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

[Templayer]

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)

If your system is on an SSD drive and Avast is on a different drive, then I sure hope you frequently do restoration points!
The moment anything a smidge bad happens - boom, unbootable.
There are design choices that should be outright criminal.

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 ...

Thanks for support!
GrayFace needs to WRITE tutorials for these already. Same for the equipment warping. He made videos and there were people here asking what is actually going on in the videos, and I couldn't really tell them because I wasn't sure myself....

[SpectralDragon]

Thanks for support!
GrayFace needs to WRITE tutorials for these already. Same for the equipment warping. He made videos and there were people here asking what is actually going on in the videos, and I couldn't really tell them because I wasn't sure myself....

Touché, I mean, I wouldn't put so much work on him (first Crystal Dragons and now Ghost Dragon monsters) if I would bloody know how to handle stuff in the 1st place as well, especially when it comes to making perfect palettes from RGB images when transforming them back into Indexed ones (GIMP always messes it up). Terrible terrible apologies for all extra work I'm putting you through, GrayFace, I really do.

[Loic2402]

OK i think it was because of Grayface patch, i uninstalled (why i didn't do that in first ! grrr) and i reinstalled all. In fact there are in the patch a conflit maybe with the merge and those things are uncheck when we install the patch, when we have the merge.

Thanks for your answer Templayer

[GrayFace]

You know what, they DO have eyes! The original sprites that is. The color isn't very different from the rest of the creature, but they have them! So, I can easily use them for recolors.

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

Just a standalone program.

Speaking of bugging you, is it possible to make regular Crystal Dragons look the same as well, just for consistency (all shiny and whatnot)?

You're right, they weren't shiny enough.

In fact there are in the patch a conflit maybe with the merge and those things are uncheck when we install the patch, when we have the merge.

In the last version of patches I've removed that When installing the patch over the Merge, it doesn't offer to install any archives, but not the other way around.

What happened to the update archive? I only see the full base download. Is it for this version only?

[Templayer]

OK i think it was because of Grayface patch, i uninstalled (why i didn't do that in first ! grrr) and i reinstalled all. In fact there are in the patch a conflit maybe with the merge and those things are uncheck when we install the patch, when we have the merge.

Thanks for your answer Templayer

From what I know GrayFace's patch is already included in the Merge (the Merge cannot work without it, in fact), so you are probably just screwing it up by updating to a version that the Merge isn't ready for / tested against, maybe overwriting important files. That is true even if you go through the route of vanilla game install -> GF patch -> Merge, because there might be rogue files left from the manual patch.

[SpectralDragon]

You know what, they DO have eyes! The original sprites that is. The color isn't very different from the rest of the creature, but they have them! So, I can easily use them for recolors.

Just a standalone program.

You're right, they weren't shiny enough.

Thus I added eyes on those 4 RGB "baseline" Crystal Dragon sprites. ^^; Hopefully it isn't too much, as I know that coding these new sprites to swap the rose-colored ones according to their name (green ones for "Emerald Dragon", blue ones for "Sapphire Dragon" and red ones for "Ruby Dragon") by default in vanilla MM8 even (not just Merge) can be quite a battle (together with adding the miniboss Diamond Dragon and making Crystal Dragons into their own brand of enemies <- optional) ... and as for Ghost Dragon monster sprites, they only need to get their own palettes, that's all (when it comes to adding them into the game, that's optional too. Maybe in Breach, I don't know, aside MMMerge Credits Dungeon ).

I then wonder what am I doing wrong because I tried to put a bitmap file (.bmp image file) into it, it threw me an error message. Does the image need to be Indexed .bmp with part of its name being "pal24" or however the program calls it?

Glad you agree, same with Crystal Walkers/Sentries if you ask me ... and maybe item gem sprites, but that would be an overkill anyways.

Speaking of stuff, does vanilla MM6 and (maybe) MM8 have a so-called "monster limit" to it? Since DaveHer cannot add Ghost Dragon monsters into his CCR mod due to it, seemingly. ^^; Curious.

[GrayFace]

From what I know GrayFace's patch is already included in the Merge (the Merge cannot work without it, in fact), so you are probably just screwing it up by updating to a version that the Merge isn't ready for / tested against, maybe overwriting important files.

Nope. When the patch is installed before the Merge, it places "00 patch.*.lod" files into Data folder. Then the Merge is installed, but it modifies original archives rather than adding its very own, so "00 patch.*.lod" override them. The solution is to delete "00 patch.*.lod". I think I'll fix the Merge distribution package to avoid such problems.

as for Ghost Dragon monster sprites, they only need to get their own palettes, that's all

They already have a proper palette.

I then wonder what am I doing wrong because I tried to put a bitmap file (.bmp image file) into it, it threw me an error message. Does the image need to be Indexed .bmp with part of its name being "pal24" or however the program calls it?

It has to be indexed .bmp from the game. I should have written it in the description. Naming it pal*** is useful for immediate testing in-game.

Speaking of stuff, does vanilla MM6 and (maybe) MM8 have a so-called "monster limit" to it? Since DaveHer cannot add Ghost Dragon monsters into his CCR mod due to it, seemingly. ^^; Curious.

They do. I should add the script removing the limit from the Merge into the base MMExt.

[SpectralDragon]

They already have a proper palette.

It has to be indexed .bmp from the game. I should have written it in the description. Naming it pal*** is useful for immediate testing in-game.

They do. I should add the script removing the limit from the Merge into the base MMExt.

Oh, ok! Glad to see that they still work even with that palette. Talk about dodging a bullet there, probably because Ghost Dragon monsters basically have the same colors as Bone Dragons or their colors are just bits of the original Bone Dragon palette colors. I definitely know that they didn't complain when I was replacing Bone ones with Ghost ones ("complain" as in they didn't look like trash. )

I see, thanks for telling!

That would definitely be for the best, yeah.

[Templayer]

From what I know GrayFace's patch is already included in the Merge (the Merge cannot work without it, in fact), so you are probably just screwing it up by updating to a version that the Merge isn't ready for / tested against, maybe overwriting important files.

Nope. When the patch is installed before the Merge, it places "00 patch.*.lod" files into Data folder. Then the Merge is installed, but it modifies original archives rather than adding its very own, so "00 patch.*.lod" override them. The solution is to delete "00 patch.*.lod". I think I'll fix the Merge distribution package to avoid such problems.

That's is basically what I have said. Installing the patch manually may / will result in a rogue file (that overwrites stuff).
(yeah, I know I wasn't that specific about it, but whatever. )

[Templayer]

Speaking of stuff, does vanilla MM6 and (maybe) MM8 have a so-called "monster limit" to it? Since DaveHer cannot add Ghost Dragon monsters into his CCR mod due to it, seemingly. ^^; Curious.

They do. I should add the script removing the limit from the Merge into the base MMExt.

I would like to take a moment and thank you for all of your effort.
Without you, no M&M modding would be possible, or at least on the scale that it is possible now.
Your reverse-engineering of the game is phenomenal. Both in effort, time taken, and success.
As a fellow programmer I can only stare in awe.
I might have been able to replace Rodril eventually (if his hiatus was indefinite, which it thankfully wasn't), but I couldn't have replaced you.

Reverse engineering is something I would love to command an AI to do, once they are smart enough. Just imagine telling an artificial intelligence: "take this game, reverse engineer it into a source code that is readable by humans, and properly comment the code fuctionality. Then code in a properly balanced and fun coop multiplayer."
(to others: reverse engineering a game into easily readable and editable source code can take years for a hu-man to do. And since for games a lot of stuff tends to be hardcoded, the modding tends to be limited. If an AI could do that, then you would be able to add any feature or modification to pretty much any game you want (unless there is some hard encryption, etc.))

[Echo]

Hey guys, just touching base. If there are any texts added to the merge that need to be proofread let me know in a private message. A while back Rodril sent me a bunch of lines and they've been updated, but I don't know if anything new has been written since and is in need of polishing.

Take care everyone, thanks for your continued work on this puppy, and I'm glad to hear Rodril's hiatus wasn't indefinite Would be a huge loss for this wonderful project.

[candida]

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

Welcome.

You can find the link to the tracker in Templayer's signature.

Be sure that you add your findings there (don't worry, he's reading them).

[Templayer]

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

Welcome.

You can find the link to the tracker in Templayer's signature.

Be sure that you add your findings there (don't worry, he's reading them).

You are kinda necroing a post. I have already responded to that post, and Loic responded back - it was due to a faulty install (he installed the GF patch manually). GrayFace himself even said that when the patch is applied to the game before the Merge, it creates a file that then eventually overwrites the Merge file when trying to run the Merge as a response to Loic.

[qtish]

Can you get vampire cleric or vampire sorcerer, dark elf knight through ingame means, or have to use some kind of software?

[candida]

I have noticed by accident that all of my party (the ones with SP's) regenerate their SP's without having any regeneration item, belt, armor, etc..
They are currently in Antagarich, I started with MM7 as well Is this intentional?

[gurthaur]

Greetings. I must say that this mod is a dream come true. I hope that NWC employees see that people are still playing and improving their games.

My issue is: started a new party in MM6, I cannot initiate dialogue options that give quests or memberships etc. I could not find it in tracker

[Templayer]

Can you get vampire cleric or vampire sorcerer, dark elf knight through ingame means, or have to use some kind of software?

Please check the Tracker in my signature for that.

Under optional modifications there is a Character Creation Unlocker. If you use it, then it is possible to (IN-GAME, no standalone software needed!) create any race-class combination on any starting continent during character creation.

And if you for example make a Dragon Sorcerer or a Dragon Necromancer, you get access to a Dracoliche, if you get promoted to a Liche (with custom paperdoll and portrait animations, courtesy of SpectralDragon, Jamesx and me).

Vampire Cleric, Vampire Sorcerer, Dark Elf Knight - those are all viable race class combos under the Unlocker. Very viable in fact - the Vampire abilities (you have to use the Racial Skills modification too, so that the Vampire Abilities would be bound to the Vampire RACE instead of the Vampire CLASS! Both are available on the Tracker) synergy well with the clerical line and sorcery line.

You can even make zombie characters, and skeleton characters,.... (I like my Skeleton Knight! xD Which is basically Race: Lich and Class: Knight )

[Templayer]

Greetings. I must say that this mod is a dream come true. I hope that NWC employees see that people are still playing and improving their games.

My issue is: started a new party in MM6, I cannot initiate dialogue options that give quests or memberships etc. I could not find it in tracker

It is because many people have reported that and it is a faulty install in 99% of cases.

Try only installing the vanilla game (gog or retail) and then extract the Merge into the installation folder, rewriting files. Run the game afterwards.

Something like what you are describing will occur if you try installing the vanilla game first, then you install the GrayFace patch (which is already included in the Merge package, by the way) and then you put the Merge package on top of it. Don't do it like that.

[qtish]

I am trying unlocker, and seem to be a bit confused. If you want to make Necromancer with vampire abilities, you choose necromancers portrait and class vampire? When I made necromancer with vampire portrait, I had necromancer with vampire portrait, but not with vampire abilities.

[Rodril]

What happened to the update archive? I only see the full base download. Is it for this version only?

Yes. I've posted new base version. I'm not sure wether to start bothering with new separate package for updates again or not, since i won't make updates that often. Is it inconveniently to download 1.6 gb?

I am trying unlocker, and seem to be a bit confused. If you want to make Necromancer with vampire abilities, you choose necromancers portrait and class vampire? When I made necromancer with vampire portrait, I had necromancer with vampire portrait, but not with vampire abilities.

Problem is there are no teachers to learn vampire/dark elf skills, though necromancer with vampire portrait is able to learn it. Fixed in next version (tommorow).

I have noticed by accident that all of my party (the ones with SP's) regenerate their SP's without having any regeneration item, belt, armor, etc..
They are currently in Antagarich, I started with MM7 as well Is this intentional?

Yes, regeneration comes from Meditation skill.