need some help with my 1st mod
 

I have read the mod manual, and do not see any charts or advice to get the location of weapons and armors that are not common. Edi's list cannot be opened because i do not have office, only word.

In any event this is a very simple 1st effort. The goal is to have a national hero start the game as a Man commander, and to modify the tower guards. I would also like to start the game 300 gold short to "pay" for the hero. I have the text saved on
microsoft word. How do i make that a dm file? I saw the advice to someone else to save as allfiles, but i do not get that option.

here is what i have so far:

#modname “Beowulf”

#description “ This mod gives Man a national Hero to start the game, and for more gold and resources, improves the noncapital infantry unit the Tower Guard. As a penalty for starting with a hero, man starts the game with 300 less gold.”

# icon



#version 1.0
# selectnation 30
#startscout “Beowulf” 2037

#end

#selectmonster 63(tower guard)
# clear
# descr “The Tower Guard are the elite unit of Man, and serve as the last defense of the Tower of Chelms. They receive a defense bonus when defending castles.”
# ap 13
# mapmove 1
# hp 11
# prot 0
# size 2
# str 10
# att 11
# def 11
# enc 3
# prec 10
# mr 10
# morale 12
# gcost 14
# rcost 23
# weapon broadsword 8
# armor full chain mail 18
# armor full helmet 21
# armor Shield 2
# nametype 102
# castledef 1



#end


# newmonster 2037
# name Beowulf
# descr “A knight of unequaled physical stature and renown, Beowulf slew the dreaded monster Grendal in a fierce single combat. Near death, poisoned, and without hope for himself, Beowulf cut out the creature’s heart and ate it to insure it remained dead. Beowulf immediately began to recover from his wounds, and no longer felt the creature’s poison burning his blood. He later swore allegiance to the Knights of Avalon and joined their cause. In return, he was gifted with a magical weapon and armor.”




# sprl(lord of war image)
# spr2(lord of war image)
# ap 15
# mapmove 3
# hp 27
# prot 10
# size 2
# str 17
#enc 2
# att 15
# def 15
# prec 11
# mr 16
# mor 14
# gcost 25
# rcost 1
# weapon “sword of sharpness” (weapon number)
# armor “shield of valor” (armor number)
# armor “chain mail of displacement” (armor number)
#armor “ horned helmet” (armor number)

# fear 0
# forestsurvival
# maxage 300
#itemslots 13574
#startage 37
#poisonres 100
# goodleader
# heal

#end

any help would be appreciated.

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

Here is your banner!

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

And I will proudly fly and credit Foodstamp for the banner!

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

i asked Foodstamp in a pm, how to get the banner he made me into the text document that contains the mod. here is his reply:

"Let's take this one step at a time.

Let me explain what a mod really is first of all.

A mod is a text file that gives specific commands to Dominions 3. Those commands include pointing to where a picture is stored, or assigning stats to units, things of that nature. All it does is give the game commands to carry out.

The best way to dive into modding is to look at mods created by other people. Feel free to grab one of my mods and use it as a template to start your mod.

The graphics do not actually go into the text document. You can either dump them directly into the mods directory in your dominions folder, or you create a subdirectory and store all your graphics there (the preferred way). In the text document you are actually going to point to the graphic file. For instance, to do a banner you might say....

#icon "./beofwulf/beowulfbanner.tga"

The banner is actually in a folder in your mod directory called "beowulf" that you create by right clicking and choosing new folder and naming it to that. Then you just dump the graphic in there."

Thanks again Foodstamp. I did borrow many ideas from the black steel ulm mod with respect to formatting the text part, but the reference to the image was a bit confusing. And I was curious as to why he did not just cut and paste it all into one document, which may not be possible. I had no clue.

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

NP at all. I am sure you will have more questions along the way. Feel free to ask here, all the modders are super helpful and always willing to answer questions.

If we can get Bandarlover going on modding, I am sure we can get you going as well. JK bandar http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

I only need one image for this mod, that of the starting hero Beowulf. After some thought, I was thinking the lord of war graphic may be cool.

I looked at the sprite library, and it appears to be locked(password protected).

Is there any way i could get the 2 Lord of War sprites out of it?

other burning questions:



1. The mod is presently a word document. I am assuming that is a text file. How do i turn a word doc into a dm file?


2. As a penalty(small i know) for starting with a hero, I wanted to start man with only 100 gold instead of 400.

I have looked in the mod manual and do not see the command for setting the starting gold.

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

Adding the Lord of War as your graphic is a bit easier than you might expect. All you need to do is add a command to the Beowulf unit...

#copyspr 1340

In game this command will assign the Lord of War graphics to the new unit.

Concerning weapons. I got bad news for you. Alot of the weapons that are listed with the same names as magical artifacts do not work properly. In game, it will show him as having the weapons and armor on his person (not in the item slots), but they will not have the same properties as the real items. I am not sure this is the case with 100% of the items that share names with craftable magic items, but at the very least it was like that with the ones I tried.

That being said, you may be able to create new weapons and armor and assign some of the effects you want to those.

I use notepad to create mods. Normally I go through the routine of saving as a .dm file that you seem to have looked at already. Also, I would suggest picking up ParadoxHarbinger's unit creator. It can save a lot of time creating new units, and it cuts down on the initial typos that are normally game crashing.

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

thanks.

I made a game and just made the items, so i have their numbers. Since he is a starting hero, i can see right off if he has the right weapons and armor.

Once i make sure the mod works, I will adjust his weapons/armor if they are not up to snuff.

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

If you need any help, graphics etc we are here to help. All we ever ask is that you give our mods a whirl as well as making your own.

Sometimes a little feedback is all it takes to set us off greatly improving something, discovering a new modding trick etc.

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

I may have the graphics solved now with the banner help and the copy command for the lord of war.

And i have started playing more mods. I played the black steel of ulm a lot these past few days, and i am always sing the worthy hero mod, and most likely will never play another sp game without the old age mod.

The conceptual balance mod has perked my interest, but its scale is so vast, i am hesitant to try it yet. I doubt anyone will ever play my mod, it is just something that caught my fancy. Beowulf was a great literary hero, and i think he may fit in with man. I think it is fun to have a thug from the start and try to build him up. hence Beowulf.

This mod also addresses what i consider to be an issue for MA man, crappy infantry away from the capital. it does not twink them a lot, but moderately.

This is what may be the final version if i can get it into a dm file format:

#modname “Beowulf”
#description “This mod gives Man a national Hero to start the game, and for more gold and resources,improves the noncapital infantry unit the Tower Guard."
#icon "./beofwulf/beowulfbanner.tga"
#version 1.0
#domversion 3.06


#selectnation 30
#startscout “Beowulf” 2037
#end

#selectmonster 63
#morale 12
#gcost 14
#rcost 23
#weapon broadsword 8
#armor full chain mail 18
#armor full helmet 21
#armor Shield 2
#end


#newmonster 2037
#name Beowulf
#descr “A knight of unequaled physical stature and renown, Beowulf slew the dreaded monster Grendal in a fierce single

combat. Near death, poisoned, and without hope for himself, Beowulf cut out the creature’s heart and ate it to insure it

remained dead. Beowulf immediately began to recover from his wounds, and no longer felt the creature’s poison burning his

blood. He later swore allegiance to the Knights of Avalon and joined their cause. In return, he was gifted with a magical a weapon and armor.”

#copyspr 1340
#ap 15
#mapmove 3
#hp 27
#prot 10
#size 2
#str 17
#enc 2
#att 15
#def 15
#prec 11
#mr 16
#mor 14
#gcost 25
#rcost 1
#weapon “sword of sharpness” 74
#armor “shield of valor” 57
#armor “chain mail of displacement” 81
#armor “black steel helmet” 40
#fear 0
#forestsurvival
#maxage 300
#itemslots 13574
#startage 37
#poisonres 100
#goodleader
#heal
#end

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

I saw a little problem in the mod:

#armor full chain mail 18

should be

#armor "full chain mail"

and it's the same for weapons. Use "" or numbers, not both. Although it won't hurt to put numbers afterwards it won't do any good either.

There is a typo in the modding manual for itemslots, the precalculated values at the end are wrong. This is probably what you want.
#itemslots 13446 (= 2 hands, head, body, 2 misc)
But you can leave that command out and give your knight a #mounted command instead which should remove his feet slots too.

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

#selectnation 30
#startscout "Beowulf" 2037
You should use either #startscout "Beowulf" or #startscout 2037. The | in the mod manual means either/or.
#end

#selectmonster 63
#morale 12
#gcost 14
#rcost 23
Res cost is automatically calculated based on the equipment of the unit. Humans have rescost of 1, the rest comes from the equipment. Currently, this doubles Tower Guards' res cost.
#weapon broadsword 8
#armor full chain mail 18
#armor full helmet 21
#armor Shield 2
Remember the quotes if you use the names. You can't use numbers to assign armors, and you shouldn't have both the name and the number for weapons either.
#end



#newmonster 2037
#name Beowulf
Remember quote marks. #name "Beowulf". Also, this isn't his name, but his unit type. Currently, you might have e.g. Arthulf the Beowulf... There's no easy way to make a hero have a non-random name, but you can make a new nametype (see nametype modding) with just one name (Beowulf), and use #nametype to give this unit 2037 that nametype. In that case, the #name of this unit should be "Hero", "Knight of the Beast" or something similar.
#descr "A knight of unequaled physical stature and renown, Beowulf slew the dreaded monster Grendal in a fierce single combat. Near death, poisoned, and without hope for himself, Beowulf cut out the creature's heart and ate it to insure it remained dead. Beowulf immediately began to recover from his wounds, and no longer felt the creature's poison burning his blood. He later swore allegiance to the Knights of Avalon and joined their cause. In return, he was gifted with a magical a weapon and armor."

#copyspr 1340
#ap 15
#mapmove 3
This is very rare ability, but for a hero it probably isn't too much. However, you might want to give him one or more of the survival abilities to ensure that he can use his mapmove 3 in varying terrains.
#hp 27
#prot 10
#size 2
#str 17
#enc 2
#att 15
#def 15
#prec 11
#mr 16
#mor 14
#gcost 25
You can't make the nation start with less money, but you can make Beowulf cost more upkeep by raising his gold cost. Upkeep is 1/15th of the recruitment cost, so currently Beowulf would cost 1.67 pieces of gold per turn. If you raised the #gcost to, say, 120, he'd have upkeep of 8 gp per turn.
#rcost 1
Despite what I said earlier, magical armor rarely have been set resource values. If Beowulf was recruitable, his resource cost would be 1 + the res costs of the magic items - which would probably all be 0. Because he's a hero, this doesn't matter, but if you want to give recruitable units magical weapons/armor you should remember to set their resource costs.

#weapon "sword of sharpness" 74
#armor "shield of valor" 57
#armor "chain mail of displacement" 81
#armor "black steel helmet" 40
Again, leave out the numbers. Magic items that are set to be that unit's weapons or armor don't cause their special effects, so Beowulf wouldn't have Air Shield or glamour. He would, however, benefit from the defense bonus of the chain. Magical weapons stay magical, and able to harm ethereal beings, and e.g. Moon Blades retain their ability to deal double damage to magical beings. Good two-handed swords (if you're going to use the Warlord sprite) to give him would be: Flambeau (dmg x2 vs undead), Moon Blade, Demon Bane (dmg x2 vs demons), Wraith Sword (lifedrain). Flambeau and Demon Bane won't give fire resistance, and Flambeau won't let him cast spells, but they are good weapons. Chain Mail of Displacement is one of the best armors by its stats (even though it won't give glamour), and Black Steel Helmet is good helmet without magical abilities, so both work just fine. You could make him a custom armor, say, "Grendel Skin Armor", if you want to try equipment modding.
#fear 0
#forestsurvival
What about mountainsurvival, wastesurvival?
#maxage 300
#itemslots 13574
The default itemslots a non-modded unit has are those of unmounted human. This would make Beowulf lose his feet slot, despite his graphics not giving him a mount.
#startage 37
#poisonres 100
#goodleader
#heal
#end

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

lol Foodstamp is correct, if they can help me, they can help anyone. Just take a look at my 'Mod Help' thread to see the numerous innane questions I had.

All the modders in this community are gracious in their advice and help to new modders. And as soon as work stops making us work 13 days with one day off, I plan on doing more extensive work on my barbarian mod. Just gonna take some time. You're talking to the right people Xietor.

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

Here is Foodstamps reply when I couldn't save my text file to a DM file. Worked perfectly.


I believe I can help you with this issue.

When you are ready to save your work, you need to click file ----> save as.

This will bring up the save as box showing the directory you intend to save the file in. Here is the part to pay attention to .

Towards the bottom, you will see a field labeled "Save as type:". This field needs to be changed to "all files"

Once you have selected all files. Save your work as filename.dm .

This will save the file as an actual dm file instead of filename.dm.txt like you are doing currently.

I hope this helps!

P.S.- Super Jealous Moment: I never got Johan to give me advise on my mod. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

I am actually really looking forward to you continuing with your mod Bandar. The idea of it is very appealing to me and it fits in well with the NI maps, which lack recruitable animal tribe barbs.

With the new sprite extraction method you should have a much easier time with the graphics too. I'll help as much as I can (as you know I have a lot on the go).

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

Thanks for all of the suggestions! I really do appreciate it.
And hopefully I can get this off the ground. My list of credits keeps expanding exponentially.

I did get it into dm file format(thanks to llamabeast), and gave it a try before reading the comments pointing out my numerous errors. It crashed saying the mod had no name.

Maybe it was because of all the other stuff I had wrong, but i am going to work on it, incorporate the suggestions, and try again.

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

Are you sure you had quotes in the #modname line?

Re: need some help with my 1st mod
 

I do plan to, soon, possibly, maybe. I want to take a look at Endo's GIMP tutorial for sprite extraction.

Xietor, I for one will be using this mod. I always disliked Man's infantry and any little boost helps in my mind. Plus another hero? I'm sold! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif