I updated my Quality of Life Modpack to v.3a -- find it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/7kg2zebdo422432/QoL_Modpack_v3a.zip.
The mods included are:
Code:
- InfoAddict (v.22): adds interface elements that provide more information to the player
- Quick Turns (v.10): automatically skips AI unit movement/combat based on player-set criteria
- R.E.D. Modpack (v.28 unofficial): adds flavor graphics and rescales units based on civ
- R.E.D. Smaller Landmarks (v.5): makes buildings/improvements scale relative to units
- Expanded Civilopedia Entries (v.33): fixes typos and outdated information, explains mechanics
First post edited.
As an update: Someone has offered to help me reimplement the dll functions in MPMPM, since I have not heard from Gedemon at all (apparently he hasn't been spotted active in nearly a year). With access to the source code, it should be possible to make considerable convenience fixes (checking for xml files named poorly--as in some of the Touhou civs--and making it immune to changes in the folder names--which creates problems with, for example, the Colonialist Legacy Civs.
The following is a discussion of modpack modularity, and of the limits of what is and isn't possible in that regard:
In MP_MODSPACK, there are 3 folders and one file:
- Mods
-Contains folders for each individual mod, though with no directory structure
-For example, if one the mods included was Hidamari Civ (v 2), there will be a Hidamari Civ (v 2) folder containing everything file from Hidamari Civ (v 2) dumped into folder
-Primarily for custom music, art, and lua-the sql and xml doesn't influence anything
- UI
-Stores any lua files from the mod that override parts of the in-game interface, i.e. CityView.lua
- Override
-Real key to the modspack
-Stores the game database from when the modspack was made, i.e. when all mods were loaded in the single player mods menu
-Overrides original game database
- MPModsPack.Civ5Pkg
Configuration file, signaling (falsely) to Civ 5 that the modpack is a new DLL and should be included. Is identical for all ModsPack
First the bad news: While #1,2, and 4 can be completely modularized (and fairly trivially, at that), #3 can only be reliably constructed with
all the mods at once. To see why, imagine that you have one mod that adds a custom wonder, and then a second one that uses .sql to look for all wonders and add +1 production or whatever. The combination of both mods if different from taking the results of each mod on the database and performing the union. .sql files are in fact what sticks the other mod manager.
You might ask: why not reconstruct the database on the fly, outside of civ 5? Well, that would require reimplementing the civ 5 VFS and SQLite engine, and remaking the database. The easiest way would just be to call the civ 5 dll functions that do these...at which point, you might as well just do the current MPMPModpack procedure, since it would still have to be done offline (we don't have access to the Civ 5 main menu and multiplayer source code) and does
exactly the same thing as just going to the mods menu and starting a game.
So, tl;dr: Without more access to the game source code, which isn't going to happen, folder #3
must be remade for every combination of mods used.
Now for the good news:
Folder #3 is only about ~20mb. The majority of the size of the modpacks are actually in Folder #1, with all the music and art assets, which
is modular. In theory, it's possible to just make a Folder #3 for every combination of mods you want to play with and store it somewhere. Everytime you want to play a MP mods game, Folders #1,2 and 4 can be pieced together from the mods folder and Folder 3 copied in, without having to open Civ 5. No more passing around 1gb each time the modspack changes-instead only pass folder #3 and whatever mods changed.
This would be a pain to do manually. The guy who offered to reimplement Gedemon's DLL functions has also offered to write an out of game toll for this, however. Look forward to that!
Finally:
I am of course pondering extending this whole to Civilization: Beyond Earth. However, I think it would be advantageous to first see how dlc/expansions for Beyond Earth look, configuration wise.
