Might and Magic Beyond

The role-playing games (I-X) that started it all and the various spin-offs (including Dark Messiah).
vladtheimpaler
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Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby vladtheimpaler » 04 Jul 2020, 17:57

Hey folks, I wanted to present a project of mine that occupies my time recently. It is a re-writing from scratch (no decompilation) of an engine to play Might and Magic 6, 7 and 8. The engine requires original game data, so you must legally own the game. It is just an executable (plus some data files) that you can drop in the game folder (say bought from GoG) and run it. It is a modern rendering of the 20+ years old games.

Image

The video below contains playing MM7, MM6 and MM8 (to show that it works with all of them).

https://youtu.be/oCvSdejAO9I

There have been other efforts to bring MM 6,7 and 8 games to present but mine is different because
- it does not recreate the levels using Unreal/Unity/etc level editor, it depends on the original game data. This means it is not gray area legal and also it means every stone and rock is where they are supposed to be
- it actually is playable: scripting works, fighting works, traveling works, UI (mostly) works, and many other game mechanics work (NOTE there is still a lot missing, I am not claiming a full game(s)!)

It is done using my own engine, because I wanted the challenge. It is cross platform, so if anything, it will make MM 6,7,8 be playable on a lot of OS's (uses OpenGL for graphics).

Here is more YouTube blurb:

Might and Magic is © Ubisoft. I do not claim copyright over the game. This is just a demo using original games files (legally owned). This is not a product, just a video of a private demo. It just shows what you can do with some sweat and passion to bring those old games back to life.

This is a re-render of Might and Magic 6, 7 and 8 using my own engine. The levels are not recreated, all modifications are done on the fly. Most of the games logic works (fighting, scripting, inventory, AI, time management, travel between areas, etc). A lot of data had to be reversed engineered. See NOTE for thanks. See below for a list of technical upgrades.
  • * on the fly re-tessellation of the ground using "Phong tessellation"
  • * better lighting and normal smoothing
  • * replacement of some sprites (trees, flowers, rocks) with 3D objects
  • * shadows (shadow mapping)
  • * sun position/time of day based lights and shadows
  • * better sky, shader based (thanks Shadertoy)
  • * DOF (depth of field) effect
  • * added details that lacked before (grass, random rocks, etc)
  • * and many others
NOTE: this could never have happened without previous work done by the authors of "World of Might and Magic" (great software BTW), Greyface's work on Might and Magic games, MM7Viewer authors, mm_mapview2 authors and everyone else who delved on the internals of those games. THANK YOU!

Eksekk
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Re: Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby Eksekk » 07 Jul 2020, 22:25

Looks amazing :) Great work!
Unfinished mod by me: MM7 Rev4 mod, MMMerge version.

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unknownone
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Re: Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby unknownone » 10 Jul 2020, 15:02

Very nice, congratulations!
I've played and enjoyed many RPGs:
MM6,MM7,MM8,MM9, Fallout 1&2, Planescape Torment, Torment: ToN, TES3, TES4

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MadMax
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Re: Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby MadMax » 12 Jul 2020, 15:27

Thanks for sharing this! Very impressive and a nice way of sticking to the original while also updating it to look and feel a bit more modern.

Don't give up! :applause:
"By the power of Zelas!"

vladtheimpaler
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Re: Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby vladtheimpaler » 16 Jul 2020, 02:02

Worked on a lot of gameplay features: houses have proper movies and dialogs now, shops work, guilds (and guild membership) works, opening chests,
getting quests, leveling up at trainer and others. Some graphical improvements - working on new look for water:

Image

Video has better quality of said water:

https://youtu.be/eHvfL-rWoXo

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GrayFace
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Re: Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby GrayFace » 16 Jul 2020, 17:54

Looks very promising!
vladtheimpaler wrote:
  • * DOF (depth of field) effect
.. And would look so much better without this effect!
My patches: MM6 MM7 MM8. MMExtension. Tools. Also, I love Knytt Stories and Knytt Underground. I'm also known as sergroj.

vladtheimpaler
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Re: Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby vladtheimpaler » 16 Jul 2020, 23:14

.. And would look so much better without this effect!
Yeah, I totally understand that this is a taste issue. The configurations are editable, so you can disable that particular effect.
Last edited by vladtheimpaler on 16 Jul 2020, 23:16, edited 1 time in total.

vladtheimpaler
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Re: Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby vladtheimpaler » 14 Nov 2020, 17:08

Hey folks, I am almost done with this first pre-alpha version and I am getting close to release it to people that are interested in trying it. There have been many updates, but here is for example reflective waters:

Image

Image

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Vaulth516
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Re: Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby Vaulth516 » 15 Nov 2020, 05:18

This looks fantastic, does this work with Might and Magic Merge Mod?

vladtheimpaler
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Re: Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby vladtheimpaler » 15 Nov 2020, 14:42

Yes, no, maybe? :) I have not tried, I will look into it. However it does work with the normal Greyface patches (I verified that), because my change is mainly an engine replacement + some art replacement. It does not work with Greyface extender though, as that depends on the existence of the original Might and Magic engine, which mine is not.

cthscr
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Re: Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby cthscr » 15 Nov 2020, 17:05

I'd say no. MMMerge uses MMExtension extensively. With heavy load of asm patches on running mm8.exe.

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Vaulth516
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Re: Might and Magic Beyond

Unread postby Vaulth516 » 16 Nov 2020, 01:43

Hmm, somehow make this compatible with MMMerge please,
as that is the only surviving great MM Mod these days. :tired:


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