HoF Mod: benefits/effects and impacts

DaveShack · Feb 3, 2007

In the Vanilla vs Warlords thread, there has been a lot of campaigning for or against using the Hall of Fame (HoF) Mod. It seems this mod deserves its own discussion where its benefits can be explained, along with any impacts it might have on how we play the game.

The floor is now open for a HoF Mod expert to explain the pluses and minuses of using it.

Methos · Feb 3, 2007

I do not consider myself an expert, but other than my PBEM game, I haven't played a non-HoF mod game in months. One thing about the HoF mod that would be good for everyone to know is that the HoF Staff (its creators) have fixed many of the minor bugs that still exist in the game. They have also adjusted some of the fixes that have been placed in the Warlords game into the HoF mod. In other words, even playing vanilla you can still have some of the benefits of the warlords expansion. I apologize as I can not name these fixes specifically. You could probably find them in the HoF mod release notes that can be found at the HoF site.

Many other nice mods have been included with the HoF mod, such as these...

Included Mods said:
Autolog (defaults to disabled)
End turn Text (defaults to enabled)
Exotic Foreign Advisor (defaults to disabled)
Modified Special Domestic Advisor (defaults to disabled)
Civ4lerts (defaults to disabled)
Specialist Stacker (defaults to disabled)
Clock Turn Text (defaults to disabled)
Reminder (defaults to disabled)
Mapfinder (defaults to disabled)
Auto start file creator (defaults to disabled)
Auto exit file creator (defaults to disabled)
Regenerate Map Hot-Key [ALT-G](defaults to disabled)

One thing that is very important to note is you do not have to use the included mods. You can go into your options menu and simply turn each individual mod on or off. You can also adjust the settings for each mod in your options menu.

Memory wise I believe the mod has no effect on performance.

dutchfire · Feb 4, 2007

I've played the HoF mod too, and when I go back to vanilla civ, I really miss the foreign advisor and domestic advisor. They just help a lot with micro-management.

Furius · Feb 4, 2007

hmmm... Does it change stats a lot, though? Because if the stats for everything are different from normal civ that might generate some confusion for people (And by people I mean me)

dutchfire · Feb 4, 2007

The game itself works the same as the normal game. But one of the things it does/can do is listing in the F1 (domestics) screen for example which cities can still build national wonders, which specialists are used where and other usefull information that would normally require a lot of searching through city screens.

There are also some bug-fixes, most importantly a fix in the number of hammers one receives for pop-rushes in some special circumstances. This doesn't change the game for the casual player, but there were people exploiting this bug on a large scale, so it was fixed.

Furius · Feb 4, 2007

That dosen't sound too confusing then. According to the mod page posted above, it's only 1.25 Mb in size, too, which is nothing to worry about, I would think

donsig · Feb 4, 2007

I'm all for using the HoF mod even if we can't submit the game to the Hall.

Macha · Feb 4, 2007

I'd say only use a mod if it's under 10mb so ppl like me who only have dialup and can't get broadband can play aswell as ppl who have broadband

Methos · Feb 4, 2007

tonyf12 said:
I'd say only use a mod if it's under 10mb so ppl like me who only have dialup and can't get broadband can play aswell as ppl who have broadband

If you check the links provided above you'll see the size requirements. For those with dialup I'll provide them here:

Vanilla HoF Mod v.1.61.010: file size 1.25 Mb
Warlords HoF Mod v.2.08.03: file size 1.28 Mb

ChinaBlue · Feb 4, 2007

With HoF mod nothing to lose only to gain micromanagment wise in every department.
(i don't even understand why all of this wasn't included in the first place, the original considerably pales in comparison.)
The only minus could be that the extra effort of download/install a mod might attract less people to join.
So then the question would be, what's more important? Quantity of participants or quality of gameplay.

DaveShack · Feb 4, 2007

The only minor inconvenience is having to start the game using the mod. This can be managed simply by double clicking the save file to open, which opens the mod automagically. Heck, even loading it in-game might do that, I must admit I haven't tried to switch to a mod on the fly.

Having the game restart itself if it's already running does cause a little delay, but it's a small price to pay for all those yummy extra features.

Methos · Feb 4, 2007

Another thing of note for those who are not used to the mod. The HoF Staff keeps it updated regularly, as you'll note the different updates. Each update self-installs it into its own directory, meaning you can have every version of the HoF mod you want. When you load the save the game will automatically detect which version of the HoF mod you are using and load that version of the mod.

This is an excellent bonus as you can update to the newest version and still be able to play the previous versions.

Macha · Feb 4, 2007

Methos said:
If you check the links provided above you'll see the size requirements. For those with dialup I'll provide them here:

Vanilla HoF Mod v.1.61.010: file size 1.25 Mb
Warlords HoF Mod v.2.08.03: file size 1.28 Mb

1.65mb isn't that bad, it would only take me 10 mins.

Gyathaar · Feb 5, 2007

Methos said:
If you check the links provided above you'll see the size requirements. For those with dialup I'll provide them here:

Vanilla HoF Mod v.1.61.010: file size 1.25 Mb
Warlords HoF Mod v.2.08.03: file size 1.28 Mb

In addition the HOF mod will compress the savefiles much more than the standard game (generally around half the size).. so if you download the saves often you will prolly end up downloading less total before game is over..

fed1943 · Feb 6, 2007

Sorry, but as I know nothing of computers, please allow to put two points:

1) If I right understood, this MOD organizes better the information and fixes

some bugs; I ask if it doesn't put things out of control of the player, so

making the game poorer or less micromanaged (as one wants to say).

If not, looks nice.

2) If the idea go ahead and I'm not able to do the installation tricks maybe

can I find here someone kind enough to help me, please?

Best regards,

dutchfire · Feb 6, 2007

fed1943 said:
Sorry, but as I know nothing of computers, please allow to put two points:

1) If I right understood, this MOD organizes better the information and fixes

some bugs; I ask if it doesn't put things out of control of the player, so

making the game poorer or less micromanaged (as one wants to say).

If not, looks nice.

2) If the idea go ahead and I'm not able to do the installation tricks maybe

can I find here someone kind enough to help me, please?

Best regards,

1. It doesn't give it out of control of the player, it just makes it less work for the player. Imagine you want to get accumulate Great Merchant Points in certain cities. So you want to run only merchants. But the city governor (in-game) has the tendency to automatically assign priest specialists when a city grows. You don't want those priests, so you'd have to check very often if the governor didn't assign any priests in those cities, every time having to find those cities and open the city window. With the HoF Mod, you'll only have to press F1, and then you can see for each city which specialists are being used at that moment. This saves you a lot of time.

2. I would help you, and there are many more people here, or in the HoF forum who could help you with it.

Methos · Feb 6, 2007

I would also help you, and anyone else that needed it. That is another nice thing about this mod. Since it is required to submit to the Hall of Fame tables and it is required on both the G/WOTM and SGOTM games there are a lot of both CFC members and moderators that would be able to help out with any problems.

Just to reiterate what dutchfire has already said, one of the best places to find help, advise, or answers about the HoF mod is in the HoF Forums.

fed1943 · Feb 7, 2007

Thank you Dutchfire and Methos.

dutchfire · Feb 7, 2007

Poll is up

730195 · Feb 11, 2007

Am I missing something, or is HoF Windoze only?

HoF Mod: benefits/effects and impacts

Inventor

HoF Quattromaster

Deity

Prince

Deity

Prince

Low level intermediary

King

HoF Quattromaster

Xenite

Inventor

HoF Quattromaster

King

Warlock

Emperor

Deity

HoF Quattromaster

Emperor

Deity

Warlord

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