ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

So you're sitting at the Load Game dialog trying to decide which of your characters to fire up. You're more in the mood for a Daikara game than an Orc Prides game at the moment; problem is, you can't remember which character was about to go to Daikara and which was about to go to the Prides. The savefile description isn't much help, either; they both say "Exploring level 1 of Yiilkgur, the Sher'Tul Fortress." What to do?

Well, if you're like me (and I know I am ), the solution is to write an elaborate Perl script to scrape your savefiles for information about completed zones and quests and deduce from that based on your usual zone-visiting/quest-doing order how much of the game each character has probably completed. You're probably not like me in that regard, though, so the next best solution would be the ability to add a note to the savefile description describing where your character just came back from/is about to go. Thus my new Savefile Notes addon.

Now, there are two ways to set a note on a savefile: you can use the "Change Savefile Note" action on the main game menu, and you can arrange (via "Prompt for savefile note on save" under "Misc" in the Game Options menu, on by default) for the game to prompt you to add/remove a savefile note when you save and exit or return to the main menu. The note you set will show up in the savefile description in the Load Game dialog.

[Technical notes:]

Frequently Asked Questions:

I don't want to be prompted for a savefile note every time I exit; how do I turn that off?

Disable the "Prompt for savefile note on save" option under the "Misc" tab of the main Game Options menu. You can still, of course, manually update your savefile notes via the "Change Savefile Note" action on the main menu.

Doesn't this basically just duplicate Notes to Self?

Not really. Notes to Self is for information you want to remember while you're playing a character, like the locations of vaults and chests to revisit later, or things you want to remember to do in the future (like getting your Strength high enough to wield that awesome weapon you found). Savefile Notes is for information you want when you're choosing which character to play, like where the character has just been or is going next (the normal savefile description is frequently unhelpful in that regard if you saved in a town or in the Sher'Tul fortress).

...does this note appear below or above the list of addons in use? I use so many addons that, if below, it'll be hidden under the in-game screenshot.
If above, I'm downloading it and never looking back.

astralInferno wrote:...does this note appear below or above the list of addons in use?

Below. It's in the savefile description, as you can see on the Steam page image. That's only part of the savefile description that can be influenced by the game module; anything else would require changes in the boot module.

astralInferno wrote:I use so many addons that, if below, it'll be hidden under the in-game screenshot.

Gyeep! And I though I was going a bit overboard sometimes…

astralInferno wrote:If above, I'm downloading it and never looking back.

Actually… If you're willing to fiddle with boot module addons, copy the attached .zip file into your addons directory and rename it to .teaa (astonishingly, .teaa files are still not allowed as attachments). This boot module addon will scan for savefiles that have notes from the Savefile Notes addon in their description and rearrange said description so that the extra savefile note is on top. Just bear in mind DarkGod's caution about boot module addons: "Just beware with them that you have no way of activating/disabling them besides removing them from the folder"

I've never shied away from things that might cause the game to implode in a minor way...

(Example of my loading screen: http://imgur.com/a/VNZqZ I do play windowed, which doesnt help)

Thanks!

v1a is a compatibility release with ZOmnibus v15, mostly to avoid having the game option listed twice. If you have any characters using this addon together with ZOmnibus, you should upgrade both together, and future characters should only use one or the other (if you forget, the character creation dialog will warn you).

Bit of an odd request; could you make it so it doesn't ask you to make a note on leaving when developer mode is active? or offer that as an option? I find myself making 30 characters in 15 minutes while bugfixing, and it gets frustrating. ^^''
Next time you update, I mean, I imagine this is too niche for its own update.

astralInferno wrote:Bit of an odd request; could you make it so it doesn't ask you to make a note on leaving when developer mode is active?

Hmm, that could get tricky if the savefile note is what you're testing in developer mode…

astralInferno wrote:or offer that as an option?

Well, there's the "Prompt for savefile note on save" option; do you mean a separate option that only applies when you're in developer mode?

astralInferno wrote:or offer that as an option?

Well, there's the "Prompt for savefile note on save" option; do you mean a separate option that only applies when you're in developer mode?

That's what I meant, yeah.

Zizzo wrote:

astralInferno wrote:Bit of an odd request; could you make it so it doesn't ask you to make a note on leaving when developer mode is active?

Hmm, that could get tricky if the savefile note is what you're testing in developer mode…

...I did not think of that...

astralInferno wrote:

Zizzo wrote: Well, there's the "Prompt for savefile note on save" option; do you mean a separate option that only applies when you're in developer mode?

That's what I meant, yeah.

Fair enough, and easy enough to implement. The new game option, "Prompt for savefile note on save (developer mode)", is only visible while in developer mode; it supercedes the original "Prompt for savefile note on save" option when you're in develeper mode, and is ignored when you aren't. That's going out as v1b.

...ah, unless I'm misinterpreting what you said, that might be the opposite of what I was asking for.

astralInferno wrote:...ah, unless I'm misinterpreting what you said, that might be the opposite of what I was asking for.

…? You don't want to be prompted for savefile notes while in developer mode, right? So you disable the "Prompt for savefile note on save (developer mode)" option. That option takes precedence when you're in developer mode, and is ignored when you aren't.

Oh! Then yes that's perfect. ^^'' misinterpretation city.

v1b.1 is a quickie update to take advantage of my new Menu Keys addon by adding a shortcut key to our "Change Savefile Note" game menu action.