TBS Age of Wonders 1 & 2

[BING XI LAO]

I decided to start doing something Lagi suggested, which is renaming units to have more racially specific names instead of 'Rider' etc. But I still want the names to be recognisable, not some fantasy gibberish.
For example the Elves and Dark Elves now have their t2 cavalry renamed to Dragoons, since I gave those units Archery and Magic Bolts respectively.
Will be updating the mod frequently as I catch errors (like forgetting to add the Turtle Ram) and as I expand unit descriptions and make other minor tweaks.
The next improvement will be making descriptions properly match for modded abilities, for example the game still says Leadership is just +1 ATK so I need to write in the +1 DEF there.

 

[vota DC]

-2 means that hurl Stones only had 1 attack, now It Is 2 Attack?

Correct

Can the hex change option put in an editor for noobs?
Can Number of Attack be changed? It will be fun a crossbowman with only a single ranged Attack and a weaker strike ability that would allow to use melee only one time for retaliation instead of retaliate each Attack.

I don't know how to make an editor, however you can download PE Explorer, HxD, and look at my list of offsets spreadsheet. Just open AoWEPack.dpl in PE Explorer and modding it using HxD becomes fairly straightforward especially using my spreadsheet which autogenerates where to look in HxD. For example 558E83D4 in PE Explorer is 1E77D4 in the hex editor, if you type in a PA Explorer address and pulls down the adjacent formula, it will tell you where to edit in HxD.
Sorry if that was a vague explanation.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...6aAbf4jvio2Xr5lS5qhc0dnJs/edit#gid=1430838464

Range and numbers of attacks can also be changed. But retaliations are unlimited in AoW1, it's only the later games that brought in limited retaliations.

Couldn't find any of the number of spreadsheet with PE Explorer, but I find with the hex editor.
For example the 1e17f0 start like that
04 03 03 03 02 02 02 03 02 02 02 01
then
03 04 03 02 02 02 02 01 02 02 02 01
The first value must be relations of humans and 4 friendly, the 02 are the neutral toward good and evil races, the 01 wary with undead and 03 polite with the highmen
The second line is the Azrac and so on

Anyway for some reasons the changes do nothing. AoWEPack.dp has always been a weirdo file since I changed with reshacker (for strings) with a total conversion mod and the file said "last update march of 2000" but despite this the changes with reshacker applied, this time nothing happens.

 

[BING XI LAO]

What does your PE Explorer look like? I should look like the below, you need to open the dissassembler to get the second window. Best way to find things in PE Explorer is searching for text.

Spoiler

As for the file not reflecting changes..... how is that possible?!?! Do the changes show up when you close and reopen the file? Maybe try a reinstall? Is that a problem with Windows 10 protections on the program files x86 folder?

 

[vota DC]

Ah ok I forgot the dissasembler
PE explore give me this
558E83F0 AoWE.DefaultRaceRelations@ADE03589:
and also shows the modified number for my test
04 00 03 03 02 02 02 03 02 02 02 01
I discovered that what does is humans friendly toward Azrac leaders BUT not azrac friendly toward Human leader. That is....funny. You can have cuck races that are friendly toward races that are hostile to them.

Also how to get from 558E83F0 to 1E71F0?

 

[BING XI LAO]

Ah ok I forgot the dissasembler
PE explore give me this
558E83F0 AoWE.DefaultRaceRelations@ADE03589:
and also shows the modified number for my test
04 00 03 03 02 02 02 03 02 02 02 01
I discovered that what does is humans friendly toward Azrac leaders BUT not azrac friendly toward Human leader. That is....funny. You can have cuck races that are friendly toward races that are hostile to them.

Also how to get from 558E83F0 to 1E71F0?

Personally I chose to keep relations symmetrical but the AoW+ and AoWx mods decided in some cases asymmetry makes sense.

HxD address=dec2hex(hex2dec(X)-1433408000) for 'data offsets'
HxD adrress =dec2hex(hex2dec(X)-1433406464) for 'code offsets'
Where 'X' is the address in PE Explorer. Most things are code offsets, some are data, I don't know why.
Just wham the above formulae in a spreadsheet like I did and you're good to go

 

[vota DC]

I get now these errors during combat (when someone gets hit)
exception during aowhsmap.newframe
and
error during token exe strike

But they are not related on the hex modding. I haven't tested this game since ages and I checked only that started on the new laptop, so I never noticed, in the older laptop with windows 7 I haven't any issue, must be something about windows 10.

 

[BING XI LAO]

I get now these errors during combat (when someone gets hit)
exception during aowhsmap.newframe
and
error during token exe strike

But they are not related on the hex modding. I haven't tested this game since ages and I checked only that started on the new laptop, so I never noticed, in the older laptop with windows 7 I haven't any issue, must be something about windows 10.

Hopefully it's just a variant of the showscene patch, fixable by installing this: https://github.com/int19h/aow-patch/releases
If not, have you tested whether it occurs in a fresh installation? I really hope it's not either part of my mod (AoWEPack.dpl or Release folder)

 

[vota DC]

I found three nice formulas

(count 24 after hex code offset for attack)
(count -18 after hex code offset for damage, number of attacks and range)
(count -10 before hex code offset for type of damage, always near 1a)

6EB94 poison darts attack
6EB55 archery attack
6E979 black bolt type of attack??
0 nothing (10 means only physical)
1 physical 2 fire 4 black damage 8 wall c poison
note that that some combo like 12 (physical + fire doesn't work)
30 = magic + poison + death + holy
50 = fire + lighting + magic

I noticed with the PE explorer that you usually have right after the attack range the "ax, L5576f810" but black bolts had Lff76f814
No idea how to make a lightning ballista but a poisonus ballista you just need to replace 10 with 1c


On the other hand I failed to understand the upkeep formula...the three bytes seems to be 40 03 and c0. I can modify the 03 (09 works, 06 no) to lower the upkeep but I can't touch the other two bytes so I can get t4 with 5 upkeep and t1 with 2 upkeep or even free units but no idea how to make t1 matter because I think I am only touching the base cost without touching the formula tied with the tier.

 

[vota DC]

I get only weird combo, right now after many rainbow results reliable numbers are
10 physical
14 physical + death
24 physical + poison
18 physical + wall
20 fire
1c poison
28 death

 

[BING XI LAO]

Played 90 turns on the 'Damnation' map (available at aowheaven) and boy do I like my mod! First time I've actually played the game in months, I've literally just been modding it that whole time.
Flames bloody everywhere on the map because the AIs kept casting and dispelling Fire Mastery.
Made extensive use of the new 'dragoon' magic bolts dark elf cavalry. Felt balanced though they could have a goldcost increase.
Heroes definitely develop slower with the 10-pointscost DEF, but they get really strong later on, stronger maybe than before.
+1 ATK/DEF Leadership on Leaders and some units is strong but not overpowering.
I actually managed to implement 1-turn unit installations in cities at some point... thought I'd failed to copy it over from AoW+
Summoned units cost very little to summon in Ziggurat but their upkeep is equal to their summon cost - very hefty. Worked well.

I get only weird combo, right now after many rainbow results reliable numbers are
10 physical
14 physical + death
24 physical + poison
18 physical + wall
20 fire
1c poison
28 death

What are you thinking you might implement with this?

 

[vota DC]

I change the type of the attack because the old full conversion mod I made Is better with that. For example the faction catapult that poisoned enemies used fire cannon skill so was just a catapult with more damage. Now catapult with fire cannon skill can poison enemies and It works.
I give both fire cannon and hurl boulder because poison+Wall+physical Is impossible but It Is fine.

 

[vota DC]

It Is possibile to add new skills and where to Place them in the file?
It Is possible to reverse protection and get weakness like 2?
Are possible skills that influence upkeep or production time? I need them for the spammer faction.

 

[BING XI LAO]

It Is possibile to add new skills and where to Place them in the file?

I think it's impossible, even AoW2' MPE mod (similar engine) could only rework existing skills.
If you can figure out how to rework a skill then use superfluous ones, like the game doesn't really need both swimming and sailing, and Trail of Darkness is pretty dogshit.

It Is possible to reverse protection and get weakness like 2?

You'd have to figure out how to examine aow2's files and then try copying over the code. No idea.

Are possible skills that influence upkeep or production time? I need them for the spammer faction.

Nope. It's possible that level 0 units would still show up in the city recruitment list though....

 

[vota DC]

At the end I failed to find anything that suggest that there Is a formula that lower to half a damage of a type.


Can level 0 units be possibile or city to build level 5 units?

 

[BING XI LAO]

Level 5 units won't show up in the recruitment list but I haven't tested with level 0. Actually I am not sure if level 0 works in AoW1, it does work in AoW2 though.

 

[octavius]

As for un-nerfing archery etc, like you mentioned in the AoW+ thread:
http://www.heaventools.com/
PE explorer to look at the AoWEpack.dpl file (.dll for aow+)
https://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/
hex editor for actually changing values
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...6aAbf4jvio2Xr5lS5qhc0dnJs/edit#gid=1430838464
My list of notes for hex editing, if you crtl-f archery you'll see a helpful screenshot of the Poison Darts section in PE Explorer and which numbers are the ATK, rate of fire, DAM, and range. Same formant for many other ranged attacks.
You can also join the discord to see some modding discussion. I could make you an AoW+ submod if you just want a couple edits to a few ranged attacks, those edits are fairly easy to make, and I have everything installed and ready to go - tell me what changes you want.

I tried looking into this Hex Editing business, and now I have a splitting headache.
But if your offer still stands, I would like an AoW+ submod with just the archery nerfs (mainly number of attacks) reverted to vanilla values.
I think the AI should be encouraged to use ranged units, to be able to cope better with Dragons.

From there on I will make some of my modifications using the less headache inducing AoWEd.dev.exe.

Anyway, I'm starting to feel that modding AoW1 for SP is kind of a slippery slope, since some user-made maps, like quest/RPG type maps, may be finely balanced for vanilla rules. Oh well, I already played most of the worthwhile AoW1 user-made maps, so it will be interesting to play with a different rule set. The maps I enjoyed least due to the poor AI - war maps and campaigns - should also benefit most from the mod.

 

[BING XI LAO]

I tried looking into this Hex Editing business, and now I have a splitting headache.
But if your offer still stands, I would like an AoW+ submod with just the archery nerfs (mainly number of attacks) reverted to vanilla values.
I think the AI should be encouraged to use ranged units, to be able to cope better with Dragons.

From there on I will make some of my modifications using the less headache inducing AoWEd.dev.exe.

Sorry, I didn't notice your post. Will do presently.

In the meantime, most of AoW1 players from last year seem to have completely buggered off. But at the same time, the new discord server has seemingly attracted 6 new players for PBEM!

 

[BING XI LAO]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n3sanfmv115puj6/AoWEPACK.dll?dl=0
Here it is - AoW+ but with reverted Archery, Poison Darts, and Hurl Stones. I left the other ranged attacks.

EDIT: - you just need to replace your existing AOWEPack.dll file with this one if that wasn't obvious

 

[octavius]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n3sanfmv115puj6/AoWEPACK.dll?dl=0
Here it is - AoW+ but with reverted Archery, Poison Darts, and Hurl Stones. I left the other ranged attacks.

EDIT: - you just need to replace your existing AOWEPack.dll file with this one if that wasn't obvious

Thanks!

I made some unit changes, like giving Wall Crushing to some lvl 4 units, changing the Incarnate to a Hydra, and giving the Undead Wraiths Physical Protection and Pass Wall Floating instead of Physical Immunity.
I didn't make a new unit, but instead used the stats from Largo's Lagi's mod to replace the Incarnate, to simplify things. I thought I could just rename the Hydra. ILB to dlfin.ILB and replace the latter, but the old image still appears, so I used the Basilisk image instead. Small inconvenience.

I started playing Last Stand Before Destruction, the oldest of the classic AoW user-made maps.
The change to the Wraiths was interesting. They no longer dare attack this group, not even the two berserkers on their own:

 

[BING XI LAO]

I didn't make a new unit, but instead used the stats from Largo's mod to replace the Incarnate, to simplify things. I thought I could just rename the Hydra. ILB to dlfin.ILB and replace the latter, but the old image still appears, so I used the Basilisk image instead. Small inconvenience.

This is where you can point a unit's graphics towards a different ILB.

 

[BING XI LAO]

Map is complete, after 6 months of work. VERY detailed, and moderately innovative, in that there's a novel type of hero you can spam-summon as long as you can afford the upkeep.
http://aow.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=1233
requires my mod, for the heroes to exist;
http://aow.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=1231

The next map I'm going to make will be for AoW2:SM with MPE:UPatch 1.6 mod.
That mod has so many bonus graphical assets added that I can make an urban map, so I'll make it... Sigil, the City of a Thousand Doors!

I never realised from playing Planescape that Sigil is actually the inside of a torus. I'll represent this ingame by having two map levels, each with a hollow circle of Sigil streets, and on both the inner and outer sides of each of the two circles, there'll be 'cave passages' (stairway graphics) leading between the two.
The third map level will have all kinds of unique, random locations to teleport to and fro. I saw one teleporter graphic that was a bit like the ones used in Planescape: Torment for the portals.

 

[BING XI LAO]

Have started work on the userpatch 1.6 map for aow2.
What you can see here is the width of Sigil's torus, with the city's smog taking over at the bottom and the top. Still getting used to the huge array of usable assets, and the next step is implementing a ''mountain'' terrain under the buildings. Currently any unit can walk through them. Mountain terrain will allow only Mountaineers and Flyers to do so - ie Mountaineering with be Rooftop Walking. I could even mod the game to say that.

Spoiler

 

[octavius]

and giving the Undead Wraiths Physical Protection and Pass Wall Floating instead of Physical Immunity.

The whole point of Wraiths is Physical Immunity. Take that out, and they are just a lame-ass lvl1 unit with a few extra resists.

Yes, for MP that is a concern. For SP I think it's a greater concern that the AI can't deal with PI. Anyway, Floating gives them some extra versatility.

 

[BING XI LAO]

Figured out how to modify the upkeep formula today. With the help of some guy who made a big mod bugfixing Eader Master of the Broken World, who hopped into the discord server.

 

[BING XI LAO]

What's up with the whole decreasing income thing? Why would someone want to decrease income? If anything, I feel like AOW gives you too little income and I am always lacking cash to field anything more than heavily-defended towns and one or two stacks.

That would have been the next approach if I didn't figure how to increase upkeep.
Basegame with 4/6/8/10 upkeep and various high costs, is fairly short on gold.
The mod with 2/4/6/8 and vastly reduced miscellaneous costs (city upgrade, building stuff, etc) was absurdly gold bloated to the point it wasn't even possible to spend it all a lot of the time, even when I cranked up the goldcost of lower tier units
3/6/9/12 is a lot better.