Alfheim/Svartalfheim?
 

Alfheim is the home of the elves of light.
Svartalfheim, home of the dark elves.

I couldn't find much information on the net.
Except that these are two of the nine worlds of the norse myth.

Might be there's enough content there for a new nation/mod?

Anyone familiar with the subject care to elaborate?

TIA

Re: Alfheim/Svartalfheim?
 

That's not very surprising, as info on these place is also extremely scarce in the old sources. If you find anything substantial, assume it was invented in the recent past.

I think I remember something about Svartalflheim being a sort of 'Valhalla' for evil witches and hags. And Alfheim was the name of Frey's mansion, the Alfheim you're thinking of got its name from this house - just as 'Rome' was often used to mean 'the Roman Empire'.

I'd expect Alfheim to be very very close to base Vanheim, and Svartalflheim to be very very close to Helheim.

Try asking KO! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Alfheim/Svartalfheim?
 

Alf: Magical beings,they are like the Aesir and the vanir (godlike). The elves (a better description will be faeries and gnomes in english) are baeutifull and kind. they usually live in Alfheim untill Frey moved in the elves had to move.

People in old days think they was kind and also bringing luck.

Re: Alfheim/Svartalfheim?
 

I'm trying to form an Idea for a mod.

Alfheim,

race of magical beings, low HP, low strength, low prot, high defense and MR plus innate magical powers (twist fate and personal luck comes to mind and maybe teleport for elite unit).

They would have to take luck +3 and turmoil +2 (since they are very jovial and nearly don't have any form of hierarchy)

Their mages would be purely astral with no random picks, Yet very strong magically.

Maybe they can have a shape shifter unit (can shape shift at beginning of battle to either a great bear/lion/eagle/shark )

If you have any interesting ideas for a gnomish mod please reply.

Re: Alfheim/Svartalfheim?
 

Perhaps nature and astral as magical pathes instead of only astral.

Frey and Freya as pretenders or heroes.
Mimer's head as pretender.

Animal awe

Re: Alfheim/Svartalfheim?
 

For some images you might try downloading the demo of "Conquestof Elyssium II" which is Illwinters game before Dominions. I was surpised to see that there were a number of images in there which were not used in Dominions.

It includes some little goblins, trolls, dark elves. Many things which should fit in nicely with Dom2

Also you might visit the great site of David Gervais. I havent been able to get him interested in Dom yet (too bad, he has done some great things for other Shrapnel games) but he did say we could feel free to use his tile-sets.
http://pousse.rapiere.free.fr/tome/index.htm

For comparable stats and abilities you might ask any DnD person if you can look at their books. I believe that Dark Elves and Goblins are listed but Alfheim and Svartalfheim are also. Usually the numbers and abilities and descriptions reflect a fair amount of research already done. Not GREAT research, but some.

Re: Alfheim/Svartalfheim?
 

Wow, I know next to nothing of modding for DOM-II.

Is there some kind of modding tutorial out there?

In what format are the unit images of DOM?
Would I need an editor for the images?

Anyway I've put together some ideas for the MOD.
I welcome any input as everything is very raw.

Alfheim.

Pretenders:
Freya - http://www.pantheon.org/articles/f/freya.html .
60 HP, prot 5 (clock of bird feathers), defense 10, attack 15, MR 18
auto summon ability of wild/dire boars depends on dominion.
Astral 1, Nature 1, dom 3 inherent luck and twist fate and maybe lesser fortune
effect.
cost 75.

Freyr - http://www.pantheon.org/articles/f/freyr.html
100 HP, prot 15 (golden dwarven armor), defense 14, attack 18, MR 16,
He has the ability to sail with a magical pocket ship.
Astral 2, Nature 1, dom 4. inherent luck and twist fate and maybe lesser fortune
effect. cost 100.

units.
gnome stabber,

HP 6, prot 2, defense 10, attack 7, moral 12.
has magical dagger dmg 2 ignore/pierce armor.
inherent luck and twist fate, stealth.
cost 15.

gnome archer,
HP 6, prot 2, defense 10, attack 7, moral 12.
has magical short bow dmg 2 ignore/pierce armor.
inherent luck and twist fate, stealth.
cost 15.

war bear,
HP 30, prot 12, defense 12, attack 14, moral 14.
cost 50.

dire wolf,
HP 20, prot 10, defense 14, attack 17, moral 15.
ap like cavs.
cost 50.


great eagle,
HP 14, prot 2, defense 14, attack 12, moral 10.
flies.

leprechaun,
HP 13, prot 12 (magical robe), defense 15 (very fast and agile), moral 14.
has magical dagger dmg 4 ignore/pierce armor.
inherent luck, twist fate and mist form. flies/teleports. stealth +10.
cost 15.

shapeshifter ????

commanders,
gnome,
HP 8, prot 4, defense 10, attack 7, moral 12.
has magical dagger dmg 2 ignore/pierce armor.
inherent luck and twist fate. stealth +2.
cost 30.

gnome assassin,
HP 8, prot 4, defense 10, attack 7, moral 12.
has magical dagger dmg 4 ignore/pierce armor.
inherent luck and twist fate. stealth +12.
cost 70.

gnome commander,
HP 8, prot 4, defense 10, attack 7, moral 12.
has magical dagger dmg 4 ignore/pierce armor.
inherent luck and twist fate. leadership 15.
cost 40.

child of forest (gnome druid)
HP 5, prot 4, defense 10, attack 7, moral 12.
has magical dagger dmg 2 ignore/pierce armor.
inherent luck and twist fate. leadership 10.
animal awe, summon allies( wolf/bear), priest +1, nature 1.
cost 100.

spirit/defender/elder of forest (gnome arch druid)
HP 5, prot 4, defense 10, attack 7, moral 12.
has magical dagger dmg 2 ignore/pierce armor.
inherent luck and twist fate. leadership 15.
animal awe, summon allies( 2X wolf/bear), priest +3, nature 3, astral 2 (random 1 ?).
cost 350.

leprechaun commander,
HP 16, prot 14 (magical robe), defense 17 (very fast and agile), moral 18.
has magical dagger dmg 6 ignore/pierce armor.
inherent luck, twist fate and mist form. flies/teleports, stealth +10. leader 30.
cost 80.

leprechaun assassin,
HP 16, prot 14 (magical robe), defense 17 (very fast and agile), moral 18.
has magical dagger dmg 6 ignore/pierce armor.
inherent luck, twist fate and mist form. flies/teleports, stealth +20.
cost 130.

Re: Alfheim/Svartalfheim?
 

There is a modding PDF in your dominions2/doc directory. The format of the images inside the game are raw C or something like that.

But the mods read the files in a mod directory. Those are all text files with images in .TGA format. You can use whatever program you want to use to edit images then use a free converter to make them TGA if your paint program of preference doesnt support it.

A human being is supposed to be 32 pixels high. There should be a 2 pixels high space between his feet and the bottom of the image. The image itself should be 32x32, 32x64, 64x64, 128x64 or something similar pixels large.
And stored as uncompressed tga.

You need 2 images. One to be seen most of the time, and another which is the single-framd animation move done by a unit in combat. Usually its just the first image edited to a slight move of an arm or weapon.