Civilization V DLL Source Code coming with Fall Patch

[The_J]

What did the Civ 4 DLL source contain?

As concrete examples, with the Civ4 dll it was possible to implement/change
- the AI
- Introduce totally new concepts, like e.g. in FfH2 alignments and magic
- Create new XML tags (or even create your own XMLs)
- Somebody was able to add another yield and let it display properly
- Multiple maps
etc.

But like androrc says: You need somebody who can implement it. Not everybody is good in C++ or has the time (well, the usual problems).
But if this will be possible with Civ5 is a totally other question, and might also depend on other things, like if e.g. the engine can cope with such stuff, or what else the devs have hardcoded into the .exe.

 

[Drawmeus]

The AI is probably going to be the biggest beneficiary here - the Civ 4 AI (for those of you who don't remember) was terrible at launch and pretty good by the time modders finished with it, then those mods were integrated into one of the expansion packs.

Firaxis might be unwilling to spend the resources to program a high quality AI, but enthusiasts won't be - assuming there are enough enthusiasts left at this extremely late date.

 

[Putmalk]

Okay, this might benefit me because I'm good at C++ and not LUA...haha.

Gracias para...the responses

 

[Prisma2000]

We really should get these guys interested in Civ5
Artificially intelligent game bots pass the Turing test on Turing's centenary

 

[Androrc the Orc]

Okay, this might benefit me because I'm good at C++ and not LUA...haha.

Gracias para...the responses

And hopefully, we will be able to create our own Lua functions (we could do so in regards to Python for Civ4 with the DLL).

 

[Gedemon]

And hopefully, we will be able to create our own Lua functions (we could do so in regards to Python for Civ4 with the DLL).

Combined with a common DLL as mentioned by DonQuiche, that's the better way to maintain compatibility between mods.

 

[wolfman972]

so will this mean we can play with more than 22 civs?

 

[Blanchflower]

OK, does this mean the 3 Mods Steam achievements will be fixed? I just need these 3 more to complete my Civilization V achievements!

 

[Sync]

Though I'm glad, the game has been out 2 years already. Frankly, it's about time.

 

[ls612]

Great! Although now I actually have to get CiV. I honestly didn't think this would happen, but I'm sure glad to be proven wrong.

 

[DonQuiche]

And hopefully, we will be able to create our own Lua functions (we could do so in regards to Python for Civ4 with the DLL).

Right now some of the Lua objects are defined in the exe (Events, GameEvents, UI controls, etc) and some others in the dll (Player, City, etc). So while it is certain we will be able to modify the latter ones, I can only hope that we will still be able to modify the former objects. I pray (figurative sense) to find some two-parts initialization mechanism (one pass for the objects, one pass for their methods) where we will be able to retrieve the Lua objects defined by the exe.

 

[ls612]

As concrete examples, with the Civ4 dll it was possible to implement/change
- the AI
- Introduce totally new concepts, like e.g. in FfH2 alignments and magic
- Create new XML tags (or even create your own XMLs)
- Somebody was able to add another yield and let it display properly
- Multiple maps
etc.

But like androrc says: You need somebody who can implement it. Not everybody is good in C++ or has the time (well, the usual problems).
But if this will be possible with Civ5 is a totally other question, and might also depend on other things, like if e.g. the engine can cope with such stuff, or what else the devs have hardcoded into the .exe.

Some more stuff we've been discussing as possible with the Civ 4 DLL;

• Multi-threading large portions of it, to speed up end-turn times
• Moving map generation away from mapscripts and into the DLL.
• Forcing certain parts of the DLL that don't directly call the engine to access the 64 bit memory space (we don't yet know if this is possible, but it's an idea)
• Removing schemas from the XML entirely.

All of this is experimental, but it gives an idea of how much is possible with Civ 4. as you said, who knows how much stuff the CiV DLL will have in it or how exactly the engine will work with it.

 

[Androrc the Orc]

so will this mean we can play with more than 22 civs?

Quite probably.

 

[ThisNameIsTooLo]

And so the fall of Civilization approaches.

 

[zarakand]

Will this be for CiV with G&K or will it support CiV vanilla?

 

[DonQuiche]

Will this be for CiV with G&K or will it support CiV vanilla?

I guess the source code is the same and the Firaxis' devs just put the G&K-specific API within #ifdef blocks. So whenever they build the project, both versions are compiled and we will be able to do the same thing. This is just a guess though.

 

[zarakand]

I guess the source code is the same and the Firaxis' devs just put the G&K-specific API within #ifdef blocks. So whenever they build the project, both versions are compiled and we will be able to do the same thing. This is just a guess though.

I hope you're right! I really like some of the changes with G&K...it would be difficult to go back to CiV even with modders changing things.

 

[Androrc the Orc]

I guess the source code is the same and the Firaxis' devs just put the G&K-specific API within #ifdef blocks. So whenever they build the project, both versions are compiled and we will be able to do the same thing. This is just a guess though.

I believe that may very well be the case indeed, considering G&K can be deactivated (as all DLC can) if you have it, and some of the older DLC scenarios deactivate it as well, so the code for vanilla should probably still be there.

 

[stfoskey12]

so will this mean we can play with more than 22 civs?

I'm pretty sure the Civ4 DLL is what allowed people to do that in Civ4.

 

[scooterplus]

The release of the DLL also means Rhye will more than likely get more freedom with his CiV adaptation of IV's Fall Of Civilization mod

Nonetheless I am stoked about Fall Patch