Here it is! The Latest version of my MOD!
I have actually broken it down into three files.
1) FexFX--Bigger-&-Longer(v1.52.0)
----Replaces all four game speeds, one new map size, and other modifications (details below).
2) FexFX--Bigger(v1.52.0)
----Contains only the new map size and other changes but not the new game speeds for those wishing to play the larger map on the original speeds(details below).
3) FexFX--PublicMaps(v1.52.0)
----Contains maps which will work with the new map size (details below).

The next three posts will contain the "ReadMe"s for each file followed by the file itself!

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
:cool:

FexFX--Bigger-&-Longer(v1.52.0)
===============================

DESCRIPTION:
Adds the Mammoth map size option. Replaces the original Game Speeds with custom game speeds which are all longer than Epic. Adjusts the camera behavior. Adds persistient time and turn number displays. Adds 20 new Unique names for each category of Great Person.


DETAILS:
The Mammoth map defaults to 40x25 Plots which is a grid of 160x100, or 16,000 map squares on the Archipelago, Balanced, Continents, Custom Continents and Islands map types. The Great Plains, Highlands, Hub, Ice Age, Inland Sea, Lakes, Maze, Mirror, Oasis, Pangea, Ring, Team_Battleground, Terra, Tilted Axis and Wheel map types will require that you obtain and install the FexFX--PublicMaps(v1.52.0) map pack in order to work properly with this map size.

The Four Available Gamespeeds in this MOD are:
FX-Marathon(1200)
FX-Grand(1000)
FX-Endurance(875)
FX-Extended(750)

The FX-Marathon(1200) speed is a modified and re-balanced version of the Marathon speed included in the official 1.52 patch.

Each of these four Game Speeds have been carefully tweaked to maximize addictiveness.

The camera has been modified somewhat. It now takes longer to reach 90 degrees vertical, the camera zooms out farther overall to give you a more complete Globe view, and the cloud layer now takes longer to appear resulting in the cloud layer only appearing as you are about to enter Globe mode. The cloud layer was changed in this way to improve peroformance.

The Main Interface screen has ben changed to display the turn and the time constantly in this manner:
Turn 1 4000 BC 7:25 PM
Checking or unchecking the option to display the time in the options menu will have no effect with this mod loaded. This was the only easy way to avoid a lag in the display of the aditional information at the beginning of every turn.


EXTREME DETAILS:
In all Four Game Speeds the math has been balanced in a much more detail oriented way. Culture, Training, Research and Contruction each use four separate numbers which are then used as the basis for all of the other speed options except for Barbarians, Hurry gains, Golden Ages and Inflation which use completely unique numbers.
Here is the rough Schema I used:
--------------------------------
Flat% - This number represents the relationship between the Normal number of turns (460) and the number of turns in the selected speed and is calculated as (460/target speed)%. This is used for Culture or anything else which should closely match the overall length of the game.

Rsrch% - This number is used for research and is slightly different for each of the game speeds: FX-Marathon(1200) it's (Flat%+20%), for FX-Grand(1000) it's (Flat%+16%), for FX-Endurance(875) it's (Flat%+14%) and for FX-Extended(750) it's (Flat%+12%).

Train% - This number has two versions, for FX-Marathon(1200) and FX-Grand(1000) the number is (Flat%-20%), and for FX-Endurance(875) and FX-Extended(750) it is (Flat%-16%). This results in 1/5th and 1/6th faster unit production, respectively, relative to the timeline.

Build% - This number has two versions as well, for FX-Marathon(1200) and FX-Grand(1000) the number is (Flat%-10%), and for FX-Endurance(875) and FX-Extended(750) it is (Flat%-8%). This results in 1/10th and 1/12th faster building construction, respectively, relative to the timeline.

Barb% - The formula I used for this was ((50%*(turns/660))+100%). This results in a gradual increase in Barbarian production and agression with a direct relation to the 150% figure used on the original Epic mode. The result is also a lot less harh than the straight multiplication of 150% which resulted in the original Marathon mode having barbarians set to 300%.

Golden% - Used to calculate the Golden Age duration, this number is reached by (Flat%/1.2).

Hurry% - Based on the numbers in the default gamespeeds this number is reached by (100/Flat%).

Inflate% - Based on the numbers in the default gamespeeds this number is reached by (27/Flat%).
--------------------------------

These number resulted in these percentages for each gamespeed by number of turns:

Turns Flat% Rsrch% Train% Build% Barb% Golden% Hurry% Inflate%
1200 260% 313% 208% 234% 190% 216% 38% 10%
1000 217% 252% 173% 195% 175% 180% 46% 12%
875 190% 216% 158% 174% 166% 158% 52% 14%
750 163% 182% 135% 149% 156% 135% 61% 16%

And these numbers are then applied like this:

<iGrowthPercent> Flat%
<iTrainPercent> Train%
<iConstructPercent> Build%
<iCreatePercent> Build%
<iResearchPercent> Rsrch%
<iBuildPercent> Train%
<iImprovementPercent> Flat%
<iGreatPeoplePercent> Build%
<iCulturePercent> Flat%
<iAnarchyPercent> Build%
<iBarbPercent> Barb%
<iFeatureProductionPercent> Build%
<iUnitDiscoverPercent> Rsrch%
<iUnitHurryPercent> Build%
<iUnitTradePercent> Flat%
<iUnitGreatWorkPercent> Flat%
<iGoldenAgePercent> Golden%
<iHurryPercent> Hurry%
<iHurryConscriptAngerPercent> Build%
<iInflationPercent> Inflate%
<iInflationOffset> -(Build%)

For city size I took these values: 0, 0, 10, 100, 500, 5000, 50000
and multiplied them by the Flat%.

Further changes were made to the ResearchPercent modifiers for each difficulty level found in CIV4HandicapInfo.xml, and for each map size as found in CIV4WorldInfo.xml. Beyond that, minor changes were made to the ResearchPercent modifiers for the eras as found in CIV4EraInfos.xml to make the Ancient, Modern and Future era researches take just a hair longer. In the case of Ancient, this is because ancient was the era most stretched in its average length, and for Modern and Future it was to slow down the end game just a little.

You will see that in FX-Marathon(1200) mode, Research and training both have been slowed down a bit form the default version of Marathon, while Building has been sped up. This should prevent games from ending in 1400AD by winning the Space Race! The change to the training percent is minor and is more the result of following a chosen mathematical formula than the result of any feeling that 200% was not a proper choice in the original mode.


NOTES:
The reason that all of the original game speeds were removed was that there was no easy way to balance short games without throwing off the long games, and vice-versa. Further, if someone is choosing to run FexFX--Bigger-&-Longer(v1.52.0) they are probably not going to be running one of the standard game speeds! If someone wants to use the Mammoth size I have packaged it separately as FexFX--Bigger(v1.52.0).

Attempting to use the Great Plains, Highlands, Hub, Ice Age, Inland Sea, Lakes, Maze, Mirror, Oasis, Pangea, Ring, Team_Battleground, Terra, Tilted Axis and Wheel map types without the FexFX--PublicMaps(v1.52.0) map pack will result in an unusual map type. You will get a 40x25 Plots map with no oceans or lakes. The terrain will gradiate from Tundra at the edges to junlge at the Equator smoothly passing through each terrain type along the way. While this map type may be an accident, some may find it interesting to play.


INSTALLATION:
Extract the contents of this archive into your main MOD folder, most likely located:
Program Files\Firaxis\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\MODS


TO PLAY:
Launch Civilization 4, go to the Advanced Menu.
Select Load a MOD.
Choose “FexFX--Bigger-&-Longer(v1.52.0)” from the listed MODs.
You will be notified that the game will restart to utilize the MOD.

COMPATABILITY:
This MOD been tested under version 1.52 of Sid Meier's Civilization IV.

FexFX--Bigger(v1.52.0)
======================

DESCRIPTION:
Adds the Mammoth map size option. Adjusts the camera behavior. Adds persistient time and turn number displays. Renames existing Gamespeeds to reflect the number of turns in each speed, for example: Normal(460).


DETAILS:
The Mammoth map defaults to 40x25 Plots which is a grid of 160x100, or 16,000 map squares on the Archipelago, Balanced, Continents, Custom Continents and Islands map types. The Great Plains, Highlands, Hub, Ice Age, Inland Sea, Lakes, Maze, Mirror, Oasis, Pangea, Ring, Team_Battleground, Terra, Tilted Axis and Wheel map types will require that you obtain and install the FexFX--PublicMaps(v1.52.0) map pack in order to work properly with this map size.

The camera has been modified somewhat. It now takes longer to reach 90 degrees vertical, the camera zooms out farther overall to give you a more complete Globe view, and the cloud layer now takes longer to appear resulting in the cloud layer only appearing as you are about to enter Globe mode. The cloud layer was changed in this way to improve peroformance.

The Main Interface screen has ben changed to display the turn and the time constantly in this manner:
Turn 1 4000 BC 7:25 PM
Checking or unchecking the option to display the time in the options menu will have no effect with this mod loaded. This was the only easy way to avoid a lag in the display of the aditional information at the beginning of every turn.

The display names of all game speed have been altered to include the number of turns in each speed so that they will now display like this:
Marathon(1200)
Epic(660)
Normal(460)
Quick(320)


NOTES:
Attempting to use the Great Plains, Highlands, Hub, Ice Age, Inland Sea, Lakes, Maze, Mirror, Oasis, Pangea, Ring, Team_Battleground, Terra, Tilted Axis and Wheel map types without the FexFX--PublicMaps(v1.52.0) map pack will result in an unusual map type. You will get a 40x25 Plots map with no oceans or lakes. The terrain will gradiate from Tundra at the edges to junlge at the Equator smoothly passing through each terrain type along the way. While this map type may be an accident, some may find it interesting to play.


INSTALLATION:
Extract the contents of this archive into your main MOD folder, most likely located:
Program Files\Firaxis\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\MODS


TO PLAY:
Launch Civilization 4, go to the Advanced Menu.
Select Load a MOD.
Choose “FexFX--Bigger(v1.52.0)” from the listed MODs.
You will be notified that the game will restart to utilize the MOD.


COMPATABILITY:
This MOD been tested under version 1.52 of Sid Meier's Civilization IV.

FexFX--PublicMaps Map Pack(v1.52.0)
===================================

DESCRIPTION:
This map pack adjusts the existing map scripts so that the FX-Mammoth map size can be used with Great Plains, Highlands, Hub, Ice Age, Inland Sea, Lakes, Maze, Mirror, Oasis, Pangea, Ring, Team_Battleground, Terra, Tilted Axis and Wheel map types.


DETAILS:
FX-Mammoth defaults to 40x25 plots with the Archipelago, Balanced, Continents, Custom Continents and Islands map types. For these map types this map pack is unnecessary. For each of the above mentioned map types however, the scripts for each map had to be modified to allow for an additional map size. As with the original map sizes, none of these maps use the default plot sizes, opting instead for custom plot sizes for each map size option. Below are the Plot Sizes for Mammoth with each of the map types included in this map pack:
--------------------
Great Plains - 22x17
Highlands - 32x20
Hub - 32x20
Ice Age - 40x16
Inland Sea - 26x16
Lakes - 26x16
Maze - 30x17
Mirror - 26x16
Oasis - 28x17
Pangea - 32x20
Ring - 32x20
Team_Battleground - 20x13 or 16x16 depending on team placement choices.
Terra - 47x30
Tilted Axis - 31x31
Wheel - 32x20
--------------------
Please note that Terra may run pooly on some computers at this size.


NOTES:
One Plot equals four grid squares.
The Mammoth map defaults to 40x25 which is a grid of 160x100, or 16,000 map squares.
The original Huge map size defaults to 30x20 which is 120x80 or 9,600 map squares.
While some of the above sizes are smaller than the default size for Huge, each of them follows the same sizing schema as the original map sizes. For example, the Inland Sea map type is 21x13 on Huge and 26x16 on Mammoth.


INSTALLATION:
To install this Map Pack, simply extract all of the files into:
My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\PublicMaps
These maps should cause no problems even if you are not running the MODs which contain the Mammoth map size.


COMPATABILITY:
These maps have been tested under version 1.52 of Sid Meier's Civilization IV.

I have it downloaded!
Gonna give it a try tomorrow!
:goodjob:

If you have any Questions, Comments or Suggestions, dont hesitate to let me know, I always welcome feedback of any sort!

I tried to get it to work and it won't. I unpacked the zip file as you said into the main mods folder (although I have tried both that one and the my documents one). The entry appears in the list under "advanced" options. It says its going to restart and load the mod. Then it shuts down, looks like its about to start up and just sits on the desktop without actually loading the mod.

Something I'm doing wrong?

I found the problem dude. The unpacked directory name from your zip archive is not being accepted by Civ when it tries to reload the game, must be some bad characters in there that civ doesn't like or something. I just renamed the directory to something nice and simple, in my case "FEXFX Custom" and the next time I tried to load the mod it worked. You might want to check this.

Thanks!
I am updating the files attached to this thread with simplified directory names!
Meanwhile, for those who have already downloaded the mod...
If anyone is have a problem getting the mod to run, simply change the directory name that the mod is installed in.
...or download the new files listed above...the only change is in the directory name.
I did not have this problem with the mod when I tested last night and the only thing I did with the mod today was to write the "ReadMe"s shove it all into Zips, and then upload it, so maybe not everyone is having this issue.

BTW, I forgot to mention, I've been using the new mod now for a bit now and it runs very nice. Great work, I'm sure I'm not the only one here who is thankful for all the work the modders put into their stuff.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the feedback Cropper!
You are the second one to report this problem and the first to solve it!
:)
I think it was something about the (v1.52.0) that was throwing it because I had a report that FexFX--Bigger(v1.52.0) and FexFX--Bigger-&-Longer(v1.52.0) were both doing it...until I found that out I was looking at the "&" as the suspect...

Hi FexFX,


I have used your earlier mod and have had many hours of enjoyable game play. In fact -- I play on noble level -- I have been steadily increasing the number of AI civs so as to acclimate myself to the game; the last game I played I faced seven or eight other civs.

I played the longest game your last mod allowed and can happily report that the whole game kicked ass. I eventually won a domination victory in the year 2100-ish. The last great battle was truly incredible since it involved so many units, over a wide expanse of territory. There were so many fronts to the endgame war that it seemed a careful and balanced strategy was necessitated (of course I think my strategy was sloppy and capricious -- lost a few cities, etc... lol).

The earlier games that I played without your mod did not seem to carry the same magnitude (in many areas) that yr mod delivers. You promised epic proportions and that is what was received. These expansive game-based situations, I think, are due to the effect of increasing the production values while trying to keep research values in line with the standard version of the game (as you previously explained)....

There were, however, some anachronisms i.e. some technological developments occurred late in the like flight, modern armor units, etc. These situations may have been borne out of the type of game/scenerio that I payed and perhaps are not typical for every game, but it still was fun.

In the later part of the game, I encountered some global warming issues... 'global warming near yr capitol'.... After my second message of global warming I thought oh **** this game is going to sand; but, global warming did not seem to ruin the game since it occurred rather infrequently after that point. I am just pointing this out in case others have encountered any global warming problems. It looks like it will be okay though....

So all in all great work. I am definitely downloading yr new mod right now.

As for what I will be doing next:

1. playing it on one of yr mammoth (is that the word you used?) maps with maximum civs

2. perhaps trying for a culture victory since that is the only victory I have never tried for


I just wanted to let you know that your work is appreciated and any further improvements/additions are always welcome.

peace in the middle east,
signal

Thanks for the reply Signal!
I always enjoy hearing from people who are playing my mod and enjoying it so thoroghly!
:)
This time around I am myself in a Mammoth Marathon game...
I think I may have slowed tech down a bit more than expected, but we shall see...
:)
I may have goofed in not accounting for their "rebalance" of the tech chart itself. :P
In any event Its taking me longer to get techs and therefore I have definitely solved the "space race in 1400" problem and the "Gunpowder in 720ad" problem!
I defy anyone to do that now!
Hehehe!
My only question is will things work out in a timely fashion or be too late now?

Had a little time to play this morning, and I managed to enter the medieval tech level...Its the first half of the 11th century...this is perhaps a bit late, but I got kinda screwed on my starting position (jungles like crazy!) and then got swarmed by barbarians that wiped out most of my hard earned tile improvements and then just as the barbarians chilled out, I got hit by Montezuma who was having a bad hair day and declared war on me for no good reason.:eek:
At this point however my empire is stable at ten cities, I am producing workers like mad, and Shall beat back the jungles soon! I just wish Firaxis had not raised the early costs so high because I am having trouble getting my research level to stay above 30%!!! :mad:
Well we will see what's what soon!

One thing is for sure, I wont be winning a space race in the year 1400ad!
:)
The only question is will I still be waiting for flight in the year 2000ad?
:confused:

1152ad...all seems lost...the romans and the japanese have both decided I need to be exterminated even tho we had had no unpleasant relations up to this point...

Firaxis did not lie...the AI is quite a bit more agressive and hostile!

1168. I have given up. The Roman hordes line the horizon as far as the eye can see.
Three cities have fallen.
It is mere a matter of time.
The hemlock I gave my staff has done its job and now I sit staring down my own goblet of oblivion.
May the gods grant me peace.


Wow...over 500 turns and I had to concede!

Watching the replay I was very stunted.
Also 14 civs may be just a tad too many for me to deal with until I get the feel for my own mod and the new patch...

hi fexfx

im playing your mod - combined with composite mod,
its great, you did a hell of a job.

thanks

keep up the good work.

hi fexfx

im playing your mod - combined with composite mod,
its great, you did a hell of a job.

thanks

keep up the good work.

Thanks!
I appreciate the feedback!

I am playing through again, this time I got a good start...Man those barbarians are insane in the new patch! I cant imagine playing Marathon with them set to the level Firaxis chose! Geesh!

This time I am in the 8th century and I made a line-drive for War Elephants early on...good thing too because they are all that saved me from the evil barbarians! I am on the cusp of the Medieval era and I think this feels just about perfect to me in pacing!

And I see above that I have broken 100 downloads already!

HI/ I love this mod. I played the previous one, slow and real big. Couldn't finish though, kept crashing.
tried 12 civs, 875 turns/terra.
am doing quite well, but my lap ( 256 mb ati card) crashes if i scroll too much.

Where should I download this if I want to combine it with other mods? Sorry, I am a noob at modding.

Great mod. Excellent work. I'm not totally sold on the lower camera angle, though. Is there any way to tweak just the angle (i.e., to move it back to original)?

Thanks!

Great mod. Excellent work. I'm not totally sold on the lower camera angle, though. Is there any way to tweak just the angle (i.e., to move it back to original)?

Thanks!

Heh, To be honest I am not 100% sold on it yet myself!
:)
If you want to reset the camera angles just replace the file "Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Mods\FexFX--Bigger-and-Longer\Assets\XML\Misc\CIV4DetailManager.xml" with the original "CIV4DetailManager.xml" file.
:)
That should take you back to base camera controls without any loss of anything else as the camera is all that is changed in that file.
:)

Okay, so it wasn't me...
but the most advanced civ in the game I am playing just completed the Apollo program in 1957...
A few years early for historical accuracy perhaps...but its a long way from the reports I heard of people getting a space race victory in 1400AD in vanilla 1.52!

I am now more convinced than ever that the balance is right here!

However, I am losing rather hard right now...4th in tech!
Ugh!

Yup, seems to be pretty well balanced so far, haven't finished this game yet but i'm not too far ahead on history. Started a large continent game with the rest on random, turned out to be lots of water, and two useable continents, but somehow, 9 out of 10 civs are on the same continent, and i'm right in the middle of that continent with no less than six direct neighbours :P Didnt even have acces to the ocean untill i killed the japanese in the early middle ages.
Pretty tough game, but very cool, no idea who will win yet, top 4 is real close :) 2nd or 3rd in tech, 4th in army (increasing it rapidly atm), 1st in landmass/income. Eventhough i played a peacefull role, i've had two big wars and one minor :)
Starting to catch up to those damn indians now, the wars put me back quite a bit.

But all in all a brilliant game that most definately would not have been as cool without this mod :)

Yup, seems to be pretty well balanced so far, haven't finished this game yet but i'm not too far ahead on history. Started a large continent game with the rest on random, turned out to be lots of water, and two useable continents, but somehow, 9 out of 10 civs are on the same continent, and i'm right in the middle of that continent with no less than six direct neighbours :P Didnt even have acces to the ocean untill i killed the japanese in the early middle ages.
Pretty tough game, but very cool, no idea who will win yet, top 4 is real close :) 2nd or 3rd in tech, 4th in army (increasing it rapidly atm), 1st in landmass/income. Eventhough i played a peacefull role, i've had two big wars and one minor :)
Starting to catch up to those damn indians now, the wars put me back quite a bit.

But all in all a brilliant game that most definately would not have been as cool without this mod :)

Yah Mansa Musa in the lead is WAY in the lead...like 1000pts above everyone else! I dont know what kind of super start up he got but its madness!

That alone is making me rethink the late game balancing since until about the industrial age, his lead was only a few hundred points...

Yay! I've hit over 200 Downloads...

However I am having a few doubts about late game balance.

I need to hear some feedback from people who have completed the game on various difficulty levels, speeds, and map sizes using this mod.

How did the late game go for you?
How did the tech rate feel?

I have no doubt that things are good up through the renaissance...its after the renaissance and maybe even the last half of the renaissance onward that concerns me...
Of course there is always the possibility that I am not as good as I thought...hehehe...

Just so you know I am nearly through with a 8 player--Noble--FX-Marathon--FX-Mammoth game and it took until the late 1970s for me to hit the modern era...which feels a bit too late to me.

Where should I download this if I want to combine it with other mods? Sorry, I am a noob at modding.

This is not a simple process!
:(
The combining of Mods is a sticky operation because many mods will use the same files, each modified in its own way! The only way to cimbine multiple mods is to manually edit them togethr using notepad (or your program of preference)

I am thoroughly enjoying this mod so far. I am playing a 10 player--Noble--FX-Marathon--FX-Mammoth game. So far I have made it to around 1200AD. I am researching things like Banking and Nationalism. Best units at this point are Macemen and Knights. Seems to be very well balanced at this point from what I can tell. I still have tons of time left in the game, and I'm getting ready to launch my first full scale war against Catherine using elephants, knights, and catapults.

I'll keep you posted as the game goes on. The AI (especially Catherine) seems to be keeping up ok. 2 of the civ's are very close to me in score, and I haven't met 4 civ's yet so I don't know how they are doing.

Two things I noticed. The barbarians are outrageous still. I had to build ALOT of defenders to stay alive. This is mostly I think because the map is so big, there's so much dark space that they spawn frequently. My research suffered big time (I dropped to 10% at one point), but I stopped growing and have recovered to 90% research now (time to start growing again I guess).

Secondly, I noticed my workers have nothing to do. I have improved every stick of land to the max (until I get railroad) and they're just sitting there doing nothing for the most part. Nothing you can do about this, it's just because the game is so long now that they have tons of time to complete everything. Too bad there aren't more terraforming options in the game.

So, I'll keep you posted but so far this mod is incredible. It finally gives me the length of time I feel I need to wage proper wars and enjoy the game properly.

Thanks again!

I am thoroughly enjoying this mod so far. I am playing a 10 player--Noble--FX-Marathon--FX-Mammoth game. So far I have made it to around 1200AD. I am researching things like Banking and Nationalism. Best units at this point are Macemen and Knights. Seems to be very well balanced at this point from what I can tell. I still have tons of time left in the game, and I'm getting ready to launch my first full scale war against Catherine using elephants, knights, and catapults.

I'll keep you posted as the game goes on. The AI (especially Catherine) seems to be keeping up ok. 2 of the civ's are very close to me in score, and I haven't met 4 civ's yet so I don't know how they are doing.

Two things I noticed. The barbarians are outrageous still. I had to build ALOT of defenders to stay alive. This is mostly I think because the map is so big, there's so much dark space that they spawn frequently. My research suffered big time (I dropped to 10% at one point), but I stopped growing and have recovered to 90% research now (time to start growing again I guess).

Secondly, I noticed my workers have nothing to do. I have improved every stick of land to the max (until I get railroad) and they're just sitting there doing nothing for the most part. Nothing you can do about this, it's just because the game is so long now that they have tons of time to complete everything. Too bad there aren't more terraforming options in the game.

So, I'll keep you posted but so far this mod is incredible. It finally gives me the length of time I feel I need to wage proper wars and enjoy the game properly.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the update!
Yah things were great for me up to that point too! Myu area of concern is later...about 1700 I started to feel a disparity with the AI...Mansa Musa was 500pts ahead of everyone else at that point and I was #2...

Thanks will try it out, I was searching for a extend of gameplay without losing some basic elements of the game.

I'd say that the reason your workers are sitting around is that iBuildPercent is too low. iImprovementPercent determines how long cottages etc take to grow based on normal 100% speed and iBuildPercent is for workers improvement build speed. I guess if the game is to take twice as long then both of these should be around twice as big as well. Whatever the case, I've downloaded this mod, am about to try it, but have changed iBuildPercent to the iImprovementPercent value.

This is not a simple process!
:(
The combining of Mods is a sticky operation because many mods will use the same files, each modified in its own way! The only way to cimbine multiple mods is to manually edit them togethr using notepad (or your program of preference)

Ok, thanks. I kind of have it figured out. :goodjob:

I'd say that the reason your workers are sitting around is that iBuildPercent is too low. iImprovementPercent determines how long cottages etc take to grow based on normal 100% speed and iBuildPercent is for workers improvement build speed. I guess if the game is to take twice as long then both of these should be around twice as big as well. Whatever the case, I've downloaded this mod, am about to try it, but have changed iBuildPercent to the iImprovementPercent value.

I actually tried it that way first...
What I found was that the way I eneded up doing it was a bit better, because although the workers are done a bit sooner, it does allow you to get on with the business of producing units and going to war...
It just means the "tile improvement" phase stops for a bit mid game and you have more time to concentrate on war!
:)
Also I liked that I was able to build less workers relative to the normal balance.
Perhaps this is why his workers were sitting around doing nothing...maybe he built too many?
Personally I dont like having to build a million workers, plus the new economy introduced by 1.52 make too many workers a crippling burden!

But to each their own.

The percentage for Build is 208% in my mod, the Improvement is at 260%. (for the FX-Marathon speed)
Perhaps build should have been set to the consturction percent which is 234%?

Meh.

Thanks will try it out, I was searching for a extend of gameplay without losing some basic elements of the game.

That's the exact purpose of this mod!

:D

Enjoy!!!

Mmmm, good point about the builders. I've knocked mine back down again to the construct value. I've just started anyway so I'll see how it works. Otherwise seems good so far, nice work. Trouble with these gamespeed mods is that you never know if it's balanced until 2 days later...

Well I can promise you that it feels balanced through the 1800s!
After the 1800s its a little questionable...
I may have slowed down the late game a bit more than I should have
although I now have at least one report that someone got flight in the 1600s!!

I played FX-Marathon(1200) on a standard size map with 18 AI's (little crowded but very varied), tech trading off. It was a brilliant experience - for the first time since i bought CivIV I can actually play the whole game, complete with diplomacy, aggression wars and all. Pre-FexFX the only viable option was to go defensive and tech-rush to tanks, jets and battleships.

Thank you - you have breathed new life back into the whole game! :clap: :beer:

(FYI: In my game :jesus: was born around the year 200 - very close to actual year indeed :) )

I played FX-Marathon(1200) on a standard size map with 18 AI's (little crowded but very varied), tech trading off. It was a brilliant experience - for the first time since i bought CivIV I can actually play the whole game, complete with diplomacy, aggression wars and all. Pre-FexFX the only viable option was to go defensive and tech-rush to tanks, jets and battleships.

Thank you - you have breathed new life back into the whole game! :clap: :beer:

(FYI: In my game :jesus: was born around the year 200 - very close to actual year indeed :) )

Thanks for the praise!
:)
So the endgame didn't feel stunted to you?
Hmmm...normal sized map...I think my modifiers on the FX-Mammoth map may be the problem...
I notice not many people are commenting on the mammoth map, and that the downloads of the FX-Mammoth compatible maps are at about 1/4 the number of downloads of the main mod...So I think FX-Mammoth is not the main draw here...Interesting... :D

...and Christ in 200AD...that's a nice measurement...you mean of course that christianity was founded...which would not be his birth but slightly after his death which was around 34AD...so its even closer than you think!

Ok, just completed my first game with this version of the mod, here's a little log i made of some of the developments :)

Noble, Huge map, FX_Grand, 11 civs, continents, high sealevels (which put 10 of us on one continent... Very cramped)
I played a peacefull role till pretty far in the game when i basically got forced to start wars to get the territory to keep up with the indians, mongols and americans as they slowly started to get ahead of me, either in techs or army size.

535 AD Machinery
935 Gunpowder
1268 Economics
1516 Railroad
1643 Flight
1788 UN
1872 Diplomatic victory :) Played on to see how the rest of the tech worked out. (got the nr 3 and 4 empire to back my vote)
1888 Completed all techs
1898 Launched space ship (if diplo had failed i would have won with this, india had two parts left to build)
Was close to domination as well with 40.88% of world population in my empire (44% needed)
Had several massive wars, and almost 3.2 million soldiers at the end of the game, and still was only 3rd in army size (largest had 3.6 million soldiers)

So i completed it quite a bit before it was due, but all in all this mod is GREAT!
I totally love it :) Might be a bit off in time line, but hell, what does that matter if the game has gotten so much better from it :) This has been my most thrilling Civ4 game so far :) It was damn close till very late in the game and i trailed in techs pretty far into the modern age! Only caught up at the very end (b-lined for spaceship techs to get them on time, thats why i launched space ship only 10 years after getting my final tech)

Ok, just completed my first game with this version of the mod, here's a little log i made of some of the developments :)

Noble, Huge map, FX_Grand, 11 civs, continents, high sealevels (which put 10 of us on one continent... Very cramped)
I played a peacefull role till pretty far in the game when i basically got forced to start wars to get the territory to keep up with the indians, mongols and americans as they slowly started to get ahead of me, either in techs or army size.

535 AD Machinery
935 Gunpowder
1268 Economics
1516 Railroad
1643 Flight
1788 UN
1872 Diplomatic victory :) Played on to see how the rest of the tech worked out. (got the nr 3 and 4 empire to back my vote)
1888 Completed all techs
1898 Launched space ship (if diplo had failed i would have won with this, india had two parts left to build)
Was close to domination as well with 40.88% of world population in my empire (44% needed)
Had several massive wars, and almost 3.2 million soldiers at the end of the game, and still was only 3rd in army size (largest had 3.6 million soldiers)

So i completed it quite a bit before it was due, but all in all this mod is GREAT!
I totally love it :) Might be a bit off in time line, but hell, what does that matter if the game has gotten so much better from it :) This has been my most thrilling Civ4 game so far :) It was damn close till very late in the game and i trailed in techs pretty far into the modern age! Only caught up at the very end (b-lined for spaceship techs to get them on time, thats why i launched space ship only 10 years after getting my final tech)

Thanks for the detailed feedback.
It would seem that my balancing act while improving things a great deal did not balance things across all maps and difficulties...
tho looking closer I fear that may not be possible...

To be honest I think they made an error in giving each map its own tech modifier...Becuase the smaller the map the faster the tech...the larger the map the slower the tech...
and this seems to aply inequally between the AI and Player...
I found it nearly impossible to remain competitive against the AI on an FX-Mammoth map because the tech penalty on the map was higher, but the AI did not seem to be as affected by it as I was...

PErhaps I should try flattening the map size penalties a bit so that the differences are not so steep based on map size...

It might also be that Firaxis made the assumption that small map = Short game...So anyone playing on a Huge map would likely be playing an epic game, and anyone playing on a Duel map would be playing a Quick game right?
Which at the extremes for this may seem reasonable there are an inequal number of maps and speeds...and as a result some combos feel weird. An FX-Marathon game on a small map for example would find techs moving faster than expected and probably end in the year 1200AD with a space victory if the Players (AI and Human ) did not kill each other on such a map...

I think this needs further consideration. If I flatten out the research differences from map type to map type...

Well, it did feel very well balanced for me, with 4 civs competing for top spot, 3 civs at an equal tech level all competing for space ship, 4 civs with armies in the 3 million soldiers.

Not untill very late when i started to b-line for space ship techs did i feel i was going to win, india was at that point ahead on me on space ship parts but with the b-line and my core production cities i knew i could make it (had several cities on wealth just to afford 90% science level at the time, the huge army was killing my eco :P Needed it though with so many borders and a very agressive mongol empire at one side (which mid game was pleased with me but end game was cautious) and montezuma on the other (who hated my guts :P) As well as direct borders with the americans, indians, romans, egypt and portugal.
(i was in the middle of the continent, didnt even have access till the oceans till the middle ages after i kicked japan into submission)

The diplo victory was a suprise, i tried for it several times but couldnt get the votes, mongols voted for themselves, america for me and india abstained every time

So timeline was slightly off but balance was just fine :)

So the endgame didn't feel stunted to you?Haven't gotten there yet - currently fighting wars with first frigates and galleons in the early 16-century (again, very fitting :) ). Didn't consider you might want more precise reports, but I'll make a few notes if things seem cramped when I get to the endgame (unless the AI finish me off before that time :))

I understand that unlike earlier versions of Civ (where you move to the next aera by inventing cetrtain tech), in CivIV these aeras are defined by certain dates. I the current game I entered the Industrial Age around 1520 (IIRC) - isn't that a bit early? I realize each aera define the years/turn, so maybe it's the only way to make it work :)
Hmmm...normal sized map...I think my modifiers on the FX-Mammoth map may be the problem...Maybe - I just prefer standard vith max AI's - less to manage, more action, while still being fairly easy to build a small empire.
...which would not be his birth but slightly after his death which was around 34AD... Ahem... yes... didn't think of that, blame it on lack of caffeine :coffee:

I understand that unlike earlier versions of Civ (where you move to the next aera by inventing cetrtain tech), in CivIV these aeras are defined by certain dates. I the current game I entered the Industrial Age around 1520 (IIRC) - isn't that a bit early? I realize each aera define the years/turn, so maybe it's the only way to make it work :)


Actually this is a false belief...
I've seen this one echoed in multiple locations.

There are certain techs that trigger each age. If you look at the XML file for the Techs you'll see that each tech has an era associated with it. There are 3 or four techs that could begin each era so it really is all about what you discover when.

The era's by turn are actually just controls for the number of years between turns...so that from 400bc to 1000bc there are 40 and then 20 between turns from 1000bc to 1ad...etc etc etc...it actually has no effect on the era you are in. If you made the game 1200 turns and set tech research down to lbe the same as a quick game and played on chieftan...you'd win the SpaceRace in like 900bc...
:)

Yay! I'm over 300 downloads again!

Actually this is a false belief...Really? I could have sworn I've read this in an official statement, but evidence speaks for itself :) Very well, I prefer it this way anyway :)

Same game, year is 1714 and I just got Railroad and Combustion, just barely leading the score in front of 17 AI's.

Research speed is definately picking up quickly now, and if this continues to accelerate I recon the endgame will indeed suffer from the same syndrome as you mentioned.

Same game, year is 1714 and I just got Railroad and Combustion, just barely leading the score in front of 17 AI's.

Research speed is definately picking up quickly now, and if this continues to accelerate I recon the endgame will indeed suffer from the same syndrome as you mentioned.

Well, If you were playing FX-Marathon and FX-Mammoth, youd be lucky to have those before 1890!

Balancing all modes at once...may not be possible!

Over 400 Downloads!

Over 400 Downloads!Indeed, AND I just found out about the forum Rating system, so you got my first "***** Excellent" rating :)

Indeed, AND I just found out about the forum Rating system, so you got my first "***** Excellent" rating :)

Why Thank You!

I just got my little brother into playing Civ4 but he's encountered a problem with his 3rd game using this Mod. When he tries to load his saved game (with the mod loaded & maps included too) it comes up with the following:

http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/4991/civ4mod3jp.th.jpg (http://img455.imageshack.us/my.php?image=civ4mod3jp.jpg)

Is there any way around this or will he have to start again? I can provide the save if needed.

Hello,

I installed the three files to the directories you mentioned in the instructions. I also renamed the folders.

When I try to play however, the command toolbar in he lower middle window does not appear. The only way I could play was to use keyboard commands (for example to build the first city I have to hit the keyboard command rather than selecting the icon). no I dont know the keyboard commands for everything (laugh).

Not certain why this is happening. I am using patch 1.52.

Any help appreciated.

Hello,

I installed the three files to the directories you mentioned in the instructions. I also renamed the folders.

When I try to play however, the command toolbar in he lower middle window does not appear. The only way I could play was to use keyboard commands (for example to build the first city I have to hit the keyboard command rather than selecting the icon). no I dont know the keyboard commands for everything (laugh).

Not certain why this is happening. I am using patch 1.52.

Any help appreciated.
Try ALT-I (REMOVE INTERFACE) or CTRL-I (MINIMIZE INTERFACE). More likely CTRL-I though.

Try ALT-I (REMOVE INTERFACE) or CTRL-I (MINIMIZE INTERFACE). More likely CTRL-I though.



Yes - CTRL-I worked

THANKS!

I have been ahving a few problems running the mod on panagea map mammoth settings (Big & long mod).

The interface is missing each time the game starts and I tried hitting Ctrl-I as someone else suggested. However, it keeps going out of the interface each turn and I have to hit Ctrl-I each turn.

The score screen in the bottom right corner will not appear (even after I hit the toggle icon above the minimap.

Any ideas as to what is wrong?

I have been ahving a few problems running the mod on panagea map mammoth settings (Big & long mod).

The interface is missing each time the game starts and I tried hitting Ctrl-I as someone else suggested. However, it keeps going out of the interface each turn and I have to hit Ctrl-I each turn.

The score screen in the bottom right corner will not appear (even after I hit the toggle icon above the minimap.

Any ideas as to what is wrong?

Hi there, sorry for my late response, I've been bust recently.
Hmmm, I havent heard of this behavior before...but if I recall there may be a setting in options that could cause this. I'll look into it and let you know what I find.

I just got my little brother into playing Civ4 but he's encountered a problem with his 3rd game using this Mod. When he tries to load his saved game (with the mod loaded & maps included too) it comes up with the following:

http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/4991/civ4mod3jp.th.jpg (http://img455.imageshack.us/my.php?image=civ4mod3jp.jpg)

Is there any way around this or will he have to start again? I can provide the save if needed.

Wow, I haven't heard of a problem like this with my mod before...
I know there is an anti-cheat mode built into Civ IV after patch 1.52, but you have to turn it on and off in the options...My only idea here is that the anti-cheat thing was turned on by your brother at some point, and then perhaps another mod was added later? I've really got nothing, I've played several games with this mod and seen nothing even close to this with a LOT of save games...

As relating to training times and build times:

My goal is to find a mod that allows me to play an epic or marathon-length game but has shorter build times. I want to produce more units, have more warfare, and have longer before those units are obsolete. Is this mod something that might work for me? How do the build and training times compare to the default marathon settings?

As relating to training times and build times:

My goal is to find a mod that allows me to play an epic or marathon-length game but has shorter build times. I want to produce more units, have more warfare, and have longer before those units are obsolete. Is this mod something that might work for me? How do the build and training times compare to the default marathon settings?

The answers depend a little on the difficulty you are playing. Its all explained in the readme, but the basic breakdown is about 1 extra unit for ever 5 or 6 you would produce in a normal game, and one extra building for every 10 to 12 you would produce in a normal game.

Its not a LOT faster, but it is faster.

Personaly i have found that the AI build pretty large armies with this mod, it's been pretty rare for me to be Nr.1 in army size and because of the extra turns units go obsolete a lot slower so yes, you can fight entire wars with the same units.

Don't know if it's enough for you, but for me it's a great improvement compared to vanilla civ :)

My goal is to find a mod that allows me to play an epic or marathon-length game but has shorter build times.The problem with normal Civ4 isn't so much the unit build times, rather the time it takes to move the units to the front contra the research rate. You constantly end up in a situation where your troops were ok when you build them, but are obsolete when they make contact with the enemy.

FexFx MOD prolongs the game (more turns) while slowing down research, so in effect you have plenty of time fighting it out in the different aeras. It's the best gamespeed MOD (most balanced) I've tried - in fact, to quote a popular rockband, "it's bigger than :jesus:"... :king:

Great, those are the answers that I want to hear.

In my dream mod, build/train times would be even more reduced, and research costs would be adjusted to account for the faster build times (which isn't linear given the modifiers, so it would be a daunting task), so that cities would spend most of their time creating units or wealth/culture. That seems more realistic to me, instead of Rome being tied up for 500 years building a barracks...

Not sure if we'll ever have that, or if anyone else is even interested. But, that aside, this mod sure sounds closer to that than vanilla. I'll give it a go!

Great, those are the answers that I want to hear.

In my dream mod, build/train times would be even more reduced, and research costs would be adjusted to account for the faster build times (which isn't linear given the modifiers, so it would be a daunting task), so that cities would spend most of their time creating units or wealth/culture. That seems more realistic to me, instead of Rome being tied up for 500 years building a barracks...

Not sure if we'll ever have that, or if anyone else is even interested. But, that aside, this mod sure sounds closer to that than vanilla. I'll give it a go!

I actually toyed with making the build times significantly faster, however the result was that way too often you were left with nothing for your city to do but produce unit after unit after unit...and because of upkeep costs this can bankrupt you pretty fast...the only way to avoid this is to leave building times fairly consistient with the timeline, or change the technology tree to allow for "Wealth" or "Culture", or "Science" much sooner...the result of making any of those sooner however is to throw off the balance of everything else before those would normally have been available... I put thought into this... :) Too many units is a huge problem. Too fast buildings leave you with nothing but units to build until you discover techs that allow for the production of non-unit non-building items...

Just finished a 27hour Mamooth Tera , Fx Grand (or 1000 turns).
Won by space victory by 1967 or so, with 2 of the 14 AI oponnents eliminated. It was a close game, excelent experience, thank you:goodjob:

Not much to report really, but here goes

1) Memalloc crashes after too many reloads.
Playing on high res 1280x1024 (dont know if that matters), could not reload a saved game, it crashes on the load with a memory allocation error: bad algorithm. Its a controled crash, the message is on a firaxis window , with a nice ok button, which closes the game. Its no biggy really as restarting the game and loading the saved from scrath works fine. It happens after a few reloads in the early stages of the game and it gets worse towards the end as i couldnt reload without restarting the game after turn 650 or so. Its ok i just had to be very carefull of my moves:lol: Not sure whats at fault here, the config im running is pretty strong, 3Ghz, 2gig ram, plenty of HD free space (ard 20gigs, although i should do my first defrag soon), ATI radeon x800 w/256MB ram. It didnt happen on unmodded, still maybe its not something you could have done differently. I'd be interested if anyone else has reported malloc crashes.

2) New world barbs
Oh well i kinda noticed that in the un-modded game as well, it seems they are quite powerfull to overcome. I managed to get through and establish a presence after moving 3-4 galleon full of grenadiers...and i was lucky since they kept coming, in one turn after capturing a city i must have killed about 20 barb horse archers.
Most of the barb cities grew to pop size 10, some as big as 14. Most other AI civs only managed to establish in the mainland of the new world after the next upgrade of units (cant remember, prolly, sam infantry or something).
I dunno really, maybe i was kinda accustomed to Imperialism II, where new world nations are somewhat weaker. I guess its ok. It should be crucial to winning the game to establish a footing in the new world but maybe not enough (i.e it should be more important, weaker barbs, more spread/diff of resources)
Maybe if you made barbs a tad weaker it would make it too easy. Not sure, i have to play a few more games. I'd rather keep as is.
As far as resources go, they were actually nicely spread differentiated, i.e the new world had quite a few resources that were rare or non-existent in the old world such as gems and spices.

3) I also combined it with the exotic foreign advisor mod, the special domestic advisor and the better civopedia. Nothing special was nedded for the advisors, i.e they loaded with your mod as well, the civopedia i had to copy into your mod.

Overall, thank you vm a great job indeed!

Yeah, i have this combined with a ton of different interface/gfx mods and none interfere with this. This is the only gameplay altering mod i'm running atm though, havent tried merging others just yet.

Just finished a 27hour Mamooth Tera , Fx Grand (or 1000 turns).
Won by space victory by 1967 or so, with 2 of the 14 AI oponnents eliminated. It was a close game, excelent experience, thank you:goodjob:

Not much to report really, but here goes

1) Memalloc crashes after too many reloads.
Playing on high res 1280x1024 (dont know if that matters), could not reload a saved game, it crashes on the load with a memory allocation error: bad algorithm. Its a controled crash, the message is on a firaxis window , with a nice ok button, which closes the game. Its no biggy really as restarting the game and loading the saved from scrath works fine. It happens after a few reloads in the early stages of the game and it gets worse towards the end as i couldnt reload without restarting the game after turn 650 or so. Its ok i just had to be very carefull of my moves:lol: Not sure whats at fault here, the config im running is pretty strong, 3Ghz, 2gig ram, plenty of HD free space (ard 20gigs, although i should do my first defrag soon), ATI radeon x800 w/256MB ram. It didnt happen on unmodded, still maybe its not something you could have done differently. I'd be interested if anyone else has reported malloc crashes.

2) New world barbs
Oh well i kinda noticed that in the un-modded game as well, it seems they are quite powerfull to overcome. I managed to get through and establish a presence after moving 3-4 galleon full of grenadiers...and i was lucky since they kept coming, in one turn after capturing a city i must have killed about 20 barb horse archers.
Most of the barb cities grew to pop size 10, some as big as 14. Most other AI civs only managed to establish in the mainland of the new world after the next upgrade of units (cant remember, prolly, sam infantry or something).
I dunno really, maybe i was kinda accustomed to Imperialism II, where new world nations are somewhat weaker. I guess its ok. It should be crucial to winning the game to establish a footing in the new world but maybe not enough (i.e it should be more important, weaker barbs, more spread/diff of resources)
Maybe if you made barbs a tad weaker it would make it too easy. Not sure, i have to play a few more games. I'd rather keep as is.
As far as resources go, they were actually nicely spread differentiated, i.e the new world had quite a few resources that were rare or non-existent in the old world such as gems and spices.

3) I also combined it with the exotic foreign advisor mod, the special domestic advisor and the better civopedia. Nothing special was nedded for the advisors, i.e they loaded with your mod as well, the civopedia i had to copy into your mod.

Overall, thank you vm a great job indeed!

Thanks for the report! :)
I cant wait for the release of the SDK!
I have another mod in the wings waiting for it.
I could probably move ahead without the SDK but I'd rather wait (also this way I get to spend time on other things...heheh...)
The next mod will nearly double the tech tree and add a bunch of new units and buildings!

I am happy to hear that my mod is cross compatible...those mods obviously dont touch any of the files I used!
:)

Yeah, i have this combined with a ton of different interface/gfx mods and none interfere with this. This is the only gameplay altering mod i'm running atm though, havent tried merging others just yet.

I am glad I was able to be a part of your Civ IV experience!

Over 600 downloads!
Yay!

Must comment on your latest mod. I B in luv with it. I try others but always default back to yours. Make the next one rather bigger-loonger-better, you know, stuff like that.

Thank you so much! This MOD gives a whole new flavor to Archipelagos.

First of all - GREAT MOD!

I've started a bunch of games, and played one thru to 1600 or so. I'm on another game as well. I will post all my info to help you test/improve this mod once I'm done with this current game.

It seems the techs start coming a bit too fast starting around the middle ages.

I think a bit slower tech advancement may be in order (I still have to play fully to 2000 AD to be sure)... However, if tech is too slow, then the game is boring in the beginning...

There must be a way to balance it...

Anyway, I'll post my hard numbers soon!

First of all - GREAT MOD!

I've started a bunch of games, and played one thru to 1600 or so. I'm on another game as well. I will post all my info to help you test/improve this mod once I'm done with this current game.

It seems the techs start coming a bit too fast starting around the middle ages.

I think a bit slower tech advancement may be in order (I still have to play fully to 2000 AD to be sure)... However, if tech is too slow, then the game is boring in the beginning...

There must be a way to balance it...

Anyway, I'll post my hard numbers soon!

Dont forget to tell me what difficulty, speed and map size you are playing on... Those make a huge difference...

ok, my first game:

Large Map, Archiapalego, Noble, 12 total players (I played Catherine), Marathon speed (1200)

Notable dates (things *I* accomplished):
Notre Dame: 720 AD
Founded Islam: 920 AD
Gunpowder: 1200 AD
Steel: 1444 AD
Steam: 1564 AD

I was cranking out the reasearch, but not the hammers... Spain had just declared war and my navy was not up to snuff.

My current game should be a better test because I will play it longer... I'll post numbers soon...

FexFX, I think you can solve your late-game issues by modifying the tech costs. Increasing the cost of techs by era offsets the science gains a civ gets from the relatively better build and growth rates.

Of course, this introduces the issue of scalability, and I have no solution for that. It's a shame there's no way to adjust the science rate by a hard percentage per era. I thought civ4erainfos would handle that, but it only applies those values to the era in which the game/scenario starts.

I use Vilu's tech cost editor (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=140264) for my adjustments (remember to revert back to the original civ4techinfos file every time you use it). Check the thread for my old mod if you want to see the values I used, but don't trust them. They seemed to work for me, but I had different civ4gamespeed values.

When the SDK comes out you should be able to increase tech costs by era, but in the mean time you could always split the mod even further, providing a different mod file for each game speed and including the appropriate tech cost values for each.

Normally I'd just do all that myself and publish my own mod, but I'm not interested in maintaining a speed mod. I just got into this to mod the game into the kind of (longer) game I like to play. So instead I'm offering you this advice since yours is the best speed mod I've seen so far and should therefore have the best chance of maturing into something even Firaxis would patch into the game.

Research speed is definately picking up quickly now, and if this continues to accelerate I recon the endgame will indeed suffer from the same syndrome as you mentioned.Update: A great war broke out around 1910 and another around 1930. Both wars were/are fought with Machine Guns, Infantry, early Tanks, Cannons, Destroyers and Battleships. No planes or Artillery yet, so it seems my world is now BEHIND schedule compared to real world dates, quite contrary to my prediction :D I recon the No Tech Trading option is largely to blame for this.

We're now in the 1950's, and I'll discover Flight in 3 years. Though Battleships and Destroyers rule the seas, both I and the AI still have Frigates and Galleons in service - some AI's even still use an occational Galley :D. If I ever get to make The Bomb, this will be the first game where I get a chance to acutally use it(!)

I really like the diversity of this game. Some nations are definately on par with me, while other areas are still stuck in the Middle Ages - much like our world really.

This is by far the most enjoyable game of Civ4 I have played yet - maybe even the most enjoyable Civ game I've played ever (and I've played them all - Civ1, CivNet, Civ2, Civ3, Civ3PTW+C) :goodjob:

I wish that a turn could be shorter than a year, like a season (4 turns to a year) or even months (12 to a year). This would make the end game even more epic, and WWII wouldn't be over in 6 turns :D Wonder if this might be moddable when the SDK comes out?

Update: A great war broke out around 1910 and another around 1930. Both wars were/are fought with Machine Guns, Infantry, early Tanks, Cannons, Destroyers and Battleships. No planes or Artillery yet, so it seems my world is now BEHIND schedule compared to real world dates, quite contrary to my prediction :D I recon the No Tech Trading option is largely to blame for this.

We're now in the 1950's, and I'll discover Flight in 3 years. Though Battleships and Destroyers rule the seas, both I and the AI still have Frigates and Galleons in service - some AI's even still use an occational Galley :D. If I ever get to make The Bomb, this will be the first game where I get a chance to acutally use it(!)

I really like the diversity of this game. Some nations are definately on par with me, while other areas are still stuck in the Middle Ages - much like our world really.

This is by far the most enjoyable game of Civ4 I have played yet - maybe even the most enjoyable Civ game I've played ever (and I've played them all - Civ1, CivNet, Civ2, Civ3, Civ3PTW+C) :goodjob:

I wish that a turn could be shorter than a year, like a season (4 turns to a year) or even months (12 to a year). This would make the end game even more epic, and WWII wouldn't be over in 6 turns :D Wonder if this might be moddable when the SDK comes out?

Wow! Now that is an accolade!
I too hope that the SDK will allow me to change the callender by era! In truth I'd like to make the modern era last about 400 turns rather than 200 turns...but that's just not an option really!
:cry:

I'd like to make the modern era last about 400 turns rather than 200 turns...but that's just not an option really! :cry:Hehe, no need to cry - you've done everything possible so far to improve the epic feel. Time will tell what possibilities the SDK will bring

Cheers! :beer:

Hehe, no need to cry - you've done everything possible so far to improve the epic feel. Time will tell what possibilities the SDK will bring

Cheers! :beer:

Not tears of sadness, merely frustration!
:)

Woot! 800 Downloads!

Im playing this mod right now. Im playing catherine, two continents, Huge, 1200 turns, Noble, Conquest only, no tech trading. Its 1300 AD or so now, no one has gunpownder yet, macemen and knights just appeared in the battlefield, there are many crossbows, pikes and elephants left. Im the 2° in score, but 5° or so in research. Alexander and Asoka attacked me in 1100, i survived and after 200 years i took 8 greek cities, 6 to go. Im confucian, and theres 3 judaism(sp!) and 3 budhist(sp) nations on my continent. Once i take all from the greeks, ill have three wars to fight. Im spamming soldiers, but still am only the 5° in number of troops! Egypth and german are close, they have way too many troops... Plus, theres the second continent, where everyone is hindu and lovers with eachother, and they just learnt how to send ships overseas... i expect an invasion soon... Im totally alone. Everyone hate me, i cant go over 70% research, the germans have 6 techs more than i do, no one need my resources, i failed to circunavegate the globe by few turns, i failed to get the extra techs from oracle and liberalism by few turns as well, darn! Im using the slaves civic, organized religion, mercantilism, and the two other starting civics. And my people hate me!

The hindu continent is round, and my continent is shaped like a bunch of bananas glued to eachother. A very ugly continent. My empire borders are shaped like a penis. Not something to be proud off.

Great mod BTW!

Im confucian, and theres 3 judaism(sp!) and 3 budhist(sp) nations on my continent... theres the second continent, where everyone is hinduSounds like quite a challenge :D Seems to me you badly need some friends, so why don't you pick a side and convert to their religion - that will boost relations quite a bit, helping trade and perhaps even get a defensive pact.

Im playing this mod right now. Im playing catherine, two continents, Huge, 1200 turns, Noble, Conquest only, no tech trading. Its 1300 AD or so now, no one has gunpownder yet, macemen and knights just appeared in the battlefield, there are many crossbows, pikes and elephants left. Im the 2° in score, but 5° or so in research. Alexander and Asoka attacked me in 1100, i survived and after 200 years i took 8 greek cities, 6 to go. Im confucian, and theres 3 judaism(sp!) and 3 budhist(sp) nations on my continent. Once i take all from the greeks, ill have three wars to fight. Im spamming soldiers, but still am only the 5° in number of troops! Egypth and german are close, they have way too many troops... Plus, theres the second continent, where everyone is hindu and lovers with eachother, and they just learnt how to send ships overseas... i expect an invasion soon... Im totally alone. Everyone hate me, i cant go over 70% research, the germans have 6 techs more than i do, no one need my resources, i failed to circunavegate the globe by few turns, i failed to get the extra techs from oracle and liberalism by few turns as well, darn! Im using the slaves civic, organized religion, mercantilism, and the two other starting civics. And my people hate me!

The hindu continent is round, and my continent is shaped like a bunch of bananas glued to eachother. A very ugly continent. My empire borders are shaped like a penis. Not something to be proud off.

Great mod BTW!

Sounds like a great game even tho you may be set up on the losing end of things! Sometimes losing at Civ is as much fun as winning eh?

900 downloads!

900 downloads!Yes... I've been busy :mischief:

Incidentally, I took out the camera-part of the mod as personally I prefer the original angle. Other than that it's hard to say if there's any need for improvement - I prefer that this MOD doesn't modify other parts of the game, and the features requested earlier probably aren't doable till the SDK arrives (if even then).

Just subscribed to reply to this post... :)

First of all great mod... I am sticking to it for a while.

I have played a couple of games and it seems pretty balanced and fun. One of them was noble, standard size map, 875turns, 7 oponents.

I lost in a diplomatic victory around 1950, going also for the space race.

I do not know if this would be usefull but in a guide I have found this. It is a setting for scenario building:

Calendar=: The Calendar setting is used to determine the length in time of each turn in the scenario. By default the calendar is set to default which means the scenario will use the same turn length time as the normal game. Valid options include CALENDAR_YEARS (each turn is one year), CALENDAR_SEASONS (each turn is one season: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn), CALENDAR_MONTHS (each turn is one month) and CALENDAR_WEEKS (each turn is one week, with four weeks to the month).

IMO the number of turns in the modern era is ok, I would like to see more techs in that era and that each one gives less improvments.

Just subscribed to reply to this post... :)

First of all great mod... I am sticking to it for a while.

I have played a couple of games and it seems pretty balanced and fun. One of them was noble, standard size map, 875turns, 7 oponents.

I lost in a diplomatic victory around 1950, going also for the space race.

I do not know if this would be usefull but in a guide I have found this. It is a setting for scenario building:

Calendar=: The Calendar setting is used to determine the length in time of each turn in the scenario. By default the calendar is set to default which means the scenario will use the same turn length time as the normal game. Valid options include CALENDAR_YEARS (each turn is one year), CALENDAR_SEASONS (each turn is one season: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn), CALENDAR_MONTHS (each turn is one month) and CALENDAR_WEEKS (each turn is one week, with four weeks to the month).

IMO the number of turns in the modern era is ok, I would like to see more techs in that era and that each one gives less improvments.

The problem with the calendar option is that its all or nothing...the entire game must use the same calendar from start to finish...

:goodjob: This MOD is great! Been using it for a few games and I love what you did! I will post more details after my game I am playing now! Just wanted to let you know how appreciated you are!:goodjob:

Later,

Bilas

:goodjob: This MOD is great! Been using it for a few games and I love what you did! I will post more details after my game I am playing now! Just wanted to let you know how appreciated you are!:goodjob:

Later,

Bilas


Thanks for the Feedback!
Glad you're enjoying the mod!

I have read this in another post. Not sure if I have understand it correctly, but is seems to be a solution for the turns per era issue. :confused:

Hey guys, I'm not sure if this has been brought up in another thread I'm not aware of, but there is a reasonably simple, if ugly, way of leaving the calendar set to years and still obtaining partial years per turn.

All you need to do is have a have a -long- set of gameturninfo's like:
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>0</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>1</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>1</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>1</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>

(Which gives you .5 years per turn)

And, of course, you can get other fractions (on average) like .4 with
patterns like: 0100101001

Using this method I've got a speed running at 5 times the length of a "normal" game using an exact match in era length. Civ has no difficulty coping with having turns back to back that are the same year that I've run into. It's possible some of the autosaves might write over each other, but meh. Hope this was useful.

I have read this in another post. Not sure if I have understand it correctly, but is seems to be a solution for the turns per era issue. :confused:

OH...MY...GOD...

That's utterly insane...But It would work! It means for EVERY turn with a length less than 1 year you'd have to use two lines...but OMG! That will work! It means like 200 entries for 100 turns...but still!
Okay, Now I have a REASON to make a new revision of the mod!!!
Look for that soon...ish...

Glad to help ;)

FexFx, can you take a look at this post:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=3669058#post3669058

I think they are simple things, but I do not know where to start...

Thanks

Glad to help ;)

FexFx, can you take a look at this post:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=3669058#post3669058

I think they are simple things, but I do not know where to start...

Thanks

There, I gave you a reply that should work...
Mo mod uses the CIV4EraInfos.xml file, and so do others...
you'll have to modify that file for each mod that uses it to change this...

Okay, I have a version of Bigger&Longer that I'd like to test out...
It has an extended late era game...
I need some feedback on the balance of late game and overall functionality.
I'd like some volunteers...
PM me...

Any news on this new version? I hope it works sounds like it would be great!:goodjob: Keep up the good work!!!

Bilas

Hows the new update going?

Just curious,

Thanks,

Bilas

Well, as stated above I am waiting for someone to offer their services as a playtester...
So far I have gotten no offers, and I've been too busy to test it myself thusfar...

Well, i'm willing to playtest but i have the same issue... Time... Huge shortage off...

Thats why i didnt PM, because i really enjoy your current mod and anything to help out with a future version :)

Well, as stated above I am waiting for someone to offer their services as a playtester...Well, I thought we were all testers anyway :)

Why not just release it as a beta (different MOD name so it wont mess up games running the last verison), and let people try it out as usual?

True enough...I might as well just put it out there..
:)
Look for it later tonight...
or something...

1000 Downloads!

This is the only mod I have been brave enough to try and I love it. Your mod really makes the game more enjoyable for me.

Thank you FexFX:goodjob:

I tried several, but i like this one because it doesn't alter the balance of the game, no units the AI is having a hard time, no techs or buildings the AI doesnt use properly or anything else that disturbs game balance :)

Still, i cant wait for a distant future version (SDK where are you!) with the extended tech tree and such ;-)

Would like to test it out.

Keep up the good work!:goodjob:

Bilas

This mod is absolutely GREAT. I do not understand why this sort of range was not part of the original game.

This mod is absolutely GREAT. I do not understand why this sort of range was not part of the original game.

Thank you for the kind words friend!
:)
I always thought these numbers should have been part of a customizable interface to begin with...
Perhaps with the SDK a front end could be written allowing on-the-fly changes at the start of each game...

I really really really wish I had found this mod sooner!!!

I tried simply boosting my map size...........
iGridWidth>952</iGridWidth>
<iGridHeight>940</iGridHeight>

but the game is now crashing virtually *every turn*
I can manage to get to end of turn and save
but then somewhere in moving units around crash city
and reload and try to make it to end of turn again.....

I'm in 1590's researching computers to get modern armor
on a hub style map with me running mongols
against 18 other *very pissed off* ai's

I've managed to take down 5 of them so far but
the game just won't go any further...........:(

so I'll start trying this and see how far this goes ;)

antipyre

After playing a couple of times on the longest settings I have some observations.

1. Should units be a teeny bit cheaper? I like the game lasting longer and the tech eras lasting longer too. However, it takes forever to "save" up for a war. I certainly would not want units to be as cheap as they are in the stock game, but would it be good for them to be a teensy bit less expensive than they are? Would the AI benefit?

2. Tech research speeds up dramatically as soon as banks and universities are discovered. By the time I get to chemistry, I'm popping out a new tech every 8-12 turns. I recommend additional research slowdowns in the late-mid and late game.

3. make it longer :p

Was there a newer version posted?
Thanks,
Ioannes.

Yes what happened to the updated version? Was it scraped?

Thanks,

Bilas

[QUOTE=solops]After playing a couple of times on the longest settings I have some observations.

1. Should units be a teeny bit cheaper? I like the game lasting longer and the tech eras lasting longer too. However, it takes forever to "save" up for a war. I certainly would not want units to be as cheap as they are in the stock game, but would it be good for them to be a teensy bit less expensive than they are? Would the AI benefit?

2. Tech research speeds up dramatically as soon as banks and universities are discovered. By the time I get to chemistry, I'm popping out a new tech every 8-12 turns. I recommend additional research slowdowns in the late-mid and late game.

3. make it longer :p[/QUOTE

1. The problem is if they wre much Cheaper the AI would bankrupt themselves by building too many units.

2. I am tinkering with this.

3. Done...

Yes what happened to the updated version? Was it scraped?

Thanks,

Bilas

Not scrapped, just put on hold for a bit...
Its still comming.

Not scrapped, just put on hold for a bit...
Its still comming.

Thats good to hear!:goodjob:

Keep up the good work!
\

Bilas

rather irritating to re-boot the game both when loading the mod
and re-starting the saved game - please, will this be fixed?

been mucking around with other's mods namely greenmod and some
other terraforming mods -

trying to set up a custom map - title says it all

"The-Elven-Word-For-World-Is-Forest"

now all I have to do is figure out how to give all those barbarians
spock ears - and make them respawn every time someone
cuts down a forest.

<evil grin>
antipyre

Hm, I'm playing a game on multiplayer using FX Marathon with the Sevomod; I've got a feeling that culture is a lot too easy to acquire. I have greatly outgrown my enemy (I'm right now at about 2500 points while he's at about 1100), I have huge functioning cities, my capital has too many superspecialists to display, and I'm still having a hard time getting a space victory before my opponent gets three of his cities to 95000 culture.

rather irritating to re-boot the game both when loading the mod and re-starting the saved game - please, will this be fixed?That's not a FexFX thing - that's unfortunately the way Civ4 handles all mods.

But why don't you simply type in the mod in civ4.ini (look for 'mod=') so Civ4 will start with the MOD loaded?

Any word on the update?

Is this mod currently compatible with the 1.61 patch?

With the new patch the game speed slows temendously when you view inside a city.

I deleted the python folder & fixed the xml for anyone still interested in playing this mod. City screen fixed,let me know if it works ok.I did'nt change any other files.Time & turn # not included though from the original.

once I figure it out I'll update it.:lol:

http://members.cox.net/cas70/FexFX--Bigger-and-Longer.zip

Have upgraded Civ IV to V 1.61 and now experience error messages with original (1.8?) version of TAM.

I see you are planning an upgrade for 1.61 in the near future. Looking forward to being able to play your MOD again with the newest version of Civ IV! :) :cool:

Did the 1.61 patch change anything significantly with regards to the turns, iow. is this mod still relevant for the *real* civ experience?

Is this mod compatible to Warlords?
If not somebody willing to make it.

EDIT: Could somebody please say how many turns the unmodded warlords speeds have so i can compare?

wow. this mod looks awesome. I hope it gets upgraded to 1.61 soon.

And is there any chance of making it compatable with Dale's Combat, the one mod I cant live without..? :D