Improvement Ideas and Discussion

Here is the font editor: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=429541

I've made buttons, and edited the font file before, so if you want to get me a list of the missing icons I could add them to it for you.

@Nevets: That would be awesome!
Also, I'd really love it if the background of those small icons would be transparent (Corn for example) instead of white (bamboo). Just looks much better.

Could we actually change the code that you can only find a city in the desert/tundra when there is a camp under it?

-Getting wheat on a forest tile is easy... wheat spawns early in the stone age and forests spread during that time.

-Realistically a 'Modern Windmill' tile improvement should have the following effects:
1) Cost per turn to have as an improvement.
2) Generate only happy
3) Both effects are increased with the green economy civic.
4) Generate unhealthy as they splatter anything that flies out of the air.

See according to an executive my dad has talked to (who is in charge of selling green power generation no less) the power generated by 'sky blender' style windmills is so low it can't be stored and what is generated will be utterly obliterated by the electrical resistance of the power lines within low single digit miles. Which means all the wind farms miles from anything or out to sea are only killing flying life forms expensively... unless a structure is within a hundred feet or so of some structure or secret underwater facility. They also need monthly parts replacement and work 20-30% of the time! Sure those spiral screw omnidirectional windmills with the anti wildlife cages are better for active time, maintenance, and the survival of flying life forms.. doesn't really help the range of the power enough to really matter though.

Solar voltaic large scale power production, with modern technology, is also mostly useless outside making GE money and impressing left wing people who hate oil.
Better for wild life though. Granted there was that sadistic study that shows bats register those big panels as 'water' and will bludgeon themselves repeated trying to figure out why this 'water' is strangely undrinkable.

Note solar voltaic is great for things in remote locations like orbital satellites or things in the middle of nowhere that only need power part time. I actually support pursuing SV tech for reasons like orbital and space based power sources.. but realistically there is no reason to spread the myth of 'free lunch' Green power (RT GE).

Necratoid said:

See according to an executive my dad has talked to (who is in charge of selling green power generation no less) the power generated by 'sky blender' style windmills is so low it can't be stored and what is generated will be utterly obliterated by the electrical resistance of the power lines within low single digit miles. Which means all the wind farms miles from anything or out to sea are only killing flying life forms expensively... unless a structure is within a hundred feet or so of some structure or secret underwater facility. They also need monthly parts replacement and work 20-30% of the time! Sure those spiral screw omnidirectional windmills with the anti wildlife cages are better for active time, maintenance, and the survival of flying life forms.. doesn't really help the range of the power enough to really matter though.

Click to expand...

Uh, HVDC??? DC transmission can use over 150% AC voltage to get the same dielectric stress on the insulators. Running at that voltage would give you much less losses in comparison.

Solar voltaic large scale power production, with modern technology, is also mostly useless outside making GE money and impressing left wing people who hate oil.
Better for wild life though. Granted there was that sadistic study that shows bats register those big panels as 'water' and will bludgeon themselves repeated trying to figure out why this 'water' is strangely undrinkable.

Note solar voltaic is great for things in remote locations like orbital satellites or things in the middle of nowhere that only need power part time. I actually support pursuing SV tech for reasons like orbital and space based power sources.. but realistically there is no reason to spread the myth of 'free lunch' Green power (RT GE).

Click to expand...

What? Solar power is coming down still, and better tech will come.

Necratoid said:

4) Generate unhealthy as they splatter anything that flies out of the air.

Click to expand...

Wind generators with blades how old fashion. Didn't they go out with 2013. Now where is that link to the latest innovation from Tunisia (I think).

I also saw a new hightech Wind turbine that looked more like a... uhm... a candle maybe? But on a first glance you couldn't say that it was a windmill

Necratoid said:

2) Generate only happy

Click to expand...

Not very realistic here in Germany we have alot People fighting against new Windmill's because the destroy the landscape, make noise............

alberts2 said:

Not very realistic here in Germany we have alot People fighting against new Windmill's because the destroy the landscape, make noise............

Click to expand...

Always im driving in to Germany it looks like entire country is spotted by huge windmills

Faustmouse said:

@Nevets: That would be awesome!
Also, I'd really love it if the background of those small icons would be transparent (Corn for example) instead of white (bamboo). Just looks much better.

Could we actually change the code that you can only find a city in the desert/tundra when there is a camp under it?

Click to expand...

OK, so here's what I did:

It seems the 'default' value people have been using for resources' FontButtonIndex is 104 (the scroll with the three arrows used to show open borders), so I searched through all the artdefines xmls and came up with a list of all the resources that use that FontButtonIndex. This came out to about 180 resources (not counting the Culture resources), so I converted the full size resource buttons to small ones that would fit in the gamefont file, and made the backgrounds transparent wherever possible. Tomorrow I'm going to give the existing ones a pass as well.

I also copied the icon to slot 145, so that all the Culture resources can use that one. There are only 368 slots in the gamefont file's resources area, and with the new resources added I've filled up to #325. There are over 200 Culture resources, so they will all need to use the same icon.

I'm keeping a spreadsheet with the resource names and FontButtonIndex's; I'm hoping there is a way to automatically replace the FontButtonIndex numbers in the artdefines, but even if there isn't it's possible to do it manually.

I've posted a screencap of the gamefont file below; I'll upload another after I cleanup the existing resources tomorrow.

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I am REALLY impressed! AWESOME work!
I need to see that in game since I'm afraid that simply decreasing the size of the icons results in un-reconizeable pixel-stuff, but in the attached file they look great

Why weren't you able to make the background transparent for all of them? (Just curious) Was there a problem with the background of civilization or what was the problem?

And perhaps the Culture Wonders could use a different icon then , but I leave this to Hydro and DH.

Again, really great job!

This is very awesome, thanks alot.

That is for small images, but there is alose one size larger that is still needed as well, see some of the following example pics below.

The hover text on the left hand side for the improvements show the spawnable resource. The Improvement description text also is scrolled to the spawnable resource section. Notice that those are larger in size than the on on the hover pop-up. So this other larger size game font file also needs editing for its missing resource images. Some resource images exist for the small but not the large, and some for the large but not the small.

Is this disc the "Hit Single" icon? Why can you discover these in a Jungle?

And are you sure these are indeed different icons and not just an automated scale up from the smaller ones done by the game itself?

Faustmouse said:

Is this disc the "Hit Single" icon? Why can you discover these in a Jungle?

And are you sure these are indeed different icons and not just an automated scale up from the smaller ones done by the game itself?

Click to expand...

You can't. The art define of the resource most likely has the wrong font index number, exactly what Nevets was saying might need a manual update.

No I am not sure if they are not just scaled, i guess we'll find out when the new font images and index corrections are completed.

Also anyone interested in making buttons for a Desert Camp and Wetlands Camp improvement? (Right now I have these using the Jungle Camp graphics)

Admittedly this is more a terrain feature idea than an improvement, but I think we could use a geothermal/mineral springs terrain feature. This would give rise to a new improvement, as well as unlocking one or more buildings for nearby cities.

The most historically significant city I know of that developed around such springs is Aachen, but Bath in England is another one, Spa in Belgium I think, and some in Iceland. I'm sure there are many many more, such as the famous French and Italian mineral water sources. (Just remembered the German towns called "Bad ..." or "Baden").

Faustmouse said:

Is this disc the "Hit Single" icon? Why can you discover these in a Jungle?

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that is the papyrus resource. I don't know why it shares the same icon as hit singles, but it's been like this for a while

O...k...
So Nevets, could you also take a look at this one? You are probably the most qualified person to do it

Yudishtira said:

Admittedly this is more a terrain feature idea than an improvement, but I think we could use a geothermal/mineral springs terrain feature. This would give rise to a new improvement, as well as unlocking one or more buildings for nearby cities.

The most historically significant city I know of that developed around such springs is Aachen, but Bath in England is another one, Spa in Belgium I think, and some in Iceland. I'm sure there are many many more, such as the famous French and Italian mineral water sources. (Just remembered the German towns called "Bad ..." or "Baden").

Click to expand...

There is a geothermal resource. Perhaps it should be discovered earlier and allow Spa Baths (since we already have Baths and Spa as buildings).

Improvement Changes
\XML\Terrain\Civ4_ImprovementInfos.xml

Added Comment headers above each improvement

Lumberjack, Lumbermill:
Apple, Hemp, Mushrooms, Olives, Tea, Timber and Resin now have a 1/10k spawn chance.

Deleted the commented out Lemon Farm improvement

Goody Hut:
Set bGraphicalOnly to false

Farm:
Barley, Pumpkin and Squash now have a 1/10k spawn chance.

Mine, Shaft Mine, Modern Mine, Core Mine:
Removed spawn chance for Marble, Stone, Salt, Obsidian and Jade.
Fossils now have a 1/10k spawn.
Jade is no loner valid, but still has bBonusTrade as 1, to stay save game compatible
Decreased Diamond Spawn chance from 1/100k to 1/10k

Pine Gatherer, Lumberjack:
Removed Jungle as a valid build feature.

Lumbermill, Lumberjack:
Apple, Cannabis, Mushrooms, Olives, Resin, Tea and Timber now have a 1/10k spawn chance.

Plant Picker, Plantation: (it seems neither Plant Gatherer or Fruit Gatherer originally supported Guavas as a valid bonus)
Guava is no longer valid, but still has bBonusTrade as 1, to stay save game compatible

Quarry:
Added Terrain Rocky as valid
Added all Rock Form features as valid
Jade is now a valid bonus.
Marble, Stone, Salt, Obsidian, Turquoise, Jade, and Fossils have a 1/10k spawn.

Olive Gatherer, Olive Picker, Olive Farm:
Olives no longer valid, but still has bBonusTrade as 1, to stay save game compatible
bGraphicalOnly set to true to hide them from the Pedia & Worldbuilder

Jungle Camp:
Changed Coffee spawn to Cocoa spawn. (Jungle is not a valid feature for coffee in BonusInfos)
Changed Indigo to 1/10k spawn.
Changed Henna spawn to Vanilla spawn at 1/10k. (Jungle is not a valid feature for henna in BonusInfos)
Changed Amber to Melon spawn.
Changed Diamond to Fig spawn.
Changed Jade to Coca spawn.
Changed Ruby to Lemon spawn.
Changed Sapphire to Rubber spawn.
Added 1/10k Mushroom, Prime Timber, Resin and Tobacco spawn.

Added New Desert Camp Improvement: (modelled on Jungle Camp save the below changes)
+1 F, +1C base yields.
Requires Irrigation
Terrain Makes Valid: Desert, Dunes, Scrub
Feature Makes Valid: Cactus, Oasis.
1/10k spawn chance for: Almonds, Coconut, Coffee, Cotton, Dates, Henna, Incense, Opium, Peyote, Pistachios, Pomegranate, Prickly Pear, Wine

Added New Wetlands Camp Improvement: (modelled on Jungle Camp save the below changes)
+1H, +1C base yields
Terrain Makes Valid: Marsh, Muddy
Feature Makes Valid: Swamp, Flood Plains, Rainwater Basin
1/10k spawn chance for: Fine Clay, Flax, Papyrus, Rice

Fruit Gatherer, Fruit Picker, Orchard:
Made Olives and Guava valid bonuses.

\XML\Art\Civ4_ArtDefines_Improvement.xml:
Deleted the obsolete and unused, APPLE_GATHERER, LEMON_GATHERER and PRICKLY_PEAR_GATHERER defines.

\XML\Civilizations\Civ4_TraitInfos.xml:
Deleted the now obsolete reference to BUILD_OLIVE_PICKER.

\XML\Text\Balanced_Civ4GameText.xml:
Fixed the broken links for TXT_KEY_BUILD_ORCHARD to point to IMPROVEMENT_ORCHARD instead of the non-existant IMPROVEMENT_APPLE_FARM.

\XML\Text\C2C_NewTerrainFeature_Civ4GameText.xml:
Deleted the obsolete and unused entries for TXT_KEY_FEATURE_PRICKLY_PEAR, TXT_KEY_FEATURE_COCONUT, and TXT_KEY_FEATURE_DATE_PALM.

\XML\Text\CIV4GameText_ImpTerFeaPedia.xml:
Added support for Jungle, Desert and Wetlands Camp Pedia text.

\XML\Text\newPlantImprovements_CIV4GameText.xml:
Deleted obsolete references to Apple, Lemon, and Olive Gatherer, Picker, and Build.
Added some missing sevopedia links to various improvements to the Build texts.

\XML\Text\Prehistoric_CIV4GameText.xml:
Deleted text key and Pedia references to BONUS_LEMON (this was redundant and already existed in RoM_GameText_Objects.xml and RoM_GameText_Civilopedia_Bonuses.xml)
Deleted text key and Pedia references to non-existent Lemon farm improvement.
Added some missing sevopedia links to various improvements to the Build texts.

\XML\Text\C2C_Terrain_Addons_Civ4GameText.xml:
Added some missing sevopedia links to various improvements to the Build texts.

\XML\Text\STONE_AGE_GameText_Objects_BTS.xml:
Added some missing sevopedia links to various improvements to the Build texts.

\XML\Text\RoM_GameText_Civilopedia.xml:
Deleted text keys to non-existent Cotton Farm improvement.

\XML\Text\RoM_GameText_Objects.xml:
Deleted text keys to obsolete and/or non-existent Cotton, Apple, and Olive farm improvements.
Corrected and added support for Jungle, Desert and Wetlands Camp texts.
(Someone please double check my translations.)

\XML\Text\JUNGLECAMP_Civ4GameText.xml can be deleted.

\XML\Units\CIV4BuildInfos.xml:
Deleted obsolete builds for Olive Gatherer, Picker & Farm.
Added Builds for Desert & Wetlands Camps.

\XML\Units\CIV4UnitInfos.xml:
Deleted obsolete build references for Olive Gatherer, Picker & Farm.
Added Build references for Desert and Wetlands Camps.

\Modules\Alt_Timelines\Steampunk\Units\Worker\SteampunkWorker_CIV4UnitInfos.xml,
\Modules\Custom_Religions\Voodoo\Voodoo_CIV4UnitInfos.xml,
\Modules\ls612\CultureUnits\CultureUnits_CIV4UnitInfos.xml,
\Modules\ls612\NormalUnits\EarlyUnits\EarlyUnits_CIV4UnitInfos.xml,
\Modules\ls612\Traits\ls612_CIV4TraitInfos.xml,
\Modules\Units\Unique\California\California_CIV4UnitInfos.xml:
Deleted obsolete build references for Olive Gatherer, Picker & Farm.

OK, so after banging my head against the wall for 4 hours trying to figure out how I corrupted the gamefont file even while using the Font Editor, I finally got the thing cleaned up and got both the large and small versions done. There is a problem, however. I can't seem to get any icons after index# 204 to display (see preview #2). I don't think it's a problem with the gamefont file, I'm worried there is some upper limit in the engine when reading font indexes.

Anyway, I've attached the gamefont files and the spreadsheet that lists the new icon positions in the zip below. If you just drop them in the C2C\Assets\res\Fonts folder you'll get the cleaned up versions of the existing resources, but to see any new icons you'll have to edit the XML's, which I didn't include since:
1. I only changed a few on my on machine to test if it was working
2. The Mod authors should change their own XML's themselves in the SVN to ensure future updates don't get overwritten.
One easy change is to change all the 104 to 145 in the C2C\Assets\Modules\Resources\Culture\Culture_CIV4ArtDefines_Bonus.XML file, which will give the culture resources the icon.

I only moved a couple original icons around, for some reason "guinea pig" was pointing to slot #138 which had a picture of a rabbit (but not the rabbit that is already used) which wasn't referenced anywhere else, so I moved the extra rabbit icon to the end of the icon list and put the guinea pig icon there. I used guinea pig's old slot for mango (slot #135).

DH, any opinions yet on adjustments and/or inclusion of the proposed changes into v34?