Disappearing Quills

[Lylena]

I can't for the life of me find the earlier post, but I'm sure we had it. If not, then, I think it's a bug that this is happening...anyway.

Quills are disappearing out of inventory again once they're dry and run out of ink. They're not remaining in the inventory to re-dip into ink decanters.

[Raona]

The original report was "filed" (where it can no longer be found on normal search or seen by non-bug-testers) after it was fixed and there was no follow-up for a while. The fix involved updates to object code, so it is possible your object was missed in the update, or that you had an "old" copy of the object. Can you tell us more about your case? (Was it a plain vanilla quill?)

Have other people experienced this as well? If so, please specify when and if you can, what the game called the quill. Thanks!

[Tyeslan]

I had a few of them disappear on me yesterday from the quills in the Keep Post. They would run dry after one use, and disappear completely.

[Harroghty]

I just bought an i37 from the post (Annah in WD) and used it. I retained it when it went dry.

The assistant says to you 'Here is your change, 6 copper'
You buy a quill.
The assistant says to you 'Here is your change, 2 gold, 4 silver, 1 copper'
You buy an unlabelled letter.
You hold an unlabelled letter in your right hand.

Begin entering your text now (/? = help /s = save /c = clear /l = list)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1>
> Test.

Done.

Begin entering your text now (/? = help /s = save /c = clear /l = list)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1> Test.
>
> Test.

Done.

Begin entering your text now (/? = help /s = save /c = clear /l = list)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1> Test.
2>
3> Test.
> Test.
------------------
1> Test.
2>
3> Test.
4> Test.
------------------
> Test.

Done.

Begin entering your text now (/? = help /s = save /c = clear /l = list)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1> Test.
2>
3> Test.
4> Test.
5> Test.
> More test.

Done.
You are carrying:
(37) a quill (perfect)
(3) 7 copper coins (superb)
(3) 4 silver coins (superb)
(3) 2 gold coins (superb)
(3) 2 platinum coins (superb)

Begin entering your text now (/? = help /s = save /c = clear /l = list)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2>
3> Test.
4> Test.
5> Test.
6> More test.
> More testing.

Done.
Your quill is dry.
You are carrying:
(37) a quill (perfect)
(3) 7 copper coins (superb)
(3) 4 silver coins (superb)
(3) 2 gold coins (superb)
(3) 2 platinum coins (superb)

[Tyeslan]

Are they the same as the kind in the Keep? I cannot see vnums or I would tell you. Is it possible that Erga carries another type of quill?

[Harroghty]

Nope, the ZK assistant (m39953, as opposed to m39951 in WD) carries i37 just the same.

[Lylena]

So very weird. I tested on a quill purchased from the assistant at the magical post, and the quill remained.

I'll post here if it happens again on another quill.

[Sithiel]

This happened to me too. I was wearing the quill on my ear. Then...

You erase the name on the mail box.
You write something on the mail box.
Your quill runs dry.
You wear a pair of gold hoop earrings on your ears.
You are carrying:
(Glowing) a small positive energy shard (perfect)
2 copper coins (superb)
a silver coin (superb)
a electrum coin (superb)
a gold coin (superb)
14 platinum coins (superb)

And no quill anywhere

[Raona]

This happened to me too. I was wearing the quill on my ear. Then...

You erase the name on the mail box.
You write something on the mail box.
Your quill runs dry.
You wear a pair of gold hoop earrings on your ears.
You are carrying:
(Glowing) a small positive energy shard (perfect)
2 copper coins (superb)
a silver coin (superb)
a electrum coin (superb)
a gold coin (superb)
14 platinum coins (superb)

And no quill anywhere

Do you know the origin of this quill?

[Sithiel]

I think it was from the Ranger Glade in the farm village just southwest of Shadowdale.

[Raona]

Well, that's an i37 as well. I tried and can't reproduce this either, but will note that the object program on i37 doesn't (seem to) work, though the object values do change as the quill dries down.

What I observe is that (with the quill worn on the ears or in inventory, but by a mortal testcharacter), the quill works, does dry down, and eventually reports it is dry and will not write. But it does not echo that it is running low on ink and does not disappear or change adjective when the ink runs out.

[Alitar]

It appears as though there might be a common denominator among the missing quills in that they seem to be worn on the ears when they go dry. Perhaps test them while wearing them on the ears and running them dry, then removing them(alternatively try removing them by wearing another ears-worn item). I'm at work so I can't test this myself, sorry!

[Tyeslan]

I have them in my inventory usually when writing on boxes, so it isn't just ear slots, it's others as well.

It seems to be hit and miss with some of them. Some disappear, and some don't.

[Aveline]

Could it have something to do with what you are doing when you run out of ink? Maybe it has something to do with the labeling program on the boxes or something?

[Raona]

Could it have something to do with what you are doing when you run out of ink? Maybe it has something to do with the labeling program on the boxes or something?

Aha! Good call, Aveline! The issue is with the labeling program on boxes and letters, which has a 15% chance of just declaring your quill dry and junking it. These were designed by Dalvyn, I think, so my guess is that there is no good way to increment the object value on the quill used. Perhaps a graceful intermediate would be to change the program text to a chance of the quill breaking, rather than running dry, so that junking it makes more sense?

p.s. Is it still true that one can not re-ink quills, per the QUILLS helpfile?

[Nylo]

The builder's lessons seem to indicate that the ink level is stored in value 0. If that's the case, would you be able to use "mposet on $n i37 value0 0"?

[Grenwyn]

p.s. Is it still true that one can not re-ink quills, per the QUILLS helpfile?

I haven't had a problem with re-inking quills.

[Aveline]

Perhaps a graceful intermediate would be to change the program text to a chance of the quill breaking, rather than running dry, so that junking it makes more sense?

Would it be terrible just to leave that part out of the code completely? I don't think it would be detrimental to the game or anyone else if quills could last through labeling a box. They will still go dry if you write a note, right?

[Enig]

Nylo's right, but it's just as easy to increment down by 1 as it is to just default set it to empty, ie. mpoadd -1 to the value.

I suspect Dalvyn's junking the quill has more to do with that being status quo at the time for quills to junk themselves on being used up rather than it being impossible to write up code to the contrary.

[Harroghty]

I apologize for not seeing that sooner. It was the letters and packages; they had a 15% chance of junking i37 (a quill) when addressed. I changed that to Enig's suggestion (mpoadd on $n i37 value0 -1) and I also added the possibility of using more quills with letters. Now, letters and packages will use the same six quills that ink pots may use (i.e. all the quills in the game right now).