Posts from RES – various resource piles.

https://yadi.sk/d/D7h_KHOPRizhNA
A small mod that adds more variations of resource piles. Now, each resource can be in a small, medium, or large pile, and the number of units found changes. (large piles offer up to 15 units). New types of chests and campfires have been added, also with an increased number of resources. All new items are included in the list of random treasures, so they may appear when generating a map or in campaigns.
The models for the resources were taken from the PRT 0.3 and Resources From MMH7 to HOMMV by WizardNazyr mods.

Cool! Could you comment on the screenshot, indicating which units are grouped together? And isn't there only one type of gray unit shown in the screenshot?

Campfire - twice as large as the usual one, reference Res/019
Wood - usual 3-8, from 7 - 15-20, from 6 - 9-14, references Res/030 and Res/012
Crystal - usual 1-5, recolored 6-10, seven 11-15, references Res/022, Res/024.
Gems - usual 1-5, seven 11-15, recolored 6-10, references Res/049 Res/050
Gold - usual 5-10, six 11-17, seven 18-24, references Res/017 Res/018
Mercury - usual 1-5, cauldron 6-10, ingots 11-15, references Res/002 Res/046
Ore - usual 3-8, six 9-14, seven 15-20, references Res/047 Res/049
Sulfur - usual 1-6, seven 7-12, reference Res/026, no third variety
Chest - usual 1-3, from PRT 4-6, reference Res/057

It looks interesting, but in my opinion, it will be confusing from a gameplay perspective. Objects on the map should be quickly recognizable, and when functionally the same object looks different, it creates confusion and forces you to remember unnecessary information. But that's just my opinion.

But you can see the clusters and estimate how many resources you'll find there.

Added 1 minute ago
at least there's some variety.

Hmm, yes, it's a bit tricky. It would be great to come up with something more obvious to differentiate them, for example, a clear distinction based on size, a more vibrant glow, or a clearly more "elite" and colorful appearance for the larger groups, something along those lines.
But overall, it's interesting.

In my opinion, there is no benefit to such a division, as the Wood Camp will generate the same 10 units of wood, for example; only with the mod will they look different, and that's it. Instead, you'll have to memorize all the types of resource piles. The only advantage of the mod, in my opinion, is the ability to evaluate the piles based on the number of resources, and even then, the range is still quite large. I agree with Ment; we need to make the differences more pronounced. P.S. I don't understand why the mercury in the second pile is so strange...

Coincidentally, I modified/re-textured the resources. More polygons and effects. I'm uploading an updated version if it's useful to you. Your project is interesting, but unfortunately, it seems to lack functionality in terms of gameplay. Don't be discouraged!

PS: I'm adding a file that eliminates the annoying yellow aura of all resources; I've increased the aura of resources so that they glow with the corresponding colors. There's a compatibility issue with the tree and PRT.0.3; for now, it should be replaced with the full version to fix this.



Resources.pak

Delete Aura.pak

But you can see the piles and guess approximately how many resources there are.

Added 1 minute ago
variety, in any case.

In this case, the recognizability of resources is a very debatable issue.
For example, crystals suddenly change color at the last "level," so are you sure the player will immediately realize that these are crystals and not gemstones? Mercury starts as a flask, then ingots, then a cauldron; it is not intuitively clear to the player that all of this is one resource. And so on.
Then, if we take wood as an example, all the piles are different, and it is clear from all of them that it is wood, but it is not intuitively clear which pile is larger.

In short, from a gameplay point of view, such things must be very well refined in order to make sense.
For example, with wood, all three piles should be the same in terms of model and texture; simply, the first one has, for example, 5 logs, the second has 10, and the third has 20 (and you can add an axe). The same applies to other resources. Then the player will be able to easily understand the game's language, and the idea of "understanding the amount of resources by the model" will be achieved in principle. Another question is that the vast majority of players will simply not pay attention to these nuances.

There is also a common technique of indicating such things with color. That is, in one game, for example, there is a chest object, and depending on its coolness, it is divided into wooden (brown), steel (gray-blue), and gold (red-yellow). Color coding works perfectly in this case; the player looks at the chest and roughly understands what level of reward awaits him inside. But specifically in Heroes, there are already 7 types of objects for resources. Which, in principle, use color coding to some extent. Is it worth increasing this number to 21 objects?

P. S. Variety is not necessarily good by default. There are situations when more means worse, because many unnecessary options in certain cases can "clutter" the game's "language."

Could it be implemented with scripts so that the visual appearance of objects would vary depending on the terrain?

You can apply effects, but not based on the terrain, which, as far as I know, cannot be checked directly with scripts. Instead, you could implement a search based on objects characteristic of the terrain (specific mountains or trees, for example). However, I myself have never done anything like this, except for searching by heroes.
It probably doesn't need to be said that the code will be long, complex, a patchwork, and won't work in 100% of situations.

You can apply effects, but not based on the terrain, which, as far as I know, cannot be checked with scripts. Instead, you could search for characteristic objects of the terrain (specific mountains or trees, for example). However, I have never done anything like that myself, except for searching for heroes.
I probably shouldn't mention that the code would be long, complex, a patchwork, and not 100% reliable in all situations.

I understand... that's a shame... but it would have been cool! :smile26:

In my opinion, if the appearance of a resource changed depending on the type of terrain, it would be another unnecessary and confusing feature. If we're talking about buildings, then yes, it makes some sense. But this is already partially implemented in the game.