Announcing the lastest versions of the HOF Mod for Sid Meier's Civilization 4:


HOF Mod 3.17.001 for Sid Meier's Civilization 4 - Beyond the Sword Version 3.17


Release Notes (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php#bts_notes)

Update from V3.13.001 to V3.17.001

Changes:

Add startup message when configuration problems would make game invalid for HOF or GOTM
Additional Error handling around HOF ini
Fixed the Glance screen per BUG Mod.
Replaced Modified Special Domestic Advisor with Customizable Domestic Advisor from Bug Mod.
Fixed Global_Highlands warning about Balanced Assets
Map Finder plots in range - worldwrap fix
from Solver's Unoffical BTS 3.17 Patch 0.19

AI plane/ship retreating logic when city is in danger extended to Forts
Vassal's spies no longer caught in master's territory
AI logic on banning nukes tweaked to account for AI leader personality and the global situation
Civilopedia will now display "replaced by" lines for buildings that get replaced by UBs
AI guided missiles will lean towards destroying resource-producing tiles as opposed to improvements like Towns
Rivers running through deserts will result in floodplains
AI will change civics during Golden Ages
Fixed bug in the map generator with water starts
AI may now try to use Warlords to create super-medic units
Fixed bug that prevented random events that target a unit from triggering
Access to the Barrage line removed from armored units.
Fixed AI defender bug for newly captured cities.
Made the AI more likely to use missiles on cruisers/subs to strike against enemy improvements.
Civilopedia and mouseover help for units that cause collateral damage will now show the collateral damage limit (50% for Catapults, etc.)
Fixed unavailability of foreign civ demographics if playing with espionage disabled.



>>Download<< (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php#bts_download)




HOF Mod 1.74.003 for Sid Meier's Civilization 4 - Version 1.74 (Vanilla)


Release Notes (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php#release_notes)

Upgrade from V1.74.002 to V1.74.002

Changes:

Add startup message when configuration problems would make game invalid for HOF or GOTM
Additional Error handling around HOF ini
Map Finder plots in range - worldwrap fix
Specialist Stacker fixed using BUG mod source (Moved to HOF3 tab)


>>Download<< (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php#download)




HOF Mod 2.13.003 for Sid Meier's Civilization 4 - Warlords Version 2.13


Release Notes (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php#warlords_notes)

Upgrade from V2.13.002 to V2.13.003

Changes:

Add startup message when configuration problems would make game invalid for HOF or GOTM
Additional Error handling around HOF ini
Map Finder plots in range - worldwrap fix
Re-added Specialist Stacker using BUG mod source (HOF3 Tab)


>>Download<< (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php#warlords_download)




HOF Mod details can be found here (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php).

Please use this thread for support and suggestions: link (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=229172)

Please Read - New HOF/GOTM Warning Popup

With this release of the HOF Mod, each version now does a check to determine if there are configuration issues that would lead to the game being ineligible for submission to the Hall of Fame or the GOTM.

If you receive the following message when you startup the HOF Mod, it will not be accepted should you submit it to the Hall of Fame. (I will leave it to the GOTM Staff to state their policy.)

http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/images/newmsg.png

You can click "Ok" to continue and play if you are not interested in submitting. Otherwise click on "Cancel" and go to Vista Fixes (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php?show=vista) page for the steps to correct the issue. (Windows XP users just need to use a user profile which has admin rights.)

It would be a very good idea to complete a simple Duel Conquest on Settler to test that the issue has been corrected. There is no guarantee that the check is foolproof at this point.

_____________________________________________

Also, a new version of the AssetsChecker (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php?show=assetschecker) program has been provided for the new HOF Versions.

So, I'm confused. Are we allowed to use 3.17 or not?

So, I'm confused. Are we allowed to use 3.17 or not?Yes, if you download HOF mod 3.17.001.

-deleted -

So, just so I am perfectly clear, if I want to be able to play any and all HoF games, I need to do the following 4 steps?

1) Install a patch on BtS so it is up to a version called 3.17
2) Install a new HoF mod called 3.17.001
3) Install a new HoF mod called 1.74.003
4) Install a new HoF mod called 2.13.003

So, just so I am perfectly clear, if I want to be able to play any and all HoF games, I need to do the following 4 steps?

1) Install a patch on BtS so it is up to a version called 3.17
2) Install a new HoF mod called 3.17.001
3) Install a new HoF mod called 1.74.003
4) Install a new HoF mod called 2.13.003Yes, we allow a month for the transition, though.

To date I have been able to use a non admin user to play SGOTMs using the HOF mod. Does this new check mean that I will have to use an admin user in future or is this an option that the GOTM staff can disable/ignore?

To date I have been able to use a non admin user to play SGOTMs using the HOF mod. Does this new check mean that I will have to use an admin user in future or is this an option that the GOTM staff can disable/ignore?You will have to speak to the GOTM Staff about that.

How long should the patch take to load? I'm not sure if I'm just being impatient, or whether something has actually gone wrong in the process. I don't remember any issues with previous updates.

How long should the patch take to load? I'm not sure if I'm just being impatient, or whether something has actually gone wrong in the process. I don't remember any issues with previous updates.

I assume you mean BtS 3.17 Patch not the HoF-mod update, so my answer is, if you use the in-game update mechanism it took quite some time and seemed to hang, but after some minutes it completes. I normally use the "download the patch and install manually" method which completes in several seconds (and you can reuse the downloaded patch if you have to reinstall). If this is not what you mean, ask again :)

Yeah, I definately recommend not using the in-game advanced option to patch. It has been know to fail with BTS. It is probably better to download the patch from CFC. At least that way you can see the progress of the download. It is 172MB so it takes awhile if you don't have a fast connection.

[B][COLOR="Red"][SIZE="5"]If you receive the following message when you startup the HOF Mod, it will not be accepted should you submit it to the Hall of Fame. (I will leave it to the GOTM Staff to state their policy.)


Since that looks like an invite :) I will clarify that GOTM staff are adopting the same policy as for the HOF in this regard. If you get the 'Games played will NOT be valid...' dialog when playing a GOTM, WOTM or BOTM, then you need to exit and follow the instructions, otherwise your game won't be accepted in the GOTM competition.

To date I have been able to use a non admin user to play SGOTMs using the HOF mod. Does this new check mean that I will have to use an admin user in future or is this an option that the GOTM staff can disable/ignore?

The same rules will apply in SGOTMs (and GOTMs) as in the HOF. Obviously that won't apply until you start an SGOTM that uses one of the new HOF mod versions though, and you won't be affected unless you see the dialog when you start a turnset. I hope that's not awkward for you. The new HOF mods change things a bit in a way that improves security (or if you prefer: cheat detection) - hopefully you'll agree that's a good thing :), but a consequence of those changes is the need for us to enforce this restriction for games that use the new HOF mods.

The new HOF mods change things a bit in a way that improves security (or if you prefer: cheat detection) - hopefully you'll agree that's a good thing :), but a consequence of those changes is the need for us to enforce this restriction for games that use the new HOF mods.

Thank you for your clarification DynamicSpirit. I don't have a problem with improved security, quite the contrary. It is in that vein that I am not at all happy with the requirement to run under an admin user. The general drift nowadays, as demonstrated in Vista and in the Games for Windows specs, is towards running in non admin mode. This policy quite clearly goes against that trend.

I understand that it is too late to change the latest HOF mods. However I really believe that the HOF & GOTM staff should be looking to change future iterations of the HOF mods to only require non admin user rights (at least for Win XP users).

I realise (from a previous discussion with Denniz) that this is probably not the easiest of matters. However I do not believe that reason should be used as an excuse for staying with the status quo.

Please note that I have no issue with being required to install the HOF mod under an admin user. It's only being required run the game under an admin user that I am against.

Good work, again, as always Denniz.
I can delete my 3.13.001 copy on my harddrive now.

I can delete my 3.13.001 copy on my harddrive now.

Note, if you desire to look at 3.13.001 saves you'll still need to have that version on your hard drive.

Another effect of this change is that xOTM's are not playable in linux (with WINE) anymore... For me, that might mean I'll stop playing them, since I don't want to reboot just for those games. I was just about to remove windows entirely, since I don't want to have to administer that install as well.

I was really happy when I got civ running with WINE. Civ was the last app that required me to boot windows. And it has been running without major problems for at least a year now. And I played a lot of civ, including the xOTM's. My results should convince anyone that I have not been cheating ;)

But now I cannot get the new HOF to save its settings. I tried several things that I wouldn't normally do (running wine as root, giving all users access to the entire virtual c: :eek:), but I keep getting that pop-up. There probably is a very sane security measure that prevents wine from writing wherever the new HOF wants to write.

I'll keep trying to get it to run of course (I use Linux because I like tinkering with my system), but for now I ran out of ideas. Since the security of the HOF mod is (for a large part) based on obscurity, I guess a description of the way this check is implemented will not be made available.

Does anybody have an idea of how to get this working with WINE again? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Does anybody have an idea of how to get this working with WINE again? Any help would be greatly appreciated.I am sorry that this is creating difficulties for you. We only added the warning to make people aware that their save files come up with differences if they don't have the proper accesses set. Vista in particular has been a challenge. We at the HOF, since players can generate as many new games as they want, have not been accepting these games. At least this way people know in advance that they need to do something. The GOTM folks have had a more difficult time because players only get one shot at each GOTM save. So for them it means a decrease in the number of problematic saves they have to deal with.

I don't know anything about Linux or WINE but you might want to make sure you have the most up-to-date version of WINE installed.

Thank you for your clarification DynamicSpirit. I don't have a problem with improved security, quite the contrary. It is in that vein that I am not at all happy with the requirement to run under an admin user. The general drift nowadays, as demonstrated in Vista and in the Games for Windows specs, is towards running in non admin mode. This policy quite clearly goes against that trend.

DynamicSpirit means security for the competition, not for your computer. Clearly, granting a third party fan-made mod (with deliberately untold functionality) admin rights on your computer is not something Microsoft would champion! Unfortunately, if you have the steam version of BTS things seem to get even worse, as it seems it may be necessary to grant Steam itself admin rights (BTS fails to launch if it is marked 'run as admin') which is a bridge too far for me at least.

DynamicSpirit means security for the competition, not for your computer. Clearly, granting a third party fan-made mod (with deliberately untold functionality) admin rights on your computer is not something Microsoft would champion! Unfortunately, if you have the steam version of BTS things seem to get even worse, as it seems it may be necessary to grant Steam itself admin rights (BTS fails to launch if it is marked 'run as admin') which is a bridge too far for me at least.I understand people's concern with computer security. For the record: We do not collect any personal information with the HOF Mod. The HOF Mod has been out around two years now without any problems. Hopefully our track record counts for something.

I tried using the new vanilla mod last night and in the middle of the game the oddest thing happened - when I opened the city screen, instead of the normal view with info panes on the left and specialists on the right etc, I saw what looked like a minimal interface screen with only the top and bottom bars visible. In the middle instead of the left and right panels it was just more visible tiles around the city. I wasn't able to change specialists, or even tell how much happy/health the city had... Unfortunately I didn't think to take a screenshot :wallbash:

Anyway, I fixed it by turning the specialist stacker off, so maybe that bug hasn't entirely been fixed yet?

I tried using the new vanilla mod last night and in the middle of the game the oddest thing happened - when I opened the city screen, instead of the normal view with info panes on the left and specialists on the right etc, I saw what looked like a minimal interface screen with only the top and bottom bars visible. In the middle instead of the left and right panels it was just more visible tiles around the city. I wasn't able to change specialists, or even tell how much happy/health the city had... Unfortunately I didn't think to take a screenshot :wallbash:

Anyway, I fixed it by turning the specialist stacker off, so maybe that bug hasn't entirely been fixed yet?Do you have a save?

Do you have a save?

No, I didn't think to make one since I fixed the problem that turn and the autosave will have been replaced since it happened mid-game. The final save was submitted as #13238, maybe you can open that and turn the stacker back on to see if the problem comes back - you'll know when you open the city screen. I'd do it but I'm at work right now.

If not I'll play another game tonight or tomorrow and see if I can replicate the problem.

The initial save should have been submitted too, no? Maybe the problem is present in the intial save.

Same thing had happened to me as well, in one of my recent submissions. I turned off specialist stacker and it was all ok. To be honest, I really don't value that part of the mod too highly. Maybe I am missing something?

:confused:tried to get an answer on another forum thread but no response. I am extremely frustrated at with the new BTS Mod for BOTM. I have a vista SP-1 laptop and I get the classic warning addressed in post #2. I have tried everything to fix this and am very frustrated with the lack of coherent help for someone new to this process. I was eager to try more of the "game of the month" games but having spent 2 days trying to load BOTM-(9) and getting the warning I am about to give up. It appears as though if you aren't an experienced gamer with more than extraodinary computer skills Civ Fanatics doesn't care if you participate.:sad: I have given the Civ folder complete admin rights and even created a new user with full admin rights (what a pain since you are basically starting over) with the same results. I have Vanilla, Warlords, And BTS disk version but beginning to think this sight is only for extreme gamers and maybe I should move on. Any step by etep things I can check or try would be appreciated other wisw I guess I will have to quit playing the GOTMs:cry:

:confused:tried to get an answer on another forum thread but no response. I am extremely frustrated at with the new BTS Mod for BOTM. I have a vista SP-1 laptop and I get the classic warning addressed in post #2. I have tried everything to fix this and am very frustrated with the lack of coherent help for someone new to this process. I was eager to try more of the "game of the month" games but having spent 2 days trying to load BOTM-(9) and getting the warning I am about to give up. It appears as though if you aren't an experienced gamer with more than extraodinary computer skills Civ Fanatics doesn't care if you participate.:sad: I have given the Civ folder complete admin rights and even created a new user with full admin rights (what a pain since you are basically starting over) with the same results. I have Vanilla, Warlords, And BTS disk version but beginning to think this sight is only for extreme gamers and maybe I should move on. Any step by etep things I can check or try would be appreciated other wisw I guess I will have to quit playing the GOTMs:cry:I am sorry that your experience has been so frustrating. Vista has created a lot of problems. I sounds like you still need to set each of the Civ4 exe's to run as admininstrator. You can change them by right-clicking on the exe in windows explorer, select Properties, and click on the Compatability tab. The privilege level box is at the bottom.

Denniz- Thanks for the help. don't know if I am making progress or not. I changed all three CIV IV .exe files as you suggested. I then tried the GOTM-(9) download. It got as far as loading Mod (3.17.001? I think) then it crashed saying CIV has stopped working:sad: Any thing else to check. I tried to take a print screen of the crash specifics but unable to copy into paint. Will try again

denniz=Not sure if I am uploading attachment right but this is the screen results at CiV BTS crash

Alot of the time a crash means a bad patch install. You might want to try reinstalling the patch. If you used the in-game advance menu to patch, you will find it in your My Games folder. (i.e. My Games/Beyond the Sword/Patches). The is an asset checker program you can download to check. http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php?show=assetschecker

:confused:tried to get an answer on another forum thread but no response. I am extremely frustrated at with the new BTS Mod for BOTM. I have a vista SP-1 laptop and I get the classic warning addressed in post #2. I have tried everything to fix this and am very frustrated with the lack of coherent help for someone new to this process. I was eager to try more of the "game of the month" games but having spent 2 days trying to load BOTM-(9) and getting the warning I am about to give up. It appears as though if you aren't an experienced gamer with more than extraodinary computer skills Civ Fanatics doesn't care if you participate.:sad:


It's not that, it's more to do with - all these games are run by volunteers and we don't always have time to look into every problem that occurs. Often if a post hasn't been replied to, it's because the people who read it don't know what the answer is and so leave it on the assumption/hope that someone else will know. The HOF forum is probably a better place than the GOTM forums for unusual technical difficulties specific to the HOF mod, since this is where the guys who wrote the HOF mod hang around :) (We just borrow it for GOTMs...)

At the moment I certainly hope your problems can be fixed so you can participate in the next BOTM, but right now I can't think of anything beyond what Denniz has suggested, and trying to reinstall the patch.

Downloaded mod again, It still will not load and CIV stops working as before. Tried the Assets checker and it came up with 160 errors couldn't find CIV apparantly. The directions say to download the assets checker to a temp file. Does it need to be in the Firaxis folder?. Still trying to figure this out but pretty much tried everything I can think of with no luck. I will see if I can find out anything more on the HOF forum, but I am pretty sure I have read most everything related. Anyway Thanks guys for your help, it looks like participating in GOTMs are not in the cards for me.

Downloaded mod again, It still will not load and CIV stops working as before.

Did you also re-install the patch as was suggested by Denniz?

Tried the Assets checker and it came up with 160 errors couldn't find CIV apparantly.

Can you please send the text file that is created by the assets checker to hof.civfanatics@gmail.com? Let us look it over so we can get a better idea of what the problem is and so that we can better help remedy this problem.

The directions say to download the assets checker to a temp file. Does it need to be in the Firaxis folder?

No. You can place it in any folder you want to. Just make sure that both files in the zip are placed in whatever folder you put them in. The checker knows where to look to check.

Again, what would help the best is for you to send the results of the checker to us at hof.civfanatics@gmail.com so we can look at the problem. Thanks!

OK I will send. I reinstalled mods for vanilla, warlords and BTS. Asset tracker now says vanilla and warlords are OK. BTS still with 48 errors. sending per instructions

Sent asset traker file. If I Uninstall and reinstall BTS are there any Hidden or registry parts to delete in addition to the uninstall? I may try that as a last resort. I hate to as Mod 3-13 works as advertized just not 1.17.001

Sent asset traker file.

I've replied back to you. When you reply back to me, can you please let us know if you have Vista (I forgot to ask in the email)? Hopefully we can get this resolved quickly so you can get back to playing BOTM and of course HOF! :D

It's not that, it's more to do with - all these games are run by volunteers and we don't always have time to look into every problem that occurs. Often if a post hasn't been replied to, it's because the people who read it don't know what the answer is and so leave it on the assumption/hope that someone else will know. The HOF forum is probably a better place than the GOTM forums for unusual technical difficulties specific to the HOF mod, since this is where the guys who wrote the HOF mod hang around :) (We just borrow it for GOTMs...)


It's also, I'd suggest, that making the mod require fiddling with settings that most users don't understand was strategically not the best idea. The mod writers are necessarily technical (they can program a mod in C++) and motivated to mucking about with parts of their computer software that ordinary users do not touch (they were motivated enough to write a mod). However, the mod now effectively requires players also to be both technical and motivated in order to be able to participate in the community games. The community of players has been partially reduced from "those who love playing Civ" to "just the techies who have nothing better to do than debug Windows Vista on a Friday night".

That's a very different kind of subgroup, and I'm not convinced it is representative of players as a whole. It's no longer "I came 25th out of the best Civ players", but "I came 25th out of that odd subset of Civ players who are also Vista administrators and have a significant computing background." And so, for that reason, I've fallen out of the "motivated" category, and won't be playing any HOF or GOTM games until the whole mess (pardon the harsh phrasing) is sorted out.

I worry that other players may think the same, not tell you about it, and just quietly leave the playing community.

Methos- I am using Vista (SP-1) on an HP Laptop. Have had no problrms with any of the other mods for BTS, Warlords or Vanilla until 1.17.001 thanks for trying to help figure this out.

@BakeliteRules, have you re-installed the BTS Patch 3.17? That is what I was trying to get you to do.

Was out for a couple hours and just finished re downloading....and...:dance: Up and running!! No errors with asset checker and successfully loaded3.17.001 from BTS Advanced menu. Methos and Denniz thankyou for your help and patience. Don't know why the CivFanatics downloads didn't take but the Link Methos gave me got the Job done. Now on to to BTS GOTM(9) where I will get utterly annihilated:D:D

Again--:bowdown::thanx:--:bowdown::thanx:--:bowdown::thanx:--:bowdown::thanx:--:bowdown::thanx:--:bowdown::thanx:

I'm happy to report that I got the latest mod working without too much difficulty on my Vista box for BOTM9 purposes, but ... I'll have to be honest, it made me a bit nervous what I had to do, and I'm still not sure I'm totally comfortable what I did. I don't have any doubt that the HOF mod team has anything but the purest of intentions in making me relax security on my box, and I'm sure they made effort to minimize the chances that there is some back door now open on my box. But I guess I feel the same way about Microsoft too, and it goes without saying that they are ALWAYS discovering vulnerabilities with their code, even though they have huge experience and a control system for finding and eliminating these as a normal course of development.

I'm not sure what great new anti-cheat feature required all of this, but I urge you to find a better way in the next release, if at all possible, to implement it without forcing players to relax their OS security in order to participate.

I have a couple of suggestions for Mapfinder (which I love, btw):
the file naming convention generates some very long names - I find that it is very hard to tell one file name from another when I am trying to load directly from Civ4. Suggestion: Allow the user to specify the naming convention - however, you should force the numbers at the end. I often load up generated saves based on my 'rules' only to find that when I settle, my start goes from a good start to a GREAT start (resources in the fog). As such, I've decided to open each potential save, determine where I want to settle, settle and see what I get, then save (if I want to keep it) and re-evaluate later. However, each file wants to save with the same name. Suggestion: Modify the player name with the save number. EG If I was looking at file 'blah blah 154_13', then modify my name to 'Ruff 154_13' before generating the mapfinder save.

I have a couple of suggestions for Mapfinder (which I love, btw):
the file naming convention generates some very long names - I find that it is very hard to tell one file name from another when I am trying to load directly from Civ4. Suggestion: Allow the user to specify the naming convention - however, you should force the numbers at the end. I often load up generated saves based on my 'rules' only to find that when I settle, my start goes from a good start to a GREAT start (resources in the fog). As such, I've decided to open each potential save, determine where I want to settle, settle and see what I get, then save (if I want to keep it) and re-evaluate later. However, each file wants to save with the same name. Suggestion: Modify the player name with the save number. EG If I was looking at file 'blah blah 154_13', then modify my name to 'Ruff 154_13' before generating the mapfinder save.I think we have you covered on the Player name thing for HOF Saves. I can't do anything about the manual save file name.

I think we have you covered on the Player name thing for HOF Saves. I can't do anything about the manual save file name.Not quite. I was hoping that the game could do this ... mapfinder regenerates map mapfinder compares map to rule, decides this version is a keeper mapfinder renames player name from 'Ruff' to 'Ruff_X_Y' (where X is the save number and Y is the regen number - or the other way around) mapfinder creates save, jpg, txt, etc

With this setup, I can open the save, see if I like it and save it as an approved start to my HOF starts folder without having to edit the player name so that I can tell the starts apart. No biggie if you cannot do this - or it doesn't have enough priority - I'll just keep with the manual version.

Re the long file names - I'll write my own little macro to shorten them :D.

Not quite. I was hoping that the game could do this ... mapfinder regenerates map mapfinder compares map to rule, decides this version is a keeper mapfinder renames player name from 'Ruff' to 'Ruff_X_Y' (where X is the save number and Y is the regen number - or the other way around) mapfinder creates save, jpg, txt, etc

With this setup, I can open the save, see if I like it and save it as an approved start to my HOF starts folder without having to edit the player name so that I can tell the starts apart. No biggie if you cannot do this - or it doesn't have enough priority - I'll just keep with the manual version.

Re the long file names - I'll write my own little macro to shorten them :D.They way the player name thing works is it name the files as playername plus date, time, regen #, and save #. (ie Denniz_Aug-31-2008_06-10-05_45_31)

It sounds like you want the player name that shows up in the game to change as well. Right? I guess that is possible. I've never looked at it.

They way the player name thing works is it name the files as playername plus date, time, regen #, and save #. (ie Denniz_Aug-31-2008_06-10-05_45_31) ahh - will give that a try - sounds just what I am after.

It sounds like you want the player name that shows up in the game to change as well. Right? I guess that is possible. I've never looked at it.yes - that is what I was after.

I like mapfinder the way it is. All of my games keep the player name that I selected when I originally set up the game parameters and decided to run mapfinder.

After running mapfinder for awhile, I close Civ IV and run up the mapfinder utility program. From there I can see all of the games that were saved according to my rules set. Like any good databse, the utility allows me to view the save games in different orders based on user input (i.e. I can click on a particular resource and all of the save games will be listed by the number of that resource present near the start location). If I like some I can either play them at my liesure or save them to another directory for later. At this point I can rename the files whatever I want to name them.

If you are going to fix anything in mapfinder, please take a look at the screenshot. For some reason, Vista does not like to play well with the screen shot portion of mapfinder. I get screenshots fine on my XP PC, but my Vista laptop either shows a black screen or a picture of my computer desktop. I know that Unclethrill has the same issue with his Vista machine too.

If you are going to fix anything in mapfinder, please take a look at the screenshot. For some reason, Vista does not like to play well with the screen shot portion of mapfinder. I get screenshots fine on my XP PC, but my Vista laptop either shows a black screen or a picture of my computer desktop. I know that Unclethrill has the same issue with his Vista machine too.
I agree here, this is the only thing which need a little bit rework. One problem with the current method of taking the whole screen as screenshot leads to a lot of black screens at the moment the screensaver hits. I don't know whats the effort to replace this method with the civ4 build-in functionality. Only the staff can help with an answer here.

I don't even run a screen saver on my laptop. It seems to be a problem with Vista. Both my desktop and laptop are setup the same way with no screen saver. My laptop runs Vista and gives no screen shots in Map Finder. My desktop runs XP and the screen shot function works as designed. I can't really give any more input than this as I am not a software or programming expert. HOF Mod works great on both machines for playing games. The laptop actually works better for playing since it is newer and has more power to keep up with system demands running larger maps.

I don't even run a screen saver on my laptop. It seems to be a problem with Vista. Both my desktop and laptop are setup the same way with no screen saver. My laptop runs Vista and gives no screen shots in Map Finder. My desktop runs XP and the screen shot function works as designed. I can't really give any more input than this as I am not a software or programming expert. HOF Mod works great on both machines for playing games. The laptop actually works better for playing since it is newer and has more power to keep up with system demands running larger maps.My new vista system does the same thing. Try running civ4 in a window rather than full screen. That worked for me. I just changed the CivilizationIV.ini file to have it ask if I want to use full screen or not. It is an extra prompt but it makes it easier to remember to switch when I am using map finder.

The issue is probably with the image processing library we are using to take the screenshots. It probably needs to be upgraded to a newer version that supports Vista better. I have looked at it before but the complexity deters me. :blush: