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Heroes Community > Heroes 5 - Modders Workshop > Thread: HOMM 5.5 Ponder problem
Thread: HOMM 5.5 Ponder problem
MrBrown
MrBrown

Tavern Dweller
posted July 08, 2019 07:49 PM

HOMM 5.5 Ponder problem

Hello everybody! First I would like to thank dredknight for helping and directing me to the modding forums!
I recently downloaded the HOMM 5.5 mod because though I love the original games especially ToE, the AI is bit simple and the turns are waaay slow for single player. Also I love custom maps made by fans and I have just made a map with the ToE editor but the map is full of details and the AI is brutally slow (3 ai players and it takes like 4-5 minutes!).

To understand my problem I am going to write down the kinds of modifications that I've made for my vanilla game:

1. Modded .xdb files that are located in the GameMechanics/Creature/Creatures folder, in short I've changed the hp, price, damage, attack, defense, growth, and xp to my liking. Also I've edited the combat spells from the Spell folder (just mana cost and power nothing visual)

2. A few self-made graphical/cosmetic changes mady by modifying models and textures and edited a few .xdb files that are scattered around in the folders. I've made these because I wanted to change some creature textures and models to my liking.

3. Three fanmade texture mods that are located in UserMODs and these contain an .xdb file, texture and  animation files.

So I use these extras for my game but because of the features of the mod I wanted to try it. When I first started the game with the 64-bit (I use Win 10 btw) exe and started a new map. The problem is that I make a few turns and in the first two or three in-game weeks I get the message "X player PONDERS". I've tried to make more turns and made the map visible but after I get these messages the AI becomes unresponsive and doesn't do a thing. I have started also other maps in single player and also my self-made map but it is always the same.
After this I wanted to experiment so I deleted the unzipped and self modded folders and files so the data folder became like it was before my modding. After that I tried HOMM 5.5 mod again and this time it worked even for my map at least until I got bored after two ingame months.
After that I realized that this mod works but not the way I want so I started to experiment. First I just used only the graphical changes with the mod and first it worked ith some premade map from the mod but not with my map. After this I only kept a few .xdb files from the GameMechanics folder but also that didn't work.
I didn't want to start modify the mod's xdb files but maybe that was the problem and also I let some xdb files from CreatureVisual folder stay in the data folder.
I don't know for what could be the problem but for me it's more than strange that some self-made graphical and statistical modding could stop this mod from working.
I am asking for a step by step help because dredknight suggested from moddb to start a thread about this problem but I accept any kind of advice maybe it's a simple solution.
Thank you!

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frostymuaddib
frostymuaddib


Promising
Supreme Hero
育碧是白痴
posted July 08, 2019 08:04 PM

It's been a while since I tinkered with H5.5, but I think I had similar issue at one point, but it turned out that I used TotE version 3.0 to install H5.5. It was solved for me when I installed the 3.1 patch, and then installed H5.5. Perhaps you did the same? Nothing else comes to mind...

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MrBrown
MrBrown

Tavern Dweller
posted July 08, 2019 08:45 PM
Edited by MrBrown at 20:52, 08 Jul 2019.

frostymuaddib said:
It's been a while since I tinkered with H5.5, but I think I had similar issue at one point, but it turned out that I used TotE version 3.0 to install H5.5. It was solved for me when I installed the 3.1 patch, and then installed H5.5. Perhaps you did the same? Nothing else comes to mind...


No, the problem is a whole different thing I suppose because I have 3.1 patch already (I can also see in the main menu when I use the vanilla game) and when I start the game it does not say anything about missing files or errors. And the mod worked fine when I deleted my modified files but it still doesn't make sense. Maybe it's a "data clash" I mean there could be a problem with the xdb files but those are just a few statistic changes that shouldn't cause any problems. I have edited all of the original in-game units' stats but only just hp, damage etc.
I should add that I have also changed the <Visual href="/GameMechanics/CreatureVisual lines in 2 creature .xdb file because I made some "cosmetic" changes for them (I didn't like their appearance) and also had to tinker with other .xdb files from Character, Texture, _(Model) and some other folders. One of these changes cause the problem but I'm not sure how to eliminate it.

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dredknight
dredknight


Honorable
Supreme Hero
disrupting the moding industry
posted July 09, 2019 09:29 AM

Hello MrBrown,

I am glad you dropped a thread here so anyone can try help.
First go check the FAQ may be it can give you some tips.

Second, try adding just some of the mods and see if the AI still ponders.

For example - add the creature stat changes mods, make a game and just do End turn for 4-8 weeks straight without playing.

Repeat for all other type of mods separately until you face the issue.

I would also suggest to upload the mods and share them here so we can take a look.

Thanks!
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MrBrown
MrBrown

Tavern Dweller
posted July 09, 2019 04:09 PM
Edited by MrBrown at 16:23, 09 Jul 2019.

dredknight said:
Hello MrBrown,

I am glad you dropped a thread here so anyone can try help.
First go check the [url=https://www.moddb.com/mods/might-magic-heroes-55/tutorials/mmh55-faq-troubleshooting]FAQ[/url] may be it can give you some tips.

Second, try adding just some of the mods and see if the AI still ponders.

For example - add the creature stat changes mods, make a game and just do End turn for 4-8 weeks straight without playing.

Repeat for all other type of mods separately until you face the issue.

I would also suggest to upload the mods and share them here so we can take a look.

Thanks!


I have read the FAQ but had no other problems (at least I don't know yet) than the ponder problem.
The only mod I use is a fanmade texture change for griffins (GreifenTotE) and it contains 3 .h5u files but I even modified those texture files and also one of them contains an .xdb file from a GameMechanics folder. Thing is that these 3 files didn't cause any problems when I used just them and the HOMM 5.5 mod together because the game worked well.
I don't use any other mods I have just edited the .xdb files in the original GameMechanics folder as I said before.
Could that be a problem if there are "double" files from the unzipped GameMechanics folder and from the HOMM 5.5 Index folder? Maybe I should leave only the HOMM 5.5 files in the data folder and edit those files...


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magnomagus
magnomagus


Admirable
Legendary Hero
modding wizard
posted July 09, 2019 04:22 PM

this issue happens when the mod isn't installed properly, ai-process file is missing from the bin folder
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MrBrown
MrBrown

Tavern Dweller
posted July 09, 2019 07:53 PM

magnomagus said:
this issue happens when the mod isn't installed properly, ai-process file is missing from the bin folder


I have these files in the bin folder:
- H5_AIProcess_31j.exe
- ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.dll,
- MMH55.exe
- MMH55_64.exe
- MMH55_Editor.exe
- MMH55_Editor_64.exe
- MMH55_Mapmixer.exe
- MMH55_Utility.exe
- MMHH55_Utility_64.exe
- Reanimation Patcher.exe.  
That's is all as I know. It would be strange if I missed something because I have already made the game running perfectly when I deleted the unzipped and edited files from the data folder. Or should I copy them to another folder?

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dredknight
dredknight


Honorable
Supreme Hero
disrupting the moding industry
posted July 09, 2019 07:59 PM

These are not all files that are in BIN you should also have:
- dbghelp.dll
- fmod.dll
- granny2.dll
- ICsharpCode.Sharp.ZipLib.dll
- libcurl.dll
- MFC71.dll
- MFC71ENU.dll
- msvcp71.dll
- msvcp71.dll
- UbiStats.dll
- um.dll
- zlib1.dll
- zlibwapi.dll
- SI.bin
- UpgradeLauncher.ini

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MrBrown
MrBrown

Tavern Dweller
posted July 09, 2019 08:02 PM

dredknight said:
These are not all files that are in BIN you should also have:
- dbghelp.dll
- fmod.dll
- granny2.dll
- ICsharpCode.Sharp.ZipLib.dll
- libcurl.dll
- MFC71.dll
- MFC71ENU.dll
- msvcp71.dll
- msvcp71.dll
- UbiStats.dll
- um.dll
- zlib1.dll
- zlibwapi.dll
- SI.bin
- UpgradeLauncher.ini



Sorry I have them also in the BIN also but they are part of the original game as I know.

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magnomagus
magnomagus


Admirable
Legendary Hero
modding wizard
posted July 10, 2019 01:58 AM
Edited by magnomagus at 01:59, 10 Jul 2019.

perhaps AI ponders problem is something with your custom map,

if you mod any files that are also modded by mmh55 then I recommend first copying them from mmh55 paks and then modifying those.

h55 has a huge amount of workarounds to make things possible and its xdb entries can have very different purposes then they look on paper, so be careful and work step by step.


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MrBrown
MrBrown

Tavern Dweller
posted July 10, 2019 10:16 AM

magnomagus said:
perhaps AI ponders problem is something with your custom map,

if you mod any files that are also modded by mmh55 then I recommend first copying them from mmh55 paks and then modifying those.

h55 has a huge amount of workarounds to make things possible and its xdb entries can have very different purposes then they look on paper, so be careful and work step by step.




I have edited a few .xdb files ONLY (ONLY the statistics of the creatures like hp, damge, growth etc.) in the MMH55-Index.pak folder (and only in the GameMechanics) for a few trial runs but after the first in-game weeks I get the ponder message no matter what map I use. I have tried my map, premade maps, random maps made by the MMH55_Utility_64.exe.  It seems that this mod simply doesn't fuction as it should if I change a few stats in the Index.pak folder. The only way the mod works when I don't touch anything inside this folder. I didn't even care to try to change any data in other folders, not that I needed other changes.
So this is it, I'm leaving this mod because if I have to choose, then I choose my personal edited files.

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thGryphn
thGryphn


Promising
Famous Hero
posted July 10, 2019 01:03 PM

^ With so many people playing this mod for so long without any major issues, it is pretty much a statistical fact that virtually all issues that are not already acknowledged are user-induced. Nevertheless, there is a first to everything there is.

Yet again, I guarantee you that doing what you describe correctly would not have caused what you're experiencing. @magnomagus was referring to some other .xdb files that are critical.

So, either you're doing something else inadvertently (removing or writing over other files, etc.), or something else is causing the issue (which is very unlikely so it would be interesting).

Removing some lines/characters that you shouldn't in the files you edited may cause some issues but I'm not sure if that would cause what you're describing...


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MrBrown
MrBrown

Tavern Dweller
posted July 11, 2019 12:18 PM

thGryphn said:
^ With so many people playing this mod for so long without any major issues, it is pretty much a statistical fact that virtually all issues that are not already acknowledged are user-induced. Nevertheless, there is a first to everything there is.

Yet again, I guarantee you that doing what you describe correctly would not have caused what you're experiencing. @magnomagus was referring to some other .xdb files that are critical.

So, either you're doing something else inadvertently (removing or writing over other files, etc.), or something else is causing the issue (which is very unlikely so it would be interesting).

Removing some lines/characters that you shouldn't in the files you edited may cause some issues but I'm not sure if that would cause what you're describing...




When I was made some experimenting I have only used .xdb files from the MMH55-Index.pak and inside this folder (GameMechanics/Creature/Creatures/all units' .xdbs) I just edited only a few of the .xdb files just to see that will the mod fuction this way or not. And to be clear I did NOT edit anything else anywhere, I just wanted to see if the "basic modding" would work. The only thing I could add the steps I took:
1. Opened the MMH55-Index.pak with WinRAR and opened one of the .xdb files but only one at a time. I use Notepad btw.
2. Edited the attack, defense, hp, exp reward, growth and price and in 2 or 3 cases added extra abilities that doesn't need further tampering with other files.
3. Saved the .xdb files as I always did before. There is short message that pops up: "File "xyz" was modified. Do you wish to uprgrade it in the archive?" Of course I would, choose "Yes" and that't it.
If this is the "grave error" I commited...
So the matter is, the mod did NOT function even after these simple edits because if it would this thread would not exist at all.
I don't want to insult anyone or something but I have tried all the possibilities and I find it also very strange that it's not possible to further modify a mod. Also it's very strange that I use a few mod I mentioned before (they are placed in the UserMODs folder) and that doesn't seem to bother the mod. I tested that multiple times too.
I had no problems before with the original ToE game before (except the slow turns), not a thing at all, even if I edited the s*** out of it, so my conclusion that the mod doesn't like me at all.
I am tired of the mod and don't want to write down again step by step what I did because I have done it now more than three times. I am absolutely sure that followed every installation step (didn't encounter any problems under installation or missing files) and have tried everything. Period. I do thank you all for the help and I hope that I made something wrong but at the moment I think I did perfectly well everything. If someone notices that I overlooked something , please let me know. Hope I don't get banned for b****ing this much.

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thGryphn
thGryphn


Promising
Famous Hero
posted July 11, 2019 02:17 PM

Take it easy bro, nobody will ban you for writing down your experience

I said what you did would not break the mod because I have some experience with further modding it (and what I do goes way way further than what you did) and it never breaks the mod. But then again, doing it correctly is the key and that is why I emphasized it.

I hope you did't take offense... I had to question what you did because again, the mod normally would not break by modding the creature xdb files. Troubleshooting is what this is.

Here are two of the best practices for modding MMH5.5 further:

1) Never use Notepad. Use Notepad++, or some other code-aware text editor. It is likely the reason here, as Notepad probably saved the files in a format that the game engine can no longer parse.

2) Never overwrite the original MMH5.5 data files. Instead: i) Create the same folder tree separately, ii) copy the files you want to edit in the correct directory that you created, iii) do your edits and save your files, iv) go up to the root folder (in this case, it would be the folder containing the "GameMechanics" folder you created), v) zip the "GameMechanics" folder using 7-zip standard method (or right-click menu), vi) rename the zip extension to pak, vii) either leave it in the game's Data folder or move it to UserMods folder.


In this case, I would uninstall MMH5.5, reinstall again and use the pointers above to do your personal mod.

Cheers!


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MrBrown
MrBrown

Tavern Dweller
posted July 12, 2019 01:02 PM

thGryphn said:
Take it easy bro, nobody will ban you for writing down your experience

I said what you did would not break the mod because I have some experience with further modding it (and what I do goes way way further than what you did) and it never breaks the mod. But then again, doing it correctly is the key and that is why I emphasized it.

I hope you did't take offense... I had to question what you did because again, the mod normally would not break by modding the creature xdb files. Troubleshooting is what this is.

Here are two of the best practices for modding MMH5.5 further:

1) Never use Notepad. Use Notepad++, or some other code-aware text editor. It is likely the reason here, as Notepad probably saved the files in a format that the game engine can no longer parse.

2) Never overwrite the original MMH5.5 data files. Instead: i) Create the same folder tree separately, ii) copy the files you want to edit in the correct directory that you created, iii) do your edits and save your files, iv) go up to the root folder (in this case, it would be the folder containing the "GameMechanics" folder you created), v) zip the "GameMechanics" folder using 7-zip standard method (or right-click menu), vi) rename the zip extension to pak, vii) either leave it in the game's Data folder or move it to UserMods folder.


In this case, I would uninstall MMH5.5, reinstall again and use the pointers above to do your personal mod.

Cheers!




Thank you for helping me!
I didn't even think that using Notepad, or overwriting would disrupt a mod. Also this step by step tutorial you have given could be also be the key. I have just two questions:
1. If I understand correctly I can copy from the original HOMM 5.5 folders and modify the chosen .xdb files inside them and after that I can use WinRAR or 7-zip to make these folders into .pak files.
2. Is it ok and safe to further edit this personal "mod pack" at a later time?

I hope that both answers will be yes and after that I think I'm ready to go and try these changes!

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frostymuaddib
frostymuaddib


Promising
Supreme Hero
育碧是白痴
posted July 12, 2019 04:14 PM

MrBrown said:

1. If I understand correctly I can copy from the original HOMM 5.5 folders and modify the chosen .xdb files inside them and after that I can use WinRAR or 7-zip to make these folders into .pak files.


A tip for this: you can extract all the files and folders you want to modify directly into your data folder. Mod will work even without you packing it into pak file. Edit whatever you like, be sure that it works, and then you can create your own pak archive. It can save a little time (avoids packing/unpacking).

MrBrown said:

2. Is it ok and safe to further edit this personal "mod pack" at a later time?



Of course

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thGryphn
thGryphn


Promising
Famous Hero
posted July 12, 2019 04:27 PM

frostymuaddib said:

A tip for this: you can extract all the files and folders you want to modify directly into your data folder. Mod will work even without you packing it into pak file. Edit whatever you like, be sure that it works, and then you can create your own pak archive. It can save a little time (avoids packing/unpacking).



Good point that I failed to cover!

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MrBrown
MrBrown

Tavern Dweller
posted July 13, 2019 12:12 PM

thGryphn said:
frostymuaddib said:

A tip for this: you can extract all the files and folders you want to modify directly into your data folder. Mod will work even without you packing it into pak file. Edit whatever you like, be sure that it works, and then you can create your own pak archive. It can save a little time (avoids packing/unpacking).



Good point that I failed to cover!


I will test this solution in the next few days.
I have a different issue however. I have used NCF before and now I have installed it again, it worked fine then and now. My question is that how can I replace creatures in towns? For example: I use just 3 NCF creatures (dragons of course ) from the NCF pack and want to replace the 3 treants with these 3 dragons (yes unbalaced I know). What files should I modify and exactly how to do it? Should I modify the town builing (Treant Arches and Alcoves)? Simply put: I want to recruit 3 dragons instead of the 3 treants (maybe I even try to do this with the HOMM 5.5 mod). Thanks in advance!

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