H3SW Map List: Work in progress

Witch will be available, but the Dervish will cause problems. Classic RoE map format keeps castles in 8 bits, while for AB and SoD it's 16. This makes the Dervish castle very, very tricky to add.

I am waiting for the response from potmdehex, he might be able to help us. Most probably, it's going to be a hack of RoE map format so our maps will no longer be classic RoE (which is anyway fine). We will need an utility or even a subsequent hack of the map editor to be able to get more such maps just in case though.

Sound like a good solution. Also would you mind if I began fixing "Surf and Turf"?

Grab it at the "Final Versions for v0.8" folder.

There may be some objects which don't have proper defs (watch for Random Monster sphere, it is the most common object appearing instead of broken objects). Delete them all and place again in a conventional way.

If we change format to RoE, will we be able to use objects from SoD, AB? Because in original H3 we were unable to use objects from newer formats in map editor.

We will not be able to do that. However, we will not need that anyway - Heroes 1 maps lack objects in general, they are very simple.
We keep them as history and to provide some people nostalgic feelings.

Our new format (former wog) will be called The Mandate of Heaven and it is intended to have maximum object variety. It is the future of the mod.

AB will be used for Heroes 2, and SoD - for Heroes 3.

UPD. Seems that we will be able to receive a modified map editor soon, like HotA has.

Gentlemen, I was mistaken: Dervish is playable on Heroes 1 map conversions. This faction cannot be placed in the map editor, but it still can be chosen via singleplayer menu when you have a random faction to start with.

Well, then it isn't really a problem for me anymore. Good to know

EDIT: I found some flaws with the river, but I fixed it now. Everything should be fine now.
"Who am I?" map is finished. I begin on fixing "Surf and Turf" from the new map folder

Update: I have received a testing version of a new DLL plugin for the map editor so that we can have all 4 formats available (A Strategic Quest, The Succession Wars, Shadow of Death and The Mandate of Heaven) and switch between them freely in the editor directly.

Moreover, with this plugin I succeeded placing the Dervish castle on a RoE map: just took a map of a newer format, placed the castle and then changed the map version to RoE (A Strategic Quest for us), and the castle remained as is! Moreover, it is fully playable.

So we can actually have all SoD+WoG objects and features in RoE maps?

Objects - yes. Features - not quite sure. What features do you mean?

Well, I guess it was just SoD and WoG objects I meant. Of course all features will be there - my bad

I fixed some flaws on Enroth while play testing it. It was the Halfling dwellings being the flawed ones producing Druids and a small passability error. Shall I just update the map in the map folder or have you made some changes which I shouldn't overwrite?

Also what an amazing map to play! Got all excited to fix more maps, so we can have them in v.0.8

Feel free to make any changes. I will be revising every map before the release.

More good news. We will probably be able to have a restyled map editor like HotA has.

Cool, is it the new map editor which you just uploaded on DB?

Yes, the testing version. It's currently being developed further - we still need upper icons to be done in the same style as well as the improvement of the object panel.

Sounds good. While I am at it I just wanted to say that some objects in the map editor actually is part of the terrain. For instance does some small white flowers randomly appear in H2 when you place grass, but those flowers are actually objects in the mod and isn't part of the terrain placed. Also still Mummies and Royal Mummies are switched around!

Probably in maps editor will be more little flowers, stones and "trinkets". In H2 there were eight (Edit: The number is different for different terrains, dirt has 16!) of those objects for each terrain, while in H3 only four. They're generated in smaller amount than plain terrain, so we can't put them instead of empty squares, because they will be spawning out of our control So, four objects will be appearing while spreading new lands, and the other four will be available for mapmaker in boxes.

There are much more misplaced creatures, but I hope our brave programmers will find time to fix them

The creatures will be fixed for sure. For now, the main objectives for the programmer are hero specs/skills, creatures, working main menu and install-and-play version.

For now we can limit ourselves to H2 objects, but any new ones are appreciated The only wish is to have them more or less H2 style. We won't be able to make everything perfect for the v0.8 beta, but still we can try to make as much as possible.

Currently 24 maps from H2 have been fixed for the v0.8 beta. Nearly all small maps and many medium maps are done. I continue with the remaining medium maps and then the large and extra large ones. With the fixing now maps only containt the correct H2 object, but have also increased passability and thus are closer to their H2 version than ever before. Adding features like H2 flags, roads, rivers, animated ocean and you almost can't tell the difference Thanks to Uhm for always being ready to fix any bug I encountered in the editor the last months.

Latest map is "Ground Zero". Here seen in the H2 and H3SW editor

wow cant wait for the new editor! My old map is mostly done with the old editor, of course I will need to tweak it and change it a lot. Still I'm really excited!

Oh, Did I understand correctly? Is the new editor available for download standalone ? Finishing my map when 0.8 hits would be cool

robizeratul wrote:

Oh, Did I understand correctly? Is the new editor available for download standalone ? Finishing my map when 0.8 hits would be cool

The new editor will come with the mod version v0.8

ok! How is it ? I see you are making a good job converting the maps, thanks for that! I am curious, will you add fan made maps to the "official" game if they are of quality ? With this new version maybe there will be an influx of map makers.

No earlier than v1.0.