HOMM3 Babies Mini-Expansion Beta now Available for Download!

[MattCaspermeyer]

***UPDATE***

I forgot to include DEVATRON.ATOM so please download this version (2013-02-10.1) if downloaded 2013-02-10 or your Ice Thorns are being destroyed by Zerock's Quake.

***UPDATE***

I've been continuing to playtest and have found a critical bug with V2013-01-27 that causes the game to crash when you marry Neoka. The error is that I specified "druids" instead of "druid" in the unit list when you marry her.

The work around is provided in the V2013-01-27 post and the fix for new games directly here. Basically you just need to copy DRUID.ATOM and call it DRUIDS.ATOM and place it into the mods folder. If you do this, then you can marry Neoka and continue your game. Don't buy the DRUIDS.ATOM units - their picture will be blank. I needed to use this work around in my current game and it works okay.

If you start a new game with this version, then you won't need that file (and hence it is not included in the KFS file for this version).

I've also added some experimental code for showing the Spirit Experience in the Hero screen and during combat. This is mostly an aid to show you which abilities generate the most experience. It uses the CW code (EXP_PET_HINT.LUA), but as it turns out, the algorithm is slightly different than the CW code / the information supplied in the fan manual (i.e. sometimes the experience is off by 1 for abilities that don't damage units). As such, I provide a range of experience for certain abilities and for those that damage units directly there is no way to know how much damage you're going to do to units (except for mass attack ones) and so instead an experience range is specified. It's not perfect, but the algorithm is hidden from me since it is apparently in the C code (i.e. Attack.add_exp library).

I've also fixed the issue with Critical Hit (and Attack and Defense for that matter) not dropping properly during long combats (as well as the Bone Dragon's Dread ability) - thanks to Gza for pointing this out!

I've also switched to using a different random function for generating the container units. We'll see how this goes, but my initial tests showed that this provided random results in line with what is mentioned in the hint.

I've also added hints to show you how many victories until your wife's next child. So now you don't have to keep track of the number of battles you've fought mentally as well as can see which fights count towards that (i.e. suppressing items doesn't count).

This version also includes some more bug fixes thanks to playing in Windows 8 and some slight tweaks here and there.

I'm now level 21 in my current game and just married Xeona, my last wife. So far I've fixed every bug that I've come across. I've been playing no loss impossible, but I couldn't beat Xeona no loss at that level (I was level 20 when I fought her and in fact I barely survived the battle with Neoka using Elves: Ancient Ents, Hunters, Elves, and Druids - susceptible to fire, ouch!). It could possibly be done with different units (i.e. Cyclops might work really well as well as Giants) or waiting until my hero was higher level, but I always play the minimum number of battles to get each wife and have all the children and then move to the next wife so I can check for bugs.

There's one thing that's been bugging me about the AI that I might see if I can fix and that is the fact that thrower units always attack the enemy unit adjacent to them when they run away with their base throw attack. It'd be nice to have them reset and attack a different unit optimizing damage when they run away (basically Cannoneers do this with their triple shot). We'll see how it goes...

Okay, here's the detailed list of changes:

Version: Beta 2013-02-10 - CRITICAL UPDATE

• *.ATOM
  • DEVATRON.ATOM - reverted to previous version until I figure out how to make it prevent ranged troops from attacking when adjacent to it
  • DRYAD.ATOM
    • Fixed issue with not properly implementing the Arena bonuses / penalties (i.e. +50% Attack in Forest Environments / -1 Morale in Dungeons)
  • EVILBOOK1.ATOM - Physical Resistance changed from 5 -> 2
  • EVILBOOK2.ATOM - Physical Resistance changed from 10 -> 5
  • EVILBOOK3.ATOM - Physical Resistance changed from 15 -> 10
  • PHOENIX_YOUNG.ATOM
    • Physical Resistance changed from 10 -> 5
    • Poison Resistance changed from 5 -> 2
  • PHOENIX.ATOM
    • Physical Resistance changed from 15 -> 10
    • Poison Resistance changed from 10 -> 5
  • PHOENIX_OLD.ATOM
    • Physical Resistance changed from 20 -> 15
    • Poison Resistance changed from 15 -> 10
  • Spirit ATOM's:
    • Added killedunitexp flag to help with showing combat experience during battles
• *.LNG
  • EN(G)_CHAT_0170292983_0979371428.LNG - fixed minor grammar error
  • EN(G)_SPIRITS.LNG
    • Added exp macro to end of spirit ability descriptions to show experience
    • Showing experience is very experimental as it doesn't quite seem to follow the formula in the fan manual
  • EN(G)_WIVES.LNG - added baby macro to end of wives for showing victories to next birth
  • TEMPLATES.LNG
    • Added new baby template for wives to show number of victories until next birth
    • Added new exp template for spirit ability experience
• *.LOC
  • ELLINIA_2_EMBRYOS.LOC (Great Forest)
    • ***CRASH*** Neoka's Castle: Fixed bug with "druids" in item list after marrying Neoka
    • If you started a new game with 2013-01-27 you'll need to use the fix identified below
      • If you are playing a game and it crashes after marrying Neoka, you have to make a copy of DRUID.ATOM and call it DRUIDS.ATOM and place it in your mods folder.
      • Don't buy the "DRUIDS.ATOM" units (their picture will be blank), it is just to allow you to continue your game if you want to marry Neoka
• *.LUA
  • ARENA.LUA
    • Fixed error of your unit Critical Hit not being affected by Morale changed during long combats (thanks to Gza for pointing this out!)
    • Added global flag to aid in showing of spirit experience
    • Added additional criteria for Spells to ensure that they are not repeatedly cast on the same unit(s)
  • ITEM_HINT.LUA
    • Added capability to display number of wins before your wife's next baby
  • ITEM_USE.LUA
    • Updated "objuse_spawn_troop" to use different code than the built-in code to randomize the units per the percentages listed
  • SPELLS.LUA
    • Fixed error where Battle Cry was not affecting your unit's Critical Hit positively
    • Fixed weird error with Plague trying to infect disappearing pawns (I think it was related to fire killing a unit, with fire being the pawn) (thanks Windows 8!)
    • Fixed possible nil value for tgt in spell_holy_rain_attack (thanks Windows 8!)
    • Fixed possibility of nil value for target in spell_accuracy_attack (thanks Windows 8!)
    • Added check for belligerent when checking ally for spell_dispell_attack so that it works with Enchanted Hero
  • SPIRITS_COMMON.LUA
    • Added global flag to aid in showing of spirit experience
  • SPIRITS_HINT.LUA
    • Added functions based on CW's EXP_PET_HINT.LUA to aid in showing the spirit experience hint
  • SPIRIT_THEROCK.LUA
    • ***BUG*** Fixed sequence of damage timeshift (thanks Windows 8!)
  • TEXT_GEN.LUA
    • Fixed error with display of your unit's Critical Hit using hero's Defense instead of Attack for bonus
  • UNIT_FEATURES.LUA
    • Fixed error with Bone Dragon's Dread not dropping your unit's Critical Hit due to the Morale decrease
    • Fixed error with Regenerates Mana where it sometimes gave mana to your hero when damaging enemy mages (i.e. with spirit abilities)
    • Fixed error with string belligerent for special_bonus_spell for Enchanted Hero
    • Fixed error with misspelled "spell_dispell_attack" function name for special_bonus_spell for Enchanted Hero
• *.TXT
  • GERDA_BABIES.TXT - fixed missing count on sp_duration_stone_skin for Labetha (thanks Windows 8!)
  • NEOKA_BABIES.TXT - fixed missing count on sp_duration_ice_serpent for Alagar (thanks Windows 8!)
  • RINA_BABIES.TXT - fixed missing count on sp_duration_stone_skin for Xsi (thanks Windows 8!)

Once again, I've removed the previous version, but the fix for the Neoka crash is provided in that previous post.

Hopefully I've found all the critical crashing bugs, but I'll just have to keep play testing to be certain.

Once again thanks for trying out my mod and provided feedback!

***UPDATE***

I forgot to include DEVATRON.ATOM so please download this version (2013-02-10.1) if downloaded 2013-02-10 or your Ice Thorns are being destroyed by Zerock's Quake.

***UPDATE***

Please see either the first or last post to get the latest version...