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Author Topic: weird artifact glitch  (Read 1873 times)

lukstra

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weird artifact glitch
« on: September 27, 2013, 09:54:59 pm »
So... the fortress of laborquake is chugging along, and my chief medical dwarf "withdraws from society..." After claiming a craftdwarf's workshop, he gathers all the necessary items and eventually creates a tetrahedrite drum: "Fancyrise the Velvet of Famines". I think, oh, yet another useless artifact, and realizing I had not gone through all the forts artifacts and admired them yet, I pressed "l" and did so. Going through the artifacts, I suddenly realized something strange about an artifact previously created...

Message log of the chief medical dwarf completing his artifact...
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The list of the fort's artifacts...
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The glitched artifact...
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Do you see the glitch?
Here it is:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The drum, if you want to see it.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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acetech09

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Re: weird artifact glitch
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2013, 10:00:58 pm »
When artifacts are created, the decorations are stored without descriptions... just abstract definitions. This saves memory overhead from the game having to keep track of each unique image on the bajillions of encrusted mugs you immediately just haul off to the depot, never inspected.

The abstract definitions are made concrete when you look at an item's description. Therefore, when you loaded the veil, the decorations were spontaneously created then, not when the artifact was made. The game won't filter out items that are newer than the original artifact. So weird things like that can happen.
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lukstra

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Re: weird artifact glitch
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2013, 10:03:32 pm »
hmm, thanks for the quick explanation.
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yaklin

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Re: weird artifact glitch
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2013, 06:54:32 pm »
so it's Schrodinger's description then?
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Charlemagne

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Re: weird artifact glitch
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2013, 07:03:12 pm »
Quote from: yaklin on September 28, 2013, 06:54:32 pm
so it's Schrodinger's description then?

Yep, the act of observation causes their dwarven wave form to collapse.
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Shoruke

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Re: weird artifact glitch
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2013, 11:43:41 pm »
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect_%28physics%29

"The act of observing something changes the results." Another way in which Dwarven Physics mimics real life just a little more closely than we thought possible, by complete accident on The Creator's part  :P
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