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[Rockphed]

Will Dwarf Fortress run on big-endian systems?

Big-endian vs little-endian is a hardware and compiling issue that barely interacts with coding.  In essence, it is whether a system with byte addressing puts the most significant byte on the bus first or the least significant byte on the bus first.

In short, your question is nonsensical.

[Mephansteras]

Will Dwarf Fortress run on big-endian systems?

If you mean 'Will DF run on 64 bit systems' the answer is yes.

[Aseaheru]

wait, what? big-endian systems? if t can run on a small system why WONT it be able to run on a big one?

[PTTG??]

I've worked with advanced tech companies which specify that all hardware must be programmed in "least-significant-byte Big Endian" order.

[Rose]

pretty much the only time endianess is ever an issue is when networking between two machines, from what I understand from it.

[WaffleEggnog]

I have a question here (or several questions). Will you be able to, for example, join the milatary of a town/civilisation and be part of their army as they invade places? Because that seems badass. Also, will civs fight for "land" (army vs. army in open battle) or will battles only take place in city's (attack/defend)?

Another question, how will this "scared" thing work with archers? If its based of skill level and armour, then archers will just be overwelmed with sieges and run for the hills when they see them rather then shooting from the battlements. How do you plan on fixing this? Also, what attribute will be tied with bravery in battle?

Edit; Oh, and another thing. How will we be able to tell who is on our side and who isnt if 2 of the same races are at war? Will there be some kind of marking that members of a civ wear, or a different color, or it could just be in their name. Also, on the subject of armour, could you kill a member of a civ then wear their armour as a discuise and infiltrate into the other civ?

[HiEv]

wait, what? big-endian systems? if t can run on a small system why WONT it be able to run on a big one?

"Little-endian" and "big-endian" have nothing to do with the size of the computer/system.  It has to do with the order that bytes are handled in multi-byte data structures.

For example, a 32-bit word is made up of four 8-bit bytes.  In little-endian you would have those four bytes in this order "4321", but in big-endian you would have them in this order "1234".

Most computers today are little-endian (mostly x86 CPUs, all Windows), while some others are big-endian (mostly Mac on non-x86 hardware).

I simplified things a bit, so for more info see the Wikipedia entry on Endianness.

[Yannanth]

Yeah, big endian is effectively dead on anywhere but supercomputers (zSeries). MIPS is making a push into the mobile market though and I frankly think that we will see DF on mobile devices too in a few years, if Toady is up to the task.

Does endianness actually affect if a program will compile under a given architecture, then? This stuff is far too low-level for poor scripter me to properly comprehend and I was looking for an real computer scientist's opinion.

snip

Y'know, displaying the text in green is obviously eye-catching but it's to the detriment of the conversation as people only notice you (not to mention that it can be hard to read, depending on your theme)... and don't worry, Toady always gets around to replying to his fans (he lives off donations and he is an excellent businessman).

[misko27]

snip

Y'know, displaying the text in green is obviously eye-catching but it's to the detriment of the conversation as people only notice you (not to mention that it can be hard to read, depending on your theme)... and don't worry, Toady always gets around to replying to his fans (he lives off donations and he is an excellent businessman).

It's standard behaviour here to highlight it. He does have over 100 to go through, and there is alot of off-topic comments.

[Manveru Taurënér]

...

snip

Y'know, displaying the text in green is obviously eye-catching but it's to the detriment of the conversation as people only notice you (not to mention that it can be hard to read, depending on your theme)... and don't worry, Toady always gets around to replying to his fans (he lives off donations and he is an excellent businessman).

...
If you have specific questions, I'll try to answer them all, although it is difficult to respond to everything when it is busy.  I'll lean toward questions that involve current developments to avoid pulling the entire suggestion forum in here.  In the past, we've all found the practice of making questions green works pretty well.  You do that like this:

Code: [Select]

[color=limegreen]making questions green[/color]


[smirk]

Thanks for the brain dump, Toady!

Question about the latest DF Talk, actually: While discussing Goblin Fortresses and waste disposal, you used the phrase "underground river". I'm not expecting them this release, of course, but... sooner rather than later? Or the usual "no timetable"?

[Tov01]

Also, another goblin question I probably should have asked earlier.

Does it fit in your view of goblins for them to have farms to feed their livestock (once feed is implemented, of course), and perhaps their slaves (as in, feeding slaves the same gruel they feed their animals)?

***
Things currently go through a cycle over a year.  It doesn't track individual flowers turning into individual fruit, but since they occur in turn, the effect is the same.  I've put in a rough cycle for each of the trees, so you can end up with some spathe type critters and so on.

Nope, don't like farms.  I don't expect goblin animals to need feed in the end.  They can eat rats out in the swamp.  The kidnapees need to be fed.  I'm not sure they track that right now, since they are historical figures and we softened their need to feed after some problems elsewhere.  It might rely on butchered beakdogs or trade later.

If memory serves from my testing in goblin fortress, my kidnapped children from worldgen would starve to death on most sites unless I made humans [NO_EAT] or made goblins live in human style towns.

It seems sensible that goblins who have been very active snatchers/slave breeders who have large non-goblin populations do develop rather sizable slave farms to feed their masses.

Yeah, that was my thought on the matter, as well. It's not like the goblins have to start plowing the mud themselves. Slaves and all.

Also, will civs fight for "land" (army vs. army in open battle) or will battles only take place in city's (attack/defend)?

Battles on open ground are already in world gen, last I checked.

[Lord Shonus]

Will the products of trees have any quality levels, either visible or invisible?

Not a significant question for fruit and such, but it could matter for bracelet tress and such if those were added/modded in.

[King Mir]

Will the products of trees have any quality levels, either visible or invisible?

Not a significant question for fruit and such, but it could matter for bracelet tress and such if those were added/modded in.

I think this is unlikely, given the state of the game now. Quality levels are for dwarf products. The closest thing is Gems having different cuts.

[Dante]

Will the products of trees have any quality levels, either visible or invisible?

Not a significant question for fruit and such, but it could matter for bracelet tress and such if those were added/modded in.

I think this is unlikely, given the state of the game now. Quality levels are for dwarf products. The closest thing is Gems having different cuts.

Not necessarily. You can specify the quality level of creatures' itemcorpses, which is at least similar.