I'm curious, are you still planning to address the Item Forge at some point?

I don't think so. Big balancing tasks have always been the most difficult and time-consuming things to do in this project (also the least rewarding, people for some reason tend to hate us for changing stats of things =)), so we're really not up to it at the moment.

Also, will the Mod Editor see more features added?

Now this is something I'd actually like to work on. The Mod Editor was an absolutely necessary thing to have in 2.0, and when we had realized it, my first thought was "Cool, we'll finally get to throw away that horrible thing integrated into the map editor and replace it with something awesome". I have a lot of cool ideas for the editor, in terms of both re-implementing things that the old editor does poorly (read: almost everything ) and implementing things that can't be done with it (changing Morph target and stuff like that). But for the sake of getting 2.0 out most of them were postponed until the more appropriate time.

Unfortunately, I've had more pressing things to do in the last months, so the ideas remain on hold for the time being. Though I do work on something quite interesting and sort of related to the editor, and I hope there will be some cool news in a couple months

I noticed Wolves cost an upkeep of 10 gold per turn? If summoned by Call of the Forest or acquired through control or recruitment, they cost nearly twice as much maintenance per turn as Level 1 units, which they seem to have equivalent stats of. Just curious if this was an oversight or by design. I can't recall their upkeep in the original game, so perhaps this was unchanged.

Wolf's level was intentionally increased after it got + Morph (Doom wolf) at gold medal. And with the increased level comes the increased upkeep.

did you find out anything about preserving Guard orders etc. in MP saves like the SP saves do?

Nope, never actually got to investigating this issue.

Big balancing tasks have always been the most difficult and time-consuming things to do in this project

That is understandable. Since you've expressed interest in developing the Mod Editor further, I hope you'll expand its feature set to enable users to try to tackle this on their own, in case it doesn't come up on the to do list for MPE.

I see the price and forge presence of abilities can be set, but I see no way to change the number of abilities that can be added to an item (the game engine already supports more than 3, adds a scroll bar to the list if there are more than 3 enchantments applied on the forge screen), and there doesn't seem to be a way to set it to allow for more than +1 DEF or +1 RES on an item like you can DAM and ATT. Since several abilities are leveled now, like Block, Forestry etc. being able to raise an enchant higher than +3 or have more than 3 level 1 enchantments may be useful for the purposes of enchant balancing. Better still if the level of an enchantment and the number of enchantments considered to be on the item were seperate - 3 level 1s, or 1 level 3, currently, because a level or different enchant both count as 1. If that made sense. Maybe a maximum of 3 enchants, all up to level 3, if the player can afford it. Not sure if that's possible. But the more flexibility can be afforded modders, the merrier.

Now this is something I'd actually like to work on.

Well, you definitely deserve a pat on the back for the mod editor as it already is! These are exactly the sorts of features I was looking for when I first played with AoW's original editor, only to find most of the stuff couldn't be changed through its own tool. I thought editors with such arbitrary restrictions were left behind in the late 90's. Of course, as a developer it can be difficult to foresee what all a player may wish to modify, and if you're on a tight schedule... these things happen.

Real life happens to all of us sooner or later. I'll keep an eye out for your next announcement, be it a few months or longer. :P

Wolf's level was intentionally increased after it got + Morph (Doom wolf) at gold medal. And with the increased level comes the increased upkeep.

Ah, so that's what it morphs into.

Even knowing it morphs into a Doom Wolf, the upkeep cost still seems a little high. This is a minor point of course, you've done so much good work here I feel like a spoiled brat whining about not getting 11 cookies instead of 10, haha. Anyway, here's why I say it seems a bit expensive.

The Dragon Hatchling, also a Level 3 unit, sports these advantages over the Wolf:

6 more ATT
3 more DAM
4 more DEF
9 more RES

Flying, Magic Strike, Fire Immunity, Willpower, Shadow Walker, Fire Breath, Dragon Growth (Golden Dragon)

Wolf has much lower stats, and only these abilities the Hatchling doesn't: Walking, Forestry, Concealment

As powerful as Doom Wolves may be, the Wolf still has stats of a Level 1 unit until (if) it morphs, and like Dragon Hatchlings can't easily be recruited in great numbers. The Wolf is further disadvantaged in this state in that the Mighty Meek enchantment grants +2 ATT and DAM vs Wolves, which only have 5 DEF and 10 HP. In contrast to the Dragon Hatchling, also Level 3, same upkeep, it is neither flying nor can attack with impunity (Hatchling breath) to make help mitigate its otherwise low stats and health.

So, I don't suppose I can at least convince you that it should be Level 2 instead of Level 3?

Nope, never actually got to investigating this issue.

I hope you'll still look into it when you can. Loading multiplayer games and having to reissue guard orders, especially on bigger maps, is a repetition I would be very happy to do without if at all possible. Then again, this might be of those seemingly simple things that turns out to be insanely complex, so I ask knowing the answer may be 'impossible.'

Thanks again for all your hard work... I can see many months of your life invested in this mod each time I play it.

What am I doing wrong and how do I get to that screen to change the mod ID? When I double click on mp evolution editor I get the old editor not that screen?

It sounds like you're looking for the new Mod Editor added by MPE. Check for a new shortcut in your Shadow Magic folder named 'Mod editor' - this should of been created when you installed v2 or newer - that will open it up.

Hope that helps.

I click on AoW - MP Evolution editor.exe and it looks just like the old editor. I see nothing named mod editor?

Sounds like you're in the right place if you see that editor.exe... but no Mod editor shortcut (without AoW in front of it) elsewhere in the folder?

Not sure how to help with that, if so. I'm afraid I can only offer generic advice like 'make sure you're using the latest version' (2.0.3). I haven't had any trouble with MPE installs or the mod editor, but maybe someone else here who has could offer some insight. Or perhaps HellBrick knows what might cause this.

Mod editor shortcut can be found in the Start menu (MP Evolution/Mod editor).

Thats it! Thanks HellBrick!

Although I don't see a place to edit buildings?

[This message has been edited by iceboy (edited 10-29-2013 @ 02:04 PM).]

At the moment the Mod editor's focus is things that can't be done by the old editor, and a decent amount of its features have not been implemented yet.

[This message has been edited by HellBrick (edited 10-29-2013 @ 11:10 PM).]

During MPE install, I find that the ModEditor install quits due to .NET 4.5 not being supported on my OS (WinXP Prof).

I get this:


This is mostly just FYI as I'll be upgrading to Win7 very soon(TM).

Edited Nov. 8th to add:

I have Win7 now. AoW:SM with UPatch 1.4 runs fine. However,I've only gotten MPE to run on an admin account.

On a standard account (1) the shortcuts to Mod Editor in Start Menu and on desktop aren't installed and (2) immediately after the 'ESRB etc...' splash screen the game locks on a screen with one very large button and moving the mouse around just draws a lot of wands. Does anyone else have this?

[This message has been edited by Zerglub (edited 11-08-2013 @ 02:47 PM).]

Is it Possible to Disable the Migration, Racial Expulsion or to set a number for how long it lasts in the editor. and when building pioneers i noticed if you set a number for it to increase by after awhile it starts doubling the number instead of increasing by a specific amount each time.

However,I've only gotten MPE to run on an admin account.

On a standard account (1) the shortcuts to Mod Editor in Start Menu and on desktop aren't installed and (2) immediately after the 'ESRB etc...' splash screen the game locks on a screen with one very large button and moving the mouse around just draws a lot of wands. Does anyone else have this?

Probably has something to do with the permissions for the graphics files. After closing the game, check aowsmlog.txt in %localappdata%\VirtualStore\Program files (x86)\Age of Wonders Shadow Magic, there might be some useful info there.

when building pioneers i noticed if you set a number for it to increase by after awhile it starts doubling the number instead of increasing by a specific amount each time

It's how it's supposed to work by design, linear increment was making building pioneers more efficient than conquering stuff on the map. It's mentioned in this section of the change log.

Is it Possible to Disable the Migration, Racial Expulsion or to set a number for how long it lasts in the editor.

Unfortunately, there's currently no way to make this effect expire after some time (if there were, we most certainly would have done it by now). But I think it should be possible to add an option to edit the penalty value (and therefore disable the feature by setting it to 0).

[This message has been edited by HellBrick (edited 11-11-2013 @ 05:59 AM).]

Probably has something to do with the permissions for the graphics files. After closing the game, check aowsmlog.txt in %localappdata%\VirtualStore\Program files (x86)\Age of Wonders Shadow Magic, there might be some useful info there.

Thanks HellBrick for answering. I still have problems running MPE on a standard account, any further suggestions are most welcome.

It turned out Windows Update had some .NET 4.5 fixes. After applying these, the graphics corruption issue went away. Hopwever, even after a complete AoW+UPatch+MPE un- and reinstall:
There is still no Mod Editor on the standard account, though.
Also it's not possible to start an MPE game, selecting Scenario/Single or attempting to load a saved game is as far as it gets.
The Mod/Patch info at intro screen lower right is not the same on admin and standard account, on admin it says:"MP Evolution 2.0.3.208\MPE 2.0.3.208", but on standard just "MP Evolution 2.0.3.208".

This is the aowsmlog.txt (from the standard account Virtualstore path):

Operating System: Windows 7 Professional (6.17601)
DirectX Version: 9.0 (4.09.00.0904)
Desktop Resolution: 1280x1024x16
Physical Memory: 2759 / 3799 MB
Virtual Memory: 1768 / 2047 MB
Winsock 2 Detected: YES

AoWSM Version: 1.20
Resources ID: 0
Display Resolution: 1280x1024x16
Display Mode: Full Screen
Pixel Format: 5-6-5
3D Renderer: Hardware
Display Driver: Intel(R) Q45/Q43 Express Chipset (igdumdx32.dll)
Driver Version: 0.0.0.0 (32902 / 11794)

Detail Level: High
Cursor Mode: Software
Sound: On
Music: On
DirectSound: On

Application opened at: 9:39:58 PM
Application closed at: 9:41:05 PM (0 errors)

I am using windows 7 and I can't find my saved game files so I can delete one.

Where does MP Evolution store the saved games in windows 7?

Also it's not possible to start an MPE game, selecting Scenario/Single or attempting to load a saved game is as far as it gets.

I've discovered something interesting: if you see the game freezing after click on "Single" button, it may be caused by one of the maps in the scenario folder crashing the preview info extractor. Try to move all of them to a subfolder, it may help with the issue.

The Mod/Patch info at intro screen lower right is not the same on admin and standard account, on admin it says:"MP Evolution 2.0.3.208\MPE 2.0.3.208", but on standard just "MP Evolution 2.0.3.208".

Great! This means the game exe can't access the registry when using the standard account, so it can't get the path to the current mod and everything goes haywire. This kinda makes sense: AoW stores info in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Triumph Studios\Age of Wonders Shadow Magic, so it seems to be user-specific. I think we're on right track here, no we need to figure out what we can do about this issue.

There is still no Mod Editor on the standard account, though.

It's installed via ClickOnce, and as far as I know, ClickOnce performs a user-specific installation. What will happen if you try to install just the ModEditor from here under your standard account?

Where does MP Evolution store the saved games in windows 7?

The save folder location hasn't changed. But modern Windows systems don't allow applications to write to the %programfiles% folder, so the files are transparently saved to %localappdata%\Virtual store\Program files (x86)\ instead.

I've discovered something interesting: if you see the game freezing after click on "Single" button, it may be caused by one of the maps in the scenario folder crashing the preview info extractor. Try to move all of them to a subfolder, it may help with the issue.

Moving all scenarios from 'Custom' folder into 'Custom\New Folder' changes behaviour: now Scenario/Single returns the game to the main menu screen.

What will happen if you try to install just the ModEditor from here under your standard account?

I did this on top of the install described in my previous post. The Mod Editor and shortcut now gets installed for the standard acoount. Attempting to run it has Windows decide there is a problem, which it cannot resolve, and ends with a messagebox: "ModEditor has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop functioning correctly. Windows will close the program and inform you, if a solution exists".

Here's another one for you: In an ongoing MPE 2.0.3 PBEM game (2 humans, some AI players), one AI player has Fire Domain active. It appears only enemies outside this players domain are affected by Fire Domain (and it should be 'only enemies inside'). Is this a known issue? Want me to make a test scenario to verify this?

[This message has been edited by Zerglub (edited 11-18-2013 @ 00:21 AM).]

Moving all scenarios from 'Custom' folder into 'Custom\New Folder' changes behaviour: now Scenario/Single returns the game to the main menu screen.

Okay, unfortunately this is not the same issue.

I'm starting to run out of simple ideas to try. Here's probably the last one: check the registry entries in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Triumph Studios\Age of Wonders Shadow Magic using the admin account, then try recreating them using your standard account. If it doesn't help, I think we should just give up and say that a full-privileged account is needed at the moment. To be honest, this is a complicated issue I'm not sure when I'll be able to look into.

Here's another one for you: In an ongoing MPE 2.0.3 PBEM game (2 humans, some AI players), one AI player has Fire Domain active. It appears only enemies outside this players domain are affected by Fire Domain (and it should be 'only enemies inside'). Is this a known issue? Want me to make a test scenario to verify this?

Never heard of it. If you can provide a way to reproduce it (ideally in a singleplayer game), that would be a huge help.

check the registry entries in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Triumph Studios\Age of Wonders Shadow Magic using the admin account, then try recreating them using your standard account.

After doing this (by exporting this registry block in the admin account, then importing it into the standard one), the results of a quick test are: AoW2:SM displays the correct mod, loads (and plays) saved cames and allows starting (and playing) a new single scenario on the standard account. The map editor works also. The mod editor no longer reports an error, it gets as far as the 'Available mods' window, but nothing happens when 'edit mod' is selected (I have only the MPE mod).

I.e. for mod editing it is still necessary to use the admin account, but the game can now be played on standard.

It's probably not worth it to pursue this further.

---
Concerning the issue with the Fire Domain I made a test scenario where Fire Domain works as expected. So the issue is only seen in a single game so far and as this was started on a previous install which may have been corrupted I'll not try and hunt the issue down unless it pops up in other games.
----
Once again thank you for your assistance (and for the mod!).

We've made another minor update, 2.0.4. Both installer and change log can be found at the new location: http://aow2.net/MPE. Enjoy

Just dowloaded!
Congrats and thank you for all your work HB&Jobe.

since some time I think about a question but never dare to ask because maybe it is already fixed...
OK I dare.

If I place a sign on a RC site I have this two "structures" on the same hex in the game.
When I play the game and enter the RC site the units inside will be shown - of course but also the sign is displayed first.
If I do not go very straight on now I am not able to recruit on of the units.
I must not click on this or that unit or double click on one unit. If I do I will not be allowed to recruit it. The game will block this "wish".
I must exactly click on the unit and then click on the recruit button below. then the unit will be recruited.
If I don´t have the gold to do and change some city settings to get the needed gold and return to the RC site it is impossible to recruit the units again.
I need to wait at least one day and even then it is sometimes never possible to recruit the unit again.
Sorry to the long explanation but its so quit here.
Can this be fixed or is it even fixed?

[This message has been edited by The Groll (edited 11-28-2013 @ 01:35 PM).]

Thanks for the info, I'll look into it.

Thank you a lot.

To give you a good example...
I remember one place where it always (don´t) work.

Map Mia-Mina and the seadrake.

Locations
63/123/0 means surface.
33/74/0 is another place.

http://aow2.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=1050&ci=ad01a8106be463d47e1efe41a0fda0dcYToxOntpOjA7YToyOntpOjA7czoxNDoiU2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHMiO2k6MTtzOjM1OiJsaXN0ZXIucGhwP3N0YXJ0PTAmYW1wO3NlYXJjaD1ncm9sbCI7fX0=

[This message has been edited by The Groll (edited 11-29-2013 @ 05:49 AM).]

MP Evolution is impressive. Thanks for making it.

I just updated to 2.0.4.209 from 1.5 something. I formerly saw a choice for custom resources in the Settings application. Now I don't. How does one make a mod on top of MP Evolution? On a related note, the change log keeps differentiating between the default mod and patch. The best I can tell, the meaning of this is "patch" is more in the bug fix realm, while "default" involves more substantial changes that are more controversial (especially among mod makers). Is that right? And is this differentiation selectable somewhere?

Mod selection is still there, it simply has been moved to the new mod editor (due to technical reasons).

Difference between patch and default mod is both technical and conceptual. Patch changes are what happened to the game engine itself. You can play any mod you want, these core features will be there. Default mod, on the other hand, is just something made in the editor. You can edit it in any way you want, or choose/create an entirely different mod.

Patch changes usually introduce new features through the modding, at least where it's possible and makes sense. We've made city productions transferrable - there's a mod setting that allows you to tweak or disable it. We've introduced spell dependencies - and they are fully customizable in the editor as well. This approach allows us to improve the game and respect wishes of those who don't like some of the improvements or see them inappropriate to the types of games they are used to play.

Hellbrick have you investigated the strange default battle formations for some hero types groups? Things like shamans/priests going before warriors (and of equivalent levels).

I swear i've seen bugs like this, and it normally resulted on turn 1 deaths.

And of course, my number one bug, which you already refused but i'm shameless to ask for again: http://my.opera.com/Vorlath/blog/2009/02/01/directx-d3d-mouse-lag

You might be interested in this rather radical solution from a freelancer moder:
http://www.moddb.com/groups/star-wars-fan-group/news/freeworlds-tides-of-war-dx9-port-mouse-lag-bloom-color-correction2

The timeslip's 'work' he refers too is probably ddfix, which was recently removed from the main homepage of Timeslip (because of newdark), but is still accessible if you know the link:
http://timeslip.chorrol.com/ddfix.html

and the wrapper surprisingly small source is here (although i guess it has many things specific to thief there):
http://timeslip.chorrol.com/current/ddfixSource.7z

[This message has been edited by i30817 (edited 12-05-2013 @ 12:04 PM).]

Nope, still haven't got to any of these issues. If I had, I sure wouldn't hide it =)

Hi everybody! There is something important we’d like to discuss with you.

It’s been more than 7 months since we released MP Evolution 2. To be honest, back then I thought there would be no more big releases for us, but as it turns out, MPE is something that’s not so easy to walk away from. New ideas keep coming, from both us and other people, and we have found ourselves discussing whether we should work on MPE again.

However, things are not as simple as they were 4 or even 2 years ago. Our creativity has always been under the great pressure of the technical limitations, caused by unavailability of the game’s source code, and everything that was _relatively_ easy to implement has been implemented by now. No matter what features we pick for the hypothetical new version, they will be very difficult, and (what is actually more important) time-consuming.

After considering our current situation, we have decided to use a different approach this time. Before we even start making plans, we want to determine two things:

1. How many people care about future releases of MPE – would our efforts make any sense at all?
2. What exactly these people would like to see implemented – is there any intersection between the things we can possibly do and the things you want us to do?

After that, we will be able to decide whether we are going to do a new MPE.

To simplify this step for both you and us, we’ve opened an experimental UserVoice forum for your feedback. If you want MP Evolution 3 to happen, we’re counting on you to express your opinion there. Post your own ideas, vote for the ones posted by other people, discuss them in comments – we’ll be watching and basing our next step on what we see. The future of MP Evolution is up to you

Excellent, Hellbrick!

Big thumbs up from me.
Checking the uservoiceforum now!

Hello HB and Team!

Speaking from a mapmakers point of view I understand the wish for feedback and at least also for honor from the worlds remaining players.
But...
While you talk and explain your teams idea to dig-in MPE again (and we understand that this time it will be even harder and maybe exhausting and disappointing work) you use "we" for your local team/community members and friends - and this is what should mean much more.
Deciding if you all make the new MPE version should be more your local friends wish than ours.
When I start mapmaking I made this maps for me and my girl, later for the community members too - and this draws me on.
Now the community is near dead and I lost track mapmaking new maps - even when I still have one or two or three in the pipe.
My small piece of advice restarting this cool project is...
Make it for your own fun - for your own local community and friends in first case.

Nevertheless!!!
I will be very happy (and have already voted on your web side) to see this new MPE version.
I will still play AoWSM in many years no matter if there will be AoW III or something beyond.

Voted 3 points for FX editor
Voted 3 points for Easier use of Morphing/Growth/Metamorphosis abilities.
Voted 3 points for Creating new abilities and spells in the mod editor
Voted 1 point for Unit model editor