Magister Modmod

I was supposed to go out of town on a church retreat this weekend, but I didn't pack fast enough so I'm still here. I may do a bit of modding, but I think i should first do my Steel take-home test and maybe try to get a resume together before Tuesday's internship fair.


I just noticed a typo that was stopping Dominate Demon (a spell that Heroes with the Gela can use to take control of demonic units) from working. I also just fixed a typo in getHero that was stopping the Sheaim from getting Malchiavic.


I just made it so that the Angels of Death serve an extra purpose: immortal units they kill will not be reborn.

I'm planning on doing something similar for the Netherblade, but as base FF does not have post combat calls for promotions I'll have to put the call in the immortal units' defines and so it won't work against all those units who just get Immortality from Blood of the Phoenix.

I'm also thinking that I'll make it so that units Basium personally kills won't return as manes. (I just realized i can probably do this by making him give the Golem promotion to evil units he kills.) Once I start using a custom DLL I'll have the Netherblade working better, and move the ability to kill without fear of creating manes from Basium to his Warhammer (a piece of equipment I'll be adding then.)

magister theres has been alot of talk of moving rp game community to your mod. but there has been alot of balance problems like hyborem gets pretty powerfull from the start and fast in techs but he lacks i manes to populat ehis cities. basuim as u know cant build warriors. +id rly love if u can add more multiplayer options.

Would it be possible to give this a desktop icon? There's probably some way to do it on my own, I just have no idea how to do so.

It isn't hard to do at all, but I'd need to know exactly were you saved the mod and under what name. That probably would not be the same for everyone.

To change where a link goes, right click on it, choose properties, and change was it written in the box labeled Target (which should be automatically highlighted when the properties window pops up). The part before the =\ points to where the main BtS application file is stored, and the part after it is the mod name.



To launch it on my computer I'd use the FfH link which I redirected from "C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" mod=\Fall from Heaven 2 to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" mod=\Fall from Heaven 2 Magister. I'm guessing most players aren't using 64bit Windows 7 though, or that they installed Civ IV in a non-default location to make it easier to mod.

I usually have too much open to see the desktop anyway, and frequently want to tweak some code in the middle of a game, so I prefer just to have the link in the mod folder instead of on the desktop. You can easily move the link to the desktop if you wish though.

Conveniently enough, I AM using 64 bit windows seven, and I was just curious as to how to make it direct to a specific mod, which I now know. Now I just need to replace the desktop icon with your avatar, and it will be complete Thanks Magister!

Would you prefer the Malakim Desert Shrine UB to give Disciples built in the city free xp or promotion picks based on the number of non-Flood Plains non-Oasis Desert tiles near the city? XP could let them upgrade to high Priests more easily and would help more for units with Spirit Guide (i.e, Confessors), while free promotion picks would make them stronger than others at their level and have a slight risk of not allowing them enough promotions to purchase normally in order to get the upgrade.





Also, what would people think if I changed the Amurite palace mana types from Metamagic, Body, and fire to Metamagic, Dimensional, and Enchantment? I don't really see much of a connection between this civ and Bhall or Aeron, but Ceridwen and Nantosualta both taught their founder Kylorin. Since I made Dimensional give unhappiness to balance its higher than average strength, having Enchantment would simply cancel that out instead of providing a real boost. it would allow them to get The Scorched Staff from the event if it happens early though.

Hmm...if they start with that mana, maybe I shouldn't give Wizards Spellstaffs (/Enchantment III so they cam make spellstaffs), especially now that that promotion is a piece of equipment that one unit can make for the whole army. What if I made them start with Metamagic II instead? Or, maybe give them XP based on the mana you own, much the way the Cave of the Ancestors used to work except applied whenever the unit it created instead of just built? That could often mean that Wizards would gain enough XP upon thier upgrade to upgrade to Archmages immediately.


Also, what would people think of me changing the Luchuirp mana from Enchantment, Earth, and Life to Enchantment, Earth, and Creation? They seem like perhaps the most cretive civ, and so far only the Kuriotates have access to Creation from their palace.

MagisterCultuum said:

Also, what would people think if I changed the Amurite palace mana types from Metamagic, Body, and fire to Metamagic, Dimensional, and Enchantment? I don't really see much of a connection between this civ and Bhall or Aeron, but Ceridwen and Nantosualta both taught their founder Kylorin. Since I made Dimensional give unhappiness to balance its higher than average strength, having Enchantment would simply cancel that out instead of providing a real boost. it would allow them to get The Scorched Staff from the event if it happens early though.

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I think replacing Body with Dimensional is a good idea, but I'm not sure about replacing Fire with Enchantment.

Also, what would people think of me changing the Luchuirp mana from Enchantment, Earth, and Life to Enchantment, Earth, and Creation? They seem like perhaps the most cretive civ, and so far only the Kuriotates have access to Creation from their palace.

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Seems like a good idea.

Also, why does Dimensional replace Death mana as the Sheaim's palace mana? Considering they are Erebus's largest-scale users of necromancy, I think Death is very appropriate for them. I think replacing Chaos with Dimensional would be more fitting.

Considering that Firebows start with Fire I and Fire II, having fire mana really doesn't matter much to the Amurites imho. Enchantment fits them very well, especially since Kylorin served Nantosualta when he founded them. It is also needed to balance the unhappiness rom Dimensional.


I simply returned the Sheaim mana types to that they had before Kael removed Dimensional Mana from the game. Kael only gave the Death to make up for the loss of Dimensional.

As Ceridwen is their patron Goddess and both leaders know her personally, they definitely need Dimensional.

I don't actually think they are the biggest users of necromancy. They are certainly near the top of the list, but the Calabim likely surpass them.

Hmm...One reason Kael had previously said that no civ would start with Death was the diplomatic penalty kicks in before you can actually use it. I'm thinking that I should remove that penalty from Dimensional, considering that using Rifts still has a penalty and using the mana causes unhappiness for your own people.



I'm thinking the Guild of Endeavors should require and provide Earth mana, much like the Library of Oghma does Metamagic, the Shrine of Sirona Spirit, or the Eternal Flame Fire.

MagisterCultuum said:

I simply returned the Sheaim mana types to that they had before Kael removed Dimensional Mana from the game. Kael only gave the Death to make up for the loss of Dimensional.

As Ceridwen is their patron Goddess and both leaders know her personally, they definitely need Dimensional.

I don't actually think they are the biggest users of necromancy. They are certainly near the top of the list, but the Calabim likely surpass them.

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I agree that they should have Dimensional, but I think replacing Chaos would be better. And do the Calabim really use Necromancy that much? The Sheaim have armies of Pyre Zombies and Diseased Corpses, while the Calabim's Vampires are only the top 1% of society, IIRC.
And the diplomatic penalty is a problem, but in vanilla FFh they seem to do fine with it.

And so the modmod of legends has been born.....
The changes the pedia lists look epic but...

Im having a problem running your modmod, it loads fine but when i start a game it has no interface [also seems to be happening with RIFE and the offical mods from faxis] any idea why?

That is usually caused by a problem with a python file, but I'm not having it here and no one else has reported it so I guess it is only on you machine. You say you're having the problem in other mods too? All of them, or just a few?

Is your BtS up to date? I'd consider making sure it is, and maybe reinstalling it even if it seems to be.

Just to make sure, you didn't just accidentally turn it off fi you. I forget whether it is ctrl, alt, or shift + I hides and shows the interface.

It may be BUG. BUG hides the interface when used with some mods.

I only have problems with a few mods, base ffh works fine. I just tested and i didnt turn my interface off. BTW im running vista 32 bit if that changes anything
heres a screen shot:
EDIT: i have bug, i think ill disable it and try again
EDIT 2:It Worked!

When I was playing a game, I was trying out the new mana types. They are all cool, but Creation III is immensely overpowered. Getting a settled great person every turn is insanely powerful. I think the Creation III spell should either take a few turns to cast, or there should be some penalty for it.

The Creation spells in this version are really just temporary placeholders. Creation II in its current form is also way too powerful, especially for the Infernals.


I made Creation III summon a Shade because I hadn't yet fixed a bug in the python based Creation III spell Prodigious Birth. I was planning for the spell to cause the birth of a random great person in a random city of a random civ (quite possibly going to your worst enemy). I had it working about a year ago, but it then mysteriously broke. (Hmmm...as I write this I think i just came up with a better way to code it.)


I'd considered others spells too, like one that has a chance to discover a random resource on the caster's tile or to boost the tile's base yields.


As you may have noticed, Creation spells have a significant chance of being Miscast. (Kael added the miscast mechanic a long time ago, but never got around to using it or even creating a txt_key for it.) I could cause negative effects from the miscasting pretty easily if I want to.


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What would people think if I added a new ritual (requiring Force mana) that "intercepts nukes" (like the SDI from BtS, but perhaps 100% effective instead of 75%), which in Magister Modmod terms means it prevents enemy Rifts from creating portals to you land as well as stopping Auric Ascended from moving straight into your land from the other side of the world?


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I've noticed that civs following The Overlords tend to be using Drown way too much. I think I may have discovered why. The prereq checks to make sure you have enough gold (based on unit strength and level) before you can cast it, but it looks like the effect gives you that much gold instead of taking it away, thus paying for the next usage of the spell. I think I'd like to play one highly exploitative OO game to test this before correcting it.

Well, one could justify the giving money by the fact that its free to drown someone, and then the state commandeers all of their earthly possessions. Although its still OP

Just to let you know, I've almost finished updating Magister Modmod with with FfH 041k. I think I'd like to test a few more things first though, so I'll probably release it sometime tomorrow instead of tonight.


During the merge, I discovered why the dragon resurrections spell had not been working. I had accidentally made the completion of The White Hand its py prereq, not Stir from Slumber.

I've been wondering whether RoK building bonuses aren't a bit too powerful? Other religion temples give a free specialist for improvements that are much more rare (like camps or world features), but you can have quite a few mines within every city's FC that can result in a ridiculous amounts of specialists, especially if you also have a shrine.

If you check the first post, you'll find I just uploaded a new version of the modmod. It adds a few features, not many. Hopefully I've fixed all the bugs from the previous versions.


This version of the modmod requires patch 0.41k instead of patch 0.41j. (I also went ahead and included items 1 and 2 from patch l, which Kael has not released yet. My Vampires and Vampire lords have different buttons, and my Mustevals should be properly animated.)

You should include WarKirby Druid, Magister. I upload in the ArtBlog thread the reskin of his Druid. You may choose to include the original version ("Autumn" Druid) or one of the reskins ("Winter", "Spring" or "Summer"). The reskins have different color of robe and hair.