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TOPIC: Warlords V Design Proposal- Introduction
Re: Warlords V Design Proposal- Introduction 12 years, 9 months ago #435
coredweller wrote:
Slayer Of Cliffraces I share your enthusiasm about Warlords 5. What jolted this interest of yours? I see that they have design and some items being set up but do you know something that I don't? Are they actually taking suggestions for Warlords 5 or is this just your hoping for it. Actually I actually searched Warlords V in the search-engine and this is how I ended up in this (the old version) forum. I initially posted on the Warlords V thread. I then got pretty detailed ideas, but they died obviously with the old forum. They haven't actually started development yet. I'm hoping that some day they(the game's capitalists) will run out of new ideas to invest in and return to the Warlords one. Trouble is that Warlords market kind of died pretty well with the flop that they made of Warlords IV. The idea of bringing Warlords III up to the standards of modern games has merit, but is anyone going to notice? |
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Re: Warlords V Design Proposal- Introduction 12 years, 9 months ago #436
Okay well I see that its all just hoping. That sucks because all I want is a new Warlords game done right. Or they could let me have the Code to Warlords 4 and revamp it myself. But I have already asked and they won't let me do it even for free and to make NO profit at all. I just want to make it better and playable for my friends and I. THAT IS ALL.
About Warlords 3. I honestly don't care if anyone notices it. I just want to be able to modify one of the warlords versions without having to rewrite the whole thing from scratch. Warlords 3:DLR would be fine. Warlords 4 would be fine. I just can't get the code or anything from them. Saddens me. |
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Re: Warlords V Design Proposal- Introduction 12 years, 9 months ago #437
Cordweller,
coredweller wrote: Or they could let me have the Code to Warlords 4 and revamp it myself. But I have already asked and they won't let me do it even for free and to make NO profit at all. I just want to make it better and playable for my friends and I. THAT IS ALL. I already have the code to Warlords IV (and DLR too). That's how I created the 1.03-1.05 patches. What is it that you want to do it to make it better/ more playable? Incidentally, there is a nice online remake of War2/DLR at the warbarons link on the left hand side. There you can make suggestions for a game still under development. KGB |
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Re: Warlords V Design Proposal- Introduction 12 years, 9 months ago #438
Well for one I would love to add TONS of things to 4. Whether it is for the community or just my friends. We still play 4 from time to time but get annoyed with its short comings. We have played DLR almost to death so we want to have something a little more fresh.
I want to add races, monsters to build, items, and much more. I want to tweak the ruins to be more beginning friendly. I would love to make it so you can move your warlord and not have him stuck in 1 stupid castle. I want to balance a few races, change some evil/good castings, make some spells more useful. Those ideas are just off of the top of my head. My friends and I have talked about 100s of improvements. Is there any way I could get the code to IV so I could make personal modifications? How did you end up getting the code in the first place? From them? From a decompiler? From another source? Thanks, Dan |
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Re: Warlords V Design Proposal- Introduction 12 years, 9 months ago #439
KGB wrote:
I already have the code to Warlords IV (and DLR too). That's how I created the 1.03-1.05 patches. What is it that you want to do it to make it better/ more playable? Incidentally, there is a nice online remake of War2/DLR at the warbarons link on the left hand side. There you can make suggestions for a game still under development. KGB Better AI (particularly on the defensive) is the thing that Warlords III needs above all things as far as I am concerned. Secondarily it needs some means to aquire control of neutral cities peacefully. |
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Re: Warlords V Design Proposal- Introduction 12 years, 9 months ago #440
Dan,
I still play War IV with friends as well. Basically in an online setting in 1v2 or 2v2 type games. coredweller wrote: I want to add races, monsters to build, items, and much more. This is almost impossible. Unless in addition to being a coder you or one of your friends is a graphic artist. To add any new units in the game requires some serious graphics work. I was lucky to get someone to do a couple of simple new sites. Animated units is something else entirely. The other issue is that everything in the game is hard coded all over the place. So to add even 1 unit means chasing down all the hard coded stuff. Races are also hard coded as I found out when trying to change the Race Wheel in 1.05. I too wanted to add special units as Allies or Mercs but gave it up due to the graphics work and all the hard coded stuff that would have to be fixed to make it work. Unlike DLR which was designed with a unit editor to have custom content, War IV was never designed that way. New items are simple to add as I've done so since 1.03. There are plenty of ideas on the table already for new items so I'd be curious to know what else you'd like. coredweller wrote: I want to tweak the ruins to be more beginning friendly. This I could do quite easily if you have more details on the idea. coredweller wrote: I would love to make it so you can move your warlord and not have him stuck in 1 stupid castle. I tried this in an early Beta. All that happened was that players used the Warlord to conquer cities and if they somehow lost him, they quit since the penalty for a lost warlord is so severe (no more warlord skills). Which mean the Warlord had to be a moveable unit that could never die which is silly. Instead what I considered was removing the Warlord unit entirely from that game and making it like DLR where you have to conquer every city to win instead of just the capitols. coredweller wrote: I want to balance a few races, change some evil/good castings, make some spells more useful. All this is easily do-able. I've been doing it since 1.03. I'd be interested in hearing what you think needs to be changed with regards to races evil/good castings, which spells aren't useful (it's really hard with 100+ spells to make them all useful without repeating spell effects). I'm certainly open to doing another Beta or even possibly a 1.06 patch depending on how much changes we are talking about. I know Seppuccu is dying for a few fixes/updates. coredweller wrote: Is there any way I could get the code to IV so I could make personal modifications? How did you end up getting the code in the first place? From them? From a decompiler? From another source? I can't give it since it's not mine to give. I got it from Steve in person when I was in Australia a few years ago on business. We had exchanged emails over the years and he invited me to meet him and tour the company. I asked about the source code and since he knew me, he had me sign an NDA in exchange for the source code to DLR/War IV. I originally wanted to update DLR but the 1.02 patch was lost so the code that's left is 1.00 only and I don't want to re-code all of 1.02 before coding new stuff. That's why I focused on War IV (that and the fact the DLR code is so old that's it's spaghetti C++ code) KGB |
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Last Edit: 12 years, 9 months ago by KGB.
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Re: Warlords V Design Proposal- Introduction 12 years, 9 months ago #441
This is almost impossible. Unless in addition to being a coder you or one of your friends is a graphic artist. To add any new units in the game requires some serious graphics work. I was lucky to get someone to do a couple of simple new sites. Animated units is something else entirely.
I guess this is why I am more interested in modifying it more for myself and my friends. Because we wouldn't care as much about the graphics and just would add more functionality. The other issue is that everything in the game is hard coded all over the place. So to add even 1 unit means chasing down all the hard coded stuff. Races are also hard coded as I found out when trying to change the Race Wheel in 1.05. That definitely is annoying. But also this could be studied and refactored. I am not saying that it would be fun, but it would be great to get it working and working better. I am not trying to make any money or even really release it to others. I am just trying to get cool things added so my friends and I can enjoy the game even more than we already do. I too wanted to add special units as Allies or Mercs but gave it up due to the graphics work and all the hard coded stuff that would have to be fixed to make it work. Unlike DLR which was designed with a unit editor to have custom content, War IV was never designed that way. The more people working on it the easier it can be, but again I am not so much worried about good graphics as you might be. New items are simple to add as I've done so since 1.03. There are plenty of ideas on the table already for new items so I'd be curious to know what else you'd like. Well at least something is easy. Hahaha coredweller wrote: I want to tweak the ruins to be more beginning friendly. This I could do quite easily if you have more details on the idea. I would just like it if ruins were more predictable and less hard overall. When I play I always have the max amount of ruins because in the Pre-4 versions you would usually win and could get big items. Mana crystals, gold, elementals, dragons. All those jumpstarted the game fast. In 4 you cant risk going for ruins in the beginning in case its something crazy that kills your whole group. So I would just make ruins easier and cap the difficulty of the creatures at medium difficulty and cap the amount of creatures low. I would make it an option for those who want to use it and those who dont. This is def one of my top concerns about the game. coredweller wrote: I would love to make it so you can move your warlord and not have him stuck in 1 stupid castle. I tried this in an early Beta. All that happened was that players used the Warlord to conquer cities and if they somehow lost him, they quit since the penalty for a lost warlord is so severe (no more warlord skills). Which mean the Warlord had to be a moveable unit that could never die which is silly. Instead what I considered was removing the Warlord unit entirely from that game and making it like DLR where you have to conquer every city to win instead of just the capitols. I would implement it so that the warlord cannot attack offensively. He can only attack when he/she is in a castle. Also, the people I play with would not quit the game since I only play with my closest friends. So if you make that an option to turn on and off that would be greatly appreciated in a patch. Because that would make the game immediately better along with the ruins change above. coredweller wrote: I want to balance a few races, change some evil/good castings, make some spells more useful. All this is easily do-able. I've been doing it since 1.03. I'd be interested in hearing what you think needs to be changed with regards to races evil/good castings, which spells aren't useful (it's really hard with 100+ spells to make them all useful without repeating spell effects). I'm certainly open to doing another Beta or even possibly a 1.06 patch depending on how much changes we are talking about. I know Seppuccu is dying for a few fixes/updates. I will definitely think about the evil/good castings more and such. Just thought some were mismatched or weird. But can't think of any off the top of my head. I also want to say that the patches have made this game SO MUCH more playable, I REALLY appreciate it. I do not want you to think that I am bashing your effort at all. I can imagine how it is to be a 1 person development team. I do it myself as well. So cheers and THANK YOU SO MUCH. coredweller wrote: Is there any way I could get the code to IV so I could make personal modifications? How did you end up getting the code in the first place? From them? From a decompiler? From another source? I can't give it since it's not mine to give. I got it from Steve in person when I was in Australia a few years ago on business. We had exchanged emails over the years and he invited me to meet him and tour the company. I asked about the source code and since he knew me, he had me sign an NDA in exchange for the source code to DLR/War IV. I originally wanted to update DLR but the 1.02 patch was lost so the code that's left is 1.00 only and I don't want to re-code all of 1.02 before coding new stuff. That's why I focused on War IV (that and the fact the DLR code is so old that's it's spaghetti C++ code) KGB[/quote] I understand, is there any way that we can work on things together as 2 heads are better than one? Is it under source control? I want to help with the effort to make this game better. I would sign a NDA or whatever. I just want to play the best warlords game ever. I have no intention of making any money off of it that is for sure. |
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Re: Warlords V Design Proposal- Introduction 12 years, 9 months ago #442
Dan,
If you're serious about improving W4 I suggest you take a look at the following threads in the W4 sub forum: Suggestions so far: http://www.warlorders.com/forum?func=view&catid=9&id=36 New items: http://www.warlorders.com/forum?func=vie...p;catid=9&id=179 And I think it's time for me to dig up the other 1.06 threads from the warlorders grave, I'll add them as soon as I get the chance. |
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"Negate does not negate Negate."
--- KGB "Moreover, I advise that Daemons and Dark Elves must switch places on the Race Wheel." --- Marcus Porcius Cato |
Re: Warlords V Design Proposal- Introduction 12 years, 9 months ago #443
I will add some suggestions.
But anyone can do that. I want to help by giving what not everybody can. I want to help code. But I guess I cannot. This just saddens me a lot. How many more copies will Warlords 4 ever sell? Not many more I would guess. Yet if they opened up the code and let people add patches, it could explode again as it does have a decent structure behind the game. Then if they ever made Warlords 5 not only would they have a lot of extra free ideas but their following would be larger. Ill add my 2 biggest suggestions to the suggestion board, but who knows when or if they will ever get added. I will most likely just spend my time creating a new game with the Unreal engine or something. Thanks, Dan |
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Re: Warlords V Design Proposal- Introduction 12 years, 9 months ago #444
Dan,
coredweller wrote: I guess this is why I am more interested in modifying it more for myself and my friends. Because we wouldn't care as much about the graphics and just would add more functionality. Even if that's true, you still have to create all the images the game expects to find for each unit. Basically you need something like 16 images (8 on the map animations, 8 in combat animations) plus a couple of pictures for the production screen. Even if you don't want animation, you'll need to copy 1 image 16 times into 1 larger image for DirectX. I would implement it so that the warlord cannot attack offensively. He can only attack when he/she is in a castle. Also, the people I play with would not quit the game since I only play with my closest friends. So if you make that an option to turn on and off that would be greatly appreciated in a patch. Because that would make the game immediately better along with the ruins change above. I could make a 'teleport Warlord' spell and put in the Hero spell list. Once researched you could cast and teleport the Warlord to another city you owned. That would effectively do what you want, move the Warlord but not let it be an attacking unit. Is it under source control? I want to help with the effort to make this game better. I would sign a NDA or whatever. I just want to play the best warlords game ever. I have no intention of making any money off of it that is for sure. I am not sure what kind of Source Control that Steve might have it under because I got it as a list of files. I placed what I got in SVN for my own source control. When I sent back changes to him I just gave him a zip archive of all the files. Because it's such an old game (2003) you need Visual Studio 6 installed and the DirectX 9b developer kit in order to compile. In 2005 when I first got the code that wasn't too hard to come by. Now, it might be quite difficult since I am not sure Vista/Win 7 even supports 9b being installed (last time I upgraded my machine I had to copy 9b from my prior machine as it would not install from the installer). The biggest thing the game really needs is support for Wide Screen formats. I'm not an expert in DirectX and so I am not sure what's involved in supporting those formats. KGB |
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