Modding the aspects of "Game Speed"

Dr_Laxative said:
Sure...I'll try it out when I get home

I'm trying yours now. By the way you have one less -
<iYearIncrement>#</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>#</iTurnsPerIncrement>,,,, in your string then I did. Not sure how or why. Here's the edited file I used,,,,

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- edited with XMLSPY v2004 rel. 2 U (http://www.xmlspy.com) by Jesse Smith (Firaxis Games) -->
<!-- Sid Meier's Civilization 4 -->
<!-- Copyright Firaxis Games 2005 -->
<!-- -->
<!-- Game Speed -->
<Civ4GameSpeedInfo xmlns="x-schema:CIV4GameInfoSchema.xml">
<GameSpeedInfos>
<GameSpeedInfo>
<Type>GAMESPEED_EPIC</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_EPIC</Description>
<Help>TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_EPIC_HELP</Help>
<iGrowthPercent>150</iGrowthPercent>
<iTrainPercent>150</iTrainPercent>
<iConstructPercent>150</iConstructPercent>
<iCreatePercent>150</iCreatePercent>
<iResearchPercent>150</iResearchPercent>
<iBuildPercent>150</iBuildPercent>
<iImprovementPercent>150</iImprovementPercent>
<iGreatPeoplePercent>150</iGreatPeoplePercent>
<iCulturePercent>150</iCulturePercent>
<iAnarchyPercent>150</iAnarchyPercent>
<iBarbPercent>150</iBarbPercent>
<iFeatureProductionPercent>150</iFeatureProductionPercent>
<iUnitDiscoverPercent>150</iUnitDiscoverPercent>
<iUnitHurryPercent>150</iUnitHurryPercent>
<iUnitTradePercent>150</iUnitTradePercent>
<iUnitGreatWorkPercent>150</iUnitGreatWorkPercent>
<iGoldenAgePercent>125</iGoldenAgePercent>
<iHurryPercent>67</iHurryPercent>
<iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>150</iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>
<iInflationPercent>18</iInflationPercent>
<iInflationOffset>-150</iInflationOffset>
<GameTurnInfos>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>40</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>50</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>25</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>40</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>20</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>70</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>10</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>60</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>5</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>130</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>2</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>100</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>1</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>200</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
</GameTurnInfos>
</GameSpeedInfo>
<GameSpeedInfo>
<Type>GAMESPEED_REALTIME</Type>
<Description>REALTIME</Description>
<Help>TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_REALTIME_HELP</Help>
<iGrowthPercent>100</iGrowthPercent>
<iTrainPercent>100</iTrainPercent>
<iConstructPercent>100</iConstructPercent>
<iCreatePercent>100</iCreatePercent>
<iResearchPercent>100</iResearchPercent>
<iBuildPercent>100</iBuildPercent>
<iImprovementPercent>100</iImprovementPercent>
<iGreatPeoplePercent>100</iGreatPeoplePercent>
<iCulturePercent>100</iCulturePercent>
<iAnarchyPercent>100</iAnarchyPercent>
<iBarbPercent>100</iBarbPercent>
<iFeatureProductionPercent>100</iFeatureProductionPercent>
<iUnitDiscoverPercent>100</iUnitDiscoverPercent>
<iUnitHurryPercent>100</iUnitHurryPercent>
<iUnitTradePercent>100</iUnitTradePercent>
<iUnitGreatWorkPercent>100</iUnitGreatWorkPercent>
<iGoldenAgePercent>100</iGoldenAgePercent>
<iHurryPercent>100</iHurryPercent>
<iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>100</iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>
<iInflationPercent>27</iInflationPercent>
<iInflationOffset>-100</iInflationOffset>
<GameTurnInfos>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>10</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>75</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>10</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>60</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>5</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>25</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>5</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>50</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>2</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>70</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>1</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>50</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>1</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>100</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
</GameTurnInfos>
</GameSpeedInfo>
<GameSpeedInfo>
<Type>GAMESPEED_NORMAL</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_NORMAL</Description>
<Help>TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_NORMAL_HELP</Help>
<iGrowthPercent>100</iGrowthPercent>
<iTrainPercent>100</iTrainPercent>
<iConstructPercent>100</iConstructPercent>
<iCreatePercent>100</iCreatePercent>
<iResearchPercent>100</iResearchPercent>
<iBuildPercent>100</iBuildPercent>
<iImprovementPercent>100</iImprovementPercent>
<iGreatPeoplePercent>100</iGreatPeoplePercent>
<iCulturePercent>100</iCulturePercent>
<iAnarchyPercent>100</iAnarchyPercent>
<iBarbPercent>100</iBarbPercent>
<iFeatureProductionPercent>100</iFeatureProductionPercent>
<iUnitDiscoverPercent>100</iUnitDiscoverPercent>
<iUnitHurryPercent>100</iUnitHurryPercent>
<iUnitTradePercent>100</iUnitTradePercent>
<iUnitGreatWorkPercent>100</iUnitGreatWorkPercent>
<iGoldenAgePercent>100</iGoldenAgePercent>
<iHurryPercent>100</iHurryPercent>
<iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>100</iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>
<iInflationPercent>27</iInflationPercent>
<iInflationOffset>-100</iInflationOffset>
<GameTurnInfos>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>40</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>75</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>25</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>60</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>20</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>25</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>10</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>50</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>5</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>70</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>2</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>50</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>1</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>100</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
</GameTurnInfos>
</GameSpeedInfo>
<GameSpeedInfo>
<Type>GAMESPEED_QUICK</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_QUICK</Description>
<Help>TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_QUICK_HELP</Help>
<iGrowthPercent>67</iGrowthPercent>
<iTrainPercent>67</iTrainPercent>
<iConstructPercent>67</iConstructPercent>
<iCreatePercent>67</iCreatePercent>
<iResearchPercent>67</iResearchPercent>
<iBuildPercent>67</iBuildPercent>
<iImprovementPercent>67</iImprovementPercent>
<iGreatPeoplePercent>67</iGreatPeoplePercent>
<iCulturePercent>67</iCulturePercent>
<iAnarchyPercent>67</iAnarchyPercent>
<iBarbPercent>67</iBarbPercent>
<iFeatureProductionPercent>67</iFeatureProductionPercent>
<iUnitDiscoverPercent>67</iUnitDiscoverPercent>
<iUnitHurryPercent>67</iUnitHurryPercent>
<iUnitTradePercent>67</iUnitTradePercent>
<iUnitGreatWorkPercent>67</iUnitGreatWorkPercent>
<iGoldenAgePercent>80</iGoldenAgePercent>
<iHurryPercent>150</iHurryPercent>
<iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>67</iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>
<iInflationPercent>40</iInflationPercent>
<iInflationOffset>-67</iInflationOffset>
<GameTurnInfos>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>50</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>60</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>40</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>50</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>25</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>20</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>10</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>15</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>5</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>50</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>2</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>45</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>1</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>60</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
</GameTurnInfos>
</GameSpeedInfo>
</GameSpeedInfos>
</Civ4GameSpeedInfo>
 
Hmmm your file is unchanged except for the year increments???

ununcle said:
I'm trying yours now. By the way you have one less -
<iYearIncrement>#</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>#</iTurnsPerIncrement>,,,, in your string then I did. Not sure how or why. Here's the edited file I used,,,,

As for this question :p read the other posts...we are talking about it now
 
ununcle said:
The weirdest thing happened. My new game speed showed up in the custom game screen (cool) ,,and I started a game. Turns where 10 years per like I was trying to get. But after my first turn, Every civ in the games culture achieved legendary status? I got like 12 "an uknown civs culture has achieved legendary status" messages. Then the following turn Washingtons culture went through the roof. My borders expanded about 15 tiles , I got a bunch of gold and an explorer from goodie huts,, And my boarders covered most of a continent. ??? What the heck did I do? I changed the Year increments,, and I inserted 150 into the research percent to slow down research. Why the freakin culture bomb? I was tempted to play it out but that's quite an exploit:lol:

I just got home and tried the same thing, with the same results. Culture exploded in my first city. I only changed the research and the years/turns variables. note: I added a 4th speed, as someone had suggested, instead of editing and existing speed. Perhaps this has something to do with it?

EDIT: I went back to the original .xml file and only edited the EPIC gamespeed, and didnt add a 4th gamespeed. No culture explosion with this. So perhaps there are other files to edit if you add additional gamespeeds.
 
Dr_Laxative said:
Hmmm your file is unchanged except for the year increments???


Well, I inserted the new string so it would come up in the custom game menu at the begining of the game. And I changed the-

" <iYearIncrement>5</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>50</iTurnsPerIncrement>"

Settings, and the-

" <iResearchPercent>100</iResearchPercent>

Setting. The only other thing I did was to remove The words "TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED" , from this line-
"<Description>"TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_"REALTIME</Description>"

So when I would select it from the menu it would be called just "realtime".
 
kevchod said:
I just got home and tried the same thing, with the same results. Culture exploded in my first city. I only changed the research and the years/turns variables. note: I added a 4th speed, as someone had suggested, instead of editing and existing speed. Perhaps this has something to do with it?

EDIT: I went back to the original .xml file and only edited the EPIC gamespeed, and didnt add a 4th gamespeed. No culture explosion with this. So perhaps there are other files to edit if you add additional gamespeeds.

Would you mind just posting the string so I can try yours?
 
When adding a 4th gamespeed, you must also edit the Civ4CultureLevelInfo file. There seems to be ties to the gamespeed in that file. I think adding a 4th gamespeed and not having that new gamespeed represented in the Culture file, it results in a culture explosion for everyone.
 
Yeah that must it. After I added a 4th gamespeed I also had that culture bomb effect... So I just went and changed/renamed an existing speed, that works without additional changes.
 
ununcle said:
Would you mind just posting the string so I can try yours?

Sure...backup the original first, of course. I've modified the Epic speed here. The only testing I've done is to be sure that it moves the appropriate amount of years per turn (20, yes that works) and there is no culture explosion as mentioned above.

<GameSpeedInfo>
<Type>GAMESPEED_EPIC</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_EPIC</Description>
<Help>TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_EPIC_HELP</Help>
<iGrowthPercent>150</iGrowthPercent>
<iTrainPercent>150</iTrainPercent>
<iConstructPercent>150</iConstructPercent>
<iCreatePercent>150</iCreatePercent>
<iResearchPercent>200</iResearchPercent>
<iBuildPercent>150</iBuildPercent>
<iImprovementPercent>150</iImprovementPercent>
<iGreatPeoplePercent>150</iGreatPeoplePercent>
<iCulturePercent>150</iCulturePercent>
<iAnarchyPercent>150</iAnarchyPercent>
<iBarbPercent>150</iBarbPercent>
<iFeatureProductionPercent>150</iFeatureProductionPercent>
<iUnitDiscoverPercent>150</iUnitDiscoverPercent>
<iUnitHurryPercent>150</iUnitHurryPercent>
<iUnitTradePercent>150</iUnitTradePercent>
<iUnitGreatWorkPercent>150</iUnitGreatWorkPercent>
<iGoldenAgePercent>125</iGoldenAgePercent>
<iHurryPercent>67</iHurryPercent>
<iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>150</iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>
<iInflationPercent>18</iInflationPercent>
<iInflationOffset>-150</iInflationOffset>
<GameTurnInfos>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>20</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>100</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>15</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>66</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>10</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>140</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>5</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>120</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>3</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>220</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>1</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>200</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>1</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>200</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
</GameTurnInfos>
</GameSpeedInfo>
 
kevchod said:
When adding a 4th gamespeed, you must also edit the Civ4CultureLevelInfo file. There seems to be ties to the gamespeed in that file. I think adding a 4th gamespeed and not having that new gamespeed represented in the Culture file, it results in a culture explosion for everyone.

K I got it now. Didn't know till I read your post again. I'll just edit the existing epic string then. Thanks.
 
Sorry guys, I had to sleep. Eras are most definately tied to research and not the year, so when you research Theology you enter the medieval age, Astronomy for example would bring you to the renessance age.

In my first game I edited just the epic style as I showed in my example, I kept everything at the normal rates, and I actually increased research to 200 instead of 150. I entered the renassance era at 1135 AD.

Yes, not adjusting the timeline can effect the course of the game in the sense that it ends at 2050, however it's an easy addition or even subtraction of time values to fix that, as for me, I didn't bother with it. You can change the turn info as much as you want, and even add on more to the end to make the game even longer, since once the last turn <iYearIncrement>/<iTurnsPerIncrement> is used up, it ends the game on and calculates the final score.


Also, for those that wondered WHY I edited the epic file to have high research speed but normal unit production and such, is because I wanted the inflation of units vs. tech. Since I think it's nice to actually use my army of swordsmen for a good couple of turns rather than making them absolete.

The problem with all the values being at 150 like the normal epic setting was, for me atleast, yes, everything was slower, but buildings and units, even tile improvements took longer too. To match up with the longer tech. so basically what you're playing is a SLOW normal version, if that makes sense. I personally didn't want that, I just wanted longer time to experiance and use each technology before I discovered the next one.

In any case, the lot of you seem to have the hang of it so good luck and have fun, but as was mentioned... make sure you have a backup default XML somewhere! :king:
 
kevchod said:
Sure...backup the original first, of course. I've modified the Epic speed here. The only testing I've done is to be sure that it moves the appropriate amount of years per turn (20, yes that works) and there is no culture explosion as mentioned above.<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Thanks. Much better.:)
 
Excellent find, gentlemen! :D

Now, wouldn't it be wise to balance some stuff by raising their values to 200 if you do that with iResearchPercent? I mean, if you don't raise the build increment accordingly, your cities will end up with nothing else to build way before you're even close to 2050, for instance.
 
Lord Shadow said:
Excellent find, gentlemen! :D

Now, wouldn't it be wise to balance some stuff by raising their values to 200 if you do that with iResearchPercent? I mean, if you don't raise the build increment accordingly, your cities will end up with nothing else to build way before you're even close to 2050, for instance.

Well, regardless of how I win (be it space, time, UN) I eventually make the effort to conquer the whole world if I play a file to the end. so when I have "nothing to build" in a city, I'll build units, or wealth/culture.

but that's the beuty of the XML, everyone of us can customize the game to tailor to how we want to play a game. fast research and slow build, fast build with fast research, slow research and fast great person growth.

All the attributes you'd want in a game can be modified as you see fit.
 
Well King Jason....what do you recommed so that we can have everything at 100% except research at 150% and still have the time match...as in not to end up at 2050 and still be researching tech from where ou should be at 1500....???
 
Well boys and girls I can official say that this didn't work

I have everything at epic ...so 150% everything except research at 200%
As for year increments I took everything that was in epic and jsut doubled the numbers.....yah.... I'm in 1350 and just inventing mathematics... not working so well :p

I'm gonna try everything at 100% and research at 150%
what year increment you guys think would work best?
 
kevchod said:
When adding a 4th gamespeed, you must also edit the Civ4CultureLevelInfo file. There seems to be ties to the gamespeed in that file. I think adding a 4th gamespeed and not having that new gamespeed represented in the Culture file, it results in a culture explosion for everyone.
Thanks for hunting down that information. I finally tried my personal setting and realize the culture speed isn't including in the speed settings. It will take time to add in all those in.
P.S always backups the files before making any changes.
 
Moving the research back down to 150% will take you right back to the default Epic level...if you adjust the turns/years, youre only adjust the years that appear in the game, and not the actual turns that it takes to research something.

I used the year increments I posted earlier. Research at 200 and everything else at 150. Seemed to work great, for the most part. Remember you have to halve the years, and double the turns. (as opposed to doubling everything.)

Everything had a good feel to it, but the years/turns have to be adjusted a bit. I was building Ironclads by 1120AD...lol....but that was after about 4 or 5 hours of gaming time, so you get the idea about how that 200% research stretched out your research times. A couple of researches had 5 or 6 turns, but most had 10-15, and the higher ones were in the 20's and beyond. Felt a lot like the older Civ games. But, the years/turns have to be adjusted so youre not building nukes in 1812....

so here's a new thought.

If youre raising the research from 150 to 200, thats a 30% increase. The years/turns should be adjusted too...

The default first epic is 40 years/50 turns. (2000 years.) A 30% increase on 50 turns would put you at 65 turns. Adjust the years to 31, and you get 2015 years.

So the forumula goes:
default years * default turns = total years
default turns * 1.3 = your new turns
total years / your new turns = your new years

so for the first age, it would be:
40 * 50 = 2000
50 * 1.3 = 65
2000 / 65 = 30.7 (round up to 31)

If you use those formulas, and adjusting research to 200%, you should get the proper years/turns to line up correctly. I'd do all the ages right now, but its late.
 
we should put together a list of what all the different terms in the gamespeed.xml file mean... or maybe im the only one that doesnt understand some of them?

anyways, ive made some adjustments to drastically slow the game down, making it so that each turn is worth only 5 years... i had to slow the technology advance down as well so that it takes a reasonable amount of turns to increase technologies considering the 5 year per turn adjustment... one thing i didnt take into account yet, that i need to adjust, is the rate at which the cities border's expand (i think thats the right term)... i need to slow that down so that it takes more turns before the city expands borders, since each turn is only moving ahead 5 years...

now looking through the file, im not sure exactly what term refers to this... would it be <iGrowthPercent>..? or would it maybe be <iCulturePercent>..?

im pretty new to this series, but its not stopping me from making adjustments to find my own balance, and i have a good idea of what i want to do, i just dont know what all the terms mean...

im sure some of you know what all the terms mean, but maybe we should put a list together so that there's no discrepancies...

iGrowthPercent = time it takes for city to grow???
iTrainPercent =
iConstructPercent = time it takes to build city improvements???
iCreatePercent =
iResearchPercen = time it takes to research technology.
iBuildPercent =
iImprovementPercent =
iGreatPeoplePercent =
iCulturePercent = time it takes to expand culture???
iAnarchyPercent =
iBarbPercent =
iFeatureProductionPercent =
iUnitDiscoverPercent =
iUnitHurryPercent =
iUnitTradePercent =
iUnitGreatWorkPercent =
iGoldenAgePercent =
iHurryPercent =
iHurryConscriptAngerPercent =
iInflationPercent =
iInflationOffset =

i have a slight idea at what alot of that stuff means, but im not 100% if you knwo what i mean... actually, the only one im positive of its function is research modifier... i took a stab at a couple (the ones with ??? at the end), but maybe if there are people here that have actually made changes to these other categories, they can input what these modifiers SPECIFICALLY do? i figure, there's got to be people who know what more of these modifiers mean, so im asking here so that i dont waste precious hours finding out what they all do, when i could spend that time balancing...

thanks..! and cheers to all the other people here working hard on rebalancing certain aspects of this game so that everyone will have an option to play at which they enjoy, peace :king:
 
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