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#21
11-19-2011, 07:03 AM
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Yep!
I sure did - both the Phoenix and Evil Book's stats increase based on the caster's intellect. Attack / Defense / Health, etc. are all effected by the caster's power.
I'm still working on my list of changes - they are organized by file type and so I'm hoping to post more stuff later... By the way, balance is somewhat in the eye of the beholder, but I think you'll see that for the most part the strategy with which you play will attune to how easy or difficulty things are for you. The things that I still check for are the increases based on level-ups, etc. for spirit abilities, spells, etc. and the only areas that I think are potentially weak are areas that I don't play. For example, I don't really play undead and so I'm not sure how well the changes I made work for them. I'll need to either play them some time or get some feedback from someone who has played them. I'm also debating on giving Bone Dragons the ability to cast a random negative chaos (like Weakness, Doom, Plague, Fear) spell on a Level 1-4 troop when they attack to make them more powerful. Even Devilfish cause Fear on attack and so I'm thinking that the Bone Dragons still may need a boost. Those spells aren't overpowering and it might be a neat addition for them. We'll see, I'm still cogitating on it. That's the funny thing about replaying is that every time I restart new ideas flash into my head. Anyway, should be interesting to see people's feedback once I officially release it and they start playing! Quote:
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#22
11-19-2011, 07:15 AM
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Found the Problem - Woohoo!
Thanks to Erkki for helping me track down the problem he was having!
 It didn't occur to me that he was playing a difficulty level other than impossible, where I had an error in the changes to the levelup code that I made where both Easy and Normal increase the amount of mana and rage you may get on level up. Since I had been play testing on Impossilbe I missed testing this part of the change! I've also added a version of the mod for those with an English localization where the *.LNG files use "en_" instead of "eng_". So now if you have either English localization version you can playtest the mod! Thanks again for all your help! P.S. By the way, what's the change to the levelup code you ask? Well before there was a set increase in Attack / Defense / Intellect and Mana / Rage making the choice for choosing Leadership when it occured the easy choice, especially later in the game. Now, as your character gains levels, you may be presented with a value other than +1 for Attack / Defense / Intellect based on your level as well as +default for Mana / Rage. This makes the selection of Leadership tougher, especially when you're choosing, for example, between 1000 Leadership and +3 Attack. Hmmm... much tougher choice now. Okay - making progress! Quote:
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#23
11-19-2011, 08:49 PM
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*.LNG Change List
Here's the change list to the *.LNG files. Some of these may be a little vague since the actual values are in another set of files. Anyway here we go:
Language Files - *.LNG ----------------------
I apologize if some of these are a little vague - as you can see there are a lot of changes to the *.LNG files and so some of the listed changes values will be listed when I do the *.TXT files. Also if you see _desc or [value_in_brackets] I've simply pasted the stuff from the *.LNG file so you can get an idea how it is laid out in the hint description. Once again feedback and comments are encouraged. I'll work on the *.TXT file changes next - hopefully get that out in a week or so... /C\/C\ Click here for the *.ATOM change list Click here for the *.TXT change list Last edited by MattCaspermeyer; 11-22-2011 at 12:25 AM. Reason: Added links to other change lists
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#24
11-19-2011, 09:48 PM
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Great job with this mod, and with changed files Matt.
Couple questions : 1) skill.txt is for defining parameters for lvling up skill eng_skill.lng is for text description in hero screen in game skills.lua is for skill mechanics right ? I aks because in AP/CW there some really weird things in skill.lua file, and i have no idea how to change how skill work in game. Changing eng_skill and skill.txt is no prob, but when i start game there are no some of changes i added in my files 2) Glory is it necessary to add every unit for -lds% ? Or is it possible to add strings form special_params.txt, example sp_lead_orc (all orcs listed in special_params.txt file), sp_lead_demon all demon units, etc. I like your idea for this skill, this way it`s useful during all game, not just in first 10 hero lvls so i wanted to add it to AP/CW. 3) what files i need to add in mod folder to get that unit in game ? I tried to add champion unit form adventure mod for AP to Red sands, but every way i try some errors report  . Is there any more files for units then this : champion.atom , champion.dds , champion.lua ?4) i also wanted to add some new spells but got stuck after changing spells.txt. Idea was to make spells like hell breath, just to bonus poison dmg, and %chance for poisoning to help players against dragons/demons. What else i need to change ? i see in your spells all translated to eng which is great, but here are my problems - How to add new slot for spell in spell book (must i delete some existing , or will it add it self somehow ? , Adding png files for spell in book, for scroll for shops, and for effect(poisoned during battle) anything else ? , spell_effect.lua , spells.lua , spells.txt , spells_common.lua , spells_hint , spells_power.lua do i have to changed all this files to add my spell or ...? if you can give some advice thx in advance
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#25
11-20-2011, 12:45 AM
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Good questions!
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SKILLS.TXT - this file not only defines the level up parameters that you mention, but you can also put the fight bonuses here. Everything except morale, that is. So if you look at ITEMS.TXT you'll see that there is a fight{} section and a mods{} section for most items. The fight{} section is for applying bonuses to units during combat and the mods{} section is for bonuses inside and outside of combat. SKILLS.TXT, unfortunately, does not implement the mods{} part so you can only put fight bonuses in SKILLS.TXT except for morale bonuses! Even though items can have morale bonuses defined in ITEMS.TXT, SKILLS.TXT will ignore any morale bonuses you put there. They have to go in MORALE.TXT. I had to figure all this out. So SKILLS.TXT is both for parameters shown on the skill tree screen and for directly applying fight bonuses to your units (and negatives to enemy units for that matter). What is neat about this, though, is that I took the skill tree bonuses and made an enemy skill tree when I was modifying the enemy heroes such that they have fight bonuses implemented such that they give bonuses to certain of their units and also negatives to your units. For example, certain enemy heroes have -1 speed to all your units or, for example, Xeona has a special Destroyer Skill that is -50 Fire Resistance to all your units when you fight her! ENG_SKILLS.LNG - you are 100% right about this. What is important to note about any of the *.LNG files is that they are governed by TEMPLATES.LNG. The templates file is what takes [param4] for example in a *.LNG file and either applies a label or calls an LUA function generator to parse what "param4" means. This gives great power in being able to generate bonuses that are dynamically generated (like, for example, the new percent bonuses for units with attacks that cause burning). You can always add new templates to TEMPLATES.LNG to generate a value. The only issue is that certain King's Bounty libraries (i.e. Attack, AU, Logic, etc.) are not available all the time and so you are limited by when they are available. I've learned a lot about the libraries, but since most the the documentation and information is in Russian there are still a lot of questions I have about them. SKILLS.LUA - this file is for anything that can't be accomplished with the other two files. You are only limited by what the LUA script engine can do. This is what makes modding so much fun - the fact that you can change game mechanics like you mentioned, but it really goes further. You also have access to the King's Bounty Libraries and if a library is available, then you can use it. Typically Logic and Obj. are available from the functions inside SKILLS.LUA. Here is the (English translated) website for the King's Bounty Libraries: http://translate.googleusercontent.c...cVb1S9FDIBT-8Q I'm still learning a lot about these libraries, but need to learn more about the tags and how to make libraries available for functions as I couldn't access certain libraries when I wanted to - probably because I didn't understand how the tags worked. Quote:
They may have fixed this in AP/CW, but I doubt it since no one probably knew about it. This implementation was actually a fall-back plan as I really simply wanted Glory to give the +Leadership bonus and then also a +Percentage Leadership bonus. But, since the mods{} bonus functionality is not implemented in SKILLS.TXT, I tried to do this in the LUA. Unfortunately, though, I could not figure out how to give a percentage bonus for leadership (like some of the original babies had) from the LUA function. So in the end, I did the leadership reduction thing instead. Maybe there is a way to do it, but I couldn't figure it out. Quote:
I have not tried to add any new units, but from what I understand (I think the Crossworlds Editor documentation might provide some insight here, too):
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1. SPELLS.TXT - all spells are defined here, so your new spell needs to be added here. 2. ENG_SPELLS.LNG - all spell descriptions are here and so your new spell needs a description to go here. 3. SPELLS.LUA - all spells use an LUA script function that determines the spell's behavior and so your new spell needs a function for it to go here. 4. SPELLS_POWER.LUA - most spells have a function here that computes the spell's power. Also SPELLS_HINT.LUA can call the spell's power function so that it can display the spell's information. 5. SPELLS_HINT.LUA - as mentioned above typically calls the spell's power function that resides inside SPELLS_POWER.LUA to get the spell's parameters to display in the text hint. 6. TEMPLATES.LNG - if you are going to have a new description, the spell's parameter templates will have to be added here in the appropriate section for spell templates. 7. SPELLS_COMMON.LUA - this file contains unit select functions for a spell. So you may not need to edit this file unless you want to use a unit selection criteria that doesn't exist. 8. SPELL_EFFECTS.LUA - this file contains spell effects that are caused by the spell. For example, Flame Arrow, Fire Ball, and Fire Rain all cause burning. The burning effect function is located here. You may have to edit other files as well, but these are the most common for covering a spell. What you would really need to do is look at one of the spells in SPELLS.TXT and see what scripts it uses, what pictures, etc. and use it as a template for creating you're new spell. As far as the icons are concerned, you would have to generate a new PNG (I guess you don't really need to create a DDS file since individual PNG's are supported in AP/CW) for the spell picture if you didn't use one already in the game. Then, just like with the new unit, you would need to edit the embryos to allow the game to generate that new spell. Once again, I haven't done this so you may need to do some more research, but this should at least get you started. Okay, those were some good questions - that's about all I can provide right now. By the way, this is the kind of stuff I want to put into my modding guide if I ever get around to creating it. /C\/C\
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#28
11-22-2011, 12:18 AM
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*.TXT New Files and Changes List
Okay, here's the *.TXT files new files and changes list. The list is a bit technical, but serves a bit also as a little self-tutorial on modding showing that for every Descriptive name there is also a code name associated with it. Also it shows the parameter style of certain files.
Text Files - *.TXT ------------------
Okay, that's it. It is possible that some of the parameter values are now slightly different since this list was made about a month ago, but I did go through it once and attempt to update it to the latest changes. This change list gives you a feel for where things are and how to change them. Note that morale.txt, for instance, is the file to change for all the morale bonuses. You can add a fight {morale} bonus to skills.txt, but it will not show up properly in the hero's army slots and army cards. In skills.txt, there are the parameters that are shown in the Skill Name Description when you mouse over it and then there are also the actual bonuses to units in the fight {...} section for that skill. Unfortunately, I do not know a way to link these and so therefore since the values are in two places this possibly serves as a source of bugs if you change a value in one place, but forget to change it in the other as the values will not be the same. Also note that I've done my best to make my work itself mod-able. You can see that I attempted to add bonuses to many facets of the game where they did not exist. The idea was to make a system that allowed people to create new items, etc. with the new bonuses I added. Another factor I used to make changes was to make the system consistent. For certain spells, their bonus name did not match the spell name. In order to aid in the LUA script updates, I needed to make names consistent so that an LUA function only needed the spell's name to then determine if there were any bonuses for that spell. All these go to make the fileset that I've modified its own basis for new mods. This was a lot of work to go through all the game's original files and try to make things as consistent as possible, but I think it was worth it. This should make future mods easier because you don't have to know all the name variants for a spell, its bonuses, and other effects. Once gain, feel free to comment! The last major file group is the LUA script files. I hope to post those changes no later than a week or two from now... /C\/C\ Click here for the *.ATOM List Click here for the *.LNG List
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#29
11-22-2011, 02:27 AM
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This is enticing me to speed through my current game so I can give your mod a try or three.
Nice work. I usually edit the equipment into the game that I want to play via the KBScanner, but I'll give your mod an unedited playthrough to get a better feel for the changes and the challenge involved.Have you thought of a mod that would make all the equipment in the game available for sale during a game? Would it be hard to do? And is your mod compatible with the KBScanner? (I'd imagine it couldn't be for the HOMM3 babies, but does it report the quest rewards, items, troops, and spells correctly?)
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#30
11-22-2011, 04:55 AM
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Interesting questions...
It's been a long time since I played with the KBScanner, but I think the way they designed it that it might actually work with my mod. Obviously, I discourage using the KBScanner when playing a mod (especially the first time) since it is a cheat that gives you an advantage, but I think it will use the "code" names for things if they are new - I'm not sure, though.
I can't wait to actually attach this where people can simply download and play it because I think anyone who plays it is going to have a lot of fun (especially on impossible), but we got to get through this alpha stage first. This means me getting far enough in my current game to try out all of the new stuff I've added (so I at least got to marry Orcelyn and have some babies with her and then I think I am going to make the Bone Dragon change so I got to get far enough to fight some so that I can create and debug that change plus I think I'll do a little mod tutorial as I make the change so that people can see how it works) and then it should be ready for everyone to give it a try. So far I only have two people playtesting it (Fatt_Shade and Erkilmarl) and would love to get some more people joining the fun! So don't be bashful - PM your email address and I'll send you the latest version! /C\/C\ Quote:
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Linear Mode
