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Heroes Community > Heroes 3.5 - WoG and Beyond > Thread: [Official Thread] HoMM 3: Horn of the Abyss - Announcements, Questions, Features
Thread: [Official Thread] HoMM 3: Horn of the Abyss - Announcements, Questions, Features This Super Thread is 548 pages long: 1 70 ... 92 93 94 95 96 ... 140 210 280 350 420 490 548 · «PREV / NEXT»
Maurice
Maurice

Hero of Order
Part of the furniture
posted November 25, 2014 02:53 PM

nik312 said:
As I said, HotA will not read the changed text files. It was done for other reasons, but making HotA's gameplay harder to change is also a positive effect for us. So, sorry, it is not arrogance or something, but HotA was made to be played as we made it and changing any part separately from the rest is not really appreciated. Anyway, we are glad that you like the mod as it is already


Does this also apply to save games? In the "original" game, I was able to unzip the savegames, do some HEX editing (mostly skills when somewhere deeper into the game I got a choice between crappy skills) and zip them back up. The game would recognize and load these edited savegames without problems. I've had no such success with HotA, however, as the edited savegames are simply not listed in the loading screen.

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nik312
nik312


Promising
Famous Hero
posted November 25, 2014 05:40 PM
Edited by nik312 at 17:42, 25 Nov 2014.

Maurice said:
nik312 said:
As I said, HotA will not read the changed text files. It was done for other reasons, but making HotA's gameplay harder to change is also a positive effect for us. So, sorry, it is not arrogance or something, but HotA was made to be played as we made it and changing any part separately from the rest is not really appreciated. Anyway, we are glad that you like the mod as it is already


Does this also apply to save games? In the "original" game, I was able to unzip the savegames, do some HEX editing (mostly skills when somewhere deeper into the game I got a choice between crappy skills) and zip them back up. The game would recognize and load these edited savegames without problems. I've had no such success with HotA, however, as the edited savegames are simply not listed in the loading screen.


There is no special protection for saves. However the format of the file is different from the original, so you either have to re-reverse it, or probably, if it is not confidential, Sav will give some details about new format.

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qtran
qtran

Tavern Dweller
posted November 25, 2014 06:59 PM

Hey guys, does anyone know if there's a way to change hota font back to the original homm font?

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Maurice
Maurice

Hero of Order
Part of the furniture
posted November 25, 2014 11:17 PM

nik312 said:
There is no special protection for saves. However the format of the file is different from the original, so you either have to re-reverse it, or probably, if it is not confidential, Sav will give some details about new format.


Ok, I am not sure if I understand you correctly. In the original game, you can use (for instance) WinRAR to unpack the <savegame>.CGM files. You can use WinRAR to zip them up again, using default settings in .zip format. You only need to rename the result to end in a .CGM extension and the game will be able to read those just fine.

When I try to do that with savegames made in HotA, the zipped files aren't recognized. In the list of savegames to load, they don't even show up (even if starting up HotA after placing the files in the proper spot). So I guess it might be a setting while zipping them, or does the game enforce some kind of CRC check on the savegame?

Would be nice if Sav could shed some light on that.

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P4R4D0X0N
P4R4D0X0N


Famous Hero
posted November 25, 2014 11:47 PM

Any chance for a bride only useable on foot and blocked for ships?

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Asjo
Asjo

Tavern Dweller
posted November 25, 2014 11:54 PM
Edited by Asjo at 23:59, 25 Nov 2014.

Wow ... I just want to say thank you so much to the people who made this. Really rekindles my interest in the game. Having a new town is awesome. Bigger maps really helps a lot for the longer term playability.

It's been many years since I played HOMM3, and I felt like playing it again. Then I stumbled upon this, and found myself amazed to see the game still being "updated" in 2014. I guess I'm not the only one who recognized that HOMM3 is by far the best game of the series. It lacks a few interesting features for HOMM4 (a few of which I believe have been added in HotA), but none of the other games really have the diversity and atmosphere that this game has. Even more importantly, HOMM3 is the last of game of this series to have a proper AI. The one is has is really exciting to play against. The HOMM games after HOMM4 have really just gotten progressively worse.

What eventually killed HOMM3 for me was the excessive advantage good heroes provided, meaning that longer games were often not viable. Many battles would just seem pointless, with gargoyles sometimes seeming to be stronger than dragons. But this add-on has provided me with the incentive to make a giant-sized maps which has no hero power-ups at all (also disabling the power-ups that some towns provide and removing any power-up artifacts). This way, I hope to keep the "hero imbalance" to a minimum.

By the sound of it, there might even be HotA updates in the future. What I would suggest is this:

- Make it so that the attack, defense, power and knowledge attributes only have half or a fourth of the effect that they have currently

- Add new neutral creatures. This really adds some interesting diversity to the game, and I find that it can add significantly to gameplay as well. For instance, I'm crazy about the big dragons (azure, rust, etc.), but if they are the only interesting neutral creatures to be had, it ends up being a bit too predictable. With other neutrals in place, to be recruited from dwellings, it can make for more interesting army compositions.
____________

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Ericoz
Ericoz


Adventuring Hero
posted November 27, 2014 08:49 PM

Shouldn't protection from elements also protect units from debuffs? I mean, I casted expert protection from fire on my units then my opp proceeds to blind everyone with no penalty at all. Geez. Shouldn't it at least also give a dwarven-resistance to units? Or reduce the duration? Or only allow a maximum duration of x turns?

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nik312
nik312


Promising
Famous Hero
posted November 28, 2014 10:14 AM

qtran said:
Hey guys, does anyone know if there's a way to change hota font back to the original homm font?


Sent you a PM

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nik312
nik312


Promising
Famous Hero
posted November 28, 2014 11:09 AM
Edited by nik312 at 11:39, 28 Nov 2014.

Ericoz said:
Shouldn't protection from elements also protect units from debuffs? I mean, I casted expert protection from fire on my units then my opp proceeds to blind everyone with no penalty at all. Geez. Shouldn't it at least also give a dwarven-resistance to units? Or reduce the duration? Or only allow a maximum duration of x turns?



No, it shouldn't. Heroes 3 mechanics has 3 types of resistance: damage reduction, spell immunity and spell resistance. Protections give the defence of first type. It may be changed, may be not - was one of points to think about for future spell balance. Probably won't

Quote:
Any chance for a bride only useable on foot and blocked for ships?


There is always a hope

Quote:
Ok, I am not sure if I understand you correctly. In the original game, you can use (for instance) WinRAR to unpack the <savegame>.CGM files.


Oh... I was rather talking about direct research of the format, using some hex-editor. Don't know what was the trick with WinRar there, but it seems that the new format won't support it

Quote:
What eventually killed HOMM3 for me was the excessive advantage good heroes provided, meaning that longer games were often not viable .... This way, I hope to keep the "hero imbalance" to a minimum.


Not really the case with Heroes 3. If you dive into effective gameplay, you will find new unexpected depths to that game and many of your previous problems may shatter to nothing. One side of it - your games will become like 10-20 hours of gaming experience each and you will discover more and more wonderful stuff you never thought of before. Other side is rather unfortunate, but you probably won't be able to enjoy playing with AI anymore. It's just too helpless against such play. AI will turn from your real foe into some kind of complex decoration, existing only to slow your stampede through the map a bit.

Deciding not to dive so deep is also a viable choice. That choice saves A LOT of real time and lowers the chances of Heroine-3 addiction (heh), but it totally cuts off the possibility to adequately understand/discuss the game balances/imbalances.


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Maurice
Maurice

Hero of Order
Part of the furniture
posted November 28, 2014 06:51 PM
Edited by Maurice at 18:52, 28 Nov 2014.

nik312 said:
Oh... I was rather talking about direct research of the format, using some hex-editor. Don't know what was the trick with WinRar there, but it seems that the new format won't support it


Well, that's what I was asking about . The point is, .CGM files are nothing more than zipped up files containing the savegame data in hexadecimal format. A while ago I mapped out the Hero structure for the most part (skills, spells known, artifacts, primary stats, troops, etc ...) of those unzipped .CGM files.

After making changes, I could zip the file again with WinRAR. After renaming them to .CGM, the game would then recognize the edited version just fine and even be able to load them.

So I am wondering what has changed that when I try to recreate the same with a HotA savegame, the game no longer recognizes the resulting file as a valid savegame. It doesn't even show it in the loading menu.

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vylk
vylk


Adventuring Hero
posted November 28, 2014 10:17 PM

Quite freqently I go through all the russian forums concerning HoTA in search of bits and pieces of info. Long story short - I love the game... the direction is great. And I play it quite a lot...quite. So much in fact that I'm biting my nails for the next release as I've played all maps 100 times. While I don't see it comming before NY's eve, I have an itch I have to scratch by asking:

1) Every now and then I visit Cities for Heroes site and, correct me if im wrong - i think new conceptual art appeared recently...agar drawings - so the question is - is this art there actual or up to date or? This mechanic hydra looks pretyt cool.

2) Is don_ko back? , as I said, an itch i have to scratch. Don't blame me for asking...it's just the next big thing Im anticipating as hell. ...thank you for this wonderful experiance that is HoTA.

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P4R4D0X0N
P4R4D0X0N


Famous Hero
posted November 28, 2014 10:35 PM

What metal hydra? ^^ I think atm it's quite difficult, large things like a new town takes some time, and the ressources are missing atm afaik or the information is up to date.

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krs
krs


Famous Hero
posted November 30, 2014 07:41 PM

Can anyone explain this change?


Changed the list of possible factions to set the fraction of dwellings, Pandora's boxes and Seer’s huts for the zone without the city, depending on the type of area.

   How it was.
   Every mention of fractions has 25 % chance have the territory in the area to be its type.
       Dirt: Castle, Rampart, Necropolis, neutrals
       Sand: Stronhold, neutrals, Castle, Castle.
       Grass: Castle, Rampart, neutral, Castle.
       Snow: Tower, neutral, Castle, Castle.
       Swamp: Fortress, Necropolis, neutrals, Castle.
       Rough: Stronghold, Conflux, neutral, Castle.
       Subterrain: Inferno, Necropolis, Dungeon, neutral.
       Lava: Inferno, neutral, Castle, Castle.

   How it is now.
   25% chance that neutrals will be picked for any terrain, otherwise fraction is randomly selected from the list corresponding to the type area with equal chances.
       Dirt: Castle, Rampart, Necropolis.
       Sand: Stronghold, Cove.
       Grass: Castle, Rampart, Conflux.
       Snow: Tower.
       Swamp: Fortress, Necropolis, Cove.
       Rough: Stronghold, Conflux.
       Dungeon: Inferno, Necropolis, Dungeon.
       Lava: Inferno.

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Warmonger
Warmonger


Promising
Legendary Hero
fallen artist
posted November 30, 2014 07:51 PM
Edited by Warmonger at 19:53, 30 Nov 2014.

It was:

if (no town in zone)
Choose random faction from the list, depending on terrain

Now it is:

if (no town in zone)
if (random(100) <= 25)
 faction is neutral
else
 Choose random faction from the list, depending on terrain

Faction is used to choose creature types for dwellings, Pandora Boxes and Seer Huts which reward them.
____________
The future of Heroes 3 is here!

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P4R4D0X0N
P4R4D0X0N


Famous Hero
posted November 30, 2014 10:51 PM

Btw. I would like on "G"iant maps much less seer huts (also no problem if they are banned completely from RMG). They only leech the artifacts out of the game. The result is: nearly every treasure artifact is the same, about 1-4 are able to spawn, rest reserved for seer huts. Also possible as solution: multiple spawn even for questartifacts possible.

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hippox89
hippox89


Famous Hero
posted December 01, 2014 12:36 AM
Edited by hippox89 at 02:23, 01 Dec 2014.

P4R4D0X0N said:
Btw. I would like on "G"iant maps much less seer huts (also no problem if they are banned completely from RMG). They only leech the artifacts out of the game. The result is: nearly every treasure artifact is the same, about 1-4 are able to spawn, rest reserved for seer huts. Also possible as solution: multiple spawn even for questartifacts possible.


I'm quite sure that Seer's Huts at least wont be removed altogether from random generation (above XL), because they can - circumstantially - be useful. Also, simply stripping out the whole quests system doesn't seem very productive to me. Anyhow, trying to understand the issue on maps above XL then - from what I could gather quickly - each Seer's Hut will have a random, reserved treasure artefact generated for it before the other 'random treasure artefacts' is even determined.

Now, there seems to be a total of '41' treasure artefact in HotA atm, so let's say that there is generated a total of '20' Seer's Huts on a G-size map and also a large number of random treasure artefacts (let's say '80' which is not impossible at all). These 80 t-artefacts will be generated out of a pool of '41' minus any reserved treasure artefact. So, 41 - 20 = '21'. This basically means that some of these t-artefacts will definitely be generate more than once. In this case, it would be an avg. of about 4 times for each non-reserved t-artefact.

Now, I'm not drawing any definitive conclusions myself based on this particular calculation/knowledge. I'm simply trying to put some perspectives on the mentioned situation, however, I can see how it might be an issue. Example, you'll probably have a much harder time finding a specific, reserved t-artefacts on a G-sized map (of course there's always Black Markets and Artefact Merchants which might help in the endeavour).

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P4R4D0X0N
P4R4D0X0N


Famous Hero
posted December 01, 2014 01:21 AM

Any solution is well in my opinion, it's quite anoying on XL+ maps right now. It's also okay, if Quest Items look nearly the same but got their own ID for huts. Lets say "Centaur's Axe" got a yellowish glimmer to mark it as quest artifact, other "Centaur's Axe's" are able to spawn, but with its original appearance and without the option to give it to the seer. Problem in this solution -> every treasure artifact has to be duplicated (not to mention the higher ons for user made seers). Dunno if the maximal ammount of artifacts is hardcoded so it would be too much. Other possibility -> Seer hut use quests to bring creatures depending on town and ground the hut is placed on or the option to bring creatures from nearby and guarded creature generators.
Also possible -> special seer hut quest-tokens or something, like a new current for seers. see below...

suggestion: Seer hut tokens
spawn very rarely from ressources, more often from treasure artifacts, higher rate for treasure artifact spawns to keep the balance. Every seer hut got a different ammount of token that is needed to complete the quest:
seer hut (1 token): 2000EXP/40 lvl 1 creatures/5 lvl1 spells
seer hut (2 token): 5000EXP/25 lvl 2 creatures/4 lvl2 spells
....
seer hut (8 token): 100000EXP/a few rust,azure,crystal dragons/4 lvl5 spells
(unbalanced example to describe the system)

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Warmonger
Warmonger


Promising
Legendary Hero
fallen artist
posted December 01, 2014 08:28 AM

Another solution would be to add 'quest' artifacts which have no special properties, but are only used for Seer Huts and banned from the random pool. They don't need much creativity or coding I guess.
____________
The future of Heroes 3 is here!

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Maurice
Maurice

Hero of Order
Part of the furniture
posted December 01, 2014 09:44 AM

How about just not reserving those artifacts for the Seer quests?

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hippox89
hippox89


Famous Hero
posted December 01, 2014 11:42 AM

Warmonger said:
Another solution would be to add 'quest' artifacts which have no special properties, but are only used for Seer Huts and banned from the random pool. They don't need much creativity or coding I guess.


So, trying to be critical about this solution (I'm not trying to shoot it down), you'd still need to create those 20+ (at least) special artefacts needed for a G-sized map. I'm not sure, but maybe this wouldn't exactly be a walk in the park. Also, because those artefacts would have no other properties, they'd be useless for anything else, unlike some of current treasure artefacts which can be useful by themselves, however, you might counter-argue that you're generally more likely to find those useful treasure artefacts in such a case. Whether or not this solution could pass the classicality review, I'm not really sure.

Maurice said:
How about just not reserving those artifacts for the Seer quests?


Again, being critical, this would obviously make it much easier to obtain the required artefact to complete a given quest. Like, it'd even be possible to start with such a treasure artefact needed for a Seer's Hut that could - coincidently - be close by.

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