General Improvement Mod - A New Unofficial Patch for DK2

[Xalxitz]

Thank you so much for this. I really appreciate this.

It looks like you used much things from patch 1.51 right? I installed your patch with the Gog Version and it shows Version 1.51 in the loading screen. I am trying to get the AI to their state in 1.51

I noticed that the classical creature attract flaw in the campaign maps from the 1.71 patch hasn't been fixed. I made sure that I did nothing wrong and reinstalled DK2 properly and took a look into the campaign maps with the editor. And yes Goblins are set to 0 in the Creature Pool in some missions.

Also the prision is bugged/not fixed, the skeletons don't leave it on their own.

Would you recommend replacing the campaign maps with the versions of vanilla 1.3?
Although I would like to have the prision fixed. :S

Would be grateful for some help.

[Xalxitz]

Interesting, thanks for the quick reply. If I install your mod and everything correctly, (I use the GoG version btw, don't know if that is a problem) what does the version on the start menu say? For me it said 1.51

Do you really think it would be a problem to use the old 1.3 campaign levels? I know Bullfrog must have done something to them, or else they wouldn't have fucked up the creature pools.
Sites like http://www.deindungeonistvollerjoghurt.keepfree.de/ recommend to do that.

The only other possibility would be to change the creature pools again.
I'm more or less confident to do that, but got a little question just to be save.
When I opens up the campaign levels, It always warns me that it loads global data and apparently wants to save some changes (?), basicly I don't know if I can just change the creature pools without making some unintended changes in the progress.

Edit:
Oh and btw more important in order for me to understand, if I should just make a tradeoff and use version 1.51:
How much do maps, in this case campaign maps influence the AI?

Thanks again, I do realize I'm probably asking a lot of noobish stuff. :3

[Hapuga]

Wyrmcast, maybe this will be of help in solving the hero portal problem. If you need any additional info or clarifications, I will share all I know.

[Xalxitz]

Wow, thanks that's awesome and quick btw. Can't wait to start another campaign. And thanks for explaining the thing with the globals.
Do you got an idea how the skeleton-prision bug could be fixed?

[Silverhineko]

Hapuga, you said you were able to get the GOG version and the patch working. Could you tell me how you were able to do so? Was it with the latest version from gog?

The latest compatibility patch from gog seems to have created another exe, DKII-dx.exe, aside from the main one. This new exe requires the patch.dll file to run. The general improvement mod when properly installed do not seem to effect this exe unfortunately. When I run the main exe it comes up as 1.5, so I suppose the mod works on the main version, however then the graphics mess up and disabling various gfx option and compatibility things do not seem fix these issues. The new exe from gog, DKII-dx.exe, works, but comes up as 1.7. Even though I replaced the files with the modded ones, it seems not to have any impact? (The maps are there. Hard to tell if the AI is changed.) An issue of having the DKII-dx.exe and 1.8 general mod going together is that the level does not complete when the gem portal drops. So, even if the mod was working (I can't tell if it is) it makes playing the game moot.

Looks like I'm stuck playing vanilla version. :"(

[My machine is a 64bit win7.]

Even if it doesn't do me much good, I will say thanks for all the hard work, Wyrmcast. It's awesome you work on this so long after it released. =D I'm sure there's a lot of people better able to enjoy the game because of you.

[Hapuga]

Disable hardware acceleration ingame. All the graphics problems will go away.

[Silverhineko]

Disable hardware acceleration ingame. All the graphics problems will go away.

What version of everything are you running? (Gog patch, unofficial mod here, which exe you're using (dkII or dkII-dx.exe.) I've tried that, and lowering resolution, compatibility mode for windows 2000, admin access, run in resolution 680 etc, disabling this and that etc. Doesn't make a lick of difference and even if I change option then exit and restart the options aren't saved.

[Hapuga]

Thanks for an update!

While the conqueror does have better advance tactics, it builds much smaller dungeon, which results in smaller creature attraction power. I wish there was a way to combine the the conquerors aggressiveness and the master keeper's building layout.

[Hapuga]

You're welcome!


The conqueror AI does build smaller dungeons, but I consider this an advantage for the conqueror except on levels with huge amounts of room for the master keeper. Master keeper tries to make always 5x5 rooms with a space of two tiles between each room while conqueror likes to build 4x4 rooms with just a space between at first. Also master keeper likes to build gigantic lairs much bigger than needed (like 6x6 or 7x7 tile for one portal). This all causes the master keeper to stall up on most maps because it doesn't have enough room to build much more than a lair and a treasury often times before it freezes from lack of space to build rooms. Master keeper really mostly tends to be a money waster while conqueror is relatively efficient. Also the master keeper seems to be better at handling low amounts of room to build, as it will sometimes build rooms right next to each other if it can't find room while the master keeper always wants to build a 2 tile path between each room and will lock up if it can't do that.

Another thing to consider is that I think the Master Keeper has much more of a love for huge, useless casinos than the conqueror does. Oftentimes the conqueror will even build a combat pit before the casino while I recall Master Keeper always building the casino first.

Also conqueror will build 4x4 rooms at first but will expand them or build new ones as needed (such as new lairs for more creatures). And it tends to build a 4x4 combat pit at first and then expand it to 5x6 as it throws creatures into the combat pit. I think master keeper only builds a 5x5 combat pit.

The only advantages the master keeper has over the conqueror is that it's better under perfect conditions (a map specially designed to have huge amounts and resources for the master keeper) and that it will potentially build a 5x5 temple if it has a huge amount of room and money, so that it will get dark angels. It can also use the combat pit more efficient under ideal conditions.

Overall the master keeper is rubbish though as on almost every existing map in the game it does worse than the conqueror keeper. The only map I've ever seen it do better on was a test map I designed myself which had a huge amount of money, portals and land for the master keeper; otherwise the master keeper is pretty bad and much more often does nothing. I've also noticed that the master keeper doesn't seem to like to dig to enemies or initiate attacks with the call to arms spell as the conqueror AI does.

These are the reasons why I renamed the "Master Keeper" to "Moron" in my mod. Master keeper is very overrated.

Like I said I actually think the conqueror really usually has a better build layout. So I've really no desire to give it a copy of the "Master Keeper"'s build layout.

I've heard someone recommend the Greyman AI as the best Keeper AI but Greyman seems to me to just be a much less aggressive version of the conqueror AI.

I would really like to move the conqueror up to be the default AI for selection instead of the "Master Keeper" to encourage people to use Conqueror more, since I think overall (almost always) it's the better AI.

I encourage people to watch what the Master Keeper and the Conqueror do when they build their dungeons on the map "Alcatraz" to see the difference between the AIs.

This is all my opinion on this subject.

EDIT:

Oh and I remember one better thing that the master keeper does. It can potentially build a 5x5 hatchery to get bile demons assuming it gets that far without freezing from lacking the huge space it needs for its inefficient dungeons.

So you are more or less right about creature attraction power, master keeper can get bile demons and dark angels on a perfect map for it. Usually though it has trouble even attracting in salamanders and trolls.

Thanks for a detailed explanation! I pretty much agree on everything you said. By saying that I would like to give conqueror the mk build layout I essentially meant the room sizes, not the idiotic proximity, due to which mk fails miserably as you have described. If you even find an insertion point in asm where the call to the ai building is made, let me know I will be more than happy to contribute on rewriting the AI logic completely. I wish I had more knowledge of low level memory management, however I am good with c++ and can write basic masm. I in fact, am very interested in how you managed to disassemble the project so far I tried to run it through very sleepy, but with little success. I was only able to recognize some basic callbacks in DX8 =)

[Keeper Decagon]

Just a minor suggestion:

In the Skirmish map "Asmodeus", the Player starts off with just a few Gold blocks, but that is all. I think, really, that the Player should be given at least one Gem block, seeing that the Blue Keeper already has two, which would allow the Player to build up more before having to straight away smash through the Heroes and kill Blue. Giving Gems to the Player Keeper would balance the level a bit more.

Anyways, keep up the good (or evil, hehehe) work.