There has been some interest in having a wiki for documenting the XML, python, etc., but so far nobody has put one up. So.... :mischief:

http://www.civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

If there's enough interest to get this rolling, this could turn in to a really good resource for understanding/documenting the game files.

Adding a new article to a wiki is easy, simply append the article name to the wiki URL and it will take you to a blank article where you can begin editing. For example, the Main_Page article uses this URL:
hxxp://www.civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
So if you wanted to start a new article on some random topic you would go to:
hxxp://www.civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/SomeRandomTopic
You can begin editing from there.

Each article has 4 tabs along the top of the page.

article
discussion
edit
history


The article tab lets you read the latest version of the article. The discussion tab is where people can talk about article content and modification. Edit is where you go to update the page. History contains a list of every article revision ever made, and you can do version comparisons. If the article hasn't been created then history will be missing.

Editing can be tricky if you don't know the markup that mediawiki uses to display the page. The page can simply be text, but if you want to add headers and a table of contents you'll have to read up on page markup: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Editing

If you've never seen a wiki in action before, head on over to wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)

Edit: The new domain is up and running. Make sure to update your bookmarks.

:goodjob: This is great.

nevermind.

Curious, but why am I able to go in there and modify/delete anything that's there?
Because that's how wikis work. Anyone can contribute/modify/update. You can't really delete anything because all old versions of an article are kept in the history. If you do something silly (like replace an article with your life story) anyone can revert it to the last "good" version. And then an administrator can ban you IP address. ;)

Articles on wikis tend to evolve, not get overwritten, so that's why there is a discussion page attached to each one.

I just thought of another advantage of wiki- it can include mods too. When someone creates new XML tags or Python functions, they can explain how they work so that other modders can use them. :)

Because that's how wikis work. Anyone can contribute/modify/update. You can't really delete anything because all old versions of an article are kept in the history.

Yeah, I realized this after I posted. :)

Holy crap, I thought of the EXACT same idea! I never thought it would kick off though. And I don't have any webspace of my own.

But my idea was basically, an online civilopedia. You would have the basics, and each page would be cross-referenced well.
At the end of each page was the wiki part: the commentary and discussions on how to use each unit/tech.

I have a lot of experience with MetaWiki and modding it, so maybe I can help about.

And I have very little experience with admining/modding wikis, so any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :lol:

A civlopedia wiki isn't a bad idea.

We could merge the ideas.

Now if someone were willing to buy webspace and a domain name, www.civ4wiki.com could become a reality! It could be the center for all Civ4 knowledge!

That would be pretty cool. :)

Now if someone were willing to buy webspace and a domain name, www.civ4wiki.com could become a reality! It could be the center for all Civ4 knowledge!

That would be pretty cool. :)
Oddly enough I scoped that out a few days ago. That's why I chose the name. :lol:

I just wanted to see how many people were receptive to the idea before taking the plunge.

Oddly enough I scoped that out a few days ago. That's why I chose the name. :lol:

I just wanted to see how many people were receptive to the idea before taking the plunge.
That would be a truely great idea. Maybe to help pay for it you could throw in some google ads?

This would make such a great community resource. :)

Hm, I whipped up something really really rough and qiuck for archers (http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/Archer).

The template really needs work. I just did a rough draft tongith. I'll fix it up tomorrow after some sleep.

The main body page would detail uses and tips for using the archers. That's the wiki part.

I noticed that you don't have an Image Upload section for people to upload straight to the Wiki. This part is essential! Why don't you have one yet?

If we can get a template layed out for this I can probably write a script that will pull a lot of the information straight from the xml files.

Sorry about the image upload thing. I disabled any kind of media because I was only thinking about file documentation. I'll try to get that resolved after work tomorrow.

Actually, I already registered civ4wiki.com, so the name servers should have updated by then. I'll have to reconfigure the wiki software anyway. Take a look at http://civ4wiki.kyteland.com/index.php/Main_Page to see why. The paths are messed up because cPanel is using the civ4wiki folder for the subdomain.

/off to bed.

I have just added my first wiki text :) UnitMeshGroups

I think this is an absolute must have, the forums are just simply too messy, I can see myself constantly referring to this wiki in the future.

Let's get push this further, make it more useful, so that other people will be encouraged to add their knowledge on XML and Python.

I am currently learning the nearly impossible to understand Formations xml file, so once I have worked that one out, I will upload what I have learned.

This is a superb idea. I will contribute what I know of xml so far and we should addin Dales guide to the wbs file too.

EDIT: Should I add a section called other_files where we can document the wbs file structure?

Good idea. Direct to my favorites.

hey, i just added a short part to unitinfo part. As this is my first wiki experience i'd like to know if it is ok that way... formating and so on

I'm also adding bits to the unit info at the moment...

Seems like this is the one that most people know about :p

EDIT: Added a fairly large bit about the XML format. Would appreciate it if somebody could go over it for me making sure I haven't got anything wrong. http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/XML_basic_format

EDIT 2: Hmmm, seeing as this idea looks to be going ahead, and chance we could have a sticky from a mod?

Also - will the URL change to www.civ4wiki.com?

Hmm, just out of interest - is this page going to inclue all things Civ4, or just modding things?

I can see it getting rather large if it gets to all things Civ4, which, although would be awsome for the community, might get a bit expensive for you! I can see that some people have already added stuff about units, and unit abilities. I've kinda changed the front page to reflect this :mischief:

Google ads are definately a good idea!

If it does end up getting expensive, I think there would be enough people willing to donate a few bucks to keep it going.

It looks like the dns has propogated so later tonight I'll get everything running off of http://civ4wiki.com/

I messed up by installing the wiki in a folder called civ4wiki. It's overlapping the folder where the new domain is pointing, which is why http://civ4wiki.com/ doesn't work. I'll probably have to take the site down for a few minutes to get everything right.

But again, that's later tonight when I get home from work.

About ads and such, I'll have to wait and see what the bandwidth requirements will be like. So far you guys have used a whopping 21.46 MB. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Also, if anyone with more talent that I have wants to put together some site graphics and whatnot, feel free. That icon in the upper/left corner was the best I could do.

I posted this in a discussion page on Wiki (Archer) but I think it will be easier to discuss this here.

I wonder if it's good to store images on imageshak.. Do they stay there forever ? Won't it be easier to allow upload on Wiki ? If we use only images for small icons, it shouldn't use so much bandwidth. Is ImageMagick or equivalent installed on the server ?

Retrieved from "http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/Talk:Archer"

I wonder if it's good to store images on imageshak.
No, it's not. I'll work on that tonight as well.

I wasn't thinking about this beyond the scope of xml/python documentation, which really don't need anything but text. But if people want to run with this and add the civlopedia and a bunch of other stuff that's fine with me. As long as I'm not hosting screenshots for sucession games or modpack artwork it shouldn't be a problem.

It probably wouldn't hurt for everyone to discuss the kinds of things that should end up on the wiki. Civlopedia information and xml/python documentation are a good start. Should things like combat odds end up there? I read a great thread here that outlined how the odds are calculated. Is that information more appropriate here, there or both places?

If information from a thread here makes it up on the wiki it should probably have a reference link to that thread.

It probably wouldn't hurt for everyone to discuss the kinds of things that should end up on the wiki. Civlopedia information and xml/python documentation are a good start. Should things like combat odds end up there? I read a great thread here that outlined how the odds are calculated. Is that information more appropriate here, there or both places?

If information from a thread here makes it up on the wiki it should probably have a reference link to that thread.
I think both places would probably be best. I agree with the reference link as well.

Thinking about it, given the inadiqucies of the Civilopedia (I haven't had first hand experience, but most seem to agree), a sort of online Civilopedia, with stratagy suggestions would be a really cool thing to have.

BTW - I think Civrules might be quite interested in this, as he seems to be running the Civfanatics Civ 4 info centre.

EDIT: I've got to get used to this WIKI thing... I should use that damn preview button a bit more often. I seem to be spamming the "recent changes" thing quite alot, with very small changes :blush:

Don't forget to put your text in security before hitting the post or preview button. It's very annoying to lose your text when the Wiki times out.

don't forget to correct my spelling mistakes :D
someone already corrected the boolean part in unitsinfos; thanks greatapple

I suggest a standard to be used for the XML files. Make it so that it is easily readable - ie lists and should leave no area for which someone would have to guess.

I suggest a total of 4 areas:
1. Summery
2. Exampe (from the actuall game)
3. Description of each tag
4. Possible values for each.

I'll show you what I mean with a few of the files I have already mapped out.

I'm on board. I'll be moving my ridiculously blank guide there tonight.

I suggest a standard to be used for the XML files. Make it so that it is easily readable - ie lists and should leave no area for which someone would have to guess.
Agree with this, at the moment we have several .xml files mapped out, each of them in a slightly different format!

someone already corrected the boolean part in unitsinfos; thanks greatappleHehe, no problem, I was about to list out all the tags when I saw you had done it. I mainly just added links to other parts of the future wiki.

EDIT: We're getting along quite fast with this! Good job people!

Here is how I have it formated:
http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/CIV4ArtDefines_Bonus

We might be able to combine a few of those sections so its easier to read but should provide as a good basis. Should I continue with this? I have all of the art, basic infos, and buildings folders done.

This is a great idea! Please fix the directory location ASAP. http://civ4wiki.com/Main_Page is so much friendlier. :)

This is a great idea! Please fix the directory location ASAP. http://civ4wiki.com/Main_Page is so much friendlier. :)
I'll fix up the new domain name when I get home from work tonight. Until then use http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/Main_Page as the main portal to the wiki.

We also have to establish something like: "This is a guide for the modder by the modder"

Also there needs to be a few rules possibly like: "This is not for advertisment for your mod in anyway, any advertisment will be proptly deleted."

Mods should get there own site and not cluter up this reference guide. :)

what we need is categories, rather than lists. im trying to add in categories, which work better and easier than lists of units and files

edit: should there be another thing labeled "mods and scenarios" with all of the big (or small ones too) mods there, listing changes, units, new tags, etc?

what we need is categories, rather than lists. im trying to add in categories, which work better and easier than lists of units and files

edit: should there be another thing labeled "mods and scenarios" with all of the big (or small ones too) mods there, listing changes, units, new tags, etc?

Some categories are already defined. But yes, Categories are MUCH better than lists in every possible way and aspect.

And, I don't want to use Imagesack much longer. However, it seems like a must. There still isn't any type of image upload system built into the Wiki. This is a must-have. Why didn't you add thsi in the first place?

Why didn't you add thsi in the first place?
I didn't think ahead that far. :blush:

I'll try to get this implemented tonight when I get everything transfered over to the new domain.

what we need is categories, rather than lists. im trying to add in categories, which work better and easier than lists of units and files
You probably know what you are doing better than I do (I've never edited a wiki before). I'll leave it to you to sort out catagories from my list :mischief:

We've got to try and get a sensible system for naming things. When linking to un-made things I've tried to use quite generic links (America, rather than American for example). If you're going to make a addition, it would be good if you could check to see if there are any links that might be set up ready for that addition - will save us having to repair alot of broken links in the future.

EDIT: And I'm still amazed at how fast stuff is getting added. Good job people!

there should be an image uploader....wait, i think its broken. i know they had one...

It's not broken, it's disabled.

You probably know what you are doing better than I do (I've never edited a wiki before). I'll leave it to you to sort out catagories from my list :mischief:

We've got to try and get a sensible system for naming things. When linking to un-made things I've tried to use quite generic links (America, rather than American for example). If you're going to make a addition, it would be good if you could check to see if there are any links that might be set up ready for that addition - will save us having to repair alot of broken links in the future.

EDIT: And I'm still amazed at how fast stuff is getting added. Good job people!

You can set a redirect. If someone links to "Ameran", they'd be redirected to "America" automatically. It's not that hard.
However I agree that it's always easier tohave a consistancy.

We need to make a standard for how XML files will be described, before to much information gets added!

So far we have these formats:
1. http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/CIV4ArtDefines_Bonus
2. http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/CIV4ArtDefines_Civilization
3. http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/CIV4BasicInfos
4. http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/CIV4LeaderHeadInfos
5. http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/CIV4ColorVals
6. http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/CIV4ImprovementInfos

I like having an example from the actual XML file to use as a refrance on the page (as seen in #1). #2 is not easily readable. #3 We don't really have any formating. #4 is a cut and paste job, not yet finished and ATM basically useless. #5 is simialr to #2. #6 has some potential, but is confusing without an actual example.

Also what is with the <> thing before some titles? Seems kind of pointless to me.

1 and 6 look the best.

4. is a big no-no.
6. is the best looking and the perhaps to easier to use.

1 and 6 look the best.

thanks for #6 at first ;)

#3: the basicinfo i did has no info; true but i didi that part only as "test" for the link from unitinfo...

#2: needs realy formatting

and because of examples, if you for every xml an example that would get messy for some. just think of the unitinfo thts a really big *****; so at least the examples should be at the bottom.
but anyways your wikis with examples are great :)

thanks for #6 at first ;) and because of examples, if you for every xml an example that would get messy for some. just think of the unitinfo thts a really big *****; so at least the examples should be at the bottom.
but anyways your wikis with examples are great :)
Agreed, the examples should be on the bottom.

About the XML documentations, we don't seem to use the Category function. Not really a bad move, but it would good to have a instant link to others XML files and explanations.

Does this kind of template may be useful ?
http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/Template:XML

I think you could remove the stuff at the top, because you would assume someone thats is looking for what an XML file does already knows the basics of XML.

hm yes organization is cool.

Ordung ist das halbe Leben, ich lebe in der anderen Hälfte.

now how to trnslate that...

Arrengement is half of life, i live in the other halve.

god am i funny. But seriously the general organization isn't that bad, when you remember that this wiki isn't 3 days old...

I think you could remove the stuff at the top, because you would assume someone thats is looking for what an XML file does already knows the basics of XML.

Perhaps but one (like me) can occasionally forgot what is a bolean entry or something. And it's a good way to guide newcomer to the right starter place. But feel free to edit the template if you disagree. It's the point of a Wiki ;)

This is a brilliant idea. I'll try and help out when I can.

ive got a Category:XML Files, as well as categories for each folder. no files yet added, though. and that template looks good

About categories, I posted this over there but I could as well post it here :
I think we should wait a little before adding too much categories. Discussing a consensus at CFC first, perhaps ?

I don't think we need a cat for everything. Cat:Technologies is probably redundant with Technologies page. And why does we need the various civilization cats ?

Here is more complete template: http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/Template:XML

It has all the links incase you forget (for like boolean) but it doesn't make you feel dumb when you open up the page (like the little banner thing kind of did). This takes the basic formating of the 6th format and makes it pretty easy to understand.

I posted in the Template:XML discussion page. I think you perhaps mistook the template function for an "example-page".
Template is a function you call in a normal page and it adds a text or more complex thing to this page. Try adding {{Template:XML}} a on page. (We need a sandbox btw ;))

I posted in the Template:XML discussion page. I think you perhaps mistook the template function for an "example-page".
Template is a function you call in a normal page and it adds a text or more complex thing to this page. Try adding {{Template:XML}} a on page. (We need a sandbox btw ;))
Your right, I'm new to this whole Wiki thing. :blush:

No problem :)
Make a proper page for your 'template' and I'll revert mine back tomorrow.

Under where would I put my example?

Good question. We need a proper Main_Page and a few "How to use this wiki" pages.

That would be good. I have no idea what I'm doing. :crazyeye:

I stuck it here: http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/Help:XML_Article_Templete

I'll also link to it from the XML page.

I've made a very basic template to "tag" the unformated pages. Add {{Template:Wrongformat}} in wrong pages you don't have the time to adjust right now. The pages will be collected in the category "Wrong Format" that you and others can check when you get the time.

Neat, I have updated this page to the new style: http://www.kyteland.com/civ4wiki/index.php/CIV4ArtDefines_Bonus

It looks very clean. :)

I will start to apply the new format to other files.

Don't drink and wiki, or ebvrything might get wasted... i hate computers :-D

I'm very sorry about horrendous Example #4...
<Psycho music>

I was suddenly pulled out to dinner.
I'm fixing it and de-uglifying it now.

I'm off to bed. Don't break the new toy during the night ;)

I added the wrong format thing to all that apply. :)

The new domain name is up and running. Update all of your bookmarks to point to http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

When I wake up tomorrow morning I'm going to disable the old wiki URL at kyteland.com/civ4wiki. Don't say I didn't warn you if it stops working. ;)

Next up: Enabling image uploads.

Edit: Uh oh. I've run in to a snag. The wiki is still using the old domain name for all of the links. I'll have to play with this a bit to see what's going on. If anyone knows a quick fix for this let me know.

Edit2: It looks like the pages will need to be edited and saved from the new domain before the new URL gets reflected in the database. I'll make a note of it on the main wiki page.

Edit3: Never-you-mind. I'm just crazy. :lol: This should be fixed soon.

Edit4: I'm not as crazy as I thought I was. I'm using a new folder name for the wiki. wiki instead of civ4wiki. Each page that currently links to another page will need to be edited and saved from the new URL. I'm disabling the old URL so we don't get any unexpected rollbacks. Also note that it isn't sufficient to hit edit and then immediately hit ssave. YOu actually have to add something for this to take effect.

Sorry about the hassle. It's better to do it now than when there are 50 bajillion pages on there.

How do you get the dashed line box around things?

Should I continue updating the old site or try the new one? (I get a 404 trying to get to the XML section.)

Edit2: It looks like the pages will need to be edited and saved from the new domain before the new URL gets reflected in the database. I'll make a note of it on the main wiki page.

This also means I'll be disabling the old URL sooner rather than later.

How do I edit and save these pages if the Wiki doesn't think they exist?

How do you get the dashed line box around things?
Put a space in front of the line you want in the box or you could use the <pre></pre> tags.

Mr. Will, please see above.

Also make sure you make www.civ4wiki.com direct to /wiki instead of /civ4wiki ;)

Mr. Will, please see above.

Thanks.
Sorry for being so bothersome, but I'm desperately trying to get my article off of the bad example list before I go to bed. (Waking up early tomorrow!)

Wish me luck!

I think I have the site in its final form for now. All of the old URLs are disabled. You *must* use civ4wiki.com/wiki from now on. I'm going to go through and try to "fix" articles now so that they are all linked right.

And then I'll work on getting image uploads working. :)

Edit: I've hit all of the files I can find. It also looks like someone else was going through and updating too, so hopefully we hit everything. There may be a few pages still floating around, but they can be dealt with as they are found.

I'll fix up the main page.

Hey, rkyte, can you give me sysop priveledges? I could move around and edit the files easier that way.

GJORGPAWGYAWJO~

I just edited my page for an hour and a half...

And it's all gone.

I hate my life.

Anyway, the leaderheadinfos still looks terrible, (only because my computer is retarded and I didn't back up my work, a hard lesson learned) but I did work on it...

I'll really fix it tomorrow. And save it this time. lol.
Finally got the hang of it. And it looked really nice, too. <sigh>
I'm out for the night. See you tomorrow afternoon.

I'll fix up the main page.

Hey, rkyte, can you give me sysop priveledges? I could move around and edit the files easier that way.
Ahh, I knew this day would come. Someone asking for sysop priveleges.

Let me preface this by saying: I'm new to this community, so I really don't know anyone here. I'm kind of leery about handing out site priveleges willy-nilly. That could go very wrong, very fast, just because I don't know the person in question. I should be posting here a lot more, so hopefully as time goes by I can add a couple of "power users" to the wiki. It would be a Bad Idea© to leave that kind of thing in in just my hands. Bear with me.

That being said, I'll set you up as a sysop. You've been here a while and are obviously an active member. I'm just trying to head off a (potential) flood of requests.

Forgive me for being paranoid. :crazyeye:

I have image upload enabled now. I think that completes my checklist for the day.

/off to play civ4.

Edit: I've hit all of the files I can find. It also looks like someone else was going through and updating too, so hopefully we hit everything. There may be a few pages still floating around, but they can be dealt with as they are found.
That was me. :)

It looks good. Now all we really need besides articles, is a proper logo. ;)

Hm...

Okay, I whipped up a quick banner. It's shoppy work, but it'll probably do for now until someone can get a better one up.

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/404/banner4gt1.jpg

Now all we really need besides articles, is a proper logo. ;)
And here I thought I was being clever with that. :(

writing-replacable parts-fusion-education

It seemed appropriate somehow.

Edit: Wow, that totally didn't work. Any ideas on how to make the banner appear on the top instead of the corner?

It looks like the wiki expects a 135x135 image.

And here I thought I was being clever with that. :(

writing-replacable parts-fusion-education

It seemed appropriate somehow.
You could write civ4 wiki across it. ;)

I would revert back to the old one for right now.

Hey look. Image uploads.

http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/Image:Archer7om.gif

It would probably be a good idea to come up with a naming convention. Archer7om seems a bit off. Personally, I would go for either just Archer or maybeArcher_Icon or Icon_Archer.

Keep in mind there will be a whole bunch of these.

Edit: I figured out how to grab the icons from the dds files the game uses. I used it to "fix" the logo. I also uploaded a new archer graphic. I'm going to delete the other one.

http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/Image:Archer_icon.png

Actually, it might not hurt to get permission from Firaxis before going upload crazy here.

I think Archer_Icon would be best. Then we could take a picture of it in game or in the civopedia and make it just Archer.

We still need to decide what categories should stay.

What are the various Cat:Civilizations for ? (Cat:America, Cat:Greece)

What is the use of Cat:Technologies since they are already listed (Technologies) ? We can add a link or a template on each page rather than using a category (that is probably more stressing for the server).

The same thing could be said for all the units cat. If we're only listing units coming with the game, do we really need multiple cat ?

There are 3 XML cat (Civ4 XML, XML, Notes on XML) plus a XML list (XML_files) plus a template linking the list and to a help page. (Template:XML). It's redundant.
Correct me if I'm wrong but we can't add new XML files in Civ-4 ? It's not like Python ? So we don't need auto-list like the categories. I would keep only the list page, the template and perhaps one cat (Notes on XML).

There are also a bunch of cat like this Category:Assets\XML\Civilizations. I guess they are a mistake and shouldn't be there. Or am I missing something ?

About the logo: I like the current one. We could replace the civ4=$ in the fourth icon with Wiki. MSTK's banner could go to the main page.

cats are cool. i guess the civ categories arent really necessary

might also be useful to have pages where we list what files need to be modified to do something like add a civ

Maybe a post in the "Other Civ-Related Sites" forum is in order?

http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=25

Oh, and this thread should be stickied probably.

Hey look. Image uploads.

http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/Image:Archer7om.gif

It would probably be a good idea to come up with a naming convention. Archer7om seems a bit off. Personally, I would go for either just Archer or maybeArcher_Icon or Icon_Archer.

Keep in mind there will be a whole bunch of these.

Edit: I figured out how to grab the icons from the dds files the game uses. I used it to "fix" the logo. I also uploaded a new archer graphic. I'm going to delete the other one.

http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/Image:Archer_icon.png

Actually, it might not hurt to get permission from Firaxis before going upload crazy here.

Please do not use PNGs. They do not load well in Internet Explorer.

EDIT: Hm, can you teach me how to extract those icons?

get FireFox :p

EDIT: Hm, can you teach me how to extract those icons?
But.... But.... I've already saved a bunch of them as pngs. :cry:

All of the buttons are stored in the Art0.fpk file, and you'll have to unpack the file to get to them. See the bottom of this page for details (http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_ati.htm).

Once you've done that, browse to the \Assets\Art\interface\buttons\ folder. They are all in there. The file format that they are stored in is .dds. You'll need a dds viewer to see them.

This utility (http://developer.nvidia.com/object/dds_thumbnail_viewer.html) will make it so that you can preview the dds files in Windows. Very convenient, but it won't do anything for saving them in another format.

If you have Photoshop just search Google for how to edit dds files. This is the easiest method.

If you don't have Photoshop (which I don't) download this little utility (http://www.amnoid.de/ddsview/) I'm sure there are others, but it's the first one I found.

The reason I saved as .png files is because each of these buttons uses an alpha channel to make the nice curved edges. .png preserves that.

Nice work!
The wiki is coming together quickly.

BTW, is this format alright?

Civ4LeaderHeadInfos (http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/CIV4LeaderHeadInfos)

get FireFox :p

FireFox is awesome.

I use xnview to browse all images including DDS. You can batch convert into nearly any format from there as well.

http://www.xnview.com/

Please do not use PNGs. They do not load well in Internet Explorer.
What exacly is the problem with PNGs in IE? The only thing I can find is that IE doesn't support alpha transparancy.

I loaded up the Archer_icon.png page in IE and the only thing I noticed was that the icon has a grey border around it. It's pretty much a given that it will have that border if you move to another format, so why not leave it as a png?

Alternatively, it looks like there is a snippet of javascript floating around that will fix this issue in IE. Is there a way to use that in the wiki to correct this for the majority of IE users?

It seems like a waste not to include the alpha transparancy in these images.

Edit: The javascript in question: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bobosola/pngtest.htm

I use Firefox too :) But a lot of people, unfortunately, do not :( We need to convert them. But until we do, we need to respect our inferiors.

BTW, is this format alright?

Civ4LeaderHeadInfos (http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/CIV4LeaderHeadInfos)
Close, but no cigar. Look at this page: http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/Help:XML_Article_Template This is the basic template for the XML pages. I'll write a little box thing, explaining how to use it.

Okay, the Unit_Info template is basically complete.

I will be editing around the appearance (which still at this point sucks very, very much), but the syntax for using will remain the same.
So you can now spam it on all of the pages and it should work.

Remember that you need the image of the unit uploaded for it to show up correctly.

EDIT: Scratch that. Wait about five more minuts.
EDIT: Yup, it's ready now.

Okay, I think we need to set a standard.

Technologies should be listed as:
Archery (Technology)

Units can be listed as-is, with only their name.

Combat Bonuses should be listed the same way. I think that everything in the Civilopedia (except for units) should be listed that way.

It helps in disambiguation. Unless it's too much trouble...

Why everybody ignore my rant against the multiples unnecessary categories ? :p

The unit template doesn't work for animals - or at least sounds silly :mischeif:. I wanted to stick N/A in for unit cost, but it goes to N/A hammers, which looks a tad weird. Ummm, maybe it needs a slightly different template or something (I'm not really sure how templates work).

As for catagories - to be honest, I have no idea which is better. What are the pros/cons of catagories vs lists?

The categories are good when you categorise an ever-expanding list of subject. So you don't have to actualise a page with all the names. But you can't customize the category page. It's always the same awful design.

Lists on a simple page are good when you're listing a limited number of subject. With page, you can customize and, most important, optimize it. Look at the current XML files (http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/XML_files) page: XMLs are listed under their 'physical' path. With cat, you can't do that unless you begin to use sub-categories. And with that sort of list, it would be messy.

The con of list, vs categories, is the lack of direct link of the XML pages to the list itself. But it's easily corrected with a template: {{XML}} was built for this.

Since we won't do anything with future mods, the number of Python, XML files, Techs, ect, won't change. It's superflu to use categories when lists can do a better job.

That's my point of vue, now a decision has to be made. The Wiki begins to have proper goals, now it needs proper organisation to build around. It will be easier to make the cut now than after we have more contents. Rkyte, even if a Wiki is the sum of a community works, you're still the owner, you'll have the last word on that sort of topics.

Good work everyone. I just checked out the wiki and I especially like the XML & python pages.
A little organization will may this site an incredible resource for just about anyone.

Hmmm, ok. Having seen what Supa posted, I'd go with lists - they can be catagorised in the contents of the page right?

I think the units list page was done quite well myself (though I did do it...) - it was like a catagories page, but I think it looked better.

Just FYI, some of the Civ4 beta testers that post on Apolyton are also creating a Civ4 modders wiki.

Thread at Apolyton
http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=143505

Actual Wiki
http://modiki.apolyton.net/index.php?title=Main_Page

Now remember it's not a competition to see who has the better wiki. It seems they had been planing there wiki for a little bit and it's just coincidental that peeps here have already started there own.

There's definately room for two wikis and the more resources for modders the better IMO.

Hmmm, I think one wiki would certainly be better than 2. All the information in one place is alot better than all of the information spread over two places!

It would appear that theirs was secret until today. Looking at it, it looks like they've got about the same amount of content as us. I think we should propose merging the two.

Yes, I also think a merger would be the best idea. No sense in having competing Wiki's.

How and where to merge, I've got no idea, but for now I'll adapt my XML pages at the Poly Wiki to fit with the proposed XML format used in your Wiki, as I think that's a good format.

Edit: Btw, I think all elements should have seperate pages - this will make it much easier in the future to create pages that contain all elements of a certain type - for example, should I wish to create a 'Commerce modifiers' page, that sums up all elements that affect commerce in one way or another.

Edit: Btw, I think all elements should have seperate pages - this will make it much easier in the future to create pages that contain all elements of a certain type - for example, should I wish to create a 'Commerce modifiers' page, that sums up all elements that affect commerce in one way or another. Very good idea. It'll be especially good for those multi-line tags - they can take up alot of space each.

Like Isak, I prefer the Civ4Wiki format for XML entries. I prefer also the list of XML. I'm not convinced by the "by folder" classement at Modiki. Otherwise, I like the tutorials and others articles. Apparently, the Modiki needs also a discussion about a proper organisation (cf. cat vs list). Both have goods contents and I'm for a fusion, of course :)

Isak - you mention that you are transferring information from an excel spreadsheet up onto modiki. Have you documented ALL the .xml tags? (in other words, is it worth me finishing off the units section?)

I've been slowly working through the CIV4UnitInfos xml filling in all the gaps. I think I've got most of them sorted (but I haven't typed it all up yet).

Hmmm.

I understand the need for the uniformity of the XML format on this wiki, but I have some issues with the current format.

Why can't the tags be in chronological order? Wouldn't this make them easier to find? We're working with the files as a whole, not putting up the XML file tags as their own articles. I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes here, but I just think it'd be easier to find specific tags if they're listed in the order that they occur in the file so that navigation is easier.

AFAIK, they don't have to be in chrono order in the file to work.

AFAIK, they don't have to be in chrono order in the file to work.

I don't think they have to be either. And when it comes to recreating XML files, the current XML article layout are fine. But as far as editing the current XML files, it'd be nice to have the tags in the order that they occur in the file, so you can find them and tweak them, AFAIK as you can't add a new tag at the beginning of an existing XML and leave another instance of it farther down with a different value.

Why can't the tags be in chronological order? Wouldn't this make them easier to find? We're working with the files as a whole, not putting up the XML file tags as their own articles. I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes here, but I just think it'd be easier to find specific tags if they're listed in the order that they occur in the file so that navigation is easier.
Hmmm, I'm not sure how much difference it would make. In a larger file I think I'd prefer them to be ordeded by tag type (as I know what type the tag I'm looking for is), however, I can see this not being necessary for smaller files. Hmmm... I supose we could do both...

I think each XML should have it's own article, as well as a general definition. Some of them need more clarification (esp. multi-liners), which would clog up the page if not moved somewhere else. I've begun work on doing such a thing, but it'll take a while, and I'm hesitant to continue until I know if Isak has already done it.

is there something new about the status of the two wikis? Should one still post or wait?

Yes, I also think a merger would be the best idea. No sense in having competing Wiki's.
Merging is fine with me, either on my host or theirs. Unless there's some kind of outcry against it, there's no reason to have two. (Apolyton killed your brother and you've taken an oath of vengeance? :dubious: OK then, I'll leave it up. :lol: ) You guys tell me.

Meanwhile I'll go register over there and see what we can work out. It looks like they only planned on having mod related information over there.
is there something new about the status of the two wikis? Should one still post or wait?
No point in waiting to post something to either wiki. Either we'll merge them and your information will make it to the combined wiki, or we won't and you'll be glad you got your information down early instead of waiting.

I don't see any realistic reason why they wouldn't get merged.

Merging is fine with me, either on my host or theirs. Unless there's some kind of outcry against it, there's no reason to have two. (Apolyton killed your brother and you've taken an oath of vengeance? :dubious: OK then, I'll leave it up. :lol: ) You guys tell me.
They should move over to us, not the other way around.

They should move over to us, not the other way around.

absolutley; this is our (your) project started on its own by some players, not some elite beta goofs :D
wiki is for the mass not for some... ah ok... but it is true :D

Hm...maybe categories aren't the best idea, then?

After all, our entries most likely won't be dynamic. We'll have a list of pages to make, and that's it. We will rarely have to change the listings.

I'll crosspost this here so we can get some discussion going.

Hi. Just checking in over here.

I'm hosting civ4wiki.com. I don't know if you'd call me "in charge." People jumped on it like a pack of wolves.

Merging the wikis is fine by me, but there's a whole lot of details that should be worked out before jumping the gun on that.
* What content goes in the wiki. Just game modding or also the civlopedia, strategies, etc.
* How should everything be organized? There were some good suggestions in the thread over at CivFanatics. A few users have aready put togather some nice templates as well.
* Who should host it? I have no problem hosting the site. I also have no objections to using someone elses bandwidth.
* What should it be called? I'm (obviously) partial to civ4wiki. Plus I've already invested $10 in the domain name.

I'll try to keep in contact here and in the other thread.

MarkG, check you PMs over at civfanatics. I sent you my email address.

Merging is fine with me, either on my host or theirs. Unless there's some kind of outcry against it, there's no reason to have two. (Apolyton killed your brother and you've taken an oath of vengeance? :dubious: OK then, I'll leave it up. :lol: ) You guys tell me.
Personally, I'd prefer Civ4Wiki as a URL. I think the name is better, and it also doesn't have any connections to CFC, or 'poly (which I think is good). Modiki, IMO, doesn't sound good, nor, in it's title, does it mention Civ. It also leaves no scope for a "Civilopedia" section.

@The Great Apple: I have notes and info om most tags, but I wouldn't exactly call them documented, so please go ahead. If you take on the Units section, I'll keep going in the GameInfo section, then we can let each other know when we move on so we don't bump into each other. :)
If I can get my notes on the UnitInfos section sufficiently cleaned up, I'll email that to you, if you'd like.

About the format: Just in this thread, I see 3-4 different formats being asked for, and hey!, aren't we all lucky? If we just add pages for each of the XML elements, anyone and anybody can create the 'entry pages' their own way, with their own sorting and color mark-ups and whatnots.... :D ... ok, maybe not everybody and anybody, but there's at least room for 3-4 different formats, and depending on the task one is trying to accomplish, there may be lots of good reasons to have several different formats. For example, I've now worked with the XML files for a long time, and having them listed in the order they appear in files makes no sense to me, as I rarely go through an entire file from top to bottom looking up most elements as I go along. I'd more likely be looking up a specific element or a specific set of elements, and for that an alphabetical list or (as vbraun proposed) a list sorted by the type of data stored would be much more handy. In some cases I would not even need the whole file, as I just want to figure out what <iDontComeNearUsOrWeWillSlapYouWithAWetTroutThresho ld> means......

This is just like creating an interface to a database really - first of all we gotta make sure we store the data in a way that will let us display it just the way we later figure out we want it displayed.


About the name: Meh.. name, shmame. We can call it Rhonda, for all i care - just as long as we only need to go to one place to find the info (and only need to go to one place to update it.. :mischief: )

We can call it Rhonda, for all i care - just as long as we only need to go to one place to find the info (and only need to go to one place to update it.. :mischief: )
Rhonda! I like it!

Right. I've pretty much finished off the summaries for ALL the unit tags. There are a few which I haven't got (I just don't know what they do), and a few which are speculation. If somebody could go over them, and fill in any of the gaps in, it'd be great.

Now to start work on the detailed definition of some of those tags!

I'll just keep this bumped, the mods should really consider stickying this..

Aye... We sure could use more help with the wiki. So if anyone is willing to create something useful you're welcome to do so.
Since the wiki will also cover game concepts, rules and basically everything the civilopedia contains (list+description of technologies, units, promotions .... you name it) there is definitely still a lot to do also for non-techie guys.

I'm going to try to add more of the civilopedia stuff this weekend.

Another thing that we should figure out is what format we want to upload the button icons (http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/Image:Archer_icon.png) in. So far there has been some gif, jpg and png files. It would probably be best if it was consistent.

Png has the alpha transparency that all of the icons use in the game, but has some issues with internet explorer evidently. Jpg will have borders, and so will gif unless someone spends a lot of time making the edges transparent.

Has something been decided about the categories/list or are we still building blind ?

Right. I've pretty much finished off the summaries for ALL the unit tags. There are a few which I haven't got (I just don't know what they do), and a few which are speculation. If somebody could go over them, and fill in any of the gaps in, it'd be great.

Ok, I went over it, and filled in a few gaps. There are still some left, and I'll ask 'the Powers that Be' for clarification on those (as some are quite impossible to figure out, like the elusive <iMinAreaSize> that is set for all Naval Units... :crazyeye:

Other than that, great work - I'll see if I can get some more GameInfo files added today.

Has something been decided about the categories/list or are we still building blind ?
Right, seeing as there was no answer to this, unless somebody objects before I come back to my computer, I'm going to change quite a few of the things back to lists (units, etc.)

EDIT: Ok, I got bored - I'll have a go at it now.

And what's happening with the merger?

I added a religion section to the civilipedia.

And what's happening with the merger?
We've been sending emails back and forth. I think MarkG lives in Greece, so the time difference makes communicating a bit slow.

It looks like we will be moving everything over to their server, and I'll be updating the nameservers so that civ4wiki.com points there. We'll work out some way to dump all of the database tables from my wiki to add to theirs.

There has also been a few requests for addons to the wiki so I'm trying to get them installed as well.

I have no idea how long it will take to get this all done.

Ok, no worries - good to know that stuff is happening though!

The 'poly section doesn't seem to be very alive at the moment. Maybe once they're merged a load of 'poly people will start adding stuff.

Quite a lot of new stuff has gone on already today - I like it! Some of the formatting is a bit dodgy... but it's the information that counts!

I really would love to know what all the lines mean in Civ4ArtDefines_Leaderhead XML. I'm having real trouble getting my custom leaderheads to work.

I really would love to know what the NIF and KFM files do. Any explanation on what each lines means in this XML would be greatly appreciated.

I really would love to know what all the lines mean in Civ4ArtDefines_Leaderhead XML. I'm having real trouble getting my custom leaderheads to work.

I really would love to know what the NIF and KFM files do. Any explanation on what each lines means in this XML would be greatly appreciated.

Well I've done it... I think the NIF and KFM files are fairly self explanatory. Aren't they just links to the .nif and .kfm files for the leaderhead?

Yes I got that much. But since I can't open the buggers (nif and kfm) what are they actually for? What do they look like?

How come for the Desert war scenario they're just using a still portrait for the diplomacy screen and buttons and yet they also link to a.nif file? What is the .nif file? The flag?

As you can see it's not self explanatory for me at all. Maybe it was a stupid question, I don't know...

Yes I got that much. But since I can't open the buggers (nif and kfm) what are they actually for? What do they look like?
nif:
"A .nif file is a 3D model. There has been some success importing a static untextured .nif file into the game, however we do not currently know how to edit them, or animate them."

kfm:
"A key frame master file (probably). This file probably defines in which order the keyframe (KF)) files are played in, and maybe even the speed in keyfram transition."

Basically, it is, at the moment, impossable to edit them.

How come for the Desert war scenario they're just using a still portrait for the diplomacy screen and buttons and yet they also link to a.nif file? What is the .nif file? The flag?
I don't have Civ installed on this machine... but I'd guess the nif is an unanimated model making the still portrait.

Man, i need a HOW TO: type guide on how to stick in my own custom leaderheads. i know loads of people have managed it but I just can't work it out.

Thanks for those answers though, they kinda help.

Just wanted to bump this and draw attention to it again. (This should really be stickied...)

Some statistics from Apolyton's one:
Site statistics

There are 1052 total pages in the database. This includes "talk" pages, pages about Civ4 Modding Wiki, minimal "stub" pages, redirects, and others that probably don't qualify as content pages. Excluding those, there are 43 pages that are probably legitimate content pages.

There have been a total of 18222 page views, and 428 page edits since the wiki was setup. That comes to 0.41 average edits per page, and 42.57 views per edit.
User statistics

There are 38 registered users. 2 of these are administrators (see Project:Administrators).

And us:
Civ4Wiki statistics

There are 1,815 total pages in the database. This includes "talk" pages, pages about Civ4Wiki, minimal "stub" pages, redirects, and others that probably don't qualify as content pages. Excluding those, there are 202 pages that are probably legitimate content pages.

There have been a total of 23,669 page views, and 1,436 page edits since the wiki was setup. That comes to 0.79 average edits per page, and 16.48 views per edit.
User statistics

There are 43 registered users, of which 3 (or 6.98%) are administrators (see Project:Administrators).

Thats 150 more pages that we have, but only 5000 more views. Lets continue to pull ahead! :D

I added about a half-dozen partial explanations for various files, and could do around 20 more. From the posts I've been seeing here quite a few folks have found out what certain variables do, but only post them in passing; it'd be great if they'd take a few minutes to immortalize at least a bit of their hard-won knowledge. Not only for the newbs, but also for those of us who've figured out variables x and y but not z.

Max

Yeah I have at least 5 other files done. It's just I don't have a lot of time to post them. I'll try and add some of them tommarow.

What is the consensus on Civ IV manual usage?

I mean, it's undoubtedly copywritten by Firaxis - but I'd be most surprised if they were annoyed at its contents being in wiki form (as base content to start a lot of pages - the pages would then diverge from the manual state).

:bump:

Any news on the merger?

Also, we appear to have some bot or something vandalising us occasionaly. Is there anything we can do to stop that?

The merger has run in to a snag in that I can't get the database utility to export my database to an xml file. It went on hold for a while because everyone was on vacation over the holidays. We're trying to get it worked out now.

Not a lot can be done about the vandalism short of making everyone sign in to edit and then disabling signups. That's one of the pitfalls of wikis. If you see a vandalized page please change it back and then send me a message using the talk feature of the wiki. I'll ban the person. I try to check all of the new edits every day, but I've been away from my computer for 3 weeks.

It also looks like my server just went down. I'll talk to my host to see how long it will take to get back up.

The wiki is now back up!

No news about the merger yet :mischief:

Sorry, don't mean to be a p.i.t.a., but I'm just holding off entering new info, because I don't want to risk it getting lost in a merger. :)

No news about the merger yet :mischief:

Sorry, don't mean to be a p.i.t.a., but I'm just holding off entering new info, because I don't want to risk it getting lost in a merger. :)
I wouldn't worry about it getting lost. There'll be backups made before anything gets potentially overwritten. If you put it on both wikis, then there's no way it can be lost. ;)

I'll have to email MarkG again. I couldn't get the database dump utility to work on my end, so he was going to give it a shot.

Hi, I have started contributing to http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page and I would like to discuss a number of things with the originator Rykte, other contributors, and anybody else who cares about how this wiki evolves from here.

HELLO, anybody out there?

Don't worry. I've been keeping an eye on you. ;)

This thread is the appropriate place to discuss the wiki. You can also use the discussion pages for each article, but those probably aren't actively monitored.

Also, if you want to contact me directly use the talk page on the wiki. I usually scan the edits 3-4 times a day so I'll see any messages as soon as I log on.

:bump:

Will that merger ever happen?

:bump:

Will that merger ever happen?
*sigh* I don't know. Communication kind of just died off with Apolyton. Partly my fault.

Hi folks,

I'm getting back into Civ4 after a long hiatus,

I like to analyze stuff, and have a bunch of stuff in Excel format from before. I just tried uploading it and the wiki just wants pictures. Take a look at the attached file - But do a Print or Print Preview on tab Health2 or Health1 to cut to the chase.

Can we have the wiki expanded to allow other formats? I hope I don't offend anybody to say I hate making wiki tables, but love wikis. That is, I wouldn't want to reformat my findings, but just post Excels or Pdfs of the results. With plenty of explanatory wiki text. Let's face it, wikis are not data respositories - but they're a library where such info should be allowed to be posted; spreadsheets that let users make dynamics changes (e.g. xls), and data dumps that let users query findings however they want (e.g. mdb). I trust that Pdf, zip, doc, and txt are also allowed? The basic wiki loadout is kind of limited.

Thanks for your consideration of this matter,

MK

I'm not able to bring up the Apolyton modiki, did it die? It seems we should just keep building civ4wiki and forget about merger for now, More Wiking people, I'll do some documentation on the SDK, copying and pasting many of the fine tutorials found here would be great as well.

This site isn't working.

Where did it go? I use the XML information all of the time...:confused:

rkyte is still active. I'll send him a PM.

Can the wiki allow other formats, please?

Where did it go? I use the XML information all of the time...:confused:

here is your (possible) answer... (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=5655962&postcount=8)

Since the wiki's been down since last Friday and at least one person's asked about it I thought I'd post an update here.

My host went down last Friday night. They had the server restored by Saturday morning, but the database had been corrupted somehow. The database server was unaffected by the outage on Friday so nobody knows how that happened. I'm apparently the only person affected by this.

I've asked them to restore everything to the last known good state, Thursday evening a week ago. It's taken so long because of some miscommunication about the problem.

I could have fixed this myself if I had kept more current backups offsite. That was my fault. My most recent backup isn't recent enough. I didn't want to lose many of the updates people have made so I've been waiting on them to restore everything for me.

So the lesson learned here is I need to set up a cron job to ftp a nightly backup of the database to my home machine.

I think we should make this post a sticky

Any progress? :(

No. I'm really losing patience with my host. He had everything ready to go on the 8th and just needed to test everything before restoring the site. Then he somehow fell off the face of the planet. I haven't heard anything since.

man, i was wondering where this went...

It'll be back after the holidays, one way or another.

[party] :band: &é"'(§è!çà

wiki??? wikii ?? wiiiki ?!?
:lol:

I just hope your issues with your host come to a quick and happy resolution :D

no no, really, I'm absolutly not selfishly interested.. no-no..

Still working on it. Everything should be back up soon. Sorry for the delay.

atleast its not dead. thx

Bump?

How's the progress on the wiki coming?

I set up a new wiki here:

http://civ4.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

I'd like some advice on how to easily set up the documentation for modding (mostly because I could use that info myself).

If anyone had an idea for layouts I'll be able to set it up ASAP, or feel free to go for it yourself (the links on the left side of the screen are about modding) until that time.

The wiki is only a few days old so give it a little time or help out :).

this probably be off topic but I would really like to learn make stuff using XML and python can somebody point me the the right direction

Hmm, I guess I've been waiting too long on my host, haven't I? I have an older backup of the site, but I've been hounding my guy to try to give be a more recent backup of the database. He's fed me excuses from time to time, but hasn't come out and said that I won't be able to get it from him. Obviously that means it won't happen, but I had my hopes.

I'll give him 24 hours to get me an answer then I'll put up the old backup and try to pull the missing data from the internet archive. A lot of the missing content is there.

I should have put up the old backup quite a while ago. It's really my fault the site has been down as long as it has been.

rkyte, it would be great if you can put it back up.

thanks

rkyte, it would be great if you can put it back up.

thanks

I have an old sql backup on my PC at home that I can restore the site with, it's just a bit out of date. I have also just pulled a complete backup of my account at my host, so people that have uploaded artwork and the like won't lose anything.

I sent an email to my host threatening to cancel my account if he couldn't resolve this (either for the good or for the bad) by this time tomorrow. If he tells me to get lost (and considering the way things have been going he just might) it'll take me a day or two to set up a new host and restore everything. Otherwise I'll have the old database restored later tonight.

I know the host has backups of my account and of the sql database from the day the site went down. He's told me that much. You'd think it would be simple to pull the database, but every time I try to find out what's going on I've gotten blown off.

Man this whole thing sucks.

I have an old sql backup on my PC at home that I can restore the site with, it's just a bit out of date. I have also just pulled a complete backup of my account at my host, so people that have uploaded artwork and the like won't lose anything.

I sent an email to my host threatening to cancel my account if he couldn't resolve this (either for the good or for the bad) by this time tomorrow. If he tells me to get lost (and considering the way things have been going he just might) it'll take me a day or two to set up a new host and restore everything. Otherwise I'll have the old database restored later tonight.

I know the host has backups of my account and of the sql database from the day the site went down. He's told me that much. You'd think it would be simple to pull the database, but every time I try to find out what's going on I've gotten blown off.

Man this whole thing sucks.

When you get the data, why not consider a move to put all of it on the wikia wiki I set up. It is far more likely to remain stable then some run-of-the-mill host and it also has full technical support and it's free. The move would take some time but I imagine overall it would be the best route to ensure something like this doesn't happen again.

Edit - And if you do get it on a host, at least temporarily, you could just do an export and then it can be imported onto the wikia one, import requires sysop powers but I'll grant them to you and anyone who would want to help with such a move, then we would only need to modify the pages a small amount to get some of them in line with the general layout of the wiki I've made thus far (or I could set up the wiki like how yours was set up, if that's easier) and it'll be back and secure.

Wikia support staff is quite very attentive especially considering the fact that their service is free, and they have numerous extensions they upkeep for our use that you likely wouldn't be able to have for an average mediawiki setup.

Running into some technical difficulties but still trying to bring everything back online....

Edit: My host basically told me to take a hike, so I'm not going to be able to get this up and running until I find a new host. Good times.

rkyte, is there any chance you might be able to just post some of the more basic info in a thread here? The really core stuff, like the descriptions for the xml tags in unitinfos, civinfos, buildinginfos, leaderinfos, and religioninfos?

rkyte, is there any chance you might be able to just post some of the more basic info in a thread here? The really core stuff, like the descriptions for the xml tags in unitinfos, civinfos, buildinginfos, leaderinfos, and religioninfos?

I should have a new host set up sometime tomorrow. You could always try to get that info from a site like archive.org in the meantime.

http://web.archive.org/200708*/http://www.civ4wiki.com*

I should have a new host set up sometime tomorrow. You could always try to get that info from a site like archive.org in the meantime.

http://web.archive.org/200708*/http://www.civ4wiki.com*

In the meantime I'll check this out, thanks :)

Any new info on this....

We want to include this info on the WoCiPedia wiki we are creating for the new Modular XML Loading project for BtS.

Has anyone heard from rkyte since his last post in February? I've tried sending him a PM, in reference to helping resurrect the Civ4Wiki, but he hasn't responded...

If anyone wants to try and resurrect it (either re-writing or trying to find archived versions) we (the WoC) have a wiki which we're writing tutorials on. I've already salvaged what I can find, but it's seriously incomplete. For example, I can't find anything other than XML, and those aren't fully complete anyway.

I also saw someone post a website with some information on. Unfortunately, I don't have the link to hand. There is some good info there.

So, does anyone want to try to resurrect it?

You mean Civilization IV Modding Reference (http://civmodref.googlepages.com)? I'm slowly getting the XML files documented. Right now I have the Civilizations directory done as well as the text files and schema files. Civ4TechInfos is next (should be up later today).

Yes, that's the one. I feel we three should combine our efforts. What do you think?

I like combining... :D Here's (http://www.civ4.wikidot.com) what I've got so far.

Great! Here (woc.dreamhosters.com/wiki)'s a link to our WoCiPedia. I think what we should do is pool our information, and create 3 copies of it on our respective sites. That way, if one goes down, we'll still have the info. Does that work for you guys?

I like combining... :D Here's (http://www.civ4.wikidot.com) what I've got so far.

This is great! Looks promising. Thanks

draco, nice to see this resurrected, thanks for the work. Will try to contribute some missing stuff on there soon.

This should really be stickied somewhere, IMO.

Cheers,
ripple01

Thanks ripple. As soon as I can get the member sign-up worked out, I'll make an anouncement. I want to make sure there's no problems before I get that far.

The Civ IV Wiki (http://www.civ4.wikidot.com) has been resurected! :D

Please come and join (http://http://civ4.wikidot.com/system:join)the site, and help make the Wiki great. The aim is the same: to be the mod reference tool, containing all information concerning all the XML, Python & SDK files.

Come and see the new Civ IV Wiki (http://www.civ4.wikidot.com)!!

Thanks Draco :goodjob:
I'll check it out :)

It's nice to see a Civ4Wiki again, unfortunate that it has to be built from scratch as the old one was getting to be fairly complete. I was not just a user but a contributer. So much repeated effort and less to work with this time.

Ya, it's frustrating. I got what I could, but my limited programming skills mean I myself will be mostly limited to filling in the basic file info, mainly just listing the tags...

And I would like to thank-you Gerry, for already being so active on the Wiki. :goodjob: Thanks for joining. I started a new thread for the reincarnated wiki, found here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=285860). My hope is to make clear that this is a new Wiki, that is still alive, and maybe show up on a few new searches so people can know we exist!