http://www.jan.vandercrabben.name/tam/civ4/tam-persian-cuneiform.gif

You can find download links for TAM on the TAM website (http://tam.ancient.eu.com/), or simply by following this link:

>> Download (http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-ancient-mediterranean/downloads) the latest version

Installation Instructions
Delete "The Ancient Mediterranean" folder in your CIV4\Mods folder if you have installed TAM before! This ensures that your XMLs are up to date if we split old files into several new ones. Then double-click the installer and extract it into your main CIV4 folder. This will not overwrite any original CIV files.

The map is in the PublicMaps folder. Best way to launch the mod is to simply double-click the map file!

Features
- All ancient civilizations
- All ancient technology tree (completely new tree)
- All ancient units (many new units)
- Heroes
- Several maps, more coming
- Smithies equip units with better weapons
- More dynamic religion spread
- Reworked AI behaviour

Playable Civilizations:
- Babylon (Hammurabi)
- Gaul (Vercingetorix)
- Mycenae (Agamemnon)
- Rome (Caesar)
- Scythia (Partatua)
- Egypt (Hatshepsut)
- Iberian Tribes (Viriato)
- Germanic Tribes (Arminius)
- Carthage (Dido)
- Lydia (Kroisos)
- Phoenicia (Hiram)
- Getae (Decebalus)
- Kolchis (Aeetes)
- Illyria (Teuta)
- Persia (Dareios)
- Medes (Deiokes)
- Britons (Cunobelin)
- Goths (Theoderich) (not on any of the maps)
- Nubia (Taharqa)
- Tartessia (Argantonio)

The Team
Thamis (Chief Evangelist, German Text)
Shqype (Chief Coder, Pythonist)
Laurino (Iconographer, French Text)
Seven05 (SDK God)
Ingvina Freyr (Research, Pedia, Graphics)
Notarzt (Chief Skinner)
Karhgath (Treemaker)
Onedreamer (Tester, Italian Text)
Leptomeninges (Copywriter)
Spirit_Viriato (Spanish Text)

Change List by Version
Visit the TAM website (http://www.jan.vandercrabben.name/tam/) for the complete list of changes for all versions.

Great to see another great mod gets its due!

Nice! Different threads is going to make things a lot easier to handle.

s`about bloody time ye got a forum, am pleased.

haha, I like Irish people.

damn it, why is there no goths in any of the maps! Gothic hating people:mad: . oh well, at least i continue to play as the Germanic Empire. I do hate these freakin crashes and bright Terrain bugs that i continue to get on Civ 4... When will Firaxis ever going to fix them things on there engine!

damn it, why is there no goths in any of the maps! Gothic hating people:mad: . oh well, at least i continue to play as the Germanic Empire. I do hate these freakin crashes and bright Terrain bugs that i continue to get on Civ 4... When will Firaxis ever going to fix them things on there engine!

I personally think the Goths are more suiting for a Fall of Rome scenario, but I think they will be added when the 18 civ limit is removed.

I personally think the Goths are more suiting for a Fall of Rome scenario, but I think they will be added when the 18 civ limit is removed.
hmm... will there be a 24 limit with warlords? or none at all? hopefully the latter.

hmm... will there be a 24 limit with warlords? or none at all? hopefully the latter.

Well, I'm not sure if it will be removed completely, but I think I heard that you at least will be able to play 24 Civs at once. This must be done to be able to play all the 24 vanilla civs after Warlords on one map.

I never play huge maps now, because I think that 18 civs is to little to fill those maps. I guess 24 + will be awesome for the huge sized maps!

Is it reasonable to assume that this latest version of TAM is essentially complete with little but a few bugs to work out?

Yes, that's how it is. It works perfectly fine, we're just working on the fine tuning and some minor missing text entries.

Just posting so that I can get notices when the forum is updated. P.S. just got warlords and can't wait for a TAM compatable mod.

Well, I'm not sure if it will be removed completely, but I think I heard that you at least will be able to play 24 Civs at once. This must be done to be able to play all the 24 vanilla civs after Warlords on one map.

I never play huge maps now, because I think that 18 civs is to little to fill those maps. I guess 24 + will be awesome for the huge sized maps!
wahhh...
customgame on warlords; only 18 civ can be put in :(

is there no way this can be modded?

Either Dale or Rhye have modded warlords to allow for 32 civs. :D

We'll finish up the normal CIV4 version first and then move on to warlords. Finishing up means that we'll fix up graphics and text, and do some more gameplay balance tweaks.

Either Dale or Rhye have modded warlords to allow for 32 civs. :D

We'll finish up the normal CIV4 version first and then move on to warlords. Finishing up means that we'll fix up graphics and text, and do some more gameplay balance tweaks.
wow. excellent! i can do a 32 counties of ireland scenario now...
either dale or rhye, i salute you! :salute:

What civs are going to be added since the cap has been removed?

Version 1.95 posted, get it at the TAM website as always.

I downloaded the scenario and extracted to my civ 4 file as instucted. I'm running version 1.6.1.1841 and I cant seem to get the scenario to work. I get numerous errors as the mod is loading. I manage to get as far as the civ selection screen but after there is a critical error and civ shuts down. Am I running the wrong version of civ? Is it supposed to be for warlords? Any advice?

Are you sure you extracted the MOD into your MAIN civ4 folder, NOT into the mods folder? That's what it sounds like to me. It's not for warlords, but for normal civ.

Actually I think it may be a problem with civ itself. I'm reistalling. If it doesnt work ill let you know. I did install it correctly though.

Version 1.96 posted. This version includes a new map and has many graphical changes.

Very good will try out new version.keep up the good work. thank you. I was looking at your map making tutorial. Very interesting might solve an annoyance of civ4 for me.

Warlords or not Warlords ?

This is not Warlords. A Warlords version is in the works but most of the developers are quite busy right now so it is unclear when it is going to be released.

The mod's not working in my game. I have the latest update, standard edition... so, what might the problem be?:confused:

Where is the download?

See the first post of this thread!

Very cool, I think this will be the first mod I try out. But where are my Mediterranian brothers the Israelites?

If you can find kwarriorpoet and Dionysius, maybe you can hire: the A-Team, or get them to finish the Canaan map I helped them with in the scenarios thread.

Hey, thamis,
I enjoyed TAM for Civ 3 and wanted to play the Civ 4 version, but no luck with the dl site. Got an error 404 when I clicked on the link from the TAM site, and the UK mirror didn't work either. What gives???

jimmygeo

Hi,

I’ve played your mod and I like it. I want help you to continue your mod.

Why I want to help you?

-Civilization is my favourite game.
-Antique history is the historical period that interests me the most.
-I have to improve my English
-I want to help in a mod creation.

How can I help you now?
-I can help you to translate your mod for all the French speaking Civ4 players (My English is not perfect, but I have a good comprehension).

Who I am?
I’m 25, I live in France, and I have a licence in computer science.
I actually work for an insurance company, sometime as analyst, project manager or programmer. I work in ASP, HTML, JavaScript and COBOL (Not very useful languages for moding). I also know Visual Basic.

Please answer me if you’re interested by my help.

Love the mod - having great fun with it!

Only problem seems to be that every roman town is names the same - i.e. s sting of text (looks like its the city name file?) and then roma - any clues on how to fix?

I've updated the download links on the TAM website. We now have a working download for TAM 1.97 for both Windows and Mac! Sorry about all the downtime!

Attempting to run The Ancient Mediterranean 1.97 on a Mac (thanks, thamis!), I've had a few issues. Firstly, the Hittite file seems to have some errors à la the sort you'd find if it hadn't been fully converted for Mac use. I tried the "Zap Gremlins" option in TextWrangler but it still seems to be a little off.

Worse, and I don't know if this is the mod or something else… all the colours of the icons are blue and messed up. I can't imagine that was an intentional feature… anyone have any idea what could possibly be doing that?

Game looks good otherwise, but I'm not sure if I can stomach the blueness!

Hmm... no clue what went wrong there with the blueness on a Mac... Maybe post in the Mac forum and ask if anyone knows about this?

First, I like all the work that has been put into this mod, with new techs, units, promotions, resources etc. Brings a new fresh gameplay feeling. Good job to you and your team.

The time it takes to get through researching techs, building units, constructing buildings, and even building improvements is just way too long. I run into time victories before the research tree is completed. The AI even struggles, albeit ever so slightly, on the higher levels to research quickly.

Great Thanks for the mod! Will you include some good music ?

We're looking into including a music pack for later versions.

Version 1.99b is released! Check the first page of this thread for a download link.

I'm having installation problems- the file won't extract.

~Hiram

I'm having installation problems- the file won't extract.

~Hiram

It won't extract for me either. :(

Are you downloading the EXE?

Are you on a Mac?

I'm on a windows computer downloading the EXE. Where can I get a RAR or ZIP version?

~Hiram.

I just downloaded it and tried it. It extracts fine. You have to just execute the file (double-click) and it'll do it. No need for WinZip or anything like that.

I'll also upload a zipped version.

Are the Windows and Mac versions of TAM interoperable? i.e. Can saved games be played interchangeably between platforms, and does multiplayer work in a mixed environment?

I have no idea. Just try it, and let us know! :-)

Sure, I'd love to do. Is there anywhere that I could download the Windows version 1.97, to correlate to the latest Macintosh release?

Yes, on the main website. There are links to both versions there.

EDIT:
I take that back. I'll upload a zipped version of 1.99b later.

Nevermind. I found both 1.97 versions at http://mods.moddb.com/6914/the-ancient-mediterranean/downloads/

Apparently interoperability is the least of matters. The Macintosh version of TAM would not even load! Here is the error message:

@ Schmendrick... You just have click Okay (there will be four error messages) ... may have to move the dialogue box but it will then work. However, the Hittites come out with their city names and leader name all mucked up. Some of Rome's cities are affected, too.

And it is my understanding that an .exe file will not work with a mac. Thus I have not been able to play test 1.99b... stuck at 1.97 mac.

Ciao

@ Schmendrick... You just have click Okay (there will be four error messages) ... may have to move the dialogue box but it will then work. However, the Hittites come out with their city names and leader name all mucked up. Some of Rome's cities are affected, too.

And it is my understanding that an .exe file will not work with a mac. Thus I have not been able to play test 1.99b... stuck at 1.97 mac.

Ciao

Ah, I had no idea there was a dialogue box. AlanH on this thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=5893750&postcount=38) posted a fix to the two files causing the error message.

Is there no difference in the files between the Macintosh and Windows versions?—is it simply a matter of expanding the .exe file?

----------------------------------------
TAM v2.01 (for Civ4 Vanilla v1.74)
----------------------------------------

TAM SITE (http://tam.arbolingo.com/downloads/)
WARNING: you need a fresh installation in order to play TAM 2.01. Finish your current savegame, if you care it, before installing TAM 2.01

Installation:
If you have installed TAM before, delete the TAM folder from your "Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Mods" folder. Then put the downloaded TAM file into your "Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4" folder and extract it using WinRAR "Extract Here" command. No original CIV files will be overwritten

Launching:
The best way to launch the MOD is to double-click the TAM map files (marked as 2.01) in the "Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\PublicMaps" folder

TAM v2.01 features:
-> XML improvements and fixes on civics, wonders, buildings, techtree and units
-> Assyrian as 24th playable civ
-> New scenario map - TAM Eastern Med - 15 Civs - Standard map
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/57247/TAM_Eastern_Med_-_briefing.jpg

Is their anyway we can get this for BTS or is it only for Civ 4

The BTS version is only compatible for version 3.13 not 3.17 yet.

*Looks around dusty room* Humm *Picks up duster and cleans things up a bit* Thats better....

Any Updated info ?

I hope you update it for 3.17 :mad:

...because i stayed up until 1:30 trying to find out what was wrong...

I hope you update it for 3.17 :mad:

...because i stayed up until 1:30 trying to find out what was wrong...

I agree... I don't have much to say other than that >.>

i third that! please update to 3.17!!

Am I missing something? It seems that the 0.82 download doesn't contain any maps, and I can't find the map pack that's been referenced in this forum.

I seem to be having problems getting this mod to play, I have the maps in the public map folder (in BTS) and the Mod in the mod folder as well as the compatibility patch for version 3.17, i start the game from the public maps folder, I get to the screen where you pick your civilization, and when I start loading the world the game crashes.

I seem to be having problems getting this mod to play, I have the maps in the public map folder (in BTS) and the Mod in the mod folder as well as the compatibility patch for version 3.17, i start the game from the public maps folder, I get to the screen where you pick your civilization, and when I start loading the world the game crashes.

I suspect you put the compatibility patch for version 3.17 in a wrong place.
It goes in "Beyond the Sword\Mods\TAM\Assets" folder

thank you that fixed it.

I am also having a problem loading this mod. I can't figure out what is going wrong.

Mod is extracted to civ 4/bts/mods
Map pack is loaded into civ 4/bts/public maps
the compatibility patch replaces the old dll in the bts/mods/tam/assets folder
then I try to start the game from the map packs.

When I do I get a error from windows. Does anyone have any ideas? I have redone this process many times, with the same result. Thank you

then I try to start the game from the map packs.

When I do I get a error from windows.

What exactly means "try to start the game from the map packs"?
You should unzip the map pack into civ 4/bts/public maps, then doubleclick on the "right" TAM map file (i.e. you should remove the old TAM map files before unzip the new ones)
And what exactly says the windows error you got?

Thank you for replying ambrox. I think this might be where I am going wrong.

To start the game I am just double clicking on one of the maps.

When I unzipped the map pack it was just a folder titled TAM Maps. I put that folder in the BTS/public maps folder, but there wasn't any TAM maps there to replace. This is my first time to load this mod.

I cannot not remember the exact error that I am getting and I am not at my home computer right now.

But it is the generic error screen that says " an error has occured while civilization bts was playing. Do you want to report this issue to windows?" The error occurs durning the load up of mod.

Any ideas? I am also having trouble loading other mods. Do you think that I might have to uninstall and reinstall civ and BTS?

When I unzipped the map pack it was just a folder titled TAM Maps. I put that folder in the BTS/public maps folder, but there wasn't any TAM maps there to replace.

Put the several TAM map files directly into BTS/public maps folder (without using or creating "TAM maps" or whatever else subfolder), then doubleclick on a tam map file of your choice. The mod should start correctly this way

Hm, I have python exceptions turned on and I get some errors. More different errors as the time passes... Probably not critical, but I thought I'd mention it. Otherwise a nice mod :) Might even try it in multiplayer.

Errors (playing as hittites on the small map included):
-"Can't find type enum for type tag TECH_METAL_CASTING"
-type tag RELIGION_ISLAM
-type tag BONUS_URANIUM
-type tag BONUS_OIL

I guess its about map or ai features not present in the mod?

All of those errors are from the random events Python. That particular python (Python/Entrypoints/CvRandomEvents.py) file needs to be added and edited to fit this mod.

I need some help please. I have civ iv gold edition (includes warlords). vanilla and warlords are up to date. when I try to load this mod for van i get xml errors for the forbidden palace and three gorges dam. Have similar issues with lost units mod but other mods work just fine. Did I get an out of date file ( downloaded from downloads section )? Or do I need to do clean reinstall. I'm kinda lost. I run vista on an inspiron 1525 dell comp.. All my drivers are up to date also. Thanx for any help you can offer!
Never mind didn't read or look around enough to realize this is for bts. Was not noted on download page sorry for taking up space and time.

Seems I'm a little late on this. I've never thought of modding Civ4 despite having it for 4 years. Funny.

Hi, I'm a bit confuesd, whats the most recent version of this mod? Also, is this mod still in development, as in will there be more patches in the future? Last question, there is the option to install leaderheads, are these animated leaderheads already in the newest version?

The latest version is BTS v0.82.

The animated leaderheads are not part of the latest version, they are an optional download.

You can download both of them here:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-ancient-mediterranean/downloads

We're currently working on the next update to the mod. Expect more patches. :-)

The animated leaderheads are not part of the latest version, they are an optional download.

You can download both of them here:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-ancient-mediterranean/downloads


Please, be careful.
Animated LHs from link above refer to VANILLA TAM 2.01, not BTS 0.82.
Do NOT install those LHs over TAM BTS 0.82

Animated LHs for BTS file is TAM_BTS_Animated_LHs.exe, but currently he have no more a working link after the servers switch :(
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=257148

Thanks for pointing that out. I'll fix this tonight.

I was just wondering is version .82 compatible with BTS v3.19?

It's only half-compatible. If it doesn't work, you need to delete the CIVGameCore.dll from the Mod's Assets folder.

Since I use BtS 3.19 I had to delete the CIVGameCore.dll to get the mod to run. But now I got a little problem. Whenever I start the large TAM map with 24 players the maximum number of players in the game is still 18 like in vanilla BtS. Is there any way to change the max number of players back to 24 so all ancient civs can get involved?

No chance to play with 24 civs without the ddl

No chance to play with 24 civs without the ddl


dang it, i guess we can only hope the mod gets a update soon :cry:

I only play Civ4 for TAM and just bought BTS because I got tired of the mem alloc crashes. So for TAM should I just use 3.17 instead of 3.19?

Haplo

TAM 0.82 works with BTS 3.17 only.

The main problem to release a new public TAM patch is the DDL. It must be converted to 3.19, but at the moment it cannot be done.

Unfortunately, a new TAM patch was ready the day before firaxis released 3.19 in the last june. During the summer this patch has been tested successfully, but how many persons still have BTS 3.17 running on PC? None, I guess :(

In this case I see no problem going back to 3.17
is it possible to download the patch ?

The current TAM crew plan is to release a completely and deeply new version, but afaik it is far away to be finished.

In the meantime I may ask to TAM leaders the permission to release the ongoing patch, a rich upgrade from the previous 0.82.
How many people are interested to play with a new TAM version, but running on BTS 3.17 ONLY?

I'm happy to wait for it to be converted to the new patch :)

I'm happy to wait for it to be converted to the new patch :)

How many people are interested to play with a new TAM version, but running on BTS 3.17 ONLY?

Don't know for sure... ;) But I would love playing TAM with patched BtS.

Dang :S 3.19 please.

Had problems with TAM multiplayer anyway ...

Hi thanks for a great mod around a history I really know.

I had downloaded TAM for Vanilla which I enjoyed for some time. Then I Upgraded to BtS 3.19 and Better AI. Then without paying attention I downloaded TAM, and when it came to downloading the animated LH's I realized that TAM was 3.17 compatible and the LH's don't download from the site.

Anyway, if I underastand correctly from this thread, if I want to play TAM again in the near future all I have to do is disable the .dll, a quick rename can take care of that, and mod the vanilla LH's to upgrade them to 3.19 compatibility. If the moding changes to the LH's are only xml tag additions to correspond to the new 3.19 schema, then this is not too difficult for me. Please let me know what files have to be moded for each LH and I'll figure out the actual tag additions and changes myself. I hope that the Diplo tags don't have to also be moded, I hate these.

If you haven't reached that stage of updating yourselves, we all have Real Life Work as well, maybe I can send you some updated LH's as I finish them, which is not going to be very fast, but I think I can handle that if you let me know which ones you may want done first by me.

Thanks.

1) if I want to play TAM again in the near future all I have to do is disable the .dll, a quick rename can take care of that

2) and mod the vanilla LH's to upgrade them to 3.19 compatibility.


1) Yes, you can, but you will lose a LOT of the best TAM features

2) There is no need to do that, because animated LHs for BTS already exist (click here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=257148) to see them)
The issue is that actually doesn't exist a public link to download them, because the previous one is broken

I'm glad to see that there is still interest on TAM.
Unfortunately, as I wrote above, I'm not able to produce a TAM ddl working with BTS 3.19. To play TAM, I still run BTS 3.17 on my PC, although I understand very well that ALL civ4 players run 3.19.
Thus, stay tuned and, hopefully, wait for a 3.19 update :)

If there is anything we can do? Otherwise :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: to mighty :egypt:

Heh, so yea, there is interest...

Actually I am still on BTS 3.17, because I only play TAM, so you see I did not play for a long time. I'd be happy to have the 3.17 version.

Still waiting an hoping...

I know, that one looses a lot of the uniqueness, but it's better than nothing, no? Half a loaf is better than none.

I'll post here if I have problems with installing without a .dll. Hope you'll be able to help.

For people (like me) on steam, rolling back to 3.17 isn't an option*, so yeah, a 3.19 version would be nice.

*Even if it was an option, it'd be a tough choice with fall from heaven being 3.19 compatible.

How many people are interested to play with a new TAM version, but running on BTS 3.17 ONLY?

Yes, they can (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=339331)


:lol:

thank you and the TAM team very much, downloading right now :)

TAM 0.90 works with BTS 3.19 now :)

Download it here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=339331)
Thanks to Shkype :goodjob:

I'm glad to see that there is still interest on TAM.

I've been a fan of TAM since Civ 3. What's more, I never post online. I have a complicated love/hate relationship with the internet, but online communication is what I abhor most of all. That said, I've been dropping in to visit civfanatics.com now for years, and though I've said my thanks for TAM in the past to the team members then involved, I just saw your post and... well I just had a twinge of fear that if I didn't give TAM the praise it deserves again, that the project might actually be abandoned! So I registered and am responding here to tell you to keep up the fantastic work. Civilization IV is a great game, but ever since TAM it's been worlds better to me. Thanks for your work.

Oh, and your ethnic units in another thread are looking good too. Can't wait for more.

Sorry for being blunt, but does multiplayer work too? Since we had serious crash issues with the version for 3.17... you know its hard to convince people to install a ton of mods :)

TAM 0.90 works with BTS 3.19 now :)

Download it here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=339331)
Thanks to Shkype :goodjob:
It's SHQYPE! There is NO "K" sound in my name.

I've been a fan of TAM since Civ 3. What's more, I never post online. I have a complicated love/hate relationship with the internet, but online communication is what I abhor most of all. That said, I've been dropping in to visit civfanatics.com now for years, and though I've said my thanks for TAM in the past to the team members then involved, I just saw your post and... well I just had a twinge of fear that if I didn't give TAM the praise it deserves again, that the project might actually be abandoned! So I registered and am responding here to tell you to keep up the fantastic work. Civilization IV is a great game, but ever since TAM it's been worlds better to me. Thanks for your work.

Oh, and your ethnic units in another thread are looking good too. Can't wait for more.
Wow, that's a delight to hear! Thank you very much for the praise. It's always encouraging and motivating when members of the community appreciate the hard work that you've put into something. The TAM team has done a lot to continue this mod, and I'm sure we'd all enjoy reading your words.

Thanks again for signing up and welcome to CivFanatics! I hope you continue to visit and post in our sub-section with thoughts, comments, and suggestions on how to make TAM better. :)
Sorry for being blunt, but does multiplayer work too? Since we had serious crash issues with the version for 3.17... you know its hard to convince people to install a ton of mods :)

Yes, there's no reason why it shouldn't! Let me know if you have any problems.

Long live TAM :goodjob: What a great delight to see the best Mod on civ4 to be updated for BtS.

Kudos to the maintainers :clap:

Hm, I seem to have some problems here... installed BTS from steam and now my file associations are broken. Is there any other way to start it? I can "load the mod" but then what do I do to launch a map?

Hm, I seem to have some problems here... installed BTS from steam and now my file associations are broken. Is there any other way to start it? I can "load the mod" but then what do I do to launch a map?

Select "Play a scenario", then you should see several TAM maps. If not, it means you did a bad TAM 0.90 installation

There is definitely something wrong.

But what, that I don't know. Mod seems to be loading properly, what else could be wrong? I've put the maps in both steam and my documents public maps folder. There must be something trivially crazy. Or a bug (pray not:S).

What happens if you go into "Beyond the Sword\PublicMaps" folder and double click on your preferred TAM map file?

Read up, I have broken file associations...

But I also tried "opening the file with specific application" though that only launches civ4 for me. Probably some parameters should be passed or such. Maybe you could export your registry key dealing with whatever filetype this map is? Maybe it would help if I knew how should it be called.

I haven't Civ4 installed on the PC where I'm answering now.
Furthermore your "bad association" seems a Civ installation fault.
I can't say you more, sorry :confused:

There seems to be no way whatsoever of launching the TAM scenarios from within the game.

You have to import the correct registry settings for the file association... Civ has to be ran like so: civ4 /FXSLOAD=foo

Meaning in registry you need to find the correct registry key, for example:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/CivBeyondSwordWBSave_auto_file/shell/open/command (that got added automatically when I chose to open file using civ.exe)

And modify the key from "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\sid meier's civilization iv beyond the sword\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" "%1"

to

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\sid meier's civilization iv beyond the sword\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" /fxsload="%1"

I'm not skilled enough on registry keys.
I've checked my key and it is

"C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" /fxsload="%1"

I've a Vanilla-BTS (no WRLD) DVD installation on XP and another on Vista. Maybe some wrong steam parameters during the installing procedure ? :confused:

A general question on diplomacy:

Do any countries sign open border agreements? I've played as Rome and as Carthage now, and no one ever signs them, which makes merchant vessels useless so you can never enter foreign cities.

Am I missing something?

Edit: In my Carthage game now, people have actually started to trade techs with me and signed some open border agreements, but in a long Roman game they never did.

Are the Romans hard-coded to be everyone's enemy?

Are the Romans hard-coded to be everyone's enemy?

Absolutely not, although there are some LHs more annoyed than others.
Usually, when you are at a war against a shared enemy within other civs, those civs sign a open border agreement with you.
Generally civs with pleased or friendly relationship with you sign open border agreements.