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Scenarios » DEMONWARS II - Transcendence & Immortalis V1.3
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DEMONWARS II - Transcendence & Immortalis V1.3
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| Author |
File Description |
| morgul666 |
Posted on 07/10/07 @ 02:19 PM (updated 07/26/07)
| File Details |
|---|
| Ruleset: |
AoW: SM - Unofficial Patch 1.4 |
| Map Size: |
XL |
| Levels: |
2 |
| Single Player?: |
Yes |
| Co-Op vs. AI?: |
No |
| PBEM/Hotseat?: |
No |
| Multiplayer Online?: |
No |
| # of Wizards: |
7 |
| # of players: |
1 |
| Skill Level: |
Expert |
| Password Protected: |
Yes |
THE MAP-PASSWORD IS ERDEM (maybe that´s also good for me should I ever forget the password myself :)
DEMONWARS II - Transcendence & Immortalis
V1.3 (you didn´t really think, V1.2 was the last version, did you??) - no, of course still somebody detected a wonderful bug with a tremendous impact - this time concerning magic... I highly encourage everybody, how hasn´t played an older version too far, to restart this one. It´s harder but it prevents the use (abuse!) of magic which goes along with the story...)
Morgul
V1.2 !!! IMPORTANT !!! KILLER-BUG removed!!! Attention all players of the V1 or V1.1 Version: If you meet Aydrian somewhere in the underworld (the blue player) - kill or avoid his armies AND DO !!!!!NOT!!!!! ally (or make peace) with him!! This will kill the story!!!
It is an unbelievable bug, that his troops can reach the tunnels (really not my fault...:-(
sorry.
V1.1 - correction of a minor 'bug' (nothing vital but had to be changed) and one important thing changed...I can´t give too many details here...
Needs Patch 1.4.
ZIP includes own resources needed for this map!!!!!
(copy in User/Resources/transcendence - use the setup program to use these resources!!!) and the ahm file for the map. The Zip file is stored with all files and folders relative to your Shadow Magic folder so just extract to there with use relative folders turned on.
This is my second - and given the amount of work and time (and fun!!) that flew into it, by far most ambitious map to date.
It´s a big Epic. All you strategy-purists around will probably hate it and should rather avoid this one, haha!
Even with (almost) no 'take object A and bring to B' events, this secenario is largely story- and quest-driven; it´s like reading a novel and participating on it (like roleplaying). I hope that all those who love the mixture of adventure and strategy will enjoy it – and hopefully for many hours!
It cointains tons of events enbedded in an extensive storyline (based on two novels - the middle and final part of a great saga - the Demonwars, part II, by one of my favourite authors of fantasy literature - Bob Salvatore! This is my personal way to give credit to his numerous great novels of the past 20 years! - and I´m not only reffering to those about the prominent Drizzt ;-)
Due to several reasons, It is quite an unconventional scenario with lot´s of quests (both vital ones, that !have to! be solved as well as minor ones), some special effects!! ;-) as well as situations that might seem strange or surprising. Maybe not to those, who have read the novels...
But don´t be afraid - beside the roleplay-like main plot, there should be still enough challenging strategic elements!!!
Needless to say that this scenario is not for beginners but rather for veterans ;-)
Special: You will pretty soon find out, that magic plays a very minor role (at least in the first part of the story). This is a story-based fact and absolutely intended. Just very shortly for your understanding: In the world of Corona, magic is being practiced through the use of gemstones (without going into detail) by those, who have the ability to do it. Only very few people have both the ability and the necessary gemstones to practice magic.
Do also not wonder why you can produce in most towns only low-level units. This is also intended.
Try to live (or to survive) with what you have at hand - be inventive - find or recruit allies whereever you can and handle each of your units as if it was your last. That´s my good advise... ;-)
Technical stuff: This project called for an adaptation of many units, heroes and wizzards in order to achieve the fitting atmosphere, realize certain effects and adapt all a bit to the story background. (What I always hated for example was the limitation to only mounted heroes... some new 1.4 patch hero-types making the exception but I needed other stuff! ;-)
So I changed a lot ;-) without endangering the balancing of the game... (BTW: There is none, haha - as I prefer it, you start with little, find yourself surrounded by a lot (of enemies) and hopefully end up with a lot, surrounded by little (or nothing?)... or maybe the end is something totally different? Let´s find it out...
Password: I thought a lot about password-protecting this map or not. I came to the conclusion that I simply have to.
It would exceptionally (believe me!) reduce the fun-factor for the player if he saw the map (especially certain details) before playing. It´s somehow like reading the end of a novel first... I know a person who actually is doing that but I´m pretty sure she is the exception ;-)
Furthermore, the chaotic scripting as well as the many special, intricate tricks I had to apply in order to enable certain "happenings" are very sensitive and if but the slightest change was done by somebody (i.e. remove a seemingly innocent unit from a certain place or whatever else), it could have a tremendous impact on the gameplay (worst of which would be not being able to proceed at a certain point or even win the map).
BUT1: For all who would like to examine the map just from design-perspective, I have attached a version completely cleared of all scripts and adapted a few things ;-)
BUT2: I highly encourage all who would like to enjoy the map fully, NOT to view it upfront (only perhaps, if you should be stuck somewhere and look for a possible way out ;-)
final (and most important) note:
Even if you might get annoyed of reading at some points throughout playing, please do it - for your own sake. Most parts of the story might be helpful in understanding what it´s all about,or to understand the motives of certain protagonists or quests or anything else.
Of special importance though, is reading the descriptions of the quests! Every important task is controlled by a quest that you don´t lose track.
ONCE MORE: There are MANDATORY quests that HAVE TO BE SOLVED IN TIME, otherwise you lose the game!! This will of course be mentioned clearly in the description of the quest!
Last sentence before the last word:
I´m currently thinking about the possibilty of making a double-player map out of that still goes along with the main plot which might prove to be another challenge, if not even an impossible task. But nonetheless, it won´t happen anytime earlier then winter, as I have to take holiday now from mapmaking for a while ;-)
Last word:
Have fun!
Morgul |
| Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 » Last » | | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Swolte
Staff |
Posted on 07/10/07 @ 09:50 PM
- Danger of being premature -
Again, I haven't actually played it, but I wouldn't be surprised if this map ends up to be in the top list of best maps ever.[Edited on 07/10/07 @ 09:51 PM]
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| Ravencourt |
Posted on 07/11/07 @ 01:36 PM
Cheers to you mate, keep it up![Edited on 07/11/07 @ 01:37 PM]
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| Dreaming |
Posted on 07/11/07 @ 02:42 PM
Magnificent masterpiece....
I played it a little. It has some really good detail. Story is good. I´d say this is one of the best ones I´ve met. Oh, and it is quite hard actually. A good map indeed.
ps. I´ve read the books. |
| rat_peddler |
Posted on 07/11/07 @ 10:12 PM
Great map, very detailed story with events. However, there were more then a few times I had to start over a few turns back.
The advisor in underground didn't really give much information to find the exit. I finally had to open the Watch me map to find it.
I made a map like this once as well for Eragon, it is difficult to balance some open ended play with keeping the story on track.
Maybe I wasn't supposed to take the advice to ESCAPE?[Edited on 07/11/07 @ 10:12 PM]
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morgul666
File Author |
Posted on 07/12/07 @ 03:06 AM
I knew, that very soon first questions/comments would come up so I´m prepared to answer them ;-)
Rat Peddler: Even though I don´t know, to which U.ground adviser you are reffering to: It´s supposed to be hard to find the exit - that´s the idea behind...
But your other remark concerns/astonsihes me: You did right to escape! - but I don´t know why you lost, when your secondary hero got killed? That should not happen! (BTW what do you mean with lose - you lost completely the game or just the fight?)
In case of the first: Where was the 2nd hero (I guess you talk about Ashwarawu) when he got killed -> I might have an idea and then I should instantly change a small but important thing...
But nonetheless - I played the map for the XYZ... time myself the last two days and the situation you mentioned worked fine as it´s supposed to. One hint from me: Keep Ashwarawu in the town to defend - even if it should proof his doom...
I´ll check it out anyway to see, if there still is a bug somewhere.
As for your final comment:
you are right - it´s a challenge to keep the story on track while maintaining the balance - if there is supposed to be balance ;-)
You were warned: There is no balance and at least the guy, who said he read the books will probably understand, why ;-)
Try to survive. This time you are not the hunter, but the prey (at least in the beginning). But try to keep the hunter busy as hard as you can.
I´ve playtested the whole thing several times and hours - it´s works out fine in the end if you watch your back.
nonetheless, there might come an update soon with 2-3 very minor changes/corrections when I see the need to do it. Watch out the download area.
Once more, thank you all for the appraisal of my work.
Morgul |
| akimbo4 |
Posted on 07/12/07 @ 10:15 AM
I upzipped the folder into the custom scenario folder like normal, and a copy into the "User/Resources" folder (although there was no "transcendance" folder that I could see). I dont have any other patches installed, only the 1.4 unofficial, and I started the game in "default" on the setup window. I couldnt find where it said to "use relative folders" when extracting, although I may have just missed that!
Anyway, if anyone has any tips for me, i would apreciate it very much - thanks! |
Swolte
Staff |
Posted on 07/12/07 @ 12:27 PM
Just so every one knows:
First, make sure the FOLDER called transcendence (which contains those .PFS files) is located in the User/Resources Folder. If you haven't used the auto-zip, you need to find it manually in the files that you downloaded.
Then, you move to the AoW-SM Setup. This is a separate startup program (you can access it through your Windows: START - Programs, etc...). It's probably set to default (the upatch 14). Select the transcendence mod from custom resources and now you should be able to access the map.
If these steps are followed, it should work!
Note that you need to switch back to 'Default' to use the upatch.[Edited on 07/12/07 @ 12:29 PM]
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| rat_peddler |
Posted on 07/12/07 @ 01:02 PM
Any advice on a work around given this situation. I could send you my map via email in it's current state if that would help to see the issue. |
morgul666
File Author |
Posted on 07/12/07 @ 04:21 PM
okay, what you write seems quite clear to me and apparently it´s no bug (good luck ;-)
You have to conquer the town!! The quest HAS TO be solved!! (It´s written clearly in the quest, that it´s mandatory)
As soon as the quest is solved (i.e. the town Dharyan is conquered by you) the game will not be lost anymore when you lose Ashwarawu.
Otherwise, your savegame is corrupted.
In this case, I could send you a savegame of mine (fortunately, I had to stop yesterday almost exactly at that spot when my wife told me, it was time to go to bed, haha ;-)
OK:
One notion concerning quests by the way: UNFORTUNATELY, it happend to me in some rare cases, that due to whatever unknown reason, a quest would not be triggered when it should. I don´t know why - it´s no error in the scripting, 'cause in 95% of cases it works.
But sometimes not...
If somebody witnesses something like that...be inventive... try it several times, approach a certain place from a different direction, leave some units out, don´t know... sometimes, it helped... but I haven´t had that for a while now. Maybe it´s solved...?! |
| The Groll |
Posted on 07/14/07 @ 02:39 PM
I don´t know if there are heros scratched in this "watch version", because there are not very much heros in his map but the map itself is a masterpiece!
Don´t know how much events are in this map because they are scratched in the "watch version".
Don´t know exactly now but it seams that the hero and wizard pictures are not perfect cutted & resized but that is not a real negative thing here.
For my own mapmaking project I thing again if it is good to use a password now when I see this fantastic map. On the other hand I absolutely aggree with morgul and his arguments about password protection.
It was a good idea to make this light version.
I will do it to maybe.
I hope we get the password soon or this two player version, because there is only one playable nation (I don´t like that but I understand why you made it - I will use another way to make all nations playable in my new map) and I only play with my girlfriend in hotseat but I´m burning to play this wonderfull map then.
It looks realy fantastic.
The land is not pasted together like cutted papers.
No, it looks as it is grown from the nature itself!
I will vote for this map when we have the password and if I have played it with my girl, for sure.
But I can even now say that creativity and landscape design will get a 5 from me.
I have not played a single turn but the map realy looks very, very nice.
I´m curious how many hours you have spend to this masterpiece and I can totaly understand that you need holidays now from mapmaking.
Fantastic work, morgul666![Edited on 07/14/07 @ 02:52 PM]
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| Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 » Last » |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
|---|
| 4.6 | | Breakdown |
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| Playability | 3.8 | | Balance | 4.3 | | Creativity | 5.0 | | Map Design | 4.8 | | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 2,881 |
| Favorites: [] | 0 |
| Size: | 3.78 MB |
| Added: | 07/10/07 |
| Updated: | 07/26/07 |
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