I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry....

[Gerard]

I'm sorry in advance. I know I will ask something like playing Smoke on the water when testing a guitar but I can't find it.

Can somebody help this old man who barely understand english to make BUG (and, if possible, BAT) with another mod together. I tried to understand the tutorial for Better AI, but it refers to an older version

I have installed the latest version (upgrade to 2.1.1a) and it is in My documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\BUG Mod.

I want to make it work together with anoter mod. How can I do this?

Thanks and I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry....

 

[Fimbulvetr]

2.1.1a is a BAT mod upgrade.
If you just want Better AI and BUG, try this.

 

[Gerard]

No. I don't want to use BUG an Better AI.

I want to use BUG with other mods like Star Trek or the Pitboss 3.19 mod: http://www.apolyton.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173798&page=3

Or another mod I downloaded that creates the Argentina civilization.

I mentioned the Better Ai because it is the example I see here.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

No. I don't want to use BUG an Better AI.

I want to use BUG with other mods like Star Trek or the Pitboss 3.19 mod: http://www.apolyton.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173798&page=3

Or another mod I downloaded that creates the Argentina civilization.

I mentioned the Better Ai because it is the example I see here.

Thanks anyway.

You won't be able to use BAT with any mod that changes the game's graphics without merging the two mods together. They will mess each other's graphics up without alterations. There are some guides here in the forum that describe the merging process in detail.

I have used BUG with a number of other mods, and it usually works without problems. It's nice and flexible that way, but there are some mods that don't work with it. Not every mod is compatible with BUG yet, unfortunately.

 

[Gerard]

You won't be able to use BAT with any mod that changes the game's graphics without merging the two mods together. They will mess each other's graphics up without alterations. There are some guides here in the forum that describe the merging process in detail.

I have used BUG with a number of other mods, and it usually works without problems. It's nice and flexible that way, but there are some mods that don't work with it. Not every mod is compatible with BUG yet, unfortunately.

I supposed BAT can't be used with another mod, but, is there a general way to use BUG with other mod? (if it is uncompatible, well, this is another problem)

I mean, you say you use BUG with other mods. I can't do this, call me stupid (I call stupid myself ) but I can't realize how to do this

And thanks.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

You aren't stupid. There are very few people in the world who are actually stupid.

Sometimes it doesn't work, and sometimes you have to play some tricks to get it to work. The best thing to do is to look in the forum of your favorite mod, and see if anyone there is using it with BUG. I'll bet that someone is, or they've figured out how to make it work... Or maybe why it won't work. That's usually what I do.

 

[Gerard]

Thanks, but one of the mods haven't a forum, and the other is the Apolyton spanish forum. I visit it every day, but nobody can say to me how to do this.

My question is: if I have installed my BUG mod on My documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\BUG Mod, the compatible mods must work with it? Or I must do any thing?

If I have the BUG mod installed in this folder, if a mod don't work with BUG is because the mod is not compatible?

Thanks.

 

[Gerard]

Please?

 

[EmperorFool]

If the mod you're trying to use with BUG has any Python files (.py), it's going to take non-trivial work to merge them so they work together.

Otherwise, you can install BUG using the Single Player install type so that it goes in the CustomAssets folder of BTS. This means that it is always running unless you turn it off for a particular mod. For mods that have Python, you need to do this. This is described more in the BUG FAQ.

 

[Gerard]

(my mistake)

 

[Gerard]

If the mod you're trying to use with BUG has any Python files (.py), it's going to take non-trivial work to merge them so they work together.

Otherwise, you can install BUG using the Single Player install type so that it goes in the CustomAssets folder of BTS. This means that it is always running unless you turn it off for a particular mod. For mods that have Python, you need to do this. This is described more in the BUG FAQ.

Well, I start this thread saying I read the Better Ai example, because I saw it in the FAQ. What happens is: or may english is worst than I believe, or I'm more stupid than I believe or the FAQ not cover my question

I have the mod in My Documents\My games.... when you say "using the Simple Player install type", I'm not sure what are you referring to I installed BAT with the Standard Install or the Always start BAT Mod option (I'm not sure), and the other options are: Don't share settings with BUG mod (I have not idea about what this means) and Low resolution Blue Marble.

A previous vrsion has the option of a manual install and I remember we can install BUG on My Docs... or on the BTS app itself. But, as I remember the option to be always ON where the My documents\My games... one.

Anyway. I'm trying to use a mod that adds a civilization and have no Python files (only .dds and .xml), and when it starts, I have not BUG. I repeat: I'm an old man who barely understand english and not an advanced programmer, so my question is:

I need to do something to make this kind of mod work with BUG or if this don't work is because of an uncompatibility?

Thanks

 

[EmperorFool]

Sorry, it can be hard to keep all the threads straight. Okay, so BAT has BUG in it, but the problem here is that BAT uses Modular XML Loading, and you need to merge your extra civilization into it.

Did you make the civ yourself? If so, did you make it Modular? Do you have it in a Modules folder under Assets? This is an area that I'm not very familiar with--I do the Python and C++ side mostly.

I would recommend looking for one of the Modular XML Loading tutorials in the Tutorials thread. It will describe how to make a modular civilization you can add to other modular mods.

This is doable; it will just take some searching and learning first.

 

[Gerard]

Thanks for the answer. I downloaded the civ. There is a site (mostly pirates site I assume) that I don't knew, but someone pass the link to me on Apolyton, I beleive. One of the users posted there an Argentina civ, and, as I am argentine, I downloaded. There's no support for it. The mod is installed on ...\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Mods\Argentina and it contents this:

Argentina
-Assets
---Interface
---Structures
---Units
-XML
---Art
---Buildings
---Civilizations
---Text
---Units

The Art folders have subfolders, but all of it are .dds graphics and some .nif files. It's mainly a graphic mod.

I programmed in the Stone Age, mainly Fortran, Basic, Pascal, and a little C and C++, but it was years ago and now my brain is dry....

What I want to know is this (my englis is bad and I don't know how to make me understand) by default, any mod can use BUG or by default no mod can use BUG uless we make something?

Thanks again :b:

 

[EmperorFool]

BUG can more easily be made to work with other mods because you can installed it to what's called the CustomAssets folder. Any files you place in that folder will be used even when playing another mod.

When you install mods into their own folders such as this Argentina mod and BAT, only one can be active at a time. To make both active at once you must merge their files. Now, you may get lucky here if there are no XML files in common. You never have to worry about duplicate art files, just copy the ones from Argentina to BAT's Assets folder and tell Windows to overwrite files. The XML files, however, must not clash. You'll need to go through each XML subfolder and see if there are duplicates between BAT and Argentina. If not, just copy all the ones from Argentina to BAT and you should be done.

if there are XML files in common you must merge them. This means taking what's in each Argentina file that isn't already in the same BAT file and copying it over. XML is structured, similar to programming languages in that you can't just copy stuff willy-nilly. I'm sure there are plenty of good online tutorials--in Spanish--on how XML files work that with your background you could probably go through in under an hour and understand. They are tree-structured documents with a root at the top that can have children which can have children, and so on.

 

[Gerard]

OK. Thanks. Now I understand the process. It means that if I merge the folders I can have the mods togheter, and if there are .xml files in common, I need to "merge" the both and I can have the two mods always working.

Thanks again.

 

[EmperorFool]

Correct. XML generally merges okay because the merge comes down to inserting a block of XML into a list structure. Python gets crazier because it is actual runtime code.

 

[Gerard]

Well, as I see, Python seems to be a language and XML a script. I feel brave enough to deal with XML.... Python, well.....



BTW: Every time I use BUG I admire your job

 

[EmperorFool]

XML is more a structured data format than a script. While there are programs that build semi-scripting languages from XML files, that's pushing it into ground for which it was not designed.

As for picking up Python, with your background I think you'd do pretty well. I typically point people to How to Think Like a Computer Scientist which introduces programming using Python as the learning language. Since you probably haven't done Object Oriented Programming before, this would be a good place to start. BTW, that page has a link to a Spanish translation.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[Gerard]

Thanks. It's true, XML is more a structured data format than a script.

I programmed php recently and maybe this help me with Python... or maybe not....

Even when I don't programmed truly OOP for a while, I programmed Borland Pascal for Windows 3.1 which was a non-truly OOP language, but it had most of the caracteristics, as I remember: data abstraction, encapsulation, modularity, polymorphism, and inheritance. As I remember, something was not fully-OOP, but I'm not sure what or why. It's been nearly 15 years ago

Now I'm dealing with Visual Basic 2008 wich is truly OOP, but I'm loosing the fight (C++ is a very far step)

Thanks for the book on Python. It is really from the basics, even start with the Hello, world!

I'm not as good as I wish with english, but almost all of the manuals I used in my life were in english, so I have no trouble to understand it. I really can't understand most of the spanish translations

 

[EmperorFool]

LOL, I could see that. You haven't read the lingo in your native tongue. Yes, I figured that book would be too basic, but it's a great introduction to Python. I just skimmed the Python documentation since I've learned so many languages already.

I'm using PHP in my current job, and there are many similarities. Learning the syntax of a language is pretty easy once you've learned others. The real trick is getting up to speed on all the libraries and functions that you need to use. Good search engine skills will take you far in that regard.