The new modcast set me on a mission. The guys were saying how the Great Works/culture overview screen is hard-coded and I wanted to see just how much I could change. At first, it seemed impossible, but I've had some success! Attached is a basic mod (which still needs a little work if it's to become a mod - but it's fit for purpose here).
The first thing it does is adds the Theatre of Dionysus as a wonder available with Drama; this part of the process was straightforward; it's basically a slightly different Globe Theatre. OK, so most modders could do that one! It was nice to find a use for the redundant theatre icon
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It also adds the library and university as buildings that have one great writing slot and appear on the grid on the Great Works screen. I figured out that most of the columns were based on the Building Class, so I made the university the default building for the Heroic Epic Building Class, modified what that class did, deleted the usual university class, aligned all other buildings relying on that class to the Heroic Epic Building Class and finally set up a new building class for the Heroic Epic. Phew! Then I needed to add a global instances to the Heroic Epic class (I set it to 99) in order to make the game think it was a wonder that could be built once by each civilization - this way, on the Great Works screen, it appears like any other wonder. It could do with a wonder splash though!
The library was a little different, as I've swapped it for the Royal Library. To cut a long story short, this was the exception to the rule; the Royal Library appears on the screen based on....well, based on it being the Royal Library. I needed to override the files to make it so that it thought that the library was the Royal Library and vice-versa.
Finally, I've changed the Ceilidh Hall so that everyone can get it and that it has a couple of slots for music with a theming bonus. If you set the buildings to two on any of the columns that normally have one, it does work in a sense - except you can't access the Great Works screen to swap things around. A bit of lateral thinking for this one - I made the Ceilidh Hall a wonder that every city could build once - adding a global instances of 999 (I don't think any game would need as many as that!) The result is that the Ceilidh Hall shows in each city where wonders would show on the Great Works screen. As a side-effect, they're listed in the builds queue where wonders would be and, again, could do with a wonder splash. I'm not sure yet (as it hasn't happened in-game yet) if you get a message every time another civ builds a Ceilidh Hall, though I think it's likely.
I've not posted the mod in the modpacks section as it's only here to demonstrate what I've discovered so far, not to be nitpicked about choices for the Ceilidh Hall etc. I have attached it here, along with some screenshots.
Incidentally, the Celts get a sanctuary (garden replacement) instead of the Ceilidh Hall as their Unique Building.
I hope this helps others and that someone else might be able to advance from what I've done and take it a step further. I'd be interested in your thoughts
.
The first thing it does is adds the Theatre of Dionysus as a wonder available with Drama; this part of the process was straightforward; it's basically a slightly different Globe Theatre. OK, so most modders could do that one! It was nice to find a use for the redundant theatre icon
.It also adds the library and university as buildings that have one great writing slot and appear on the grid on the Great Works screen. I figured out that most of the columns were based on the Building Class, so I made the university the default building for the Heroic Epic Building Class, modified what that class did, deleted the usual university class, aligned all other buildings relying on that class to the Heroic Epic Building Class and finally set up a new building class for the Heroic Epic. Phew! Then I needed to add a global instances to the Heroic Epic class (I set it to 99) in order to make the game think it was a wonder that could be built once by each civilization - this way, on the Great Works screen, it appears like any other wonder. It could do with a wonder splash though!
The library was a little different, as I've swapped it for the Royal Library. To cut a long story short, this was the exception to the rule; the Royal Library appears on the screen based on....well, based on it being the Royal Library. I needed to override the files to make it so that it thought that the library was the Royal Library and vice-versa.
Finally, I've changed the Ceilidh Hall so that everyone can get it and that it has a couple of slots for music with a theming bonus. If you set the buildings to two on any of the columns that normally have one, it does work in a sense - except you can't access the Great Works screen to swap things around. A bit of lateral thinking for this one - I made the Ceilidh Hall a wonder that every city could build once - adding a global instances of 999 (I don't think any game would need as many as that!) The result is that the Ceilidh Hall shows in each city where wonders would show on the Great Works screen. As a side-effect, they're listed in the builds queue where wonders would be and, again, could do with a wonder splash. I'm not sure yet (as it hasn't happened in-game yet) if you get a message every time another civ builds a Ceilidh Hall, though I think it's likely.
I've not posted the mod in the modpacks section as it's only here to demonstrate what I've discovered so far, not to be nitpicked about choices for the Ceilidh Hall etc. I have attached it here, along with some screenshots.
Incidentally, the Celts get a sanctuary (garden replacement) instead of the Ceilidh Hall as their Unique Building.
I hope this helps others and that someone else might be able to advance from what I've done and take it a step further. I'd be interested in your thoughts
.
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