So I'll start:

Tip #1: If you include multiple units in a single summoning spell, only one randomly determined unit from that list will be summoned with each casting. (I was hoping to be able to summon a pack of zombies at once, but that won't work.)

[This message has been edited by Kharagh (edited 08-28-2003 @ 04:34 PM).]

It's a great idea, and I'll try to add the tips to the design section of AoW:SM.

Edit: Actually, since this is about mods instead of design, I'll see about making a Mods section (maybe).

[This message has been edited by TalonThorn (edited 09-18-2007 @ 11:36 PM).]

Wow, I've never had a thread go sticky before, how touching. Now if only other people would add tips so that I can get something out of this deal. Don't be shy, any ol' tip will do.

Tip #2a: Spells not assigned to 7 spheres; Tower Guard (you can change the stats of the tower guard by changing this spell), Cosmos Mastery, Dire Penguin, Chaos Spawn, Chaos Lord, Black Dragon, Gold Dragon.

Tip #2b: Abilities not assigned: Build Watchtower, Entangle Strike, Extra Strike, Gas Breath, Lightning Bolts, Shoot Black Javelin. For gas breath and lightning bolts you need to select an fx file (I suggest divine breath and hurl lightning) and make sure you assign an attack & dmg value and a damage type (e.g., poison/lightning). Be sure Gas breath is set to short range.

Tip #2c: Unused Units: Witch (Human unit from AoW2), Elf Spearman, Boar (not in library but the .ilb file is in the same units directory as all the other units), Tir (same as boar).

[This message has been edited by Kharagh (edited 12-13-2003 @ 01:26 PM).]

Tip #3a - "Bonuses" can be set for all city buildings, not just those that currently have them, and negative values are allowed. You can use this for example to effectively set a maintenance cost in mana for structures such as the Tower Guard, Enchanted Walls, and Force Field.

Tip #3b - Structures have a cost field for mana as well as gold, and although not not presently used the game engine recognizes this. As with gold, mana cost if any will be deducted when the building is queued for construction and require production points at the rate of one per mana point. Hurry costs only 1 mana per point (versus 2 for gold). Partial refunds are given for cancelled orders, but no mana is returned if the structure is sold.

Caveats: This feature is not supported by the game's display interface. Mana cost will not be listed on the build menu, and the message "Insufficient Gold" will be displayed for Insufficient Mana as well.

Nice tips, Chowguy.

Tip #4: You can make any combat spell or ability usable only in a wizard tower city by assigning it the Tower_bolts.fx file found in the fx/spells directory. (The animation will be that of the tower guard magic blast.)

[This message has been edited by Kharagh (edited 09-03-2003 @ 02:08 PM).]

I try.

Tip #5 Items or heroes with non-standard abilities created under a custom resource set can be copy/pasted into maps made for the default resource set even though the ability is not enabled there. This means you can, if you wish, add a Cloak of Flying or a Warrior with inherent Double Strike to your map without making those abilities available to others.

1) Open the Editor with a custom resource set.

2) Edit Resources to enable the ability for the Item class or Hero/Race class you wish to use.

3) Open or create a dummy map. Add the item(s)/hero(s) and place on the map.

4) Right click the Bag or Party and "Copy"

5) Exit the editor (no need to save) and reset to default resources.

6) Open/Create the target map and paste. The copied heroes or items are added to the corresponding menus with new IDs.

Only one selection can be transferred at at time using Windows clipboard, but you can transfer entire parties of up to eight heroes, with each hero carrying as many items as you wish. So long as you use only the original graphics, there should be no compatibility problems.

[This message has been edited by ChowGuy (edited 09-01-2003 @ 12:23 PM).]

Very nice. A lot of people will likely find that useful. I added a summary "table of contents" to the initial post. Surely someone other than ChowGuy and I have stumbled upon some useful custom resource discovery. Don't worry, it doesn't have to be as useful as ChowGuy's tips. Just give what you can.

I would love to stumble, but haven't had the time. Hope that will change sometime this year. Fall seems to give me more time to do things.

In my opinion, several features from original AoW should be restored:
Archon Palladin should get back healing ability.
Archon Saint should get also the Leadership and maybe Dominate ability. Water Walking is cool, but floating the Saint should get only in Gold medal stage, not earlier. And also Blur is also essential.
Dwarf Bereserker should get back his round attack ability. Check the medieval legends! Palladins in Arthur`s Cycle heal all wounded around them, and the berserk strike with two winged swords or axes.
Dark Elf blademaster should also get round attack in analougeoes reason.
Archon Militia should get the first strike - the medieval militia were armed with picks - the long training was needless, but the unit was efficient.
Elf or Dark Elf Archer should exeed the other shooters by range. They are Longbowmen.
Centaur should get strike and first strike (in myths they are often armed with short spears).
Nymph should be provided with magic immunity and maybe blur. Thus she wouldn`t be so weak on the battlefield.

WonderR, wrong place to post that message... this thread is for giving tips on HOW to use the new editor options.

anyway....

Quoted from Wauthan:

yes, easily done. first, go to 'unit bodies', select the unit you want to change, then copy and paste it into an open slot. next, double click the new unit to open the 'properties'. on page 2 (settings tab), near the top, you will see settings for scale (world map and tactical map scale)... adjust them to your liking, and tweak to you get it right for your taste and desire.

near the bottom, you will see a setting for 'fxfilename'... double click it and explore for the file you want. to make a unit appear to be in flames, try
"Resource\FX\Ability\Burning.fx". only 1 fx file can be assigned. experiment... you can get some cool results! also, if you check out the other unit bodies, you can see what fx files they use (zombie, nordic glow, shade, etc...).

also, you can set the 'glow' of a unit... look at the flamer, nordic glow, fire elemental, etc... for examples of what to do here.

now, go to the 'units' tab, make a new unit (either from scratch, or by editing a premade unit), and select your new 'body' for it.

finally, save your work, and test your changes... making a small test map is a good idea for this.

heres my tip of the day that i just had the pleasure of discovering.
if you are planning to use custom resources, make sure you enable them before you start your map, unlike me, who just spent two weeks making an XL map, laying out all the terrain, then started to put all the important stuff down, like events, then thought id add some custom stuff in, only to find out, that you cant enable custom resources in mid creation of a map, youll get the imcompatible resources error.
im going to have to re do the entire map from the beginning now if i want to use custom resources
so always remember to plan out your custom resources before you lay out your map....

[This message has been edited by madmage (edited 10-29-2003 @ 00:27 AM).]

Madmage, supposedly the patch will provide a way around that problem. Also, you don't have to complete your custom resource set before making a map, you just have to create the set. So, you can create a new set, not make any changes to the set, make a new map, then make changes to the set. In fact, you can make changes to the set in the middle of a game. I've played many a game in which I see a change that needs to be made, so I save the game, open the editor, make the change, then get back to the game.

I guess it's about time I added a new tip.
Tip #7: Making walkers without walking

Units without walking can walk within the appropriate terrain if they have forestry, mountaineering, or cave crawling. These units will work fine except for the following problems:
A) While FC will work in the appropriate terrain, at least for forestry and mountaineering, tactical combat will NOT work - the game will crash. So a treeman with forestry but not walking will cause the game to crash if you engage it in tactical combat. This is not a problem for those that play FC all the time, but for those that use TC, beware. I haven't tested to see if cave crawling without walking will also cause TC crashes, but I will soon.
B) If these units are buildable in cities (as opposed to summoned by spells), they will never be produced (meaning finished) if not in the proper terrain. So a non-walker cave crawling demon can be bought in a surface town, but on the turn that it should appear, it will not, and the city interface will read "0 turns". Note that the elf structure (secret glade) will change the city terrain to vegetation, so forestry non-walkers can be produced (finished) there, but again, these units cannot be used in TC (see A above). I have not yet determined whether the AI will try to build units that cannot be finished because of the wrong terrain.

yes, i guess my tip is more for beginner map mapers like me, as long as you have your custom resources enabled, and have a file set up, then your ok, but for people starting to make maps, you cant switch from the default to your own set in mid creation of a map...ive started my own custom resources file now, so now whatever map i make from on, i can have custom resources for it....wish i knew about this earlier on, cuz now the first map that i made last month was made with the default resources, so now, i can never update it with my new custom resources, its stuck as the default ones....
you say they are making a patch that will fix this? i might be able to customize the resources of my first map, and maybe even salvage this second map ive been making? when is this patch suggested to come out?

My "Tip o' the Day" is one that I mentioned in a thread a while ago.

You can give heroes the appearance of any unit in the game. Just go to Editor/Resources/Settings/Heroes/Resource(s?)/ then do the following.
If you want to make a completley new hero class for a race, then select an empty spot and choose it's race and class, make sure you give it appropriate stats and abilities for the race(except for a few minor changes if desired) Then when selecting the sprite all you have to do is choose anyone of them(even a parasite) .
Then, (you might want to have done this before if you were editing an existing hero sprite)select the tab that will show you all the premade heroes(can't remember name right now) and check to make sure which heroes you changed/ or will change.
When making a new hero, just go up to the hero class tab, and select the one that you set up(note: you might have made an extra of the same class if not checking the original classes first) Then just choose the extra abilities with the skill points, and press done(on my computer I couldn't actually see the done button, so I had to press 'tab' till it went to it)

and that's my "Tip o' the Day"!

I am not sure if this has been mentioned before in case it hasn't here it is:

Changing a spell name (while playing in a non-English language):
0. Backup
1. Open the file %AoW Dir%\Dict\ResStr.mld with a HexEditor (i.e. UltraEdit)
2. Locate the ENGLISH name of the spell
3. The English name should by followed by the spell name in your language
4. Change the spell name in your language
5. If you need to insert or delete bytes because the new name differs in length you need to correct the length of the string!
6. The length of the string is stored in the two bytes before the string; the number stored there must be equal to the number of chars in the string.
7. Save the file

I have verified this tip by changing the name of the spell "Ruf der Wälder" (Call of the Forest) into "Nacht der lebenden Toten" (Night of the Living Dead).
So far I have been unable to change an English spell name, but changing German names seems to work fine for me.

Sweet tip, Velaryon - I suspected the way to change names was to mess around with the alternate languages. But for us mono-linguals, going in and changing all of the German to English in order to change a few names was too much for me. Have you tried changing ability or race names?

Edit: May be a dumb question, but where can we get a hex editor?

[This message has been edited by Kharagh (edited 12-06-2003 @ 10:38 AM).]

There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers.

You can get UltraEdit at www.ultraedit.com.It is Shareware but it can be tested for 45 days, IIRC.

I have tried to change abilties and race names as well and so far it seems to work (I have not run much tests, though).

I think it should be possible to write a program capable of changing all German/French/etc. names to English at once.

[This message has been edited by Velaryon (edited 12-06-2003 @ 01:16 PM).]

Quote:

Good idea! Now, if you also add a post index, people can actually find the tips listed in the table.

Done.

Kharagh, the subject is good, but at tip 2b i wpuld like to tell people, that most of them dont work: Example, i made a Green Dragon with Gas Breath. When i wanted to use it, it showed up as a breath attack, however, i could not target it, and showed up with 0 attack. The same with lightning bolts. Also, i have experiencced something weird. I made a smaller resource set. I disabled it, but whn i entered the Editor, my changes remained.

Quote:

They all work. For gas breath and lightning bolts you need to select an fx file (I suggest divine breath and hurl lightning) and make sure you assign an attack & dmg value and a damage type (e.g., poison/lightning). Be sure Gas breath is set to short range. Maybe I'll add this info to that tip.

Quote:

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "disabled". Be sure you have installed at least the 1.1 patch as there was a problem with 1.0 allowing you to replace the default resources.

[This message has been edited by Kharagh (edited 12-13-2003 @ 01:31 PM).]

Update:
It is possible to change the spell names / abiltity names / race names / etc. while playing in any language, including English.

0) - 2) as above
3') ignore the first four bytes following the English name;
4') the next two bytes represent the English translation of the native string (which is by default a zero string for obvious reasons). If you want to change a name in the game, just add an English translation!
5) Rest as described above.

[This message has been edited by Velaryon (edited 12-14-2003 @ 11:06 AM).]

By the way, I think I could write an editor to simplify editing .mld files, if anyone would be interested in one?

I think a lot of people would be interested. Thanks for the update; in my opinion, the name immutability was the biggest shortcoming in the editor, so it's nice that someone managed to overcome it. I guess what I'm saying is: You're my hero

OK, I am done with a first alpha version of a MLDEditor. What I need now are testers and some feedback and suggestions.

If you are interested in testing it, just post a short a reply (here or in Kharagh's thread in Mod Making) with your eMail-address and I'll send you the program.

Kharagh: Thanks man.. Im not the best at this. well whatever.

Quote :I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "disabled".
You know, i turned it off.. Went back to original rules. But i could still make my units there. Weird.

Velaryon, glad to know this is possible. Keep on the good work!

Sorry to say I've learned these two the hard way.

1. When making new units be sure to give them some sort of movement type (ie. walking, floating, sailing, etc) otherwise you won't be able to place them on the map.

2. Also, be sure to give new units the "strike" ability. Otherwise they won't be able to attack or defend themselves.

In response to Lockedragon's tip about editing hero appearance (or creating new heroes with different appearance), it works quite well and is a great idea, except that he left out an integral step...

The problem is that most unit bodies don't have an animation set for blocking, but every hero's unit body must have a blocking animation set... This is easy to do: you just edit the unit body and add in whatever string of animations for blocking you want (I just copied and pasted in the string for attacking). It's a little time consuming as you have to do it for every position the unit is facing, with the correct animation strings from each corresponding position. I haven't tried to do this since the 1.2 patch, so it's possible something has changed, but i doubt it : )

In any case, this is a great thing to do... I had Gold and Black Dragon heroes, and it was very cool (if a little unbalanced with flying : ).

[This message has been edited by azurain (edited 01-04-2004 @ 06:26 PM).]

Sorry, forgot to mention that by 'blocking' animation strings i meant 'special' ... if you're doing it you'll know what i mean

Converting a map to a custom ruleset without AoWSMEdit:

It seems to be possible to convert a map to a ruleset without the aid of AoWSMEdit. To do so, open a map (scenario or campaign) with a hexeditor; at offset 0x00000010 the ID of the map's ruleset is saved as a 32bit-Integer. Change the ID to the ID of your ruleset and then save. The map is (seems to be) playable with the new ruleset.

If that's too much of an effort for you, wait for the tool I will release soon.

I've created a tool that alters a custom ruleset so it works with maps created for the standard ruleset (and with the AoWSM campaign). It's useful if you make a mod for playing existing maps - you don't have to convert every map you play. I'll release it after the v1.3 patch (I'll check if it works after the patch).

If you need that tool now, email me (pstrz@o2.pl)

BTW it was a good idea to move this thread to the mod making section.

Didn't this used to be in the Scenario Design forum?

Boh? After installing patch1.2 I got no more problem at run any scenario under my ruleset. However it's better open it with AoWSMEditor before play to be sure wizards and races are OK.

Edit: opss, I'm wong, jst tested and original maps don't work under mod. Should open them with AoWSMeditor before.

[This message has been edited by Dhuval (edited 02-26-2004 @ 11:26 AM).]

Augh!

I accidentally closed everything without saving the changes. Nooo!

Here's a tip - put a big stick note on your monitor that says, in bright neon red letters, "Save!" - or you'll be like me, weeping bitter tears.

In all seriousness, I was wondering if anyone had worked out about changing the English Spell Names - and if I managed to change one, would it work in a multiplayer game without everyone having the same resources as me?

[This message has been edited by Maxillian (edited 03-26-2004 @ 00:03 AM).]

Hi! I am new to modding, but am finding my way quite easily, thanks to the forum mainly .

Some addenda:

Tip #2: other unused things:
-Pictures for buildings (a lot of unseen pictures between the used ones in the ICONS.ILB file)
-Pictures for spells (also a lot of new pictures between known ones in the SPELLICONS.ILB file (you must choose a nonblack color to be able to view these))

Tip #7:
If you make a cannon with 1 movement for example, it will not be finished. I guess 4 is minimum? Anybody knows?

Just something funny: If you create a swallow whole dragon and make it have dragon growth to grow even larger, the last eaten unit returns on the moment of transformation (logical, since the game kills the unit and spawns a new one, I guess).

Thanks and sorry if it is already said in another topic...

EDIT: A question then, what does the BlockChance do? under unit settings? I noticed it is always set to bcsmall, with pikemen as well as mammoths, gluttons, ships, ballistae, dire penguin,...

[This message has been edited by Narvek (edited 10-27-2004 @ 06:29 PM).]

Quote:

Me too. But started independently (Because of Enforced Net Deprivation). Thats's even funnier.

Quote:

I thought, it's AoW-1 derelict - as soon as seen it...

BTW - it was %not very nice% that they removed many things entirely, instead of leaving in Editor for further use with possible modifications.
Started from old altar and tower structures (never seen AoW-1, but mentioned in articles).
They not implemented "Lightning Bolts" and "Gas Breath" abilities - both used in mods. That's good approach.
Even "Charmed" ability was not wiped, though it seems to be uselesst: now there's no one can charm anyway.
And "Boar.ILB".
So why they wiped other good things - both from code (and data structures) and resources ?
Why, it's entire CD anyway, so why they must cut down size ?

Quote:

I tried this trick too.
To create turret-like units and "Gas Fungus" (with "Poison Breath").

IMHO:
When unit placed on map (disembarked from Transport, or even in map editor), program will not check "can it move trough this place or not", but instead just move unit to its place.
See difference ?
Movement requires MovPoints cost.
Therefore, unit cannot be placed to plain ground if unit's Moves < 4.
Even unit with Mov 3 and "Haste" cannot be placed on Road.
Hovewer, unit w. Mov 4 without "Forestry" can be placed on plain, but not on Dense Vegetation.

And if it's on Transport, it will be destroyed with Transport in combat.

But if such unit has "Mud" ability, it still raises Mov cost, but was not counted while placing.
Therefore unit seems to be immobilized in combat, but placed normally (therefore can participate in combat at all) and still can use its breath ability (remember - ranged attacks uses MovPoints too!) and even retaliate (if "Strike" ability assigned).
And even "First Strike" works normally, if needed.

But it's still not the same.
Fun of sort that should be avoided...

Quote:

- The same.

Quote:

Let's start experiment...
Duplicate unit body, create unit w. 2-nd body,
place them on debug map, and start combat (then the same w."Unit Size" and Radius+Height...and combinations).
I'll win over my lazyness to do it soon.

But, IMHO, it's perhaps just "density" in stated volume used by unit.

[This message has been edited by Turbo Beholder (edited 04-14-2005 @ 08:01 PM).]

Some great tips here.. with regards to changing a spell I want to create a summon spell how do i create the name of the spell and also include an icon that is dipicted in the spell book

AoWSMEd - bug/limitation.
If you want to create "New" Campaign mission in AoWSMEd "Settings/Campaign" (recorded in "CAMPAIGN.pfs"), beware:
it will be instance of TCampaignScenario class and cannot provide some fields. All fabric missions are instances of its descendant TAoWCampaignScenario class. Class can be converted to descendant (and therefore naturally compatible) class (just like TRangedAttackAbility to TDoomGazeAbility).
1. Find in "CAMPAIGN.pfs" ClassID of TCampaignScenario and replace it: bytes "18 01 10 01" to "F7 01 10 01".
2. Don't forget to recalculate CRC (use PawelS program).
Then some more fields would be accessible.

Replication of original mission would be better, but it's not as simple as search/replace - some third-party program or STL with proper definition (wait for my STL-pack release) required to locate proper address and (in STL case) some hex-editor must be used to insert new record.
__

Quoted from Kharagh:

Hiew (TurboBeholder's choice). xvi32. WinHex.

Quoted from stemcginn:

AFAIK, there's no way to create new spells (or abilities). Only edit/tweak old ones. You can change unitID list for some Summon, then...

Quoted from stemcginn:

- MLDEdit, see above.

Quoted from stemcginn:

? AoWSMEd, Settings/Wizards/Spells/(name) -> ISL.

[This message has been edited by Turbo Beholder (edited 11-23-2005 @ 07:28 PM).]