First, there was Heuristic Park’s original Dungeon Lords with all of its glaring issues. Then there was a collector’s edition tin that DreamCatcher Games shipped with the much-needed version 1.5 patch. After that, Nordic Games took over and released a Dungeon Lords MMXII version a few years back that polished things even further. And now, over 10 years since the original release, we have the Dungeon Lords Steam Edition, which is “even further reworked, fixed and improved”.
I’ve actually very much enjoyed all previous iterations of D.W. Bradley’s fantasy RPG, so despite this ridiculous cycle of enhancements and rehashes, I’m half-tempted to buy it yet again:
As many of you requested here is the full set of changes from the latest Dungeon Lords release which was Dungeon Lords MMXII in 2012:
FIXED: Character creation skin selection now correctly applies to arms and hands when changing from previous selection.
FIXED: Option page GAMMA control now works again.
FIXED Widescreen format: combat text for damage and healing amounts now draw over the monsters and hero correctly.
NEW: Added info window to Option page SCREEN RESOLUTION (arrow buttons) stating that game must be restarted to apply changes.
FIXED BUG REPORT #34852 – Made a number of fixes related to detection of Host and Client disconnect so that the game will exit cleanly (and not hang infinitely).
FIXED BUG REPORT #34849 – Added heartbeat message for all connected players to prevent connection timeouts that could previously occur on the Multiplayer UI pages (including Load Character and Load Savegame pages).
FIXED BUG REPORT #34857 – HOST and JOIN buttons now hide on the UI when user is in the process of joining a game to prevent any redundant or errant clicks.
FIXED BUG REPORT #34858 and #34860 – Revised code to correctly detect whether the multiplayer UI page is still active before calling code to cleanup and exit the page when receiving player removed (disconnect) messages. Previously, the game was calling the UI cleanup even if the page was no longer active (which is the case after players connect and enter the world). The logs for both of these bug reports halted unexpectedly upon receipt of a player removed message, suggesting that a player was terminated (disconnected) during scene loading (#34858) [the player disconnect during scene loading is hopefully resolved by FIX for #34849].
DL2015 – PatchM.R3 11/30/2015
Revised: NPC Dialog now renders messages in accordance with the color codes used in the original game. A darker window pane is now rendered as a backdrop for dialog. The lexicon also now uses the original color codes to distinguish NPC keyword options (Trade, etc.), as well as to denote new keywords and those not yet been queried.
Fixed: Mini-map and map page now fill with dark grey when no map is available (previously nothing was drawn and the background would show through the window).
DL2015 – PatchM.R3 11/29/2015
ADEPT CLASS REVISIONS:
Revised: Adept protection ward effects now pulse and are more transparent when active, allowing better visibility during combat.
Revised: Adept spell SHADOWSTRIKE cooldown has been reduced to 20 seconds (down from 30 seconds).
Revised: Adept spell DISPEL now additionally radiates 4-10 damage (before skill and level bonuses) within 6 feet of the target (this damage is in addition to the direct damage inflicted upon the target), and now deals 25%-75% of normal damage to any non-spirit non-undead target (or within 6 ft area). The cooldown has been increased to 60 seconds (up from 10 seconds) to correspond with the increased utility and lethality of this spell.
Revised: Adept spell DISPEL EVIL now deals 25%-75% damage to all non-spirit, non-demon, non-undead creatures within range. The 2 minute cooldown is unchanged.
ARMOR SKILLS REVISION:
Armor protection is now modified by cummulative armor skills, with diminishing returns based upon degree of separation from the required skill for each armor equipped.
For example, leather armor applies full leather armor skill + (cloth skill / 2) + (chain skill / 2) + (scale skill / 3) + (plate skill / 4) to derive total protection for each leather armor equipped.
For example, chain armor applies full chain armor skill + (cloth skill / 3) + (leather skill / 2) + (scale skill / 2) + (plate skill / 3) to derive total protection for each chain armor equipped.
For example, plate armor applies full plate armor skill + (cloth skill / 5) + (leather skill / 4) + (chain skill / 3) + (scale skill / 2) to dervie total protection for each plate armor equipped.
The total protection bonus (or penalty) is based upon the cummulative sum of all equipped armor, thus stacking all armor skills will significantly increase overall total armor protection provided, supporting development of tanking role characters.
Note that damage to armor and shield continues to reduce the total amount of armor protection provided, however, Armor and Shield skills additionally modify the amount of damage taken by armor and shields during battle, thus higher skills generally means fewer repairs and better protection.
Armor skills continue to offset encumbrance penalties for equipping heavier armor, granting bonuses to movement and combat speed using the highest skill of equivalent or better armor type (PLATE > SCALE > CHAIN > LEATHER > CLOTH). The total offset or penalty is a weighted average of all equipped armor.
Note that the higher the armor Item Level (Item Level is distinct and is not the same as the Armor rating) the higher the skill required to avoid penalties to armor protection, movement and combat speed, and armor/shield durability.
GENERAL GAME ENHANCEMENTS:
New: If the Loot Bag is already open on a dispatched monster, pressing the OBJECT ACTION key (default ‘E’) now automatically performs “Take All” (the same as pressing the “Take All” button). Note that “Take All” is disabled in multiplayer, as this would unfairly allow one player to grab all the loot.
Revised: The Loot Bag now opens on the right side of the screen instead of in the middle.
New: The “Influence” stat has been removed and replaced with new “Protection” stat on the character (equipment) page. The Protection stat indicates the total damage reduction % provided by the character’s current equipped armor (after armor damage penalties are applied) in accordance with the character’s Armor skills. Additionally, the character stats (Strike, Damage, Critical, Speed, Dodge/Parry, and Protection now have tooltips to inform players of their meaning. The “Influence” stat now appears as “Bargain” and is displayed on the Shop page when trading with NPC to show any discount % with that Merchant.
New: Shield Block Mode and Point&Click Mode buttons now display above the left side UI. Note that Shield Block Mode is always ON (active) when not using Point&Click. In Point&Click Mode the mouse can now be used to turn on/off Shield Block Mode and Point&Click Mode.
New: Added name tag above targeted creature or NPC (enabled/disabled with Game Options: Targeting Cone).
Revised: Using Repair kits to repair items now increases Repair skill level. Repair kits now have a minimum of 2 charges per kit, with more possible depending upon Repair skill.
Revised: NPC shopkeepers with available repair kits for sale now randomly have more in stock.
New: Added border art to the scene loading screen.
Fixed: Autosaves now (correctly) create game snapshot without the UI interface overlaying the scene.
New: Air meter overlay (over the hero portrait) in the headup display to indicate remaining air when swimming underwater.
Graphics: tweaked lighting and increased visibility when underwater.
Revised: The Load Progress meter now more accurately reports loading progress for the outdoor wilderness areas.
Revised: The Mouse Pointer now appears to the right of mid-screen (instead of right and down) when activating Point&Click mode or opening a character UI page.
MOVEMENT CONTROL REVISIONS:
Left and Right movement now run strafes 90 degrees oblique to facing direction (formerly sidestep).
Forward + Left/Right now runs 45 degrees oblique to facing direction (formerly 22.5 degrees oblique).
Jumping is now supported in all directions, however, jumping backward (backflip) continues to require Athletics Lvl 5.
Athletics now enables block+jump side rolls at Lvl 2, block+jump forward roll at Lvl 3, and block+jump backflip at Lvl 5. The double-tap key to invoke side and forward rolls has been removed, the evasive rolls are now activated only by block+jump combination.
Fixed: assorted movement and animation issues when in stealth, blocking, swimming, and/or hovering (Levitation).
Revised: increased swimming kick (jump key = swim up) movement
Fixed: climb ladder animation and control.
GENERAL REVISIONS AND BUGFIXES:
Fixed: A major (critical) bug in the declared size of the NPC master lexicon array, causing writes to memory beyond the array dimension. This previously undetected bug could result in system instability or possible application failure.
Fixed: In “Point & Click” mode, the mouse pointer was errantly able to click on “invisible” objects in close proximity to the hero, potentially triggering an unintended action. For example, this could inadvertently toggle doors to open and close when fighting in doorways. This has been changed so that any mouse clicks on invisible objects are now ignored.
Fixed: animation blending bug that could prematurely remove an animation before it had expired and sometimes result in a visual animation glitch on characters and monsters.
DL2015 – PatchM.R3 11/15/2015
Balance: refactor of Level-Up Exp Tables, primarily impacting mid to high levels (level 10 and up). Previous exp tables allowed players to level-up too quickly, reducing the overall challenge level of the game. Early level up progression was only slightly impacted by this change, allowing new characters to level-up at a reasonably quick pace.
UI Buttons (Character, Spellbook, Skills) now fade in/out politely (not strobe) when player has new points to spend.
Note that DL Steam Edition skill improvements have been changed from the DL2012 Edition to be consistent with the original Dungeon Lords game. Consequently, characters acquire additional skill points to apply in-between leveling up, and the cost to increase successive skill levels is cummulative, each higher level costing more skill points than the previous level. Each skill point is worth a fixed value, thus, during mid-level progression characters will acquire additional skill points on a frequent basis, allowing skill progression consistent with the original Dungeon Lords.
Balance: Fine grade equipment drops now use same scaledown as Uncommon-Rare-Epic equipment drops.
DL2015 – PatchM.R3 11/08/2015
Added STEAM auto-connect when selecting “STEAM LOBBY” from main menu. If unable to connect to STEAM, game displays message for user to log in to Steam then try again (using CONNECT button).
Removed the ‘P’ key support that was used to toggle more log messages to appear on the multiplayer (STEAM) connection page. This was only intended as a temporary hotkey for early STEAM debugging.
DL2015 – PatchM.R3 09/27/2015
New: Added GUI groups to reduce video card memory usage, dynamically swapping designated GUI pages in memory on as needed basis.
DL2015 – PatchM.R3 08/23/2015
Revised Feature: Larger GUI Quest Pop-Up for New Quests. The quest popup now closes automatically when leaving dialog or trade with NPC.
New Feature: New GUI Book Message popup to display messages contained in quest items when right-clicked, i.e. letters & books.
DL2015 – PatchM.R3 08/19/2015
Revised: Game Version String “Dungeon Lords STEAM 1.60M.R3”
BUGFIX: “Device Lost” video card reset now working again, including GDI support. This was failing due to new Automap render texture not released (or restored) with the other non-managed (render target) textures (and wasn’t releasing the automap surface buffer pointer potentially leaking video memory).
DL2015 – PatchM.R3 08/15/2015
BUGFIX: Game no longer duplicates required Quest (inventory) items when automatically transferring to host player from another player. Quest items are automatically transferred to the host player whenever a client player leaves an MP game, or when starting an MP savegame without the entire party.
DL2012 – PatchM.R3 06/07/2015
BUGFIX: MOVENTPACK – changed to use g_SendMsgBuffer for the moventpack message (corrects potential memory corruption bug).
Revised – Hero world movement revised for improved animation sync.
DL2012 – PatchM.R3 – Addendum Notes V2.1
New Feature: AUTOMAP FOG OF WAR – map fog of war has been newly implemented for DL2012. The maps are revealed only as players explore the world and dungeons. Mystic Vision is unchanged, revealing the entire level map and nearby objects and enemies for its duration.
Fix – MAP SCALING – automaps now correctly scale in the minimap display relative to the current zoom setting (numpad ‘+’ and ‘-‘ keys), and now scale correctly to display the full map in map page view.
Fix – map objects and creatures revealed by Mystic Vision are now rendered to a separate render target, and no longer jitter as the player moves through the dungeon.
Fix – SAVEGAME DATE – bug that could sometimes result in savegame DATE field being overwritten with invalid data if the savegame filename and path exceeded 64 characters.
Fix – MAP DISPLAY – If player is inside a town shop area without an applicable game map then the global (town) map is used. This corrects issue where previously nothing was rendered and the map display frame was empty.
New Feature: USER HOTKEY TO SWAP MELEE/RANGE WEAPONS
Under Game Options on the Main Menu, user may now disable the AUTO-SWAP feature that automatically swaps between MELEE and RANGE WEAPON during combat as needed to attack the current targeted enemy, allowing user to manually swap weapons using the “Q” [DEFAULT] hotkey (the hotkey may be changed under Keyboard configuration). If auto-swap is disabled, the current “ready” weapon is displayed on the action bar (along with the hotkey), and user may swap between melee and range weapon using the hotkey or by clicking on the weapon icon. Note that no swap is performed if hero does not have a range weapon equipped.
Fix – ray collision now checks for invalid tris in models – previously, undetected bad tris in models could result in invalid collision results, leading to object list (OList) bound errors and/or game failure. The small green snake model was discovered to contain invalid tris, and using range weapon attacks (missiles) against any model with invalid tris could previously trigger this fault. This issue should now be resolved and ray collision errors (and invalid collision results) should no longer occur.
Fix – # of prop name (g_PropName[]) strings elements corrected by +1 – previously overwrote memory with last element potentially causing memory corruption fault.
Clean – Loading DL2012 original savegame now initializes (clears) the second actionbar, since the second actionbar was unset in previous versions of the game.
Clean – All Keyboard and Mouse Events now purged prior to any I/O query during system initialization. Previously, device I/O prior to game startup could potentially be errantly parsed prior to complete game initialization.
DL2012 – PatchM – Release Notes V2.0
UI & Actionbar
New additional ActionBar added with 12 (twelve) additional action slots using F1-F12 as hotkeys
ActionBar Empty Items now remain (and automatically renew)
ActionBar items can now be moved around in Inventory or Equipped and retain viability in the action bar
ActionBar items now ghost when unable to be cast/used (for example, if not enough mana to cast, or invokable item is not equipped)
Pointing at hero headup now displays additional information: exp & next level, resistances, kill, death, and pvp kill stats
Headups for all players now additionally display the hero’s class icon
Hero Stat Page button now flashes if player has Attribute bonus points to apply
Hero Skill Page button now flashes if player has Skill bonus points to apply
Hero Spellbook Page button now flashes if player has learned a new Spell during LevelUp
PRINTSCREEN key – now performs screenshot capture (previously F4)
MULTIPLAYER
MP DL2012 PatchM host Game Sessions only permit players with DL2012 PatchM version to join
MP Internet – fixed bug in Internet IP address entry
MP MoveEntity – pack scene entity movement events to eliminate bottleneck previously stalling client messaging in the Dungeons
MP Host added some cleanup after game session termination
MP revisions to prevent client lockup in event of lost host connection.
MP Mini-headup added to display each player in the party (left-click headup to target a player)
MP Player VS. Player mode now supported for PvP battles between players. PvP mode replaces “Friendly Fire” mode.
MP beneficial (healing, etc) spells now target self in PvP mode when targeting other players
MP Mouse click targeting in non-PvP mode will now ignore clicks on other players if current target is an enemy
MP To target other players: click on the player’s headup, or first clear enemy target by either: clicking on self headup or pressing <ESC> key
MP Monster difficulty now applied correctly for MP sessions (previously, the MP difficulty setting was not getting applied)
MP Chat box now minimizes and ghosts after 15 seconds of no chat activity – chat message in gold – older chat messages darken
SAVEGAMES
Savegames from previous DL2012 versions are supported, but DL2012 PatchM savegames are not compatible with previous versions
Confirmation pop-up added for Deleting Savegames, Overwriting Savegames, and Quitting the game.
GAME SETTINGS
Monster difficulty settings revised: Novice, Normal, Advanced, and Elite. Novice relatively unchanged, other settings more agressive.
Monster difficulty now additionally increases damage, speed, and strike % of the monsters
Monster difficulty settings: Advanced and Elite settings have increased chance to find RARE and EPIC items.
Monster difficulty settings: Novice and normal Normal setting chance to find RARE & EPIC items has been slightly reduced.
Random encounters no longer consider # of summoned creatures to generate extra enemies (but encounters have a random chance for extra enemies).
COMBAT
Combat: base strike (tohit) chance reduced to 90% (down from 92%) – Monster difficulty settings alters monsters strike%
Armor damage reduction now correctly compares attacker level vs. defender level
Range weapon damage now scales proportionally to the attacker’s level (capped for monsters at target hero’s level)
STAT & EQUIPMENT PAGE
Attributes now have tooltips
Experience total now displayed on Hero Stat page
ATTRIBUTES
Strength: now reduces any penalty to movement speed for wearing armor
Honor: now increases experience earned
Honor: continues to bestow more favorable prices with vendors for items and services (repair).
CLASS & SKILL PAGE
Skills now have tooltips
Tooltip added when questing for new class
SKILLS:
Skills now cost more per level to increase to next level – each skill point contributes 100 points to next skill level.
Bonus skill points are now additionally awarded as players gain experience.
General skills have 2x (double) cost to increase. All general skills now start at Level 0 (no skill).
Non-Rogue classes may now learn Inspect and Disarm skills at 2x (doubled) cost to increase.
Casting magic spells now increases corresponding magic skill.
Hero death does not result in loss of pending skill bonus or attribute bonus points.
Athletics: +10 seconds underwater breath per level
Athletics: now provides increase to movement speed
Athletics: evasive side leap now acquired at level 2, forward roll at level 3, side roll at level 4, backflip level 5
Athletics: increases safe fall distance 2 feet per level
Fall Damage now proportional to maximum health – taking fall damage now stuns for .5 seconds (down from 1.5 seconds)
Armor skill: now provides greater increase to movement speed, but base movement speed has been reduced more for heavier armors
Armor skill: Maximum movement speed for optimal Armor skill is now 135% of base movement speed (up from 125%)
Shield skill: now additionally reduces damage to the shield
Sneak skill: Monsters now have a chance to detect sneaking players in proximity based upon sneak skill
Sneak skill: applies increased strike and damage bonus when sneaking
Backstab skill: applies additional increased strike and damage bonus when sneaking and attacking from behind the enemy
Weapon, Throw, Bow, and KungFu skill: skill gains from usage slightly reduced, and now caps at hero’s current level
Two-Hand weapon skill: now correctly applied with weapon skill for two-handed weapons
Two-Hand (2H) Dual Wield skill: now correctly allows equipping of any 1 or 2 hand weapons hero can equip in main hand
Steal skill: decreased skill usage gain slightly
INVENTORY & SPELLBOOK
Magic Spells, Consumables (Potions & Scrolls), and Usable items now have dynamic tooltips according to level and skill
Spell learn, Spellbook learn – fixed bug causing Spellbook inventory to overflow and reject new spells
Consumable and Usable Items can now be activated by right-clicking on their icon in the Inventory bag.
Spells can now be cast by right-clicking on their icon from the Spellbook page.
Spellbook page now defaults to a magic school known by the player (previously defaulted to Arcane page)
SPELLS, CONSUMABLES & USEABLE ITEMS
Mana cost for all spells has been reduced by 35%
Freeze inhibitor – Freeze effects on players now diminishes with each application and eventual immunity.
Stun inhibitor – Stun effects (and spells) on players now diminishes with each application and eventual immunity.
Heal Potion – cooldown reduced to 15 seconds
Heal potions now scale up based upon hero’s maximum health
Mana Potion – cooldown reduced to 30 seconds
Mana potion now scales up based upon hero’s maximum mana
Missile Barrage – Mana cost reduced 30%
Cure Poison Potion – cooldown reduced to 0 seconds
Purify (Cure Poison) spell – cast time increased to 2.5 seconds, but cooldown reduced to 0 seconds
Mage Flash ability now free to cast (does not cost mana, but still has 2 minute cooldown)
Flamethrower spell now correctly applies ARCANE skill
Solar Ray spell now deals FIRE damage, and does not knock back enemies
Summoned creatures duration increase for magic skill level has been significantly reduced.
Summoned creatures health and combat abilitites are now scaled up based upon skill level of the caster above spell level.
Spitting shield now correctly uses defender’s rune skill level to determine damage reflected back to the attacker
Stargazer’s StarMana crystal fixed – cast duration now correctly at 1.5 seconds.
Gripping Vines base duration reduced to 10 seconds (down from 20 seconds) – duration regulated by the stun inhibitor.
CAMERA
Horizontal default now 45 degrees and automatically adjusts when initiating forward movement
GRAPHICS
Shader HDR Gamma, Bright, Contrast, Bloom improvements (Shader 3.0 now required) – new 3 pass post-process for HDR & BLOOM
Terrain (outdoor) fog values revised
All game textures now loaded in full 8888 color format
Toon Shader is now off by default and available as a config page option.
Sunlight direction for casting shadows now consistent – shadows now slightly darker
Revised the terrain map image for Automap
Fargrove Citizen and Guards – shadow fade now enabled for these models
