Announcing BUFFY

I'm getting random "assets errors" from time to time.
Seems linked to some "inactivity software", but I didn't find a 100% foolproof way to get rid of the nuisance.
I once run assetchecker before and after each session. Most of the time everything was allright, but once, after playing a got an error. I restarted my computer and the error was gone.:confused:
 
Is it possible the drive is old and starting to fail randomly? Have you tried running a disk checking program?
 
Is it possible the drive is old and starting to fail randomly? Have you tried running a disk checking program?

Will try, but the drive isn't old, and sometimes I get massive errors (meaning all the files are considered wrong) with a game running smoothly:crazyeye:. Maybe S.M.A.R.T "ability" from the disk can be a cause?

I have less (not 0 but very rare) errors when I shut the Internet connection and other background software pieces, which is why I considered it an "inactivity" connected problem. Maybe it's a memory cache thing?
 
Maybe a virus scanner is blocking access to those files while it's scanning? All fine theories indeed. :)
 
No, the extra graphics in BAT can be a burden on older computers and video cards, just like BlueMarble. Therefore we decided not to force it on everyone playing BUFFY. Sadly, due to how Civ modding works you can't use BAT with BUFFY in the same way you can use BlueMarble. :(

Okay, so this means we can't use BUFFY and BAT at the same time? Or is there a way now as this post is a year old? Not easy to find a good answer via search :(

I'm having problems with turn-times in the end-game (at least with Earth18civ which I like playing), but from a brief look BAT looked nice. Would it slow down turns even more at the end?

More confusion about the various mods. BUFFY - HOF = BUG? I have no plans to submit anything, but would like the enhancements. Would it be better to just use BUG?
 
As far as non-HOF functionality is concerned, the current version of BAT = BUFFY + Graphics. I would expect BAT to run slower in the end game if your card isn't top of the line or at least very beefy. Both BUFFY and BAT integrate BULL which offers some nice interface enhancements over BUG alone.

That being said, BUFFY is quite old w.r.t. BUG and BULL features. BAT has been kept more up-to-date because there are no concerns regarding competitiveness month-to-month. We are working to get out new versions of all mods, but I don't know how soon BUFFY will be updated.

As for BUFFY and BAT, they are totally separate mods that ignore each other. You can install both, but when you play one the other is completely inactive. That will never change as it is how Civ4 handles mods.
 
That's precisely why we've waited as long as we have. That and if we keep changing the feature set, you can hardly compare scores from version to version. You can, of course, keep multiple versions installed to be able to open old saves and see the Hall of Fame.
 
As far as non-HOF functionality is concerned, the current version of BAT = BUFFY + Graphics. I would expect BAT to run slower in the end game if your card isn't top of the line or at least very beefy. Both BUFFY and BAT integrate BULL which offers some nice interface enhancements over BUG alone.

That being said, BUFFY is quite old w.r.t. BUG and BULL features. BAT has been kept more up-to-date because there are no concerns regarding competitiveness month-to-month. We are working to get out new versions of all mods, but I don't know how soon BUFFY will be updated.

As for BUFFY and BAT, they are totally separate mods that ignore each other. You can install both, but when you play one the other is completely inactive. That will never change as it is how Civ4 handles mods.

Okay, so if I got this right, BUG doesn't include BULL. What exactly does BULL change? Is it something I would notice if I used BUG instead of BUFFY?

It sounds like BAT isn't the best thing to run for me, as it's already too slow for my liking in the end-game. Really wish there was something to do with that as I like playing big maps, but having already installed the 50% speed dll, I suppose I'm out of luck (bar investing in a new PC, which I don't have money for)
 
BULL is dll changes. BUG is just xml and python. I know that doesn't actually mean very much to the lay user, but that is what it is.

Re late game speed - try using the BUG draw method for unit plots instead of vanilla or PLE - that significantly speeds up the game speed when using large stacks.
 
Fuyu's Better BUG AI combines BUG, BULL, and Better AI into a single installable mod much like BAT does. It doesn't include any new graphics, so it shouldn't run any slower for you. Just kick down the level you play at a notch and you should be good to go.

The version of BULL in BUFFY doesn't add much, mostly an improved city bar hover. The latest version of BULL included in Better BUG AI and BAT includes a lot of new functionality that I think is worth getting. You can see what's missing by running the latest BUG and perusing the BUG options screen. Anything disabled is a BULL feature. While it doesn't tell you exactly what it does, the hover help text should give you some idea.
 
Thanks. I'm not interested in AI change, but would it be possible to use both BULL and BUG without BUFFY? That way I could get the latest versions of both. Is BULL basically just a dll file that will be replaced somewhere, or will it be installed as a Mod, just like BUG, so I can't run both at the same time?

I tried a game now with the BUG mod, and missed the extra combat info that apparently was a BULL feature. I had a look in the options actually, and a lot were BULL things. I don't know what half of it was, but I'd like it anyway :D

Why hasn't BULL been implemented in BUG? It seems like the obvious thing to do as both Better AI and BUFFY have done it. And I'm sure lots of people would appreciate some of the extra info, such as combat info.
 
BULL is dll changes. BUG is just xml and python. I know that doesn't actually mean very much to the lay user, but that is what it is.

Re late game speed - try using the BUG draw method for unit plots instead of vanilla or PLE - that significantly speeds up the game speed when using large stacks.

Thanks. I'll try that and see if it changes a little. I'm mostly concerned about turn times in the end game, but it also takes a good second to select a unit from a big stack, so if this unit plot thing helps there then that would be nice.
 
Thankfully it wasn't difficult to merge them together. I installed BUG as a mod, so I just put the files into the BUG Mod folder. That did the trick :thup:

Would be nice if BUG and BULL were in the same package though. It's hard enough to find info on mods as it is, as there are so incredibly many mods and almost as many categories, so I'm sure it would help out many to have two of the most useful mods in one package. Since they both improve user interface, it makes sense IMO.

In my first game yesterday after installing BUG, I ran across an odd problem. I don't know if it's with BUG or a freak occurence with BTS itself. Every single unit in the game could be promoted all the way. My initial scout could get all possible promotions, and it was the same with every unit I produced. And every unit I came across too. All units had a pile of icons.

Maybe somebody want to look at it, in case it's a one-off, so I'll give a link to my save. I mention it in this post

It hasn't happened in the 3-4 games since, so I have no idea what may have caused it.
 
In a perfect world I'd have unlimited time or could work on BUG as my full time job. Sadly, we don't live in that world and so I have to use my limited time to prioritize features, packaging, other gaming, and my social life. Packaging tends to live towards the bottom of that list as it's a PITA and neither fun nor interesting.

There are plenty of mods that package them together: BAT and Better BUG AI for unaltered gameplay (save the AI in BBAI) and gameplay mods such as RevDCM, PIG, RoM, LoR, and so on.
 
In my first game yesterday after installing BUG, I ran across an odd problem. I don't know if it's with BUG or a freak occurence with BTS itself. Every single unit in the game could be promoted all the way. My initial scout could get all possible promotions, and it was the same with every unit I produced. And every unit I came across too. All units had a pile of icons.

Maybe somebody want to look at it, in case it's a one-off, so I'll give a link to my save. I mention it in this post

It hasn't happened in the 3-4 games since, so I have no idea what may have caused it.

Pangaea, it's funny because it happened to me yesterday. The same, all promotions granted, units glowing in blue...

I know exactly where it comes from as I was playing Bts 3.19 without any mods (so no BUG BULL BAT BUFFY BBAI, just my own small one who never did that). What I did (as you did) was give it a try to that "50
% speed DLL" that you mentioned earlier on. I can't even remember its correct name and I can't find back its thread. It would be useful if you could point it out to me. Thanks!
 
What I did (as you did) was give it a try to that "50
% speed DLL" that you mentioned earlier on.

Are you talking about CAR Mod--Civ Accelerated? Odd, I wonder if they cache the needed XP for the next promotion for each unit, and sometimes it's getting messed up.

The normal DLL uses a call to Python to get the next XP level, and I would bet that happens a lot during the game. It's probably a good candidate for speeding up the game by storing the number and only calling it again when the unit goes up a level. I don't know how often the AI calls the function, but I expect it happens at least every combat.
 
Are you talking about CAR Mod--Civ Accelerated? Odd, I wonder if they cache the needed XP for the next promotion for each unit, and sometimes it's getting messed up.

The normal DLL uses a call to Python to get the next XP level, and I would bet that happens a lot during the game. It's probably a good candidate for speeding up the game by storing the number and only calling it again when the unit goes up a level. I don't know how often the AI calls the function, but I expect it happens at least every combat.

Thank you, EmperorFool, it could very well be but I have no clue - you know better!

I finally found it back and it's from Sephi: the thread is "BTS on Speed (up to 50% faster)" http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=382389
 
Hi,
Though I am playing Civ IV for a while, I am new to BUFFY. I wanted to give a try on GOTM and stumbled on it. I am amazed to see this marvel!!

Just I have one request; Is it possible to see the espionage point delta of AIs or AI espionage points in logging file? Any other MOD available the does it?

Or a little guidance on how to MOD it will be really helpful. For e.g. Can it be done with only Python edit, or I have to edit cpp files and compile new dll? (I have little experience in modding flow; did merging of Civ Colonization JTradeRoute mod for the 1.01 patch, but that needed hardly any coding)

The reason I am requesting this is, after an AI espionage on my territory, if the AI name is not revealed, still I can make a good guess by seeing whose espionage point dropped instead of rising. This info is anyway available if I painfully track AI espionage points per turn, so not asking for revealing more info than what is already there.

(Even though Civ V is out, I know I will be stuck to Civ 4 for a long long time; I just want this game to be perfected through modding)
 
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