incremental patch discussion

[davidlallen]

This thread is for discussion about merging different patches and patch scheduling. Unofficial patches should be planned and announced here.

[davidlallen]

Keep reading down in the thread for the latest news. With different authors, we cannot edit the posts to keep the information up to date.

Latest complete patch: 1.2.3, at this link. Install over 1.2.
Latest partial patch: 1.2.4, at this link. *Install 1.2.3 first*

New partial patch: 1.2.5. *Install 1.2.4 first*. Only five files are included in the attachment. In 1.2.3, I rewrote the storms and worms to use map only effects so that settlers would not be scared. But koma13 gave a better way, with a unit flag bNoDangerCount. So this patch goes on top of 1.2.4 and it only puts back the storm and worm units from 1.2.2. This patch has no effect on gameplay, but it removes the temporary graphics of black thunderclouds for wormsign, and removes the ghost effect that was caused by the map only effects.

[Deliverator]

Since 1.2 has the now fixed medium hover CTD, and we have patches coming out of our ears it seems like a good time to agree a roadmap to 1.3. So...

Suggested Roadmap to 1.3
Playtest/Tune/Refine following recent major changes, namely water for food and the worm/storm fear fix (davidallen/deliverator)
Ix faction (keldath)
Complete early unit changes (koma13)

I think we should all read and take to heart the advice in Kael's thread:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=173061

Keldath, as well as Ix, perhaps you could further investigate hero units and unique faction mechanics. Also perhaps review the existing units and buildings - if they are not really adding anything to the gameplay then we should consider taking it out.

I know david you are keen to get on to terraforming, but it seems to make sense that we make sure growth, economy, etc are all functioning OK after some pretty fundamental changes. Perhaps it makes sense for terraforming to go on ice until after 1.3...

Anyway, this is just a suggested plan. Once, we do version 1.3 it would be good to agree a roadmap to 1.4 and so on, just so we know what each other is focusing on for that iteration.

Also, if an issue crops up then we can use this thread to communicate who's doing what. So "I'm looking at fixing this in the SDK" or "I'm looking at fixing this in Python" - just to make sure we are not duplicating effort.

[davidlallen]

I would like to suggest something simpler. Right now it is pretty inconvenient to install "the latest" since you have to put 1.2, then 1.2.3, then 1.2.4, then 1.2.5.

I suggest that all of the current patches should be merged immediately into 1.3. Non-developers will appreciate it, and it will avoid debugging sessions like, "Are you sure you installed 1.2.3 before 1.2.4?"

I would like to take one day to perform a mass renaming, which is guaranteed to break any local development. I would propose to do this immediately after 1.3 is released, as unofficial patch 1.3.1. Further development could be based off that and merged into 1.4 with the features you describe.

For myself, I plan to work on terraforming (with related civic and units). I'd like to get a unique ability for each of the existing civs. I agree that balancing is also important and I am sure lots of people will have suggestions about that.

[Deliverator]

OK, sounds like a plan. I'll check water for food looks OK in 1.2.5, and then I'm happy for everything to be bundled up as 1.3. You're right about economy, it will all come out in the wash.

[keldath]

hey guys,

i agree with the road map, good idea.

- ill work on the ix faction + units as suggested.

also -
another way for us to track each other changes -
lets just add tags to the sections we added and changed from the previous version like:

<!-- keldath change for patch 1.2.4 --->

so when we go on to merge it all into one patch - we can track the changed lines and merge them all in easily.

transforming -
i was thinking for next patch getting the eden project in - this can be a catalyst for transforming victory - and david can further develop the code ill add (using thomas war code).

also,
inside dune wars there is a transforming unit - that can change some tiles - this mod is just the transforming mod in the modcomp forum.

[Deliverator]

Shouldn't the Sandstorm unit be back in 1.2.5? It doesn't seem to be in Civ4UnitInfos.xml.

[keldath]

OK PEOPLE HERE IT IS:

patch 1.2.6

http://ul.to/ji20lh

additions:
ix faction with 3 uus + 2 ubs + 1 house corp.


*****

make sure you install the patches on the correct way :

1. get version 1.2
2. open patch 1.2.3
3. open patch 1.2.4
4. open patch 1.2.5
5. open patch 1.2.5

make sure you overwrite all files of the previous version.

all links are up in this thread.

[Deliverator]

There'll be a very minor patch 1.2.7 soon from me. A few bits of merge tidy up.

[keldath]

co;; be sure to follow the patch order

oh darn - i forgot to see the bonus chanes youve made and if i merged them right...

david -

can you plz center all the patch links on the first post here - should be more easy and clean .


thanks.

deliverator,
great choice for the leader head.

[Deliverator]

Yep, I've already done installed patches up to and including 1.2.6.

I've merged my stuff in - and made sure bonus infos is OK.

There's no UnitClassInfo for Sandstorm so I'll add it back in from a copy of 1.2.2.

[keldath]

Deliverator!

on you patch - go to the art folder -> structures -> improvements -> windtrap -> button

copy - "windtrap_button.dds" into :

structures -> improvements -> windtrap

just copy - d'ont cut it from button folder.


or else the game will crash............................................. .

[Deliverator]

OK. I'll do it, don't worry.

[keldath]

cool thanks man

[davidlallen]

Clearly we need a 1.3. There is no way a typical user will apply five different patches to get something playable.

I think this thread must be a thread for active working, rather than a sticky thread which gives the answer at the beginning. I think when we have full-up versions they should be announced on the main welcome thread. I do not think the first post of this thread should be updated. Especially when 4-5 different people are making local patches.

[keldath]

i know what you mean - but i was thinking that this is a developers thread - how about write on the first post - developers only thread and testers...

so no one will come here to download stuff,

this will be mostly for our changes for future versions.


sure v 1.3,

i think on the weekend ill do it,
wanna get a few more stuff in till the weekend. what do you think?

[Deliverator]

Agreed david. Probably, needs a warning to the general public that these patches may be works in progress. I've always thought your unofficial patches were more like official releases anyway.

The stuff in this thread are the quick developer patches. It's quite a handy way to work and keep on top of what's going on. We could almost have an online version control system where we each check in our changes.

Edit: Is there a handy windows utility for making patches. It would be great to be able to say 'make all these files into a patch keeping the relevant directory structure'. At the moment I do it by hand by checking dates.

[davidlallen]

Originally Posted by Deliverator

We could almost have an online version control system where we each check in our changes.

The previous mod I worked on seriously was Fury Road, where I was the only person doing xml/python. Art does not have this type of merging problem. I have seen that other mods with multiple xml/python/sdk authors do use online version control systems. For example, sourceforge. While professional software engineers can certainly figure out how to work with sourceforge, it is a lot to ask of most volunteers.

Given the last few days, it seems clear that 4 people actively developing has caused exponential pain, so maybe we should consider sourceforge.

Is there a handy windows utility for making patches

Well, I have used winzip, and manually managed the "Archive" attribute in windows explorer. However I blew myself out with this yesterday, so I am not sure I would recommend it. In the past I have used unix commands like "find -newer" and the command line zip program. I may try that instead.

[keldath]

well,

theres the svn, that most heavy mods use...
its a way to keep track - johny smith can help us with that - but i dont really like it...


by the way i marked all of my changes - as <!-- keldath ix-->
next time ill make the mark as the patch name that im doing for that build.

[davidlallen]

Originally Posted by keldath

by the way i marked all of my changes - as <!-- keldath ix-->
next time ill make the mark as the patch name that im doing for that build.

Putting comments is another good philosophical discussion. It does not help when deleting items. I have run into one problem where the civ engine parses xml files differently when there are comments. This is a huge bug in civ, but it is hard to tell where it may pop up. In particular, if you add comment lines to the promotions file, then the civ engine misunderstands which promotions are prereqs of which other promotions. So I have been somewhat "gunshy" to add comments into xml.

I find a detailed change list is helpful, but not enough. I also find civchecker is very helpful to catch side effects. I am enhancing it to catch unreferenced symbols and art, so we can also find things which are never used and should be deleted.

If "somebody" wants to set up a svn server or a project on sourceforge, I am sure I can figure out how to use it; but it adds a lot of overhead for non-programmers.