Master of Magic unofficial patch (latest version)

[Seravy]

Ok whatever. (previous posts deleted since it wasn't welcome)
From now on the 1.50 patch is discontinued. I thought I'm helping the community with that but it seems it wasn't the case. I've uploaded the IDA files I was using and all the ASM files I made here :

http://seravy.x10.mx/CasterofMagic/IDAFiles/

Enjoy updating it yourself or trying to bring back kyrub, I'm done. From now on I'll only update my mod. Saves me a lot of time, since I'm not playing the 1.50 patch myself anyway I don't need it.
I'll also avoid posting in any section of the forum aside from the one for the mod.

PS : please fix the Call Chaos crashing bug, because I wasn't able to.

[kyrub]

Ok whatever. (previous posts deleted since it wasn't welcome)
From now on the 1.50 patch is discontinued. I thought I'm helping the community with that but it seems it wasn't the case.

Hi Seravy,
that is certainly *not* the case with me. It's sad to read bad reactions, I find it unnecessary at the very least. If someone does not like someone's work, just don't use it and be done with it. - I really appreciate what I have read about the patch and I am happy with what you have done with Insecticide. Thank you for your work. I guess that people will appreciate it later.

I don't plan to come back to work on MoM. I have deleted all my IDA files and notes on this game, other things and more important ones are now happening in RL for me.

[namad]

I agree. Seravy don't let people get you down. I never really write or read these forums anymore, but I do come here and download the patches you create and I play the game a lot. I just don't participate in the discussion about it. I'm sure there are a lot of people who are like me. Just look at your downloads hit count for reassurance (assuming the download link even tracks that?)

[Tiltowait]

Aw come on, just because one guy is a dick doesn't mean the entire project has to be abandoned. This bjg user posts once a year and none since February. I don't even know why he has an account on this board. I think we can safely ignore him and if he pops up again I'll use my moderator powers to make him go away.

Everyone needs the v1.5 patch, it is what's keeping the mainline MoM current. Someone had to pick up the torch from kyrub, and I'm glad someone competent like Seravy took it. The game is so greatly improved it's not even funny. It's super-great!

[Anthony]

There's an argument for renaming the subforum since 1.5 isn't Insecticide it's its own thing, but whatever you call it, patching 'traditional' MoM is appropriate to these boards.

[Seravy]

Thanks for the encouragement. As explained elsewhere already, I came to the conclusion that 1.50 needed to eventually reach the point where it was declared "complete" anyway and this is the time. (the 3 patches done meanwhile are already added in the final version)
If enough bugs are found to require such, and no one else is interested doing it, I might release a 1.51 at a later time but for now we really should have something that's completed and not just another RC. Having RCs go up to 18 is ridiculous, and no one can progress with whatever project they have if the core game gets a new major update every week.

Regardless, if ANYONE manages to fix Call Chaos, or at least find out why it's crashing please let me know, it's the only thing I wasn't able to figure out ever (spent at least 10 hours on it in multiple days), and I'm not a fan of the current solution of removed graphics - albeit I believe AI in 1.50 uses the spell very rarely, the disabled graphics affect the human player as well. The only thing I know is that the call at 0B28Ch is crashing, but it seems to be a generic graphical call to update the screen contents so the bug should be something else. The crash only happens when the AI casts the spell, and only if it happens after the first turn. Neither of these have anything to do with the place of the crash, furthermore, if I hack the procedure to consider the caster the human player when the AI used it, it still crashes. I honestly am out of ideas what the problem might be. (stack overflow? memory corruption?)

PS : kyrub, I've made a wiki page about insecticide (and will do the same for 1.50 when I have time). All the information there is based on disassembling, you might want to check to make sure I didn't miss anything important or misinterpret anything, if you remember such details. http://masterofmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Insecticide

[bjg]

I don't plan to come back to work on MoM.

That is sad. Thanks for all you've done!
You where patching the MoM according to it's intended behavior. Even the (unsuccessful) attempt to add queues wasn't changing the game's mechanics, just adding the usability. Seravy is modding the game, changing it's logic and gameplay - the way he (and many, but not everybody) likes. This is valuable, but very different. His work shouldn't be mixed with yours, he isn't your successor (and probably needs his own versions numbering) - this is all I was trying to say.

[Seravy]

I don't plan to come back to work on MoM.

That is sad. Thanks for all you've done!
You where patching the MoM according to it's intended behavior. Even the (unsuccessful) attempt to add queues wasn't changing the game's mechanics, just adding the usability. Seravy is modding the game, changing it's logic and gameplay - the way he (and many, but not everybody) likes. This is valuable, but very different. His work shouldn't be mixed with yours, he isn't your successor (and probably needs his own versions numbering) - this is all I was trying to say.

If that isn't too much to ask for, may I know which of the changes in 1.50 do you consider "changing logic and gameplay"?
I tried to keep the philosophy of not changing anything if they aren't bugs, the only two major exceptions are treasure (which insecticide also changed significantly) and diplomacy (which was so broken there was no "original" philosophy to follow, it straight out didn't work at all) so if I went wrong somewhere, I'd like to know. It's never too late to move a patch from the mandatory to the optional section for a future version if it's better that way.

[bjg]

If that isn't too much to ask for, may I know which of the changes in 1.50 do you consider "changing logic and gameplay"?

It was actually a quest to get the changelog. Didn't find it (nor the entire zip) on this site. Had to go to (and search) your website - not a good sign. Didn't find the changelog even there, and even in the zip file there is no compiled changelog - not a good sign.
Are patches in the "Included" directory actually included? Than there are a lot of *feat.txt - didn't like several of them (could be good or not, but changing the gameplay), and than stopped looking.
Might continue with the quest another day by combining all the comments from those files, but does it make sense? You have your users, my single opinion probably wont change anything. So far I'd better stuck with 1.4n.

[Seravy]

If that isn't too much to ask for, may I know which of the changes in 1.50 do you consider "changing logic and gameplay"?

It was actually a quest to get the changelog. Didn't find it (nor the entire zip) on this site. Had to go to (and search) your website - not a good sign. Didn't find the changelog even there, and even in the zip file there is no compiled changelog - not a good sign.
Are patches in the "Included" directory actually included? Than there are a lot of *feat.txt - didn't like several of them (could be good or not, but changing the gameplay), and than stopped looking.
Might continue with the quest another day by combining all the comments from those files, but does it make sense? You have your users, my single opinion probably wont change anything. So far I'd better stuck with 1.4n.

As of now, the changes are described within the patch files themselves only, since the project was in development. I'm already working on a wiki page for it but takes some time to finish, it's now done up to the 250th patch here : http://masterofmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Unof...Patch_1.50
Once it's done it can be copied into the download itself, although the information in the patch files is more detailed.

To answer the question, yes, every patch in the "included" folder is included, although they can be removed manually by using the ... eh, the patch tools aren't in the 1.50 download, sorry about that. I'll update it immediately.
Anyway, fileset.exe applies a patch, reverse.exe undoes it. If either of them report a warning it means there is a dependency and that specific operation was not safe to do without applying or removing another patch first. Keep backups. In general it's best to remove the highest number patch first, and add the lowest since dependency is only possible when a newer file requires an older one.
If that's more convenient for you, you can also take whichever patch you like, grab the 1.40n files and specifically apply only those to it instead of undoing the ones you did not like, this will however mean the 3 changes marked "X" will not be included since they don't have a patch file. At the very least I recommend adding patches that fix memory corruption problems and similar severe bugs.

It's up to you if you want to use 1.40n, and while only you asking for the removal of a patch might not mean I instantly remove it, if enough people don't like a specific change, I will. This release is for the community, not myself. I usually asked about the inclusion of questionable changes on the forum but I might have missed something that felt obvious inclusion for me when it actually wasn't. Knowing what you don't like could help me get a better idea on what type of stuff is better left optional in the future, even if no changes are made.

btw I also suggest reading this : http://masterofmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Insecticide , since kyrub's changelogs didn't contain everything that was actually changed.