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| Thread: Announcing: Heroes IV ULTIMATE |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 · «PREV / NEXT» |
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DataPack
Famous Hero
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posted May 13, 2021 03:50 PM |
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Will this mod feature any of the nice things from Heroes 3's HD mod?
Like the easier visibility and access to heroes and units on the right side aswell as quick managing units?
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NimoStar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Modding the Unmoddable
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posted May 13, 2021 04:37 PM |
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Edited by NimoStar at 20:50, 14 May 2021.
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Quote:
Will this mod feature any of the nice things from Heroes 3's HD mod?
Like the easier visibility and access to heroes and units on the right side aswell as quick managing units?
This year's HD wrapper for HOMMIV (included and configured in Ultimate) definitely improves this, by making your maximum vertical and horizontal resolution fit and/or scale to your screen (even using virtual resolution), thus letting you have extra space for management and buttons.
thGryphn said:
NimoStar, this announcement made me feel giddy. 
I hope you can find the will and energy to see it to completion. I would definitely play it.
Just one suggestion: Please mind the faction balances and evaluate Equilibris modifications when you're working on creature abilities, spells, etc.
I'm rooting for you! 
There is definitely a mind for balance here, such as:
- Vampires have been nerfed (now creatures can retaliate, also their eye beams are a Cold Attack)
- Under-picked units have been upgraded
- Many of equilibris cost modifications have been translated (mainly building prices)
- Others have been introduced, such as better adjusted artifact, potions, and vials costs considering their functionality.
- Magic schools are better rounded, which also makes Sorcery more useful.
- The power of potions scales with the hero, much like spells, so that many don't become "obsolete" nearly instantly.
I also value any balance comments (about the base game, for now, since the mod is unreleased) so I can better tweak everything, such as:
- Strongest faction
- Weakest faction
- Strongest magic
- Weakest magic
- Most picked creatures
- Least picked creatures
As I said, a lot of changes have been made to improve balance, such as making Level 1 creature more useful (except for Necro, which already has the best), but any feedback will be evaluated along that.
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Never changing = never improving
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Pol
Known Hero
.^.
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posted May 15, 2021 06:34 PM |
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@NimoStar
Good Luck! You certainly have my attention. 
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NimoStar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Modding the Unmoddable
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posted May 17, 2021 02:27 AM |
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Thanks everyone for the encouragement. The more people want it, the more likely I will release this! :=)
I want to take the opportunity to show some of the buildings I have been working on and the comparison with the model they "replace" (don't worry, they are only used if the mapmaker places them - default buildings aren't being changed themselves and if they would, it would be for more similar models - rather, this is for custom scenarios)
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Never changing = never improving
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kkfkkkfk
Adventuring Hero
Nothing is impossible
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posted May 17, 2021 05:03 PM |
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It doesn't look like the Empire 2 building is very suitable here.
The main problem is the size of the building.
Too high and too large a building will affect the sight.
It would be better to reduce the size properly.
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Gandalf196
Disgraceful
Supreme Hero
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posted May 17, 2021 05:23 PM |
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I haven't played Heroes IV in a long time.
I'm interested.
When are you releasing this? Is there a changelog?
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Assryn
Adventuring Hero
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posted May 17, 2021 10:05 PM |
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Edited by Assryn at 23:04, 17 May 2021.
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Very enthusiastic
Hi Nimostar !
I just wanted to say I'm super impressed by all these new objects you managed to create ! It's trully amazing  ! I'm very excited to see your mod come to life, I would even say it makes me want to create new campaigns for Heroes IV !! Thank you so very much for inspiring me once again !!!
I can't wait to see what comes next !! In case you are interested, I have found a few images from the NWC heroes V project that died as they did, maybe they can be of use to you to create more new objects  !
Regardless, thank you so much for your amazing work, I'm very impressed and will keep a close watch on it !
Edit: sprites from the game S.A.G.A Rage of the vikings could be useful too maybe ?
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NimoStar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Modding the Unmoddable
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posted May 18, 2021 04:40 AM |
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Edited by NimoStar at 04:55, 18 May 2021.
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kkfkkkfk said:
It doesn't look like the Empire 2 building is very suitable here.
The main problem is the size of the building.
Too high and too large a building will affect the sight.
It would be better to reduce the size properly.
It's already reduced to less than 50% the original area. And if you look, Heroes 4 buildings are larger in proportion, and, many times, in absolute size as well.
In fact, I can't downsize them much more, or their "human scale" will look much too small compared to mounted heroes sprites (around which H4 is mostly scaled). I tell this because I struggled myself. Here you can see two sizes (even big one is very reduced compared to AOEII mod one)
(I have still included the large one in case people want to use it)
Another thing to take into account is that this is played on 1920x1080 or more. Original H4 was only to be played on 1280x1024 at max, so now you have more screen area for objects to cover. In that I feel justified in making objects a bit larger like 4K games and Heroes 3 HD graphic remake increased graphic size in pixel resolution. (they are really not so much)
Quote:
I haven't played Heroes IV in a long time.
I'm interested.
When are you releasing this? Is there a changelog?
Releasing soon, maybe next month. It says on first post "coming mid 2021". Don't want to put out changelog yet because all changes aren't final until release.
Quote:
I just wanted to say I'm super impressed by all these new objects you managed to create ! It's trully amazing ! I'm very excited to see your mod come to life, I would even say it makes me want to create new campaigns for Heroes IV !! Thank you so very much for inspiring me once again !!!
I can't wait to see what comes next !! In case you are interested, I have found a few images from the NWC heroes V project that died as they did, maybe they can be of use to you to create more new objects !
Regardless, thank you so much for your amazing work, I'm very impressed and will keep a close watch on it !
Edit: sprites from the game S.A.G.A Rage of the vikings could be useful too maybe ?
Glad you like them.
If you can post links to those sprites and images, I will surely take a look.
Part of my inspiration for the new images is certainly the NWC Heroes 5 that was also supossed to be an Isometric game but with better textured and color corrected model renders.
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Never changing = never improving
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Assryn
Adventuring Hero
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posted May 18, 2021 03:21 PM |
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Edited by Assryn at 16:45, 18 May 2021.
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Quote:
Quote:
I just wanted to say [...]
Glad you like them.
If you can post links to those sprites and images, I will surely take a look.
Part of my inspiration for the new images is certainly the NWC Heroes 5 that was also supossed to be an Isometric game but with better textured and color corrected model renders.
Of course, here you go ;
https://imgur.com/a/AX4rbFz
I added notes, in case you may want more (were I to find any more)
It shows ! I particularly like the little temple with the cyprus trees, and also wish we had more from the NWC H5 we could re-use, especially the creatures we already have images for, but I personnally don't have the skills to make use of those.
All the more reason for me to share what I have that may be useful to you !
I'd be happy to help clean up some of these if you'd like.
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NimoStar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Modding the Unmoddable
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posted May 18, 2021 07:14 PM |
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Edited by NimoStar at 19:17, 18 May 2021.
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Assryn said:
Quote:
Quote:
I just wanted to say [...]
Glad you like them.
If you can post links to those sprites and images, I will surely take a look.
Part of my inspiration for the new images is certainly the NWC Heroes 5 that was also supossed to be an Isometric game but with better textured and color corrected model renders.
Of course, here you go ;
https://imgur.com/a/AX4rbFz
I added notes, in case you may want more (were I to find any more)
It shows ! I particularly like the little temple with the cyprus trees, and also wish we had more from the NWC H5 we could re-use, especially the creatures we already have images for, but I personnally don't have the skills to make use of those.
All the more reason for me to share what I have that may be useful to you !
I'd be happy to help clean up some of these if you'd like.
Hmmm, thank you very much. Some of those are definitely usable.
However, the jpeg extension is a bit of a hurdle in ways of converting it (JPG has compression artifacts, see here: https://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/compression-artifact
. You sure there is not an original page where they appear in PNG format? I think Imgur compresses to jpg.
In the case there is only jpg format it's possible to work with that, however it's much more difficult to cut out the background and there will be imperfections, so I'd rather take all resources to find the PNG originals first.
By the way, I like the style of those H5 objects, like the industrial rugged appearance of the Sawmill. Much more like I imagine H4 should have looked like. A shame we never got that game.
PS: I have found some PNGs in fandom wikia, here, so definitely they exist (even if watermarked...)
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/mightandmagic/images/a/a2/HVNWCNecropolisFinal.png/revision/latest?cb=20090827152105&path-prefix=en
https://mightandmagic.fandom.com/wiki/Heroes_of_Might_and_Magic_V_(New_World_Computing)?file=HVNWCNecropolisFinal.png
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Never changing = never improving
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Assryn
Adventuring Hero
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posted May 19, 2021 03:39 PM |
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Edited by Assryn at 16:51, 19 May 2021.
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NimoStar said:
You sure there is not an original page where they appear in PNG format? I think Imgur compresses to jpg.
[...]
PS: I have found some PNGs in fandom wikia, here, so definitely they exist (even if watermarked...)
Oh absolutely ! I'm not sure which page I found them on, I think it was on the artbooks of the various artists,(Nevermind ! It must have been the wiki, save for the one with tents, that one was from Keith Talanay's page!) But I have them saved on my computer, and as .PNG (without conversion), so those could be much better for you, if you'd like I can make a zip file with the png images in it for you ?
Edit : There's only the Heroes IV outpost that I don't have as PNG I think !
I agree, the more industrialized style looks really nice in my opinion. The entire thing would have been amazing I think (I even colored and fixed a few perspective issues with the Sorceress town art that was out I was so into what could have been lol !)
As for the elven tree-buildings from SAGA, I can absolutely take screenshots of those and save them as PNG if you want to make use of them too (would you like me to show you all the structure sprites from that game ?)
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iliveinabox05
Honorable
Famous Hero
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posted May 19, 2021 05:15 PM |
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Assryn said:
Oh absolutely ! I'm not sure which page I found them on, I think it was on the artbooks of the various artists,(Nevermind ! It must have been the wiki, save for the one with tents, that one was from Keith Talanay's page!) But I have them saved on my computer, and as .PNG (without conversion), so those could be much better for you, if you'd like I can make a zip file with the png images in it for you ?
Edit : There's only the Heroes IV outpost that I don't have as PNG I think !
I agree, the more industrialized style looks really nice in my opinion. The entire thing would have been amazing I think (I even colored and fixed a few perspective issues with the Sorceress town art that was out I was so into what could have been lol !)
As for the elven tree-buildings from SAGA, I can absolutely take screenshots of those and save them as PNG if you want to make use of them too (would you like me to show you all the structure sprites from that game ?)
You might even make them available for everyone to take a look at. There are definitely others who would like to put some new graphics into H4
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NimoStar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Modding the Unmoddable
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posted May 19, 2021 07:23 PM |
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Assryn said:
Oh absolutely ! I'm not sure which page I found them on, I think it was on the artbooks of the various artists,(Nevermind ! It must have been the wiki, save for the one with tents, that one was from Keith Talanay's page!) But I have them saved on my computer, and as .PNG (without conversion), so those could be much better for you, if you'd like I can make a zip file with the png images in it for you ?
Edit : There's only the Heroes IV outpost that I don't have as PNG I think !
I agree, the more industrialized style looks really nice in my opinion. The entire thing would have been amazing I think (I even colored and fixed a few perspective issues with the Sorceress town art that was out I was so into what could have been lol !)
As for the elven tree-buildings from SAGA, I can absolutely take screenshots of those and save them as PNG if you want to make use of them too (would you like me to show you all the structure sprites from that game ?)
Keith Talanay page is offline, probably permanently http://www.kjtalanay.com/home.htm, so if you can upload all PNGs to some file server (like putting them on fileshare or what have you), inside a zip file, and post it here, that would be very nice, as it's impossible to download those any more. And sure, if you want to, include the SAGA ones too.
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Never changing = never improving
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Assryn
Adventuring Hero
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posted May 19, 2021 09:29 PM |
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Edited by Assryn at 22:24, 19 May 2021.
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Alright then, here you go, i made it a google drive link, so hopefully it doesn't break ever.
Nwc's Heroes V + Cryo's S.A.G.A pngs
I'll keep an eye out in case I find anything more.
Will there be new dwellings in the upcoming mod Nimo ? For the sea monsters, mermaids, etc... ?
Edit : Good news, I found KJ Talanay's new portfolio ! (I think it's new ?) Anyways, here's the link for anyone interested (and the image with the various H5 props is there too !)
kjtalanay.carbonmade.com
Edit 2: Ah, Baronus beat me to it !
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Baronus
Legendary Hero
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posted May 19, 2021 10:09 PM |
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New site is here!
kjtalanay
And you have more objects! Few years ago I thought to add it to HIV. So you can do it now! Will be good to have alternative mills mines and other.
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NimoStar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Modding the Unmoddable
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posted May 20, 2021 02:49 AM |
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Well, I'm not sure they will add be added for the first release, since converting is very hard for me (you only see the final result, not that every building requires like 1-2 hours) and the tools aren't quite there yet. For example need variable animation to be able to add smoke to the mill, and for now I can only reuse existing animation sizes and offsets or the object becomes unloadable and game crashes. But I'm saving everything for when this is possible. I would like NWC Heroes V objects to be properly animated.
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Never changing = never improving
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Assryn
Adventuring Hero
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posted May 20, 2021 06:12 PM |
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NimoStar said:
Well, I'm not sure they will add be added for the first release, since converting is very hard for me (you only see the final result, not that every building requires like 1-2 hours) and the tools aren't quite there yet. For example need variable animation to be able to add smoke to the mill, and for now I can only reuse existing animation sizes and offsets or the object becomes unloadable and game crashes. But I'm saving everything for when this is possible. I would like NWC Heroes V objects to be properly animated.
I had no idea the process was so lengthy  ! I wish I could help you out, but I really know little to nothing about modding (in general lol), let alone modding in Heroes IV 
I'll keep an eye on your progress though, maybe I can learn a little from it !
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NimoStar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Modding the Unmoddable
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posted May 22, 2021 09:37 PM |
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Edited by NimoStar at 01:23, 23 May 2021.
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Assryn said:
I had no idea the process was so lengthy ! I wish I could help you out, but I really know little to nothing about modding (in general lol), let alone modding in Heroes IV
I'll keep an eye on your progress though, maybe I can learn a little from it !
I can streamline it by doing stuff serially to like half an hour per object, but think this:;
- Extract/get object from source
- Convert filetype to PNG/GIF/BMP
- Scale to fit the game
- Resize image to be exact size of base H4 replacement
- Import to ORA
- Adjust sharpness and color
- Add shadows (manually in 2d, mind you!)
- Import and save to h4d
- Put in game
- Add to map editor
- Pray it doesn't crash (up to more than 10 times different crash in some objects :'( )
-- If crash, repeat...
But anyways, for this first release my objective is to have a more or less finished lineup of desert objects. Maybe even a custom map that uses them. Then in further releases there will be East Asian objects, Nordic Objects, and so forth...
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Never changing = never improving
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fred79
Disgraceful
Undefeatable Hero
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posted May 23, 2021 03:57 AM |
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looks really good. i dig that sand texture, too.
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Assryn
Adventuring Hero
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posted May 24, 2021 09:46 PM |
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Edited by Assryn at 21:50, 24 May 2021.
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NimoStar said:
I can streamline it by doing stuff serially to like half an hour per object, but think this:;
- Extract/get object from source
- Convert filetype to PNG/GIF/BMP
- Scale to fit the game
- Resize image to be exact size of base H4 replacement
- Import to ORA
- Adjust sharpness and color
- Add shadows (manually in 2d, mind you!)
- Import and save to h4d
- Put in game
- Add to map editor
- Pray it doesn't crash (up to more than 10 times different crash in some objects :'( )
-- If crash, repeat...
But anyways, for this first release my objective is to have a more or less finished lineup of desert objects. Maybe even a custom map that uses them. Then in further releases there will be East Asian objects, Nordic Objects, and so forth...
I see, yeah it seems very long and repetitive indeed, plus I suppose you have to do that with every frame of an animated structure, right ? So that's at least 30 minutes/ frame of animation ?
You've got my respect for doing all this work !
That eastern set of buildings looks incredible, I really like it a lot, what types of buildings are included ? I can see power ups, stables, garrisons ...
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