Cape of the Sun

[Cranberry]

As most of you probably know, Cape of the Sun turns a male pet female when used... or used to. I noticed mine wouldn't work today and asked around on the BDC, and apparently that feature stopped working (except for in the Netherlands) earlier today. Does anyone know why this happened?

(I didn't post this in info and updates as I'm hoping it was a mistake and the item will be changed back -- it was very useful. I'll try to find out from a neo programmer what's up once they're in the offices.)

[Bunnylover]

My guess would be random glitch. After ever update TnT does on its site and weapons, small glitches happen here and there, a weapon displays the wrong icon, a wrong amount of damage shows up, you can't equip a certain weapon for whatever reason. Usually these things are resolved next update.

[CadaverGrey]

Cranberry Wrote:I didn't post this in info and updates as I'm hoping it was a mistake and the item will be changed back -- it was very useful.

Lab Ray Scientist eh? Lol.

Anyway, I think it's not too big a deal to test this weapon out again after maybe a few days.

[Cranberry]

I did have to use the scientist this time... he beat up my poor namesake pet (she's on a side account and fairly weak) three times before he turned her back into a girl. I much prefer the cape of the sun.

[Phoenix]

someone did post here, http://forums.finalhit.org/showthread.php?tid=16363 so I assume they're correct

[weee5067]

Out of curiosity, has anyone checked to see if it does anything to female pets? It's possible TNT decided to flip the effect...

[Cranberry]

I finally had enough of the lab ray scientist killing my lab pet in one hit four or five times before making her a girl again, so I asked dirtside (Mr. Insane). Unfortunately, it's not good news:

Quote:That [gender-switching] was a bug. We know people like it, but it's been fixed. The defence thing was a little buggy, too (it defends differently depending on certain characteristics) but as of now (as far as I know), it works the way it's supposed to.

The "defends differently" thing is interesting, though. More from dirtside:

Quote:it was always intended to defend differently but the bug prevented one of the states from executing properly, so it never happened before even though it was in the code.

Guess we need to test it?

[theonlysaneone]

That gender switching bug is kind of scary... that could have just as easily changed other stats. I didn't know weapons could do that.

It also makes me wonder how weapons are coded. Do they have a template where they enter in the icons it does, special effects, etc., and then they can poke around in the code if they want something unique? It's something you never really think about.

Anyways, this probably works like other defensive weapons now.

[Shattered Rift]

theonlysaneone Wrote:That gender switching bug is kind of scary... that could have just as easily changed other stats. I didn't know weapons could do that.

It also makes me wonder how weapons are coded. Do they have a template where they enter in the icons it does, special effects, etc., and then they can poke around in the code if they want something unique? It's something you never really think about.

It's not that hard to throw in a wrong variable, update an unintended parameter, etc. I'm mostly surprised that it's been so long since we last saw one. (I remember being a newbie four years ago and there having been some stat-sapping weapon that was able to knock Pets below zero, at which point it gave them a very high stat count. Am I misremembering, or was there something like that?)

And the weapon code isn't just a template. Some aspects are certainly consistent throughout, but there have always been a few out-of-place weapons. J-Wand and I-Staff having the trippy reflection is the only thing I can think of off-hand, but I know there's more that simply aren't coming to my mind immediately.