Caster of Magic II Bug Reports!

[Seravy]

Would it be hard to put up a version without the music?  When I started COM I the first time, I set sound to off, since I vaguely recalled having problems with sound running MOM on a previous computer.  I don't even recall what sounds and music are like for MOM.

Well, there is a trick I can use. If I turn the music setting off and include the settings file in the download then it can run without the music files. I'll send a download link.

[jhsidi]

Re: FPS issue, I tested on a laptop that has exactly the same hardware as mine (also the same version of Windows). And it ran at 60 FPS, even with other programs running that were using up a fair amount of CPU. COM2 ran at about 6-15% of total CPU depending whether I was on title screen / map / battle, whereas on my personal laptop it maxes out at around 4%.

That was not what I'd expected. I can't see anything that's different about my machine. There has to be some hidden setting or program, which is somehow only affecting CoM2, and not any other game or program I can run. Uh, if anyone has any more ideas let me know.

It's probably interference from something else running on your computer, such as anti-virus. Best thing is to try running it in Safe Mode to confirm.

As I mentioned before, I tested everything I could, which included turning off everything I could. But trying it in Safe Mode is a pretty good idea. First, just to confirm I couldn't find any interfering process, I went through Task Manager and shut down literally every process that can be shut down. No change.

Then I tried Safe Mode. Guess what? No change. The game is still running at 32 FPS at any given moment I look. I really thought Safe Mode would do something.. hm.

At this point, I think it has to be something happening in the app itself. While I've observed FPS going up as high as the 50s now and then, it always follows a pattern; it pops up to that level then, within 5 seconds, falls back down to 32 FPS. More regularly, it'll tick up to 33 or 34 before going back; sometimes it'll randomly go up to 40 or so. But then it returns to 32 FPS.

Here's why I think it's the app: CPU consumption varies between about half a percent and 10 percent while the app remains at 32 FPS. I find it very unlikely that some Windows process is, somehow, able to calculate the game FPS and somehow constrain the resources the app receives to ensure that it's always either at 32 FPS, or returning to that level. Here's a video where you can see both FPS and CPU usage at once: https://imgur.com/a/TuOLZGx

So... why 32 FPS? Why only on my computer? I haven't got the foggiest idea.

[Slingers]

Notes from the current Alpha version (Advanced/Normal/Large):


-        Usually the “Buy”-button on the City screen turns yellow, but not when the player has exactly the amount of gold needed. Then it stays grey, but it is possible to use the button as usual.
-         Sprites have seen Air Elementals in a node.
-         The Monster Invasion message could be improved.
-         Raven asked me to break the Alliance with Merlin. After accepting it, another request popped up: to break the Alliance with myself. Only the “Decline” button worked.
-         2 confused enemy units were left. The “Flee”-button turned green, but the fleeing unit was lost anyway. Maybe the “Flee”-button turning green in such an uncertain situation is a bug too?
-         No pile of stones after destroyed Ship Yard on the City screen ! (Not a major bug exactly …
-         First wizard defeated in October 1506 ! Freya had 6 Cities and 534MP. There was no way she could have burned all the MPs in this battle. Why was it a defeat, not a banishment? Only 1 of the possible spells (Water Walking, Heavenly Light, Fire Wall …) was found in the ruins. The now Neutral Cities contained units with Heroism enchantment.
-         The names of Freya and Merlin are in brackets on the Historian screen. Why Merlin? He is still around.
-         The pace of the game is very fast, as in COM I?, only that there are now 12 strong opponents left and not 3 ...

[Seravy]

 The names of Freya and Merlin are in brackets on the Historian screen. Why Merlin? He is still around.

That shows which wizards are out of range. Those in brackets can't declare war or turn hostile on you through most ways the AI could otherwise do so. (Not all though, if you attack them they will of course retaliate.)

The pace of the game is very fast, as in COM I?, only that there are now 12 strong opponents left and not 3 ...

The number of wizards is optional, so we can't change the pacing because the game can still be player with 1 or 4 wizards as well as 13.

Added the rest to my todo list, will look at them after I finish testing CoM I's next update.

[Intaka]

@Seravy

I would love to test and provide feedback about CoM2 if you could send me the download link. I am running Window 10 64 bit.

I have been enjoying CoM immensely. It is fantastic news that MoM/CoM is re-released on GoG and Steam (where I found it).

I am beyond excited about the work you are doing on Caster of Magic 2.

I really look forward to what you will do when unchained from the original code, as you clearly love this game as I do. I appreciate that you consider how the whole of the game works when making changes.

Just to reiterate... I have been hoping someone with attention to detail and the drive to finish the job would pick up this baton for decades.

[massone]

Is there a button now to force ranged units to use melee attack? I can't hit missile immune units with melee because the game auto-uses ranged even when adjacent to the missile immune unit. If there's no way to force it, they should automatically use the type that the enemy isn't immune to.

EDIT: It seems to be Shift, but the cursor doesn't change to melee icon.

[Slingers]

Some notes from the current Alpha version with Debug Power:

-        Detect Magic shows Summoning spell and Town Enchantment animations of unknown wizards.
-        Sometimes if a hero is summoned and the left mouse button is pressed before the summoning animation ends, no hero (or hire screen) will appear.
-        Ranged attack icons for Elven Archer are shown as magical.
-        Global enchantments after the 5th do not appear on the Wizard screen.
-        Some right-click help texts are missing. Enchantments in unit stats: Sanctify, Land Linking …, spell abilities in hero/unit stats: Healing, Phantoms …, item powers: Death 
-        A Behemoth that fled from 1 Guardian Spirit in a lair was lost. Well, the Flee button wasn’t green ...

[Seravy]

Ranged attack icons for Elven Archer are shown as magical.

Not a bug, that hero does have a magical ranged attack.

Global enchantments after the 5th do not appear on the Wizard screen.

There should be tiny scroll buttons next to the enchantments. It's a bit hard to see due to lack of space.

Added the rest to my todo list.

[massone]

Aura of Majesty still seems to be bugged.

By the formula, 45 - 3 * Number of Wizards in game, for a 14 wizard game, the upper limit should be 3 relations.

But it is not increasing relations for Wizards who have negative relations with me. See Sharee and Tlaloc's relations not moving in this save file. Also Sss'ra after meeting him. Their relations ranged from Unease to Restless.

SAVE: https://we.tl/t-9kO6qhmx4m

[Intaka]

Ok, so just some initial thoughts as I take my first look at this new thing that is CoM2.

It's not obvious how to quit the game (to desktop). Thankfully, I had read the forum posts and knew that the X at the top right of the window (where the cursor disappears) works. Obviously, a windows program. In final release this will be a cause of trouble, I guarantee it.

It's not obvious how to resize the game window. Once I saw there was a "lock window size" checkbox, I started trying to drag the corners of the window and was able to resize to something a little more palatable on a large screen. I don't personally object to letting people manually resize in this way (A widescreen monitor fullscreen was hilariously stretched lol), but the feature while very welcome is obscure. A tooltip might help (mouseover on the lock screen size check box, for example). I know you don't want to do the HD approach of Implodes HD remake, but there is some merit to making things more friendly to 30 years of technological advancement.

Heroes with long ability names such as Arcane Power which end up on the right side of the hero ability pane have the value of their ability completely obscured by the up and down arrows to change view pages of hero abilities. As far as I could tell there was no way to see the value other than looking at the hero summary of the end effect.

In the city menu, at the bottom, where the queue, clear, etc is located... perhaps the OK button should be consistent throughout the game. Right side, left side. Definitely pick a side. The middle is an awkward place for a button you will use every single time you go into the screen. Whichever way you pick, make sure the choice screens are consistent, such as Abort Casting etc.

It was super interesting to see that there are more VERY RARE spells (12, not 10) than you get with 10 spell book picks! Obviously this leaves room for very rare spell rewards from difficult lairs. I get what you're doing here. Also makes each playthrough a little different. The guaranteed very rare picks help take some of the sting out of the randomness by making sure your chosen strategy isn't non-functional and you discover 7 hours later. That would be frustrating! So good job on that! I look forward to more playthroughs to see how it feels.

Chaos magic has a rare spell to buff creatures with fire immunity and lightning resistance called Inner Power (+3 att +2 def +2 res), which synergizes well with the chaos surge very rare global chaos creature buff spell. I LOVE the concept... but there weren't a lot of eligible creatures in evidence when I worked through summons. Only fire giants and efreet (and combat summons fire elementals). Maybe add a lightning resist unit buff for chaos creatures to synergize with this global? There just wasn't much synergy in evidence there yet since even the higher level summons lacked the trait. Chimeras would be a good candidates if you were thinking just adding more fire immunity instead of a unit buff, other global etc. I discuss some other possibilities in my mini rant below. My intentions are pure. I want the game to be as good as it can be. Forgive me my many opinions!

The removal / alteration of the very rare chaos spell Doomsday (Great Wasting) would make me weep tears of joy. Screw that spell. Micromanagement hell to play against. There must be something which it could be changed to be which would make the end game more fun and less tedious. Global lightning resistance, or global immolation buff or a unit buff which gives AP attacks or something. At it's heart MoM/CoM/CoM2 should be about this epic clash between ultrapowerful wizards and their fantastic (and normal unit) hordes, not long minutes micromanaging purifying tiles by hand. I realize white can consecrate, blue can dispel the global, and green has gaia's blessing and perhaps your AI won't chain cast it. However, with even more possible enemies alive at end game I have a sense of dread concerning this very rare spell. It's a game fun ruiner. Many spells will wreck a city. Spells whiich function as a cheaper version of the Spell of Mastery (win button) seem counter productive to that climax of conflict which one spends the game anticipating. This is true to a lesser extent of armageddon because volcanoes provide no food unlike the newly added nature forest version of armageddon, but at least armageddon can inadvertently provide your opponent with tons of minerals. It has a downside. Especially against nature magic (gaia's blessing). Your removal of the life magic spell Tranquility which was a life vs chaos win button tells me that you can see the merit in modifying spells which lopsidedly destroy another color (let's just say a death wizard in this case of Doomsday).

I need to look and play so much more, but the themes of the spell colors are carried over well from original MoM, perhaps on their way to even more distinctive playstyle differences. You understand the beauty of MoM / CoM is in the replayability of differing strategies. One of the things which has captured my imagination about this game for so many years is certainly not the graphics or the lack of bugs! It is that chaos channelled draconians feel so very different from life buffed paladins or a rampaging nature conjurer. I'm sure you know exactly what I mean. Thanks for your patience in the long read.

There will be many more long posts ahead of us. Hopefully some of the feedback will prove useful to the quality of the end game. It's all about the endgame you know!