Lindor 426 Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 Sacred 2 blueprint.txt function overhaul View File Sacred 2 Blueprint.txt Function Overhaul Features: All items sorted into one separate file for each item 'class' to increase overview Automated bonusgroup generation for items with non-fixed boni Automated bonus color generation from bonus tier No more bonus IDs/bonusgroup IDs. Instead, boni and single-bonus-bonusgroups are called from a unique name: "prefix%type$spez$spez2$basedonskill". You know exactly what bonus/bonusgroup it is with just one look! Does not change the (average) balance of your mod - just transforms it into an more overviewable and easier modifyable state The most powerful file ever created: balance.lua opens up with unique and powerful ways to quickly fit the balance of your mod how you like it in one go! Commentary over all scripts - everything is explained! Comes with an unused/duplicated token finding tool - only works after enabling. Basically never have to edit blueprint.txt again - everything can be done from the modules/modding folder! Automated adjustment of creature.txt's creature bonus intensity balance according to your settings - you can do everything from inside balance.lua / bonusTypeBalance.lua !! Does not adjust spells.txt balance (and won't in the future, because the balance there is somewhat hardcoded and intransparent) Requirements: Your mod needs to have included BEFORE enabling: server/blueprint.txt server/creatures.txt shared/itemtypes.txt shared/spells.txt shared/typification.txt JSGME (generic mod enabler) And you must be on windows operating system! (For the .exes to not screw up. But after running Disable.exe, your mod is completely Vanilla-style again, ready for upload for all operating systems.) Credits: @Flix to answer my one million questions. @dimitrius154 to answer my other million questions. @Schot, @gogoblender and all other supporting members and admins of DarkMatters,org making hosting this file possible! Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo, I used his srlua to compile all the standalone .exe files. VERY useful!!! Discuss here: Submitter Lindor Submitted 08/02/2022 Category Ice & Blood Patches and Mods 1 Link to comment
Lindor 426 Posted August 3, 2022 Author Share Posted August 3, 2022 Quote Added explanation to README.txt why enemies give no experience at first after enabling and why this won't be changed in future versions Added instructions to README.txt how to 'fix' the enemies-give-no-experience Hopefully this is enough to set you up with how things work, and how you can add other balancing issue fixes like that (e.g. max life energy when mounted) Here is a list of all boni which don't have scaling scripted upon enabling with EE: Spoiler BONUS_CHANNEL_CONV_TO_BEST BONUS_PAINLIMIT BONUS_INVALID BONUS_DAMPING_TEAMSHARE BONUS_TARGET_SEEKER BONUS_DEBUFF BONUS_MISSILE_SLOWDOWN BONUS_LIFE_REL_MOUNTED BONUS_SPELLDAMAGERANGE BONUS_INVERT_ARMOR BONUS_PLAGUE_INFECTION BONUS_SUPERCHARGE BONUS_CA_MULTIPLIER BONUS_SPELLDAMAGERANGE_WITH_ESSENCE BONUS_SPEED_LIMIT BONUS_DOTDAMAGE BONUS_CLOSE_BUFF BONUS_LOWERARMOR BONUS_SHRINKHEAD_DROPCHANCE BONUS_CHARGE_ATTR BONUS_PLAGUE_DOT BONUS_SHIELD_REGENERATION BONUS_FACTION_MODIFIER BONUS_SELFDESTRUCT BONUS_ENERGY_ANIHILATION BONUS_CHANCE_MINION BONUS_CHARGE_MORPH BONUS_SHIELD BONUS_CHANCE_CALL_TARGET BONUS_LOADSINGLECHARGE BONUS_LEVEL_ALL_CA BONUS_DEBUFF_WITH_ESSENCE BONUS_ENERGYLEECH_ONCE BONUS_PLAGUE BONUS_HURL_ENEMY BONUS_CA_WEAPONDMG_MULTIPLIER BONUS_NOFLEE BONUS_INVISIBLE BONUS_EVADE_DETECTION BONUS_CHANCE_ROOT BONUS_DISARM BONUS_DROPCHANCE BONUS_CHANCE_MINION_INFECT BONUS_PRONETOCHANNEL BONUS_EXPERIENCE Some of those don't have difficultyvalueranges for a rason, some other like BONUS_EXPERIENCE or BONUS_SPELLDAMAGERANGE need balance scripting. I realize that this might be a lot of unwanted work, so I will set up and share a balance script for these boni which you can use as a template. Again, there's good reason to not just extract them from blueprint.txt: The numbers can't be trusted, and I need to make sure that everyone who uses this mod is aware of that. Link to comment
Lindor 426 Posted August 3, 2022 Author Share Posted August 3, 2022 (edited) 13 hours ago, Lindor said: I realize that this might be a lot of unwanted work, so I will set up and share a balance script for these boni which you can use as a template. As Sauron Lord of gift I have gift for u: Spoiler do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_CA_WEAPONDMG_MULTIPLIER"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,1000,1000}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,1000,1000}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,1000,1000}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,1000,1000}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,1000,1000}, } end do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_DROPCHANCE"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,100,150}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,100,200}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,125,250}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,150,300}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,175,375}, } end do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_EXPERIENCE"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,50,5000}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,70,7000}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,90,9000}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,110,11000}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,130,13000}, } end do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_FACTION_MODIFIER"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,250,250}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,250,250}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,250,250}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,250,250}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,250,250}, } end do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_INVISIBLE"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,2500,5000}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,2500,5000}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,2500,5000}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,2500,5000}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,2500,5000}, } end do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_LEVEL_ALL_CA"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,100,4000}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,125,5000}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,150,6000}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,175,7000}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,200,8000}, } end do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_LIFE_REL_MOUNTED"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,200,400}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,200,400}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,200,400}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,200,400}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,200,400}, } end do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_NOFLEE"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,1000,1000}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,1000,1000}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,1000,1000}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,1000,1000}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,1000,1000}, } end do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_PRONETOCHANNEL"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,1000,1000}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,875,875}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,750,750}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,625,625}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,500,500}, } end do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_SHIELD"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,20,100}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,30,150}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,40,200}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,50,250}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,60,300}, } end do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_SHIELD_REGENERATION"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,200,500}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,250,600}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,300,700}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,350,850}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,400,1000}, } end do bonusTypeBalance["BONUS_SPELLDAMAGERANGE"] = { difficultyvaluerange0 = {0,25,275}, difficultyvaluerange1 = {1,27,294}, difficultyvaluerange2 = {2,28,330}, difficultyvaluerange3 = {3,30,370}, difficultyvaluerange4 = {4,33,430}, } end U can use this as template to insert into your BonusTypeBalance.lua and work from there. These are the bonustyles which I think have hardcoded scaling: Spoiler BONUS_CA_MULTIPLIER BONUS_CHANCE_CALL_TARGET BONUS_CHANCE_MINION BONUS_CHANCE_ROOT BONUS_CHARGE_ATTR BONUS_CHARGE_MORPH BONUS_CLOSE_BUFF BONUS_DAMPING_TEAMSHARE BONUS_DISARM BONUS_CHANNEL_CONV_TO_BEST BONUS_DEBUFF BONUS_DEBUFF_WITH_ESSENCE BONUS_DOTDAMAGE BONUS_ENERGY_ANIHILATION BONUS_ENERGYLEECH_ONCE BONUS_EVADE_DETECTION BONUS_HURL_ENEMY BONUS_INVALID BONUS_INVERT_ARMOR BONUS_LOADSINGLECHARGE BONUS_LOWERARMOR BONUS_MISSILE_SLOWDOWN BONUS_PAINLIMIT BONUS_PLAGUE BONUS_PLAGUE_DOT BONUS_PLAGUE_INFECTION BONUS_SELFDESTRUCT BONUS_SHRINKHEAD_DROPCHANCE BONUS_TARGET_SEEKER BONUS_SPEED_LIMIT BONUS_SPELLDAMAGERANGE_WITH_ESSENCE BONUS_SUPERCHARGE Both alphabetically sorted EDIT: the mod game automatically detects wether something is a consumable by wether it has the word "potion" or the word "boost" in its blueprint name. This is necessary because the devs didn't give consumables boni the correc prefix, so I need to give them all "cs". Unfortunately, the ogre knuckles created by Flix in EE are called "forge_boost_phys" and "*_unique", both having the word "boost" in it, despite not being consumables. I recommend renaming them inside modules/modding/items/pgf.lua when using this mod and, if necessary, to give the boni of those items the correct prefix, which would be "sb". Edited August 3, 2022 by Lindor Link to comment
Lindor 426 Posted August 4, 2022 Author Share Posted August 4, 2022 On 8/2/2022 at 7:34 AM, Lindor said: And you must be on windows operating system! By the way in case you're worried about that line: You must be on windows operating system in order for the exes to work, but there is an exe, namely Disable.exe, which converts all scripts back into Vanilla style and removes all modules and exe files except itself and lua54.dll, making your mod ready for publish for all operating systems. As stated in the README, Disable.exe is NOT a setback to original state. The changes coming with Enable.exe are permanent which is why you should backup your mod before enabling. Link to comment
Lindor 426 Posted May 14, 2023 Author Share Posted May 14, 2023 Unless someone can provide a way to unwrap the utf-8 lua script off of a srlua wrapped execuable (@dimitrius154?), the source code of this massive project's exes is lost. There's a very very thin, slight chance. Maybe a Hex-Editor or ollydbg could work. Don't know, not skilled/experienced enough yet. Link to comment
dimitrius154 612 Posted May 14, 2023 Share Posted May 14, 2023 2 hours ago, Lindor said: unwrap the utf-8 lua script off of a srlua wrapped execuable It takes veritable years(a good acquaitance of mine had to devote 10 years to full Diablo I source code discovery) to get it done. Very different from the pin-point changes I do. 1 Link to comment
Lindor 426 Posted May 15, 2023 Author Share Posted May 15, 2023 Lucky news, the wrapper doesn't compile the script into bytecode, instead it just glues the whole script at the end of an interpreter's bytecode. It can be done with a simple Hex Editor and it's easy to do. A full recovery is to be expected. There can be future user friendliness updates for this modding tool. 23 hours ago, dimitrius154 said: Very different from the pin-point changes I do Still impressive. One day I want to accomplish the same skills. Specifically the damage calculation function fixes, the enter-dungeon-with-mount fixes, the %LL functionality change and the possibility of opening up previously weapon damage based item modifiers to spell damage from addendum all sound very appealing to me. 1 Link to comment
Popular Post Lindor 426 Posted February 11 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 11 I Intro This is by far the most advanced and massive project I ever made, not even the lua formatter for questscripts.txt comes close. I use it for my own mod which will come out someday even if it takes me another decade. But I made it before becoming a developer. It is hard to use; you have to understand what you're doing, there are some README files and documentation but for everyone besides me, it's hard to figure out what this tool even does, what the intention is in the first place. The source code of this project has been recovered with the help of the HxD software, so there can and will be updates. But I don't know wether I will make the tool easier to use; it's hard enough to improve the functionality. II The state of this project - what does this tool do? This project aims at automatic bonusgroup generation for items, automatic usagebits generation and automatic ingame bonus tooltip color generation. It blows up your blueprint.txt to ~100000 lines of code which would never be humanly possible to script by hand. All items have been sorted into different files in modules/modding/items, there are the ones with fixed boni and the ones which get their boni generated by this overhaul. Basically for every bonusgroup of every item it generates a unique bonusgroup which exactly fits the usage of the item. One of the key functionalities of this project is to figure out the usage of the item by looking at the itemtypes of the item. If it detects certain keywords, e.g. in the GR2 model name, it knows which blueprintset this item is belonging to, e.g. the seraphim ancient set, and then automatically sorts the item into the group. Internally, the ancient set is flagged as AspectTwo, so it will generate boni which fit AspectTwo, so it generates an Itemtype-Weargroup-Relation and an Itemtype-Classification-Relation which is saved in modules/automatically_generated. III The issues of this tool Now the biggest issue with the mod (apart from it altering potions boni) is the sad truth that it classifies everything where it can't find any keywords for as "generic". therefore jewely e,g, only will get generic boni. And this is bad. My workaround in the past has been to manually create jewelry in the modules/items/fixed_boni folder. But that defeats the purpose of this tool. IV Plans for the Future I want to fix that. I want to change it so that one can manually specify classifications in modules/automatically_generated which the tool will respect and I want to make it that every item can have multiple classifications. It will help me in the future for developing my own mod. This is no easy task. It might take a while given the small amount of time I have compared to a couple of years ago. Also I am thinking about my free time more, not spending everything on coding nowadays anymore. But I want to get it done. And it will get done. What I don't know is wether I can do what I initially envisioned this project to become: A GUI-based item editor. V My fears Sacred 2 is old. Flix Lord of Mods has left the game. I haven't seen Dmitriy Lord of Code for months. Active modders I'm aware of include @Vishanka, @idbeholdME, @Hooyaah and myself. That's it. Who am I making this for if nobody sees/uses this? An item editor would be awesome. It would be a big help for new modders and those who want to become it. It would maybe arise attention to Sacred 2 modding. But if the game dies, who am I making this for? I don't need to simplify the usage of this tool for myself. I know how to use it. I made it. VI The poll So I'm specifically asking you: how much interest is there? Are you even interested in the project per se? Would you use it? Would it be worth my time simplifying this tool's usage? Or should I just focus on myself, use this tool to create my mod to be finally able to play the game the way I like and then follow Flix in making a silent fade-out? Thanks in adance and for reading through. 1 1 Link to comment
Popular Post Hooyaah 2,799 Posted February 11 Popular Post Share Posted February 11 Sacred 2 is an old game, that much is true. However, it's one game which I always return to and enjoy immensely. It may be played with no internet connection and it even works on Windows 11, with the proper settings. It would be nice to have a tool to use to adjust the modifiers on "yellow" or rare armor. The modifiers on the High Elf's armor, for example are heavy on ones that are for melee fighting or for useless ones such as Pacifism, Visibility Range, Chance To Banish Undead, Alchemy, and so forth. Such modifiers (including the melee fighter ones) currently appear on armor with undue frequency. I have never created a melee high elf that was very effective or enjoyable to play. It would be a great boon to be able to tweak the yellow armor with such a tool. Currently shopping, even with the Bargaining skill maxed out is very frustrating and extremely time consuming. I for one am very much interested in your project. I think that Sacred 2 will be around for a long time, players enjoying it for years to come. Especially with ones here at DarkMatters who continue to keep the game interesting and relevant. 2 Link to comment
Popular Post Dax 478 Posted February 12 Popular Post Share Posted February 12 "...who am I making this for?" Ouch. Now that hit the spot. Well, my answer would be: For yourself of course and only for you. You can cooperate with other modders here, give them premium access to your mods, simply to keep the fire burning. Also, a lone wolf build in terms of modding is possible, but its tough. Very tough. And delivering constant updates makes it even worse. Usually modders do not leave as long as there is an active and supportive community, which gives the modder some feedback. In a good, or a bad way is not that important. Feedback is what counts. I mean, ppl sit down in their free time, dig through code, or textures, trying their best to get things done. If the community is passive or maybe even apathetic, the modder sooner or later has to live off his own inner battery while working. And one day...it's empty. Taking a longer break and staying miles away from the whole franchise helps much. Returning after some months of abscence makes things easier. Still, the problem with the community is not solved. Some might say: Yeah nice, but ppl give a d!mn. A bitter truth, yes. But that's the situation so far imo. My advice would be: Make your mods, but set the pace right so that you do not loose any hitpoints, keep other modders informed, maybe even involved if you want to, give a little bonus now and then, but in the first line, despite bad times, don't leave. Cryo sleep is maybe the right term. I personally think, the community needs a restart. And it is possible for sure, but it needs a lot of effort on all fronts and many ppl have to work hand in hand. You need guys who deliver frequent updates, videos of coop sessions maybe, artwork, an active, talkative community and so on. Various users here tried to get it done alone and failed. Because "people give a d!mn." There is a DE youtube channel I am watching from a distance for a while. The guy has an insane output of high quality clips on a nearly daily basis. He got roughed up badly by the fantasy companies in no time, worked his way around, doing his own thing now. And you know what? Users follow him, cheer, clap...everything you want. We can get it done together, but not alone. Let's get everyone who wants to contribute in one boat, then let's see how we continue. 2 Link to comment
Popular Post Vishanka 236 Posted February 12 Popular Post Share Posted February 12 19 hours ago, Lindor said: Sacred 2 is old. Flix Lord of Mods has left the game. I haven't seen Dmitriy Lord of Code for months. Active modders I'm aware of include @Vishanka, @idbeholdME, @Hooyaah and myself. That's it. Who am I making this for if nobody sees/uses this? An item editor would be awesome. It would be a big help for new modders and those who want to become it. It would maybe arise attention to Sacred 2 modding. But if the game dies, who am I making this for? I don't need to simplify the usage of this tool for myself. I know how to use it. I made it. Personally I mod only for myself and share it with others because if I like my mod, another one might like it too. I would like to get into more modding stuff but I simply lack the knowledge of the how to. There are a few tutorials in these forums but overall I just don't know how to do what, I cannot edit models as I lack a product key, I don't know how to add new enemies, I'd like to do new spell fx if that's even possible, some that just look more modern and better. So I agree a bit with Dax about a restart, maybe even activating reddit and show that "we are still there" as many people just would look there first. There isn't no one that plays the game as the mods still get downloads, and not all people that play the game download mods. If there were more guides how to change a specific thing that are easy to read and easy to access, maybe there would even be more people joining in. I also have to say that this forum is just an eyesore with all the adds and popups. My adblocker kills them all but if I didn't have an adblocker I'd just back out of it without wanting to read anything. If we want to revive the community and possibly get more people that are joining in, there would have to be some work to do, in activity, content and visually. Things would have to be far more accessible. I showed a friend this site and I can screenshot his reaction My plans are to keep working on the game. I will mainly (or only) work with the Purist Fixpack. I want to add quests that do not alter the original experience too much but just are an addon to "complete" the game. I want to add quests to the regions that are empty. I want to use AI voices to make the main quest more interesting and tell an actual story. I want to do another Beautification Project that will probably take me another year. I don't know how to do half of the stuff. I cannot tell you what do to with the project, I would use it if it was baseline in the PFP, but that would either require that you release a PFP version that uses all your changes or that flix added it to it, because I always revert to the PFP 1.4 if I break something. As long as everyone is creating their own thing in their own little corner it will always mainly be something that you do for yourself. 2 Link to comment
gogoblender 3,039 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 27 minutes ago, Vishanka said: I showed a friend this site and I can screenshot his reaction As long as everyone is creating their own thing in their own little corner it will always mainly be something that you do for yourself. lol, sorry but i yeeked at that reaction... :O ... was wondering if you saw you could change the theme at the bottom of forum? I think you can change it to default..its got no images then, and runs quicker I think ... you'd be out of the Ancarian snow storm and into mostly pure words ...basically wont feel very darkmattersy gogo Link to comment
Vishanka 236 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 25 minutes ago, gogoblender said: was wondering if you saw you could change the theme at the bottom of forum? I think you can change it to default..its got no images then, and runs quicker I think ... you'd be out of the Ancarian snow storm and into mostly pure words ...basically wont feel very darkmattersy Haha, yes, I changed it, but I was getting help from my friend and linked him to some postings that he should read as he tried to find another way to import gr2 models back into the game (without success) and he was greeted with a lot of adds and this design. There is nothing to be sorry for, but if I didn't know the page, I'd also have the feeling that when I click somewhere it might install some virus. It's just one thing, it takes some negotiation to look through that. I mainly find information here on darkmatters through google, reading through old postings and trying to make sense of everything that I find. For example we could do a new official collection of tools and ways how to edit the textures like guides with images. I use GIMP and DXT BMP, someone else might have a different way. To edit the N I need the help of my friend with some photoshop plugin and then I need to invert green in gimp. It took us hours to find out how to even work with those files. There are some collections and guides here, but many have dead links, or require tools that you don't just get open source. All of that makes it really difficult to join in. 1 Link to comment
gogoblender 3,039 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 2 hours ago, Vishanka said: Haha, yes, I changed it, but I was getting help from my friend and linked him to some postings that he should read as he tried to find another way to import gr2 models back into the game (without success) and he was greeted with a lot of adds and this design. There is nothing to be sorry for, but if I didn't know the page, I'd also have the feeling that when I click somewhere it might install some virus. It's just one thing, it takes some negotiation to look through that. I mainly find information here on darkmatters through google, reading through old postings and trying to make sense of everything that I find. For example we could do a new official collection of tools and ways how to edit the textures like guides with images. I use GIMP and DXT BMP, someone else might have a different way. To edit the N I need the help of my friend with some photoshop plugin and then I need to invert green in gimp. It took us hours to find out how to even work with those files. There are some collections and guides here, but many have dead links, or require tools that you don't just get open source. All of that makes it really difficult to join in. Lol that screenshot you took of your friend commenting on our artwork made me burst into laughter .. I’ll show schot when he finishes work 😀 ayup thats us at least till Wintertyde is over 😍 gogo Link to comment
Popular Post Flix 5,116 Posted February 12 Popular Post Share Posted February 12 2 hours ago, Vishanka said: Personally I mod only for myself and share it with others because if I like my mod, another one might like it too. I would like to get into more modding stuff but I simply lack the knowledge of the how to. There are a few tutorials in these forums but overall I just don't know how to do what, I cannot edit models as I lack a product key, I don't know how to add new enemies, I'd like to do new spell fx if that's even possible, some that just look more modern and better. So I agree a bit with Dax about a restart, maybe even activating reddit and show that "we are still there" as many people just would look there first. There isn't no one that plays the game as the mods still get downloads, and not all people that play the game download mods. If there were more guides how to change a specific thing that are easy to read and easy to access, maybe there would even be more people joining in. I also have to say that this forum is just an eyesore with all the adds and popups. My adblocker kills them all but if I didn't have an adblocker I'd just back out of it without wanting to read anything. If we want to revive the community and possibly get more people that are joining in, there would have to be some work to do, in activity, content and visually. Things would have to be far more accessible. I showed a friend this site and I can screenshot his reaction My plans are to keep working on the game. I will mainly (or only) work with the Purist Fixpack. I want to add quests that do not alter the original experience too much but just are an addon to "complete" the game. I want to add quests to the regions that are empty. I want to use AI voices to make the main quest more interesting and tell an actual story. I want to do another Beautification Project that will probably take me another year. I don't know how to do half of the stuff. I cannot tell you what do to with the project, I would use it if it was baseline in the PFP, but that would either require that you release a PFP version that uses all your changes or that flix added it to it, because I always revert to the PFP 1.4 if I break something. As long as everyone is creating their own thing in their own little corner it will always mainly be something that you do for yourself. I can write guides if I knew there was some demand. I can either do script analyses or instructions on how to complete a specific goal. I just need to know what people are interested in learning. Dumping the sum total of knowledge I've picked up would be a lot of time and effort. I've been quiet because a lot of the recent mod discourse has been fx related things I have no clue about or big giant overhaul tools that I just can't see myself using. 2 Link to comment
Popular Post Vishanka 236 Posted February 12 Popular Post Share Posted February 12 (edited) 26 minutes ago, Flix said: I can write guides if I knew there was some demand. I can either do script analyses or instructions on how to complete a specific goal. I just need to know what people are interested in learning. Dumping the sum total of knowledge I've picked up would be a lot of time and effort. That would be amazing if you could do a few guides. Personally I'd be interested in getting these things: - How to add new monsters, entirely new with new abilities, not replacing another mob - How to add quests, questmobs and questitems (and if possible how to add voiceover to quests?) - How do I edit the avatar images, the thing that you have done with the overhaul of the icons? I see that there are a b and c, but I can only work with a really and am not sure how to create the other two - An easier way to convert the _n into something that I can edit, I don't want to give my friend 2000 files, he doesn't play sacred - How do I load stuff into granny viewer? I only ever can load the model but never add textures With these things I could see myself adding content without altering the original game too much and having a good base for doing enjoyable content Edited February 12 by Vishanka 2 Link to comment
Popular Post Lindor 426 Posted February 12 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 12 3 hours ago, Vishanka said: I cannot tell you what do to with the project, I would use it if it was baseline in the PFP, but that would either require that you release a PFP version that uses all your changes or that flix added it to it, because I always revert to the PFP 1.4 if I break something. Do you mean my mod or this project? Because this tool, the Blueprint.txt function, most certainly works with PFP. You just need to know how to use it. A lot is explained however. Enable.exe brings PFP into the overhaul state. Then you can start modding in modules/modding and run Update.exe until you're satisfied. Once you're reade to publish, run Disable.exe. Enable.exe is a one-way-ticket, so you should do a backup before enabling. I was wondering if there was any interest outside of the few modders remaining. I was hoping someone totally new would show up and say "hey, I'm interested". It does not seem so. 12 hours ago, Dax said: I personally think, the community needs a restart. And it is possible for sure, but it needs a lot of effort on all fronts and many ppl have to work hand in hand. You need guys who deliver frequent updates, videos of coop sessions maybe, artwork, an active, talkative community and so on. Various users here tried to get it done alone and failed. 3 hours ago, Vishanka said: So I agree a bit with Dax about a restart, maybe even activating reddit and show that "we are still there" as many people just would look there first. I agree as well. I was trying to get more people interested into modding by developing my modding tools and wiki pages. The Reddit idea is actually really great, I support that. There are so many issues The darkmatters download section is not very well structured, honestly it's a mess. Why not structure everything by dependencies? E.g. I never know where to upload my tools to. They're not CM or I&B or EE specific. The section really needs to be restructured. There are not many people with modding knowledge and even fewer who frequently edit the wiki Lacking presence in other social media, Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch etc. I know there's the wiki youtube and facebook accounts, but they're not really relevant No community events and if there are, nobody seems to be interested. Just look at Frank Rentmeister's Post. 10 years back I would have been heart rate levels of amazed at the opportunity to play Sacred: Underworld with an actual dev as @FrankRentmeister but now? Sacred Gold is stoneage old, unbalanced and PVP is all kinds of broken. Modding is nearly impossible without speaking assembly and having some basic knowledge of huffman coding and cryptography. I see why there's so litte interest nowadays. In order for it to become relevant again, Sacred: Gold needs to be remade from scratch so it becomes modifiable. And with a better Underworld Storyline. Underworld was a huge disappointment for me. Learn from the mistakes of the german forums Sacred Legends. I don't know exactly why. But I know it's slowly dying. My Analysis would be smth like: The posts are irrelevant they can't even answer the most beginner questions ever without a 20 posts discussion about the game version. if you seek expertise, there is none. Well there's FooBar, but that doesn't count as this is general expertise, not Sacred 2 specific expertise. Seriously, some of them like the forums admin have been there for now like 20 years and they can't even answer the question why some armor has a regen penalty while some doesn't. Overall everybody is super strict, toxic and, well, german, when it comes to guidelines and behaviour. They're in a constant state of raised index finger. The community is the very definition of toxic positivity. There is no modding. There is not even a modding forum. All they're doing is hosting the files from darkmatters for download, and sometimes not even the latest. That's it. I don't want to be inpolite, but darkmatters is as old as Sacred. We all depend on the Admins, @gogoblender and @Schot. What happens if you want to go to your well-deserved retirement like Flix? Do you have a plan? Are there any 'heirs'? We can learn from those mistakes. You need an active community. You need to allow disagreements. Off-Topic is fine as long as there's more main-topic than off-topic. Be structured and have expertise. Be open to new people. Don't wait three months to answer a question, even if it has been asked before. Don't make cancel culture a thing. Have many Moderators and at least two Admins. And honestly, you're doing a great Job. But I feel like we soo reach another turning point in the darkmatters history. Darkmatters needs to be gowing. And one more thing. I get that the page gets financed by advertisement. What about an official DarkMatters youtube channel? What about searching for volunteers explicitly tasked on producing content and administrating the channel? I mean the wiki youtube channel has been a success in the beginning, hasn't it? Could bring some money. I can help by increasing the overview of the wiki. That's my thing. I can also answer questions and give general modding support if I have the time and interest to do so. But someone needs to get attention to it, why modding is so cool, why the game is still relevant, maybe make some online tutorials on how to mod and what you can achieve. Bring visions, bring interest, bring a feeling of accomplishment to the people. We need to work together to create a rich and active modding environment. Both are important, modders and non-modders, but look at sacred legends, if the modders go away, the entire community does. Modding means change, and change means life, and life is the opposite of death. Not every problem regarding modding has been solved yet. E.g. this: 3 hours ago, Vishanka said: I'd like to do new spell fx if that's even possible, some that just look more modern and better. Creating new surface FX is possible. but creating new spell FX? One would need to do that in the compiled source code of the game directly. Or export a lua script from the dlls like has been done with questscripts.txt. Incredibly hard task. Some more things: Creating new boni Modifying the damage calculation function making level trasition possible without dismounting Writing a Saced 2 specific GR2 Import/Export PlugIn for Blender recolorize fen fires generally reconstruct the source code from the exe and dlls, maybe in future AI can do this formatting the questscripts (has been partially solved by me, maybe I'll upload v2.0alpha questscripts.txt bundle) GUI based editors, blueprint.txt editor, FX editor, model&texture editor, bonus editor and so on... These are so incredibly hard tasks, no wonder they haven't been solved yet. But the human lives for the challenge, the accomplishment, the honor, that's what drives us. We need more skilled people. We could design lectures, tutorials, tasks with sample solutions and an entire education system if we wanted to. We're not a company. We don't pay people here. If we did, there would be legal issues with the company holding the Sacred 2 license. I don't know why I'm in the mood of writing so much today, but I'll stop right here before this post gets larger than the Pyramids. 2 Link to comment
Popular Post Flix 5,116 Posted February 12 Popular Post Share Posted February 12 4 hours ago, Vishanka said: That would be amazing if you could do a few guides. ... With these things I could see myself adding content without altering the original game too much and having a good base for doing enjoyable content Sure thing, I can help with that. I'll start writing up some stuff this week and see what I can publish. 2 Link to comment
Lindor 426 Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 Uhmm.. I have jewelry with ome bonusgroups containing all kinds of boni. I go ingame and notice that all rings the combomaster sells have the same bonus. To make matters worse, some have more boni than the blueprint has bonusgroups. I don't know what is happening. I prepare a darkmatters post. Then I notice bonusgroups can be put on stuff through typification.txt. I thought that I had thought about this and the overhaul would redirect every existent ID to the new ID. CLF_RING has bonusgroupID = 261. ID is non existent pre-overhaul, but got taken post-overhaul. The redirection failed because of this, so all rings get a new bonusgroup. Notice to anyone using this tool: check typification.txt for leftover bonusgroup IDs after enabling. The game is trolling me. 1 Link to comment
Dax 478 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 21 hours ago, Lindor said: .. Stop it, all of you! We lie to ourselfs and close our eyes in front of the reality! Here: No. One. Cares. Live with it! I am sorry. I did not want to say. But all those mentioned community related failures, we all experienced more or less over the years, should have teached us some lessons. Yet, we refuse to see. Maybe because we love Sacred to the point of insanity. Listen. Stop that social media cr^p! It's just a sh*!tload of work, with no positive outcome. There are not enough people here to constantly hold up the flag for years in the social media channels. Also, check the remaining forums. Zombs, all of them! Wasted time, wasted energy. Instead I'd suggest: Gentle cryo sleep mode and slow buildup of mods. For both games. We can discuss what can be done, got a nice and practicable idea already, work together a bit, but without pressure. If we got enough stuff for a year or so together, let's see how we pass it on to the community so that we got a constant flow of mods over a certain time. Lets monitor the outcome, then we shall decide if and how to continue. For me, it is the most reasonable aproach. I tell you: I do not want to loose any more modders. Not one. Including you! Link to comment
idbeholdME 381 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 As far as modding goes, there is one big hurdle for the game in my opinion. And that is the fact that there is a ton of hardcoded stuff that it nigh impossible to touch. Hidden in the .dll and .exe files, which require a very high degree of extremely specific knowledge to even attempt doing. And sadly, the answer to "Is this possible?" more often than not is "No" because of that reason. Things like: - Removing the limitation of rarity tier 15 items (Legendaries) only dropping from enemies with dangerclass 9 and 10 - Making ranged weapons fire 2 projectiles when using the ATTACKX animation. - Changing monster AI. Like for example, make the Garganthropod not get stuck doing the idle animation constantly when you attack him from range. Or there seem to be a ton of behaviors defined in behavior.txt which never get used/don't work etc. - Or something as simple as knowing exactly what Enhanced Perception does at the code level. Why are there 2 values at Mastery level? Which one does what? Do they stack? The code in scripts would suggest that it only increases the rarity tiers from lootable objects etc. That being said, a lot of stuff IS moddable. I'm more into the gameplay and mechanics related parts of the game. Visual modding is possible, but not really my area. I'm pretty purist when it comes to any game's visuals (rarely even play remasters/remakes for that reason) and even if I wanted to change something, my artistic aptitude is.... not good Documenting at least what's possible would probably be a good idea, as most of the info is randomly scattered throughout various threads on these forums. 1 Link to comment
gogoblender 3,039 Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 On 2/12/2024 at 6:24 PM, Flix said: Sure thing, I can help with that. I'll start writing up some stuff this week and see what I can publish. Sweet! Ben if you have issue logging into wiki for your guide please post. Brad's going through some settings and were trying to see how much functions we can get Wiki going for and were trying to balance a skating family party the same time this weekend If anyone has challenges getting in, just tell us and we'll look at it On 2/12/2024 at 7:02 PM, Lindor said: The game is trolling me. whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.... Use if needed Lindor! gogo Link to comment
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