It would be nice if the columns in the Map Finder sorted numerically instead of alphabetically (currently, 7 is considered to be greater than 22).

Also, the text description of the map shows base commerce/food/production. It would be nice if there were columns to allow sorting on those statistics.

It would be nice if the columns in the Map Finder sorted numerically instead of alphabetically (currently, 7 is considered to be greater than 22).

Also, the text description of the map shows base commerce/food/production. It would be nice if there were columns to allow sorting on those statistics.Noted. I'll add to my to-do list.

sorry to ask a silly question...but I can't figure out how to use the MapFinder...any tips? :)

1) Open Civ4 Map Finder.
2) File -> Rule Builder
3) Edit rules
4) Save rule file with new name - make sure "Update HOF INI File" is checked.
5) Open Civ (vanilla or warlords)
6) Load HOF mod
7) Start game
8) Alt-M
9) wait 30+ minutes
10) exit Civ
11) In Civ4 Map Finder, change Civ Version to force refresh of saved game list
12) Browse through saved games
13) Use "move" or "Load in Civ4" to move saved game to appropriate directory.
14) Play.

and where is the Civ4 Map Finder?

and where is the Civ4 Map Finder?

It is a VB .NET utility you download from here (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php?show=mapfinder).

ah, that would explain why I can't find it :blush:
I assumed since there was a spot for it in the HOFmod options screens, it was included

What does Map Finder do?

It lets you set criteria (such as 4+ rivers, < 2 salt water, stone, 2+ food resources) and then it uses the Civ4 map regeneration tool to load many maps. It saves the ones that fit your criteria.

maybe I'm just inept(not good since I'm majoring in programming lol), but for some reason, my mapfinder doesn't save maps when I know it meets the criteria...my most lenient criteria tells it to have 1 hill, 2 forests, and a quarry resource...that's it. And while I'm watching it generate maps, I've seen it generate and not save 3 maps that don't get saved for me to play later.

Unfortunately, by the time I've checked if it saved it automatically, I can't hit Alt-x anymore because it has already begun generating the next map and I lose that one forever :(

maybe I'm just inept(not good since I'm majoring in programming lol), but for some reason, my mapfinder doesn't save maps when I know it meets the criteria...my most lenient criteria tells it to have 1 hill, 2 forests, and a quarry resource...that's it. And while I'm watching it generate maps, I've seen it generate and not save 3 maps that don't get saved for me to play later.

Unfortunately, by the time I've checked if it saved it automatically, I can't hit Alt-x anymore because it has already begun generating the next map and I lose that one forever :(Try increasing the "Delay for Screen Update" so you have more time to act.

Could you send me your rule file?

Also something to think about, the check uses the fat cross at the range specified from the settlers location, so it doesn't include corners a x range from settler. If you set the range to 999 it will take anything visible.

Can you post your rule file here? I'd be willing to be there's something that's triggering it. I once had a rule file that required minimum 2 settlers on plains hills. :)

sending rule file...I've got it set to 4, but it isn't even saving the start when the marble is in the fat cross of where my settler starts.

here's the rule file...I couldn't get a screenshot of it small enough to attach, and the server won't accept .rul files, so I changed the extension to .txt

to try it out in map finder yourselves, change it back to .rul

I'm at a loss as to what I've got set wrong in it, but I've changed the wait time from 2 to 8 seconds so I have time to manually save the files...interestingly enough, I've saved 9 files manually, and all of them are marble...I have yet to see stone.

here's the rule file...I couldn't get a screenshot of it small enough to attach, and the server won't accept .rul files, so I changed the extension to .txt

to try it out in map finder yourselves, change it back to .rul

I'm at a loss as to what I've got set wrong in it, but I've changed the wait time from 2 to 8 seconds so I have time to manually save the files...interestingly enough, I've saved 9 files manually, and all of them are marble...I have yet to see stone.I think this is a misunderstanding about how the rules and groups work.

Basically, if you want to save any map with marble/stone you would have to create a group with just quarry resource 1 - 999. Otherwise the other conditions (rules) with in the same group would all have to be true for it to save that map. I see forests, hills and other conditions in each of your groups.

Take a look at this post (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=5216446&postcount=6) for more details. (Methos is working on adding this information to the FAQs.)

I hope this helps. :)

well...unless I had more than 6 hills on some of those maps, I still should have had a couple of them get saved...I had tons of forests in every single one, and almost always had a few hills.

I'll try making a group that has nothing except quarry resources to see if that helps.

well...unless I had more than 6 hills on some of those maps, I still should have had a couple of them get saved...I had tons of forests in every single one, and almost always had a few hills.

I'll try making a group that has nothing except quarry resources to see if that helps.If you could send a couple examples of maps you think should have been saved to hof.civfanatics@gmail.com, I'll take a look.

sure, I managed to stop the mapfinder and save 10 of them, so I'll send them over :)

One thing I notice about your ruleset is you have a quarry argument in groups 1-3. Rather than do it that way, I suggest create a group with only a quarry resource as its argument. Remember, in order for MapFinder to save it, the map simply has to agree with all the arguments for any one group. So if it agrees with the argument in group 5 (it has a quarry resource), than it'll save that map.

I've edited your ruleset a little. What I did was remove the quarry resource argument from groups 1-3 and added a single argument for quarry resource as group 5. Edit: Whoops, I'm not for sure if I removed the quarry arguments from groups 1-3. You might check. I typed that I did, but I can't remember if I actually did it. :old:

Edit #2: Fixed, the new corrected .txt file has been uploaded. Note that group 3 is basically useless now, though I'd honestly suggest updating 1-3 anyway.

As you already know, save the .txt file as a .rul file.

If you set the range to 999 it will take anything visible.

I also edited this in, too.

sure, I managed to stop the mapfinder and save 10 of them, so I'll send them over :)There are definately some there that group #3 should have saved. I will run it with logging turned on to see if there is an error that is preventing it from saving. Otherwise, I'll have to do some testing to figure out why.

Hi Denniz, hi Thrallia.
I have had that same problems in the past, but only in the session in which I saved a new ruleset. If I closed CivIV and opened it again, then it would start saving the correct maps.