Recent content by ThaneWulfgharn

Any chance for the future to feature this kind of shader:

It would make steel equipment look realistic.

Hello there N0ught. Glad to see this mod is still going on.

If I may suggest, I don't know if you've watched the 1990 series Twin Peaks but I was thinking about one or more gates into the Faerie similar to the entrance in the Black Lodge. Basically they're available on certain days of the year and on certain hours. And you have to bring some offering to open the gateway. At different times the gates bring you to different parts of the Faerie.

You can access a standard, simple Faerie every day around 3:00 am (there is some sort of story about 3:00 am being the hour when the veil between this world and the spirit world is thinner) but to access special parts of the Faerie you have to enter during Samhain (~1 November), Imbolc (~1 February), Beltane (~1 May), or Lughnasadh (~1 August). Also you might add a quest line about some Nord village haunted by spirits of the Faerie (in a somewhat similar way how Twin Peaks was haunted by BOB and MIKE.

In the TV show, the main character (Agent Dale Cooper) finds the entrance to the Black Lodge (after he has solved many other mysteries) in a place called Glastonberry Grove (reference to King Arthur's Glastonbury):

Also, the character of Windom Earle from Twin Peaks is quite interesting. Basically an ex-FBI agent practicer of some dark form of Vajrayana Buddhism, in one of the scenes in the show, he lives in a cabin in the woods dressed in pajamas and playing a samurai bamboo flute(which uses as a weapon). It strongly reminds of the deity Pan or of the Satyrs/Fauns:

Another inspiration about possible inhabitants of the Faerie comes from American Gods (yes, I've been watching some new tv series recently) - Mr. Wood - A tree-like animistic deity which can move and kill people. You can make a mix between it and The Arm/The Dwarf in tree form (Twin Peaks again):

Hmm, N0ught I might have some ideas about the Faerie...

Recently I've been playing Planescape Torment (whose rich dialogues reminded me of Solid&Shade a little). So, there is this character, Dak'kon who is a githzerai from Limbo. He has a katana-like sword which he shapes with his own thought... So I was thinking that the Faerie get similar weapons : rather than wooden weapons you can somehow gain Faerie World metal ingots which, if your character has faerie origin, can shape with his/her thought into any sort of weapon. Different weapons need different amount of Faerie World Metal (find a better name for it seriously).

Of course, Ghostwood will still have its own uses(for polearms, bows and arrows for example) and the Katana form for the Rising Mist becomes available after you've had the Rising Sun Katana for since there are no katanas in Calradia there is no way your character can imagine one (since read somewhere that people can't imagine things such as colors, shapes or other things they've never seen )

Johrnarlor said:

- Archers: Like Dankmar already stated, archers are killing machines so more shields are a must.

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Even in Heroes III archers ARE killing machines. The difference is that they are the first to get hit (by flyers or other archers). Maybe lowering just a little ranged damage would do. Regarding shields, hmm... they're not in the original game except for Skeleton Warriors, Crusaders and Champions. Skeletons, Zombies, Wights, Liches, Air Elementals, Fire Elementals might be scripted to receive less damage from ranged attacks (which is more logical for skeletal / certain undead troops and Air Elementals). Other units (right now I can think of dwarves, swordsmen, skeletons, gnolls, troglodytes and goblins) may be made so that they do not have "guaranteed" shield, so some troops have and some troops don't (randomly).

Johrnarlor said:

- Magic: magic becomes too much of a normal weapon. It should be something you use strategically. As for now, i can just melt entire armies and dragon utopias with dragons + castle to the ground. The spells are ok. It's not the effect they have what bothers me, rather the amount of times you can use them. I have **** loads of mana and i don't even get to use half of them in a battle. I don't know how the amount of mana you have is calculated but it's too much. I would rather go for the amount of Intelligence you have X 10. Just like in the original game.
So if you have 6 intelligence, you have 60 mana points.

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Regarding the Intelligence * 10 formula, I agree. As for magic, that certainly needs some work. Mage characters need to balance somehow their performance in combat. Therefore, I would suggest a change in the current system. The current system tries to be as loyal as possible to the original Heroes 3 magic system but that is designed for a Turn-Based Strategy game not for a Role Playing one. Therefore, I was thinking of something more like in "The Gathering Storm - A Wheel of Time Mod". The Spellbook is a weapon (just like the "One Power"), but unlike "The Gathering Storm" you select the spell you want to cast via the Heroes III-like book menu not cycling continuously. Also I would suggest that somehow the Magic Arrow be altered in order to become the standard weapon for a Magic Hero-

Johrnarlor said:

- Growing strong: becoming strong is really easy. Just buy some troops and go clear your first dungeons and soon you'll have an army of archers, loads of gold and lots of skill and you're ready to get some dragons. I also noticed that you start already with a considerable amount of skills. Perhaps let the player start even weaker then in vanilla? With all mains skills on 1? And if you are a mage you'll have 4 intelligence, and if you are a warrior you start with 4 strength. Something like that.

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Johrnarlor said:

- Dungeons: I really feel like there are too many dungeons on the map. It's full with them. Instead of having a lot of them on the map already when you start, perhaps start with NO dungeons and on the end of every day 3 are added. And instead of being removed after 30 days, lower it to 20 days or so. Otherwise it's too filled.

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I do not agree on the first point (that they spawn after 3 days), but yes, less dungeons in the map would certainly be good.

May I suggest a very interesting mod for you to work with?
Chronicles of Might and Magic:
https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,256876.0.html

It's a Heroes of Might and Magic 3 mod for Warband, with a lot of revolutionary features such as random-placed treasure hoards, spellbook, monsters(dragons, unicorns) etc. It is an awesome mod but it needs better graphics on my opinion. Give it a look

AlphA-FR said:

EG-6 Power Droid for BearForce II.

https://skfb.ly/QBXG

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And how is that going to fit with Bear Force?

Ah alright fixed it!

Those two screenshoots are from the Mercenaries mod.
I do not want to "ask" for shaders, besides, I want a reflection shader that can cover almost every metal.

Hello, In the real life, I am an Electronic Engineering student and I know the basics of programming in C. Looking at what wonders you guys have done with shaders in Mount&Blade, the fact that the HLSL programming logic seems at first glance similar to C and counting that shader modders are the among the rarest in these forums I would like to learn shader scripting.

Currently I have zero experience with shader modding I can't even compile the files properly(it says "failed writing mb_2a.fxo" and "failed writing mb_2b.fxo").

I would like you to advise and guide me on the first steps of realising my shaders.

My questions are:
1) How to compile properly
2) How to create a completely new shader
3) Which is the best tutorial library for HLSL

Also, I've been wanting to create reflect shaders for various metal armors. Somewhere I found on the internet this HLSL tutorial for the Reflect:

My goal is to make two shaders(one with specular and one without specular) that read a grayscale envmap from a material and, just like specular shaders, the whiter the color the stronger the reflection. The effect should be something like:
(click to show/hide)
How should I reason and proceed in realising such a shader?

Malgus20033 said:

NOught, I recommend adding more to the game, like expanding the map, and adding at least 2 more factions, like the green skins, serving as evil mercs in evil taverns. and the holy order, like Paladins and other holy warriors, and most important for me, adding magicians, like real once that cancer at fireballs using mana and stuff like that, though it will take long, you can, if you may try magic, get some files from magic world, cause Necromancers that don't summon undead, or even use fire balls and dark magic in battle, are more like fanatics, who serve as the pawns, no matter what rank. I don't get one thing in your game, infinity stone kills every human right? Well you should change it cause I'm no human, for hundreds of days I was a werewolf, but it really kill my guy when it breaks, which is stupid cause I'm a werewolf. And also add new werewolf/vampire troops, like a werewolf that has high agility, and low strength, running on all fours, or vampire duke/count that can bite enemies in battle, turning them to his side. And vampire bats to. You should also add a god as a marshal of each faction, after zendar becomes necropolis, like Thor to Nords, Zeus to Swadia, Poseidon to Khergits, Odin to Vaegers, and Athens to Rhodoks. Thus, more of a chalenge for the character when he masters the arts of evil, instead of Beating everyone without dropping a sweat.

More to the green skins,  goblins ussually rob, so giving the, knives, and masks will make it better, orcs, trolls, and ogres might be harder because they are very high, and making wolves or worgs as Orc mounts. Also, make the towns dirtier cause they're not very caring, so villages should be very poor, and make there land closer to mountains for them to hide. Alas, if you do try that.

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No! This is not THAT sort of fantasy mod. It's a different sort of fantasy. You have Phantasy Calradia for WB if you want Orcs, Trolls and Magic.

Mat Berserker said:

There will be no black and white female minotaurs

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There were in Day of the Destroyer, that's how they looked like:

Is this a Virus?

Mat Berserker said:

And small bonus for you. Queen of Nighorn(know in Heroes 3 as dungeon), grand minotaurin Moo'cka.

Spoiler

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That's wrong (lorewise speaking)! Before Mutare Nighon was ruled by a Lich Emperor, Mederon. See here: http://mightandmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Mederon
So, the ruler of Nighon will be either Mederon either Mutare depending on which year your mod starts.

The rulers of your factions would go as:

As for the other part, your mod is great! Keep on the good work!

Is this with or without the "Form Ranks Kit". If it is without, are you planning a "Project Form Ranks" for the future?