SailorLazarus
Dumbledore's man
<edit>IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ALL PEOPLE PLANNING ON USING .DDS FILES INSTED OF .BIK FILES. When you are making your .dds files: the game will be displaying them at a 3:2 ratio but you should save them as a squre. I normally start with the picture at 768x512 and then distort (not crop) it to 512x512</edit>
Okay, I have finally worked out a pretty good way to change the movies in the game.
For the first tutorial. We will start with the wonders and the projects of the game.
Step 1: First off, you will need to copy the following file into the XML\Art\ folder of your mod
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\XML\Art\CIV4ArtDefines_Movie.xml
Step 2: Now create a new folder in the movie directory of the game, here:
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\Art\Movies
yes, that is correct. Make a new folder in the games original movie folder. NOT in the folder that has your mod. For some odd deranged reason the game refuses to play movies in anyplace other than the original movie folder. If anyone knows a good way around this, please let me know, but I have posted on it and no one seems to have an answer just yet, so...
Make a new folder.
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\Art\Movies\KenjiMiyazawa\
Step 3: Now you will need to make the movies you want to use. I use adobe premiere, but you can use whatever your heart desires. The movies for the wonders are about 20-25 seconds long and the ending movies are about 35-45 seconds long. You can make it longer or shorter, but remember file sizes here people. The bik files you will be making are already going to be big, I mean really big. Like 10+megs big. Hey, stop laughing, 10megs x 27wonders, and 4 victories is 310megs. The dimensions of the movie doesn't matter a whole lot as long as it is 4:3 ratio. I would keep it pretty small, just because of the file size thing again.
Step 4: Now you will need a tool to turn the video files to a .bik file that the game uses. The great thing is, the tool to do this is free. You can find it HERE. Donate some money to them if you can, download the RAD Video Tools.
Install and run the RAD Video Tools. Select the video in the explorer window and then click on the button in the bottom left side that says "Bink It!"
Wait for it to render.
Step 5: Now place the video file into the folder you made earlyer in the Movies directory. DO NOT REPLACE THE ORIGINAL MOVIE. If you do then the new movie will play in all versions of the game. If you just place it in a new folder then we can key it to only play in your mod.
Step 6: Now open the CIV4ArtDefines_Movie.xml file in your mod folder and look for the movie you want to change. For example:
<MovieArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_MOVIE_ORACLE</Type>
<Path>Assets/Art/Movies/Wonders/Oracle.bik</Path>
</MovieArtInfo>
now we just redirect the key to our new movie.
<MovieArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_MOVIE_ORACLE</Type>
<Path>Assets/Art/Movies/KenjiMiyazawa\Gusukoh_Budori.bik</Path>
</MovieArtInfo>
Step 7: Save the file, launch your mod, build the oracle, and (if you have done everything correctly) you will see your movie insted of the original. If you launch the vanilla game, you will still see the original movie.
Okay, I have finally worked out a pretty good way to change the movies in the game.
For the first tutorial. We will start with the wonders and the projects of the game.
Step 1: First off, you will need to copy the following file into the XML\Art\ folder of your mod
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\XML\Art\CIV4ArtDefines_Movie.xml
Step 2: Now create a new folder in the movie directory of the game, here:
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\Art\Movies
yes, that is correct. Make a new folder in the games original movie folder. NOT in the folder that has your mod. For some odd deranged reason the game refuses to play movies in anyplace other than the original movie folder. If anyone knows a good way around this, please let me know, but I have posted on it and no one seems to have an answer just yet, so...
Make a new folder.
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\Art\Movies\KenjiMiyazawa\
Step 3: Now you will need to make the movies you want to use. I use adobe premiere, but you can use whatever your heart desires. The movies for the wonders are about 20-25 seconds long and the ending movies are about 35-45 seconds long. You can make it longer or shorter, but remember file sizes here people. The bik files you will be making are already going to be big, I mean really big. Like 10+megs big. Hey, stop laughing, 10megs x 27wonders, and 4 victories is 310megs. The dimensions of the movie doesn't matter a whole lot as long as it is 4:3 ratio. I would keep it pretty small, just because of the file size thing again.
Step 4: Now you will need a tool to turn the video files to a .bik file that the game uses. The great thing is, the tool to do this is free. You can find it HERE. Donate some money to them if you can, download the RAD Video Tools.
Install and run the RAD Video Tools. Select the video in the explorer window and then click on the button in the bottom left side that says "Bink It!"
Wait for it to render.
Step 5: Now place the video file into the folder you made earlyer in the Movies directory. DO NOT REPLACE THE ORIGINAL MOVIE. If you do then the new movie will play in all versions of the game. If you just place it in a new folder then we can key it to only play in your mod.
Step 6: Now open the CIV4ArtDefines_Movie.xml file in your mod folder and look for the movie you want to change. For example:
<MovieArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_MOVIE_ORACLE</Type>
<Path>Assets/Art/Movies/Wonders/Oracle.bik</Path>
</MovieArtInfo>
now we just redirect the key to our new movie.
<MovieArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_MOVIE_ORACLE</Type>
<Path>Assets/Art/Movies/KenjiMiyazawa\Gusukoh_Budori.bik</Path>
</MovieArtInfo>
Step 7: Save the file, launch your mod, build the oracle, and (if you have done everything correctly) you will see your movie insted of the original. If you launch the vanilla game, you will still see the original movie.