Okay, I have Map Finder now. I have searched the forums and can't seem to find a good tutorial on how to use it. Can some one please point me to a thread that breaks down the finer points of the Map Finder plug in?

Here's what I was able to figure out on my own:

1. Open Map Finder from the desktop. From the file menu, choose Rule Builder.

2. In the Rule Builder, you will see several pre-made groups, with rules in each group. Later, when you run Map Finder in Civ4, Map Finder will save any start that meets all of the rules specified in a group. You can Add/Delete groups and rules with the buttons on the right. If you click on a rule, you can change that rule using the drop down menus at the bottom. You can make a rule to look for a certain number of flood plains, or freshwater corn, or pasture resources, etc... Be sure to specify the Min and Max of that type of tile/resource you're looking for. After you've built all of the groups you want Map Finder to look for, save your changes.

3. Close Map Finder and start up Civ4. Start up a game with your desired settings. After the game begins, press Alt-M to start Map Finder. You should see the game begin to Regenerate the map, over and over again. It will keep a running count of how many games it has regenerated, and how many of those it has saved (because it fit one of your groups). You can change the maximum number of regenerations and the speed of regeneration in the Options menu, HOF3 tab. Let it run for a while (unfortunately, it wont run in the background). When you want to take a look at the saved starts, press Alt-X and quit Civ4.

4. Open Map Finder from the desktop again. Click on the Civ Version Menu and choose the Civ version you are using. The saved games should display in the rows below the resource icons. You'll be able to see a screenshot, and the table will list the resources that appear in the shot. If you're ready to play one of the saves, you can rename the weird file name and move it to a desired folder.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

Try this FAQ thread, it has a Map Finder section: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=260678

Thanks for the help. I figured out how to work most of the functions in Map Finder now.

For some reason the preview pane is always black when looking at the maps that have been saved. I can read what resources are present and statistical information about the number of various tile types, but I can't see the saved map start location unless I start a game. I think that the map finder is not moving the viewable area when it regenterates so I am seening the fog of war in the location where origional the start location was before turning on map finder.

Is there a setting that I can change that might fix this?

Thanks for the help. I figured out how to work most of the functions in Map Finder now.

For some reason the preview pane is always black when looking at the maps that have been saved. I can read what resources are present and statistical information about the number of various tile types, but I can't see the saved map start location unless I start a game. I think that the map finder is not moving the viewable area when it regenterates so I am seening the fog of war in the location where origional the start location was before turning on map finder.

Is there a setting that I can change that might fix this?

You could try slowing down the regeneration speed (in the HOF3 tab). Maybe the regeneration is happening too fast to move the viewable area to the new starting location.

I have a really strange issue with mapfinder.

I can run it and modify rules etc. but when I run the mapfinder from inside civ4 (bts) it loads the default rules every time, and save starts accordingly.

I did change the rule "path" to the one I wished to use and in the text that is shown when mapfinder is initiated it claims to load my rule file. Still, mapfinder only refers to the default rules when it evaluates a startlocation.

I have even tried to overwrite the default rules with my own set of rules with no change in behavior. When I deleted the default rules then MF didnt function at all.

Anyone got any tips?

EDIT: After having reinstalled and used an older version messed with many things it seems to work for now. No clue what fixed it...

I have a really strange issue with mapfinder.

I can run it and modify rules etc. but when I run the mapfinder from inside civ4 (bts) it loads the default rules every time, and save starts accordingly.

I did change the rule "path" to the one I wished to use and in the text that is shown when mapfinder is initiated it claims to load my rule file. Still, mapfinder only refers to the default rules when it evaluates a startlocation.

I have even tried to overwrite the default rules with my own set of rules with no change in behavior. When I deleted the default rules then MF didnt function at all.

Anyone got any tips?

EDIT: After having reinstalled and used an older version messed with many things it seems to work for now. No clue what fixed it...

Have you tried to "update rule-path" inside of MapFinder? This works for me :)

I have a really strange issue with mapfinder.

I can run it and modify rules etc. but when I run the mapfinder from inside civ4 (bts) it loads the default rules every time, and save starts accordingly.

I did change the rule "path" to the one I wished to use and in the text that is shown when mapfinder is initiated it claims to load my rule file. Still, mapfinder only refers to the default rules when it evaluates a startlocation.

I have even tried to overwrite the default rules with my own set of rules with no change in behavior. When I deleted the default rules then MF didnt function at all.

Anyone got any tips?

EDIT: After having reinstalled and used an older version messed with many things it seems to work for now. No clue what fixed it...

Have you tried to "update rule-path" inside of MapFinder? This works for me :)

I had to use a really strange python function to get it to loop across regenerations. No matter what I tried, I never succeeded in getting it to read a another rules file once Civ4 starts. So if you want to change a rule file you must exit Civ4 for the change to take effect.

Here is an interesting screenshot of my mapfinder not showing a proper screen grab of the starting location.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii295/Mesix_Orion/MapFinder.jpg

Who is that with all the records there?

You can't run Civ4 minimized or in the background when using map finder (Alt-X). It takes a screenshot of the desktop.

It's not minimized. Civ IV is running full screen mode and I can watch the maps as they generate. Map finder displays this (or whatever is on my desktop) after Civ IV is finished generating maps. Unclethrill's computer does the same thing and the only two things our computers have in common are Vista and the nVidia 8600M graphics card.

It doesn't matter if Civ IV is the only application running or if there are other things up (like Map Finder and Internet Exploder as in the screen shot). Map finder takes a screen shot of whatever is on the desktop behind Civ IV running with the startup bar for Civ IV in the middle of the screen.

It would be nice to get it working properly, but it really isn't that big of a deal. It still generates plenty of maps for me to use. I just have to sift through the results reading the displayed statistics.

Are you running in full screen mode? Someone had a problem with windowed mode and screenshots at one point. I think the power options was the fix there but you never know you might have found a new one.

I believe that the screenshots are taken by a freeware code/app that Dianthus added to the DLL. I will have to see if there is an updated version that has support for Vista.

I have the same problem with the screenshots. Also running Vista. Anyone found a solution for this issue?

And I have an other problem with the mapfinder. It stops regeneration randomly. Sometimes after 2 or 3 regeneration. Any idea?

It will stop regenerating if two civs are in contact. There is a bug where the contact is not cleared properly. There should be a message saying it cannot continue. Check the log if you miss it.

Dennis, thank you for the answer. I looked in the mapfinder folder but can't find a log file there. Can you tell me, where the log is located?

Dennis, thank you for the answer. I looked in the mapfinder folder but can't find a log file there. Can you tell me, where the log is located?Sorry, I was talking about the in-game log. If you miss the messages on the screen you can see them in the in-game log screen. Once you close the game they are gone.