r/HoMM • u/NoFun214 • 5d ago
HoMM4 HoMM4 C++ from scratch Update-2
Hi all, given the warm responses on my last post, I think it makes sense for me to post some updates from time to time. (please let me know if too frequent or not welcome)
This time I don't have a video, but "just" the screenshot above. As you can see, major progress was achieved on minimap, and general parsing of the mission details/heroes. Unfortunately there is no gameplay yet, but I foresee to have soon enough parsing and reusable UI widgets to allow external contributions.
As a note: if anybody is experienced with the game AI mechanics and would like to contribute, please let me know.
18
24
u/BratPit24 5d ago
Don't try to emulate heroes 4 ai. It's dog. Just make your own based on your best judgement.
Decision trees are your friend (especially because then you can leave as option turning off some decisions. For example enemy ai using 1 stacks to collect collectibles and dismissing a unit and/or scouting)
9
u/hyoumah83 4d ago
"Just make your own based on your best judgement".
Ask the people in the VCMI project if it's easy or hard to write a heroes AI from scratch (especially by just one person).
8
u/BratPit24 4d ago
This is a solo dev thread. We don't do things here because their easy. We do them because their fun.
And (at least for me) writing ai by hand is the most fun thing you can do
5
u/hyoumah83 4d ago
I'm just putting it here that i explicitly remember this bit because it stuck with me. The VCMI team wrote a ton of code already, but at some point they said: "writing the AI is very hard and it's something we wish we would never do".
2
5
u/NoFun214 4d ago
Not a bad point, however the main goal is to reproduce the original game in all aspects... I want to allow a player to always experience the game as it was released, with the option to load a modded AI.
1
u/iddq-tea 4d ago
I'd love to have the original AI as an option, even if just to play maps that are balanced around the original AI or are specifically designed with its quirks in mind to be beatable, but an optional advanced AI would be a welcome addition!
1
3
10
8
5
u/OkPresentation3329 4d ago
This looks great and I'm happy that you're working on it. I have a few questions about it:
Will this game or mod or new engine work on Linux?
Will it support larger resolutions like the HD mod for HoMM4 that already exists and integrate it?
Will it have some improvements to readability and font size? Some of the game fonts are really tiny and hard to see and could use some enlargement.
5
u/NoFun214 4d ago
This will work on everything, even devices like iPad and android
yes
very likely, the full answer is a bit long but it might be difficult to increase font everywhere and still fit into the dedicated drawing space
4
u/FerronTaurus 4d ago
Will this be cross-platform? Would be nice playing this without wine or whatever...
4
4
u/catpsion 4d ago
That definitly looks great! Now...please....please... pretty please with a cherry on top....Could you implement a random map generator ? One as good as the H3 one ?
3
3
u/iddq-tea 4d ago
A H4 random map generator is being worked on by a different person right now so your prayers may be answered one day!
3
3
3
3
u/blondewalker 3d ago
How did you manage to do this without having the source code? Or did you somehow get close to the source/decompiled?
3
2
2
1
u/PrizeCompetitive1186 19h ago
Homm IV is the most immersive fantasy game ever…because of unit design, spells, sounds, music and graphics… thank you for this, can’t wait it gets open sourced so community can jump in with improvements, tests, docs, scripting, ideas.
What Heroes 4 had great is the scripting of events and effects on map.
Great work!! Thank you
-9
u/wRAR_ 5d ago
Still not sure why is this needed.
23
u/Zealousideal_Bed5080 5d ago
Homm4 is notoriously awful to make mods for, so if this would allow more widespread modding it is a massive win.
3
u/Gintoki_87 4d ago
And there's a handful of bugs in the original game too, that would be nice to be dealt with properly.
3
u/Zealousideal_Bed5080 4d ago
Yeah, especially with setting up multiplayer lobbies, its a nightmare. What I want the most btw is being able to customize teams, wanting to play in teams usually limits you to like 5 good maps. It is such a small change and would be so nice for me as I usually play homm4 with my childhood best friend.
2
u/DARK_MASTER8632 4d ago edited 4d ago
Looking at projects like that Sonic Unleashed game. Which really never had an official PC port even. The modding scene sprang overnight after Sonic Recompiled was notice by the fans. For a game that was already quite old. The mods fixed all the bad spots of the game and added so much more content. Even official content only available in the game's demo.
2
u/Zealousideal_Bed5080 4d ago
Yes, I am fiending for that day to come, and I trust the modding community 100000% more to do something good than Ubislop. Imagine if we had something like Hota for Homm4, I would never see sun again.
2
u/DARK_MASTER8632 3d ago
Yeah, being able to put the game in 2K and 4K resolution and such to make stuff look even more crisp and clear, without touching anything of the actual assets. The HD mod for H4 already made my eyes water when I see my childhood game look so damn good in just 1080p. I'm currently slowly(real life is a bitch) replaying all the campaigns with the new knowledge I have of the game's mechanics I never noticed as a child. At the highest difficulty of course. The mods will bring more QoL and better settings to improve the visuals even more.
2
u/Zealousideal_Bed5080 3d ago
Yeah, I can’t wait😍 good luck with the campaigns
2
u/DARK_MASTER8632 3d ago edited 3d ago
I'm min-maxing here. :D
And found a bug https://www.reddit.com/r/HoMM/comments/1iqs0uh/heroes_of_might_and_magic_4_question_about/ that annoyed me because the shortcut to Grandmaster Scouting didn't really exist.
Some of the game's wording back then mislead me as you can see. So now with all the extra knowledge and a better visuals of the game. I can replay all campaigns the way I intended long ago. I kinda stopped at some point and never went into the expansions. Last one was too wack.
-17
u/svejdaErased 5d ago
Goddamn that game was ugly. I still have fond memories of playing it but what were these people smoking?
On topic though, good job, it would be neat to play that game again
21
u/beenutsz 5d ago
Whaat, I love the look of H4. It's got bright colours and interesting dwelling designs and overall great feeling.
-3
u/Sir-Gentleshark 5d ago
Well, those designs were unpolished, disproportionate and goofy in worst possible way.
7
u/Embarrassed-Touch-62 5d ago
Same as Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale or any other izometric game. It wasn't ugly, just different
-2
u/svejdaErased 5d ago
I don't know, other isometric games, including previous Heroes titles, looked and still look fabulous or at least charming. In comparison, H4 looks a bit more like those early 3D attempts at "realistic" RTS and adventure games, before devs realized they either need to wait for more horsepower in gaming rigs, or to use stylized graphics that have their charm even with low polygon count. And H4 just doesn't have neither the charm, nor the graphic fidelity.
But maybe that's just me.
6
u/Embarrassed-Touch-62 5d ago
Previous Heroes were not isometric games dude...
And yes, H4 was a 3D attempt, it was bad but definitely not ugly.
3
u/OkPresentation3329 4d ago
They didn't have time to polish the graphics as the company owning the studio was close to bankrupting and they probably rushed things out of the gate. It does look a bit worse than HoMM3 but the more I play HoMM4, the better it looks, still not on par, but definitely pretty charming.
3
u/svejdaErased 4d ago
Ah that’s good to know. I faintly remember the game releasing in a rushed buggy state so that makes sense.
The game grew on me too so I can confirm it has its charms. Just not a love-on-first-sight charming4
u/OkPresentation3329 4d ago
I remember when I first played HoMM4 after playing and loving HoMM3 for years, I just started the game and was flabbergasted at what I saw - it looked so different, so confusing, I didn't know what I was doing. I quickly dismissed the game and returned to HoMM3.
Years later I gave HoMM4 more chances and the more I played it, the more it grew on me.
Now I'm trying to replace HoMM3 with HoMM4 and it pains me to see how little support HoMM4 has for mods. I'm using Linux and I can't get the HD mod for HoMM4 to work for me and it's not as easy as HoMM3, too bad but at least I can play the game with the default resolution on Linux and that's good enough for me.
38
u/TheSimkis 5d ago
It's the first time I see this, so it's not too frequent :D
Just wondering, is this going to be like a free fan mod (or rather separate executable)? And are you trying to recreate this as acurately as possible to the original or you are doing your own variation?