In association with AC Warcry

Download/Install

Datasets

Provided for completeness, these can be downloaded from within the program.

Crossroads of Dereth Creatures Compendium

Compatibility

Screenshot

Functionality/Use

The basic functionality of this program is simple:

1. Pick the monster Type (e.g, Drudge, Golem, Virindi, etc.)
   
   
2. Pick the monster Name (e.g., if Type is Golem: Ice Golem, Diamond Golem, Water Golem, etc.)
   
   
3. Look at the statistics for the selected monster and look in the Protections (Best to Worst) area to find the best and worst attacks to use against that monster, provided that information is known by the program.

Since there are two (2) dataset files used in this program (fauna.csv from AC Warcry and monsters.csv -- the default dataset) and there is not 100% overlap between the two files, I wanted to be able to show the user where the data for a particular monster is coming from. When a monster's information comes from both files nothing will follow the monster's Name. However, when a monster's information comes from only one of the two files the monster's Name will have a letter after it as follows:

• [C] denotes the monster is only found in the AC Warcry dataset (fauna.csv).
  
  
• [D] denotes the monster is only found in the default dataset (monsters.csv).

The Protections (Best to Worst) section is now split into Protections (what Melee, Archers, and Throwers go against) and Resistances (what Mages go against with War Magic). The decision to make this change was twofold. First, in answer to a Q&A question on their Q&A web page it was finally explained to us by Turbine that Resistances and Protections are two completely independent beasts (a lot of us had already suspected as much). And secondly, the new strategy guide (Asheron's Call Dark Majesty: Sybex Official Strategies and Secrets) provided us with a lot of the data necessary to discern the two.

This left us with three (3) sets of data to go by: the data from the original strategy guide and its updates, the AC Warcry data, and the new strategy guide data. The question was how to best take advantage of them all.

To do this I devised a ranking system of numbers from 0 to 700 for determining the sort order of the values. What this means is that if a monster has data from the new strategy guide, then the Protections and Resistances may differ in sort order. Otherwise the in the absence of data from the new strategy guide, they will be the same. And in the absence of any data for a monster they will be displayed as question marks (unknown).

Next I had to decide how to best fit Protections and Resistances into the GUI without making it too much bigger than it already is. Fortunately I had to sneak in Experience under Statistics, and that was all the room I needed (after moving Attack Height under Additional Info). However, the Protections (Best to Worst) section ends up being a bit melee-centric, sorry mages I had to pick one -- consider it my version of melee love.

The top half has 5 columns which break down as follows: damage type (Slashing, Piercing, etc.), an English translation of the ranking (very often this is a translation of the Resistance ranking), a numerical representation of the ranking (again, very often this is a translation of the Resistance ranking), the Protection sort ranking, and the corresponding Resistance sort ranking.

The bottom half has 2 rows of icons. The icons in the first row are the Protectionssorted from left to right according to their Protection sort rankings. The icons in the second row (labeled as Resistances (Best to Worst)) are the Resistances sorted from left to right according to their Resistance sort rankings. If organizing a spellbar, a mage should follow the second row.

The icons are used as follows:

Icon	Damage Type
	Slashing (Whirling Blade)
	Piercing (Force Bolt)
	Bludgeoning Shockwave)
	Cold (Frost Bolt)
	Fire (Flame Bolt)
	Acid (Acid Stream)
	Electricity (Lightning Bolt)
	Unknown

The functionality of the toolbar is listed below:

Toolbar Icon	Function	Use
	Display CoD Web Page	Displays the AC Warcry Fauna web page which corresponds to the monster (a.k.a., fauna) that is currently displayed in ACMonster. Note: This feature is only as fast as your machine and/or internet connection. Note: This feature only works with Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE).
	Reuse IE Window	When using Display CoD Web Page, if this button is selected (pressed in), then the same IE window will be used each time if it is left active. If this button is not selected, then a new IE window will be used for each use of Display CoD Web Page.
	Download Dataset	This feature is used to download the latest values from the Creatures Compendium at AC Warcry or the latest version of the ACMonster Default Dataset. See below for more info. Click the Download Dataset button to display the Download Dataset dialog. This dialog can be used to download either of the above mentioned datasets. Using the combo box in the dialog you can select between either: Crossroads of Dereth Creatures Compendium or ACMonster Default Dataset Note: If you decide you don't want to download, click the Done button in this dialog. Click the Download button. And, internet willing, the new dataset will download. When it is done downloading, the dialog will go away, and the new dataset will load into ACMonster. Note: During download, the Done button will change to Cancel, allowing you to abort the download.
	Revert Dataset	In the advent of a bad download or other corruption of either the fauna.csv file or the monsters.csv file, this feature can be used to revert to the previous copy of either file. Pressing this button will display the Revert Dataset dialog. From here just choose which file (fauna.csv or monsters.csv) needs to be reverted. The chosen file will revert to the last known version of the file, and then the last dataset will reload into ACMonster, wiping out the corrupted/bad file. Note: This reversion is only one level deep.
	Original Dataset	In the advent of a bad download or other corruption of the fauna.csv file, where the Revert Dataset feature does not seem to help, you can always revert to the original copy of your fauna.csv file or monsters.csv file that was included in the ACMonster ZIP file (see above) using this feature. Pressing this button will display the Original Dataset dialog. As with the Revert Dataset dialog just choose which file (fauna.csv or monsters.csv) needs to be reverted to its original. The chosen file will revert to the original version of the file, and then the original dataset will re load into ACMonster, wiping out the corrupted/bad file. Note: If this feature fails, then as a final course of action, please re-install ACMonster (see above).
	Copy to Clipboard	Copies the statistics for the current monster to the clipboard, where it can be pasted into any program. Sample Output » read more
	Print	Prints the statistics for the current monster to a printer of your choice (a printer selection window is provided). Sample Output » read more
	Exit	Exits the program.
	About	Displays the about box.
	Help	Displays this web page (the Asheron's Call Monster Guide home page).