Posts from Questions about the Heroes 4 map editor.

I can send it to your email.

That would be great!
I sent the address in a private message.

How do you make tunnels? Because the ones I make don't lead anywhere. And portals too, by the way.

Added after 2 hours and 43 minutes
Please answer, how do you make a Dungeon?

Added after 32 minutes
Oh, I figured it out. Now another question - is it possible to make a single-level map into a two-level map?

How do you make tunnels? The ones I make don't lead anywhere. And the portals too, by the way.

Added after 2 hours and 43 minutes
Please answer, how do you make a dungeon?

Added after 32 minutes
Okay, I understand now. Now another question - can I make a single-level map into a two-level map?

Tab: "Campaign/Create Underground Level"

I've already created the Dungeon, but the problem with the portals remains – they don't lead anywhere. What should I do?

Place the entrance tunnel (descent) on the surface and the exit tunnel (ascent) in the dungeon.

I've already created the Dungeon, but I'm still having trouble with the portals – they don't lead anywhere. What should I do?

If you mean the lists in the Dungeon/ascents to the surface, then if you only have one entrance to the Dungeon on your map, you can place the list/ascent anywhere. If you have multiple entrances, you should only place the ascent directly below the descent – i.e., on the upper level, place the descent in one location, and on the lower level, place the ascent in the same location as on the upper level.

Does anyone know what artifacts can be found in specific treasure rooms, and how to calculate the probability of them dropping (for example, what is the chance that a Soul Eater will drop in a Dragon City, or a Ring of Health in a Minotaur Labyrinth)? Also, if I enable sets from the upcoming expansion in the map settings, will they drop, and what artifact group do they belong to? Thank you in advance for your answer.

And also, if the map settings allow for items from the upcoming expansion, will they drop, and what artifact group do they belong to?

When initializing random artifacts on the map, artifacts from the upcoming expansion will not drop. Regarding treasure chests, I don't know; we'll check now. They most likely belong to the Relic artifact type or some separate artifact group.

Added 12 minutes later
I checked, they don't drop in the Dragon City. Just like other Relic class artifacts. Instead, random artifacts of other classes drop, even if they are prohibited on the map.

Added 8 minutes later
I don't know about the probabilities of artifact drops in treasure chests. But I'm almost certain that each treasure chest has probabilities for dropping a specific class of artifacts, but not each specific artifact. That is, for example, in the Dragon City, the Soulreaver, Emerald Bow, and Book of Life will drop with the same probability because they all belong to the Major class. As for the probabilities themselves, unfortunately, I can't say anything. If you find anything, please post it here. I'm also interested.

Treasuries are primarily taken for the money-resources; the artifacts in most of them (except for the dragon city) are not very valuable, although they can be useful. But you can also get the same artifacts without a fight from a skeleton. Therefore, I did not specify either the class or the chance of artifact drops. But I think the chance of a drop is close to 100%. For comparison, in the third game, the chance of getting an artifact from a skeleton is 20%, and in reality, it's even less. And in the fourth game, this chance is almost 100% (unless the enemies managed to loot it first).

In the fourth game, this chance is almost 100% (unless the enemies manage to loot him first).

In the fourth game, the skeleton disappears as soon as it is looted. Therefore, if a skeleton is present, the probability of finding an artifact on it is 100%.
And in treasure rooms, the level of the artifact should depend on the level of the treasure room. If desired, approximate probabilities can be measured experimentally. Make_macho_salad, what prompted this question?

Larisa,
Mapmakers often create quests that require finding a specific artifact, and treasure vaults can ruin such a quest. If needed, I've already checked what can drop from them by clearing ten of each type of treasure vault the first time and two or three the second time. Here are the results of the first clearings, written in the format "Treasure Vault - how often artifacts drop, the number and types of artifacts":

Wrecked Ship - sometimes, 2 treasures
Abandoned Ship - always, 3 small and 13 treasures
Dragon City - always, 5 great and 19 small
Labyrinth - always, 16 treasures
Ruins - never
Pyramid - always, 11 small and 19 treasures
Ivory Tower - always, 40 scrolls and 30 potions
Tower - always, 20 items and 31 potions
Lair - always, 10 treasures, 3 items and 7 potions
Graveyard - sometimes, 7 treasures
Griffin Nest - never
Red Dwarf Mine - never
Mystic Garden - never
Harpy Nest - never
Wooded Glade - never
Sacred Temple - always, 23 scrolls, 28 potions and 19 items
Cache - never
Mausoleum - always, 10 small
Imp Hideout - never

The second time:
Where they never dropped before, they still don't drop
Where they dropped sometimes, they now drop almost always
Where they always dropped, the drop rate has significantly improved, in places where there were small artifacts but no great ones (Abandoned Ship, Pyramid, Mausoleum), great artifacts started to appear, the rest remained unchanged.

Just in case, I also checked mage chests, skeleton chests, and bags - small artifacts drop from chests, treasures from skeletons, and items and potions from bags. By the way, in terms of drop rate, items and potions are equivalent (bags, towers, and beholder lairs prove this).

Here is an excerpt from my notes on the fourth game:
The number of guards and resources depends on the difficulty level and the time it takes to capture an object. A month after capturing an object, the population within it reappears and begins to grow. At the same time, the reward immediately becomes the same as it was during the first capture. Artifacts do not change over time; instead, new ones are added.

As I understand it, the total number of artifacts is divided by 10. For example, if the number is 1.5, then on average, you will find 1-2 artifacts per visit. If the number is 0.5, then the probability of obtaining an artifact is 50%.

dnaop-wr,
Yes, the difficulty and the time it takes to capture a location affect the loot, but initially, it is generated randomly. Also, at the beginning of the game, different numbers of creatures appear in identical treasure locations, and the reward also depends on this. When clearing Dragon Cities on the same day, in one case, I only found one Orb of Horror, and in the second, I found a Book of Order and two Wands. During the second clearing, it seems that what was found the first time is regenerated (if there was one minor artifact, one will be generated again) plus something else, and there seems to be a certain limit to the number of artifacts; otherwise, for example, in the same Dragon City, after the tenth clearing, you could get up to forty artifacts. In the Ivory Tower and the Temple, there are always 7 items, and it seems that in the Beholder Lair, there are always two (one treasure and one item/potion). But it is not worth drawing conclusions from all this; these are just tests in the game. To find out everything for sure, you need to analyze the source code, which is not so easy to do. The only thing that can be said for certain now is:
Great and minor artifacts can be found in the Dragon City, the Shipwreck, the Pyramid, and the Mausoleum,
Treasures can be found in the Shipwreck, the Abandoned Ship, the Labyrinth, the Pyramid, the Lair, and the Cemetery,
Items and potions can be found in the Tower, the Lair, and the Temple,
Scrolls and parchments can be found in the Ivory Tower and the Temple.

Make_macho_salad and dnaop-wr, thank you for the helpful information!

Mapmakers often create quests that require finding a specific artifact, and treasure chests can ruin such a quest.

Make_macho_salad, to avoid this, simply prohibit all quest-related artifacts on the map. Then they will only be where you put them yourself. The only case where the prohibition doesn't work is if you prohibit ALL artifacts, except for relics. Then artifacts will drop randomly, as if they were all allowed. It should also be noted that relics and artifacts from Armageddon's Blade never drop randomly.

Added 41 minutes later
Is there anyone here who has used h4util, or knows how to contact its author? I tried writing to the email address listed in the readme, but there was no response.

Make_macho_salad, this is very useful information; I will add it to the Cheat Sheet. I would like to add that sometimes you can find custom maps where it is practically impossible to learn magic/spells – in those cases, potions with scrolls become very valuable.

Larisa, I should have h4util on my computer at home – I'll be there over the weekend, I'll take a look if I don't forget. I probably tried it once, but it was a long time ago.