Shadow Realm – closed beta tests

[Hiliadan]

Re: Well of Souls: All Necromancer players start with a Well of Souls in their City domain range. I suspect this is a deliberate balance choice.
Do you want those removed as well from the Shadow Layer? (This will not affect their generation on Surface or Underground layers.)

That must be something Gloweye added because I just did a test with 8 Necro on a small Land map with no UG and there was 0 Wells of Souls for the 8 players. I also don't remember Wells of Souls in Throne's domain in any of my Necro game.
So yeah, I'd remove them too.

 

[HousePet]

Interesting.
It is in the base game code, but doesn't appear to work.
In that case, I'll leave it in and see if it continues to not work. Less changes is easier to keep track of.

 

[greyHaunt]

Noticed a few things while doing tests with the Expansion:
Archon Saint is missing her 'Archon' trait in-game, that explains her other missing traits.
The whole concept of Shadow Realm and related buffs/debuffs should really be put in Tome of Wonders.

Also, I've tried my best to update the in-game Englsih descriptions. Files can be found below in a zip archive. Had to fix some inconsistencies. I've drafted a few placeholders for Elder-type units and the Archon dwelling until you find better writers, because my English isn't that fluent. Tried my hand at Russian translation, that should be reflected in the files.

 

[Hiliadan]

Also, the Assassin's Strike on the wiki doesn't make sense. Assassin's strike is a +10/+5 attack on top of the base damage. I'm not sure what was intended, so I added a new ability, Mercenary Strike that has the no retaliation effect like Assassin's Strike, but not the damage boost. It only does 20/9 damage. If that wasn't intended, let me know.

My bad. I suggest to stay simple and not introduce a new ability, so I edited the Lost Privateer to have a normal Assassin's Strike with +10/+5. Also, please double check the damage of its normal melee strike as I had made a mistake on the Wikia. -> https://age-of-wonders-3.fandom.com/wiki/Template:Hiliadan/Lost_Privateer

Apparently the Mercenary Strike is still there in the .xml (and perhaps in the .acp?). I suggest to remove it to make work easier for us in the future (not trying to find out what this ability is and where it's used) and for translators (we now have one for French, Rodmar, and one for Russian, GreyHound (who reported the issue).

Archon Saint is missing her 'Archon' trait in-game, that explains her other missing traits.

Ok thanks, I'm updating the issue on p.1.

The whole concept of Shadow Realm and related buffs/debuffs should really be put in Tome of Wonders.

Could you please be more specific? This is already planned: "write a game concept page for Shadow layer and add it to the ToW" (see p.1 "To do" in the list of known issues). Did you mean Shadow layer by Shadow Realm? Then we're talking about the same thing.

Also, I've tried my best to update the in-game Englsih descriptions. Files can be found below in a zip archive. Had to fix some inconsistencies. I've drafted a few placeholders for Elder-type units and the Archon dwelling until you find better writers, because my English isn't that fluent. Tried my hand at Russian translation, that should be reflected in the files.

Great! See my messages on Steam.

 

[Dr_K]

I've pushed another update of the Content mod with a number of fixes. The RMG mod was not updated as it didn't seem like there was anything changed since the last update.

- Shadow Demon Lord, Shadow Demon Larva, Lost Privateer, Elder units have ToW entries now
- Lightning Cannon's name is fixed from "Lighting Cannon" (probably why it couldn't be found in ToW)
- Archon Saints are the proper type of Archon (was listed as undead version), and all it entails (dedicated to good, etc.)
- Exploit Shadows Icon linked
- Heart of Shadows has a ToW entry
- Linked new icons for Shadow Elf Slayer, Dark Vengeance, Bombard, Elder Bone Dragon, RG Eco1

- Shadow Elves' Siege Workshop does not unlock Trebuchet
- Shadow Elves' Builder's Hall does not unlock Battering Ram
- Hollow Grove does not show up on the strategic zoomed out paper map due to a lack of "paper map" icon
- Shadow Weed shoud have the same icon as Flowers of Solace on the "paper map". Glass Furnace should have a resource site icon (like Magma Forge). Celestial Pool should have a Shrine icon.

These should all be fixed as well.

 

[greyHaunt]

Haven't tested the last two changes (Hollow Grove and other icons on paper map), but I can confirm everything else to be working now.

I'm going to investigate the duplicate entry issues in Tome of Wonders and report back properly in a couple of days, with screenshots attached where there are differences between those. I do understand that most of those are Shadow Realm versions of buildings and visit sites that are duplicated, but there's at least one where the entries differ. To make sure the post isn't a mess of images I'll provide screenshots in archives.

Also, for whatever reason the incomes are in gray color instead of the usual on duplicated entries. Minor issue.

 

[Hiliadan]

Thanks Dr_K for the update!

One more issue reported by GreyHaunt/GreyHound:
- Shadow Elf Infused's Shadow Shift gives them 2x the Shadow Shift property. It should display it only once. See screenshot of the issue: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd....207/5AE857785B7924B1C469FE15D93D27C39372DE71/

I updated the list of known issues.

 

[HousePet]

I've removed Well of Souls from the Shadow Realm map generation, and roads should now only link to Celestial Pools if you have the setting at Many.

Going to take a quick look at whether I can tweak the terrain generation to make a bit more land, but split over a few more continents.
I'll keep it separate from the available mod, as I think we'll need some Water in there to add extra connections before we can make the landmasses smaller.

 

[greyHaunt]

Latest changes to ShadowRealm.acp in the Dropbox:
- Shadow Shift ability has been partially reworked to ease access to code. Now the buffs are added via Shadow Shift Buff fully instead of doing it so in 2 parts: via the Buff section and the Shadow Shift Group.
- Shadow Shift's triple entries issue has been fixed. Shadow Shift Buff has been removed from the list of ToW entries (but is listed on unit panel when activated), and Shadow Shift Group was permanently removed.
- Tame Shadow Demon ability can not be retaliated against now, bringing it in line with other Mind Control abilities.
- Fixed duplicate entry issues in ToW for almost all structures and visitable sites. Mithril Mine and Forgotten Tower are excluded.
In all cases duplicating Structures had their ToW Display set to False, for they technically are the same structure, except on a different layer.
- Draconians now correctly list Shadow Walker as their inherent trait. It has been added to Draconian race definition as a Requisite.
This isn't reflected in their racial description, as I have no access to .8ld files. Can possibly cause conflict with other mods.
- Abilities "Chaos" and "Unstable Mana Form" have gained their icons back. I swapped the X and Y offset of the coordinates.
- Living Archon dwelling now displays their own icon on Existing Upgrades tab of the dwelling instead of the Archon Revenant one.

Last minute addendum:
Changes to ShadowRealm.acp:
- Dark Zeal regains the in-game icon. I swapped the Offset X and Y coordinates.
- Living Archon racial icon has been introduced from the Archon Portrait.png, cropped from 96x96.
- Geyser, Lay Eggs and Spawn Larva icons have been introduced from the respective existing .png files. Credit to Hiliadan for the tutorial.
Changes to OtherIcons.clb:
- Added SpecialIcons.dds as a new entry with 4 icons: Living Archon racial, Geyser, Lay Eggs, Spawn Larva.
Added source file as .dds and .xcf to Dropbox/Other Icons.

Bug report (already known to the team): Mithril Mine is basically two separate entities with different incomes and icons in the code.
Another bug report: Shadow Weeds Blessing in Status Effects category and Lesser Shadow Walking in Terrain Properties category have the same name and description, because the latter doesn't have it's own unique XML entries. This causes the duplicate Lesser Shadow Walking entry bug.

 

[Rodmar18]

Experienced with PBEM Mod.

Lesser Shadow Walking:
In the ToW, there are two entries, one using the same icon as Shadow Running, one using a variant of Shadow Walking's

Exterminator:
In case, it's a bug, I link to here.

Shadow Shift:
In the ToW, there are three entries, one with no AP cost, usable only once per battle, and 2 without.

 

[Hiliadan]

- Draconians now correctly list Shadow Walker as their inherent trait. It has been added to Draconian race definition as a Requisite.
This isn't reflected in their racial description, as I have no access to .8ld files. Can possibly cause conflict with other mods.

I'm not sure about this one? Draconians already correctly listed Shadow Walker as far as I know? The issue was just the ToW entry and you didn't modify it. Adding Shadow Walker to the race definition creates a mod conflict with all mods modifying Draconian race definition so it's a not a best practice: could you please revert your change and make it work as it worked before (which was better for compatibility)?
For the ToW entry, there is no need to open the .8ld file, we just need to overwrite the current entry. It might be do-able by just adding the appropriate SCENE ID and TEXT ID in our existing .xml, it should overwrite what's in the official game. If it doesn't work, we can copy the whole .xml containing the race definition. I have it in the balance mod so can easily provide it (just tell me the SCENE ID so that I find the .xml containing it).

- Fixed duplicate entry issues in ToW for almost all structures and visitable sites.

What issue in the list of issue does it relate to? I cannot find any report of duplicate ToW entries.

- Abilities "Chaos" and "Unstable Mana Form" have gained their icons back. I swapped the X and Y offset of the coordinates.
- Living Archon dwelling now displays their own icon on Existing Upgrades tab of the dwelling instead of the Archon Revenant one.

I don't think these two issues had been reported? I don't fully understand the second?

- Dark Zeal regains the in-game icon. I swapped the Offset X and Y coordinates.
- Living Archon racial icon has been introduced from the Archon Portrait.png, cropped to 96x96.
- Geyser, Lay Eggs and Spawn Larva icons have been introduced from the respective existing .png files. Credit to Hiliadan for the tutorial.

Same for these ones, they were not reported? And The Mentat had already provided a .dds (Shadow Demon Abilities.clb?) with the best resolution so it would be better to use it. Also we need to avoid duplicates to reduce memory load.

- Added SpecialIcons.dds as a new entry with 4 icons: Living Archon racial, Geyser, Lay Eggs, Spawn Larva.
Added source file as .dds and .xcf to Dropbox/Other Icons.

See above, the .dds already existed as far as I know, except for Archons. And usually I think race icons are 128 x 128, not 96 x 96, to be checked.

 

[Rodmar18]

What issue in the list of issue does it relate to? I cannot find any report of duplicate ToW entries.

It looks like I posted this issue on the wrong thread, in the PBEM thread

 

[greyHaunt]

Okay, I've read through your message, Hiliadan, and I'm going to illustrate my response with pictures taken in-game using the 9 Aug ShadowRealm.acp (before I've made changes):
1.

I'm not sure about this one? Draconians already correctly listed Shadow Walker as far as I know? The issue was just the ToW entry and you didn't modify it. Adding Shadow Walker to the race definition creates a mod conflict with all mods modifying Draconian race definition so it's a not a best practice: could you please revert your change and make it work as it worked before (which was better for compatibility)?

No, it didn't do so correctly in the ToW unit entries. See here: . After I've changed it, however: .

2.

What issue in the list of issue does it relate to? I cannot find any report of duplicate ToW entries.

It was never fully categorised as a "All structures and visitable sites that were duplicated for the Shadow Realm have a duplicate ToW entry", but that's what it in reality was. You can find multiple spread reports of single instances of this on the current issues list. See this (and you'll have to pay attention to the bottom of the ToW list. Plenty of duplicates there): .

3.

I don't think these two issues had been reported? I don't fully understand the second?

They haven't been reported, true. But I've scoured the ToW for any sort of inconsistencies and found these. Upon looking at the code I realised that whoever inserted the icons messed up the X and Y offsets, so they are fixed now.
For the second line see this: . And pay attention to the racial icon that is displayed there (it belongs to Archon Revenants). Fixed to display the correct (Living Archon) one.

4.

- Dark Zeal regains the in-game icon. I swapped the Offset X and Y coordinates.
- Living Archon racial icon has been introduced from the Archon Portrait.png, cropped to 96x96.
- Geyser, Lay Eggs and Spawn Larva icons have been introduced from the respective existing .png files. Credit to Hiliadan for the tutorial.
Same for these ones, they were not reported? And The Mentat had already provided a .dds (Shadow Demon Abilities.clb?) with the best resolution so it would be better to use it. Also we need to avoid duplicates to reduce memory load.

Dark Zeal wasn't ever reported either, but the icon was missing from ToW and in-game as well. Fixed.
Living Archon racial icon is this: Was added by me and is fully new. Regarding the confusion about the format: I do remember that the Racial icon files should be 128x128, and the description is slightly incorrect - it was cropped *from* (not *to*) 96x96 Archon Icon, which has already existed.

Upon closer inspection, I did indeed manage to find Geyser and Lay Eggs' icons (in OtherIcons.clb), but Spawn Larva used a placeholder icon and the real icon wasn't present in the game files.

P.S. If there's anyone who knows how to properly format this mess of a post, PM me, because I could use a hand.

 

[Hiliadan]

Additional info from greyHaunt, to include in a later update of the list of known issues:
– Shadow Elf Apprentice’s Dispel Magic and Shadow Fire icon display in tactical combat should be switched: Dispel Magic in #7 and Shadow Fire in #2 (it’s currently the opposite).
==> fixed

-Archon ability lacks its icon and description
==> fixed

 

[Refineus]

All of this is visible in the level editor.

- Archon Archer icon has on top of two brown things coming from the top. The position might be wrong.
- Shadow Demon lord icon has on the right side a black thing. The position might be wrong.
- Shadow Elf Scout icon has a black dot on the top right corner. A small thing that needs to be removed or redone.
- Shadow Elf Berserker icon has a small drawn line on the right side. A small thing that needs to be removed or redone.
- Shadow Elf Monster Hunter icon has on the top right corner black dots. The position might be wrong or it needs to be removed.
- Shadow Elf Phalanx has the quivers from the Shadow Elf Mounted archers visible on the top right corner. Either needs the shadow elf mounted archer icon to be smaller or the Phalanx centred on its icon.

 

[Hiliadan]

New issues:
- the Syron Tomb and Syron Ruins need to be renamed Tomb and Ancient Ruins and they need to be made invisible in the ToW (like the other duplicate sites for the Shadow layer) as there was no decision to name them like that and we have no specific defender set, reward set, etc.

I updated the list of known issues.

Living Archon racial icon is this: Was added by me and is fully new. Regarding the confusion about the format: I do remember that the Racial icon files should be 128x128, and the description is slightly incorrect - it was cropped *from* (not *to*) 96x96 Archon Icon, which has already existed.

Upon closer inspection, I did indeed manage to find Geyser and Lay Eggs' icons (in OtherIcons.clb), but Spawn Larva used a placeholder icon and the real icon wasn't present in the game files.

Ok, so can you please confirm we don't have duplicates of Geyser and Lay Eggs' icon in the .clb? And Spawn Larva is also in OtherIcons.clb?
And for the Living Archon racial icon, I'm not sure to follow but I do think it was already there in the files before as it could be seen in the Dwelling's miniature in the diplomacy panel?

All of this is visible in the level editor.

- Archon Archer icon has on top of two brown things coming from the top. The position might be wrong.
- Shadow Demon lord icon has on the right side a black thing. The position might be wrong.
- Shadow Elf Scout icon has a black dot on the top right corner. A small thing that needs to be removed or redone.
- Shadow Elf Berserker icon has a small drawn line on the right side. A small thing that needs to be removed or redone.
- Shadow Elf Monster Hunter icon has on the top right corner black dots. The position might be wrong or it needs to be removed.
- Shadow Elf Phalanx has the quivers from the Shadow Elf Mounted archers visible on the top right corner. Either needs the shadow elf mounted archer icon to be smaller or the Phalanx centred on its icon.

Alright, these issues are indeed visible in the Map Editor but not in game due to the cropping of the icons. I suggest not to spend time on it as we have other stuff requiring time which will be visible by players (and these won't be visible except for the very limited numer of map makers).

 

[Rodmar18]

• There are two like unit abilities in ShadowRealm.xml:

- Invoke Darkness
and
- Call Forth Darkness
The later adds a moral debuff.
Are they both valid?​

• FYI, in French, I tried "Conjure Shadow Demon" / "Conjured" instead of "Tame Shadow Demon" / "Tamed", because even if they aren't hellish beings, they are "demons" and a conjuration was exactly this: to repel/ward off evil spells and creatures. Also because we aready have Tamed Troll and "Tamed" looks like having a house pet or a horse.

• I'm currently experimenting with "Twilight Elves" (in French), but I'm always more pulled toward "Mist Elves" ("Elfes des brumes" or "Elfes de la Brume"), wich is a little shorter, and given that all the "storm" things about this faction look gloomy, dark, and cold (plus electrical). As if Mist = cold, tangible Shadow, if you like.

• "Vulnerable to Shadow Sickness" (a natural weakness to Shadow Sickness, e.g. for Humans, Orcs, ...) is sourced from "Shadow Sickness", whereas "Shadow Walker" (essentially a natural resistance to Shadow Sickness, e.g. for Draconians, Shadow Elves, ...) is sourced as "inherent". I find this discrepancy quite odd, and would rather have "inherent" as a source for "Vulnerable to S.S." as well.

 

[Dr_K]

Thanks for the updates @greyHaunt

I'm going to push out a new version tomorrow evening (EST) unless there is anything I should wait on.

Some new fixes/verifications:

- ICON - a new icon is required for SE RG1 eco since it's UG and not Arctic that is no longer disliked

- the description change from "Shadow World - !- Void -!" to "Shadow World - Lava Pool" for Decodence's Void hex needs to be done in the Content mod, not the RMG mod

- I believe these were fixed with an update a while ago.

- Add in the .xml:
STRUCTURE_HEARTOFSHADOWS_UNEXPLORED DESCRIPTION: "When explored: Adds {STR_income} and {STR_CP}, adds the abilities Shadow Walker and Shadow Demon Slayer to produced units and grants Shadow Walker when located within your domain."
HEART_SHADOWS_UNITPROPERTY DESCRIPTION:
"This unit is owned by a player with Heart of Shadows in their domain. This unit receives Shadow Walker and Shadow Demon Slayer." (Heart of Shadows)
Link that 2nd description to the property associated to the Heart and display it in unit panel.
And potentially rename STRUCTURE_HEARTOFSHADOWS DESCRIPTION into STRUCTURE_HEARTOFSHADOWS_EXPLORED DESCRIPTION

- This seems to have been updated to work as well.

- Lesser Shadow Walking displayed twice on the ToW, probably a symptom of a bigger problem as we apparently have it in duplicate? Would be good to delete one and link the other to the unit needing it? https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?attachments/20190411172231_1-jpg.470621/
- Shadow Weeds Blessing in Status Effects category and Lesser Shadow Walking in Terrain Properties category have the same name and description, because the latter doesn't have it's own unique XML entries. This causes the duplicate Lesser Shadow Walking entry bug.

- seems to have been fixed

- the Syron Tomb and Syron Ruins need to be renamed Tomb and Ancient Ruins and they need to be made invisible in the ToW (like the other duplicate sites for the Shadow layer) as there was no decision to name them like that and we have no specific defender set, reward set, etc.

- These are now named the same as the normal structures and shouldn't be in the ToW anymore

- - Shadow Elf Infused's Shadow Shift gives them 2x the Shadow Shift property. It should display it only once. See screenshot of the issue: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd....207/5AE857785B7924B1C469FE15D93D27C39372DE71/

- fixed by greyHaunt, behaves as expected

- Structures duplicated in the Shadow Realm (e.g. Castle of the Lich King) have their income displayed in grey in the ToW, instead of the usual black: https://forumcontent.paradoxplaza.com/public/492257/Income is greyed out.jpg

- this seems to be the normal state of the income from strategic map structures when mods aren't turned on (at least it is for me on the GOG version)


Thanks for working on the French translation @Rodmar18

"Vulnerable to Shadow Sickness" (a natural weakness to Shadow Sickness, e.g. for Humans, Orcs, ...) is sourced from "Shadow Sickness", whereas "Shadow Walker" (essentially a natural resistance to Shadow Sickness, e.g. for Draconians, Shadow Elves, ...) is sourced as "inherent". I find this discrepancy quite odd, and would rather have "inherent" as a source for "Vulnerable to S.S." as well.

Yeah... this is due to the way that it is implemented. I'm still not sure it was the right way to go due to side-effects like the source issue, but it handles other cases much better than the alternative. It was essentially a trade-off of having to update every unit/unittype with the shadow sickness property (source "inherent"), or create it once (as an empire upgrade) and have it apply to all units including new units from other mods.

Are they both valid?

Unless I'm mistaken, they are both valid. I think one is used by the Umbral Weaver and the other by the Shadow Elf Succubus.

I'm currently experimenting with "Twilight Elves" (in French), but I'm always more pulled toward "Mist Elves" ("Elfes des brumes" or "Elfes de la Brume"), wich is a little shorter, and given that all the "storm" things about this faction look gloomy, dark, and cold (plus electrical). As if Mist = cold, tangible Shadow, if you like.

Out of curiosity, in AoW3/Shadow Magic, what is "Shadow Realm" translated to in French?

 

[Rodmar18]

I don't know; never player it, neither in French nor English. But thanks for the question anyways, as I've always thought Shadow Magic came with an included French localization. I just found a FR patch and I downloaded it. I will peer at the hex files in the next hour. Perhaps, I will find Shadow Demon units as well.
[EDIT]Nevermind, it's another executable compressed package. If nobody owns Shadow Magic and applies this patch, we are left to guess our own translations.[/EDIT]

I'm done with localizing ShadowRealm.xml, including this morning's last modifications. Before I synchronize with the file on the DropBox, I'd have a few more questions.

1. The descriptions of "Heart of Shadows" look odd. Please compare with "Heart of Winters": "removes all Arctic terrain penalties when located within your domain", which effect (no moral loss due to arctic terrain) is applied to all of your units, whether old and newly produced, whether stationed within and beyond your domain. If the effect here is to add "Shadow Walker" to all of your units, whether old and newly produced, whether stationed within and beyond your domain, why granting "Shadow Walker" to units produced in the city which domain the Heart is located on?
2. Forgotten Thrones: who is the Wizard King? Is he the seventh mage, aka Tempest? (because if not, his throne is lacking)
3. The strength of the blinding effect of Invoke Darkness is not added.
4. Syron sites are still in the xml files (perhaps they are deactivated in the other files, and that's enough)

Also, about ShadowElves_Lords.xml:

1. "Ensaglia Not Yet" is a placeholder, isn't she?
2. "Anstrophia the Embracer" is very difficult to translate for me (because it's about "Wrapped in Shadow", not about hugging I guess), so if I'm not provided with another alternate name, I'm going for a temporary "Anstrophia the Shadow".
3. "Kyridarion the Shielder" could be translated as "Kyridarion the Protector" but I feel it bland and common. I chose "Kyridarion the Untouchable" (a Rogue, bestowing Static Shield)
4. Last but not least, "Grevara of the Imperial"... I've thought it meant "Grevara of the Imperial Academy/army" but I remember there is a file Skills_Imperator for Skills_Dreadnought, and Russian uses "Imperator". Do you confirm the English translation?

 

[Refineus]

"Ensaglia Not Yet" is a placeholder, isn't she?

Yes, it's Frostling hero in the scenario 3A. I never figured out a second name for her.

"Anstrophia the Embracer" is very difficult to translate for me (because it's about "Wrapped in Shadow", not about hugging I guess), so if I'm not provided with another alternate name, I'm going for a temporary "Anstrophia the Shadow".

Well, the after name sort of refers to their individual extra skill and in this case "wrapped in shadows". From my perspective, it should be something in generic named after abilities which sort of creates these cheesy names like Embracer which I thought of it more refers to "Embrace shadows" or something. If you come up with some less cheesy than "embracer" I would be happy about it. "The Encompass", "The encircle" or maybe extra cheesy like "the wrapper".

"Kyridarion the Shielder" could be translated as "Kyridarion the Protector" but I feel it bland and common. I chose "Kyridarion the Untouchable" (a Rogue, bestowing Static Shield)

Well, again it's cheesy names is followed by their abilities. I do not know how triumph translated all their cheesy ability names, but I'm guessing they had the same experience as you. Could be something about "bestow" followed by "-er".

Last but not least, "Grevara of the Imperial"... I've thought it meant "Grevara of the Imperial Academy/army" but I remember there is a file Skills_Imperator for Skills_Dreadnought. Do you confirm the English translation?

"of the Imperial" is confirmed. It's more pointed towards regal. Then somewhere it has a connection with the imperial academy at some point in the briefings. I do not recall if there was a consensus on any of the names as I made them up entirely with suggestions and confirmed them in development. If there are some objections or inputs regarding any of the names it should be done right now and edited before translation comes in. I'm eager to fix things and add new text additions as I come by them both on the leader/heroes and campaign sections.