[BtS 3.19 Mod] Culturally Linked Starts

Jean Elcard · Sep 21, 2008

Only a small update. The new version comes now with an installer/uninstaller and contains the correct source files. Sorry for the inconvenience.

There are no changes besides the two points mentioned above. So no need to download 1.1.1, if you already have 1.1.0 and you don't intend to use Culturally Linked Starts for modding purposes.

@Modders: For those who want to learn how to make an installer I included the source code for the open source NSIS installer I used as well. NSIS is a product of Nullsoft. You probably know them. They are the creators of WinAmp.

EDIT: Historical question: Who is the guy on the installer screen shot? (There is nothing to win besides honor)

Sine Nomen · Oct 9, 2008

This really does work well. I could never figure out why Firaxis neglected to include it in Civ IV. Is anyone willing to incorporate this into Better AI, though? I'd love to be able to play with both but know absolutely nothing about coding.

Jean Elcard · Oct 9, 2008

Culturally Linked Starts was a "love it or hate it" feature for a lot of gamers in civ3 and furthermore it was always a bit buggy. Maybe Firaxis just wanted to save itself some pain.

To incorporate it into Better AI you would have to know how to compile the DLL. I had to make some changes in there to make CLS work as a game option correctly. All the CLS logic is in only one python file. Should make the Python merge really easy by just copying the file. It's very unlikely that it interferes with anything another mod might do.

Marshall Thomas · Oct 9, 2008

I'd like to try this mod, but I already use Wolfshanze's mod and I don't know how to combine. In fact I don't really have any modding experience at all.

Could someone please give me step-by-step instructions for how to combine the culturally linked starts mod with Wolfshanze's mod? Thanks in advance

Jean Elcard · Oct 9, 2008

Sine Nomen said:
Is anyone willing to incorporate this into Better AI, though? I'd love to be able to play with both but know absolutely nothing about coding.

I decided to do the merge with the current version of Better BTS AI myself. You may download the combined version via the link in the first post. As always, it comes with an easy to use installer/uninstaller and creates a desktop shortcut for you, if you want one.

Marshall Thomas said:
I'd like to try this mod, but I already use Wolfshanze's mod and I don't know how to combine. In fact I don't really have any modding experience at all. Could someone please give me step-by-step instructions for how to combine the culturally linked starts mod with Wolfshanze's mod? Thanks in advance

Without any modding experience it's going to be very difficult, even with an extensive step by step instruction. You may ask Wolfshanze if he would mind combining his mod with Culturally Linked Starts himself. It's probably very easy for him, but "if to merge or not to merge" is for him to decide. I consider Culturally Linked Starts pretty done. There won't be any big updates to it in the future. In short: It's ready to be merged with other mods, but I can't do all the merges myself.

Ninja2 · Oct 9, 2008

Well, I am happy to report that it's in the Merged Mod 0.83, and working fine! Good work, mr. Elcard!

Jean Elcard · Oct 11, 2008

Ninja2 said:
Well, I am happy to report that it's in the Merged Mod 0.83, and working fine! Good work, mr. Elcard!

That's cool Ninja2. Thanks. CLS will certainly reach a greater audience this way.

I made a (at the moment rather short) list of mod packs which do incorporate CLS in the first post and put a link to your Merged Mod there as well.

Sine Nomen · Oct 11, 2008

Jean Elcard said:
I decided to do the merge with the current version of Better BTS AI myself. You may download the combined version via the link in the first post. As always, it comes with an easy to use installer/uninstaller and creates a desktop shortcut for you, if you want one.

Thanks, you're my hero!

strategyonly · Oct 11, 2008

Anyway to do this withOUT a dll??

Jean Elcard · Oct 11, 2008

strategyonly said:
Anyway to do this withOUT a dll??

You would have to ditch the custom game option to do this. Then you could implement CLS as a so called map script mod or add it to a map script of your choice directly. The function normalizeStartingPlots would be a good entrypoint for calling assignCulturallyLinkedStarts. Anyway, I don''t recommend doing all this, because you would have to change any single map script file you would want to use the mod with.

Jean Elcard · Oct 16, 2008

Version 1.1.2 only fixes a small bug I came across today by accident. CLS is now working for games with exactly 9 players. Updated both download links in the first post. Note to modders: There are no SDK changes.

The Capo · Oct 16, 2008

So basically you can't add this to a mod without compiling the DLL?

Is this what you are saying?

Jean Elcard · Oct 16, 2008

The Capo said:
So basically you can't add this to a mod without compiling the DLL?

Is this what you are saying?

More or less. What I said is: There are "unrecommended" ways, but even those involve quite some Python knowledge.

The Capo · Oct 16, 2008

Well, what do you mean by that?

What do I have to do?

Jean Elcard · Oct 16, 2008

You can't add CLS to another SDK mod without compiling the DLL.

Btw, you never mentioned the mod you want to add it to. If you give me this information, maybe I can help you out.

The Capo · Oct 16, 2008

Well it isn't a specific mod, per se, it is a mod that I am working on myself but it uses the SuperSpy Mod which does have SDK in it. So that is the one I intend on merging it with. But if its really complicated its okay, it isn't necessary, I just thought it would be a cool option.

Jean Elcard · Oct 30, 2008

I merged CLS 1.1.2 with the new Better BTS AI release 0.40 and put it all in an installer which you can download as usual via the link in the first post.

Lone Wolf · Nov 14, 2008

Wait, wait. Since the only thing that modcomp does is place culturally linked starting positions, you can use it to generate a map, play a few turns if you like, and then switch it back to any other save-compatible dll.

Jean Elcard · Nov 14, 2008

Lone Wolf said:
Wait, wait. Since the only thing that modcomp does is place culturally linked starting positions, you can use it to generate a map, play a few turns if you like, and then switch it back to any other save-compatible dll.

This could work. Just tried it. Opened a game, entered world builder und saved the game as a world builder save. Opened it with a text editor, removed the line mentioning the culturally linked starts option and loaded the save with Rise of Mankind. Went smoothly. There are probably some issues, that weren't apparent in my quick test, but in principle it does work.

The Capo · Nov 28, 2008

If you can't combine this with other mods how exactly is it a mod component?

[BtS 3.19 Mod] Culturally Linked Starts

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