MM7 Rev4 mod for MMMerge

[Eksekk]

Hey all! I once decided to port MM7 Rev4 mod for the Merge, but after discouraging information presented by cthscr abandoned the idea. I've now returned to it with better workflow (for example writing things to change, wiki here) and I think I'm gonna commit to it. But first, I have some questions:

• which Merge version should I make the mod for (base, community, revamp, cthscr's community etc.)?
• does my workflow seem okay for you?
• any gotchas I should be aware of?
• were there any changes in MM7 scripts (evt files, because lua files will be easily preserved) from vanilla I should preserve (I plan to drag-and-drop decompiled lua scripts from Rev4)?
• How does custom LOD loading from Grayface's patch work? Is it lexicographically, and later files override earlier files? The reason I ask is I'd ideally like to distribute my mod as scripts and several files to put into data folder, which would automatically override default ones.

If you want to help, you can write on the wiki any changes from Rev4 mod I've not written yet, especially if they involve hand-placed items on the map.

[Tomsod]

Good luck! Looks like a promising idea. As for lods: here's how they're loaded. As for mod content: you may want to fix the evenmorn druid circle bug which makes druid promotion impossible after you teleport there from Eeofol. Also, as I remember, Town Portal was only turned off halfway in the original mod; in particular, you could freely teleport to Nighon. Possibly an oversight.

[cthscr]

which Merge version should I make the mod for (base, community, revamp, cthscr's community etc.)?

Obvious Revamp is obvious. Even in its pre-alpha it's still better option for modding.

were there any changes in MM7 scripts (evt files, because lua files will be easily preserved) from vanilla I should preserve (I plan to drag-and-drop decompiled lua scripts from Rev4)?

Er, you should have tables of translations for everything (2DEvents, NPCData, Quests, Autonotes, etc.) from MM7 to Merge. Those translations should be applied to corresponding commands of evt files. And to lua scripts as well.

How does custom LOD loading from Grayface's patch work?

If we're speaking about Merge and MM8, there is special order for localization lods: T.lod - <language>T.lod - *.T.lod - *.<language>T.lod. (Same with D.lod)
Never use <language>T.lod or *.<language>T.lod.

[lightbringer23]

Wow! Best of luck. I love the Rev4 mod. If you succeed, please consider compatibility with Maestro's Mod for Rev4
Might be kind of tough though. Much of what Maestro did was oriented around the MM7 paper dolls.

[Eksekk]

Thanks all for the replies!

I don't think I'll be able to merge Maestro's Mod (because paperdolls/graphics etc.), but I can consider adding skill table from this mod or changed monsters/mapstats.

Also, I'm posting to let everyone know that I am still working on this project, it's not forgotten! You can see project files here, and the wiki is here. Currently I've parsed (checking scripts & working with editor) all dungeons (dxx.blv) and some outdoor maps (out01-out06). Remaining all other maps, things from my TODO list (which kinda happened to be in file tools/processRev4GlobalLua) and things from wiki page "Modified content".

[Eksekk]

I've returned! I've already updated to newest Revamp version (some bugs may linger), and will be soon fixing all the bugs we found after kromz's playthrough of the mod and mine.

Currently I'm planning to add an option to make some dungeons enterable again (switchable off), like Clanker's Lab and Tularean caves. That is, have along an updated version which is used normally in Rev4 and then if clicking on the door, you'll enter unchanged version of the dungeon. I don't mind that you have two exactly same dungeons, and will probably play with it enabled. That is, if I can duplicate the maps...There'll be no quests in them yet, but I have it in the plans.

Any other cool plans for update? I'm thinking make some optional skills table modification, but I don't feel "qualified enough" to make my own, and I honestly have no idea what original to do at this point, so I will use something people have shared as a mod (with some merge-specific tweaks). I'll obviously ask them if it's okay to do so. I'm also thinking if neutonm would allow me to use his amazing new dungeon in this conversion. I will ask him. I crave another dungeons, but with my skills I'll have to lean on others for this .

[Eksekk]

And I've returned yet again. This time I'm close to release, currently completed about 50% of test playthrough, some issues remaining, but most of work is done.

I've also added many more features, some of them inspired by MM7 Reimagined, Elemental Mod for MM7, MM7 Refilled for the Merge and MAW mod for MM6 (huge thanks to the authors of these mods! ). Most of new stuff is disableable in ModSettings.txt.

If you're curious what's included, you can read through the readme. If you have any comments or ideas, I'd be delighted to hear them.

[Tomsod]

Sweet! I'm glad to have been of help idea-wise. The exciting thing is that since you got some of my tweaks, if any balance issues will be discovered, hopefully some of them will be also applicable to my mod.

Got an idea while perusing your readme: if item-stealing monsters are so bad, why not have them steal gold instead? I'm tempted to do this myself, now that I think about it. That said, can't you usually get your items back by killing the monster? Unless it doesn't work in the Merge.

[Eksekk]

Gold idea is nice, would make them annoying, but not at that level. You probably can, but IIRC there are 2 slots only and I was too lazy to test if after those are filled monster can't steal.

[Tomsod]

A bit more upon a re-read:

"Of Doom" probably does need a boost, good idea. It's not the worst enchantment -- at least better than early game +6 to [stat/resistance] items, but for a "B" level it's indeed lacking.

Not sure if resistance penetration removing immunities is a good idea! SkEm/MAW has this, and I didn't like it. Usually immune monsters are immune for a reason -- fire elementals are literally fire so you can't fireball them, zombies are mindless so mind blast is useless, and so on. Some jewelry shouldn't change that, or so I feel.

I remember you advocating for SP drain nerf, and now you did it yourself! Upon reflection, I don't remember ever not reloading after being drained, so there's something to it -- I still think it's not that awful, it's just rare enough that an occasional reload is the easiest solution. Which is obviously bad design-wise. I think in the next release of my own mod, I'll also make the drain fractional, but it'll apply on every attack and won't be 100% resistable (much like HP damage). Then reloads will be neither desirable nor possible.

[Eksekk]

Good point. At the beginning, I made res penetration not work on immune monsters. However, I thought that if "base immune resistance" was a high value like 200, you'd still need many endgame items to deal considerable damage/have high debuff affect chance (as well as sacrifice item slots to achieve that). It's just another option at player's disposal, if he wishes to pursue this path. I agree that logically it doesn't make sense in most cases, buuut it's fun I will make an option to disable removing immunities and hope it's not gamebreaking.

That said, this makes creating unique monsters (bosses) harder, because potentially they're not immune to anything. However, after paralyze nerf (which may get nerfed even harder, haven't got paralyze in test playthrough yet; and other potential incoming nerfs) that shouldn't cause much trouble.

Drain SP working like that is a neat idea. Currently in vanilla it's just luck and all or none, you get hit once and if you are unlucky, entire mana is gone and you need to use potions. 25% is better, but still this is affected by luck. Your design would make this consistent, which probably is even better.