Please upload or discuss issues with graphics here.


By the way I guess there was a board game called Mare Nostrum. Lots of great artwork there: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/10998

I'd just like to point out that posting/using copyrighted artwork can be problematic. Please try to get permission from the original creator(s) before posting such.

Link to it: fine. Use it as a base jumping off point for your own artwork: fine. Just don't copy it verbatim without at least trying to get permission. And always give appropriate attribution.

sure thing padma.

I'm working on the europe screen. I hope Koma can help with this.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=206101&stc=1&d=1236470675

No problem, Ekmek. Send me a copy of your background (without the ocean) and I can make a Europe screen out of it.

Has anyone successfully changed the resources that show on the map for C4COL? Koma and I have both independently tried to add the medieval resources in and no matter what we do with the art files we still get the same old ones - please dont tell me they are hard coded.

if we cant figure it out we may have to do some file name editing to make it work :mad:

Has anyone successfully changed the resources that show on the map for C4COL?

Origins mod adds a new lumber resource. ;)

Europe Screen preview pic (still have to make the positioning and ship icons):

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/7307/civ4screenshot0018.jpg

oh man that is perfect!

I've noticed there is a problem with one of the leaderheads (I already forgot which one!) But it's one based on Pericles. Something seems to be attached incorrectly and it looks funny. In the 1st screenie you can see it in the upper right corner.

Alternately, I've run into some other errors w/ the XML. I placed the mod in Documents/MyGames/Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Colonization/Mods (is that correct, or should I make a mod folder in the program files area?) The first occurs once w/ a schema error after it, and the second occurs multiple times w/ acompaning schema error after it. If I click through these, the splash screen loads up and I can look through the Civilopedia, but when I try loading a mapscript through 'Play Now!' it crashes in after the intializing stage. Is there a certain map I have to play on?

I'm guessing that these errors are related to how Crossover handles programs. I am having problems with upgrading Crossover atm, so once I get through that I should be on track fixing up the XML errors.
I guess I was just wondering if you have heard anything about these errors or have any input about them.

EDIT: Just a follow-up, it seems these tags are not included in the schema, causing the errors. I don't know why these have not been reported, native Windows must allow these to go by or allow you to draw from other schema files. This is very odd...

Do you have Vista or XP. And are you sure you installed the latest firaxis patch (1.01) ?

EDIT:
Forget question about vista/XP. Try to put mod in program files\Col\Mods.

found the missing wine dds - it was in the shared folder

redid the olive nif so it fits in the tile. they'll be in BETA 0.03

found the missing wine dds - it was in the shared folder

redid the olive nif so it fits in the tile. they'll be in BETA 0.03

Great! But we need a better way to implement the new resources (imho). Old resources are still in and showing up in wb, just not placed by map scripts.

I'll try to finish new europe screen till tomorrow, anything in mind I should focus next?

EDIT: Just a follow-up, it seems these tags are not included in the schema, causing the errors. I don't know why these have not been reported, native Windows must allow these to go by or allow you to draw from other schema files. This is very odd...

Those missing tags are patch tags. You'll have to install the patch (not sure if there's a mac patch though).

Thanks, Dale, I kind of figured that. Koma told me that the current patch doesn't do a cd check, so I'm in the clear with the new patch. (FYI there is no Mac Colonization, I'm just using Crossover; a WINE program that allows Windows programs to run on Mac computers. I have to get around the cd check to make it run, so I used a crack until the new version came out.)

I've gone through and wrote down all of the buttons that need to be made, so I'll start in on that tonight.
I also made up a list of models that need to be changed as far as units and buildings are concerned. This isn't a complete list, just some of the things I thought were out of place and not very medditeranean. I'll list those here and you can tell me if you have any of these in the works.

Units
*Converted Barbarian
*Galley
*Quinquereme

Buildings
*Ampitheatre
*Barracks
Metal Shop
Odeon
*Olive Oil House, Press and Shop
*Pasture
*Pottery Building, House, and Shop
*Temple
*Tutor's House

Somewhat OT here, but I just thought the unit 'Pot Dealer' was hillarious! :smoke: :lol:

I've gone through and wrote down all of the buttons that need to be made, so I'll start in on that tonight.
I also made up a list of models that need to be changed as far as units and buildings are concerned. This isn't a complete list, just some of the things I thought were out of place and not very medditeranean. I'll list those here and you can tell me if you have any of these in the works.

Units
*Converted Barbarian
*Galley
*Quinquereme

Buildings
*Ampitheatre
*Barracks
Metal Shop
Odeon
*Olive Oil House, Press and Shop
*Pasture
*Pottery Building, House, and Shop
*Temple
*Tutor's House



the converted barbarian i made a blonde kid because of the way rome used hostage of chieftain's kids. Should just make it a the euro settler (but blonde)? I tried to keep the barbs blonde (sterotyped germanic) and the colonizers brunettes (sterotyped dark hair) just to distinguish.

I'll start on the buildings - thats where I'm going.
Somewhat OT here, but I just thought the unit 'Pot Dealer' was hillarious! :smoke: :lol:

Yeah iwas trying to think f a name and came with that. Glad you appreciate my sarcasm.

Great! But we need a better way to implement the new resources (imho). Old resources are still in and showing up in wb, just not placed by map scripts.

I'll try to finish new europe screen till tomorrow, anything in mind I should focus next?

Maybe the technologies? or the other interface screens? I'll go to buildings. I'm not sure I want t o monkey with te Lystem yet.

Maybe the technologies? or the other interface screens?

Ok, when Europe screen is finished, I start with the technology screen. Any ideas for changes of interface/input behaviour in comparison with FF screen or only graphical redo?

I was thinking of making it more like a civ4 tech tree. another option is maybe make it look like a library with each scroll a technology :dunno:

Ok, just a little sign of progress... I started replacing the buildings you mentioned first Flitlock.

I've also worked on the Master Potter and gave him an amphora to differentiate him better.

Koma, I've also fixed the bonus xml to not generate the old bonuses - so far so good. On that topic I'll eventualy limit what bonuses appear and get rid of the yields that show up on tiles. I think sheep, grapes, olives etc should be planted by the player. Not just there automaically and the yield increased by farms. so I will have to add some TIs.

I'm working on the ships now. I think I fixed the coracle to look better. I switched the pirate onesail (trireme with one sail) and the galley's graphics. the galley makes a good pirate ship so the switch makes sense.

I'm working on the ships now.

Then I better wait for making new ship icons...
What purpose have the animations in Civilopedia folder? There are not working and destroy animations in Europe screen.

Btw, city graphics looking awesome!

Then I better wait for making new ship icons...
What purpose have the animations in Civilopedia folder? There are not working and destroy animations in Europe screen.



i only changed the background graphics for the civilopedia so it will be black - easier to make buttons from.

I just re did the quinqureme.

Edit: patch is next post

ok, here are the new boats. I think they are all covered. sorry i didnt save it into the right folder but wanted to get this to you before the weekend. the new artdefines is in there too. i added the legion as well (I think it was in the beta 2 - but nt in the art defines. i had to modify that model too so it probably has team color but it'll be fixed in beta 3)

i only changed the background graphics for the civilopedia so it will be black - easier to make buttons from.

Ok, so they can be removed?

Will finish Europe screen today.

yeah they can be removed. i'll try and not include them next time

Ok, thank you.
I use them for europe screen animation. :)
I made a kind of winter screen. But not snow, it's a storm!

Ok, thank you.
I use them for europe screen animation. :)
I made a kind of winter screen. But not snow, it's a storm!

cool! cant wait to see it!

I'm making progress on buildings hopefully get them done next week.

OT - I want to thank you guys for all your work. This thing is really coming along!

Hey, Ekmek, when are you considering doing the next release? I've been working on the unit buttons, but I'm kind of interested in being able to gauge my time. We set a record for flood level today, so they called off school for all of next week. :eek: (I've got quite a bit of time on my hands...)

EDIT: You should send me some civilopedia screenies of any new units you make ;)

Europe Screen for Mare Nostrum! :hatsoff:

Install:

- delete MareNostrum/Assets/Art/Interface/Screens/Europe
- delete MareNostrum/Assets/Art/Interface/Screens/Civilopedia
- copy MareNostrum (inside EuropeScreen_MareNostrum.rar) to your Colonization/mods folder

http://rapidshare.de/files/46387301/EuropeScreen_MareNostrum.rar.html

Hey, Ekmek, when are you considering doing the next release? I've been working on the unit buttons, but I'm kind of interested in being able to gauge my time. We set a record for flood level today, so they called off school for all of next week. :eek: (I've got quite a bit of time on my hands...)

EDIT: You should send me some civilopedia screenies of any new units you make ;)

get as afr as you can - th eonly changes i made were the boats (I posted them) and the new master potter and added the legion. everything else hasnt changed. And feel free to be creative I'm not that hung up on the marble background thing

Europe Screen for Mare Nostrum! :hatsoff:



Awesome! Beta 3 is looking like it will be a real release!

Beta 3 is looking like it will be a real release!

Yeah, I am looking forward to. Will do tech screen next. What about the main interface? Advisor button placement is ridiculous.

Yeah, I am looking forward to. Will do tech screen next. What about the main interface? Advisor button placement is ridiculous.


if you want to mess with it, go for it. i dont know anything about interface

I've been reorganizing the buttons in the artdefines a bit and I added a folder for unit buttons, so that may come into conflict. You should send me your latest unit/unitart xmls along with all of the new unit art, so I can merge my new button paths before I get in to deep.

If you'd rather add the unit buttons in yourself, I'll just do up the buttons and give them to you.

Whatever works best, I guess... ;)

I've finished up the unit buttons; see attached. Just let me know if I missed any. ;)

hmmm. for some reason your new buttons are coming up blank for me. I'll look into it.

Damn, that sucks. :( It seems my DDS Converter has some crappy compression. The buttons worked for me, although some of them had some weird looking dots on them. I wish there was an easy to use, quality program for macs.
I have the png files, if you want to convert them yourself, otherwise I'll try a different program (I think its better, but more confusing to use.)

Damn, that sucks. :( It seems my DDS Converter has some crappy compression. The buttons worked for me, although some of them had some weird looking dots on them. I wish there was an easy to use, quality program for macs.
I have the png files, if you want to convert them yourself, otherwise I'll try a different program (I think its better, but more confusing to use.)

There's a dds plugin for Photoshop now. They use it on other GameBryo games. Just do a google for it. :)

Its only for Windows, though. I prefer GIMP now anyway; it loads quicker and I'm used to the interface more by now. ;)

gimp is better but some col dds files wont show. but if you make you rbuttons with gimp they should work.

I reexported my buttons, and they work for me. If they still don't work for you, or if they look bad, I've included the png files if you want to convert them yourself.

nope still don't work for me :( but I'll see if the game reads pngs (or I can do a batch conversions to tgas).

edit: If you do buttons next time you can do them in tgas (instead of png it might be easier). but so far I'm going through and swapping them fairly easy.

PS - buildings are starting to look real good. Should be ready this week!

Flintlock,

I was able to swap the buttons. No problem. These are awesome buttons! But could you make a few more - PLEASE - :D

Attached picture shows the latest buttons and what I need. just send png's. i'll do the conversion. And I'll try and do the legionaire. Thank you for your help!

Will the game accept files other than DDS? :hmm:
Anyway... I don't think I'll be doing the buttons for the next round, what with all of the problems. I wish I could contribute more, but this would probably be less problematic if a Windows user did them for you. I'm actually starting work on a Wild West mod right now, so I'll be busy with that.
So with that, I say good luck with your project, and I can't wait to see it in full development! :goodjob:

no prob. thanks for the help! good luck with your Wild West Mod!

Sorry, I missed your next post...
I could round out the rest of the units for you; making the png files are super easy. If you send me a 'pedia screenie of the legionarie, I'll get that to you as well. After that I'll head full boar into the Wild West mod. :goodjob:

cool! here is the legionaire and the great general. Thanks for the help!

All finished!
EDIT: Just saw your new post; is the Great General changed at all?
EDIT 2: Heres the Legionarie, as well.

That did it Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No problem! Can't wait to see the new version! :)

Ok building graphics are pretty much done. I need to do buttons though. Then i'll fix the resource icons and release Beta 3

Hi Ekmek, sorry for the off topic but I have a question for you: how did you get the resources to show up in your mod? I'm trying to replace cotton with the civ cow resource, but I can only get it to show up in the Civilopedia.
When I added the Wine resource (replacing the Banana) I had the opposite problem; it shows up in game but not in the Civilopedia.

I'm rather confused about how Col draws its resources, so maybe even telling me the right files/artpaths to work with should help.
Thanks!

Hi Ekmek, sorry for the off topic but I have a question for you: how did you get the resources to show up in your mod? I'm trying to replace cotton with the civ cow resource, but I can only get it to show up in the Civilopedia.
When I added the Wine resource (replacing the Banana) I had the opposite problem; it shows up in game but not in the Civilopedia.

I'm rather confused about how Col draws its resources, so maybe even telling me the right files/artpaths to work with should help.
Thanks!

don't replace. keep all of the original ones and just add new ones. it was the only way to do it (we didn't try editing the Lsystem)

So even if I only change the name and artreference, it still won't work? :sad:
If this is the case, then how did you make sure they don't show up? (I'm guessing its a mapscript thing.)

i made sure they didt show up by editing the terrains they show on. so i have them in my civilopedia but not in game. you are talking about bonuses right?

Yea, bonuses, i.e. the resources on the map.
Could I do <Terrain>NONE</Terrain> (or whatever the actual tag is) or do i have to use a terrain that doesn't appear on the map?

Thanks

Yea, bonuses, i.e. the resources on the map.
Could I do <Terrain>NONE</Terrain> (or whatever the actual tag is) or do i have to use a terrain that doesn't appear on the map?

Thanks

You are probably looking for <Terrain/> As the way to not have the resource

And the Pedia reference could probably be removed by saying <Civilopedia/>
instead of (for example) <Civilopedia>TXT_KEY_BONUS_BANANA_PEDIA</Civilopedia>

New city screen preview: :)

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/820/civ4screenshot0011.jpg

Nice! I like it. I'm holding off on MareNostrum Basic for this.

speaking of city screen, I added a yield (for a later MN release) and I think it crashed the game - it maybe related to this screen. You said it shrinks it but any chance you can make the yields at the bottom display only if their is something stored or being produced? it would look cleaner.

Nice! I like it. I'm holding off on MareNostrum Basic for this.

Give me one more day. :) I made a small update pack for MN I will upload tomorrow:

- some fixes and improvements for Europe screen
- fixed tech graphics in Civilopedia
- city screen update with different colors depending on civ you play and corrected size of building, unit and yield graphics (can you check the acedemy, it doesn't have a texture)
- minor update for soundtrack, a handful new tunes and diplo sounds

You said it shrinks it but any chance you can make the yields at the bottom display only if their is something stored or being produced? it would look cleaner.

Only hiding the yield gfx or the "box area" too? Both is possible, but I'm thinking about a major redo of the city screen, making place for additional buildings and yields.

Give me one more day. :) I made a small update pack for MN I will upload tomorrow:

- some fixes and improvements for Europe screen
- fixed tech graphics in Civilopedia
- city screen update with different colors depending on civ you play and corrected size of building, unit and yield graphics (can you check the acedemy, it doesn't have a texture)
- minor update for soundtrack, a handful new tunes and diplo sounds



Those are great updates. I'll check out the academy issue when I see your fixes




Only hiding the yield gfx or the "box area" too? Both is possible, but I'm thinking about a major redo of the city screen, making place for additional buildings and yields.

i was just figuring on them not being in the bottom row if you don't have them or don't make them - so it'll show your specialization better and allow for more yields.

as for city screen redo - not sure if its possible but maybe you could make the box with te buildings a birds eye view of the city and as you add buildings it fills in the city? I'm sure you can come up with something better.

Koma,

I got your update and screens and new sounds are great. I'm having a problem, not related to your stuff, i get a crash when i go back to the main menu when i'm in game. do you know what usually causes those kind of crashes?

i get a crash when i go back to the main menu when i'm in game. do you know what usually causes those kind of crashes?

how did you know this was the problem? how did you get it to reportthis error?

Ok, there is no easy way to do this. You can check the log files/xml.log but most times it's full of warnings and errors, hard to decide which one is causing the crash.
What I would do is going back to 004 beta and adding new features/components one by one. This will help you isolating the error. If you know which component is responsible for crash you can use a diff app (eg. winmerge) for checking the changes you made.