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+--- Thread: A technical ? re Firewall and the sprit limit (/thread-10354.html)
A technical ? re Firewall and the sprit limit - Attika - 08-28-2003
I was playing some single player IM (of course) and had reached the Lair of the Vile Betrayer with my warrior, who was trying to take out Laz using Firewalls.
Now I went through like 20 blue potions, drinking and casting FW for all I was worth, without it seeming to affect Laz in the least.
I was casting the center of the fire directly on Laz, and trying to get in multiple casts to hasten the damage while combating his regenerative powers.
Eventually I had to go back to town and grab two FW staves I had laying there.
Went back and cast 13 consecutive FWs on that bastard! Finally got him!
Then I began wondering about the sprit (or is it sprite?) limit, and whether I might have wasted more than a few of those consecutive casts.
If the sprit limit is 127, and each FW cast is 11 tiles wide, as there are TWO sprits (?) in the centermost tile, then we are talking 12 sprits?
13 casts x 12 sprits would = 156? So probably some waste there?
Or since the fire graphics simply overlap each other, was the sprit limit not even neared? (But isn't there a sprit limit on Mana Shield casts?)
And if the sprit limit had been reached, how come Laz was still able to blast off Fireballs at me all the while, even after my last FW cast when I was trying to dodge my way back to a safe hallway? i thought reaching the sprit limit meant no more magic that generated a graphics would work? Yet boy Laz's sure did!
Or am I just not close to understanding this correctly?
Just curious.
Attika
A technical ? re Firewall and the sprit limit - LemmingofGlory - 08-28-2003
Quote:Or since the fire graphics simply overlap each other, was the sprit limit not even neared?
Even stacked fire walls will near the sprite limit.
Quote:(But isn't there a sprit limit on Mana Shield casts?)
I'm pretty sure this was fixed post v1.04. Compare what happens in D1 and HF when you cast MS with MS already active. In D1, no mana is used if MS is active. In Hellfire, mana is used and nothing visibly happens. I suspect in Hellfire, another sprite is used for each activation of MS, thus leading to "re-cast MS enough and nerf ranged combat." (I've never had the inclination to actually test it, but that's what I heard.) In D1, they probably added something to the effect of "Check if MS active. If yes, do nothing. If not, activate MS."
Quote:And if the sprit limit had been reached, how come Laz was still able to blast off Fireballs at me all the while, even after my last FW cast when I was trying to dodge my way back to a safe hallway? i thought reaching the sprit limit meant no more magic that generated a graphics would work? Yet boy Laz's sure did!
I've found that FWs don't preciesly reach the sprite limit. Usually it's still possible to fire off the odd projectile or other spell that doesn't use many sprites.
[o: *LEMMING* :o]
A technical ? re Firewall and the sprit limit - Nystul - 08-28-2003
Even stacked fire walls will near the sprite limit.
Yep.
I'm pretty sure this was fixed post v1.04. Compare what happens in D1 and HF when you cast MS with MS already active. In D1, no mana is used if MS is active. In Hellfire, mana is used and nothing visibly happens. I suspect in Hellfire, another sprite is used for each activation of MS, thus leading to "re-cast MS enough and nerf ranged combat." (I've never had the inclination to actually test it, but that's what I heard.) In D1, they probably added something to the effect of "Check if MS active. If yes, do nothing. If not, activate MS."
I believe this was a 1.07 fix. I tested it once prior to the fix, and it was pretty funny (I was trying it on a goat level, so they were pulling the bow string but nothing was shooting). Of course you were not only nerfing enemy ranged attacks, but also limiting your own options quite a bit.
I've found that FWs don't preciesly reach the sprite limit. Usually it's still possible to fire off the odd projectile or other spell that doesn't use many sprites.
My observations would agree with that. After spamming a ton of firewall I've noticed you can get off one or two shots of holy bolt, but you can't fire a bunch of them in a row. I'd assume that if part of the firewall would exceed the limit, the entire firewall doesn't cast, and so you have a very limited number of spell effects that are still available. I think the same thing applies to the bolts of CL which start at the same time, which is why you almost never see any stray lightning in the "gap".