Laurino has finished version 1.97. It's up on the download site, as usual!

It is slightly hard to find. It isn't in the news page, only on the downloads page. But I finally found it and am downloading anxiously!

I believe there is a problem with the roman city names. Maybe it's just me.

This is one of my favorite mods. Thanks for making me spend dozens of hours in front of my computer =D.

Oh my, this looks so awesome! All new graphics... And really high quality ones. Too bad I will have to uninstall it and reinstall 1.96 to play the succession game.

My favorite aspect so far: the new graphics for the ships. Both functional and cool: they look at lot better and now you can tell them apart. Very nice.

Second favorite: the new graphics for the Greek Phalanx. I started building more just because I wanted to look at them.

Too bad this is a day too late for the front page "new mod" list. You should figure out some way to get it more publicity.

Thanks a lot!

Many many MANY more gfx stuff is coming... you'll see;)

I love the new graphics, they are pretty, especially the ships.
Still, the city health/happiness/religion icons need some tweaking:
Unhealthyness is not shown at all, unhappiness appears as unhealthy symbol, and every religion icon has a small star as if it was the holy city...
Other than that, great work!

wow, I have been missing a lot lately. Will be trying the new version in the weekend and will post about Civics too.
WTG Laurino !

1.97 looks good, but still plays SO SLOWLY. Really, guys, antiquity did not develope so slowly (I know since I taught ancient history for 25 yrs.) and as a game the only reason I don't fall asleep is that I get so frustrated. In the next version, please, please cut down the tech development times for the early techs and speed up the workers. Also, giving a worker and another tribal warrior or scout at start up would not be inappropriate.

What game speed are you playing on? I don't find much of a problem on normal.

Back in the bad old days, tech development times were much quicker. There was a real problem with people having researched all of the techs by 200 AD. To combat this, Thamis slowed down the time it takes for cottages to develop and he increased the cost of techs. I find it a much more satisfying game right now. Perhaps the very first tier techs costs could be decreased without much loss. What, in particular, seems inappropriate to you?

the mod is having ctd problems when going to next turn. It started after 40 turns.

No its not my computer. Only TAM 1.97 crashes like this. The rest of the mods i play do not crash.

Hmm, maybe there is an artdefines missing for one of the units? Laurino did add a lot of new graphics, so it is entirely possible for him to have missed something.

The combat animations seem significantly longer than on the previous version, any idea why this happens? It makes the game seem slow.

I made this suggestion a while ago, but I'll make it again now: I'd like it if the calander slowed down earlier. It seems weird that from 400-500 AD one turn is one year, but you rip through Greece and Rome's Golden ages at 20 years a turn or so. Any chance things could start to really slow down around 450 BC or so? I think this might help with Jimmy Geo's complaint as well.

Hi,
first thanks for the great work, I love the new graphics, but with me v1.97 crashes. It now happened for the third time, always somewhere AD. It does not seem connected to building a certain wonder or doing research (I changed that all from a saved game several turn earlier). May be it is something with the new graphics, for it never happened with v1.96.
Two times I played Egypt, once Lydia.

In the Lydian game I just captured a barbarian city.
In one Egyptian game I had laid siege to Sidon with the Lydians as allies.

Waterloo

k since only minor XML changes were made in 1.97 apart from the new graphics, and only units gfx were added in 1.97, it HAS to be that. If you guys have saved games of prior to your crashes, post them, I'll check them out. In the meantime, I'll look at the files myself and will auto-run the game to see where it crashes. We'll have a fix for that as soon as the bug is found, sorry for the inconvenience.

Carthaginian War Elephants don't gain experience or promotions? Is that a bug or intentional?

I'm playing the huge med map.

I also notice that load times seem significantly longer now? Not sure why.

Also, the religious icons for holy city seem to be messed up. For example, the icon for the religion with a star next to it should only appear in the holy city, but on the huge map at least (haven't tried 1.97 on normal map yet) several cities get the holy city emblem.

Additionally, I like how javelineers come with woodworking.

I do have som suggestions for the huge map, which I will break down later, using coordinates.

I always play on epic speed and the game flows just about right, except in the very beginning, say from 5000 to 2500 BC. Hardly anything seems to happen, but the rest of the game does flow well for me.

In the Fall From Heaven 2 Mod, Kael did something that reduced load times significantly (for some people from 10 minutes to 30 seconds). I think it had something to do with when the art was being loaded. Given all the new art, that might be the culprit here. Laurino: you might want to PM him.

K I wrote to Kael for the loading time, and I'm waiting to see what they did in FfH. As for the CTDs, I found a bad tag in the unit art file, and corrected. In my game, the Steppe Marauder wouldn't show properly (big red half-sphere), but the game didnt crash. In fact, I ran the game on automatic several times yesterday night, and never got it to crash. I'm posting the fix for the art file, please check if your game still crashes after the correction. If this doesn't work, I'll need saved games of just before the crash.

Unpack the zip in :
...\The Ancient Mediterranean\Assets\XML\Art\

it'replace the old one and fic the Steppe Marauder graphics.

What game speed are you playing on? I don't find much of a problem on normal.

Back in the bad old days, tech development times were much quicker. There was a real problem with people having researched all of the techs by 200 AD. To combat this, Thamis slowed down the time it takes for cottages to develop and he increased the cost of techs. I find it a much more satisfying game right now. Perhaps the very first tier techs costs could be decreased without much loss. What, in particular, seems inappropriate to you?

I'm playing on normal speed, too. I think that the speed of tech development is too slow, esp. in the early turns. The 5th millenium (5000-4000) BC just was not so slow or primitive, at least not in the Near East and Egypt (China, too, but that's a different scenario). Check out Wikipedia under 5th millenium to see the spread of culture and technology. For example Jericho and Catal Hoyuk in what's now SE Turkey were flourishing towns with agriculture and pottery and the beginnings of copper use by 5000 BC. This just don't happen in TAM. I think a major re-think of the tech tree and cost of techs should be undertaken not only for historical verisimilitude but also for enjoyable game play. I was also a partner in a game development and publishing company a number of years ago and have been involved with game testing a lot since, so I know at least something about gaming and gamers. Please, TAM is a very good mod, let's make it a truly great one.

jimmygeo

Not sure if this is the right thread to post into - but here goes...

I loaded v1.97 (first version ever loaded) yesterday, and it automaticaly booted up Civ and I could get playing (I also loaded the Peloponnesian war scenario - 'cos I fanced having a crack at that).

Today when I try to load the mod / or the save game, it says it need to restart, shuts down Civ and then I get the first loading screen (the one that says 'loading in a number of different languages). This then vanishes and nothing more happens. Task manager still has the civ4.exe process running, but it never gets any further. Any suggestions?

Just wait patiently...It will eventually load.

I'm playing on normal speed, too. I think that the speed of tech development is too slow, esp. in the early turns. The 5th millenium (5000-4000) BC just was not so slow or primitive, at least not in the Near East and Egypt (China, too, but that's a different scenario). Check out Wikipedia under 5th millenium to see the spread of culture and technology. For example Jericho and Catal Hoyuk in what's now SE Turkey were flourishing towns with agriculture and pottery and the beginnings of copper use by 5000 BC. This just don't happen in TAM. I think a major re-think of the tech tree and cost of techs should be undertaken not only for historical verisimilitude but also for enjoyable game play. I was also a partner in a game development and publishing company a number of years ago and have been involved with game testing a lot since, so I know at least something about gaming and gamers. Please, TAM is a very good mod, let's make it a truly great one.

jimmygeo

Ah, I didn't quite understand the the tenor of your criticism. You are worried about the historical accuracy of the early game. (On a similar note, I always found Christianity well after 0 BC, because it is a late tech). Well, one thing that could be done is to re-arrange the calander so that turns our shorter in these first 3000 years. But there is still a basic problem: at least half of the civilizations don't even exist during these 3000 years, let alone develop technology. I would think this would be a greater historical concern: how do you start playing Rome in 5500 BC?

But even ignoring that, are you going to let Carthage and Rome and Lydia develop agriculture, animal husbandry, copper working, etc. in the 4000s? If so, doesn't that have the same (if not worse) historical problems? If not, how are you going to avoid Babylon and Egypt absolutely dominating the game from their strong start in the 4000s? And how are you going to avoid the game for Rome and Germany being as dull as dirt for the first 3000 years?

I think that what you say makes sense for the Near East and Egypt, but I'm not sure that it does for the Mediterranean as a whole. It would be nice to see a mod just for the Near East and Egypt.

Just wait patiently...It will eventually load.
well went away to deal with two screaming kids and came back 3 hours later and it had loaded....

Thanks for the fast response!!!
Well, I reinstalled v1.97 and the game that crashed with me, worked without a problem. The other Savegame I had, that of my son, does not load without crashing so it is probably of little use, but I post it just the same.
I'll play again and will it post if anything happens,

Waterloo

I finally tried a little 1.97 last night. The graphics look great! My Chariot Archers did the run-across-the-screen thing a few times when ordered to attack.

I like the Javelin moved to Woodworking. Were there any other game changes?

I would suggest moving the Scout unit to Hunting. Unless he can cross non-open boarders, by the time I research Exploration there is little need for Scouts.

started a new gam after applying your fix. still got the ctd around 4000 BC
its msvcp71.dll that gets the error......

Played another civ game without the mod and no crash. weird.


uploaded my save game to you. i get the ctd when i hit the next turn button.

On the 1.97 Medium Med map, Rome is called: TEXT_NAME.

The Tartessain bio still says their starting tech is fishing, but in game they start with Pastoralism and Ceremonial Burial. I think Fishing and Parstoralism would be a nice starting tech combo for them.

Ah, I didn't quite understand the the tenor of your criticism. You are worried about the historical accuracy of the early game. (On a similar note, I always found Christianity well after 0 BC, because it is a late tech). Well, one thing that could be done is to re-arrange the calander so that turns our shorter in these first 3000 years. But there is still a basic problem: at least half of the civilizations don't even exist during these 3000 years, let alone develop technology. I would think this would be a greater historical concern: how do you start playing Rome in 5500 BC?

But even ignoring that, are you going to let Carthage and Rome and Lydia develop agriculture, animal husbandry, copper working, etc. in the 4000s? If so, doesn't that have the same (if not worse) historical problems? If not, how are you going to avoid Babylon and Egypt absolutely dominating the game from their strong start in the 4000s? And how are you going to avoid the game for Rome and Germany being as dull as dirt for the first 3000 years?

I think that what you say makes sense for the Near East and Egypt, but I'm not sure that it does for the Mediterranean as a whole. It would be nice to see a mod just for the Near East and Egypt.

Your points are well taken. I was not suggesting that all cives start with more techs, just the 'older' Near Eastern ones (e.g. Babylonia, Egypt etc.). They should all have at least tools, pastoralism and agriculture in addition to any civ specific ones. That way other civs such as Rome, Carthage etc. would start at a disadvantage and would have to develope techs.

Alternatively, you could employ the device that Rhye's and Fall uses of having the later civs start later with more techs.

Just some thoughts.

jimmygeo

Any quickefix for the missing citie names for rome? One of those little things that ruines the overall feel of the game.

Your points are well taken. I was not suggesting that all cives start with more techs, just the 'older' Near Eastern ones (e.g. Babylonia, Egypt etc.). They should all have at least tools, pastoralism and agriculture in addition to any civ specific ones. That way other civs such as Rome, Carthage etc. would start at a disadvantage and would have to develope techs.

Alternatively, you could employ the device that Rhye's and Fall uses of having the later civs start later with more techs.

Just some thoughts.

jimmygeo

Your ideas work well for a scenario, but not for the mod as a whole. In order for multiplayer on a random map to be viable, each civ has to be balanced from the start. Just giving the earlier civs a huge bonus while all the later civs start with practically nothing makes for a very one-sided game.

I checked on the Rome city bug, and I did not see anything wrong with it. Does it happen for any other civ than Rome?

TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_CAPUA
TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_ROMA

Attached is a game that displays the error.

I was messing around with a random map game noticed the addition of 2 new resources: Salt(health) and Honey(happy).

The algorithm that distributes resources in the random map can do some mad bunching. I had 7 grassland gem squares in my starting city radius!

I'll make a new text file and post it as a fix. Once I post it just extract the XML file into the text folder and it should work.

I fixed the city problem by renaming TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_ROMA to ROME, and I also just took out Capua comletely, the city lists have been shifted for some reason. I'll post the CivilizationInfos soon.

By the way, great graphics Laurino! I wish I had that kind of talent. I had no crashes in my Hittite game. And the slow load time can be attributed to the addition of so many new art files. Kael has a Tutorial on how to make your mod load faster by PAKing the art files.

I noticed a bug in 1.97:

The Cartagian War Elephants as well as Hannibal get xp but won't get promotions.

I'll take a look at the Elephant and Hannibal later today...

Playing TAM 1.97, I noticed some strange things (bug or wad?)

1) Heavy Horse Archer and Steppe Marauder are mounted units now instead of archer units like they were in 1.96, but Targitaus (Steppe Marauder Hero) remains an archer

2) Abibel of Tyre (Phoenician Bireme Hero) cannot enter enemy sea squares during peacetime like normal biremes do instead

3) Illyrian Kambsor is a medium unit spearman, while Pyrrhus of Epirus (Kambsor Hero) is a heavy unit instead

4) When you create a new phoenician town, city name prompts in english ignoring translation

Elephants are now in a category of their own: Elephant Units. I forgot to add this type of units to the promotions file.

All heroes are supposed to be the same combat type than their base unit. thanks for pointing out the bug;)

Abybel of Tyr should be able to do the same as galleys... It'll be corrected

In the Fall From Heaven 2 Mod, Kael did something that reduced load times significantly (for some people from 10 minutes to 30 seconds). I think it had something to do with when the art was being loaded. Given all the new art, that might be the culprit here.

He built a pak file (or 2?) for all of the graphics. There is a thread about it, and the utility (pakbuild.exe) is posted.

1.98 will have a .pak file. Hopefully in a week!

In the random map game, it looks like the Salt and the Honey are not tradable.

The 2nd or 3rd Gothic city, Ostrogoth, has that NAME_TXT error that Rome had.

Hello :) I didn't want to open a new thread so I'm asking here - is there a possibility to play, in this mod, as barbarians or (whan not) will it be possible in new versions? :)

Here is an easy reproduceable CTD saved game (TAM 197 - Monarch - Normal map - Hiram)

SAVED GAME (http://ambrox62.altervista.org/civ4/tam/TAM_197_Mon_Nor_Hiram.rar)

To reproduce CTD simply end turn clicking on green button

I hope this can help to solve CTD problems ;)

PS
I've an autosave 3 or 4 turns before. If anyone is interested I could upload it also.

It happened again, crash while attacking Steppe Marauder in a city with an armoured spearman (Caesar - small Map - Prince).

I attached the last autosave before the crash.

I had not installed the fix for the steppe marauder so far. :blush: Will do so now.

Waterloo

Actually the crash happens with the steppe marauder fix, too.

Does anyone know if there is an error log when civ4 CTD?

Is there a way to understand why game crashs at some point?

:confused: