Mod recommendations for a noob?

I've just got Civ 4 Complete (via Steam) and I'd just like to know which are the best mods to try for BTS. I'm mostly thinking about things that improve/change the interface, data/info collation/presentation (like InfoAddict for Civ 5), map packs and things that increase the number of resources, techs and even religions.

Also, since there is no Civ 4 Steam workshop where would be the best place to get mods from?

Thanking you all in advance.

Answering your second question first, you can get the mods from the downloads area, which is linked to from here in the Civ4 drop down menu at the top of this page. You can read about the various mods in the Civ4 - Creation & Customization sub-forum of the CIV forums. You will find most of the most popular and current mods in the Civ4 - Project & Mod Development sub-forum of that forum.

For improving the user interface BUG Mod (BTS Unaltered Gameplay) is a must. It makes everything much more accessible and includes options for you to customize it to your liking. It works on both Windows and Mac, since it does not alter the DLL.

BULL is BUG plus some changes in the game that don't alter the actual game play but add features to BUG to improve the interface further. The features that it adds are the ones that are greyed out in the BUG options screens. They are made active by modifications in the DLL files, so it will work with Windows but not Mac, since Mac CIV does not have DLL files.

BAT is BULL plus graphics enhancements to give each civilization its own look.

BAT Better AI (or Better AI BAT, I forget which is the wording) is BAT with improvements made to the AI so it is a stronger opponent.

Those are the mods that I would recommend choosing among for playing the basic BTS game.

Besides those, other mods that are popular and do a lot of the above but do make changes in the game are K-Mod, VIP (Vincentz Infinite Project), and History Rewritten. For a sci fi game there are Planetfall and Final Frontier Plus. All of these are still being added to by the modders. There are many others that other posters will tell you about. These are the ones that I use now and then, although I mostly play BTS with BUG Mod. (History Rewritten will work with Mac, the others are all Windows only, because they modify the DLL.) (VIP thread is located in Civ4 - Mod Packs sub-forum instead of in Civ4 - Project & Mod Development sub-forum.)

I agree that the interface mods are fantastic. I recommend K-Mod even more though because it makes the AI even smarter than in Better AI, and it has some nice balance changes, and it incorporates all the nice features from those interface mods.

I would recomend the no brainer BAT 4.1 (last version so far unless I am not updated!). This is, as mentioned, the core BTS game with no interference to gameplay mechanics which rests over an incredibly improved interface and graphics (specially ethnic diferenciation, but not exclusively). And a major new AI making the games much more interesting indeed.
This would be the best to start with. K-Mod makes some significant changes to the game, some of which I don't feel comfortable with, and it has an Ubber aggresive AI, which is fine.

^^^this..BAT is fantastic

Install BUG/BULL (single player option for custom assets), if you'd like to play forum games

BUFFY for HOF and GOTMs

As for wanting extra stuff for the games, there are tons of mods out there that you can find in the Mod forum and download them from there.

However, I highly recommend that you learn the game with no extras..just BAT or BUG/BULL for now. The vanilla game is highly rewarding to learn and improve....move up levels.

I agree with the above. I consider BUG/BAT to be no extras. I see no reason to penalize myself for not wanting to root through forty eleven screens every turn to get all the available information. BUG doesn't 'cheat,' it just takes the available info and makes it convenient. That's not an extra. I see no reason to watch my swordsmen, who look just like everyone else's swordsmen, slugging it out with some other swordsmen that look just like them. Cultural differences define empires, and there's no reason to play the game in a bland world of look a likes when you don't have to.

Thanks so much for your suggestions and advice everybody.

I like the sound of BUG and BULL - I loved the InfoAddict mod for Civ 5 so these two sound perfect.

And lymod's advice seems sound, so I think I'll do as he/she recommends and start with these kinds of mods first, just to learn the ropes.

I agree that you should play with just bug/bat/bull for now, but try out some mods later. I really enjoy "Extra"; it adds a bunch of stuff from official Firaxis mods, as well as from the older games (civics, techs, leaders, civs, units, traits, you name it).

Tanks VCrakeV - "Extra" looks very interesting indeed.

I think once I've got a feel for this game I'll go and take a spin with Extra.

I don't know about Extra, but I can recommend Legends of Revolution. It also adds a bunch of new techs, civs, leaders, units and buildings, plus a few game mechanics which are completely optional and can be turned on/off when setting up a new game.

Shout out for Fall From Heaven 2. It's a fantasy-themed mod based on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The narrative and visual detail the developers included is incredibly impressive, and the magic system overhauls combat in fascinating - although initially obscure - ways. Probably the most "flavoursome" mod out there.

Having said that, it does play quite differently to the core game, and like most people on this thread already said, base BTS with BAT will provide you with a nutritious and balanced diet for a long time to come.

This is obviously a good place to get mods just in case you havent found it ;-)
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=cat&id=1

Some forum members even have links to awesome modpacks embedded in their signatures ^^

So many great-looking mods to pick from!

I must say vincentz the VIP mod looks brilliant

The only question for me now is which mods to choose from.

Again, thanks for your help and guidance everyone!

One more question - considering my laptop's specs (CPU i7 3610qm; GPU nVidia GT650m; 6GB RAM, 1TB HDD; Windows7 Home Premium 64bit) which mods and how many of them would I be able to run without significantly affecting performance and turn time?

Playsoneasy said:

I like the sound of BUG and BULL - I loved the InfoAddict mod for Civ 5 so these two sound perfect.

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Keep in mind that I had problems using BULL with windows 7, it caused my games to crash a lot more than usual. It was pretty much a rock solid game when I used it on Windows XP, it rarely ever crashed, but that changed when I switched to Windows 7. As soon as I removed BULL, the game went back to being rock solid again. I haven't actually tried it on Windows 10 though, I haven't been inclined to play it for awhile.

And I too would highly recommend BUG, it's a must have for me. You're given three options when installing it, choose the one that allows to you add it like a mod. The scenarios that come with the game don't work when it's installed any other way, BUG was only designed for the regular game in mind. Later you can change the BUG ini file so your regular game automatically starts using it.

Playsoneasy said:

One more question - considering my laptop's specs (CPU i7 3610qm; GPU nVidia GT650m; 6GB RAM, 1TB HDD; Windows7 Home Premium 64bit) which mods and how many of them would I be able to run without significantly affecting performance and turn time?

Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. Civ 4 was never a very demanding game as far as hardware is concerned, even when it first came out. Aside from a few people who were running hopelessly out dated systems, there was never really a performance problem, aside from trying to run gigantic maps. And compared to systems back then, today's rigs are light years ahead as far as performance is concerned.

You can't run more than one mod at the same time, so that's not an issue. Interface mods like BUG shouldn't affect your performance notably at all, Kmod actually increases performance a little because it streamlined a lot of code to make it more efficient while only making relatively minor changes to the gameplay itself. Beyond that I guess you have to test for yourself, but I imagine major kitchensink mods like Cavemen to Cosmos or Realism Invictus will be very demanding.

To give you a better overview of what the modding community has to offer let me categorize mods I know about like so:

Minor mods - Improving performance or interface or AI etc. without actually adding much in the form of more buildings/units/civs etc.:
*BUG/BULL/BAT (just interface improvements, doesn't affect gameplay itself)
*Kmod (lots of under the hood changes and balance improvements, the best AI possible)

Major mods - adding various more stuff and possibly game mechanics:
*Legends of Revolution (styles itself as an unofficial expansion pack, basically what Warlords or Beyond the Sword did to the Vanilla game, adding some more units, buildings, wonders, civs, a few game mechanics etc.)
*Civ4Reimagined (also kind of has the same goal as Legends of Revolution, more stuff, better balance, new game mechanics etc.)
*Realism Invictus (this mod be big yo)
*Caveman to Cosmos (beware, this is like really really really humongous, like you have to spend a few thousand years as cavemen trying to discover fire before you even settle your first city)
*History Rewritten (I never actually played this one)
*Vincentz Infinite Projects (dito)

Historical mods - mods that attempt to emulate history on maps of real parts of the world or Earth entirely:
*Pie's Ancient Mediterranean (THE mod for when you want to relive the glory of Rome, or really any ancient civilization around the Mediterranean.)
*Road to War (I think it's bundled with BtS, but some modders in this forum have further improved it. Basically replay World War II.)
*Earth 2010 (or 2012? Or 2015? I don't even know anymore at this point, but somewhere on this forum is a mod or several with an accurate map of the world we live in today.)
*Rhye's and Fall of Civilization (This is the big one. It even came shipped with BtS, and it has spawned a bazillion modmods. Replay history on an accurate Earth map where every civ spawns at the right historical date and location. I recommend the Dawn of Civilization modmod (or my own personal modmodmod for it) for basically being the same but a lot better, fixing bugs and adding more content. There are also other modmods like RFC Europe or Sword of Islam, which utilize RFC's core mechanics but focus on certain geographical areas instead of the entire world at once.)

Total Conversion mods - for when you just want something completely different:
*Final Frontier Plus (Final Frontier came shipped with BTS, Final Frontier Plus fixes its bugs and improves it in other ways as well. Basically it's Civilization IN SPACE, where instead of cities on a planet in the past you control star systems in a galaxy in the future.)
*Planetfall (basically a remake of Alpha Centauri)
*Fall From Heaven II (A must have if you are a fantasy aficionado, and even if you are not, it is still extremely impressive for its immersive gameplay. Magic, gods, vampires, dragons, dwarves, elves, demons, I don't even know where to start. You can literally play a god! Like RFC it has a ton of modmods improving it further. Personally I recommend at least the More Naval AI modmod for balance, gameplay and AI improvements, and Magistermod for more immersively bringing the vast lore or Erebus to the player.)

Realism Invictus is a tough mod because K-mod is embedded; the AIs go enraged bulldog mode.

If left with one AI in the world, even on friendly stance, it will get at you very fast.

Otherwise, Realism Invictus is very solid if only K-mod did not exist. This constant warfare atmosphere makes diplomacy hard without finding a AI scapegoat.

Look who returned from the dead!

Holy Baba Yetu! Tachy's back.