NEXT WAR Giant Earth Map v 0.1 (Alpha) for Beyond the Sword v 3.17

Features
This mod will feature nearly the same gameplay as the Giant Earth Map mod, except that it will have an enhanced future era, which to date is the Next War mod. Later revisions may change the future era and possible minor tweaks to other units or adding a few 19th century steam powered naval vessels for game balance, but I plan on trying to preserve as much of the original game as possible. Currently, the game is, to be honest, Next War copy and pasted into Giant Earth Map, though perhaps with a bit of fusing of some xml files. This game has not been play tested, as this is the very first version, and I will need some feedback in order to do revisions. I also cannot promise that I can correct that problem within a day or a few days, but I will try my best to correct it as quickly as possible.

-Next War mod features
-Giant Earth Map maps and scenarios (plan on adding near future scenario with game update in near future)
-increased mobility to some land units, increases of about 150% to 200% moves to naval units, slight increase of air range to all air units and paratroops.

Issues v 0.1
Quickly, I want to point out that this mod has not been playtested yet, so if there are other issues, they may not be listed here.
-entering worldbuilder will display "python exception" bug, but will otherwise be ok. This problem used to crash, but was fixed thanks to Ace of Spades.
-During testing the game out for basic crashes, before the worldbuilder was fixed and possibly when I was trying to fix it myself, I experienced a CTD after about 10-15 turns just playing through from ancient start as the Americans. I am about 90% sure that the CTD was related to the wolrdbuilder bug, and that both were fixed at the same time.
-also, the intro screen will be for NEXT WAR, so don't worry about it, despite the fact that this is a Giant Earth Map mod. I haven't had time yet to create my own intro screen.

How to Install
First, you will need to download the main file and extract it into your mods folder. Second, you will need to copy the "Sound Files" folder located in NEXT WAR mod - Beyond the Sword/Mods/NEXT WAR/Assets/Art/Sound Files - and paste the folder into the same location in the NEXT WAR Giant Earth Map folder - Beyond the Sword/Mods/NEXT WAR Giant Earth Map/Assets/Art/.

I am sorry, but both due to the limits on uploading size and the speed of my internet connection, it is only feasible for me to upload the main mod folder leave instructions for installing the sound files separate.

DOWNLOAD HERE V 0.1
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1stcontact2035

Great idea! Good luck.

Thanks, I know that it nees a lot of work, but it is just a first release. I personally wish that I could have tacked on a near future (2009-2010) scenario, but I haven't had time to make one yet, and I haven't figured out how to get around the date editer not working in worldbuilder, among other things that make scenario building a little more difficult.

Hope to release an update, nonetheless, with said scenario sometime soon.

1stcontact2035

but I haven't had time to make one yet, and I haven't figured out how to get around the date editer not working in worldbuilder,
1stcontact2035

"date editor"?

Do you mean changing the starting year or the default calender?

Changing the starting year. I'm also assuming that the scenario would be more realistic if it had increments of months instead of years. I understood how to do that in Civ III and Civ II, but never figured out how to do most things generally associated with creating a good mod/scenario in Civ IV.

1stcontact2035

Changing the starting year. I'm also assuming that the scenario would be more realistic if it had increments of months instead of years. I understood how to do that in Civ III and Civ II, but never figured out how to do most things generally associated with creating a good mod/scenario in Civ IV.

1stcontact2035

Thats actually very easy to do in CIV. Check my 1940AD scenario WBS file. In the first few lines, I have set the start year (StartYear=1930), calender (Calendar=CALENDAR_MONTHS) and starting turn (GameTurn=120).

One thing very strange that you have to be aware of thought, is that for some reason, you can't set turn=0 (if turn=1, thats already February). So I need to have the start year set to 1930 (or any year this is earliest than 1940) and give the start turn as 12 x (1940 - 1930) = 120.

Sweet! I was just starting to look and see what I would have to do to get something like this, I'll let you know if I find any bugs.

Hello, I am very sorry I abandoned this mod and left the forums last year. In any case, if popular demand warrants this, and if someone wants me to work on this, I will certainly work towards this idea. I believe that Giant Earth Map is the best earth map out there, but I would certainly like to merge that not so much with Next War, but perhaps with some custom units, both past, present, and future. I would also like to work on custom civs. I don't believe there is much work to be done unit wise in the past, up through the 1600s, but once gunpowder was available, and then industrialization, coal, oil, and steel, the machines of war were let loose in myred variety. I don't believe that UUs are absolutely necessary in ancient times - mostly they were unique in what the game would call promotions and tactics (Rome and Greece using phalanx tactics, etc.). But nearly almost all modern units are UUs per the civ after industrialization/rennaissance.

So, long story short, if I am to do this, I need some help. The plan of action is to perhaps open up another thread, and to begin communication there. Mostly, I want GEM with 50+ civs starting in map date 1600. I would also like an ancient map with modified civs (no US for instance) starting in ancient times. I would also like no UUs before renaissance period, and nearly all units after 1850 UUs (though some could definately be shared, or there could be a UU sharing ability with seeder civs, but that would be for later). Definately an extended future era, but with that multiplicity of UUs that would naturally come out of this age and beyond.

Some ideas for units in the future era
F-22 Raptor
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
Ballistic missiles with loadable warheads (conventional, nuclear, biological, chemical)
biological creates a regional plague, nuclear... well, chemical does the same thing as nuclear except only to civilian population (basically wipes most of a city out, and will kill industrial age or earlier troops), conventional will, depending on the type of missile it is loaded onto, harm one unit, or cause collateral damage to several units. Same said for cruise missiles and tactical missiles (and tactical has 2x range of cruise missiles).
Jet bomber
Starfighter - interceptor with unlimited range, however cannot bomb enemy targets
Kinetic Kill Satellite - Can bomb any target on the planet - however, can be intercepted by starfighter or long range missiles.
Spy Drone - stealth, can recon within a range, can bomb a target
Light Ground Assault Vehicle - Drone attack vehicle, offensive advantage against infantry units
Assault Drone - stealth, fighter-bomber, long range
Etc.

I hope that I can get to work on this soon. Anyway, sorry again about this dying off.

1stcontact! You made it happen!!! I've searched for way to make GEM working with next war so hard and yet you made it happen!!!!! I'll download it right now and see how it goes! Thanks again for the great work and I'm looking forward to the next edition very very much. I'm sure others feels the same too. Please keep us posted.

oh...... after trying it out, when I load the mod of GEM w NEXT WAR, it always crash when loading it. I wonder if that's because I'm using vista 64 or new version of BTS?? Anyone got that problem?

it is probally because this is for an older version of the mod, look at the post dates, the most recent GEM came out a month ago and the file linked here is a year old.