[MOD] Snoopy/Dale PatchMod

Dale

Mohawk Games Developer
Joined
Mar 14, 2002
Messages
7,601
Snoopy and I have been working on a PatchMod to resolve the bugs in the game, rebalance certain parts, and make the game the 5/5 it deserves. :)

This is separate to the unofficial patch which addresses bug-fixes only.

Current version 1.07
Please download the latest version from here.

Installation:
1. Download the patch.
2. Open the actual game folder (default is C:\Program Files\Sid Meiers Colonization\) not the "My Games" folder.
3. Create a folder called "Mods".
4. Open the Mods folder (C:\Program Files\Sid Meiers Colonization\Mods).
5. Unzip the PatchMods to there (it should create a new folder in there called PatchMod: \Mods\PatchMod\).
6. Open the new PatchMod folder and you will see an Assets, PublicMaps and CvGameCoreDLL folder, and the ini file.
7. Start Civ4 Col and load the mod by selecting ADVANCED --> LOAD A MOD and selecting PatchMod.
8. C4C will restart, and you'll know you're in the patch as top-right will indicate the mod's name.

List of changes:

Code:
PatchMod 1.07:

[b][i]Fixes and Changes:[/i][/b]
[b]REF:[/b]
* Added iKingUnitThresholdPercent xml tag to Civ4HandicapInfos.xml and implemented.  This allows the REF increases to be modified by an XML edit.  This will currently be left at 100% (normal), until further testing can be done to determine appropriate levels.  Increases base incremental percent (10%) by fraction of (value/100).
* Added iKingGoldThresholdPercent xml tag to Civ4HandicapInfos.xml and implemented.  This allows the REF to change due to paying King money demands to be modified per difficulty (default == 50).  This effects the REF threshold, rising it in relation to the amount of gold given to the King.  This slows REF growth by kissing his pinky.
* King no longer increases taxes after WoI.
* King no longer increases REF after WoI.
* King no longer requests gold after WoI.
* Tax rises less often in Marathon and Epic games.
* King's navy cannot enter native settlements.
* Only coastal cities with specified good mentioned in party text.
* Can no longer bring up domestic advisor during diplomacy.

[b]AI:[/b]
* AI will now use King's Transports after turn 90 for treasures if it doesn't have a galleon
* AI will load and take treasure to Europe from uncolonised continents (before they just sat there forever).
* AI now arms units in Europe and transports them to become standing defenders of the colonies.
* AI now correctly pursues massive armament during lead-up to revolution (previously only did this on declaration of independance meaning it only got one turn to buy an army).
* AI is now capable of winning Indian wars and the War of Independance
[i]NEW[/i] * AI has more cash for everything.
[i]NEW[/i] * AI now capable of having more than 2 transport ships (now max 5).

[b]EDUCATION:[/b]
* Reduced education threshold increase from 20% to 10%.
* Multiple colonists can graduate each turn.

[b]MAPS:[/b]
* AI start locs no longer in order from top to bottom of map (randomised).
* Humans no longer start in the same start loc.
* Europe Sea Zone fix to one third of the way in from the map edge and 4 tiles from coast
* Regenerating map now resets REF (previously, every regeneration increased REF by initial size.  EG: 8/4/4/4 to 16/8/8/8).
* Europe sea zone now removed from map when plot erased (noticeable in Map Regeneration).
* Start locations on random maps spread out more (increased iRange index from 10 to 40 in CvPlayer::startingPlotRange()).
* Can now sail to the east or west coast (if known) from Europe.
* AI will settle correctly in user-made custom scenarios.

[b]UNITS:[/b]
* Colonists can now join cities after moving (like founding cities).  Does not include outside jobs such as scout, military, pioneer, missionary.
* Can now set profession after moving (like clear profession).
* Converted native can no longer be educated at Indian settlements (can be trained at school as normal).
* Converted natives can no longer become missionaries.
* Units cannot be made a soldier/dragoon and attack the same turn (eliminates an exploit).
* Terrain double movement from promotions now works fully (eg: Swamp Fox II wasn't applying to marsh even though it was set to).
* Units unstack when entering native training (eliminates screwy behaviour).
* Units unstack when going to/from Europe (eliminates screwy behaviour).
* Easier to get Great Generals in Marathon and Epic games.
* Units on the way to, or in Europe get intercepted by the King when you declare independance.
* Defensive bonus for armed natives fixed to match unarmed natives (mounted/unmounted reversed).
* Docks hurry costs have a set maximum (currently 2000, will change).
[i]NEW[/i] * That bloody unit cycling bug has been found, squashed and celebrated!
[i]NEW[/i] * Automation (and AI) will no longer remove features from a plot when that plot is being worked and it has an improvement (eg: lodge on forest will NOT be removed under automation).

[b]TRADE:[/b]
* European horses tripled in price.
* Blockaded goods no longer counted against tax rise threshold.
* King's blockades now clear after WoI.
* Warehouse expansion sales now count towards total traded amounts (not previously counted).
* Natives only change desired good when supplied with that good (previously was any good would reset desired good).
* Buttons on trade route screen corrected.
[i]NEW[/i] * Prices in Europe are checked after each trade instead of only once per turn.
[i]NEW[/i] * Production now calculated before resource yield calculation, fixes depletion bug.

[b]INTERFACE:[/b]
* Warnings: Out of raw good for processing warning.
* Warnings: Almost out of space warning.

[b]PEDIA:[/b]
* GG concept entry no longer talks about free upgrades and retaining full experience when doing so.
* FF's and Traits boosting native relations now correctly mentions auto-peace with natives.
* Renamed to Colonizopedia as it was in Col1.
* setBasicUnitHelp bug shows correct transport unit when changed from default.

[b]MISC:[/b]
* Cargo now takes the number of berths in ships as defined in Civ4UnitInfos.xml via tag iBerthSize.  (EG: Treasure now fills 6 berths of a ship)
* Can't declare war against another European Civ for the first 20 turns.
* Missionaries now produce converts for a PLAYER not a NATION (eliminates converts confused which player to go to when two players same nation).
* Exploration points now correctly scale for gamespeed.
* Pilgrim king gives you a free ship if you lose your final ship (regardless of gold remaining).
* Establishing missions now have an increasing failure chance based on success missions and difficulty.
[i]NEW[/i] * Failed missions will have a negative impact on the Natives.
* Immigration threshold increase reduced to 20% (was 25%).
[i]NEW[/i] * End of game now extended after first DoI (like Col1) based on GameSpeed: 75/100/150/300 turns.  So now 300 turns to DoI, +100 turns to win from that point (on Normal speed).
[i]NEW[/i] * Start location (re-spawn location) is now randomised each time you lose your last ship.
[i]NEW[/i] * Text when Indians "give" you their city changed for clarity.
 
Thanks Dale (and snoopy). :goodjob: I'll try it next game.

Where should the files be extracted to?

I extracted it to Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 and started the game but the version was still 1.0.0.
 
Actually....

Program Files\2K Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Colonization\Mods

You'll probably have to add the Mods folder though. :)

At this point, until we get more fixes and stability in the patch, don't over write your default files.
 
How is compatibility for CIV/col2 mods? I've only ever used BUG and blue marble for CIV as I'm normally not fan of changing the game (unless it's fixing bugs etc or getting it closer to the makers stated intentions).
I might have to trust in the mod community for this game though.. :)
 
You can't use Civ mods in Col, or vice-versa. :)

The patch that Snoopy and I are working on (this thread) is purely to fix bugs. It's the equivalent of Solver's for BtS 3.17.

And just an update, the AI in the next version of the patch will build a standing army. This should help to solve a lot of the AI's problems. :)
 
I tried the patch last night, and it was great to finally start in a different location. So far I have only played in the Americas, and I was getting a bit tired of the northeast corner of Brazil.:)

I noticed however that my treasure didn't take up six spots on my galleon. I had a dragoon there already and the treasure loaded just fine. Are you sure this is fixed? It was getting a bit late so I could be imagining things, but I'm pretty sure.
 
You know you're doing SOMETHING right when playing around with the AI and on conquistador it beats you to Independance victory!

(Even just the fact it can now GET an independance victory is a major goal!) :D
 
Any word on the Scenario issue yet Dale? As in being able to set up a scenario?
 
Not yet. Whilst that's a priority item, there are other items higher on the priority list. One of them was making the AI better than a complete pushover.

I've done three test games on conquistador (AI autoplay games) and a different AI to my nation's AI won independance victory. All three were ~turn 250. So I'm quietly impressed. :)

Early in the game the AI will build UNITAI_DEFENSIVE and UNITAI_COUNTER units in Europe (which are soldier and dragoon respectively) and during the revolution preparation it will build canons.

AI's seem to better be able to handle Indian raids too now. I saw Bolivar wipe out a whole tribe when he was attacked by them. :)
 
dale could you explain exactily how i should go about adding the mods folder? do i make the folder first then put the patch in or do it together. should i put the patch in the \mydocuments\c4c\mods or in the program files?
 
About this:

Code:
    * Humans no longer start in the same start loc.

Is this true even with pregenerated maps? I applied your mod and started/restarted a couple of games using the Western Hemisphere map and I ended up in the same square each time (albeit not the same square as I used to end up in before the applying the PatchMod), off the coast of southern Brazil.

Could it have something to do with not existing the game completely between restarting, messing up the randomness?

Oh, another thing, I can confirm this from earlier in the thread:

I noticed however that my treasure didn't take up six spots on my galleon. I had a dragoon there already and the treasure loaded just fine. Are you sure this is fixed? It was getting a bit late so I could be imagining things, but I'm pretty sure.

It seems you can load the treasure on the galleon as long as there is one spot empty (which is wrong), however after it's loaded you can't add anything else even if there is room (which is expected). So...add the treasure last if you feel exploitive :)
 
dale could you explain exactily how i should go about adding the mods folder? do i make the folder first then put the patch in or do it together. should i put the patch in the \mydocuments\c4c\mods or in the program files?

Open the actual game file location (default is C:\Program Files\Colonization) and create a Mods folder in there. Then unzip the patch to that Mods folder.

:)
 
About this:



Is this true even with pregenerated maps? I applied your mod and started/restarted a couple of games using the Western Hemisphere map and I ended up in the same square each time (albeit not the same square as I used to end up in before the applying the PatchMod), off the coast of southern Brazil.

Could it have something to do with not existing the game completely between restarting, messing up the randomness?

Oh, another thing, I can confirm this from earlier in the thread:



It seems you can load the treasure on the galleon as long as there is one spot empty (which is wrong), however after it's loaded you can't add anything else even if there is room (which is expected). So...add the treasure last if you feel exploitive :)

From the "to do" list you'll notice that random starts are actually in two pieces. The actual randomness, and then the actual start location distance from each other. I've only done part 1.

Also, the way the start locs are configured, the closer to land it is, the higher the weight. So that's why everyone still lingers in that location. The distance fix I'll apply will mostly fix this, but the rest will be fixed by extending the sea zone out towards land for the rest of the map, thus putting more weight on the top bits. :)
 
Thanks for working on the start locations. I can't beleive this didn't come up in beta. So can you program the order or starting locations from top to bottom? If France always started near the top of the map followed by England, Spain, Netherlands and Portugal they would probably make land fall in roughly the right historical spots. As for Pirates I don't know. Maybe they should just start with an island city instead of right along side the others. It really sucks when they take you out on the second or third turn. Great work so far especially with AOE II.
 
You can't use Civ mods in Col, or vice-versa. :)

So how much of Civ IV and all the mods and units will be available for use? I was thinking of waiting to buy this after you Mod-Gods had modded it into shape. I had thought that most of the Civ IV stuff would be available, however.

...I mean, who wouldn't want to see the First Natives changed to different Fall From Heaven non-human Civs? :lol:
 
I meant to ask if different col mods would be compatible with each other as long as they don't change the same values?

I'm debating testing this or Ellestar's mod. What I would like to see:

REF being at least partly unrelated to what you're doing (and please, not related to bells!), like a linear buildup based on number of turns spent. Meaning impossible to exploit and big and strong empires and economies are always favoured if you can pull it off in time. This I think is how it should be.

An AI that will actually build defensive troops (at least one per city). Beyond that I have no idea how difficult it would be to improve it.
 
From the "to do" list you'll notice that random starts are actually in two pieces. The actual randomness, and then the actual start location distance from each other. I've only done part 1.

Also, the way the start locs are configured, the closer to land it is, the higher the weight. So that's why everyone still lingers in that location. The distance fix I'll apply will mostly fix this, but the rest will be fixed by extending the sea zone out towards land for the rest of the map, thus putting more weight on the top bits. :)

I'm not sure I follow...I'm using the PatchMod and I'm not seeing any randomness at all in the start locations when firing up a pregenerated map (for example the Western Hemisphere scenario). I start in exactly the same square regardless of which nation I choose to start as. Perhaps starting locations for the player is hardcoded when playing a scenario?

Or do you mean that it actually is random, only we can't really tell until the second part (distance fix) is implemented?

Oh and thanks for working on the mod, nice changes so far :goodjob:
 
Version 1.03 posted (adds AI changes so it can now defend itself and win the WoI).

I've also put up some install instructions. :)
 
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