Heaven's Fall: Melee Gameplay Mod

[Retera]

It's entirely possible that boatloads of things could go wrong if you try to play non-melee-maps with Heaven's Fall running. But, a more problematic issue is the game crash that sometimes happens when picking between valid melee maps -- sometimes the game just up and dies inexplicably.

I'm pretty sure it's due to a bug in the old MultiRace Template I'm using. Dumpling sent me a better one in my email, but I didn't make Heaven's Fall use it because it streamlined everything to work so well that the template user like me loses some freedom with what all can be modded, and I was troubled that the UI would lose a couple of the elements it had now in the upgrade (as I recall, "Summon more Ziggurats" as a text message goes back to being non-specific for race, so it would have to just say "Not enough Food" or something).

But I really should go use his new MultiRace Tempate 2! That guy does fantastic work, and the newer one fixes stuff like that crashing bug -- he said it was due to running it all on a 64-bit-machine.

 

[ZeroGo]

When i get my notebook back, i will Try, because it looks interesting. Btw can you post here link to Multi-Race Template 2?

 

[Retera]

I don't know whether the MultiRace Template 2 is available anywhere publicly, I just got it sent to me in an email from the author. He gave me a link on dropbox, but I figure if I shared it without asking him that might create excessive traffic to his dropbox and get it shut off (which happened to mine once). So, I created a link to it hosted on my dropbox, just so that any excessive traffic penalties are penalized to my account.

Dumpling's Newer MultiRace Template:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/92572084/NewMultiRaceTemplate.7z

For instructions on how to use it, here's a copy of the email he had sent me about it:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/92572084/NewMultiRaceEmail.rtf

If you find it anywhere on the internet, let me know and I can switch to post the link to that instead, but the email was how I got the newer one.

Edit: Released the next update for Heaven's Fall after getting fed up at a bug in the old one where the game would lock up from lag after 8 or 10 minutes in some situations... it appears to be some terribly awful circumstantial memory leak. I've been looking at (and fixing up) a few of the JASS scripts within the mod, but so far as I know the bug is not yet fixed. Let me know if anybody finds it (potential causes, circumstances that make it happen, etc)! Sure is a shame when games get ruined by something so silly.

 

[fr14nd1]

Retera, I think the Risen (If I'm not wrong) Has many tooltip mistakes.

 

[Retera]

You're absolutely right. As opposed to the other 6, the Risen basically just aren't done. At all. The plan is for Worldtree91/Naresh to make them, so the coordination of him and I trying to pass unit data back and forth and get it back in the map but still where he feels he can work on it I think is what really has slowed us down.

That, and just life in general, and all of the other things that have distracted him and I from getting more work done on them.

Thinking of not getting things done, what if I created a forum for an open-source Heaven's Fall campaign creation project? It's just a thought that struck me -- if I try to make a Heaven's Fall campaign all myself, about like how I've done the mod, it might not be finished for another several years at the current rate. If I created a project where anyone who was inspired could download the Heaven's Fall data and contribute, say, 1 map to the campaign, or just fix up maps that were already in progress, I wonder whether the mod might have a campaign in a reasonable amount of time.

I'm not actually sure I'm going to do that, but it's just an idea to kick around. What do you guys think?

 

[Spellbound]

I actually think this is a great idea, although whether anyone would contribute is another story altogether. Maybe making maps might be a tough sell, but fixing tooltips and such could work. Hopefully this is just me being pessimistic.

Also clear your inbox, it's full.

 

[ZeroGo]

About campaign, you could ask for help, no?:

http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/members/turnro

http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/members/outsiderxe

 

[Spellbound]

Just updated today and got error when I tried to run Heaven's Fall:

Cannot run program ""hfmod_pkg.exe"": CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified

 

[Retera]

I just made a small update that does nothing but make you redownload those files -- I'm not quite sure what's causing the problem. Make sure to run as administrator on the launcher, I guess?

Let me know whether there is a "hfmod_pkg.exe" file in your Warcraft folder after the next update.

 

[Spellbound]

Re-updated as admin but still having the same problem.

 

[Retera]

Is that exe that it says is missing actually in your warcraft 3 folder? It should be, so I'm wondering if the download bugged and didn't get it.

Edit:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/92572084/hfmod/install/hfmod_pkg.exe

You can use that to try manually re-downloading the EXE into your warcraft folder, if you'd like.

 

[matt5556]

Who was the one that gave me a heavens fall map version tnx alot

 

[fr14nd1]

Retera, why not making a map for your mod? Many of my melee maps crashed when I played it using Heaven's Fall.

 

[Spellbound]

Hmm, I think I know what the problem was. It's possible my antivirus was marking the exe as a threat altho I can't find it in the quarantine section, which is weird. But once I manually added the exe the mod launched without any problems.

@fr14nd1 that's weird, I don't have any crashes when I play Heaven's Fall. Maybe try re-downloading the mod? It was very recently updated.

 

[Retera]

I think I might know! Could it be, Spellbound, that you have an older version of the launcher EXE? The Launcher EXE does not know how to update itself, and only the newest launcher is smart enough to download "hfmod_pkg.exe", although all launchers will download the other files.

It probably never even showed a % bar during the download for "hfmod_pkg.exe", yes? I think this is the most likely problem. It could be something silly with the antivirus, but it could just as easily be my code. There is a real problem that older launchers had it hard-coded in which files to download, and did not check for updates (nor could they do partial updates to download only some of the files). That EXE in particular is the newest file to be downloaded, and it was never coded into any launcher -- only added to the dynamic list read by the most recently released launcher.

It's time I made a launcher update, perhaps even with a launcher that updated itself, too. I may release that soon.

 

[Spellbound]

Okay, yeah, that makes more sense. The launcher I have is pretty old.

 

[fr14nd1]

@fr14nd1 that's weird, I don't have any crashes when I play Heaven's Fall. Maybe try re-downloading the mod? It was very recently updated.

Do yo mean the newest one at the first page?

 

[Spellbound]

Yeah probably best you re-download the launcher since Retera said the older versions might not update properlly.

 

[rgeddie123456]

I am gonna try this mod out but new updates? I tried to download via the launcher but i am stuck. The connection isnt very good i prefer to download the update files with IDM and manually

 

[nhs325]

Hey dude, can you post a map that contain those races with it? I have a problem. with the mod

 

[rgeddie123456]

^^ The author said that it is not an altered melee ( I am pretty sure he said that )

Anyway, do u have downloading problems?

I'd like the installer to show the data size left to download and downloaded data
It just needs more info and maybe download speed?

i'd like an offline installer too, in case we have to install it again at a place with no internet

 

[nhs325]

this is one of the best mod I have ever played. thank you. +rep!

 

[Lord Darkhallow]

Looks awesome! downloading...........................................................

 

[Daffa]

I recommend people with download issues to download from this link.
Be notified that this link contains an older version, the only way to obtain the latest one is via the launcher (as I'm aware of).

 

[leonidas555551]

man its been awhile, I hope people still visit this forum, KEEP UP THE WORK RETERA!!

 

[Retera]

Don't know about you guys, but I know I played Heaven's Fall just the other day and had a rockin' awesome game as the Voidspawn. Built my Transdimensional Way-Portal and warped across a river to invade my opponent.

Haven't spoken to Worldtree91 about finishing the Risen in a while, though. Gotta make that happen.

(Edit: Fixed typo of "build" to "built")

 

[Gekigengar]

Subscribing for updates.

 

[Heinvers]

Great. I'll be watching this too

 

[Retera]

While thinking of Heaven's Fall updates (not that I have the time to do any immediate updates), what if I were to remake the Battle.net enabled version with all of the new stuff, but in a slightly more limited way (since making it Battle.net compatible disables some of the hacks used to add custom civilizations)?

Who votes I make a Battle.net version? I got to thinking that I might like to have one, and it could almost work with a couple of work-arounds in the design (i.e. without 7 race options, but maybe 4 and handicap changes race to get all the options).

 

[leonidas555551]

dude I would love a match with you!

 

[Retera]

Aww yes, I definitely would be up for that! I'd never miss a good chance to play Heaven's Fall!

What about this weekend sometime? I'm very busy this week, but may have time on the weekend. I know for certain that my dorm room computer has the capacity to act as a Hamachi LAN server for playing online games of Heaven's Fall as 'LAN' games. So, if you're willing to do that, I know that even the current Heaven's Fall can be networked over the internet if you really try.

Perhaps we should have a Heaven's Fall tournament, and learn about what needs re-balancing and updating the most based upon our findings. (If others wanted to play, too.)

Edit: I keep seeing that "Funmap Evening" post go by, do you think those guys would be up for some Heaven's Fall along with their other map playing, even though it's a mod? I'll have to give that forum a check.

 

[Silverfox]

Hmm... I'm up for a game of Heaven's Fall! Just not sure how would that work (I'm a little dumb for Hamachi and stuff like that ). Hope it's not a problem to explain. If Hamachi goes well, I'm definitely in!

 

[leonidas555551]

I'm definately up for that, just smash me up with the hamachi network, and we'll play around on the weekend, but I'll probly be beaten. wait... wont there be problems with connection, I mean, I live all the way over in queensland, so, thar might be a slight problem with the ping.

Edit: and that might just work, plus your mod would get alot of attention if they allowed the mod to be used that day (the funmap evening).

 

[SuperbAvalon]

I'd be down. Not familiar with Hamachi but I doubt it's overly complicated

 

[leonidas555551]

goddamit!
I installed the heavens fall mod on a whole new computer, yet my maw of oblivion still defuncts at level 4

 

[Isgeir]

Someone explain to me how can I join you, and count me in . I'm a big, big fan of Heaven's Fall and I don't want to miss chance to play with you folks.

 

[Retera]

Not to bash my own previous efforts designing and coding an installer mechanism... But I compiled something I think you guys might like.

It's a new version of 6 different Heaven's Fall-spawned mods that can join each other's games, and that all:
- Require no installation to play -- just download one EXE and run it, and your game should play the mod
- FULLY BATTLE.NET COMPATIBLE AGAIN (Yes, this means no Hamachi -- we can all just play Heaven's Fall on Battle.net)
- Operate on a "Favored Race" system. Essentially, the only reason Heaven's Fall doesn't work on Battle.net is that there is a hack in the system to add more races to the race dropdown that is too deep in the core of the game, and is detected as a hack (while all the other stuff isn't, somehow or other). So, to fix this, now you download a different version of the mod for whatever race you want to play. However, you can still play the mod with people playing other versions, and they'll play the races they wanted to play. While in the game, the current Favored Race of the particular version of Heaven's Fall that you are playing is highlighted in light blue-teal while choosing your race.

The "Favored Race" system does not force you to play a certain race with a certain installation; it simply stylizes your game content and interface experience to match the race you choose. I could, for example, download the "Voidspawn" version of the mod and then play the Freezing Legion, but when I run out of food the Voidspawn shadow voice will beckon at me to "Sacrifice more minions." And, the game interface will be styled permanently like the Voidspawn.

Other than these varied-style installations, all of these mod versions should be fully playable, except that Random and the Risen were removed from the race selection list so that I could build the compilation without actually hacking core game files. In place of them, the Handicap choice now has "(Random)" at the top, which is a 100% handicap choice that also overrides the race you choose to instead be random.

Heaven's Fall Battle.net Edition - Favored Race: Zear Fallen:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/92572084/hfmod/battlenet/HeavensFall_Battlenet_ZearFallen.exe

Heaven's Fall Battle.net Edition - Favored Race: Enlightened Tide:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...net/HeavensFall_Battlenet_EnlightenedTide.exe

Heaven's Fall Battle.net Edition - Favored Race: Freezing Legion:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...enet/HeavensFall_Battlenet_FreezingLegion.exe

Heaven's Fall Battle.net Edition - Favored Race: Lost Tribe:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/92572084/hfmod/battlenet/HeavensFall_Battlenet_LostTribe.exe

Heaven's Fall Battle.net Edition - Favored Race: Voidspawn:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/92572084/hfmod/battlenet/HeavensFall_Battlenet_Voidspawn.exe

Heaven's Fall Battle.net Edition - Favored Race: Final Alliance:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/92572084/hfmod/battlenet/HeavensFall_Battlenet_FinalAlliance.exe

Now you can play Heaven's Fall with your friends on Battle.net!
~ Unfortunately, I was testing this mod in Favored Race: Voidspawn mode and the Maw of Oblivion's attacks still defunct at level 4. This issue must get fixed! I'll get to the bottom of it sometime soon.

 

[Silverfox]

Err... I'm running into problems with Battle.net. Everytime I try to connect to Battle.net, it pops up a message "CD you provided is invalid" or something like that. Anyone else have the same problem?

 

[Retera]

That's a pretty weird problem. Does your WarCraft normally go on Battle.net?

Once you get the "CD you provided is invalid" message to pop up you will most likely be banned from Battle.net for at least 2 weeks. I actually had this happen almost exactly two weeks ago by trying to play a mod (Not Heaven's Fall, by any means) that was corrupted and created from a stolen copy of Warcraft III. When I contacted Blizzard about the issue, the representative said:

We dont' do IP bans because that's like banning a house for the people that live in it. Not really fair for any future home owners.

When I replied to the representative with a page of text detailing how they actually had banned my IP, and also that I was able to prove it and to propose what portion of this other mod caused my installation to register as invalid (mostly that Blizzard was actually just lying about no IP-bans to my face for the sake of good publicity, but of course I was nice about it with them at the time), they got a different representative and said:

It is possible to be temporarily restricted from using battlenet online for WC3 from your connection, but it isnt banned. It is possible with your specific issue but if that happens it means it means something malicious was detected. If you are using an unauthorized copy of the game this might happen possibly but it wont be a permanent ban.

We are not able ot lift or resolve these bans manually, they just have to be waited out. it doesnt matter if one computer didnt, but the other did. I am sorry for the previous misinformation. In this case the connection is locked out and that is restricting USEast. USWest is playable though.

As I said before, we cannot remove any restrictions for any reason, so we cannot assist with that even if using a legit copy now. In the future, only use the game as it was meant to be and make sure it is an authorized copy.

I believe there is no way in hell Heaven's Fall should give you this error message unless you stole Warcraft III, which was part of the basis of my argument with the Blizzard Rep so if anybody else has the "CD you provided is invalid" problem and thinks that it is due to Heaven's Fall please promptly let me know because I was thoroughly disgruntled with the other mod author who created and shared mod content that was able to get me banned from Battle.net only a few weeks ago (This other trouble mod was called Warcraft IV. Downloading it includes download a whole new modded installation of the game which -- as it happens -- is a stolen torrented copy of Warcraft III that I don't suggest playing unless you want to get banned from Battle.net.).

I will delete Heaven's Fall from this site if somebody can prove to me that any Heaven's Fall content makes you get banned from Battle.net.

So, with that said, the "CD key you provided is invalid" is a pretty strange error. Are you sure that ALL copies of Warcraft III on your hard drive are entirely legal, valid, licensed Blizzard Entertainment copies of the game, even if Justin Orlbrantz's MPQDaft, SEMPQ system that I based these new mod EXEs on happened to run Heaven's Fall as a mod of the wrong installation of Warcraft from your hard drive? In this case, it would be because you possess an invalid CD key for Warcraft III in one of your installations, and not because of Heaven's Fall, that you could run into this problem.

I am eager to hear of your response. I would like to believe that one of my life's greatest works does not, and can not, arbitrarily cause anyone to be banned from Battle.net. However, I am human.

I am aware that playing a mod like Heaven's Fall on Battle.net might be against their Terms of Use, which I have not actually used up the time in my life to fully read any time recently. But, I believe that out of the good graces of Blizzard Entertainment, playing mods is not really frowned upon, nor have I ever gotten in any trouble for it until that blasted "Warcraft IV", so long as the mods are only strictly mods that do not provide anyone with the Warcraft III game who has not paid for the game. Heaven's Fall, being that it is distributed in the form of 60 MB or so of customized game files that are introduced into your original installation -- and that only work with your original installation -- can not and should not provide anyone with the Warcraft III experience who has not paid their full dues to Blizzard Entertainment for owning the game.

 

[Silverfox]

No, no you got me wrong. It's the normal warcraft 3 version that doesn't work, not the Heaven's Fall one (although even that one doesn't work). I never even used Battle.net. My theory is that I have typed a wrong CD-key or it's out of date or something like that. I might get it working if I play around with it for a while.
But regarding the mod itself, I don't believe it will pose a problem for Blizzard. No worries there
If I don't get it working, guess I won't play... And again, I never used Battle.net before (except Hearthstone) so I can't be banned if I never even used it.
And I'm pretty sure that all my Warcraft 3 files are valid.
So, I'll tinker around with it, see what happens.

 

[Retera]

Okay, sounds good. I started off on the tangent about how I think that error message means you will/might get banned, but I wanted to stay clear about the fact that Heaven's Fall should never get you banned.

I do wish you luck, maybe you just need to reinstall. I was probably just stressed because I haven't slept more than about 2 hours each of the past two nights.

 

[Isgeir]

So let me ask again... How we are going to play it and when?

 

[Retera]

I vote sometime this weekend, and now we have a cool new Battlenet enabled version that we can play without Hamachi.

Guys, please do forgive me for the vehemency of my comments this morning, but I'd just gotten out of bed after staying up until 5 in the morning two nights in a row, and read a message that I interpreted to mean that one of the most inspired and enjoyable projects that I've worked on in my entire life was haphazardly going to ban some or all people who tried it because of something I did not know, so I wanted to assert that what I did know was true -- that there's absolutely nothing wrong with Heaven's Fall.

I really need to get some more sleep. Right now I'm off to take a nap -- I hope you guys are having a good day. Playing some Heaven's Fall this weekend will probably be a fun chance to relax after a stressful week of classes and deadlines.

 

[leonidas555551]

I hope you get a good snooze in and urr my gerd those new launchers look so awexome!

ITs DA WEEKUND, WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAAHAHA!!!

umm no reply? its the weekend are we gonna match?

reserved 14th page lol

also you will probably want to update the first post so the link goes the battle.net enabled versions

 

[Ralle]

I hope you get a good snooze in and urr my gerd those new launchers look so awexome!

ITs DA WEEKUND, WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAAHAHA!!!

umm no reply? its the weekend are we gonna match?

reserved 14th page lol

also you will probably want to update the first post so the link goes the battle.net enabled versions

So many posts. Please don't post like that. Use the EDIT button. I am going to merge these now...

 

[Retera]

Yup! Sorry I was out, got a lot of people asking me for code help and got distracted from playing.

When do you guys want to?

Edit: Just put up a server hosting, Azeroth (USEast) Battle.net server, game name "Heaven's Fall @hiveworkshop.com"

I'll let it go for a while, and start if we get enough players

 

[Isgeir]

Propose something and mind that not all of us can be from same timezone .

 

[Retera]

It's super late where I come from, but I did just host a game on Azeroth (USEast) if anyone wants to join.

The same server is on a LogMeIn Hamachi hosted LAN called "TheHeavensFallNetwork", if you want to try that. But the USEast game should be joinable.

 

[Isgeir]

Here it's early morning and I cannot play right now, shame :/ .

 

[Retera]

Okay, I'll probably go to sleep myself. It's early morning/late kind of thing.

I may leave the server up hosting at that game name in case anybody wants to try to join my game tomorrow, and maybe that way I'll see them join if I'm at my computer.

Game name "Heaven's Fall @hiveworkshop.com"