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[Witty]

Huh? Was the elven diplomat absent for some time? I'm fairly sure it was a vanilla feature for quite long already.

Yep! Granted, it's been quite a while since I played a real, long game of fort mode - but there was an extended period of time where the elven diplomat was totally absent from the raws.

[Taffer]

Work is continuing. Apologies for everyone waiting: I'm still short on free time, but I'm also still working. Check the repository for new commits. I do most of this on a small OpenBSD writing and coding laptop with neither a browser nor Dwarf Fortress, so I tend to queue up a bunch of commits before uploading them all at once. It'll be a bit yet: I want to finish gendering every description, finish the tidying up I'm doing of my comments and the RAWs, and I want to finish adding collarbones and femurs. I might also do the armor simplification this release.

The next version will remove aquifers, among many other things. There'll always be controversial changes, but I'm kind of going to just keep doing my own thing and I'll take feedback into account. Aquifers are supposed to be impassable: I wish they were, because they just promote clumsy, hacky gameplay. The plug method feels a lot more natural than the double slit method, to be fair.

A significant shift has occurred which will affect modders: in the past I worked hard to minimize changes to the default RAWs, because I felt that it was important to be able to see everything that I did without using the comments. This is also why I was reluctant to include too many changes. However, the sheer number of changes I've accumulated are a bit overwhelming at this point. I still want to keep actual gameplay changes to a minimum where it makes sense to, but I've started cleaning up the RAW files to make them easier to work with, tidier, and more consistent. Creature's internal names never have spaces or commas in them. The sponsor messages are gone. The modding tutorial inside the dwarf raws is gone. I've started replacing locally defined attacks with global versions. You'll have to trust my comments at this point, or just accept that comparing file differences is going to be a long process.

WinMerge and similar utilities will remain helpful to compare Revised versions (although this can be done on the repository website) and to compare the extras to the normal Revised raws. On the plus side, this will make modding Revised raws more pleasant and consistent.

EDIT: I've changed my mind about aquifers. They're staying in.

[Taffer]

The decrepit notebook I mod Revised on just kicked the bucket. I didn't lose much work thanks to Git, but work on Revised will have to slow down while I sort this out. I can't easily afford a new one, so maybe I can work on Revised at home more.

I'll sort something out. I'm pretty close to finally having every creature description gendered, although I just lost a few hour's work on that and some bug fixes.

[Meph]

or just accept that comparing file differences is going to be a long process.

I hope you know what you are doing. I regretted doing exactly this, every time Toady One released a major update with a lot of raw changes. Or whenever different tileset versions came into play, with the need to compare tile numbers.

[Taffer]

or just accept that comparing file differences is going to be a long process.

I hope you know what you are doing. I regretted doing exactly this, every time Toady One released a major update with a lot of raw changes. Or whenever different tileset versions came into play, with the need to compare tile numbers.

I'm happy to clarify: I'm just renaming creatures, replacing locally defined attacks with globally defined attacks, fixing whitespace, and removing unnecessary comments and (where possible) tags.

What I'm NOT doing is something like Essential DF, where creatures are shuffled to different files and the whole thing is reorganized. This really does make comparing impossible. I also don't have the scope that Masterwork does: I just don't have all that long a todo list, and some of it is removing things (maybe). I don't think it'll be difficult for people to pick up from my work for later DF versions if I ever stop updating.

So I should have clarified: comparing my raws to Toady's raws with WinMerge and such will still be quite possible, just more annoying as there'll be more to scroll through. I just did it myself a few days ago. I just think that the volume of my existing changes make attempts to minimize the diff noise less valuable than it used to be, to the point where I see more value in tidying up the files a little.

I also check every new DF release for any file changes. I don't trust the changelog or the changed files textfile, to be honest. I'm pretty scrupulous about it. I always update the date in my tileset's init.txt whenever Toady does, even though it doesn't affect anything. Every raw change Toady's made is reflected in the repository, with the exception of the addition (or was it removal?) of the last newline in several files.

Thank you kindly for posting your concerns. It'd only take me a few hours at most to undo it all, so it's never too late.

[Crowbeard]

Just want to say thanks for all the awesome work on Revised.  I've had a lot of fun playing with it, and with the modest mods before this. It's a fine cathedral.

[Taffer]

I really did lose more than I'd thought when my laptop died, and until I get a new one I can't work on this when I used to. Excuses aside, I thought I'd be more specific and post the obstacles to the next release.

• I need to finish gendering the descriptions. This is painful and time-consuming, but it won't be much longer until this is done. Every gendered creature will have an appropriately gendered generic description. Normally I'd not refer to flies and squirrels as "he" or "she", but the randomized parts of their descriptions do and the whole thing reads awkwardly if I don't fix that. This is the big ticket item that delayed the release the most, but once I started I don't feel like stopping or releasing halfway.
 • I need to fix a few bugs that I've noticed here and there. This shouldn't take too long.
• I need to compare my work to the vanilla RAWs again, because I need to sanity check myself and make sure that I haven't many mistakes. This is reasonably time consuming, but nowhere near as bad as the description gender work.
• I need to sort out the new collarbones and femurs. There's a fairly lengthy and somewhat tedious todo list to go along with this. The intention is to increase UBSTEP and LBSTEP on all armor and clothing by 1. The WIP raws already do this, as a warning, so please don't use the master branch of the repository for anything serious.

• will this mean that animal people tails will now be armored? That's not my intention, so if so I need a "tailbone" or something to prevent that.
• will this mean that animal people wings are now armored? Again, not my intention. I'm considering merging wings and arms for all animal people, because that's how bird people are usually drawn anyways and it solves this. Lots of testing is needed to make sure I haven't missed anything.
• while I'm doing all of this, now's a good time to do that Grimlocke-inspired armor simplification I've been wanting. There won't be any "armored pants". Armored chest pieces will all protect the lower body and armored boots will protect the entire leg. I might not do this, but I like the idea.
• all of this is annoying, so perhaps I can delay all of this until I get a good release out.

• Gendering all of these descriptions, it's quite clear to me that I need another good round of editing. This is a huge time sink and is probably the least exciting to people, but at least I'll eventually be satisfied with the quality and I can finally move on.
• As part of description editing, I've standardized all creature size adjectives as best I can. It's not perfect and it's still odd in places, but I think it's the
most consistent solution. I need to create a Revised wiki so I can document what each adjective means.

This isn't the entire todo list, just for the next release. On the plus side, the most tedious items on my entire todo list are being done this release, so it should get easier from here.

Just want to say thanks for all the awesome work on Revised.  I've had a lot of fun playing with it, and with the modest mods before this. It's a fine cathedral.

You're welcome! I'm just sorry the next update is taking so long. I've done a lot of work on Revised, and it'll take time to get it all sorted out for a new release.

[Sver]

while I'm doing all of this, now's a good time to do that Grimlocke-inspired armor simplification I've been wanting. There won't be any "armored pants". Armored chest pieces will all protect the lower body and armored boots will protect the entire leg. I might not do this, but I like the idea.

I'm not sure how (and if) the femur thing will affect this, but I would advice to keep at least one type of "armored pants". Due to a bug, body armor does not cover pants - whatever they are (even loinclothes), pants get worn over the body armor, leading to them getting occassionally shredded in battle. Also, having no pants may cause bad thoughts, and military uniforms are a pain in the ass to manage as they are. Soldiers do not replace worn out items on their own, so this will just create needless micro.
Having something like a mail skirt as the sole "armored pants" option should prevent both of the issues.

[Immortal-D]

Query; Does this change invader dodging behavior?  I'm running this out of Meph's pack, and all invaders are dancing around my traps like The Matrix.  Cages work fine, but spikes (x3) & giant axe blades (x2) have yet to land a single hit.

[Prismaa]

Does this work with the 44.12?

[Taffer]

Query; Does this change invader dodging behavior?  I'm running this out of Meph's pack, and all invaders are dancing around my traps like The Matrix.  Cages work fine, but spikes (x3) & giant axe blades (x2) have yet to land a single hit.

Thanks for the report. I'll look into it!

Does this work with the 44.12?

It should, yes. There's some RAW fixes that Toady has in the new releases that aren't in the current version. I'm not in a great place to check right now, though.

[Sver]

It should, yes. There's some RAW fixes that Toady has in the new releases that aren't in the current version. I'm not in a great place to check right now, though.

Nothing cruicial really. Updated credit info (e.g. commentaries) and fixes for some typos in creature names and descriptions.

[fonzacus]

yep, literally no errors on 44.12. although i consider dwarves using bites and scratches (which this mod removes) an error of its own, thats another story.

BTW kudos, thia + svers combat mod made things more fun for me in general.

[Taffer]

I've pretty much finished gendering every creature description, which has been a lot of work. Plenty of fixes to the descriptions while I've been doing it as well, so it's not just pronouns. I avoided any large rewrites and editing, though, so there's still problems. They just keep getting better written over time though.

I've started testing armor coverage, and of course it's a mess (as expected). Bird people wearing shirts have armored wings, for example. I guess the tailors and armorers of Dwarf Fortress helpfully include wing and tail flaps for everything they craft, in the off chance an animal person might someday wear it. I don't mind handwaving away wing and tail holes in the name of gameplay, but I don't think shirts and armor should protect wings or tails unless specifically designed for the job.

This will take a bit of time to puzzle through. I don't think even Grimlocke's mod did anything to prevent tails and wings from being unintentionally armored. Merging arms and wings for flying animal people makes some sense, but that not only doesn't fix the issue (long sleeves would still illogically cover wings) but doesn't help tails.

As far as shirts and armored tops go, an inner "wing bone" would keep them from being armored at UBSTEP:1, but it wouldn't help UBSTEP:2.

EDIT: this bug complicates things. After puzzling this out a little, I might be able to get away with removing LIMB from wings. I haven't tested this, but if this doesn't have many consequences that should prevent wings from becoming armored unless the creature is wearing a coat, a shirt, a cloak, a dress, or a robe. I can probably safely lower UBSTEP on some or all of those. Tails aren't protected by anything short of a buggy top either, as they aren't limbs or anything.

I might need to rethink my plans entirely here. I could go the opposite route from Grimlocke and lower UPSTEP and LBSTEP values on the upper body armor and clothing, and give up on protecting the neck and facial features. Less buggy that way.

EDIT2: From reading the wiki and forum posts, I might be able to severely abuse the LIMB tag to armor things that should be armored but aren't.

EDIT3: I'll probably add [EMBEDDED] to facial features.

[Grimlocke]

I don't think even Grimlocke's mod did anything to prevent tails and wings from being unintentionally armored.

I am summoned!

And indeed I have not, I haven't really considered it a problem since animal people with armor are fairly rare and because most if not all animal people have a different size than humans and dwarves. This means they need to have custom-made armor and I imagine that if your making a tiny adorable suit of armor for your resident badger man that you might include a tail piece.

Its a bit handwavy, especially in the case of winged creatures, but custom-fitting plate armor is already not needed. The tallest, fattest dwarf will fit into the same suit of armor as the smallest, thinnest one. The easiest way of making wings mostly unarmored would just be to add a wing-collarbone (whatever that is called, birds do have an equivalent to collarbones), which leaves them only armored with mail and cloth. The combat report will still be silly, but gameplay effects mostly the same. Unless there's some way you can fool the game into losing track of what bodypart wings are attached to I can't think of any other graceful solution. Attaching wing-collarbones to the spine and capping UBSTEP at 2 would do I guess, but that would make armor unable to cover the forearm if your also using arm-collarbones.

As for the LIMB tag, doesn't adding that just let the creature use the bodypart to wrestle things? I think that armor layering part might be outdated. Armor and clothing will happily cover anything the right number of steps away from the upper/lower body that isn't internal or a GRASP, STANCE or HEAD part. It would be weird to wrestle something with your pinky finger, or your nose. Unless its an elephant. Side note: You could add grasp to trunks. At the small cost of any elephant-men wearing gloves on their trunk.

Anyhow, the gameplay effects of leaving animal people wings/tails unarmored might be something to consider, as they would be effectively useless as anything more than disposable militias. Which would be a bit of a shame given how uncommon they are.