MM7 New Assets Hybrid Thingie

[Echo]

EDIT:

So here it goes: https://www.mediafire.com/?k78f8dmqlcduoc1
If the creators of the included assets want the link removed, just let the mods know so they can do it, no hard feelings.

This modification was done with Grayface and BDJ's mods installed.

On another note, if someone feels like improving the things I have to leave lacking, by all means, go ahead. I simply don't see a time-window for me in the near future to polish everything.

What my mini thingie changes:
- more vivid outdoor textures, including water and Celeste clouds
- several redone inside textures that irked me personally
- resized potion bottles to 1 slot
- new ingredients
- new rings/amulets
- around 95% replaced NPC portraits that keep the NPC gender and attempt to keep the general race/atmosphere (darker themes for ex-goblins, more flowery NPCs for elves), but since there was around 600 of them, they are obviously not perfectly matched when it comes to who teaches what etc.
- 4 modified female PCs: a human, a blue goblin (just cause xD), and 2 elves
- new interface for the neutral group
- new interface for the good group
- new loading screens/arcomage background
- the gems I didn't like redone as well
- new front screen (I put the credits there as well now)

Included from the Chinese mod:
- wand icons
- sprites aside of the creature sprites (with dendroids though) and pedestal sprites (were too big for my taste)
- majority of the textures they replaced
- some weapon icons (possibly something from Maestro's mod as well, but I'm unsure)

Leftover Suckages (if these things bother you, don't get this mod!):
- the swamp textures got some name mess-up going on (can look squarey in odd places, I have no base to compare them to and fix it)
- the wizard eye/torchlight don't mesh perfectly in the good-themed interface (give a bit of a sharp edge when they're activated)
- the paperdolls aren't perfect (I half-assed them a little, and 2 of them are just recolored originals)
- the MM7 recolored portraits have like 5 frames or so not done, but they only appear rarely and for a brief moment
- there is a possibility that the 'angel' character has one of the frames with badly converted INDEX mode in PS. I can't remember if I fixed it or not, but it appeared so rarely for me I couldn't effectively spot it
- the broad roads have small glitches if you look carefully, would need a bit more adjusting inbetween the frames I suppose
- it's possible that some weapon might not position in the hand right - I've fixed the ones I found, but it's possible I missed something
- when the books on the shelf are blinking, they will look crappy. Need to click them to calm them down. I can't copy-paste them, because both neutral and good interfaces use the same "shaded" versions of the books, and they'd have to work in both interface versions (which they can't, I'm afraid, and I liked the mossy/misty books when they're non-blinking).
- my Arcomage had a visual glitch (harmless, just not pretty). I've replaced the file with an English version of it since mine was German. I've done it again today, but I don't know if the glitch will be gone.

Additional "warnings":
- the NPC portraits, while gender and often theme-appropriate, are not exactly lore-friendly
- not all of the ingredients mesh with their names. Yes, a feather is still a feather, but dragon's eye is... something else. Seeing how the old dragon eye was actually an amulet, for me it made no difference. But keep that in mind.
- gobelins in the Harmonale castle aren't very medieval
- option buttons are in German xD Sorry, but I go there so rarely I didn't feel the need to redo these too.

~~ Old post ~~
I've deleted the previous post here not to spam, since the issue is no longer my concern anyway. I've got a question about community ethics/permissions instead

I've found the Chinese mod and I loved the sprites, had crash issues, and found a way to make the important things (no creatures aside of dendroids) work with the Grayface's patch goodies flawlessly.

Although, I didn't like some things they did - like making some male NPCs female or something (saw the gender bended Thomas Gray, I assume more of the guys and gals could get those identity issues there).

On top of that I put in some of my own dabbles - I wanted more vivid colors in the game, for example.

Also, I think I've a few weapons from Maestro's mod (possibly) in there that I've added last time I did stuff around this.

My question is: is it okay to post something that's a mix of my own work and bits from the Chinese mod? I love community content, I think fans are wonderful. I wouldn't mind sharing what I've done for my own enjoyment if someone else could have fun with it as well. But if it would go against the wish of the Chinese mod makers, I don't want to do it. So how are the rules on that here?

It obviously also includes pictures from online sources, but so did the Chinese mod so I assume that's generally not an issue since we don't make a dime and they are tiny [/i]

[Echo]

[Echo]

Bump for having redone the entire thread and avoid spamming a new one

[Arret]

I can't imagine there's a problem posting it, especially if you make sure and give credit to the original(s). It might be worthwhile to post in the sticky.

Screenshots look really nice.

[Kalah]

It's a grey area; technically it's not something one would do without the permission of the original creators, but it may depend on the circumstances - the age of the originals, whether the makers can be contacted etc... Definitely credit them, though, that's a given.

[Echo]

I have no clue how they could be contacted, but maybe someone around here does? That'd be a much better choice.

As someone active in the art community I know what a pain it is to have someone steal your work. Much less so if they credit you and don't earn money off of it, obviously, but it would still be a nice thing if there was a permission

[zalunaya]

I have been active in a few modding communities. The generally accepted "rules" are as follows:

1. Attempt to contact the original modder. Let them know what you've created, what they've contributed, and that your work is NOT for profit.

2. If the above attempt fails - depends on the modders. Some will never release the work without a "go ahead" from the original creator. In this instance, it looks like communication could be a problem since there is a language barrier. This stage, it's up to you to try all you can, but if permission simply cannot be obtained.

3. Post the mod on a site that allows you to delete the file. Link to the original author's mod, give all the proper credit/thanks. If the modder does show up and doesn't like it being available, remove it.

I believe this is the modder you are looking for, click the "send message":
http://oi57.tinypic.com/jkhs2s.jpg
On this site:
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/2988429744
Edit: Upon further investigation, looks like a group effort. The person above probably contributing some UI elements, unsure what else.

[the beavers1]

hopefully you could post it... it looks amazing

[Echo]

I have been active in a few modding communities. The generally accepted "rules" are as follows:

1. Attempt to contact the original modder. Let them know what you've created, what they've contributed, and that your work is NOT for profit.

2. If the above attempt fails - depends on the modders. Some will never release the work without a "go ahead" from the original creator. In this instance, it looks like communication could be a problem since there is a language barrier. This stage, it's up to you to try all you can, but if permission simply cannot be obtained.

3. Post the mod on a site that allows you to delete the file. Link to the original author's mod, give all the proper credit/thanks. If the modder does show up and doesn't like it being available, remove it.

I believe this is the modder you are looking for, click the "send message":
http://oi57.tinypic.com/jkhs2s.jpg
On this site:
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/2988429744
Edit: Upon further investigation, looks like a group effort. The person above probably contributing some UI elements, unsure what else.

Haha the link you pasted actually has screenshots that use the character *I* remade a while ago xD Fun stuff

Though my Chinese is about 0, all I can say is "Ni hao!" and that's from a WoW gold farmer song, so I don't even think it's appropriate way of hello-ing. I have no clue how to talk there :<

hopefully you could post it... it looks amazing

Thank you, though mind you - you can get the awesome trees and house textures from the Chinese mod alone. I've had another thread here where I explained where the Deyia crash came from, if it was an issue for you

Though it'd be nice if they'd let me post this, as that bug is not present in my sprites file

[jeff]

Many mods have been posted here and even mods of mods. The works of BDJ, one of which I worked on, and then Vladimir's mods to BDJ's mods. As long as you are not charging a fee I personally don't see a problem as long as proper credit is given. Now posting a link and having the site host the mod are different questions. Kalah did not say no in his post; so you should be ok. If Kalah or one of the admins find a problem they will delete it.

[Echo]

In such case I'll see if I'll find some time soonesque to fix the easy-fix glitches and then add the credits to the save/load/new/credits page. I would just post links here, so the post would be easily removable on the request of the original creators

[kingnight]

我是 糯米饭没了。我的英语所以很多东西都看不懂！我们正在制作MM7 MOD！名字叫魔剑骑士团！[/img]

[kingnight]

http://xiangce.baidu.com/u/2618868890

[zalunaya]

我是 糯米饭没了。我的英语所以很多东西都看不懂！我们正在制作MM7 MOD！名字叫魔剑骑士团！[/img]

这是一个机器翻译。请原谅任何错误。


看起来很有趣。我们希望你能允许 Echo 使艺术提供英语为母语的 国。是可以接受的？


(This is a machine translation. Please excuse any errors.

Looks very interesting. We hope you will allow Echo to make art available in English-speaking countries. Is this acceptable?)

[Echo]

我是 糯米饭没了。我的英语所以很多东西都看不懂！我们正在制作MM7 MOD！名字叫魔剑骑士团！[/img]

I put this in a Google translator and had a good laugh

"I am not a sticky rice. My English is so many things can not read! We are making MM7 MOD! Maken called Knights!"

Damn, and there I thought I had sticky rice in the thread

[phamlongtuan]

我是 糯米饭没了。我的英语所以很多东西都看不懂！我们正在制作MM7 MOD！名字叫魔剑骑士团！[/img]

I put this in a Google translator and had a good laugh

"I am not a sticky rice. My English is so many things can not read! We are making MM7 MOD! Maken called Knights!"

Damn, and there I thought I had sticky rice in the thread

I can say, the name of modder is "not stick rice", that's how chinese and vietnamese nickname, our nickname is meaningful and somehow funny.

For example list of nickname

High building
Highway
Mouseloverice
slipperybanana

[zalunaya]

It's the user I posted in the picture's username.

Seems looking back, knight had posted a topic to simply inform that your assets were used in their mod. (viewtopic.php?t=14600)
I'm assuming, if no reply comes, they are probably fine with you using theirs in turn.

Edit: They have seen your mod, screenshots, for sure. New 0.2 version:
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/3003388748

[[ If anyone's interested, the page roughly reads:

1. This version is a demo. Only three maps are complete. Although the map does not seem to change, the game is not the same. Please be alert, as it is a new game to explore.
2. The game code, processes and event numbers, are rearranged. To avoid unknown errors, please do not leave the three modified maps.
3. Attempted some profession modifications. The purpose is to let each job have its shortcomings; there is no obvious advantage. For example, the knight is no longer the strongest offensive. The best attackers are barbarians, best defensive is Ranger, Knight is more balanced and can master the bow and arrow. Because the barbarian can not learn shield, he can not use Wallace. However, there is a black market game, where you can buy Wallace, as long as you have the money to buy anything. Therefore, knights and barbarians have advantages and disadvantages.
4. Priests and mages are not good at archery, only priests can have ordinary bows; however, whether this is reasonable, is yet to be determined. As compensation for the magic profession, there is a substantial reduction in the consumption of SP. Ehnancement spells have zero consumption. In addition, the effectiveness of potions is increased, to improve the sense of presence of various herbs. Combat magic is also provided a boost.
5. Almost all professions follow a new trainer. Trainers turn to the second skill set limit, with occasional exceptions. However, this is far from done in the 0.2 DEMO. In fact, only two professions can do a promotion task.
]]

[Echo]

I've posted a link to my modified files in the first post alongside all the flaws etc. This is the only place I post it.

Thank you, Zalunaya, for the explanations I'm glad someone liked what I've dabbled with here.

The description points under there sound very interesting, I'll try to keep my eye out on it (as difficult as it is, everything being Chinese xD).

Have a good day, everyone!

[the beavers1]

I have a question, is this mod compatible with Maestro's version of Rev4?

[Echo]

I don't believe so, not in an easy way anyway. But correct me if I'm wrong, they have magical software around here

Maestro's mod changes the Sprites and Icons file for sure, so that's 2/3rds of what I got here. I'm not sure about the bitmaps part.

To somewhat use both mod, you would have to extract specific files you'd like to use and import them over Maestro's mod (like what I did with the China mod and my stuff). But I'm not sure characters could be done this way, as I think his paperdolls are posed somewhat differently? His weapons/armors are surely incompatible with the vanilla MM7 bodies.

This is a purely visual mod though, so anything scripted/changing game behaviors in any way, doesn't conflict with it.