YAME (for: Yet Another Map Editor) is a small but powerful map editor.

I tried to create a 'Riverworld' themed map of size 'huge' in worldbuilder but was disappointed by the response time of the program :cry:. Therefore, I decided to create the needed xml outside of Civ4 which led me to YAME.

The editor is implemented as Excel workbook. With YAME you can create your map from scratch or import and change existing maps.

If you look for a tool that generates maps based on satellite photos have a look at 'BMP to WBC Converter'. Should you need a tool to create random maps according to parameters then 'Atlas' might be the correct choice. YAME is for you, if you need an editor that let you set and modify each and every tile on a map and generate a ci4WorldBuilder file to play that map in Civ4.

The map can be of almost any size (max 255 columns - Excel restriction), contain height information, different terrain types, features, bonus tiles and rivers. Up to 18 Cvilizations may be placed.

Feedback is welcome.

Have fun.

Miles


Edit: new release v0.91 correcting the bug aeric67 pointed out in post #4. Thank you aeric67
Edit: new release v0.92 correcting the bugs flobi and vache pointed out in posts #14 and #15. Thank you both. (Removed v0.91 after 380 downloads)

I felt in love with YAME. And the example map you use is damn great too. Very good job. :goodjob:

Awesome utility! Thank you so much. The game should have had something this easy to use right out of the box.

Wow I love this program!

Just wanted to let you know about a bug I found with the river creation code. In your macro "CreateMap", the following lines:

If CurrTile <> "" Then
If Left(CurrTile, 1) = "b" Then
RiverBOrientation = "isNOfRiver"
If Mid(CurrTile, 2, 1) = "r" Then
RiverBDirection = "RiverWEDirection=1"
Else
RiverBDirection = "RiverWEDirection=3"
End If
CurrTile = Mid(CurrTile, 3, 2)
End If
If Left(CurrTile, 1) = "r" Then
RiverROrientation = "isWOfRiver"
If Mid(CurrTile, 2, 1) = "n" Then
RiverBDirection = "RiverNSDirection=0"
Else
RiverBDirection = "RiverNSDirection=2"
End If
End If
End If


The second RiverBDirection assignments should be RiverRDirection, so the code should look like:

If CurrTile <> "" Then
If Left(CurrTile, 1) = "b" Then
RiverBOrientation = "isNOfRiver"
If Mid(CurrTile, 2, 1) = "r" Then
RiverBDirection = "RiverWEDirection=1"
Else
RiverBDirection = "RiverWEDirection=3"
End If
CurrTile = Mid(CurrTile, 3, 2)
End If
If Left(CurrTile, 1) = "r" Then
RiverROrientation = "isWOfRiver"
If Mid(CurrTile, 2, 1) = "n" Then
RiverRDirection = "RiverNSDirection=0"
Else
RiverRDirection = "RiverNSDirection=2"
End If
End If
End If

I knew there was one bug in all that code :lol: .

Thank you for pointing out aeric67! I corrected the macro and upped v0.91.

Glad to help :) I mostly spotted it because I make errors like that all the time when coding two similar blocks next to each other like that.

Question :
There are still some options missing. Like aggresive IA, aggresive barbarians
and the possibility to share or not technologies. Is it just me or they are not there ?

What do we do ? Btw I just made another version of Riverwolrd. More hills,forest,fishes and made a few opening throught the mountains. Want to see it ?

Oops. Sorry about the duplicate post, but I like the second one better.

Very nice work. The macro could be used for a textbook example.

Now what we need is a BMP to Spreadsheet, and a WBS to spreadsheet converter. It should be fairly easy. Excel can import comma or tab seperated variable files.

What do you say Rhye? Are you interested? (Notice I naturally assume Rhye would be reading this thread.)

This is just perfect!

You really amazed me what you can do with excel. :)

@vache:
Don't get greedy ;) - I never intended YAME to be more than a map editor. I still hope that Firaxis' SDK will make the tool obsolete...

I don't know much about modding yet, but I think the things you look for can't be done with the worldbuilder files. I assume that this would need changes in other Civ4 files or even adaption/creation of Python code. I trust that mods will be availabe for these kind of changes soon.

I'd certainly like to see your version of the Riverworld map. PM it to me or upload it to the map forum - whatever you like more.

@O.H.Dog:
WBS to spreadsheet should work with the import function. I assume that WBS stands for the Civ4WorldBuilderSave files. Am I mistaken or did you think of something else?

I don't see how to implement a BMP to Spreadsheet converter as I have no idea how to process images within Excel. A workaround would be to import the WBS file generated by Rhye's tool into YAME. However, I'm open for suggestions.

Hey, good job. :goodjob:
It seems pretty powerful, but I don't think it's very easy to use, really. But maybe that's just my Excel-noobishness. :o :)

I was trying to save a game with YAME that had Gandhi and it kept changing him to Frederick. I had to go in with notepad, but I'd figure I'd let you know I had that issue with YAME.

I did have another question. I didn't see anywhere to edit barbarians in here and when I went to start the game I made, I guess they were on aggressive. I've never used agressive before, but they were sprouting cities left and right and by the time I finished getting rid of one city, another would sprout right behind it fully defended that wasn't there before. It also doesn't ask when you start Civ what barb settings you want. I guess I'll have to piddle around with notepad.

I see, these options aren't taken care of by YAME. Figured I'd list them in case you wanted to add them.

BeginGame

Option=GAMEOPTION_NO_CITY_RAZING
Option=GAMEOPTION_NO_CITY_FLIPPING
Option=GAMEOPTION_FLIPPING_AFTER_CONQUEST
Option=GAMEOPTION_NO_BARBARIANS
Option=GAMEOPTION_RAGING_BARBARIANS
Option=GAMEOPTION_AGGRESSIVE_AI
Option=GAMEOPTION_RANDOM_PERSONALITIES
Option=GAMEOPTION_NO_TECH_TRADING
Option=GAMEOPTION_PERMANENT_ALLIANCES
Option=GAMEOPTION_ALWAYS_WAR
Option=GAMEOPTION_ALWAYS_PEACE
Option=GAMEOPTION_ONE_CITY_CHALLENGE
Option=GAMEOPTION_NO_CHANGING_WAR_PEACE

EndGame

Also, if you select none from the leader list, it saves it like this:


BeginTeam
0
0
EndTeam
BeginPlayer
0
0
Team=2
PlayableCiv=1
StartingX=40, StartingY=31
Handicap=HANDICAP_NOBLE
EndPlayer

The civ worldbuilder saves them like this:


BeginTeam
ContactWithTeam=2
RevealMap=0
EndTeam
BeginPlayer
Team=2
LeaderType=NONE
CivType=NONE
Color=NONE
ArtStyle=NONE
Handicap=HANDICAP_NOBLE
EndPlayer

Not that any of this explains the excess of barbs in the games I made. I don't think that should have happened without setting "Option=GAMEOPTION_RAGING_BARBARIANS".

Mooh,
general question. what does it take to see the cows on the tiles ? probably the agriculture thecnologie right ? Well my cows didnt show... 7 and cows not appearing :(

I will investigate this.. Just want to know if I am alone with that issue

@flobi:
Thank you for the hints.

'Leader: none' should work now.

I was aware that there are other options in the Begin Game section but did not include all of them. I don't have much time for further development now, so I skip them in this release. Sorry.

@vache:
With your nick you were bound to notice this error :lol: . Il n'y avait pas des vaches.

I fixed the problem. The problem was linked with the import function: '07' (for cows) was translated to '7' - Excel-feature :rolleyes: . However, YAME should now work correctly with bonus codes.

Great work!

@O.H.Dog:
WBS to spreadsheet should work with the import function. I assume that WBS stands for the Civ4WorldBuilderSave files. Am I mistaken or did you think of something else?
Yup. That's what I meant all right. Of course. I should have spotted that, and I didn't even have my usual excuse: "It's 7 a.m. and I've been up all night." (Hey! It is 7 a.m. I had better get to bed.)

BUG: Genghis Khan and Gandhi are out of alphabetical order, making vlookup fail (you gotta swap the two.)

I also enhanced version 0.92 to include barbarian settings but it's quite a few changes. Miles, lemme know if you're interested and I'll send you the new macro's to update YAME.

I tried downloading the zip from the link but I wind up with only one file that my system doesnt know how to open. Any ideas?

The whole map editor is a macro-using Excel file. It's a very clever idea :) I think we'll see more mod utilities using Excel pop up for other games after this.

But, this means, to run it, you need Microsoft Excel (from Microsoft Office) or an Excel macro-compatible program. I don't know if OpenOffice supports macros yet.

Nice Editor, best I've tried so far..Does somebody know if it's possible to put a background image(jpg,bmp..) into Excel which appears just behind the reticule and allows to work in the cells? So you can put any map as background and repaint it by square by square. This would be very helpful..

Edit: Found a way for that background image: Format>Sheet>Background, then mark all map relevant cells >Properties>FillingColour>None...
Now you can see the background image..

I was kind of put off at first with the text codes...but it is quite intuitive when you get down to it.

I was able to churn out a decent map in a matter of 20 minutes. Might take a while for longer maps, but a very nice job. :)

THANK YOU for making a civ4 editor that does not make me want to gouge my eyes out!!!!!!!!!

very nice!


ps - not sure of the top and bottom latitude settings - what do they affect?

Very nice :)

But some questions :

- is it possible to make your editor compatible with the realism mod ? New ressources ...
- I don't find the possibility to place tribals villages

Thank for your job ... and your response ;)