Guide to making Pretender mods?

[Noble Ten]

I've tryed to make my own Dragon Pretender, just to be rather more stronger in combat or combat focused. Namely felt it needs more health. etc etc. Well I'd love to make a Black Dragon, but I dont really have the sprites for it <.<

But the problem is, I cant get pretenders to work unless I mod over an exsisting one (not create one). I've read through the monster part in the modding manual, I did the new monster command and use the copy stats command from the default dragons for its base stats, then altered some stats and added skills I felt may be aproperate, but after all is done, I can never to get it to come up on the pretender list.

I am guessing maybe its because I am using the copy stats and somethings not working right, so is there any guides to make a pretender step by step manually (like manuallying adding all required stats for a Pretender)

[Zonk]

You need to use #pathcost, #startdom and #homerealm.

Base game dragons have #pathcost 80, #startdom 2 and #homerealm 10 (default pretender, available to all land nations)

Note that you can also not use #homerealm (or #homerealm 0) and then add a pretender option to a nation manually with #addgod

[Noble Ten]

Seems it still wouldnt work even with those, so I decided to start from scratch and doing everything manual (not using copy) which seems to be working.

But now I am having a problem with the shapeshift <.<

In the first monster (god) I have
#shapechange 5051


and the human form I have (mosnter 5051)
#shapechange 5050
#secondshape 5050

Been fiddling around with it and no luck, Following the manuals "exact" commands dont seem to work. At first the shapechange text had no monster listed on the skill, and then now when I click on a the god, a spearman comes up instead.

What am I getting wrong with this shapeshifting ><

[DasaKamov]

Originally posted by Noble Tenshi:

and then now when I click on a the god, a spearman comes up instead.

The "Spearman" is a placeholder file when the game cannot find the monster you are trying to shapeshift into. I'm assuming your God has monster ID #5050?

[Noble Ten]

Yes

Then I made a new one underneath with an ID of 5051 to be a human form.

This is what I have for the mod. Might make it easier.

-- Black Dragon
#modname "Black Dragon"
#description "Black Dragon Pretender"
#version 0.1


#newmonster 5050
#spr1 "./Black_Dragon/black_dragon_a.tga"
#spr2 "./Black_Dragon/black_dragon_b.tga"
#name "Black Dragon"
#descr "Rarest and oldest of the Dragons! really!"
#hp 250
#size 6
#prot 21
#mr 20
#mor 30
#str 26
#att 14
#def 14
#prec 12
#enc 2
#mapmove 3
#ap 12
#eyes 2
#maxage 9000
#gcost 10
#rcost 1
#pathcost 80
#startdom 6
--ainorec
#weapon 533
#weapon 20
#weapon 29
#weapon 532
#goodleader
#okmagicleader
#poorundeadleader
#flying
#fear 10
#fireres 15
#mountainsurvival
#wastesurvival
#heal
#woundfend 20
#supplybonus 20
#magicskill 6 2
#itemslots 12416
--allrange 1
#homerealm 0
#shapechange 5051
#end

-- Adding God to Nation Man
#selectnation 37
#addgod 5050
#end

--- Dragons human form
#new monster 5051
#copyspr 811
--spr1
--spr2

#name "Dragon Kemonomimi"
#descr "Human Form of the Black Dragon"
#hp 60
#size 3
#prot 12
#mr 20
#mor 30
#str 20
#att 14
#def 17
#prec 12
#enc 2
#mapmove 3
#ap 12
#eyes 2
#maxage 9000
#goodleader
#okmagicleader
#poorundeadleader
#weapon 29
#fireres 15
#heal
#woundfend 20
#supplybonus 20
#mountainsurvival
#wastesurvival
--allrange 1
#awe 1
#itemslot 13446
#shapechange 5050
#secondshape 5050
#end

was hoping I could get that to work with the shapeshifting, then could start tweaking it.

[DasaKamov]

If you're using the "#secondshape" command, you have to specify the HP at which the monster changes shape, I believe.

You may also need to add the #firstshape command to the Dragon-form.

[Red_Rob]

There is no need to specify hp with #secondshape. In addition there is no #firstshape command.

#shapechange should cause the monster to transform from the lower hp form into the higher hp form if killed in the lower hp form. Due to this #secondshape is not needed here and may be causing a conflict. I would remove it.

Also, have you added an additional #end and then a blank line at the end of your mod? Not including these can cause some weird issues.

[DasaKamov]

Originally posted by Red_Rob:

In addition there is no #firstshape command.

You're right about the HP value with #secondshape -- I was think of the #shrinkhp command used in conjunction. However, #firstshape is clearly documented on Page 30 of the Dominsions 4 Modding Manual 4.21:

#firstshape "<name>" | <nbr>
This monster will change shape to its first shape
when it feels ok. Werewolves have this ability in
their wolf shapes.

I do agree that the #secondshape tag seems to be the culprit here, when combined with the #shapechange tag.

[Red_Rob]

Originally posted by DasaKamov:

However, #firstshape is clearly documented on Page 30 of the Dominsions 4 Modding Manual 4.21:

#firstshape "<name>" | <nbr>
This monster will change shape to its first shape
when it feels ok. Werewolves have this ability in
their wolf shapes.

Derp. Yes, of course there is #firstshape, I've even used it in mods. Not sure what I was thinking of there!

However, you shouldn't get any error from using #secondshape and not #firstshape aswell, it will just mean that it won't shift back to the original form after a battle.

[Noble Ten]

I found the reason, or should say mistake that was preventing it from working. I misspelled new monster command.

[Red_Rob]

Doh! Yes, I can see there is a space there now.

If you want to avoid this in future you can use Notepad++ with the Dominions language file which highlights all the modding commands. That way if one if mispelled it won't be highlighted and will stand out:

http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/index.php?showtopic=1878&view=findpost&p=22137173

[fodder]

what is the limit on the nunmber of traits for monsters?

[DasaKamov]

In my experience, no one has reported hitting some sort of hard limit on traits to the point where the game crashes. I imagine you can add as many traits as trait-icons fits on their stat line.

However, be aware that once a creature has more than five or so traits (generally speaking), it can be a real pain in the butt trying to sort through the mess of icons in the unit's "Details" box.

[fodder]

it seems odd, but if you add everything, some of them seem to be deactivated. game doesn't crash, but it's as if the excess ones don't exist. i think the 4 survival ones might have priority over some of the others ragardless where they are on the order. similarly magicpaths.

[DasaKamov]

Different traits cancelling each other would be a bug, I would think. There are some traits which do not display an icon - I believe #slothpower is one such example.
Do traits appear as normal if a monster has, say, six total traits, but start to disappear if the same monster has seven or above? And is it the same specific trait which disappears, or one from the list at random?
If the latter, it does seem like there is an undocumented cap on the number of traits monsters can have at once.

[fodder]

to be fair, the mod manual does say there's a limit. it just doesn't tell you what the limit is and what it applies to!

A word of warning on monster modding: A single monster can only have a limited number of special abilities so don’t put them all on the same monster. This is especially apparent on gods as dominion strength and path costs are special abilities too.

it would appear the ones down the list are the ones that'll go missing... but i think there are exceptions. i have no idea what the number is. but above a certain number, they don't show up (though it's somewhat crowded to tell) and the effects definitely aren't triggered.

i thought someone might have come across this before and know the answer