1.51 release candidate!

[Man-At-Arms2k]

Hello,
First, thanks for your work! Thanks also for the other person which did the work for the Insecticide patch” before.
 
I played the game many years ago and a few weeks before again without patch. I played on “medium” difficult before. Because I played vanilla a few weeks ago, only 1 game and only on “medium”, I don’t know if the following questions and found bugs are related to “1.51” or based on “vanilla” or based on “Insecticide”.
But I hope you know. J
 
 
Bugs:
Entangle
- Entangle affect also “flying” units, but in spell description is written it is only affecting non-flying units.
- Entangle is subtracting 2 movement point, but in spell description is written it should only subtracting 1 movement point
- Both things lead to making stuck much more units.
unit Death Knight
- I had a 9 spell books life magic mage. And one time, when my Torin defeat an enemy mage city, I get an “Death Knight” in my unit group. I don’t get a message and I don’t know why, so perhaps it could be a bug or is there an event to get a “death knight” unit? (Perhaps I miss the message)
- First the death knight act like it should. Later death knight was buggy, on right click the unit the game freeze and was broken. I could play with the unit, but not look in the stats. But I cannot explain, after which actions the unit was buggy. I guess it was after I spelled some spell-buffs on the unit.
Hero Names
When I custom-named a Hero in vanilla, in the ingame messaged and menus (I think) it was written the correct custom name. In my 1.51 game it was not, often the regular name was written in menus, also when the hero had a custom name.
Magicians fireball
The fireball spell the Magicians have is incredible weak. It’s not near the strength of the normal magician attack. I am not sure if it is a vanilla bug or a patch bug, but I think the fireball spell have to be much stronger as the normal units attack. Otherwise, it makes no sense of giving them a spell which they can use ones per combat.
 
 
Question about AI and Difficulty:
I played on “hard” and it was too hard for my skill. J I thought it could not be so hard, because after “hard” are two more higher difficult level. Yes, in the end I won, but only with lot’s of saving/loading. So I have some strategy questions.
I know Gameplay questions are not perfect in your 1.51 thread. But because it’s also related to AI (and game mechanism) which is influenced by the 1.51 patch, I hope it is ok.
 
Spells
My enemy’s mages “cracks call” and “doom bolt” one-shot my very high buffed Heroes simply at combat begin. I got life magic, so I “raised form dead” when killed with “doom bolt”. On cracks called, I had to reload and try again. Yes, I know the “game reload” strategy is like cheating against AI. But I see no fun in randomly get killed my heroes without be able to do anything against. Are you have strategies for this or is the basic strategies “never use heroes against mages with doom bolt or cracks call”?
- What are you doing against such strong spells as “flame strike”. No AI mage in my game had the spell, but one of my Heroes did. When I spelled it on combat start, the half of the units end up dead. (only the one with magic immunity were fine)

relationships and AI mages war
AI relationship
- It’s possible to make AI mages to make war between each other? How I can influence it?
- When I share spells, is it a neutral action or make it a positive for the AI mage relationship? (same question for reject a spell exchange)
- Can I see how good is me relationship and how much I need to bring the mage to start a war to another mage?
- When a AI mage had a war with my, he was good in build strong unit buildups and attack my. When AI mages have war to each other, are they same aggressive as against player?
AI advantaged?
- On “hard” the AI was very quick in build his empire. It’s seems the AI can spead his empire, build mana, build research and build many units all together in parallel. Is the AI acting on same rules as player for “build time”, “city grow”, “need of feed”, “only be able to building one thing a t a time in one city”, “research time”, “mana output”, etc? (If yes, it seems I have a bad build strategy, because I was slower as AI on every element)

Questions about Patch
Raiders Settings
- I switched off Revolting Raiders and Monsters gone wild. When both are switched off, it acts like in vanilla. Or is “vanilla” behavior when one of them is switched on?
- Game was on “hard” very hard for me. When I switch on these settings, it’s only influence Player World. Or it’s really global and also the AI mages have the problems and have to deal with the raiders?
AI Spells 
- Is AI also spelling game changing spells like “time stop”? I think it’s hard to code an algorithm to use time stop for AI mages.
Missile immunity
On wikia is written missile immunity is not affecting magic attacks (mages, priests) and not boulder (slinger). I was not sure if it is with the patch. It is?
magic immunity
Is affecting priests/magic units ranged attacks, right?
Trireme
The Trireme in vanilla can only manage to ship 2 units. In 1.51 it can ship much more. This is a “planned” change or a “bug”?
 misc
On wikia is written Prosperity adds 100% gold to the city, in ingame in 1.51 is written 50%. That’s a planned change or a bug in description or  false on wikia? (Same question for merachts guild))
- On my vanilla game on “medium” I found also “empty lairs” with some smaller presents. On “hard” in 1.51 no lair was empty. It’s a feature or a bug or “difficult level” related?
- On my vanilla game if found neutral cities of different folks. On my 1.51 game, I played Nomads, and all 3 neutral cities near my starting point were also "Nomads". Was this "luck" or it is a feature/bug of the patch to generate neutral cities of the same folk which the mage has?
- On Wikia is written, that Treasures can also be "retorts" or "spell books" (Not only Spells). I found every time only mana, gold, prisoners, items, etc. but I found never new retorts or "spell books". Is it active in 1.51 and also be able to get with the calculation algorithm implemented?

Whishes
- Optional patch feature (same kind as you have already in “Optional” folder) for making “cracks called” killed units also able to “raise form Dead”.
- AI movement animations in overland map are so fast, often I cannot see what’s happened and have to scroll over the map to look where the units movement of the AI mages where. Would be nice, if you add an option, which can make the AI movement animations in overland map a bit slower.


 
Big thanks!
nice Work!

Best regards

[Seravy]

- Entangle affect also “flying” units, but in spell description is written it is only affecting non-flying units.

Intentionally didn't fix as it would be a far too large nerf for the spell. Fixed the non-corporeal part only.

- Entangle is subtracting 2 movement point, but in spell description is written it should only subtracting 1 movement point

Looks like the amount got carried over from CoM. I'll fix this for the next RC.

I don’t get a message and I don’t know why, so perhaps it could be a bug or is there an event to get a “death knight” unit? (Perhaps I miss the message)

No, this is a bug. Please give me the save file before and after the combat that causes it so I can investigate.

When I custom-named a Hero in vanilla, in the ingame messaged and menus (I think) it was written the correct custom name. In my 1.51 game it was not, often the regular name was written in menus, also when the hero had a custom name.

If by vanilla you mean anything before 1.50, the save file is not compatible. I'm surprised it did not crash immediately on loading.

The fireball spell the Magicians have is incredible weak.

It is. Original fireball sucked but this is not a mod so can't help it.

Are you have strategies for this or is the basic strategies “never use heroes against mages with doom bolt or cracks call”?

I don't think most of the AI improvements regarding this made it into this patch. Against Doom Bolt, have more than 10 health heroes and heal them every turn. Against Crack's Call, use Wraith Form or Flight.

- What are you doing against such strong spells as “flame strike”.

I play Caster of Magic instead where spells are more balanced. In the original game the only way around Flame Strike is to use strong single figure units that aren't hit as badly. Or Paladins. Actually who needs strategy, Paladins beat EVERYTHING in here. Another one of the reasons I prefer my mod.

- It’s possible to make AI mages to make war between each other? How I can influence it?

Yes but hard. You either need an Alliance and be at war with the other wizard, or you need a high relation plus a very high army power while the other wizard is weaker.

- When I share spells, is it a neutral action or make it a positive for the AI mage relationship?

If they asked for the trade, it's neutral either way. If you did, it's positive if the research cost of the spell given is higher. If you offer it for free it's highly positive.

- Can I see how good is me relationship and how much I need to bring the mage to start a war to another mage?

http://masterofmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Visible_Relation
http://masterofmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Play..._Diplomacy

When AI mages have war to each other, are they same aggressive as against player?

Yes, they are. However they make peace using a different diplomacy system which usually means easier peace treaty.

Is the AI acting on same rules as player for “build time”, “city grow”, “need of feed”, “only be able to building one thing a t a time in one city”, “research time”, “mana output”, etc?

No the AI receives a massive bonus to almost everything. The default values are something like 100,150,200,300 and 400% for each difficulty level so hard is double the normal. Since the AI plays better now, these numbers will need revision. I'm waiting for someone who can suggest good numbers as I don't play this patch so I can't do it myself.

When both are switched off, it acts like in vanilla.

Yes, this one.

Or it’s really global and also the AI mages have the problems and have to deal with the raiders?

It's global but raiders like targeting player cities if both player and AI are available on their continent. I will need to investigate this as it might not work correctly. I've recently observed raiders going for my city even in a case where the AI city should have been the target based on distance and garrison.

Is AI also spelling game changing spells like “time stop”? I think it’s hard to code an algorithm to use time stop for AI mages.

They do. As far as I remember, I fixed all bugs in Time Stop. They definitely do in Caster of Magic.

On wikia is written missile immunity is not affecting magic attacks (mages, priests) and not boulder (slinger). I was not sure if it is with the patch. It is?

Yes, it is as it should be.

magic immunity

Is affecting priests/magic units ranged attacks, right?

Yes.

Trireme

The Trireme in vanilla can only manage to ship 2 units. In 1.51 it can ship much more. This is a “planned” change or a “bug”?

Planned change to help AI use ships.

On wikia is written Prosperity adds 100% gold to the city, in ingame in 1.51 is written 50%.

Many spells have incorrect description in the game. The patch only fixes effects, not descriptions. I don't remember which one was the correct but whichever actually happens is.

- On my vanilla game on “medium” I found also “empty lairs” with some smaller presents. On “hard” in 1.51 no lair was empty. It’s a feature or a bug or “difficult level” related?

Feature. No empty lairs anymore.

[Man-At-Arms2k]

- Entangle affect also “flying” units, but in spell description is written it is only affecting non-flying units.

Intentionally didn't fix as it would be a far too large nerf for the spell. Fixed the non-corporeal part only.

(On my opinion) in my game Entangle was an incredible strong combat changer. Most archer/slinger/mages/Priests/swordsman/etc. are one movement point figures an the ground. And the spell made stuck everything.

- Entangle is subtracting 2 movement point, but in spell description is written it should only subtracting 1 movement point

Looks like the amount got carried over from CoM. I'll fix this for the next RC.

Thanks, would be nice!

I don’t get a message and I don’t know why, so perhaps it could be a bug or is there an event to get a “death knight” unit? (Perhaps I miss the message)

No, this is a bug. Please give me the save file before and after the combat that causes it so I can investigate.

Sorry, of course I would support you but I overwrite the save files often. It was in a middle of a map and I have lot of save after it and forgot to backup the files :-(

The fireball spell the Magicians have is incredible weak.

It is. Original fireball sucked but this is not a mod so can't help it.

It's a pity you can't improve it. Also would improve AI game, because they use it also.

- It’s possible to make AI mages to make war between each other? How I can influence it?

Yes but hard. You either need an Alliance and be at war with the other wizard, or you need a high relation plus a very high army power while the other wizard is weaker.

Ok, good Info. Would be nice on higher level to be able to do player strategies to influence war between mages.

Is the AI acting on same rules as player for “build time”, “city grow”, “need of feed”, “only be able to building one thing a t a time in one city”, “research time”, “mana output”, etc?

No the AI receives a massive bonus to almost everything. The default values are something like 100,150,200,300 and 400% for each difficulty level so hard is double the normal. Since the AI plays better now, these numbers will need revision. I'm waiting for someone who can suggest good numbers as I don't play this patch so I can't do it myself.

I can tell you on "hard" it was really hard (lots of saving/loading needed to win). And after "hard" come to higher level. So it's seems quite too hard. But perhaps I am not the best MoM player, so better wait what other have to say.

For my, I don't like cheating AI, I more like intelligent AI. :-) But actually it was quiet good in my game. Next Map I switch back to "medium".

Or it’s really global and also the AI mages have the problems and have to deal with the raiders?

It's global but raiders like targeting player cities if both player and AI are available on their continent. I will need to investigate this as it might not work correctly. I've recently observed raiders going for my city even in a case where the AI city should have been the target based on distance and garrison.

Ah, good to know. I think it should be fair and raiders should not focus on player.

On wikia is written missile immunity is not affecting magic attacks (mages, priests) and not boulder (slinger). I was not sure if it is with the patch. It is?

Yes, it is as it should be.

I read again on wikia and something i wrote in the quote was wrong. missile immunity should affect also slinger-"stones". With "ranged boulder" are the bigger boulder stones meant, like from war ships.

Thanks your your answer.

As I said. Nice work, I look forward to next great improvements of you to the game.

[Seravy]

It's a pity you can't improve it. Also would improve AI game, because they use it also.

Caster of Magic has stronger Fireball. It's easy to do but changing spell effects isn't the goal of this 1.51 patch.

For my, I don't like cheating AI, I more like intelligent AI.

Me too, but this game is far too complex for the AI to be able to play it that way. Not even current AI technology can do that, but this is from over 20 years ago...
1.31 AI was actually too easy on impossible even with the advantages because it was so poorly made. Caster of Magic AI is pretty hard even with half the original AI bonus. 1.51 AI strength is somewhere between those, but the advantage is the original.

Ah, good to know. I think it should be fair and raiders should not focus on player.

I've just checked, the numbers set for preferring the human player were too high. It preferred human targets up to 8 additional distance away, 15 on extreme and higher. I've changed this to 4 at 7 for the next update.

[Man-At-Arms2k]

Thank you!

I edited my first posting in the same time your answered it. So a few edited questions are open. When you answer them, would be great:
---------------------
- On my vanilla game if found neutral cities of different folks on my continent. On my 1.51 game, I played Nomads, and all 3 neutral cities near my starting point were also "Nomads". Was this "luck" or it is a feature/bug of the patch to generate neutral cities of the same folk which the mage has?
- On Wikia is written, that Treasures can also be "retorts" or "spell books" (Not only Spells). I found every time only mana, gold, prisoners, items, etc. but I found never new retorts or "spell books". Is it active in 1.51 and also be able to get with the calculation algorithm implemented?

Again... Nice work!!!

[Seravy]

Thank you!

I edited my first posting in the same time your answered it. So a few edited questions are open. When you answer them, would be great:
---------------------
- On my vanilla game if found neutral cities of different folks on my continent. On my 1.51 game, I played Nomads, and all 3 neutral cities near my starting point were also "Nomads". Was this "luck" or it is a feature/bug of the patch to generate neutral cities of the same folk which the mage has?
- On Wikia is written, that Treasures can also be "retorts" or "spell books" (Not only Spells). I found every time only mana, gold, prisoners, items, etc. but I found never new retorts or "spell books". Is it active in 1.51 and also be able to get with the calculation algorithm implemented?

Again... Nice work!!!

neutral cities : Feature. Original game has 80% chance of a city being the same race as another on the continent. Patch removed this and makes all races have equal chance to appear for more interesting games.
treasure : yes you can get books and retorts. They require a high amount of treasure points so you need to beat strong monsters for them and they are rare. They might not appear much on normal or easy difficulty because the monsters are not strong enough there.

[Seravy]

RC3 is up for download. Fixes some more bugs and adds "Declare War" to the diplomacy menu. While threatening is usually a superior choice, there can be cases when you don't care about extorting money and need the "war" status immediately, for example if you want to request an ally to attack your enemy.

[Baenwort]

RC3 is up for download. Fixes some more bugs and adds "Declare War" to the diplomacy menu. While threatening is usually a superior choice, there can be cases when you don't care about extorting money and need the "war" status immediately, for example if you want to request an ally to attack your enemy.

Do you include the Plight helpfile fixes in your patch?

[Seravy]

RC3 is up for download. Fixes some more bugs and adds "Declare War" to the diplomacy menu. While threatening is usually a superior choice, there can be cases when you don't care about extorting money and need the "war" status immediately, for example if you want to request an ally to attack your enemy.

Do you include the Plight helpfile fixes in your patch?

No, Plight is not included. I'm not sure how accurate the information provided by it is - it might mention buggy behavior that no longer exists in 1.51. If anyone has the time to make sure it contains correct, up-to-date information (and edit it where it does not), I can include it. This 1.51 patch does not change anything in the help file except entries for the new options like "backup saves".

[ShadowRanger]

Apologies if this is covered somewhere I'm missing, but how do I apply patches piecemeal? I'd like to play with 1.50 or 1.51 without the treasure "balance" patches (I find lair after lair of gold and mana, even a lot of gold and mana, to be incredibly tedious, and the complete lack of books and retorts, and few items, on lower difficulties at least, detracts from the game significantly to my mind).

I've got the 1.31 patched exes, but when I try to apply the patches I want (basically, all the patches from "Included" aside from 18, 19, 22, 23 and 25), I have several of them complain that they can't be applied due to file data mismatch.

Am I supposed to start from a different base magic.exe/wizards.exe? The script I'm using to apply them is a simple batch file that just does:

copy C:\Release\Included\Magic\M001FEAT.TXT
fileset magic.exe M001FEAT.TXT
del M001FEAT.TXT

for each of the M*.TXT patches, then:

copy C:\Release\Included\Wizards\W032FIX.TXT
fileset wizards.exe W032FIX.TXT
del W032FIX.TXT

for each of the W*.TXT patches. But starting with M003FEAT.TXT, I see warnings on source file discrepancies, and they repeat for 10, 16, 28, 29, and culminate in a "Runtime Error 002 at 0000:0188" for M031AI.TXT (and further warnings and errors down the line). If the problems only occurred at M018 and later and were caused by patch dependencies, I'd accept that, but I feel I must have something wrong if it's having issues for the "default" patch set. I'm also unclear if I should be applying INSECT.TXT to wizards.exe or not; does 1.50 build on INSECT.TXT changes, or replace them?

I'd like to test 1.51, but if I can't make 1.50 work properly, none of my results would really be useful.

It's possible I'm misunderstanding how the patch application process should go. Or even nicer, it's possible I'm missing some tool that will back out a handful of patches from the fully patched file (so I could just back out the five treasure related patches I disagree with as going beyond the scope of mere "fixes"), and I could avoid this issue that way. Can anyone help?