Posts from NCF – Extended list of Neutral creatures. Auto-translated

It will help, it will help. I myself used this trick when playing through the Campaigns – I removed all creatures from the generation list except for the seven upgrades I needed for my city. It's a different story if there was an update; then you have to re-edit the text file.
PS: I don't know about the creatures in the NCF, but you can find the numbers of the standard creatures and much more here. The Stalker's number is 138.

For those who are clueless, there is a link to the English-language website of this project in the first message! :smile42:

It will help, it will help. I myself used this trick when playing through the Campaigns – I removed all creatures from the generation list except for the seven upgrades I needed for my city. It's a different story if there was an update; then you have to re-edit the text file.
PS: I don't know about the creatures in the NCF, but you can find the numbers of the standard creatures and much more here. The Stalker's number is 138.

...writes - where should I save this file? And the creature file itself doesn't change...

It's obvious that you need to save this file in any directory, and then use it to replace the old file in the archive.

First of all, as far as I understand, you need to configure the file explorer so that you can manually change the file extension. To do this, you need to uncheck the "Hide extensions for registered file types" option in the "File Explorer Options" section.
When saving the modified xdb file, you will be asked where to save it. Save it to your desktop, and then manually drag it to the folder in the archive where the original editable file was located (after changing the format to xdb if it was saved as txt).

First of all, as far as I understand, you need to configure the file explorer so that you can manually change the file extension. To do this, you need to uncheck the "Hide extensions for registered file types" option in the "File Explorer Options" section.
When saving the modified xdb file, you will be asked where to save it. Save it to your desktop, and then manually drag it to the folder in the archive where the original editable file was located (after changing the format to xdb if it was saved as txt).

No, I don't use NCF – it has a lot of unnecessary stuff (in my opinion), and you won't be able to play as the new units, and I don't care who I fight as neutral creatures. But if you could play as these new units (by creating external buildings for hiring them, similar to "Elemental Fusion" and "Refugee Camp"), then it would be a completely different story.

Basically, I did as you said. I managed to copy the modified file into the archive, but when I checked it on the map, the Stalkers appeared again, despite the changes. This is just awful...

My friend, how do you perform the check?

It's very simple. I load any scenario, enter a cheat code, and examine the map. Sometimes, of course, the Stalkers don't appear. But this happens only once in 4-5 attempts. And once, the Stalkers appeared, and I even had a battle, and the game didn't crash. But that was the very first scenario I loaded. In the next 4 games, it crashed. In general, I know that in the latest versions of the mod, they successfully dealt with the Stalkers. But, unfortunately, in addition to the pluses, they also added many minuses. In particular, they removed strong abilities from some creatures. In terms of balance, I really liked version 1 of the mod. I was simply delighted with it. All that needed to be done was to fix the Stalkers, add an upgrade for the undead, and solve the problem with the "warriors" unit. And that's it. But the mod authors (with all due respect to them) succumbed to the whining of those who found it difficult to play against strong creatures. Therefore, I am looking for ways to keep the balance of part 1, while removing only the Stalkers from the map. So far, without success. I hope someone will advise something. I am very much looking forward to advice directly from the modders. They should be aware.

The authors of NCF have nothing to do with this! And the fact that some creatures were "castrated" is not a solution to the problem; it's the same as cutting off your head instead of treating it when you have a headache!

However, if you want to contribute to balancing NCF, there is a special tool – NOIADE :smile13:

It's very simple. I load any scenario, enter a cheat code, and examine the map. Sometimes, of course, the Stalkers don't appear. But this happens only once in 4-5 attempts. And once, the Stalkers appeared, and I even fought a battle, and the game didn't crash. But that was the very first scenario I loaded. In the next 4 games, it crashed. In general, I know that in the latest versions of the mod, they successfully dealt with the Stalkers. But unfortunately, in addition to the improvements, they also introduced many drawbacks. In particular, they removed powerful abilities from some creatures. In terms of balance, I really liked the 1st version of the mod. I was simply delighted with it. All that needed to be done was to fix the Stalkers, add the ability to summon improved undead, and solve the problem with the "warriors" unit. And that's it. But the mod authors (with all due respect to them) succumbed to the whining of those who found it too difficult to play against strong creatures. That's why I'm looking for ways to keep the balance of the 1st part, while removing only the Stalkers from the map. So far, without success. I hope someone will advise me on something. I'm really looking forward to advice, especially from modders. They should be aware.

why not extract their files from later versions and put them in the current one? just stalkers.