shut it off.

• With the addition of some of the changes above I had to modify the character file format.  When you load a character that's of the old format, Realmz will convert them to the new format.  i.e.  It will do its best at changing some of the old statistics into the new ones.  Of course there is always a chance for something to be off a bit but it should not be too bad.


What's new in 4.2.2

• Updated the order form in Chapter 3 to show the new Griloch's Revenge scenario as well as the new Fantasoft CD-ROM.

 The CD has all the current versions of all our games, Realmz, Exile I, Exile II, Monkey Shines as well as all the tip files for Realmz and anything else we could scrape together such as the Realmz book of Items, Book of Beasts and Book of Characters.

• Added small icons to the right of your characters names to show any bad effects they may be suffering from.  See the chapter titled "Conditions" for more information about this new feature.


What's new in 4.2.1

• Added new graphics for the buildings.  I like them a lot better than the old ones.  Note: If you play any old saved games they graphics for some spots may be screwed up.  The game will still play fine, but some buildings may not look correct.  If you begin a new adventure then everything should look fine.

• Special characters that can cast spells will no longer forget that they have spells and will continue to cast spells as long as they have the spell points to do so.

• Added a new preference, "Faster Spell Resolution".  With this option ON, spells that affect large numbers of creatures will resolve a lot faster.  It will probably not give you enough time to see how much damage each individual creature takes, but in battle with 50+ creatures, it will take a lot less time if you cast an "Affect all enemies" type of spell.  In addition, you can toggle this preference on/off via the keyboard using Command-H.

• Enemies will now be a little more selective about WHO they attack when they can't see their original target.  i.e.  If your Priest is being chased by a pack of ghouls and he moves around a corner and is no longer in site of the ghouls, they will turn around and attack somebody they CAN see.

• New characters with a very low strength will no longer get a huge attack bonus.

• The game will no longer crash if a trap kills your character while attempting to pick a lock.

• Command-K will now refresh the entire screen.  This is the same as selecting this option from the Preferences menu but it lacked a keyboard equivalent until now.

• Bunch of other minor bug fixes.

• Added a new LEVEL UP button in the Realmz Character Editor.  This lets you boost a character one level each time you click the button.

Version 5.1

Changelog

What's new in 5.1

• Changed the way the Music Menu works.  Each music selection can now be in one of three states.  You may have to reselect your music you want to play as a result of this change the first time you run a saved game.

OFF    Music will stop when you are in this area.
   ⌥    Music will play in this area.
   ◊    Music will not change in this area, BUT if music is already playing from a different area it will continue to play.

• Added a colum to the "Spell Casting Ability" table to show which caste can or can't use scroll cases and the type of scroll case they can use.

• Data files for two new land types.  Swamp and Desert.  These files are used in a limited fashion in the newest version of some scenarios.  They are also used by "Divine Right LE"

• Corrected a number of minor bugs.


What's new in 5.0.5

• Changed the caste "Berzerker" a bit.  They can now no longer use leather or chain armor.  They can however now use small and medium sized shields and are resistant to fire.

• Fixed a number of problems with aging as well as added support for magic items that can cause you to age or get younger.  If you download the latest versions of the scenairos you can find a few Aging and Youth potions sprinkled about.

• Elves and Vampires will now get 100% of the victory points they deserve.  A bug caused them to suffer from the "Over Age Penelty" thus reducing the victory points awarded them by 33%.

• Fixed a bug that would cause some castes to not get the correct amount of stamina during levelup.

• Other Minor Bug fixes. (As always)


What's new in 5.0.4

• Bug fixes.
• Improved "Item Information" screen.


What's new in 5.0.1

• Some kills in combat did not add to your prestige.  That is fixed.
• Reveal Friends now works properly again.
• Fixed a problem with the "Identify" buttons in the treasure collection screen.
• Re-registration should now work properly on all computers.
• Places some limitations onto the number of spells that can be cast per round by various castes.  See below table for current values.

                  Caste Spell Casting Ability

	     Spell        Begins      Maximum           Maximum Spells
Caste	     Class        At Level    Spell Level       Usable/Round 
Fighter      •		  •	      •	                •
Monk         •		  •	      •	                •
Crusader     Priest	  7	      4		        1
Archer       Sorcerer	  15	      2		        1
Rogue        Sorcerer	  15	      3		        1
Sorcerer     Sorcerer	  1	      7		        2
Priest       Priest	  1	      7		        2
Enchanter    Enchanter	  1	      7		        2
Evoker       Enchanter	  1           7		        3
Cardinal     Priest       1	      7		        3
Cabalist     Sorcerer     1	      7		        3
Berzerker    •		  •	      •		        •
Bard         Sorcerer	  20	      3		        1
Fencer       •		  •	      •		        •
Marksman     •		  •	      •		        •
Assassin     Sorcerer	  15	      3		        1
Dabbler      Enchanter	  5	      5		        1
Battle Mage  Sorcerer	  5	      5		        1
Warlock      Enchanter	  1	      7		        3


What's new in 5.0

• New Pricing Structure For Game And Scenarios.

• Special note: Characters and saved games from versions prior to 5.0 are not compatible.  You will not be able to use any of your old characters and saved games with version 5.0 or higher.  Major changes have taken place in both gameplay and in the way things are done under the hood.  These changes make it impossible to make old characters / saved games to work or be updated to the new format.  Onward and upward.

• As far as gameplay is concerned, the largest change you will notice right away is the addition of a lot of new castes.  See the chapter "Creating Characters" for more info on the specific castes.

• You can now create characters starting as high as level 30.

• All newly created characters will start with basic equipment.

• Realmz now keeps track of your characters prestige.  This is an overall score based on how well your character performs in battle.  The better they do the higher the prestige score.  You can view your prestige in the character record screen.

How prestige points are calculated:

Positive Prestige Points are calculated:

+ (Damage Given - Damage Taken) / 20 (This could be negative)
+ Hits Given
+ Attacks Dodged
+ 2 x Undead Destroyed
+ 3 x Undead Turned
+ 3 x Enemies Killed (Excluding Destroyed Undead Via Turning)


Negative Prestige Points are calculated:

- 2 x Hits Taken
- 2 x Missed Attacks
- 3 x Number of Spells Cast in Combat
- 35 x Times You Were Knocked Unconscious
- 75 x Times You Were Killed In Combat
- Running away in combat will add 200 points to your prestige penelty with a net result of -200 to your prestige score.

• All races and castes have a starting and maximum number of attacks per round.  For more info on this see tables "8.0   Attacks Per Round By Caste" and "8.1  Attacks Per Round By Race" in the Appendix of tables.

• Castes capable of casting spells that have multiple attacks per round will be able to use either melee or spell casting abilities for all attacks.

• Swapping positions with another character during combat now requires 5 movement points.

• Characters  are now affected by age.  As they age they may gain or loose attributes.  To see how age affects any specific race click the "View Aging" button during the selection of a characters race during character creation -OR- in the character statistics screen.

Each race has a maximum age they can attain.  When your characters reach that age they will NOT die.  (I did not want the bevy of complaints that would cause.)

Once they reach the highest age group they will no longer be affected by age as they grow older.  The purpose of this is to reflect the changes your character would experience over time but I did not want to actually kill off characters when they got too old.   If you like to play realistically then just end the characters career.

In addition, some monsters can now cause you to age on a successful hit.  As an example, if you are hit in combat by a ghost, your character will age slightly.  Just how much they will age depends on how large an attack the creature has and toughness of the creature.

Besides aging due to natural causes and as a result of encounters with supernatural creatures you can also age due to spell effects. 

The Adrenaline spell will cause a character to age.  The higher the power level of the spell the more he will age.

Most aging due to magical effects is uniform across races. As an example, a Goblin which can live for about 45 years will age only 75% as much due to magical affects as a Hobgoblin which can live to be 60.

• Victory Point Penelty For Overage Characters.  Characters that are beyond their maximum age for their race will be penalized one third of victory points awarded.  i.e.  They will only get 66% of victory points they would normally get if they were below their maximum age.

• Race and Caste restrictions on items are now back in.  Some items can only be used by specific races and castes.  I had to remove some of those limitations a while back in order to keep things working but they are now back in.

• You can now view your characters base aging, caste and race adjustments from the "Character Record" screen.  These stats are what was applied when they were initialy created.

• In the past any pre-defined spells for use with the quick casting keys was lost when you started a new game or changed the makeup of the party.  Now those definitions are saved with each character.  If you define a number of spells for quick casting for your character those defined spells will not change unless you want them to change.

• Replaced the Enchanter spell "Discover Invisible Objects" with "Destroy or Turn Undead"  This spell will allow the enchanter an attempt to turn undead as if they were a priest.  No victory points are awarded for turning or destroying undead in this way nor does it garnesh the caster any prestige points.

• Note:  Warlocks and Crusaders gain the ability to turn undead at higher levels.  Pixies and Vampires each gain a bonus to turn undead and will have a small chance to turn low level undead regardless of their caste.  This ability will not get stronger as they gain in levels unless they happen to be a caste that gains in this ability as they gain levels.


What's new in 4.3.5

• Most of the changes are minor bug fixes. No major interface or feature changes.

Version 5.1.5

Changelog

What's new in 5.1.2

• Actually, most of the changes have to deal with adding support for new features in Divine Right.  However, a few of those spill over into Realmz and are supported even if they are not used.

• You can now get "Contact Info" about each scenario by selecting "About this scenario" under the apple menu when playing a scenario.  This will only hold true for versions 5.1.2 of scenarios or higher.

• Added support for Scenario Restrictions.  None of the standard Realmz scenarios currently have any restrictions but custom scenarios created using Divinity may have them.  These restrictions may ban certain character castes or races.  It may also put a limit on the number of characters that may join the party as well as the maximum level a character can be in order to join the party.

• Added support for custom designed spells, races and castes.  Again, this is for those that use Divinity to create their own scenarios.  If your interested in making your own scenarios then check out our web site for information on Divinity.  http://www.fantasoft.com

Version 6.0.5

Changelog

What's new in 6.0.4

• A number of minor bug fixes plus one major one that would cause the opening splash screen on some machines to crash.


What's new in 6.0.3

• Holding "Option" when launching Realmz will now skip the screen fade again.

• Scrolling Text outside of the map viewer will no longer lock up the game.

• Fumbled weapons lost during battles that only award victory points will no longer be lost to the void.

• Increased the maximum spell level of the new Minstrel Caste.

• Corrected a dialog problem with scenario registration.


What's new in 6.0

• Released "Trouble in the Sword Lands" scenario.  This scenario is easily the largest scenario ever released by Fantasoft and is sure to keep you up way past nappy time.

• You can now play third party scenarios created with Divinity directly in Realmz 6.0 or higher.  To find out more about where to get third party scenarios or how to may your own point your web browser to www.fantasoft.com and enter the Games section and head for the Realmz section.

• Added two new menu options in the "Adventure" menu to allow you to install or remove third party scenario titles.  See the chapter "Making Your Own Scenarios" for more info on this subject.

• Added a new Caste:  Minstrel.  For more info about the Minstrel Caste see the chapter "Character Castes"

• You can now rename your characters in the "View Character Info" screen.  Just click on the characters name in the upper right hand corner and type your new name.

• Helpless characters and monsters will now be marked with a blue background during battle.

• Characters and monsters that are offscreen during combat will be denoted with a hash mark near the edge of the screen in their general direction.  This is an easy way for you to tell where everybody is relative to the current character.

There is also a new preference for turning this option on or off if you don't like it.

• In addition, music in formats other than MOD or MAD are now supported.  You can now play music in S3M, MTM, MED, XM, IT  as well.  However, it may not work 100% with these new formats so you will have to trust in luck for any particular song to work or not.

Music will now pick up where it left off when switching between areas.


What's new in 5.1.6

• Mostly minor changes on code that works behind the scenes.

Version 6.1.2

Changelog

What's new in 6.1.2

• Fixed a minor bug in the treasure collection screen that would cause the Dagger of Styx +2 to become corrupt.  This same bug may be responsible for a number of other problems but I am not sure.  In any case it is fixed now.

• Some systems would encounter a lot of Type 1 errors in some situations.  Those should now be eliminated.

Version 6.2

Changelog

What's new in 6.2

• Made some interface changes to the Divinity DEMO to make it easier to look up information on the scripting codes.  Check it out!

• The preference "Show Next Round Notification" has been changed to "Show Additional Notifications"

Some machines have been reported as locking up when the small notification window appears after each round of combat, during item identification or when casting spells that affect all enemies.   If this applies to you, you can avoid this problem by turning this preference OFF.

• Many internal additions to allow for more variety of game play by scenarios currently in development as well as 3rd party scenarios.

Version 7.0.4

Changelog

What's new in 7.0.3

• The ATI Video cards in many of the newer Macs does not like to do CopyBits using the transparent copy mode.  As such, I have changed the way spell targeting is handled on screen.  I have also changed the way item icons are display while dragging them back and forth in the trade/shop screen.


What's new in 7.0.2

• Fixed a miscalculation in experience awarded.
• Fixed a problem that would cause the names of some cursed items to not appear.


What's new in 7.0

• Realmz 7.0 is the first version that is both Mac / PC compatible.  Your character files should be usable on both the Mac and PC version.  Saved games will NOT be compatible between Mac and PC.

In the past we have always offered free updates and that policy still stands as long as you update on the same platform you registered on.  If you ordered the Mac version in the past and want to update to the PC version there will be a platform transfer upgrade fee.

It cost a small fortune to get Realmz ported to PC and we simply can't afford to give it away for free.  The upgrade fees are as follows:

Realmz: $10
Each scenario you wish upgrade to a new platform: $5
Realmz Character Editor: $5 if you choose to get the new version via e-mail, $6 if you need it mailed to you on floppy disk.

To help avoid confusion, here is an example:

Let's say you registered Realmz, and three scenarios.  To transfer your registration to windows for all of those items would cost you $10 + 3 x $5 = $25  If you choose to only get Realmz plus one of those three scenarios then the cost would be $10 + $5 = $15

In addition, all 3rd party scenarios created with Divinity can easily be converted to the Windows file format so all 3rd party scenarios should be availabel in both Mac and PC format shortly if they are not already.

• Increased the maximum stats from 25 to 30.  NOTE:  The limit for most cases will still be 25 during character creation, however, with the addition of some items and with the affects of aging on some characters you can now reach as high as 30 on all stats.

In the past, exceeding 25 for any stats may have had a detrimental affect on your character.  That should no longer be the case.

Version 7.1.2

Changelog

What's new in 7.1.2

• Fixed a problem with loading saved games that are really large (War in Sword Lands In Particular) loosing info.

• Windows Version 7.1.2 fixes banking as well as a number of other game save problems. It also includes support for the two newest sceanrios.


What's new in 7.1.1

• Fixed a few scripting errors.


What's new in 7.1

• The level of toughness displayed in the bestiary would revert to displaying the "Normal Monster Set" toughness when you would click Left or Right even if the sceanrio was set to "Monster Monsters" or "Mega Monsters"  Fixed.

• Added support for a few new features needed by the new scenarios "Half Truth" and "War in the Sword Lands"

• MIsc. corrections in the scripting routines.


What's new in 7.0.9

• Fixed a problem with Save Vs. values of characters. Some would get overwritten and thus be out of legal bounds.


What's new in 7.0.8

• Fixed a problem with creating new characters if you have created a minstril previously.

• Fixed a scripting problem that could cause incorrect branching on checks vs. completed quests.


What's new in 7.0.7

• Saved games info could get corrupt and cause it to drop more NPCs from the party than it should.


What's new in 7.0.6

• Fixed a problem with character appearing inside solid objects at the start of battle.  This would sometimes happen if you had less than 6 characters.

Version 8.0.5

Changelog

What's new in 8.0

• Game no longer runs on 68k processor machines, you need a PPC capable machine to run version 8.0

• Expanded game resolution to 800x600 and added new interface elements for use in the new areas.

• Added support for the latest scenario "Wrath of the Mind Lords"

• Updated contact and order information.  We moved so your old order forms will have incorrect address and phone/fax info.

(Source: Original TCRF research)