Editing Mirror Template

== Introduction ==

Heroes 3 [[HD mod]] introduces handling of the Mirror Template. It is a special type of map, where ground and underground are nearly exactly the same. They can be easily distinguished from the other templates by their specific name, starting with '''mt_''' or '''h3''', f.e. '''mt_Jebus''', '''h3dm1'''.


Map generated from the mirror template contain '''identical''' features on the surface and the underground level:
* Terrain
* Objects, with the exception of:
** Monoliths
** Heroes in prisons are different, but have the same class. They have the same army, with the exception of some unit specialists, f.e. [[Wystan]]
** Grail and [[Obelisk]] cannot be generated
** [[Grave]] artifact (probably bugged)
* Towns, with exception of the ownership
* Classes of the heroes in taverns and their starting troops roll
* Artifacts, resources, mines, spells, spell research order in mirrored towns
* Monsters, their number and presence of the upgraded stack
* Rewards in creature banks


Mirror template forces a specific player setup. When the Red player town is selected, the Blue player's town is automatically chosen as the same faction. Blue player's town will be generated at exactly same position as Red one, but in the underground layer. The pattern follows, so Tan town will be generated on the surface, Green town will be mirrored underground - with the same faction. 

Therefore, if the first player picks Red and the second player picks Blue, their starting position will be identical. However, only one instance of a hero can exist in the game. For this reason, starting heroes are different. If they have different class, also their starting army will differ. Buying heroes in the tavern will reveal heroes of the same classes for both players, with same starting troops roll.

Monoliths will be created in a special manner. Normal connections between zones will contain monoliths of the identical color. However, they will '''not''' be connected and players will not be able to travel between surface / underground. Template author will introduce special connections, that will allow to travel between the map layers.

== Creation of a Mirror template ==

'''Warning''' Template generator contains some bugs and restrictions. Usually creating more complex, non-standard templates will result in randomly messed-up generations.

Right now mirror templates are not handled by the HotA [[Template Editor]]. It is possible however, to create a base template with this tool and then transform it into the mirror template. Edition of the template file can be performed with any csv or text editor (f.e. Txt Edit by GrayFace).
* Change the name of the folder containg rmg.txt, to '''mt_YourTemplateName''' or '''h3YourTemplateName'''. Folder name must begin with '''mt_''' or '''h3'''.
* Edit the rmg.txt:
** Col 12: Put a single '''x''' under '''Mirror''' column
** Col 15: Change the Map name so that is starts with '''mt_''' or '''h3'''. If there are multiple templates in a template pack, make sure that they all follow this rule.
** Col 16-17: Make sure that the '''size''' of the template will accept map with underground. F.e. for mirror template M (Medium size), use Minimum size = 4 and Maximum size = 8.
** Col 29, 38: Confirm, that the number of players is less than 4 (it will be duplicated to 8. Extra players zones will be neutral). Check columns '''Zone -> Type -> human start''' and '''Zone -> Player towns -> Ownership'''
** Col 117-118: Create connections with the underground, to allow players to meet. Add normal zone number in the column 117 and '''-1''' in column 118. F.e. <code>5</code> <code>-1</code> will create connection from the zone number 5 to the exact same zone underground.
** Col 121: Set connection as a '''Border Guard'''. Insert the value as follows:
*** First you may put '''x'''. If you do, this monolith will be connected with a road. Put a space after x.
*** Choose the [[Monolith]] that will be present on the surface:
**** '''t1''' - Two Way Monolith or Portal. Choose a number between 0-20 (without 8), to select the monolith color and type.
**** '''o1''' - Monolith One Way Entrance. Choose any number between 0-11, to select the monolith color and type.
**** '''e1''' - Monolith One Way Exit. Choose any number between 0-11, to select the monolith color and type. '''WARNING''' - one way exits are currently bugged and won't work properly for non-host in online lobby. This can be temporary fixed - after launching the game each player needs to generate such map f.e. on a single player mode. This puts some data to temporary HD Mod cache. This will work until H3 is closed.
**** '''s''' - [[Subterranean Gate]]. Impossible to select a variant.
**** '''r''' - Unknown
*** Follow up with a space and type the monolith type that will be present in the underground, in the mirrored zone. Follow the same rules as above. Be careful, road is connected the the portal on surface. When using a different type (1 squared monolith / 2 squared portal), the underground guard can be misplaced. <p>F.e. <code>x t0 t1</code> will create a green monolith on the surface and a brown monolith in the underground and both will be connected to the road (it will be necessary to create at least one <code>t0</code> monolith in the underground and one <code>t1</code> monolith on the surface to allow players to meet).</p>
** Setup Connection Restrictions the same way as for non-mirror map. F.e. if you create 1 vs 1 mirror template, create restrictions as 1 1 1 1 (min. human positions 1, max. human positions 1, min. total positions 1, max. total positions 1).

<span style="font-size:125%;">Extra notes</span>
* If maximum number of object on the map is restricted, half of them will be generated on surface and half underground. F.e. maximum number of 16 [[Star Axis]] can appear on surface and 16 underground.
* When using the number of the zones in any calculation, f.e. for the dwellings values, only surface is taken into the account. Then, the underground is mirrored.
* When Red color is not a human player, the remaining player positions will be shifted, it might result in an unplayable scenario. If human is picked only on a secondary color in the pair (f.e. Red computer + Blue human), human will receive AI's resources ([[Difficulty level]]). Most likely AI strenght will be correctly assigned to the difficulty, but it wasn't confirmed.
* Normal border guard connections cannot be created on mirror maps

== Monoliths' codes ==
{| frame=box cellpadding="7" style="border-collapse:collapse; background-color:lavender; text-align:center;" 
|-
| colspan=12 bgcolor=#ddddea |'''Monolith One Way Entrances:'''
|-
|
| [[File:Monolith One Way Entrance1.gif]]<br><b>o0</b> Blue
| [[File:Pink Monolith One Way Entrance.gif]]<br><b>o1</b> Pink
| [[File:Monolith One Way Entrance3.gif]]<br><b>o2</b> Orange
| [[File:Monolith One Way Entrance4.gif]]<br><b>o3</b> Yellow
| [[File:Turquoise Monolith One Way Entrance.gif]]<br><b>o8</b> Turquoise
| [[File:Violet Monolith One Way Entrance.gif]]<br><b>o9</b> Violet
| [[File:Chartreuse Monolith One Way Entrance.gif]]<br><b>o10</b> Chartreuse
| [[File:White Monolith One Way Entrance.gif]]<br><b>o11</b> White
|
|-
| colspan=10 bgcolor=#ddddea |'''Monolith One Way Exits (bugged):'''
|-
|
| [[File:Monolith One Way Exit1.gif]]<br><b>e0</b> Blue
| [[File:Monolith One Way Exit2.gif]]<br><b>e1</b> Pink
| [[File:Orange Monolith One Way Exit.gif]]<br><b>e2</b> Orange
| [[File:Yellow Monolith One Way Exit.gif]]<br><b>e3</b> Yellow
| [[File:Turquoise Monolith One Way Exit.gif]]<br><b>e8</b> Turquoise
| [[File:Violet Monolith One Way Exit.gif]]<br><b>e9</b> Violet
| [[File:Chartreuse Monolith One Way Exit.gif]]<br><b>e10</b> Chartreuse
| [[File:White Monolith One Way Exit.gif]]<br><b>e11</b> White
|
|-
| colspan=10 bgcolor=#ddddea |'''Portal One Way Entrances:'''
|-
|
|
|
| [[File:Purple Portal One Way Entrance.gif]]<br><b>o4</b> Purple
| [[File:Orange Portal One Way Entrance.gif]]<br><b>o5</b> Orange
| [[File:Red Portal One Way Entrance.gif]]<br><b>o6</b> Red
| [[File:Cyan Portal One Way Entrance.gif]]<br><b>o7</b> Cyan
|
|
|
|-
| colspan=10 bgcolor=#ddddea |'''Portal One Way Exits (bugged):'''
|-
|
|
|
| [[File:Purple Portal One Way Exit.gif]]<br><b>e4</b> Purple
| [[File:Orange Portal One Way Exit.gif]]<br><b>e5</b> Orange
| [[File:Red Portal One Way Exit.gif]]<br><b>e6</b> Red
| [[File:Cyan Portal One Way Exit.gif]]<br><b>e7</b> Cyan
|
|
|
|-
| colspan=10 bgcolor=#ddddea |'''Two Way Monoliths:'''
|-
| [[File:Monolith Two Way1.gif]]<br><b>t0</b> Green
| [[File:Brown Two Way Monolith.gif]]<br><b>t1</b> Brown
| [[File:Monolith Two Way3.gif]]<br><b>t2</b> Violet
| [[File:Orange Two Way Monolith.gif]]<br><b>t3</b> Orange
| [[File:Pink Two Way Monolith.gif]]<br><b>t9</b> Pink
| [[File:Turquoise Two Way Monolith.gif]]<br><b>t10</b> Turquoise
| [[File:Yellow Two Way Monolith.gif]]<br><b>t11</b> Yellow
| [[File:Black Two Way Monolith.gif]]<br><b>t12</b> Black
| [[File:Blue Two Way Monolith.gif]]<br><b>t17</b> Blue
| [[File:Red Two Way Monolith.gif]]<br><b>t18</b> Red
|-
| colspan=10 bgcolor=#ddddea |'''Two Way Portals:'''
|-
| [[File:Green Two Way Portal.gif]]<br><b>t4</b> Green
| [[File:Yellow Two Way Portal.gif]]<br><b>t5</b> Yellow
| [[File:Red Two Way Portal.gif]]<br><b>t6</b> Red
| [[File:Cyan Two Way Portal.gif]]<br><b>t7</b> Cyan
| [[File:Chartreuse Two Way Portal.gif]]<br><b>t13</b> Chartreuse
| [[File:Turquoise Two Way Portal.gif]]<br><b>t14</b> Turquoise
| [[File:Violet Two Way Portal.gif]]<br><b>t15</b> Violet
| [[File:Orange Two Way Portal.gif]]<br><b>t16</b> Orange
| [[File:Pink Two Way Portal.gif]]<br><b>t19</b> Pink
| [[File:Blue Two Way Portal.gif]]<br><b>t20</b> Blue
|-
| colspan=10 bgcolor=#ddddea |'''Subterranean Gate:'''
|-
|
|
|
|
| [[File:Subterranean_Gate.gif]]<br><b>s</b> Any terrain
| [[File:Subterranean_Gate_(snow).gif]]<br><b>s</b> Snow terrain
|}

== See also ==
* [[HD mod]]
* [[Template Editor]]

[[Category:Generated Maps]]
[[Category:HD mod]]