Advanced Civ

[f1rpo]

Just found your mod when perusing the last posts in the K-Mod thread.

I love K-Mod, and a bit sad that it's no longer in active development. I do understand Karadoc not having the time to keep maintaining K-mod, though.

Then I saw that post informing of this mod... and I think this is brilliant! Also, love the look of the textures.

I have not played Civ4 for some time so I think I won't be "caught with my pants down" w.r.t. to changing gameplay. So, here's to again losing my sleep over One More Turn

Thanks for the encouragement.

Looks like karadoc has just last week uploaded the changes that he's been making since autumn, though only for Mattygerst's MMod so far. It's not only the change to AI tech evaluation he's mentioned in the K-Mod thread, but also other improvements in the back end of the AI, including a fix for a rare crash-to-desktop bug that I had been trying to pin down for some time. In December, DarkLunaPhantom also made some changes, which I've already, tentatively, adopted.

As for my own progress, I've been experimenting with the tile culture and ownership rules in order to reduce the number of tiles that no civ is able to work, and to alleviate AI problems with stacks stuck in conquered cities after making peace. I've now settled on a fairly modest rules change: When a tile is culturally contested between two civs and only one of them has a city close enough to work the tile, then the other civ's tile culture is affected by a per-turn decay rate; this gives the civ that is able to work the tile an edge. The bigger change in v0.92 is going to be an overhaul of AI resource trades. The AI now evaluates how much it needs extra happiness and health, and refuses to import unneeded resources and may export even non-surplus resources. This should make it easier for small civs to buy enough resources to grow their cities.

So, more changes that you hopefully wouldn't consciously notice as a returning player.

The current version (0.91) still seems OK to me. I've found only one severe bug, which can crash the game on maps without world-wrap. 0.92 needs some more work; could be finished at the end of the month. (Here's the commit history so far.)

 

[f1rpo]

While I'm at it: I've meant to cross-link to some screenshots of PerfectMongoose maps that I posted in another thread last year. The thread starter is right that the continents are (too) small. The map would play better with fewer continents, but I don't know how to fix that. At least for Small and Normal maps, I'm going to stick with Fractal, personally.
Edit (Mar 2018): I've made some more changes to the script. I'm attaching two new screenshots. In the previous version, I hadn't properly disabled the meteor mechanism, and that was partly responsible for the fragmented landmasses. The many chokepoints are still a balance issue though. I'm including the updated version in AdvCiv 0.92, and here's an updated standalone version (not requiring AdvCiv).
Edit (May 2021): This Git commit represents my latest portable version of PerfectMongoose. Though I haven't actually tested it without AdvCiv and I've already made some further tweaks by now ... Maybe I'll update it properly, eventually.


Last month, I've updated my roadmap (so to speak; that would be a long road) by adding footnotes with rationales.

Edit (Mar 2021): roadmap link updated

 

[Cruiser76]

I like this mod. It addresses the biggest problem with K-Mod, which was the constant (and reckless) warring by the AI. The K-Mod AI would turn on you in an instant, which reduced the role playing fun of the game.

I am using this mod as a base for my own tweaks. I've noticed there is some glitch with the Civilopedia. I can't access building information from it when it is open from the main screen. It works fine if open in a game.

 

[f1rpo]

I've noticed there is some glitch with the Civilopedia. I can't access building information from it when it is open from the main screen. It works fine if open in a game.

Thanks for pointing that out. I had restructured some code in v0.90 without considering the main menu Civilopedia. I've also noticed an issue with Sevopedia becoming permanently disabled when accessing Civilopedia from the main menu right after launching Civ 4. I've fixed these things now and also made a change that displays e.g. Oxford University as "Requires University: 4-6" (instead of assuming Duel world size). Will be included in v0.92.

 

[keldath]

very nice f1rpo,

in my kmod code,
i merged in most of platyping's code, pedia, wb and all,
its an option for you if you want.

i also merged several cool sdk mods in the dll,
if you want you can take a look.

keep up your good work.

 

[Cruiser76]

Is there a way to revert back to the BTS defense rule on forest/jungles? I agree with reducing the defense to 25%, but I think it should apply regardless of who controls the tile. I only know how to edit the xml files.

 

[f1rpo]

in my kmod code,
i merged in most of platyping's code, pedia, wb and all,
its an option for you if you want.

Thanks for your support.
WB and Civilopedia are rather peripheral to me since I also have an external manual and use WB only for testing and debugging. So long as they're working correctly, I'm OK with the Vanilla tools despite their flaws (or Sevopedia for all I care, as it happens to be included in K-Mod).

i also merged several cool sdk mods in the dll,
if you want you can take a look.

I guess you've thrown some components out over time and the list attached to the first post of the DotO thread is outdated(?). Which options do you normally play with? Any favorite component (or smaller change) that you'd especially recommend?

Is there a way to revert back to the BTS defense rule on forest/jungles? I agree with reducing the defense to 25%, but I think it should apply regardless of who controls the tile. I only know how to edit the xml files.

I had to check. Turns out I didn't implement an XML switch for this, and the changes are spread across 10 C++ code files (see attached screenshot). If this was optional or reverted, then the following K-Mod commit should ideally also be merged: "The AI now counts feature defensive modifiers as having negative value when adjacent to cities; and so they are more likely to chop forests that are next to cities." (source)

 

[keldath]

hi,
yes the list is indeed out of date .
heres what i remember:

influence driven war
culture control - like super forts
city sizee prereq
civic specialist yields
move on mountains
fresh water - from improvements
revdcm unit tags:
maxera start, force obselete tech, prereq game option/not game option
buildings - prereq game option/not game option
vicinity resources
civic new xml tags
dpii maintenance xml tags
population limit by buildings
bonues yield consumes
improvement special tags
forbidden religion tags
specialist hsppiness/unhappiness
hated civs/favorite civs
woc tga index
unique civ project
project free unit
project help tag
Tech Bonus yield and commerce
free tech from building tag

and maybe some more stuff.
all are easy to merge, small additions that add some flavor.

 

[f1rpo]

I spot some tags that I'll be able to use as/if I move toward a more comprehensive gameplay overhaul (that would be after v1.0). Thanks again, "the friendly modder" indeed.

 

[DarkHorror]

Thank you for nice mod.
I have some issues when load of saving game or ALT-TAB. First image - after first load of saving game, second image - after second load of saving game or first ALT-TAB, third image - after third load of saving game or second ALT-TAB.
I use steam version CivIV Bts without any modification. When I use K-Mod 1.45 is all right.

 

[Cruiser76]

Yes, I agree with previous poster. If you continually reload without restarting the program, the view becomes abnormal. I've seen this happen many times.

 

[f1rpo]

I can't quite reproduce this; perhaps it only happens with certain desktop or in-game screen resolutions. (I only have a 4:3 display at home.) But I can provoke an error where the field of view becomes slightly larger each time a savegame is loaded. I'm attaching my (Python) fix. If either of you could copy the unzipped file into AdvCiv\Assets\Python\Screens and let me know if that solves the problem, I'd appreciate it. If it doesn't, then enabling the field-of-view slider from the BUG options menu (Map tab) could be a workaround. In any case, thanks for reporting the issue.

I've removed the garbled text from Civilopedia (hopefully, this time, without breaking something else). I'll put a version 0.92b on Github once I'm sure that the field-of-view issue is fixed.

 

[DarkHorror]

The fix is solved my problem. Thanks.

 

[f1rpo]

I've put v0.92b on GitHub. That version also fixes the minor issue with Civilopedia. It should be enough to get the CvMainInterface.py from my previous post (edit: or better from this post) and the updated DLL, though I've also made some small changes to PerfectMongoose.py and to Civ4GameText_advc.xml and Civ4UnitInfos.xml (names of BtS playtesters replaced with names of actual spies); see the commit history since March 10.

 

[keldath]

Execllent!
Now im puzzled on which to try, adv or reimagined civ mod they also got a new one...

 

[keldath]

hi,
for some reason the event log keeps popping on other pop ups like tech , choose city production and more.
its rather annoying.

Also the ai bugs none stop about open borders.
The Ai seem to be aggressive nicely - i like that.

 

[f1rpo]

hi,
for some reason the event log keeps popping on other pop ups like tech , choose city production and more.
its rather annoying.

The intended behavior is that it opens when there are
* 3 or more new messages or
* at least 1 new message and a diplo popup.
So the log can open along with a non-diplo popup, but then there should also be at least 3 new messages. Does it open under different conditions on your end?

Or what could also be the problem: I suppose you play without "Minimize Pop-Ups" (MPU)? I hadn't really tested the mod without that option. When the log is opened along with a (non-diplo) popup, then the log can't be closed (or scrolled through) until all popups are dealt with. I can see how that's really annoying. I think it would be confusing to open the log only when there is no popup waiting, so I guess I should disable the auto-opening log entirely when MPU is disabled, and encourage players in the manual or through a loading screen hint to enable MPU.

Either way, you can prevent the log from opening by setting START_OF_TURN_MESSAGE_LIMIT in GlobalDefines_advc.xml to -1.

Also the ai bugs none stop about open borders.

That's probably because I've reduced the contact delay [no, edit:] contact rand for Open Borders from 20 to 10, in order to make AI civs quicker to sign Open Borders amongst themselves. I got that from Civ 4 Reimagined (they even reduced it to 5). I thought this might lead to too many AI-to-human offers, but it seemed OK in testing. If the same AI civ asks more than once in 10 [correction:] 20 turns, then it would have to be a bug. What game speed? Perhaps all the contact delays for AI-to-human offers should be adjusted to game speed.

The Ai seem to be aggressive nicely - i like that.

That's good to hear. Until Renaissance, it seems to depend a lot on how crowded the map is and which leaders are in the game – not a bad thing, I guess. Oh, on that note, I'm attaching a screenshot from the beginning of a recent game of mine, random leaders, me in the middle.

 

[keldath]

hi f1rpo,

well now i understand why you set the log to be opened. to my taste it is rather annoying. but if you got an option to turn it off, thats good enough.
i would suggest maybe, add a pop up at the beginning of the game, with some explanation on stuff, just like i did in my mod.

open borders, ok, i see why, again to my taste its annoying,
there is an option, in revdcm mod, to choose - "do not disturb" while tey ai contact you, that , well tell the ai not to bug you with diplomacy for a while, it is very usefull.
worth while to add it, or make one one.


the ai started to be aggressive when it got tighter, but pretty early yo the game, i quite liked it (lost a city..), i havint seen an active early ai for quite some time in civ4 i guess you did a good job there.


im starting to consider of shifting my doto mod to advciv mod (i use kmod + stuff , so it should not be hard).


epic speed, standard size 9 or 8 ai's

 

[f1rpo]

there is an option, in revdcm mod, to choose - "do not disturb" while tey ai contact you, that , well tell the ai not to bug you with diplomacy for a while, it is very usefull.
worth while to add it, or make one one.

There's also something satisfying about telling the AI to stuff it. For now, though, I'll go with speed-adjusting the delay for AI-to-human offers for Open Borders. These offers are a bit pointless anyway because of the corresponding BUG alert.

im starting to consider of shifting my doto mod to advciv mod (i use kmod + stuff , so it should not be hard).

One caveat: With more than 18 civs, turn times are going to be markedly longer than with K-Mod. One can always disable the UWAI component (responsible for decisions on war and peace), but then you're mostly playing with the K-Mod AI again ...

 

[f1rpo]

Speaking of merging mods, I've recently extended this post with some more bugfixes and UI changes from the last few months that are fairly easy to merge into other mods.