It shouldn't. I've been using both, and I haven't noticed any problems.

I've just downloaded MoM after quite a few years of not playing it (I had played it a few years back on a whim). The main reason I gave it a whirl again was this insecticide patch here.

I haven't played it too much yet but I've been overall impressed with the changes. It really has improved the game to the point that I enjoy it much more than I used to.

The only issue I have with it so far (other than those pointed out), is that the AI will sometimes run around constantly trying to get to my rear archer units. Unfortunately, in my battles thus far, this tends to be more to his detriment as it allows me to keep hitting him more with my archers. After I reposition my melee troops to block his flank, the AI will move attempt to move around once more. Thus, the AI won't attack but will just keep running around even when it would be more beneficial for him to just hit me head on.

I also had a time already where the AI moved out of a strong defensive position in his fortress and let me take it pretty effortlessly as he split his forces. However, that point has already been mentioned.

Honestly, though, nice job! This patch really makes MoM much more enjoyable!

Me too. I've been using both for a long time.

Plight is only a single file the replaces the help text. I've actually swapped it in and out several times in the middle of games and never had a problem.

Does Insecticide fix the bug with Evil Presence? I could have sworn that it did, but looking in the documentation I'm not seeing anything.

At the very least, if it can't be fixed, it'd be nice to see it gone from the game entirely.

What's the bug with Evil Presence?

I've used that spell lots of times (with Insecticide) and never noticed a problem.

The problem is that it doesn't do anything. Literally has no impact other than making funny faces appear on your buildings. Whether it's player or AI (as revealed through examining save game files), Evil Presence doesn't make a difference. The reason why this is a problem is that not only is it a cool spell concept that's become useless, but the AI doesn't know that it's broken and so will sling it off all the time, wasting all sorts of upkeep on nothing.

The wiki article goes into a lot more detail: http://masterofmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Evil_Presence

It worries me that the wiki article fails to mention that Evil Presence, by design, has no effect on towns of wizards who can use death magic.

Now I don't know whether the article is correct, or if it's a house of cards built on testing that was ignorant of a basic aspect of the spell! Perhaps it is correct - is there another source of evidence? I'd always assumed the "evil presence bug" was that AI wizards would cast on towns belonging to other death-magic-users (so an AI bug, not a spell effect bug).

Nope, just tested it myself. Evil Presence does nothing, even if the wizard being targeted by it has no Death spellbooks. Shame, really.

Ah, so did I. That is annoying, for such an interesting spell to be broken. The spell does still increase unrest in the city, which is something at least (pushed my capital, pop'n 22, from one rebel to three), but that's not supposed to be the main effect. Hmph.

Have you tested it with Insecticide? It's been a long time since I tried it, so I can't be sure, but I think it works.

My test was with Insecticide (the latest). Placing Evil Presence on my capital (with an editor) did not change my mana production, nor did it show a change in the details of the city's power production. I ran it for another turn just to be sure it wasn't a matter of the spell "kicking in" at "next turn", but there was no change. It did cause unrest, and perhaps the spell still interferes with outpost growth, I didn't test that.

I only tested it on my own city, did not check its effect on a rival wizard.

Ahh, that's it then. I remember the unrest part.

TL;DR version: Reconsider having AI shooters wait for targets to come closer.

Long version:
I think part of the "open fire!" logic might be "if I don't go ahead and shoot, I might not get the chance to shoot ever". If the archers consistently wait until the targets start closing in, then the warp wood spell is a cheap (in both senses of the word) way to stop most of them from shooting ever. Other direct damage (ice bolt) and debuff (weakness) spells could likewise be abused by just backing up until you've finished casting them into uselessness, then closing for the kill. Or you could buff (holy armor) your more vulnerable targets in peace before getting the rumble started.

There are also the units with very few shots (Fire Giants and Stone Giants come to mind). Shura and B'Shan (two heroes that come to mind) could close in some for better accuracy and then (try to) pelt them to death without fear. Any unit throwing around magic attacks (Zaldron, priests, dark elves) likewise have a much bigger advantage since they can unload without penalty or retaliation (magic attacks don't suffer the ranged to hit penalty, iirc). Zaldron with 60+ mana and no armor bonuses probably shouldn't be able to handle a stack of 9 champion bowmen by just shooting them (or possibly at all, depending on your spell list).

Also, I'm not sure how you would address the issue of calculating turns left until enemies close to melee range. Would bringing a hero with a high movement speed cause enemy archers to go nuts (whether on the units that can reach them or the usual victims), while not equipping the same hero with those move buffs give you time to blow away the opposition unopposed? Would archers focus on the targets that could reach them (one high defense unit to lead the stack, coming right up!) or just wait to start shooting the enemy archers until the melee units start becoming an issue (pick them apart as best you can, then we'll move in)?

Love the game, ever since it came out 20-ish years ago and played it to death on my trusty 486 ;)

Got hungry again after I spotted it on GOG and read about the patch. Awesome, great, thanks!

One of the more annoying bugs I've noticed is the bug with dispelling of different enchantments e.g. Guardian Wind. Even if you dispel it, the effect doesn't seem to go away. This applies to all different versions I've tried so far. So annoying when you can't attack those Sky Drakes with your 15 attack strength and +7 to hit Slingers just because the Djinns managed to squeeze out a few spells before they died a horrible stoning death ;)

Ok, have to go try impossible now and those revolting thingies as my first attempt on Hard was way too easy.

Anyhow, hope there is still some work done here and you find the time to work out those bugs.

Edit: One game of Impossible behind and I couldn't really see much of a difference. Went 114 % without much trouble...
Nice addition with the enemy heroes having items, but in my case it mostly helped, because I got two quite amazing weapons off them (+6 attack, + to hit and haste). Nodes etc are way too easy compared to vanilla as I only found one really hard sorcery node, and that had like six Sky Drakes. Normally I would at least find 2-3 nodes full of drakes.

Love this patch. Thanks