A Babylon 5 Mod for the Final Frontier Mod

[Blake00]

It has been a long time since I did any serious work on the Mod. Primarily due to time constraints but also because I am now the only one left that can actively work on it.

The Jump points are built by warships capable of making one. This is generally any ship built after you have added Quantium 40 to your available resource list. They 'build' the jump point on turn A, on turn B the jump point actually opens. Any ship on the tile you have opened the jump point on can then jump (paradrop) to any other tile within jump range as long as it is not obscured by fog of war or an unrevealed tile. I wanted to make changes to this too so a ship could jump blind but again, lack of availability of modders capable of doing this.

I don't remember if we went ahead with the Jump Gate idea as we already had the Jump Lanes.

The screenshot of B5 may be something Premier did to show he had built the model but I don't recall if I ever actually received the model and just prepped everything for when it became available.

I would be happy to pass the responsibility for completing this mod onto someone else that has the time and skills to do so.

I wish I had the technical know how to assist you PsiCorps as I can see you're a bit over it all. I think its safe to say that without you the project is dead mate. Hopefully my videos might lure some new help here though.. I guess time will tell!

Well I finished my game the other day and must say that while the mod may not be perfect it's pretty bloody good. The fact that you can enjoy a Babylon 5 game that doesn't have Babylon 5 in it just shows how large, rich and amazing JMS's B5 universe really is. To be able to play a turn based sandbox galaxy conquest game in the Babylon 5 universe was just a dream come true! I was completely and utterly addicted for like 2 months there lol. Thank you so much for bringing that happiness to me in a time where I needed it. I had a blast!

The 2 previous videos ended up being quite popular so I decided to do a special part 3 bonus episode showing some of the cool end game techs and ships in battle (Omegas, Warlocks, Drakh, Shadows, Whitestars & ISA Victory etc). Gave a few final thoughts on the mod too. Enjoy!

I'll probably be on my way now to other projects for a while so this is sort of a farewell lol. If you release a new version chuck me a PM and that'll send me a email alert to come back and update my hosted copy of your file. Wanna make sure fans will always be able to download your latest awesome work mate. Also let me know if you ever regain access to sourceforge to make a me a page admin. Then I can try and setup a better page there for ya with pics, vids, info & working downloads etc.

 

[AbsintheRed]

It's the latest but it won't work as the file is damaged (it says its 75mbs when the true file size is about 300mbs lol) and PsiCorps has been unable to log into the site to fix it unfortunately. Use the mirror 1 link on the first thread post. I'm hosting that one so I can tell you the file definitely works!

Thanks, was wondering what went wrong with the file on sourceforge.
Will look into the file you provided, will see how much time I have to fix some errors.

 

[PsiCorps]

Has anyone downloaded via the fixed link to Sourceforge since the 12th July and if so have you had any issues?

 

[Redback64]

Hey guys was wondering if anyone give help solve my problem with the mod.
I get messages like this and ship building never progresses.

" Error in FinalFrontierGameUtils callback handler calculateScore "

Any help in solving this would be very much appreciated.

 

[Redback64]

Has anyone downloaded via the fixed link to Sourceforge since the 12th July and if so have you had any issues?

Yeah I am having the above issue. Is there another source for the download?

 

[JohnDay]

I get messages like this and ship building never progresses.

" Error in FinalFrontierGameUtils callback handler calculateScore "

It´s the same for me.

 

[Redback64]

Hope the Mod team read this and can help. I only just found this Mod and would like to try it

 

[Blake00]

Been a few months now since I completed my game but I remember getting errors like that whenever I built colony ships but I never had any unit productions get jammed.

I also had some really bad error msgs and graphical issues (I think others discuss similar issues a few pages back) jamming the B5 mod up badly after I installed the Star Trek mod. The B5 mod seems to be a bit sensitive to other mods I guess, so I ended up doing a fresh install of Civ 4 with no other mods and that stopped the really bad problems. Still got the colony ship error msgs though lol.

If you use the mirror 1 link in the first post of this thread that's another copy of the mod however it's same file as the sourceforge one so that shouldn't be the issue.

I'll sent PsiCorps a PM as I don't think he's been on here for a few weeks. Hopefully we might be able to offer you guys some actual help.

 

[Blake00]

I just did a fresh install of Civ 4 BtS on steam, downloaded the mod, and yup.. same thing is happening to me.

And sure enough this is exactly that error that happened a few months back when I installed the star trek civ mod after b5. Lots of "Error in FinalFrontierGameUtils callback handler calculateScore", no star or planet graphics and the game is stuck (picture attached). So I did a fresh install and everything was fine. Yet now with this new fresh install it's not working again.

I wonder what the hell is causing the bug..

Perhaps it had nothing to do with my other mods as it did happen to me before when I was switching over from the old disc version to the steam version. Are you guys all using the steam version? I never had a problem with the B5 Mod until I made the switch.

I was able to get the b5 mod working in my steam version a few months back but I think it was because I also had the disc version still installed elsewhere on my machine. I'll go do some experiments and get back to you guys.

 

[Blake00]

ok.. what.. the.. hell.. lol

here's the run down of my experiment:

1. I installed the steam Civ 4 BtS and then the B5 mod = ERRORS
2. I installed the disc copy of Civ 4 Complete elsewhere on my computer (didn't mod it or even run it). I then re-ran the steam version with B5 mod = ERRORS
3. I ran the official Civ 4 BtS 3.19 patch installer. It detected the disc install and updated it. I then re-ran the steam version with B5 mod = WORKED!!!
4. Uninstalled the disc version of Civ 4 Complete. I then re-ran the steam version with B5 mod = ERRORS

I don't get it, the steam version is already updated to 3.19. So what the hell is in that old 3.19 patch for the disc version that the B5 mod seems to need?? An extra file?.. An extra ini setting?.. a registry entry? Clearly it's something outside of the install folder as patch never touched the steam install.

Before anyone wastes their time trying, the old 3.19 patch does not work on the steam version. It doesn't detect it. Hopefully PsiCorps can figure out a change to his mod to stop its dependence on whatever this mystery thing is. If not then maybe if we can figure out what that patch is doing perhaps a workaround can be devised for steam users.

 

[Redback64]

Thanks for investigating it for us . Really hoping to give this mod a go. I am using the Steam version though.
So I have no retail version to install. Bummer.

Hope we hear back from the mod creator for a fix. ;}

 

[Blake00]

YES! I got it!! The issue was that steam version of Civ 4 BtS doesn't put much in the windows registry. Even the disc version doesn't create a BtS reg entry, just a Civ 4 complete one. However the BtS patch does create a BtS reg entry with a language setting, install directory & patch version number. Through trial and error I've found that the language & version number reg entries have no impact on the B5 mod but the install directory record reg entry does. Without it the B5 mod won't work. Oddly enough if the directory address is wrong it still works. I've changed it to the default steam install folder however you could put C:\HairyBalls and it'll still work lol.

Here's the text if you wish to paste it into notepad and save it as a .reg file. Or you if want it even easier I've created this one attached. Just unzip the reg file and double click on it and it'll insert the below entry into your windows registry. Run the B5 mod and it should be all good now! (note this has only been tested in win 7 however it 'should' be fine in win 8 & 10).

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 - Beyond the Sword]
"INSTALLDIR"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\SteamApps\\common\\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Beyond the Sword\\Beyond the Sword"

I might write a proper install guide in my next post and also include a copy of the guide as well as this reg file in the main mod zip file download since PsiCorps has kindly given me admin access to the B5 sourceforge page. This should vastly reduce people having problems running the mod.

 

[Blake00]

Guide done! PsiCorps feel free to stick this at the bottom of your first post.

How To Install The Babylon 5 Civ 4 BtS Mod:
For owners of the original disc copy:
1. If you have the old original dvd version of Civ 4 Complete then you need to make sure that Beyond the Sword has the 3.19 patch installed. Regular Civ 4 & Warlords don't work on modern Windows (7+), sadly Firaxis only fixed them in the steam version grr, however Beyond the Sword with the 3.19 patch still runs fine on modern windows. You can get the patch from HERE .

2. Once you've tested & made sure that Civ 4 Beyond the Sword is working fine. Download the latest version of the Babylon 5 mod 7zip file from HERE (if you haven't already).

3. Go to your Civilization IV install folder, then into the 'Beyond the Sword' subfolder and then finally into the BtS 'Mods' subfolder. Create a 'Babylon 5' folder and extract the 7zip files contents into that folder. Do NOT install the mod to the regular vanilla Civilization IV 'Mods' folder. Many people make this mistake!

For owners of the Steam copy:
1. If you have the newer steam version of Civ 4 Complete you will first need to make sure you install the Beyond the Sword version of Civ 4 (for some reason steam separates them into separate installs when you buy their Civ 4 complete).

2. Once you've tested & made sure that Civ 4 Beyond the Sword is working fine. Download the latest version of the Babylon 5 mod 7zip file from HERE (if you haven't already).

3. Just to be even more confusing Steam renamed the main Civilization IV vanilla install folder to 'Civilization IV Beyond the Sword' resulting in people thinking that they are in the BtS mods subfolder when they are not! So go into Civilization IV BtS install folder, then into the 'Beyond the Sword' subfolder and then finally into the BtS 'Mods' subfolder. Create a 'Babylon 5' folder and extract the 7zip files contents into that folder. If you're still confused then check out this screenshot of where mine is installed:
https://i.imgur.com/CW6EEVq.jpg

4. IMPORTANT! The Babylon 5 Mod will not work properly with the Steam version of Civ 4 BtS due to the steam version of BtS not inserting any Windows registry entries. The game will start but there will be many missing graphics & "Error in FinalFrontierGameUtils callback handler calculateScore" errors. To fix this problem run the 'Civ4SteamRegistryFix.reg' file included with the mod. If your download is missing this file then you can get another copy from HERE .

How To Play The Babylon 5 Civ 4 BtS Mod:
1. Start Civilization IV Beyond the Sword.

2. In the main menu go to 'Advanced' and then 'Load a mod'. You should see 'Babylon 5' in the list of mods (If not you've probably got the above installation steps wrong). Activate it and you should be good to go!

.

 

[PsiCorps]

Guide done! PsiCorps feel free to stick this at the bottom of your first post.

How To Install The Babylon 5 Civ 4 BtS Mod:
For owners of the original disc copy:
1. If you have the old original dvd version of Civ 4 Complete then you need to make sure that Beyond the Sword has the 3.19 patch installed. Regular Civ 4 & Warlords don't work on modern Windows (7+), sadly Firaxis only fixed them in the steam version grr, however Beyond the Sword with the 3.19 patch still runs fine on modern windows. You can get the patch from HERE .

2. Once you've tested & made sure that Civ 4 Beyond the Sword is working fine. Download the latest version of the Babylon 5 mod 7zip file from HERE (if you haven't already).

3. Go to your Civilization IV install folder, then into the 'Beyond the Sword' subfolder and then finally into the BtS 'Mods' subfolder. Create a 'Babylon 5 V3.3' folder and extract the 7zip files contents into that folder. Do NOT install the mod to the regular vanilla Civilization IV 'Mods' folder. Many people make this mistake!

For owners of the Steam copy:
1. If you have the newer steam version of Civ 4 Complete you will first need to make sure you install the Beyond the Sword version of Civ 4 (for some reason steam separates them into separate installs when you buy their Civ 4 complete).

2. Once you've tested & made sure that Civ 4 Beyond the Sword is working fine. Download the latest version of the Babylon 5 mod 7zip file from HERE (if you haven't already).

3. Just to be even more confusing Steam renamed the main Civilization IV vanilla install folder to 'Civilization IV Beyond the Sword' resulting in people thinking that they are in the BtS mods subfolder when they are not! So go into Civilization IV BtS install folder, then into the 'Beyond the Sword' subfolder and then finally into the BtS 'Mods' subfolder. Create a 'Babylon 5 V3.3' folder and extract the 7zip files contents into that folder. If you're still confused then check out this screenshot of where mine is installed:
https://i.imgur.com/CW6EEVq.jpg

4. IMPORTANT! The Babylon 5 Mod will not work properly with the Steam version of Civ 4 BtS due to the steam version of BtS not inserting any Windows registry entries. The game will start but there will be many missing graphics & "Error in FinalFrontierGameUtils callback handler calculateScore" errors. To fix this problem run the 'Civ4SteamRegistryFix.reg' file included with the mod. If your download is missing this file then you can get another copy from HERE .

How To Play The Babylon 5 Civ 4 BtS Mod:
1. Start Civilization IV Beyond the Sword.

2. In the main menu go to 'Advanced' and then 'Load a mod'. You should see Babylon 5 V3.3 in the list of mods (If not you've probably got the above installation steps wrong). Activate it and you should be good to go!

.

Thanks Blake00, I thought I had replied to your above post on here but it would appear not. I have added your guide to the #1 post.

Been doing some tinkering with the Mod, mainly because I've been bored and want to give the grey matter some exercise.

I started playing a Deity level game and found that the game was still a little too easy. at the start but as you colonise more star systems your economy buckles to the point of being unable to research or support anything.

I'm still working through the required changes and don't know when V3.4 will be made available for general use but stay tuned.

Oh, I still need feedback on anything that you players notice.

I have tried to fix the message you get when building a colony ship (should only fire once when you first build one, not continually) but have so far been unsuccessful.

 

[Blake00]

That's great news man!

The part 1 video of your mod has become one of my most popular mod videos with over 150 views per month and now has over 1,500 views! Multiple people are downloading the sourceforge file each week too so there's definitely some good renewed interest out there for your mod even if not many are posting here (well unless something goes wrong haha).

This was my wish/bug list from memory (I know most of it is not possible without you getting some C++ programmer help):

• Figure out a way to use the Babylon 5 model (assuming Premier gave it to you & it's sitting somewhere) in the regular sandbox game.
• Playable Shadows & Vorlons.
• Cool scenarios (like the Star Trek mod has) based on the some of the huge battles in B5 history.
• Considering switching the Nova and the Omega around so that the Omega is stronger than the Nova as that fits better with the show.
• Fix the no B5 music from Galactic Era onwards to the final era at end of the game. It's currently just silence.
• Fix the weird colony ship built error message.
• Figure out a way to encourage the computer to colonise more & mine critical resources like quantum 40 (otherwise they're forever stuck in the dark ages).
• Figure out a way to stop the mod's reliance on an old BtS windows registry entry so the workaround isn't needed anymore.

Even if you never release another version of the mod, what you've already acheived with v3.3 is an incredible experience mate. I literally lost 2 months of my life to your mod haha! I was taking sickys from work, pulling all nighters without sleep... just complete addiction lol! I was going through a tough time (I'm all good now btw ) and your mod brought happiness to me when I needed it which I'm forever grateful for! I can't help with graphics or programming but if I continue to help with the mod hosting, presentation, marketing & 'customer service' then hopefully I'm at least taking away some of the load off you and repaying that debt of gratitude!

 

[Samson]

Figure out a way to encourage the computer to colonise more

To me this is the primary problem with this mod. I notice that they do build colony ships, but do not send them out. I know very little about the Civ AI, but as I understand it each unit has a flag to tell the AI what to use it for. I wonder if you could flag recon ships as suitable for colony ship escort, then they may use these and send out their colony ships.

 

[PsiCorps]

To me this is the primary problem with this mod. I notice that they do build colony ships, but do not send them out. I know very little about the Civ AI, but as I understand it each unit has a flag to tell the AI what to use it for. I wonder if you could flag recon ships as suitable for colony ship escort, then they may use these and send out their colony ships.

Thanks Samson It's as good an idea as any of seen, I will test it out and see what happens.

 

[Blake00]

To me this is the primary problem with this mod. I notice that they do build colony ships, but do not send them out. I know very little about the Civ AI, but as I understand it each unit has a flag to tell the AI what to use it for. I wonder if you could flag recon ships as suitable for colony ship escort, then they may use these and send out their colony ships.

Yeah that could be one of the causes. The raider attacks are non stop and I saw them destroying so many unprotected Centari colony ships near my empire.

 

[PsiCorps]

Yeah that could be one of the causes. The raider attacks are non stop and I saw them destroying so many unprotected Centari colony ships near my empire.

I have checked through the xml files for the units and reviewed the base game xml files, I can't see any specific tag that designates a unit as an escort. I have seen escorted colony vessels but do not know which AI behavioural tag needs to be used to get units to act as escort.

 

[JimmyDale]

I would love to try this mod, but I keep getting the dreaded "GFC error: failed to initialize the primary control theme." I have researched this issue and tried to fix it through changes such as making sure the folder name is identical, but I keep getting this message after repeated tries. I play a number of CIV 4 mods, but this is the first time I have encountered this problem. I have a 1060 GTX video card with current drivers and plenty of RAM with a Sandy Bridge processor (Win7), so it's not my hardware. I downloaded CIV 4 from disc and downloaded the BTS 3.19 years ago. I might be missing an obvious fix, but any help would be appreciated. Thanks