Warmachine Mod
 

Hi folks, well I am a newbie here and would like to give this mod stuff a try. I enjoy the world of warmachine so I have chosen to do that for my first attempt. I hope to have something in the next couple of weeks due to lack of free time. I was wondering can we mod mercenarys I have found nothing at this point to allow it so I am wondering if I have missed something in the manual. Any help or suggestions would be welcomed and thanks.

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

You can't directly add, remove or mod mercs, but you can replace mercenary units and commanders. This also changes any other instances of those spesific units, but there are several units that are only available as mercenaries, so it shouldn't be too difficult to change if you think it's worth the effort.

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

Leogion, I'm not familiar with the world of "warmachine". Do you mean the popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft?

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warmachine

I'd also be interested in a more steampunkish nation.
Repeating crossbows, steam powered elephants, a (third) mechanical arm for your commander...

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

That looks absolutely *perfect* for a Dominions3 nation! And we currently lack a committed Steampunk Nation, so that'll be a great addition to the game. Excellent job!

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

I believe Tarent by Juzza is a steampunk nation. Might want to look it over if that's your thing.

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

Oh yes you're right. I don't think I've ever played it. I guess it's based on Arcanum. Still, no reason not to have another one, especially if it's different enough from Tarent.

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

Hurrah! A Stampunk nation! Go for it!

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

Well first thank you guys for the help and support. next Warmachine is indeed a steampunkish setting from privateer press (we love them if they are here.) mostly it is a miniature game, there is a rpg but it is out of print. I am all most done with my Protectorate of menoth mod set and luckly one of my co workers likes to make sprites so i'll let him cause i have no art ability at all(I was worried about that part of the project)
The protectorate of Menoth is the HOLY faction with Some fire, (like Marignon sorta) the first run is going to have 5 Jacks (giant steam machines first) and i need to add a spell or to to the holy section if i can, also warcasters are the generals of battle they tend to have powerful once per game feats or spell that can win the game, i think i will try to mimic that ability by using the battle spell effect but only for the nations hero warcasters not the recuitable ones. well thanks again and i will try to finish this first one up so it can be tested. Thanks

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

Sounds good. I'm glad to hear you've found someone to do the sprites - I hope he is familiar with the dom3 style.

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

Honestly, sprites aren't that difficult to make. They're hard to make *well*, admittedly, but the more you practice, the better they get-and bad sprites trump no sprites.

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

I don't think bad sprites trump no sprites. But either situation will stop people playing the mod. I know I don't even try stuff like that -shrug-

Hb is a good example of someone improving with practice. But a bad example of how to go about making sprites, because he uses paint and doesn't use the vanilla sprites as any sort of base. Not his fault, but not a good idea if you can avoid it.

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

Sombre is on record that anyone can make sprites.

I am living proof that he is wrong.

What I do use often is the RGB/GBR/whatever color shift on existing sprites. Then all I have to do is some sort of half-a**ed flesh tone recoloring of faces/hands and another half-a**ed recoloring of head wear/boots/belts/weapons. It looks okay to me, but then again I doubt that I am a fair judge.

If you aim to make great new original sprites like Sombre and Amos, than you probably need to have some talent at it.

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

I honestly don't have any artistic talent. I sucked when I started doing dom3 graphics too, it's just a matter of practice and planning. You have to have a clear idea of what you want something to look like. You have to have comparable work done by actual artists to look at (like vanilla sprites, google searched images etc). You have to establish what /not/ to do in terms of proportions and colour palettes etc.

Then you just keeping going. You can't expect to be as practiced as me Edratman, because you haven't had nearly as much practice or put as much effort in.

lch just reminded me of this old quote:

[00:51] lch: "Hey all. As you probably know, or have noticed, I'm far from a talented or trained artist - I'm just someone who decided to have a go at making graphics for Dom3 monsters and found it relaxing and enjoyable." - Sombre's words, 13-06-07

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

Sombre, one question.

On good sprites there are hundreds of pixels(?) with subtle color differences that create shadings/shadows and other features. How is this done. When I recolor I use "custom color" to make a few slightly differnt colors, the place them individually where I think they should go. But it is very difficult, actually damn near impossible, for me at least, to duplicate the quantity of shadings and then place them properly.

What I do works on small areas like faces, weapons, boots, but does not look right on an entire sprite. The sprite appears flat, childish and inept.

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

Well there are various ways. If you just want to change the colour of something but retain the lightness darkness etc, then you'd use some sort of colour shifting or retouch tool. I personally use Paint Shop Pro and have no idea how to use anything else.

Of course I basically do shading by hand using retouch tools and various settings of selection. PSP can making shading pretty easy for you.

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

I don't agree that it's always the best idea to modify off of existing sprites. I tried working off of some of Kristoffer's sprites, when I had the opportunity, and it was a disaster. His style is just not my style. Infact, I don't even really understand it. Sombre's is closer, but still *much* different, no matter how good I got. I could maybe work from them, but they'd look like a sloppy rip-off of his work, rather than anything of my own. Now I do agree that it's easier to get colors and looks right when you've got a set to work from, but just modifying existing sprites is blah... Ofcourse, it's a *lot* harder and more work intensive, and harder to match the style of the game exactly, but by the third Nation or so, you'll have a nice set of your own images to improve upon and modify, and it'll preserve your own artistic take on things a lot better. And-once again-*doing* is how you get better. This isn't oil painting, it's atleast as much skill and experience as it is any "natural talent".

Also, Edratman, I find that the better I get at drawing sprites, the less I actually switch between colors. I don't know why that is, but they seem to look cleaner with just strategic shading.

And Sombre, I don't know if you've checked them out recently, but I've updated quite a few of my sprites, and I think they're starting to look a little better. I've also taken your advice and finally managed to get the main picture in full resolution by using a free upload site-so thanks! :)

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

You are improving badger. I did see that you have revamped some of your sprites. I'm still not sure about your style in terms of fitting in dom3 though. I think if you keep practicing and at a later date try modifying a vanilla sprite, you'll get a different result from your first attempt.

Re: Warmachine Mod
 

I know how important it is to you that the styles match up, Sombre, and I agree, it's very nice if they do, but I kind of like them to look a little different. I'm big on the idea that Nations represent different ways to look at the world, and since I'm going almost purely by memory as to how sprites in the game look, I don't consider it a failing if they *don't* quite match up-since I've got both philosophical and physical excuses to comfort me :)