Fairy Tale

Well I will test it, but I'm so busy that it will have to wait a week or two.

Cheers,
Sword

Then you'd better wait for Fairy Tale Version 5. That one will be around, probably next week or the week thereafter.

Le Sage said:

Then you'd better wait for Fairy Tale Version 5. That one will be around, probably next week or the week thereafter.

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I just downloaded the latest patch 4c and tested it with CivChecker; It listed a number of missing Art Files:

MissingArt: Art/Structures/Buildings/Creation/HumanBank.NIF
Used: Fairy_Tale art/civ4artdefines_building.xml at line 1546
MissingArt: Art/Units/Other/Magicians/Female/ancientspy.nif
Used: Fairy_Tale art/civ4artdefines_unit.xml at line 256
MissingArt: Art/Units/Other/Magicians/Female/ancientspy.nif
Used: Fairy_Tale art/civ4artdefines_unit.xml at line 258
MissingArt: Art/Buttons/ButtonErezonSpearman2.dds
Used: Fairy_Tale art/civ4artdefines_unit.xml at line 9034
MissingArt: Art/Buttons/ButtonErezonPikeman.dds
Used: Fairy_Tale art/civ4artdefines_unit.xml at line 9058
MissingArt: Art/Buttons/ButtonErezonHorseman.dds
Used: Fairy_Tale art/civ4artdefines_unit.xml at line 9082
MissingArt: Art/Buttons/ButtonErezonLancer.dds

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I figured you'd want to deal with this for V5.

Thanks. Actually that is not bad news at all. The game should work perfectly well. The only thing that bothers me there, is that I think I might just have forgotten a few buttons, but they're all there in the full install later on. I will also include all the buttons mentioned in your list in the next patch, to be certain.

The mention of Female Magician and "BuildingCreation" are two things that I had started on earlier, but left half-done, or rather, undone. There will be a Female type Magician in the future, because I will one day have the whole Crystallin nation only showing up with female units. I may have done her artdefine already, but never added her unit to the game. No matter yet, since it doesn't disturb the game.

Thanks again for your watchful eye, Higwayhoss.

Le Sage said:

Thanks. Actually that is not bad news at all. The game should work perfectly well. The only thing that bothers me there, is that I think I might just have forgotten a few buttons, but they're all there in the full install later on. I will also include all the buttons mentioned in your list in the next patch, to be certain.

The mention of Female Magician and "BuildingCreation" are two things that I had started on earlier, but left half-done, or rather, undone. There will be a Female type Magician in the future, because I will one day have the whole Crystallin nation only showing up with female units. I may have done her artdefine already, but never added her unit to the game. No matter yet, since it doesn't disturb the game.
Thanks again for your watchful eye, Higwayhoss.

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You're welcome, Le Sage; I point these out to assist you in making a better mod.

BTW some suggestions for future updates:

1) Have you seen the AltReligions Modpack by Alulim? It replaces the standard religions with fictional but plausible religions....I was thinking some of these could fit well with your mod.
2) Since you have Pirate ships, how about some Pirate Units ? Maybe a Pirate based Civ?
3)Since you cannot have Corporations in your game, how about Medevial Guilds? I'm looking at some RoM mods for ideas....

your assistance is very much valued, Highwayhoss!

You come with some good suggestions. I was actually thinking about the religions earlier today, so I will check the AltReligions out straight away. I've heard that editing the .tga-file that rules the small religion icons shown above all city names is very irritating to do and I am sure in the market for some ready made. I was looking about in the downloads database earlier for such religion icons.

I created a Rogue unit, actually, to go with the Pirate ship, but I think the idea has to grow a bit still. I first wanted to create something like Robin Hood, but that idea has to come at a later date and I just have to give it all some thought first. I've thought about doing a pure pirate Civilization for a long time too, but never come around to creating one. I'd rather have the established nations do privateering against each other. And more is to come in that department.

Yeah! Guilds are a good idea too! To get that economy going, and it would be a reason to add more techs too. Really good idea in fact. Further, I think, I'm soon ready to expand the mod into the next era too, The Imperial Age, or something like that, and Guilds could be a good specific feature for that era.

As a devout fan of FFH 2, I have watched the evolution of this mod with great interest. As it now seems to be stable, I downloaded the game and patches last week and started in playing some of the scenarios. An outstanding job Le Sage! I congratulate you for all of your efforts.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the multi-player capability. My son and I attempted to start an Internet game last evening but for some reason the game does not appear in the Lobby. I assume that the multi-player engine for Fairy Tale is the same as that for BTS and FFH2, but perhaps there is a tweak that was missed? Regardless, I would love to hear from anyone who has successfully played an internet-based multi-player campaign.

Oh thank you kindly, Arnesson. Your comments are very much appreciated.

I haven't tried the Multiplayer myself at all, and I am afraid that I'm not much help on the area. However, that is one of the issues I will be dealing with and looking into in the near future, since me and my little lady have a new computer coming this week and I will be using it to check my patches and I was also hoping to get her into testing Fairy Tale multiplayer as well!

I am also intersted in hearing what other people have to say about Multiplayer in this regard, since I have not touched that area at all. Rest assured though, that this area will be dealt with very soon.

Some Screenshots to liven up my evening.



From the Left:

*The new pirates and Rogues included with the latest patch are showing off. Rogues are only defensive , but can cause serious destruction in enemy lands, raiding and pillaging their improvements even during official peacetime. They are built at the Recruitment Centre that can be built by Great Generals.
*The Erezon Imperial Army is on the march led by their king. The Erezon have some good infantry units early on and taking that advantage, the player can build up a good lead by playing aggressively.
*The new Fairy Tale Castle looms in the background, throning over the Erezon Capital in the distance.
*The Erezon Hero is suitably the Ninja. The character is supplied by Danrell, who also designed most, if not all, of the Erezon Imperial units.

I just dled this mod and it looks great.
I don't know if you have realized this, but the soundtrack link by zero-project is broken.

Oh. Thanks, Ajidica. I'll update it.

A few comments:
>An updated pedia would be nice including such things as civ descriptions. You already have most of them here so it should be a simple copy paste.
>Could you remove the unneeded techs and units? They sort of clutter up the pedia.
>I love the faction with O Fortuna as their diplo music.
>If you need more fantasy music, I would reccomend checking out Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

Do you have a list of the different composers used in the diplo tracks? I recognize Wagners Ride of the Valkyries as Crystallin; Tchaikivskies The Nutcracker as Angvina (I don't remember the name of the track); Namyr and Principality sound like Copelands Rodeo, but I know principality is Tchaikovksy. I might have to mod in the Borg music for the Collective.

Out of curiosity, have you ever played the game Disciples II? Its sort of a dark fairy tale that you might find interesting. Its ancient (it was designed for Windows 98!) but it still has some interesting conceptual ideas.

Le Sage said:

your assistance is very much valued, Highwayhoss!

You come with some good suggestions. I was actually thinking about the religions earlier today, so I will check the AltReligions out straight away. I've heard that editing the .tga-file that rules the small religion icons shown above all city names is very irritating to do and I am sure in the market for some ready made. I was looking about in the downloads database earlier for such religion icons.

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The AltReligions Mod has always been a favorite of mine; the problem with the standard religions IMHO is that they are associated with certain cultures in people's minds so it feels strange for Spain to found Hinduism for example. The Alt Religions OTOH are distinctive yet generic enough so you can associate it more easily with your Civ. I also think the art styles will fit well with the mod.

Le Sage said:

I created a Rogue unit, actually, to go with the Pirate ship, but I think the idea has to grow a bit still. I first wanted to create something like Robin Hood, but that idea has to come at a later date and I just have to give it all some thought first. I've thought about doing a pure pirate Civilization for a long time too, but never come around to creating one. I'd rather have the established nations do privateering against each other. And more is to come in that department.

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OK fair enough.....still that graphics mod can be useful for any other Pirates units you might think up...

Le Sage said:

Yeah! Guilds are a good idea too! To get that economy going, and it would be a reason to add more techs too. Really good idea in fact. Further, I think, I'm soon ready to expand the mod into the next era too, The Imperial Age, or something like that, and Guilds could be a good specific feature for that era.

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Thx for the approval. BTW I whipped up a rough drawing of my thoughts on an expanded Tech Tree for the mod using existing Civ4 techs; current techs are Blue while proposed techs are in red; I moved a couple of techs around for progression purposes....the names are in parentheses because I assume you want to change them. I left some space to the right of the Magic Conpendium so you can use it for developing advanced magic techs that you might think up.

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@ Ajidica. The Civilopedia is still undone, and I haven't touched it much. I merged Fairy Tale with BUG (on the advice of Highwayhoss, actually), just to get at the Sevopedia. At times when I have nothing better to do, I write small stories about the lives of the characters, the units you'll encounter in Fairy Tale and so forth, and those stories will eventually be pasted into the Sevopedia. The National descriptions will also be fleshed out.

The Diplomusic was taken from primarily 19th century composers, but I strayed a bit too. Here's a list, in no particular order, and just as I remember it. The Dal and Elchers have no unique music yet.



Zuur, Carmina Burana, Carl Orff, O Fortuna. Not 19th century, but if anything's suitable, this one is.

Erezon, Elgar Enigma Variations.

Arcana, Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto in B-Flat Minor.

Crystallin, Wagner, The Ride of the Valkyries, as you recognize.

Principality, Jean Sibelius; Finnish national composer (I am allowed to be biased )

Elven, Edward Grieg's possibly most famous piece. Morgonstämning (don't remember what it was in English.)

Norse Tchaikovksy, Poltava, This was the national anthem that turned out the absolutely best. It is magnificent.

Collective, Wagner, Siegfried's Funeral. Often played in conjunction with WWII documentaries or films about the Third Reich to portray doom and so on. It's pure Ragnarök.

Dead, Chopin, Yes! The Funeral March. What else!?

Denerea, Sibelius again. This one turned out great.

Namyr, and Sibelius once again. From the Karelia Suite.

Angvina, Edward Grieg, Mountain King's Lair, I think it was called... Very suitable.

Yatenga, Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky is one of my absolute favourites and it shows.

@ Highwayhoss

Yep. At least one of the pirates will be used. I actually downloaded them when I was creating the Pirates earlier on, and was going to use one of the ships, but I couldn't find the correct animation, so I left it. I think the pirate figure in the middle, not holding a gun, is very useful though!

As for the AltReligions it certainly is going to be added, or rather parts of it are going to be. I just need to change the names of the religions, otherwise it's pretty much done. I merged it with my mod already, to try, and that's easily enough done (just drag-n-drop really), but the small icons don't show up, and that's a pity. I think it has to do with BUG. I believe it's easily corrected though.

Oh. You've done quite a job there. Thanks. Many of the techs you suggest will actually be added to the mod. There is going to be no fourth era though. I decided against it. I am probably going to lengthen the two first eras instead. I want the game to work up to the Age of Fairy Tale. The Fourth Era is reserved for Fairy Tale II. Haha.

EDIT: I changed my mind about AltReligions. I can do what I need with the religion system I actually already have, and AltReligion would create large amounts of more work, since I need the Eagle Order and so on. The only thing I personally can't do, is change the little religion icons above the city names. I have to live with those to a later date. I could have just left the religions I don't need out, but the icons wouldn't match.

Wow, my knowledge of classical composers was really off. Then again, of classical stuff I really only listen to Beethoven/Liszt or Gershwin/Copland.
I thought the Collective theme was too quite, so I upped the volume by 10 db. Its attached here if anyone it interested. If you are looking for more game music, I can't help but feel Liszt 'Attack of the Huns' would work really well.

All the music's volume is editable in the XML. I haven't played around enough with that yet, so yes, the Collective song may have been too low. I noticed last night that the Nordic anthem was a tad low. I need to change that.

I don't think your knowledge was off. You guessed Tchaikovsky for Sibelius and that's a very good guess indeed. Sibelius was very much inspired by Tchaikovsky, and I think they worked together as well on some project, but I'm not sure. But you can hear clear influences of Tchaikovsky in Sibelius' music. Note that I haven't included Beethoven at all,although he's one of my favourites too. Everyone just expects Beethoven.

Yeah! The Attack of the Huns. I need to check it out when I create my next new civ. My plan is to have 18 civs, like standard Civilization, and I now have 15. There's a lack of good units though, and I am very much quality minded. I may have to start creating my own. At least I can do reskinning and weapon swaps and things like that.

Oh yeah. I forgot about the volume function in the XML.
As for new civilization, perhaps a nomad civ between Angleye and the Desert Tribes (Yatengi?) or a more typical medieval-esque kingdom? If a LotR analogy is used, if Gondor is the Principality the new civ would be the Eriador. (Bree/Hobbits).
I don't think you will encounter any shortage of good art if you look. Bakuel has made enough for an entire mod.

Le Sage said:

Oh. You've done quite a job there. Thanks. Many of the techs you suggest will actually be added to the mod. There is going to be no fourth era though. I decided against it. I am probably going to lengthen the two first eras instead. I want the game to work up to the Age of Fairy Tale. The Fourth Era is reserved for Fairy Tale II. Haha.

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Thanx. I was thinking that with Magic Conpendium and Higher Learning techs you could create advanced schools of magic? Also stuff like say Dragon breeding...

Le Sage said:

I changed my mind about AltReligions. I can do what I need with the religion system I actually already have, and AltReligion would create large amounts of more work, since I need the Eagle Order and so on. The only thing I personally can't do, is change the little religion icons above the city names. I have to live with those to a later date. I could have just left the religions I don't need out, but the icons wouldn't match.

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OK fair enough....maybe the graphics could be adapted for Guilds though..

BTW some ideas for new Civs; maybe a Middle Eastern civ to tap all the mythology of the Arabian Nights? Create an exotic civ....also maybe a civ based on Native America or Indian mythology.

@Ajidica. Yes. Bakuel has done some very good stuff and so has Danrell. Chugginator made the Arcana units, which were excellent. It is the best unit package I've ever found, but it was a real hard nut to crack finding it too. It's no longer available on the CivFanatics database and I had to wade through the thread to finally find a working link to a downloadable file. I tried at least three or four links at first. But now I have them.

As for new civs, I would like any new ones to be very much unique. i mean, I've done the noble knights, the vikings and the elves already. Keep them ideas coming. I'm going to need ideas.

@Highwayhoss. I can at least use the missionaries from the Altreligions, and that's not half bad. No more missionaries running around with crosses or Torahs. SaibotLieh is also planning to do female missionaries in the future, so I can replace some of them with his too.

As I say here above, I am open for suggestions for new civs. One I will definitely do is a Vampire civ. Arabian Nights is also a good idea.