HOMM3 Babies Mini-Expansion Beta now Available for Download!

[MattCaspermeyer]

Here's a bug fix update to fix a few bugs I found a day or so ago.

Here's the list of changes:

Version Beta 2014-01-28

• *.LNG
  • EN(G)_WINDOWS.LNG
    • Corrected a few errors in the original tips
    • Removed duplicate hint #44
• *.LUA
  • Fixed issues with not converting act_spell_param outputs to numbers:
    • BOSS.LUA - dmg_min and dmg_max for effect_spider_poison_attack may have been strings instead of numbers, although since this was in the original game it may not have been a problem
    • SPELLS.LUA - level for post_spell_plague may have been a string, although not sure if this was a problem
    • UNIT_FEATURES.LUA - this one was a problem and was causing Mana Spring cast from Enchanted Hero to give your hero mana instead of the enemy hero - belligerent check from spell parameter needed to be converted to a number
  • LOGIC.LUA - the new mod hints I added were not being used because it seems like the hint counting did not work so I manually set it to the maximum number of hints that are in EN(G)_WINDOWS.LNG so that it would show my new hints

With the act_spell_param bug fixes, the only one I found a problem with was the one in UNIT_FEATURES.LUA. The others were potential issues that I figured I'd change just in case there could be a problem.

I'm not sure why the tip counting is not working and so I just manually set the maximum tip number in LOGIC.LUA so that it will now show the extra tips that I added for my mod.

That's it!

Thanks for trying out my mod.

/C\/C\

Please see the last post in this thread for the latest version...

[Sir Whiskers]

A couple bugs I've found recently:

1) The tip for shamans has no text. I'm referring to the normal load screen that has tips, such as "Orcs and Veteran orcs have a new ability...". The load screen comes up normally, it says "Shamans", but nothing else.

2) I'm in Haas' Labyrinth, at the Temple of Delights. Whenever I click the right arrow to cycle through the available troops, the game crashes to desktop.

I'm very impressed with this mod. The tips, the info screens for spells and troops, all show the updated mod info. I absolutely love the new Phoenix spell. The troops have new abilities that make them more interesting to use, and more challenging to fight. The game allows my hero to become much more powerful than the base game, but that's necessary, as the battles become increasingly more difficult. Definitely a fun challenge.

SW

[MattCaspermeyer]

Thanks for pointing these out!

Originally Posted by Sir Whiskers

A couple bugs I've found recently:

1) The tip for shamans has no text. I'm referring to the normal load screen that has tips, such as "Orcs and Veteran orcs have a new ability...". The load screen comes up normally, it says "Shamans", but nothing else.

This one I've fixed, but it's in my latest release that I'm working on. I hope to release this update soon...

Originally Posted by Sir Whiskers

2) I'm in Haas' Labyrinth, at the Temple of Delights. Whenever I click the right arrow to cycle through the available troops, the game crashes to desktop.

Okay, I've found it - attached is a fix for this issue (essentially I misspelled cerberus (cereberus) in the LOC file). The fix is just a copy of CERBERUS.ATOM as CEREBERUS.ATOM. Similar to the problem I had with Neoka's castle and "Druids". The next update will have this issue fixed, although it will only affect new games. Don't buy the Cerberus' with this fix by the way, their picture might be blank, but it shouldn't crash any more - let me know...

Originally Posted by Sir Whiskers

I'm very impressed with this mod. The tips, the info screens for spells and troops, all show the updated mod info. I absolutely love the new Phoenix spell. The troops have new abilities that make them more interesting to use, and more challenging to fight. The game allows my hero to become much more powerful than the base game, but that's necessary, as the battles become increasingly more difficult. Definitely a fun challenge.

SW

Thanks!

I've got quite a few more changes coming in the next update, the largest being that difficulty level / map bonus now also affects the talent abilities of enemy units, improvements to bears, unicorns, daylight penalties to undead, and more!

/C\/C\

Here's the fix for the Temple of Delights crash in the Labryrinth (just put this in the same folder as the mod):

[Sir Whiskers]

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

Okay, I've found it - attached is a fix for this issue (essentially I misspelled cerberus (cereberus) in the LOC file). The fix is just a copy of CERBERUS.ATOM as CEREBERUS.ATOM. Similar to the problem I had with Neoka's castle and "Druids". The next update will have this issue fixed, although it will only affect new games. Don't buy the Cerberus' with this fix by the way, their picture might be blank, but it shouldn't crash any more - let me know...

Yep, problem fixed in my current game. The Cerberus has no pic, as you mentioned, but I can now buy any of the other troops there.

I hope you still find time to work on your mod for AP/CW. I enjoy Legend, and will gladly grab your next update, but I feel the devs got the balance better in AP/CW, reducing the number of battles and increasing the hero levels.

Thanks.

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by Sir Whiskers

Yep, problem fixed in my current game. The Cerberus has no pic, as you mentioned, but I can now buy any of the other troops there.

Okay, great!

Originally Posted by Sir Whiskers

I hope you still find time to work on your mod for AP/CW. I enjoy Legend, and will gladly grab your next update, but I feel the devs got the balance better in AP/CW, reducing the number of battles and increasing the hero levels.

Thanks.

I promise it's coming one of these millennia - there's only so much time in the day...

I've actually taken a step back from the tomes part because of the issues I had with the number of items in the game, although the changes may roll back into my H3B mod because I think I like how I did the bonuses better. I have some ideas of how to combine a lot of the items into a single item and so am thinking about how to implement them - this would greatly reduce the total number of items and still allow me for the most part to implement all the HOMM3 heroes.

We'll see how it goes...

/C\/C\

[Sirlancelot]

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

Okay, great!



I promise it's coming one of these millennia - there's only so much time in the day...

I've actually taken a step back from the tomes part because of the issues I had with the number of items in the game, although the changes may roll back into my H3B mod because I think I like how I did the bonuses better. I have some ideas of how to combine a lot of the items into a single item and so am thinking about how to implement them - this would greatly reduce the total number of items and still allow me for the most part to implement all the HOMM3 heroes.

We'll see how it goes...

/C\/C\

Matt, I'm gonna try your TL version now. Let's see how it goes. As I state in the other thread, your mini expansion sounds very promising.

Regardless whether you keep working in the TL version for some time or jump to AP/CW, after a quick glance reading other posters comments, I'd perhaps suggest you to focus just on balance issues for a while, till all of them are adressed. It really makes the difference in the long run, and judging from how much you have changed/like to change, not an easy task.

Again, congratulations for the hard work, it seems quite impressive! And I though for years it was just about babies, lol...

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by Sirlancelot

Matt, I'm gonna try your TL version now. Let's see how it goes. As I state in the other thread, your mini expansion sounds very promising.

Thanks - I really hope you enjoy it!

Originally Posted by Sirlancelot

Regardless whether you keep working in the TL version for some time or jump to AP/CW, after a quick glance reading other posters comments, I'd perhaps suggest you to focus just on balance issues for a while, till all of them are adressed. It really makes the difference in the long run, and judging from how much you have changed/like to change, not an easy task.

I hear you - starting a new game should not be a problem - I have a newer version of the mod that I've been working on, but it is not ready for public release yet.

I've actually spent about the past month enhancing the spell AI and I've just started testing it out. So far things seem to be harder and spell selection more strategic to the situation at hand. However, I have not debugged all the spell paths and so there may still be some crash-to-desktop issues lurking.

I also have quite a few other changes coming along that I think make the game more fun like stuff mentioned above, but others as well. Plus more bug fixes, which it seems like I keep finding them.

If you have any issues, please let me know!

Originally Posted by Sirlancelot

Again, congratulations for the hard work, it seems quite impressive! And I though for years it was just about babies, lol...

Thanks again, but names like rebalance mod, etc. are so bland. Maybe someone has a better name suggestion, but I do like having the reference to HOMM3 since it was that game that inspired me to do the modding from one angle and a big part of the mod is having the new babies that have bonuses akin to their bonuses in HOMM3.

/C\/C\

[Sirlancelot]

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

Thanks - I really hope you enjoy it!

I hear you - starting a new game should not be a problem - I have a newer version of the mod that I've been working on, but it is not ready for public release yet.

I've actually spent about the past month enhancing the spell AI and I've just started testing it out. So far things seem to be harder and spell selection more strategic to the situation at hand. However, I have not debugged all the spell paths and so there may still be some crash-to-desktop issues lurking.

I also have quite a few other changes coming along that I think make the game more fun like stuff mentioned above, but others as well. Plus more bug fixes, which it seems like I keep finding them.

If you have any issues, please let me know!

Matt, what of the three classes do you think have been tested less? I'll choose that one. My favourite are the warrior and the mage, but if the paladin needs more testing, I'll pick him.

[MattCaspermeyer]

Hmmm... good question.

I'm playing the Paladin right now. I'm level 24, I think.

I'd say just pick the one you like to play the most - should be different for you this go around and I'm sure there's always room to test all the classes.

Originally Posted by Sirlancelot

Matt, what of the three classes do you think have been tested less? I'll choose that one. My favourite are the warrior and the mage, but if the paladin needs more testing, I'll pick him.

[Sirlancelot]

Allright, time to give you some feedback, Matt. , I've been playing for a while trying to explore different combinations. The warrior is the chosen class and Hard the difficult level. A satisfactory experience overall: although still being level 5, I can already tell you the units changes and novelties feel refreshing and imaginative, the spells changes intriguing and interesting from both the challenge and balance improvements perspective, and the hero skills trees revamps stimulating and overwhelming.

What I expect to see the most are tough, unpredictable battles against enemy heroes. The original game has a lot of room for improvement there.

For now, I'm just worried about how well general balance and challenge will remain on the last stages of the game. Many modifications to be aware of. By the way, did you remove the resistance to damage cap? I hope not, it would be highly exploitable.

Maybe Dryads are overpowered?

Some ideas of mine which I find would really help to build and keep tension through the game, making it more thrilling:

1. The chance of being catched by the enemy when you're trying to avoid it. Perhaps setting a trigger so their speed can be randomly increased a bit from time to time.

2. The chance of being ambushed. Requisites: level... 6? or higher and Freedom isles reachable, so the player can still have his/her time and space to see what items, units and spells are initially available and choose army composition and general strategy.

3. The chance to fail the guess when trying to determine enemy power potential relative to yours. In my opinion, maximun percent to do it properly should never be above 80%.

PS: I'm using Nobilis version, is it imperative to buy Gamersgate one to install their latest patch? If so I will.