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Orzie
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted January 14, 2015 07:55 AM |
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Edited by Orzie at 08:03, 14 Jan 2015.
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Salamandre said:
I am playing Era with last HD version and have no problems. Have you specified the problem to Bara?
I am unable to help with such troubleshooting, we didn't do anything yet to provide more or less compatibility with the HD Mod. If you play fine, then it's not Era or HD Mod problem, but ours.
The next version (planned to be released in 2015) might presumably feature some adjustments in that direction.
Quote:
Ah ok. Well They are on v0.97b now, so it's just a matter of time . I can almost not wait
I meant The Succession Wars Mod v1.0 as well. There is no point to port it on another platform when both the platform and the mod don't satisfy each other in terms of required features and when the mod is undone.
Moreover, the next version of the mod will be released as a standalone mod which should be installed on the clean game and played like HotA, not conflicting with HotA or any other mod installed in the game directory. However, it will still remain usable via Era Mod Manager if the user has Era installed, and a list of compatible mods is expected to be created.
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Orzie
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted January 31, 2015 07:23 PM |
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Edited by Orzie at 19:25, 31 Jan 2015.
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Finally, we have achieved a goal previously seemed impossible.
It is the animated oceans (and also rivers, lava streams and the entire lava terrain).
Using the new exclusive DefTool from GrayFace and the cycling color plugin from OxFEA we are able now to implement all this kind of stuff.
Unfortunately, H3 has a surf wave limit of 1 tile wide, while H2 had it 2 tiles wide which looked more beautiful.
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Kivo
Famous Hero
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posted January 31, 2015 07:25 PM |
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Holy **** guys! Been waiting for this for ages! Great work, keep going!
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Orzie
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted January 31, 2015 07:32 PM |
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Edited by Orzie at 19:33, 31 Jan 2015.
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Well, with the old defs packed in the closed October beta it was anyway impossible. Things like these require a very careful operation with the palette, which was ruined.
Fortunately, I had some tools and good friends which made this possible 
Now I will have to re-pack lava and rivers by the same example.
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Kivo
Famous Hero
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posted January 31, 2015 07:47 PM |
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The possibilities and process so far amazes me! Hopefully you will be able to get more pixel artists to speed up the process in that area. Though, I saw the improvements in the Knight Townscreen, it looks awesome! Those Stables tho 
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Orzie
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted January 31, 2015 07:51 PM |
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Edited by Orzie at 19:54, 31 Jan 2015.
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The Knight townscreen as well as the Gipsy townscreen have went considerably farther than that, and await their time to be posted
I hope to start a promo campaign considerably soon to find more pixel artists. The version 0.8 beta is going to be released this year regardless of the made progress, so it would be better to use the time with maximal efficiency.
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fred79
Disgraceful
Undefeatable Hero
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posted January 31, 2015 11:37 PM |
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that is a great feat indeed, orzie. i have been trying to manipulate the ocean myself(for improved waves, fixing graphic errors, and for the transparent ocean i've been trying to make); as well as finding out why, when i fix visual errors with land terrain, that the appearance gets screwed in the map editor mini-map.
i haven't been able to change even the location of the same-colored pixels to fix parts of the edge of the ocean. i have even tried making the extensions .pcx in the deftool, to no avail.
however you did this fantastic feat, inquiring minds would LOVE to know exactly how you did it.
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robizeratul
Known Hero
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posted January 31, 2015 11:43 PM |
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it isn't said enough but a lot of people appreciate what you are doing.Knowing i can play my favorite chilhood game and have even more fun always makes me smile!
Can't wait for the next version! would love more frequent releases ...but at least this way there will be a bigger surprise!
Thank you!
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Orzie
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 01, 2015 07:45 AM |
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Edited by Orzie at 08:01, 01 Feb 2015.
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fred79 said:
that is a great feat indeed, orzie. i have been trying to manipulate the ocean myself(for improved waves, fixing graphic errors, and for the transparent ocean i've been trying to make); as well as finding out why, when i fix visual errors with land terrain, that the appearance gets screwed in the map editor mini-map.
i haven't been able to change even the location of the same-colored pixels to fix parts of the edge of the ocean. i have even tried making the extensions .pcx in the deftool, to no avail.
however you did this fantastic feat, inquiring minds would LOVE to know exactly how you did it.
To achieve this kind of stuff a modder should do the following.
1) Download the new DefTool v3.3 from GrayFace.
The only difference you should notice is that if all frames of the def have the same palette, it will write "Def file created successfully, palette preserved". We will need that.
Side note: when I packed files which had H2 palette along with the old H3 ones, the indexed palette of all frames switched to H2-ish. So that be careful.
2) Download the OxFEA's little auxiliary tool called DefPaletteViewer.
Usage: run the EXE file and choose the def to check the palette.
3) Download a program allowing to operate with the indexed palette easily. I used mtPaint, a free software which is relatively convenient for this kind of stuff.
4) Note that all files from H2 possess the same palette which must not be varied or screwed if you want to invent such feature as color cycling.
Yes, all rivers and oceans, and lava too are animated by color cycling. This is the programming feature which forces the game to not only display a selected color, but also change one color to another one, usually it's a consequent cycle either direct or reverse, for example colors can cycle 1-2-3-4-1-etc. or 4-3-2-1-4-etc. Numbers from 1 to 4 are the respective color indexes in the palette which can be checked by using mtPaint.
Heroes 3 have specific palette indexes and ranges to be cycled. According to the info from OxFEA, NWC screwed up the direct cycling order and they simply invented reverse cycling everywhere, which forced us to create some improvements in the plugin.
So that, according to OxFEA's thread on DF2 forums:
Quote:
The color cycling feature is contained in function 0x4EDB20, char __cdecl Dlg_Redraw1(), which intends:
- for watrtl.def cycling ranges 229-240, 242-253
- for lavatl.def - 246-254
- for clrrvr.def - 183-194, 195-200
- for mudrvr.def - 183-188, 240-245
- for lavrvr.def - 240-248
Heroes 3 ocean water colors (watrtl.def) look like that:
For all Heroes 2 graphics it's different. The cycling range in Heroes 2 for water seems to be like 231-234 or even 231-235. We set 231-235 for The Succession Wars Mod at the current moment. If you open the Heroes 2 palette and look for colors, you can easily guess all other colors which cycle in the game - they are placed as separate 4-color gradients (excluding water, it's difficult and has both cycling and static colors, which all are grouped for convenience).
5) The Era plugin created by OxFEA invents separate color cycling for each def. It's good for us because we can easily control the animations, but probably bad for you because you seem to be wanting many other defs to cycle along with the 'classic' ones. That will require OxFEA's assistance who can find the needed functions and add it to the plugin source code.
6) Note that Heroes 3 WoG map editor doesn't support plugins, so that the color cycling ranges will be the same as in H3 even if you replaced the classic H3 defs with your new ones containing different palette. This can cause some inconveniencies while mapmaking, so it's better to turn off color cycling (Ctrl+T or Menu->View->Terrain animation)
I guess this info should be saved somewhere.
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fred79
Disgraceful
Undefeatable Hero
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posted February 01, 2015 08:59 AM |
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saved, and thanks a ton. i had downloaded the new deftool a month or so ago, but i haven't had a chance to try it out yet. i will contact oxfea as soon as i get some serious mod time. at the moment, i'm working on much less intricate things. i sent you a hcm, btw. i'll be sending you another, since i forgot something. 
thanks again, man. that post is qp-worthy.
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Orzie
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 04, 2015 08:58 PM |
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Edited by Orzie at 20:59, 04 Feb 2015.
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A microscopically little teaser of the new version.
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mister_kalu
Known Hero
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posted February 05, 2015 03:49 AM |
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted February 05, 2015 12:00 PM |
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orzie
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 05, 2015 12:07 PM |
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I have a lot to say about this video, but a little later.
By the way, Mister Kalu, you still didn't send me the scripts for the previously discussed features, like digging the Ultimate Artifact and the disappearance of it after the defeat of its bearer.
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mister_kalu
Known Hero
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posted February 05, 2015 03:22 PM |
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Salamandre said:
Space bar not available for revisiting the dwelling your hero is on?
for now not, really I didn't try , i worked in the interface and the adventure objects , probably with the era key trigger you can open the custom dialog, when the hero is on the OB
Sorry Orzie but i need to perfect several scripts, it takes many hours
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Orzie
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 05, 2015 04:23 PM |
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Quote:
Sorry Orzie but i need to perfect several scripts, it takes many hours
It seems that you are making lots of new scripts instead.
Now I shall put my comments on the video and displayed interesting features.
1. First of all, it's not good that people mistook this video with the official development and started whining that they don't like Heroes 2 inventory. I would like to ask you to put some text in the video description saying that it is a demonstration of ERM capabilities/idea for the next mod release.
2. We are not able to implement multi-colored fonts for Heroes 3 message windows. This means that all timed event custom text will be different from classic Heroes 2 message windows you put. This will lead to overall diversity and the inability of message windows to fit to each other. Moreover, your variant doesn't allow us to implement Good/Evil/Neutral interfaces in future.
3. I think it's logical to have the classic Heroes 3 dwelling system, or at least we can block the additional creature growth (as a testing issue - we may have some overall faction balance problems because some 7th level dwellings produce 2 creatures per week). Dragon City then can simply be Dragon Utopia (which replicates its concept) and this will be very well integrated in the Heroes 3 map conversions.
4. We are preparing our own inventory/artifact system being a hybrid of Heroes 3 doll and Heroes 2 backpack. More details will follow later with a demonstration video on our official YouTube Channel.
5. I personally don't see a point in such Heroes 2-styled inventory system. You made it just like H2, but... with 7 slots? In my opinion, Heroes 2's 5 slots with 6 tiers available are more progressive than Heroes 3's 7 slots for 7 creature tiers, because in H2 it forced the player to devise a more complex strategy using additional creature stack as a strategic wildcard. Your systems suggests a total Heroes 2 style, but worse because of 7 slots. For what, I would ask? If I wanted to play Heroes 2, I would play Heroes 2 with its design, and gameplay which I personally love more than H3 gameplay. Same will be said by other people who expect something more from H3SW than just a Heroes 2 with a more flexible map editor. We are able to make many things, fix many Heroes 3 questionable moments (such as spell system), and we intend everything to be hybrid to achieve unique gameplay for both H2 fans and H3 fans.
However, the Catapult artifact present on your video looks interesting. We are also considering a way to show full-resolution Heroes 2 portraits and icons, but not for now and not in the plain Heroes 2 interfaces.
Again, the purpose of the v0.8 beta of The Succession Wars Mod is to show a new hybrid concept of advantages of both games combined.
Some new videos from us can be expected soon.
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Mister_kalu
Known Hero
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posted February 05, 2015 05:34 PM |
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Orzie said:
Quote:
Sorry Orzie but i need to perfect several scripts, it takes many hours
It seems that you are making lots of new scripts instead.
Now I shall put my comments on the video and displayed interesting features.
1. First of all, it's not good that people mistook this video with the official development and started whining that they don't like Heroes 2 inventory. I would like to ask you to put some text in the video description saying that it is a demonstration of ERM capabilities/idea for the next mod release.
2. We are not able to implement multi-colored fonts for Heroes 3 message windows. This means that all timed event custom text will be different from classic Heroes 2 message windows you put. This will lead to overall diversity and the inability of message windows to fit to each other. Moreover, your variant doesn't allow us to implement Good/Evil/Neutral interfaces in future.
3. I think it's logical to have the classic Heroes 3 dwelling system, or at least we can block the additional creature growth (as a testing issue - we may have some overall faction balance problems because some 7th level dwellings produce 2 creatures per week). Dragon City then can simply be Dragon Utopia (which replicates its concept) and this will be very well integrated in the Heroes 3 map conversions.
4. We are preparing our own inventory/artifact system being a hybrid of Heroes 3 doll and Heroes 2 backpack. More details will follow later with a demonstration video on our official YouTube Channel.
5. I personally don't see a point in such Heroes 2-styled inventory system. You made it just like H2, but... with 7 slots? In my opinion, Heroes 2's 5 slots with 6 tiers available are more progressive than Heroes 3's 7 slots for 7 creature tiers, because in H2 it forced the player to devise a more complex strategy using additional creature stack as a strategic wildcard. Your systems suggests a total Heroes 2 style, but worse because of 7 slots. For what, I would ask? If I wanted to play Heroes 2, I would play Heroes 2 with its design, and gameplay which I personally love more than H3 gameplay. Same will be said by other people who expect something more from H3SW than just a Heroes 2 with a more flexible map editor. We are able to make many things, fix many Heroes 3 questionable moments (such as spell system), and we intend everything to be hybrid to achieve unique gameplay for both H2 fans and H3 fans.
However, the Catapult artifact present on your video looks interesting. We are also considering a way to show full-resolution Heroes 2 portraits and icons, but not for now and not in the plain Heroes 2 interfaces.
Again, the purpose of the v0.8 beta of The Succession Wars Mod is to show a new hybrid concept of advantages of both games combined.
Some new videos from us can be expected soon.
all of the concepts in the video are only for fun , to show possibilities, not for an official release , because you want to finish a mod for heroes 3, and i want a new heroes 2.
if you want to release an official version is ok, but just take those ideas like only ideas, but ideas with a context, nothing more .
you know my true philosophy. I hate Heroes 3 in all his extension, music, sounds, interface, limits, errors, unbalances and others, but i can separate the "engine" from the "game" and unfortunately the engine of heroes 2 is very limited and slow, All my tries to modify the game have started with minimal changes, thousand of tests, and if you have in this moment your version ( with new advances )is because i couldn't change the things that now i can do ,of course with very valuable help.
in other hand the artifact system contemplate the four war machines, spellbook and the same number of artifacts in the doll plus 1 , to have 9 for each row, i can recognize the good improvements of h3, but they are subjectives. ( the quest log, the speciality, 7 slots for monsters) why all of this? all my closest friends likes the idea of making the mod like my view point, but other foreign guys dream with an hybrid because they play heroes 3 as usual game.
i have finished all the maps, the campaigns and some with multiplayer,
but i never felt nothing for heroes 3, so is obviously what is my goal.
this is my last comment here, my last video, and my last attempt to show another aspect of modding , for now i couldn't finish the mod because i would have to spend many hours to draw the h3 objects heroes and castles, but maybe in the future..
thanks to salamandre, who is always ready to help and several others
the best wishes for you orzie
pS: i'm gonna change the description of the video, and listen the walk sound of the hero in the video, do you remember it?
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Orzie
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 05, 2015 05:45 PM |
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Quote:
but other foreign guys dream with an hybrid because they play heroes 3 as usual game.
I personally like Heroes 2 gameplay more, but this is not what the community wants. I work together with the creator of Project Ironfist mod for Heroes 2, this mod provides even better capabilities than WoG for Heroes 3. I would recommend you to check this modification.
We don't intend the mod to be like Heroes 2 or Heroes 3. We try to make it a unique game utilizing the same lovely Heroes 2 style, but providing a new gameplay which will be able to revive the game for many people. You can ask for example the mentioned Salamandre why he switched to Heroes 3 back then. It is the flawed Heroes 2 balance and other features which are implemented better in Heroes 3.
Given that Heroes 3 has its own flaws, and being able to make many minimods for people who would like to play a bit different The Succession Wars Mod, we can make 1 general design and keep Era support for people who like different gameplay. But we hope to make the general gameplay no less attractive to the overall majority of players. Hope you understand.
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Kivo
Famous Hero
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posted February 05, 2015 07:07 PM |
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Wait, wait, wait. Aren't the screenshots that mister_kalu has shown very outdated? We have completely improved interfaces with new buttons, icons, etc. This is very misleading. I would suggest to remove the screenshots and just link the video instead with an explanation of what its trying to show.
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Orzie
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 05, 2015 07:16 PM |
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Edited by Orzie at 19:18, 05 Feb 2015.
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OxFEA and I are hastily preparing the demo video for the mod YouTube channel demonstrating the new artifact system and its advantages. Don't worry
Besides, Uhm is working on the brand new interfaces. I don't yet know how his work will be greeted by the players of v0.8, but we will see.
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