Codefreak5's Fire Emblem Civilizations

codefreak5 · Dec 11, 2013

Arachnofiend said:
If you edit the OP and go to Advanced Options you can change the title.

I did do that, and it changed the title of the post, not the thread itself.

Unrelated, minorly-important things:
It would be nice if I had someone with just the Vanilla version of the game test the mod to see if the multiple building codes don't interfere; if it works correctly, the Statue UB should be there, if it doesn't, the mod won't work.
I've encountered a problem where the 45x45 icon for the UB doesn't appear when it should. I've made a thread to fix this problem, located here.

codefreak5 · Dec 14, 2013

Problems, people, problems.
If you've been reading this thread then you know that the 45x45 UB icon is missing in-game. Well, it's a bit bigger than just that.
The whole 45x45 icon atlas isn't being shown for some reason I've yet to discover, and along with that, the Civilopedia's Building's section blanks out completely when the mod is activated.
These problems surfaced after I made those DLC-specific files, which I probably botched somehow as they were my first tries at making something like that. I'd like someone to review my files and point out what I did wrong or what I can do better.
If all else fails, I can just make separate versions for each version of the game.

Harald B · Dec 14, 2013

Are you sure you haven't touched the dds file in the meantime? From looking at the 4.3k filesize, I think you've compressed it too much. The game doesn't like it when you compress a dds file whose dimensions aren't divisible by 4, or preferably 8. You should use uncompressed ARGB here, giving a filesize of 31.7k. (dds filesize seems to depend only on dimensions and compression method.)

Besides this, the DLC-specific changes could be done a bit better. Right now you've got this:

Code:

<Civilization_BuildingClassOverrides>
	<Update>
		<Where BuildingClassType="BUILDINGCLASS_MONUMENT"/>
		<Set BuildingClassType="BUILDINGCLASS_SHRINE"/>
	</Update>
	<Update>
		<Where BuildingType="BUILDING_STATUE_OF_NAGA"/>
		<Set BuildingType="BUILDING_SHRINE_OF_NAGA"/>
	</Update>
</Civilization_BuildingClassOverrides>

The first half is too broad. It will affect the Ethiopian Stele as well as any modded uniques that replace the monument. What you will want instead is the following:

Code:

<Civilization_BuildingClassOverrides>
	<Update>
		<Where BuildingType="BUILDING_STATUE_OF_NAGA"/>
		<Set>
			<BuildingType>BUILDING_SHRINE_OF_NAGA</BuildingType>
			<BuildingClassType>BUILDINGCLASS_SHRINE</BuildingClassType>
		</Set>
	</Update>
</Civilization_BuildingClassOverrides>

Also, in the Building_Flavor definitions for both of your buildings you are assigning the flavor to BUILDING_SHRINE where you should be assigning it to BUILDING_STATUE_OF_NAGA and BUILDING_SHRINE_OF_NAGA, respectively.

codefreak5 · Dec 14, 2013

Harald B said:
Are you sure you haven't touched the dds file in the meantime? From looking at the 4.3k filesize, I think you've compressed it too much. The game doesn't like it when you compress a dds file whose dimensions aren't divisible by 4, or preferably 8. You should use uncompressed ARGB here, giving a filesize of 31.7k. (dds filesize seems to depend only on dimensions and compression method.)

I did did try to re-position the icons so they would be nice and centered in the game, but I didn't think it would cause a problem like this.
I'm not exactly an expert with graphics and their programs; my knowledge of making icons would be described as "you put what you want in the circles and the game makes icons out of it", so I didn't really know about compressions and ARGB and... whatever else there is.
Maybe I should have looked.

Harald B said:
Besides this, the DLC-specific changes could be done a bit better. Right now you've got this:

Code:

<Civilization_BuildingClassOverrides> <Update> <Where BuildingClassType="BUILDINGCLASS_MONUMENT"/> <Set BuildingClassType="BUILDINGCLASS_SHRINE"/> </Update> <Update> <Where BuildingType="BUILDING_STATUE_OF_NAGA"/> <Set BuildingType="BUILDING_SHRINE_OF_NAGA"/> </Update> </Civilization_BuildingClassOverrides>

The first half is too broad. It will affect the Ethiopian Stele as well as any modded uniques that replace the monument. What you will want instead is the following:

Code:

<Civilization_BuildingClassOverrides> <Update> <Where BuildingType="BUILDING_STATUE_OF_NAGA"/> <Set> <BuildingType>BUILDING_SHRINE_OF_NAGA</BuildingType> <BuildingClassType>BUILDINGCLASS_SHRINE</BuildingClassType> </Set> </Update> </Civilization_BuildingClassOverrides>

Thank you for making that code more efficient and correct. It was, as you could probably guess, my first time using an Update table.

Harald B said:
Also, in the Building_Flavor definitions for both of your buildings you are assigning the flavor to BUILDING_SHRINE where you should be assigning it to BUILDING_STATUE_OF_NAGA and BUILDING_SHRINE_OF_NAGA, respectively.

That, I can attribute to careless copy/pasting, careless find/replaces, and being tired. We all make mistakes like that sometimes.

Thanks again for the help, Harald, and I hope whatever other mistakes I made are corrected quickly.

codefreak5 · Dec 19, 2013

Quick progress report, since things have been going slowly for the past week or so:
I wrote a quick DOM today. It should suffice, but any suggestions for improvement would be great.
I also did some minor proofreading around a few texts and fixed a missing text key reference in the Pegasus Knight's Civilopedia page.

Trait is still unnamed, and the pegasus knight still hasn't gotten a placeholder model - I don't want to request it again on the Unit Request Thread, but I might have to, or just learn how to do it myself.

Also, for the trait, I did notice that once Influence with a City-State gets high enough, you start losing Influence again. I'm not sure if it was an oversight or intentional, but I can see use in it preventing the civ from getting/maintaining alliances passively, rather than offering gold or doing quests.

Harald B · Dec 19, 2013

The tooltip about your influence change won't take this mod into account, so even though it says your influence will go down back to the resting point, the gain from the trait may still compensate for that. I'm afraid I'm not good enough at it to mod the UI too, plus that would give compatibility issues with other mods.
On the other hand, city-states with a hostile personality might actually have an influence drop too big for the trait to compensate entirely. Gamespeed might factor into it too. (More decay at quick? I'm not sure actually. But I could compensate for that if someone has the numbers.)

codefreak5 · Dec 20, 2013

Harald B said:
The tooltip about your influence change won't take this mod into account, so even though it says your influence will go down back to the resting point, the gain from the trait may still compensate for that. I'm afraid I'm not good enough at it to mod the UI too, plus that would give compatibility issues with other mods.
On the other hand, city-states with a hostile personality might actually have an influence drop too big for the trait to compensate entirely. Gamespeed might factor into it too. (More decay at quick? I'm not sure actually. But I could compensate for that if someone has the numbers.)

The gain from the trait does offset the loss, but not enough to fully prevent it from going down; that is, Influence does decrease over time, but very slowly. This is only on the quick gamespeed; I and/or someone else will have to keep checking with other gamespeeds and other city-state personalities.

In the meantime, I'm going to start a little side-project; the Nagaism religion. Like every religion, it's just another icon and name to choose from, with its own Civilopedia entry. It won't come with this mod, but it's a good idea to use them together, what-with it being the country's religion and all.

Naamari · Dec 21, 2013

Thought I'd chime in for a couple of things (mostly conceptual, since it is what drew me to this thread in the first place, and I've reached my patience threshold for coding and debugging in the past week, so I'm not too keen on learning to mod this game right now^^)

For the UA name, I'd have two suggestions, the first in line with what Arachnofiend suggested (namely "Shepherds" or "Shepherds of Ylisse"), since it thematically fits with Emmeryns Ylisse. To make it more thematically linked to the Shepherds, it could encourage active city-state play by increasing quest rewards (especially barbarian quests, since the Shepherds role was kinda to run around smacking bandits), or the range at which killing barbarians near city-states give influence. Though I'm not sure how easily it could be implemented (especially that last part).

If you'd like to keep the more passive approach, I'd suggest "Renewal". Just because Chapter 10 (and what happened just before) was the most bittersweet Fire Emblem Chapter I've ever played, depressing but invigorating at the same time. "Renewal" summarizes everything Emmeryn did since she became exalt. Furthermore, this name would fit the more passive angle of the UA, in a kind of "Emmeryns reputation preceding her". As for the actual implementation, instead of reputation per turn, you could try for increased resting point, since the reputation increase only happens below friendly, and I assume people would play Ylisse with Consulates and even Papal Primacy (would make sense with CS UA and religious UB), but ironically, the UA turns out to be useless if you pick those. Though it would go against you reluctance to give them a "free friends" ability, and would be really powerful in conjunction with the second part ("Wanna attack me? Well, enjoy losing 500g worth of influence per ally!").

As for the UB, I really think a religious UB is most fitting, considering Ylisses distinguishing point as a nation is their devotion to Naga. I do agree that a flat bonus seems a bit "meh" for a custom civ, no matter how powerful (1 happy on a cheap building you want everywhere if you go for religion, or 2 if you get the synergistic belief, seems quite strong tbh). If you want something more fancy, what about bonus food/growth when at peace (akin to swords to plowshares). It would be thematically very fitting with Emmeryns rule of the Halidom and general aversion to war the country has. Though again, would sound easy on paper, but I am not sure about implementation, especially for the %growth part (afaik there is no existing local %growth building by itself, so idk if it is actually feasible).

Well, my 2 cents about the missing concepts, I hope it can help. At any rate, keep it up, in the name of all the Fire Emblem fans out here!

EDIT: Oh, forgot about Galeforce for Pegasi. Never forget Galeforce! Free blitz for the Pegasi, so they actually have something to transfer when upgrading. Though it might end up kinda OP (which is in line with the actual in-game ability I guess, so still thematically fitting)

codefreak5 · Dec 21, 2013

Naamari said:
Thought I'd chime in for a couple of things (mostly conceptual, since it is what drew me to this thread in the first place, and I've reached my patience threshold for coding and debugging in the past week, so I'm not too keen on learning to mod this game right now^^)

For the UA name, I'd have two suggestions, the first in line with what Arachnofiend suggested (namely "Shepherds" or "Shepherds of Ylisse"), since it thematically fits with Emmeryns Ylisse. To make it more thematically linked to the Shepherds, it could encourage active city-state play by increasing quest rewards (especially barbarian quests, since the Shepherds role was kinda to run around smacking bandits), or the range at which killing barbarians near city-states give influence. Though I'm not sure how easily it could be implemented (especially that last part).

If you'd like to keep the more passive approach, I'd suggest "Renewal". Just because Chapter 10 (and what happened just before) was the most bittersweet Fire Emblem Chapter I've ever played, depressing but invigorating at the same time. "Renewal" summarizes everything Emmeryn did since she became exalt. Furthermore, this name would fit the more passive angle of the UA, in a kind of "Emmeryns reputation preceding her". As for the actual implementation, instead of reputation per turn, you could try for increased resting point, since the reputation increase only happens below friendly, and I assume people would play Ylisse with Consulates and even Papal Primacy (would make sense with CS UA and religious UB), but ironically, the UA turns out to be useless if you pick those. Though it would go against you reluctance to give them a "free friends" ability, and would be really powerful in conjunction with the second part ("Wanna attack me? Well, enjoy losing 500g worth of influence per ally!").

As for the UB, I really think a religious UB is most fitting, considering Ylisses distinguishing point as a nation is their devotion to Naga. I do agree that a flat bonus seems a bit "meh" for a custom civ, no matter how powerful (1 happy on a cheap building you want everywhere if you go for religion, or 2 if you get the synergistic belief, seems quite strong tbh). If you want something more fancy, what about bonus food/growth when at peace (akin to swords to plowshares). It would be thematically very fitting with Emmeryns rule of the Halidom and general aversion to war the country has. Though again, would sound easy on paper, but I am not sure about implementation, especially for the %growth part (afaik there is no existing local %growth building by itself, so idk if it is actually feasible).

Well, my 2 cents about the missing concepts, I hope it can help. At any rate, keep it up, in the name of all the Fire Emblem fans out here!

EDIT: Oh, forgot about Galeforce for Pegasi. Never forget Galeforce! Free blitz for the Pegasi, so they actually have something to transfer when upgrading. Though it might end up kinda OP (which is in line with the actual in-game ability I guess, so still thematically fitting)

Between the your two suggestions, I think "Renewal" fits more into what I imagine the trait to be; Emmeryn's reputation of peace and kindness allowing her to carry favor with City-States.
There hasn't been quite enough playtesting in my opinion to fully describe how the trait currently works; however, I have noticed a decrease start when a City-State becomes friends with Ylisse. It's complicated.

Your food/growth bonus for the UB probably is feasible with Lua; then again, I don't know much about Lua, so it may not be. Even if it is, I'd have to have someone else do it for me.
It is nice to finally have a different opinion for the building, though. Even I thought it was pretty lame; I'm kinda surprised nobody else said anything earlier. My other idea was the Sheperds' Garrison, but that doesn't fit into Emmeryn's peaceful, religious Ylisse.

Pegasus Knight Galeforce: Certainly possible to put in. Does it increase the OP-ness of the unit, though?
I could decrease the combat value and ranged defense a bit more to compensate. (Current values are 16 and -33% respectively, compared to the Knight's 21 and 0%.)

Your 2 cents goes a long way, Naamari. Really very helpful. And rest assured that I will get this done.
On that note, do you know any 3D graphics artists who might be willing to lend a much-needed hand? I've needed one for months, but I'm not getting any help from the Unit Request Thread. Believe me, I've tried, twice, and the original prospective artist was busy with non-modding things and now his own mods. This mod is stuck until the model is done, and there needs to be an artist to do it.

codefreak5 · Dec 27, 2013

It's been about a week since anything happened, so I thought I'd post a minor update.
Between Christmas and a lack of things to work on, I've only made a few minor tweaks with the mod in the past week. The most significant one was adding Blitz to the Pegasus Knight, while lowering their combat strength to 15 (from 16) and their ranged weakness from -40% (from -33%). There have also been a couple text tweaks that I can't recall the specifics of.

I hope everyone has had a pleasant holiday season and is looking forward to the new year.

codefreak5 · Jan 8, 2014

I've uploaded the mod's current version on the Steam Workshop in an attempt to branch it out some; to reach more people, testers, and possibly even a 3D modeler (and to secure a spot in the Workshop so nobody else takes it first).
You can find it here.
I also added it to the CivFanatics downloads, and it's located here.

PMF · Jan 8, 2014

codefreak5 said:
I did do that, and it changed the title of the post, not the thread itself.

Unrelated, minorly-important things:
It would be nice if I had someone with just the Vanilla version of the game test the mod to see if the multiple building codes don't interfere; if it works correctly, the Statue UB should be there, if it doesn't, the mod won't work.
I've encountered a problem where the 45x45 icon for the UB doesn't appear when it should. I've made a thread to fix this problem, located here.

I'm not sure if you're still wondering about this, but if it helps, you can disable expansions by clicking the DLC option in the main menu!

Also, I tried loading it up in Vanilla. Apparently the Pegasus Knights don't show up, but the shrine does... (All seems to work fine in non-Vanilla for me, though, if you're worried)

codefreak5 · Jan 8, 2014

PMF said:
I'm not sure if you're still wondering about this, but if it helps, you can disable expansions by clicking the DLC option in the main menu!

Also, I tried loading it up in Vanilla. Apparently the Pegasus Knights don't show up, but the shrine does... (All seems to work fine in non-Vanilla for me, though, if you're worried)

I did not know that. And now I do.
And it was very good that you taught me that, because now I can start working out the bugs that are happening in Vanilla. Namely, it being broken. It used to break the Civ selection screen, but I fixed that, and now it's just doing a CTD when the game starts. And I think I know why. According to the logs:

Spoiler :

Which basically means, at my best guess, it's loading all the stuff in the GaK and BnW changes files when it shouldn't, and it's messing everything up.
If those files become too complicated, I can always opt to do separate mods for each version, but I'd still rather not. So, I'm gonna try to figure out how to fix this. If anyone does know how to fix this, please tell me.

Also:
The Red Pikmin Army, creator of this map of the Continent of Ylisse, has agreed to let it be used for a potential scenario in the not-near future, and to help with the civ itself. He's already suggested a name for the trait: "Brand of the Exalt". I like it, but I want to know what everyone else thinks about it before I make it the official name.

PMF · Jan 9, 2014

Oh, dear, hmm... I thought it'd just ignore XML that doesn't work with it. I dunno enough to say for sure, but maybe the expansions made things more compatible all-around? And Vanilla's still kinda tricky. I don't see a lot of things that work with that and the expansions...

That's cool, though. FE fans unite! Haha, but it sounds like an alright name to me, proof of being part of the bloodline and stuff.

codefreak5 · Jan 10, 2014

Thanks to whoward69, incompatibility issues with non-BnW versions of Civ V have been fixed. Also, I was having issues with the UA not doing what it was supposed to be doing... and then I realized I hadn't even put the lua file into the mod. Man, did I feel stupid. It's in there now, though, and I can confirm that it is working.

The mod has been updated on the Steam Workshop and in the CFC Downloads area.

senshidenshi · Jan 22, 2014

I haven't seen many suggestions for the UA name, and I thought either Healtouch (A Priest/Cleric Skill, and also what Emmeryn is incredibly proficient at doing) or Renewal, for reasons stated in Naamari's post. I could also set up a more Firaxis-looking icon (I've worked out how to do it on Paint.NET) if you'd like. Also, I like the scenario idea and its proposed name, and we couldn't have a Ylissean scenario without Plegia (nudge nudge, wink wink)

codefreak5 · Jan 23, 2014

senshidenshi said:
I haven't seen many suggestions for the UA name, and I thought either Healtouch (A Priest/Cleric Skill, and also what Emmeryn is incredibly proficient at doing) or Renewal, for reasons stated in Naamari's post. I could also set up a more Firaxis-looking icon (I've worked out how to do it on Paint.NET) if you'd like. Also, I like the scenario idea and its proposed name, and we couldn't have a Ylissean scenario without Plegia (nudge nudge, wink wink)

I would still prefer Renewal or Brand of the Exalt. Healtouch would probably make Awakening fans think of the skill it's named of, and while it is one of Emmeryn's, it doesn't quite translate into diplomatic relations well, in my opinion.

As for a Firaxis-looking icon, go for it! Anything to make this mod look better.

An Ylissean scenario without Plegia would be awful. That's why, with almost nothing left to do on Ylisse, I've started on Plegia! Sort of. I'm getting the basic XML files structured before I start thinking on unique elements. Though, my initial idea for the UU would be the Dark Mage as a Ranged Unit replacement, and/or a Berserker or Barbarian as a Warrior replacement, referencing the bandits they used to provoke Ylisse, as well as the ones they use in their armies (see: The Exalt and the King). What's everyone else think?

senshidenshi · Jan 23, 2014

The Dark Mage is a necessity, but when it comes to UA's, things can get... interesting. Here's what I thought up (off the top of my head):

Risen Army: All units are weaker, however they take less production to build. (Can't decide whether this is good, bad or broken)

Brigand Impostors: Can kill enemy units outside of their borders without declaring war. (Same problem as before, plus it might be difficult to code)

And my personal favourite (due to morbidness):
Grima's Table: Every x-amount of :c5faith:

Faith generates :c5food:

Food in the Capital. (This probably sucks, but it works for Plegia and is really, really evil, if you think about it)

Also, I'll get working on the icon.

EDIT: Here it is at full size (600x600):

Spoiler :

And here it is at around game size (64x64):

Spoiler :

I also have everything I need to start Plegia's, if you're happy with this one. I just need the colours.

codefreak5 · Jan 23, 2014

senshidenshi said:
The Dark Mage is a necessity, but when it comes to UA's, things can get... interesting. Here's what I thought up (off the top of my head):

Risen Army: All units are weaker, however they take less production to build. (Can't decide whether this is good, bad or broken)

Sounds like a Zerg Rush kind of trait; weak units built fast, to overwhelm the enemy. In theory. Kind of iffy about the idea, though.

senshidenshi said:
Brigand Impostors: Can kill enemy units outside of their borders without declaring war. (Same problem as before, plus it might be difficult to code)

I admittedly don't know if this would be balanced or not, but it would help get rid of those pesky Missionaries and Prophets who insist on spreading their religion to your cities.

And my personal favourite (due to morbidness):

senshidenshi said:
Grima's Table: Every x-amount of Faith generates Food in the Capital. (This probably sucks, but it works for Plegia and is really, really evil, if you think about it)

My guess is, human sacrifices. Plegian-appropriate indeed.

Right now I'm still trying to decide whether it should be Gangrel-led or Validar-led; depending on the leader, the unique aspects will have to fit them. Gangrel would be more militaristic, while Validar would have more emphasis on faith and/or culture, while still going for domination. That, at least, is my idea at this point.

senshidenshi said:
Also, I'll get working on the icon.

EDIT: Here it is at full size (600x600):

Spoiler :

And here it is at around game size (64x64):

Spoiler :

Wow. That's really good. Small nitpicks, though; the white at the top looks a little distracting to me, and that whole upper area has some poor contrast with the Brand. If there's nothing that can be done about that, then don't worry about it.

senshidenshi said:
I also have everything I need to start Plegia's, if you're happy with this one. I just need the colours.

The dark purple, gold, and black colour scheme that the dark mages wear would probably work best. I don't have the exact colors yet, but they can be taken from official art of Tharja, Henry, Validar, and/or the Avatar, as all wear some variety of Plegian mage clothing.

senshidenshi · Jan 24, 2014

codefreak5 said:
Right now I'm still trying to decide whether it should be Gangrel-led or Validar-led; depending on the leader, the unique aspects will have to fit them. Gangrel would be more militaristic, while Validar would have more emphasis on faith and/or culture, while still going for domination. That, at least, is my idea at this point.

I'd probably go for Validar, although with Emmeryn, Gangrel probably makes more sense. Then again, this is the game where Tenochtitlan can get nuked by Gandhi in the VANILLA, so that's probably not a problem.

codefreak5 said:
Wow. That's really good. Small nitpicks, though; the white at the top looks a little distracting to me, and that whole upper area has some poor contrast with the Brand. If there's nothing that can be done about that, then don't worry about it.

Personally, I think it looks a lot better than the many other options I could've chosen for the lighting and shading. The light and shadow were gradients, and the lighting looked practically invisible without the bit of white at the front. I could make another one, but it'd require starting from scratch. Just let me know.

codefreak5 said:
The dark purple, gold, and black colour scheme that the dark mages wear would probably work best. I don't have the exact colors yet, but they can be taken from official art of Tharja, Henry, Validar, and/or the Avatar, as all wear some variety of Plegian mage clothing.

After a few art-scoutings (mainly going :run:

at Tharja's official art (she looks... visually appealing!?!?!)) I came up with these two. A sandy-gold (straight from Henry's belt, plus Plegia is a desert nation) for the icon, and a dark purple (more like purplish-black, the shadowy section in most of the cloaks) for the background.

Here's how they look together:

Spoiler :

And these are the colours in RGB and 0-1 (Idk what it's called):
Icon
Red: 210 (circa 0.824)
Green: 202 (circa 0.792)
Blue: 155 (circa 0.608)

Background
Red: 75 (circa 0.294)
Green: 61 (circa 0.239)
Blue: 76 (circa 0.298)

EXTRA MATHS TIDBIT: That means that every 1 in RGB is about 0.003.

Codefreak5's Fire Emblem Civilizations

Procrastinator

Procrastinator

Warlord

Procrastinator

Procrastinator

Warlord

Procrastinator

Chieftain

Procrastinator

Procrastinator

Procrastinator

Chieftain

Procrastinator

Chieftain

Procrastinator

Switched the Red and Blue channels

Procrastinator

Switched the Red and Blue channels

Procrastinator

Switched the Red and Blue channels

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