ColdFever of civilized.de has been working on a Blue Marble Terrain set for Civilization IV, based on satellite images of the NASA Blue Marble project.

April 17, 2006:

The Blue Marble terrain has been updated to version 2.00. Special thanks go to Firaxis for the new Civ4 patch that now allows alternative terrain graphics in protected multi-player games under competition conditions. Additions and changes:

optionally available low resolution textures for weaker computers
darker jungles for better contrast against regular forests
drier plains for better contrast against grassland
wetter flood plains for better contrast against other terrain
preliminary support for the upcoming Warlords-Addon


Download
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=6

BlueMarble Homepage (English):
http://www.civfanatics.net/bluemarble

Screenshot:
http://civilized.worldserve.de/download/civ4/images/BlueMarbleContinent640.jpg

http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/files/BlueMarbleNASA.jpg

Woh they look very good.

I can see this becoming a must-have for every Civ game

Wow - that looks awsome!

Yeah I was playing around with Blue Marble myself the past few days. The maps NASA produces are incredible. The fullsize map is 2+ gb packed and 10gb unpacked lol.

Once this gets released I'll have a new source of maps to play with :)

Sweet. More goodies to play with. Great news.

:drool: I can't wait. Kudos to them for tackling terrain graphics already.

I applaud the effort...however...with a THREE-tile Cuba, it doesn't really make sense to have the Mountain Peak in the East---might I suggest hills? Ditto for the areas of Texas and Mexico that I can see on that 2nd screenshot... Just some thoughts, as in Civ4, mountains are USELESS terrain, so they should be used sparingly.

It looks great! Can't wait for it! :)

Amazing graphics, kudos to NASA. Good to know we have inflitrated every major Agency in the world. Soon Civ community will take over the whole world and wars and diplomacy will take a new turn. :)

I'm really looking forward to this. I hope the terrain textures look nicer (than the originals) when zoomed in.

That
looks
fantastic.

with a THREE-tile Cuba, it doesn't really make sense to have the Mountain Peak in the East---might I suggest hills? Ditto for the areas of Texas and Mexico that I can see on that 2nd screenshot... Just some thoughts, as in Civ4, mountains are USELESS terrain, so they should be used sparingly.
The BlueMarble terrain just results in new graphics, not new maps. The World Map you see here is the one included with Civ4 and AFAIK the author is Rhye. So I suggest to forward your suggestion to him via PM.

*faints at the thought of the possibilities*

Right on! Most excellent.

Amazing graphics, kudos to NASA. Good to know we have inflitrated every major Agency in the world. Soon Civ community will take over the whole world and wars and diplomacy will take a new turn. :)

Perhaps future wars will be fought by the governments playing Civ IV instead of actually fighting? We can only hope :goodjob:

These new graphics will fix my biggest issue with the game: the cartoony graphics. I can't wait!

Finally, new terrain graphics!
I can't remember the last time that I played Civ 3 with the original graphic set. Guess I can forget what vanilla Civ4 terrain looks like starting next week. :D

http://civilized.de/
It should be out Friday, is what I'm gathering (if I'm wrong, then my excuse is that I'm only in German 2). ;)
2 New(?) screenshots also.
http://civilized.de/www/content/index.php?cat=civ4_screenshots

I'm loving the darker ocean color.

ColdFever,

I've read that it's possible to make the terrain change over time, is it possible to get the terrain change in seasons then?

It would just be a simple change of textures every X number of turns.

I've read that it's possible to make the terrain change over time, is it possible to get the terrain change in seasons then?
Sorry, I have no real idea about this yet. I only know that if you toggle the grid, another texture set is loaded (the one with the grid). So it certainly is possible to change textures, but I do not know if you can access this function via scripting.

And yes, the Blue Marble Terrain (BMT) will be released on Friday. I am just finishing the finetuning and install our new German download server. Fortunately Thunderfall offered to host the mod for the English speaking world on CivFanatics, this really helps to spread the burden. Thanks!

btw: the BMT will be accompanied by a small extra program making it possible to adjust the dimensions of many 3D objects comfortably via sliders. And with one slider you can to adjust the strength of the clouds, so who thinks the NASA Earth clouds are too strong can make them as transparent as desired.

Yes. YES. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

I think my overall favorite mod to Civ3 was Snoopy's Terrain. And as many have noted, the cartoonishness of the terrain in Civ4 did leave some folks a little non-plussed.

Pictures look great. Well done.

Venger

It should be out Friday, is what I'm gathering (if I'm wrong, then my excuse is that I'm only in German 2). ;)
Yeah, it's coming out on Friday. :)

Here are two bigger screenshots:

http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/files/BlueMarbleTerrain1024.jpg

http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/files/BlueMarbleGlobe1024.jpg

Asolutely fantastic.

Simply beautiful. Now that i've seen the masterwork, i refuse to play until Friday. :)

Please do not expect too much if you have an older graphics card. The screenshots have been taken on a DirectX9 card (ATI 9800), showing all texture overlays. I also tested the mod on an older graphics card and here the game reduces the graphics quality, so some texture overlays do not appear. So on an older graphics card the BMT still looks more natural, but because of the missing overlays the terrain appears less "grown" and a bit more "blocky".

ColdFever, what do you mean by "showing all texture overlays"?

Does anyone want to post a comparison screen-shot of the original Civ IV terrain along with a Blue Marble shot?

ColdFever, what do you mean by "showing all texture overlays"?
The terrain consists of up to two textures:
- one basic "blend" texture, applied to each tile
- one "detail" texture overlay, applied to more tiles

As the detail texture is applied to more tiles, the individual tile borders become less evident. But I found that the detail texture does not appear on older graphics cards, so here only the basic texture is visible and the individual tiles are more evident.

Does anyone want to post a comparison screen-shot of the original Civ IV terrain along with a Blue Marble shot?
Yes pleeeeeease!

Looks great my German fellows ;)

Aaaah! I now see the big hullabaloo about this terrain! It certainly looks more realistic that the default terrain.

Definitely looks GREAT!

this looks to be the best mod for civ 4 yet.

will they put more strain on my graphic card??? They do look awesome though

will they put more strain on my graphic card?
No, I applied great care to use the *exact* original formats to avoid troubles. I only made one exception: in the scenario selection menu I used a high res image of the wonderful NASA Earth for the Earth scenarios. But as this image only appears before the playing begins, it should not matter for the gameplay at all.

Its out!
Looks amazing - get it HERE! (http://www.civfanatics.net/~bluemarble/content/index.php)

Wooooo! FAN-TUPPING-TASTIC!

I can't wait to try this tomorrow.

*jumps up and down*

It's so realistic it's unreal...
The screenshots don't do it justice.

Hmm, I am having problems unzipping it. When I try, it says the file is corrupted. Tried to redownload and did the same thing again. Any suggestions?

I'll download it when I get home.

Download it from the german site. That one works.

I also can't get it to open

LOL the english site has a corrupt zip file and the German site actually has a file that does work.

Also, I loaded this graphics mod, the title screen has the Blue Marble logo under the Civilization logo, and well . . . am I doing something wrong or is everyone else smoking crack? These don't look any different than the original graphics to me.

Well thats my take on it. If I am seeing the new terrain graphics they look very similar to the old ones.

Original screen shot of the Rocky Mountain area:

Similar screen shot from the Blue Marble file, if I did it right:confused:

Spain original:

Spain Blue Marble:

Question (also sort of a request :P ), would it be possible to make a very high resolution/detail/whatever version of this for those of us with powerful machines? Would it look significantly better?

EEK! How did i miss this!? :goodjob:

Looking great! Downloading as I type :goodjob:

The original graphics are brighter, at least on my machine. Right now I'm not sure which ones I like best.....:confused:

Maybe there is a way to tweak them using the CivScale program from the same web site.....:goodjob:

Very cool. :goodjob:

I don't get your enthusiasm. I think the original graphics are much better. http://www.straland.com/images/smilies/modest.gif

I don't get your enthusiasm. I think the original graphics are much better. http://www.straland.com/images/smilies/modest.gif

I have to say the same. The original has much better color contrast. For example, in BMT plains are green and thus hard to distinguish from grassland. The whole base color is also too dark.

I like the darker look. Plus the greener terrain is way better, IMO.

The Greener terrain is alittle better, but I don't get the same WOW feeling I got from snoopy's terrain. Oh well... sorry.

The english site has a corrupt zip file and the German site actually has a file that does work.
Thanks for the info, indeed there was a difference of 1 Byte, probably a transmission fault. I re-uploaded and tested the package, now it should work.

more comparison shots...

OK. Now that I see the screenshots I realize that I was using the Blue Marble terrain graphics in my game. I think that the grassland blends into the greener plains tiles very well but other than that I'm not so impressed.

The Civ3 terrain graphic sets (Snoopys etc)were incredible to say the least.
I think the problem may be that while, the original Civ3 terrain graphics were really awful and the mod graphics were done really well. In Civ4 the original terrain graphics are pretty good and the mod is done well so the difference between the two is less than spectacular.

As I said before the grassland to plains is more realistic, other than that I'll concentrate on the game and not the graphics. :D

Having reviewed the screenshots I don't think there is much of a difference to me. I agree grasslands might be a little better but not enough for me to download.

These new graphics will fix my biggest issue with the game: the cartoony graphics. I can't wait!

cartoony graphics is courtesy of 3d graphics

this new mod looks awesome at least in the screenshots

Hmm, I am having problems unzipping it. When I try, it says the file is corrupted. Tried to redownload and did the same thing again. Any suggestions?


dont unzip just clik on the file its an application it has its own installer

Fantastic look! The darker/greener look looks much better. :goodjob:

Very cool! I am going to miss the yellowish plains though.

You guys should downloads World Wind from NASA at http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/. It's pretty massive at 53 MB but its a sick program that is like 3D google maps, but way better, they have Blue Marble imagry on ther as well as other LandSat and GeoCover. Anyone who like to play around with satellite imagery will love this, reminds me of my GIS archaeology class...

Just to makesure, you put it in the MOD folder of civ4 or does it go somewere else? Thank you

P.S. Please hurry and tell me i would love to play with this soon :)

I just can't figure out how to get this to work. I DLed and unziped the .zip then ran the .exe I had to point it to my civ .exe but nothing happens the graphics in my game and nothing appears in the load mod section. Thanks for any help, I really want to check this out!

Sure lags my system this mod does. I think it is time for me to upgrade i gotta geforce 5200 so dont take my word for it.

Just to makesure, you put it in the MOD folder of civ4 or does it go somewere else? Thank you
Just run the EXE and select "Install". The mod exe then reads the Civ location via the registry and copies all mod files into a safe personal mod folder.

I just can't figure out how to get this to work. I DLed and unziped the .zip then ran the .exe I had to point it to my civ .exe but nothing happens the graphics in my game and nothing appears in the load mod section.
Your installation seems to be problematic. The mod EXE checks the registry to find the Civ installation directory, only in case something is wrong you have to look for the Civilization4.exe. Try copying the mod EXE into your Civ directory and try it again. If this does not work I suggest reinstalling Civ, so that the correct registry keys are restored. There should be a valid value at
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4
You can use the registry editor to check this.

As a last effort if *nothing* helps, you can use "List affected files" of the mod installer, run install, and copy the files manually into your Civ\Assets folder. This is the most 'brutal' way to force Civ4 to use modded files.

All looks about the same to me.

all i can say is....:eek:
....simply breathtaking....

and as for those who like it and those who dont, i think it comes down to your tastes in a civ game. if you prefer everything looking as natural and true-to-life and epic feeling as possible, you will love it. if you prefer simplicity and lots of contrast and a bit more of the oldschool 'civ' feel, you might hate it.

anyways i have all the cities cranked up and units minimized along with the new blue marble textures and wow...what a difference.

I downloaded this as soon as it came out in Germany this morning. :D

To sum it up: it's a lot darker and more realistic.

Changing the plains into a light green is the biggest change. Plains have always been an orange/yellow color, so this will take some getting used too.

I really like the mixing of the white snow on the tundra. I never liked the original dark brown tundra color, so this is a very welcome change.

All in all it's a quality job and a good alternative terrain. Thanks for making it. :goodjob:

I like this, thanks

Looking great ColdFever, downloading it now.

I won't be starting on my mod until I can replace those forests. If they can't be replaced, then I'm not going to bother.

i aprove of this mod
great work
now i whish it will display seasons (regardless of turns) changing like for example every 5-10-30 or so minutes.

All I have to say is w000t

Good work, I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy this. Somewhat dull for my taste though. I prefer the "cartoony" original graphics in this case. Perhaps a compromise would suit me better...

this mod actually like fixed the slowdown issue i was having with civ 4. very very bizzare

I am unsure if I like the BM graphics. It is difficult to tell various terrains from one another. Also with the mod installed I have a crash to desktop problem for the first time. I get near 2000BC and the game randomly crashes. I did not have this problem with the original graphics. Is there an easy way to uninstall the mod?

I think the only way to uninstall the mod is to reinstall civ4

this mod actually like fixed the slowdown issue i was having with civ 4. very very bizzare

It lessened the slowdown for me as well.

Same for me too.

to uninstall, just go run the exe again, and click the uninstall button.

I think the only way to uninstall the mod is to reinstall civ4

Are you saying it overwrites teh civ4 original files, rather than adding itself as a mod using the directory structure that civ4 makes available for this very purpose???

Holy Crap!!! this looks awesome!!!! the terrain is so much smoother and mixed together better!!

just one problem, I installed it, and now the sound is dead, any one know how to fix that?

whoops.............................the sound was turned off............:wallbash:

This mod is simply amazing. It immerses you so much in the game more then the default terrain. Civ 4 already has terrific graphics but this takes it to a whole new level. :goodjob:

I am unsure if I like the BM graphics. It is difficult to tell various terrains from one another. Also with the mod installed I have a crash to desktop problem for the first time. I get near 2000BC and the game randomly crashes. I did not have this problem with the original graphics. Is there an easy way to uninstall the mod?There is a button for uninstalling right next to the install button on the installation interface.

ColdFever, I don't know who to turn to about this; I am currently using your mod to create my own mod (for my personal use, I doubt anyone would actually want to play what I want to play).

Anyway, in Terrain/CIV4TerrainSettings.xml there is: iGameCellSizeX and iGameCellSizeY; which are both set to a value of 17. I am quite certain this is the size of the 'tiles' or 'cells'.

My Problem is that if I change this value to anything, and load civ4, it will crash (during the loading of the map). Do you (or anyone else) know anything about this?

I guess I don't give a lot of thought to graphics in games generally, but I tried this mod and to be honest, I can't really tell the difference. What is it meant to have improved? Can we see some before/after comparison screenshots please?

GREAT!this is the first mod ive played in civ4

So if this has to be loaded up as a mod, what happens if you want to use these graphics with another mod? Hmm.

I guess I don't give a lot of thought to graphics in games generally, but I tried this mod and to be honest, I can't really tell the difference. What is it meant to have improved? Can we see some before/after comparison screenshots please?

There are before and after screenshots throughout this thread, you should read through it.

This mod is quite simple in its changes, it basically just makes the terrain look more earthy; and to me and a lot of others, that is a great thing; but also, to many, it's not that great. All depends on what feeling you want your game to give off.

Are you saying it overwrites teh civ4 original files, rather than adding itself as a mod using the directory structure that civ4 makes available for this very purpose???

No it puts it in the Documents directory.

You know how I feel. This is a very cool graphics mod. :) It's even better that ColdFever made the install/uninstall process a breeze. The scale utility is also very nice.

I certainly would recommend people download it and play a game with it. If you end up not liking the color/feel of the terrain after that, it's simple to uninstall.

I really like the mixing of the white snow on the tundra. I never liked the original dark brown tundra color, so this is a very welcome change.
For the Tundra credits go to Firaxis, because this is the original Tundra of an ancient Pre-Alpha version that I just loved and only spiced up a bit. So this is one of the exceptions where no satellite data has been used.

So if this has to be loaded up as a mod, what happens if you want to use these graphics with another mod? Hmm.
The kind of installation I used makes it compatible with all mods and scenarios. And mods and scenarios bringing their own terrain will automatically use this one, so there should be no problem.

In Terrain/CIV4TerrainSettings.xml there is: iGameCellSizeX and iGameCellSizeY; which are both set to a value of 17. I am quite certain this is the size of the 'tiles' or 'cells'. My Problem is that if I change this value to anything, and load civ4, it will crash (during the loading of the map). Do you (or anyone else) know anything about this?
No, sorry. But you probably are looking for something else.
Have a look in GlobalDefines.xml for this:
<DefineName>PLOT_SIZE</DefineName>
<fDefineFloatVal>180.0</fDefineFloatVal>

It lessened the slowdown for me as well.

It did the same for me... Wonder why that is? Funny how this is actually improving game preformace for some of us...

The intro text is strange. It gives the impression that the NASA Blue Marble team is responsible for this mod. This cannot be true, can it?

Now if only someone could make a Civ4 equiv. of Warpstorm's watercolor mod...

I don't see the least bit of difference, if those are adjusted samples.

edited - Excuse me. I was talking about page one. I still don't see any difference apart from somewhat greener and darker tones generally.

I see a significant difference, and I love it. It looks great, and I'll never go back.

Thanks!

I don't know how I got along without this terrain. Simply Awesome!!!!! No more cartoonish terrain for me... now if I could only do something about the unit animations....

Liking it, though there are a couple of thigs that I might just have to get used to - the mountains look ok on their own but a bunch of them together is still pretty unsatisfactory (not that the original ones weren't, mind), and the plains are maybe a bit green - I kept settling on them more often than I normally would because they look so much nicer now :D

this mod actually like fixed the slowdown issue i was having with civ 4. very very bizzare
It did the same for me... Wonder why that is? Funny how this is actually improving game performance for some of us...
Perhaps I have an explanation, as I did follow the original formats very closely with one exception: the original terrain uses some kind of "inverted" cloud textures to reduce the strength of clouds depending on camera altitude. As I prefer to see the clouds unchanged, I replaced the inverted textures with simple transparent ones.

Perhaps the graphics card/driver somehow notices that these transparent textures are superflous now, so that the rendering process can be simplified... Of course this would be great for people with slower graphic cards. But unfortunately I also received >one< problem report telling me that on the affected system in strategic globe mode the globe appears black apart from the clouds. So perhaps this optimization not only can lead to better performance but also to a problem on some older graphic cards? So please check your globe mode, and if somebody else also notices a problem with blackness, please give me a note here.

The intro text is strange. It gives the impression that the NASA Blue Marble team is responsible for this mod. This cannot be true, can it?
Of course the NASA Blue Marble team has more important things to do than working on Civilization mods, but the man who did compile most of the original Blue Marble images, Reto Stöckli (who seems to be an awfully nice guy), liked the idea and the design screenshots I sent him so much, that he not only gave me an official ok but also this preface text. Here is Reto's homepage, where you can visit his other projects:
http://www.iac.ethz.ch/people/stockli

BTW for me this mod makes the zoomed out globe view extremely "laggy" and unresponsive when the clouds are visible. As soon as the clouds disappear, it's nice and smooth. I have an Nvidia 6600GT.

The zip file contains a CRC error !
Someone has this problem too ?
LeSphinx

Really impressing graphics mod with great addition that it seems to reduce lag somehow. Also I find that units with different flag colors are more easier to spot now.

Just wondering why this mod is not working with multiplayer option? (or is it just me)

-- Migo

Just wondering why this mod is not working with multiplayer option? (or is it just me)
This looks like a Civ4 bug (or feature) to me, as Civ4 does not accept CustomAssets in Multiplayer mode. The only solution I know is to copy the mod from CustomAssets into the Civ4 Assets folder, as this original folder is used for multiplayer. I will report this to Firaxis.

Not sure what to think of this. I agree that the contrast is awful but the overall look is slightly better. And it does look a little too blue IMO. I'll have to try it and test performance. If it indeed does increase it I'll use it since I have big problems with that. Is it easy to uninstall?

can some one help me please? I've installed the mod, and the title screen shows the blue marble logo, however i cannot seem to find anything in the 'load a mod' section, from which map do i have to use in order to use this mod? thank you in advance. :)

Is it easy to uninstall?
Just click the "Uninstall" button in the BlueMarble tool.

I've installed the mod, and the title screen shows the blue marble logo, however i cannot seem to find anything in the 'load a mod' section
Your installation is ok, just play what you like now, the new terrain graphics are always active, in standard game or via a mod/scenario of your choice. The only exception currently is multiplayer, where Civ4 seems to ignore CustomAssets.

Just click the "Uninstall" button in the BlueMarble tool.

Thanks!:) I'm definitely going to try it out. Thanks for making it so user friendly.:goodjob:

Perhaps this is because my video card is aging, but I find jungles and plains to be hard to distinguish from forests and grasslands. I love the tundra terrain, but I would like to see some more yellow/orange in the plains and some spots of red/orange/yellow in the jungles, simulating blooms and/or tropical birds in the latter.

I remember when I downloaded specific fish resource graphics in civ 3, they were very blue and hard to see in the water, so the artist made one of the fish red and the problem was solved. They were still very fishy, but the contrast set them out for your eyes to distinguish them.

Simply amazing!

Amazing!!!

Thanks ColdFever, my dream game is finally falling into place.

Once I get the SDK, I'm gonna make this a game to drool over. At least I hope so.

From your mod, I can see that you are interested in the same sort of thing I am. This is not surprising, considering you are from Germany and I am from New Zealand; both countries that love awesome sceneries. :)

How do you actually view those massive 500m/pixel pictures on Nasa? They're in .bin format.

I've downloaded and tried out your textures - I must admit they look like an absolute dream.

I was wondering if it is possible to perhaps include the ability to switch between the Blue Earth textures and the defaults within the game - an option when creating a new game or perhaps in the options menu?

I understand that it's very easy to uninstall the mod however such a feature would be very nice indeed particuarly as the number of terrain tile sets starts to proliferate for civ 4.

Awesome stuff. I like the more realistic colors. I also love the scaling tool now I finaly can reduce the size of those big units. Great work.

I love the scaling tool, now I finaly can reduce the size of those big units. Great work.
Credits for this go to Firaxis. They build this nice feature into the game and I just had to write a little interface for it.

I love the tundra terrain, but I would like to see some more yellow/orange in the plains and some spots of red/orange/yellow in the jungles, simulating blooms and/or tropical birds in the latter.
Hmm, perhaps I should make some experiments into this direction.

I was wondering if it is possible to perhaps include the ability to switch between the Blue Earth textures and the defaults within the game - an option when creating a new game or perhaps in the options menu?
With the upcoming SDK this should be possible. But this is beyond my targets and available time. Perhaps somebody (you?) may want to do it?

I am currently using your mod to create my own mod...Once I get the SDK, I'm gonna make this a game to drool over. At least I hope so.
Considering your Civ3 masterpieces, I'm really getting curious. Please allow me a peek at sometime.

I was wondering if it is possible to perhaps include the ability to switch between the Blue Earth textures and the defaults within the game - an option when creating a new game or perhaps in the options menu?
You can remove all the files from the custom assets folder and put them in a mod folder. You can also set that mod to be default in the main ini file, and still easily load the original files is you want.


@Snoopy: I can't wait. :D

Hi, to you all!

Err, what is the ZoomMag that can be adjusted with the CivScale?

You can remove all the files from the custom assets folder and put them in a mod folder. You can also set that mod to be default in the main ini file, and still easily load the original files is you want.


@Snoopy: I can't wait. :D

Can those instructions be found in greater detail for those of us who are functionally illiterate at computer-ese but can follow a set of instructions pretty well?

Err, what is the ZoomMag that can be adjusted with the CivScale?
It is the amount of magnification you can apply to flags and units if the camera zooms out into the clouds. Without ZoomMagnification units and flags get smaller and smaller, but the ZoomMagnification can compensate this to a certain amount.


You can remove all the files from the custom assets folder and put them in a mod folder. You can also set that mod to be default in the main ini file, and still easily load the original files is you want.

Can those instructions be found in greater detail for those of us who are functionally illiterate at computer-ese but can follow a set of instructions pretty well?
Have a look at the Mods Civ4 comes with (in the Mod folder). Weasel's suggestion is to create another mod folder (for example "BlueMarble") and put the BlueMarbe files into it. Then you can load it as a Mod instead of having it automatically loaded as it is now. And if you want a certain mod to be loaded automatically with each boot, you can set the mod entry in CivilizationIV.ini (under "My Games") accordingly.

I Downloaded the CivScale Program and tried the Blue Marble sugestions, and it seems to me that the cities are too big.

I love the install process. Is there anyway that could become a mod standard? Just clicking install is much more my level.

I love the install process. Is there anyway that could become a mod standard? Just clicking install is much more my level.

Yes I like the install process. Could you give it a Mod option too? A install to CustomAssets and a Install to Mod, where you type in the mod name would be great.

I Downloaded the CivScale Program and tried the Blue Marble sugestions, and it seems to me that the cities are too big.

Yes I just started playing around with the CivScale program and I love it. I don't think that the terrain graphics are much different from the original (but for some reason I'm still using them, so I guess I like them better than the vanilla graphics :D)

Cube4 if you don't like the city size just change it around a bit. With the CivScale program I increased the city coverage area, kept the buildings around the same magnification (now my citites are more spaced out and the buildings don't get lost in an urban jungle). Now I just need to have the units at the right size in proportion to the buildings. I put the unit mag to 1 and realized that my units were a bit too tiny. Try it out if you want ;) .

This is great. I was thinking when I read the note on the main page/news page that it was going to be like the picture of the marble earth there. That would be cool too.

is it possible to have a list of the Xml files modified?

so i can tell if my new civ mods are compatible

The BM graphics are great, but it took over my vanilla Civ4 when I start up Civ4 from its exe. it automatically opens up BM mod. What did I do wrong? I uninstalled it and it went back to normal, but I should be able to choose the BM mod in the mod directory (correct), thanks for any info!!

I tried installing the mod, but now it won't even let me play.
It gets to the Init XML(uncached) then an error pops up.
Failed to Initialize Renderer-Check DirectX Version and Graphics Settings.

the bluemarble works in single player but not in MP any suggestions?

i dont quite understand what civscale is supposed to do. anybody got a non-tech readme?

i dont quite understand what civscale is supposed to do. anybody got a non-tech readme?
It is a great little tool for changing the size (scale) of cities, buildings, units and so on, just open it and set the scales you want and hit activate, then when you open the game the scales will already be set (just play as normal) also this programs works with vanilla Civ4 as well. To set it back to the original settings just select (default settings) under the drop down menu and hit activate and the defaults settings will reset. Note, make sure Civ4 isn't running when you're doing the changes, its very user friendly!

The BM graphics are great, but it took over my vanilla Civ4 when I start up Civ4 from its exe. it automatically opens up BM mod. What did I do wrong? I uninstalled it and it went back to normal, but I should be able to choose the BM mod in the mod directory (correct), thanks for any info!!

The installer puts the files into the CustomAssets directory located at C:\Documents and Settings\(user_name)\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4. It doesn't put the file sinto a separate mods directory. The game loads all Custom Asset files for all single player games. If you want you can copy the art and xml files to a mod directory. Maybe a undated version of the installer can do this.

I do like the textures and Scale tool, but something I dont understand is how this has anything to do with Blue Marble?

I can understand BM being an inspiration but the textures are far removed from what the BM images look like...

Can you detail how BM was involved in the process of creating the new textures?

the bluemarble works in single player but not in MP any suggestions?
This is because Firaxis tries to protect multiplayer from modifications that can be used for cheating. Unfortunaltey this also affects harmless mods as BlueMarble. After the 1st official patch I will see if I can get around this.

is it possible to have a list of the Xml files modified?
Just click on the "List Affected Files" button. BlueMarble does not modify any XML files.

I love the install process. Is there anyway that could become a mod standard? Just clicking install is much more my level.
I wrote my own complicated installer to match my Perl development environment and certain personal needs. Whoever wants to put his mod into a more generic installer, should try the following great free ones:
Inno Setup: http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php
NSIS: http://nsis.sourceforge.net

The textures are far removed from what the BM images look like...Can you detail how BM was involved in the process of creating the new textures?
You can't simply take the original BM graphics and put them in Civ4, because the graphics have to match the Civ4 engine, generating worlds from tiny bits of "tiles". What you see *is* taken from the original BM, it just is "translated" into Civ4 formats so that Civ4 can understand it. The only exception is Tundra and Ice, as the BM material is not optimal for those dark regions of Earth. But Grassland, Plains, Deserts and Mountains are completely based on satellite material "translated" into Civ4.

I can't tell the difference between the old and these graphics. What is the difference?

I just installed both mods, and first I've got to thank you guys a lot for the easy-made installation instead of copying tons of files to some obscure folders.:goodjob:

The BM graphics sure have a much darker tone, a bit too dark for me. But it adds a very "organic", realistic touch to the surface.
I like the looks of the graphics the most when I'm playing in "Civ 1 perspective" (anyone using this as often as I do, especially when your Civ has grown big?), that is upside down just before the game switches to a "just look, don't play" mode.
In this perspective the planet looks plain realistic, wow!

The overall darker tone has also the positive side effect that the border of Civs are much more distinguishable now, with some sort of "neon glow". Nice!

The scaling tool is quite some fun. The units size was waaay too huge for me. Now my little folks have to wander around a huge planet, which again adds a lot to the realism. And if I want to see what's going on I may still zoom in.

I also have the impression as if this graphics mod speeds up the game. Those lags I experienced before are gone now. My, I won't mind. :)

:hatsoff: awesome job.

This is what I was hoping for, great mods. I alos love the scaling tool, actually I don't think the units are too big. I sometimes miss them with all the clutter around.

I have a question: ColdFever. Is it possible to get a better zoom. What I mean being able to see more of the map without losing all the important info. This is what I hate most and I tend to overlook the enemy units in my territory.

Is it possible to get a better zoom. What I mean being able to see more of the map without losing all the important info.
Hmm, you probably mean a kind of "field of view" parameter.
Sorry, I do not know of such a parameter for Civ4.

I can't tell the difference between the old and these graphics.
What is the difference?
I have a few reports that for some people the CustomAssets folder seems not to be working. Can the affected people who do not see any difference please start up the Blue Marble installer and
- click on "List Affected Files"
- copy and paste the first (or last) line of the output here?
- check if there exists an CivilizationIV.ini in the path?

Example (my system):
U:\My Games\CIV\CustomAssets\Art\Interface\Main Menu\CivTitle.dds
CivilizationIV.ini exists in U:\My Games\CIV
Perhaps this way we can make out a scheme of problematic installations.

I just installed this an it looks very impressive. I actually can't even begin to say how happy I am I could resize the military units. I've thought since I first played that they are way too big.

I have encountered one problem though and while it's not huge it's still a bit annoying. For some reason when I check the dempgraphics the colors on the graph are gone. It's all black and white. Any ideas why this might be happening?

With the CivScale utility, I'm noticing that certain units (tanks, mechanized Infantry... basically all the vehicles. If it happens with ground units too, I can't tell) don't scale very well when zooming. They look too small next to foot units when zoomed in close, and then get unproportionately larger as I zoom out.

I haven't played with xml editing much, but I do notice that all the units scales are are same as the original in the CIV4ArtDefines_Unit XML file.

Would making their values larger fix this?

I played around with the scaling tool a little, but there is one word of caution. If you reset the original setting, the Civ4 configuration setting will also be reset to default.
I found that out because suddenly it didn't ask me for the windowed mode any longer. So, beware of that

I've downloaded the Zip files. How do they work guys? :confused:

so when playing multiplay, do i have to uninstall the mod, or does civ automatically ignore it?

Ok just wanted to know if there was anything I had to do to use the blue marble wold map. Does it mod the maps of saved games? Or do I have to start a new map? I've tried to start a new map with the blue marble fetures but I can't tell any difference. I'm trying to start a game with a Huge earth map and all 18 civs. I'm already playing a game with the Huge18civs map that someone already created and it's not bad. The porportions are pretty good but I'd like to bulid the Cities in thier respective locations and can't really do that at this time. maybe I installed the BMT wrong. A little help would be greatly appreshated.

Well, this is good idea, but this looks too dull to such happy person, as me. Original graphics were better.

I've downloaded the Zip files. How do they work guys?
Extract the contents from the zip file and run it, in Windows XP via doubleclick, in Windows 2000 via a zip tool as http://www.vallen.de/freeware/#Vallen%20Zipper

so when playing multiplay, do i have to uninstall the mod, or does civ automatically ignore it?
Civ automatically ignores it.

Does it mod the maps of saved games? Or do I have to start a new map? I've tried to start a new map with the blue marble fetures but I can't tell any difference.
After installation BMT should be working automatically for any kind of single player game or mod. But - I have a few reports from people telling me that their Terrain does not change. Here it looks like the CustomAssets folder seems not to be working, but I need more data. So if you are one of the affected people, please start up the Blue Marble installer and
- click on "List Affected Files"
- copy and paste the first line of the output into a post here to tell me about it
- check if there exists an CivilizationIV.ini in this path

The simple response to the not working problem...is look where it installs. If the .exe does NOT find your Civ 4 automagically and you find it manually, the custom assets folder installs one level "up" in the directory structure.
It installs at same level as civ 4 folder NOT in it.

BUG CONFIRMED: Blue Marble Terrain not working
If the Civ4 installation is irregular and CivBlueMarble.exe cannot find the registry key with the name of the Civ4 directory, it asks to search for Civilization4.exe, but stores the wrong directory path.

WORKAROUND
Copy CivBlueMarble.exe into the Civ4 directory where Civilization4.exe resides, then start it from there.

The bug will be removed with an update to be published after the 1st official Civ4 patch has been released. Sorry and thank you for the reports.

Excellent mod, really changed my cIV experience. The game has a more "earthy" feel to it. I especially like how grasslands look now :)

:
...
I have a question: ColdFever. Is it possible to get a better zoom. What I mean being able to see more of the map without losing all the important info. This is what I hate most and I tend to overlook the enemy units in my territory.

ThERat look here:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=140680

hope it helps...

P.S: Great terrain mod ColdFever :)

gerat downloaded it on sat. looks much better.

Yes the graphic MOD is great!
LeSphinx

Outstanding graphical representation. Wouldn't do without it now. Kudos to the devs.

:D

This is an awesome enhancement! When combined with the small roads mod, CIV IV becomes a work of art and a miracle of Artificial Intelligence!

This promise us that we will have a lot of MOD for CIV 4!!!!!
LeSphinx

Anyone else have the problem where the zoom to combat function doesn't work after using the scaling tool?

protista .... I can't find the small roads mod???

nevermind....

u look for smalls roads ?

follow this link

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=136716

enjoy !

Anyone else have the problem where the zoom to combat function doesn't work after using the scaling tool?

After I scaled my units down to a more realistic size ( I have since rescaled them up for this reason and because they were difficult to see) I got into a fight in my game. I attacked some warriors and they quickly went running towards a mountain about 2 tiles North. The battle ensued somehow and I was the victor.
I have rescaled my units back to a larger size and the battles have returned to normal.

Weird :crazyeye:

After I scaled my units down to a more realistic size ( I have since rescaled them up for this reason and because they were difficult to see) I got into a fight in my game. I attacked some warriors and they quickly went running towards a mountain about 2 tiles North. The battle ensued somehow and I was the victor.
I have rescaled my units back to a larger size and the battles have returned to normal.

Weird :crazyeye:

Did you scale them back to the default size or just larger than small? I'm using the Blue marble recommendations at the moment.

Some of the scales aren't working properly for me. "Bonuses" affects lumbermills and watermills, but not mines or windmills (nothing affects these), and "Improvement" affects resources (elephants, fish, wheat.) Any way to shrink those farms, mines and windmills?

Is the scaling tool going to be rewritten to work with v1.09?

Kushan

all i can say is....:eek:
....simply breathtaking....

and as for those who like it and those who dont, i think it comes down to your tastes in a civ game. if you prefer everything looking as natural and true-to-life and epic feeling as possible, you will love it. if you prefer simplicity and lots of contrast and a bit more of the oldschool 'civ' feel, you might hate it.


I don't really agree with this. First off, "breathtaking" seems to be a really exaggerated comment. The changes offered by this mod are too subtle to come to such comments. Also, plains do not look green from an aerial view, and mountains are not grey, so I'm not agreed at all that this mod is more realistic. Last but not least, when I play I'd like to distinguish a plains hill from a grassland hill without having to double check with the mouse all the time.
Other than that it's certainly a nice graphic mod but some comments sound too high to me.

Is it necessary to start a new game or, after the mod, the new textures will kick in on already saved games?

Is the scaling tool going to be rewritten to work with v1.09?
Yes, a release is schedule for this weekend.

Is it necessary to start a new game or, after the mod, the new textures will kick in on already saved games?
After installation the new textures are used for all games except multiplayer, as Firaxis protected multiplayer from simple changes.

yup this is very good. :)

Yes, a release is schedule for this weekend.

Glad to hear it.:D I was very dissapointed when I found out that it didn't work with v1.09.

What if I only want to use Blue Marble and not scaling. Is that ok?

So will Blue Marble be released again for the patch or just the scaling?

What if I only want to use Blue Marble and not scaling. Is that ok?
No problem, technically those mods are two totally independent from each other.
So will Blue Marble be released again for the patch or just the scaling?
The scaling tools needs to be updated for each patch, because it manipulates the XML files and I need to make sure the mod fits to the original XML data. The BlueMarble terrain only affects graphics, so it does not need to be updated with each patch. But in this case I did, because I had to fix an installation bug on machines where Civ4 could not be found via the registry.

The "Blue Marble" terrain mod has been updated to V1.02. It includes an installation correction for problematic Civ4 installations and subtle color corrections according to frequent demand: terrain slightly brighter, plains slightly more yellowish and a little more versatilty in brightness graduations of jungle plants. The attached graphic scaling tool is compatible with Civ-Patch V1.09 now.
Download: http://www.civfanatics.net/~bluemarble

Sweet thanks bro, IOU 1.

Thanks, ColdFever. This is great. I'm going to start using Blue Marble! :)

It's jut beautiful stuff. How could you go wrong combining NASA and Civ?

While I like Blue Marble, it looked like it made the fog-of-war area darker, especially over the water, but also over land, making it difficult to see already explored areas. Is this adjustable outside of the mod?

It is with the *.dds converter, open the files and recolor them.

Thanks :D Such a nice work

Thanks for the update info. :)

Glad to see the thing that most bugged me (i.e., plains colour) has been tweaked :goodjob:

Hopefully this will make it stop crashing since i loaded the patch...here goes!

civscale needs like a preview window or something so we can tell what the changes are going to look like generaly with out having to load up the game every time we make a change

civscale needs like a preview window or something so we can tell what the changes are going to look like generaly with out having to load up the game every time we make a change

I agree, this would be an excellent improvement to a very useful tool.


The "Blue Marble" terrain mod has been updated to V1.02. It includes an installation correction for problematic Civ4 installations and subtle color corrections according to frequent demand: terrain slightly brighter, plains slightly more yellowish and a little more versatilty in brightness graduations of jungle plants.

Is their any way that a patch containing only the effected files could be released for the terrain set? That way we don't have to download the entire file again. (17.2 MB is a lot for people with slow dial-ups like me :()

Any screenshot comparison old vs new ?

comparison shot of version 1.02

105158

105159

Thanks, but I meant a comparison of BMT old vs new ;)
But this is ok, thanks :)

civscale needs like a preview window so we can tell what the changes are going to look like without having to load up the game every time we make a change
With exception of 'bonuses' and 'improvements', Firaxis implemented a nice feature ,so that all scaling parameters in CIV4DetailManager.xml that are affected by the CivScale can be changed 'on the fly' without restarting the game, if you
- play Civ4 in full-screen mode
- leave Civ4 via ALT-TAB to change scalings
- re-enter Civ4 via ALT-TAB to see how it looks

i can't make it work
i have installed the BMT and the words blue marble project bla bla bla is showed in the main menu
then i enter a single game but i found the graphic hasn't changed
have i missed something?

i can't make it work. I have installed the BMT and the words blue marble project is showed in the main menu then i enter a single game but i found the graphic hasn't changed?
Perhaps you tried multiplayer games? Custom graphic mods for multiplayer are disabled by the game because of abuse possibilites. But if nothing helps you can try coping the mod graphics from the personal CustomAssets folder (in "MyGames") into the Civ Assets folder in the installation directory.

Downloaded and tested BM. :goodjob:
Only minus (but only a very small minus) is that it appears to be much darker than the original settings?
What I mean is that the FOW seems to be almost black - would there be a chance for it to be changed in future?

Perhaps you tried multiplayer games? Custom graphic mods for multiplayer are disabled by the game because of abuse possibilites. But if nothing helps you can try coping the mod graphics from the personal CustomAssets folder (in "MyGames") into the Civ Assets folder in the installation directory.

is that the folder art?
i have copied them to the game directory
but nothing have changed ...
:cry:

Thanks ColdFever. :goodjob:

A very nice mod indeed. I really like the natural look and the game plays smoother as a bonus! Neat stuff and good job!

nevermind :)

New to Civilization 4; How do you install blue marble?

This is an awesome modpack :D can't wait to try it myself.

can we please have before and after comparing screenys?

can we please have before and after comparing screenys?

look up about 12 posts.....

I just got this tonight, installed it and started a new game. About an hour later, I remembered that I'd installed it, and realised I couldn't remember how it used to look. So I uninstalled and started another game. THE HORROR... What a beautiful, beautiful change.

BM 1.0 worked fine for me, but this new release is causing me problems. Specifically, the game will not load! When I insert the disk and click on 'play' it just hangs on the loading screen, not starting the initialisation box.

Any ideas?

just seems duller to me, i await the mods that really change the graphics

Hmmmm, installed this for a while and while I like the real colors of the terrain, I might have to switch back just because it's harder to distinguish between the different terrains in this mod (the most egregious being tundra and tundra/hills).

Req

Quick question: with this graphic pack work with any map (custom, random, etc), or is it specifically used with the "world" map?

Quick question: with this graphic pack work with any map (custom, random, etc), or is it specifically used with the "world" map?
This mod completely replaces the graphics for all terrain in the game. No matter what map you use, or what games you load, or what games you start, they'll all use the new graphics.

how do i uninstall bule marble.......?

how do i uninstall bule marble.......?
I'm pretty sure that you launch the original executable install application and you will be given the choice of uninstalling the mod.

I like the new graphics. So, thanks!

Which map do I have to use when i choose play now so that I can play using the World Map??? been bugging me for about 15 mins.

what is the graphics scaling tool and if it is neccecary where do i put it???

oh and welcome to Civfantatica Drastik

Which map do I have to use when i choose play now so that I can play using the World Map???
Look for "Earth" maps in the SinglePlayer-Scenario section.

what is the graphics scaling tool and if it is neccecary where do i put it???
The graphics scaling tool is an optional BlueMarble addon allowing to scale graphics in size (units, cities...) or strength (clouds). On a clean Civ4 installation it can be started from everywhere as it reads the Civ4 directory from the registry.

I have noted that it was intended to upgrade the mod for it to work with the 1.09 patch for Civ 4, has this been done yet..? And also is it now ok to install it in the regular way, without the workaround, for those who have Civ 4 installed on another drive / location than the default one...?

Look for "Earth" maps in the SinglePlayer-Scenario section.

thx:goodjob:

This may be a stupid question, but how do use this blue marble in my game that I bought yesterday. Thank you.

Would it be possible to post a rapidshare link for the first version of Blue Marble? Just re-installed the computer and I like the first version's colors more :goodjob:.

Would it be possible to post a rapidshare link for the first version of Blue Marble? I like the first version's colors more.
Sorry, the 1st version did contain an installation bug on some systems and will not be supported anymore. Moreover some colors of the 1st version did base on slighty wrong gamma settings and I am interested to have only the correct colors available.

Is it now ok to install it in the regular way, without the workaround, for those who have Civ 4 installed on another drive / location than the default one...?
Yes, all installations now should run fine, if not, let me know.

I have noted that it was intended to upgrade the mod for it to work with the 1.09 patch for Civ 4, has this been done yet..?
The BlueMarble Mod does not require updateds for official patches, as no gameplay files are affected. Only the Scaling Mod that comes with it as an optional addon affects gameplay files and so has been updated to V1.09.

This may be a stupid question, but how do use this blue marble in my game that I bought yesterday.
download zip, extract and run exe, select install/uninstall.

ColdFever, I tried looking around and read this thread, but I couldn't find this problem mentioned anywhere. This problem occurs only with Blue Marble

When I zoom to a particular zoom level (about halfway between overhead no-cloud view and maximum zoom) the city nameplates will change position so that they're over top of the city, replacing the unit graphics and making the city unclickable until I change zoom level again. Have you ever encountered this?

I'll try to post a screenshot when I get home from work today, if my description is unclear.

Iv'e been using blue marble since it came out and i love it. But I spotted a minor problem earlier today. I built a galley in a seaside town. When the galley was produced I moved it into a sea square. My team color was purple. The sail and body of the ship was completely purple. It is supposed to be white with purple stripes. I would post a screenshot but I dont know exactly how to put it on this site once it is taken. If someone could explain that to me i could show you what im experiencing.
I attached the file.. but im not sure if this will work or if it is the correct way.

Yeah I get the same thing

But do you play in Low graphics beacuse i used to but i figures it work good on medum and the ship turned normal.

When I zoom to a particular zoom level (about halfway between overhead no-cloud view and maximum zoom) the city nameplates will change position so that they're over top of the city, replacing the unit graphics and making the city unclickable until I change zoom level again.
There are two city display modes: one regular and one globe mode. Unfortunately Firaxis decided to enter city globe mode according to the cloud altitute, not to the absolute altitude.

Suggestions: use the scaling tool and set your minimum clould altitude higher. People playing with ZERO clouds ("cloud strength" = 0) should set their clould altitude to MAX, not zero.

I built a galley in a seaside town...The sail and body of the ship was completely purple.
Sorry, I am not able to reproduce this. Can you send a savegame to kai@civilized.de? This probably is a kind of display/driver problem I have no influence on. But with the save at least I could take a look.

...I built a galley in a seaside town. When the galley was produced I moved it into a sea square. My team color was purple. The sail and body of the ship was completely purple. It is supposed to be white with purple stripes....
I may be wrong, but it seems that your color problem has to do with the ships position right on a border hex. The borders generate a color line that overlays the underlying terrain and units. This color bleed seems to be impactiing your galley. Have you a screen shot of the gally on a non-border square? I'm guessing that the color problem you describe is only on the border...you may prove me very wrong, of course. It just seems to coincide with otherwise normal behavior in the game graphics.

:goodjob: :goodjob: just downloaded and installed...looks great!!! Civscale is a nice tool as well.

All
I am interested very much in how well Blue Marble performs with my recent memory-fix (helped a lot of people with huge maps slowdowns):
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146309

If you will want to reply something in that thread after trying that, please specify that you were using Blue Marble.

Thank you!

I am interested very much in how well Blue Marble performs with my recent memory-fix (helped a lot of people with huge maps slowdowns)
As I did mention many times in this thread, Blue Marble uses exactly the same formats as the original graphics, the only exception are less complex cloud masks. So your performance optimization results shouldn't be affected by BlueMarble at all.

ColdFever
Just some people noted that with BlueMarble performance has increased a little (I had such replies in 'memory leak' thread when my fix was still under development), that's why I am curious...

Also, the globe view is still very slow. I think this is due to cities beacuse empty map globe view is very smooth, but these might be due to clouds as well. I played yesterday with 'civscale' a little. I could hide clouds or remove any visual switching from and to globe view, but this didn't help...

It looks like they (Firaxis) prepare (_prepare_, not just render) city billboards every turn, not just prerender them during zoom-out transition.

BTW Hark I forgot to mention I have always used Blue Marble... OH and thanks ColdFever :D

Iv'e been using blue marble since it came out and i love it. But I spotted a minor problem earlier today. I built a galley in a seaside town. When the galley was produced I moved it into a sea square. My team color was purple. The sail and body of the ship was completely purple. It is supposed to be white with purple stripes.

Im not yet using BlueMarble but have the same effect all time (for every civcolor). The correct ship-colors are only displayed when the unit is selected. Im using an old GeForce card. This might be the reason.

This issue is not about BlueMarble. Original graphics pak faces same problems with 'low' settings. I connected this with my patch too when it was under develpment, but later I found that this was 'low' settings problem.

i don't know why but after i installed BM and tried to lunch CIV4 i got an error about XML??!! then i uninstalled it and i solve the problem could you help plzz??

after i installed BM and tried to launch CIV4 i got an error about XML??!! then i uninstalled it and i solve the problem could you help
Sorry, I have no idea. The Blue Marble program just installs new graphics in the user custom area and clears the cache, there are no XML changes. Only the optional Scaling Tool makes some XML changes in case you use it, but these changes are minor and I never heard about your error in conjunction with Blue Marble. Perhaps you should uninstall and reinstall Civ.

I remember there once has been a certain issue with XML errors on some systems, but I can't find the thread anymore. Anybody can help? Wasn't there something like a driver issue (old audio driver or something like that) that could lead to such a problem?

ColdFever and others
AFAIK, XML problem was related to ATi start-up issues. I don't know how these two subsystems can be connected, but FPK extraction step helped with XML problem for those who had it.

Also during writing my mem-fix I have spotted that XML performs several invalid memory allocations during start-up phase. It looks like some systems don't "eat" this bug well.

Also simply hodling SHIFT key during game loading can solve the problem if you didn't try this yet.

Blue Marble is an Excellent mod but I do have one complaint..
Why did you find it necessary to alter the opening Civ 4 menu screen with your BIG Blue Marle logo etc...??? We who download it give you credit already..Just seemed a little overkill... What if every Mod maker decided to alter it too... would become a scene of modness..:crazyeye:

ACEofHeart
I think that major mods/fixes should show themselves as there's not going to be a lot of them...

ColdFever
Does BlueMarble affect geometry? I mean terrain (including heightmaps) and improvelents like farms/cottages or just textures?

Just people with my memory-fix experienced less improvement than was expected when they were running BlueMarble. I wonder why...

Blue Marble is an Excellent mod but I do have one complaint..
Why did you find it necessary to alter the opening Civ 4 menu screen with your BIG Blue Marle logo etc...??? We who download it give you credit already..Just seemed a little overkill... What if every Mod maker decided to alter it too... would become a scene of modness..:crazyeye:

Well actually you'd only see one at a time not all combined, wouldn't you? So a title letting you know which mod you have active is actually helpfull...

Does BlueMarble affect geometry? I mean terrain (including heightmaps) and improvelents like farms/cottages or just textures?
BM only installs new textures and does not alter any formats. The only exception is that there are more simple cloud mask textures. These may simplify the globe rendering a bit. There are no other differences that could explain this.

Why did you find it necessary to alter the opening Civ 4 menu screen with your BIG Blue Marble logo? We who download it give you credit already.
My name is not included in the BlueMarble logo, not even my site. Included is the name of an organization that did change the way we see our Earth - and now the way we see Civilization. Or to say it in simple words: the logo is included because the NASA Blue Marble project and this mod deserve it. Your visitors who may see Civ for the 1st time shall also see where this material is coming from. The NASA needs our support.

ColdFever
Thank you for the info.

okay,, I agree about NASA.... they do an incredible job and ususally are under-appreciated and under-funded... I'll leave the Logo there..;)

ColdFever thank you for your reply but i think i must play CİV 4 without BM):):

Blue Marble is an Excellent mod but I do have one complaint..
Why did you find it necessary to alter the opening Civ 4 menu screen with your BIG Blue Marle logo etc...??? We who download it give you credit already..Just seemed a little overkill... What if every Mod maker decided to alter it too... would become a scene of modness..:crazyeye:

Actually its very easy to remove that , if you don't like it..I of course have not as I agee with ColdFevers POV

Sorry for bumping you guys out of the way, but this is IMPORTANT

Ok there is a problem with the Civ scale tool, what I do is place every assets file to the Custom assets folder in the My Documents directory. Before I thought of modifying the game and tranfering files, I used the scale tool to shrink the units to a realistic size, which affected the main directory. Therefore, after I placed every assets folder to the My Documents directory I used the tool again and do not see results, this is because the game engine runs the documents directory instead of the main directory, which the scale tool only affects the main directory.

What I purpose is a browse button for the affected files or better yet add the affected files directly to teh My Documents directory… Also the BM.zip archive is corrupted on the US server, I had to use the German download to get it working.

i want to scale them down but i don't know how. I know which program to use but i don't know how to use it.

and is it a good idea???

Also the BM.zip archive is corrupted on the US serverThanks for the report, the damaged file has been replaced with a fresh one from backup.

There is a problem with the Civ scale tool when I do place every assets file to the Custom assets folder in the My Documents directory.
Sorry, indeed in this configuration the scaling tool will not affect your games anymore, because the MyDoc files have higher priority than the original files I mod. I know this is a drawback, but I am extremely limited in free time among various computer games and mods, and in this situation it often is better to keep things simple. To change the Scaling Tool to mod Civ files on various locations could become complicated after an official patch has been applied. Moreover in theory even each Mod can bring its own XML files. Finally I do not want to frighten people with too many options. The scaling tool is a simple tool for simple configurations and simple people (like me). Sorry again for this, but my limited time dictates limited programs. :(

Well it is a shame to hear about your predicaments, I do understand though. Thank you any way I will just have to cope by transferring the affected files from the main directory to the My Documents manually.

I asked this a while back, but is there any chance that a patch could be released that updates BM from the original version to the new one? That way people don't have to download the whole thing again. Thanks :)

I asked this a while back, but is there any chance that a patch could be released that updates BM from the original version to the new one?
Sorry, no, there won't be an update, just the full installer. Not only the graphics but also the installation algorithm have been corrected in the last and final version. With limited personal resources it is better to have only *one valid version* available to simplify download, handling and support. The Blue Marble mod now is done and I am already busy with other mods, especially the German Civ4 community localization.

This terrain looks great, I can't wait to try it out on a world map. Thanks for making this, ColdFever. I have a question:

Will this overwrite my normal terrain? If so, do I have to back my normal terrain up first, or will it do so automatically?

Will this overwrite my normal terrain? If so, do I have to back my normal terrain up first, or will it do so automatically?
BlueMarble installs in its own user folder, so the original files won't be affected. Because user folders have priority against game folders, the game will use the mod as long as it finds it installed. If you uninstall the mod, the original files will be used again.