Q about 301 patch

[steammagic]

I was stumble bumming around on the INTERNET when I looked up from my stupor and noticed this forum and NanTerA's LOMSE's website.

I immediately downloaded LOMSE from Underdogs and applied the LOMSE 301 beta patch, you know the one that spawns unicorns or some sort of ornery winged horsies in the Chaos area level 1 huts. That patch didn't work out, it gave me a partial memory read error so I gave up and loaded in Gs5 instead.

That just crashed the game, it did not load maps and some of the start icon buttons were missing as well as the background music in the UN-gs5 game.

I poured the rest of the liqueur down the sink (pure grain belt, I'll mourn it later) got to some serious searching and in the garage, after disturbing vast amounts of spiders, found the original LOMSE disk behind an old keg I've been meaning to return.

I installed it and after some circa 1998 flashbacks of Sierra ad screens, LOMSE with Gs5 impaled, loads and starts a game fine.

---What does the 301patch do that Gs5 does NOT do?
---Is that beta patch even needed?
---What files does the beta patch alter?

If we need that patch, can you reload it or have other links to it?

The patch archive one presented seems corrupt (it gives "only a part of a read processmemory or write processmemory request was completed" error)…

The alternate links given here in the forum do not work and I cannot find it anywhere else on the Internet.

Thanks

LOMSE RULZ

[Boaster]

Very good questions, and it's good thing you found your disc. The Underdogs download does not have the flashy movies or the music included. And also, I think you may have downloaded "Lords of Magic" from the Underdogs, not "Lords of Magic: Special Edition."

Another thing, it's Mantera or ManTerA. Who the hell is NanTerA? [Laugh out Loud].

What does the 301 beta patch do that the GS5 mod does not?
Creates bugs and modifies the LOMSE executable (lomse.exe).

However, the GS5 mod corrects bugs from both 3.00 and 3.01. You will not find Pegasus creatures in Chaos huts. You will get Brunhilde's ship. You will be able to summon more than 1 group of Water's Legendary Spiders.

Also, the GS5 does many things beyond just fixes.

- Any player can buy Healing Potions.
- Units are rebalanced.
- New artifacts and improved existing artifacts.
- New spells and improved existing spells.
- New button graphics, that you have to manually install but do not desperately need to install (Read the ReadMe included with the GS5.zip).
- Lords and Special Champions can achieve level 15.
- Many creature have a natural chance to cast a spell on attack, while some other have other effects.


But anyways, if you're tired of the same old LOMSE, you will want to install the GS5 mod. There are regular updates to the mod, but things have been slowing down gradually as far as updates to it.

For the new graphics, you'll have to install them using an MPQ Editor. I would suggest using Ladik's MPQ Editor, as you don't need to install a bunch of components. You open pic.mpq and inside are lbm/Spells.lbm and lbm/Actions.lbm. From my website, you will download the GS5 Image Pack. Use the two LBM format images inside the Image Pack and put them into pic.mpq, replacing the existing files.


Also, thanks for bringing to my attention about the LOMSE patch. I am just going to remove it. Write back. If you have any more questions or comments, by all means let me know!



The beta patch is not needed. The beta patch modifies Lomse.exe and gs.mpq in your LOMSE folder.

[steammagic]

Thank you for your swift reply. My 2nd season of Galactica came in so I hade to stop defusing the ticking bomb my neighbors left in the yard under my car to go watch that but I managed to squeeze in 65 turns of Lords of Magic between the slow parts.

The update GS5 installed just fine, there was some anxious moments when the MPQ editor wanted to install the files a wave file. Well that did not work out with pic.mpq errors on loading the game so I made sure it was selected for data when that dialogue box came up on the drag and drop of SPELLS and ACTIONS and no file type was highlighted.


---During negotiations, I noticed the same AI’s were either stinking rich or sharecropper farmer poor. Did you find a way to keep supplying the AI with a large bag drop every few turns? If so, well done, they needed this infusion of cash.
---My champions found the custom artifacts: a seashell, crown and a revelation amulet; the ability they offered of healing after very combat meant that I did not have to buy potions for those anybody.
---While I was still at Chaos keep level 2 trying to decide if I had enough beer for another cat, Air dies first.. He usually dies first, wandering off unprotected into some situation way over his head. But this time he left worthwhile legacy. I grabbed his castle before the other vultures and noticed he was level 3. I did not have to upgrade anything.
---The AIs seem to have much more military power than myself and I manage to stay out of conflict with them all. I skirmish with Death only when he starts it by running my boys out of a crystal mine.
---Order frees Earth’s temple. Usually its Death that does this. But this is medium difficulty and Death’s temple. I think Order is well on their way to becoming UBER in this game.
----The AIs seem as scattered as ever, but huge armies move back and forth thru may area, along with lone units and a few dynamic duo pairs. I get the feeling the AI’s are on their way to powerful battles while stomping all over my property. Even though I beat up on each Death guy with at least 6 other reaving maniacs, Death did not siege my castles. Air was seriously undermanned and a Death army headed my way prompted another sprite addition to that team. But they passed by and headed elsewhere.
---- Though I put the smakdown on a more serious sized Death squad which got too close to my Chaos Keep, Golgotha’s Gift kept me occupied for a few turns while I tried to decontaminate.
-----Life dies and I have NEVER seen Life get whacked so early. Usually its Water or Fire.

Death follows on turn 65, perhaps Balkath is done in by Life’s Legendary creature? It could not happen to a nicer guy. I’ll have to cheat view the saved games and see.


Q--I had a look under the hood with the MPQ editor, what files control Balkath?

Thank you for your hard work. I have not played this game in years and it holds up well even after all these years

[Boaster]

Seems like you've had a lot of scattered experiences.

You will notice in my mod that AI players will no longer start with Legendary Creatures. However, they will start with garrisons (I recently re-added garrisons but they will only appear in single player).

If you're worried about the AI's strength or difficulty, play Hard mode for the best results. On Hard Mode, the computer will start with lots and lots of money, high level lord... basically enough to kill even a player.

In my own battles with high level AI, I notice they're sooo much smarter in combat. I don't know if the AI gets better with the level of the units they control, especially with Lords, but it sure seems that way.

In a recent update, I've toned down the initial starting garrisons to just one unit group (champion and 3 sub-groups).

With the Ladik MPQ Editor, when you import the LBM images from the GS5 Image Pack use the following Add File options:
      1. File with this extension a data file.
      2. Data compression: Use PKware Data Compression Library.
      3. Do not check "Encrypt files of this type in MPQ Archives.
      4. Locale ID for newly added files: Neutral.

If it continues not to work, change step 2 by choosing "Do not compress the file."



Let me know what works.

[steammagic]

We got it--- ACTIONS and SPELLS packs in there just fine and the game loads up no errors. I pasted your the directions in the instructions file for the GS5 install, thanks.

[Boaster]

Did the original step 2 work, or did you have to change it to "No compression?"

Let me know.

Also, you might want to look at the website every 2 to 4 days to check for any updates to the GS5 mod. Sometimes an update is made with errors and has to be corrected. It also helps to notify me when there are any errors in the mod.

[steammagic]

Compression seems to make no difference but it does make a neater looking archive.

I found the 301 patch from an old backup and made a folder of the altered/patched files. If someone wants it, I can upload it, but I don't know where from here I can do that.

[Boaster]

Try and emailing to me.

[steammagic]

I hope you got it ok. I sent it out a while ago

In the patch gs.mpq there is a lot of files named File00000018.xxx, File00000019.xxx and so on. I don't know if the game actually reads anything off of them or if they are just left over from the beta release that has not been cleaned up.

file000000310.xxx, for example reads:
----------------------
/title_text"Death:\n\Raise Dead"def /right_page_text"\
When a wizard's knowledge of Death magic reaches a certain level of maturity, the \
necromancer gains the ability to command dead flesh. Control of the resulting \
abomination is dependent on the knowledge and experience of the caster.\
"def /left_page_text"\
Archmage Kantari is leading three wizards in the study of this spell.\n\n\
Mages working...\n\
Elvondyn the Grey Witch\n\
Silmandil of the First Circle\n\
Apprentice Varla\n\
For a total of 15 research points per day.\n\
This spell requires 2 months and 1 fortnight to research.\n\
2 months are complete, 1 fortnight remains.\
"def
-----------------------------------------

[By the way] do you know what in the LOMSE.exe the beta 301 patch changes?

[Boaster]

As far as I know, the only thing that the patch will change in LOMSE.exe is the version number.

And yes, those unknown files are left over files that were never implemented.

Also, I did recieve the email and I have everything you gave me.