I want to change it just a teensy bit, so that instead of saying

"+3" to mean frame 3 of helmets_1.bmp

I would like to say:

"3.1" to mean frame 3 of helmets_1.bmp

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Maybe this doesn't have to be a crisis. Maybe I can be forward compatible... yes... yes... that's the thing to do....

ok, you don't have to hate me after all...

(Find/Replace works wonders )

Don't let the word out you can create more!
Its a seeeccrreeett!

And the documentation in the ITEMS.txt file will only mention the 'new way'

But the game will still understand the 'old way' which I hope means old worlds will work without any update required.

WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT:

Given that a piece of equipment's class (armor, sword, staff, potion, etc) determines the name of the image file which must be used for all items of that class...

for example.. all "helmets" must be in "Helmets.bmp"

And arg3 of the item table specifies which image in that film strip is actually used. So arg3 = "0" means use the far left frame of the filmstrip in "helmets.bmp"

But, to make life easier for Joe Developer, I added the ability to have a second filmstrip, called "helmets_1.bmp"

To use that instead, you used to add a "+" in front of the index, as in :

arg3 = "+0" means use the far left image in filmstrip "helmets_1.bmp"

But now, the NEW way of doing that is:

arg3 = "0.1"

So the number after the dot is the extension number. Currently you are still limited to a single extension (there is no "Helmets_2.bmp" for example)

I assume that 3.2 would select row 3 of file 2?

Or something like that...

Anyway, I dont hate you, because I havent gotten far enough buried in the items that this is a big deal :-)
But it is a good type of big deal, because it's almost less confusing...

maybe it would make more sense to
do it the other way..

3.2 would be the second row of the third file... like a little hierarchy thing...

Anyway, cool cool

If you leave your world alone, and it uses the 'old way' (leading plus signs), it will work fine.

But if you use the new property editor on your world, the plus signs will not automatically get turned into an extension number. If you don't pay attention, and you edit some other element of that item, you might find yourself erasing the plus sign and NOT adding an extension number.

So you *should* scan through your items and update all those plus sign items to extension_1 items.

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In general, the property editor is making lots of changes even when you don't realize it, so I should also point out that casually browsing with the prop editor might make changes. So when you close it, and it says "Save Changes?" even when you feel you didn't MAKE any changes, well... it thinks you did, even if it was just its normalizing the TABs for you.