Heroes of Might and Magic Community
visiting hero! Register | Today's Posts | Games | Search! | FAQ/Rules | AvatarList | MemberList | Profile


Age of Heroes Headlines:  
5 Oct 2016: Heroes VII development comes to an end.. - read more
6 Aug 2016: Troubled Heroes VII Expansion Release - read more
26 Apr 2016: Heroes VII XPack - Trial by Fire - Coming out in June! - read more
17 Apr 2016: Global Alternative Creatures MOD for H7 after 1.8 Patch! - read more
7 Mar 2016: Romero launches a Piano Sonata Album Kickstarter! - read more
19 Feb 2016: Heroes 5.5 RC6, Heroes VII patch 1.7 are out! - read more
13 Jan 2016: Horn of the Abyss 1.4 Available for Download! - read more
17 Dec 2015: Heroes 5.5 update, 1.6 out for H7 - read more
23 Nov 2015: H7 1.4 & 1.5 patches Released - read more
31 Oct 2015: First H7 patches are out, End of DoC development - read more
5 Oct 2016: Heroes VII development comes to an end.. - read more
[X] Remove Ads
LOGIN:     Username:     Password:         [ Register ]
HOMM1: info forum | HOMM2: info forum | HOMM3: info mods forum | HOMM4: info CTG forum | HOMM5: info mods forum | MMH6: wiki forum | MMH7: wiki forum
Heroes Community > Heroes 5 - Modders Workshop > Thread: [MOD TotE] H5/HoF Campaigns for ToE
Thread: [MOD TotE] H5/HoF Campaigns for ToE This thread is 21 pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 ... 10 ... 17 18 19 20 21 · «PREV / NEXT»
sfidanza
sfidanza


Promising
Supreme Hero
posted December 04, 2007 11:42 AM

I sent you an HCM about the main topic.

A note about cities ID, though: previously, the codes started at 0 (Haven). Now a few special codes take 0, 1, 2, and Haven is now 3 (not very bright to add new codes at the beginning rather than the end of the list). However, the problem in scripts (like C3M3) only comes from the fact that in
scripts/advmap-startup.lua
the codes were not updated. So I don't think editing the .exe is required here (and hopefully they'll have this fixed in 3.1).

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
tobagua
tobagua


Hired Hero
posted December 04, 2007 05:46 PM

You've got a bunch of spam from me in your PM box. Unfortunately the messaging system worked a bit weird for me, sending multiple copies of the same message. The latest one has the header I did it!, the earlier ones are now obsolete.

We can now have two additional .exe files that will launch HoF and HMM just like if you were playing the standalone versions with unique menu music and cutscenes and all, each of the previous chapters gets a unique mod folder, the global UserMods folder affects all the chapters at once, the only drawback is that you can't have any User Campaigns in HoF and HMM but this is no problem since you can launch user made campaigns from ToE.

Two modified copies of H5_Game.exe take up some 24 Mb but can be compressed to a mere 6,5 Mb in a rar archive so this is no big deal.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
sfidanza
sfidanza


Promising
Supreme Hero
posted December 04, 2007 07:15 PM
Edited by sfidanza at 19:16, 04 Dec 2007.

I'll answer non technical details here.
First, I like the experimentation, and knowing how things are done, but (as you said by HCM) I prefer not to use it on this project, unless it becomes really necessary. Or to say it differently, I'll favor solutions where you don't need a new .exe file. I have a few reasons:
- different language version might have different .exe files (so if we package only one, it might break something in some language)
- it would require updating the fixed .exe on each patch (ok, they're not released so often these days)
- as you said yourself, I don't think Ubisoft would like it much

Right now, H5 and HoF campaigns are packaged together (so no need for 2 files), as you can see in the campaign menu screenshot. Ideally, they would be loaded as UserCampaigns (if they can be properly chained). Right now, it is possible to include the ToE campaigns as well (provided I find some place on the screen ), so this is the more likely route.

The mod mostly adds new content, and has a minimal impact on ToE content (I'll check more thoroughly but so far I'd say only ToE campaign menu is changed). Of course, you're talking about changing the menu cutscenes and music, which would make for further differences. But that part could as well stay optional.

What I'd like to avoid is the need to exit, add/remove the mod, restart, change profile, each time you want to play H5/HoF campaigns vs ToE. With a specific .exe file edited along your lines, only the add/removed mod is avoided (and maybe the change profile step, if we can specify another name for Campaign.sav - as it seems we can). It's still a big step though.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
tobagua
tobagua


Hired Hero
posted December 04, 2007 07:42 PM
Edited by sfidanza at 21:18, 04 Dec 2007.

If the HoMM/ToE campaigns can be played through the UserCampaigns menu and as I see from your screenshot some campaigns stay locked until you finish previous ones, I don't see where's the problem. The heroes don't carry over or what?

Well, at least you've got an emergency exit if something goes wrong and stands in your way. A safe back door is always a good thing.

The executive is multilingual, none of the language settings are defined in the .exe - you can compare the english and the russian executives in a binary analyzer and see that they're copies of the same file.

Should a patch emerge, the whole mod will require reworking since HoMM patches address issues in every chapter of the game, maps and campaigns included.

I guess there won't be any patches after 3.1, following Nival's patch policy. They always take a lot of time to develop and test one, but when it comes it smashes bugs away. ToE is the last HoMM5 project and all the financing is gone now, so the most likely thing to happen is the release of a large final patch. ToE seems mostly bugless to me, so I don't see how it could require a second patch =) Keep up with the great work, Nival! I think that releasing your mod only after the final patch is the best solution.

Last, I don't understand why you're thinking you need to change profiles for different chapters. Profiles, replays, scores and UserMODs and everything else stays universal. When you switch profiles in HoF you'll see the same profile selected when you run ToE, etc. You only get a dedicated savegame folder for each chapter and a unique main menu with campaign selection screen. Fancy I'm playing a huge scenario in ToE and fighting through a HoF campaign at the same time, and replaying some HoMM missions on weekends. Each time I run HoF I know that none of my ToE saves can be accidentally overwritten, and the HoF saves don't litter my ToE savegame folder. Different stories that can be played parallel to each other obviously deserve separate savegame folders.

You don't "need to exit, add/remove the mod, restart, change profile," as you guessed - you just run different .exes for different single player campaigns with separate savegame folders, and the rest of things stay as if you were using a single executive for them all! =) Once installed, the mod resides in two folders and I don't see any necessity to add or remove something after the installation is complete.

And what about the auto-save function? A critically important ToE auto-save can get killed by an autosave performed by an earlier chapter, since I often forget to make a normal save before quitting I thought it could be great to keep different autosaves for different chapters.

Moreover, having any user mods might lead at least to annoying synchronization messages that your multiplayer opponent doesn't have the mods that you're running, and since the ToE menu is changed, I don't know what will happen if you play a multiplayer match against a non-modded ToE player and then return back to the main menu - will the modded menu show up again or you probably will have to restart the game? My plan provides for an absolutely untouched copy of ToE, which is an important matter for multiplayer.

P.S. I thought Ubisoft won't like rebuilding the PE and the alloc/reloc/import/export tables and such like things, but petty hacking like what I've done can hardly be considered harmful since I didn't rebuild anything -> I haven't got a chance to introduce malicious code or add non-documented capabilities. All the changes to the executives are so obvious (and can be explicitly stated in a readme file) that you can't hide anything. Even the simplest binary comparison analyzers will expose that only the folder names were changed, and the whole chunk of machine code stays untouched.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Cepheus
Cepheus


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
posted December 04, 2007 08:30 PM
Edited by Cepheus at 20:30, 04 Dec 2007.

In my humble opinion, using three seperate .exe files for the game tends to defeat the purpose of this mod.  It's intended to bring the old content from original and HoF Heroes V into TotE... hence the name.  With seperate .exe files, carrying heroes, spells, artifacts and so on through the three versions becomes impossible, and with the sky-high loading times in each game it's far more convenient and useful to package it all into one.  As for the Autosave problem, well that's what we have the Save Game button for.  Plus with the multiplayer problem: it's a mod, intended for those who use mods?  If you use them, you can't effectively play multiplayer, and if you do play multiplayer you'll have no great reason to revisit the single-player campaigns.  And even if there's a problem, you can just backup your saves and remove the mod.

If it's for personal use though... whatever, fair enough.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
tobagua
tobagua


Hired Hero
posted December 04, 2007 09:36 PM
Edited by tobagua at 21:38, 04 Dec 2007.

Quote:
carrying heroes, spells, artifacts and so on through the three versions becomes impossible, and with the sky-high loading times in each game it's far more convenient and useful to package it all into one

1. How carrying heroes, spells and artifacts between campaigns can be possible through this mod?
2. Then I don't get the idea of limitations you were talking of, judging by your words the extra campaigns should be working just like in the original HoMM and HoF.
3. Sky-high loading times is something I will never believe unless you've ran into serious hardware problems. Level loading times aren't affected by the presence of one or three .exe files, and the game itself loads to the main menu in less than a second for me, and about four seconds on my second outdated 2,4 Ghz, 1 Gb RAM miserable junk of a computer. Or am I missing something again?

Everything I'm asking for is a personal copy with unique campaign sheets, though. As for the .exes, I've already made a bunch of three for myself.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Cepheus
Cepheus


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
posted December 04, 2007 09:43 PM
Edited by Cepheus at 21:53, 04 Dec 2007.

1.  I'll leave that one for Sfidanza to explain, he can do so more effectively than I...  BTW there are no limitations here, as long as the campaigns are together.  Perhaps you misunderstand me: I mean a carryover between heroes from Hammers of Fate's campaigns to those in Tribes of the East for example.

2.  Well I thought that my words imply that the mod will involve a carryover system for a few heroes (like Raelag) between the three versions, which it most likely will.  And the old cutscenes will be improved as well.  So they won't be exactly the same as the official Nival ones.  I don't believe this carryover is possible if you have the campaigns seperated.

3.  I refer to loading times for Heroes V in general, not everybody can afford to have the full 1 Gb RAM on their machine (your "miserable junk" of a computer has more than mine)...  It is also a lot of needless hassle and time wasting to switch between .exe files IMO.  You may remember that Heroes III Complete followed the all-in-one way...

Like I said before, I don't mind if it's for personal use, I'm just telling you why we shouldn't include it in the proper Old Content Mod.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Borsook
Borsook


Adventuring Hero
posted December 04, 2007 09:52 PM

How about making an alternative version with separate exes? I for one would be hardly interested in such a version, esp as I can't see how it defeats the purpose of this mod. Unless I am much mistaken the mod was to provide the ability to play old campaigns with the new engine enhancements. The separate exes versions would still do that but would better retain the "feel" of original games and make keeping saves tidy easier.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
tobagua
tobagua


Hired Hero
posted December 04, 2007 10:02 PM
Edited by tobagua at 22:09, 04 Dec 2007.

2 Borsook: Mind that the three separate .exes are actually copies of the same .exe that is used in ToE with all the enhancements included. The only thing that is changed is some paths that would allow for an additional folder for each .exe to host old campaigns in, which will only appear instead of the ToE campaign along with a different cutscene and menu music in the main screen. So it's basically three same ToE .exes that load three different main campaigns and have different main menus, that's all.

As for hero carryover between chapters, I think it's a very bad idea. An overgrown hero can spoil all the fun in the newer campaigns. Also I don't see what I get if I start two different chapters simultaneously. If you're after that, why not state the purpose of the mod as to glue all the campaigns into one huge chapter instead of fiddling with memory mentors and workarounds?

Hero stats can in no way travel between campaigns as proposed, and as for the artifacts I'm not sure yet. If these are the limitations you were talking off, then better drop the idea. And adding foreign objects like memory mentors to the vanilla maps is something I'd also deny. In my vision the best variant is the 1:1 recreation of vanilla HoMM5 and HoF with all the enhancements of ToE game mechanics but little more than that. All the missions and maps should stay as they used to, and editing the cutscenes is something that would make me totally unhappy.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Cepheus
Cepheus


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
posted December 04, 2007 10:08 PM
Edited by Cepheus at 22:15, 04 Dec 2007.

Quote:
I for one would be hardly interested in such a version, esp as I can't see how it defeats the purpose of this mod.


Sounds a little self-contradictory to me...

Quote:
Unless I am much mistaken the mod was to provide the ability to play old campaigns with the new engine enhancements. The separate exes versions would still do that but would better retain the "feel" of original games and make keeping saves tidy easier.


It is called the "Old Content Mod" for TotE - i.e. it's intended to add the content from the original Heroes V and Hammers of Fate into Tribes of the East, not the other way around.  If you find it more efficient to use three .exe files though when you could simply and conveniently use one, though, be my guest.

Though since the mod is for TotE, I'm worried that Nival may not approve of distributing the graphical content (i.e. the two original main menus) freely.

Quote:
As for hero carryover between chapters, I think it's a very bad idea. An overgrown hero can spoil all the fun in the newer campaigns.


I cannot see why.  For one thing, Raelag and Isabel are the only carryover characters in Hammers of Fate, and they are supposed to start their respective scenarios at high levels.  In Tribes of the East, Zehir, Wulfstan, Duncan, Isabel and Raelag carry over, if I am correct.  Why would it spoil anyone's fun for them to begin their few appearances at high levels?  As for artifacts and spells, sorry, that was a mistake on my part (I've been thinking too much Heroes III).

And please let me know, why would you be unhappy with small (mark my words, very small) edits to the cutscenes?  No dialogue changes, just the speech animations from HoF and TotE.  If anything they would just improve the quality.  Never in a million years could I see how this would make anybody unhappy...

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
tobagua
tobagua


Hired Hero
posted December 04, 2007 10:20 PM
Edited by tobagua at 22:27, 04 Dec 2007.

I come from the same country where Nival resides. Not only they wouldn't allow for the original menus to be exported (though they're 100% made from the TotE shared content) but they would ban the very existence of such a mod if they could. Fortunately, they have no legal rights to judge on that outside of Russia and it's up to Ubisoft to decide. Secondly, Russia is dominated by a bit torrent tracker network so us Russians don't really have to suffer from Nival's folly here. I myself prefer to obtain legal copies of the games purely out of collector's lust (a good game must be bought on a legal CD even if you finished it the other day, I think) so I see nothing wrong if I use a copy of the mod. Nival are extremely good guys, but I highly disapprove of their copyright madness. You don't have to worry though, since Ubi allowed to publish Sfidanza's packages as separate scenarios.

I wouldn't play a HoMM5/HoF mod that makes even slight changes to the original maps and campaigns, let alone mutilating the story and cutscenes. The intention to bring improvements from TotE into HoMM5 and HoF is very noble indeed though and I'd support that as firmly as I can. Also the idea of having a huge junk installation of HoMM5/HoF parallel to TotE gives me a rather stupid feeling.

Quote:
And please let me know, why would you be unhappy with small (mark my words, very small) edits to the cutscenes?  No dialogue changes, just the speech animations from HoF and TotE.  If anything they would just improve the quality.  Never in a million years could I see how this would make anybody unhappy...

Why would you be unhappy with small, very small and almost unnoticeable moustache added to Da Vinci's Mona Lisa portrait? Well, if that only improves the animations, that would be great, but cutscene editing (not fixing / updating) sounds like making changes to the characters' lines. I hope I'm mistaken.

I've long ceased to be a perfectionist, preferring fun to virtue. Wrapping the original HoF and HoMM5 games in the guise of user-made (OMG!) campaigns and robbing them of their identity (expressed in the inalienable right to have a unique main menu theme and a dedicated Single Player campaign menu) is something I'm strongly against.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Borsook
Borsook


Adventuring Hero
posted December 04, 2007 10:43 PM
Edited by Borsook at 22:43, 04 Dec 2007.

Quote:
Quote:
I for one would be hardly interested in such a version, esp as I can't see how it defeats the purpose of this mod.


Sounds a little self-contradictory to me...

I cannot see that contradiction, what I meant was that I would gladly have such a version of the mod, especially since I see no downside to doing it this way and definitely it does not (in my opinion) defeat the purpose of the mod as you claim.

Quote:

I cannot see why.  For one thing, Raelag and Isabel are the only carryover characters in Hammers of Fate, and they are supposed to start their respective scenarios at high levels.  In Tribes of the East, Zehir, Wulfstan, Duncan, Isabel and Raelag carry over, if I am correct.  Why would it spoil anyone's fun for them to begin their few appearances at high levels?  As for artifacts and spells, sorry, that was a mistake on my part (I've been thinking too much Heroes III).


Depends how it's done. If the same as now - i.e. just the level then it's not much balance change but if attributes/skills etc are kept as they were this may make them overpowered.

Quote:
2 Borsook: Mind that the three separate .exes are actually copies of the same .exe that is used in ToE with all the enhancements included. The only thing that is changed is some paths that would allow for an additional folder for each .exe to host old campaigns in, which will only appear instead of the ToE campaign along with a different cutscene and menu music in the main screen. So it's basically three same ToE .exes that load three different main campaigns and have different main menus, that's all.

This is exactly what I had in mind, I find the menu music/cutscene adds a lot to the "feel".

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
sfidanza
sfidanza


Promising
Supreme Hero
posted December 04, 2007 10:44 PM

I'll make a quick reply here, just to cool thing down a bit (Cepheus and Tobagua are perfect gentlemen until now, and I'd like things to stay this way).

My first purpose here is to package the H5/HoF campaigns to be playable under ToE as they were (with as little changes as possible). There will be changes (scripts fixed to take alternate upgrades into account where needed, new spells/artifacts unlocked as discussed above...), but the H5 and HoF campaigns will not be fused together as Cepheus suggested, and dialogs won't be changed.

I know Kronos has been working on the campaigns as well, and I guess he's the one wanting to add H5/HoF carry-overs and dialogscenes improvements. Since I didn't (yet?) receive any answer from him to discuss our views, I don't know more about his work.
If he does release something of his own at some point, it could be a completely different mod. Or, if we can work things out, it could be an additional optional package (to avoid downloading base campaigns twice).

Now, Tobagua's idea of separate .exe files is a good one, and could interest some people. I plan to work with him to build it on top of the mod, so that, again, it could be an additional optional download.

I'll get back to every relevant point raised here later tonight. So far, your discussion is really interesting. So keep it civil, but go on bouncing ideas.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
sfidanza
sfidanza


Promising
Supreme Hero
posted December 04, 2007 10:46 PM

Quote:
I for one would be hardly interested in such a version

@Borsook: the misunderstanding here is just that your sentence means the contrary
"hardly interested" basically means "not interested". The mistake is easy to make, don't worry.
To make it clear for everyone, you would be "very interested".

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Kronos1000
Kronos1000


Promising
Supreme Hero
Fryslân Boppe
posted December 04, 2007 10:55 PM

I'm sorry for not replying, I haven't worked on this again, but I wanted to add some new things such as carry-overs I remember somebody saying that Isabel and Realag start at level one this is not true they start as lv 20 good (or bad) enough for a carry-over, I also wanted to improve some DialogScenes compare the original with TotE any difference? I also like the idea of the HoF Campaign 1 requires you to finish the original or part of the story will be spoiled.

The only things I have dome so far are editing the scripts to make them work with alt upgs.
____________
Hwær cwom mearg? Hwær cwom mago?
Hwær cwom maþþumgyfa? - 'The Wanderer'

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
tobagua
tobagua


Hired Hero
posted December 04, 2007 11:03 PM
Edited by tobagua at 23:15, 04 Dec 2007.

Quote:
Now, Tobagua's idea of separate .exe files is a good one, and could interest some people. I plan to work with him to build it on top of the mod, so that, again, it could be an additional optional download.

Thanks for making things clear, at last I see there's no intention to change the dialogue lines or do something serious to the maps. As for the three .exes, I sent you the most detailed explanations how to make two unique override folders that won't make a mess of the global UserMODs folder and keep TotE unaffected by mods at all. I'm suspicious about the PM delivery system though, for it behaved wildly for me. The PM was titled I did it! and was sent after a series of spam PMs due to some forum bug. So you no longer need my help - just get a decent HEX editor (I hope you've got one) and it won't take you longer than five minutes to do everything all right.

If you have no time for that I will gladly make the exes on my own and give them the original HoMM5 and HoF icons (which is an important point as well).

For HoMM5 the structure would be:

Executive name: H5_Game.HoMM5.exe
Dedicated campaign folder: HMM_Campaigns
Dedicated mod folder: HMM_Campaigns
Dedicated campaign file format: .h5u
Dedicated mod file format: .h5u
Global mod folder: UserMODs
Global mod file format: .h5u
Dedicated save folder: SaveA (instead of Saves)
Profile, stats and settings sharing with other chapters: Yes!

For HoF:

Executive name: H5_Game.HoF.exe
Dedicated campaign folder: HoF_Campaigns
Dedicated mod folder: HoF_Campaigns
Dedicated campaign file format: .h5u
Dedicated mod file format: .h5u
Global mod folder: UserMODs
Global mod file format: .h5u
Dedicated save folder: SaveB (instead of Saves)
Profile, stats and settings sharing with other chapters: Yes!

The word 'dedicated' indicates an inner component used only by the specific chapter of the game (e.g. a dedicated mod that changes the menu theme as part of the whole installation or a dedicated campaign that only shows up instead of vanilla one only while using this certain .exe) and 'global' means something applicable regardless of the .exe used (e.g. whatever you put in the UserMODs folder will affect all the three chapters while the contents of HoF_Campaigns will only affect the game if you run H5_Game.HoF.exe)

Quote:
I also like the idea of the HoF Campaign 1 requires you to finish the original or part of the story will be spoiled.

Sounds a bit too perfectionist to belong to the mortal world. Then you'd have the whole game start with the TotE campaign since it takes place long before HoMM5 and HoF and has a lot of linked events. Those who don't want to spoil the whole story won't start later chapters, though making all the campaigns of a single chapter independently available might be a bit out of limits.

Please, no more zombie surgery on the masterpieces. We live in a very imperfect world, and trying to fuse and polish and turn a great, yet earthly thing into a jewel of paramount perfection often serves the opposite cause. Only a few games like The Elder Scrolls series or UT are known to evolve through modding and took benifit in it, but the HoMM5 story is more of a good book or an opera that better not be touched by those who aren't its authors.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Kronos1000
Kronos1000


Promising
Supreme Hero
Fryslân Boppe
posted December 04, 2007 11:20 PM

Did you actually play TotE it takes place after HoF! If it would take place before H5 then how come in TotE:

The Dark Messiah is born?
The fake Isabel is allready there?
The Renegades already exist?
Alaric is killed?
Zehir says he fought Kha-Belet with Findan, Realag and Godric?
Biara is killed?

You see it's a chronological story.
____________
Hwær cwom mearg? Hwær cwom mago?
Hwær cwom maþþumgyfa? - 'The Wanderer'

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
tobagua
tobagua


Hired Hero
posted December 04, 2007 11:28 PM

OMG I'm sorry I still can't get out of my head the old advertisment campaign of TotE that featured a story allegedly taking place long before the events of HMM5. I only completed TotE once immediately it was out and now begin forgetting things.

But anyway, personally I won't download a fused campaign pack as long as I have HMM5 and HoF in their classical forms with menu cutscenes and all, since I see no practical reasons for merging the chapters other than taking sadistic enjoyment in vivisection of a classic series.

Porting HoF and HoMM5 to TotE because of the updated game mechanics and disk space economy makes a lot of sense, though. At least in my opinion.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
sfidanza
sfidanza


Promising
Supreme Hero
posted December 05, 2007 12:07 AM
Edited by sfidanza at 00:11, 05 Dec 2007.

Quote:
(from Tobagua)
If the HoMM/ToE campaigns can be played through the UserCampaigns menu and as I see from your screenshot some campaigns stay locked until you finish previous ones, I don't see where's the problem. The heroes don't carry over or what?

In the screenshot, you see the normal campaign menu, not the UserCampaigns. That's the problem. UserCampaigns loads one campaign at a time, not a CampaignSet as I'd like (so C2, C3... would not be locked).

Quote:
(from Tobagua)
Last, I don't understand why you're thinking you need to change profiles for different chapters.

Because of campaign.sav: it is tied to the Standart.xdb CampaignSet, and the game crashes if there are differences between the CampaignSet and campaign.sav when starting a mission.
If each chapter (launched through its own .exe) has its own Saves/ folder, the issue disappears of course.

Quote:
(from Tobagua)
You don't "need to exit, add/remove the mod, restart, change profile,"

To switch campaigns, you need:
- with a dedicated .exe: only exit and restart (the other .exe)
- without a dedicated .exe and with H5/HoF campaigns replacing ToE campaigns (the case I was describing): exit, add/remove the mod, restart, change profile
- without a dedicated .exe and with H5/HoF/ToE campaigns together: no exit needed at all (you even keep your current progress in ToE campaigns )

For the standard mod package, I'm aiming at solution 3 right now.
Again, I'll work with Tobagua to develop the dedicated .exe option, and with Kronos (if he agrees to) to package his enhancements as an additional optional download.

The dedicated .exe solution would have the following benefits (as stated by Tobagua):
- H5/HoF look and feel (icon for the .exe, menu background and music)
- separate savegames (and no autosave conflict)
- no multiplayer issue when in vanilla ToE (but the mod might not create issues at all - that will have to be checked)

Quote:
(from Cepheus)
why would you be unhappy with small (mark my words, very small) edits to the cutscenes?  No dialogue changes, just the speech animations from HoF and TotE.

I guess you mean replacing some of the "Griffin Eternal" animations every 2 seconds by some more subtle ToE anims. This will be interesting to discuss, and as long as they're neutral story-wise, I guess they could be part of the standard package (at this point, "part of" or "optional" is a detail anyway).
I don't think anyone will add any moustache, though.

Quote:
(from Cepheus)
I mean a carryover between heroes from Hammers of Fate's campaigns to those in Tribes of the East for example.

As I said in my previous post, this won't be included into the standard mod. If an addon package adds the feature and locks all campaigns together, then it obviously won't be compatible with the separate .exe option, as Cepheus explained.
So far, opinions expressed seem to indicate that both options would not be used together anyway.

Quote:
(from Cepheus)
since the mod is for TotE, I'm worried that Nival may not approve of distributing the graphical content (i.e. the two original main menus) freely.

Quick comment: the H5/HoF background cutscenes are already available for ToE as mods. (We need the links on HC by the way!)

Quote:
(from Tobagua)
I'm suspicious about the PM delivery system though, for it behaved wildly for me.

We'll switch to email anyway (if you don't mind). I'd really like to be able to have some feedback from you about the ideas you suggested. To me, just making the .exe files and not discussing it further with you makes no sense.

Quote:
(from Kronos)
The only things I have dome so far are editing the scripts to make them work with alt upgs.

Ok. We really need to discuss (again, I prefer email) or we'll end up doing some things in double. If you don't have time now (I guess you're caught up in ToK anyway), future developments can wait, no problem.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
tobagua
tobagua


Hired Hero
posted December 05, 2007 12:24 AM
Edited by tobagua at 00:26, 05 Dec 2007.

Then I don't see what limits you are running into save for the screen space issue (the fonts can be scaled down can't they?). As you put it, all the three campaigns can be played just as if they were part of the single player campaign menu, independently from each other and in a successive manner.

If your basic package contains .h5u files only, than the dedicated .exes can be packaged as an addon + some manual actions on the end user's side. But better make two separate complete downloads. You either want it modular or dedicated, it's a matter of taste and doesn't take long to decide which one to download, so little sense in making the dedicated version a submod - imagine an inexperienced end user creating additional folders and sorting a pile of files among them... can be a bit of trouble to some people.

The dedicated version will allow for a renamed campaign.sav file in addition to a separate save folder (if the latter is just not enough), I've just checked that.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Jump To: « Prev Thread . . . Next Thread » This thread is 21 pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 ... 10 ... 17 18 19 20 21 · «PREV / NEXT»
Post New Poll    Post New Topic    Post New Reply

Page compiled in 0.1138 seconds