Just look at this and be amazed !!!

[raystuttgart]

Guys, just check out what Melcher Kürzer created !!!
(A former modding colleague from TAC team.)

Here is the original Link to the Thread in the German CivForum.

New City Interface:

Spoiler :

New Europe Screen:

Spoiler :

New Map Screen:

Spoiler :

I can simply not believe it !!!
This must have been at least 2 full years of graphical modding work to change the graphical system and Screens and graphics (for Units, Features, Improvements, ...) like that ...

 

[lethiel]

It looks amazing!!

 

[Swarbs]

Wow, those are awesome

Particularly the colony screen - the Europe screen and the map are impressive reskins but the entire colony interface has been reworked, that must've been a massive effort

 

[Mr. ZorG]

not only what you specified has been processed, but the entire graphic component. this can be seen both in unit models, and in product fields, etc...
Colonization was originally supposed to be with such graphics

low bow to the one who did it

I wonder if WtP can ever boast of the same graphics?

 

[raystuttgart]

I wonder if WtP can ever boast of the same graphics?

Theorectially:
Of course, the technical base is the same.

Practically:
It is a matter of skills, motivation and effort.

We could not simply copy paste it though.
We have much more Terrains, Yields, Terrain Features, Units, Improvements, Buildings ....

The 2D graphical components e.g. Icons, Buttons, Backgrounds, ... can most likely be adapted easily.
The 3D graphical components e.g. UnitGraphics, TerrainGraphics, ... could also be apated for our Units, Terrains ... but we would have lots of effort to create equivalent graphics for all the other Units, Terrains, ... we have.
The big graphical system changes (changed L-System for Improvements, Changed Screens) would really need a lot of work and lots of skills for integrating all game features we have.

If Melcher Kürzer would volunteer to cooperate with us, some of that might work faster.
We could in exchange help him implement some game features in his mod.

Schmiddie will probalby also say a bit about it.
He knows much better how much effort the single changes are and if he is interested in adapting parts of it for WTP.

Summary:
It depends if we find graphical modders that have the needed skills and want to take the effort for this.

 

[Mr. ZorG]

Yes, I read the German forum (tremendous work for one person). that's why I said about the completely redesigned graphics)
If your team manages to get Melcher Kürzer in their ranks, this will give a big breakthrough in the graphics.

Now I will wait more for graphics changes in WtP than release a new version of the game

 

[raystuttgart]

The main messages from this:

• There is still so much potential in this game (engine) that simply has not been used yet.
• With enough motivation, efforts and skills almost everything is possible.
  
• A team and communiy of course can always take more effort and has more skills than a single person ever could.
• There are still several experienced modders for Civ4Col, sadly many of them just did not show up in public anymore, but they now start showing up in public again.

Summary:

• If all of us remaining Civ4Col modders join or at least cooperate reasonably, we can still achieve a lot more with this game.
• And if we can also convince a few more new people to start Civ4Col modding - because it is really not that difficult - progress will also be faster and even the outcomes better!
• But we will need community to support us so more people realize that Civ4Col modding still continues, get motivated to mod again and maybe join us.

Let us make Civ4Col modding great again!

 

[oldmole1984]

this is COLONIZATION3...

 

[Mr. ZorG]

Considering the current capitalist structure of our world, Melcher Kürzer should patent (or what is better to call it?) these works. otherwise they can be used without his consent and without payment worthy of this work, as just said oldmole1984, in Colonization 3. they won’t even say thank you. unfortunately, this is the harsh truth of our life ...

 

[raystuttgart]

Melcher Kürzer should patent (or what is better to call it?) these works... otherwise they can be used without his consent and without payment ...

Legal clarification on "monetizing mods" and comments about "modding community spirit":

Spoiler :

That is legally not possible.
(Seriously, do not even try it. You will get in trouble.)

All rights for work we modders create officially belong to Firaxis.
(They might give Credits to modders, but that is it.)

Once we start earning money with modding we will probably get sued by their lawyers.
("Voluntary Donations" are a kind of grey area as well, because it can be abused - e.g. as a hidden "community membership fee".)

Also once money is involved it completely destroys the atmosphere and mindset in a community.
Suddenly some people will say "Pay me, or I will not share / publish!!!".

Seriously, money should really stay a big nogo in modding.
I think that nobody here wants to have a community where you have to pay for mods ...
(Because once you have money involved, that is where it will end.)

If you - community - want to donate, then do it with support and participation, not money.
That alone is worth the effort and motivation we - the modders - invest.

In old days we agreed to the credo:
"We do this for fun. We do not want money and we will not ask for it."

 

[Mr. ZorG]

maybe I misunderstand how the graphics were improved, I'm sorry, I'm far from this topic, but this masterpiece is worthy of respect. and if there is an opportunity to somehow thank this person and you guys for the work that you do, I will do it with pleasure.
if I have enough health and I will be able to fulfill my dreams of traveling on a motorcycle in Europe and America in the future, I will gladly shake your hands and at least treat you to beer)))

thank you for your work!

 

[raystuttgart]

Last words to clarify the "money talk".

Spoiler :

... maybe I misunderstand how the graphics were improved, ..

It does not matter how or what you do in a mod for Civ4Col.
Once you publish or try to publish your mod based on Civ4Col, everything inside - including your own work - belongs to Firaxis.

... but this masterpiece is worthy of respect.

I fully agree.
Simply forget about money, you can show your respect otherwise.

... if there is an opportunity to somehow thank this person and you guys for the work that you do, I will do it with pleasure.

Participation in the forum, a small thanks from time to time or maybe a bit of support for creating the mods is all we expect.

I will gladly shake your hands and at least treat you to beer ...

Let me know once you come to South Germany. Germans can drink a lot of beer.

Thank you for your work!

You are welcome. But we do it for ourselves as well.

---------

Let us please finish the money discussion here.
It really spoils the great modding achievements of Melcher Kürzer presented in this thread.
We should get back to simply having fun and creating great mods together.
Let us see where this all leads to ...

 

[Hibernian]

Guys, just check out what Melcher Kürzer created !!!
(A former modding colleague from TAC team.)

Here is the original Link to the Thread in the German CivForum.

New City Interface:

Spoiler :

New Europe Screen:

Spoiler :

New Map Screen:

Spoiler :

I can simply not believe it !!!
This must have been at least 2 full years of graphical modding work to change the graphical system and Screens and graphics (for Units, Features, Improvements, ...) like that ...

That is truly amazing, especially since it came ... totally unexpected. I am just amazed.

My natural reaction would be: book one or two days holiday at work and play Colonization with that interface. But from reading the forum, there is no playable mod published as such, correct ?

 

[Mr. ZorG]

Yes, unfortunately, the modification has not yet been published.

in order to combat the current virus, at my work all employees who have days of vacation are forcibly released on vacation. I will have two weeks starting March 30th ... and there is no way to enjoy this masterpiece.

 

[raystuttgart]

That is truly amazing, especially since it came ... totally unexpected. I am just amazed.

Yes, it is amazing.

Considering "unexpected" there is something community needs to understand though:

Spoiler :

A few of the old experienced modders have still continued to mod a little bit in private over the years.
However activity of most other modders and interest of community had dramatically decreased in the last years.

Thus there was hardly any reason for these old experienced modders to come to the forum to discuss and share in public.
A few old modders however had become friends and stayed in loose contact.

Now however, modders (including some of the old experienced ones) start to mod more intensively again and join forces (at least for WTP).
We also then decided to go public again and discuss our ideas with community and publish new mod releases with new features again.

So basically it is a self enforcing system ...
... -> more modders that discuss and publish -> more community interest -> more modders that discuss and publish -> ...
(I would call it the "natural law of modding".)

So we just need to get the modding machine going again and maintain it properly.

By the way:
The "fuel" of this modding machine is new features and great graphics. (Because it generates real community interest.)
Bugfixes and other improvements are great, but they are mainly the "lubricant" only.

It is a really fragile system though that can easily break again ...

Spoiler :

--> If we modders do not deliver releases (with new features) community looses interest.
--> If community looses the interest the modders will do as well.
--> If the modders loose interest, they will not regularly mod and publish anymore.
--> Modding Community Dead! (And it would be really hard to revive again.)

This modding community can become again what it was a few years ago!
(The "Golden Age" of Civ4Col modding is not over yet ... )

"Even a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step."
(But enough motivation speech for now.)

But from reading the forum, there is no playable mod published as such, correct ?

Correct, Melcher has not yet published it to community.
(He also has not yet shared it with WTP-team so we could try to integrate at least parts of it.)

 

[Schmiddie]

The work that has been done by Melcher Kürzer is - by far - the most impressive graphic modding for a game that I ever saw.
When I saw this I smiled and thought - wow, he IS Obi Wan and - if at all - I'm a Padavan.

I can imagine how many hours, days, ah, years he must have spent on that. Example: When you create a good, detailed as well as technically correct graphic of a unit it needs between 1 and 2 days, a ship due to the complex animations even longer, 2-3 days.

I'm not sure if he will really publish this mod. Nevertheless he showed what is possible and what he did in the last few years.

 

[raystuttgart]

He did this just for his own! I would not assume that he will publish this mod.

I do not know either if he will ever publish it as a standalone mod-mod to community.
But I hope that he will be willing to share at least parts of it with former modding colleagues.

 

[Nightinggale]

And here I thought I had good plans for the colony screen. Having looked at the code (out code, that is) with the intend to mod it, I have to say that I'm quite impressed. I can easily see it being technically possible within what we can mod, but the workload involved in getting it to work well is a completely different story and this is BEFORE I'm even looking at the new graphics.

 

[raystuttgart]

I can easily see it being technically possible within what we can mod, ...

Of course it is possible.
But it does need a lot of skills to produce something in comparable quality.

... but the workload involved in getting it to work well is a completely different story ...

That is always the issue.
It will need a lot of motivation and time to implement a graphical overhaul as big as this.

But maybe we can at least adapt parts of it or reuse the concept for our own simplified solution.
(Screen Design Concept, Backgrounds, Unit Graphics, Buttons, Icons ...)

 

[Tugboatspotter]

I'm extremely impressed. Stunningly Beautiful.

From what I can understand from the German Civ forum, his mod seems to be going in a different direction from WTP, for example with reduced micromanagement. I'm very interested to see how things develop for both mods.