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| Thread: My first mod: The Twilight Dragon |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
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Orfinn
Supreme Hero
Werewolf Duke
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posted January 09, 2008 09:42 PM |
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Edited by Orfinn at 18:18, 15 Jan 2008.
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My first mod: The Twilight Dragon
Ok after knowing a bit more of how to add and remove alredy homecooked mods, I have finally gathered strenght and courage to make my very own 
The Stats for my Twilight Dragon
Attack: 42
Defence: 42
Damage: 40 - 60
Initiative: 10
Speed: 9
Hit Points: 320
Cost: 15.000 gold & 3 gems
Ranged & Mana Point obselete and unimportant indeed.
Special Abilities: Large Creature, Flyer, Twilight (Prismatic) Breath, Aura Of Bravery, Battle Rage, Immune To Mind Control.
Background Info
The mighty Twilight Dragons were once respected cousins of the Shadow, Black and Red Dragons and allied with the Dark Elves. But wisdom makes former friends allies and vice versa. The Twilight Dragons were quite displeased after the increasing suffering of some of the underground creatures under the command of the Dark Elves.
Their cousins and their Dark Elf companions didnt care much of the creatures below their ranks and were comfortable enough (and egoistic) having them as lesser "pets" and slaves.
The Twilight Dragons symphaty for the other beasts and manbeasts, made their former high ranking friends disgusted, so disgusted and tired of the constant complaining and good hearted advices the Twilight Dragons threw around, like that "Our so called lesser allies underground makes a much better part of our armies if they were treated with more respect and care than with the cruel methods they are exposed to now, making them want to kill, want to be evil, just to please us higher beings!! Letting them starve and mistreat them this way is a disgrace and not a way of winning our position on Ashan!" That the Twilight Dragons were thrown out of the underground territories for such treason. The Twilight Dragons didnt mind that, since they finally got loose from the former bonds of their now past high ranking "friends and allies". Still they miss those creatures, even to this day, getting treated at worst possible methods, making them fierce instruments of war. They show their sympathy by taking themself into the skies, in the magic hours before sunrise and after sunseth. Waiting for an opportunity to avenge their "lesser" friends...
Twilight Dragons are the wisest of all dragons on Ashan and are a mighty creature for anyone unwise enough to offend it, even for other dragons
Back to the mod part 
Now this is the only shot that I give to make such a thread, Im rather very busy at work each day, and want to relax with some interesting stuff regarding H5 before bed
So when giving advices and help here, keep them as detailed as possible. Even the most obvious stuff can pass me by and make me screw up this  yeah Im a slow learner 
Anyway
I have a question or questions to be precise at first.
1: What does LOD stand for and do? Is it essential for stats and coloration?
2: Before I go further... after I saw the textrues folder after I opened the data.pak file. Is this one I should attend to and not the files for editing in the Characters -> Creatures -> Dungeon folder?
Or is it both?
3: No matter if the creatures are the unupg or the upg ones, they all can fit as neutrals?
Before I thought our these questions,.. Choosed to guess the steps by going into the Character folder, seemed logical to me, since there were ZERO sign of dragon xdb, dds files etc.. but correct me If Im wrong. I just wrote down the below steps out of what logical sense I have
Step by step. And yeah I guess this first steps have been answered an ulimited amount of times, still I just have to do this ^^
-I have opened the data.pak in winrar.
-It shows textures and characters, which seems indeed suitable for modding creatures apperances, colors, effects, animations and so on...
- Now I want to create a Twilight Dragon, neutral. So Im gonna use the Shadow Dragon model. I go Characters -> Creatures -> Dungeon ->
-Now theres alooot of weird spelling in there. The first two folders are AlternativeUpgrade and AlernativeUpgrade, I stay away from them, since Im gonna overhaul the downgrade shadow dragon to something more uber  and go downwards the huge list of the Dungeon creatures until I see these... which I guess are for the Shadow Dragon, but are here named with the hilarious funny "DangeonDragon"
Dungeon Creature List
Questions
1a: I want to edit the colors of the shadow dragon, heard I could use map editor to that, yeah right  Or could I just do it in M$ Picture It! Photo 7.0?
1b: How do I edit the colors at all,which of the files shown in the link are the ones related to the color details? And how, where do I open them? or even import them?
1c: Now the fire breath effects. Can I edit their color at all?
BTW
I opened the DangeonDragon_LOD-DungeonDragon.(Texture).xdb
And found something interesting details, editable?
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Texture ObjectRecordID="1008749">
<SrcName href="/texture/Creatures/Dungeon/DungeonDragon_LOD.tga"/>
<DestName href="DangeonDragon_LOD-DungeonDragon_LOD.(Texture).dds"/>
<Type>REGULAR</Type>
<ConversionType>CONVERT_ORDINARY</ConversionType>
<AddrType>CLAMP</AddrType>
<Format>TF_DXT3</Format>
<Width>256</Width>
<Height>256</Height>
<MappingSize>0</MappingSize>
<NMips>0</NMips>
<Gain>0</Gain>
<AverageColor>-853466334</AverageColor>
<InstantLoad>false</InstantLoad>
<IsDXT>true</IsDXT>
<FlipY>false</FlipY>
<StandardExport>true</StandardExport>
<UseS3TC>false</UseS3TC>
</Texture>
-Bolded: Are those numbers the color code? In this case for Shadow Dragon its a greyish type in the game..
2a: The stats now. Which of the files in the linked scrennie consider stats? Same questions as for 1b.
2b: Are there stats for the fire breath effect or does the FB effect go under attack value as for the two square speciality?
3a: Where do I create the descriptions for my dragon?
3b: How can I turn the Twilight Dragon (originally Shadow Dragon) from Dungeon aligned to completely neutral, non faction aligned?
3c: About how to get these dragons on my side, I guess the map editor take care of that. And also, the chance for them join me on the map affeced or not by the Diplomacy skill and how big chance any hero have to get it. I guess the creature framework helps me out there?
I want to make the dragon equal for any kind of hero, since the Twilight Dragon are neutral and dosent belong to any faction, if the hero is on evil, good side. aligned etc shouldnt count at all.
4a: When I have come so far that I have finished the dragon and such. Someone care to explain, step by step how to make my dragon buddy turn into an h5u file? For then to be placed in the UserMODs folder, rdy for enjoyment!
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mamgaeater
Legendary Hero
Shroud, Flying, Trample, Haste
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posted January 09, 2008 09:45 PM |
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Quote:
3b: How can I turn the Twilight Dragon (originally Shadow Dragon) from Dungeon aligned to completely neutral, non faction aligned?
i think you have to copy its ORIGINAL data files and replace the snow ape or black knight files with said files. then you add in the modifications to that creature in the black knight or snow ape slot.
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Protection From Everything.
dota
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Cepheus
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
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posted January 09, 2008 09:51 PM |
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Quote:
1: What does LOD stand for and do? Is it essential for stats and coloration?
Level of detail I think. It is non-essential. In fact it is just a lower-resolution texture used by creatures in the original game for the adventure map. Nowadays LOD textures are obsolete in the game, you need only use one.
Quote:
2: Before I go further... after I saw the textrues folder after I opened the data.pak file. Is this one I should attend to and not the files for editing in the Characters -> Creatures -> Dungeon folder?
Or is it both?
Both, they are all over the place
Quote:
3: No matter if the creatures are the unupg or the upg ones, they all can fit as neutrals?
Yes
Quote:
1a: I want to edit the colors of the shadow dragon, heard I could use map editor to that, yeah right Or could I just do it in M$ Picture It! Photo 7.0?
You can indeed, that is exactly what I use. Not with the Map Editor
Quote:
2a: The stats now. Which of the files in the linked scrennie consider stats? Same questions as for 1b.
Stat files are in GameMechanics / Creatures. Will get round to your other question later.
Quote:
3a: Where do I create the descriptions for my dragon?
Texts.pak
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3b: How can I turn the Twilight Dragon (originally Shadow Dragon) from Dungeon aligned to completely neutral, non faction aligned?
Specify that with the stats file in GameMechanics / Creatures / Dungeon.
I am sorry for glazing over the rest of your questions and providing such crappy answers. I haven't time to explain further but will get round to it later or tomorrow.
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Orfinn
Supreme Hero
Werewolf Duke
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posted January 09, 2008 09:52 PM |
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Edited by Orfinn at 22:31, 09 Jan 2008.
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Yeah I wouldnt doubt that works.
Thanks for the help until now fellas
EDIT: from the modding wiki: Next, convert the file to a .psd (or .bmp or whatever) with DDScv. It’s incredibly easy, so I’ll skip that.
Convert with DDScv? Whats that? I tried just typing Imp.jpg in the file properties. I just cant open it in M$ Picture it! A message says "Sorry Cant open this file!"
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Daystar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Back from the Dead
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posted January 09, 2008 10:58 PM |
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Orfinn
Supreme Hero
Werewolf Duke
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posted January 09, 2008 11:10 PM |
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Edited by Orfinn at 23:12, 09 Jan 2008.
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Thanks!
Btw, except all this about textures for a quick moment. I extracted the Deep Dragon game mechanics to a own folder, the dummie guide says I have to uncheck the Read Only... im not able to, well I am but it switches back on..
And what here, do I change to make Twilight completely neutral?
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Creature ObjectRecordID="1000034">
<AttackSkill>46</AttackSkill>
<DefenceSkill>46</DefenceSkill>
<Shots>0</Shots>
<MinDamage>57</MinDamage>
<MaxDamage>93</MaxDamage>
<Speed>9</Speed>
<Initiative>10</Initiative>
<Flying>true</Flying>
<Health>336</Health>
<KnownSpells/>
<SpellPoints>0</SpellPoints>
<SpellPoints1>0</SpellPoints1>
<SpellPoints2>0</SpellPoints2>
<Exp>360</Exp>
<Power>6500</Power>
<TimeToCommand>10</TimeToCommand>
<CreatureTier>7</CreatureTier>
<Upgrade>false</Upgrade>
<PairCreature>CREATURE_BLACK_DRAGON</PairCreature>
<CreatureTown>TOWN_DUNGEON</CreatureTown>
<MagicElement>
<First>ELEMENT_AIR</First>
<Second>ELEMENT_NONE</Second>
</MagicElement>
<WeeklyGrowth>1</WeeklyGrowth>
<Cost>
<Wood>0</Wood>
<Ore>0</Ore>
<Mercury>0</Mercury>
<Crystal>0</Crystal>
<Sulfur>0</Sulfur>
<Gem>3</Gem>
<Gold>6300</Gold>
</Cost>
<SubjectOfRandomGeneration>true</SubjectOfRandomGeneration>
<MonsterShared
href="/MapObjects/Dungeon/Deep_Dragon.(AdvMapMonsterShared).xdb#xpointer(/AdvMapMonsterShar
ed)"/>
<CombatSize>2</CombatSize>
<PatternAttack href="Deep_Dragon_Pattern.xdb#xpointer(/PatternAttack)"/>
<flybySequence/>
<Visual
href="/GameMechanics/CreatureVisual/Creatures/Dungeon/Deep_Dragon.xdb#xpointer(/CreatureVis
ual)"/>
<Range>0</Range>
<BaseCreature>CREATURE_UNKNOWN</BaseCreature>
<Upgrades>
<Item>CREATURE_BLACK_DRAGON</Item>
<Item>CREATURE_RED_DRAGON</Item>
</Upgrades>
<Abilities>
<Item>ABILITY_FIRE_BREATH</Item>
</Abilities>
</Creature>
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Cepheus
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
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posted January 09, 2008 11:23 PM |
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Just replace "TOWN_DUNGEON" with "TOWN_NO_TYPE"
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Orfinn
Supreme Hero
Werewolf Duke
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posted January 09, 2008 11:33 PM |
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I see
Here I replaced most Deep,/Dangeon Dragon with Twilight.
href="/MapObjects/Dungeon/Twilight_Dragon.(AdvMapMonsterShared).xdb#xpointer(/AdvMapMonster
Shared)"/>
<CombatSize>2</CombatSize>
<PatternAttack href="Twilight_Dragon_Pattern.xdb#xpointer(/PatternAttack)"/>
<flybySequence/>
<Visual
href="/GameMechanics/CreatureVisual/Creatures/Dungeon/Twilight_Dragon.xdb#xpointer(/Creatur
eVisual)"/>
<Range>0</Range>
<BaseCreature>CREATURE_UNKNOWN</BaseCreature>
<Upgrades>
<Item>CREATURE_BLACK_DRAGON</Item>
<Item>CREATURE_RED_DRAGON</Item>
</Upgrades>
<Abilities>
<Item>ABILITY_PRISMATIC_BREATH</Item>
</Abilities>
</Creature>
How do I have my textures, mechanics and such for my Twilight Dragon separated from the original dds etc files? Do I have to replace that snow monkey spot? If not how to use the possibility with the framework mod to add it to a own slot?
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Cepheus
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
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posted January 09, 2008 11:37 PM |
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Quote:
How do I have my textures, mechanics and such for my Twilight Dragon separated from the original dds etc files?
Simply rename them and add them in folders of your choosing. You'll then have to link them up in the .xdb file paths.
Quote:
Do I have to replace that snow monkey spot? If not how to use the possibility with the framework mod to add it to a own slot?
You will need to use the snow ape if you don't want to edit the .exe. As for how the framework mod works, to be honest: I don't know.
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Orfinn
Supreme Hero
Werewolf Duke
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posted January 10, 2008 12:00 AM |
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Aha...so i link up my TDragon xd files to where that snowmonkeys personal files lay?
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Cepheus
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
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posted January 10, 2008 12:04 AM |
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You don't even have to replace the Snow Ape's files. The only thing you need to do with it is to use its ID: CREATURE_SNOW_APE. It's unused, so it will allow you to add a "new" creature.
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VokialBG
Honorable
Legendary Hero
First in line
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posted January 10, 2008 12:07 AM |
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Edited by VokialBG at 00:12, 10 Jan 2008.
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Quote:
Convert with DDScv? Whats that?
DDScv is a program it convert the textures (they are originaly in ".DDS") to more popular file formats, just like .bmp (you can open bmp with every image editor for Windows. You can do the same by using this tool. (or Photoshop with Plug -in)
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Cepheus
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
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posted January 10, 2008 12:09 AM |
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I advise against DDSCv: it does not handle alpha channels properly, and thus can cause small texture problems. I'd say use The GIMP with a .dds plugin installed instead. It's completely free, and will handle transparency.
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Orfinn
Supreme Hero
Werewolf Duke
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posted January 10, 2008 12:14 AM |
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I have my dragon finished textured...painted. And are now in jpg format, now I have to turn it into an xdb file and then somehow place it in the Neutrals folder?
And do I have to rename all the original Dangeon (shadow dragon) files to Twilight etc and put them in that Neutral folder, H5A1?
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Cepheus
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
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posted January 10, 2008 12:18 AM |
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Edited by Cepheus at 00:20, 10 Jan 2008.
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Upload your .jpg somewhere like Mediafire and I'll convert it into a .dds for you. .dds is the texture format. .xdb is for data-based text files.
H5A1 is in fact the Hammers of Fate folder. You should rename all the original Dungeon files alright, but you can put them wherever you want.
Don't edit data.pak though - create a new .h5m with the Map Editor. You can then open it with WinRar and use it to create your mod without making any permanent changes to the game data.
Btw here are some links for the GIMP program:
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
http://nifelheim.dyndns.org/~cocidius/dds/
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"Those who forget their history are inevitably doomed to repeat it." —Proverb, Might and Magic VIII
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Orfinn
Supreme Hero
Werewolf Duke
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posted January 10, 2008 12:28 AM |
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Edited by Orfinn at 00:32, 10 Jan 2008.
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Yeah
And so...I dont need to add anything to the data.pak with anything to do with my dragon, just use the map editor instead?
here
Twilight Dragon textures
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Cepheus
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
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posted January 10, 2008 12:29 AM |
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You do that
And no, you needn't edit data.pak. Just add files to a .h5m.
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Orfinn
Supreme Hero
Werewolf Duke
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posted January 10, 2008 12:34 AM |
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Quote:
You do that
And no, you needn't edit data.pak. Just add files to a .h5m.
hmmgfrr! Ahahaha! Yeah alright... So now I get it, lol! Well I uploaded the one pic for now, Im off to bed, its been a loooong day. TRell me what yout hink about the dragon ^^,
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Cepheus
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
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posted January 10, 2008 12:48 AM |
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Don't have a heart attack man But hey, nice Dragon. I think you have a knack for this
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fiur
Promising
Supreme Hero
Map Creator
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posted January 10, 2008 05:08 AM |
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Quote:
Don't have a heart attack man But hey, nice Dragon. I think you have a knack for this
hello my norwegian fella (Orfinn) modding is'nt that easy I know...
but when you get into it... wow so fun
(you uploaded the picture 02.38, Cepheus had it done with pics an all
02:48!! )
if you like Orfinn take a look at my "Dragon Slayer" mod file
but first I think you better use winrar not winzip...(easier to use since winrar use full path as default....) here is winrar
and my creature Dragon Slayer
I also use the "snowApe" spot....
(in this mod I used the Cyclops as model) but when you look into the file structure I think you'll get it....
and If you got msn you may reach me there.... so we can use our native tongue
for me it's way more easy to explain then
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