It's finally here, an update to the Song of the Moon. Click here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=160498) for the original thread.

From the readme:

SotM Rebirth v0.23B

Please install into C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Mods and take the Moon_Map.py file and place it into your Public Maps folder.

To play the game using the Moon map script load the mod as normal and then select single player ---> Custom Game. In the Maps drop down select Moon Map. Several options from Peak density, dustsea density, and attrition On/Off will be made available. Attrition has been removed, but not from the selection screen yet.

This is merely the first step in polishing this once promising mod into a more playable state. Our plan is to make at least the first two eras highly playable and get ready to move to the Beyond the Sword expansion when it comes out. Depending on feedback, assistance from the CFC, and our own free time we may finish more than two eras. No promises.

Changes from 0.23A:

most python removed
New unit art added
several civs and leaders removed
9 out of 12 LHs now static 2D instead of logos. Thanks frenchman!
Culture nerfed

To do:

add building art
new cityset art
pedia and strategy entries
remove all unused units

Known Issues:

There are still units available that aren't intended for use. They'll show in pedia, but hopefully have all been disabled.
Some LHs are female and the names are male or visa versa. It'll be changed soon. :)
The backstory is in flux so bear with us.
Barbarians are still around. If you want to lose the debris and play no barbs, go ahead.

Requests:

Please let us know about any issues you encounter other than "need pedia" or "need strategy". TXT_KEYS are fine to point out.
Any CTDs, bugs, feedback please post here.

Credits: (maybe not all ---> speak up if I forgot someone!)

From the original team - JBG, Belizan, matthewv, dsquared, GeoModder, and woodelf
artwork used - snafusmith, White Rabbit, C. Roland, GarretSidzaka, sharick

And now to version 0.23B, click here (http://www.civfanatics.net/woodelf/files/SotM-Rebirth.zip) for Lunar Colonization.

Ready for download now!

Additional planned changes, not in the readme:

reworking the civics
Specialists and Great People

I'll drop whatever issues you guys find here:

1. Neither the industrious nor the populous leader traits grant the + when 2 nor the + when 2. I haven't looked to see if other leader traits are similarly broken.
2. Civics are pretty fubared. I'm not even sure where to begin with them.
3. Buildings that give + and + are pretty useless currently as it is hard to get your population up high enough to use them.
4. The to tech cost ratio seems out of line. Though this may be more to the horribly broken genetic screening civic.

Many of the worker improvements can't be made including:
1. borehole
2. solar collector
3. biodome
4. maglev
5. gravatic turbine

The radar tower auto-upgrade to a fort is not really useful as both give the same benefit. If it upgraded to a lunar fort that might be better, but since it requires a citizen to work it isn't going to happen without user intervention.

HoF screen broken.

well, i just had the time to go through the civilopedia, and i found two things wrong:

first off, the heavy laser tank's art isn't linked, so nothing shows up on screen besides the button and name.

also, the Rover garage building is to big for the civilopedia screen: lower the <fScale>

some of the things buildable by workers (i can't remember thier name) are too big in the civilopedia screen.

sincerely,
thomas

So no problems at all? :confused:

That would be amazing!

i haven't had a chance to play yet... :blush:

So no problems at all? :confused:

That would be amazing!


Just got this downloaded and it loaded up fine, will give it a try, looks very interesting. Will report some info as soon as possible.:cool:

I'll start with the first set of issues that I'm seeing:

1. Neither the industrious nor the populous leader traits grant the +:hammers: when 2:hammers: nor the +:food: when 2:food:. I haven't looked to see if other leader traits are similarly broken.
2. Civics are pretty fubared. I'm not even sure where to begin with them.
3. Buildings that give +:health: and +:) are pretty useless currently as it is hard to get your population up high enough to use them.
4. The :hammers: to tech cost ratio seems out of line. Though this may be more to the horribly broken genetic screening civic.

I do like the food centric nature of the mod.

I'll start with the first set of issues that I'm seeing:

1. Neither the industrious nor the populous leader traits grant the +:hammers: when 2:hammers: nor the +:food: when 2:food:. I haven't looked to see if other leader traits are similarly broken.

Thanks, I'll take a look.

2. Civics are pretty fubared. I'm not even sure where to begin with them.

Yep, take a look at the Civics thread and you'll see they're getting a rework.

3. Buildings that give +:health: and +:) are pretty useless currently as it is hard to get your population up high enough to use them.

Definitely. Feel free to write a list and jot down appropriate values. Over a year ago I c/p'd the buildings assuming someone else would redo the values. Not yet...

4. The :hammers: to tech cost ratio seems out of line. Though this may be more to the horribly broken genetic screening civic.

I don't even know when that civic got added, but it's gone now.

I do like the food centric nature of the mod.

Thanks. It needs to be even more food centric IMO.

i haven't had a chance to play yet... :blush:

Find time man! :p

Just got this downloaded and it loaded up fine, will give it a try, looks very interesting. Will report some info as soon as possible.

Good, reports are what will keep this mod moving forward.

well, i just had the time to go through the civilopedia, and i found two things wrong:

first off, the heavy laser tank's art isn't linked, so nothing shows up on screen besides the button and name.

also, the Rover garage building is to big for the civilopedia screen: lower the <fScale>

some of the things buildable by workers (i can't remember thier name) are too big in the civilopedia screen.

sincerely,
thomas

Thanks thomas. This is the sort of thing I don't see in playtesting myself.

Many of the worker improvements can't be made including:
1. borehole
2. solar collector
3. biodome
4. maglev
5. gravatic turbine

The radar tower auto-upgrade to a fort is not really useful as both give the same benefit. If it upgraded to a lunar fort that might be better, but since it requires a citizen to work it isn't going to happen without user intervention.

Just finished my first game and found that the Hall of Fame shows a completely blank page.

Many of the worker improvements can't be made including:
1. borehole
2. solar collector
3. biodome
4. maglev
5. gravatic turbine

The radar tower auto-upgrade to a fort is not really useful as both give the same benefit. If it upgraded to a lunar fort that might be better, but since it requires a citizen to work it isn't going to happen without user intervention.

:hmm: Thanks. Another bit of later era work that was never completed. I'm not sure we even have graphics for some of it.

I'll look into the radar tower, but I'm not sure who added that anyhow.

Just finished my first game and found that the Hall of Fame shows a completely blank page.

In stripping out the python this must have been messed up somehow. Since I never finish a game I'd never see this. Thanks.

In stripping out the python this must have been messed up somehow. Since I never finish a game I'd never see this. Thanks.

If you need a way to test it, you should be able to see the screen just by retiring.

very nice woodelf, nice to see Sotm reborn. This was one of the first mods for civ4 i played. !!!

Thanks rockinroger. I hope it continues to evolve and eventually gets finished.

Many of the worker improvements can't be made including:
1. borehole
2. solar collector
3. biodome
4. maglev
5. gravatic turbine

The radar tower auto-upgrade to a fort is not really useful as both give the same benefit. If it upgraded to a lunar fort that might be better, but since it requires a citizen to work it isn't going to happen without user intervention.

I built biodome in the game I just played. Biodome that is over the city, correct?.

Finished my first try, never having played this before. My first impression is that it wasnt as rough as I had imagined from a play standpoint. My second impression is that the barbs are very very tough.

I played as Lunar Federation,,,prince...epic. I had little food and built my first city and explored a large area but was mostly to myself. Turn were going fast and suddenly around year 122, Barbs turn up in packs, (4-5 units groups) and despite 3 defenders they in time got the upper hand. I managed to build 1 other city but by 230 the barbs sent in lunar tanks (I didnt have yet) and that was the end.

I noted the defensive land bonuses seemed messed up, at least it wasnt showing any for units in the cities and I would hope for somekind of defensive bonus against barbs. Most land types werent showing anything but 15% defensive bonus that I noticed. City-bio would be good for a barb defensive bonus, imo.

The city starting as wooden structures look out of place,lol.

I liked the various resources, does the AI know how to use them?

4 ai civs went poof (barb attacks?)

Looks like more wonders are needed.

Really like the whole moon map exp.

Noted you are going to work out religions, maybe barbs or someone could be new age Sun worshippers, or maybe it needs a Doomsday cult, lol.

Will give it another go with a different civ since I was isolated (large map), I can see why you are building this out, alot of cool things in the sci-fy universe could be added here. More in a few days.

I built biodome in the game I just played. Biodome that is over the city, correct?.

There is a city improvement as well as a worker improvement with the same name. The improvement appears to be similar to a glasshouse but with a benefit from the non-builable maglev.

I built biodome in the game I just played. Biodome that is over the city, correct?.

:) One of those things where we have the same name for two very different objects. The improvement biodome still isn't in game that I know of.

Finished my first try, never having played this before. My first impression is that it wasnt as rough as I had imagined from a play standpoint. My second impression is that the barbs are very very tough.

Yeah, I need to remove barbs and keep the debris (goody huts). I assume this is possible, but haven't looked into it. Conversely I could limit what units the barbs get.

I played as Lunar Federation,,,prince...epic. I had little food and built my first city and explored a large area but was mostly to myself. Turn were going fast and suddenly around year 122, Barbs turn up in packs, (4-5 units groups) and despite 3 defenders they in time got the upper hand. I managed to build 1 other city but by 230 the barbs sent in lunar tanks (I didnt have yet) and that was the end.

I think because there is no water/ocean area the default number of civs to mapsize ratio is out of whack. These isolated starts are bad news because barbs have time to grow and grow and grow. We're looking for answers.

I noted the defensive land bonuses seemed messed up, at least it wasnt showing any for units in the cities and I would hope for somekind of defensive bonus against barbs. Most land types werent showing anything but 15% defensive bonus that I noticed. City-bio would be good for a barb defensive bonus, imo.

This wouldn't surprise me. I'll look into it at some point. Thanks.

The city starting as wooden structures look out of place,lol.

Agreed. Garret and Geo are looking into it, thankfully.

I liked the various resources, does the AI know how to use them?

4 ai civs went poof (barb attacks?)

Looks like more wonders are needed.

Really like the whole moon map exp.

Noted you are going to work out religions, maybe barbs or someone could be new age Sun worshippers, or maybe it needs a Doomsday cult, lol.

Will give it another go with a different civ since I was isolated (large map), I can see why you are building this out, alot of cool things in the sci-fy universe could be added here. More in a few days.

No idea if the AI knows anything at this point. The barbs are very bad news for them though. :( Wonders are definitely planned.

Try a smaller map, but with a couple extra AI. That should help limit the barbs. Or turn off barbs, but lose the goody huts.

i checked those music files. 90% are perfect for in-game music, and the rest would be great for leaderhead music.

Super! Thanks Garret. Do you have everything you need to tie it into the mod?

What files would you be changing so I can avoid modifying them?

Umm, what version does the mod you have above run on? i got an error fest trying to load it, literally thousands of errors. Have you guys got the xml together yet? or is it too early :D

It's vanilla 1.61.

If you download from the link in the first post there should be zero errors, at least zero XML errors for now.

are we gonna make this up-to-date with warlords pretty soon? i mean, i can't even run vanilla mods unless i make another vanilla installation, right?

You can run vanilla at any point if you have the CD. I run both depending on the mod I'm playing.

Warlords most likely isn't going to happen, but we are using this mod as a platform to get to BtS.

I think because there is no water/ocean area the default number of civs to mapsize ratio is out of whack. These isolated starts are bad news because barbs have time to grow and grow and grow. We're looking for answers.

Let's do like in FfHII, but the opposite: more civs/size of map. Also, I think (since this is the moon we're talking about, a rather small body) that we should code in a max limit for the mapsize. Small size is my recommendation.
Or else we revamp the map size numbers themself, that "Standard Size" creates a smaller map then the usual standard maps.

Do you know how to do this Geo?

No. But I can look it up of course.
Might be quicker to ask someone of the FfHII team how they changed the number of civs/mapsize.

As on changing the sizes of random created moonmaps, the numbers simply MUST be in the moonmap python file.

Yeah, it should be in there and most likely not too difficult.

Yeah, I need to remove barbs and keep the debris (goody huts). I assume this is possible, but haven't looked into it. Conversely I could limit what units the barbs get.

Using the moon map it appears this is already the case. I had turned off barbs and found plenty of debris.

Another approach that could work for barbs is something like the fireball from FFH2. I'd propose giving it high movement (10/turn), variable strength (1-4), and all terrain costs 1 move. Obviously it shouldn't be able to capture cities or capture workers.

Yeah, I need to remove barbs and keep the debris (goody huts). I assume this is possible, but haven't looked into it. Conversely I could limit what units the barbs get.



I think because there is no water/ocean area the default number of civs to mapsize ratio is out of whack. These isolated starts are bad news because barbs have time to grow and grow and grow. We're looking for answers.



This wouldn't surprise me. I'll look into it at some point. Thanks.


Agreed. Garret and Geo are looking into it, thankfully.



No idea if the AI knows anything at this point. The barbs are very bad news for them though. :( Wonders are definitely planned.

Try a smaller map, but with a couple extra AI. That should help limit the barbs. Or turn off barbs, but lose the goody huts.

Sounds good, Well, I think some barbs are OK, but thats if they have a place in the story-line (maybe even as aliens would be interesting), but the defensive bonuses problems make them way too strong as is. To the degree they get you early exps and require some prep for is fine, but the biodome and city itself should get barb defense bonuses. Since the AI isnt overly attacking normally, Alien barbs with (alien tech maybe?) could be cool.

I will turn them off until you decide how to handle them, well unless I just try them again for a near impossible challenge (or very small map):lol: Look forward to you first patch, thx.

Sounds good, Well, I think some barbs are OK, but thats if they have a place in the story-line (maybe even as aliens would be interesting), but the defensive bonuses problems make them way too strong as is. To the degree they get you early exps and require some prep for is fine, but the biodome and city itself should get barb defense bonuses. Since the AI isnt overly attacking normally, Alien barbs with (alien tech maybe?) could be cool.

I will turn them off until you decide how to handle them, well unless I just try them again for a near impossible challenge (or very small map):lol: Look forward to you first patch, thx.

I think they'll be disabled for the next version to see how that plays out. We have dreams of re-introducing barbs as the Earth dies, but that's down the road.

Let's do like in FfHII, but the opposite: more civs/size of map. Also, I think (since this is the moon we're talking about, a rather small body) that we should code in a max limit for the mapsize. Small size is my recommendation.
Or else we revamp the map size numbers themself, that "Standard Size" creates a smaller map then the usual standard maps.

im pretty sure that this can be done thru xml modding!

Both of the options? Or only the first one?

yeah lemme see....

check Gameinfo\WorldInfo.xml and see if this has someting to help you

Thanks, will look it up.

Garret - did you get this working for you?

Okay, number of civs per given mapsize is easy to adjust. It appears the moonmap python is based on the Pangeamap python. At least the mapsizes in both pythonfiles match.

Nice investigating Geo. You can practice this and terrain modification on v0.24. :p

:p
Think I will put the lakes mapsizes in and add an extra civ for the smaller sizes, 2 from standard size onwards.
This will probably make the map feel crowded.

Anyone an idea on where to find how the years are represented?

I know where the start year is, but the interval is defaulted to 1 somewhere.

theres alot of stuff in that xml file

I found the file. It's in CIV4GameSpeedInfo. But that doesn't tell me how I could make 12 turns take a year. (month/turn)

You might need python for the game to understand that? I've seen mods do 4 seasons to a year.

I remember that, Age of Discovery isn't it?

Scenarios might work differently, no idea.

go to the map file itself, and specify what time unit (ie week, month, season) you want for the scenario. that only works on a specific map.

you will have to make the mapscript produce maps with this change incorporated into the .py file. so that future WBS will use the month or seasons ect.

ive gotta say this looks amazing ... i was looking at the units and thery are great


only problem is that there are no buttons to activate them


help?