Spells?

[Mytical]

Ok Sir_Toejam said that if we wanted certain spells that we should post here. 2 was the limit (per person I believe) if in HoF, and 1 in Regular H5. Well I have a few requests. This is for HoF...and I don't know if the name can change but..

First is what I will call Flaming Sparks - Meteor Spell with Fire instead of earth componit. Same damage, same mana cost, ect, just with a fire instead of earth componit. 2nd is Wall of Static - Wall of fire with lightning effect instead of fire. If possible with increased damage .

For regular H5 I would like to see an Armeggeddon with an Ice effect or Lightning effect (either or) instead of the normal one.

[Sir_Toejam]

one, do recall this was in the context of creating unique spells for creatures.

these will not be useable on the map, or be able to be added to heroes via script or console (though you could directly modify any hero to have them at the start of a scenario).

two, I've found I'm limited to the shapes that currently are assigned to "unused" spells. to my knowledge, nobody has figured out how to create the correct reference table entries for truly "new" spells

so far, I've found a chain lightning model and a meteor shower model, and i think an icebolt model (haven't tested it yet).

I've also found an unused model for a vampirism spell (again haven't tested that one yet), a sorrow spell (i assume a mass curse spell that reduces morale), a blade barrier model, and even a regeneration spell (this is all in HOF).

that said, I believe I can create modifications of any of these base models (change power, damage type, etc), and those can then be assigned as castable from any creature, or pre-assigned to a hero (but not selectable in the map editor or via the console after a scenario has started). The animations will have to be standard ones that already exist in game; i can't add new animations to the spells.


so, as for your requests:

flaming sparks - yes can do that; so long as you don't mind it looking just like meteor shower.

wall of fire with lighting - it's possible the blade barrier model will work for that, would have to check.

armageddon mod; no unique modifiable model for that that i can see.

so far for the original h5, I've only located a unique model for chain lightning, which makes it rather limited.

[Mytical]

Well if possible the Rune Priests would cast the wall of lightning, and whatever it looks like would be fine. If you could assign one of the Dwarven Heroes (don't remember the name but the one that gets the chance of the random rune spells) the fire based meteor shower it would be good. Too bad about ice armeggeddon though, would really (pardon the pun) shake things up. no hurry btw, whenever you can.

[Sir_Toejam]

GRR.

some of the models are fully functional, and others are apparently waiting some uknown as yet contribution from nival to finish them.

the only ones that i found i could modify that actually work are based on pre-existing spells to begin with, namely the uber chain lightning and meteor shower models.

all of the others are modifiable, but they simply wont work.

there are even icons for them (the vampirism one looks nice).

it looks like yet another bit of tinkering Nival never bothered to finish, or ran out of time.

so, here's the bottom line:

my goal of giving each creature it's own unique version of spells for modding is right out, unfortunately.

for h5, all i have to work with is the chain lightning model, and for HOF, the chain lightning and meteor shower models.

we could give the dwarf priests a chain-lightning like spell, if you like, and the fire based meteor shower will work.

anything else will have to wait until somebody figures out where the actual references to spells in game are stored (not just the damage and duration and type values, but where the game actually references them to begin with).

Nival apparently is not being very friendly to modders, and nobody I have seen has yet figured out how to unravel this.

so if you want a chain lightning-type spell for your dwarf priests, or even an area effect lightning spell, I can do that for ya.

[Mytical]

Think if you can redo the Meteor Shower (if that is) that would be enough for me. That fire based attack will give me a little leg up. And if possible replacing deflect arrows (or just adding the chain lighting (Ice based)) to the Rune Patriarchs would be nice. If not like I said it is cool, don't knock yourself out about it. The Meteor Shower would be a nice leg up for the dwarven heroes (yeah I know very potent spell and for awhile wouldn't even be able to cast it).

[Sir_Toejam]

who gets the fire-based meteor shower spell, exactly? all dwarven heroes, or just one or two?

same power ratings as the earth-based one, or somewhat lesser, or more?

I put mass deflect arrows on the upgrade of the rune priest and found it to be just about right. would you like to try that?

giving them a water-based chain lightning (instead of firewall) would be a good balance for that (it does less damage than a 3 round firewall). they would only have enough spellpoints to cast one or the other.

...and what about names?

the obvious for the first would be "firestorm", but what about the chain-ice spell? "Thundercicle", maybe? "Driving Sleet"? Chain of Frost?

I'll incorporate whatever names and descriptions you like into the spell texts, if possible.

I'll be running tests for next couple of hours, and will report back on the final analysis.

...analysis complete:

the "firestorm" spell works perfectly; does fire damage over meteor shower area, as advertised, and just to make sure, i tested it with emerald dragons, who now take damage from it. It will be interesting to see if the incinerate feat works with it.

the uber chain lightning spell, it turns out, has a very cool animation that looks similar to the succubus mistress atack.

I can still make it do water damage, but it still will look like fire running along the ground. I think the name in game is "The Infernal Chain". the effect is so cool i think most would actually prefer it to the standard firewall, just for that. maybe a good name for the dwarven use would be "Seeking Flames"? something in the description could explain why it does cold damage instead of fire; like it's a chemical fire based spell, or something.

anywho, as soon as you give final clarification, and add any names/descrpitions you want, I can upload it.

It's so strange; i can edit any spell to have any effect, animation, damage type or power, even create custom descriptions for it and have it use those instead, but i can't change the shape of the spell in combat.

cheers

[Sir_Toejam]

OK, it's done.

check your PM.

let me know if you have any problems with it.

cheers,

S_T

https://www.celestialheavens.com/homm5/ ... rfmods.zip

just drop the pak files inside the zip into your dataa1 directory.

[Mytical]

Ok doubt it but is there any way to make haste and slow actually affect speed instead of init? I just like these types better . Haste and slow affecting init is just not right in my book.

[okrane]

Well don't really want to contradict you here, but I will

Increasing or decreasing initiative means it affects the number of actions taken by a unit, which is far more useful than an extra square or two...

sure you could have better benefits sometimes when you need to reach smth fast or that somt not to reach you... but usually it's better this way

[Mytical]

Perhaps, but I do like the other way. To be honest I prefer a ranged game. If I can keep the enemy from reaching my ranged units it is even better. Especially any that have no retal. Sure I turtle my ranged units, but sometimes against dungeon this is suicide (I hate empowered meteor shower unless I am the one casting it) so I need a way to keep their blasted maidens and such from slaughtering my units so easily...hehe.

Actually I guess the optimal would be Haste = distance and slow = init...but it seems a bit odd to have one do one and one do the other. For some reason I like the ability to make my units travel farther instead of faster.

[Ravachec]

It doesn't seem possible right now because the spell entries only refer to the power and duration of the effect, but makes no reference to the effect themselves.

The .xdb files are really limited to what you can mod, nevermind add. At some point I think we need to crack the .exe.

It is really silly on Nival's part since not only does it make modding difficult, but it also probably made their development/gamebalancing more difficult as well.

[Sir_Toejam]

Ravache has it right, all the way.