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- Thread starter TC01
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God-Emperor
Deity
A new version is in the works, but it is going slowly. At some point we may just decide it is enough to release instead of waiting on additional stuff that is trickling in (there have been quite a few small changes, plus some larger ones). I'm not sure how TC01's new civilization class is coming along.
The main DLL based AI adjustments are in (as is a new "Reduced Pirates" game option to cut the number spawned in half) and the experimental AI branch of the SVN has been merged back into the trunk. It now puts missiles and squadrons onto ships that can carry them (and uses them, too) and makes occasional use of the two sea related unit AI types to get the specialized behavior; it also assigns some value to more of the planet related XML tags in a couple of areas like civics and techs. It does build a few Carrier type ships now, with the UNITAI_CARRIER_SEA, but I have to admit that I have never had one used against me - there may still be an issue of getting them properly grouped with escorts so they will leave the location where they were built. There have also been a couple of small adjustments to the Python AI (it now bails out of doing the Python override 20% of the time instead of 15%, and it occasionally lets a construction ship not run off to build a base when it could do so). It could probably use some more tweaks. For example, in all of my test games there always (or at least almost always) seems to be at least one AI that overbuilds missiles by a large factor (often, but not exclusively, Astrotech), like having 6 or 8 of them piled up in every star system plus a few on the starbases where they were produced automatically and some on cruisers (and missile frigates) too; I don't know why this happens as the value for building their unit AI type decreases as you build more (same as with all unit AI types) such that it should not really go much over the capacity of the ships that can carry them - but it does. Not a huge problem in general, but I'm sure it is slowing down the economy of the affected AI a little since missiles count for unit support costs.
My latest 4 things committed to the SVN, in reverse chronological order:
- Sevopedia Python adjusted so that it won't list things with bGraphicalOnly set to 1 in the category contents column and updated terrain info XML with more set to this so now only space terrain show up on the list (no more plans and hills) and only the actual improvements show up (these were already set).
- Adjusted the healing promotions and which ones the Starbases get for free.
- Adjusted tech costs (the first two columns are unchanged, the later columns ramp up to higher costs even more than they used to).
- Added Precision Instruments Maker building.
For your B5 modding purposes I expect only the DLL changes, Python AI changes, and probably the Sevopedia Python adjustment are relevant.
Still no real ETA. IT has been a long time sine the last release. I'm currently thinking that the last weekend of this month might be a good choice for a "release what we've got" date.
The main DLL based AI adjustments are in (as is a new "Reduced Pirates" game option to cut the number spawned in half) and the experimental AI branch of the SVN has been merged back into the trunk. It now puts missiles and squadrons onto ships that can carry them (and uses them, too) and makes occasional use of the two sea related unit AI types to get the specialized behavior; it also assigns some value to more of the planet related XML tags in a couple of areas like civics and techs. It does build a few Carrier type ships now, with the UNITAI_CARRIER_SEA, but I have to admit that I have never had one used against me - there may still be an issue of getting them properly grouped with escorts so they will leave the location where they were built. There have also been a couple of small adjustments to the Python AI (it now bails out of doing the Python override 20% of the time instead of 15%, and it occasionally lets a construction ship not run off to build a base when it could do so). It could probably use some more tweaks. For example, in all of my test games there always (or at least almost always) seems to be at least one AI that overbuilds missiles by a large factor (often, but not exclusively, Astrotech), like having 6 or 8 of them piled up in every star system plus a few on the starbases where they were produced automatically and some on cruisers (and missile frigates) too; I don't know why this happens as the value for building their unit AI type decreases as you build more (same as with all unit AI types) such that it should not really go much over the capacity of the ships that can carry them - but it does. Not a huge problem in general, but I'm sure it is slowing down the economy of the affected AI a little since missiles count for unit support costs.
My latest 4 things committed to the SVN, in reverse chronological order:
- Sevopedia Python adjusted so that it won't list things with bGraphicalOnly set to 1 in the category contents column and updated terrain info XML with more set to this so now only space terrain show up on the list (no more plans and hills) and only the actual improvements show up (these were already set).
- Adjusted the healing promotions and which ones the Starbases get for free.
- Adjusted tech costs (the first two columns are unchanged, the later columns ramp up to higher costs even more than they used to).
- Added Precision Instruments Maker building.
For your B5 modding purposes I expect only the DLL changes, Python AI changes, and probably the Sevopedia Python adjustment are relevant.
Still no real ETA. IT has been a long time sine the last release. I'm currently thinking that the last weekend of this month might be a good choice for a "release what we've got" date.
Excellent, I await the next release with bated breath. As soon as your latest version is out I'll be merging it with the B5 mod and releasing a new version of that, unless of course I'm pressured for a release of this sooner.
TC01
Deity
I'm afraid I couldn't get the CivilizationClass stuff to work properly, as while the DLL compiled successfully none of the Civilization XML would load, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong.
I'd like to redo that sometime later, but... I am going to go ahead and release 1.8 as soon as I compile a changelog from all of God-Emperor's posts and Subversion commits. So that should happen sometime this week.
I'd like to redo that sometime later, but... I am going to go ahead and release 1.8 as soon as I compile a changelog from all of God-Emperor's posts and Subversion commits. So that should happen sometime this week.
TC01
Deity
First of all, I'm proud to say that we now have 8500 downloads of the mod on Civfanatics, making Final Frontier Plus the 44th most downloaded Civ 4 modpack from CFC. We also have 7,200 downloads from WePlayCiv- making us the 4th most downloaded Civ 4 mod from there.
And second... version 1.8 has been released! Here's a changelog, but there might be stuff I missed.
-Added Improved and Advanced tracking system promotions
-Added Predictive Algorithms promotion
-Added Warp Phase Modulator promotion allowing use of enemy routes
-Added Precision Instruments Maker building
-Added Hardened Shields promotion, allowing movement on nebulae
-Added Reduced Pirates game option to decrease pirate spawns
-Added Advanced Shielding technology as prereq for Fusion Weapons
-Adjusted technology costs for later-game techs
-Added tag allowing units to take less feature damage
-Adjusted healing promotions and free Starbase promotions
-Sevopedia no longer lists things with bGraphicalOnly set to 1
-Terrain info XML updated so only space terrain shows in pedia
-AI now uses missiles and squadrons, and missile/squadron transports
-AI now considers planet XML-related tags more
-Python AI handles construction ships and cities better
And second... version 1.8 has been released! Here's a changelog, but there might be stuff I missed.
-Added Improved and Advanced tracking system promotions
-Added Predictive Algorithms promotion
-Added Warp Phase Modulator promotion allowing use of enemy routes
-Added Precision Instruments Maker building
-Added Hardened Shields promotion, allowing movement on nebulae
-Added Reduced Pirates game option to decrease pirate spawns
-Added Advanced Shielding technology as prereq for Fusion Weapons
-Adjusted technology costs for later-game techs
-Added tag allowing units to take less feature damage
-Adjusted healing promotions and free Starbase promotions
-Sevopedia no longer lists things with bGraphicalOnly set to 1
-Terrain info XML updated so only space terrain shows in pedia
-AI now uses missiles and squadrons, and missile/squadron transports
-AI now considers planet XML-related tags more
-Python AI handles construction ships and cities better
God-Emperor
Deity
A few more things. Slightly longer explanations for some than the usual blurbs.
- Units now receive terrain defense modifiers on plots with features. (The effect is that armor promotions now give their 15% defense bonus when plots with star systems, asteroids, and the various less friendly features. This was in the special "between versions" DLL for Babylon 5 months ago.)
- Unit upgrades are now cheaper for human players, and probably roughly similar to what they were for the AI players at middling difficulty levels and a bit higher at high difficulty levels. (The AI got huge discounts before, now they get merely large discounts but from the cheaper base cost.)
- Lone units under AI control will now sometimes stop to heal damage, resulting in fewer heavily damaged units wandering around. (This affects pirates and AI civilization explorers mostly.)
- AI builds a few more defenders, and more ships in general.
- The two Neural Interface promotions no longer use the Upgraded Weapons button. They use the BtS Combat I and II buttons.
- Planned Economy, Technocracy, and Police State civics given small boosts.
- The shrines for the values now each have their own button showing the correct symbol.
- AstroTech received another small boost for their trait. Their free Upgraded Weapons promotion is now also applied to all missiles they build or produce for free at starbases. There is no way for anyone else to get this promotion, or any promotion except the free Quantum Power promotion from the late game tech, on a missile so AstroTech missiles are now 10% stronger than anybody else's.
Some credits:
- Ideas for some of the new promotions are from Jabie's Part Upgrades mod for FFP
- Button for Predictive Algorithms is from Planetfall (navigation2.dds)
- Button for Precision Instruments Maker is from the "Sn!packBtn3" button collection from CFC (architec1.dds)
- Units now receive terrain defense modifiers on plots with features. (The effect is that armor promotions now give their 15% defense bonus when plots with star systems, asteroids, and the various less friendly features. This was in the special "between versions" DLL for Babylon 5 months ago.)
- Unit upgrades are now cheaper for human players, and probably roughly similar to what they were for the AI players at middling difficulty levels and a bit higher at high difficulty levels. (The AI got huge discounts before, now they get merely large discounts but from the cheaper base cost.)
- Lone units under AI control will now sometimes stop to heal damage, resulting in fewer heavily damaged units wandering around. (This affects pirates and AI civilization explorers mostly.)
- AI builds a few more defenders, and more ships in general.
- The two Neural Interface promotions no longer use the Upgraded Weapons button. They use the BtS Combat I and II buttons.
- Planned Economy, Technocracy, and Police State civics given small boosts.
- The shrines for the values now each have their own button showing the correct symbol.
- AstroTech received another small boost for their trait. Their free Upgraded Weapons promotion is now also applied to all missiles they build or produce for free at starbases. There is no way for anyone else to get this promotion, or any promotion except the free Quantum Power promotion from the late game tech, on a missile so AstroTech missiles are now 10% stronger than anybody else's.
Some credits:
- Ideas for some of the new promotions are from Jabie's Part Upgrades mod for FFP
- Button for Predictive Algorithms is from Planetfall (navigation2.dds)
- Button for Precision Instruments Maker is from the "Sn!packBtn3" button collection from CFC (architec1.dds)
God-Emperor
Deity
Version 1.8 is the current version of Final Frontier Plus. No patches have been released for this version. If any are, there will be a post about it added to this thread (amongst other places) and the first post in the thread will be adjusted to list it.
It is not the only Final Frontier mod. It is, as far as I can recall, the only actual fully functional expansion of regular FF that has been officially released (i.e. available in the Downloads section), which certainly makes it the best such mod (and the worst, for that matter). Also available (that I can currently think of) are Babylon 5, Star Trek, and MOO2Civ, the first of which is still being developed the other two are pretty much in the "finished" category - they may receive bug fixing patches, but are currently not expected to get any other changes.
The latest version of B5 is based on this current FFP 1.8 (DLL and necessary Python bits - the units, buildings, leaders, civilizations, some Python, and such are different, of course). Star Trek uses an earlier version of FFP, 1.651 I think (the final pre-BUG merge version), and incorporates it primarily for the DLL (which, in combination with some improvements to the ST python stuff, sped up its turn processing by a huge amount). As far as I can recall, no version of MOO2Civ is based on FFP (which means it might, maybe, work with the Mac version of Civ4).
It is not the only Final Frontier mod. It is, as far as I can recall, the only actual fully functional expansion of regular FF that has been officially released (i.e. available in the Downloads section), which certainly makes it the best such mod (and the worst, for that matter). Also available (that I can currently think of) are Babylon 5, Star Trek, and MOO2Civ, the first of which is still being developed the other two are pretty much in the "finished" category - they may receive bug fixing patches, but are currently not expected to get any other changes.
The latest version of B5 is based on this current FFP 1.8 (DLL and necessary Python bits - the units, buildings, leaders, civilizations, some Python, and such are different, of course). Star Trek uses an earlier version of FFP, 1.651 I think (the final pre-BUG merge version), and incorporates it primarily for the DLL (which, in combination with some improvements to the ST python stuff, sped up its turn processing by a huge amount). As far as I can recall, no version of MOO2Civ is based on FFP (which means it might, maybe, work with the Mac version of Civ4).
I usually played FF of the normal civ 4 bts latest patch and now I tried FFA plus.If you ask me, the interface is annyoing.I always get message spams like this "BugOptions - failed writing INI file "C\Program Files\Firaxis Games\...\Mods\Final Frontier Plus\UserSettings\BUG Main interface.ini'"if I change something on the options if you click on the green button at the top or change something on the field of view.I also don't like this unnecessary message about foreign civs having 50g to trade now, that anyone is the worst enemy of anyone and the last was someone else or that one city gets +1 pop next turn.
Is there a way to stop this?
Is there a way to stop this?
God-Emperor
Deity
The messages about failures to write INI files are the standard issue with Windows versions after Windows XP and installing things that want to change their options (or anythign else) into the Program Files type folder - Windows Vista and later don't want to let you change anything in there and apply restrictions via a thing called UAC.
There is info on fixing this in various places, including over in the FFP bugs thread. Like this post by me there. The post after that one indicates that doing something like option 2 in that post works: adjusting the security settings on the BtS "Mods" folder (and telling it to apply the change to all sub-folders and the files in them) to give write access to the account you are using.
After that is fixed, the various types of messages you get can be controlled via the BUG options (they are from the "Civ4lerts" stuff).
There is info on fixing this in various places, including over in the FFP bugs thread. Like this post by me there. The post after that one indicates that doing something like option 2 in that post works: adjusting the security settings on the BtS "Mods" folder (and telling it to apply the change to all sub-folders and the files in them) to give write access to the account you are using.
After that is fixed, the various types of messages you get can be controlled via the BUG options (they are from the "Civ4lerts" stuff).
TC01
Deity
The BUG Options menu, specifically, is control + shift + O when in game- you can use it to turn the interface back to what is essentially vanilla by unchecking everything.
This is what I usually do, as I generally also prefer the vanilla interface- but it's better to have BUG and let people lturn it off than to not have it.
This is what I usually do, as I generally also prefer the vanilla interface- but it's better to have BUG and let people lturn it off than to not have it.
JosEPh_II
TBS WarLord
What is the url for the SVN download. I'd like to get updates thru the SVN like I do for C2C and AND.
Is this possible? Or has it been posted somewhere? I havn't found one for this mod yet.
And trying to Download 1.80 exe thru Sourceforge is nigh impossible too. Took 3 hours to get a 38 Mb file and then it was corrupt.
JosEPh
Is this possible? Or has it been posted somewhere? I havn't found one for this mod yet.
And trying to Download 1.80 exe thru Sourceforge is nigh impossible too. Took 3 hours to get a 38 Mb file and then it was corrupt.
JosEPh
TC01
Deity
Well, the root of the repository is here. However, it's not currently possible, I'm afraid, because of the way our repository is setup.
Basically: we don't have an up-to-date DLL in the repository. There are a few old ones in a folder, yes.. but generally I don't see the point of putting compiled stuff in a version control system. On top of that, the majority of the art files also aren't in the trunk of the repository, even though they are available from elsewhere in the repo.
I was able to download the file on my end in about three minutes, and it's not corrupt on my end, so all I can advise is that you try it again.
TC01
Deity
v1.81 has been released! Download here.
Changelog:
-Added star system density option for SpiralGalaxy map types
-Fixed civics causing unhappiness displaying positive unhappy faces
-Fixed issues with Delta Rapid Construction Ship upgrading and being a UU
-Fixed trait text for AstroTech's unique trait
-Fixed issue with iCultureRange (space station culture) not updating properly
-Updated mod version in various BUG interface displays
-Updated CvPlayerAI.cpp (DLL source file) to latest version
-Rebuilt DLL with updated version of above file
-Removed hardcoded unit combat cost mod values from help text
I decided to release now rather than wait to finish the iCultureRange fixes- which thanks to embryodead I've now figured out- they will be in patch v1.82.
Changelog:
-Added star system density option for SpiralGalaxy map types
-Fixed civics causing unhappiness displaying positive unhappy faces
-Fixed issues with Delta Rapid Construction Ship upgrading and being a UU
-Fixed trait text for AstroTech's unique trait
-Fixed issue with iCultureRange (space station culture) not updating properly
-Updated mod version in various BUG interface displays
-Updated CvPlayerAI.cpp (DLL source file) to latest version
-Rebuilt DLL with updated version of above file
-Removed hardcoded unit combat cost mod values from help text
I decided to release now rather than wait to finish the iCultureRange fixes- which thanks to embryodead I've now figured out- they will be in patch v1.82.
God-Emperor
Deity
The download for FFP here on CFC, the version requiring you to still have FF installed, has gone over 10,000 downloads.
I noticed because JEELEN posted a thing saying how many downloads the current version of MOO2Civ has gotten, so I checked and it just so happens that we must have gone over very recently as it was 10,006 when I looked.
I noticed because JEELEN posted a thing saying how many downloads the current version of MOO2Civ has gotten, so I checked and it just so happens that we must have gone over very recently as it was 10,006 when I looked.
Congratulations
, it's better than the Babylon 5 Mod (at 725 downloads) has managed.
TC01
Deity
After much time, prompted by Imp. Knoedel in this thread, I've released all the various fixes from God-Emperor that have been gathering dust in our subversion repo since last summer: also known as version 1.82.
Changelog:
-Bugfix for negative assignable population
-Fix for over whipping when AI is in Slavery civic
-Re-fix for UNITAI_ATTACK_CITY unit value determination
-Adjustment for starving systems (AI planet population assignment adjustments)
-Fix a bug in updatePlotYield where planets with lunar bases outside the current culture range (in a captured star system, of course) would provide negative food
-Potential OOS bugfix
-Base location evaluation optimization
-A bugfix for a widget help problem (which is not an issue in FFP, but is in B5 due to lots of extra content)
-Fix to make the iCultureRange tag actually work
-Building produced yield is written to the save file now (this breaks save compatibility!)
I am also going to upload a compressed copy of the full release of v1.82 (with patches but no installer) to Sourceforge and link it from the first page for those of you with Steam installations or other strange setups where the mod installer isn't working. However, with any luck this will be temporary, as I am going to play around with the installer scripts again and see if I can't make them support multiple registry keys (Gold, Complete, Steam...)- so you can just download the installer and it will all Just Work.
If I do get that working (and I'm fairly sure I can, one way or the other), I'll release what I guess I'll call v1.83, which will not be a patch, it'll be a complete release.
Changelog:
-Bugfix for negative assignable population
-Fix for over whipping when AI is in Slavery civic
-Re-fix for UNITAI_ATTACK_CITY unit value determination
-Adjustment for starving systems (AI planet population assignment adjustments)
-Fix a bug in updatePlotYield where planets with lunar bases outside the current culture range (in a captured star system, of course) would provide negative food
-Potential OOS bugfix
-Base location evaluation optimization
-A bugfix for a widget help problem (which is not an issue in FFP, but is in B5 due to lots of extra content)
-Fix to make the iCultureRange tag actually work
-Building produced yield is written to the save file now (this breaks save compatibility!)
I am also going to upload a compressed copy of the full release of v1.82 (with patches but no installer) to Sourceforge and link it from the first page for those of you with Steam installations or other strange setups where the mod installer isn't working. However, with any luck this will be temporary, as I am going to play around with the installer scripts again and see if I can't make them support multiple registry keys (Gold, Complete, Steam...)- so you can just download the installer and it will all Just Work.
If I do get that working (and I'm fairly sure I can, one way or the other), I'll release what I guess I'll call v1.83, which will not be a patch, it'll be a complete release.
Imperator Knoedel
Simperator Knoedel
Sooooooooo...
Should I use 1.82 for my PBEM or wait for 1.83?
Should I use 1.82 for my PBEM or wait for 1.83?
TC01
Deity
1.83 will have no changes outside of the installer, so otherwise it will be identical to 1.82.
So it really doesn't matter; if you want to start now, go ahead.
Imperator Knoedel
Simperator Knoedel
Alrighty then, now if only I had enough players. 
