Multi-Level/Multi-Layer Maps

I looked around and I couldn't find any posts on this-- are there any ways to implement multiple tier maps in Civ 4? I mean maps with several parallel planes, like in Civ II: Test of Time, or Master of Magic. I would love to see that capability revived for modding.

I am not sure if it can be done by the avaiable means (you can mod the dames DLL wich covers the most needs, but some things are still hidden in the exe). But even if... i highly doubt many people have the memory to run it...

Would make Inteplanetary Colonization possible for modders

I believe Kael and the team working on the Fall From Heaven mod spent a long time trying to figure out how to do that; unfortunately, they were not successful.

Does anyone have any idea WHY this idea has been dropped since it's lone appearance 10 years ago? It seems fairly fundamental and opens up a lot of cool modding possibilities! Maybe it's for the hypothetical Civ 5.

AbbieRevo said:

Would make Inteplanetary Colonization possible for modders

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Exactly! And there was a very intriguing scenario in Civ II Test of Time using the Midgard fantasy set where there were several parallel levels-- the land, the undersea world (exactly mirroring the land world), the cloud/air level, and the underground (and there might have been a fifth hellish level, but my memory is fading...). I thought it was a great concept to be able to link up the map planes. Units had different native bonuses/penalties at different levels, which themselves had terrain/mobility advantages and disadvantages... it would seem to open up a lot of interesting possibilities. I wonder why they didn't include it again?

It should be possible with a 3D engine and it is something I persoanlly have given some thought. But IIRC, when I inquired about it around a year ago I was told it involved SDK work and I currently do not have that level of skill, nor the time to commit to it soley. The thread I discussed it in was a different topic too.

After digging a bit I found the thread I had discussed it in and a user said that there is something about buried in the it in one of the Alpha Centauri mod thread out there. You may check them for details.

If we had a SMAC type enviroment ( with diferent heights and depths, and sattelites ) 3D would be awesome and would fill the propose of the game, but that is not the case of Civ IV ( by design choice: the code allows its use, like it was discussed in the SMAC Mod thread ).

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Heads up though, there are a few SMAC threads out there so it may take some digging.

That would have been me...

The Planetfall team decided to not even try that ( huge ammount of work ) but both surface height and distance to the ground can be changed ( the variables are there, just not changable in normal game )... they only changed the layout of hills and moutains ( uniting the hills and the moutains: Planetfall has real ridges and even plateaus ) . AFAIK it was only mentioned once in that thread and not with much detail. It would not give a multi - level enviroment per se , but it would look far more realistical.....

This is a GREAT IDEA! Just like HoMM! That would be sweet, underground cities, undersea cities, floating cities. I'd really like to see a game that combines the aspects of civ and homm. Like I can build a city whereever I want and can convert cities like in Civ but have very diversified factions and in-depth combat like HoMM. And the archdevils are . .. .. .. .ING AWESOME!