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Incomplete modding tools (unpacker only)

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Hi there,
I see a lot of files with unknown extensions. Do you have any idea what these extensions mean and how to open them?
Modjo
 
Warlock (like majesty 2 , yes ino-co like it) use TheEngine, a 3d engine developed by SkyFallen Entertainment. Others russian games use it like king's bounty.
These files should (i'm not 100% sure) be 3d model, textures, 2d graphics, sounds....

Texture can be altered, but i think it's impossible to make additionnal 3d model without TheEngine. In king's bounty, it was impossible to add new model,we were just be able to clone existing model.

Unnecessary to tell i'm not a big fan of this engine.
 
I have translated the comments from russian to english (with google translate) in the generator.lua file (in d110.pack used to generate maps I think). Is it ok to share the file here with the updated comments or will that break the terms and conditions of the forum?

Modjo
 
the only .lua files I could find are:

in s100.pack:
Code: 
 - utils.lua        // says how much hp are left on a unit
 - system.lua       // log and util functions
 - generator.lua    // map generation logic
 - combos.lua       // spell combos (only lightning.. where are the others?)
 - checkglobals.lua // not sure what that does
 - battle.lua       // damage calculation
 - ai.lua           // only one helper function (find best position to attack)
in d110.pack:
Code: 
 - generator.lua    // seems like a copy of the one in s100.pack
in d120.pack:
Code: 
 - ai.lua           // seems like a copy of the one in s100.pack
 - battle.lua       // seems like a copy of the one in s100.pack

That's not a lot of functionality right there. Any idea where else to dig?

Modjo
 
Last edited:
This is what Ankoten, in page 6 of the "What's next in 2013" thread (post 110) posted:

Just to keep you all in the loop, below I'm posting what I originally sent to BjornB as a PM as I originally didn't have permissions to post here:

Quote Originally Posted by BjornB View Post
In the meantime I would like to ask around what you would want from us to be able to start developing your own mods?
First of all, let me applaud this new change of direction!

Actually there is only one thing required from you for this to happen: that you allow modding. On this forum that means allowing discussions of modding and attaching/linking to modding tools and actual mods.

Quote Originally Posted by BjornB View Post
I must admit I am not very knowing of how modding usually works (never been involved personally) and could do with knowing more. As I said before, we won't be able to develop any modding tools for it. But we are more than willing to listen to what you need to be able to do stuff on your own. Someone mentioned earlier that there were people who managed to develop some modding tools on their own?
That "someone" probably referred to this thread which now is locked, and the attached tools were removed by the author due to the current anti-modding rules of this forum. The poster, Copernicus, seems to be long gone and the modding tools with him or her.

Luckily, after being frustrated with some of Warlock's shortcomings, I spent a few days last month backwards-engineering Warlock's proprietary formats that package the game content (i.e. graphics, sounds, and gameplay logic like unit/spell/perk stats). After figuring it all out, I wrote all the tools necessary for unpacking (and re-packing) the .pack files found in Warlock's installation folder, and converting the game logic-related binary files therein to a more human-readable format, namely XML, and back. Using these tools Warlock turns out to be very mod-friendly. It's very easy to pick the files you're interested in (e.g. unit stats, perk stats, spell stats, ai priorities, etc.), alter them and then re-pack only the changed files into a new .pack. If that .pack is correctly named and placed into Warlock's installation directory, the game will load the changes and prioritise them over "vanilla" Warlock so they end up in-game.

So far I've successfully tested (in-game) the following things:

Modifying existing units' stats, including adding existing perks and actions to them, and changing their building requirements and upgrade paths.
Modifying existing unit actions.
Modifying the difficulty level (i.e. AI opponent mana/gold/food production bonuses, AI opponen unit/building production speed bonuses)
Modifying AI priorities (like build less boats (especially in small lakes) and forts (to leave room for more production/tech in the cities), more often dispel heavily buffed enemy units, etc.).
Modifying units' (and even unit classes', like "all ranged units") level-up tables.
Modifying spells' stats.
Adding completely new perks, spells, units (no new graphics/sounds though; see below), unit actions.


Even if I haven't tried it yet, I can see that it's easy to add/modify a plethora of other types content, like quests, random events, artifacts, map generators, special resources (like iron, Halberdier hall), landscape types etc. It is possible to add completely new content like new units and buildings (with new graphics and sounds), and, ultimately, new races. From the looks of it, when the Dark Elves were added, those changes/additions were cleanly contained in some .pack file(s), and required no further modification to the game's executable or libraries. For such modding to be possible, someone in the Warlock community would have to figure out the formats for the 3D-models, textures, sounds etc we get from extracting the .pack files, but with some luck they're using common formats. I haven't looked into that at all as my main gripes with the game revolve around the inferior mid/late-game AI and game balance of existing units/spells/perks.

My hope is that if I were allowed to announce these tools on this forum, the community would pick them up and create mods that breathe some life back into this game. That is unless it's already too late... these forums aren't exactly boiling with activity these days, so the question is if there's still enough interest to support a healthy modding community around Warlock.

Seeing as he was offline for the past week, I already sent him a pm so he can check this out. Perhaps he can share an idea of how he did the tools. :)

Anyway, let's hope mods start showing up soon. :)
 
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