Posted September 01, 2020
I'm somewhat surprised that there is not yet a post here regarding the Might and Magic 6, 7 and 8 merger mod!
Well, it is time to start one :p
I recently started playing Might and Magic again. A couple of years ago i re-played 6, with the quarantine and all i re-played 7 and started playing 8. Yet again i was unable to finish 8 :p
Looking for similar games, I thought, why not play 6 again, which still has my favorite dungeons of the "trilogy". But the rule set, especially the magic is so inferior compared with 7, that i had a hard time getting into the game.
In comes the 678merge mod! I remember having read about that some time ago, but i promptly forgot about it again. I think back then it was quite new and not fully playable yet.
This has changed. While still not bug free, you can supposedly finish all three games in one go. To not fully trivialize the game, you can enable monster scaling that comes into effect in the later games.
Main source for the mod: https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/10/16657
There you can find the download for the mod itself.
Additionally (also linked there), the community has done additional fixing of the mod. This can be downloaded here:
https://gitlab.com/templayer/mmmerge
Keep in mind: This is essentially a MM8 mod.
So it brings the spells and skills from MM8 into the game instead of those of MM7, but besides the racial skills i am not aware af major differences. Being MM8, you can also have up to 5 characters in your party, but you do not have to fill your party, you can create whatever you want between 1 and 5. And yes, they have added recruitable characters to MM6 and 7, though i have not yet found out where dismissed party members go. Obviously having 5 members is overpowered for MM 6 and 7, so i will stay at 4 (Knight, Archer, Cleric and Sorcerer) for those games.
Trainers for the additional skills and assumedly mastery levels also have been added to MM6. And recruitable NPCs (even though the system has changed a bit) also also still available. Still looking for a Scholar though :p
And finally: Arcomage in all MM6 taverns!
Anyway, this has brought me to the decision to start a full replay of MM6 again, and that will likly be followed by 7 and maybe this time even 8 with the same party.
I want to take this thread as an opportunity to let you know about my experiences playing the game like this.
I will post here following my gaming sessions, should something special have happened.
I will post about any issue that i notice, putting emphasis on the differences i have noticed.
New Sorpigal:
Change: it was snowing right at the beginning. That effect can be turned off in the Controls menu. It's somewhat non-obvious, the menu to change that and other new settings is at the top.
Change: The town has guards now.
Change: Some NPCs are named now, those are not recruitable
Change: I think that in the original, the town NPCs were replaced quite often. Have not seen that yet with the mod.
Change: Most NPCs need to be coerced into speaking with you, the bribe amount can be quite big, i saw 1000 Gold for some, while others are even free. This might be related to their recruitment cost.
Change: Item graphics (with their descriptions) are now a mix of MM6, 7 and 8. While most were the same in their respective game, now they have slight differences. Look at everything!
Change: Some guilds are available from the start now. Only for the magic guilds you still need to pay to get in. Click twice on the Guild name in the conversation to join.
Change: Skill training locations follow the MM8 model now, so you get your weapon skills at the weapon smith now.
Addition: The training hall has a recruitable NPC
Bug/Glitch: Donating at the temple can give you a massively overpowered bless buff that gives about +140 points to hit and damage and lasts almost 2 days.
Bug/Glitch: Selling items, even without the merchant skill, gives way more money than vanilla MM6
Bug/Glitch: My sorcerer somehow ended up with the MM8 dark elf racial skill
Bug: The notes do not record trainer locations. While you get the sound effect like in MM8, the notes stay empty.
Goblin Watch:
Bug/Glitch: This seems to affect all letters. The line breaks are messed up, making the puzzle combination hard to read.
Glitch: For some reason, torches can be turned off and on by clicking on them. Activating them with space does the same and adds a blip to the minimap. I dimly remember some torches in the original games doing the same.
Glitch: i had some of the rats at the end of the western maintenance tunnel that ambush you at the chest stuck in the geometry. I could still kill them, but could not loot them.
Abandoned Temple:
Glitch: Very obvious lighting issues.
Glitch: Heavy clipping and holes in the geometry in the caves
Glitch: some mobs in the caves stuck in the geometry, but not killable. Near the Spiderqueen, but the queen itself was fine
Bug: Missing cages in the dungeon behind the rescued child. The trapped cages in the middle are still there, the three to the left and right are gone
Glitch: The same glitch with the torches in the Goblinwatch happens here with braziers.
This is where i am at the moment. I don't think i will continue listing all the glitches that i encounter, except for major ones. But if there is an interest i can continue with these details ;)
Well, it is time to start one :p
I recently started playing Might and Magic again. A couple of years ago i re-played 6, with the quarantine and all i re-played 7 and started playing 8. Yet again i was unable to finish 8 :p
Looking for similar games, I thought, why not play 6 again, which still has my favorite dungeons of the "trilogy". But the rule set, especially the magic is so inferior compared with 7, that i had a hard time getting into the game.
In comes the 678merge mod! I remember having read about that some time ago, but i promptly forgot about it again. I think back then it was quite new and not fully playable yet.
This has changed. While still not bug free, you can supposedly finish all three games in one go. To not fully trivialize the game, you can enable monster scaling that comes into effect in the later games.
Main source for the mod: https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/10/16657
There you can find the download for the mod itself.
Additionally (also linked there), the community has done additional fixing of the mod. This can be downloaded here:
https://gitlab.com/templayer/mmmerge
Keep in mind: This is essentially a MM8 mod.
So it brings the spells and skills from MM8 into the game instead of those of MM7, but besides the racial skills i am not aware af major differences. Being MM8, you can also have up to 5 characters in your party, but you do not have to fill your party, you can create whatever you want between 1 and 5. And yes, they have added recruitable characters to MM6 and 7, though i have not yet found out where dismissed party members go. Obviously having 5 members is overpowered for MM 6 and 7, so i will stay at 4 (Knight, Archer, Cleric and Sorcerer) for those games.
Trainers for the additional skills and assumedly mastery levels also have been added to MM6. And recruitable NPCs (even though the system has changed a bit) also also still available. Still looking for a Scholar though :p
And finally: Arcomage in all MM6 taverns!
Anyway, this has brought me to the decision to start a full replay of MM6 again, and that will likly be followed by 7 and maybe this time even 8 with the same party.
I want to take this thread as an opportunity to let you know about my experiences playing the game like this.
I will post here following my gaming sessions, should something special have happened.
I will post about any issue that i notice, putting emphasis on the differences i have noticed.
New Sorpigal:
Change: it was snowing right at the beginning. That effect can be turned off in the Controls menu. It's somewhat non-obvious, the menu to change that and other new settings is at the top.
Change: The town has guards now.
Change: Some NPCs are named now, those are not recruitable
Change: I think that in the original, the town NPCs were replaced quite often. Have not seen that yet with the mod.
Change: Most NPCs need to be coerced into speaking with you, the bribe amount can be quite big, i saw 1000 Gold for some, while others are even free. This might be related to their recruitment cost.
Change: Item graphics (with their descriptions) are now a mix of MM6, 7 and 8. While most were the same in their respective game, now they have slight differences. Look at everything!
Change: Some guilds are available from the start now. Only for the magic guilds you still need to pay to get in. Click twice on the Guild name in the conversation to join.
Change: Skill training locations follow the MM8 model now, so you get your weapon skills at the weapon smith now.
Addition: The training hall has a recruitable NPC
Bug/Glitch: Donating at the temple can give you a massively overpowered bless buff that gives about +140 points to hit and damage and lasts almost 2 days.
Bug/Glitch: Selling items, even without the merchant skill, gives way more money than vanilla MM6
Bug/Glitch: My sorcerer somehow ended up with the MM8 dark elf racial skill
Bug: The notes do not record trainer locations. While you get the sound effect like in MM8, the notes stay empty.
Goblin Watch:
Bug/Glitch: This seems to affect all letters. The line breaks are messed up, making the puzzle combination hard to read.
Glitch: For some reason, torches can be turned off and on by clicking on them. Activating them with space does the same and adds a blip to the minimap. I dimly remember some torches in the original games doing the same.
Glitch: i had some of the rats at the end of the western maintenance tunnel that ambush you at the chest stuck in the geometry. I could still kill them, but could not loot them.
Abandoned Temple:
Glitch: Very obvious lighting issues.
Glitch: Heavy clipping and holes in the geometry in the caves
Glitch: some mobs in the caves stuck in the geometry, but not killable. Near the Spiderqueen, but the queen itself was fine
Bug: Missing cages in the dungeon behind the rescued child. The trapped cages in the middle are still there, the three to the left and right are gone
Glitch: The same glitch with the torches in the Goblinwatch happens here with braziers.
This is where i am at the moment. I don't think i will continue listing all the glitches that i encounter, except for major ones. But if there is an interest i can continue with these details ;)