[BtS] Merged Mod

[trickofthehand]

been playing, here's some feedback/food for thought/requests. all the requests are things i've seen in other mods so i know it's do-able and I personnaly don't beleive that it changes the game too much from vanilla.

-dreadnoughts are buildable all the way till endgame, is this purposeful? they just look a little out of place next to nuclear powered supercarriers/ missile cruisers.

some requests:
-anti-aircraft gun. it can be a little rough leaving ground units undefended to air attack during the pre-sam infantry turns w/o carriers or fighters stationed nearby.

-extended paradrop range/modern paratroopers. paratroopers are pretty worthless with their short range and low combat power.

-keep jet bombers, don't upgrade to SB. maybe increase the attack power of jet bombers or their effectiveness vs ground units. SBs have an extremely small payload and the B-52 is estimated to remain in service with the US Air Force for 50+ more years because of it's payload capacity.

-light jet-bombers for use in supercarriers. having some collateral damage on hand when trying to make a beachhead would be extremely helpful.

-transport helicopters/armored personnel carriers. much for the same reason we have them IRL, to keep ground pounders up with the tanks.

-helicopters fly in coastal squares.

-subs able to kill units in port like the Port Airbomb mission of aircraft. haven't seen this one before but I always thought it was a no-brainer and I figure it's probably doable.

i've always been very frustrated with Civ4's stealth bombers. IRL there's only one nation that has stealth aircraft technology and even the US has no more than a few dozen stealth bombers with a pricetag of 1 BILLION dollars each. in my opinion stealth bombers and stealth destroyers should require a special resource (possibly titanium?) discovered by Composites that is extremely rare. this way maybe only 2 or 3 civilizations may have access to stealth technology. just a thought

 

[Wolfshanze]

The only way to "get rid of" a unit is to have it upgrade to something else. Dreadnoughts don't upgrade, so they don't disappear off the purchase list. The reason for this is to avoid the "easy upgrade" to something like a battleship. Dreadnoughts and Battleships were very expensive and the purpose of leaving them like that is to force you to "build anew" instead of just upgrading your fleet.

If I knew how to remove it without allowing to upgrade it, that'd be fine, but I don't know of a way.

 

[Armandeus]

I tweaked Ghengis Kai's Giant Earth Map to work with this mod. It has all the civilizations placed in mostly accurate positions (both Byzantine and the Ottomans could not be placed at Constantinople/Istanbul, so I placed the Ottomans near where Ankara would be).
The map is the "ancient resource" version, and is much larger than the Earth map supplied with the Merged Mod.
Only the map itself is needed. Place the map file in the Merged Mod 0.80/Private Maps folder, start Merged Mod, and choose it from the scenario list.
Ghengis Kai's map is described here:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=296
Download the map for Merged Mod:

 

[Wolfshanze]

Hmmm... it crashed in the Wolfshanze Mod (not to be confused with the Merged Mod)... I see no reason why a map for the Merged Mod would not work with the Wolfshanze Mod... the civs are the same?!?!?

 

[Ninja2]

some requests:
-anti-aircraft gun. it can be a little rough leaving ground units undefended to air attack during the pre-sam infantry turns w/o carriers or fighters stationed nearby.

-extended paradrop range/modern paratroopers. paratroopers are pretty worthless with their short range and low combat power.

-keep jet bombers, don't upgrade to SB. maybe increase the attack power of jet bombers or their effectiveness vs ground units. SBs have an extremely small payload and the B-52 is estimated to remain in service with the US Air Force for 50+ more years because of it's payload capacity.

-light jet-bombers for use in supercarriers. having some collateral damage on hand when trying to make a beachhead would be extremely helpful.

-transport helicopters/armored personnel carriers. much for the same reason we have them IRL, to keep ground pounders up with the tanks.

-helicopters fly in coastal squares.

-subs able to kill units in port like the Port Airbomb mission of aircraft. haven't seen this one before but I always thought it was a no-brainer and I figure it's probably doable.

Thanks for chiming in!

Anti-aircraft gun: I already got one in this mod. You want another?

Paradrop range and keeping jet bombers along with SBs are both XML changes, you can do those easy.

Light jet bombers for carriers: A big debating point, regular jet fighters can outright kill land units, so bring enough of them and you won't need collateral damage from bombing... you should be able to clear a beachhead, and land your artillery.

Helicopters and APC's: Conquest would probably be too fast, but they are interesting suggestions.

Sub attacks on ports: Another interesting idea. I'll think about it.

 

[Armandeus]

Hmmm... it crashed in the Wolfshanze Mod (not to be confused with the Merged Mod)... I see no reason why a map for the Merged Mod would not work with the Wolfshanze Mod... the civs are the same?!?!?

If the civs, leaderheads, flags, number of possible civs on the map, resources, terrain, or anything else is different, the map will crash.

I don't have your mod installed so I can't check.

Has anybody with the Merged Mod installed tried this map?

 

[Wolfshanze]

If the civs, leaderheads, flags, number of possible civs on the map, resources, terrain, or anything else is different, the map will crash.

I don't have your mod installed so I can't check.

Has anybody with the Merged Mod installed tried this map?

Well, Merged Mod is based off of the Wolfshanze Mod, and to my knowledge, uses the same civs and flags (because he also uses the same FPK file from my mod).

I know what would cause a crash on a map, but by my theory, there's no reason that a map compatible with Merged Mod would crash in the Wolfshanze Mod... they should be compatible with one another.

Doesn't GEM use custom resources? Maybe you have those custom resources installed on your system? Neither the Wolfshanze Mod nor the Merged Mod use custom resources. Just taking a stab right now... not sure what the issue is, but I'm fairly confident a map for Merged Mod should work for Wolfshanze Mod and vice-versa.

 

[Armandeus]

I have nothing that didn't come with Merged Mod. No special resources.
I can't test the map for your mod, sorry.
The map file is XML, so you can open it in a text editor and see what is different. You are a modder, so I think you should be able to easily find the problem.

Well, Merged Mod is based off of the Wolfshanze Mod, and to my knowledge, uses the same civs and flags (because he also uses the same FPK file from my mod).

I know what would cause a crash on a map, but by my theory, there's no reason that a map compatible with Merged Mod would crash in the Wolfshanze Mod... they should be compatible with one another.

Doesn't GEM use custom resources? Maybe you have those custom resources installed on your system? Neither the Wolfshanze Mod nor the Merged Mod use custom resources. Just taking a stab right now... not sure what the issue is, but I'm fairly confident a map for Merged Mod should work for Wolfshanze Mod and vice-versa.

 

[Ninja2]

I checked the map yesterday, it was fine. I'll probably include it in the next version, then, if the author won't mind.

 

[Armandeus]

Thanks! Please do, unless Ghengis Kai objects. He's the real author.

I checked the map yesterday, it was fine. I'll probably include it in the next version, then, if the author won't mind.

This is probably not related to the map, but it is related to the mod: The Polish leader Casimir has no diplomatic music, at least in the early era. Maybe there's a mistake in the XML somewhere. (Do none of the new leaderheads have music? Where can we get some music to use?)

 

[Wolfshanze]

I checked the map yesterday, it was fine. I'll probably include it in the next version, then, if the author won't mind.

Are all your flags and LHs identical to the Wolfshanze Mod, or did you change any of them in Merged Mod? There's no reason why the map wouldn't work in the Wolfshanze Mod unless Merged Mod changed something basic regarding any/all of the civs. One change to a flag or LH would make a difference.

 

[Armandeus]

I found the easiest way to check the civ data on a map is this:

1. Open the map you want to check (Ghengis Kai's Giant Earth Map) in a text editor.
2. Make a pen and paper note (or print) the civs and leaderheads used, and the order they are listed in. Both are important.
3. Start the mod you want to play the map with (Wolfshanze 1850-1920 Mod).
4. Choose Custom Game.
5. Add the same civilizations/leaderheads that are used in the map to your new game, in the same order, starting with the player civ at the top.
6. Choose any map script. It doesn't matter. You may have to increase the map size to allow you to add the same number of civs as you recorded earlier.
7. Start the game.
8. Go into World Builder and save the game you started as a new map.
9. Exit Civ IV.
10. Use a text editor that can compare text (like WinMerge) and load both the new map file you just saved, and the map you want to check (Ghengis Kai's Giant Earth Map).
11. If you added the civs in the same order with the same leaderheads, any other differences will be highlighted by the text compare.
12. To fix the differences, copy and paste from the new test map to the map you want to fix.

Note: if unit differences are the problem this won't help, because the units are scattered around two totally different maps and the text editor can't compare them. However you can eliminate differences in civs, leaderheads, and flags using this method. If there are no differences there, and the map still crashes, you will have to hunt down unit tag differences manually. Also check to see that the number of civs listed on the map you want to fix is the same as the test map.
This is how I converted Ghenghis Kai's map for the Merged Mod.

 

[Wolfshanze]

I know how to convert maps... I've already done it with a previous 34-civ earth map converted to the Wolfshanze Mod... simply put, it's time consuming and I don't have the time... I was merely asking Ninja a simple question which could answer why it doesn't work.

I already know how to convert maps... it's just a matter of time consumption...

 

[Armandeus]

Well, I didn't mean my post as an offense, but it seemed that perhaps you might not, since you were asking questions that could more accurately and quickly be answered by comparing the text. At least, in my opinion, since asking is quick, but remembering all the changes is difficult. I'm sorry if you were offended.

I know how to convert maps... I've already done it with a previous 34-civ earth map converted to the Wolfshanze Mod... simply put, it's time consuming and I don't have the time... I was merely asking Ninja a simple question which could answer why it doesn't work.
I already know how to convert maps... it's just a matter of time consumption...

 

[Ninja2]

Are all your flags and LHs identical to the Wolfshanze Mod, or did you change any of them in Merged Mod? There's no reason why the map wouldn't work in the Wolfshanze Mod unless Merged Mod changed something basic regarding any/all of the civs. One change to a flag or LH would make a difference.

Nope, no changes. I've been considering changing some of the flags, but I haven't done anything yet. And I would never change a LH, don't care much about those. Civcolors are also identical, by the way.

All: I'll be on a trip this week, so any questions to me probably won't get answered until friday.

 

[Wolfshanze]

I wasn't offended, you just gave me a tutorial for something I already knew how to do... and asking a question on a forum is lot quicker then comparing texts in a large earth map scenario. If Ninja had answered "yes, I changed the flag on civ-x", that would save me a lot of time.

I've been thinking about importing the GEM myself for some time... it's just been a matter of having the time to work it. Your work converting it to Merged Mod will undoubtedly save me time, but the fact it didn't work right off the bat was (and still is) a bit puzzling (in theory it should work right-off)... I'll look at it more in detail when I get the time.

 

[dogshu]

Now that Wolfshanze 2.83 has been released, it looks like 2.82 is no longer available. Is Merged Mod 0.80 compatible with Wolfshanze 2.83?

 

[Wolfshanze]

Now that Wolfshanze 2.83 has been released, it looks like 2.82 is no longer available. Is Merged Mod 0.80 compatible with Wolfshanze 2.83?

Ninja needs to remember to save the links to my various versions... I still have v2.82 available for download, I just don't have a link to it anymore.

I normally don't delete old versions of the Wolfshanze Mod for several releases, so older versions can still be found at the old links.

For those that still need it, you can download v2.82 of the Wolfshanze Mod here.

 

[Ninja2]

No, I just need to be quicker about updating!

Now that Wolfshanze 2.83 has been released, it looks like 2.82 is no longer available. Is Merged Mod 0.80 compatible with Wolfshanze 2.83?

It is now... I just updated the files so they are compatible. I'm not sure about save game compatibility, I forgot to test that. Please report back if you are continuing a saved game.

 

[Ninja2]

The Merged Mod has been slightly updated... I've included the BetterAI 0.36, which fixes another four bugs. Nothing earthshattering, but still... I've kept the version at 0.80, as there's basically nothing new about this update, other than those small buglets.

Save game compatibility unknown.