The Desert and the Mountain - Empires of Africa

[EDaddy]

To Plotinus: Everything I tried didn't work for me. I played the same song over and over again 20+ times, no crash. I played kyenkyen after the other song on the playlist, no crash! I do suspect its those MP3s even though they are in the correct format. I am very familiar with LAME and its very reliable. You should re-convert the orginal music you used or downloaded using LAME and use the enconder file lame_enc.dll and re-publish the music upgrade patch. It's worth a shot.

[Plotinus]

That is weird. I'll look into it. Have you at least got the scenario running OK without the music?

[Thorvald of Lym]

I know in my own scenarios custom music can be a problem. The tracks themselves aren't at fault; but for some reason, too many of them will lead to a crash, no matter their order. I don't believe I've had this problem with your scenario, though.

One possible work-around is to condense multiple pieces into a single track and name it after an existing Firaxis one. Heretic Cata did that in his mod for era-specific custom music.

[EDaddy]

Originally Posted by Plotinus

That is weird. I'll look into it. Have you at least got the scenario running OK without the music?

Yep, the scenario works fine, its just the music. And the music pack for this scenario brings the ambiance to the game I can't experience with any other Civ3 scenario (even most of the Civ4 ones.)

Come to think of it, there's a Civ4 BTS scenario very similar to this one called Crossroads of the World (which revolves around trade and making gold), but I don't enjoy that one as much as I do your scenario. Your scenario is hands-down the best Civ3 scenario I've played. Sure there are scenarios like Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, but its too complicated and WWII and Imperialism takes too long for the turns to load up. Ryhe's of Civilization is decent for a world map mod, but Ryhe's and Fall of Civilization (Civ4) is way, way better than the predecessor. No doubt about it, I have enjoyed Desert more than the others and its the one I keep coming back to over and over. In fact, in this day and age, the only reason I even touch Civ3 now is to play your scenario -- Civ4 for the most part has completely taken over. I had to re-learn Civ3 all over again since I hadn't played it in so long and I did it with your scenario!

[r16]

made a return to a favourite . Had Mali as the civ, cornered Ghana to a single city of Agrenost , ı guess he had a salt mine and the treasures bankrupted him . I had a Sanhaja raider parked next to the city and he simply couldn't do anything , captured the city while there was no military in it and the 25 captured chests finished the game in a single stroke . Finding that easy ı chose Ethiopia , had an initial scare , yet it is doing good . Getting around Civilopedia , ı saw , ı believe in the Qesr(?) entry a mention of Tollenos .What are they ?

[Doge Soprano]

Yeah I'm getting a crash too. It puzzles me why it crashes in the middle of a song though. I've added custom tracks to other mods with same folder structure as Desert with no problem. Well no biggie. I'll try to re-convert them again when I have time. No music for now. I have to turn in some slaves for couple hours before I get to be one in real life.

Btw who did Eyes of Africa? It's a good tune.

[EDaddy]

Originally Posted by Doge Soprano

Yeah I'm getting a crash too. It puzzles me why it crashes in the middle of a song though. I've added custom tracks to other mods with same folder structure as Desert with no problem. Well no biggie. I'll try to re-convert them again when I have time. No music for now. I have to turn in some slaves for couple hours before I get to be one in real life.

Btw who did Eyes of Africa? It's a good tune.

You're my hero!!!!

Do that and you'll do us ALL a favor!!!

The Desert and the Mountain is meant to be played with the optional music -- it makes you feel like you're really there!

[EDaddy]

I tried playing the scenario with a computer loaded with Windows 7. The music STILL causes the scenario to crash! It's got to be the music that's the problem, not the scenario itself!

[Plotinus]

That is a pain, but alas, I don't have any idea what's causing it! You could, I suppose, put the tracks onto an iPod or even burn a CD and play them apart from the game if you really want to listen to them while playing.

"Eyes of Africa" is by Mary McLaughlin, by the way. It was offered for free on Amazon.

[DuskWind05]

hey Plotinus, i downloaded this scenario yesterday and Im very impressed, best ive played so far even though im new to this site.

But do you have any tips for Beta Israel (im not too good at the game)

[EDaddy]

Originally Posted by Plotinus

That is a pain, but alas, I don't have any idea what's causing it! You could, I suppose, put the tracks onto an iPod or even burn a CD and play them apart from the game if you really want to listen to them while playing.

"Eyes of Africa" is by Mary McLaughlin, by the way. It was offered for free on Amazon.

Try reconverting the music files to LAME format. Someone here should be able to know how to do this.

[Lord Malbeth]

Originally Posted by DuskWind05

But do you have any tips for Beta Israel (im not too good at the game)

I've actually had the most fun with this civ. You have to strike hard and quick, and be sure not to die. Try to preserve as many of your starting units as possible, and then you can unleash your armies full potential later in the game. It's a blast.

[Abaddon]

Hey Plot. Finally getting round to playing civ again, since I enjoyed/obsessed over your other so much, I think I will give this one a go...

Looks like I am a little late for the party?

[Plotinus]

Never too late - scenarios don't go stale!

[DuskWind05]

Originally Posted by Lord Malbeth

I've actually had the most fun with this civ. You have to strike hard and quick, and be sure not to die. Try to preserve as many of your starting units as possible, and then you can unleash your armies full potential later in the game. It's a blast.

Yeah, but i can only take the first city, the rest are ether too defended or already taken >.<

[Tank_Guy#3]

Just out of curiosity, was there any chance of an update now that quite a few new units of this era and area have been released?

Generally I'm a fan of "don't fix what ain't broken", but I think some of the new units will compliment this and make a great and ground-breaking scenario even better.

Why I say ground-breaking:

Spoiler:

Mainly because this was the first scenario I ever played that implemented the transportation of raw materials for any reason.

[Plotinus]

It is possible. At the moment I'm actually thinking of doing an update to the Rood and the Dragon with the new units that have become available, because that one could really do with a facelift. I'm not so sure which new ones would be appropriate for this one but I could do an update here too - any ideas would of course be much appreciated.

[D551]

wow. is all i can say. looks totally awsome. a billion thumbs up.

[EDaddy]

OMG! I FINALLY got the music to work with the game! I read one of Hikaro's post on this site to get the music not to crash and it worked like a charm! To celebrate, I'll be playing your game more often now and I'll definitely be reporting my playthroughs!

P.S. Plotinus, I'll be sending you the new music files via ZIP if I can find some way to send it.

[EDaddy]

Is it me or did Mali get 100x harder? I don't remember hordes of raiders in the Sahara in previous games as the Mali. Sure there were a few, but once they are out of the way, it's clear sailing. Now, they just overwhelm you.