Mathew Steel

I am also there and have made a terrible mistake during the process of designing my defences, so if you could refrain from wiping me off the face of the earth, I would highly appreciate that.

We don't talk about PHP. I'll be sticking to my CSS and JS!

Charles! Great to see you back. I hope you're doing well. I finished my final exam of my first university year today, so I'm feeling very relaxed. C++ is a pain in the...sally port, so well done on that. HTML is a lot of fun though I find. Chris and I have been planning some small changes to the site's CSS setup.? I appreciate the kind words on the promotion :)

No need to apologise! It?s not an uncommon occurrence, just wanted to let you know for the future. Personally haven?t much experience with modding images. I can give it a go over the weekend and get back to you, although Chris did say to me he?d help you out when he gets a chance!

Good day! Please don?t double post to simply address other users. Your posts are publicly visible and someone will respond when they get a chance, I can assure you. No need to address each post to specific members as the Private Message option allows you to do that!?:)

Very good mod,?@LORD_VALROY. Nice little launcher you made too. I only ask that you update the information provided in the original post to be accurate to the latest version, as the file size is 3 times the size of the older version. To clarify, the linked site, as well as the download sites are safe and the files contain no malware.

Must say, I too agree with?@odisseus. I think pikemen look the part better, definitely, but swordsmen are better in almost every aspect except for costing slightly more and being slightly slower. Swordsmen can be used to attack in singleplayer, however, when it comes to multiplayer, they're far too weak against intelligent people who know how to easily counter them. Crossbowmen in particular rinse through swordsmen as if they were nothing.

*Post moved to Stronghold Legends?section* Sorry I can't be of much help as Stronghold Legends isn't my forte. Hopefully moving it here will bring more attention to your issue!

Glad you got the request sorted! As always, if you need anything more, don't hesitate to ask. It's why the site exists!

Chris, did you write this? Jokes aside, welcome to the forums, friend. Chris is not the creator of Stronghold but is the owner of Stronghold Nation. We?re just a community of Stronghold fans sharing our knowledge and creations. You won?t need to pay, if I knew more about it, I?d happily help now. Chris will answer soon enough. Hope you get your answer! Best regards, Tom

Greetings, all! You may have noticed a lack of absence among myself and some other staff members. Firstly, I'd like to apologise for this and also let you all know the forum is not dead, in fact, it's going to become more active in the coming days. However, I would like to provide some sort of explanation on behalf of the staff. First and foremost, the competition. I have chosen a winner and will announce that very shortly. The reward, as promised, will be a copy of Stronghold Next when that is available for purchase on Steam. More on that later on. Secondly, I personally have been extremely busy with personal life. Relationships, university, mental health, and decided to take a break from any external responsibilities whilst I was focusing on that. I am in a much better state now, and will begin contributing to the community a lot more, with some new maps in the works as I type this. I do not wish to share the stories of other staff members as their absence is not my story to tell, however, it boils down to similar reasons of personal life becoming hectic. We would like to thank all of you for sticking around and continuing to participate in the forums, and we are eternally grateful for your constant understanding and kindness in such situations. I'd specifically like to thank Crusader for his amazing work and tremendous effort in the history thread. He truly is a perfect example of what we strive towards on the site and words really cannot explain the amount of respect and appreciation we have for him. Even in our absence, Crusader continued with his work and each post is just as interesting as the previous. Exciting things are happening and we at SHN are glad to have you all on board. Best regards, Mathew Steel Tom

Hello,?@odisseus! My apologies for the delayed response. With Christmas coming soon, I've been very busy finishing university work and with family. Unfortunately I cannot reveal the total number of entries for the competition. However, I can inform you that I did receive your entry without any issues. I can't give an exact date on when the winner will be revealed, but I imagine it will be the end of January at the latest. Best regards, Tom.

Really thorough and well-organised tutorial! Very well done,?@odisseus! Topic has been stickied!

Ah of course, new members can't access PM for security reasons. It's sort of a trust system. Once you reach 10 posts, you'll have access. For now, you can email me via "Send Email" on my account. Or the "Email" button that should be beneath my profile picture on this post. If you email me, we'll try and sort something out for the map. Best regards, Tom

Hi,?@odisseus, One of the two maps were uploaded early hours this morning. I haven't had a chance to take a look at it. As for the other map, one of the staff members seemed to run into a crash when trying the game. For this reason, we'll need to have other members of staff try it out before approving it. In future, it may be better for you to PM me about approving a map, as it doesn't flood the site with posts related to approval. As said, we'll get around to approving the maps, it just takes time. Best regards, Tom

Just tested the updated version on Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty. Everything works well. Map has been approved. Well done on figuring out the issue with the mission! Best regards, Mathew

Good day to ye all! I trust you are doing well. With an increase in uploads being made to SHN Download Central, I thought now would be a good time to set a reminder on what we define as a "good quality map" as this is what will determine the fate of your upload. "Good Quality" It may be surprising to hear but your map doesn't need to be the most beautiful, with the best storyline, and the most interesting gameplay, for it to pass as a good quality map. This means creators of any experience are free to upload to the site and give everyone the chance to play new missions! "Good quality" can be defined as: A functioning map - The map works as intended. There are not any major bugs or issues caused by poor setup of the map itself. Any bugs and glitches that occur are a result of the base game. All missions must be able to be completed. Missions that are impossible to complete are considered game breaking and thus do not get approved to SHN Download Central. An original map -?Your map cannot be a clone. By all means, create different versions your own map - perhaps you wish to make a version for an experienced player, and another for a beginner - but do not plagiarise. If you do upload somebody else's map, be sure you have their consent, and ensure to give them credit in the description. Some gameplay element - For almost all maps, this factor will not come into play. However, many "tutorial" maps exist that are overly basic. Maps that show off gameplay mechanics and features are great! However, "move Lord from point A to point B" is not a tutorial. Maps that appear to be tutorials must offer some lesson that is not easily learnt, i.e. Telling the player they can kill enemy units with their own units is too basic to pass as a tutorial map. Some effort in design - Map design is not an easy task by any means. However, we do ask that creators put some effort into eye-candy. A fully flat map with nothing but resources is not exactly the most enjoyable experience. For players who really enjoy the genre, it can really ruin the immersion. Q&A Q. I have created a map previously, but wish to reuse the map and change the story. Is this still original?? A. The originality of a map is of course checked by us. We are humans (...) and can tell the difference between a clone and a remake. If you wish to reuse your own map for the purpose of a "second ending" type of story, then by all means, do so! Q. My map has mountains, trees, and other resources, but it is untextured. Is this okay? A. Of course! Texturing a map is not an easy task, especially for newcomers. As long as your map has some element of design to it - it will pass this requirement. Q. I uploaded my map but it was denied. I have made changes since, should I resubmit it? A. Please do! Understand we must still check the resubmission as we would have the first time. This is for the safety of our download section, and to ensure the same issues that were previously raised have been fixed. Q. My map still has not been approved. Why might this be? A. Currently, all SHN staff members are either in full-time education or a full-time profession. We love Stronghold, and we truly enjoy the commitment to the community, however, we also have to prioritise our daily-lives over it. Unless there are any extreme cases, the decision on your submission will be made within 3-5 days. As expected, maps that contain multiple missions, especially difficult missions, take a lot longer to test. Conclusion We love all your maps and we really do appreciate the hardwork and effort put into them. Whilst we would love to trust all our users and not have this system in-place, it is essential in terms of security, and a positive experience for our members! We understand waiting a while for your map to be approved can be annoying at times, but we ask for you to please be patient. We will do it! As always, Best regards, Mathew (Tom)

I didn?t get much chance to try Easy and Hard difficulty as I treated the map how the average user would. I followed your read_me file, but the issue persisted. I?m using the latest steam edition of Stronghold HD.

Given the nature of the map, I don?t have an issue with that. Try fix it, then resubmit it. If I?m happy that the map works well (other than the medium setting glitch) I?ll approve it. I did check into it myself and couldn?t seem to fix the issue. The map itself is a neat idea for newcomers to the editor.

Moved to: Site Questions and Support Hi, @odisseus, I hope you're well. In regards to your post, I can see there are in fact 3 unapproved posts in the downloads section. The first from 06/10/18, the second from 08/10/18, and the third today at 15:43 GMT. Whilst I understand you want to share your creations with others on the site, please also understand our position. Whilst we are site moderators, we have busy lives as well. All of us are either in full-time education, or full-time profession, and as such, cannot immediately approve files. The files must be checked before approval as to ensure good quality in the downloads section. Chances are your files are of good quality, and will be approved immediately after testing. However, again, we have these guidelines in place for a reason. I promise you, we will check your uploads as soon as possible. Please be patient. We appreciate the effort all map-creators put into their work, and genuinely love seeing new content shared. Your files will be checked on Saturday at the latest.? EDIT: I just downloaded and tested your invasions map titled "Duel".? I saw in the read_me file you stated the Lord would sometimes not respawn. I did as you said and restarted several times to no prevail. Unfortunately, for that reason, I cannot approve the map as in its current state, the player cannot win. Feel free to reupload an updated version of the map and I will retest it. If all is well, I'll approve it. Best regards, Mathew Steel (Tom)

You may only submit one map for this competition. If you have already created a map, and you're happy to use it, and it has not been uploaded elsewhere, then you may submit it. Hopefully this clears it up :) As for your uploads to the site, Crusader covered all of it in all honestly. We manually approve files after testing them. This involves ensuring the files are safe, the map actually plays, and the map isn't just a blank canvas with nothing on it. If your map passes these tests, it will be approved and immediately appear in the downloads section.

@odisseus good spot! That's a mistake on my behalf. It has been corrected to "At least 1 chapter", meaning for certain games, such as Stronghold 2, you may make your mission more than 1 chapter. However, adding more chapters doesn't mean you will score higher. It's very easy to lose consistency in a plot line through multiple chapters.

ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED Thank you to all of those who entered in our competition. I am looking forward to seeing all the maps and getting to test some new missions before anyone else. The winner will be revealed sometime towards the end of January, 2019. As for the promised reward of a copy of Stronghold Next upon its release, well of course that can only be sent upon its release. I will have more information on how the reward will be sent once the winner is revealed. The winner will first be notified via email, and then will be announced here at StrongholdNation. I thank you all once more. Merry Christmas! Hear ye! Hear ye! The town crier has news for thee! For those of you that have been following the riddles and little hints I've been leaving around the site, you may be very aware that I've been planning a new competition for some time now! In celebration of the next entry in the Stronghold franchise, we are giving away a copy of Stronghold Next to the deserved winner of our new map making competition. Keep reading for details! Competition Instructions: You must create a map in any?Stronghold entry. The map must be and contain: - War Scenario - At least 1 chapter - Accompanied by a good story?or plot - Original ONE MAP PER USER. Competition Entry: You must?be a member of StrongholdNation to participate in this competition for verification purposes. You have until the 1st of December, 2018?to send your maps to me via email. You can submit the map to my email at - mathewsteel [at] strongholdnation [dot] co [dot] uk. When sending your map via email, set the "Subject" field to "SHN Competition Entry - [sHN Username]". In the text field, please state your map name, and remember to add the map as a .zip or .rar attachment. Maps must be uploaded in a .zip or .rar format. Do not?upload your map to the site before the competition entry date has passed, or it will not be considered eligible as an original work. Once the competition has closed, you may freely upload your maps to the site under any name you wish. The .zip or .rar should contain the following: - Your Stronghold map - A minimap screenshot in (optional) - A text file that includes the story or plot of the map itself Choosing the Winner Map design and overall quality is often subjective, however, there is objectivity involved too. Despite this, maps will be marked by both myself and @Lord_Chris. Your map will be scored out of 10 for each of the following expectations: - Appearance - Is the map pretty? Maps that are symmetric with plain grass textures will not be rewarded highly, if at all. Make your maps as nice on the eyes as possible. However, this does not mean maps must be realistic. - Quality of play - Does the map play as intended? Are there any creator errors that could have been avoided? We want to be able to play the map smoothly. Invasions should be timed as intended, and maps should be tested before uploading your entry. - Storyline - You may create a fantasy or realistic story or plot to accompany your map. Remember, as your teachers always said, quality not quantity. We want to be drawn in. We want to feel like our actions in-game will truly be affecting some world you created. - Interest - Chapters should contain fun missions. Whilst this is a war scenario, you are not limited to only war gameplay. Resource management is often a large part of Stronghold, and maps that can show the best of both sides of the franchise are likely to earn more points. Entry Closing: I'll say once more - your maps must be submitted to me via the email link before the 1st of December, 2018.?I can be lenient for entries submitted on that date. If you've any questions, post a reply, and I will add a Q&A section into the original post, or simply update certain aspects of the post. Good luck to you all! May the best designer win! :D

Q&A part 2 -?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wYSxse3NMs Updated map editor, trailer soon to come, emphasis on the new mechanic, confirmed campaigns, skirmishes, and AI multiplayer...talks of upgrades...

A message, your Lordship. It would seem that the ink has been smeared in certain passages... I have long awaited word that you live on, noble Lord. I hold no malice towards you. I wish only for you to heed my warning. A great task will soon be upon you. I cannot reveal what, or when, but remember these words... I am sorry, my Lord. The remaining passage is unreadable... Perhaps on the back... Ah! A riddle... Previously, Currently, - - - -, - - - -, After, Do, Not every riddle ends in rhyme, Stronghold 3, Crusader 2 What comes - - - -