To create a new adventure, you need to create your own set of pdb (Palm DataBase) files that will be installed on the Palm device along with the DrgBane.prc file. This section explains the procedure, "mkpdbs", used to create your adventure pdb file(s). Here, you will learn the to run the mkpdbs command, as well as the format of the configuration files used as input to the mkpdbs command.

Mkpdbs tool ("make pdbs")

The program, "mkpdbs", is used to read your tree of source data, compile them, and output a set of pdb files for one color depth. You will have to run this command 3 times (using 3 different pdb.cfg files) to generate all three wall and tile pdb color depths.

To run the mkpdbs, program, select it from the DBIIACK shortcut in your start menu, and when prompted, choose your pdbs.cfg file. For example, choose pdbs4.cfg in SampleAdventure to build the SampleAdventure.pdb file. (The samples build only the adventure.pdb file - the wall and brush files will be shared with the original Dragon Bane II - Return of Kra'an adventure. See below for more details

The pdbs*.cfg files are simple text files that list all the files, directories, and data elements used to create each pdb file. (See the samples provided in the SampleAdventure directory). It is divided into three sections for the adventure, tile, and wall pdbs. You will need to create a set of three config files; one for each of 4, 16, and 256 color depth (such as MyBigAdventure4.cfg, MyBigAdventure16.cfg, MyBigAdventure256.cfg), and run mkpdbs on each one separately to create the three sets of tile and/or wall pdb data files. Of course, if you are not going to change any of the graphics from Return Of Kra'an, you will only need one mkpdbs config file with just the adventure pdb section.

The syntax of the config file consists of a name line, plus three pdb header lines, each followed by a complete list of data types contained in that pdb. Although it is not necessary to put all three pdb headers and data into a single config file, for each one that is included, you must include a complete set of data for that pdb. For example, you may omit the adventure pdb from the config file, but you may not omit any specific data members from the adventure pdb. The four sections of the pdb config file are:

Name section: This is always required. The name provided must match the name of the directory created in the Adventures path. For example, the directory for the provided sample is SampleAdventure, so the Name section needs to contain the name SampleAdventure. When you make a copy of the SampleAdventure and rename the directory, be sure to change this section to reflect the name change.

• Header format: "!NAME:AdventureName"
• Example Header: "!NAME:SampleAdventure"

Wall section: This optional section will tell mkpdbs how to build the wall pdb for your adventure. Note that the wall pdb contains the palette ("PA") data element, so if you plan to use your own color palette, you must build and distribute your own wall pdb. It consists of a header and body

• Header format: "!WALL:FileName:Drg2Walls:Creator Name:MajorVersion.MinorVersion"
  • Example Header: "!WALL:Walls256Shade:Drg2Walls:MythoLogical Software:1.0"
• The following data members must all be present in the body of the walls section of the config. For more information on any of these data types, see the Walls chapter.
  • "PA" (PAlette) data type. This is a bitmap (BMP) graphic file who's palette will be used for all subsequent graphic files. It is only required for your config file used to build 256 color walls.
  • (Brush # color depth. e.g. "B2", "B4", "B8" for 4, 16, 256 color) data type. This data type requires a text file that lists all the bmp graphic files (brushes) that are required to construct your walls. Note that all of these bmp files must share the exact same palette as the PA brush, above. For more information on graphics files used in Dragon Bane II adventures, see the Graphics section.
  • "WA" (see wall list) data type. This data type requires a text file that lists all the wall data files used in the game.
  • "MT" (see maptileindex.txt) data type. This data type expects a text file that lists all the map tile indexes used in the game. The map tile index file basically lists the brush used for each map tile, and the corresponding zoomed map tile brush, and corresponding north, south, east, west versions of the map tile, if necessary.

Tile section: This optional section tells mkpdbs how to build the tile pdb.

• Tile header format: "!TILE:FileName:Drg2Tiles:CreatorName:MajorVersion.MinorVersion"
  • Example: "!TILE:Tiles256Shade:Drg2Tiles:MythoLogical Software:1.0"
• You may specify any number of text files containing tile data of the format:
  • "T#"(Tile # color depth. E.g. T2, T4, T8 for 4, 16, 256 color): path to text file containing list of tiles. This data type requires a text file that lists all the bmp graphic files (brushes) that are required to construct your walls. Note that all of these bmp files must share the exact same palette as the PA brush, above. For more information on graphics files used in Dragon Bane II adventures, see the Graphics section.
  • Note that each file containing a list of tiles must be listed in the order of the tile numbers. If you have one big tile list, there is no need to worry about the ordering of your tile list files. But if you break up your lists of tiles into separate files for buildings, characters, monsters, and objects, then each of those file lists must be listed in the config in order, and together, the set of files must construct a continuous range of tile indicies.

Adventure section: This section tells mkpdbs what data to use when building your adventure pdb.

• Adventure pdb header format: #!DADV:FileName:Adventure Name.CreatorID:Creator Name:MajorVersion.MinorVersion"
  • Example: "!DADV:ReturnKraan:Return of Kra'an.MSRK:1.0"
• All of the following data types must be present exactly once, but in any order.
  • "RE" ???
  • "RW" (Walls version): Specify the major and minor version of the wall file required by this adventure (see above).
  • "RT" (Tile version): Specify the major and minor version of the tile file required by this adventure (see above).
  • "MP" (see maplist.txt): Specify a text file containing a list of map files.
  • "TG" (see text_game.txt): Specify a text file containing list of text items used by your adventure.
  • "TX" (see text_interface.txt): Change the text contained in the game's interface. This should normally not be changed -- and you should just re-use the text_interface.txt provided in the sample adventure.
  • "HE" (see heroes.txt): Specify list of characters and elementals in game.
  • "SP" (see spells.txt): List of spells.
  • "MO" (see monsters.txt): List of monsters
  • "OB" (see objects.txt): List of objects
  • "FN" (see char.dat): Font data file. You should probably never change this unless you are creating a foreign language version that needs characters not part of the standard set.
  • "CL" (see class.txt): List of attributes for character classes
  • "AC" (see object_profiles.txt): List of accuracy profiles referenced by objects table used to indicate which classes can use which objects

The DB2ACK comes with a DataViewer.prc tool that you can install on your Palm device (or emulator) to examine all the walls in the game. This is only important in cases where you are creating or modifying your own walls, rather than re-using the set that is distributed with the Return of Kra'an adventure in Walls*Shade.pdb. If you are creating your own walls, it is a good idea to examine each one closely from all views to make sure they line up correctly and do not have any undesirable artifacts.

Using the DataViewer is simple. Install the program and all data files on your palm, and when you run it, you will be asked to select an adventure. From there, the following features are available:

• Change wall views:
  • Up key: push wall away from you
  • Down key: bring wall closer to you
  • Addressbook key: Move wall to the left
  • Todo key: Move wall to the right
  • Appointment Book Key: Go to previous wall
  • Notepad Key: Go to next wall
• Grafiti commands:
  • L: increase light
  • l: decrease light
  • T: increment time of day
  • t: decrement time of day
• Calculator key: Toggle text stats display
• Tap anywhere in main display: toggle background

The following information is displayed below the wall (calculator key toggles these stats on and off):

• Wall #
• View #
• Wall flags: (Visible, Occludes, Special, Two story, Blocking, Base wall)
• Current time
• Current light
• Small wall maptile is displayed in bottom-right of screen

The DB2ACK comes with a sample adventure that contains all the data from Return of Kra'an (except for the maps), so you can have a working set of data from which to start your own adventure building. An index of the wall set provided in the Sample Adventure is included here. You may refer to these images when designing your own maps to help you locate the desired wallID quickly. Instead of supplying you with the "Return of Kra'an" maps, we have supplied two sample maps that have many examples of the various mechanisms that are possible. We recommend you study the examples, but of course, you should not limit yourself to those; there are an infinite number of game mechanisms possible, and you should try to construct new techniques to differentiate your adventure.

Note that the "Sample Adventure" included with the DB2ACK does not use any new walls or tiles. Instead, it re-uses all the walls and tiles distributed with Return of Kra'an. For this reason, it is not necessary to create new wall and tile databases for the adventure, just an adventure pdb. To specify which wall and tile databases should be associated with the adventure database, there are two pieces of data listed in the pdbs.cfg files for the adventure:

• "RT Drg2Tiles 1.0"
• "RW Drg2Walls 1.0"

To create your own adventure, copy the SampleAdventure directory, rename it to whatever you want, and then make the same name change in the pdbs*.cfg files contained in the adventure directory. For example, if you copy SampelAdventure and name it MyAdventure, then you would edit Adventures\MyAdventure\pdbs4.cfg and change the !NAME line to be "!NAME:MyAdventure". You would then make this same change to the other two pdbs.cfg files.

If you wish to change where your adventures directory is, you can run the ChgAdvDir.exe program. This is not required, but offers more flexibility in locating all of the data for your adventure. It is only recommended for advanced users.

In the tools/Palm directory of the DB2ACK is a version of the Dragon Bane II engine that includes extra debug cheats to assist level developers. Just install the DrgBane2_Dbg.prc file and you can use it to play any pre-release adventure just like the normal Dragon Bane II engine.

By convention, pre-release adventures are defined to be those with a version number less than 1.0. The adventure's version is listed in the pdb.cfg file at the end of the line that begins with "!DADV...". For example, the Return of Kra'an adventure is version 1.0, so it cannot be loaded by the DrgBane2_Dbg.prc program. So be sure to use a version number less than 1.0 while you are developing your adventure so you can use the debug cheat facilities. We recommend that just before you release your adventure, you do two things: one, change the version to be 1.0 so that users cannot mess up their savegame adventures using the debug version of the engine, and two, create an identical 0.99 version of the adventure for yourself so that you can debug users' savegames that were created with the release version of your adventure.

The debug facilities allow you to basically do anything you want to the game while playing it so you don't have to insert fake teleports or extra map special code to set or clear state bits to test out your level design. There are several screens of debug cheat controls. Each of them must be accessed from the "3D View" by typing a secret word in the graffiti area. The cheat codes and their functionality are:

• donut - general debug controls including:
  • Increase/decrease your party's stats by 4 character levels at a time. Note that other stats such as strength, dexterity, hitpoints etc are increased and decreased by a constant amount each time you click the button, and the amount of the change is not consistent with level increases at the review board.
  • Teleport to any square in any given map
  • Set, check, and clear any state bit
  • Set your party gold amount
  • Reveal current map
  • Always run - when enabled, you will always be successful when attempting to run during combat.
  • Heal all - restores all HP and cures all ailments
• gromit - generates a combat encounter, allowing you to setup each of up to 3 monster groups including their range and group size.
• irie - allows you to set, check, and clear the identification status of any object in the game as well as give (any number of) objects to your party.
• date - allows you to set the date/time/moon

Important! We made the debug version of the DB2 engine incompatible with release versions of adventures because it is intended for developers' use only. We do not want the debug version of the engine to be used by end users because it's very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. It's very easy to permanently destroy a save game if you set the wrong state bit by accident. For this reason, if your adventure version number is 1.0 or greater, the debug engine will refuse to run it. You should only distribute version 1.0 and higher adventures to your users, and keep another one with version 0.9 or something for your own use.