08-01-2003, 09:15 PM
Zath, the difference between the columns with "L-something" and "something" is that the ones with the "L-" are for use in ladder games and the other columns are for non-Ladder Realm games.
It looks like you did the calculations correctly. Bear in mind that there may not be a difference in the two sets of figures (Ladder vs. non-Ladder values) but if there are then you will be getting the wrong results if you are using the wrong columns. I did not check at the time to see which sets of columns had differences or how much they would be. The important point is they were not using the correct set of variables and could be presenting a lot of bogus information without realising it.
The information that you are looking for is in monstats2.txt. The column for the shields is SHv. For the case of the skeleton1, SHv="nil,buc,lrg,kit,sml". This works out to be 5 possibilities for an equal chance of each in this case. It will only matter that do have a shield (4/5 of the time) to allow them the blocking chance shown in monstats.txt, the type is only needed for the game to know what graphic to use without reguard to the effectiveness. For an example of a more complex distribution look at the right hand weapon, RHv="axe,fla,hax,hax,hax,mac,mac,mac,scm,scm". This would give 1/10 of axe, 1/10 of flail, 3/10 of hand axe, 3/10 of mace and 2/10 of scimitar. In all cases the damage would still be the same. This is not the same as the method that is used to give equipment to some of the monsters such as the rare Short War Bow that Blood Raven gets or the various items that Valkyries get.
You would also need to check the animation information itself (animdata.d2) to be sure that there actually is an animation that is used for blocking. I know that the act 3 mercs do not have an animation for blocking in spite of the fact that they are still assigned a shield. I have not bothered to check which monster do off hand as it would take more time than I care to spend cross indexing the monster tokens and the data on which have BL codes for the their animations. It is probably just easier to test if the ones that do get shields actually can block a shot. I know that th various skeletons, corrupt rogues and saber cats can block if they get a shield.
It looks like you did the calculations correctly. Bear in mind that there may not be a difference in the two sets of figures (Ladder vs. non-Ladder values) but if there are then you will be getting the wrong results if you are using the wrong columns. I did not check at the time to see which sets of columns had differences or how much they would be. The important point is they were not using the correct set of variables and could be presenting a lot of bogus information without realising it.
Quote:One last question too, I've found the "NoShldBlock" column in "monstats.txt", but I can't seem to find one that would indicate whether a monster can spawn with a shield, or what chance it has to spawn with a shield. Do you know which column in the various MPQ files records this property?
The information that you are looking for is in monstats2.txt. The column for the shields is SHv. For the case of the skeleton1, SHv="nil,buc,lrg,kit,sml". This works out to be 5 possibilities for an equal chance of each in this case. It will only matter that do have a shield (4/5 of the time) to allow them the blocking chance shown in monstats.txt, the type is only needed for the game to know what graphic to use without reguard to the effectiveness. For an example of a more complex distribution look at the right hand weapon, RHv="axe,fla,hax,hax,hax,mac,mac,mac,scm,scm". This would give 1/10 of axe, 1/10 of flail, 3/10 of hand axe, 3/10 of mace and 2/10 of scimitar. In all cases the damage would still be the same. This is not the same as the method that is used to give equipment to some of the monsters such as the rare Short War Bow that Blood Raven gets or the various items that Valkyries get.
You would also need to check the animation information itself (animdata.d2) to be sure that there actually is an animation that is used for blocking. I know that the act 3 mercs do not have an animation for blocking in spite of the fact that they are still assigned a shield. I have not bothered to check which monster do off hand as it would take more time than I care to spend cross indexing the monster tokens and the data on which have BL codes for the their animations. It is probably just easier to test if the ones that do get shields actually can block a shot. I know that th various skeletons, corrupt rogues and saber cats can block if they get a shield.