So, you want to add a Civilisation to the hugely popular game Civilization IV?

For beginners, this can be a fairly large undertaking.
Fortunately I’m here to both guide and provide some aids.

Part 1: The tools
Before you start anything, you need to make sure you have the right tools.
We’re going to be editing XML files.

This can be done in window’s notepad, but I find that notepad++ ( http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/ ) is better, as it provides find and replace tools, as well as a few tools for working with XML files.

There is also going to be some Image editing and converting.
For any kind of image editing, I use Paint Shop Pro (Now at version 9).
If you’re looking for a free alternative, The GIMP ( http://www.gimp.org/ )is perfectly useable (so I’m told).
All images/textures in the game are .dds files. This stands for Direct Draw Surface, and is a texture format for DirectX..
There are plugins for Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and The GIMP that will output .dds files, but they are very iffy. Luckily there is DXTbmp (http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/programs/dxtbmp.htm ), a stand alone program that will take in most image files and save them as any flavour of .dds.

Part 2: Planning
Now you have the tools, you need to figure out what you’re going to do with them.
So, go off and get yourself a coffee/tea/double malt scotch on the rocks…

You’re back? Then we can begin.
First off, obviously, you’re going to need to know what Civilisation you’re going to make. For this tutorial I’m going to do Australia.
After that is decided, you have to think about a few other things:
City Names: Fairly obvious here. You could only have one city name, but after that it’ll start pulling random names for your new towns.
A good idea would be to have 15+

Starting Techs: In the game all the original Civs have 2 starting techs from the first 6 available (Mining, Mysticism, Fishing, The Wheel, Agriculture and Hunting).
The Starting Techs can be any techs that are available, and you can have more then two. But unless you want to unbalance the game, stick with just having two from the starting six

Unique Units: All the original Civs have one unique unit. These units are slightly better versions of other units in the game, and actually replace them for that Civ.
Each Civ can have more then one unique unit, but this can unbalance the game if you’re not careful.

Leaders: Each leader has their own Traits and favoured civic. As with the Starting Techs and The Unique units, you can have more then what the Civs in the original game had, but again, beware of unbalancing the game (unless that’s what you’re planning on doing)

Part 3: Setup
Civ4 has a very strict directory and file structure for mods.
You are going to need to set up a structure like this, in the \\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Mods folder
YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Buttons\Civilizations \
YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Buttons\Units\
YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\TeamColor\
YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Leaderheads\
YourCiv\Assets \XML\Art
YourCiv\Assets \XML\Civilizations
YourCiv\Assets \XML\GameInfo
YourCiv\Assets \XML\Text
YourCiv\Assets \XML\Units
Or just download this .zip ( http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/newciv.zip ) and unzip it to the Mods folder.

Now you’re going to need to copy some of the XML files from the original game into your mod directory, as we’ll need to edit them later.
The files come from \\Firaxis Games Civilization 4 and go into \\Firaxis Games Civilization 4\Mods and the same structure.
The files you need are:
Assets\XML\Art\CIV4ArtDefines_Civilization.xml
Assets\XML\Art\CIV4ArtDefines_Leaderhead.xml
Assets\XML\Civilizations\CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml
Assets\XML\Civilizations\CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml
Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4DiplomacyInfos.xml
Assets\XML\Interface\CIV4ColorVals.xml
Assets\XML\Interface\CIV4PlayerColorInfos.xml
Assets\XML\Units\CIV4UnitInfos.xml

Part 4: Making the Pictures - Graphics (Civ Flag and Leader Head)
First off we’ll create your civilization’s flag.
The flag is displayed at the bottom right, near the minimap and near each of your units.
The texture we have to create is 128x128 in size, but in game the flag is scaled down about %25 horizontally to fit on the flag model.
The easiest way I can think of making the flag is creating a 96x128 image and then stretching the horizontal %25 to 128.

I got my source image from ( http://flagspot.net/flags/au.html ), rotated it right 90 degrees, and resized it so the height was 128. Then I added some boarders to the side to make it 96 pixels in width. Finally I resized it to 128x128.
Here is the result: http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/ausflag.jpg
Now, save your image as a .bmp somewhere, I usually put it where the end .dds file will be put. This would be YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\TeamColor\

Open up DXTbmp and load the .bmp
You now should be looking at something like this: http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/dxtbmp.jpg
Over to the right hand side of the window it that ’Alpha Channel’ box.

The Alpha Channel is a map that tells the game what pixels of the texture are transparent, and which aren’t. In our case, all white pixels are transparent, and will show the default colour of the civilization.
So, we want to change the Alpha channel to all black.
Double click on the white part and it will load the Alpha channel in your default image editor. Bucket fill it all black, save it and click on the 3rd icon (white arrow up) to reload the edited Alpha channel.

Now go to File->Save As->DDS Texture. You be shown a save box.
Navigate to YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\TeamColor\ and save the file, making sure you change save type to DDS DXT 3. That is very important.

With that flag, the in game the flag turned out like this: http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/badflag.jpg
So, I added a border to the top, giving these (better) final results:
http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/ausflag2.jpg and http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/goodflag.jpg

With that done we’ll now do the Leaderhead image.
The original Leaderheads are actual 3D Meshes, unfortunately no one is able to make and import them yet. But we can put in static images, much in the same way we did with the flag.

The Leaderheads also have the same problem of being a square texture, but showing in a rectangle that is ~%25 smaller horizontally. The only difference is that the texture is a 512x512.
So, doing the same thing we did with the flag, make/get a base image that is 384x512 and then resize it to 512x512.

I’ve decided to have John Howard as the leader for the Australians, mainly because he was the easiest to get a picture for.
Source image: http://www.defenselink.mil/photos/Jul2005/050718-D-9880W-065.jpg
I just cropped out Howard at about 0.75 ratio, then resized it to 512x512.

This time when you run it through DXTbmp, just leave the Alpha Channel white.
Then save it to YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Leaderheads\

Part 4:Making the Buttons - Graphics(Buttons)
Now we have to make three buttons, one for your Civ, one for your leader and one for your Unique Unit.

For all three buttons, here is a border and Alpha channel:
Border: http://img309.imageshack.us/img309/4900/civ4bracket2rt.jpg
Alpha Channel: http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/5908/buttonalpha3zi.jpg
Save both of these somewhere.

First off, I’m going to do the Civ button.
This is going to be the image for the flag, put into the above border. I imagine that you know how to do that. If you don’t, it isn’t needed, but it’ll make it look nicer.
Load the finished image into DXTbmp, then click on the first button under Alpha Channel. This is how you load the Alpha Channel bitmap you saved before.
Navigate to the Alpha Channel bitmap and load it.
Then save the .dds as to YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Buttons\Civilizations \
, using the same options as before.

Next up is the Leader button, again, I’m going to get this from the image I made before, and merge it with the border image.
Run it through DXTbmp, with the same Alpha Channel bitmap, and save the file in YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Leaderheads\, obviously with a different name then the actual Leaderhead picture.

Lastly we need to do our Unique Unit button.
This is exactly the same as the last two, except we need to find/make a new source image.
Here is mine: http://www.heatwave-toys.com/hwt_2001/image/pics-bbi/mls-bbi-ef-sasr.jpg
Run it through DXTbmp, exactly the same as the last two times and save it in YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Buttons\Units\

My 3 buttons: http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/buttons.jpg

Part 5: Making the Words - XML(Text XML)
First off I’ll try to provide a crash course in XML.
XML is a way of storing and organising information..
Most, if not all information is enclosed by tags, these tags look like this:<tag>information</tag>
The tag part can be anything, usually it’s something that describe what the information is.
There are also these tags:<tag/>
<!-- Comment -->
The first one is used when (in this instance), there is no information for this tag and the second is used for comments.
I think that’s about all you need to know. Just be wary of typos in tags, if your not copying them from somewhere.

Now, to the XML text file.
This file is a little different from all the other XML files, mainly because it’s name can be anything and it’s loaded in addition to the same (types) of XML files that come with the game.
Anyway, this file contains the text that will be shown in the game.
All the other XML files reference these text XML files when anything is needed to be written to the screen. This is so multi-language is made easier, and when one section of text it’s needed to be used multiple times.
With this it’s only needed to be written out once, rather then every time it’s needed to be used.

Everything in this file is in this structure: <TEXT>
<Tag>TXT_KEY_CIV_YOURCIV_DESC</Tag>
<English>Your Empire</English>
<French>in French</French>
<German>in German</German>
<Italian>in Italian</Italian>
<Spanish>in Spanish</Spanish>
</TEXT>
I imagine it’s fairly straight forward.
First it opens a TEXT tag, this is just a way of telling the game “Hey, everything up to the close of this tag, is all together”
Next it opens a TAG tag. The text that is contained within this tax is what will be used in the other XML files to print this line (depending on what language you are using).
After this is the tags for the individual languages that are needed.
And that’s it about the file.

Here is a text XML file that contains the basics of what you’ll need to make a civilization: http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/GameTextInfos_YourCiv.zip
Download it and unzip it to in your YourCiv\Assets \XML\Text directory, then open it up for editing.
It’s a slightly edited version from this tutorial: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=144425
While the file is good, the tutorial isn’t complete.

All the data in this file is very easy to understand, just change all the YOURCIV, YOURLEADER and YOURUNIQUEUNIT parts of each tag and then the information contained in each of the tags below it.

Part 6: Adding the Civ - XML(Civilization Infos and more text XML) (long)
Navigate your way to Assets\XML\Civilizations and open CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml.
This file contains all the information about the civilizations.
What we’re going to need to do is add another entry for Australia.

The easiest way to do this is copy and then edit one of the civilizations that are already there.
I copied the American Entry and have edited that.

If you look at the entries for the tags Description, ShortDescription and Adjective, you should see that they match up with entries in the GameTextInfos_yourciv.xml file.

For now, don’t worry about the DefaultPlayerColor tag.
I’ll cover that one later.

Have a look at the city tags now. They should look something like TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_WASHINGTON.
Look familiar?
They are the same type of tags that Description and the rest use.
If you put 2 and 2 together, you’ll figure out that the city names are put into the GameTextInfos_yourciv.XML file…
These are a little different then the other texts, mainly because they are names, and how different languages handle names. Here is an extract from CIV4’s City name file: <TEXT>
<Tag>TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_WASHINGTON</Tag>
<English>Washington</English>
<French>
<Text>Washington</Text>
<Gender>Male</Gender>
<Plural>0</Plural>
</French>
<German>
<Text>Washington</Text>
<Gender>Male</Gender>
<Plural>0</Plural>
</German>
<Italian>
<Text>Washington</Text>
<Gender>Female</Gender>
<Plural>0</Plural>
</Italian>
<Spanish>
<Text>Washington</Text>
<Gender>Female</Gender>
<Plural>0</Plural>
</Spanish>
</TEXT>
Fairly self explanatory, and if you want you can just include the English entry, but I don’t know what will happen when people from other languages play the mod.

Anyway, copy that code, and put it at the end of the GameTextInfos_yourciv.XML file. Then edit the Tag name and the entries beneath it.
After you’ve done that, go back to the CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml and add in the new city name tags.

I’m going to put in 20 cities and be lazy, by just putting in the English ones.
Got the list of cities from here: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Australia

After this we have the Units/Unit tags.
This is where the Unique Unit is assigned to the Civ.
There needs to be a bit of explaining here.

There are tags for UnitClassType and UnitType. Each basic unit is in it’s own UnitClass, wether their Workers, Macemen or Stealth bombers.
The Unique Units share the UnitClassType with the unit they replace.
So, for example: Unit Name: Worker Fast Worker
UnitClassType: UNITCLASS_WORKER UNITCLASS_WORKER
UnitType: UNIT_WORKER UNIT_FAST_WORKER

With that explained, you might want to go hunting around \New Civ\Assets\XML\Units\CIV4UnitInfos.xml to find the unit class of the unit that you want your Civ’s Unique Unit to replace.

In adding Australia’s SAS, it isn’t going to be much different from America’s Navy Seal. It’s actually going to be of the same UnitClassType.
So all I have to do here is change the UnitType.

Next up is the FreeUnitClasses/ FreeUnitClass tags.
This is a way for you to give extra units at the start of the game to your civilization.
There are two tags here: UnitClassType and iFreeUnits.
The first one, is as with the last one, the unit class, not the actual unit it’s self.

The second tag needs a little explanation.
At the start of the tag is an “i” this means that the information contained between the tags is an integer, or any whole number.
Whatever number you put here is the amount of that type of units you’ll get extra at the start.

So, with this, you could give a Civ 2 extra Warriors or 1000 ICBMS at the start. Also, you can give the Civ more then just one type of unit, just copy everything between the <FreeUnitClass> and </FreeUnitClass> tags, then modify them

All the original civs give 1 of the UNITCLASS_SETTLER, so I suggest you do the same. And leave it for balancing issues.

Now we move onto the FreeBuildingClasses/ FreeBuildingClass tags.
This is a way to give your Civ a building at the start of the game.
Again, there are two tags here: BuildingClassType and bFreeBuildingClass
BuildingClassType is the same as the UnitClassType we worked with just before. Except, it’s obviously for buildings.

The other tag, bFreeBuildingClass, is yet another that needs a little explanation.
The “b” at the start means that it’s a Boolean tag. For those that don’t know, that means that it can be either “True” or “False”, these are represented by 1 or 0 respectively.
You’ll notice that all the ones in the file are given a 1. This indicates that it is a Free Building. You could add a BuildingClassType and make the bFreeBuildingClass eual 0, but then it would behave as a normal building.

With this you could give your Civ a Hospital from the start, but I think that it only gives one building of that type.

All the original civs again have one here. They give a BUILDINGCLASS_PALACE, which obviously is the Palace. I suggest you do the same and leave it for balancing issues, again.

Next we have the FreeTechs/FreeTech tags.
This is where the techs that each Civ starts with are listed.
As with the others, there’s 2 tags: TechType and bFreeTech
TechType is the tag of the tech, and bFreeTech works like the one for the free buildings.

As explained before, all original Civs have 2 techs from the first 6 that are available.

Next up there is a closed tag for DisableTechs.
So, if you wanted you could disable some techs for your Civ, but I’m not going to go on about it here.

Moving on we have the InitialCivics and AnarchyCivics.
Self explanatory, it’s the civics that your Civ is on at the start of the game and during the anarchy after changing Religion or Civics.

All the original Civs have the “basic” Civics for both of these, but you could easily change them.

Now we have the Leaders/Leader tags.
Much the same as most of the others, two tags: LeaderName and bLeaderAvailability.
LeaderName is something that we will be adding later, but you can add in what it will be, should be along the lines of LEADER_LEADERNAME.
Then bLeaderAvailability, is weather the leader is available.

I think you could add leaders from other civs into this, so with a little editing, you could have Ghandi leading the French, or Washington leading the Germans.

Finally we have the CivilizationSelectionSound and CivilizationActionSound tags.
I personally am not too sure about sounds (yet), so just leave them.
You could possibly make them closed tags, if you wanted

...

Part 7:Adding the Leader - XML(Leader Head Infos)
Firstly I’m going to admit:
There is way too much stuff in here, and I don’t know half of it, and possibly couldn’t figure out more then a quarter of it.
I’ll guide you through what you need to do, and if you want you can play around with the many other options in it.
There is some excelent info in the modiki (http://modiki.apolyton.net/index.php?title=LeaderheadInfos) on what's in this file. Definatly have a look at it, even if you don't want to modify this file too much.

Firstly, pick an existing leader that is the most like your leader, then copy everything between their <LeaderHeadInfo> and </LeaderHeadInfo> tags.
Then copy it after the last </LeaderHeadInfo> down the bottom.

Now you’ll want to change the tags of the leader you copied to represent the one you’re making.
First off that means changing their name to your leader’s name in the top four tags.
Then there’s a bunch of different “attitudes” for your leader, play around with them if you want, but I’m not going to.
At the bottom of this group, there’s a FavirouteCivic tag. Change this to suit your leader.

After that is the Traits/Trait tags.
Like the FreeTechs/Freetech tags for the civilization, but this refers to the eight different traits each leader can have.
Two tags inside it: TraitType and bTrait
TraitType is the tag for the trait you want your leader to have, bTrait is a Boolean for if they have the trait or not.

With this, like the others, you can add as many as you want, but it will be unbalanced.

Everything onwards is just stuff to define your leader, and how they act when used by the CPU.
I’m leaving it, because as I said before, there is just way too much stuff in there.

Part 8:Adding The Unique Unit - XML(Unit Infos and even more text XML)
Another one that has heaps of options, which we really don’t need to use, as we’re copying a unit that should very closely resemble what we want to use anyway.

So, go find the unit that your Unique Unit is replacing and copy everything between it’s <UnitInfo> and </UnitInfo> tags, then paste it after the last </UnitInfo> tag down the bottom.

Keep the class the same (remember?) And change the Type tag to what you put in the CivilizationInfos.xml file.
You should be able to skip all the tags down to the Description tag.

The Description, Civilopedia and Strategy tags are all references to texts (that you’re going to have to write, in the case of the Civilopedia and Strategy).
Original UnitCivilopedia texts can be found in \\Firaxis Game\Civilization 4\Assets\XML\Text\CIV4GameText_Civilopedia_Units.x ml, while the Strategy texts are in \\Firaxis Game\Civilization 4\Assets\XML\Text\ CIV4GameText_Strategy.xml .
Have a look at them to see what the originals had, and then type up your own in your text XML file.

After doing that, look through the next ~60 lines, check out the options and change some, if you want. They all should be fairly obvious to you now.
Seeing as we’re doing a Unique Unit, you really shouldn’t be changing too much…

The next tag I want to look at is the iCost tag.
This is obviously the production “cost” to make the unit, you have to balance this with the other additions your unit has over the basic unit. But I really think this is something you’ll have to learn through trial and error.

Down a few more, we have iMoves tag. This is the number of spaces the unit can move each turn. Simple stuff.

Down some more we have the iCombat tag. I’m guessing that your Unique unit is a combat unit.
Well this is where it’s combat strength is defined. Again, simple stuff.

Down a bit more and we have the UnitClassAttackMods and UnitClassAttackMod tags.
This defines UnitClasses that this unit is either better or (possibly) worse against.
2 tags in this one: UnitClassType and iUnitClassMod.
UnitClassType is the tag that defines which Unit Class you’re talking about.
iUnitClassMod is an integer modifier. I think it adds the number as a % of the normal damage.
Example: If you have a unit with 20 in it’s iCombat, and 50 in the iUnitClassMod, and it’s facing a unit from the unit class, it will act as though it actually has 30 for it’s iCombat.
I’ll remind you, this is how I think it works.

Next up, I want to tell you about the iPower tag.
This is actually for the AI, and is the “points” contribute Power Rating. This is an internally used rating that helps the AI make decision on whether or not it would be a good idea to attack other Civs, among other things. (Thanks Isak)

Next up (after the UnitMeshGroup), we have the Button tag.
It does exactly as it says, points to the .dds file that has the button for that unit. Might as well change it now, considering we’re here.

Delete everything between the tags and put: ,Art\Interface\Buttons\Units\yourbutton.dds
And that’s all you need to do for that.

Finally we have the FreePromotions and FreePromotion tags.
Like a lot of the others, it’s self explanatory and hs 2 tags in it: PromotionType and bFreePromotion.
PromotionType is the actual tag that points to the promotion the unit gets and bFreePromotion is a Boolean that says weither it is free or not.

After you’ve done all that, you’ve got your Unique Unit in the game, only a few more things to do before the mod is playable.

Part 9:Adding the Pictures - XML(Art Defines Civilization and Art Defines Leaderhead)
Now we add in the (rest) of the pictures, completing the necessary parts to play the mod.

Open up CIV4ArtDefines_Civilization.xml and scroll to the bottom.
Paste this under neath the last </CivilizationArtInfos>: <CivilizationArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_CIVILIZATION_YOURCIV</Type>
<Button>,Art/Interface/Buttons/Civilizations/civbutton.dds</Button>
<Path>Art/Interface/TeamColor/civflag.dds</Path>
<bWhiteFlag>1</bWhiteFlag>
</CivilizationArtInfo>
Change the type tag so that your civ’s name is there.
Then Change the button and path tags to their respective path and files.
Now, bWhiteFlag tells the game to actually use the texture for the flag it’s pointed to.
So in my case I’ll actually see the Australian flag.

Now open up CIV4ArtDefines_Leaderhead.xml, again scroll to the bottom.
And where is something else to copy and paste into it: <LeaderheadArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_LEADER_YOURLEADER</Type>
<Button>,Art/interface/LeaderHeads/leaderbutton.dds</Button>
<NIF>art/interface/LeaderHeads/Leaderhead.dds</NIF>
<KFM/>
<NoShaderNIF/>
<BackgroundKFM/>
</LeaderheadArtInfo>
Remember to paste it after the last </LeaderheadArtInfo>

Again change the Type tag so it has your civ’s name.
And change the button and NIF tags to point to your leader button and Leaderhead, respectively.

In the original ones, the NIF points to some kind of 3D file, or some such.
Because we can’t import our own (yet), we can make the NIF point to a .dds, but then we have to close up the other 3 tags that are there, because they’re not needed.

Now, if either I or you haven’t done anything wrong, your civilization should be playable.
There’s a few more things to do, but for now you can play.

Part 10:Adding some Colour - XML(Color Vals, Player Color Infos and Civilization Infos)
Now, remember back in Part 6, I told you to skip the DefaultPlayerColor tag?
Well we’re going to fix that up now.

Open up the 3 XML files: CIV4ColorVals.xml, CIV4PlayerColorInfos.xml and CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml
Now, in CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml go to your civ and find the DefaultPlayerColor tag. Change the tag to something.
For mine, I’m going to use PLAYERCOLOR_GREEGOLD, obviously it’s going to contain a green and gold colour scheme for Australia.

Now open up CIV4PlayerColorInfos.xml .
By now what you see here should be very straight forward.
Copy all of the info between a pair of <PlayerColorInfo> and </PlayerColorInfo> tags and paste it beneath the last </PlayerColorInfo> tag.
Change the type tag to what you did just before in the CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml file.

Just for now, take a quick look in the Civ4ColorVals.xml file.
Here you will find a heap of pre-defined colours.
Down the bottom are the COLOR_PLAYER_* colours.
It would be best to see if the colours you would like to use are there.
For me I’m going to use COLOR_PLAYER_GREEN for my primary colour and COLOR_PLAYER_GRAY_TEXT for my text colour.
I’m going to also me up a gold colour for the secondary colour.

Now, back into CIV4PlayerColorInfos.xml and put in the tags of the colours that you want to use, if you have any.
Also change the other tags for colours that you want to make.
After you’ve done that it’s time to head back into Civ4ColorVals.xml.

Looking between the <ColorVal> and </ColorVal> tags you see Type, fRed, fGreen, fBlue and fAlpha.
Like the ‘i’ and ‘b’ prefixes before, the ‘f’ indicates the type of information to be contained in this tag. The ‘f’ stands for “Float”, or a number that can include decimal places.

If you’ve done a bit of graphics design, or some modding like this before, then you possibly already can guess what’s happening here, but I’ll explain.
The four ‘f’ tags are designed to hold a number from 0 to 1.
For fRed, fGreen and fBlue it denotes the “intencity” of the colour that’s going to be shown.
So, if you give fRed 1, and the other two 0, you will get a pure Red.
If you give fRed 0.33, fGreen 0 and fBlue 0.66, you’ll get a (I think) nice purple colour.

The fAlpha, is for the transparency that will be used when this colour is called.
0 indicates that it will be totally transparent, 1 means that it will be totally opaque (solid).
For these colours we’re making now, you’ll want the fAlpha to always be 1.

For my gold I’m going to use these settings: <fRed>1.00</fRed>
<fGreen>0.77</fGreen>
<fBlue>0.11</fBlue>
<fAlpha>1.00</fAlpha>

Save the 3 files, and your colours should be done.

-End-

There might be a few more things to add, but that should be all you need to get a Civ working, for you to play as.
And thanks to Jecrell, I learnt off his one...

Also, any suggestions for additions/changes are more then welcome.

thanks for your guide!

i have a probleme, i want to change the number of civ in the saved game : Earth_IceAge, can yioun tell me how to do this?
i tryed to edit the xml file and i crashed the game! lol!

thanks for your guide!

i have a probleme, i want to change the number of civ in the saved game : Earth_IceAge, can yioun tell me how to do this?
i tryed to edit the xml file and i crashed the game! lol!
I don't exactly get what you're asking or trying to do.

Prehaps you could make your own thread about it, and prehaps ecplain what you're trying to do, and in what file...

As far as the AI goes, check out the article in the Apolyton Wiki.
http://modiki.apolyton.net/index.php?title=LeaderheadInfos

Very helpful.

Yay! I got it to work!
http://students.uww.edu/RodenJA10/august.jpg

Yay! I got it to work!
http://students.uww.edu/RodenJA10/august.jpg
Woohoo!

but with that screenshot you're highlighting the only(?) thing missing out of the tutoral :p

Uno problemo, I can't get the leader (nor the civ) to show up in the game-setup -screen, ie. Single Player>Custom Game>Player Leader
The leader's name is Gilbert Dullindal and is based off Alexander.

I've never come across that problem...

For my Australian Civ, both of the leaders are at the bottom of the list.

What you could do is try again from scratch, and if that has the same problems, upload it and prehaps someone could take alook at it.

Sigh... Didn't work...

Here's the "mod"

Hey,

I have some problems with GameTextInfos_PL.XML file... when I loading my mod I have error in that XML ( attached file ). Can someone help me plz? :rolleyes:

It says it's error at line 1,1... but first line is:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

Everything else works correctly... but without that file I got same TXT_KEY...

well you haven't attached the XML.
and the error message says that it seems to have a few more characters at the start of the file...

Oh yea... mb lol... here's file :blush:

The only difference I can see is that you have
encoding="utf-8"
in your XML's first line and all the others I have (from other mods and such) have
encoding="ISO-8859-1"

I am %99 sure that it shouldn't be a problem, though.

Still same :(

Could someone check if that mod works at his computer. Thx. :sad:

I solved my problem :D

Anyway, I have no idea what was wrong... I just copy some other xml file, delete everything and paste my data from that "corrputed" xml... and it works lol :lol:

Thx for tutorial Charcoal... my civ is almost done ;) I am trying to add polish speech now :eek: Music is already done :)

I'm working on a WWII mod and I'm having some problems with adding in Hitler's civ.
1) I can't get the flag to display. I've checked the path, made sure the bitmap has the proper DXT3 save, etc. It still shows up as solid white.
2) Whenever it displays Hitler's name it addes extra text that shouldn't be there, but is present in the XML files for other civs.
http://www.planetxbox.com/mechassault/images/wwii.rar

Nevermind- fixed both my problems.

Could someone try to help me out with my mod/civ? I can load up my mod without an error message, but when you choose the civ it's kind of messed up...
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/6197/untitled0ex.jpg
I used Jecrell's Carthage mod as a base, so I could see what was needed. As of now, Carthage is still in my mod, but only temporarilly. I want to keep it in now because I need to figure out how to get 2 different custom civs working at the same time for when I make my second civ. Once I get my second civ working in place of Carthage, Carthage won't be in it anymore.
I have both of my civ's and Carthage civ's GameTextInfos XML files in the Assets\XML\Text folder because I wasn't sure how to make it into one GameTextInfos XML file. The screenshot above was when I had my civ's XML file only in the folder. When I have both of the XML files in the folder at the same time, I can't load any new civ's. HERE (http://www.filegone.com/l8ny) is my mod so far...hopefully someone can figure what's wrong. Thanks.

I keep getting a big solid pink picture where all my added civ graphics should be.
Any thoughts?

Thanks

Hi dont know what i m doing wrong but I have gone through the tutorial but when i try to load up my mod i get 2 messages. Can anyone help?

Note: to look at at info file change extension back to .xml

I had the same problem as you kenzie316...
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=144425&page=3

Woohoo!

but with that screenshot you're highlighting the only(?) thing missing out of the tutoral :p

lol, I just realized I need to alter CIV4DiplomacyInfos.

lol, I just realized I need to alter CIV4DiplomacyInfos.

Wow, I can't even begin to go into for how many reasons that avatar is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen.

Just wanted to thank Charcoal and Jecrell for all of this information. This really couldn't have been any easier, all thanks to you. You guys are awsome.

Thanks to Charcoal's guide, I successfully added a new civilization but ran into problems when trying to add a unique unit. I narrowed down the problem to the graphics. I'm trying to add a orc axeman as a unique unit so I do everything by the guide and then when I try it out all that shows up are red blobs where the axeman is supposed to be. When I look in the civilpedia, all that shows up is the units button. Do you know what the problem is?

HELP!!
I succesfully made a civilization (Wood Elves) flags, leader heads units, everything working fine, so i thought "hey! i could make some more!" so then i went on to make 2 more civs, high elves and dark elves. only problem is:
~~No flags appear in game (well the do, but they aren the correct ones, just plain red)
~~none on my city names work, they all appear as TXT_KEY_CITY_ATHEL_LOREN.... or what-ever
~~none of my civ names work: TXT_KEY_CIV_WOOD_ELVES
~~basically all text that i want to show up in game is in that format..ARRRGGGG!!!!!

PLEASE HELP ME SOMEONE!

other than that this tutorial is very helpful (considering ive never modded anything in my life...)

They are saying that Civ4 is the most moddable game, but it's so hard to do it!!!
Just think of Civ3, you just open up the Editor, click Edit Rules, Civilization, Add, and you simply type in the city names, leader,...

IT'S SO HARD TO ADD A NEW CIV!
I couldn't even read the whole tutorial without getting bored.
It will take ages for me to learn how to do it!

I seem to have a problem...

Everything is up and working fine it seems, until I go to start a game! It crashes as soon as the map finishes loading. I also noticed that when picking my civilization, it said I have no unique units.

Can someone please help me fix this?

How do I make my flag 128x128?

HELP!!
I succesfully made a civilization (Wood Elves) flags, leader heads units, everything working fine, so i thought "hey! i could make some more!" so then i went on to make 2 more civs, high elves and dark elves. only problem is:
~~No flags appear in game (well the do, but they aren the correct ones, just plain red)
~~none on my city names work, they all appear as TXT_KEY_CITY_ATHEL_LOREN.... or what-ever
~~none of my civ names work: TXT_KEY_CIV_WOOD_ELVES
~~basically all text that i want to show up in game is in that format..ARRRGGGG!!!!!

PLEASE HELP ME SOMEONE!

other than that this tutorial is very helpful (considering ive never modded anything in my life...)

flags are the worst part in creating a civ (or at leatst, with your first civs).
you need to create the flag in the alpha mask zone in black and white.
if you do this, without putting anything in the main image zone, you've created a decal. if you want to create a mulitcolored one, put all of the multicolored parts in the main image.

haarbal

Whoo! i finally managed to figure this all out (mostly)

Dusty: "How do I make my flag 128x128?" OOO! OOH! i can help you with this one!! Go into paint, click image, then attributes, and change the numbers both to 128, your done!

Im having a problem, where my UU dont have any names, they work but have no names...

some of my civs cause a crash to desktop when i click them, most dont. why is this??

Crashes like that usually point to an incorrect (dimentions, compression, possibly alpha) image.

Double check that you do have (in your case) the leaderhead image correct.

cool thanks Charcoal! ill giv it a go tomorrow!

Whenever I make a Civilization, I always seem to have trouble when it shows the name, it always comes up as TXT_KEY_LEADER or something similiar. What am I doing wrong?

I had the exact same problem, i think it was because the MyCiv text file wouldnt load or something????? so i went and copied the original "objects" file from ASSETS/TEXT in vannila civ and transfered everything (civs, leaders etc) into that. im not too sure if this is a good fix or not so maybe wait for Charcole or another experienced modder to help.

I did that, and added my civ and units and it works perfectly, so I assume this is the correct way to do it. Thanks!

No problem.

I tried your guide and it seemed to work but then when I loaded it it didn't show up?
Can you help me?
Here is the file:

I also had a problem with the GameTextInfos XML file. Needed to take a copy of one of those original XML files that came with Civ IV and then copy paste my GameTextInfos to it to get things working.

Alright I have done exactly what you said and I still get these errors.:crazyeye:

XML File xml/text/gametext/info_yourciv.xml.

Tag: UNIT_YANKEE_BRONX_BOMBER in info class was invalid.

Tag: LEADER_GEORGE_STEINBRENNER in info class was invalid.

Thanks in advance.. Here is the "mod".

http://files.filefront.com/FILE_VOTE/;4620399;1;/fileinfo.html

:crazyeye: :crazyeye: :crazyeye:

Thank you in advance!:goodjob:

Well I did manage to get the flag to work well..:mischief:

I think it looks cool.

Help please!!

Help!

I have finished a civilisation, and until recently had a series of error messages when I loaded it. I went through and zapped the errors it came up with - and I don't have any more problems with the XML files. It loads them nice and smoothly, the screen goes black for a moment - and the computer says the Civ4 has encountered an unexpected error and has to close..

This had not happened until I fixed the problems in the XML files. HELP!!!!!

Okay, so I created a Civilization and all, and it all looks nice, pictures work, everything is okay, it even has my unique unit in the civilpedia (although my civilization doesn't appear but I didn't see anything in this that mentioned civilpedia civilization stuff, so I'm going to leave it be).

The Problem!

I choose my Civ to play, start the map, it loads, finishes loading, but before the little "Play Game" button shows up, the game crashes. I cannot for the life of me figure out the problem, but its probably something dumb in my code.

Any ideas?

EDIT!!!

I fixed it! It turned out that my really really early coding wasn't the same as my later coding with one thing. Stupid me. Blah. But YAY!

We all seem to have a pattern of problems.
I managed to have just 1 error, and it was that line 1 was faulty in the GametextInfos_yourciv.xml (as explained earlier)
Theres also an error reading a file ingame...
Something about WordBuild.sav file not being read, but this happened the second time I attempted to launch my mod. However ever since I've been trying to launch my mod i get the same crash and error message.

It seems that when I put custom input in the GametextInfo_yourciv.xml file it gives me the same error.
Invalid input at line 1,1 when I didn't even touch it.

I checked everything else, my input for the country is the same in everyone.

What else could be wrong??? :cry:

Cronon: I had this problem as well and it turned out to be a problem with the CIV4ArtDefines_Civilization.xml. If you have a reference to an arttype in CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml (it will look like <ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_CIVILIZATION_YOURCIV</ArtDefineTag>) you need to have this defined in the ArtDefines xml file. Otherwise your game WILL crash. Also, when you define the art like so:

<CivilizationArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_CIVILIZATION_YOURCIV</Type>
<Button>,Art/Interface/Buttons/Civilizations/yourciv.dds,Art/Interface/Buttons/Civics_Civilizations_Religions_Atlas.dds,1,5</Button>
<Path>Art/Interface/TeamColor/FlagDECAL_Star.dds</Path>
<bWhiteFlag>0</bWhiteFlag>
</CivilizationArtInfo>

make sure the dds file is located in your mod/assets/art/interface/buttons/civilizations/ folder.

hope this helps!

I got everything (except the flags it comes out as just green and black) to work.
But I wanted something extra...
How do you use custom music in diplo or city closeups? I think I found a source in Audio2Dscripts
<Script2DSound>
<ScriptID>AS2D_DIPLO_WASHINGTON_EARLY_INTRO</ScriptID>
<SoundID>DIPLO_WASHINGTON_EARLY_INTRO</SoundID>
<SoundType>GAME_MUSIC</SoundType>
<iMinVolume>75</iMinVolume>
<iMaxVolume>75</iMaxVolume>
<iPitchChangeDown>0</iPitchChangeDown>
<iPitchChangeUp>0</iPitchChangeUp>
<iMinLeftPan>-1</iMinLeftPan>
<iMaxLeftPan>-1</iMaxLeftPan>
<iMinRightPan>-1</iMinRightPan>
<iMaxRightPan>-1</iMaxRightPan>
<bLooping>0</bLooping>
<iMinTimeDelay>0</iMinTimeDelay>
<iMaxTimeDelay>0</iMaxTimeDelay>
<bTaperForSoundtracks>0</bTaperForSoundtracks>
<iLengthOfSound>0</iLengthOfSound>
<fMinDryLevel>1.0</fMinDryLevel>
<fMaxDryLevel>1.0</fMaxDryLevel>
<fMinWetLevel>0.0</fMinWetLevel>
<fMaxWetLevel>0.0</fMaxWetLevel>
</Script2DSound>

Does anyone have any ideas?

EDIT: Just realised I posted the original message in the wrong thread.

Good work on this tutorial! I've been trying to follow it myself, without much success to be honest but nevermind :).

Can someone please help, i followed the tutorial and my custom unit/leader appears in the game but i can't see my civ anywhere?
I went over the tutorial again and couldn't see any mistakes, anyone experience a problem like this?

edit:fixed it. i put my civ after the </civilizationinfos>. sometimes i can be so stupid

Thanks for this guide, it is really helpful. However, the XML files we were told to download (esp. the gametext.xml) were corrupted somehow and caused me much aggravation as I got the common "Line 1, 1" Error as many people did here even though I did touch Line 1. I would politely suggest you remove those XML files as I'm pretty sure it will only cause further frustration from players less patient than I! I think the best bet is to tell hopeful modders just to copy-paste everything from the original gametext files or from a mod you know is working.

Just my two cents. Besides that, very helpful mod!

Very good tutorial,thanks.

I have three problems with this.

#1 = I made Singapore and made the art style thingy JAPAN.I'm concerned about my decision because it makes the leaderhead Tokugawa's 3D Animation instead of my leader.

#2 = My flag seems as the Japan flag too.:(

#3 = My civ,my leader all seems like TXT_CIV_LEADER_SELLAPAN etc. That's serious man!All my damn cities,leader name and Civ name is like this!

i start the game, load the mod, and my civ aint there:confused:
help plz

Erm it would help if you described more in detail about what happened

nvm i got i working, but when i go to Civlopedia to check out my civ, it aint there. everything else works fine. more detail- i click on Civilizations and my civ aint there.

another problem. lol
went to play it and all of a sudden before game start i get this error message so i cant play :(
checked without mod and it works fine

gonna have link to MOD hopefully soon.
check back to error correct it.

link in my sig for MOD
tell me if there anything i can do to fix stupid error.
another problem. lol
went to play it and all of a sudden before game start i get this error message so i cant play :(
checked without mod and it works fine

the error all of a sudden changed.
now instead of an error popping up, the game just exits automatically.


P.S. sorry if it seems like ive been postin a lot lately

So, you want to add a Civilisation to the hugely popular game Civilization IV?
..

:goodjob: :thanx: for this tutorial it will help me a lot...

the error all of a sudden changed.
now instead of an error popping up, the game just exits automatically.


P.S. sorry if it seems like ive been postin a lot lately
nvm. got it to work. check out my sig. for link.

this thing should be sticky....

well any way, im having trouble with my flag. All the white on the flag turns the color of my civilization, is there any way to sto pthis and keep it white?

well any way, im having trouble with my flag. All the white on the flag turns the color of my civilization, is there any way to sto pthis and keep it white?

Yeah, I had that problem too at first. The solution: open the Civ4ArtDefines_Civilization XML file (in Mods\<your civ>\Assets\XML\Art). Find your civ's Infos (mine are at the bottom, makes editing a whole lot easier), and fix the last line:

<bWhiteFlag>0</bWhiteFlag>

to

<bWhiteFlag>1</bWhiteFlag>

That should fix it.

sweet, thank you so much!

Hey,

I have some problems with GameTextInfos_PL.XML file... when I loading my mod I have error in that XML ( attached file ). Can someone help me plz? :rolleyes:

It says it's error at line 1,1... but first line is:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

Everything else works correctly... but without that file I got same TXT_KEY...

I had the same problem but am not sure how to fix it. What did you do?

Nevermind. . . it took awhile but once I used the game file then I could find everything from there!

Do i have to use a DDS file to put in a still picture for a leaderhead? Or can i use a bitmap and a jpeg image? If i can use these othere image types, how do i get it to read the picture??? Everything works except i have no pictures as my leaders! Just pink backgrounds!

Yeah, Kidd, you have to use a .dds sized 512x512 for leaderheads. If you don't have a program that lets you create .bmps, try googling DXTBmp. That should do the trick.

all my leaders and units and cities have that txt_key.... does anyone know how to fix it?

all my leaders and units and cities have that txt_key.... does anyone know how to fix it?

You need to add a file at XML/Text/Civ4GameText_X.xml (You choose what X is.) Then add the entries for the related fields. For example:

<TEXT>
<Tag>TXT_KEY_LEADER_WILLIAM</Tag>
<English>William I</English>
</TEXT>

I myself am having trouble with the stupid flag.

With:

1) bWhiteFlag set to 1 and a black alpha I get a blank white flag.
2) bWhiteFlag set to 0 and a black alpha I get a unicolor flag w/ my civ color.
3) bWhiteFlag set to 1 and a white alpha I get my flag w/ my civ colors.
4) bWhiteFlag set to 0 and a white alpha I get the same as 3.

The problem is that I want what I've drawn, not one with my civ colors. It seems to be an coding problem, but I can't figure out what I've done wrong.

It seems to be an coding problem, but I can't figure out what I've done wrong.

Well, I figured it out. If you have a custom color combination [Civ4PlayerColorInfos.xml] then it automatically applies the colors to your flag. :mad:

Crap trial. The image part was good, after that your explanation get crappy. I mean sometimes you don't even say in what looking the files is going to be, and sometimes you do. But I'll give you credit on the image stuff that worked fine.

I think you should post screen shots of the files you're editing and then highlight the parts which we need to edit.

They are saying that Civ4 is the most moddable game, but it's so hard to do it!!!
Just think of Civ3, you just open up the Editor, click Edit Rules, Civilization, Add, and you simply type in the city names, leader,...

IT'S SO HARD TO ADD A NEW CIV!
I couldn't even read the whole tutorial without getting bored.
It will take ages for me to learn how to do it!

I know what you mean. I think we the mean easy to mod, they mean easy to mod for ppl who know XML and other languages.

I mean its not hard to make a goddamn application for the game that will render adding new civs in rather then pissing around with XML files. Am just pissed off right now, I've spent 6 hrs trying to add a new civ, and no luck. I've give up.

When i load up the mod there is no error msgs but when i go to select my new civ the program crashes. :mad:

http://members.cox.net/mkrogh1/kansasmod.zip

There is the mod so could someone please take a quick look at in and tell me where i screwed up, i thought that i followed the tutorial well but i must not have. :crazyeye:

EDIT:
I was playing around a bit and found that it only crashes when i start a normal game, if i do custom game i can play but when i do the pop up box at the begining is blank. So I'm thinking something is wrong with the leaderhead pic or info.

Great stuff, thanks

The Mancunians will be marching soon

OK, I will be uploading my first Civ once I get the Civilopedia entries sorted (and no I wasn't sad enough to actually do a Mancunian Civ, well not yet anyway). This tuturial is brilliant, there's a couple of typos but I got 'round them easily enough.

Does anyone know, is it possible to prevent a civ from building one particular unit?

I got everything (except the flags it comes out as just green and black) to work.
But I wanted something extra...
How do you use custom music in diplo or city closeups? I think I found a source in Audio2Dscripts


Does anyone have any ideas?

here's what i do:
copy that entire thing, along with AS2D_DIPLO_WASHINGTON_LATE and
AS2D_DIPLO_WASHINGTON_MIDDLE,
paste and rename....like this:
AS2D_DIPLO_YOURLEADERNAME_EARLY
AS2D_DIPLO_YOURLEADERNAME_MIDDLE
AS2D_DIPLO_YOURLEADERNAME_LATE

then, on the "DIPLO_WASHINGTON_EARLY/middle/late..."
change "WASHINGTON" to your leader's name.

then go to "AudioDefines.xml"
find "diplo_whatever_early/mid/lat"
copy those and rename....

then select 3 of your fav. songs and put them here:
...\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\Sounds\Diplomacy
you dont need to rename the song like all the others, but you might want to to make it easier for the next step:

in AudioDefines:
On <filename>blah</filename>
cut ONLY the old song's NAME and ONLY put in your song NAME.leave the rest of the directory clean...

post any errors or correct me if you know better stuff.

Could someone try to help me out with my mod/civ? I can load up my mod without an error message, but when you choose the civ it's kind of messed up...
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/6197/untitled0ex.jpg
I used Jecrell's Carthage mod as a base, so I could see what was needed. As of now, Carthage is still in my mod, but only temporarilly. I want to keep it in now because I need to figure out how to get 2 different custom civs working at the same time for when I make my second civ. Once I get my second civ working in place of Carthage, Carthage won't be in it anymore.
I have both of my civ's and Carthage civ's GameTextInfos XML files in the Assets\XML\Text folder because I wasn't sure how to make it into one GameTextInfos XML file. The screenshot above was when I had my civ's XML file only in the folder. When I have both of the XML files in the folder at the same time, I can't load any new civ's. HERE (http://www.filegone.com/l8ny) is my mod so far...hopefully someone can figure what's wrong. Thanks.
i had the exact same problem!!

also, my graphics wouldn't load or antything and it wouldn't register my unique unit!!!:mad:

I had a problem when the leader and stuff isn't even showing!! it's very annoying

You need to add a file at XML/Text/Civ4GameText_X.xml (You choose what X is.) Then add the entries for the related fields. For example:

<TEXT>
<Tag>TXT_KEY_LEADER_WILLIAM</Tag>
<English>William I</English>
</TEXT>

I myself am having trouble with the stupid flag.

With:

1) bWhiteFlag set to 1 and a black alpha I get a blank white flag.
2) bWhiteFlag set to 0 and a black alpha I get a unicolor flag w/ my civ color.
3) bWhiteFlag set to 1 and a white alpha I get my flag w/ my civ colors.
4) bWhiteFlag set to 0 and a white alpha I get the same as 3.

The problem is that I want what I've drawn, not one with my civ colors. It seems to be an coding problem, but I can't figure out what I've done wrong.

I have a solution too...

if you just do this: in CIV4CivilizationInfos...:
<City>TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_JERUSALEM</City>
etc.

it will turn up like that

if you go to texts then CIV4GameTextInfos_Cities...:
<TEXT>
<Tag>TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_JERUSALEM</Tag>
<English>Jerusalem</English>
etc.

then it will turn up like that for the game!!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``
for the leader and civ name etc. go to objects...

then do

<TEXT>
<Tag>LEADER_YOURLEADER</Tag>
<English>Your Leader</English>
<French>Your Leader</French>
<German>Your Leader</German>
<Italian>Your Leader</Italian>
<Spanish>Your Leader</Spanish>
</TEXT>

and do the same for Units and your Civ name/desc

I've been working on a mod that makes me a leader of my own civ. I followed the tutorial, but when I finished it the game still doesn't recognize it. It will load the mod, but won't have any of the changes. I attached it here. Please help!

P.S: I made a custom Scientific trait that I am using. The only person I set to it is myself. Also, I wrote this mode over the Czech mode, replacing everything with the appropriate names. Any help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![pissed]

okay...so when I go onto the game, it works fine...

i go to Single Player-->Play Now!-->Pangaea-->Standard-->...

than when I select a normal civ like America, Egypt etc. it works

but when I choose my civ, the game closes and a message comes up saying something like:

"There's a problem bla bla bla
[Debug] [Send Error Report] [Dont Send]"

i've gotten this message b4, but not for Civ!!! HELP!!!:confused:

okay...so when I go onto the game, it works fine...

i go to Single Player-->Play Now!-->Pangaea-->Standard-->...

than when I select a normal civ like America, Egypt etc. it works

but when I choose my civ, the game closes and a message comes up saying something like:

"There's a problem bla bla bla
[Debug] [Send Error Report] [Dont Send]"

i've gotten this message b4, but not for Civ!!! HELP!!!:confused:

This is the all purpose failure that Microsoft uses for any such crash. I would suggest that you check your files to make sure that everything is referenced the same, i.e. you always refer to the leader as WASHINGTON, not GEORGE_WASHINGTON. Also, see if you can see your name when playing a custom game. Of course, I'm having trouble myself, so if this advice helps, PLEASE LOOK AT MY MOD TOO!!!!!!!!!!!:cry:

Part 9:Adding the Pictures - XML(Art Defines Civilization and Art Defines Leaderhead)
Now we add in the (rest) of the pictures, completing the necessary parts to play the mod.

Open up CIV4ArtDefines_Civilization.xml and scroll to the bottom.
Paste this under neath the last </CivilizationArtInfos>: <CivilizationArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_CIVILIZATION_YOURCIV</Type>
<Button>,Art/Interface/Buttons/Civilizations/civbutton.dds</Button>
<Path>Art/Interface/TeamColor/civflag.dds</Path>
<bWhiteFlag>1</bWhiteFlag>
</CivilizationArtInfo>
Change the type tag so that your civ’s name is there.
Then Change the button and path tags to their respective path and files.
Now, bWhiteFlag tells the game to actually use the texture for the flag it’s pointed to.
So in my case I’ll actually see the Australian flag.

Now open up CIV4ArtDefines_Leaderhead.xml, again scroll to the bottom.
And where is something else to copy and paste into it: <LeaderheadArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_LEADER_YOURLEADER</Type>
<Button>,Art/interface/LeaderHeads/leaderbutton.dds</Button>
<NIF>art/interface/LeaderHeads/Leaderhead.dds</NIF>
<KFM/>
<NoShaderNIF/>
<BackgroundKFM/>
</LeaderheadArtInfo>
Remember to paste it after the last </LeaderheadArtInfo>

Again change the Type tag so it has your civ’s name.
And change the button and NIF tags to point to your leader button and Leaderhead, respectively.

In the original ones, the NIF points to some kind of 3D file, or some such.
Because we can’t import our own (yet), we can make the NIF point to a .dds, but then we have to close up the other 3 tags that are there, because they’re not needed.

Now, if either I or you haven’t done anything wrong, your civilization should be playable.
There’s a few more things to do, but for now you can play.


This does not make any sence to me I can't find it.could someone help me???

This does not make any sence to me I can't find it.could someone help me???

the files are in the:

assets (folder)/xml (folder)/art (folder)


The files are:

CIV4ArtDefines_Civilization.xml
CIV4ArtDefines_Leaderhead.xml

I hope that helps....

if not... be more specific in your problem

WOW I must be a slightly slow moron. I have followed the instructions completly (as best I could with a combo of jercell's post) and when I load up my mod... NOTHING. Its just like a regular game only, my mod title is at the top. Would someone please help me :) ?

HHMM I realize no one can help me if they dont know how. Ok. To be more specific, I can mod civilizationsinfo.xml all day long and it wouldnt do a thing on the actual mod. Is there a piece I am missing here? Do I need another reference file or ladsjfslk;djflskjf

This may help

WOW I must be a slightly slow moron. I have followed the instructions completly (as best I could with a combo of jercell's post) and when I load up my mod... NOTHING. Its just like a regular game only, my mod title is at the top. Would someone please help me :) ?


After FRUSTRATING TIME OF CHECKING YOUR WORK....:mad:


I found the answer...

(oh what a basic answer)


YOU RENAMED A FOLDER INCORRECTLY!!!!:mischief:

In your XML FOLDER you incorrectly spelled the Civilizations Folder as CIVILIAZTIONS Folder!



I checked and your unique Civilization and units appear....

However I found some weird XML reference errors on start up....

TECH_Communism is referenced wrong unit infos

Forbidden Palace is referenced wrong

Three gorge Dam is referenced wrong

I could not find the source of the errors :confused: :confused: :confused:

have you updated to the latest patch? (then copied xml info from Latest patch? I know the Latest Patch changes some "vanilla" xml files... so that may be the problem)


other minor issues:

In your GameTextInfos_ALORIKAI.xml

change the <English>Your Empire</English>

to fit your civ's description.... Example:

<Tag>TXT_KEY_CIV_ALORIKAI_DESC</Tag>
<English>Alorikai Empire</English>


(use what ever info you want it to say)
Alorikai Nation
Alorikai country
etc


or it will say "Your Empire"

do this for all your <English> </English> tags....

(if you play the game in English)



also you reference your Excell Unit wrong in the CIV4UnitInfos.xml

<Class>UNITCLASS_KNIGHT</Class>
<Type>UNIT_EXCELL</Type>

change the this TYPE (for your unique unit) so that it works with your Unit and pics

REMEMBER DONT CHANGE THE ORIGINAL UNIT_KNIGHT info.... only change yours.... The one with this info:

<Class>UNITCLASS_KNIGHT</Class>
<Type>UNIT_EXCELL</Type>
<UniqueNames/>
<Special>NONE</Special>
<Capture>NONE</Capture>
<Combat>UNITCOMBAT_MOUNTED</Combat>
<Domain>DOMAIN_LAND</Domain>
<DefaultUnitAI>UNITAI_ATTACK</DefaultUnitAI>
<Invisible>NONE</Invisible>
<SeeInvisible>NONE</SeeInvisible>
<Description>TXT_KEY_UNIT_EXCELL</Description>
<Civilopedia>TXT_KEY_UNIT_EXCELL_PEDIA</Civilopedia>
<Strategy>TXT_KEY_UNIT_EXCELL_STRATEGY</Strategy>


also to add unit infos to Civilopedia

add your info to these files (using the same reference points)

CIV4GameText_Civilopedia_Units.xml (For your UU)

in the xml\text Folder


HINT: best put your custom stuff at the END of the file

It is easier to find! :crazyeye:


Hope that helps....

yes that helps and I can't tell you how thankful I am that you gave your time to help me. Thanks again. I will try this all out now!! :) I can't believe I named it wrong!

i have a problem

when i go onto the game, the flag turns up as my teamcolor
i've tried suggestionsas the other posts, but none seem to work

HELP!!!

i have a problem

when i go onto the game, the flag turns up as my teamcolor
i've tried suggestionsas the other posts, but none seem to work

HELP!!!


sounds like you didnt have an alpha channel in yor flag pic to show your flag...

follow the instructions in the beginning of the thread....

well...that didn't work

:mad:

well...that didn't work

:mad:

well the flag must be in alpha channel (with the alpha channel black) for it to appear on the flag banner

if that is not the problem (and assuming you created the pic correctly) then it must be your reference to the pic must be misplaced or incorrect...

are you sure you have it in the right folder?

there are no syntax errors or wrong paths in the XML file?

is the pic name the same one referenced in the XML files?

did you mislabel a folder or file?

it appears to be technical error since I used this tutorial to make 3 unique civilizations (including flags/UU/buttons) and they all work fine....

check your files and folders over again...

well...i got it by fooling around with the alpha channel but thanx anyway 4 ur suggestions

well...i got it by fooling around with the alpha channel but thanx anyway 4 ur suggestions


I originally said it was the alpha channel ;)

sorry I could be more help...

but Im glad you got it working

btw what was the problem?

i dunno...i mean i just made the pic (ex.) green&white insted of green% blck and fooled around w/ the alpha template to get it workin

i dunno...i mean i just made the pic (ex.) green&white insted of green% blck and fooled around w/ the alpha template to get it workin
do you mean

green&white alpha channel

instead of

green&black alpha channel?

or something different?

because the alpha channel should be black...

Is there a program that is beter than notepad at editing Xml files??? the link given at the begining does not work http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/

Is there a program that is beter than notepad at editing Xml files??? the link given at the begining does not work http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/


try this link:

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm


it is the one in post #1 and it worked for me.... (I just tried it)


I dont know why it's not working for you...

The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.That is what it said when I try to get to the web site.Is there a alternative that you know of???I tried to use the link you me gave but it still does not work.

Great tutorial, it took a couple of attempts to get it right, but I finally have a working Norman civilisation (and a mostly working Byzantine one).

Just a couple of flag tweaks to make it perfect.

That is what it said when I try to get to the web site.Is there a alternative that you know of???I tried to use the link you me gave but it still does not work.


ok in my experience... sometimes if you are trying to go to a website out of your country...it may not work...

the link looks UK but Im not sure...may that is the problem:sad:


however I searched the net and found this:

http://www.download.com/Notepad-/3000-2352_4-10516746.html?tag=lst-0-5


I got it off of C-NET Downloads

NOTE: I am not sure this IS the same program....

I did check and it seems to have the same programmer name... (but who knows with the internet)


THEREFORE DOWNLOAD THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!

I take no responsibility for on this program...


good luck!

Is there a way to a simple way to keep the civ itself but to swap the current leaderhead with another one???

Is there a way to a simple way to keep the civ itself but to swap the current leaderhead with another one???


yes there is

go to your CIV4ArtDefines_Leaderhead.XML file

find the leader's name of who you want to have...

copy all the info (except the button info- unless you want to change the button pic too) and paste it on the leaderhead info you want to change...

pretty simple eh? :goodjob:

Yes this is simple thanks. All so I am confuesd on how to change the Civ's name and discription???

*EDIT*

post got all screwed up on editing...so I removed it and posted a better one

Yes this is simple thanks. All so I am confuesd on how to change the Civ's name and discription???

well it states it in the the first post...




Here is a text XML file that contains the basics of what you’ll need to make a civilization: http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/GameTextInfos_YourCiv.zip
Download it and unzip it to in your YourCiv\Assets \XML\Text directory, then open it up for editing.

but I understand you have problems d/ling some of the links.... :sad:


if you can't download the file there... try to go to the original thread and get it there:

It’s a slightly edited version from this tutorial: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=144425
While the file is good, the tutorial isn’t complete.

if you can download it (GameTextInfos_YourCiv.zip file) then it will be easier

basically whatever your civilization's name is...

in the CIV4CivilizationInfo.xml file

ex.

<Type>CIVILIZATION_NARNIA</Type>

after you D/L GameTextInfos_YourCiv.zip and unzip it so you have:

GameTextInfos_YourCiv.xml FILE

replace YourCiv with (in this example)NARNIA

IN THE TITLE OF THE XML FILE!

so it reads:

GameTextInfos_NARNIA.xml FILE

then open the XML file and put in the approriate info

(most of it is self-explanatory and lets you define the civilopedia notes too)


make sure you put the GameTextInfos_NARNIA.xml FILE in your Text Folder

(path = C:\Civ4Mods\[name of mod]\Assets\XML\Text Folder)

then viola! :)

new civ info added

(this is already explained in the first post)


now this of course is for a NEW civilization

if you want to change an existing civ's info backup all the info and copy the
info into your mod or custom assest folder

and then edit all those files

(there are alot of files to edit ...that's why copy and pasting from an existing civ -then editing it to make it a "new" civ- is easier then modifying an existing one...

hope that helps :mischief:

I can't get my civ to show up in the game, so I've probably done something wrong

I'm getting tired of staring at the files to see any errors, so I hope someone else finds the problem here, because Im slowly getting insane.

I can't get my civ to show up in the game, so I've probably done something wrong

I'm getting tired of staring at the files to see any errors, so I hope someone else finds the problem here, because Im slowly getting insane.


First: You have not upgraded to the official CIV4 1.61 patch :mischief:

(it wont affect your game play... but is shows errors for me because I did upgrade :eek: )


Second:

You have saved the GameTextInfos_Kiylo.xml in the wrong format:

your original file starts off with this line:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>


it should read:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>


YOU CAN NOT CHANGE THAT LINE TO FIX IT!

the easiest solution is to download the original file from the 1st post and cut and paste the rest of the info from your original file...

(thats what I did to fix the problem)

you might want to use Notepad++ to edit it (also located in post #1)

since it easier to use


Third:

A line of error in CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml

you had this:

<LeaderHeadInfo>
<Type>LEADER_ASOKA</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_LEADER_LENIN_SQUIRREL</Description>
<Civilopedia>TXT_KEY_LEADER_LENIN_SQUIRREL_PEDIA</Civilopedia>
<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_LEADER_LENIN_SQUIRREL</ArtDefineTag>
...
...
...

it should read this:

<LeaderHeadInfo>
<Type>LEADER_LENIN_SQUIRREL</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_LEADER_LENIN_SQUIRREL</Description>
<Civilopedia>TXT_KEY_LEADER_LENIN_SQUIRREL_PEDIA</Civilopedia>
<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_LEADER_LENIN_SQUIRREL</ArtDefineTag>
...
...
...


FYI You do not have a image for your Leader in diplomacy txt

Your Leader shows up in small image (button) but not large diplomacy txt

I think you dont have that image... that's why it doesnt appear...

so make that and you are complete :D

(I dont think it matters really since that image is only for civilopedia and when an AI is playing your civ....)


Making those changes should make your civ appear :)

(NOTE: You do not have to upgrade to 1.61 patch to make the civ work)


if you have some more problems please post again... :crazyeye:


I hope that helps ;)

At first I got an error, but by reading some of the earlier posted errors I fixed it
(The error of line 1,1 or something, simply copy the entire text save for the first line and paste it on an existing Civ XML file, replacing all but the first line, then save it as 'GameTextInfos_yourciv')

Worked after that

And I did include a leader picture, but I had typed one 'r' too many in the .dds file, so it didn't show up.

Thanks for helping out.

At first I got an error, but by reading some of the earlier posted errors I fixed it
(The error of line 1,1 or something, simply copy the entire text save for the first line and paste it on an existing Civ XML file, replacing all but the first line, then save it as 'GameTextInfos_yourciv')

Worked after that

And I did include a leader picture, but I had typed one 'r' too many in the .dds file, so it didn't show up.

Thanks for helping out.

damn I did all that work for NOTHING?:eek:

Give me my wasted time back! :mad:


Just Kidding :p

ok i made a civ using ur tut and i get an error evry time i try to select my civ. can sum1 look at it and c if they can find the problem?
thanks
P.S.
CANADA ROCKS!!!!!
Nvm got it working. thx neways

I am getting 3 error messages every time i try to load this mod:
the first is: failed loading XML file XML/text/gametextinfos_yourciv.xml.[FXml.cpp:133] Error parsing XML File
File:XML/text/gametextinfos_yourciv.xml
Reason: Invalid at the top level of the document.

Line: 1,1
Source: I>>? (that question mark is upside down) <Civ4 Game Text xmlns="http://www.firaxis.com">

the second is: Load call failed for xml\text\gametextinfos_yourciv.xml.
Current xml file is: XML\GlobalDefinesAlt.xml
the third is: Tag:Leader_Durin in Info class was incorrect
current XML file is: Civilization\Civ4civilizationInfos.xml

I am getting 3 error messages every time i try to load this mod:
the first is: failed loading XML file XML/text/gametextinfos_yourciv.xml.[FXml.cpp:133] Error parsing XML File
File:XML/text/gametextinfos_yourciv.xml
Reason: Invalid at the top level of the document.

Line: 1,1
Source: I>>? (that question mark is upside down) <Civ4 Game Text xmlns="http://www.firaxis.com">


that means the XML file you used is not in the correct format

the easiest way to correct that is take the original file and copy it

then add your edits (from the errored XML file) to that copy and use that :goodjob:


...the second is: Load call failed for xml\text\gametextinfos_yourciv.xml.
Current xml file is: XML\GlobalDefinesAlt.xml


possible some tagline data is not correctly added (usually format/info)

review your edits

...the third is: Tag:Leader_Durin in Info class was incorrect
current XML file is: Civilization\Civ4civilizationInfos.xml

the leader is not defined correctly in one of the XML files

make sure all the tagline data is the same and the correct format


NOTE: any time the game/mod does not load up correctly.... it is usually incorrect/improper data/format/syntax in XML info



Also: does the last 2 problems show a line/row error info?

if it does check out that line (there is a special search tool in almost all XML editing programs that goes right to the line you input)

sometimes it's just a syntax error...

(an extra comma/backslash/etc or an extra tagline group)

check all modded infor carefully! :D



hope that helps ;)

the Last two messages don't have line numbers.

thanks alot, i'll try what you said now.:)

This tutorial is for "vanilla" CIV4 not the warlords expansion!


I am not sure all the XML files for warlords were edited/modified

but I know that some were, and thus making certain mods (and tutorials) incompatible with warlords....

and least until some one updates them....:mischief:

Just an FYI :rolleyes:


Good luck! ;)

that means the XML file you used is not in the correct format

the easiest way to correct that is take the original file and copy it

then add your edits (from the errored XML file) to that copy and use that :goodjob:


Sorry, this didn't work.

Sorry, this didn't work.


did it give you the same error msg about the wrong type of xml?

you checked to make sure all your entries are correct (tagline info/etc)?


and this is not for warlords?


maybe the original file is corrupted?

use a different file (but copy the stuff from your edited)?


:confused:

1)exactly the same error
2)i checked to make sure the taglines are correct
3)not warloards (don't have it)
4) i don't know about the last, i'll try it

1)exactly the same error
2)i checked to make sure the taglines are correct
3)not warloards (don't have it)
4) i don't know about the last, i'll try it


what patched version are you working with?

can you post your modded files? I may have a better idea if I examine them myself....

v 1.61, i'm going to try onelast thing before i post it here

I've managed to make all the errors disapear, but the game persist in showing the name of my civ in the civ selection screen, but not showing the leaderhead or any of my civ's infos. the civ currently crashes the game when i select it

I've managed to make all the errors disapear, but the game persist in showing the name of my civ in the civ selection screen, but not showing the leaderhead or any of my civ's infos. the civ currently crashes the game when i select it


usually the game crashes when the dds files are the wrong size/type/ etc

check your .dds files and make sure they are the right size...

CIV4 is very particular when it come to that...

and crashing is usually problem with the images used/defined...

hope that helps ;)

i rechecked/redid all the .dds, but it still deosn't work

i rechecked/redid all the .dds, but it still deosn't work


well if you post your files I can examine them and help ya better...

however I will be busy until next weds....

Praise be womever you beleive in. it finally worked (an unclosed tag somewhee lost deep in the middle of XML land.0

Praise be womever you beleive in. it finally worked (an unclosed tag somewhee lost deep in the middle of XML land.0


yeah... thats usually the problem :goodjob:

glad you got it working ;)

sorrry, but thee's something else, and i've been combing it for days on end, but i cant find the problem. can someone do me a favor and try to find it?http://files.filefront.com/LOTRzip/;5668277;;/fileinfo.html

ok before I get into whats causing your problem let me list some other minor problems:

1) some text is missing

ex: TXT_**** instead of Proper Text

you need to add TXT_ definitions and taglines in the Assets\XML\Text folder


not a big deal and not hard to correct

2) some Art sizes are wrong

REVIEW all Unit and Leaderhead Buttons
they should all BE 64x64 in size!

You had the leader button size at 512x512 (which is why the leaders came up so large when reviewing the Civilizations in the Civopedia

Reduce this to 64x64 and this will fix this

REMEMBER this is the button pics NOT the full size pics

Your Custom Units Button Images were not 64x64 and were also messed up

3) XML Tagline

your Rohan Rider would not appear because:


A) Wrong size (see #2)

B) Tagline was wrong in CIV4UnitInfos.xml File

Under this tagline group:

<Class>UNITCLASS_KNIGHT</Class>
<Type>UNIT_RIDEROFROHAN</Type>

you haad this tagline group:


<Button>,Art/Interface/Buttons/riderofrohan.dds</Button>


it should read:

<Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/Units/riderofrohan.dds</Button>


The Blue Text emphazises missing folder info

REMEMBER to remove the comma!


NOTE: Your Rohan Rider is named "Knight" in the Civilopedia....
Unless that is your intention... it may get mistaken for the vanilla knight because they have the same name...

to fix that you need to define that tagline in the Text folder (see #1)

Unless you want them both to be named "Knight"


OK that is all I solved at this POINT!

I still have problems loading a new game :mad:

(where it times out and then CTD)

However using this as a reference:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178180

I follow the load order for new games and the only file I think you modified is:

Civ4DiplomacyInfos.xml


therefore I think this new game load problem (my error is it times out and CTD) is isolated to that file....


So you might want to review that FILE and see if there is any mistakes there...


this might not be the final error in the mod... but I think it is a good place to start your File Checking....

sorry I could not help further but I am quite busy IRL and with my own Mod to check it further... :sad:

however I will try to answer any other question you have... if I can :goodjob:


P.S. you can delete those "Deleteme" txt files in your mod


FYI: I noticed you added the CIV4UnitSchema.xml and CIV4CivilizationsSchema.xml to your mod... is there a reason for this?
I am not familiar with those files but Im not sure they need to be edited....
(unless you know what your doing :crazyeye: )

NOTE: These edits are for Vanilla CIV4 ONLY (Not Warlords)

I myself have not edited those files at all.... yet my mod works fine ;)


Sorry I couldnt be more of a help.... :(

Thanks alot

i've been poring over that file, asnd found that i was missing info on one leader in two places, but, when i fixed that, it still didn't work (still CTD)

i've been poring over that file, asnd found that i was missing info on one leader in two places, but, when i fixed that, it still didn't work (still CTD)


still not sure what else could be causing it...

however (I am not sure) some SDK and Python may use the AI Civs (that you removed) in that CIV4DiplomacyInfos.xml file... therefore it doesnt understand because those civs are removed...

and causes the CTD

like I said I dont know how to code SDK or Python.... this is just a guess


you may want to return those civs in all the appropriate XML files...

also remove your custom civs from the CIV4DiplomacyInfos.xml file (basically just delete it from your mod and the original file will be used)

you can disable all the vanilla civs (where no human players can pick them) in the Civ4CivilizationsInfos.xml file at the code:

<Leaders>
<Leader>
<LeaderName>LEADER_WASHINGTON</LeaderName>
<bLeaderAvailability>1</bLeaderAvailability>
</Leader>
<Leader>
<LeaderName>LEADER_FRANKLIN_ROOSEVELT</LeaderName>
<bLeaderAvailability>1</bLeaderAvailability>
</Leader>
</Leaders>



just change:

<bLeaderAvailability>1</bLeaderAvailability>

to

<bLeaderAvailability>0</bLeaderAvailability>

NOTE: However you can still pick the vanilla civs for the AIs (just dont pick them or "random" option) :crazyeye:


Remember to add the vanilla civs back to the other XML files ;)


The reason I suggest this is that I never edited that Civ4DiplomacyInfos.xml and yet all my custom CIVs have no problems when they are the AI rivals :mischief:


also I still dont know why you are editing the CIV4UnitSchema.xml and CIV4CivilizationsSchema.xml files :confused:

I never touched those files either and my customs civs work fine :)

i'm not editing those files, i just haven't gotten around to deleting them.

about the other things, i will try what you said

Finally we have the CivilizationSelectionSound and CivilizationActionSound tags.
I personally am not too sure about sounds (yet), so just leave them.

Not sure if anyone else brought this up yet, but I just wanted to point out that these command lines actually effect the language spoken by units, at least thats what I found out. You can for instance swap in the Spanish lines to other civs and make the other civs speak spanish.

Hey I just read through the first page and a bit of the second, so if somebody has already solved this problem I apologize, but I noticed many people were complaining about the TXT XML stuff, as well as errors in the first line of some of their XML documents. I know the solution to this problem. I ran into it once, and all you need to do is replace the <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> or whatever it may be with <?xml version="1.0">. It worked for me, but I'm not sure about other people, but you may as well try it out!

excellent tutorial, but i have a little problem...
my civ is playable, flag works good enough, units okay, descriptions, etc.

however, the entire leaderhead and leaderhead button is nothing but pink (just plain hot pink)... does anyone know why?

excellent tutorial, but i have a little problem...
my civ is playable, flag works good enough, units okay, descriptions, etc.

however, the entire leaderhead and leaderhead button is nothing but pink (just plain hot pink)... does anyone know why?

well the original leaderhead (animated) CIV4ArtDefines_Leaderhead.xml file should look like this:

<LeaderheadArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_LEADER_ALEXANDER</Type>
<Button>,Art/interface/LeaderHeads/Btn_LH_Greece_Alexander.dds,Art/Interface/Buttons/Actions_Builds_LeaderHeads_Specialists_Atlas.dds,1 ,11</Button>
<NIF>art/LeaderHeads/Alexander_the _Great/alexander.nif</NIF>
<KFM>art/LeaderHeads/Alexander_the _Great/alexander.kfm</KFM>
<NoShaderNIF>art/LeaderHeads/Alexander_the _Great/alexander_noshader.nif</NoShaderNIF>
<BackgroundKFM>art/LeaderHeads/Alexander_the _Great/alexander_BG.kfm</BackgroundKFM>
</LeaderheadArtInfo>


now a static version in the CIV4ArtDefines_Leaderhead.xml file should look like this:

<LeaderheadArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_LEADER_ALEXANDER</Type>
<Button>,Art/interface/LeaderHeads/Btn_LH_Greece_Alexander.dds,Art/Interface/Buttons/Actions_Builds_LeaderHeads_Specialists_Atlas.dds,1 ,11</Button>
<NIF>art/interface/LeaderHeads/Alex.dds</NIF>
<KFM/>
<NoShaderNIF/>
<BackgroundKFM/>
</LeaderheadArtInfo>

note Alex.dds is the dds file that replaces the animated part

make sure your dds files is in the right path of your mod...

art/interface/leaderheads folder

also this works the same for the button BUT instead of this:

<Type>ART_DEF_LEADER_ALEXANDER</Type>
<Button>,Art/interface/LeaderHeads/Btn_LH_Greece_Alexander.dds,Art/Interface/Buttons/Actions_Builds_LeaderHeads_Specialists_Atlas.dds,1 ,11</Button>

...
...
...

it should read:


<LeaderheadArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_LEADER_ALEXANDER</Type>
<Button>Art/interface/LeaderHeads/ALEXbutton.dds</Button>
...
...
...



with ALEXbutton.dds being your new static button (dds file)

NOTE: the comma removed and not "atlas" file referenced

also the dds file should be in this path of your mod:

Art/interface/leadeheads folder


make sure your dds files are the right size

button : 64x64
portrait (Civilopedia) : 512x512 but remember CIV stretches that pic so make your original image 384x512 then resize it to 512x512. (It will look distorted but in game it will look normal)

PS In the example above I put both static images in the SAME folder for convienence... but the Vanilla version the animated leaderheads go in a different folder (because each leaderhead animation has a lot of files)

It doesnt matter where you put the files... as long as the path exists and you define it correctly in the XML files

Hope that helps ;)


NOTE: This is for vanilla version... Im not sure if it changes in warlords (XML)... but it should be the same... disclaimer

thanks, it did help. i think i just did some typos... some of the pictures are still pinnk, but i'm sure i can fix it

Hello, Im new on the board....and to the world of mods.

Ive figured out how to change a few things in game so far but the one thingi cant seem to do is simply change the name of HATSHEPSUT to NEFERTITI....i just want a more familiar name to use for egypt for peronal enjoyment. the closes i came so that the name appeared as a leader option in the selection screen was KEY_TEXT_NEFERTITI or something like that. I just want it to say NEFERTITI only. Is this possible?

can someone post a very simple step by step guide on how to just change the leader name? Or if it is easier to just add a new leader under EGYPT even using the same pictures as HATSHEPSUT. I play in single player mode by the way.

thanks for any help!!!

Hello, Im new on the board....and to the world of mods.

Ive figured out how to change a few things in game so far but the one thingi cant seem to do is simply change the name of HATSHEPSUT to NEFERTITI....i just want a more familiar name to use for egypt for peronal enjoyment. the closes i came so that the name appeared as a leader option in the selection screen was KEY_TEXT_NEFERTITI or something like that. I just want it to say NEFERTITI only. Is this possible?

can someone post a very simple step by step guide on how to just change the leader name? Or if it is easier to just add a new leader under EGYPT even using the same pictures as HATSHEPSUT. I play in single player mode by the way.

thanks for any help!!!



go to CIV4GameTextInfos_Objects.xml file


Path = Assets\XML\Text folder

copy that file into your mod


add this code to the end of that copied file:
(following the format)

<TEXT>
<Tag>TXT_KEY_TEXT_NEFERTITI</Tag>
<English>Nefertiti</English>
<French/>
<German/>
<Italian/>
<Spanish/>
</TEXT>

make sure your entry is before this tagline:

</Civ4GameText> (which is the end of the tagline entries)

also make sure you replace TXT_KEY_LEADER_HATSHEPSUT with TXT_KEY_TEXT_NEFERTITI in the leaderheadinfos.xml file for her

(which you probably already did)

you should be all set :goodjob:

hope that helps ;)

Thanks for the info....i figured out how to make the name change but only by altering all the appropriate in game files. ive read thats a bad idea but im not involved in a major game yet where reinstalling would kill me. But your way seems to actually add the name NEFERTITI to the game instead of replacing one right?

I actually fiddled around and found by going in leaderheadinfo and in the description line just removing TXT_KEY_LEADER_ and leave the new name by itself actually worked.

thanks for the tips and im sure ill be asking more questions as i get deeper into this modding.....

Thanks for the info....i figured out how to make the name change but only by altering all the appropriate in game files. ive read thats a bad idea but im not involved in a major game yet where reinstalling would kill me. But your way seems to actually add the name NEFERTITI to the game instead of replacing one right?

yes you add the file info so that TXT_KEY knows where to reference it

it will still replace Hats name as long as you use that TXT_KEY tagline instead of the original version


I actually fiddled around and found by going in leaderheadinfo and in the description line just removing TXT_KEY_LEADER_ and leave the new name by itself actually worked.

thanks for the tips and im sure ill be asking more questions as i get deeper into this modding.....


you can do that also...

my way just lets you translate the name in different languages (if you want)

I just use it because thats how I was taught and its easier to keep track what I done

anyway both ways work ;)

So, you want to add a Civilisation to the hugely popular game Civilization IV?

For beginners, this can be a fairly large undertaking.
Fortunately I’m here to both guide and provide some aids.

Part 1: The tools
Before you start anything, you need to make sure you have the right tools.
We’re going to be editing XML files.

This can be done in window’s notepad, but I find that notepad++ ( http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/ ) is better, as it provides find and replace tools, as well as a few tools for working with XML files.

There is also going to be some Image editing and converting.
For any kind of image editing, I use Paint Shop Pro (Now at version 9).
If you’re looking for a free alternative, The GIMP ( http://www.gimp.org/ )is perfectly useable (so I’m told).
All images/textures in the game are .dds files. This stands for Direct Draw Surface, and is a texture format for DirectX..
There are plugins for Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and The GIMP that will output .dds files, but they are very iffy. Luckily there is DXTbmp (http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/programs/dxtbmp.htm ), a stand alone program that will take in most image files and save them as any flavour of .dds.

Part 2: Planning
Now you have the tools, you need to figure out what you’re going to do with them.
So, go off and get yourself a coffee/tea/double malt scotch on the rocks…

You’re back? Then we can begin.
First off, obviously, you’re going to need to know what Civilisation you’re going to make. For this tutorial I’m going to do Australia.
After that is decided, you have to think about a few other things:
City Names: Fairly obvious here. You could only have one city name, but after that it’ll start pulling random names for your new towns.
A good idea would be to have 15+

Starting Techs: In the game all the original Civs have 2 starting techs from the first 6 available (Mining, Mysticism, Fishing, The Wheel, Agriculture and Hunting).
The Starting Techs can be any techs that are available, and you can have more then two. But unless you want to unbalance the game, stick with just having two from the starting six

Unique Units: All the original Civs have one unique unit. These units are slightly better versions of other units in the game, and actually replace them for that Civ.
Each Civ can have more then one unique unit, but this can unbalance the game if you’re not careful.

Leaders: Each leader has their own Traits and favoured civic. As with the Starting Techs and The Unique units, you can have more then what the Civs in the original game had, but again, beware of unbalancing the game (unless that’s what you’re planning on doing)

Part 3: Setup
Civ4 has a very strict directory and file structure for mods.
You are going to need to set up a structure like this, in the \\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Mods folder
YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Buttons\Civilizations \
YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Buttons\Units\
YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\TeamColor\
YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Leaderheads\
YourCiv\Assets \XML\Art
YourCiv\Assets \XML\Civilizations
YourCiv\Assets \XML\GameInfo
YourCiv\Assets \XML\Text
YourCiv\Assets \XML\Units
Or just download this .zip ( http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/newciv.zip ) and unzip it to the Mods folder.

Now you’re going to need to copy some of the XML files from the original game into your mod directory, as we’ll need to edit them later.
The files come from \\Firaxis Games Civilization 4 and go into \\Firaxis Games Civilization 4\Mods and the same structure.
The files you need are:
Assets\XML\Art\CIV4ArtDefines_Civilization.xml
Assets\XML\Art\CIV4ArtDefines_Leaderhead.xml
Assets\XML\Civilizations\CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml
Assets\XML\Civilizations\CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml
Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4DiplomacyInfos.xml
Assets\XML\Interface\CIV4ColorVals.xml
Assets\XML\Interface\CIV4PlayerColorInfos.xml
Assets\XML\Units\CIV4UnitInfos.xml

Part 4: Making the Pictures - Graphics (Civ Flag and Leader Head)
First off we’ll create your civilization’s flag.
The flag is displayed at the bottom right, near the minimap and near each of your units.
The texture we have to create is 128x128 in size, but in game the flag is scaled down about %25 horizontally to fit on the flag model.
The easiest way I can think of making the flag is creating a 96x128 image and then stretching the horizontal %25 to 128.

I got my source image from ( http://flagspot.net/flags/au.html ), rotated it right 90 degrees, and resized it so the height was 128. Then I added some boarders to the side to make it 96 pixels in width. Finally I resized it to 128x128.
Here is the result: http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/ausflag.jpg
Now, save your image as a .bmp somewhere, I usually put it where the end .dds file will be put. This would be YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\TeamColor\

Open up DXTbmp and load the .bmp
You now should be looking at something like this: http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/dxtbmp.jpg
Over to the right hand side of the window it that ’Alpha Channel’ box.

The Alpha Channel is a map that tells the game what pixels of the texture are transparent, and which aren’t. In our case, all white pixels are transparent, and will show the default colour of the civilization.
So, we want to change the Alpha channel to all black.
Double click on the white part and it will load the Alpha channel in your default image editor. Bucket fill it all black, save it and click on the 3rd icon (white arrow up) to reload the edited Alpha channel.

Now go to File->Save As->DDS Texture. You be shown a save box.
Navigate to YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\TeamColor\ and save the file, making sure you change save type to DDS DXT 3. That is very important.

With that flag, the in game the flag turned out like this: http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/badflag.jpg
So, I added a border to the top, giving these (better) final results:
http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/ausflag2.jpg and http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/goodflag.jpg

With that done we’ll now do the Leaderhead image.
The original Leaderheads are actual 3D Meshes, unfortunately no one is able to make and import them yet. But we can put in static images, much in the same way we did with the flag.

The Leaderheads also have the same problem of being a square texture, but showing in a rectangle that is ~%25 smaller horizontally. The only difference is that the texture is a 512x512.
So, doing the same thing we did with the flag, make/get a base image that is 384x512 and then resize it to 512x512.

I’ve decided to have John Howard as the leader for the Australians, mainly because he was the easiest to get a picture for.
Source image: http://www.defenselink.mil/photos/Jul2005/050718-D-9880W-065.jpg
I just cropped out Howard at about 0.75 ratio, then resized it to 512x512.

This time when you run it through DXTbmp, just leave the Alpha Channel white.
Then save it to YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Leaderheads\

Part 4:Making the Buttons - Graphics(Buttons)
Now we have to make three buttons, one for your Civ, one for your leader and one for your Unique Unit.

For all three buttons, here is a border and Alpha channel:
Border: http://img309.imageshack.us/img309/4900/civ4bracket2rt.jpg
Alpha Channel: http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/5908/buttonalpha3zi.jpg
Save both of these somewhere.

First off, I’m going to do the Civ button.
This is going to be the image for the flag, put into the above border. I imagine that you know how to do that. If you don’t, it isn’t needed, but it’ll make it look nicer.
Load the finished image into DXTbmp, then click on the first button under Alpha Channel. This is how you load the Alpha Channel bitmap you saved before.
Navigate to the Alpha Channel bitmap and load it.
Then save the .dds as to YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Buttons\Civilizations \
, using the same options as before.

Next up is the Leader button, again, I’m going to get this from the image I made before, and merge it with the border image.
Run it through DXTbmp, with the same Alpha Channel bitmap, and save the file in YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Leaderheads\, obviously with a different name then the actual Leaderhead picture.

Lastly we need to do our Unique Unit button.
This is exactly the same as the last two, except we need to find/make a new source image.
Here is mine: http://www.heatwave-toys.com/hwt_2001/image/pics-bbi/mls-bbi-ef-sasr.jpg
Run it through DXTbmp, exactly the same as the last two times and save it in YourCiv\Assets\Art\Interface\Buttons\Units\

My 3 buttons: http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/buttons.jpg

Part 5: Making the Words - XML(Text XML)
First off I’ll try to provide a crash course in XML.
XML is a way of storing and organising information..
Most, if not all information is enclosed by tags, these tags look like this:<tag>information</tag>
The tag part can be anything, usually it’s something that describe what the information is.
There are also these tags:<tag/>
<!-- Comment -->
The first one is used when (in this instance), there is no information for this tag and the second is used for comments.
I think that’s about all you need to know. Just be wary of typos in tags, if your not copying them from somewhere.

Now, to the XML text file.
This file is a little different from all the other XML files, mainly because it’s name can be anything and it’s loaded in addition to the same (types) of XML files that come with the game.
Anyway, this file contains the text that will be shown in the game.
All the other XML files reference these text XML files when anything is needed to be written to the screen. This is so multi-language is made easier, and when one section of text it’s needed to be used multiple times.
With this it’s only needed to be written out once, rather then every time it’s needed to be used.

Everything in this file is in this structure: <TEXT>
<Tag>TXT_KEY_CIV_YOURCIV_DESC</Tag>
<English>Your Empire</English>
<French>in French</French>
<German>in German</German>
<Italian>in Italian</Italian>
<Spanish>in Spanish</Spanish>
</TEXT>
I imagine it’s fairly straight forward.
First it opens a TEXT tag, this is just a way of telling the game “Hey, everything up to the close of this tag, is all together”
Next it opens a TAG tag. The text that is contained within this tax is what will be used in the other XML files to print this line (depending on what language you are using).
After this is the tags for the individual languages that are needed.
And that’s it about the file.

Here is a text XML file that contains the basics of what you’ll need to make a civilization: http://vic.australis.com.au/charcoal/GameTextInfos_YourCiv.zip
Download it and unzip it to in your YourCiv\Assets \XML\Text directory, then open it up for editing.
It’s a slightly edited version from this tutorial: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=144425
While the file is good, the tutorial isn’t complete.

All the data in this file is very easy to understand, just change all the YOURCIV, YOURLEADER and YOURUNIQUEUNIT parts of each tag and then the information contained in each of the tags below it.

Part 6: Adding the Civ - XML(Civilization Infos and more text XML) (long)
Navigate your way to Assets\XML\Civilizations and open CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml.
This file contains all the information about the civilizations.
What we’re going to need to do is add another entry for Australia.

The easiest way to do this is copy and then edit one of the civilizations that are already there.
I copied the American Entry and have edited that.

If you look at the entries for the tags Description, ShortDescription and Adjective, you should see that they match up with entries in the GameTextInfos_yourciv.xml file.

For now, don’t worry about the DefaultPlayerColor tag.
I’ll cover that one later.

Have a look at the city tags now. They should look something like TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_WASHINGTON.
Look familiar?
They are the same type of tags that Description and the rest use.
If you put 2 and 2 together, you’ll figure out that the city names are put into the GameTextInfos_yourciv.XML file…
These are a little different then the other texts, mainly because they are names, and how different languages handle names. Here is an extract from CIV4’s City name file: <TEXT>
<Tag>TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_WASHINGTON</Tag>
<English>Washington</English>
<French>
<Text>Washington</Text>
<Gender>Male</Gender>
<Plural>0</Plural>
</French>
<German>
<Text>Washington</Text>
<Gender>Male</Gender>
<Plural>0</Plural>
</German>
<Italian>
<Text>Washington</Text>
<Gender>Female</Gender>
<Plural>0</Plural>
</Italian>
<Spanish>
<Text>Washington</Text>
<Gender>Female</Gender>
<Plural>0</Plural>
</Spanish>
</TEXT>
Fairly self explanatory, and if you want you can just include the English entry, but I don’t know what will happen when people from other languages play the mod.

Anyway, copy that code, and put it at the end of the GameTextInfos_yourciv.XML file. Then edit the Tag name and the entries beneath it.
After you’ve done that, go back to the CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml and add in the new city name tags.

I’m going to put in 20 cities and be lazy, by just putting in the English ones.
Got the list of cities from here: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Australia

After this we have the Units/Unit tags.
This is where the Unique Unit is assigned to the Civ.
There needs to be a bit of explaining here.

There are tags for UnitClassType and UnitType. Each basic unit is in it’s own UnitClass, wether their Workers, Macemen or Stealth bombers.
The Unique Units share the UnitClassType with the unit they replace.
So, for example: Unit Name: Worker Fast Worker
UnitClassType: UNITCLASS_WORKER UNITCLASS_WORKER
UnitType: UNIT_WORKER UNIT_FAST_WORKER

With that explained, you might want to go hunting around \New Civ\Assets\XML\Units\CIV4UnitInfos.xml to find the unit class of the unit that you want your Civ’s Unique Unit to replace.

In adding Australia’s SAS, it isn’t going to be much different from America’s Navy Seal. It’s actually going to be of the same UnitClassType.
So all I have to do here is change the UnitType.

Next up is the FreeUnitClasses/ FreeUnitClass tags.
This is a way for you to give extra units at the start of the game to your civilization.
There are two tags here: UnitClassType and iFreeUnits.
The first one, is as with the last one, the unit class, not the actual unit it’s self.

The second tag needs a little explanation.
At the start of the tag is an “i” this means that the information contained between the tags is an integer, or any whole number.
Whatever number you put here is the amount of that type of units you’ll get extra at the start.

So, with this, you could give a Civ 2 extra Warriors or 1000 ICBMS at the start. Also, you can give the Civ more then just one type of unit, just copy everything between the <FreeUnitClass> and </FreeUnitClass> tags, then modify them

All the original civs give 1 of the UNITCLASS_SETTLER, so I suggest you do the same. And leave it for balancing issues.

Now we move onto the FreeBuildingClasses/ FreeBuildingClass tags.
This is a way to give your Civ a building at the start of the game.
Again, there are two tags here: BuildingClassType and bFreeBuildingClass
BuildingClassType is the same as the UnitClassType we worked with just before. Except, it’s obviously for buildings.

The other tag, bFreeBuildingClass, is yet another that needs a little explanation.
The “b” at the start means that it’s a Boolean tag. For those that don’t know, that means that it can be either “True” or “False”, these are represented by 1 or 0 respectively.
You’ll notice that all the ones in the file are given a 1. This indicates that it is a Free Building. You could add a BuildingClassType and make the bFreeBuildingClass eual 0, but then it would behave as a normal building.

With this you could give your Civ a Hospital from the start, but I think that it only gives one building of that type.

All the original civs again have one here. They give a BUILDINGCLASS_PALACE, which obviously is the Palace. I suggest you do the same and leave it for balancing issues, again.

Next we have the FreeTechs/FreeTech tags.
This is where the techs that each Civ starts with are listed.
As with the others, there’s 2 tags: TechType and bFreeTech
TechType is the tag of the tech, and bFreeTech works like the one for the free buildings.

As explained before, all original Civs have 2 techs from the first 6 that are available.

Next up there is a closed tag for DisableTechs.
So, if you wanted you could disable some techs for your Civ, but I’m not going to go on about it here.

Moving on we have the InitialCivics and AnarchyCivics.
Self explanatory, it’s the civics that your Civ is on at the start of the game and during the anarchy after changing Religion or Civics.

All the original Civs have the “basic” Civics for both of these, but you could easily change them.

Now we have the Leaders/Leader tags.
Much the same as most of the others, two tags: LeaderName and bLeaderAvailability.
LeaderName is something that we will be adding later, but you can add in what it will be, should be along the lines of LEADER_LEADERNAME.
Then bLeaderAvailability, is weather the leader is available.

I think you could add leaders from other civs into this, so with a little editing, you could have Ghandi leading the French, or Washington leading the Germans.

Finally we have the CivilizationSelectionSound and CivilizationActionSound tags.
I personally am not too sure about sounds (yet), so just leave them.
You could possibly make them closed tags, if you wanted

...

Sorry, Charcoal, but I find this hard to understand. What XML document contains the text with different languages? Also, note that I am building this in the Warlords directory.

Sorry, Charcoal, but I find this hard to understand. What XML document contains the text with different languages? Also, note that I am building this in the Warlords directory.


any xml files in the text folder

Path: assets\XML\Text folder

for example in the CIV4GameTextInfos_Objects.xml File:


<TEXT>
<Tag>TXT_KEY_UNIT_KNIGHT</Tag>
<English>Knight</English>
<French>
<Text>Chevalier</Text>
<Gender>Male</Gender>
<Plural>0</Plural>
</French>
<German>
<Text>Ritter</Text>
<Gender>Male</Gender>
<Plural>0</Plural>
</German>
<Italian>
<Text>Cavaliere:Cavalieri</Text>
<Gender>Male</Gender>
<Plural>0:1</Plural>
</Italian>
<Spanish>
<Text>Caballero:Caballeros</Text>
<Gender>Male</Gender>
<Plural>0:1</Plural>
</Spanish>
</TEXT>

notice the different language taglines

similarily a "blank" tagline template following this format would look like this:


<TEXT>
<Tag>TXT_KEY_</Tag>
<English></English>
<French/>
<German/>
<Italian/>
<Spanish/>
</TEXT>


any language changes you can add by following the english tagline example.

Hope that helps ;)


PS Unsure if this works in Warlords... but I dont see any problems

This was a great help in building my Numenor Civ. Thanks!

Okay, first of all, great tutorial. It was really a huge help at tackling this really, honestly, intimidating thing. I did of course do some adapting (so, my Civ has a unique building) to Warlords, but it works fine.

Two things, howsoever: One, whenever I start up, I'm bombarded with error messages telling me some color references are wrong (i.e. Orange) but my Mod runs fine nevertheless. I do wonder why they are happening (I shall post the exact contents of each message if it is asked), and what they exactly mean, and why when I doublechecked each path it asked about it persists.

Second, whenever I try to enter WorldBuilder, it crashes. To be expected, but I wonder if there is a way to avoid that?

I also had a problem with my flag, but I fixed that, and other than the above, the civ runs very fine. Thanks, both for the tutorial and in advance.

Okay, first of all, great tutorial. It was really a huge help at tackling this really, honestly, intimidating thing. I did of course do some adapting (so, my Civ has a unique building) to Warlords, but it works fine.

Two things, howsoever: One, whenever I start up, I'm bombarded with error messages telling me some color references are wrong (i.e. Orange) but my Mod runs fine nevertheless. I do wonder why they are happening (I shall post the exact contents of each message if it is asked), and what they exactly mean, and why when I doublechecked each path it asked about it persists.

Second, whenever I try to enter WorldBuilder, it crashes. To be expected, but I wonder if there is a way to avoid that?

I also had a problem with my flag, but I fixed that, and other than the above, the civ runs very fine. Thanks, both for the tutorial and in advance.



Im not sure cause I havent worked on warlords version...

but do you use existing colors and player colors? or do you use the tutorial to make new colors?

if you make new colors do they appear correct in your mod?

check some of the taglines and make sure they are correct... XML is pretty picky about syntax (comma/period/space/proper tagline info/etc)

Finally if it works and it doesnt slow performance... I wouldnt worry about it too much.... :crazyeye:

Turns out I *did* need to adjust for Warlords. Hah! At any rate, Worldbuilder works now (no idea why), and the colors are in order.

But all is not well. For starters, Kublai Khan's background (stony, ivy wall) has this red line running along the bottom. Why? It's not a big problem, it just pesters me.

And I'm having some trouble with the UB, but alas, that's Warlords for you.

Anyway, if anyone has any solution as to why that red line is there, I'd appreciate it.

Turns out I *did* need to adjust for Warlords. Hah! At any rate, Worldbuilder works now (no idea why), and the colors are in order.

But all is not well. For starters, Kublai Khan's background (stony, ivy wall) has this red line running along the bottom. Why? It's not a big problem, it just pesters me.

And I'm having some trouble with the UB, but alas, that's Warlords for you.

Anyway, if anyone has any solution as to why that red line is there, I'd appreciate it.

sorry I havent modded in warlords yet :rolleyes:

When I load the Mod i get error messages lol :crazyeye: :crazyeye:

The name appears on the list of civs you can choose from, but like this

TXT_KEY_CIV_LEADER_VAYNE
TXT_KEY_CIV_ARCHADIA

nobody appears in the civilopedia

the game shuts dome just when its done loading :crazyeye: :crazyeye: :crazyeye: :crazyeye: :crazyeye:

When I load the Mod i get error messages lol :crazyeye: :crazyeye:

The name appears on the list of civs you can choose from, but like this

TXT_KEY_CIV_LEADER_VAYNE
TXT_KEY_CIV_ARCHADIA

nobody appears in the civilopedia

the game shuts dome just when its done loading :crazyeye: :crazyeye: :crazyeye: :crazyeye: :crazyeye:

see post 144 for answers for the TXT problem

usually the game crashes because the art file (.dds) are the wrong size or wrong type...

check all the art files you edited/added

thanks, i got it to work now

thanks, i got it to work now

great :)

post if you have any problems/questions ;)

OH NO!!!!!!! I am not going to reread this tutorial, so I can't say for sure, but I think it neglects to mention that you should COPY THE FILE TO EDIT IT, not directly modify XMLs! I am going to have to reinstall my game because I edited the original files. Don't blame me, I am not a modder!

The game goes crazy... My leader is Pink and my Cities are named TXT_CITY_GUNGA_CITY or things like that...Whats Wrong?! Here is my Mod: Hopefully someone can fix it...

When i copy the files from the civ 4/assets/xml. They are some kind of link to the internet, and my browser says they page cant be displayed. Does anyone know what to do.

i would really like some help with this. its been a few days and i want to get my civ running. I dont know if i am suppose to compy those files to notepad or what to do. As i said all the civ4/assets/xml are a link to the internet. And when i copy them to my new civ folders it says the page can be displayed.

I guess i found out how to edit it. But it still does not work i hope someone will take a look at it and see if they can help me out
149828

I deleted the leaders picture to make room.

I guess i found out how to edit it. But it still does not work i hope someone will take a look at it and see if they can help me out
149828

I deleted the leaders picture to make room.

Open them with notepad:D

And I would like to say, thank you for this tutorial. I only have a few problems; the problem of pink buttons. But I think this issued has been handled before so you can just give me the number of the post. :D. My flag doesn't show up at all in the game. And the fact my custom made unit isn't quite available. I set everything to their destinctive path, but in civilopedia and in game. I still see a picture of a normal warrior.

The only thing I did recieve from my art file is my leaderhead :D

Flag problem solved:goodjob:

Buttons and unit, not solved:(

Flag problem solved:goodjob:

Buttons and unit, not solved:(


try these threads:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=151450

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178757

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=156760

hope that helps ;)

try these threads:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=151450

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178757

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=156760

hope that helps ;)

I forgot the post those work two now. But now those treads can help other people:D Thanks anyway:goodjob:

I forgot the post those work two now. But now those treads can help other people:D Thanks anyway:goodjob:


glad you got it working ;)

This post is to help anyone else who might run into the problem I was having when I created my first civ.

I followed the instructions, and when it said "you can now play your civ", I tried, and it didn't work. So I fried my brain searching for errors. I found the following errors:
typos (custom_civ was custmo_civ or something)
wrong reference (txt_key_leader_custom_pedia was txt_key_leader_custom or something like that)
picture dimensions (513x512 instead of 512x512)
dumb stuff I did when I didn't understand why I was doing it (unitclass_custom_archer instead of unitclass_archer)

After fixing all that, it still didn't work. I could load the mod, but when I got to the civ select screen, it would crash when I chose my custom civ. I spent hours searching this site and my files and elsewhere on the internet. The solution was this:
I copied the files and folders from assets/art to assets/xml/art and everything worked fine. The tutorial directly references the first, and the downloaded "newciv" creates it, but putting those files in the second location was my solution.

If this helps anyone else, I'll be super happy, cause I was about to swear a little swear wordy. :eek:

PS Thanks a ton for the tutorial - turned months into days.
PPS Whoever it was that posted that this is in fact the HARDEST civ to edit was right. It is not the easiest to edit, it is just the most editable - the difference matters to a noob.

thank you for the Tutorial, but when I load up my mod I get this error:

http://echo423.googlepages.com/error.jpg

then all the units get error messages saying they won't load and when I start a game I am automatically defeated.

does anyone know what the problem is?

I have attached the unit info file, my UU is the sniper, the first unit on the list

heres the file, I couln't uplaod it on the other one

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/115983/CIV4UnitInfos_Noctis_smod_.zip

thank you for the Tutorial, but when I load up my mod I get this error:

http://echo423.googlepages.com/error.jpg

then all the units get error messages saying they won't load and when I start a game I am automatically defeated.

does anyone know what the problem is?

I have attached the unit info file, my UU is the sniper, the first unit on the list

read through the thread.. >ahem< see alot of my posts

also it could mean:

some syntax error

you did not assign the UU to your civ (and only your civ)

you did not define it in the xml files

etc

check all the files and make sure there the syntax is correct... most of the time there is a missing/etra comma or space

or the UU is not defined in the correct XML files (Units and civ)

make your you defined it correctly (Review this thread for the common mistakes on that...


I am on vacation right now so I cant review that file right now


but re-check your files and such syntax...did I say syntax?

hope that helps ;)

Just got my first civ into the game, but there are a lot of bugs to iron out. Does anyone know how to make a song a civilization's theme music? (I already have the files.)

Just got my first civ into the game, but there are a lot of bugs to iron out. Does anyone know how to make a song a civilization's theme music? (I already have the files.)

try here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=168876

hope this helps ;)

Another problem: Only one of my two leaderhead buttons shows up in the game. Both portraits show up, but my second LH button does not. Any help?

Another problem: Only one of my two leaderhead buttons shows up in the game. Both portraits show up, but my second LH button does not. Any help?

probably a syntax error or the button art is not the proper file type/size

check to make sure you arent missing any taglines or commas/spaces/etc in the xml files


best bet is to compare both leaderhead XML and Art files of each leaderhead files and see what the difference is (besides of course the different names :crazyeye: )

use the format for the one leadhead files that works.... :)


hope that helps ;)

I load civ IV vanilla & when i pick my NEW civ it says (1.) text_key_civ_angola_desc on the left & then (2.) for the leader name it says text_key_leader_dickhickman

I load civ IV vanilla & when i pick my NEW civ it says (1.) text_key_civ_angola_desc on the left & then (2.) for the leader name it says text_key_leader_dickhickman

you just have to define those in the text folder files


POST #1 Part 5 explains this...

also you can find the text folder in the assets/xml/text path and follow the examples in those files to define them txt file definitiions

the great thing about txt taglines they dont have to be in a specific xml file.... (you can create your own if you want) just make sure you follow the format in the file and define the txt tags correctly and of course make sure the file is in the text folder


CIV4 reads the whole text folder files - so as long as they are defined and match the units/buildings/leaderheads/etc xml taglines you will be ok

hope that helps ;)

uhh srry but could u try & explain how to do it like what files to look at & where to look but i will try it on my own in the meantime

hey thanks i got it. i had to move the gametextinfos of my new civ to the text file but then i also had to change the encoding.

hey thanks i got it. i had to move the gametextinfos of my new civ to the text file but then i also had to change the encoding.

np glad you got it working :goodjob:

hey i got another question
y is my civ flag all white although in the file where it has
<bFlagWhite>adjflkajsdlf;kaj</bFlagWhite>
i put an 0 & it is still white

i also did all tht alpha channell stuff but it doesnt help

hey i got another question
y is my civ flag all white although in the file where it has

i put an 0 & it is still white

i also did all tht alpha channell stuff but it doesnt help

Is the flag the right size? and is it in the correct location?

does all your tagline point to your the proper path where the flag img file should be placed?

yes i have could you tell me what everything should be like the alpha and stuff

hey i figured it out from the other civ adding tutorial but thnx

ok so i hve my unique unit button made and in the right spot and everything right? ok so im n the city screen & i go to choose it to build it & the picture in the city screen of my unit is there but when i click on it and then exit the city screen the game closes & i get an error

hey i figured it out from the other civ adding tutorial but thnx

alls well that ends well :goodjob:

ok so i hve my unique unit button made and in the right spot and everything right? ok so im n the city screen & i go to choose it to build it & the picture in the city screen of my unit is there but when i click on it and then exit the city screen the game closes & i get an error

usually your images are the wrong size (button images)

they must be 64x64 or the game with shutdown like that...

happened to me a lot

Has anyone managed to find a tutorial for creating a warlords civ. I've looked everywhere and tried it without one but I don't even know which xml files you need as default, although there are a couple of folders in the warlords installation called barebones and default.

when i load the game when i get to the civ choosing screen i click on my new civ & the game closes with an error

when i load the game when i get to the civ choosing screen i click on my new civ & the game closes with an error

again usually it's your images are either the wrong size or the wrong format

FYI if you are making "static" images... they dont need an alpha channel

(alpha channels are usually for flags)

!Charcoal: I've read your tutorial completely, but I need to ask you: is this tutorial also for Warlords? I'm not saying your tut is bad, but I tried in Warlords, and thought it very difficult, (I'd say, once I don't know English well, a little troublesome for newbies like me)
can not be easier?
Just to add some leaderheads in a mod already done so all of them be together in a same mod?

I don't want to make a animated leaderhead i just want a photograph of a leader so i dont need gimp or that other 3d modeling program? i have notepad, and what step should i skip to then?:confused: :sniper: :banana:

I don't want to make a animated leaderhead i just want a photograph of a leader so i dont need gimp or that other 3d modeling program? i have notepad, and what step should i skip to then?:confused: :sniper: :banana:



this tut (for vanilla civ4 only) doesnt make animated leaderheads

just follow the directions :goodjob: in the 1st couple of posts
(you dont need gimp for this)

however some sort of art editor is helpful :D

hope that helps ;)

im still confused as to changing the traits from englands traits and giving it new ones.

im still confused as to changing the traits from englands traits and giving it new ones.

I only know vanilla civ4 (not expansions like warlords)

the traits are listed in the CIV4TraitInfos.xml file


they look like this:

<TraitInfo>
<Type>TRAIT_PHILOSOPHICAL</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_TRAIT_PHILOSOPHICAL</Description>
<ShortDescription>TXT_KEY_TRAIT_PHILOSOPHICAL_SHORT</ShortDescription>
<iHealth>0</iHealth>
<iMaxAnarchy>-1</iMaxAnarchy>
<iUpkeepModifier>0</iUpkeepModifier>
<iGreatPeopleRateModifier>100</iGreatPeopleRateModifier>
<iMaxGlobalBuildingProductionModifier>0</iMaxGlobalBuildingProductionModifier>
<iMaxTeamBuildingProductionModifier>0</iMaxTeamBuildingProductionModifier>
<iMaxPlayerBuildingProductionModifier>0</iMaxPlayerBuildingProductionModifier>
<ExtraYieldThresholds/>
<TradeYieldModifiers/>
<CommerceChanges/>
<CommerceModifiers/>
<FreePromotions/>
<FreePromotionUnitCombats/>
</TraitInfo>

you can add traits or modify them just follow the format

(remember to copy this file and EDIT the copy Not the original and place this file in your custom assets or whatever mod folder you make)


now if to change the traits of england then go to the CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml file and find england's leaders (victoria or elizabeth...)



<LeaderHeadInfo>
<Type>LEADER_ELIZABETH</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_LEADER_ELIZABETH</Description>
<Civilopedia>TXT_KEY_LEADER_ELIZABETH_PEDIA</Civilopedia>
<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_LEADER_ELIZABETH</ArtDefineTag>
<iWonderConstructRand>20</iWonderConstructRand>
<iBaseAttitude>1</iBaseAttitude>
<iBasePeaceWeight>9</iBasePeaceWeight>
<iPeaceWeightRand>3</iPeaceWeightRand>
<iWarmongerRespect>0</iWarmongerRespect>
...
...
... <DefensivePactRefuseAttitudeThreshold>ATTITUDE_PLEASED</DefensivePactRefuseAttitudeThreshold>
<PermanentAllianceRefuseAttitudeThreshold>ATTITUDE_PLEASED</PermanentAllianceRefuseAttitudeThreshold>
<FavoriteCivic>CIVIC_FREE_RELIGION</FavoriteCivic>
<Traits>
<Trait>
<TraitType>TRAIT_PHILOSOPHICAL</TraitType>
<bTrait>1</bTrait>
</Trait>
<Trait>
<TraitType>TRAIT_FINANCIAL</TraitType>
<bTrait>1</bTrait>
</Trait>
</Traits>
<Flavors>
<Flavor>
<FlavorType>FLAVOR_GOLD</FlavorType>
<iFlavor>5</iFlavor>
</Flavor>
<Flavor>
<FlavorType>FLAVOR_CULTURE</FlavorType>
<iFlavor>2</iFlavor>
</Flavor>
</Flavors>
<ContactRands>
<ContactRand>
...
...
...
<DiploScriptId>AS2D_DIPLO_WARDRUMS_LATE</DiploScriptId>
</DiploMusicWarEra>
<DiploMusicWarEra>
<EraType>ERA_FUTURE</EraType>
<DiploScriptId>AS2D_DIPLO_WARDRUMS_LATE</DiploScriptId>
</DiploMusicWarEra>
</DiplomacyMusicWar>
</LeaderHeadInfo>


now change the highlighted traits to the traits you want (the ones listed in CIV4TraitInfos.xml file) or the traits you added/modified in that file

hope that helps ;)

Sorry to bother you all, but if anybody answers TBurma316 in the post #184, teaching how to make it, will also help me, as this is something that I'm trying to find out for a long, long time.I'll keep waiting to learn that.Thanks in advance, I do appreciate.

Yeppers its the same for Warlords as far as traits go (just need to add a few different lines is all ie: Happiness, iGreatGeneralRateModifier just to name some.

I just added in my MOD The Realm of Fantasy 5 newer traits (Agnostic, Barbarian, Hidden, Raiders and HorseLord).

As far as post 184 goes, the Barebones MOD is an excellent way to start a new MOD/Civ for Warlords.

thanks for your answer, although I don't want to make a mod, I just want to learn how to make civ4 leader's animation by myself, so ican make my own civs.If anybody has a hint about that & tell me, I do appreciate, thanks once again.

sorry, wrong message

Is there any software I can see a civ4 leader with all its animation movements (settings), the whole animation file?

when you have to edit the gametextInfo_yourciv, i can't find it. Where is it, or do you have to make it yourself. i'm making a mod where i have to add... well thats confidential :rolleyes:

edit: and i know i isn't named yourciv at the end, but i can't find the gametextInfo.

when you have to edit the gametextInfo_yourciv, i can't find it. Where is it, or do you have to make it yourself. i'm making a mod where i have to add... well thats confidential :rolleyes:

edit: and i know i isn't named yourciv at the end, but i can't find the gametextInfo.

All the text files are located in:

Civilization4\Assets\XML\Text

remember to copy files and put them in your (specific custom name) mod folder or custom assets


FYI: the civ4 engine reads ALL XML text files so you can add the specific taglines to any text xml file in the TEXT Folder or create a new XML file in there

THIS IS THE ONE CASE WHERE THE Taglines DONT HAVE TO BE IN A SPECIFIC XML FILE - because the game reads all the text xml files in the TEXT folder

therefore you can just put your TXT_ taglines (following the correct xml format) in any file (at the end to make it easy) that ALREADY exists...

or create a new file (correct XML type file) with that tagline in there...

(for example: gametextInfo_yourciv.xml file)

AS long as you have matching TXT_ Taglines that match your previous XML files (unitsinfos/buildingsinfos/etc)






you can use/download the sample xml file LISTED in the 1st post of this thread to use as your custom XML file





just make sure you put that file in the Text folder in your custom assets or your mod folder*

*remember when I mean mod you have to create the corresponding folders to match the originals and put that in a custom mod folder.... (ex yourciv folder) and put that (yourciv folder) in the Mods Directory:

path = civilization4\Mods folder

(where the American Revolution Mod and Greek world mod is located)


clear as mud? :crazyeye:



hope that helps ;)

All the text files are located in:

Civilization4\Assets\XML\Text

remember to copy files and put them in your (specific custom name) mod folder or custom assets


FYI: the civ4 engine reads ALL XML text files so you can add the specific taglines to any text xml file in the TEXT Folder or create a new XML file in there

THIS IS THE ONE CASE WHERE THE Taglines DONT HAVE TO BE IN A SPECIFIC XML FILE - because the game reads all the text xml files in the TEXT folder

therefore you can just put your TXT_ taglines (following the correct xml format) in any file (at the end to make it easy) that ALREADY exists...

or create a new file (correct XML type file) with that tagline in there...

(for example: gametextInfo_yourciv.xml file)

AS long as you have matching TXT_ Taglines that match your previous XML files (unitsinfos/buildingsinfos/etc)






you can use/download the sample xml file LISTED in the 1st post of this thread to use as your custom XML file





just make sure you put that file in the Text folder in your custom assets or your mod folder*

*remember when I mean mod you have to create the corresponding folders to match the originals and put that in a custom mod folder.... (ex yourciv folder) and put that (yourciv folder) in the Mods Directory:

path = civilization4\Mods folder

(where the American Revolution Mod and Greek world mod is located)


clear as mud? :crazyeye:



hope that helps ;)


Thanks, dude, you saved the future of my mod. WAY TO GO!!!:goodjob:

Thanks, dude, you saved the future of my mod. WAY TO GO!!!:goodjob:


np

let me know if you need any more help.... or clarification :lol:

I have tried to make a civ but I have the follow erorrs:

http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/3383/naamloos1yc0.png
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/7239/naamloos2xi1.png
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/8801/naamloosxu6.png

And this is my civ:
CIV (http://users.telenet.be/bramme/Belgium.rar)
Thx, I hope that someone can repear my civ.

i'm not so good at reading dutch, but i think the middle one's because the Info about Barbarian in WorldPickerInfos.xml is wrong. And the buttom is because you mispelled something (ongeldig right? i dunno whats its name is in english.) the top one is completely unreadable for me. i hope it helps.

oh, i have a last question. Now because some of us have Warlords, we would like to have unique buildings. But how do you make them??

I have tried to make a civ but I have the follow erorrs:

http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/3383/naamloos1yc0.png
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/7239/naamloos2xi1.png
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/8801/naamloosxu6.png

And this is my civ:
CIV (http://users.telenet.be/bramme/Belgium.rar)
Thx, I hope that someone can repear my civ.

those are usually syntax errors (and their possibly related :crazyeye: )


Image #1 Error:
check out that specific file CIV4CivilizationsInfos.xml file

and check line 2623 (3rd character) and there is a missing/wrong/extra syntax there (example comma(,)/period(.)/space( )/etc.) or a extra tagline

FYI the error gives you the file and what line caused the xml error :goodjob:


Image #2 Error:

that is related to Image #1 Error

short possible answer: I bet if you fix Image Error #1 - Error #2 will disappear :)



Long possilbe answer: Since all xml files are related (cross-reference) one syntax error in a particular xml file will screw up alot of other XML files and cause more/related errors :mad: - like in Image Error #2 :crazyeye:


Image #3 Error:

Im not sure about this... but there are 2 possible answers:

1) rename the file to

GameTextInfos_beligium.xml file (or any name you desire...following the format)
this should match the CIV4 format and work :goodjob:


or if that doesnt work try this:



2) I think the actual XML document has the wrong format properties...

This happened to me... :sad:
the easiest way to fix this is to take an existing original xml document and copy it to that file you want to replace.

take that copy and erase the contents...

copy all your tagline/data info from the beligiumtextinfos.xml file and put it in the copy (new xml document)

remove/delete that beliguimtextinfos.xml file from that directory

rename the copy (with your new data) to beliguimtextinfos.xml file

that should work :goodjob:


hope that helps ;)

please advise if that works... or if you need more info :)


have fun modding :king:

PS I only ask that next time please translate that errors to english so I can get a better clue on the error :D

I am an only an Ignorant uneducated American :lol:

Also, why does this have to be in the mod folder??? can I only use the Civ if I am in a mod game??? I just want the civ to be in the game as if it was a regular char.

Also, why does this have to be in the mod folder??? can I only use the Civ if I am in a mod game??? I just want the civ to be in the game as if it was a regular char.

er you asked this in the other forum so I am too lazy to retype...


here is my answer there:

then put your modded files in the custom assets folder
(make sure you follow the right path for the folders and modded files :goodjob: )

fyi: I find it easier to make my own "mod" to the mod folder if I want to play MP...therefore all the changes I put in the mod can be in one folder all my friends can d/l and load easier

but if you are playing SP only then put it in yourcustom assets folder

hope that helps ;)

:goodjob: :goodjob: :goodjob:

I've made a civilization for the new expansion pack but it doesn't show anything when the mod is loaded.

I followed the instructions in this tutorial but took the xml files from the beyond the sword assets folder and placed my new mod in the beyond the sword mod folder as opposed to the original game's equivalents.

When I load the mod (which is not a problem as it allow me to select it) I cannot select my new civilization; it is as if it doesn't exist. It doesn't appear in the civilopedia either.

I received no error messages when I loaded the mod. It did not ask me if it was ok to restart when I selected the mod, as it did with the original game, whether this is just a feature of the new expansion or part of the problem I don't know.

It didn't take me long to do so I deleted it and tried again but I have the same problem.

Apologies if this sort of issue has been dealt with in the past but any suggestions would be helpful.

can you make a barb civ the same way?

i loved the tutorial thanks alot

I've did like your tutorial but NOTHING works, yes I mean NOTHING. And when I load my "mod" is it wrong with every XML-file. What's happened to my civilization?


Gurra09

Everything works now except for an important detail.

When I load a new game with my civilization (Norwegian Empire) the game quit and a window come up:

Sid Meiers Civilization IV has got problems and must quit.


In real this message is in swedish (because I and my computer is swedish). What can be wrong? Everything works except for this important detail.


Gurra09

Now can I start a game with my new civilization, the problem is gone. But why is the flag white and not the Norway-flag I created?


Gurra09

I hope you don't mind that I used the link to your tutorial in mine about adding a tech (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=261651). I needed the button-making part and yours is just the perfect one.

Great tutorial! :goodjob:

However, I have a problem. How would I go about doing the same thing in BTS? Or am I stupid and didn't realize that the 1st post was for BTS?

Also, I checked teh forums for stuff on Civ-making in BTS.

Thanks for any replies! :)

How do you add a new leader to an already existing civ?

usually your images are the wrong size (button images)

they must be 64x64 or the game with shutdown like that...

happened to me a lot

Funny, my images say they are 64x64, and yet, when I click on a Unique Unit or Unique Building in order to build it, the game crashes.

The image shows up fine in the Civlopedia, and when I click on it to make the unit. The game just crashes when I select it.

I'm playing Civ 4 BTS if that's critical.

hi, im a complete nood, and im tryin to get a created civ into the game, however, when i turn the game on, my civ does not appear at all, anywhere; i also do not get any error messages, so i dont know what i did wrong. somebody help!!

noob rather

People, make sure you have Modular loading enabled. please.

How do you make it so you can play with more than 18 civs in one game? I've managed to add some new civs, however in custom game it only goes up to 18 slots for civs.

I've seen some massive sized map mods that allow for up to around 40 or so, so I'm just wondering how they made that possible, and is it possible in a regular huge map game (custom assets/custom game)?

I am dizzy from reading all that, I am not good with graphics stuff

I decided to give it a try, but I am having problems getting the image to 128x128 I am using the GIMP editor so i anyone can help I would highly appreciate it :)

I am sorry I keeping leaving messages, but I got the other 2 figured out and now I am having problems with it saving in .dds format. It says that GIMP dosen't support .dds format.

This thread is like a ghost town. :mischief:

I too would like to know.

I doubt if people will reply to this, but...

I have made a new civ,the Monterrian Kingdom, as part of a fictional scenario called The Latusian Kingdoms, (TLK1). I no longer receive error messages when loading the mod, but, the leader (King Ammeas) appears as the TXT_KEY thing, and so does the civ name. In the custom game, I select King Ammeas as my civ, and do random for everyone else. At the end of the intro video, the game crashes to desktop. I am unsure what to do, as I believe most of the XML files are correct.

Attached is the mod.

Thanks if anyone can help!

For the text issue:
You get the text for your civ and the leader from the keys in your .xml-files, so you have to add an entry with TXT_KEY_LEADER_KING_AMMEAS to the xml-file in the XML\Text folder.

Does the leader appear correctly in the civilopedia?

:blush: Yeah, that could help if I did that! :lol: but once I filled all of that out, it came up with an error that said there was something invalid on line 1,1 in the game text infos. I checked it again, and there was nothing wrong it seemed.

Edit: I copied the original game XML infos file and deleted everything but my stuff, now it works. I can load the mod without an error message, but the Civ name is still the TXT_KEY, and when starting a game, I come up with another CTD. The leader works in the Civilopedia, but the civ itself does not.


updated GameInfos attached.

Hi, I'm having some troubles adding a UU and UB. They show up fine in the civilopedia, and I can WB them into a game, but whenever I select to build either my civ's UU or UB, the game crashes!
Please Help!

Do you also get the right information, when you select your custom civ?

Did you create the buttons for the UB and the UU yourself?

Yeah I get all the right info, and the civilopedia articles, everything else (as far as I know) is fine.
I created the buttons myself, and I reskinned a unit and building for the UB and UU. (BTW, I don't know, but I believe both were custom models as well)

How big are your buttons?
Buttons for buildings and units mustn't be bigger than 64*64.
Bigger sizes will crash the game, when you click on them (but not in the worldbuilder).

My buttons are 64*64. I used buttonmaker and merged the layers together when I was done.

Strange.
Could you upload the files?

You can DL it here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=12658). THX! I made it modular. I think it may be the alpha channel on the buttons

There's definetly a problem with the buttons.
When i try to re-save them, DXTBmp says, that they were saved as DDS 888-8 32 Bit, not as DDS DXT3, which is needed. You also need the standard background for the buttons (just look at one of the normal buttons).

However, i've corrected it, file is attached.

Btw, the buttons are very nice :).

Thanks. I haven't tested it, but the new buttons look great and will probably look better in-game. Do you possibly have a blank button that I could use for the civ button and leader?
Wierd how it doesn't cause it to crash in the civilopedia or WorldBuilder

Haven't changed anything, i've meant the originals ;).


No, i have nothing like a dummy button, i'm doing my with simple screenshots :blush:.

Unfortunatley the game still crashes. I am clueless right now:confused:. what I meant is that the new border looks like the other civ buttons, and blends in much nicer. I also noticed when looking at other buttons from a different mod that there is a blank border of pixels around it. could that be causing problems if my buttons didn't have this border?

This border comes from the background. I'm not really sure, how this works, but it's needed, and i guess, that a game will crash without it.

Still crashes...strange :confused:.
I'll have a look at the full module, if i don't forget it :blush:.

If it is the buttons, I'll try referncing different buttons in the XML.

I've found the problem. It's something, which, i guess, really confuses every modder.

You have

<Button>,Modules/Ashanti/Art/Drumstation.dds</Button>

The comma at the beginning is the reason for the crash.
If you have only one button without an Atlas, don't use a comma.
No idea, why it happens, but it happens.

Thanks! I thought it would be something really simple like that:lol:

I have a question, how can you add the leader of another Civ to your Civ? And how can you change his/her name? For example, if I want to add Washington to my Civ?

And is it possible to change the background of a leader to the background of another leader? Or is that very hard to do?

Add leader to existing civ:
In the XML\Civilizations\CivilizationsInfos.xml is an entry

<Leaders>
<Leader>
<LeaderName>LEADER_WASHINGTON</LeaderName>
<bLeaderAvailability>1</bLeaderAvailability>
</Leader>
<Leader>
<LeaderName>LEADER_FRANKLIN_ROOSEVELT</LeaderName>
<bLeaderAvailability>1</bLeaderAvailability>
</Leader>
<Leader>
<LeaderName>LEADER_LINCOLN</LeaderName>
<bLeaderAvailability>1</bLeaderAvailability>
</Leader>
</Leaders>

You can there just add every leader from the game.



Change the name: Look at the xml files in the XML\Text folder, and search there in the files for TXT_KEY_LEADER_theleadername, and change it there.


Change the background: In Art\XML\ArtDefines_Leaderheads.xml is an entry for BackgroundKFM. Just paste the entry there from the other leader to your leader.

I made a Civilization but when I tried to load the Mod it gave four errors...

Can somebody help?

If you post the errors here...

Hey,

I'd been quietly reading this tutorial and making slow, but steady progress, when today things went badly wrong. My previously rusty, but working, mod will not load up anymore. Civ4 itself loads fine, but when I run the mod within it the loading far fills until it reaches the XML (uncached) section, then crashes with the generic "Civ4 has experienced a fatal error...do you wish to report this" spiel.

I've had a look through the art files, which all seem to conform (and many were working before) and a search through the XML files I have been modifying for commas, unfinished tags, etc. Nothing. I know that the Art for my leaderhead and civilization buttons had been working before, though the art for my UU had not been.

I've attempted to retrace my steps to a period before it crashed, without success. I know I was working on trying to get my flag visible - as the previous version had somehow saved with white in the alpha window. I'd also been attempting to get the Civopedia to display my UU name, even though the UU itself (with its somewhat unbalanced powers) is there.

The mod has been made within the BtS folder, generally using files from there. It has many mistakes which I don't mind working through at my own pace. What I can't bear, however, is to not be able to test the mod without being sure why.

Can anyone throw some light on the situation?

Welcome to CFC :).


Does your civ with leaderhead, UU and UB appear in the civilopedia?
Do all these entries work?

What i see:
<Unit>
<UnitClassType>UNITCLASS_SWORDSMAN</UnitClassType>
<UnitType>UNIT_SWORDSMAN UNIT_SOLDIER</UnitType>
</Unit>

I guess, the space in the unit definition is a problem, i would change that.

Thanks for the welcome!

Well, previously the Civ came up perfectly in the civilopedia, as did the leaderhead. Only the UU was broken, coming up with just the picture of the Swordsman (the modified unit) and the name Swordsman, though it recognised it as a separate unit to the normal swordsman, and recognised its abilities.

Unfortunately, changing the detail you mentioned makes no impact upon the fact the mod crashes before it loads, without offering an explanation as to why or where the error is.

I would have assumed that something was wrong with one of the Art files to get this message, as previous errors in the XML have usually brought up an error message explaining the position and type of error. I am at a loss as to why this should be the case though.

You're right, it's an art problem.
I don't know, why i've missed it :confused:.

The problem with your unit is, that it's not a unit, it's a button.
To explain, what to do:
You've got the leaderhead to work. You've created an entry in the leaderheadinfos -> right. You've linked the entry in the leaderhadinfos with an enty in the ArtDefines_Leaderheads.xml with this: ART_DEF_LEADER_PresidentShinra.

You need to to the same thing with the unit.
In the unitInfos, if you look at the swordsman, it's linked to an enty in the ArtDefines_units.xml, ART_DEF_UNIT_SWORDSMAN.
In your unitinfos, instead of this link there's the entry for the button.
-> Create an entry for your unit in the ArtDefines_units.xml (search for a fitting unit in the forum here), and mention the ART_DEF_ -tag in the UnitInfos.xml.