Heroes V Legends of the Ancients

[Marzhin]

Hello all,

I didn't really have time to post on the Round Table for quite a bit of time. I've been through a lot of things in Real Life™. Mainly good things, but that kept me very very busy. It's also far from over as even more stuff is awaiting for me.

To put it simply : progress on Book 3 of LotA is ultra-slow. The writing itself already takes a long time (a lot of things happens in Book 3) and the mapmaking part isn't even started. Aaargh.

I really want to complete LotA but it seems clear to me I will never be able to do it alone. I need help from fellow mapmakers if I want to finish Books 3 and 4 before Heroes VI comes out ^^'

If you have some experience as a mapmaker and are interested in working on LotA, don't hesitate to PM me for the details.

Thanks ^^

[Corlagon]

I'd help if I could, but... I can't, outside of texturing and writing. If you need help in either department I'll be glad to offer it. I suppose I could try mapmaking, if only my computer had enough RAM to load the editor at a decent speed

I'll post this info on Heroes Community, though, and see if anyone's interested

[Marzhin]

Legends of the Ancients Book 3 is back on track, thanks to the invaluable help of Corlagon who took charge of some of the mapmaking duties Welcome aboard Corlagon ^^

And without further ado, here are some of the first pictures of LotA Book 3 :

[XEL II]

Thats great
Will the portaits be colorized, like in Book 1?

[Marzhin]

Thats great
Will the portaits be colorized, like in Book 1?

No, they will be like in the screenshots (like Book 2) because neither Jean-Mathias (the artist) or I have the time to make proper colorization.

By the way, keep in mind those pics are Work In Progress ^^

[John.Galt]

I might be able to help, once I finish my own map, which the estimated release date currently is circa 2030...

[Marzhin]

A few Work-in-progress pics of some of the heroes you'll meet in LotA Book 3 and their bios, written by Corlagon :

Iona Arran :



Armed with a deathless determination, the young Queen Iona Arran has asserted herself as a fine successor for her late father, Lord Maine of Framon. Though still among Axeoth's youngest fully-fledged rulers, Iona is neither foolish nor easily manipulated, a few of the many traits which shaped her into a leader her people can truly pride themselves upon.

Nicolai Ironfist :



The self-styled Defender of the Land, Nicolai found himself alone in Axeoth following the collapse of Castle Ironfist in the Reckoning. Ever-vigilant of the Kreegan menace, the hapless "king" demonstrates an unlikely ability to escape danger at every turn. His allies and enemies alike can only assume that he has been marked by the Gods themselves.

Gawain Nurtigan :



Gawain "Nutty" Nurtigan is famed not only for his many "romantic" exploits, but also for his valiant prowess on the field of battle and sheer foolhardy bravado. Fighting alongside the late Lord Maine Arran during the recent unification of Framon, Gawain now serves the Lord's daughter, Queen Iona, his loyalty always a valuable asset to Framon's people.

Sven "Forkbeard" Svenssen :



Ruthless yet compassionate, Sven Forkbeard has literally been to death and back, having led the united Chedian armies against the Beldonian Hordes a few years past. His rulership of Thjorgard renders him one of Rysh's most powerful men alive, matched only by the power-hungry conquerers of the continent's west - tyrants this worldly Jarl comprehends only too well.

[Marzhin]

An updated version of Legends of the Ancients Books 1 & 2 for Tribes of the East is now available for download.

<Download it on Celestial Heavens>

For the moment I'm hosting it on a personal FTP but I'll upload it on CH soon.

Excerpts from the readme file :

Legends of the Ancients Book 1 and 2

for Heroes of Might and Magic V - Tribes of the East

(Tested on version 3.1)

--------------------

1- Installation

Put the files in their respective directory where you installed Heroes V Tribes of the East (that is : put the content of userMODs in this archive inside the UserMODs directory of Heroes 5 TotE, and so forth).

To uninstall LotA, simply remove those files from the folders, and especially the file named lota1-2_tote.h5u that is located in "UserMODs".

--------------------
2- Playing

Launch Heroes V - Tribes of the East. You'll notice there's now a Legends of the Ancients logo and new menu screen as well

Create a new profile to play Legends of the Ancients as it replace the campaigns of the original game. (That way it won't mess accidentally with your saved games.)

Go into Single Player / Campaigns and select Book 1 or 2 to start the adventure

---------------------------

Changes compared to LotA 2.1 for Hammers of Fate :

- New title screen, as always drawn by Jean-Mathias Xavier.
- New portrait for Pryden.
- The barbarians heroes' bios have been changed to their counterparts in Heroes IV.

Some pictures of the new main menu :

[Akul]

Books 1and 2 for ToE?? YEEEESSSS!!!!

[Muszka]

I asked this in the news section, but it was skipped:
-Why some heroes have lvl caps if you never use them again. (I played only book 1 though)?

[Marzhin]

I asked this in the news section, but it was skipped:
-Why some heroes have lvl caps if you never use them again. (I played only book 1 though)?

Because fixing a level cap is also a way to set the difficulty of the map.

[Muszka]

Too bad. I was waiting to get them back.

[Aerosoldier]

I wanna know if i can play LotA in TotE coz i downloaded book one, put the maps in the map folder and i can't play the book one.

I have the mod that let you play the older campaigns, with that mod it says Book 2 in the campaign selection screen, yes book 2 when i have one, and when i enter this campaigns nothing appears.

With that mod off it doesn't show any other campaign, just TotE's One.

So i wanna know if i can play LotA books with TotE, and i think the book one is weird coz it says book 2 in the campaign selection.

Sorry for my english...

[Akul]

The TotE version of books 1 and 2 has been released some time ago.

[Aerosoldier]

SOunds nice thanks!

Buw where can i download those books?

[Akul]

Check the end of Page 6 of this tread

[Aerosoldier]

thanks man you are awesome!

And you answered my question in just 2 seconds!

=D

[Marzhin]

OK, it's time for an update. Well, sort of.

I'm afraid to say that once again, my schedule doesn't allow me to work on LotA. Still, I will continue trying to finish the project.

As I can't foresee when I will be able to work on it in the not-so-distant-future, I'll probably find a way to publish the story by itself, with some art, so those who liked LotA's story so far may know how it ends. The sad thing is the story has been completed quite some time ago. Unfortunately, it is the modding/mapmaking part that takes most of the time.

Anyway, even if I release the story in this alternate version (whatever form it takes in the end), that doesn't mean the actual LotA Book 3 for Tribes of the East won't be released someday As I said, I'll do my best to complete this campaign and bring the unfinished tales of Malustar, Nicolaï, Solmyr, Gauldoth and the others to their epic conclusions.

That's all for now folks...

[Thelonious]

If I may ask; how's work progressing nowadays?

[Lord of the Guns]

^ and in which book... when will Nicky Ironfist appears?
And....
1. Will "Tawni's pirates" be a playable faction?
2. How will ancient looks like? (or their guns will be the modified Dark Elf crossbows)
3. Will Tarnum the Immortal Hero reappears? and which faction will he join?