Work in Progress - Conquests of Might and Magic III

[tom2050]

Here they are:
View attachment ability_Death_Cloud.rar
View attachment spell_Counterstrike.rar

Tom

 

[Grandraem]

Thank you, kind sir.

 

[tom2050]

Most Spells are done (except for Unit32's, which I will eventually make as I throw these onto the download database). Some sounds need to be completed also, but here is a look at some of them. In the meanwhile, I will be converting and releasing what I can of all HoMM4 Spells, so I will create a Spell Thread in a few days.

Some of the spells in the Magic tech tree (many are still not entered in, or are created by creature during battle)


Some of the Fire Magic Level IV Spells


Tom

 

[Vuldacon]

You are welcome Tom2050 Good Buddy... If I can help you with anything, let me know.
... and Best of Luck "laboring Under Correct Knowledge" on your Endeavors

 

[DFBATTLER]

Tom, screenshots are amazing as usual <-- Can't stop posting this exact message

 

[General 666]

Thanks for helping ,Vuldacon !
But what have you done all the time ??? 25 minutes between you two posts ??? You have taken a shower ? Or brewed some new coffee ?

Tom , your scenario will become for sure a invaluable source of new animations and images of all kind. (You know that all these lazy bastards (me) will steal files from your Mod ?) If the gameplay will do the same ? I can not know about this - without a test play. But all that`s gonna be posted here let me guess it will.
I do greatly appreciate your efforts that you put into this scenario. You (and Vuldacon) are proving that a good Modder has to have good graphical skills too. For that reason I`m pretty limited in my own works.

 

[tom2050]

Hmmm, I was going to convert the graphics of creatures from HoMM4 to Civ, but have run into a rather large issue which may prevent doing that completely (or it could be done, but because of this reason, may not be worth the time). The graphics include the small graphic files which are shown on the main map, and the combat graphics (which are larger, and therefore would need to be the ones converted). The combat graphics though, do not include all directions for many of the stances. They include all 8 directions for the Move and Attack animation, but that is it. The flinch, fidget, die, wait (default) all only include NE, NW, SE, and SW animations and none for N, S, E, and W. There is a static animation which has all 8 which could be used for default, but it would look a bit strange with only 2 animations and 1 static since they would not be able to smoothly transition between one another.

Such a shame, as there is quite a few creatures in HoMM4 such as the Bone Dragon, Faerie Dragon, great looking Ballista, Sprite, Mermaid, the Phoenix shown earlier, Thunderbird, Cyclops, Imp, Cerberus, and a horde of other cool 3d animated creatures (60+ in total), not to mention animations of the cool looking Heroes (which is I believe 10+ more).

I will do 1 creature first, and post the full animation... if it comes out badly (animations that don't flow together, etc) then I may be forced to find another way. But if it is okay, then I may proceed.

It seems that HoMM4 spell animations can be extracted, but I have been unable to view them in any way, since they are named things such as (animation.spell.mana) which windows cannot associate with. The image/animation view with the Resource Explorer for HoMM4 also cannot view them, so looks like that is out the window unless I eventually find another way. No Good News Today for me!

You are welcome Tom2050 Good Buddy... If I can help you with anything, let me know.
... and Best of Luck "laboring Under Correct Knowledge" on your Endeavors

My Civ3 Wisdom grows steadily day by day (I was going to put Like the sands of an hourglass but decided against it)

Tom, screenshots are amazing as usual <-- Can't stop posting this exact message

One thing is for sure, if the HoMM4 creature conversions cannot be done properly, due to all that is missing, I may start looking elsewhere to see if any other game creatures can possibly be converted. For all that needs to be done, it would be much quicker this way than having to do it from scratch in Poser (since many of what I need are tough to find for free, and I would still need to learn much in Poser to get it right, since most figures need to be put into poser as OBJ files, thus the 'skeletal structure' would have to be created to move those figures around <-- Im guessing, haven't gotten that far yet).

Tom , your scenario will become for sure a invaluable source of new animations and images of all kind. (You know that all these lazy bastards (me) will steal files from your Mod ?) If the gameplay will do the same ? I can not know about this - without a test play. But all that`s gonna be posted here let me guess it will.
I do greatly appreciate your efforts that you put into this scenario. You (and Vuldacon) are proving that a good Modder has to have good graphical skills too. For that reason I`m pretty limited in my own works.

If I can add anything new for other modders, than I am happy with that. After all, what I have done is still elementary compared to the real work put in by many of the graphics creators here. Creating them and having them look outstanding in game takes much practice and a lot of work, and having just dived into it so I still have ways to go, but I suppose alot of it comes down to the fact that I have alot of patience (too much perhaps) to do these types of monotonous things

Tom

 

[tom2050]

A few more spell screens (stats not set yet/testing still needs to be done):

Magic Arrow


Destroy Undead


Magic Mirror


Implosion


In-game view of Meteor Shower and Armageddon on some poor Crusaders and Champions


Tom

 

[General 666]

Is it possible to shrink the Armageddon (I think it is ,at least) a little bit ? The spell seems to strike adjacted tiles/units too. In that form he would be limited as ICBM or TacNuke. But maybe that is what you want to have.

I feel sorry to say this Tom ,but I want to be true to you. It looks more like an mix of a chicken and a pigeon to me. So I would call it the weakest thing on your thread. Should be redone. While the burning effect looks cool. But the Model sucks. Sorry again !

 

[tom2050]

Is it possible to shrink the Armageddon (I think it is ,at least) a little bit ? The spell seems to strike adjacted tiles/units too. In that form he would be limited as ICBM or TacNuke. But maybe that is what you want to have.

I feel sorry to say this Tom ,but I want to be true to you. It looks more like an mix of a chicken and a pigeon to me. So I would call it the weakest thing on your thread. Should be redone. While the burning effect looks cool. But the Model sucks. Sorry again !

The Armageddon right now takes up 200x200. But I haven't decided on whether it will be a nuke or not (might be too powerful that way). But the graphic is also square (which looks somewhat odd in game, so I'll probably cut the corners also.

I didn't make the Phoenix, but it was a partial conversion from HoMM 4. But thank you for the comments, I wasn't sure whether to replace the current phoenix recolour or not, but I agree it does look like a big chicken, and I had a good laugh over it (some of the other HoMM 4 looks of the graphics aren't the best, while some are very good). I was testing to see if converting them to usable Civ3 units was possible, in which the problem described in post 227 was encountered. The Bone Dragon, along with others from HoMM 4 is an excellent animation, so some may be worth it (if the problem doesn't stand in the way).

Guess if I am able to finish it, could call it the Burning Chicken Wing unit.

EDIT: I decided to give the Devil conversion a shot instead of the Pixie Sprite (since IMO it looks somewhat crappy also, similar to the chicken). This has not been sized smaller yet, I still have to see how it comes out in the end. GIF Updated, shows Move, Attack, Default, and Run Animations, it should work fine from what I see, so I can go ahead with some more of them.

Tom

 

[nick0515]

Thanks so much for that counterstrike spell Tom!!!!

The spells are gonna be the defining feature of this mod for me. Looking so cool already. The Armageddon looks so bad arse! I've been wanting to have lots of spells in Civ 3 for ages but there were not many animations until now. This will add greatly to future civ modding Tom, not to mention your mod is looking like it could be one of the funnest mods yet made.

Just out of curiosity, how are you deciding weather a spell is a cruise missile or an air unit?

EDIT: Hey Tom what is "spell_CRSPELL\spell_CRSPELL" that you use for a default with your spell unit?

 

[tom2050]

Thanks so much for that counterstrike spell Tom!!!!

The spells are gonna be the defining feature of this mod for me. Looking so cool already. The Armageddon looks so bad arse! I've been wanting to have lots of spells in Civ 3 for ages but there were not many animations until now. This will add greatly to future civ modding Tom, not to mention your mod is looking like it could be one of the funnest mods yet made.

Just out of curiosity, how are you deciding weather a spell is a cruise missile or an air unit?

EDIT: Hey Tom what is "spell_CRSPELL\spell_CRSPELL" that you use for a default with your spell unit?

The problem with using the cruise missle is that it cannot be stopped by anything, so anti-air has no effect on it. So for creatures that have special abilities, these will act as cruise missiles, whereas spells that are researched will all be air units (not all, but most). This way units with magic resistance can actually use their magic resistance. Units such as the Dread Knight, which has the special ability of Death Blow, will have a chance of creating the Death Blow Attack (spell) in a battle, which it can then use. These special attacks cannot be stopped by Magic Resistance (as was in HoMM), so this makes sense to be setup this way in game.

This lets me get as close as possible to actual HoMM gameplay, so works pretty well overall.

The CRSPELL was a little animated magic book, I need to add a shadow to the storyboard, as it doesn't quite look right without one in game. And perhaps do some other work to it, to make it work better in game.


For certain spells, such as Ice Bolt, Magic Arrow, etc... I have already created the NE, NW, SE, SW directions, and will be able to make the N, W, S, and E directions also (so these look normal). Many other spells in which direction matters will also be adjusted accordingly (to the extent possible).

I have sized the Devil down a bit, to match the size of the Elohim (but it is a bit bigger, since the Devil should strike a bit more fear in the hearts of the unweary). I did all I could to keep the graphic looking as good as possible, but I may be able to test the unit out in the game tomorrow. If it looks and works good, I'll start converting others, and I need to figure out a way to throw civ colors on this thing somehow (which I don't see how, other than the whole body armor).



Only thing is, no shadow was with MOST of these units to convert, so I am unsure as of now how to add shadows in, perhaps there is a plug-in for Photoshop to take the figure Silouette and twist it to another angle (which I could then give it Magnenta Colors and hence a shadow).

Tom

 

[Dumanios]

Nice Devil.

 

[tom2050]

Arch Devil and Devil complete, and has been tested in game. I may try to add a shadow to it later, once I figure out a good, easy way to do so. Has all animations except Fortify (Fidget can be used for this though), also has Build for paradrop. No Civ Colors, to difficult to add properly to a conversion, it's possible to add to the whole body armor, but civ colors would probably end up on wings also.



There are several conversions I can do of actual Heroes from HoMM4, for which I could use as Army graphics, or also as units (Wake Of Gods expansion of HoMM3 added individual Heroes to Hero armies). In this case, the Tavern could recruit them. Each conversion takes a couple days to finish, so it all depends on if 20 days to a month is worth it or not.

EDIT: Next on the list, the Thunderbird and the Roc.



Tom

 

[tom2050]

So far, in game testing... here is the most current.

For Epic Games (scenario barbs may differ), barbarians are set as the Boar and the Rogue.

The Boar has slightly better stats to most Level 1 units.

The Rogue has a very deadly attack, but low defense. This is the least of one's worries early in the game, since the Rogue is invisible and has hidden identity.

There are ways to counter these threats, but careful planning is the best way to avoid getting overrun by barbs. Scouts may be able to detect invisible units, but if they are put in this way, they will be limited.

Since most units will be auto-produced by buildings, except for low-level units (level 1 and 2), this became somewhat of a problem in Epic games for a couple reasons. First, sometimes the AI has problems acquiring the correct resources needed for certain auto-production buildings (low level structures will likely be changed to omit these requirements for AI's sake). But when AI does have the resources, it does build the buildings with no problem. Level 1 unit prices (which may seem high overall compared to 10 shields for a basic warrior unit) work well for 2 reasons, one must be careful with their units in the early game, and it is a big incentive to build an auto-production building. Level 2 units which are more expensive can be built by the player/AI right now, but in the Epic Game this causes problems, because AI tends to build these instead of of anything else (and they cost a bit more than level 1). I will look to find a work-around for this though.

All-in-all, for battle, if you have the most powerful empire in the world, it gives good advantage, but with the way it works, not necessarily an end-of-game scenario. Having more cities means you can possibly spit out more lower level creatures than other civs, which are useful, but auto-production creates somewhat of a more level playing field. And depending on what civ's are near you, you really have to think about how you are going to fight your battles (all civ's and units have dramatically different stats, in other words there are 14 UU's for every civ). To win, playing to your civ's strengths will often make it much easier than battling against them.

Take the Level 1 Gremlin and Gnoll for instance:

The Gremlin, has 3 Att, 3 Def (some of the lowest stats of the game), yet costs only 15 shields.

The Gnoll has a large stat advantage! 3 Att, 5 Def, yet costs almost twice as much.

So while the Fortress Gnoll (which is great defensively) has better protection early in the game, they may struggle pumping out units in the early game.

Whereas the Tower Gremlin (the 2nd weakest unit in the game) has low stats, they are one of the cheapest, and can be pumped out in tremendous quantities, thus making their sheer numbers difficult to overcome.

After test playing a game, it is not easy just wiping other civ's off the face of the map at any point. Although tweaking will continue to take place, it makes things interesting and gives combat a bit of a different feel. For one, when you have some high level units available, it usually is a good idea to make sure they win when they attack since they are not available in near the quantity of lower level units. Losing these units can sometimes turn the tide of a war (as I found out in my test game, with the tide turned against myself).

For those not familiar with HoMM3, the civilopedia will be full of information on all aspects to make it as understandable as possible, and I'll probably include lore as well (with Roland Ironfists help ).

Finally, on Technology Research, you have Mage Guilds which provide research increase, and are available at the start of the game (but have prerequisites that must be met in order to build them). This is necessary, because there are no limits on research time for techs. If you do not ever build Mage Guilds, your research will fall way behind of others. Most tech's can be traded, but not all of them can (powerful techs cannot).

So in the beginning of a game, you may see the first tech is going to take 100 turns, but it is only because you have 1 city... after the 3rd city is built, it drops drastically down to 30 turns e.g.

Tom

 

[nick0515]

Tom, I think you are going to go down in Civ 3 History as one of the great modders. This really is looking so amazing. I think it will more than equal other great mods such as the WH2.5 and MEM II.

As soon as you want testers let me know. Cant wait.

And not only are you making a great mod but you are going to provide many new fantasy units, which I know I'll find a use for. Once all your spells are available, I might actually be able to make my Fantasy Mod that I've been planning for years.

Bravo!

Oh what is Misfortune in Civ 3 terms? If you don't mind giving it away? I love the way you use regular abilities to simulate other things in your mods. I try to do that too but I'm never as creative with it as you.

 

[tom2050]

As soon as you want testers let me know. Cant wait.

I will let you know when beta time arrives.

Oh what is Misfortune in Civ 3 terms? If you don't mind giving it away? I love the way you use regular abilities to simulate other things in your mods. I try to do that too but I'm never as creative with it as you.

I don't have specific's on which each spell will do in Civ 3. Most likely it will be some type of unit, either a cruise missle or perhaps an offensive/defensive unit in some circumstances. Misfortune in terms of HoMM3 gameplay caused a chance of bad luck which made an enemy unit lose it's turn for that combat round. Since this cannot be put into gameplay, it will probably be a cruise missle type. This would signify an extra attack in replacement of the unit losing it's turn. The power of the Devil's Misfortune spell is undecided yet (several other units have misfortune as well, so a special Infernal Misfortune may likely be created).

Thanks for your kind words, as long as others enjoy it, that is all that matters to me. I have actually learned quite a bit in reference to the way graphics of civ 3 work since I began this. Before I knew almost nothing. I haven't put out anymore spells yet, because I still have a few things to do, as well as most unit32's pcx. I've been busy with the unit conversions so I can further get the main portion up and going for game testing.


Thunderbird is complete. Will come with Default (obviously ), Attack, Run, Fortify, Victory. There may also possibly be a 2nd Attack.

EDIT: Next on the list:



Tom

 

[nick0515]

Looks well cool Tom!

 

[DFBATTLER]

Looks well cool Tom!

I second this.

 

[Grandraem]

Looks well cool Tom!

Thirded. Keep up the awesome work!!!