Abilities Hex Edit: Healing II, and so on - Age of Wonders Heaven Forum

Topic Subject: Abilities Hex Edit: Healing II, and so on

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Turbo Beholder
Member

posted 04-15-05 07:13 PM EDT (US)

Abilities Hex Edit: Healing II - and so on

Did someone tried to Hex-edit Abilities for unit/item ?

Some interesting effects can be achieved in that way.

And since PawelS solved CRC problem (mentioned Unit Editor in this article, now downloadable from his site), so all this applicable not only to Items Libraries (*.ail), but to UnitRes.pfs file too !
_{...If PawelS will be so kind as to give us re-CRC-ing program.}
Just open modified UnitRes.pfs in PawelS's Unit Editor, then save - and CRC will be recalculated from scratch.

Quoted from firegolem:

interesting, than we can add or edit magic, spells, abilitys?
i would try it.

Quoted from PawelS:

The effects of spells and abilities are hard-coded in the game exe file, so if you add a new one by hex-editiong the pfs files, it will probably do nothing or the game will not work properly.

That's right, of course (unfortunately).
But experiments with .ail files (not CRC-protected) shows that it's not precisely true (fortunately) - because "work properly" is loose enough concept.

We cannot add them (still cannot even replicate), but we can at least hybridize and tweak them in many cases.
I read that thread only now (fortunately

), so i tried.

There's my little survey.

Developers for some (still unknown) reason created not just "Healing", but "Healing 1". And only "1".
Hmmm. So how about "Healing 2" ?
I can say this... now. Never seen it replenishing only 13 HP.
I hoped that it's # uses per day, but extra power is good too.
Yes, 15-30 (?) HPs is too many for ordinary healers - but, IMHO, it's proper Ability for Saints. Must have at Silver medal rank, if not from start at all. They can Resurrect, so they also supposed to be greater healers than mere Priests. And why, say, "Staff of Resurrection" item cannot do the same ?..
You cannot set it with Editor ? Ahhhh. Seems not to be greatest problem.

How about "Magic Bolts" that have normal attack properties, but causes "Paralyzed" condition if hit unit, just like "Doom Gaze", or with random effects, like "Pixie Dust" placed on Staff of Power ?..
Though not great thing, it's interesting demonstration.
And it can be useful - not as main, but as excellent auxiliary weapon (staff wielder will have something good on red move, and that's enough).

I'll tell you some things learned trough use of AoWSMEd, fc and hex-editor (Hiew) on .ail (Item Library) files as small as test-tube.

For simplification of analysis Abilities was tested with .ail-s containing only one item with only one property.

Library name length was 6 chars, item name was 5 chars (both stored in .ail files, so it's important). And picture was changed from default to bag's (length will be 93 instead of 99 if not touched).
Then entire .ail file length is 99 bytes, or 111 for some Abilities ("Enchantment-like" ones, see below).
In addition to other differences, before their "index" (see below) inserted two bytes: (1e 05).
But if normal passive ability "index" changed to enchantment-like or vice versa, it still can work somehow.

I don't know official names for this fields, but each ability have two specific fragments:

"AbilityID"
Size: 4 bytes.
One with which name is associated (and corresponding properties that can be seen or set trough "Abilities" tab of AoWSMEd).
Note: Ability Names are not present in Abilities.pfs, but found in executable files' resources (perhaps can be edited with Resource Workshop or other similiar program, but why ? There's MLD Edit...).

In hex editor, it looks like
........15 04 ii ii 00 00 LL ,
where "ii ii" - Index of ability and "LL" - Ability Level (see below).

Or, for 26-byte "Enchantment-like" abilities:
........15 04 1E 05 ii ii 00 00 LL....
These 2- and 4- byte sequences before index seems to be used always, so it's good marker to find.

ClassID
Size: 4 bytes.
Sets behaviour and sometimes conditions for Ability.

(List moved to other message)

Try to use this ones and/or some other if you'll find them. Can be interesting.

There's non-specific "Ability Level" unsigned byte, also useful. Last byte in all variants without (N turns) counter.
Variable that used, explicite and accessible in "Leadership", Marksmanship", "Transport" and "Vision" abilities.
If set to 2 for "Healing", it gives "Healing II", roughly 3x more powerful (not 2x). Maybe this disproportion was caused by "at least half HPs" patch.
Level works correctly and reliable: even when item picked/dropped by heroes with their own "Healing I" it still works correctly - works exactly like Marksmanship # or Leadership #.

Note that simple Ability Level modification seems to be most reliable tweak at all. There's no reason to initialize it at all, right ?..

Enchantment-like abilities includes "Static Shield", "Free Movement", "Water Walking", and one of "Haste"s.
I don't know what one of fields in 10-byte child object does, maybe just disable/enable dispelling and/or checking for maintenance - to tell procedures is such ability a result of enchantment or not ?..
Extra record is used in game to address upkeep to actual caster, store actual upkep value, tells source (Innate / cast by Wizard / Enchantment Hall), etc.

"Timer"
2 fields (1 byte each) for DurationAbility (and descendants) with Turn-counter, like Cursed (N turns).
........15 04 28 05 29 06 ii ii 00 00 ll tt rr,
where "tt" - number of turns (auto-set to value from "Abilities" tab for this ability) and "rr" - seems to be increment (auto-set to FFh = -1), i did not tested this yet.

Size of one ability record in Units's data structure in UnitRes.pfs seems to be
14 bytes for simple ability,
26 bytes for "Enchantment-like" ability.
also found other formats:
8 bytes for Walking (unique - index is omitted as "default") and
20 bytes for abilities with Turn-counter, like Cursed (N turns) and for Phoenix's "Resurgence".
Of course, Caravan ability record in game can be long - more than 360 bytes...

"Key" seems to be start of each ability record, "Ability Level" - end of short variant of record, and "Index" is placed just after "15 04" bytes that present in all ability records other than Walking, in all types of libraries (!).
"Enchantment-like" ones have 2 extra bytes in this signature: "15 04 1E 05 ii ii ...", Level placed after zero byte just like in 14-byte records (?) and extra 10 bytes after Level.
Turn-Counter variant have 4 extra bytes: found in Cursed (2 turns): "15 04 28 05 29 06 ii ii ..." and index itself is still compatible.

Funny thing:
As one can see right on AoWSMEd "Abilities" tab, there's two different Resurgence abilities.
One used in "Phoenix" and "Zombie" units - it's "Enchantment-like" (index E5 00, ClassID 13 00 11 01), other can be placed on items in editor, and it's normal-sized ability (index ED 00, key 21 00 11 01).
Moreover, Phoenix have unique short Enchantment sub-record for Resurgence no other units (or items) have ! 4 extra bytes instead of 10 (+2 bytes of sub-header). One field is missed.

Surely basic ranged attack's Key 44 01 10 01 can be changed to 3a 00 11 01 with useful and predicable () effect - it's tested (see list).

Tips:

Tweak-hybrid of ranged and touch abilities may cause strange results, particularly "direct access" (i.e. can deliver all Steam's attacks to one target anywhere on TC map, and so on).
As seen from AoWSMEd "Abilities" tab, range is adjustable property of ranged attack ability, and there's no "touch range", just "touch attack abilities", so in such cases it probably will not be checked, and...

Such mix of passive abilities with active Class probably will cause error with AoWSM crash~~landing~~ -exit if "used" (at least some of them crashes, some does not).

Target filter (as for Healing, Control Animal, Ram, etc), if any, may be bound to ClassID or AbilityID in different cases.

Projectile's ballistics (and, therefore, obstacles effect) depends on the data in .fx file associated with ability.

Spell Casting # requires some extra data object, Spellbook, that is available for Heroes and Wizards only, not units or items - even if you'll add ability itself.
Spell Casting causes severe bugs and/or crash if placed to unit or item.

Idea:
Try to give unit the same ability on different levels and edit ClassID to improve it (while replacing lower Level to new, higher). If similiar Abilities are derived from multiple sources (including level upgrades), only one will work (or else Healings or Throw Spears can stack and...) With different Ability Levels all Ok, but if ClassIDs is different, will higher level prevail or not ?..
I'll try it soon.

I cannot guarantee, of course, that any such thing will work at all and will not cause bugs or crash, or something else.
Or that if it works at all, it will work in next version as well.
Some combinations surely can cause AoWSM to crash.

But many other results seems to be useful for mod-making so why we must ignore this possibility ?..
If someone already tried this trick too - please point at article or just write your survey if there's no accessible articles.

P.S_/2: ...and SEN's Tools - rulez, surely. Good tool for data files exploration.
There's two SEN's sites: webhost.kemtel.ru/~sen/, www.serje.net/sen/.
Recently old site was synchronized, old DOS STL is removed (you may find it somewhere in Internet and i can email 4.30 shareware to STL-pack beta testers). AFAIK, there will be Win32 version of STL sooner or later, maybe soon enough - but not yet. Probably STL-pack will be released soon after Win STL (i'll convert structure definition scripts to new format). Meanwhile, my research continues.

P.P.S:
Sorry, there was some errors. I corrected them and added ClassIDs in separate message.

I can write more details, including AbilityID list and field IDs, if interested.
But AbilityIDs are much less important in most cases, because their corresponding abilities can be seen (and set for unit/item) in AoWSMEd.

And even I make no pretence Of having more than common sence _{- R.W.Wood}
The secret half a country keeps, the whisper in the lane... _{- R.Kipling}
[UPatch 1.4 Team] * STLpack

[This message has been edited by Turbo Beholder (edited 01-03-2006 @ 10:17 AM).]

Author

Replies:

RosenMcStern
Member

posted 08-10-05 11:29 AM EDT (US) 41 / 71

Quoted from timelord:

I was wondering whether it is possible to edit the Spells - not through the Editor (tested and it is not possible) but through Hex-editing.
Say, I want to change the Spell classification from Global to Combat or even make a particular spell have an Area effect (should have the radius field in the spell description) - is it possible to do so by editing the spells.pfs file?.

The reason I am asking here is - TB and PawelS have apparently deciphered the structure of the .pfs file using STL. Is that correct?. Also, has anyone done any experimentation with anything other than Abilities?.

A general description of the ability, plus all factors that can be modified in the editor, are in the .PFS file. Modifiyng the .pfs file for the ability or the spell yelds no extra effect other that what you can do in the editor.

The hex modifications are not done upon the abilities.pfs file, but upon the small records that are attached to the single units in the unitres.pfs file. This is why we could have, say, Shoot javeling work both with unlimited shots for the ballista and with 3 shots for the modified air galley.

Unfortunately, there are no equivalents to the small records for spells, which are connected to wizards, not to units. So there is no experimentation we can do.

Quoted from timelord:

Are these hardcoded in the game exe?.

AFAIK, they are

Paolo Guccione
Alephtar Games

The_Stranger
Member

posted 12-19-05 00:11 AM EDT (US) 42 / 71

This was once such a promising, lively thread and now...ashes. Has anyone made any new discoveries, written any programs, created any abilities that they can share here? Several mods are being created/updated at this time, and modmakers surely would be interested in incorporating new and interesting things into our works.

Consider this a bump, then

RosenMcStern
Member

posted 12-19-05 08:00 AM EDT (US) 43 / 71

PawelS has promised an advanced editor that allows these modifications without hex-tinkering, but it appears he is so busy lately that he does not even post. Turbo Beholder is working about something similar, and he _is_ posting at present, but I wish he gave us some info about FXs rather than abilities, since it looks like these are much more moddable than Delphi classes.

I am devoting 100% of my time to v2.0 of my MOD (I have yet to finish playtesting Alex Mars's stuff, lol), which includes a lot of civ3 unit conversion, so no hope that I have any time for coding. The few stuff that I had 50% finished, after modifying PawelS' map-enlarger, is forever gone along with my old HD.

So the only solution for you is to download hiew and do it yourself in hexadecimal. It is not so difficult, but you need some creativity to determine which skills can be modded in an interesting way. For instance, you can add a "pixie dust" effect to a boulder throwing attack, but this looks rather silly. Doing the same with the crossbow of the Orc super-ninja and stating that it is the effect of a nearly untested Dark Elf drug, this looks interesting!

Paolo Guccione
Alephtar Games

Turbo Beholder
Member

posted 12-19-05 02:01 PM EDT (US) 44 / 71

Quoted from RosenMcStern:

Unfortunately, it is totally impossible to modify the basic characteristics of an ability in means that are not allowed by the editor.

Theoretically, there's could be extra fields in AbilityResource. Including LevelMax. But it absent in fabric resources, so even if it could be loaded at all, we have to find field ID first.

Quoted from RosenMcStern:

only for the ability that the particular unit possesses
==
upon the small records that are attached to the single units in the unitres.pfs file.

Let's use original term: AbilityOwner (BTW, items have advanced version with extra fields). Just "ability list" is ambiguous - there's AbilityID lists as well.

Quoted from Tearion:

to put fire strike and ignition into fire halo

Quoted from RosenMcStern:

I think the modification you request needs code changes.

True. Usually some method just calls function that checks for the presence of ability with given ID (and if this constant is located, it can be changed in exe-Mod).
I already detected method that checks for abilities (in-line constants) and assigns damagetypes (constants too), so it's possible to turn Enchanted Weapon into enchantment ability (!) that provides dtWall, etc.

Quoted from RosenMcStern:

Ability.pfs file contains only data that can be changed in the editor

Yes.

Changing the UnitRes.pfs file is slightly more complicate than hex-editing a .ail file[/q]

Quoted from The_Stranger:

This was once such a promising, lively thread and now...ashes.

Pure Hex-Ed is obsolete method. StructureLook allows to navigate through objects tree while working with libraries. Wait for release of my AoW STL-pack.

I use STL for values and Hiew for insertion.

Quoted from Timelord:

TB and PawelS have apparently deciphered the structure of the .pfs file using STL. Is that correct?

Of the different PFS files. It's not the same. As well as .FX, map (scenario or save - it's the same), header and unpacked map. Though not all structures are known... yet.

Quoted from Timelord:

Say, I want to change the Spell classification from Global to Combat or even make a particular spell have an Area effect

Quoted from RosenMcStern:

Unfortunately, there are no equivalents to the small records for spells, which are connected to wizards

Spell instances (in THero/TWizard spellbook entry) have different ClassIDs and have SpellIDs like abilities. Probably can be tweaked as well (for 1/2 Dam, like Suffocation, etc).

Technically, SpellBook is just as simple as AbilityOwner and perhaps can be changed easily enough (that allows to overcome limitations - AoWSMEd allows only list edit for Wizards on Map and puny validated listbox for Heroes).
Moreover, for Wizard there's another field - list for 8 (in real savegames, but perhaps could be more or less) available for research spell IDs as well.

However, native ClassIDs vs. Spell or Ability ID cannot be changed without some tricky exe-modification (i haven't found this yet).

Quoted from Timelord:

So, why does CL affect units selectively while fireball affects all units in that radius?. Are these hardcoded in the game exe?

Hmmm... Both are TCombatSpell - generic attack spells. Any difference is determined either by .fx or something hardcoded bound to IDs here.

Quoted from RosenMcStern:

I wish he gave us some info about FXs rather than abilities, since it looks like these are much more moddable than Delphi classes.

Lol...

. Structure is the same - hence it's the same ClassIDs and tables with dried fields of Delphi classes. It's why i analyzed .fx more successfully than not. The same - SructureLook+Hiew. Do you want to be beta-tester ?

And even I make no pretence Of having more than common sence _{- R.W.Wood}
The secret half a country keeps, the whisper in the lane... _{- R.Kipling}
[UPatch 1.4 Team] * STLpack

The_Stranger
Member

posted 12-19-05 04:57 PM EDT (US) 45 / 71

I'll be a beta tester, Turbo (I hope you don't mean lab rat...

). And thanks for posting.

Rose, I'm also so busy on my own mod at present, that I get confused at to what I'm doing...am I editing abilities, making new units, adding new races....or just feeling lost Thanks for the reply. I look forward to seeing your mod.

RosenMcStern
Member

posted 12-22-05 06:54 AM EDT (US) 46 / 71

Quoted from TurboBeholder:

Theoretically, there's could be extra fields in AbilityResource. Including LevelMax. But it absent in fabric resources, so even if it could be loaded at all, we have to find field ID first.

Yep. We already know what 0x15, 0x14 and some more IDs mean. But there is one more problem: even assuming that we can force the game to load an extra, unexpected field, this field will not be saved when a savegame is produced, because the save routine only saves the fields it expects. So the first time a savegame is produced the tweaked ability will probably revert to its standard form.

Paolo Guccione
Alephtar Games

Turbo Beholder
Member

posted 12-22-05 07:04 PM EDT (US) 47 / 71

Not exactly.If it works - it works. Or it don't. Yes.
But if some field is not saved, this does not mean it cannot be saved !
E.g. resources of the human units have no "Race" (0x17) field saved. Most fields of Enchantment ability data object (0x1e property of EnchantmentAbility) are skipped in UnitRes. Walking ability ID does not saved in ability instance records too.
Conclusion: Default values of fields (but not "empty" sub-objects) can be absent in resource objects.

And even I make no pretence Of having more than common sence _{- R.W.Wood}
The secret half a country keeps, the whisper in the lane... _{- R.Kipling}
[UPatch 1.4 Team] * STLpack

grootvriend
Member

posted 01-02-06 05:00 PM EDT (US) 48 / 71

You guys just keep amazing me. Thanx to the, as I would like to call you, heroes of the aow heaven a great game has become better time after time trough various of mods and such. Just when I thought I was done with Aow you guys come up with something to make it interesting again.

Now thanks to the combined strength of the 1.4 patch and the BNW mod I have a huge archieve of units and structures. Now there is only one thing I want and that is more and changed abilities. The ability which is highest on my wish list is Healing II.

Now I've read this threat and I fear that changing those abilies are out of my league. However I'm to stuborn to give up so I want to dive a bit more in those brains of yours. Maybe I can get you to translate the mumbo jumbo I read hear to normal English.

Anyway, this is as far as I got. With the tutorial of Turbo Beholder I changed healing I into healing II. Real great and all but it's only the name right? Changing that could be done in easier ways if I'm not mistaken. What I would like to know is how I can change the stats of the abilitie.
I know that some of them can be changed in the editor. But take for example the Double Strike. I would like to create I tripple strike, but I don't see any stats that could influance the number of hits. I was also thinking about creating multiple types of archery by replacing other abilities wich I hardly use.

Now I'm starting to get confused by my own writing. Let me try to get to the point and ask some clear questions.

How can I change the stats of healing II? (created with the tutorial of Turbo Beholder)
How is that you (Turbo Beholder) knew that it was that 01 that needed to be changed to get the healing II?

Let's keep it at that for now. I hope you guys can help me out though I would understand if you rather not. After all this is a lot more complicated then changing a few unit stats and such.

Adios,

Grootvriend

Turbo Beholder
Member

posted 01-03-06 02:47 AM EDT (US) 49 / 71

Quoted from Grootvriend:

How can I change the stats of healing II? (created with the tutorial of Turbo Beholder)

It's not a separate ability so it have no "stats" in itself and as far as i can understand, range will change proportional to basic Healing stats - something like estimated "2* Healing HPs + Healing MinHP(=MaxHP/2) +(Level-1) = Healing.MaxHP * (1.5 ... 2.5) +(Level-1)" (i did not analyzed executable or collected statistics yet).
Lower boundary and unusual amplification with only 1 level seems to be caused by change that forces Healing to always add at least Healing.MaxHP/2 Hit Points.
Perhaps with exe-Mod something may be changed... Or not.

Quoted from Grootvriend:

How is that you (Turbo Beholder) knew that it was that 01 that needed to be changed to get the healing II?

I know where. First, from experiments with minimal .AIL library files: difference between Marksmanship I and Marksmanship II is this byte.
Now i see the same from structure: i know in typical ability record there's ClassID before table and 2 generic fields: AbilityID and Level. AbilityID presents in all ability records save Walking (that means Default value, =0), Level presents in all, even in Walking.

Quoted from Grootvriend:

After all this is a lot more complicated then changing a few unit stats and such.

No, it's simple. This thing just was not used in AoWSMEd - it allows only use of built-in procedures to add levels of specific abilities until built-in Level Maximum (maybe its changeable, but perhaps not) is reached.

And even I make no pretence Of having more than common sence _{- R.W.Wood}
The secret half a country keeps, the whisper in the lane... _{- R.Kipling}
[UPatch 1.4 Team] * STLpack

grootvriend
Member

posted 01-03-06 06:08 AM EDT (US) 50 / 71

I'm starting to understand this hex editing. By changing the one into a two doest just change the name of healing. It also change the effect it has. For instance healing two gave me 18hp instead of the lowsy 10.
I've also messed around with markmanship and created an archer that could do about 36 damage (theoritical). When I testet it, it didn't even come close to that amount of damage but it was indeed a lot higher then any other archery attack I've ever used.

Now you said you head a free version of hiew. Do you have any idea if that versien is still around for downloading somewhere. With the demo I can only change small files so the item libraries are not problem as long as I keep them small but the unit abilties are a whole different story. Those files are to large for the demo version to open.

Thanks for the help so far. It's time for me to play a bit more with it. Let's see how far I can push the boundaries of Aow.

Adios,

Grootvriend

Turbo Beholder
Member

posted 01-03-06 06:57 AM EDT (US) 51 / 71

Quoted from grootvriend:

doest just change the name of healing

? Where from you have taken this ? Name is given in AoWSM.exe resources.
The byte i have pointed out is merely one of fields of TAbility and descendant classes. This field's ID (for storage format) is known, so we can change proper one. Just like AbilityID or timer for Cursed. Nothing more.

And even I make no pretence Of having more than common sence _{- R.W.Wood}
The secret half a country keeps, the whisper in the lane... _{- R.Kipling}
[UPatch 1.4 Team] * STLpack

Turbo Beholder
Member

posted 01-03-06 09:47 AM EDT (US) 52 / 71

Ability - ClassIDs (moved from first message):

╤ 36 01 10 01. . Ability - passive Abilities
│ (e.g. Dragon Growth, First Strike, Flying and Wall Crushing have this ClassID).
│
├ 36 01 10 01. . [TDisbandAbility]
├ 36 01 10 01. . [TSpellAbility]
│
├ bf 01 10 01.-. Group Ability
├ be 01 10 01. . Leadership
│ (grants Ability to Party; tweaks works strange)
│
├┐6a 01 10 01.*. Enchantment
│└ 13 00 11 01.*. Resurgence (Enchantment)
│ (Undead "Zombie", "Phoenix", "Da Bomb" item)
│
├┐6a 01 10 01. . [TCombatEA]
│├ 4a 00 21 01. . High Prayer
│├ 1c 00 11 01. . Oily Skin
│└ 0e 00 21 01. . Weakened (rounds)
│
├┐36 01 10 01. . [TCombatAbility] + (Attack, Damage, {DamageTypes})
││
│├ 45 01 10 01. . Strike
│├┐00 00 11 01. . TouchAbility - Round Attack, Steam
│││
││├┐00 00 11 01. . [TCorpseTA]
│││├ 46 00 11 01. . Resurrect
│││└ 47 00 11 01. . Animate Corpse
│││
││├┐01 00 11 01.-. TCommandAbility
│││├ 06 00 21 01. . Control Animal
│││├ 43 00 21 01. . Dominate
│││├ 20 00 11 01. . Seduce
│││└ 3b 00 11 01. . Trap(3/3)
│││
││├┐0b 00 11 01. . StatusTA - Entangle
│││├ 19 00 11 01. . Turn Undead
│││├ 1b 00 11 01. . Web
│││└ 3e 00 11 01. . Strangle
│││
││├ 40 00 11 01. . Infect
││├ 43 00 11 01. . Dispel Magic
││├┐0f 00 11 01. . Healing (U){#}
│││└ 08 00 21 01. . Repair Machine
│││
││├ 0a 00 11 01. . Possess
││├ 07 00 21 01. . Sabotage
││├ 24 00 11 01. . Grasp (3/3)
││├ 1e 00 21 01. . Self Destruct
││├ 28 00 11 01. . Steal Enchantment
││├ 2a 00 11 01. . Whirlwind (3/3)
││├ 3d 00 11 01. . Spread Attack
││├ 4a 00 11 01. . Drain Will
││└ 4c 00 11 01. . Ram
││
│├┐44 01 10 01. . RangedAttack Ability + (Shots, Range)
│││ (Fire..., Hurl..., Shoot..., ...Bolts, Venomous Spit, etc, also Flame Throwing and Frost Blowing)
│││
││├┐45 00 21 01. . BreathAbility (3/3)
│││└ 48 00 11 01. . Pixie Dust (3/3)
│││
││├ 11 00 11 01. . Phase
││├ 16 00 11 01. . Taunt
│││
││├┐26 00 11 01.-. TSummonAbility
│││└ 25 00 11 01. . Spawn Larva
│││
││├ 34 00 11 01. . Throw Spear (U)
││├ 35 00 11 01. . Morph
││└ 3a 00 11 01. . Doom Gaze
││
│└ 10 00 21 01. . Spell Casting
│
├┐36 01 10 01. . [TStatusAbility]
│├┐05 00 11 01. . CombatStatusAbility (rounds) - Frozen
││├ 0f 00 21 01. . Stunned
││├ 39 00 11 01. . Paralyzed
││├ 1e 00 11 01. . Entangled
││├ 49 00 21 01. . Energy Drained
││├ 04 00 11 01. . Burning
││├ 42 00 21 01. . Rotting
││├ 1f 00 11 01. . Webbed
││├ 12 00 11 01. . Feral Mount
││├ 17 00 11 01. . Taunted
││├ 1a 00 11 01. . Panicked
││├ 14 00 11 01. . Swarmed
││├ 2b 00 11 01. . Double Gravity
││├ 32 00 11 01. . Confused
││├ 3f 00 21 01. . Blinded
││└ 23 00 11 01. . Trapped
│└
├ 21 00 11 01. . CombatResurganceAbility - Resurgence
├ 15 00 11 01. . ConsumeAbility - Devour/Swallow Whole
│
├┐36 01 10 01. . [TUseAbility]
│├ b1 01 10 01. . Build Outpost
│├ 06 02 10 01. . Caravan
│├ bd 01 10 01. . Build Roads
│├ dd 01 10 01. . Rebuild Structure
│├ 15 02 10 01. . Shadow Shift
│└ 20 02 10 01. . Build Watch Tower
│
├┐c0 01 10 01. . DurationAbility [turns] - Poisoned, Vertigo;
│├ d5 01 10 01. . Cursed
│├ e9 01 10 01. . HasteDuration
│└ 23 02 10 01. . Shadow Walking
│
├ 29 02 10 01. . Crusader
├ 6b 01 10 01. . Summoned
├ f6 01 10 01. . Poison Domain
├ 25 02 10 01. . Summoner's Aura
├ 02 00 11 01. . Commanded - Seduced, Charmed, Dominated, Controlled, Enslaved
│
├┐36 01 10 01. . [TCombatEffectAbility]
│├ 3f 00 11 01. . Infected
│├ 4d 00 11 01. . Will Drained
│├ 2e 00 11 01. . Holy Light
│├ 2f 00 11 01. . Unholy Darkness
│├ 31 00 11 01. . Mud
│└ 30 00 11 01. . Wind Ward
│
└ 14 00 21 01. . AnimatedAbility - Animated, Martyr
__
Tree pseudographics represents class inheritance

Legend:
"_-_" - presents in executable, but unused in real maps; i not tested this yet;
"_*_" - extra data object (not mere fields) is used for enchantment data;
grayed ClassID [Class] (ClassID = Ancestor's ID) => seems to be abstract classes.

And even I make no pretence Of having more than common sence _{- R.W.Wood}
The secret half a country keeps, the whisper in the lane... _{- R.Kipling}
[UPatch 1.4 Team] * STLpack

grootvriend
Member

posted 01-03-06 04:02 PM EDT (US) 53 / 71

At first the item had the ability 'healing I' When I hex-edited the item the name of the ability was changed into 'healing II' Therefor I thought that it only did that, change the name. This would of course be useless because there are far easier ways to change the name.
After some testing however I learned that it was not just the name that had been changed but the entire ability.

O I now see what could be the cause of this mis understanding. 'doest just change the name of healing' should be 'doesn't just change the name of healing'.

I'm now experimenting with the hero libraries to. This time I tried to change the movepoints. Now I know which number to change but it seems it can't be higher then ten. Is this were the Unit Editor of Pawals kicks in or is this hard coded? In other words, is it possible to change the extra move points to above ten?

Adios,

Wiebe

ps) I'm starting to like this hex stuff

Timelord
HG Cherub

posted 01-04-06 05:28 AM EDT (US) 54 / 71

Turbo Beholder (or PawelS),
can you send me your copy of STL?. I downloaded STL vers 2.21 and 2.30 from three websites, but all three failed CRC checks for STL.exe while extracting. One site even offered STL v2.54 but the file was too small to mean anything (34kb and it didn't even open!).

So, if you can send me your copy of STL, it would be good. My email is in my profile. Thanks!

Edit: If you could also send me a copy of your STL-pack, I can do some tests and provide feedback! I am very much interested in what can be achieved using it.

[This message has been edited by Timelord (edited 01-04-2006 @ 06:10 AM).]

Merkraad
Member

posted 06-10-06 01:51 PM EDT (US) 55 / 71

eh hum Hi.

Unlike grootvriend, I don't think I'll be messing with Hex or any code editing anytime soon

I wanted to contact Turbo Beholder for a long time, so I am posting here, since his e-mail is not publicized in his heavens profile.

1) First, I would like to ask if the Unit Editor from Pawels will be updated anytime soon? Pawels himself told me he has no time to do that, even if he could just co-develpo, since he sent the source code for my brother.

Problem is my brother is busy too, heh, and I don't have the skills or even like to do coding or programming related things, so I was wondering if a program with a graphic interface will be out for all of us out-of-the-specific-programming field out there

I really like to Mod and I can say humbly that I have good ideas, but they sometimes bump into things that CAN be altered, BUT are out of my league. I have almost a whole Mod project on a .doc lol all text and stats and ideas...

2) And what is this STL thing and what will it accomplish?

3) By the way, Turbo Beholder, if you have any basic guide with all the info on AoW data stuff could you send to me so I pass to my brother? Merkraad @ taskmail.com.br

4) Last but not least, I have to say that people that are not accomplished programmers AND messed a lot with AoW data can't really understand your posts Turbo Beholder

Artist, Sorcerer, Monk and AoW Series fan
Proud citizen of BRASIL \o/ |o/ \o| \o/ |o| /o/ \o/
Blog with some art

www.the-battlefield.com ex-member with fond memories:Battlefield Player of the year 2003;Battlefield Winner of 4 Tourneys;Battlefield Winner of AoW league 2004
Proud owner of an AoW SM poster signed by Devs!
Please try the fantastic BNW Mod made by my friend Kirky Picardo! The best AoW:SM Mod!

PawelS
Member

posted 06-10-06 07:16 PM EDT (US) 56 / 71

I think after the group phase of the "Weltmeisterschaft" I'll have some time to finish some unfinished things.

A proud member of the Unofficial Patch team.
Creator of the AoW1 Mod.

Turbo Beholder
Member

posted 11-27-06 02:11 PM EDT (US) 57 / 71

Quoted from "Merkraad":

Unlike grootvriend, I don't think I'll be messing with Hex or any code editing anytime soon

You don't need code, at least until exe-mods will be permitted and you'll want to try this. As to Hex - now there's my structure definitions for SEN StructLook, it's more handy way.

Quoted from "Merkraad":

I wanted to contact Turbo Beholder for a long time, so I am posting here, since his e-mail is not publicized in his heavens profile.

But my ICQ is. BTW, one can send message even without ICQ account - from www.icq.com site.

Quoted from "Merkraad":

2) And what is this STL thing and what will it accomplish?

"StructLook" is structure interpreter: it represents data file contents in convenient form, according to format definitions (in script-like text file with ".STL" extension). I more or less described AoW files now. Search and download archive stl430.zip, its MD5 checksum = b771029fefe5038281e5281c037de0be. See manual and definitions language in "STL_EN.430" file, some examples (structures of widespread file formats) are included in archive. Usually you need only to open file with StructLook (i prefer with keys bound in filemanager), press Enter and choose first structure in list.

Also my own AoW-related STLs (573k total) and few more are available.

Quoted from "Merkraad":

3) By the way, Turbo Beholder, if you have any basic guide with all the info on AoW data stuff could you send to me

Sent some mail @ 12 Jul, but did not received answer and/or STL files request.
If anything related is still needed, reply to that mail or send ICQ, i'll reply.

Quoted from "Merkraad":

4) Last but not least, I have to say that people that are not accomplished programmers AND messed a lot with AoW data can't really understand your posts Turbo Beholder

Hmmm, i suppose sometimes there's too much OOP stuff, yes. But issue itself leaves little choice. When subject essentially is "pile of raw Delphi objects' internals"... On the other hand, understanding of OOP basics (i'm rather miserable programmer myself) and some experience with AoWSMEd should provide most background one could need. But real browsing with StructLook makes it all much easier since it's visual.
__
As to Morph: it contains target UnitResource ID, which can be changed easily. But there's a problem: after Morph unit acquires Changeling ability, which removes Morph and adds new one as soon as unit kills humanoid. Greater level does not prevents removal.

And even I make no pretence Of having more than common sence _{- R.W.Wood}
The secret half a country keeps, the whisper in the lane... _{- R.Kipling}
[UPatch 1.4 Team] * STLpack

Merkraad
Member

posted 11-27-06 02:37 PM EDT (US) 58 / 71

I'll try the STL but if you called yourself a miserable programmer I shouldn't even try

anyways send me AoW related stuff (AoW-related STLs (573k total) to merkraad @ taskmail dot com dot br I'll gather courage meanwhile.

So it is possible to make an Item with Morph (Dragon) and such?

Also, would you be willing to make a custom .fx for me? Contact me in e-mail above.

Artist, Sorcerer, Monk and AoW Series fan
Proud citizen of BRASIL \o/ |o/ \o| \o/ |o| /o/ \o/
Blog with some art

[This message has been edited by Merkraad (edited 11-27-2006 @ 02:38 PM).]

Griffith
Member

posted 11-27-06 05:24 PM EDT (US) 59 / 71

Hey,

Sry dont have time to read all that above right now, but may i ask is it possible to change which unit slots are used for metamorphosis ability? (and what/which slots do it use now exactly?)

Could be cool ability for some other purpose for a mod, since the current metamorphosis is rather little used, i think.

Merkraad
Member

posted 11-28-06 08:25 AM EDT (US) 60 / 71

Hi Griffith! Yes, those 'growth' abilities are interesting for a Mod, and saw little use so far. I don't think the slots can be changed, however. Hope I am wrong and PawelS or others figured this out though

they are:

Metamorphosis will change a unit into two units:

Slot 356 (Spawn, Shadow Demon)
Slot 357 (Bombard, Shadow Demon)

Draconian Growth will change a unit into two units:

Slot 31 (Charger, Draconian race)
Slot 32 (Flamer, Draconian race)

The 2 above must be carefully dealt with though; those units may be among the start army of a player (there are a range of unit slots that can always be part of a start army - regardless of actual buildable Units of a race)
In Dwiggs 1.4 Mod, Demon players often start with a Dark Elven Great Spider because she is in Slots 356 and 357 (Spider Spawn have metamorphosis ability to grow into Great Spider).
So if the player is of an opposite alignment/or neutral and Anarchist when those Unit slots are changed, he could have rebelling Units very early.

Dragon Growth will change a unit into four units:
Slot 38 (Red Dragon, Draconian race)
Slot 222 (Ice Dragon, Air Sphere Summon)
Slot 275 (Gold Dragon, Secret Summon)
Slot 277 (Black Dragon, Secret Summon)

I obtained this Info from Kharagh's small but excellent site at http://www.freewebs.com/kharagh/units.htm

I have more info organized, if someone is interested I could be willing to work on and post a Modding guide sometime.

Artist, Sorcerer, Monk and AoW Series fan
Proud citizen of BRASIL \o/ |o/ \o| \o/ |o| /o/ \o/
Blog with some art

[This message has been edited by Merkraad (edited 11-28-2006 @ 08:32 AM).]

Turbo Beholder
Member

posted 11-29-06 02:20 PM EDT (US) 61 / 71

As i mentioned there, Metamorphosis works unlike both ...Growth abilities - without explicit use of target UnitRes ID constants. It may be "any 1-lvl SD" or "SD accessible with Barrack" or something like. Some experiments are needed to tell with certainty.

And even I make no pretence Of having more than common sence _{- R.W.Wood}
The secret half a country keeps, the whisper in the lane... _{- R.Kipling}
[UPatch 1.4 Team] * STLpack

Merkraad
Member

posted 12-05-06 07:43 AM EDT (US) 62 / 71

I tested "any 1-lvl SD" by adding more SD level 1's.
Tested "SD accessible with Barrack" by adding more SD units to Barracks.
Tested both together, adding Level 1's SD to barracks.
In all results, I still got only Bombards and Spawns out of Metamorphosis.

Artist, Sorcerer, Monk and AoW Series fan
Proud citizen of BRASIL \o/ |o/ \o| \o/ |o| /o/ \o/
Blog with some art

RosenMcStern
Member

posted 12-05-06 07:57 AM EDT (US) 63 / 71

I can confirm this. Age of Glorantha makes heavy usage of this, as the equivalent of the larva is much more powerful, and only the units in the following two slots are spawned, one of which is produced at the temple, not the barracks. Nor do other lvl1 units of the same race, which incidentally is Orcs and not SD, appear.

Paolo Guccione
Alephtar Games

Griffith
Member

posted 12-10-06 01:07 AM EDT (US) 64 / 71

I was excited with the morph idea presented earlier on the other thread, so i had to try how its done.. I understood u can hex edit the target of Morph ability from Unitres.pfs file, is this right?

I tried this with my test unit, but for some reason the AoWSMEd wouldnt load the mod after the changes.. (wrong changes maybe)

Anyway, i found line ..35 00 11-01 03 14 00-15 04 29 05 04 01 00 00.., with hex editor under the name of my test unit, so i suppose it refers to the morph ability.. What hex should i change now to alter the target of morph? All hexes i tried resulted in error with editor (maybe i did something else wrong?)..

thx

PawelS
Member

posted 12-10-06 02:01 AM EDT (US) 65 / 71

Quote:

I tried this with my test unit, but for some reason the AoWSMEd wouldnt load the mod after the changes.. (wrong changes maybe)

After any changes in PFS/AHR files, you have to update the CRC (last four bytes of the file). You can download some C++ source code that does it from my website.

I don't know how to change the target of Morph.

A proud member of the Unofficial Patch team.
Creator of the AoW1 Mod.

[This message has been edited by PawelS (edited 12-10-2006 @ 02:04 AM).]

Merkraad
Member

posted 12-10-06 06:33 AM EDT (US) 66 / 71

Quoted from PawelS:

I don't know how to change the target of Morph.

Sniff that's too bad so it's utterly impossible?

So I guess great part of the Ability. Maskabilities list effect thread is wishful thinking...

*cries*

Artist, Sorcerer, Monk and AoW Series fan
Proud citizen of BRASIL \o/ |o/ \o| \o/ |o| /o/ \o/
Blog with some art

[This message has been edited by Merkraad (edited 12-10-2006 @ 06:33 AM).]

PawelS
Member

posted 12-10-06 08:24 AM EDT (US) 67 / 71

Quote:

so it's utterly impossible?

It's probably possible (as Tubrbo Beholder seems to have tested it), but I just don't know how to do it, because I haven't investigated this matter.

A proud member of the Unofficial Patch team.
Creator of the AoW1 Mod.

[This message has been edited by PawelS (edited 12-10-2006 @ 08:26 AM).]

DimaGromyko
Member

posted 12-11-06 02:04 AM EDT (US) 68 / 71

Griffith write:
>Anyway, i found line ..35 00 11-01 03 14 00-15 04 29 05 04 01 00 00.., with hex editor under the name of my test unit, so i suppose it refers to the morph ability.. What hex should i change now to alter the target of morph? All hexes i tried resulted in error with editor (maybe i did something else wrong?)..

I try to explain you how it work's, but sorry for my english.

So first of all you must open unitres files under PawelS utility ("uniteditor" or something like that). Then you open same file with hex-editor and find the line: 35 00 11-01 03 14 00-15 04 29 05 04 01 00 00 01 XX XX, were xx xx - number of target-unit with "morph". Close and save res file under hex-editor and AFTER that close it in uniteditor.

Also you must mask "changeling" by other's ability.

If something not understandable I can show example - but I don't know, how to put it here

[This message has been edited by DimaGromyko (edited 12-11-2006 @ 02:09 AM).]

Griffith
Member

posted 12-11-06 12:38 PM EDT (US) 69 / 71

That was quite clearly explained, thx y'all, ill try this1 soon

P.S. Tried this now, and seems to work Could only edit the first byte of those DimaGromyko marked XX, or the unit wouldnt work.. This will allow many new things.. Nice findings DimaGromyko & TurboBeholder!

[This message has been edited by Griffith (edited 12-12-2006 @ 12:35 PM).]

Turbo Beholder
Member

posted 12-30-06 12:03 PM EDT (US) 70 / 71

Quoted from "PawelS":

I don't know how to change the target of Morph.

Oh, it's property 0x29 (also used in Duration Ability). Perhaps i have to mail-list my STLs.

for other interested people - STructLook use is highly recommended, it simplifies analysis and editing very much.
35 00 11 01 - TMorphAbility (ClassID)
03 14 00 15 04 29 05 - short index table (for 3 properties)
04 01 00 00 - Morph (AbilityID)
01 - Ability Level
XX XX xx xx - UnitRes #

And even I make no pretence Of having more than common sence _{- R.W.Wood}
The secret half a country keeps, the whisper in the lane... _{- R.Kipling}
[UPatch 1.4 Team] * STLpack

[This message has been edited by Turbo Beholder (edited 12-30-2006 @ 12:04 PM).]

Griffith
Member

posted 01-18-07 06:00 AM EDT (US) 71 / 71

Ok, ill post few issues i encountered with this fast, incase some1 has use of it.. some of these are mentioned allrdy..

- You cant change morph target with medals, only one morph / unit can be used (from the medal of your choice).

- When morphing from medaled form to another medaled form you wont receive the medal bonus abilities (but will get some hp, def etc). A way to go around this is for example if you want to give some unit a morph ability at silver, and the target unit also gets silver medal when morphed, then give that unit silver medal abilities by default..

- New form allways gets maximum hp and mp after morph, so if unit can switch back and forth with forms, some penalty while morphing is in order (paralyze is good like TB suggested)

- And ofcourse Changeling ability needs to be masked out with some other ability. (Shadow walker or shadow walking is good option IMO). Just put Changeling under the Mask abilities list of ability of your choice.

Otherwise if you can manage with these restrictions, the morphing ability can now be put to use, and works cool (As you can find out from new version on NA2 )

[This message has been edited by Griffith (edited 01-18-2007 @ 12:04 PM).]

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