GrayFace MM6 Patch v2.5.7 [Mar 4, 2022]

[Kinox]

Ok. So actually I've just remembered a bug in MM6 which I experienced maybe this year. That I intended to report, but have totally forgotten. So here it is.

I guess most experienced players of the triad (MM6, MM7, MM8) already know that Town Portal functions differently, especially MM6 from MM7/MM8.

The problem is that, in MM6, the Town Portal Spell precisely casted at Basic/Expert Levels in Water Magic (therefore, this excludes the use of Town Portal from Gate Master Hirelings, who use it at Master Level in Water Magic, and I SUPPOSE, also excludes the use of Scrolls of Town Portal), which doesn't let you open the World Map from the Spell, redirects you NOT to the last "Town Portal functional Main Fountain" you've drunk from, but to the… LAST BUILDING [literally: ANY HOUSE , including Houses, Shops, Banks, Guilds, etc.; WHICH BIZARRELY EXCLUDES ENTERING/VISITING DUNGEON MAPS in that MAP REGION!!!) YOU'VE VISITED IN THAT MAP REGION you'll be redirected for. So, apparently, it has been having NOTHING TO DO WITH THE "MAIN FOUNTAIN"; which is hilarious of course. If it used, say, the last Main Fountain you've drunk from (which resonates with MM7 and MM8 way of "activating" the Town Region Map for Town Portal Spell), this could be and interesting Town Portal Spell feature for Basic/Expert Levels in Water Magic in general; same if it was the last "Town Portal Map Region" you have visited (although this would be a bit more limiting for curious and/or investigative players). But since it's probably bugged, it's even painful to have to avoid visiting a Shop, in order "not to loose the Town Portal 'link' to that other place you're wishing to return at some point". lol

I'm not sure if there is even more things related to this Town Portal bug; as I remember being surprised more than once at how strange and hard-to-understand this thing is/was.

Thanks.

[GrayFace]

LAST BUILDING

Yes, a weird behavior. They should have added code to remember TP location to map loading instead.

[Xfing]

BTW, is there a planned hi-res interface for MM6 like the very pretty and tasteful ones you've made for MM7 and MM8?

[raekuul]

We have that for 7 and 8 because they support hardware rendering. 6 does not, which means it would take a lot more work to get such a hi-res interface.

[Xfing]

We have that for 7 and 8 because they support hardware rendering. 6 does not, which means it would take a lot more work to get such a hi-res interface.

Ahhhh ok, bit of a shame. Guess one could be more easily made for the Merge though, as that game is based on the newer engine with hardware acceleration support.

[Anerag]

Is there a way to disable arrow key controls in the spellbook? Trying to cast spells while running around is impossible, I end up cycling to some other spell with up/down then casting it with left/right by accident.

[Hobbun]

I just downloaded and installed MM6 via GOG (the MM I-VI pack, if that makes a difference) and wanted to implement this patch.

I believe the GOG version of MM6 already comes with MOK, but the patch notes indicate that the Grayface patch (2.4) the MOK patch comes with it.

Is it ok to install Grayface’s patch with my GOG copy, even though both have MOK’s patch?

[Figo]

I just downloaded and installed MM6 via GOG (the MM I-VI pack, if that makes a difference) and wanted to implement this patch.
I believe the GOG version of MM6 already comes with MOK, but the patch notes indicate that the Grayface patch (2.4) the MOK patch comes with it.
Is it ok to install Grayface’s patch with my GOG copy, even though both have MOK’s patch?

As far as I remember there shouldn't be any problems with the newest patch installation on clean GOG version. So go ahead

[Macros the Black]

I was recently playing the Randomizer mod for Might and Magic 6 ( https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/10/17044 ), and encountered a bug where sometimes Meteor Shower and Starburst wouldn't work when quick cast in turn-based mode only. This seems to happen when the enemies are too far away. It does cast the spell (take the character's turn and spell points and shows a streak in the sky but no projectiles come out), it just doesn't do anything.

I don't currently have a save game in a regular 2.4 version to check, but since the randomizer doesn't change much in the game I assume this isn't caused by it.

Also, it would be nice if Death Blossom could get fixed? I may have noted this before, but enemies that should be inside the target radius of the explosion sometimes just aren't getting hit by it. Maybe they're avoiding it with armor class since it deals physical damage? If Death Blossom was useable, then Earth Magic would be almost a viable alternative to Fire Magic imo.

[raekuul]

That's actually a vanilla restriction on Meteor Shower/Starburst. The spells are iffy at best if your targeted monster is outside of "Yellow" range.

[marecki]

First of all, huge thanks to Grayface and others for the amazing work done to keep these games alive. In the past I played MM3-9, some time ago I replayed MM7 and MM8 with the unofficial patch and had a great time, no issues whatsoever. I thought I'd go back to MM6 as well.
I applied the patch over a clean install of the GOG version. Soon after I started the game, the fan turned on and kept going louder and louder, as if I was playing some fancy AAA crap and not a 20-year-old game that uses less resources than a browser. I fiddled with the settings a bit. Eventually, I cleaned it up and re-installed without the patch - blessed silence.
Here's my question: is it something on my end, or does the patch have any feature that might cause this behaviour?

[chiyolate]

I have found something interesting, not sure if it's a bug or a legit advantage...

So, when you're a wizard and choose Dark, you will become a Lich, and it has immunity to Mind and Body spells.
But the strange thing is, there is a hidden cap for the other resistances too (only for Liches), which is 200 for all four Fire, Air, Water, and Earth.
AND if you reach 200 resistance (as a lich), whether using spells or equipping items, you will become immune to those elements!

But this 200-immunity only applies to Liches as far as I know.. I already tried 200 resistances with my Archmages but it still got damage pretty bad at 200 (exact 200) resistance.

[Anubis]

There's no Lich form in Might and Magic 6. Are you talking about Might and Magic 7 by any chance? If so, this is the thread link to the GrayFace MM7 Patch thread: https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/10/10078

Also, that's pretty interesting. I don't think I've ever had 200+ elemental resistances on a sorcerer at any given point. If I may ask, how did you get the +200 resistances? You must've grinded on those cauldrons a LOT.

[chiyolate]

There's no Lich form in Might and Magic 6. Are you talking about Might and Magic 7 by any chance? If so, this is the thread link to the GrayFace MM7 Patch thread: https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/10/10078

Also, that's pretty interesting. I don't think I've ever had 200+ elemental resistances on a sorcerer at any given point. If I may ask, how did you get the +200 resistances? You must've grinded on those cauldrons a LOT.

Oh s* I was pretty sure it's the MM7 thread... lol, sorry! I'll repost at the correct thread!

The reason I was getting 200 resistances is because I am currently testing my almost finished MM7 rebalancing mod (will share it after I complete testing with all classes). So with my mod, the progress is scaled broadly, from defeating puny little rats until up to 13k HP dragons, and you can get up to 250 points per resistance wearing the top level armor with top level enchantments.

But even with the original MM7, I think if you have 50 points in Fire/Air/Water/Earth skill, you could use the Resistance spell to get to that 200.

I had to use a cheeky solution though to counter these invincible liches, which is to make the monster's attack around half the time uses Physical instead of elemental. It worked and it's now even harder because you can't rely on Resistances alone.. hehehe

Edit: oh and I think I know where the bug comes from, so maybe Liches had to use the monster's resistance mechanism to give that Body and Mind Immunity. And monsters are indeed immune at 200 resistances.

[eilacomeva]

I was wondering: in mm6, hitting an enemy with an enchanted weapon shows a little animation depending on the kind of magic damage; would it be feasible (and take a non unreasonable amount of effort) to make that happen in mm7/mm8 as well? Mostly because the fire aura/vampiric weapon have a timer until you become a grand master, having (optional) visual feedback without hacks would be nice.

[GrayFace]

I applied the patch over a clean install of the GOG version. Soon after I started the game, the fan turned on and kept going louder and louder, as if I was playing some fancy AAA crap and not a 20-year-old game that uses less resources than a browser. I fiddled with the settings a bit. Eventually, I cleaned it up and re-installed without the patch - blessed silence.
Here's my question: is it something on my end, or does the patch have any feature that might cause this behaviour?

Maybe the upscaling? I'm using a custom upscaling algorithm for borderless fullscreen mode.

Is there a way to disable arrow key controls in the spellbook? Trying to cast spells while running around is impossible, I end up cycling to some other spell with up/down then casting it with left/right by accident.

Looks like I haven't added an option to turn it off. Add this line to mm6.ini (into the Settings section):
DisableHooks=45472C
Don't forget to remove it once I release a fix.

I was wondering: in mm6, hitting an enemy with an enchanted weapon shows a little animation depending on the kind of magic damage; would it be feasible (and take a non unreasonable amount of effort) to make that happen in mm7/mm8 as well? Mostly because the fire aura/vampiric weapon have a timer until you become a grand master, having (optional) visual feedback without hacks would be nice.

I always wanted to bring them back. We'll see.

[eilacomeva]

Good to hear

[Kinox]

Training time 'bug' is back??

Hi, folks.

I was playing MM6 with Patch 2.4, and I was suddenly faced with an extravagant old 'bug' from MM6 — which I'm sure it used to be fixed by a very old patch though — which I don't recall the name — and it's likely that previous GrayFace patches also fixed it, right?

THE SO CALLED BUG:
When you enter in a Training Hall building, and have so much Experience that you can level up many times (with at least 1 character), and you train more than 1 Level with him/her, it still counts in the game time as if you have just trained for 8 days (1 training session) when you leave the building; the training sessions are NOT STACKING!! (as it happens logically in MM7, MM8, and even MM6 with that older patch which recognized the original feature as a bug); maybe even GrayFace previous patches below 2.4 fixed it; I don't know). I don't feel like it was intended.

[GrayFace]

Training time 'bug' is back??

No idea about that old unofficial patch you're referring to. I never considered it a bug, it's just a difference in MM6 behavior.

[Kinox]

Training time 'bug' is back??

No idea about that old unofficial patch you're referring to. I never considered it a bug, it's just a difference in MM6 behavior.

I see. It's plausible.

Well, maybe it was an official patch… it might be/have been something like 1.0, 1.1 or 1.2; that I'm sure of these numbers. But I can't seem to find the website where I use to download it.
Reconsidering… it could still be possible that I'd be mixing up memories about this feature because it's quite a long time ago. Lord Newton is back!