GrayFace MM8 Patch v2.5.7 [Mar 4, 2022]

[SpectralDragon]

Another thing that would be nice is if the Merchant Guild in Ravenshore could be made to not respawn. I think it's set to respawn after two years, along with the Ravenshore area itself? That's a long enough time if you have teleportation magic, but on solo playthroughs, you can run into trouble with that. And you really need the extra inventory space. I feel like this place was intended to be for storage, like the Harmondale castle in MM7, but having it respawn along with the area ruins that. But maybe it's hardcoded that way? I know I could use the adventurer's inn character inventory for storage, but that always feels a little unintended/cheaty. Either way, it feels bad when the game tells you to use it for storage and then overwrites your storage.

I don't remember if Goblinwatch in MM6 was set to not respawn at some point? It would obviously be good if it didn't for the same reason. I think people use that place for storage as well.

They're actually using Goblinwatch to store their stuff in many videos I've saw, so I'm supporting all of that.

As is written above and another question, how are the color-coordinated enemies going on (ones that you don't see to be color-coordinated in the vanilla version, like Boulders, Elementals and Crystal Dragons)?

[cthscr]

Take 'mapstats.txt' from EnglishT.lod, change 'Refill Days' column value for row '20'/'Merchant House of Alvar' to something like 67200. Put file into DataFiles directory.

Goblinwatch has refill value of 672 days set in mapstats.txt. As well as Castle Harmondale.

[Macros the Black]

Take 'mapstats.txt' from EnglishT.lod, change 'Refill Days' column value for row '20'/'Merchant House of Alvar' to something like 67200. Put file into DataFiles directory.

Goblinwatch has refill value of 672 days set in mapstats.txt. As well as Castle Harmondale.

Done, thanks.

[J. M. Sower]

GrayFace, I saw someone was writing about bug with consuming potions etc. when using UI layout. I have the same. And I saw something confusing. Problem disappears after instaling MMMerge mod, also with newest updates where is used that newest MM8 patch. So maybe Rodril have found some way to fix it? But I tried to replace some files in my mod to his, and still there is the bug. There is any way to fix that? Or maybe we need to wait for your next patch? Huh, below is my error log.

Code: Select all

Time: 24.12.2020 14:31:31 (24.12.2020 13:31:31 UTC)
Windows Version 4.10 

Exception EAccessViolation in module MM8patch.dll at 0005B74D.
Access violation at address 03B1B74D in module 'MM8patch.dll'. Read of address 043EA108.

Function Calls:

03B1B74D | D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 5B74D
03B1B80A | D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 5B80A
03B283AE ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 683AE
03B1BCD8 | D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 5BCD8
03B1C0A2 ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 5C0A2
03B2824A | D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 6824A
03B32885 | D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 72885
0049D247 | D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\mm8.exe + 9D247
03B32D56 ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 72D56
0048FB88 ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\mm8.exe + 8FB88
0043E374 | D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\mm8.exe + 3E374
00461856 | D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\mm8.exe + 61856
00461114 ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\mm8.exe + 61114
00460FAE ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\mm8.exe + 60FAE
779CD791 ? C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll + 4D791
779F341A ? C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll + 7341A
74852B0C ? C:\PROGRA~1\AVASTS~1\Avast\x86\aswhook.dll + 2B0C
7763EFE4 ? C:\Windows\System32\KERNELBASE.dll + 10EFE4
616661ED ? C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\AcGenral.DLL + 461ED
03B1CD57 ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 5CD57
03B1CD73 ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 5CD73
03B2C52F ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 6C52F
03B37E10 ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 77E10
03B36801 ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 76801
004DC906 ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\mm8.exe + DC906
776215BB ? C:\Windows\System32\KERNELBASE.dll + F15BB
77466357 ? C:\Windows\System32\KERNEL32.DLL + 16357
779E8942 ? C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll + 68942
779E890F ? C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll + 6890F

Registers:

EAX = 043EA108
EBX = 00000500
ECX = 000000EF
EDX = 000007FF
ESI = 00000001
EDI = 3ACEBA30
EBP = 0019FAF4
ESP = 0019FAE8

Stack Trace:

0019FAE8: 0019FB78
0019FAEC: 000007FF
0019FAF0: 00000280
0019FAF4: 0019FBCC | Last EBP
0019FAF8: 03B1B80F | D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 5B80F
0019FAFC: 000000F0
0019FB00: 0439F108
0019FB04: 00000140
0019FB08: 000000F0
0019FB0C: 1E0739C8
0019FB10: 7FD20010
0019FB14: 03B283B3 ? D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 683B3
0019FB18: 0019FDAC | TExcFrame.next
0019FB1C: 03B285ED | D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 685ED
0019FB20: 0019FBCC | TExcFrame.hEBP
0019FB24: 04353E88
0019FB28: 03DC2600
0019FB2C: 3ACEBA30
0019FB30: 00000000
0019FB34: 00000000
0019FB38: 00000000
0019FB3C: 00000000
0019FB40: 00000000
0019FB44: 00000000
0019FB48: 00000000
0019FB4C: 00000000
0019FB50: 00000000
0019FB54: 00000000
0019FB58: FFFFF936
0019FB5C: FFFFFEF9
0019FB60: 000000B6
0019FB64: 00000331
0019FB68: 000000F0
0019FB6C: 00000000
0019FB70: 00000690
0019FB74: 00000438
0019FB78: 00000000
0019FB7C: 00000000
0019FB80: 00000281
0019FB84: 0000022A
0019FB88: 3ACA1AF8
0019FB8C: 3ACA1C26
0019FB90: 1E0739C8
0019FB94: 000001E0
0019FB98: 00000280
0019FB9C: 42FF0010
0019FBA0: 04353E88
0019FBA4: 0000005B
0019FBA8: 00000124
0019FBAC: 000000AD
0019FBB0: 0000022A
0019FBB4: 00000000
0019FBB8: 00000000
0019FBBC: 3ACEBA30
0019FBC0: 03DC2600
0019FBC4: 00000000
0019FBC8: 00000000
0019FBCC: 0019FC14 | Last EBP
0019FBD0: 03B1BCDB | D:\Might and Magic VIII LOD\MM8patch.dll + 5BCDB

================================================================================

[GrayFace]

As is written above and another question, how are the color-coordinated enemies going on (ones that you don't see to be color-coordinated in the vanilla version, like Boulders, Elementals and Crystal Dragons)?

I have so many things I should release...

[SpectralDragon]

I have so many things I should release...

No doubt. Still eager for ´em all ... and I hope you´re staying safe in those insane times we´re in.

[raekuul]

I know from experimenting with Might and Magic 7 that you can play arbitrary music instead of the "official" soundtrack. Which cd tracks in MM8 correspond to which regions? (Note: having this list would also let us make "improved" album tags for the official soundtrack since then we could say "Ironsand Desert" instead of "Exploration Theme 5")

[cthscr]

Which cd tracks in MM8 correspond to which regions?

See "Redbook track" column of MapStats.txt.

[Xfing]

There's this one thing, it's a global issue and has been there ever since vanilla MM7 and 8, so I didn't want to post about it in the merge thread:

the Heal spell says it's possible to cast it on distant targets from Expert level onwards. But it works that way from Normal already. The cursor should be idle on Normal when clicking on anything else than character portraits, like it is with party-specific spells like normal Bless etc.

[Corylea]

I started a new MM8 game, for the first time in several years, and I was thrilled to find your mod that allows us to make ALL of our own party members, instead of only one. Thanks for the enormous amount of work you've put into this and for your generosity in sharing it with all of us.

I used to mod The Witcher -- the first one -- and I know that if ten thousand people download a mod, maybe a dozen of those people will bother to say thanks. So I wanted to make sure to say thank you!

[tomchen1989]

Same as the one discussed here:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/ ... 96#p380696

In <GAME_FOLDER>\Scripts\General\, create a text file named "RanOnce.lua", put the following code in the file and save it:

Code: Select all

-- We have to watch the whole introductory movie after a fresh new installation of MM6, 7 or 8 (including MMMerge).
-- With this script, you can close the movie with Esc key.

local mmver = offsets.MMVersion
if mmver == 8 then
    mem.nop(0x463EF0, 2)
elseif mmver == 6 then
    mem.nop(0x457BA4, 2)
end

(it seems MM7 does not have this problem, it only exists in MM6 and 8. And the above code is a complete solution for MM6/8 with GrayFace Patch and MMExtension)

It will allow Esc key during the first-time introductory movie.

This should be put into the next version of the MM6 and 8 patch.

[Xfing]

Another thing that would be nice is if the Merchant Guild in Ravenshore could be made to not respawn. I think it's set to respawn after two years, along with the Ravenshore area itself? That's a long enough time if you have teleportation magic, but on solo playthroughs, you can run into trouble with that. And you really need the extra inventory space. I feel like this place was intended to be for storage, like the Harmondale castle in MM7, but having it respawn along with the area ruins that. But maybe it's hardcoded that way? I know I could use the adventurer's inn character inventory for storage, but that always feels a little unintended/cheaty. Either way, it feels bad when the game tells you to use it for storage and then overwrites your storage.

Yeah, this is one of the ills of MM8 - and worse still, the Merchant House of Alvar can sometimes fool you into thinking that it doesn't respawn, because it does only every 2 years, which is a rather long time. But still, it does - so storing items there is a no-no, even though the game itself encourages you to do so (only to bitterly disappoint you later). I do recall GrayFace releasing a text file based fix for this years ago already, it was called MerchAlvFix or something like this - I think this was in the early years of MMExtension actually. I don't remember if I still have it or whether it actually worked for me, but an integrated, permanent solution would definitely beat it. It could be equally helpful for the Merge, because there are plenty of artifacts and relics to store and not many places to do so. I personally usually just clean out most adventurers' inventories in the Adventurers' Guild and then just start dumping the rare stuff into their inventories, I've found that to work nicely. But yeah, it'd be nice to be able to use (all three?) chests in the Merchant House without fearing they'll disappear.

As for Goblinwatch, I'm not sure if it was ever intended for player inventory storage, though granted, many players seem to use it that way in their playthroughs. But yeah, that building also respawns every 2 years, so maybe it didn't in the base game or it was a bug? Some people are pretty sure they've used it for storage reliably, so no idea about that.

[raekuul]

MM6 never really needed long-term storage, though, since the seer was actually smart there and wouldn't give back quest items for quests you'd already completed and almost every persistent item gets turned in at some point (or is in the Super Goobers chest, which gets stopped by the "quests you'd already completed" clause) or can be ditched without loss of quest completion.

MM7 offered long-term storage but you only really needed that if you intended to go back to the Shoals after delivering the Oscillation Overthruster, since the Wetsuits are the single largest items you can carry. ...now that I think about it, will your Judge give you new wetsuits if you somehow lose yours?

MM8 is the one that needs long-term storage the most, simply because you have too many persistent items and the Seer doesn't properly distinguish between "quest completed" and "quest incomplete." That stupid Retrieve The Sarcophagus quest most readily comes to mind, but you also cannot rid yourself of the Axe of Balthazar or the Sword of Whistlebone, both of which regenerate with their associated regions (Dark Dwarf Compound and Garrote Gorge, respectively).

[justl]

hi grayface,

xfing meant to put that too your attention:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/ ... 00#p384916

justl

[GrayFace]

Another thing that would be nice is if the Merchant Guild in Ravenshore could be made to not respawn.

Yes, that definitely needs fixing.

MM6 never really needed long-term storage, though, since the seer was actually smart there and wouldn't give back quest items for quests you'd already completed and almost every persistent item gets turned in at some point (or is in the Super Goobers chest, which gets stopped by the "quests you'd already completed" clause) or can be ditched without loss of quest completion.

I strongly disagree. Quest items are a tiny fraction in the items I need to store.

MM8 is the one that needs long-term storage the most

It has by far the best long-term storage, easily accessible from 2 maps, it's the Adventurers' Inn.

As for Goblinwatch, I'm not sure if it was ever intended for player inventory storage, though granted, many players seem to use it that way in their playthroughs. But yeah, that building also respawns every 2 years, so maybe it didn't in the base game or it was a bug? Some people are pretty sure they've used it for storage reliably, so no idea about that.

MM6 games rarely last for 2 years.

@justl, I'm reluctant to fix texts in MM8 for now, but I've added it to the list.

[GrayFace]

I do recall GrayFace releasing a text file based fix for this years ago already, it was called MerchAlvFix or something like this - I think this was in the early years of MMExtension actually.

It's a very easy MapStats.txt fix. I don't even remember doing it, but I still have it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kew58i88sjlw5 ... x.rar?dl=1
I'll ping cthscr about it for the Merge.
[edit] cthscr responded that it's already fixed there.

[Xfing]

I don't think it is in Rodril's main branch.

Also, MM6 games rarely coming up to 2 years? Wow, I had no idea, mm6 is by far the biggest of the games. Does training work somewhat differently there or something?

[raekuul]

I believe MM6 is subtly bugged and that it's one week per session rather than one week per level, but I haven't tested exhaustively. I do know that Enroth areas are more likely to cycle over in Merge than in Vanilla (the Hive being a notable exception since its refresh timer is one week) so there is a difference in something.

[Tomsod]

I believe MM6 is subtly bugged and that it's one week per session rather than one week per level, but I haven't tested exhaustively. I do know that Enroth areas are more likely to cycle over in Merge than in Vanilla (the Hive being a notable exception since its refresh timer is one week) so there is a difference in something.

Yep, in MM6 training always lasts 8 days, no matter how many levels you gain. Although I never considered that a bug, but rather a feature, and one NWC should have kept in the later games. 8 days per level is rather unfair to players that try to get a high score; I usually complete MM7 at level 15-20 as the result.

[NotABroom]

Hello, somewhere between fighting wasps in Alvar and then entering the dungeon with a thousand doors in Ironsand, I got a water breathing spell on my necromancer and vampire (not the rest of the party). The spell lasts for 279.429 days. I don't have any artifacts or fancy diving equipment. I have never had this before or seen it, so I assumed, it would probably have something to do with the patch. I am also using a little mod that I made myself, but it only messes with a few txt files (mainly monsters and mapstats).

Edit: I realise now that I might have messed things up by installing my mod that I made like 8 years ago. "Installing my mod" just meant copying an old "EnglishT.lod" file with a few edited txt files into the data folder. I guess this way I might have erradicated whatever the patch changed within EnglishT.lod since I made that mod.