Status Update

[Boaster]

Nov 14, 2019 15:48:23 GMT -6 lemminkainen said:

Thank you for all this information. I'm starting to understand the game programming language better and better, I've even introduced my own quick fix to the always-the-same-thief cave encounters! They still have wrong names, though. If I understand correctly, each gs/dungeons/generate file is linked to a .smp file. The .smp file gives various pieces of information like army specifications, tile set and map. However, sometimes the army specifications are in the gs files, sometimes in the smp files, which is weird. And is there even a way to edit .smp files? WinMPQ won't open them. What you're looking for is a way to include all the information in the .gs file without needing to modify the .smp. However, I don't think it's that big of a deal for an end user to just cut and paste files into a folder as long as you explain correctly in the mod download page.

The second floor of a multi encounter is like the dungeon of a dungeon.

Overland maps have dungeons placed and specific levels. And so do the combat maps for encounters.

[lemminkainen]

Ok. And I can even open those maps thanks to the modifications you did to the map editor. But what I don't get, though, is how are the armies specified on such maps. What if I want to edit the villains spawning in a great temple or in a multi level encounters? In such encounters, the armies are nowhere specified in the gs files, and the map editor doesn't give me clues besides where on the combat maps the armies are spawning. While on the cave encounters or in the towers or dungeons, it's very easy to modify the opposing forces.

I realize I'm asking a lot of questions, so if you don't have much time for these, don't worry I'll try to investigate and learn by myself.

[Boaster]

Nov 15, 2019 6:39:59 GMT -6 lemminkainen said:

Ok. And I can even open those maps thanks to the modifications you did to the map editor. But what I don't get, though, is how are the armies specified on such maps. What if I want to edit the villains spawning in a great temple or in a multi level encounters? In such encounters, the armies are nowhere specified in the gs files, and the map editor doesn't give me clues besides where on the combat maps the armies are spawning. While on the cave encounters or in the towers or dungeons, it's very easy to modify the opposing forces.

I realize I'm asking a lot of questions, so if you don't have much time for these, don't worry I'll try to investigate and learn by myself.

For the second level army setups of multi level encounters, observe any document in '/gs/dungeons/' with the word *mul* in it. You'll find them.

Villages, Great Temples and automatically generated dungeons (not pre-placed, like in my maps) will pull from different stacks from 'gs/MAKEARMY5.gs'.

As I have been working with the mod again, some of the aspects of the game codes are becoming more clear than they were before.

I will likely be able to modify and improve certain things, possible AI scripts/brains as well as the dungeon army spawns for automatically generated dungeon setups (which will include Great Temple and Village security marauder spawns).

[lemminkainen]

Thanks, it makes sense now. I will search for fixes, too. From a game play perspective it feels important to fix these multi levels encounters. I can guess almost perfectly every army in every second floor... Which is kinda anticlimactic and the opposite of what you would expect going into an unknown deeper dungeon.

[Boaster]

Nov 16, 2019 6:29:58 GMT -6 lemminkainen said:

Thanks, it makes sense now. I will search for fixes, too. From a game play perspective it feels important to fix these multi levels encounters. I can guess almost perfectly every army in every second floor... Which is kinda anticlimactic and the opposite of what you would expect going into an unknown deeper dungeon.

I have found, for the time being, to not use multi encounters, or only place them at levels 3/6/9.

[lemminkainen]

You'd better place them at levels 2/4/9 to be precise: these are the levels where finding levels 3/5/10 encounters on second floor makes most sense. But yeah, it's the quickest fix I can think of, too. I think I'll try to create and add the missing .smp maps to my folder some day though. I can send them to you at that point if you want to proceed that way in modding.

[Boaster]

Nov 16, 2019 11:05:21 GMT -6 lemminkainen said:

You'd better place them at levels 2/4/9 to be precise: these are the levels where finding levels 3/5/10 encounters on second floor makes most sense. But yeah, it's the quickest fix I can think of, too. I think I'll try to create and add the missing .smp maps to my folder some day though. I can send them to you at that point if you want to proceed that way in modding.

I don't think I will add any sort of combat maps to the mod. It would make things a touch messier than it is.

[Boaster]

Update 3206 is live.