Tools and Tutorials
 

Due to multiple requests to stick various individual threads I think its best to create one catch-all to list some of the tools and tutorials. It will stay cleaner if people post a short description of the item, and then link to the thread which discusses that item.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Map + Mod File Editor with Dom3 Syntax Scheme [Freeware ]

It's freeware, does not need to be installed - just unzip, start the .exe.

It runs under Win, yet it can write files in UNIX format as the DOM mod files are.

It's available in english.

.. and I have done a complete syntax highlighting scheme for it.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

This script will automatically reconcile ID numbers (of various kinds) between any number of mod files. To run:

mod_mixer.awk [.dm file...]

It will then produce a bunch of .txt files. You basically just catanate all of them into a new file and then load it - the header at the very begining, and name lists may need to be modified somewhat by hand.

At the moment, you can't run more than four or five mods at once due to graphics limitations (at least, this is my theory). I believe it is possible to swap the mod file out, restart the game with the graphics you actually need first.... but this is asking for trouble.

Known bugs -
* spells with a damage increment >+1 (i.e. if you set a spell to do 20 damage + 3 per point of excess skill) are interpreted as references to new monsters.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

this is a little windows app i threw together to that will compress tga images to rle, thought it might be of use to people out there. it will take 24 or 32 bit non-rle and rle images and output 24 bit rle images. i suppose if there is a demand for it i could expand the functionality, but right now this suits my purposes fine.

i remember seeing somewhere that old dom2 maps sometimes used the alpha channel, though it had no in game affect, and the alpha bits were causing problems in dom3. this app will fix that problem, as it just strips out the alpha channel if it is present.

to use it, drag a supported tga (or multiple supported images at once) onto the app. the files will be converted and saved in the same directory, with .rle.tga extension rather than .tga. other than that the names are identical, none of the old files are overwritten, deleted or modified.

hope this is useful

edit: you have to install a couple of dlls to use this, don't blame, blame m$. you can get them here

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

I uploaded a simple terrain calculator written in Yabasic which converts terrain values to a readable list here.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

another little quickie app. actually does all of the same things as the one i posted above, but it will also reduce the size of the image to half it's original size. no resampling, just a straight resize so that border pixels are not polluted. images will have the .half.tga extension rather than .tga.

edit: you have to install a couple of dlls to use this, don't blame, blame m$. you can get them here

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Update : online map editor now available at
edited by Gandalf Parker: <font color="red">no longer available</font>

http://dominions.realites.org/map_editor (currently in beta)

The first version of my dominions perl library is done.

Currently there are function for map parsing/validation, functions to add random buildings and commanders to provinces, and of course a function to output the edited map code from the perl pseudo-object

The library come with a test script (test.pl) as well as an online map validator/randomizer also available on my website , so you don't even need to install anything if you just want to randomize (or check the syntax of) a map or two :

http://dominions.realites.org/

I have many plans for the future based on this library, such as semi-random provinces (randomly select random provinces/commanders from a pre-set library depending of the province terrain type(s) for exemple), and I can take suggestion, or even script requests.

And of course please report any bug that you could find with the application, thanks in advance.

See http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...;Number=487744 for discussions, bug reports, features requests and new versions

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Dom3Tool is a server monitoring tool for the Windows platform (requires .NET).

Simply enter the server URL and port, and the tool will fetch who has taken their turn, who hasn't, how much time is remaining in the current turn, and other pertinent info.

You can also launch the game from the tool directly, although you do have to tell it where the executable is each time (this enables having multiple installations of dom3 at different patch levels, if so desired).

The tool is available for download here. If the server doesn't resolve, try again later as it's my own machine and just might crash http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Following is a link to a simple list of Unit ID's, their names and a links to a screenshot of the corresponding unit's information screen. The image captures were created &amp; kindly shared by Maltrease, and Kristoffer O has said that he didn't mind me sharing this with the community. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

(KO expressed his intention to make a downloadable file of all sprites in the game, but has been unable to do so due to time constraints.)

NOTE: Access is currently password protected to minimize indexing by bots &amp; wider distribution of the images.

Link:
Dom3UnitReference v304
Login: ball
Password: pass1712

Thanks again to Gandalf for hosting!

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Here there be a comprehensive DB of units, weapons and armor.

Save under different name for your mod, make the changes you want to the BaseU, BaseW and BaseA tables and see instant results on the AllUnits page. It'll drive most Windows systems on their knees when opening or doing complicated sorting due to the number and structure of the display functions.

Arrays have been defined so that adding weapons, units and armors to the Base pages won't make a difference, the functions still work. Upper limits are 400 armors total, 1000 weapons total and 4000 units total, those limits are hardcoded to the current functions.

If you add units to the display page, you need to unprotect the sheet and show formulas, then extend the formulas down the columns up until you have all your units showing. Add ONLY id numbers to display pages! Everything else is retrieved by function.

You may need to add more custom magic masks if you have really exotic random magic combinations, in which case you should sort the MagicMasks page by mask number for smoother work.

Just make sure you enter 0 for FALSE or 1 for TRUE or actually type out the word each time you use them. Dragging the values for several trues in a row will screw things up since it will do a sequence of 1..2..3..4.. and show everything above 0 as TRUE. The retrieval functions will not work correctly if that happens, since they all check for values of either 1 or "".

Edi

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

When I'm done with my guide on spell modding I'll attach it here (since I'm uploading new drafts a lot I don't want to put it in two places.)

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Map Starting Locations Modifier

This web script allows you to modify a map's possible starting locations so that you are guaranteed a minimum number of neighbouring provinces in each starting spot. Sick of unfair maps that put you in a province with 3 neighbours while everyone else gets 5+? Sick of being a water nation and getting put in a lake surrounded by all land? Try my starting locations modifier, located at:

http://users.on.net/~dfidge/cgi-bin/dom3map.pl

Original thread

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Spell descriptions modifier

Features:

- Makes selected in-game spell descriptions more accurate, providing concrete values and formulas for spell effects instead of vague descriptions

- Ability to modify the spell descriptions yourself, with limitations (see readme file in download)

- Program is designed in a way so that it should work for any future versions of dom3.exe that Illwinter release

Download at:
http://users.on.net/~dfidge/dom3/patch.html

Original thread

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Attached find the best damned start-province finding perlscript anyone will ever write.

USAGE:
cp map.map new_map.map
perl (scriptname) X R map.map &gt;&gt; new_map.map

It takes as input the minimum number of neighbors each start-province must have (X), and the absolute minimum distance between each pair of start provinces (R).

For the first start province it chooses the eligible province with the fewest eligible start provinces within R.

FOr the second start province it chooses the eligible province farthest from the first start province.

Now it adds provinces in order to minimize the *variance* in the remoteness of all start provinces, and keeps doing so until it can't fit any more.

The "remoteness" of a start province is the sum of all path lengths between that province and other start provinces.

This will tend to spread the start provinces out on the map more or less uniformly. A province with fewer close neighbors will tend to be closer to the close neighbors that it does have.

I'm happy to alter the script somewhat if needed to meet community needs. It requires a real computer (with perl) to run.

It doesn't presently generate sea start sites. I'll add this functionality at some point. Oh, it also suggests places to add specials but it doesn't actually add any.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Now that other map generators have had a chance to post, I will mention that for those who wish to download a map then improve on it, my Dom2Minions site is still generating daily maps for Dom2. They usually work in Dom3.
Dom2Minions Random Maps
If none of them strike your interest, there will be a new batch tomorrow for you to look at. Its been running ever day for years.

In keeping with my own request at the beginning of this thread, here is a link to discussion about these maps and others.

These were generated using DomMap which is an open source generator from Dom2 days. Here is a link to DomMap-v2.18 but ask me if you want to pick it up for progressing it further since there seems to be a 2.19 (but I dont remember what it added).

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

ive made an app for creating units, basically just a gui that has all of the unit commands in it so you dont have to actually do all of the typing. it's in c#, so you'll have to have the .net framework installed for it, but i'm looking into a c# alternative that will allow it to be cross-platform. you can find the link in my sig.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Information on the phenomenon of mod cumulativity Link updated

How to update mods or change things in the middle of the game Link updated

Those two links might be useful for mapmakers and modders as well as players who find that they need to change some tiny little detail but don't want to start a whole new game.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

it seems like alot of people ask for a tga viewer other than gimp, so here's a link to irfanview, my personal fav

Re: Tools and Tutorials *DELETED*
 

Post deleted by Gandalf Parker

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Don't think its possible right now.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Once upon a time, there was a file?? with all the graphics, weapons, armors, #s and all for the modding community for Dom2.

Is that still around?

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Edi's DB. Just look for one of his posts and there'll be a link in it. But I dont think it has the graphics.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Terrain Math Tools thread Link updated
Contains a lot of discussion on map file terrain analysis and suitable scripts

Kaljamaha's Map Check script Link updated
This particular utility will output analysis into a tab-separated text file that can be pasted into a spreadsheet program like Excel or Open Office Calc and then easily inspected using filters. Great for analyzing a map file and checking nostarts. Requires Perl to be installed on the computer.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Is there an up-to-date version of the mod manual that contains all the new commands and the ones that do and don't work up to the current patch? I know the current mod masters could probably update the original in a heartbeat, but I wouldn't even know where to start.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

No, I don't think there is. The modding aspect of the game is currently a bit of a mess with some commands not working, new commands having been added but things not necessarily updated and other such.

Getting a concentrated burst on getting that right might be a good thing. I've got the typo fixes to do, but after my trip to Italy, I may tackle that. It comes with the bug list territory and you might as well pay attention to documentation at the same time.

Generate a list of used ID numbers in a mod file
 

I have written a small awk script that Sombre requested which lists all the ID numbers which are used in a mod file. ID numbers which are being used more than once will be listed as often as they appear, too. Makes it easy to find overlaps...

Example usage: <font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>$ awk -f dmlist.awk CBcomplete_1.00.dm
Monster IDs: 2851,2877,2888,2890-2892
Weapon IDs: 659,708-710,751-755,768-769
Armor IDs: 252-264
Site IDs: 890</pre><hr />
For Windows users, download the GNU awk binary here: http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/gawk.htm

All Units map
 

Hmmm I thought this was already done and available but since I dont find one (and it would be out of date anyway) I will whip this one off.
http://www.dom3minions.com/docs/AllUnits.zip

Since its small I will also attach it for the people coming from countries like China who seem to have problems reaching my site. But the next patch will make that one bad. The one on my site I might get around to updating.

Re: All Units map
 

Gandalf - have I told you how to make a self-updating AllUnits map yet? You can have as many units as you want, you just have to have a mod enabled that adds a new monster with an ID number higher than the highest unit in there.

Re: All Units map
 

Actually that seems hit-or-miss for me. I achieved it partially gaining a province with thousands of what seemed like filler units. But the previous province still caused a crash. So apparently, If i ensure that the last province extends from legal units up to the filler units then it wont crash. I just havent fiddled with it enough to do that.

Feel free to fix the AllUnits and we will make yours the official maintained one (I didnt want that anyway)

Re: All Units map
 

I have free time until 2400 on Tuesday, so I might do just that.

Turn backup script
 

Lollipop wrote a solution to automatically backup turns in Python.

Re: Turn backup script
 

Is that better than the one gandolph has on his download page?

Re: Turn backup script
 

PyEye Is a managing tool for server based MP games. It supports querying for turn status either for specific game at a time or by generation of a report. It support saving of turns either automatically or explicitly. It supports the capability to launch games as well. It is cross platform.

Cartographers’ Guild
 

I just stumbles over the Cartographers’ Guild which might be of interest to map makers:

Re: Cartographers’ Guild
 

This looks great, Ich! Should be a big help to a lot of people.

Fantasy Maps
 

Here's another site which specializes on collecting fantasy maps: http://fantasymaps.wordpress.com/

Maybe they're an inspiration to somebody.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

I have updated all the links in my posts in this thread so that the toold linked therein can be found on the new forum. I have also added the Blank mod thread to the Mod List links because it may get better exposure there and the information in the original thread is more valuable than the mod itself.

Monitor Lizard (server/turn status tool)
 

I went ahead and updated Marcin's server ping/status tool recently.

You can now see and ping multiple servers at once, minimize to the systray, have it notify you when it's your turn (by picking your nation) and set it to automatically ping servers. It's requires Windows and .Net 3.5.

Download Monitor Lizard

Thanks,
Matt

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Here is a small tool that serves to convert maps to No Independant maps. It was made by Agrajag, and lost afterward in a deep dungeon.

Guide :

Just launch it, type the number of provinces of the map, Type enter (or space), then type the ID number you want (99 is none), the notepad file is created, and you just have to copy the results into the map file. (hope I'm clear enougth, I'm drunk)

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Vim syntax highlighting for mods and maps available here: http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showt...ewpost&t=42064

Re: Cartographers� Guild
 

If anyone has the chance, they can also check out wilbur which is a great free program.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

I created a tutorial on creating new sprites by using vanilla dom3 graphics as base and combining them. See the following link:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=42737

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

Just dropped in to say thanks to mr. Arralen for posting the Proton tool. It's been awhile since I last played Dom3, and there is no way to get into it again without the proper mods and goodies. You guys are all great for making this the one stop site for everything Dominions.

Re: Tools and Tutorials
 

I am new to modding, and really need a list of working commands.

I got the Proton syntax software, is there any way to look through it's list of recognized commands? If I could see command names/ input spots then I could work out the rest myself.