Might and Magic The Might and Magic Discussion Thread

[Grunker]

Playing through Mandate of Heaven first time since I was a kid. A lot I didn't remember at all. Man, it's got some p. cool dungeons here and there.

 

[Broseph]

The best dungeons of Man Date of Heaven are the best in the series, period. P much the game that got me into blobbers.

 

[Grunker]

FFS I CAN'T FIND THAT STUPID FUCK PRINCE NICOLAI

I've cleared most things in Sorpigal/Ironfist/Mist and so on, and I can't remember how to progress. Must. Resist. Google.

Roxor tells me I need to find the circus, so that's my current plan.

 

[octavius]

The circus is always at the same place each month IIRC.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

The circus can be active at three different places according to a schedule so don't be disppointed if you reach an empty one.

I can't remember how to progress.

Just go to a new region, by walking or taking a coach or boat. It's not like you need to stick to some timed story or anything. Where you can make it is where you're meant to be.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Here a guy that is doing a LP of World of Xeen with Jeff Ludwigs Monster mod:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZBORylr4exTi_x_xLSRVF-NxdssI9jy5

the mod:

http://www.jeffludwig.com/xeen/download.php

This guy sounds conspicuously like Ulillillia

 

[Abelian]

Version 1.04 of the MM1 Trainer is ready.

Change log:
-Added Current Max Hit Points field (useful if a character is poisoned and rests without getting cured in the temple first, in which case his effective max hit points are halved).
-Increased maximum value for Current Spell Points, Max Spell Points, Current Hit Points, Max Hit Points, Current Max Hit Points and Gems from 255 to 65535.
-Added a dropdown for selecting the town/inn for each character.
-Added resistances and unlock skill as editable fields.
-Identified Blinded, Asleep, Poisoned, Silenced, Diseased conditions. I changed the condition field from a dropdown to a text box for testing purposes. I'll have to implement it using checkboxes to allow for multiple conditions. The important thing is that 0 means "GOOD".

This last one deserves special mention for the ingenious way it allows for multiple conditions: Good is 0, Asleep is 1 (1 in binary), Blinded 2 (10 in binary), Silenced is 4 (100 in binary), Diseased is 8 (1000 in binary), Poisoned is 16 (10000 in binary), Paralyzed is 32 (100000 in binary), Unconscious is 64 (1000000 in binary), Dead is 192 (11000000 in binary). If a character suffers from multiple conditions, the associated values are added together, so that 101001 (32 + 8 + 1 = 41 in decimal) means the character is Paralyzed, Diseased and Asleep.

You have to respect old-school programmers for their economical, efficient and minimalist style.

Next time, I'll probably add the ability to set the number of item charges, edit the armor class, melee and missile damage and I'll also change the condition field to a bunch of checkboxes.

 

[Luzur]

keep on coding, bro!

also while you are at it make some graphics updater aswell.

 

[Abelian]

keep on coding, bro!

also while you are at it make some graphics updater aswell.

Funny you should say that, I restarted MM1 while testing and I'm mapping it with Grid Cartographer, which can export maps in XML format.

The point of all this is that by the time I finish the game, I'll have both the character/save system and all the maps ready in a more object oriented-friendly format, with an ultimate goal of making a modernized remake. Unfortunately, I'm very busy with work, so this is only a pipe dream that will probably take up a couple of years. The difficult part is that I don't know the inner workings of the combat, encounters and random number generator.

Another problem is that I'm really bad at drawing/graphics and the only game development experience I have is a couple of old puzzle/boardgame projects where everything happens on a single screen (such as chess and tic-tac-toe).

 

[Natreg]

keep on coding, bro!

also while you are at it make some graphics updater aswell.

Funny you should say that, I restarted MM1 while testing and I'm mapping it with Grid Cartographer, which can export maps in XML format.

The point of all this is that by the time I finish the game, I'll have both the character/save system and all the maps ready in a more object oriented-friendly format, with an ultimate goal of making a modernized remake. Unfortunately, I'm very busy with work, so this is only a pipe dream that will probably take up a couple of years. The difficult part is that I don't know the inner workings of the combat, encounters and random number generator.

Another problem is that I'm really bad at drawing/graphics and the only game development experience I have is a couple of old puzzle/boardgame projects where everything happens on a single screen (such as chess and tic-tac-toe).

I think the best option in order to have the exact same maps would be to find out how they are stored in the files of the game. Also, a remake could just use those same files as well. Maps are quite complex to the point that depending in which direction you are facing, you'll get different encounters in some places. Also, some of the encounters are leveled and give you encounters that are above your own level. Again, it's quite complex and just mapping it won't give you all the real data needed to do a faithful remake.

 

[Luzur]

keep on coding, bro!

also while you are at it make some graphics updater aswell.

Funny you should say that, I restarted MM1 while testing and I'm mapping it with Grid Cartographer, which can export maps in XML format.

The point of all this is that by the time I finish the game, I'll have both the character/save system and all the maps ready in a more object oriented-friendly format, with an ultimate goal of making a modernized remake. Unfortunately, I'm very busy with work, so this is only a pipe dream that will probably take up a couple of years. The difficult part is that I don't know the inner workings of the combat, encounters and random number generator.

Another problem is that I'm really bad at drawing/graphics and the only game development experience I have is a couple of old puzzle/boardgame projects where everything happens on a single screen (such as chess and tic-tac-toe).

Well i drew maps and fixed the detailed info (i put notes where torches would be placed, which wall was a secret wall, what ahppened if you touched a certain square etc) end when i was in Wyzardrys' project, i should have my old maps/notes somewhere on a disc but scanning through some 150+ discs....

its too bad im not much of a pixel artist, i would be glad to help ya out, but alas.

But i do know that Wyzardry had some way to get intot he files, but he never shared it with me so its prob lost along with him.

 

[Abelian]

Fortunately, the maps are each stored in their own file (ex. ERLIQUIN.OVR, AREAB1.OVR, CAVE5) and have the same 16x16 area so I guess it's feasible to look for patterns. But there will be difficult stuff to deduce like the safety of a square.

I've been making notes on the direction where messages are displayed (ex. "Climb tree?" is visible from all directions, but the dialog for entering a town/castle/inn is only visible from one direction), where monster encounters are guaranteed, dark areas, no magic areas, types of terrain so if nothing else I can use the facts that I do know to compare the map files and identify some fields.

 

[Natreg]

Well, The files are quite small, and half of the file is just the text messages. The best way to approach this would be trying one of the maps that has few things on them like A1 or the soul maze.

Also, the maps themselves are stored on Mazedata.DTA. The OVR files are the code of the maps.

For instance:

00003c00h: 0F 8C 8C 8C 8C 8C 3C FF FF FF FF CF 3C FF FF FF ; .ŒŒŒŒŒ<ÿÿÿÿÏ<ÿÿÿ
00003c10h: 23 0A 48 68 4A 28 32 FF FF FF FF FF 33 FF FF FF ; #.HhJ(2ÿÿÿÿÿ3ÿÿÿ
00003c20h: 23 92 05 44 14 21 32 FF FF FF FF FF 33 FF FF FF ; #’.D.!2ÿÿÿÿÿ3ÿÿÿ
00003c30h: 23 1A 11 55 11 A1 32 FF FF FF FF FF 33 FF FF FF ; #..U.¡2ÿÿÿÿÿ3ÿÿÿ
00003c40h: 23 12 41 44 50 29 32 FF FF FF FF FF 33 FF FF FF ; #.ADP)2ÿÿÿÿÿ3ÿÿÿ
00003c50h: 23 82 A4 86 84 A0 32 FF FF FF FF FF 33 FF FF FF ; #‚¤†„ 2ÿÿÿÿÿ3ÿÿÿ
00003c60h: C3 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 F0 FF FF FF FF FF 33 FF FF FF ; ÃÈÈÈÈÈðÿÿÿÿÿ3ÿÿÿ
00003c70h: FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF F3 FF FF FF ; ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿóÿÿÿ
00003c80h: CF CC CC CC CC FC 0F 4C 4C 4C 0C 4C 4C 3C FF FF ; ÏÌÌÌÌü.LLL.LL<ÿÿ
00003c90h: FF FF FF FF FF FF 13 A5 A6 96 11 A5 A6 32 FF FF ; ÿÿÿÿÿÿ.¥¦–.¥¦2ÿÿ
00003ca0h: FF FF FF FF FF FF 13 69 0A 88 80 88 28 32 FF FF ; ÿÿÿÿÿÿ.i.ˆ€ˆ(2ÿÿ
00003cb0h: FF FF FF FF FF FF 03 44 20 8A 88 08 A0 32 FF FF ; ÿÿÿÿÿÿ.D Šˆ. 2ÿÿ
00003cc0h: FF FF FF FF FF FF 13 A5 82 88 28 22 2A 32 FF FF ; ÿÿÿÿÿÿ.¥‚ˆ("*2ÿÿ
00003cd0h: FF FF FF FF FF FF 13 89 88 A8 82 A0 22 32 FF FF ; ÿÿÿÿÿÿ.‰ˆ¨‚ "2ÿÿ
00003ce0h: FF FF FF FF FF FF 03 48 48 48 48 48 40 30 FF FF ; ÿÿÿÿÿÿ.HHHHH@0ÿÿ
00003cf0h: FF FF FF FF FF FF C3 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4 F0 FF FF ; ÿÿÿÿÿÿÃÄÄÄÄÄÄðÿÿ


This is a map seems to be E1. It's stored a bit weird though. Like if it was flipped. The dinosaur area seems to be the one on the top left, and the dusk and dragadune areas seem to be the ones on the bottom right.

The FFs are desert areas. Another thing that you can notice is that usually the bottom part and the top part of an area are stored like 4C and C4, so it seems that the tiles are stored with some sense.

If you look at the dinosaur area for instance we got on the bottom C8, and on the top 8C and the corners are 0F, F0, C3 and 3C. You can see that the opposites are always inverted. Once you get all the possible combinations assembling the map layout will be easy. There seems to be 255 combinations for the tiles.

This file actually give us the maps layout, then the OVR tell us what events happen on each tile and on which direction.

I'm just looking to this right now so I haven't bothered checking anything. I could probably check the OVRs this weekend. The soul Maze seems quite easy to decode.

 

[Abelian]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction with Mazedata.DTA. I'll have a look during the weekend as well.

As for the vertical flipping, I think there's a simple explanation: in a table or two-dimensional array, the cells are stored starting with the first row on the top and the row number increases as you go down the table, but on a Cartesian grid, the vertical values increase as you go up.

 

[Orzie]

Hey everyone. I represent Might and Magic 8,5: Echo of Destruction and Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Succession Wars Mod project teams here. I recently registered and noticed that I'm not allowed to post freely for a week, which is a pity.

Still, I hope to draw your interest with the most fresh news of the MM8,5 project which is sometimes discussed here. If I'll be lucky enough, the project might get a subforum here which will make the work easier.

I hope to hear back from you soon!

Cheers

 

[Luzur]

Hey everyone. I represent Might and Magic 8,5: Echo of Destruction and Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Succession Wars Mod project teams here. I recently registered and noticed that I'm not allowed to post freely for a week, which is a pity.

Still, I hope to draw your interest with the most fresh news of the MM8,5 project which is sometimes discussed here. If I'll be lucky enough, the project might get a subforum here which will make the work easier.

I hope to hear back from you soon!

Cheers

Vladimir, is that you?

Good, now im not the only one that have to post updates from Heroes Round Table forums here.

 

[Orzie]

No, I'm not Vladimir (his nickname is Maestro everywhere), but I am also a member of the team responsible for promotion amongst other duties.
Anyhow, glad to see a fellow Hero of the Round Table here.

 

[Infinitron]

If I'll be lucky enough, the project might get a subforum here which will make the work easier.

I don't know about luck, but you won't get anything if you don't ask for it first.

 

[Orzie]

First I should get rid of the reply premoderation to be precise. Asking is intended

 

[Broseph]

Opinions on the Genesis / Mega Drive port of MM2? I've heard it has some advantages over the DOS version and since I own an actual Genesis I figured I might as well play it that way, if only for the novelty of playing Might and Magic on my old TV.

 

[Dorateen]

I cannot fathom experiencing the glory of MM2 on anything other than PC. Are the console versions the ones with the battle screens for combat encounters? For me, that would lose a lot of the charm of the first person perspective and monster lists with the designated monster picture (ususally the most powerful one in the group) featured in the view port.

 

[octavius]

I cannot fathom experiencing the glory of MM2 on anything other than PC.

Well, items' pluses is capped at +32 in the DOS version, while in the Amiga version it's +64. EDIT: or maybe not.
Would be interesting to know how the console and Macintosh versions compare in that regard.

 

[Broseph]

I cannot fathom experiencing the glory of MM2 on anything other than PC. Are the console versions the ones with the battle screens for combat encounters? For me, that would lose a lot of the charm of the first person perspective and monster lists with the designated monster picture (ususally the most powerful one in the group) featured in the view port.

Looks pretty good to me. If it doesn't have any severe problems / missing content, it may be worth playing over the PC version. I'm looking for the opinion of someone who's played both extensively. (Jaesun? Sceptic?)

 

[Jaesun]

I've only played MM2 first on the Amiga 500 (my First cRPG) and on the PC. Never played the console versions.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Wow. Worlds of Xeen is so beautiful on MAC.
http://vimeo.com/84820262