Heroes Who Dare Released for Public Consumption

[GHOST®]

10 March 2013

Heroes Who Dare has been released into the wilds of the Myth Community.

I really appreciate the help i got from some of yous with this project and I really hope you all get half as much fun out of playing Heroes Who Dare as i had in the creating of it. :o)

Now go get your copy today before the sale is over. ;o)

GL HF Die Well !! :o)

GHOST®

Greetings to my fellow old skOOl Mythers and newcomers to Myth II:SB alike,

About a month ago i happened to swing into BungieHL and while perusing their files, i come across a HWDBeta04.zip. To say i was puzzled, shocked, and happy all in the same breath is an understatement, as i had thought this map had long since been lost in a HD meltdown and i had basically forgotten about it.

Long story short, in the past month it has been out from under covers and back into the Magma mapmaking garage for a 1.7.2 retrofit and finishing of original objectives, not to mention some new 1.7+ bells & whistles. A top to bottom re-scripting overhaul is nearly complete, the final merging in of some more, high res units & the merging out some older lower res units is complete, CMap and terrain touch ups are on going and likely will be til the very end, work on a new 'unique' pregame has begun & lurks in the wings, and a couple fellow old school mythers may be lined up to create some new, quality, in game dialogues.

In hopes of putting a little bit of the commune back into the Myth community, i've decided Heroes Who Dare should be open for public beta testing. Anyone interested in helping out & offering feedback, films of bugs, multiple patching of files, etc. are welcomed to Download and test HWD.

If youre interested, make sure you are updated to Myth II v1.7.2 have gotten a copy of Myrd's awesome & simple to use OmniPatch then check back here regulary for links and news of new patches available/fixes made/determinations made, or if you can handle yourself in live chat, swing on by hl.udogs.net

HWD is nothing like Valley of Despair, nor any of my maps to tell the truth, as this has been an idea since long ago in my Vista Forum days, when i was still a map making nOOb, anyways, it has and continues to evolve after all these years, and with some community help i do believe i can bring HWD to be Finlized & publicly released at the Tain much sOOner than if i stretch internal resources more appropriatley concentrating on Laws of Evil, SF2, improving Myths engine for 1.8, etc. :o)

So come one, come all, no criticisms too harsh, no compliments too plentiful, and no, you can never have enough play testers. ;o)

Thanks!!

UPDATED BETA's and OMNIPATCH's

03_NOV_2012 - Beta 01

Heroes Who Dare Beta 01 @ 44.8mb


06_NOV_2012 - Beta 02

Heroes Who Dare Beta 02 @ 42.0mb
HWD_B01aToB02a_OmniPatch @ 3.22mb
Change Log

Of note in this beta is the Difficulty Settings again make a difference. Activation ranges, enemy unit counts, etc. are now modified per the difficulty settings and the # of players. SO, timid *should be* considerably easier than legendary now. I also turned off the observers. If you still want to use them, then have any of your units taunt while at the front of the outhouse. This will give you full map viewing again.


09_NOV_2012 - Beta 03

Heroes Who Dare Beta 03 @ 45.6mb
HWD_B02aToB03a_OmniPatch @ 25.6mb
Change Log

Of note in this Beta is the addition of an Axe Warrior to the 3rd Legion troops, and 29 collections have had alpha masks added making Fe's beautiful units even more so. :oD
Also the reason why this patch is so large this time around, sorry about that.

Test observers and the trigger to activate them are still in place. Airstrikes no longer require mana to use, though they now have a longer recharge time to balance them out.
Up from 90 secs (1.5 mins) to 420 secs (7.0 mins).


16_NOV_2012 - Beta 05

Heroes Who Dare Beta 05 @ 47.0mb
HWD_B03aToB05a_OmniPatch @ 2.1mb
Change Log

Of note in this Beta is the opening cutscene has been revamped. Players get control of units after only 15 secs now (couldn't speed this any further) and i amp'd up the initial action a bit. Bunch of fixes of many issues found by Pyro & Scratch in their play testings & films. Thanks fellas!! :o)

Also, Players units can now be made to go invisible via taunting as well as selection of inventory. This can be done with a single unit or any combination up to all 4. It still has a small glitch with timing, so make sure you hold your taunt for a full second or until you see the invisibility LPGR light up. Hopefully in the next beta/rc ? I will have this running smoothly for activation & deactivation of invisibility, but for now, you'll have to suffer through the current set up.

Lastly, the trigger for the test observers activation has been removed. Fog of war in effect from here on out.

21_NOV_2012 - RC_01

Heroes Who Dare RC_01 @ 47.0mb
HWD_B05aToRC_01a_OmniPatch @ 2.1mb
Change Log

Of note: Release Candidate 01 !! YEAH!!! Spent a good couple days wrestling this beast into submission on a few issues, did a couple circles ending up at negative results, but forward progress has been regained and HWD is closer still to being complete. :o)

Pregame is in place now, though its still a *rougher* version. Couple small glitches with taunting units to go invisible found and resolved. Cannons will definitely NOT attack invisible units anymore. Theft of units by Shade has been replaced with a confusion attack. Trip Mine Ammo removed from dorf demo PRGR to remove player incentive to kill them for that ammo. HOWEVER, ghols now toss Trip Mine Ammo satchels as well as lesser puss packets (hero & legend only). Any unexploded airstrike satchels will be Trip Mine Ammo as well.

I normally jinx myself when i say this, but i am gonna say it anyways, Coming into the home stretch on this one. My personal To Do list contains mostly cosmetic/art items. With any luck, which i dont believe in, we may have HWD out in time for you to put under the X-Mas tree for your loved ones. :o)

No promises of course.

11_FEB_2013

Full HWD RC_02 can be downloaded up here. @ 43.2mb
Or the Omnipatch can be downloaded down there. @ 5.1mb
Change Log

Sorry for the long delay folks, i was off the Myth Band Wagon for a couple months there when i lost my ISP, but i'm back now and HWD is nearly ready for release, FINALLY !!!.

Of note: Probably most important is that the NPCs are a bit tougher and better in battle now. In fact, with a little help from a patient player, they could now be useful to push through some enemy hordes. Beyond that, lots of tweaks to CMap, OHMap, terrain, passability, etc etc; Additional models added throughout the map where needed; Reworked *Relic (lightning) Traps* so there's only 1 way through them now, though a couple new ways around them were also added; Found and squashed a bug of enemies attacking Players invisible units or the Tro when they were stoned; Found and quashed another bug with the Thrown Axe Attack damaging units 2 WU's past the unit; etc etc. Oh Yeah, and Dorf bottles are a bit more spongy now, so be careful. ;op

Besides Dialogue Voices, I have only 4 items remaining on my to do list concerning HWD. And besides the voices, they are all minor things that wont take much to polish off. So barring any major hiccups appearing in play testings, or minor tweaks/adjustments i feel are necessary, this will be the last RC Plug/Patch of HWD.

So, any and all help testing and feedback on possible issues/bugs would be greatly appreciated. With any luck, Magma - Heroes Who Dare can and will be released to The Tain by early to mid March 2013. :o)


OmniPatch
Myth II v1.7.2

Partial HWD Panorama

[GHOST®]

From the HWD - Read This.html

* * Description * *


You will face multitudes of incoming platoons, devious scouts, cannon
barages, and 4 Shades; Cormorant, Phelot, Scaripant, and Turquine,
each defending access routes to the World Knot they currently control.
All you have to do is find a way to navigate through all these enemy forces
and locate their World Knot, then signal its location for an airstrike to disable it.

You start with 4 Heroes given some powerful, yet limited, artifacts to help you
accomplish your objectives. How you proceed is completely up to you, whether
it's trying to send each unit individually, or have them work as a group, follow
the 3rd Legions outgoing sallies, or going the complete opposite direction,
hanging back and trying to increase the enemy attrition, or charging forward
in a mad frenzy.

Each Hero has a default Special Ability, plus 2 additional artifacts.
1 allows the Hero to go magically invisible for up to 60 seconds at a time,
granting them the ability to sneak past large enemy groups.
The second allows the Hero to toss a signal flare to call in an airstrike.


* Objectives *

Sneak through the enemy front lines.
Locate the enemy controlled World Knot.
Mark a Pylons location for a Dwarven Airstrike.

My original, basic idea for this map was to make a more tension/action/carnage filled, modern, daylight version of Deathwhore's Assassin, with multiple units that could go invisible for short periods of time to evade detection. The basic premise is still there, though the refinement of actions to cover the multitudes of possibilities, maintain balance, special abilities duration/strength etc. has been proving challenging. Nonetheless, it is closer now than ever before thanks, mostly due to Myth II updates and the multitudes of options 1.7.2 has unlocked for us mapmakers. :o)

Anyone who helps out testing, if you come across any issues please post them here and they will get looked into. Please note that with Heroes Who Dare Beta01a that i intentionally left my test observers on giving you and myself a view of everything thats going on while testing. Ive come to like it, but i think it may be going away after an update or 2. In the meantime, you may occasionally see things that seem strange, (units suddenly appearing on OHMap, LPGRs on then off then on etc), just try to keep in mind what the normal fog of war range is before thinking its in error. But by all means, if youre uncertain about anything, post anyways and i'll make certain. :o)

I havent tested it this way yet, but i think this map is gonna play best with 4 people each controlling 1 unit and using its strength to cover their partners weaknesses. But that could just be me as i sOOk playing with more than 2 unit types at once and some Myth *pro* out there may waltz through this with one hand, but either way, we will sOOnâ„¢ see. :o)

Oh, and a final note, currently there is little if any differences between the difficulty levels, so its mostly likely playing legendary. This will be addressed in the first OmniPatch update. :o)

To all who partake, GL HF Die Well !! :oD

[Point]

The Dwarfs Rock .... glad to see some updates to the warriors and dwarfs thanks IRON and crew

[GHOST®]

The Dwarfs Rock .... glad to see some updates to the warriors and dwarfs thanks IRON and crew

Yeah, i was highly impressed myself, Fe outdid himself this go around. ;o)
Its really a shame they didnt make their debut in his 7th Legion mini campaign, but there was no way i could pass on them when he offered them. :oD

My thanks to you for the Hue addition/fix for the Warriors. :o)

[iron]

What about the fir'bolg? Was my personal favourite - by far the hardest to animate as well. Anyway, thanks for the link Ghost, will fire up Myth (if I remember how) and give this plugin a whirl

[GodzFire]

Only problem is the Fir'bolg's bow is hilariously oversized. Seriously it's as big as him, I laugh when I see it.

[GHOST®]

Only problem is the Fir'bolg's bow is hilariously oversized. Seriously it's as big as him, I laugh when I see it.

:: shakes head & sighs ::

Are you telling us you have never seen or heard of a Longbow ??

[GHOST®]

06_NOV_2012

OK, Full HWD Beta 02 can be downloaded here. 42.0mb
Or the Omnipatch can be downloaded there. 3.22mb

Of particular importance is that the Difficulty Settings again make a difference. Activation ranges, enemy unit counts, etc. are now modified per the difficulty settings and the # of players. SO, timid *should be* considerably easier than legendary now. :o)

Oh, and i also removed the observers. If you want to use them, then have any of your units taunt while at the front of the outhouse. This will give you full map viewing again.

Change/Update Log; HWD Beta01a to Beta02a:

>>>Add 2nd set of WAYPs and randomize for PLATs a & b
DONE: Added 2nd set of WAYPs to choose from. (mb add a 3rd ??)

>>>Lessen Taken PLAT Radius's ?? (so far seems fine; mb a smidge?)
DONE: Lessened from 20 - 30 to 15 - 25.

>>>Put invi observs on TUNI/CTRL set up for testing.
DONE: Taunt near outhouse activate test observers.

>>>Check placement of bridge pylon detonators. ( importing media levels reset everythings height)
DONE: Reset to proper locations/heights.

>>>Check placement of summons FX. ( importing media levels reset everythings height)
DONE: Reset to proper locations/heights.

>>>Set Difficulties of Knot Units.
DONE: Mostly. May still need further adjustments.

>>>Start setting up Variable replacement MUNGs for difficulties.
(Default Settings Timid/MUNG norm-lgnd. Max #'s, ammo, switch arti's etc.)
DONE: Mostly. May still need further adjustments.

>>>Maybe add Maul, thrall, and souls to Harass GEOMs ?? YES~!!
DONE: Added Maul/Souls nrml - Myrms - hero. Set other units difficulty levels.

>>>Recheck/Rewerk Cannon Prerequisites set up, have GEOM fire each time with ATTA's.
DONE: Set to deactivate on execution and triggered just ahead of attacks via GEOM.

>>>Move 2 se cannonsfurther s and e
DONE: Moved furthest South cannon and removed tent, modified terrain & adjusted MA's.

>>>Think on re-adding health/selection boxes for NPCs.
DONE: Re-added, for now. Still decide if to keep or not ??

>>>Terrain Passability.
DONE: Terrain set other than fine tunings/making rock Giant Media so no burn.

>>> Re-add TUNIs to originally start off harassers b-f.
DONE: Re-added and tied to Harassers ACLI

>>>Timing on Respawn Fodder actions, again.
DONE: Reset up and tested. Timing properly now.

>>>Set up Center NPCs for battlefield look ??
DONE: Some fodder added Near Bridge. (may need refining)

>>>Cannon ghols difficulties; 1 & no respawn timid/ 2 & no respawn sim / 1 & respawn norm / 2 & respawn hero - lgnd
DONE: Difficulties/Respawn set.

>>>Cannon Ghols need Tuni to move back if defended cannon and moved.
DONE: Added Tests and Actions to Attack/Reset if player closer than 10 wu's.

>>>Warrior seems smallish ??
DONE: Increased from .520-.531 to .566-.570

>>>Set up Test for player Signal bottle within X of head, have Rabican / Alric spank bad players.
DONE: GEOM locates within 7 wu and gives to head and resets ammo to 0. (Da Head MONS set to have prdt as ammo)

>>Fix Media, is fUbared near waterfall.
DONE: Units no longer walk on air near waterfall.

>>>Cannon Attack timing MONS tag. Maybe too often ?? or mb just too accurate ??
DONE: Set for 2 less accurate to 1 more accurate shots. Increased random velocity a bit.

>>>Find cause and fix non promoting explosion from Fever Arrow
DONE: Fixed. Duped Fire arrow and changed to fir'bolg collection accordingly.

>>>Shapeshifter Special attack should be ?? (have shapeshift artifact(s))
DONE: Shapeshifter becomes coporeal to melee attack, otherwise, he is etherous.

>>>Should Taken Be Fooled by Invisibility ?? (Maybe except within X WU's??)
DONE: Mind made up, for now. Yes, they should be fooled. Small trigger time added to PLMO's though.

>>>Dupe ALL new dorf deady body Coll Frames and fix missing frames
DONE: Frames inserted, total 8 now instead of 5. No Rotation flag unchecked. times 3 dead body sequences.

>>>Dupe fir'bolg deady body Coll Frames and fix missing frames
DONE: Frames inserted, total 8 now instead of 5. No Rotation flag unchecked.

>>>Dupe Warrior dead body Coll Frames and fix missing frames
DONE: Frames inserted, total of 8 now instead of 5. No Rotation flag unchecked.

>>>Taken Hold Attacks need to be refined, some, mb ?? (mb use taken smoke LPGR instead of Hold Spell LPGR ??)
DONE: Gave Taken Smoke LPGR, looks better now.

>>>Set Harassers MONS to respawn/respawn via script flags.
DONE: All harassers set to respawn via script.

>>>fir'bolg arrows (shot and dropped bouncing about)
DONE: Duped Archer Fire Ammo bmps and modified & added to fir'bolg for fever ammo/broken arrow sequences.

>>>Set invi artis to last 60 secs. overall 4 minutes lifespan (240secs)
DONE: Full Mana Bar = 60 seconds invisibility. Overall lifespan = 7 mins (420 secs)

>>>Keep adding modifying hints as needed. Refine to be as succint as possible.
DONE: Refined and succint. Barring additions of new Hints.

>>>Berserk Special using mana every swing ??
DONE: Adjusted to 10 repetitions at a cost of 3.333. Now can use 3 times per full mana bar.

>>>ALL Harassers C (mb others) appearing and stalling. WHY ??
DONE: TUNI was set to deactivate on failure, reset to on success.

>>>Need to get use of airstrike to Reset Inventory to NIL.
DONE: Actions set up and tested. Resets to Nil after airstrike used.

>>>Need to get player arti airstrike recharge timer to recharge after specific time.
DONE: Actions set up and tested. Adds 1 charge to depleted arti's after 90 secs.

>>> Stagger back 40 Attack ??
DONE: Created second Attack POLY, smaller than first and split half and half between units.

>>>Double check, redo Further than TUNIs for Harassers. Maybe set up as INHIs or PRERs ??
DONE: TUNIs now check for "further than" before triggering VISI.

>>>Re-add Cannon dead b's to cannon ACLI ??
DONE: Re-added to Cannon ACLI

>>>Fix Artifact Switching/Timing/Mana issues. ( airstrike recharge count after 90 secs being a pain)
DONE: Fi-nagled a solution, created Airstrike Script section.

>>>Get more sounds and randomize "all right men . . ."
DONE: Added 1 saying for each unit type and randomized.

>>>Need to lessen/speed up promotion of Xplosion debris. ( running near max projectiles too often )
DONE: Removed contrails off Spark DMG proj and lessend from 12 - 7 on Piece DMG proj.

>>>lessen delay before airstrike arrives.
DONE: Lessened from 45 - 45 to 30 - 30.

>>> adjust Airstrike LPGR smoke so shorter to fade in, longer to fade out
DONE: Timed to Delay on Airstrike arriving. 30 seconds.

>>>Use a diff Snd FX for Cutscene magic PRGR.
DONE: Reset from Majik Xplosion to Avatara Majik

>>>Head PROJ not appearing if to many PROJs being created. Isnt there a way to FORCE this PROJ to appear ??
(Target - Still no idea what this does... NEW: If this is set to anything other than "No Tag", this projectile will have priority over others that don't have this set to anything. Useful if there are some very important projectiles that should always be created in a map that is likely to reach the projectile limit.)
DONE: Head/Rab/Alric PROJs all now *forced* to appear. (maybe?)

>>>consider seperate endgame failures. Current for if/when Alric/Rab die, plain fade to black if player units die??
DONE: Plain Fade to Black for Player death; Cutscene Endgame if Head killed.

>>>SC's Thrall die if SC does.
DONE: Tuni to check if SC dead, Triggers CTRL to Soft Kill SC Thrall.

[Jon God]

Only problem is the Fir'bolg's bow is hilariously oversized. Seriously it's as big as him, I laugh when I see it.

Blame Briar.

[Khadrelt]

Some bows are big, some are small. Like swords. Some Medieval longbows were over 7 feet in length, depending on who was using it.

[iron]

What GHOST and Khadrelt said, stop laughing & read some history Godz JG the bow is mine, not Briar's (which were small and very low-res). I intended the fir'bolg in my story to be heroes, so a large & powerful bow made sense to me.

[vinylrake]

Some bows are big, some are small. Like swords. Some Medieval longbows were over 7 feet in length, depending on who was using it.

English longbow especially - historians generally don't consider anything shorter than 5' a longbow and they often were longer than 6' in length (the bows not the historians) so even an average longbow would dwarf (in a manner of speaking) a normal medieval height person.

In the days before compound bows you needed a pretty big bow if you wanted to pierce plate armor - which longbows allegedly could do at considerable distances.

[GHOST®]

Interesting!!

Got a PM from Julio about an axe unit, and it appears i haven't scoped through your new 7th Legion collections well enough Iron!! :oO



Looks a tad blurry compared to the other warriors (mb just my eyesight?), but hey, HWD is now sporting AXE WARRIORS!! ;o)

:: Roots through new collections further, ever careful of a cleverly hidden TAG Trap ::

[GHOST®]

Some bows are big, some are small. Like swords. Some Medieval longbows were over 7 feet in length, depending on who was using it.

English longbow especially - historians generally don't consider anything shorter than 5' a longbow and they often were longer than 6' in length (the bows not the historians) so even an average longbow would dwarf (in a manner of speaking) a normal medieval height person.

In the days before compound bows you needed a pretty big bow if you wanted to pierce plate armor - which longbows allegedly could do at considerable distances.

:: Imagines medievil archers BSing before a major battle ::

"I dont care if it can pierce their armor at 100 yards, i AM NOT using that thing !! It makes me *look* funny !!"

[GHOST®]

What about the fir'bolg? Was my personal favourite - by far the hardest to animate as well. Anyway, thanks for the link Ghost, will fire up Myth (if I remember how) and give this plugin a whirl :)

Aye your new fir'bolg are really awesome Fe, and they really stand out nicely :: gets tagged by Fe :: when compared to Bungies or Badlands. ;oD

Only issue ive found so far is if i play with HWD's detail textures off, your beautiful units make HWD's CMap look UG-LY !! ;op