HOF Questions and Answers Thread [Archive] - Page 2

dutchfire

Feb 14, 2008, 02:00 PM

Can you describe how you changed this to 99 or 100%?

Keep in mind I am not computer friendly so... use small words and pictures please :)

Windows Explorer (I'm using XP maps and stuff, but I suppose it's the same in Vista)
C:Program Files/Firaxis Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4/Mods/HOF-1.74.002/

Open HOF-1.74.022.ini with wordpad or a similar program.
Search for (Control F)
"# Threshold for Land being close to limit (Percent)"
Set the number on the next line to 99.0
Save the file
Start up civ, and it should work.

Bleys

Feb 14, 2008, 05:04 PM

Thank you for the responses. It really is an overwhelming proposition to get started on. I really like the idea of the GOTM, playing a common map, as I can already tell there are MANY "tricks" for getting the best set-up to the Gauntlet and QM games.

I could still use some direction though. Lets say I want to start playing games for my QM (thats the "all leaders, all map types, all speeds, all difficulties, right?) which would you suggest I try for first? Just give me a strong nudge, like "Your fav CRE leader with a good UU (Hatty is mine) on a small Pangaea with all the easy-to-rush civs like XXX and YYY".

Also, what is MapFinder? And also-also, are there any other MODs that can be combined with the HoF mod legally to help with even more stuff that people suggest?

Denniz

Feb 14, 2008, 06:04 PM

Also, what is MapFinder? And also-also, are there any other MODs that can be combined with the HoF mod legally to help with even more stuff that people suggest?MapFinder is a HOF Mod function that will auto-regenerate maps and check the starting area for desired combinations of terrain and resources. When it finds one it saves the game to a folder. Later you can use a utility (separate download) to view a picture and the stats of each map.

The HOF Mod is the only SDK or Python type mod allowed. Blue Marble seems to work okay it though. There are a number of other mods incorporated into the HOF Mod. You have to go to your Game options to turn them on.

There is FAQ thread that has alot of HOF information that might help you: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=260678

Bleys

Feb 15, 2008, 07:50 AM

Thats cool, I am seeing the picture now, thanks for that link, Denn.

BTW, GameTap is an emulator online service. Its a very good service too, I played dozens of games without having to purchase them myself, they have a bit of everything from old-school arcade games to full-fledged RPGs like Baldurs Gate 2, etc, and lots of stuff in between. Some of my favs were Pharoah, Ceasar III, Jagged Alliance, Return to Mysterious Island, stuff like that. Worth checking out if you enjoy LOTS of games, but would rather not spend months "perfecting" one or two in particular.

Note, the instant I started playing Civ IV, I KNEW I would be canceling my subscription (around $10 a month for unlimited access to all their games) once I found a copy of Complete in the states cheap enough, because I knew this was a game I WOULD play for months and months.

ruff_hi

Feb 19, 2008, 12:14 PM

Denniz

Feb 19, 2008, 06:18 PM

Question: I have BtS installed and am slowly working my way through the HOF approved maps that came with that game. Questions:

Is there a discussion of the new maps somewhere?
Why isn't 'Arboria' approved?
Can I play (say) rainforest with Warlords and / or vanilla and get such a game recognized as a valid HOF entry?

Edit: never mind re 1) and 2) ... just saw this thread talking about the BtS mapscripts (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=235037).BTS mapscripts are not playable on other expansions. You would probably get an assets warning and it would show up as illegal on this end. I don't think we want to mess with the assets, the DLL's mess is bad enough. ;)

ruff_hi

Feb 19, 2008, 06:59 PM

BTS mapscripts are not playable on other expansions. You would probably get an assets warning and it would show up as illegal on this end. I don't think we want to mess with the assets, the DLL's mess is bad enough. ;)I was just going to drop the py file into the publicmaps directory. Oh well.

azzaman333

Feb 19, 2008, 08:47 PM

If/When the Tectonics map script is included in a future patch (it seems it will be judging from this post (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6383581)), will it be HoF legal?

Methos

Feb 19, 2008, 09:08 PM

If/When the Tectonics map script is included in a future patch (it seems it will be judging from this post (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6383581)), will it be HoF legal?

That decision will be made when it gets closer to the release of the patch.

Mistfit

Feb 25, 2008, 06:57 AM

Do we get a new G-Minor today or is that tomorrow? I may actually try one of those out

Methos

Feb 25, 2008, 08:16 AM

Do we get a new G-Minor today or is that tomorrow? I may actually try one of those out

The update should happen today, which involves a new minor and major.

ParadigmShifter

Mar 01, 2008, 07:11 PM

Right, playng GMinor36 at the moment. I just had a bizarre bug.

I razed the 2nd to last Japanese city (capital just got moved there after taking the other capital a few turns before). Then, it said I had captured another city on the other side of the (thin) continent, thing is I had no units near that city apart from a carrack parked outside to keep an eye on the defenders situation and watch out for boats etc.

I was like, "huh?", I razed that city as well, and Japan was no more.

Standing on the city ruins is a worker (I think it said I captured him), that's all. No units of mine at all. I think there are other workers that have suddenly become mine as well.

I have no idea what to do now... should I carry on my game, will it still be accepted or will it be excluded due to a bug? I'm not far off winning I reckon.

EDIT: Here's the autolog for the last turn...

Turn 239/500 (1645 AD) [02-Mar-2008 00:48:15]
Seville begins: Theatre (3 turns)
Trebuchet promoted: City Raider I
Trebuchet promoted: City Raider II
While attacking in Japanese territory at Nara, Trebuchet loses to: Japanese Longbowman (4.80/6) (Prob Victory: 53.1%)
Trebuchet promoted: City Raider I
While attacking in Japanese territory at Nara, War Elephant loses to: Japanese Longbowman (1.26/6) (Prob Victory: 80.1%)
War Elephant promoted: Combat I
War Elephant promoted: Combat II
While attacking in Japanese territory at Nara, War Elephant defeats (3.44/8): Japanese Spearman (Prob Victory: 83.6%)
While attacking in Japanese territory at Nara, War Elephant defeats (3.92/8): Japanese Swordsman (Prob Victory: 89.3%)
While attacking in Japanese territory at Nara, Maceman defeats (8.00/8): Japanese Catapult (Prob Victory: 99.4%)
War Elephant promoted: Combat I
While attacking in Japanese territory at Nara, War Elephant defeats (5.12/8): Japanese Longbowman (Prob Victory: 99.7%)
While attacking in Japanese territory at Nara, Crossbowman defeats (6.00/6): Japanese Longbowman (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
Hinduism has spread: Nara
Confucianism has spread: Nara
Captured Nara (Tokugawa)
Confucianism has spread: Izumo
Captured Izumo (Tokugawa)
Japanese Empire has been eliminated
Razed Nara
Nara lost
Razed Izumo
Izumo lost

Notice I didn't attack Izumo...

EDIT: Apparently it's a known bug... Bhruic's patch has a fix apparently, something to do with "teleporting workers"?

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=254283

Thrallia

Mar 02, 2008, 02:55 AM

denniz, you forgot to change your sig for the new gauntlets ;)

Denniz

Mar 02, 2008, 05:20 AM

denniz, you forgot to change your sig for the new gauntlets ;)I think you mean Methos... ;)

Denniz

Mar 02, 2008, 05:32 AM

ParadigmShifter

Mar 02, 2008, 07:32 AM

OK Thanks I will continue with my game then. I haven't got an autosave for the preceeding turn unfortunately (I thought I had save at end of turn on but that was the warlords HOF, I only got BtS a week and a half ago).

Do you want me to post the save immediately after the bug occuring as one of the intermediate files when I submit (assuming I do actually win of course ;) - Zara has 13 cities and nationalism in 8 turns to draft Oromo's)? Do you want me to drop an email to the hof address explaining what happened, i.e. same procedure if there is a game crash?

Just wanting to be safe rather than sorry.

I think I will post in the Bhruic patch forum and see if anyone can point to the code that fixes the bug, I'll let you know if I have any success with that.

I can't see it being much of an exploit either, if you capture the city with no troops you won't have any defenders in it unless you can get them there straight away. I think a couple ofToku's longbows or whatever were in the city when it got mytersiously captured, they vanished, but Toku was finished anyway, he's broken his capitulation to Zara and was to afraid to vassal to me because he was afraid of my enemies (i.e Zara). If it ever happens to a human player, that would be super annoying though... Also, if it is repeatable under certain conditions I could imagine someone being able to exploit it at some time or another.

Methos

Mar 02, 2008, 07:53 AM

denniz, you forgot to change your sig for the new gauntlets ;)

I think you mean Methos... ;)

Whoops, will soon be fixed.

Denniz

Mar 02, 2008, 07:57 AM

Do you want me to post the save immediately after the bug occuring as one of the intermediate files when I submit (assuming I do actually win of course ;) - Zara has 13 cities and nationalism in 8 turns to draft Oromo's)? Do you want me to drop an email to the hof address explaining what happened, i.e. same procedure if there is a game crash?Go ahead. It never hurts to know. ;)

Thrallia

Mar 02, 2008, 03:12 PM

ah, oops...yeah, meant methos lol I think I needed to be in bed already...posted that at 3am :lol:

pholtz

Mar 04, 2008, 02:52 AM

I was going to post this on the HOF Mod support thread, but it has been closed.

Back in G-Major 20, the players ran into a bug that was SEVERE. I was a bit dissapointed in that the moderators never seemed to recognize that the bug was real. People would work on this game for over a week then have their game invalidated because of this bug. I have posted a another message at the end of the G-Major 20 thead, so you may want to look at that and review the comments in that thread.

But I have recreated the bug, and it is somewhat repeatable. (I've been able to make is occur with about a 50% chance). I don't know if it is a HOF Mod bug or a BTS bug. I am sure it wasn't a bug in Vanilla or Warlords. I will be happy to do further work on this bug if I get any help.

Denniz

Mar 04, 2008, 05:41 AM

ParadigmShifter

Mar 04, 2008, 08:44 AM

I posted in the Bhruic patch thread about the "telepoting workers" problem causing me to capture a city without doing anything in GMinor36, but they are all busy debating city governor algorithms it seems.

Denniz maybe you could try PMing Bhruic to see if he can identify where the fix is? I feel if there is a fix to this known bug it should be incorporated into the HOF mod.

Selfie

Mar 05, 2008, 04:21 AM

Hey im a bit of a noob so this question may appear really obvious to some of you guys but here goes

What is meant by the terms minor and major

azzaman333

Mar 05, 2008, 04:28 AM

Hey im a bit of a noob so this question may appear really obvious to some of you guys but here goes

What is meant by the terms minor and major

Minor gauntlets last 2 weeks, major gauntlets last a month. Because of the extra time, major's are generally more difficult.

bamf226

Mar 06, 2008, 11:18 AM

I've been considering jumping into a HOF and/or GOTM game, but in looking over everything (including the FAQ), I feel like I may be diving into something that is a bit overwhelming. Can anyone point me to a thread that discusses this from a newbie aspect?

ParadigmShifter

Mar 06, 2008, 11:33 AM

My advice, just download the HOF mod and play all of your games from now on with it (remember to use a custom game and "lock modified assets" turned on so it will be aceptable for HOF use).

If you win, submit. If you see a gauntlet that is in your skill level range, go for it, and read the gauntlet thread for tips as well.

You'll soon be trying leaders you haven't checked off your list and trying new map types, victory conditions, etc.

bamf226

Mar 06, 2008, 11:58 AM

is there a way to swap the HOF mod in and out so as not to interrupt multi-player games?

ParadigmShifter

Mar 06, 2008, 12:12 PM

Yep, you need to load it manually (or set up a shortcut that loads the mod when launching), so if you don't want it you don't need to load it.

If you double click a save file for the HOF mod it loads the mod automatically though.

Methos

Mar 06, 2008, 04:01 PM

is there a way to swap the HOF mod in and out so as not to interrupt multi-player games?

When you run the self-installer for the HOF mod it installs it in the mods folder. It does not overwrite your main files. In other words the HOF mod will not affect the main game, so it will have no affect with other games unless you manually load the mod.

Mistfit

Mar 09, 2008, 11:29 AM

Can someone explain how the Scoring victory condition works? How to maximize this and what it takes to make a good game for the HoF? When I saw this I figured that it was just like Milking in C3C but dutchfire says it is not the same..

Denniz

Mar 09, 2008, 05:05 PM

Mistfit

Mar 10, 2008, 07:12 AM

What units can capture an undefended city?

Scout?
Worker?
Settler?

Denniz

Mar 10, 2008, 05:25 PM

What units can capture an undefended city?

Scout?
Worker?
Settler?None of the above. Only ground units with an attack strength.

Mistfit

Mar 10, 2008, 06:16 PM

thanks that is what I thought

namliaM

Mar 16, 2008, 12:12 PM

Hi

I have played HOF games before without trouble, but now I am getting an error "CRCs are missing".

I tried a search but it didnt turn up anything at all. Anybody have any idea how I can get around that?

Denniz

Mar 16, 2008, 04:38 PM

namliaM

Mar 16, 2008, 04:58 PM

Denniz

Mar 16, 2008, 07:38 PM

I thought I did, but after trying 10 times, giving up, posting, re-trying 10 more times, playing something else and starting a game.... I suddenly worked... :)

Strange tho... if you havent got the locked assets thing going on... then why doesnt it say "locked assets not checked"Now, don't go trying to trick me with logic and common sense. :mischief:

Seriously, I think is says that too, doesn't it?

namliaM

Mar 17, 2008, 01:27 AM

No... just said "CRCs are missing" unless it is out of sight and you have to scroll or something, that I didnt do.

Important thing is ... it is back up and working :)

Drool

Mar 17, 2008, 04:44 AM

I notice that sometimes if I finish one game (or give up on a game) and then go back through 'custom game' and re-launch a new game that I get the "CRC' error. A simple restart of the game seems to get rid of this.

ruff_hi

Mar 17, 2008, 02:13 PM

Denniz

Mar 17, 2008, 05:29 PM

ruff_hi

Mar 17, 2008, 07:21 PM

I didn't think they came down any farther than the messages in V or W.I think you are right but BtS moved that area to the middle of the screen and I usually play on a wide screen - thus V and W's messages were not a problem.

WastinTime

Mar 18, 2008, 12:59 AM

namliaM

Mar 18, 2008, 01:25 AM

V or W? Anyone care to fill in the blanks?

ParadigmShifter

Mar 18, 2008, 02:11 AM

The blanks are: anilla and arlords!

Thrallia

Mar 18, 2008, 05:04 AM

@WastinTime: but starting on 1 will screw up generations(well, 2 of them) of computer programmers!

Denniz

Mar 18, 2008, 05:31 AM

Sorry to change the topic. I have a small suggestion for the "Player Log"/"General Log" tabs. Some people play first turn 1 and some 0. How about normalizing the Log display so they match. If it starts on turn 0 just add 1 when displaying all the turns. I think "first turn 1" is better than 0 for display purposes. Another good reason for using 1 is that it makes the Diplo voting years line up on even years.I wasn't aware that they were showing different starting turn numbers. Could you point me to an example where they aren't.

I imagine that some would want to us to subtract 1 to make everything 'first turn 0' as MS and Firaxis intended, though. :mischief:

ParadigmShifter

Mar 18, 2008, 05:50 AM

I think it was more Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie (inventors of C) that liked to start at 0. Djikstra also agreed with them.

ruff_hi

Mar 18, 2008, 08:12 AM

I've started to use mapfinder again with BtS and actually find the little messages (Alt-X to stop mapfinder, Game Trial = 55, Saved Games = 22) are getting in the way of a nice picture. So, I totally removed my interface (Alt-I). Now I get pictures of 'fog of war' because the screen doesn't centre on your units. Guess I have to run with full or some interface (Ctrl-I).

Not asking you to fix anything - just something for future reference (or historic reference if someone has already pointed this out).The strange thing now is that my mapfinder isn't displaying any text ... but it is keeping the games that I wanted.

Edit: I remember now that I did modify my Civ4.ini file to remove autosaves. I also changed the following:

; Set to 1 for no on-screen event messages
NoEventMessages = 1

Is that the reason for not getting the mapfinder messages? What else will this remove? All event pop ups such as religions being founded, etc?

WastinTime

Mar 18, 2008, 10:09 AM

I imagine that some would want to us to subtract 1 to make everything 'first turn 0' as MS and Firaxis intended, though. :mischief:

I'll just go back to using first turn 0. It's a bit confusing to vote on turn 129 instead of a nice round 130, but I"ll get used to it.

jesusin

Mar 18, 2008, 02:07 PM

I hadn't heard about Djikstra in years...

I'll just go back to using first turn 0. It's a bit confusing to vote on turn 129 instead of a nice round 130, but I"ll get used to it.

I think in BTS there aren't fixed dates for voting, but everything depends on the turn the AP/UN building is built. Am I wrong?

ParadigmShifter

Mar 18, 2008, 02:43 PM

Well, Djikstra died last year, last I heard of him :(

WastinTime

Mar 18, 2008, 04:12 PM

I hadn't heard about Djikstra in years...

I think in BTS there aren't fixed dates for voting, but everything depends on the turn the AP/UN building is built. Am I wrong?

True ....:cool:

Harbourboy

Mar 19, 2008, 02:47 AM

When I try to play a Global Highlands game, I get a HoF error saying that balanced resources are not allowed, even though I select Standard resources in the Custom game screen. How do I avoid this (or is it OK despite the error message)?

azzaman333

Mar 19, 2008, 03:02 AM

jesusin

Mar 19, 2008, 03:34 AM

True ....:cool:

:confused::confused::confused:
What's true, my being wrong or the non-fixed dates?:crazyeye:

WastinTime

Mar 19, 2008, 09:42 AM

:confused::confused::confused:
What's true, my being wrong or the non-fixed dates?:crazyeye:

Sorry, BtS dates are not fixed.

AalaarDB

Mar 29, 2008, 01:03 AM

Sorry if this is the wrong place, but I have a problem that may be due to this mod. It's a small problem because there is a workaround. I simply cannot load a game with this mod while playing a game with this mod. If I do so I crash to desktop. I can however exit to the main menu and load from there and everything is fine. Or I can load an unmodded game while playing a modded game and vice versa.

Here are some logs:
http://rapidshare.com/files/102096249/logs.zip.html

Here is where I reported it elsewhere:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6633864&postcount=32

Denniz

Mar 29, 2008, 05:41 AM

Sorry if this is the wrong place, but I have a problem that may be due to this mod. It's a small problem because there is a workaround. I simply cannot load a game with this mod while playing a game with this mod. If I do so I crash to desktop. I can however exit to the main menu and load from there and everything is fine. Or I can load an unmodded game while playing a modded game and vice versa.I'm not sure what the issue might be. The logs don't show any python errors. All I can think of is to suggest that if you have Vista that you try these Vista Fixes (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php?show=vista).

Does anyone else recognize this issue?

AalaarDB

Mar 30, 2008, 03:38 PM

as to the log: there is something weird with it, the game claims that no mod is loaded yet all the additional files that come with the HOF-Mod are I hope one of the HOF people can help you pin this down...

So ori says there is something wrong with the logs - though it might not be the python logs. Anyways I now realize that the link is only to one post. I had thought it to link to the thread starting at one post. So there is more info in that link if you just open up the thread.

I'm not using Vista.

ori

Mar 30, 2008, 03:55 PM

just to specify what I meant: the xml log shows stuff like
hofgraphicsoptionstextinfos.xml
as loaded, yet the init log says
[2025.281] VERSION: Mod Loaded: none

my first impression would be that you installed the mod into the core game files - but why your problem would then occur only when loading saves in the HOF-Mod is beyond me and it should certainly trigger all those altered assets warnings anyway if that were the case.
I have no idea why the game says there is no mod loaded but then loads the HOF-Mod components anyway. I am also not sure if that is at all related to the problem, but it was the only thing the struck me as odd :crazyeye:

BLubmuz

Apr 01, 2008, 04:47 PM

A suggestion for the next release of the HoF mod:
i need to switch between the standard and the HoF Domestic advisor to see how many turns are left for next GPerson.

It would be nice if this info can be added to the HoF Domestic advisor, so i can avoid to switch.

Denniz

Apr 01, 2008, 06:58 PM

So ori says there is something wrong with the logs - though it might not be the python logs. Anyways I now realize that the link is only to one post. I had thought it to link to the thread starting at one post. So there is more info in that link if you just open up the thread.

I'm not using Vista.

just to specify what I meant: the xml log shows stuff like
hofgraphicsoptionstextinfos.xml
as loaded, yet the init log says
[2025.281] VERSION: Mod Loaded: none

my first impression would be that you installed the mod into the core game files - but why your problem would then occur only when loading saves in the HOF-Mod is beyond me and it should certainly trigger all those altered assets warnings anyway if that were the case.
I have no idea why the game says there is no mod loaded but then loads the HOF-Mod components anyway. I am also not sure if that is at all related to the problem, but it was the only thing the struck me as odd :crazyeye:
Try running the AssetChecker (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php?show=assetschecker) to make sure everything is installed correctly.

ngraner42

Apr 04, 2008, 02:15 PM

I would like to start working on EQM designation and have a couple questions.

Using tiny maps would be the most time efficient, but is there a chance they will be removed as too easy. There is also the issue that playing tiny does not give good practice from xOTM; the same can be said for using Marathon, which gives the best chance to win and thus allows attacking EQM at a higher level.

Curious why Inca is removed from League of Nations, but Rock of Ages was included, considering that later starts are exploitive also.

Ozbenno

Apr 04, 2008, 05:08 PM

Hey ngraner!

I'm not sure if it has been decided whether tiny maps are going to be allowed but if you use small/standard you will be all right.

Inca was removed as was considered too easy at the higher levels (look at most HOF tables at Emporer and above and the top times are usually Inca). Rock of Ages gmes are only considered in that category of EQM for the same reason.

You should look at Bindy's road to EQM (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=269043), a bi-weekly set of games aimied at filling all the spots for EQM.

All hail the might Chokonut!!!!

ruff_hi

Apr 04, 2008, 05:25 PM

will tiny be ruled out? And here I am playing a huge series of tiny maps to chew through the EQM.

Denniz

Apr 05, 2008, 08:50 AM

I don't think it makes sense to exclude tiny maps so there is no reason to worry about.

Before I got so busy at work, I was trying to work out a way to highlight the players with EQM status that use a good balance of games across Mapsize, Conditions, etc. Someone playing most their games on tiny instead of duel isn't exactly what we where hopping for when we set out create EQM. :(

ruff_hi

Apr 05, 2008, 09:16 AM

I think the scaled score is a good way - that way your EQM standing is really poor and the only way to improve it is to play larger maps, higher difficult and include Barbarians. I see EQM as a two step process ...

1) qualify
2) improve score

... well - that is the way I am approaching it.

ngraner42

Apr 05, 2008, 11:52 AM

I took Oz's suggestion and did the Bindy 4 game this morning for my first submission. I went with small and it only took 3:09, but it was a cultural game and I played very fast. With that game I got Normal speed out of the way and will probably focus on Epic, which is the speed I prefer.

Unfortunately went for no barbarians in a situation wher none would have shown up. :(

AAA

Apr 08, 2008, 01:08 PM

Hi,

It has been awhile, but I can't seem to submit a game.
It won't recognize my pass word (I did just get a new password).

Any suggestions?

Thanks
AAA

Denniz

Apr 08, 2008, 05:56 PM

Hi,

It has been awhile, but I can't seem to submit a game.
It won't recognize my pass word (I did just get a new password).

Any suggestions?

Thanks
AAADid you try the "Remind me" buttion on the login screen. It should send you your password. It is not the same as your CFC password, BTW.

Infantry#14

Apr 14, 2008, 04:07 AM

I just check my gaunlet stat and find out that there is no minor event above emperor diff. It would be interesting to have an (easy) emperor minor event next time.

Ozbenno

Apr 14, 2008, 06:08 AM

There has been a minor gauntlet on Deity (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/gauntlet.php?show=minor&gauntlet=21&submit=Go)before. Funnily enough, all entries were using Inca!

Sun Tzu Wu

Apr 15, 2008, 11:04 PM

I previously reported this issue in:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6721732#post6721732

I just tried MapFinder with BTS on Vista, but instead of getting screenshots of the starting location, I get a screenshots of my desktop. BTS is the full screen, foreground task when running MapFinder inside it. The screen saver is on by default; could that be the cause of this problem?

I tried switching the screen saver to "(None)", but that didn't help.

Elevating MapFinder to Administrator privileges, didn't help either. BTS already runs elevated to Administrator privileges.

I don't know what else to try. Any suggestions?

EDIT: In http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=252504, the first picture is similar to what I'm getting, except I'm getting a full screenshot of my desktop and any windows currently on it without any black areas. I was able to get MapFinder working in BTS on Vista by running it on the MS Windows desktop screen. No luck getting BTS and MapFinder to work together in BTS Full Screen though.
End EDIT.

Sun Tzu Wu

Denniz

Apr 16, 2008, 05:08 AM

Sun Tzu Wu

Apr 16, 2008, 09:00 PM

MF needs to run in the foreground. The screenshot is going to be of whatever is on the desktop.

I'm not trying to run BTS in the Background.

I have BTS set up to ask whether I want to run in Fullscreen Mode or Windowed Mode.

How issue occurs:

I run BTS in Fullscreen Mode (click Yes button in popup "Would You Like To Run In Fullscreen Mode), start a Game and then start MapFinder via Alt-M. The monitor now shows the expected sequence of starting locations.

However, when I shutdown BTS and startup the MapFinder viewer application, instead of seeing the starting locations I saw previously generated by BTS, I see what my desktop looked like when I _started_ BTS. This JPEG of my desktop is what I see on every single saved starting location. See attached JPG file; they are the same for all saved BTS game starting locations.

Note the similarity with the first image in http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=252504.

I am not sure what you mean by "MS Windows desktop screen". Does that mean windowed mode or do you have the desktop split across two monitors? Also, there was something in the thread you mentioned about the setting powersave so it doesn't turn the monitor off.

By "MS Windows desktop screen", I mean my desktop as opposed to a BTS game starting location as one would expect.

I have a single old, large monitor. I'm not using Windowed Mode when this issue occurs.

I turned the screen blanker off by setting it to "(None)", but my screen still blanks out. Why does Vista do stupid things like this? I don't remember having this problem with MS Windows 2000.

I'll check my Power Save settings and turn them off.

Sun Tzu Wu

Denniz

Apr 16, 2008, 09:06 PM

Try it while running in a window instead of full screen. That is supposed to work for Vista and BTS.

vra379971

Apr 26, 2008, 02:19 PM

GOTM/WOTM Compatibility for Players without BTS Patch 3.13:

In order to avoid "Protected Assets" that prevent someone from opening the GOTM or WOTM savegame files, please update your CvGameCoreDLL.dll using the ones in this zip file. This will also be helpful for others wishing to download your HOF savegame files.

Yeah, I can't seem to figure this out.

Someone mind giving me a step by step guide?

AAA

May 10, 2008, 10:34 AM

Denniz

May 10, 2008, 11:54 AM

Hello Mighty HOF Guys,

You guys wouldn't ever concider running a FFH gauntlet.
The way they have tweeked the game allows for alot of different stratagies to victoy. It would make for a fun gauntlet.

Probably alot of work for you guys though:mischief:
Just asking:)
Thanks
AAASorry we are just not set up to handle something like that. Only the HOF Mod has information our software uses to let us vet games.

Black_Pegasus

May 10, 2008, 10:25 PM

im not getting the password...

Denniz

May 11, 2008, 06:30 AM

im not getting the password...Welcome to the Hall of Fame. :band:

I am not seeing you in our database. There is a user id with a blank name that wasn't there yesterday. Make sure you put in your user name and a password before you hit the register button.

Black_Pegasus

May 11, 2008, 01:34 PM

yeah but like my password isnt getting emailed...maybe i put in the wrong one...send it to *removed* please...

Denniz

May 11, 2008, 04:30 PM

I fixed it so you should get an e-mail with your password. I remove you e-mail address as you could end up getting a lot of spam posting your address like that.

If you don't get it in the next 24 hours, check your spam filters. Otherwise e-mail us at hof.civfanatics@gmail.com.

jm4civ4

May 13, 2008, 12:53 PM

Hi Methos,

Thanks for answering my recent questions and for your patience. I realize you got alot of Q's that are answered somewhere in the forums.

Currently, I am playing (what I hope will be) my 1st HoF submission. I have never submitted a game and am unfamiliar with the process. I did not perform a manual save at 4000BC, but there is the 4000BC autosave. Will this work and/or should I rename it?

Also, RE: the quote below, will I still need to do the check?
FYI: I updated the games (CIV4 and WL2.13) and loaded the most recent HOF 2.13.002 just days ago. I initially got the "locked assests" error but after starting from the Custom screen all is working very well.

No, that particular reason would not cause the game to be rejected. You could check that very start file a hundred times and it wouldn't change anything. All it's there fore is so that players can test their starting save to make sure it falls within the rules prior to spending large amounts of time on their game.

In all honesty, I don't believe that feature is even needed anymore since the HOF Mod now informs you if the game is valid.

Methos

May 13, 2008, 01:11 PM

Also, RE: the quote below, will I still need to do the check?

It was never required to use that page to check the save. It was mainly there for people who wished to check their starting save for their own benefit. Note, checking the starting save after you have submitted it will cause it to fail the check.

If you'd like and I tend to suggest this a lot, you should test out your settings by first submitting a simple and fast test game. Start a settler difficulty game using a duel size map at marathon speed with a single opponent. Preferrably a solid landmass. Once your warrior locates the other civ destroy it, giving you a fast conquest game and then submit it. This shouldn't take you more then a couple of minutes to play. We can then let you know if everything is set up right.

HolyHandGrenade

May 14, 2008, 01:52 AM

It was never required to use that page to check the save. It was mainly there for people who wished to check their starting save for their own benefit. Note, checking the starting save after you have submitted it will cause it to fail the check.

If you'd like and I tend to suggest this a lot, you should test out your settings by first submitting a simple and fast test game. Start a settler difficulty game using a duel size map at marathon speed with a single opponent. Preferrably a solid landmass. Once your warrior locates the other civ destroy it, giving you a fast conquest game and then submit it. This shouldn't take you more then a couple of minutes to play. We can then let you know if everything is set up right.

Hi Denniz, Methos,

sounds to me as we need a sticked Q&A thread were all these questions for newcomers are collected. Perhaps there will be more participants if its easy for them to get the first start. Btw I love this test example :)

HHG

ruff_hi

May 14, 2008, 03:12 AM

My game options (BtS) aren't being saved with HOF (lead to a rejected game because I forgot to check LMA and didnt' see the warning). I thought I saw a post or two about that - was there a solution?

HolyHandGrenade

May 14, 2008, 03:43 AM

My game options (BtS) aren't being saved with HOF (lead to a rejected game because I forgot to check LMA and didnt' see the warning). I thought I saw a post or two about that - was there a solution?

My experience with this is that if you switch between normal and HoF it sometimes happens that the values in the ".ini" file are reset to the defaults. Therefore i always keep a copy of the "good" ini file somewhere and as soon as I recognize that all my settings are set to the default I copy my saved ini file over and restart. Perhaps there's a better solution, but this works great for me. :D

jm4civ4

May 15, 2008, 08:46 AM

18 games would do it, as 18 different civilizations, making sure you got every map type, speed, victory condition, difficulty and the two gauntlets covered in those 18 games.

Just want to be sure I got it right...

18 games for vanilla QM

26 games for Warlords QM?

jm4civ4

May 15, 2008, 08:48 AM

sorry....

24 games for Warlords QM

jm4civ4

May 15, 2008, 09:05 AM

Methos

May 15, 2008, 10:07 AM

It would appear that there is no requirement for size of the map in the QM challenge. Thus I could play all games on tiny or deul or huge (yeah right) and qualify as an Elite QM:cool: Is this right?

Thanks all

The QM challenge and the EQM challenge are different entities and have different requirements. While you could submit only duel size games and become a QM, none of those games would be allowed towards EQM. EQM doesn't accept duel size maps.

jm4civ4

May 15, 2008, 11:15 AM

Thank you for clearing that up

Ozbenno

May 15, 2008, 05:19 PM

Just want to be sure I got it right...

18 games for vanilla QM

26 games for Warlords QM?

There is no difference for Vanilla and Warlords QM, you just games from 18 of the 24 available leaders for QM (Vanilla and Warlords). For BtS, you need all 34 leaders.

ruff_hi

May 15, 2008, 05:26 PM

There is no difference for Vanilla and Warlords QM, you just games from 18 of the 24 available leaders for QM (Vanilla and Warlords). For BtS, you need all 34 leaders.Leaders?? Its civs - and for the EQM its only 33 civs. (Incas - are outlawed!)

Ozbenno

May 15, 2008, 06:00 PM

jm4civ4

May 15, 2008, 07:38 PM

Leaders?? Its civs - and for the EQM its only 33 civs. (Incas - are outlawed!)

thats how I see it too - 33 Civs for EQM, 18 Civs (from a possible 24) for QM

tahnks all and sorry for the confusion:eek:

Ozbenno

May 15, 2008, 08:16 PM

thats how I see it too - 33 Civs for EQM, 18 Civs (from a possible 24) for QM

tahnks all and sorry for the confusion:eek:

Not quite. Hopefully this should clrify the issue once and for all :)

Vanilla and Warlords: QM - 18 from 24 civs, EQM - 17 from 23 civs (Inca excluded)

BtS: QM - 34 from 34 civs, EQM - 33 from 33 civs (Inca excluded)

Denniz

May 16, 2008, 04:49 PM

Quick question for the mods.

Would it be possible to have the option to look at the main HOF tables with only games that qualify for EQM purposes (ie take out non-ancient starts and Inca). Similar to how you can view the Beta tables.At this point, I don't think we want to mess with the main HOF Tables page. Try the QScore Query. You can see that kind of info there.

jm4civ4

May 16, 2008, 04:50 PM

The HoF is a great thing! Very well put together and it helps me justify my gaming....a win win.

I realized a few things while viewing in the "By Difficulty" tab, and a few ?s arose, please bear with me....With the following choices (cond=domination, mapsize=small, speed=any, main;no beta) and searching by expansion, I realized that exp=any gives a collection of all versions, very cool. And choosing one exp gives just those (for the most part, as I saw one vanilla result in each Warlords list at Monarch thru Noble)

What is interesting is the Warlords only Prince list (again...cond=domination, mapsize=small, speed=any, main;no beta, exp=WL)....the top scores are only vanilla, just one in middle is BTW and the cellar are all WL....

Is WL more difficult, all else being equal?

Naw..its just random....right?

So the question is...."have the keepers of data noticed any trends on difficulty of one expansion vs the others? if it were possible to normalize?

2nd question is: Do the different version icons indicate games on an earlier release? I like that those are included, but is it true that now, only the latest versions (1.74, 2.13, 3.13 ) can be used to submit HoF games?

Thank you

Denniz

May 16, 2008, 05:05 PM

The HoF is a great thing! Very well put together and it helps me justify my gaming....a win win.:)

I realized a few things while viewing in the "By Difficulty" tab, and a few ?s arose, please bear with me....With the following choices (cond=domination, mapsize=small, speed=any, main;no beta) and searching by expansion, I realized that exp=any gives a collection of all versions, very cool. And choosing one exp gives just those (for the most part, as I saw one vanilla result in each Warlords list at Monarch thru Noble)I don't think that should be possible but errors happen. If you happen to remember which selection you used we can take a look.

What is interesting is the Warlords only Prince list (again...cond=domination, mapsize=small, speed=any, main;no beta, exp=WL)....the top scores are only vanilla, just one in middle is BTW and the cellar are all WL....

Is WL more difficult, all else being equal?

Naw..its just random....right?

So the question is...."have the keepers of data noticed any trends on difficulty of one expansion vs the others? if it were possible to normalize?I think that overall BTS is more difficult because of the improved AI. But, certain leader traits changed from Vanilla to Warlords. I believe that the leader is probably the reason for Vanilla's dominance on certain tables.

2nd question is: Do the different version icons indicate games on an earlier release? I like that those are included, but is it true that now, only the latest versions (1.74, 2.13, 3.13 ) can be used to submit HoF games? Correct. All submissions once accepted for the perminant HOF remain on the tables as long as they are in the top 10. We only accept new submissions from the latest release of each expansion. It keeps things simple for everyone. ;)

jm4civ4

May 16, 2008, 05:30 PM

Thanx Denniz

:)

I don't think that should be possible but errors happen. If you happen to remember which selection you used we can take a look.

if you care to, go to the By Difficulty table, use cond=domin, mapsize=small, exp=Warlords, any speed....you should see that Monarch#2, Prince#7 and Noble#8 entries are Vanilla rather than Warlords...

Ozbenno

May 16, 2008, 07:39 PM

At this point, I don't think we want to mess with the main HOF Tables page. Try the QScore Query. You can see that kind of info there.

Thanks Denniz :goodjob: That gives exactly the info I was looking for.

Denniz

May 17, 2008, 06:01 AM

if you care to, go to the By Difficulty table, use cond=domin, mapsize=small, exp=Warlords, any speed....you should see that Monarch#2, Prince#7 and Noble#8 entries are Vanilla rather than Warlords...Ah. Those are Warlords games, the icon is wrong. It is a known bug. I really should fix that... :crazyeye: Thanks.

Mesix

May 17, 2008, 03:36 PM

I am confused by the different victory conditions "Space Race" and "Space Colony". I read somewhere in the forum that "Space Colony" was added with BTS due to the fact that you have to wait until the ship reaches Alpha Centauri. In game, the victory condition is still called "Space Race" when playing BTS dispite the updated game mechanics.

To have qualifying games for both victory conditions, will I have to play without BTS? I have read that there are problems running the V and WL versions of the HOF mod with BTS 3.13 installed due to differences in the DLL. How do I get around this to achieve all of the victory conditions?

Methos

May 17, 2008, 03:42 PM

To have qualifying games for both victory conditions, will I have to play without BTS? I have read that there are problems running the V and WL versions of the HOF mod with BTS 3.13 installed due to differences in the DLL. How do I get around this to achieve all of the victory conditions?

The problem with the DLLs is when you don't have BTS installed. Since you appear to own BTS then that won't be a problem for you. To earn a valid submission for the 'Space Colony' you'll have to submit a valid space race victory in BTS. Do earn a valid submission for 'Space Race' you'll have to submit a valid space race victory with either vanilla or warlords.

Mesix

May 18, 2008, 10:16 AM

I see a lot of people talking about a map finder utility that they run. How is this any different (better) than just selecting the regenerate map from ingame?

namliaM

May 18, 2008, 11:22 AM

Well you can set the mapfinder to find a map with 2 corn on a river and 2 gold mines or 2 corn on a river and 2 gems or some rediculous good start like that. To get a jump start on your game to get a higher score

Tho it allmosts feels like cheating to me :(, so I dont use it.

Mesix

May 18, 2008, 03:08 PM

The problem with the DLLs is when you don't have BTS installed. Since you appear to own BTS then that won't be a problem for you. To earn a valid submission for the 'Space Colony' you'll have to submit a valid space race victory in BTS. Do earn a valid submission for 'Space Race' you'll have to submit a valid space race victory with either vanilla or warlords.

Are there any plans to make a BTS specific QM? It seems unfair that players of Vanila and Warlords can submit all of their games in their version of choice and meet the QM requirements while players of BTS are expected to run multiple versions of both the game and the mod.

Well you can set the mapfinder to find a map with 2 corn on a river and 2 gold mines or 2 corn on a river and 2 gems or some rediculous good start like that. To get a jump start on your game to get a higher score

Tho it allmosts feels like cheating to me :(, so I dont use it.

Thanks for the info. I think I am going to stay away from that too. Maybe after I have played through all the various settings on the QM and EQM I might try it out to improve my times and such. I personally like to have some randomness in my game. I don't select my opponenets either, but I can see where that might give you a leg up.

ruff_hi

May 18, 2008, 08:43 PM

Are there any plans to make a BTS specific QM? It seems unfair that players of Vanila and Warlords can submit all of their games in their version of choice and meet the QM requirements while players of BTS are expected to run multiple versions of both the game and the mod.I was missing a space race entry so had to go back to vanilla for that 1 game. It was fun, siege could kill units, no dang spies, 4XP from my barracks. Go on - 1 game - it won't kill you.

Mesix

May 18, 2008, 11:44 PM

Yeah, I realize that. I am going to try to knock out Major Gauntlet 26 before Sunday. Then I will be killing 2 birds with one stone. I was originally going to play through the Gauntlet game first, but then noticed the version requirement and the two separate space race victories. I just have to dig out the CD for Vanila and install the HOF mod for that version.

jm4civ4

May 19, 2008, 03:04 PM

Ah. Those are Warlords games, the icon is wrong. It is a known bug. I really should fix that... :crazyeye: Thanks.

its all good...thanks for letting me know all the same

Denniz

May 19, 2008, 04:52 PM

Are there any plans to make a BTS specific QM?No plans for BTS only.
It seems unfair that players of Vanila and Warlords can submit all of their games in their version of choice and meet the QM requirements while players of BTS are expected to run multiple versions of both the game and the mod.Ah, but All Expansions carries more prestige since the requirements harder. ;)

Aerinon

May 19, 2008, 05:03 PM

I just got CIV and I've got a couple questions regarding on how the HoF tables work with the QM competitions.

How can I tell what the base table is? I think the big separators are victory condition, difficulty, speed and map size. Are they also divided by expansion? (I.E. Vanilla, Warlords, BTS?)

I notice on the QM & EQM there's an All Expansions division and a Vanilla+Warlords division. This relates to the previous question: if there are separate tables for each expansion, are the QScores calculated on a division basis? Meaning if a table is empty for warlords, but there are several entries for vanilla, the Warlord QScore will still be affected by those vanilla? I think I've seen this behavior using the QScore Query tool.

One more question that really gets me is this query on this QScore:

Condition: Space Race
Diff: Noble
Speed: Epic
Size: Huge
Division: All Expansions

Okay, I see Bozso gets the best QM score in this table because of the best date. However, he doesn't get an EQM score because of good ol' Inca usage. In the EQM column, why would Jean D'Eath get only 50.00 versus Manic's later date. The only thing I can see that is different is the starting age, but I didn't see that the starting age would affect your EQM score... I know the Rock of Ages is a special event though. I may have missed this exception somewhere.

In my defense, I did cruise the forum/tables for a while and I think I've got a handle on almost everything else. Thanks!

Denniz

May 19, 2008, 05:27 PM

I just got CIV and I've got a couple questions regarding on how the HoF tables work with the QM competitions.Welcome to the Hall of Fame! :band:

How can I tell what the base table is? I think the big separators are victory condition, difficulty, speed and map size. Are they also divided by expansion? (I.E. Vanilla, Warlords, BTS?)The "Offical" Hall of Fame tables are by victory condition, difficulty, speed and map size. All Expansion does count. The other selections are there for convience sake. Although, at this point, I guess the concept of "Offical" tables is a little confused... :crazyeye:

I notice on the QM & EQM there's an All Expansions division and a Vanilla+Warlords division. This relates to the previous question: if there are separate tables for each expansion, are the QScores calculated on a division basis? Meaning if a table is empty for warlords, but there are several entries for vanilla, the Warlord QScore will still be affected by those vanilla? I think I've seen this behavior using the QScore Query tool.For Vanilla+Warlords Division we filter out BTS games on the tables when computing QScores. EQM also has other games such as Inca and duel map filtered out.

One more question that really gets me is this query on this QScore:

Condition: Space Race
Diff: Noble
Speed: Epic
Size: Huge
Division: All Expansions

Okay, I see Bozso gets the best QM score in this table because of the best date. However, he doesn't get an EQM score because of good ol' Inca usage. In the EQM column, why would Jean D'Eath get only 50.00 versus Manic's later date. The only thing I can see that is different is the starting age, but I didn't see that the starting age would affect your EQM score... I know the Rock of Ages is a special event though. I may have missed this exception somewhere. :Hmm: The only category that Jean D'Eath's game would be eligible for would be RoC. I am not sure where the Qscore is coming from. I don't think I was calculating a score for RoC games in the qscore query. I will have to look at the code to see what I did there. ;)

Aerinon

May 20, 2008, 03:52 PM

Thanks for answering my questions.:goodjob:

:Hmm: The only category that Jean D'Eath's game would be eligible for would be RoC. I am not sure where the Qscore is coming from. I don't think I was calculating a score for RoC games in the qscore query. I will have to look at the code to see what I did there. ;)

Well I can certainly understand that. I was just curious if I was getting the system down or not. I think I have one more question, for the QM and EQM competitions, does a game have to make it onto a table to count (like the Civ3 HoF) or does any (victorious) submission count, like it is implied in the gauntlet event description.

:thanx:

Ozbenno

May 20, 2008, 06:14 PM

Any accepted game counts towards the QM and EQM categories it is valid for, you don't have to get onto a table like Civ3 HoF.

ChrisShaffer

May 25, 2008, 08:13 AM

:goodjob:
Excellent FAQ :hatsoff:

Where, exactly, is the FAQ???? Every link I find goes to this thread, but there's no FAQ in this thread???

Denniz

May 25, 2008, 04:41 PM

Where, exactly, is the FAQ???? Every link I find goes to this thread, but there's no FAQ in this thread???There is a tab on the rules page: http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/rules.php?show=faq

BLubmuz

May 27, 2008, 04:04 PM

Denniz

May 27, 2008, 09:02 PM

Hi Denniz,
i just submitted a game and it gave me a long list of errors.
Tried again, same list and the entries on my submission list show no data (#12306 + 12307).

What have i to do?
Thanks in advance.It looks like a repeat of the problem we had a few days ago. It appears to be working again. Just resubmit your games. We will delete the bad upload entries.

BLubmuz

May 28, 2008, 05:55 AM

Yes Methos e-mail me the same info.
Successfully submitted, thanks to both.

playshogi

Jun 01, 2008, 11:52 AM

For Vanilla+Warlords Division we filter out BTS games on the tables when computing QScores. EQM also has other games such as Inca and duel map filtered out.

Not exactly true. You filter the games out for scoring purposes, but the Inca games still occupy the table. I have (I forget which one) 2 Inca games on a table. The worst Inca finish is around 2200BC or so. The best non-Inca finish is someone else's win in 350AD. So, I played another game on this table with a non-Inca for EQM purposes and won about 350BC or so. The result is that I have a "hidden" #1 game for EQM!! If someone plays this table thinking they only have to beat 350 AD, they could be in for a surprise.

playshogi

Jun 01, 2008, 11:55 AM

Suggestion for next HOF mod. Is there anyway that the new version of the mod could import the replays from the older version so that all my games for HOF show up on my in-game HOF? At least, list the game there even if the actual replays could not be used?

Aerinon

Jun 03, 2008, 12:51 PM

Anyway to contact someone to find out what I did wrong to get a game excluded? (I thought I played it legit with the mod.)

Thanks in advance.

ChrisFromLux

Jun 04, 2008, 08:06 AM

I would send a PM to Denniz or Methos ...

Aerinon

Jun 04, 2008, 12:27 PM

I would send a PM to Denniz or Methos ...

Did so. But I got in contact via e-mail, so all is well.

Sun Tzu Wu

Jun 07, 2008, 01:08 PM

Denniz

Jun 07, 2008, 10:43 PM

LoadGridRows Error

Exception from HRESULT: 0x800A7536

------

I'm getting hundreds of these pop-ups while loading the starting locations for a large number of Duel maps. Did I generate more starting locations than MapFinder can load from a single directory?

I'm using MapFinder V1.1.2909.7720.

Sun Tzu WuI suppose that is possible. How many maps do you have? I don't remember if the gird control has a limit. If you move a bunch to another folder and it works again then we will know. ;)

Sun Tzu Wu

Jun 08, 2008, 01:49 AM

I suppose that is possible. How many maps do you have? I don't remember if the gird control has a limit. If you move a bunch to another folder and it works again then we will know. ;)

I had nearly 7000 maps in one directory.

I split the maps, about 3500 each into two directories. I'm able to access all maps in each of the two directories just fine.

In my opinion, the error message should be issued just once, stating that not all maps were loaded. Currently, the error message seems to pop up for every map loaded that exceeds an unspecified limit. For the original directory with nearly 7000 maps, I had to click or enter "CR" several hundred times and the maps could not be sorted by filename (thus some functional was lost in addition to the missing maps).

Thanks,

Sun Tzu Wu

Denniz

Jun 08, 2008, 08:31 AM

I had nearly 7000 maps in one directory.

I split the maps, about 3500 each into two directories. I'm able to access all maps in each of the two directories just fine.

In my opinion, the error message should be issued just once, stating that not all maps were loaded. Currently, the error message seems to pop up for every map loaded that exceeds an unspecified limit. For the original directory with nearly 7000 maps, I had to click or enter "CR" several hundred times and the maps could not be sorted by filename (thus some functional was lost in addition to the missing maps).

Thanks,

Sun Tzu Wu7000 maps!?! :crazyeye: Now there is something I didn't anticipate. Next time I would suggest using task manager to kill the program.

How long did it take you to accumulate that many? :lol:

ruff_hi

Jun 08, 2008, 08:49 AM

How long did it take you to accumulate that many? :lol:The time to accumulate 7000 maps is interesting, but I want to know the expected time to play them all.

mmuhr

Jun 08, 2008, 03:13 PM

Question, can I add unit graphics mod to the HOF mod and still have it be HOF compatible? There are some really sweet roman units out there.

ParadigmShifter

Jun 08, 2008, 03:16 PM

I think so, graphics mods aren't checked by HOF mod.

Sun Tzu Wu

Jun 08, 2008, 10:58 PM

How long did it take you to accumulate that many? :lol:

A few hours of saving only Duel Great_Plains maps. It took only a few seconds per map, since a Duel sized Great_Plains map is only 20x12.

Sun Tzu Wu

Conquistador 63

Jun 09, 2008, 04:23 PM

Could the BTS colony bug fix(as described in this thread), which has been added to Bhruic unofficial 3.13 patch, but not in the official 3.13 patch, be included in the next version of the HOF mod?

Denniz

Jun 09, 2008, 07:00 PM

Question, can I add unit graphics mod to the HOF mod and still have it be HOF compatible? There are some really sweet roman units out there.As long as it is only graphics files, there shouldn't be a problem. You would have to try it to find out though.

Denniz

Jun 09, 2008, 07:00 PM

Could the BTS colony bug fix(as described in this thread), which has been added to Bhruic unofficial 3.13 patch, but not in the official 3.13 patch, be included in the next version of the HOF mod?Probably, it depends on what happens with the rumored patch.

spacez52

Jun 17, 2008, 04:09 PM

Denniz

Jun 17, 2008, 04:30 PM

So I have downloaded the HOF mod and I love it. But there are a couple other small mods that give small changes that I want to have while running HOF on my Mac. These include the Dead Civ Scoreboard mod and the Great Generals from Barbarians mod. I have tried just putting the files I download from them in the HOF folder and that doesn't work. I backup my HOF ini file and insert (with # instead of ; like they use) the ini text from the other ini files, AND put the XML files in the correct folder (I think).

Any advice. These are pretty sweet little mods but I don't just want to run them all by themselves. Thanks and I hope that this was the right place to ask this question.You would need to integrate any changes where the mods have the same files. You probably don't want to merge the ini files unless you want to change the code to read the HOF ini.

If you don't know anything about Python then you might want to look around for another compilation mod that has everything you want.

Check out the Civ4 - Creation & Customization (http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=158) info on mods and modding.

AnitaGaribaldi

Jun 18, 2008, 07:04 AM

If I change my vanilla CvGameCoreDLL.dll by the BTS CvGameCoreDLL.dll, would my HoF games be valid? (I don't own BTS)

Denniz

Jun 18, 2008, 04:29 PM

If I change my vanilla CvGameCoreDLL.dll by the BTS CvGameCoreDLL.dll, would my HoF games be valid? (I don't own BTS)Are you asking about the version of the Vanilla DLL that was modified by the 3.13 BTS patch or a DLL from the BTS expansion? The latter wouldn't work.

From the HOF standpoint, either the DLL from regular 1.74 patch or the Vanilla DLL from the 3.13 BTS Patch will work. For GOTM you need the Vanilla DLL from the 3.13 BTS Patch to open their saves.

dutchfire

Jun 19, 2008, 11:36 AM

If I patch BtS to 3.17, can I still play my old (DemoGame) 3.13 HOF save?

Methos

Jun 19, 2008, 12:19 PM

No. You'll have to have the save "updated".

bonscott

Jun 19, 2008, 01:03 PM

Methos

Jun 19, 2008, 01:15 PM

I assume we can't patch until a new HOF mod is released to support it?

Correct.

Also my suggestions, the option for No Espionage should be left unchecked. There are already exploits identified with great people with this turned off.

We will take this into consideration. Thanks.

namliaM

Jun 19, 2008, 02:11 PM

I assume we can't patch until a new HOF mod is released to support it?

Also my suggestions, the option for No Espionage should be left unchecked. There are already exploits identified with great people with this turned off.

What exploits? Not that I use them, just like to know all the tricks...

After the new HOFMOD will old games using HOFMOD 3.13 still be accepted?

bonscott

Jun 19, 2008, 02:24 PM

What exploits? Not that I use them, just like to know all the tricks...

After the new HOFMOD will old games using HOFMOD 3.13 still be accepted?

In the main patch thread they talk about that wonders that give great spy GP points still generate GP points toward "nothing". Once the GP limit in a city is reached it goes into overflow. If you then say add a GP engineer the very next turn you get a great engineer and the overflow is not lost. They also go into more detail on this.

Methos

Jun 19, 2008, 03:12 PM

After the new HOFMOD will old games using HOFMOD 3.13 still be accepted?

Once a new version of the HOF mod is released, we typically continue accepting the previous version for one more month, so that everyone has plenty of time to finish existing games. After that one month we then stop allowing prior versions. Note, the one month doesn't start until we release the new version.

dutchfire

Jun 20, 2008, 01:00 PM

No. You'll have to have the save "updated".

Can we get one of our HOF friends to do that? :)

Methos

Jun 20, 2008, 01:08 PM

Can we get one of our HOF friends to do that? :)

First we have to update the HOF mod to 3.17, then it's a possibility.

ruff_hi

Jun 22, 2008, 06:59 PM

My game options (BtS) aren't being saved with HOF (lead to a rejected game because I forgot to check LMA and didnt' see the warning). I thought I saw a post or two about that - was there a solution?I think I have tracked this down. I start Civ4 with a shortcut that points to a HOF enabled civ4.ini file. There are options in this ini file ...

; Game Options
GameOptions = 00001000000000000010101

... however, the game ignores them and I have to reset them each and every time. Is there a work around for this?

Other items ...

; Handicap for quick play
QuickHandicap = HANDICAP_MONARCH

; GameSpeed options are GAMESPEED_QUICK/GAMESPEED_NORMAL/GAMESPEED_EPIC/GAMESPEED_MARATHON
GameSpeed = GAMESPEED_MARATHON

... the game does pick up.

Denniz

Jun 22, 2008, 09:01 PM

I think I have tracked this down. I start Civ4 with a shortcut that points to a HOF enabled civ4.ini file. There are options in this ini file ...

; Game Options
GameOptions = 00001000000000000010101

... however, the game ignores them and I have to reset them each and every time. Is there a work around for this?

Other items ...

; Handicap for quick play
QuickHandicap = HANDICAP_MONARCH

; GameSpeed options are GAMESPEED_QUICK/GAMESPEED_NORMAL/GAMESPEED_EPIC/GAMESPEED_MARATHON
GameSpeed = GAMESPEED_MARATHON

... the game does pick up.I just use a shortcut rather than mess with the ini file. (i.e. mod= mods\HOF-3.13.001 after the exe)

royal62184

Jun 22, 2008, 09:24 PM

I just use a shortcut rather than mess with the ini file. (i.e. mod= mods\HOF-3.13.001 after the exe)

My shortcut on my desktop for Civ IV BTS is:

"C:\Program Files\2K Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Gold\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe"

What do I need to change this to to automatically open the HOF mod instead of the expansion?

Mesix

Jun 22, 2008, 09:50 PM

You may want to make a copy of your BTS shortcut and change the icon before you do this.

1. Right click on your BTS shortcut.

2. Click Properties.

3. Change the target address. Mine reads: "C:\Games\Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" mod=\HOF-3.13.001. You probably just have to add mod=\HOF-3.13.001 to the end of your target address.

BLubmuz

Jul 08, 2008, 05:21 PM

Just to know if some Staff's guy have seen this post of mine, and to have any kind of answer (can be done, it's stupid, any)

BTW there's an interesting answer from Ruff Hi to one of my questions.

Denniz

Jul 08, 2008, 07:06 PM

Just to know if some Staff's guy have seen this post of mine, and to have any kind of answer (can be done, it's stupid, any)

BTW there's an interesting answer from Ruff Hi to one of my questions.I saw both posts. I am planning to include those in the new release, although I can't guarantee I can make the Domestic adviser in V&W the same as it is in BTS. The differences between the expansions make somethings irrelevant or not practical/possible.

datapicard

Jul 22, 2008, 06:53 AM

Is there a mac version of the HOF mod?

killercane

Jul 22, 2008, 10:25 AM

Is there a mac version of the HOF mod?
Im pretty sure the answer is no, especially since to my knowledge it uses the .NET framework thingamajigger from Microsoft. Denniz (the unpaid but highly revered creator)is a man of many talents however, so if you bug him maybe he can craft up something for the Apple lovers. (Edit: Listen to Ori not me!)
-WorfGeordi

ori

Jul 22, 2008, 10:30 AM

there are Mac versions for Vanilla and Warlords (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=214617) - that are used for the GOTM/WOTM competitions. They are not suitable for HOF play though :sad:

Denniz

Jul 22, 2008, 04:32 PM

Is there a mac version of the HOF mod?What ori said. ;)

there are Mac versions for Vanilla and Warlords (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=214617) - that are used for the GOTM/WOTM competitions. They are not suitable for HOF play though :sad:Those were modified by AlanH for the Mac. I don't think they ever made the SDK avail for Civ4 on the Mac.

Im pretty sure the answer is no, especially since to my knowledge it uses the .NET framework thingamajigger from Microsoft. Denniz (the unpaid but highly revered creator)is a man of many talents however, so if you bug him maybe he can craft up something for the Apple lovers. (Edit: Listen to Ori not me!)
-WorfGeordiOnly Civ4MapFinder.exe (Map Viewer) and the AssetChecker.exe use the .NET framework. The HOF Mod is C++ and Python. While I appreciate the high praise, I am afraid that porting anything to the Mac is out of my league. :) Oh, I can only claim partial credit for the HOF Mod. Dianthus did all the C++ code and some of the Python.

madmenno

Jul 28, 2008, 06:13 PM

can i use any other mod with the hof mod? Like nicer terrain and better unit/city models?

Methos

Jul 28, 2008, 06:54 PM

can i use any other mod with the hof mod? Like nicer terrain and better unit/city models?

No. Some graphics mods are allowed (such as Blue Marble), but other mods are not allowed.

instigator

Jul 29, 2008, 09:52 AM

ruff_hi

Jul 29, 2008, 10:18 AM

This HOF has the worst faqs and this forum has the worst instructions.

1. How do I view a game in the hall of fame? I have downloaded a few games from that. I have installed the HOF mod. But when I try to load one of the games I downloaded, it does not load up. It gives me an error message that you cannot load a saved game.

2. How come for any game in the player log, it does not list what year you founded a new city?Firstly, welcome to the forums. Secondly, you have a unique way of asking for help.

Re 1) There have been quite a few HOF mods. Look at the HOF page (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php) (right down the bottom) for the complete list. If you download and install all of these mods, d/l a save and double click on the save, the game will (should) automatically load the correct mod for the save you want to look at.

Re 2) the player log only records the micro details for the last few rounds. You will notice that you don't get complete combat info for early battles, only the last few rounds. If the player log kept everything, the saves would get very very big very very fast.

instigator

Jul 29, 2008, 11:08 AM

I spent hours and hours trying and trying, but it did not say anywhere that you need the exact mod version.

Anyway, now I made sure I had each exact mod needed. And still every time I try a game I downloaded, it tells me "load failed." What did I do wrong?

ori

Jul 29, 2008, 11:38 AM

what version of the game are you using (civ4, warlords, bts) and what patch version? does the mod load?

instigator

Jul 29, 2008, 11:51 AM

Versions
for civ 1.74
for warlord 2.13
for beyond the sword 3.13 (I read the later one won't work)
I tried and tried more and more games. 22 of the ones I have tried tell me "load failed." I have only gotten two to work: 1835 by Sandman and 1922 by Shadowsong. I have no idea why the vast majority won't work. I have made sure to have all the right mod's installed.

ori

Jul 29, 2008, 12:02 PM

:hmm:
again does the mod itself load? can you start a new game with the mod?
can you name one that did not work?

Denniz

Jul 29, 2008, 04:27 PM

HolyHandGrenade

Jul 31, 2008, 06:03 AM

You should be able to open any Vanilla HOF Game with the current HOF Mod.

For Warlords and BTS you need to have the same patch and HOF Mod installed. In addition, with the BTS patch 3.13 there are two different configurations possible for Vanilla and Warlords as the patch updated both. (i.e. those that own BTS and those that don't). Vanilla may still work regardless.

Basically, getting an older save to work can be difficult. There is nothing we can about it but :gripe: about. Personally, I have 5 different installs going back to 1.61, just in case. ;)

What I can add is a step by step guide to get different installations with different patch levels:

1. uninstall everything you currently have installed (Civ4 off course)
2. do a fresh install of Vanilla
3. make a copy of this Vanilla-Installation and name it "civ4_orig"
4. patch the still installed Version to something you need (i.e. 1.61) and add the appropriate HoF-mod (i.e. 1.61)
5. rename the patched Version, currently with the standard name "Sid Meier Civilization 4" to "civ4-1.61"
6. copy "civ4_orig" to the former original Name "Sid Meier Civilization 4"

At this point you have 3 installations:
- "civ4_orig" : The unpatched version 1.0
- "civ4-1.61" : patched to version 1.61 incl. HoF-Mod
- "Sid Meier Civilization 4" : patched to version 1.61 incl. HoF-Mod referenced by windows-registry

To get a 1.74 version you can simply repeat steps 4-5.
To get Warlords and BtS you can use the same method:

7. copy "civ4_orig" to the former original Name "Sid Meier Civilization 4"
8. install Warlord or BtS
9. make a copy of this Installation and name it, i.e. "civ4_warlord_orig"
10. similar to 4-5 above

With all these installations you can create Shortcuts on your Desktop to point to the various versions:

Civ4 -> "C:\Games\Sid Meier Civilization 4\Civilization4.exe"
Civ4 (HoF) -> "C:\Games\Sid Meier Civilization 4\Civilization4.exe" mod="HOF-1.74.002"
Civ4 1.61 (HoF) -> "C:\Games\civ4-1.61\Civilization4.exe" mod="HOF-1.61.011"
Civ4 Warlords -> "C:\Games\Sid Meier Civilization 4\Warlords\Civ4Warlords.exe"
Civ4 Warlords (HoF) -> "C:\Games\Sid Meier Civilization 4\Warlords\Civ4Warlords.exe" mod="HOF-2.13.002"
Civ4 Warlords 2.08 (HoF) -> "C:\Games\civ4-2.08\Warlords\Civ4Warlords.exe" mod="HOF-2.08.004"
Civ4 BtS -> "C:\Games\Sid Meier Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe"
Civ4 BtS (HoF) -> "C:\Games\Sid Meier Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" mod="HOF-3.13.001"
Civ4 BtS 3.03 (HoF) -> "C:\Games\civ4-3.03\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" mod="HOF-3.03.001"

I tried to explain it as deep as I think is enough, if something is not clear or missing, please correct it or ask again

senor_k

Aug 08, 2008, 02:08 AM

I'm sure this has been asked and answered many times before, but search isn't playing nice with me. What's the difference between a time victory and a score victory?

Denniz

Aug 08, 2008, 05:56 AM

I'm sure this has been asked and answered many times before, but search isn't playing nice with me. What's the difference between a time victory and a score victory?Time victory is winning the game by lasting until the end without you or the AI winning another way.

Score is simply the high scores from any victory type. Typically Domination or Conquest score the highest.

dutchfire

Aug 14, 2008, 10:38 AM

Denniz

Aug 14, 2008, 05:45 PM

My BtS patch 3.17 didn't install in the correct location, so I manually had to copy some files. It seems that went a bit wrong. I've tried the assets checker and I get the following errors for Vanilla:
Assets\CvGameCore.dll
Assets\XML\Buildings\CIV4BuildingsInfos.xml
Assets\XML\GlobalDefines.xml

I don't get any Beyond the Sword errors at all. Is it right that I only need the right version of these 3 files (these three were also among the ones I've copy-pasted, so I probably did something wrong there), and what would be the quickest and easiest way to get these files?

edit: After some more work on it, Beyond the Sword now shows up, with no errors (:D), and I've gotten the correctCvGameCore.dll, but I still don't have the right xml files for those two. I'm also getting error messages for the 1.74.SGOTM5 mod, which basically should be a separate mod. And of course I'm getting errors for not having the 1.74.003 mod, but I don't need that to play BtS, do I?It not required to have the 1.73.003 mod unless you are playing vanilla. You get the messages about 1.74.003 and 1.74.SGOTM5 as the program doesn't bother to check what's installed. It just checks the highest HOF mod version in your mods folder against the 1.74.003 asset list. (I think the programmer was a little lazy. :mischief:)

I don't think you will have a problem with the Vanilla xml files. You might want to see if you get the BTS in-game HOF Warnings about CRCs not matching. BTS does use some of the Vanilla assets. I am not sure how the CRCs are calculated for BTS.

If you get the warnings, you may want to try re-installing the 1.74 patch. If that doesn't work you'll have to re-install from scratch and patch up again.

dutchfire

Aug 15, 2008, 07:09 AM

Well, I'm mainly looking to play in the Democracy Game (Succession game style game), would me playing with other versions of vanilla .xml-files impact that at all?

Denniz

Aug 16, 2008, 05:21 AM

Well, I'm mainly looking to play in the Democracy Game (Succession game style game), would me playing with other versions of vanilla .xml-files impact that at all?You might have trouble opening the save if those files are part of the checksum. There are BTS versions that override the vanilla ones but it depends what gets included in the checksums.

Sun Tzu Wu

Aug 22, 2008, 10:04 PM

Methos

Aug 22, 2008, 10:20 PM

I thought the maximum number of opponents for a Standard map is 10,
but I ran into the following HOF game with 11:

http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/game_info.php?entryID=12044

Can someone please explain this apparent discrepency?

Sun Tzu Wu

He started his game with ten opponents, but in 965 AD a colony was created which makes the eleventh civ. Due to colonies, we only make sure the start of the game began with the correct number of opponents, not the end of the game.

493 965 AD Kamino ST XVII has placed Qin Shi Huang in charge of their overseas colonies of China
Qin Shi Huang has agreed to become a vassal state of Kamino ST XVII

Conquistador 63

Aug 22, 2008, 10:21 PM

A colony was formed. See log:
"Kamino ST XVII has placed Qin Shi Huang in charge of their overseas colonies of China
Qin Shi Huang has agreed to become a vassal state of Kamino ST XVII"

Sun Tzu Wu

Aug 22, 2008, 10:26 PM

When running Map Finder such that it saves every map it generates, it will occasionally complain about a duplicate file and puts up a requester asking whether it is OK to overwrite a file.

The last time it did this, I noticed that it had written only the txt file before putting up the requester. After I clicked OK to overwrite the file, it overwrote the txt file and wrote the jpg file, but no CivBeyondSwordSave file was generated. Maps before/after this erroneously written map have all three files.

I'm running on Vista.

Has anyone else encountered this error before?

--- Potential work-around ---

Defaulting to overwriting or skipping the file without putting up a requester would be a good work-around, but I don't know how to do that or even know whether that is possible to do. It bugs me that Map Finder puts up a requester rather than doing its job of finding maps, because I'm not usually available to baby sit it.

Sun Tzu Wu

Sun Tzu Wu

Aug 22, 2008, 10:32 PM

He started his game with ten opponents, but in 965 AD a colony was created which makes the eleventh civ. Due to colonies, we only make sure the start of the game began with the correct number of opponents, not the end of the game.

Shouldn't the listed opponents be only the ones the game started with? If new opponents are created via Colonies, perhaps they should be listed under a new heading like Colonies?

Sun Tzu Wu

Denniz

Aug 22, 2008, 10:42 PM

Sun Tzu Wu

Aug 23, 2008, 10:18 PM

It is a bug but I didn't really expect to get any duplicate names as the file name includes date & time plus counters. How many maps are you generating? :crazyeye: You might try spreading the files around to different save directories.

I'm saving all generated maps by using a rule set that always succeeds. I generally keep running in the same map save directory until it contains nearly 4665 maps (the limit on what the Map Finder application will display correctly).

It does not appear to be overwriting an existing map. It seems to a rare timing error where the txt file is written, the software gets confused, tries to write the same txt file again, opens a requester when it detects that the file already exists and just sits there waiting for a response to the requester.

The date and time down to the second are included in the filename, so how could a new map ever have the same name as an older map? Map Finder is generating a new map no faster than about once every five seconds, so I don't see how a duplicate map filename would ever be possible unless the clock gets reset (which never happens unless its on purpose).

The duplicate file error is rare; it has happened to me less than about six times. I finally complained about it when it happened two days in a row.

When the error does occur, what requester response do you recommend? Overwrite the map or skip it?

Thanks,

Sun Tzu Wu

Denniz

Aug 24, 2008, 06:08 AM

When the error does occur, what requester response do you recommend? Overwrite the map or skip it?You probably should cancel since it is could be trying to write the new file with the last file name.

The requester is civ4's. We just surfaced the save to python so the mapfinder code could call it. I think the actual code to create the file is in the exe rather than the SDK. There is no code in python to check for the txt or jpg file already existing. For what it is worth, the order it writes is txt, save, and jpg.

It may be a compatability issue. Do you run civ4 with compatability mode for xp? The only other thing I can think of is to give it some more time between regenerations.

Sun Tzu Wu

Aug 24, 2008, 02:11 PM

You probably should cancel since it is could be trying to write the new file with the last file name.

I'm confused. :confused: If the filename is composed of the date and time down to the second and counters, how can the new file name be the same as the last file name?

I'll try to provide more diagnostic info next time, or should I not bother (due to the rare conditions that cause this bug)? You probably don't want to bother fixing it anyway (due to its rarity and limited effect - "hangs" MF)?

The requester is civ4's. We just surfaced the save to python so the mapfinder code could call it. I think the actual code to create the file is in the exe rather than the SDK. There is no code in python to check for the txt or jpg file already existing. For what it is worth, the order it writes is txt, save, and jpg.

Last time it happened, I selected overwrite and only the txt appeared to be written to the MF save directory.

It may be a compatibility issue. Do you run civ4 with compatibility mode for xp? The only other thing I can think of is to give it some more time between regenerations.

What is "compatibility mode for xp"? I just have MS Windows Vista Home Premium, so maybe that's not available to me? Beyond The Sword is required to run on Vista and it is a Microsoft "approved" application for Visa, so why would I run "compatibility mode for xp" for BTS, even if I knew how to do it?

I currently have MF pause for 2 seconds before starting the next map generation. Do you really think it would help to increase that?

BTW, what happens if the pause between map generations is 0 seconds? I've noticed that the Alt-X doesn't have to be pressed during the pause between map generations. (Alt-X can be pressed while a map is being generated and seems to take effect after the current map is completed, but as a result the current map is _not_ saved.)

Thanks for your help and explanations.

Sun Tzu Wu

Denniz

Aug 24, 2008, 06:05 PM

I'm confused. :confused: If the filename is composed of the date and time down to the second and counters, how can the new file name be the same as the last file name?

I'll try to provide more diagnostic info next time, or should I not bother (due to the rare conditions that cause this bug)? You probably don't want to bother fixing it anyway (due to its rarity and limited effect - "hangs" MF)?

Last time it happened, I selected overwrite and only the txt appeared to be written to the MF save directory.I don't have access to the actually save file creation code. The only way I can think of for the message to come up is if the previous file name was used some how. Next time check to see if the previous file got overwritten.

What is "compatibility mode for xp"? I just have MS Windows Vista Home Premium, so maybe that's not available to me? Beyond The Sword is required to run on Vista and it is a Microsoft "approved" application for Visa, so why would I run "compatibility mode for xp" for BTS, even if I knew how to do it?It is a vista thing. If you right-click on the exe, select the properties and click on the compatability tab, you will see a compatability mode box. Try selecting XP from the dropdown there.

I currently have MF pause for 2 seconds before starting the next map generation. Do you really think it would help to increase that?I believe that Civ4 is multi-threaded so if you don't give it enough time to update wierd things could happen.

BTW, what happens if the pause between map generations is 0 seconds? I've noticed that the Alt-X doesn't have to be pressed during the pause between map generations. (Alt-X can be pressed while a map is being generated and seems to take effect after the current map is completed, but as a result the current map is _not_ saved.)The delay is to allow civ4 sometime to do it's screen updates and other things.

BTW, if there had been a warranty, you would have offically voided it. :mischief: