Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 05.11.2023]

The role-playing games (I-X) that started it all and the various spin-offs (including Dark Messiah).
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SpectralDragon
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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby SpectralDragon » 02 Jun 2019, 15:59

Xfing wrote:Stuff like a short Lich paperdoll for dwarf-based liches is definitely something overdue, but I'm not sure how you're going to go about making vampiric equivalents of regular non-vampire humanoids. Sounds like tons of work? : c
Which it is and with portraits being really annoying to recolor as well due to them already having their "game layers" on, I only hope there would be more people here that could help the likes of me with this bit. :wall: Thus I at least started with something easier first, mainly Dragons because those are the easiest to edit and add to the game due to, well, them having no movable parts of the paperdoll unlike a Minotaur for example ... if not create on your own as well (Erathian Black Dragon, I´m looking at you).
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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby Templayer » 02 Jun 2019, 17:10

GrayFace wrote:
Templayer wrote:Sclerosis? Create Food. :D
Like that time when I was stuck in Sweet Water without food :D
Templayer wrote:Not to even mention the enemies that used Finger of Death now being pushovers, including the secret super-boos Q.
I haven't tried, but wonder why that is. There's still a death "Bonus" that Ancient Wyverns use, it should be attack bonus of Q and others. Though, it appears much more powerful than Finger of Death.

The reason why spells aren't changed is that it is pretty complicated. Places to change, new effects to add. NWC programmed them in the good old spaghetti code style :)
Yeah, I remember getting stuck somewhere in Jadame as well due to food shortage.

Yes, I do know that old spells would be a hassle to implement due to NWC's spaghetti code, but if there is ONE person on the entire planet that could do that, it is you. :hug:

Even though YOUR CODE ISN'T PERFECT EITHER. :D :D
Some constructive criticism:
1. sometimes I feel there is a lack of commentary. Do not be afraid to comment on even each line of code - it is not always needed, but sometimes it is better and in those cases don't be afraid to make one comment per one line of code.
2. After variable declaration, comment about what it is and what it is for, unless it is clear from it's name at a first glance by anybody.
3. Before function declaration, make a comment header, in which one line will be a description of what the function does, then one line per parameter saying what the parameter is and how it is used, and the last line being what the function returns (a description).
4. At work we are forbidden to use abbreviations. You would be sacked for your variable abbreviations at my job! :D :D

Example on the abbreviations:
If I were to give you only a bit of code, like this:

Code: Select all

	local function set(p, v, a)
		a = a or i4
		if on then
			last[p] = last[p] or a[p]
			a[p] = math.max(v, last[p])
		elseif last[p] then
			a[p] = last[p]
		end
	end
No one would be able to tell what this function actually does, without looking it up and reading other stuff. If those variables weren't abbreviated (for example instead of "a" using visibilityLengthMatrix (or whatever that actually is)), the person reading it could immediately see that this specific block of code sets visibility. I made code like that once too. I was forbidden to, because it takes time for the next person editing it to find out what each variable means (and time costs money), while as if the variable name isn't called "a", "b" or "c", you usually do not have to deduce anything.

And I hope that piece of code was written by you, otherwise this is quite embarrassing. People that code solo tend to do these things, but then when you are cording in a team... this gets problematic.

But I am happy for all the hours you have spent reverse engineering the game. I couldn't do that.
Xfing wrote:Well I'm not sure how to feel about all those crazy innovations with character customization, since some of them seem to break the lore. There were never any spellcasting dragons in Enroth-based games, except for Faeries from Homm3, and zombie and skeletal characters by default would clash heavily with attributes such as intelligence or personality (zombification is supposed to minimize all your stats in addition to some other adverse effects). So as long as this is either lore-friendly or optional I guess we're good, but having a vanilla-friendly base version would also be nice to have. Stuff like a short Lich paperdoll for dwarf-based liches is definitely something overdue, but I'm not sure how you're going to go about making vampiric equivalents of regular non-vampire humanoids. Sounds like tons of work? : c
And here comes the purist.

THIS STUFF IS PURELY OPTIONAL. YOU WOULD HAVE TO SPECIFICALLY USE THE UNLOCKER TO SPECIFICALLY FOR EXAMPLE MAKE A DRAGON NECROMANCER.
If you do that, then you specifically want to have a dragon lich.

Also recheck your lore please. There is a spellcasting dragon in MM lore. Remember Heroes 3? Remember Mutare? She transformed into a dragon, and used ACTUAL MAGIC to force the Green and Golden dragons from AvLee to serve her!

And I believe by Enroth based you mean the world, not the continent. Otherwise we would only play as humans. :)

Zombification still reduces some of your stats, true. Did you try it? I thought it raised strength, actually. Rigor Mortis, you know? Too lazy to check, since you do not check your "facts" either. And the Vampire non-human variants would be available only by using my unlocker. -_-
MMMerge Tracker (= Info + Paint Tracker + Missing Features + Suggestions):
https://goo.gl/ui24Bz
Anybody can view or suggest edits.

Dedicated MMMerge Forum (Bug Tracker included): shorturl.at/lryAF

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby SpectralDragon » 02 Jun 2019, 17:16

Templayer wrote: And here comes the purist.

THIS STUFF IS PURELY OPTIONAL. YOU WOULD HAVE TO SPECIFICALLY USE THE UNLOCKER TO SPECIFICALLY FOR EXAMPLE MAKE A DRAGON NECROMANCER.
If you do that, then you specifically want to have a dragon lich.

Also recheck your lore please. There is a spellcasting dragon in MM lore. Remember Heroes 3? Remember Mutare? She transformed into a dragon, and used ACTUAL MAGIC to force the Green and Golden dragons from AvLee to serve her!

And I believe by Enroth based you mean the world, not the continent. Otherwise we would only play as humans. :)

Zombification still reduces some of your stats, true. Did you try it? I thought it raised strength, actually. Rigor Mortis, you know? Too lazy to check, since you do not check your "facts" either. And the Vampire non-human variants would be available only by using my unlocker. -_-
Are you supposed to make Dragons instead of me? Because that's one HELL of a roast right there and it cannot be any better. :D :D :D
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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby Templayer » 02 Jun 2019, 21:07

SpectralDragon wrote:Are you supposed to make Dragons instead of me? Because that's one HELL of a roast right there and it cannot be any better. :D :D :D
:handshake: :drama:
MMMerge Tracker (= Info + Paint Tracker + Missing Features + Suggestions):
https://goo.gl/ui24Bz
Anybody can view or suggest edits.

Dedicated MMMerge Forum (Bug Tracker included): shorturl.at/lryAF

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby Jamesx » 02 Jun 2019, 22:33

Ported new Dracoliches to the game))
That's how it looks
Image
GDSpectra, you did a fantstic job on this one! Unfortunately his most beautiful part is almost lost - his wings don't fit in this background size :( When I try to fit him with wings, he becomes too small((
I tried to not to loose the detalisation, but it's nearly imossible to resize perfectly such a small size it was tested 100500 times with other characters :D At least it the best I can do with my sharpen filters

:down:
DOWNLOAD

EDIT: I forgot to make a trap dodging position. Thanks to GDSpectra for notice it)) Link is updated
Last edited by Jamesx on 03 Jun 2019, 07:03, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby unknownone » 02 Jun 2019, 23:36

Guys, you did a wonderful job with the Dracolich! Really!
I've played and enjoyed many RPGs:
MM6,MM7,MM8,MM9, Fallout 1&2, Planescape Torment, Torment: ToN, TES3, TES4

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby SpectralDragon » 03 Jun 2019, 05:04

Jamesx wrote:Ported new Dracoliches to the game))
That's how it looks
Image
GDSpectra, you did a fantstic job on this one! Unfortunately his most beautiful part is almost lost - his wings don't fit in this background size :( When I try to fit him with wings, he becomes too small((
I tried to not to loose the detalisation, but it's nearly imossible to resize perfectly such a small size it was tested 100500 times with other characters :D At least it the best I can do with my sharpen filters

:down:
DOWNLOAD
Which is alright, since I didn't wish to mess with the source files too much. I'll try to bring them more into attention on Ghost Dragon, as well as do more anatomically correct front legs. Dracolich was much more colorful after all ... if you know what I mean. :D :D :handshake:
unknownone wrote:Guys, you did a wonderful job with the Dracolich! Really!
Thank you, both of you! :tsup: Hopefully this one will bring joy to whoever player that will play with a Dragon Sorcerer (MM7)/Necromancer (MM8) via Templayer's Unlockers. :D
Yes?

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby SpectralDragon » 03 Jun 2019, 07:34

Jamesx wrote: EDIT: I forgot to make a trap dodging position. Thanks to GDSpectra for notice it)) Link is updated
Hey, no problem! :handshake:
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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby SpectralDragon » 03 Jun 2019, 09:23

New project!

Image

Yes, I know that in-game, he´ll be displayed as "Zombie". I don´t know what to do about that. :sad:
Yes?

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby GrayFace » 03 Jun 2019, 09:23

Templayer wrote:Yes, I do know that old spells would be a hassle to implement due to NWC's spaghetti code, but if there is ONE person on the entire planet that could do that, it is you. :hug:
Well... maybe. I do want to get as close to having original MM6 in HD as possible. To do that it may be easier to start from scratch in MM7. First thing I'd like to do though, is replicate original weather from MM6 in the Merge, because the way it is currently, the clouds aren't MM6 original set and stormy weather is too frequent. Brightness of the sky is a very important part of MM6 atmosphere.
Templayer wrote:Example on the abbreviations:
If I were to give you only a bit of code, like this:

Code: Select all

	local function set(p, v, a)
		a = a or i4
		if on then
			last[p] = last[p] or a[p]
			a[p] = math.max(v, last[p])
		elseif last[p] then
			a[p] = last[p]
		end
	end
Speaking of which, this code has a slight oversight - it would be better to set last[p] to nil after it's restored. You helped me fix it by bringing it up :) Some places are more cryptic than that :D
For something really bad you can look at immense code duplication among my patches. Only in the coming version did I start using files shared among them for every new change. With MMExt it was similar - long time ago there were separate MMExt archives for different games.
Rodril wrote:
About Stone City - it probably compiles fine for me because I've changed the way doors are loaded as well. Pls send me the .dat file.
Last edited by GrayFace on 03 Jun 2019, 09:27, edited 1 time in total.
My patches: MM6 MM7 MM8. MMExtension. Tools. Also, I love Knytt Stories and Knytt Underground. I'm also known as sergroj.

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby Crusader_bin » 03 Jun 2019, 09:43

Damn, gog should actually pay you guys :p I can buy you a beer through PayPal or something :)
Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun!

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby SpectralDragon » 03 Jun 2019, 09:49

Crusader_bin wrote:Damn, gog should actually pay you guys :p I can buy you a beer through PayPal or something :)
I'd rather prefer strawberry juice, ha ha ha ha ha! :D As for payment by GOG, damn right. Shame that if Ubi sees what the frick are we doing here ... O_O
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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby Roticet » 03 Jun 2019, 10:50

Secret dungeon with all the people who have contributed to the Merge
Templayer » May 27 2019, 16:07
Since we have the Credits Tracker now and we know pretty much everyone who has ever contributed something to this project, maybe it is time to make a Merge secret dungeon. The individual contributors should preferably be programmer art. :D (and Rodril, of course, should be a Crashing Flying Cacti on a throne of some weird material, with GrayFace being a MM6-style 2D NPC on the ceiling). And perhaps do something nice for the various types of contributions (like Bug Catchers should get their own personal thing, a special place if you will)

GrayFace: Sounds cool! I'd suggest a small dungeon that isn't very close to the end of the game and some stuff in it with some monsters as well. Basically, fun to play through, not just observe.
Templayer: You mean like the Bug Catchers fighting a bunch of actual bugs? As enemies? :D :D :D


^Stolen from the bug tracker

What about reskinning one of the NWC dungeons? Maybe the MM8 one since it's small. Not sure about how difficult it would be to copy that dungeon and re-skin it. Or maybe, take the Abandoned Temple from MM8 Dagger Wound Island, and convert that? As in, the players are fighting their way through all the bugs to get to the rest of the game as Temp had said? Monsters are re-named. Though, I would request that there be a boss monster at the end of the Temple or Dungeon for Rodril specifically. And some mini-boss monsters for the other major coders like Grey Face.


Now to change the subject, I'm a huge fan of both the Chaos Conspiracy mod for MM6 and Maestro mod for MM7, think it would be possible to merge those mods into this merger? Or are there too many differences for compatibility? Now, I'm not asking Rodril to make this happen, I'm just asking if people think it's possible. I'm thinking about trying to add at least the MM7 mod to the merger for myself personally. MM7 is prolly my favorite out of the series, but after playing it at least once a year every year for.... close to 20 years, I'm getting kinda burnt out on 7 as a whole.

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby equs » 03 Jun 2019, 11:38

Jamesx wrote:Ported new Dracoliches to the game))
That's how it looks
Image
GDSpectra, you did a fantstic job on this one! Unfortunately his most beautiful part is almost lost - his wings don't fit in this background size :( When I try to fit him with wings, he becomes too small((
I tried to not to loose the detalisation, but it's nearly imossible to resize perfectly such a small size it was tested 100500 times with other characters :D At least it the best I can do with my sharpen filters

:down:
DOWNLOAD

EDIT: I forgot to make a trap dodging position. Thanks to GDSpectra for notice it)) Link is updated
Wow.... Mate, it looks absolutely amazing. Way better than I have imagined it. :applause: I was one of the guys who wished to implement the Dracolich, like Necromancer become a lich, Dragons could become Dracoliches.... Thank you very much for your work, love the result :tsup:

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby SpectralDragon » 03 Jun 2019, 11:47

equs wrote:Wow.... Mate, it looks absolutely amazing. Way better than I have imagined it. :applause: I was one of the guys who wished to implement the Dracolich, like Necromancer become a lich, Dragons could become Dracoliches.... Thank you very much for your work, love the result :tsup:
No problem, I wished that too and if not for Jamesx's models as well as Templayer's knowledge of making them more Might and Magic-like, who knows how could that have gone, if any. :D :tsup: Hopefully you'll like the new incomer once I'm done! :D

Image

Yes, I know that in-game, he´ll be displayed as "Zombie". I don´t know what to do about that. :sad:
Yes?

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby Roticet » 03 Jun 2019, 12:20

Oh, that bug about wetsuits, I believe I forgot to mention. Updating my game to the latest version actually resolved the issue, so the bug can be removed from the tracker. I was able to complete all of MM7 main story quest line in about... 3 hours? 3 dragons, a Dark Elf and a Priest of the Light for my party transported to Antagarich from Jadame at around lvl 90ish I believe.

Still can't give enough praise to this mod and everyone working on it. It's been a blast to see all this come together and can't wait for whatever happens next.

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby Templayer » 03 Jun 2019, 12:37

GrayFace wrote:Speaking of which, this code has a slight oversight - it would be better to set last[p] to nil after it's restored. You helped me fix it by bringing it up :) Some places are more cryptic than that :D
For something really bad you can look at immense code duplication among my patches. Only in the coming version did I start using files shared among them for every new change. With MMExt it was similar - long time ago there were separate MMExt archives for different games.
Did I just help the legendary GrayFace with coding? I can finally die a happy man! :D :D :D :outoforder:
SpectralDragon wrote:
Crusader_bin wrote:Damn, gog should actually pay you guys :p I can buy you a beer through PayPal or something :)
I'd rather prefer strawberry juice, ha ha ha ha ha! :D As for payment by GOG, damn right. Shame that if Ubi sees what the frick are we doing here ... O_O
Guys, homemade mead is the best. I cannot drink beer after I tasted it! Where can I send you my address? :D :D :D
Roticet wrote:What about reskinning one of the NWC dungeons? Maybe the MM8 one since it's small. Not sure about how difficult it would be to copy that dungeon and re-skin it. Or maybe, take the Abandoned Temple from MM8 Dagger Wound Island, and convert that? As in, the players are fighting their way through all the bugs to get to the rest of the game as Temp had said? Monsters are re-named. Though, I would request that there be a boss monster at the end of the Temple or Dungeon for Rodril specifically. And some mini-boss monsters for the other major coders like Grey Face.
Nah, I would prefer a whole new dungeon. We do not work in NWC offices, after all. Rodril knows how to make new dungeons, so I do not see it as a problem. :P
equs wrote: Wow.... Mate, it looks absolutely amazing. Way better than I have imagined it. :applause: I was one of the guys who wished to implement the Dracolich, like Necromancer become a lich, Dragons could become Dracoliches.... Thank you very much for your work, love the result :tsup:
Did you see the Dracoliche actually breathe fire? SpectralDragon made it so the fire in his chest goes up the neck, it looks awesome!
SpectralDragon wrote: Yes, I know that in-game, he´ll be displayed as "Zombie". I don´t know what to do about that. :sad:
Rodril can probably make a specific override so that when a dragon race becomes zombified, the result is a "Ghost Dragon" string, not "Zombie".
MMMerge Tracker (= Info + Paint Tracker + Missing Features + Suggestions):
https://goo.gl/ui24Bz
Anybody can view or suggest edits.

Dedicated MMMerge Forum (Bug Tracker included): shorturl.at/lryAF

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby equs » 03 Jun 2019, 13:09

Templayer wrote: Did you see the Dracoliche actually breathe fire? SpectralDragon made it so the fire in his chest goes up the neck, it looks awesome!
Yes, I saw the picture a few pages back. Its ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! :applause: :tsup:

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby Roticet » 03 Jun 2019, 13:11

The only reason I suggested a reskinned dungeon was to make things easier. TBH, if a new dungeon could be made, even if small and people are willing to create a new thing, I would rather have that. Be a nice self-contained easter egg. I humbly request that the new dungeon has a secret entrance like all the NWC dungeons in 6-8. Nothing quite like flying up to the top of the giant sword in 8 and spamming space bar for no good reason to all of a sudden appearing in a brand new place for the first time. My recommendation for a spot to "place" the dungeon, would be in MM7, the opposite side of the bridge that connects to Clanker's Lab. Maybe have a signpost saying that Clankers Lab is on the other side or something. Or people could just walk into the middle of that section, be teleported automatically maybe? MM7, Tulerean Forest, Opposite side of the bridge connecting to Clanker's Lab. That is Clanker's Lab right?

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Re: Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 31.05.2019]

Unread postby SpectralDragon » 03 Jun 2019, 13:12

Templayer wrote:
SpectralDragon wrote: Yes, I know that in-game, he´ll be displayed as "Zombie". I don´t know what to do about that. :sad:
Rodril can probably make a specific override so that when a dragon race becomes zombified, the result is a "Ghost Dragon" string, not "Zombie".
That would be just the best, as I don´t wish people complaining to me/you all that "that´s not a Zombie, you dolt/s!" :wall:
equs wrote:
Templayer wrote: Did you see the Dracoliche actually breathe fire? SpectralDragon made it so the fire in his chest goes up the neck, it looks awesome!
Yes, I saw the picture a few pages back. Its ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! :applause: :tsup:
Always imagined it like it, so massive thanks for appreciating my idea there. Some more anatomy and magic lessons later ... :jester:
Yes?


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