Arryn's Dominions 2 site news

[Arryn]

I've put up a web site for Dominions II that will be hosting some useful files and other goodies as I get around to it.

You can now get the Unwise Flag mod from my site's homepage, rather than have to hunt down the link in a forum thread message.

I've also put up the Dominions v2.06 patch for anyone that needs to upgrade a base copy and wishes to play a functional Utgard theme (since it's badly broken in v2.08).

Anyone that has suggestions on things they'd like to see me add to the site, anything which may not be available on one of the other popular sites, is more than welcome to post here, or PM me.

Enjoy!

[ February 27, 2004, 05:09: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[fahdiz]

Well, once your AAR is all done it might be interesting to post it on your site...at least then it would read from top to bottom like a proper story. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Arryn]

Yeah. In the interim, you can go Mind BLast someone at Shrapnel ...

[fahdiz]

Originally posted by Arryn:
Yeah. In the interim, you can go Mind BLast someone at Shrapnel ... <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Heh. Actually, I'm rather used to the forum's layout now... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

[Arryn]

I've put the Dominions II Combat Simulator v37 (by Saber Cherry) on my site for download from my files page.

Enjoy!

[tinkthank]

Very nice, I bookmarked it.
Any chance of a random map generator for windows?

Oh, I noticed Zen say he had a list of Summons somewhere, but cant find it. Would you post that on your site?

Thanks, and great job.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
Very nice, I bookmarked it.
Any chance of a random map generator for windows?

Oh, I noticed Zen say he had a list of Summons somewhere, but cant find it. Would you post that on your site?

Thanks, and great job. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Thanks for the compliments. Always nice to know that what I do is helping someone.

I'll make a post on the forum once I've ported the map program to Windows (unless someone else beats me to it).

I'll put Zen's SCQR on my site when he's finished it and makes it available to me.

[Arryn]

The Black UnitView Map by Saber Cherry is now available for d/l from my site. (I've cherry-picked SC's best stuff. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif )

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by Arryn:
The Black UnitView Map by Saber Cherry is now available for d/l from my site. (I've cherry-picked SC's best stuff. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ) <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Feel free to snag off of mine also. Unless someone decides that they would like to park a domain on my box I dont think its likely that my stuff will ever look very organized.

Of course alot of it wont be much good unless you want to setup a synch since it tends to be daily runs. Feel free to put decent descriptions and link to it though.
http://www.techno-mage.com/~dominion/Dominions2/

[ February 24, 2004, 14:48: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Feel free to snag off of mine also. Unless someone decides that they would like to park a domain on my box I dont think its likely that my stuff will ever look very organized.

Of course alot of it wont be much good unless you want to setup a synch since it tends to be daily runs. Feel free to put decent descriptions and link to it though.
http://www.techno-mage.com/~dominion/Dominions2/ <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I've put a link to your file directory on my links page, along with a comment to look at the a_readme.txt file.

[Arryn]

I've just uploaded Zen's MIQR v2.8 to my site. Drop by and grab it ...

[Aikamun]

Could you say which items were updated, so we do not have to print out new copies. Don't need the details, just item name, please.

Thanks,
Aikamun

I believed I mentioned this in the other thread. It was an error with the Paths (the forging costs) due to converting them to icons.

This is for memory. Maybe I should put a readme with the damn thing. But AFAIK everything in the MIQR is done. With the exception of certain things (like the Ark, which is hard to define much of anything and questions to the Dev's made it equally opaque) everything has been tested and retested.

There may be a few wishable items that I didn't catch, but AFAIK those are the main ones (The only one you really meet very often is Bogus, Solaris, and Satina).

Items Changed from v2.07 to v2.08:

Sword of Many Colors (Didn't have it's Earth)
Fire Brand (Had an extra Earth)
Silver Hauberk (Didn't have it's Earth)
Antimagic Amulet (Had Earth on it)
Longbow of Accuracy

There was also a water icon floating around in the path column that didn't belong.

[Arryn]

I just want to warn everyone that the URL for my web site has changed. The new one is in this link: Arryn's Dominions II Site (http://www.bl23c.com/arryn/index.htm).

If anyone is linking directly to subpages on my site, or to files on my downloads page, you'll need to revise your links.

I had to change the directory structure to accomodate search engine-related tools. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

[ February 28, 2004, 21:45: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[PDF]

Originally posted by Arryn:
I just want to warn everyone that the URL for my web site has changed. The new one is in this link: Arryn's Dominions II Site (http://www.bl23c.com/arryn/index.htm).

If anyone is linking directly to subpages on my site, or to files on my downloads page, you'll need to revise your links.

I had to change the directory structure to accomodate search engine-related tools. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Tried your link, it's ok but both sections on the main pages get nowhere ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

[Arryn]

Originally posted by PDF:
Tried your link, it's ok but both sections on the main pages get nowhere ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Thanks for letting me know. It's fixed now. It's annoying when browser Caches prevent you from finding problems ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Arryn]

Just wanted to say that Google now lists my site under the search term "Dominions II" ... and it ranks (on page #4) directly above IW's own homepage!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

EDIT: thanks to all the folks on this forum for making my site so popular! I've gotten an average of ~100 visitors per day over the past week, of which about 2/3rds are new ones.

[ March 02, 2004, 13:25: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[Psitticine]

Congrats, Arryn! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Norfleet]

Hey! Your site is missing the under construction sign with the decapitation! That was the best part! Put it back!

[Arryn]

It's still on the domain root ...

[Norfleet]

Oh, there it is. yaaay!

[Arryn]

I've just put up on my site the mod "Unwise's &amp; V'ger's Flags v0.1", which I highly recommend to everyone.

You'll be able to see screenshots of the new flags when I post turn #38 of my AAR later this morning.

[Arryn]

Unwise's &amp; V'ger's Flags v0.11 is on my site.

Changes from v0.10 are:
</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">now uses a subdirectory for all .tga files.</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">includes a re-done flag icon (by V'ger) of the one I made for the Ashikaga mod.</font><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">
I have also updated the Ashikaga mod .zip file on my site with this re-done flag icon. It is the only difference between the Ashikaga archive on my site and that on IW's site.

[Vger]

Hi,

Hey Arryn, I noticed that you were able to change over and play a current game using the new flags. Is that correct? I'm curious as to how you managed this. I wasn't able to get my flags to come up unless I started a new game, so I've been stuck playing my current game with the old flags. (Argh.)

BTW, Unwise, wherever you are, I hope you don't object to my modifications of your flags. You did a fine job and I wanted you to know I appreciated it.


Thanks,
V'ger gone

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Vger:
Hey Arryn, I noticed that you were able to change over and play a current game using the new flags. Is that correct? I'm curious as to how you managed this.<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That's because I manually overwrote the flags in my mod directory that were from the original Unwise mod. My old games don't see your new .dm file, but they do see Unwise's old one. In your case, if your old games weren't using the Unwise (v0.02) mod, then you're out of luck.

I just have one very mild request. If you ever do do anything more to the flags. Tone down the radioactive green of Man? Make it more of a rich or deep green would be my suggestion. The color matching on that particular shield makes my eyes hurt. Though others may like it.

[Arryn]

While on that subject, the Mictlan flag has insufficient contrast between the symbol and the background. IOW, it sort of blurs together. The R'leyh flag has a similar problem on the lower half where it becomes hard to see the symbol. Dark blue bordering a thin white spike against a slightly-less-dark blue is tough to resolve.

All the flags look great at close-in zoom, but if you zoom out to see the whole map the symbols tend to just fade against their backgrounds.

Finally, can you make the symbol for Vanheim slightly less bright? It's not "radioactive", but that color against that background does cause eyestrain.

TIA.

[Vger]

Hi,

Well, I'm just stuck then. I started that game before Unwise came out with his flags.

As to the feedback,

Thanks for the suggestions. Since I haven't been playing with it, I haven't seen these problems, but looking at the screenshot from Arryn's AAR, I can see that I need to adjust some of the flags so that they show up better when zoomed out.

When I created them I tried to make sure they looked decent at normal size, but didn't think about them being zoomed out.

Sad thing is I'll have to recreate them, since I didn't save them as PSP files but as TGAs. Ugh.

One of the things I was trying to do was to stay truer to the original colors of those nations, which is part of what causes problems when they're zoomed out. R'lyeh is one of the nations that suffers from this.


Vaya con carnage,
V'ger gone

[Vger]

Hi,

I decided to post again rather than edit to make sure y'all would see this. I redid some of the flags and just sent them over to Arryn.

The flags I remade are: Arco, Mictlan, Vanheim, R'lyeh and Man. (I'm keeping the Man I did in the mod I'm using, I LIKE the radioactive glow. <grin>)

I tried to make Arco and R'lyeh have more contrast.

Man I made less radioactive.

Vanheim: I made the shield lighter so that there was more separation between the shield color and the symbol.

Mictlan: I changed the fist to make it stand out better against the shield. The ghost affect I had on it looked good, I thought, but not at the sizes it's actually being used at. This one looks better, I think and is easier to see.

Unfortunately, there is only so much I can do with the fist symbol. It's just hard to make it clear (without doing something really lame, like plain black and white) at half its size.


Hope y'all approve of the changes,
V'ger gone

[Arryn]

Unwise's &amp; V'ger's Flags v1.0 is on my site. It incorporates the 5 revised flags that V'ger sent me.

Vanheim is much easier on the eyes now, as is Man. R'leyh is improved, but only slightly, and probably as good as it can get. Thanks, V'ger!

[Arryn]

I've updated Targa's Karan and Zen's Europe map downloads on my site to include the latest corrected .map files provided by Tinkthank. Anyone already using these fine maps should grab the small .map-only downloads. The big archive files also include the updated .maps, of course, if there's anyone who hasn't yet downloaded these maps.

[Arryn]

Wauthan's Avatar mod has been updated to Version 1.0, and is available for download from my site.

EDIT: It adds a new pretender for each nation except Abysia and Caelum.

[ May 04, 2004, 15:22: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[JaydedOne]

That sounds pretty nifty. Can we get Wauthan or someone else familiar with the mod to comment a bit more on these Pretenders (as I just don't have the time to go through my screens and test out 15 different new Pretenders)?

In any case, thanks for the work - Wauthan in creating and Arryn in hosting.

[Arryn]

Due to a problem with the hosting provider for the old domain I was using ("BL23c.com"), that domain is dead (and has been dead since THU 10 Jun 04). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif

I have created a replacement domain to host my site, "www.dominions-2.org". I apologize to everyone for any inconvenience my site's unavailability may have caused. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif


PS - I spent $100 today (twice what I paid for Dom 2) to host my site, in case anyone's curious as to what lengths some of us hard-core fans will go to ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ June 15, 2004, 00:50: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[Norfleet]

You spent $100 buying a domain? You were robbed. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Why didn't you get a NICE domain name that was more applicable for when you got sick and tired of Dom2, like, say, "Arryn.net"?

[ June 15, 2004, 02:31: Message edited by: Norfleet ]

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
You spent $100 buying a domain? You were robbed. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Why didn't you get a NICE domain name that was more applicable for when you got sick and tired of Dom2, like, say, "Arryn.net"? <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I did not say I spent $100 on a domain. The domain registration was free. Yep, free. $0 is even cheaper than those el-cheapo $8 ones various outfits have. The $100 is for *hosting*, with UNLIMITED space and UNLIMITED bandwidth ...

And $50 of that $100 was a one-time setup fee. The hosting is only $50/yr. Good luck finding anyone that will do it for less, and that also has a toll-free support number, plus knowledgeable & helpful people.

BTW, arryn.net, arryn.org, etc. was already taken. I checked. It's a BAD BAD habit to make assumptions, Norfy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[LintMan]

Arryn - you're back! Any chance you'll start up your cool AAR again?

[Arralen]

Originally posted by Arryn:
[QUOTE]BTW, arryn.net, arryn.org, etc. was already taken. I checked. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Arryn.tk is still avalilable - for free !

Check it out by yourself at http://www.dot.tk/

[ June 15, 2004, 05:13: Message edited by: Arralen ]

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Arryn:
BTW, arryn.net, arryn.org, etc. was already taken. I checked. It's a BAD BAD habit to make assumptions, Norfy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Not according to whois, it isn't. Arryn.com is taken. arryn.net and arryn.org aren't:


>whois arryn.net
>whois arryn.org

<snip>
There is no match for this domain name.
This domain is available for purchase!
Go to www.netsol.com (http://www.netsol.com) to register it today!
<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">So go get 'em!

[Arryn]

You used the WHOIS from Network Solutions. I didn't. That'll teach me. You are absolutely right, "arryn.net" and "arryn.org" are, indeed, available.

However, something even better came up: my BF informed me that an old domain of his, "strife.com" (yes, one of those old now-juicy names you can no longer get; he grabbed it in '96), is still registered. So I had him transfer the reg to the hosting provider we use. "strife.com" is one of those nifty names that can serve as the root domain for all sorts of games and stuff. Assuming I ever tire of Dom 2, strife.com will still be around.

I do wish he'd bothered to tell me this before I had him get "dominions-2.org". Could have saved myself $100. Sigh. Men. Sometimes you just want to choke the living daylights out of them. But they have their uses. At times they can be kinda fun. Occasionally even sweet. Too bad that they're even harder to train than a cat (puppies are easier to train than men -- they are eager to please and don't argue with you). hehe http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[Arryn]

ack, double post

[ June 15, 2004, 08:40: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[Arryn]

Originally posted by LintMan:
Arryn - you're back! Any chance you'll start up your cool AAR again? <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Cool? Thanks!

Yes, sometime this summer. Sorry for the hiatus. Quite a few events in the real world have intruded upon my normally-blissful existence of being safely buried in the world of fantasy (when I'm game playing, reading, etc.).

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Arryn:
You are absolutely right, "arryn.net" and "arryn.org" are, indeed, available.<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yup. Get 'em while you still can.

However, something even better came up: my BF informed me that an old domain of his, "strife.com" (yes, one of those old now-juicy names you can no longer get; he grabbed it in '96), is still registered. So I had him transfer the reg to the hosting provider we use. "strife.com" is one of those nifty names that can serve as the root domain for all sorts of games and stuff.<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Fine and good, but you never know if he'll want it back. Don't miss out on the opportunity to snag arryn.net. You'll be kicking yourself later if someone else does.

Too bad that they're even harder to train than a cat (puppies are easier to train than men -- they are eager to please and don't argue with you). hehe http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well, some of us haven't suffered complete spinectomies yet. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

The others know that if they become too spineless, the rest of us will make fun of them!

[ June 15, 2004, 10:01: Message edited by: Norfleet ]

[Daynarr]

And if you finish your old AAR, I will be looking forward for any new ones you make. They are great. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Norfleet]

Hey! I can't find your under construction picture anymore! Where did it go?!?

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
Hey! I can't find your under construction picture anymore! Where did it go?!? <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">www.strife.com

[Norfleet]

Ah, there it is. Excellent. Did you get a nice "arryn.net" yet? I think it sounds better than something boring like "strife.com". http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[Arryn]

Excerpt from an email to me by Edi:
I've done some error correction for map file bugs that I discovered for the smaller Faerun map, so here are fixed Versions of all map files and a new one (quickstart for the nospec map file)


The direct link to this file hosted on my site is here: Faerun (small) map file updates (http://www.dominions-2.org/downloads/FaerunSmall_mapupdate.rar)

[Arryn]

The latest Version (1.1) of Liga's excellent and highly informative Manual Addenda is available for download from my website. The direct URL is here (http://www.dominions-2.org/downloads/manual_addenda.pdf) .

[Arryn]

I've made the Dom 2 modding manual available for download from my site. The direct URL is here (http://www.dominions-2.org/downloads/modding.pdf) .

[Arryn]

Zen's Magic Item Quick Reference (MIQR) v3.1 is now available for download from my site as a PDF file at this link (http://www.dominions-2.org/downloads/MIQRv31.pdf) .

[Arryn]

My site just had its 10,000th visit! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/Balloons.gif

It pleases me to see that the site continues to be useful to folks.

[Soapyfrog]

It's practically the only dom2 related site I visit since most stuff (it seems) is well centralized there.

Thanks for keeping it running!

[Arryn]

That is precisely my intent, sir. I'm glad you like it. It's also one of the ways I try to give back to the community for all the help I've gotten from this forum.

[Arryn]

By request from Edi, I've put his Weapons &amp; Armor Excel spreadsheet on my site for folks to download. The direct download URL is here (http://www.dominions-2.org/downloads/Weapons_&amp;_Armor.xls) .

[PDF]

The W&amp;A file is very interesting and useful, thx ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
But I'ved found a missing info for my favorite weapon : Black Bow (The Great Mage bane http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif) isn't indicated as giving automatic Feeblemind to target on hit !

[Edi]

Look closer, PDF. The Specials section for the Black Bow says "fm, nostr". The Legend sheet identifies fm as standing for feeblemind, and I haven't modified the file since I sent it to Arryn. In fact, the Black Bow has had complete info included since the first Version.

Edi

[PDF]

Oh, sorry Edi, I've overlooked the fm flag, my mistake http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Arryn]

Per request from Liga, my downloads page now lists each file's internal datestamp. While I was at it, I also included each file's size in kilobytes, and added more separators to improve readability.

If anyone notices that I have an out-of-date Version of any of these files, please let me know ASAP (either here in this thread, via PM, or email). Suggestions for additions or page improvements are always welcome.

Enjoy.


-- Arryn

[liga]

Thank you Arryn! I think that really improves the usability of your fantastic web site!

good play
Liga
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Arryn]

You're welcome. Ask and ye shall receive (so long as the asker is as nice as you).

[Arryn]

In case folks have been looking for my site, it was moved to a new domain. The domain dominions-2.org is no longer valid (my personal email address has also changed). Please see my sig for my site's new location. I'd like to ask that those of you who were linking to my site please update the links on their websites.

[Endoperez]

I'm afraid Illwinter'll be the last to update theirs... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif