Might and Magic 6, 7, 8 merge based on mm8 engine. [upd. 05.11.2023]

[Xfing]

That last diamond dragon looks almost too good indeed! Amazing. The only thing is that I can't find its eyes anywhere :p

[Kinox]

I wonder if it would be easier to run some commander like FAR from Wine and copy everything with it? I never worked under Linux and never tried Wine though.

I think I see what you mean; it sounds… plausible.
As for Wine, recently it has got lots of improvement in its performance and automation; database for games and softwares has been evolving a lot apparently.

I may check into that hypothesis, maybe it's rather feasible.
But, what is "FAR" btw? Can't find anything about it.
Thanks.

[Templayer]

The chirurgical procedure went according to plan, and now I am in serious amounts of pain. Yaay.
I'm sleeping about 16 hours daily now (due to medication), so I might not be very active in the upcoming week.

Well... I think that the corruption happened because the files where uploaded uncompressed, and Dropbox's zip-compressor messed them up.
Maybe just uploading them as a single ZIP (or RAR) file would do the trick.

That is correct. About the Dropbox's zip-compressor messing them up.

A vampire knight with no mana wouldn't be able to use the abilities whatsoever.

Actually they would, they also have meditation skill.

Also I made a tutorial on the Tracker on how to change which class uses what to generate / regenerate spell points, so as long as you only have one knight in the team and back up the table in question (so that you can return it back on subsequent playthroughs), you could set the SP to generate max and regenerate however you wish.

Speaking of concepts, I´m starting my road in redoing Crystal Dragons. This is how they´ll look like in-game ... I hope (since their original sprites are super super messed up, as I´ve linked GrayFace. Thanks, MM!). ^^;
This is how redone Crystal Dragons will look like:

Emerald:


Sapphire:


Ruby:


Diamond (optionally added miniboss of the Crystal):


Thoughts?

Nice. I know those aren't the final versions here, but I am happy that someone is fixing that stuff. Now just to make Escaton's Palace more filled with content, like scifi-enemies and such.

Not according to Avast. I cannot open it due to it, thus I´m stuck with GIMP and, with it, being forced to do RGB-mode images regardless of them being .bmp or .png ones (as only via that more I feel completely free editing stuff and making sure not to mess up horribly. Indexed ones feel like chains to me), thus in advance needing help from expert/master artists/coders like you/Templayer/Jamesx when it comes to making them both portable and compatible to the game (as I bet Ghost Dragon monster sprites face the same problem, even if DaveHer cannot add them mainly because of a presumed monster limit in the game/s) If I wish to contribute more to this mod/game overall. I'm so sorry that it's this way.

Unless you are using the most pricey version of Avast, throw it out of the window. I had it once. I liked it when it was one edition only. Now the free version detects almost only false virus claims, whereas it let's actual viruses go unscathed. Personal experience. Throw. It. Out of the. Windows.
Unless you are fine with it taking control of your system, hogging the CPU, disabling access to a crapload of legitimate programs...
... now that I think about it... Avast IS a virus nowadays.
Personally I am using Eset Online Scanner (no firewalls and such, only the memory+file scanner) each time I find something finnicky is happening with my system - clicking advanced and setting it up so that it only detects absolutely positive viruses. It still does find some false positives (like 7 in 5 TB of data) but it gives you the option to decide if those are actual viruses or not (... unlike the newest free version of Avast) and I dealt with quite a few virus infections with it (I was pretty lucky to find them in the early stages, though!)

[Templayer]

Removed from the Bug Tracker, since it has been fixed in current version:

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DOWNLOAD PACKAGES BROKEN - Error on launch -> *GrayFace sent files* - > I'll try it. Thanks. 
OKAY, Your (aimed at GrayFace) scripts work, the game is now doing the first time generation of files! Thanks very much! But I can figure out what is wrong actually - when I copied your files to my fully updated version of the Merge overwriting existing, IT STILL PRODUCED THAT ERROR. But when I deleted the whole scripts folder and just took in yours, it worked! That means there is a rogue lua file somewhere, which then fails to load. Also worth of note that this was done on a clean GOG install, so previous Merge version lua files were not there, only the ones from the base Merge package + the update package + your files.
I will take a lot at which files are at surplus and where do they come from.
I found the culprit for that bug - the original base Merge package contains a file called Functions.lua that is in the General folder of Scripts. Your scripts folder, GrayFace, contains it inside Structs/After and the game works if it isn't in the general folder, so I presume it has to be removed from the base package so that no one else will get dragged by that ever again! RODRIL PLEASE FIX. 

Removed from the Worst Glitches list:

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2. Making a working download that is not broken. Just unpack and play. I DO NOT MEAN making an installer like we have been talking about, that can be done later. Also please do not make the mistake that Rodril did by having some base version that you have to update to get to the newest version, some of us have no trouble downloading just the newest version if it has everything, so such download should exist. (I can download 1 GB in under a minute, depending on the site...)

[SpectralDragon]

Nice. I know those aren't the final versions here, but I am happy that someone is fixing that stuff. Now just to make Escaton's Palace more filled with content, like scifi-enemies and such.

Unless you are using the most pricey version of Avast, throw it out of the window. I had it once. I liked it when it was one edition only. Now the free version detects almost only false virus claims, whereas it let's actual viruses go unscathed. Personal experience. Throw. It. Out of the. Windows.
Unless you are fine with it taking control of your system, hogging the CPU, disabling access to a crapload of legitimate programs...
... now that I think about it... Avast IS a virus nowadays.
Personally I am using Eset Online Scanner (no firewalls and such, only the memory+file scanner) each time I find something finnicky is happening with my system - clicking advanced and setting it up so that it only detects absolutely positive viruses. It still does find some false positives (like 7 in 5 TB of data) but it gives you the option to decide if those are actual viruses or not (... unlike the newest free version of Avast) and I dealt with quite a few virus infections with it (I was pretty lucky to find them in the early stages, though!)

Don't rush it. I'll probably credit GrayFace for it though, since he does all the work on these things. I'm just copying his techniques because I'm a filthy newbie that cannot afford expensive professional programs because I have no cash, thus yeah, once they're done, I won't even credit myself. Still link them to GrayFace's MM8 patch page, yes, but I won't even credit myself because GrayFace is doing all the work. He could very well work on Dragon Cave assets as well as optional characters like Dragons and Troll Liches because mine wouldn't work in the game due to being forced to make them into RGB images without any other person here to convert them.

It's either that or I lose my laptop because you said you already had and dealt with virus infections, which is something I'm personally AVOIDING because if it would happen then I wouldn't know what to do except getting it to be serviced and being completely wiped clean of everything I have in there, thus I have no choice. Besides, that is rich coming from a guy that thinks Windows 10 is the same virus/cancer OS and suggested me to take a hammer, destroy my Windows 10 laptop and then collect enough cash (which took almost 6 YEARS to collect just for this laptop!) to buy parts for a time machine AND Windows 7 laptop once I'm back in time when I can buy it in the 1st place. -_-

Now we're talking!
There gotta be some place where to use it. I like how it turned out too much
Frames: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uuiqtz9b6caq ... d.rar?dl=1
[edit] This is not final version. I've tweaked colors a bit already. I'll also edit other variations of dragons using these glows.

I was thinking "miniboss of Escaton's Crystal", personally ... and since you're the one that's doing all those asset changes aka legit work here (as I cannot at all due to restrictions I have on my side), I'll just credit you and left myself out once they're all done. I wish that other things like this would be this easy for me to do as it is for you ... like making Dwarf Zombie paperdolls (which would use regular Zombie expressions) that actually work with the game. Same with others like Ghost Dragon monster sprites ...

[SpectralDragon]

That last diamond dragon looks almost too good indeed! Amazing. The only thing is that I can't find its eyes anywhere :p

As I brought up as well, but I'm afraid that in the end, they won't have eyes because I can't make them visible.

[Templayer]

Don't rush it. I'll probably credit GrayFace for it though, since he does all the work on these things. I'm just copying his techniques because I'm a filthy newbie that cannot afford expensive professional programs because I have no cash, thus yeah, once they're done, I won't even credit myself. Still link them to GrayFace's MM8 patch page, yes, but I won't even credit myself because GrayFace is doing all the work. He could very well work on Dragon Cave assets as well as optional characters like Dragons and Troll Liches because mine wouldn't work in the game due to being forced to make them into RGB images without any other person here to convert them.

It's either that or I lose my laptop because you said you already had and dealt with virus infections, which is something I'm personally AVOIDING because if it would happen then I wouldn't know what to do except getting it to be serviced and being completely wiped clean of everything I have in there, thus I have no choice. Besides, that is rich coming from a guy that thinks Windows 10 is the same virus/cancer OS and suggested me to take a hammer, destroy my Windows 10 laptop and then collect enough cash (which took almost 6 YEARS to collect just for this laptop!) to buy parts for a time machine AND Windows 7 laptop once I'm back in time when I can buy it in the 1st place. -_-

I would have to be a multi-billionaire to actually own all the software I have.

I have over 1k games installed under Windows XP. (my 14+ years old installation) - actually close to 2k now I think. Also I got a message about the hive registry cluster being full and that unless I uninstall / remove stuff, I won't be able to install anything new (I wonder if anybody else ever saw that legitimately xD ... I did fix it though by deleting invalid entries)
Still running smooth.
Currently I am doing most of my day to day stuff in Win7 though.

And yes, my stance on Windows 10 is universally known, I think. I have been using Windows 10 on work computer (because I have to) for two years now, and... drives me nuts. The company enforces updates and a strict automatic restart... once I got an infinite restart loop due to a faulty update. Checked that in my hourlies as being a betatester for Microsoft. Had to fix it myself and then temporarily disable updates. Got almost yelled at by my boss for doing that. I should've just spend my entire day watching a restarting loop, then. And the media says videogames make people violent / want to kill people. (the MS executives that drive such "let the customers betatest for us so we don't have to spend a dime" mentality, that is)

But we digress.

[SpectralDragon]

I would have to be a multi-billionaire to actually own all the software I have.

I have over 1k games installed under Windows XP. (my 14+ years old installation) - actually close to 2k now I think. Also I got a message about the hive registry cluster being full and that unless I uninstall / remove stuff, I won't be able to install anything new (I wonder if anybody else ever saw that legitimately xD ... I did fix it though by deleting invalid entries)
Still running smooth.
Currently I am doing most of my day to day stuff in Win7 though.

And yes, my stance on Windows 10 is universally known, I think. I have been using Windows 10 on work computer (because I have to) for two years now, and... drives me nuts. The company enforces updates and a strict automatic restart... once I got an infinite restart loop due to a faulty update. Checked that in my hourlies as being a betatester for Microsoft. Had to fix it myself and then temporarily disable updates. Got almost yelled at by my boss for doing that. I should've just spend my entire day watching a restarting loop, then. And the media says videogames make people violent / want to kill people. (the MS executives that drive such "let the customers betatest for us so we don't have to spend a dime" mentality, that is)

But we digress.

So why wouldn't you do stuff I do together with GrayFace after your surgery pain days/weeks are over and done with? I'm sincerely asking this and I really don't wish to hear excuses like "I'm busy" (you can always take your time off your day to edit at least one asset, don't you?) or "I'm lazy" (that's just disrespectful towards other people's work) because we all know you have all programs that are better suited for this kind of job, which I'll never have.

[Templayer]

So why wouldn't you do stuff I do together with GrayFace after your surgery pain days/weeks are over and done with? I'm sincerely asking this and I really don't wish to hear excuses like "I'm busy" (you can always take your time off your day to edit at least one asset, don't you?) or "I'm lazy" (that's just disrespectful towards other people's work) because we all know you have all programs that are better suited for this kind of job, which I'll never have.

I do not own 99% of programs that I use. Also I cannot draw. And I am doing a lot of other things, which if I were not to do them, would be detrimental to those projects.
If there is a piece of digital data that I cannot obtain legally... like TV shows that aren't sold digitally / on DVD / Bluray / VHS, then I have to obtain them the only other way possible.

Ever since Article 13 got through, I stopped caring about the so called "laws".

Under it, this entire project is actually illegal. Ubisoft owns the rights to the assets of these games, and yet we manipulate them to our liking. We were not given permission by the copyright holder. In fact you yourself have edited the game's assets without a permission.

Ubisoft is an EU state, based from France, last time I checked. So no U.S. Fair Use pleading.

But if you wish - I can buy you at least some of the programs that you need to continue contributing to the project. Will take some time though, I have a lot of expenses lately, and I have at least 3 month budget list.
And if you are worried about the law thing, I can take the blame for you in a court case if it comes to it.

Actually, the whole Celestial Heavens is liable for keeping copyright infringing content under Article 13. That is how retarded that actually is.

Just venting some frustration at the current state of affairs, I do not wish to argue with anyone so if somebody tries arguing about this, they will be probably just ignored by me (because I no longer have the mental stamina to argue about such things anymore).

[Kaikhorus]

Noticed a bug/exploit. In Enroth, you can endlessly retake pilgrimages to get a shrine bonus. This is most obvious in the month of September with the electricity shrine in Ironfist, but also loyds beacon can make you get +3 bonuses very quickly for any month. One solution might be to have each follow up +3 bonus work once per year?

[Xfing]

That last diamond dragon looks almost too good indeed! Amazing. The only thing is that I can't find its eyes anywhere :p

As I brought up as well, but I'm afraid that in the end, they won't have eyes because I can't make them visible.

Yours actually do seem to have their eyes visible, I was talking about Grayface's. That last diamond dragon with all the sparkles. I hope you do coordinate with him so you guys can decide on a single version of these to port into the game

[Templayer]

Noticed a bug/exploit. In Enroth, you can endlessly retake pilgrimages to get a shrine bonus. This is most obvious in the month of September with the electricity shrine in Ironfist, but also loyds beacon can make you get +3 bonuses very quickly for any month. One solution might be to have each follow up +3 bonus work once per year?

Added to the bug tracker.

Removed from the bug tracker:

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Multi-loot. Was there since the beginning of times. Since a lot of people like to use that bug, maybe it is better to make it turnable off, rather than remove it.

GrayFace: It's an intended feature. Use https://www.dropbox.com/s/aj5tm0jat21nqr8/Fixed%20Monster%20Treasure.rar?dl=1 - Fixed Monster Treasure script
This script makes it so that moster treasure is generated when you enter a map and then doesn't change upon reloading the game.

[SpectralDragon]

Yours actually do seem to have their eyes visible, I was talking about Grayface's. That last diamond dragon with all the sparkles. I hope you do coordinate with him so you guys can decide on a single version of these to port into the game

I meant his just as well, since I'll definitely do these (more like copy the palette these have to other sprites in order to make the entire spritework of them) once GrayFace completes these (Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby, Diamond, maybe even the default one), but sadly I cannot do eyes on them because I don't know how to work Indexed palettes at all without the image looking trashy as all hell. And if I change them into RGB images, then they wouldn't be able to be imported into the game without serious tweaking, thus it's either that or no-eyes unless GrayFace decides to give them eyes himself (which probably answers why are rose-colored ones having orange eyes).

Thus now all I can do is wait for GrayFace to complete his set and link them here because I don't know color bases for them at all.

[GrayFace]

So why wouldn't you do stuff I do together with GrayFace after your surgery pain days/weeks are over and done with? I'm sincerely asking this and I really don't wish to hear excuses like "I'm busy" (you can always take your time off your day to edit at least one asset, don't you?) or "I'm lazy" (that's just disrespectful towards other people's work) because we all know you have all programs that are better suited for this kind of job, which I'll never have.

We're all here only to do what we feel like doing. I'm doing stuff in GIMP. Corel Photo-Paint isn't installed on this PC at all and PhotoShop interface is a nightmare.
But to properly polish things the game to test them is needed.

Yours actually do seem to have their eyes visible, I was talking about Grayface's.

It's just a different frame. On one "eyes" happened to be illuminated, on mine they aren't.

Ever since Article 13 got through, I stopped caring about the so called "laws".

Under it, this entire project is actually illegal. Ubisoft owns the rights to the assets of these games, and yet we manipulate them to our liking. We were not given permission by the copyright holder. In fact you yourself have edited the game's assets without a permission.

A lot of mods are technically illegal. Redistributing whole archives of unaltered copyrighted content is illegal in US as well.

but sadly I cannot do eyes on them because I don't know how to work Indexed palettes at all without the image looking trashy as all hell. And if I change them into RGB images, then they wouldn't be able to be imported into the game without serious tweaking, thus it's either that or no-eyes unless GrayFace decides to give them eyes himself (which probably answers why are rose-colored ones having orange eyes).

To add stuff of new color like eyes you'll have to use RGB color. Use a variation that has colors that are as far from your planned eyes color as possible. After you're done, I'll make a palette and do palette modification for other variants.
I have no plans for doing eyes myself, I'm fine with how they are without them.
Here are the frames: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhywchz06wqn1 ... s.rar?dl=1

[GrayFace]

I want to make each cell contain three values:
1 - minimum skill level for race (B, E, M, G),
2 - addition to class' max tier (number),
3 - exeption (S - bonus goes only to classes with SP; W - only to warriors - classes w/o SP; Number - exeption for class kind).

I don't see a reason for single class exeptions. Exception field could also contain SP statistic (I/P/IP) to exclude druids/rangers for example.
Also, putting "/" between min level and addition should be optional, e.g.

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local min, add, exc = s:match("^([BEMG]?)/?([^/]*)/?([^/]*)")
-- if add == "=", set skill to exactly "min" level.

Examples: B, 5, B+5 or B/5, B/5/W or B+5/W
Race+Class combos could be a part of the race table and come after races, identified like "Elf/Monk" etc. using a combination of word identifiers in place of race name. For them "E=" notation would work best to specify the exact level of skill.

The chirurgical procedure went according to plan, and now I am in serious amounts of pain. Yaay.
I'm sleeping about 16 hours daily now (due to medication), so I might not be very active in the upcoming week.

I hope you get well soon

Avast IS a virus nowadays.

In order to uninstall it one needs to boot a special removal program from safe mode. I decided to try and run it without rebooting into safe mode. It didn't complain at all and did its job so well that the PC stopped booting.

Personally I am using Eset Online Scanner (no firewalls and such, only the memory+file scanner) each time I find something finnicky is happening with my system - clicking advanced and setting it up so that it only detects absolutely positive viruses.

I'm using uMatrix (it's similar to NoScript in purpose) addon. Blocking javascript on untrusted sites has been working for me incomparably better than an antivirus. Of virus removal tools I like DrWeb CureIt. I also have Malwarebytes installed in addition.

[Loic2402]

Hi, I'm so sorry to ask this question, i'm almost sure that it asks before, buy english is not my native language and i missed somthing.

I just install the merge today, and it works well (thanks for this genius idea ) BUT, when i want to speak someone on the street, or if I want to speak with Markaham or the judge (for exemple in MM7 world) it does't work. It is the same in all the 3 worlds. But I can sell or buy something by the merchants.

I tried to read the tracker, and a part of this forum, but i didn't find the good page. Can someone help me ? thank you

[SpectralDragon]

We're all here only to do what we feel like doing. I'm doing stuff in GIMP. Corel Photo-Paint isn't installed on this PC at all and PhotoShop interface is a nightmare.
But to properly polish things the game to test them is needed.

Yours actually do seem to have their eyes visible, I was talking about Grayface's.

It's just a different frame. On one "eyes" happened to be illuminated, on mine they aren't.

To add stuff of new color like eyes you'll have to use RGB color. Use a variation that has colors that are as far from your planned eyes color as possible. After you're done, I'll make a palette and do palette modification for other variants.
I have no plans for doing eyes myself, I'm fine with how they are without them.

In order to uninstall it one needs to boot a special removal program from safe mode. I decided to try and run it without rebooting into safe mode. It didn't complain at all and did its job so well that the PC stopped booting.

I see, so then the program you made is supposed to be a sort of a GIMP plugin? Just curious there. ^^;

Actually I used a completely different color to "recolor" eye areas into lighter or deeper shade of the local color. ^^;; That's why they're visible, only Diamonds didn't have them as visible as others for obvious reasons.
Okays, I'll do that and I only hope I'm not bugging you with these. ^^; Speaking of bugging you, is it possible to make regular Crystal Dragons look the same as well, just for consistency (all shiny and whatnot)?

And that's why I ain't uninstalling it (Avast). Thank everything it's actually located on my 1TB drive instead of my little SSD drive, thus I'm happy with it being where it is, no matter the state it's in. That's just me though. (shrug)

[SpectralDragon]

Here are 4 RGB images of your redone Crystal Dragons with eyes. Do you think you can transfer these to the rest of their original sprites?
https://sta.sh/0u1vbe9uev6
Just an example of one of them:


EDIT: I also noticed that Ghost Dragons have the same palette issues as well, they still use Bone Dragon palette even though they˙re supposed to have their own palette, which answers why DaveHer wasn´t able to get them into CCR. Here´s the link to their source files of said Ghost Dragon monsters:
https://sta.sh/0x0ufoyfk2m

[Templayer]

("^([BEMG]?)/?([^/]*)/?([^/]*)")

I approve of regular expressions.
(what an invaluable tool when coding)

The chirurgical procedure went according to plan, and now I am in serious amounts of pain. Yaay.
I'm sleeping about 16 hours daily now (due to medication), so I might not be very active in the upcoming week.

I hope you get well soon

Thanks.
Actually, unless my memory is failing me, you are the second person to tell me to get well soon. (after the procedure, that is)
The first one was the project manager at my job.
My family doesn't give a ****.

Avast IS a virus nowadays.

In order to uninstall it one needs to boot a special removal program from safe mode. I decided to try and run it without rebooting into safe mode. It didn't complain at all and did its job so well that the PC stopped booting.

That exact same thing happened to me too! I had to use a restore point to make my system bootable again!
Avast. Never again. What a piece of ****.

Personally I am using Eset Online Scanner (no firewalls and such, only the memory+file scanner) each time I find something finnicky is happening with my system - clicking advanced and setting it up so that it only detects absolutely positive viruses.

I'm using uMatrix (it's similar to NoScript in purpose) addon. Blocking javascript on untrusted sites has been working for me incomparably better than an antivirus. Of virus removal tools I like DrWeb CureIt. I also have Malwarebytes installed in addition.

I can usually tell malicious sites based on URL syntax. However what I am using is Adblock Plus (or Adblock Latitude for Pale Moon-based browsers, like New Moon, which is an awesome fully modern browser fork of Pale Moon that targets Windows XP and can do any newest features. HTML5, youtube, you name it.) and popup blocker ultimate. You can check my two webpages for a browser compatibility textbox at the ends of introductory sections - http://www.Templayer.cz and http://www.Zerenxess.xf.cz - if you wish I can do in-depth browser analysis of a web of your choice, based on the browsers mentioned there, I can do that for you.
EDIT: If you cannot see the text boxes with browser compatibility info, be sure to CTRL+F5 or use some other kind of cache cleaning. Cache is evil. xD

Hi, I'm so sorry to ask this question, i'm almost sure that it asks before, buy english is not my native language and i missed somthing.

I just install the merge today, and it works well (thanks for this genius idea ) BUT, when i want to speak someone on the street, or if I want to speak with Markaham or the judge (for exemple in MM7 world) it does't work. It is the same in all the 3 worlds. But I can sell or buy something by the merchants.

I tried to read the tracker, and a part of this forum, but i didn't find the good page. Can someone help me ? thank you

That is usually a bad installation from what I remember. What did you do? Did you try just installing the retail / gog version and then replace files with the Merge package? What other steps did you do?

[SpectralDragon]

Actually, unless my memory is failing me, you are the second person to tell me to get well soon. (after the procedure, that is)
The first one was the project manager at my job.
My family doesn't give a ****.

Make that 3. Hopefully you nicely recover and no worries, no matter the ribbing I'm still here.

While at the same time I'm handling GrayFace quite a bit of work without even knowing it because I don't know how even with his little program, which throws me an error if I try to get a file inside it (I didn't open it with GIMP though, just like any regular program) ^^; . Changing palettes of redone Crystal Dragons so that they're actually different according to their title and same for Ghost Dragon monster sprites (bastards still have Bone Dragon sprite palette) as you probably saw via me adding a comment on them ...