Sure: basicaly when you launch the spell, the spell itself is not used (it's not taken away from the "spells" area although you see the animation, and if you click again on it nothing happens but you can still click to change/discard it, all the mana will be returned), you will able to see the spell under the "active" tab and you'll be able to do your things normally until you end the turn.
After that, your partner will never receive an end turn notification, while from your side you'll be able to continue playing (no end turn sound tho and the IA will act in a weird way).
I can pm you my skype so we can arrange a quick online game if you need to test it, let me know

[This message has been edited by Fox Leader (edited 04-29-2013 @ 05:13 PM).]

Quoted from i30817:

so the faster the cpu

That is interesting. Thanks for sharing that.

As a bit of an aside, since this could be slightly related, if you're going to look into that, HellBrick, I'd also like to point out that the game (and many other games, particularly older ones, are guilty of this, so I forgive AoW) uses far more CPU cycles than it needs. While I imagine the extra cycles are a benefit to the time it takes the AI to make decisions, it would be nice if a CPU throttling option could be patched in (such as was added to StarCraft from 1998 in a patch many years later). I'm not clear on the specifics but if I remember right it makes the game code call the Sleep() command each frame. Someone else could probably elaborate on that or correct it if you're not sure what I mean. Of slight interest, AoW1 actually seems to behave this way out of the box and doesn't constantly use 100% of a thread.

The extra processor usage isn't so bad if you have a low end desktop, but if you have a system that warms up quickly (particularly laptops, where I might note battery life is drastically reduced by programs hogging the CPU like this) it can be both noise nuisance with the fans kicking up and cause heat related issues if the system can't keep itself cool enough.

I've been using a free program made by a Japanese fellow, called Battle Encoder Shirase (a name as far detached from the application's function as our shoes are from Mars) which allows to limit the maximum CPU usage an application can eat up, which I use with many old games. But it requires several minutes of tweaking for each game to find ideal settings that don't cause any performance or audio hiccups; a native solution patched into the game could be much more efficient.

If it can't be done, no big deal, just a convenience thing. I imagine implementation as a game setting, a simple checkbox, or maybe something adjustable if it adversely affects the AI's speed (so it could be partially limited etc., like sleep every 2 frames, 3 frames, 4 frames and so forth instead of every frame, however it works). Thanks for mulling it over.

I'm really happy you and your friends have kept up the good work on this mod and will no doubt try the release version sometime. I almost feel ashamed calling it a mod because so much of what you've done has been along the lines of patching and general improvements. I might keep a permanent spot for it on my hard drive.

To corroborate 'the faster the cpu and slower the gpu' theory of AoW2/SM cursor/key delay, i've recently started using the open source drivers for Ati on linux, which are said to be faster for 2d but slower for 3d. I had directdraw disabled for the game on both cases of course since it makes it so much slower - so no '3d' path for the gpu driver.

But it's a bit better anyway - possibly the faster 2d gpu performance meant that the gpu could render the frames a bit closer to the time the cpu was 'actually' reacting to the mouse/key events.

This situation seems like it's in the main loop, that is likely just rendering at it can without any kind of synchronization or delay in relation to keyevents. If the source was open a port to directx and using the Present() primitive, which would delay the frame rendering until the previous frame was rendered, thus eliminating stupid graphics drivers queuing up hundreds of frames in advance; would be the natural solution.

Maybe limiting the graphic memory of the gpu could be another workaround, got to try it on wine.

[This message has been edited by i30817 (edited 04-30-2013 @ 04:16 AM).]

I very much like the design philosophy behind this mod. 95% of mods is quite chaotic and makes too many changes that most of the time are quantity over quality and also destroys the original core experience instead of fixing the obvious flaws of the original game - or only adds few, very thought-out additions. Basically, most mods are very easy to identify as a mod, because of the quality contrasts between the original parts and new modification being added.

A request: I like to suggest that you make an option to turn the annoying echo sound effect in the underground/shadow land off, if possible to do. The effect is, mildly put, way overdone. It sounds more like a broken sound driver than any real sound effect. It's a shame. Thanks

[This message has been edited by hippox78 (edited 05-22-2013 @ 04:58 PM).]

Hello all!

First of all - great work!

I searched and searched, and no one seems to have my problem. I am missing all the new unit ILBs, even though everything was installed correctly. I searched the folder, and they're just not there. ex: the Rebuilder ILB - nothing. Ingame, they just appear invisible. I uninstalled SM and the patch and installed again, and nothing changes.
Help?

EDIT: Stupid me. No patch 1.4 installed.

[This message has been edited by Yeshishi (edited 05-20-2013 @ 12:21 PM).]

Anyone else done this to possibly post as download?


"Yes, full modding possibilities are available now. For porting a mod to MPE you should copy it to the mod folder (Public Documents\Age of Wonders - MP Evolution 2\Mods), open it with the new mod editor and save it. You'll probably want to make a few adjustments, mentioned in this topic - though it was written for 1.5, most of it is still actual."

Hey hellbrick, since you made the game save before a tactical combat, how about making loading that specific save game not make loading that specific save (with F3 or otherwise) remember the save eligible for quicksave?

Then we could load the save after a terrible battle without having to worry about quicksave afterwards.
edit: actually, same thing for the normal autosave would be useful.

[This message has been edited by i30817 (edited 05-24-2013 @ 05:11 PM).]

Sorry, I'm afraid I failed to catch your idea (sometimes the English-speaking part of my brain malfunctions). Could you expand a little bit on how exactly the problem with the auto-saves manifests and what solution do you suggest for it?

[This message has been edited by HellBrick (edited 05-26-2013 @ 01:56 PM).]

I think he means that the autosave, after loading it, shouldn't become the default filename for saving the game (including quicksaving) - IMO it should apply to all autosaves, as overwriting an autosave when saving your game is not a good idea.

[This message has been edited by PawelS (edited 05-26-2013 @ 02:30 PM).]

Issued a small update (2.0.1):

- Changed Conqueror multiplier in default mod from 1.0 back to 1.75 (have no idea when it got screwed up)
- Campaign maps no longer ignore "Max hero level" parameter of the advanced settings

Any chances you'll be able to address the issue with Wetland?

Any chances you'll be able to address the issue with Wetland?

Sorry, forgot to comment on that. I can't reproduce the bug, if you provide a save file where it can be done, then I'll look into it.

[This message has been edited by HellBrick (edited 05-28-2013 @ 01:28 PM).]

What PawelS said. The fault was mine, rereading that message there's a glaring grammatical error there.
AoW2:SM remembers the last loaded save as the save that quicksave will overwrite. This shouldn't happen for autosaves.

[This message has been edited by i30817 (edited 05-30-2013 @ 08:22 AM).]

I installed Dwiggs into the mod folder but there is no way to open it in the editor as you say and save? Is this only allowed for Dwiggs scenarios and not custom games?

[This message has been edited by iceboy (edited 06-03-2013 @ 01:23 AM).]

I did a bit of keyword searching before posting with not much luck, but how single player-friendly is this mod? Works well with maps designed for 1.4? Works well with older maps as well? I sometimes go years without visiting so this is new to me.

I installed Dwiggs into the mod folder but there is no way to open it in the editor as you say and save?

It should be available in the mod list. Make sure the mod files are located in \Mods\%modname%, without any additional subfolders (you can use default mod as an example of the correct location).

---

how single player-friendly is this mod? Works well with maps designed for 1.4? Works well with older maps as well?

Most of the time old maps simply work. On rare occasions some tweaking might be needed: for example, when playtesting campaign, I had to replace some pioneers with rebuilders, because they were supposed to rebuild stuff, but they no longer have the Rebuild structure ability.

I installed MPE to a new copy of SM (GOG version). The models for "monk" units (Cleric, Shaman, etc.) are missing. They appear in neither the party display nor the battlefield, but they are usable and functional. Was I required to install upatch 1.4, which I know added those units, before installing MPE? I've been unable to find installation instructions for this modification, so I've assumed that it is straightforward.

Would someone be able to confirm with me what steps are needed to get a fully functional MPE install?

Yes, up 1.4 is required.

Thank you for the relpy, i30817. I was able to install MPE successfully. I'm enjoying it. I've played in scenarios, and now I'm beginning a campaign.

The Dwiggs folder is there and shows up but when you double click to open it in the editor nothing shows up because you are only allowed to load a custom map?

Well, that's odd. If you give a link to exactly the mod you're trying to open, I'll see what's wrong with it.

Feature request/test: sort the unit list of a stack by physical defense

i'm hoping that his affects the unit placement on the combat map - because whatever ordering that is using (probably by name), it seems to annoyingly place some combat weak heroes first very often, which then die to cavalry on the first turn.

[This message has been edited by i30817 (edited 06-06-2013 @ 03:02 AM).]

Units are sorted not by name, but by the estimation of their power, with exception of wizards and heroes always taking the first slots. Physical defense is already in the equation, among the other things.

Then it's defective on the tactical map somehow, since i've often seen magic heroes with crap defense in front of might heroes with 20+ defense.
Naturally, they die in the first round since they're targeted by cavalry.

Seen this last with a 2 hero stack of a warrior and a priest (i think it was a priest).
Instead of being side by side (still bad), or the warrior in front (ideal) it was the priest in front (wtf).

[This message has been edited by i30817 (edited 06-06-2013 @ 08:05 PM).]

http://aow2.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=612

Is Spell Casting favoured in the "unit power" equation? I've noticed that Shaman heroes are placed ahead of combat heroes in the party order. I agree that the bad automatic placement, which came with AoW2, plus the game's design decisions to allow units to be attacked immediately makes for some frustrating tactical battles.

Can anybody please tell me, if this mod is fully compatible with the community patch 1.4, or i have to decide which of them i want to use?

Can anybody please tell me, if this mod is fully compatible with the community patch 1.4, or i have to decide which of them i want to use?

What exactly do you mean by "fully compatible"?

What i meant was, if the full content of both patches can be used simultaneously, or if one mod overwrites the other...

What i meant was, if the full content of both patches can be used simultaneously, or if one mod overwrites the other...

Yes, they can be used simultaneously: MPE keeps its executables, mods and settings separate from SM.