Hello,
a new version of VCMI is ready. It brings a number of improvements, fixes and new features. The most important one are winnable battles.
It’s probably the last version from the 0.6x series. If no critical bugs are found in this release, we’ll move directly to 0.7.
Installation:
Extract the package into your main Heroes folder.
WoG 3.58f is required. We strongly recommend using English version.
If you have older version of VCMI you can overwrite it.
Acknowledgements:
Thanks for Zamolxis, Steven Aus, Tilogour, Werter, krystian1995 and everyone else who helped us with testing and improving VCMI.
For the general information about our project look here.
Our project isn’t really playable now, but it gives you an idea of progress we have made so far. We’re hoping that you’ll like it. Please report all the problems in the appropriate board. We hope you’ll help us develop the project - details are available here.
CHANGELOG:
0.62 -> 0.63 (Oct 01 2008)
GENERAL:
coloured console output, logging all info to txt files
it’s possible to use other port than 3030 by passing it as an additional argument
removed some redundant warnings
partially done spellbook
Alt+F4 quits the game
some crashbugs was fixed
added handling of navigation, logistics, pathfinding, scouting end estates secondary skill
magical hero are given spellbook at the beginning
added initial secondary skills for heroes
BATTLES:
very significant optimization of battles
battle summary window
fixed crashbug occurring sometimes on exiting battle
confirm window is shown before retreat
graphic stack queue in battle (shows when ‘c’ key is pressed)
it’s possible to attack enemy hero
neutral monster army disappears when defeated
casualties among hero army and neutral creatures are saved
better animation handling in battles
directional attack in battles
mostly done battle options (although they’re not saved)
added receiving exp (and leveling-up) after a won battle
added support for archery, offence and armourer secondary abilities
hero’s primary skills accounted for damage dealt by creatures in battle
TOWNS:
mostly done marketplace
fixed crashbug with battles on swamps and rough terrain
counterattacks
heroes can learn new spells in towns
working resource silo
fixed bug with the mage guild when no spells available
it’s possible to build lighthouse
HERO WINDOW:
setting army formation
tooltips for artifacts in backpack
ADVENTURE INTERFACE:
fixed bug with disappearing head of a hero in adventure map
some objects are no longer accessible from the top
no tooltips for objects under FoW
events won’t be shown
working Subterranean Gates, Monoliths
minimap shows all flaggable objects (towns, mines, etc.)
artifacts we pick up go to the appropriate slot (if free)
I just noticed this new feature. Kinda cool (though it creates some bugs if you’re trying to play the battle while holding the ‘c’ key depressed;)).
However what’s more important is that we should use a different hotkey for this. ‘C’ must be kept like in the original game for “Cast Spell”.
If we look at the list of combat hotkeys below, we should pick one of the unused keys for this new functionality. Some suggestions which IMO would make sense can be:
Q - for queue
U - for unit (order/queue)
I - for initiative (though this isn’t exactly the H5 initiative)
P - for (troop) position/placement
Hi guys! I really want to say thank you to all the people in the programming and testing team! This is a great project!
I feel bad because i can’t help at all in developing except to check for latest news in the forum. But i wish all of you well & smooth in the project development.
I gave it some thought, and I believe Q would be the best option.
Not only because it was the first one that came to mind from the beginning (which might make it one of the most intuitive), but also for practical reasons: Q is just next to W, which probably is the most used hotkey during battles. So it would be useful to have the “graphic stack queue” functionality associated with a key in that area.
Our left hand is anyway placed in that part of the keyboard. I don’t know about you guys, but my hand is placed as follows:
Middle finger on W (Wait), as the most used key (couple of times per round)
Index finger used for both D (Defend) & C (Cast Spell), which are used max 1 time/round.
So it would make perfect sense to have the ring finger on Q. Like this players would not have the change the position of their hand, in search for a hotkey in some other area of the keyboard.
No need to feel bad bad for not managing to join the testing. Really - moral support is also very important. I start my testing (and I suppose it goes the same for Tow & Tow dragon as programmers) with a totally different motivation when I know there are H3 fans out there who expect the result of my work. I probably wouldn’t put even half of the effort if I knew I’m doing this for myself alone.
Also, just visiting the forum every now and then can be useful in time. Once the basic game is finished and people will come with mod suggestions, sharing your opinion or just voting in a poll will help making the best decision regarding what would be good to implement or not.
