LunarMongoose
King
MongooseMod 4.2a
for Beyond the Sword 3.19
DOWNLOAD
Version 4.2a Main Download (715.7 MB)
Or, if you already have the 4.2 main download from 4 Jan 2017, you can update it to 4.2a:
Version 4.2-to-4.2a Patch (15.1 MB)
1) Delete all old/previous/existing versions of the mod.
2) Be sure to install the MongooseMod folder from the zip, into "C:\Games\Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Mods\" or something similar.
3) It shouldn't matter because the mod's config file is set to ignore it, but please also be sure your "MyDocuments\MyGames\Beyond the Sword\CustomAssets\" folder is empty, especially if you're having problems.
4) MongooseMod has been moderately tested on Windows Vista, and heavily tested on Windows XP, 7, 8, and 10. If it is not launching and running properly, check to make sure the zip you downloaded is not corrupted, ie that it is the correct size (750,508,083 bytes). If that doesn't help, please see steps 1-3. Thanks.
REASONS YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT THIS MOD
I am the sole author. I am smart, well-educated, historically informed, creative, clever, and witty. I care a lot about quality, and I am a perfectionist. I am skilled or highly skilled in most relevant areas: game design, programming, graphic design, user interface design, and yes even music composition. And I have been obsessed with video games since I was a kid. (Anyone remember the NWC?)
This mod is the result of me being turned loose on something like Civ4, being given enough time (years), and being given enough terrific support from the community (in the form of all the work other people have done): a great game turns into a paradise. (Too bad Civ5 is going to suck.)
WHAT THIS MOD IS
A multiplayer thoroughbred. The mod was designed from Day 1 for this purpose above all others, and as such you will find neither grossly-unbalanced abilities nor desync errors here.
A speed demon. Every mod worth considering at this point will have Better BTS AI, with its adaptation of the CAR mod, included, so that part goes without saying. However there is a LOT more that can be done. By now I have moved almost everything I was doing in Python over to the SDK for speed. I do not use modular loading; it is unnecessary and it inevitably slows things down. Most of the SDK components I have integrated have been partially or completely rewritten, and there is a LOT of custom programming in this thing as well. These pieces will play better together, and run faster, than you will generally see elsewhere, I suspect.
A true fulfillment of the promise of the vanilla game, that still remains closer and more faithful to vanilla than not in terms of design, balance, gameplay, and quality.
WHAT THIS MOD IS NOT
An extremely strict adherant to realism. It comes pretty darn close though, and in many ways is actually more accurate than vanilla.
A campaign or scenario.
A fantasy or scifi mod.
A bloated mess. I admire the design of something like RoM, and appreciate all the work that has gone into it; I really do. But in my personal opinion that approach is the way to make a better historical simulation, NOT the way to make a better game. I have extended and added to the vanilla system myself, yes, but always with the belief that extra complexity is something to be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
MM 4.2 SCREENSHOT (6 June 2014)
TECH TREE - The definitive version. Lovingly refined for 8 long tedious years to achieve unparalleled richness, depth, beauty, and efficiency. The soul of my ultimate creation.
MM 4.0 SCREENSHOT (19 Jan 2012)
CIVICS - My breakthrough civic "subcategory" design that finally allowed me to handle all the concepts involved the way I wanted to. (This screenshot was met with significant praise when first posted.)
MM 3.6 SCREENSHOT (9 Nov 2010)
EVENT PICTURE SET - This took approximately 3 weeks to make, in total. Everything has been carefully culled from countless Google Image searches (save a few being reused from Smeagolheart's original collection and one from Arian's set), and lovingly cropped and scaled to perfection.
A few of the images in this set are obviously copyrighted (like the ones from movies and tv series), but they were all taken from 3rd party sources on the web; I didn't screencap anything, and I'm not the first to be posting them. I also specifically did not use any images with any copyright text embedded in them, just to be safe. Nevertheless, if any copyright holders wish me to remove their pictures from this set I will do so.
MM 3.4 SCREENSHOTS (6 March 2010)
TITLE SCREEN - I think this looks freakin' awesome. Your mileage may vary. The massively-improved planet and cloud textures are from BlueMarble, obviously; I supplied the better starfield.
SILVER UI - I did steal about half of the UI elements (scrollbars, etc) from Planetfall's theme, a terrific dialog background image from Planetfall, and the silver cursor that's been floating around, but my color scheme is completely original, and I also did the reskinning of the vanilla brown paper background.
TECH TREE - The beating heart of the mod. Designed from scratch in early 2006 and continuously improved upon since. This is my masterpiece. The different tech colors of each era are a feature of the mod as of version 3.4, and are actually like that in-game. You'll also notice, if you pay attention to the individual techs and the various things in them, that all of that generally fits extremely well into the time periods specified for each tech column, which is no minor feat to accomplish. Version 3.5 changed the start date to 48,000 BC to be more historically accurate.
CIVICS - This is an area I want to update in the future, but for now it's fine. I gave up on having an equal number of civics in every category for the sake of balance, dropping some of the awkward ones that had been added just to fill slots. A number of Stone Age Mod civics are present, as is part of my original custom set (Technocracy, Manifest Destiny, Atheism, and the Education and Heathcare categories). Barter was a great idea from one of the big mods, and I moved Theocracy from the Religion category to Government. But I am definitely not completely happy with the civics yet.
STATS MOD - I dropped the Unit Stats and Hall of Fame pages a long time ago to focus exclusively on the Player Stats page, which runs a lot faster and doesn't overload the user with too much useless information. The leaderhead bar allows you to check the stats of every player you've met, plus the barbs. Could be abused by using it to follow the progress of wars and such I suppose, but I already reveal this information in diplomacy thanks to the SHAM, and don't really think either is a problem.
MM1 SCREENSHOTS (29 July 2006)
TECH TREE - A very early iteration from either the end of Vanilla or the beginning of Warlords development (my record-keeping was a bit spotty back then, heh). It's come so far from here, yet still remains the same. Many, though not all, of the custom icons visible here were original selections by me, and are now in many other mods.
CIVICS - Most of the non-vanilla civics, and all of their icon selections, shown here were original when I released them; I specifically remember coming up with the ideas for these civics myself and choosing their icons out of my Civ icon library. They were picked up by at least one big mod when I had the MongooseMod posted publically, then further spread from there, and I never thought to make sure I got credit for them. How silly and ignorant I was back then.
for Beyond the Sword 3.19
DOWNLOAD
Version 4.2a Main Download (715.7 MB)
Or, if you already have the 4.2 main download from 4 Jan 2017, you can update it to 4.2a:
Version 4.2-to-4.2a Patch (15.1 MB)
1) Delete all old/previous/existing versions of the mod.
2) Be sure to install the MongooseMod folder from the zip, into "C:\Games\Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Mods\" or something similar.
3) It shouldn't matter because the mod's config file is set to ignore it, but please also be sure your "MyDocuments\MyGames\Beyond the Sword\CustomAssets\" folder is empty, especially if you're having problems.
4) MongooseMod has been moderately tested on Windows Vista, and heavily tested on Windows XP, 7, 8, and 10. If it is not launching and running properly, check to make sure the zip you downloaded is not corrupted, ie that it is the correct size (750,508,083 bytes). If that doesn't help, please see steps 1-3. Thanks.
REASONS YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT THIS MOD
I am the sole author. I am smart, well-educated, historically informed, creative, clever, and witty. I care a lot about quality, and I am a perfectionist. I am skilled or highly skilled in most relevant areas: game design, programming, graphic design, user interface design, and yes even music composition. And I have been obsessed with video games since I was a kid. (Anyone remember the NWC?)
This mod is the result of me being turned loose on something like Civ4, being given enough time (years), and being given enough terrific support from the community (in the form of all the work other people have done): a great game turns into a paradise. (Too bad Civ5 is going to suck.)
WHAT THIS MOD IS
A multiplayer thoroughbred. The mod was designed from Day 1 for this purpose above all others, and as such you will find neither grossly-unbalanced abilities nor desync errors here.
A speed demon. Every mod worth considering at this point will have Better BTS AI, with its adaptation of the CAR mod, included, so that part goes without saying. However there is a LOT more that can be done. By now I have moved almost everything I was doing in Python over to the SDK for speed. I do not use modular loading; it is unnecessary and it inevitably slows things down. Most of the SDK components I have integrated have been partially or completely rewritten, and there is a LOT of custom programming in this thing as well. These pieces will play better together, and run faster, than you will generally see elsewhere, I suspect.
A true fulfillment of the promise of the vanilla game, that still remains closer and more faithful to vanilla than not in terms of design, balance, gameplay, and quality.
WHAT THIS MOD IS NOT
An extremely strict adherant to realism. It comes pretty darn close though, and in many ways is actually more accurate than vanilla.
A campaign or scenario.
A fantasy or scifi mod.
A bloated mess. I admire the design of something like RoM, and appreciate all the work that has gone into it; I really do. But in my personal opinion that approach is the way to make a better historical simulation, NOT the way to make a better game. I have extended and added to the vanilla system myself, yes, but always with the belief that extra complexity is something to be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
MM 4.2 SCREENSHOT (6 June 2014)
TECH TREE - The definitive version. Lovingly refined for 8 long tedious years to achieve unparalleled richness, depth, beauty, and efficiency. The soul of my ultimate creation.
MM 4.0 SCREENSHOT (19 Jan 2012)
CIVICS - My breakthrough civic "subcategory" design that finally allowed me to handle all the concepts involved the way I wanted to. (This screenshot was met with significant praise when first posted.
)MM 3.6 SCREENSHOT (9 Nov 2010)
EVENT PICTURE SET - This took approximately 3 weeks to make, in total. Everything has been carefully culled from countless Google Image searches (save a few being reused from Smeagolheart's original collection and one from Arian's set), and lovingly cropped and scaled to perfection.
A few of the images in this set are obviously copyrighted (like the ones from movies and tv series), but they were all taken from 3rd party sources on the web; I didn't screencap anything, and I'm not the first to be posting them. I also specifically did not use any images with any copyright text embedded in them, just to be safe. Nevertheless, if any copyright holders wish me to remove their pictures from this set I will do so.
MM 3.4 SCREENSHOTS (6 March 2010)
TITLE SCREEN - I think this looks freakin' awesome. Your mileage may vary. The massively-improved planet and cloud textures are from BlueMarble, obviously; I supplied the better starfield.
SILVER UI - I did steal about half of the UI elements (scrollbars, etc) from Planetfall's theme, a terrific dialog background image from Planetfall, and the silver cursor that's been floating around, but my color scheme is completely original, and I also did the reskinning of the vanilla brown paper background.
TECH TREE - The beating heart of the mod. Designed from scratch in early 2006 and continuously improved upon since. This is my masterpiece. The different tech colors of each era are a feature of the mod as of version 3.4, and are actually like that in-game. You'll also notice, if you pay attention to the individual techs and the various things in them, that all of that generally fits extremely well into the time periods specified for each tech column, which is no minor feat to accomplish. Version 3.5 changed the start date to 48,000 BC to be more historically accurate.
CIVICS - This is an area I want to update in the future, but for now it's fine. I gave up on having an equal number of civics in every category for the sake of balance, dropping some of the awkward ones that had been added just to fill slots. A number of Stone Age Mod civics are present, as is part of my original custom set (Technocracy, Manifest Destiny, Atheism, and the Education and Heathcare categories). Barter was a great idea from one of the big mods, and I moved Theocracy from the Religion category to Government. But I am definitely not completely happy with the civics yet.
STATS MOD - I dropped the Unit Stats and Hall of Fame pages a long time ago to focus exclusively on the Player Stats page, which runs a lot faster and doesn't overload the user with too much useless information. The leaderhead bar allows you to check the stats of every player you've met, plus the barbs. Could be abused by using it to follow the progress of wars and such I suppose, but I already reveal this information in diplomacy thanks to the SHAM, and don't really think either is a problem.
MM1 SCREENSHOTS (29 July 2006)
TECH TREE - A very early iteration from either the end of Vanilla or the beginning of Warlords development (my record-keeping was a bit spotty back then, heh). It's come so far from here, yet still remains the same.
Many, though not all, of the custom icons visible here were original selections by me, and are now in many other mods.CIVICS - Most of the non-vanilla civics, and all of their icon selections, shown here were original when I released them; I specifically remember coming up with the ideas for these civics myself and choosing their icons out of my Civ icon library. They were picked up by at least one big mod when I had the MongooseMod posted publically, then further spread from there, and I never thought to make sure I got credit for them. How silly and ignorant I was back then.
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