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Hello everyone, I had an idea that I think is interesting. I won't be implementing it myself, at least not in the foreseeable future, but I'd still like to discuss it.
It's no secret that most of the parameters of creatures and heroes, including references to their appearance (models), are stored in game archives in the form of text files. What if we created a small, third-party program that could understand, create, and edit these files, and then package them into an archive? By adding an accessible and user-friendly interface to such a program, we could create a powerful, yet simple, creature and hero editor, so to speak, for the masses.
And now for the most interesting part: appearance, models, and textures. Many of you are probably familiar with the method of creating new creatures for Heroes 5 mods, which can be called "Frankensteining." In this method, model parts (heads, weapons, shoulder pads, etc.) are placed on top of a base model as effects. Well, such an effect is also a text file. This file contains references to individual models, parts of armor, etc. You can also add references to various textures.
In general, if we teach the program to edit these references and add a clear, simple user interface, we could create a "Frankenstein" editor in which it would be easy to create, for example, a knight with a devil's head and a reaper's scythe.
Of course, such a "Frankenstein" editor would require a library of parts. Cutting up the original Nival models into pieces and preparing them as effects for the game is, in principle, not a very difficult task. But, given the scale of the work, it could take quite a long time. By the way, creating such an editor for each skeleton (i.e., a set of animations) would be problematic, so it would be better to limit it to a dozen of the most functional bases. For example, a knight, an archer/crossbowman, a knight-hero, a shaman, a druid, etc.
A few more technical details, if you want, skip straight to the end. Along with this program, it would be good to use a certain universal folder structure. That is, if possible, all files related to a creature should be in one folder (and its subfolders), have a universal designation, for example, creature_model, and reference each other, if possible, without taking into account paths outside the folder. Thus, to create a new creature, the program would simply have to copy and rename the folder, modify some of the paths, and one or two files that are outside the folder. A similar structure should be used for the "Frankenstein" parts library. I'm writing this because I use such a structure when I make mods myself; in my opinion, it is more convenient and saves time when working, unlike the chaos that exists in the original Nival archives.
In general, there is such an idea, it is quite feasible, but I think it will take a lot of time to implement, and therefore I will not get around to it for a very long time, if ever.
But I'm still very interested in hearing opinions from the outside. What do you think, how much demand will there be for such a program-editor for creatures/heroes? Is it needed by the Heroes 5 fan community?
I can only add that it is a pity that it is not possible to edit these in-game files during the game; at least, I do not know of any scripts that can change references to models or even the characteristics of creatures. Therefore, a full-fledged inventory or army customization in Heroes 5 cannot be implemented.