[BtS MOD] Wolfshanze 1850-1920 Enhancement Mod v2.0

[arstal]

Poland is full-in now with the mod... Animated Leaderheads, Unique Building, Unique Unit and custom flavor units (even some not in any other Polish Mods).

It was a lot of work, but it's in there now... also, I merged the Wolfshanze Mod with Geomodder's Ethnic Cities... so European cities will look European (no more Chinese Palaces) and African cities will look African, etc, etc.

I'm nearly done (ie: sick of making changes, want to play again)... expect a release within 24/72 hours, short of some unforeseen catastrophe.

Just when I was about to give up and start playing again, you give me anticipation. Oh well. Will give me time to get a game or two in before EUIII 2nd XP comes out.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Available for download now... Wolfshanze Mod v2.70...

Okay... this is the BIG ONE I've been talking about for awhile... it contains many (many) changes that were going to break compatibility with previous saves, so I put them all in one version release! One of the biggest changes is I took a step back... I have deleted the custom DLL I believe is the source of most of the CTD problems some folks have reported... it was NEVER needed to play the mod, though it did offer several enhancements... as-is, v2.70 of the Wolfshanze Mod will play with the DEFAULT Civ4 Gamecore.dll file... this should offer the utmost stability, and still offer the option of adding any custom Gamecore.dll file of your choice, such as Bhruic's (I even offer the original gamecore for those that liked it... scroll down in the 1st post of the Wolfshanze thread for more details).

No-longer compatible with previous saved-games... you must start a new game!

Below are the changes made in v2.70... some are more important then others (and a new unit & promotion to keep Ninja quiet!)... if you have any questions about any of the changes, feel free to ask, or go check them out in-game. All changes include custom Civilopedia info anyways!

************
New in v2.70
************
Custom DLL removed for stability reasons, Custom DLLs now optional
Polish Civilization added w/custom units, sounds & music
New Civilization colors added/changed
Replaced Austrian Landsknecht (old Holy Roman UU) with new Jäger UU
Replaced Austrian Rathaus (old Holy Roman UB) with new Opera House UB
Replaced useless German Assembly Plant UB with Krupp Steel Works UB
Added Ethnic City Styles (thanks Geomodder)
Added Brandenburg Gate Wonder
Added Trafalgar Square Wonder
Added new (special) unit class... "Early Flyer"
Tech tree slightly altered... now impossible to bypass WWI units
Added "Anti-Air" upgrade ship promotion
New ship AA levels: DE-5%, Dread-5%, DD-20%, BB-25%, CA-30%
Reduce AA of Mech Inf to 10%
Added Cleopatra LeaderHead
Caligula LH updated to v3
Earth-map 34/35 player scenarios updated for custom city sets & Poland

New models/skins for:
African Warlord/General (Modern)
American Explorer
Austrian tank (Lt vz 38)
Babylon/Sumer Fighter (Iraqi Gladiator)
Carthagenian Cuirassier
European Gunship (Tiger Eurocopter)
French Submarine (Le Redoutable class)
German Submarine (VIIC)
German Warlord/General (Modern)
Indian Cuirassier
Japanese Cuirassier
Japanese Warlord/General (Modern)
Khmer Cuirassier
Korean Air Force
Meso Explorer
Ottoman Cuirassier
Ottoman Heavy Tank (Pz-IVG)
Polish Early Fighter (Albatros)
Russian Warlord/General (Modern)
Spanish Heavy Tank (Pz-IVG)
Spanish Fighter (Me-109)
Team Early Fighter (based on Sopwith Pup)
Team Early Bomber (based on Handley Page)
Viking Cuirassier
Viking Heavy Tank (Pz-IVG)

 

[Ninja2]

Another very impressive release! I can so understand if you want to play this for a while, and relax a little on the modding...

 

[Wolfshanze]

It'll probably be a month or more before I do anymore updates... and if/when I do, they should be save-game backward-compatible... I pretty much put all my ideas of "new things" that would break compatibility into this one release... any future releases should mostly just be new models and nothing more... but yes... I'll be taking a break for now and go back to playing!

 

[DWOLF]

At last Wolfshanze, I can play again. They way Civ 4 was supposed to be played. You've come a long way with your mod

 

[avain]

Great work, Wolf;
though why do you use Pz-IVG as a heavy tank?

 

[GEOKOS]

Hi!
Great Work !
What About The Earth Map ? Is Still Availiable Or Not ?

 

[Wolfshanze]

Great work, Wolf;
though why do you use Pz-IVG as a heavy tank?

It's not a German heavy tank... but for many nations, that was a big a tank as they ever got during WWII... or would you rather me use even smaller tanks as their heavy? If Nation-A only has a Pz-35t with a 37mm gun, or a Pz-IVG with a 75mm gun (and there are no other choices), which tank would you call "the heavy"?

Believe it or not, not every nation in WWII developed 56-ton, 88mm gunned tanks. Even the Americans didn't have a standard heavy tank with a gun bigger then 76mm until the last few months of the war. Simply-put, there were plenty of nations that could only dream of having a tank as powerful as the Pz-IVG... so while it's certainly NOT a German heavy tank... it surely does accurately represent the best tank that many nations received.

Hi!
Great Work !
What About The Earth Map ? Is Still Availiable Or Not ?

Yes and no... it does NOT come in the standard download... because I removed support for 34-civ games in the standard download (the custom DLL was removed due to stability issues).

If, however, you never had problems with the custom DLL, it (along with the 34, and now 35-civ Earth maps), I still offer a seperate "companion" download on the 1st page that includes the custom DLL along with the Earth maps... it's a very small add-on download that you just plop on-top of the main download, and you'll get everything you did with older versions of the mod (plus enhanced earth maps).

****

On an unrelated note, there's a few things with this version that I'm really happy-with/proud-of... the last vestiges of the old Holy Roman Empire have been removed from Austria... mainly, their custom UU and UB. Both have been replaced with new, Austrian-specific UUs and UBs.

Also, I always considered Germany had the absolute (hands-down) WORST Unique Building in the game... the "Assembly Plant" was the pits... it's a factory... oh, and if you want, you can make a couple extra specialists over the two already granted from the default factory... whoopdy-do. I gave Germany the Krupp Steelworks to replace the factory... it now gives-out some useful bonuses, though nothing too overpowering (there are plenty of normal buildings that give out bigger experience bonuses to larger classes of units).

Of course adding Poland and its ton of custom units was a lot of work, but well worth it, and I like the little touch of the "Early Flyer" as a bonus unit for the first nation to develop flight (so you can go zeppelin-hunting the same turn you reach the tech!).

 

[avain]

Believe it or not, not every nation in WWII developed 56-ton, 88mm gunned tanks...

I'm not a total idiot, you know

One thing that bothers me with these choices (that I too am frequently facing, mostly with modern stuff) is that I should use other nations different class units for this nations different class. It's just not pretty
But, oh well, we need to do this sometimes. Though it's easier for me to swallow when they are using obsolete, but "in class" equipment.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Well, I only have two classes of WWII tanks in the Wolfshanze Mod... "Tank" and "Heavy Tank"... maybe I should rename the classes "Tank" and "Heavier Tank".

True heavy tanks were certainly not the norm in WWII... besides Germany and the Soviet Union, few nations actually used heavy tanks in the war in anything other then testing or concept designs... even the American Pershing didn't show-up in Europe till February of 1945... and by then, the war had already been won by medium tanks like the Sherman. Of course, to be perfectly honest, the Pz-IVG and later models were very dangerous and were superior to the much newer Shermans... so it's still not a far cry to call them "heavy" to many nations (especially since it was the best tank many nations got, and far-better then the tanks most nations had).

If I had really wanted to be "more accurate" with my naming conventions for the bulk of 34 civs... if I were only to have two WWII tank classes, I could've gone "Light Tank", "Medium Tank", and just left-off the heavy category all-together... but what fun is that? Nobody would want "just a light tank" as their main tank!

I'd probably say half or more of the folks downloading these mods aren't up-to-snuff with the differences between WWII tanks anyways, so most folks will just go "hey, that tank looks spiffy". For those of us that do know the difference in tank models... well, then we'll understand that nation-x just didn't have anything worth calling "heavy" and we gave them the biggest tank they had!

In short (too late!), I'm more concerned about getting nations the actual tanks they had, then making sure tank-x is medium and tank-y is heavy... I'd rather give a nation the Pz-IVG as their heavy then having everybody driving Pershings around! It's a game-design concession to get more accurate tank chassis, as opposed to getting the classes right. If it makes anyone feel better, I'm more going for the "Tank/Heavier Tank" convention when choosing which tank is which category.

 

[Agent327]

Well, I only have two classes of WWII tanks in the Wolfshanze Mod... "Tank" and "Heavy Tank"... maybe I should rename the classes "Tank" and "Heavier Tank".

True heavy tanks were certainly not the norm in WWII... besides Germany and the Soviet Union, few nations actually used heavy tanks in the war in anything other then testing or concept designs... even the American Pershing didn't show-up in Europe till February of 1945... and by then, the war had already been won by medium tanks like the Sherman. Of course, to be perfectly honest, the Pz-IVG and later models were very dangerous and were superior to the much newer Shermans... so it's still not a far cry to call them "heavy" to many nations (especially since it was the best tank many nations got, and far-better then the tanks most nations had).

No need to rename anything, really: the Modern Tank is probably what most people have in mind and compared to WW II models that is a Heavy Tank. But as you point out, up to WW II and for most nations, Heavy Tanks just weren't the norm, even in Germany and Russia - they just were too expensive and costly in maintenance (especially the German's).

One remark about the Sherman (updated or not) winning the war: if the Soviets hadn't started production of the T-34 in 1941 no Sherman would have won the war in Europe. As it was the 34,000 or so T-34s produced (easy to build and maintain and way better than anything Germany had in '41 nor could hope to match productionwise) during the war are more likely to have ended Adolf H.'s regime than the Allied ground war. The first Allied tanks only arrived on European soil in 1943 - by which time the Red Army had been fighting the Wehrmacht continously for up to two years already (and they faced the bulk of it until 1944 when the war in the East was - for all practical purposes - decided). The Shermans that did arrive in Russia were'nt even considered up to standard compared to their T-34.

Not forgetting the African front, the Allied war effort until 1942-'43 was primarily naval and airborne, aimed at eliminating the U-boat threat and gaining air superiority, which, to be sure, ultimately prepared the invasions of Sicily/Italy and Normandy.

Not to disrespect any Allied soldier, but it has to be remembered the losses on the Eastern front outdid anything happening on the other fronts combined. Ultimately the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union was thrown back through sheer and utter ruthlessness, resulting in a complete disregard for human losses sustained in the effort to do so. This was a do or die situation...

BTW, great job on the new version!

 

[Ninja2]

Well, I only have two classes of WWII tanks in the Wolfshanze Mod... "Tank" and "Heavy Tank"... maybe I should rename the classes "Tank" and "Heavier Tank".

Or... give the standard tanks some beefy promotion possibilities. Like Heavy Armor, Heavy Gun (or even a choice between Long Barrelled Gun and Howitzer), Gyro Stabilizers, stuff like that. Those promotions would then give different bonuses to fighting different opponents. And then get rid of the heavy class altogether. In my mind, promotions can also represent technological advances that are too small to justify introducing a new unitclass.

But I totally understand why you did it the way you did, it's just too cool to move those Big Cats around the map...

 

[mamba]

For instance, Poland was not a nation during the late 1800s (the Pre-Dreadnought Age) as Poland was partitioned between Germany and Russia... so I gave them a customized Pre-Dreadnought based on available intel, so-to-speak!

As far as I can tell, they use the russian Bronenosets, same as Russia, not something new. Did I miss something ?

 

[Wolfshanze]

One remark about the Sherman (updated or not) winning the war: if the Soviets hadn't started production of the T-34 in 1941 no Sherman would have won the war in Europe.

If you knew me better, you'd know I don't have much love for the Sherman and I'm fully aware of the contributions of the Soviet Union to the war effort... when I said "Shermans winning the war", I was referring simply to the needs of American tanks and in-particular relating to the Pershing (ie: the Sherman sufficed for allied needs before the Pershing showed up and it was already over).

As far as I can tell, they use the russian Bronenosets, same as Russia, not something new. Did I miss something ?

Why don't you tell me what everybody else is using for Polish Pre-Dreadnoughts then?

I gave them the Russian Pre-Dreadnought because of the tie-ins with the Russian occupation during the late 1800s... what else is one to do... Poland didn't exist in the time of the Pre-Dreadnoughts!

Hey... I'm TRYING to fill-in as many units from as many ages as possible... I don't know of any other Polish pre-dreadnoughts.

 

[mamba]

I gave them the Russian Pre-Dreadnought because of the tie-ins with the Russian occupation during the late 1800s... what else is one to do... Poland didn't exist in the time of the Pre-Dreadnoughts!

Hey... I'm TRYING to fill-in as many units from as many ages as possible... I don't know of any other Polish pre-dreadnoughts.

Nothing wrong with that, I apparently misunderstood you. When you wrote "so I gave them a customized Pre-Dreadnought" I expected a new variant / skin.

 

[devilgunner]

hi wolf,

i've downloaded the latest update and it looks great...haven't had the time to go through a complete game yet. i do have a question. i would like to change the default polish flag that comes with this mod to that of danrell's from the kodzi team's version 1.2 poland mod. how would i do this?

ps. i'm not a modder but maybe it's time i learned a bit about it, lol.

 

[Wolfshanze]

hi wolf,

i've downloaded the latest update and it looks great...haven't had the time to go through a complete game yet. i do have a question. i would like to change the default polish flag that comes with this mod to that of danrell's from the kodzi team's version 1.2 poland mod. how would i do this?

ps. i'm not a modder but maybe it's time i learned a bit about it, lol.

First "Borrow" the Polish Flag.DDS file from that mod... stick it somewhere in your system (either Wolfshanze Mod folder or Custom Assets), then you'll need to modify the Civ4ArtDefines_Civilization.xml file on the Wolfshanze Mod XML Art folder... you'll point the boldened code below to wherever you put it... if it's a solid-colored flag (likely) you'll probably also need to change the "WhiteFlag" line from "0" to "1".

		<CivilizationArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_DEF_CIVILIZATION_POLAND</Type>
			<Button>, ,Art/Interface/Buttons/Poland_Atlas.dds,1,6</Button>
			[B]<Path>Art/Interface/TeamColor/FlagDECAL_Poland.dds</Path>[/B]
			<bWhiteFlag>0</bWhiteFlag>
		</CivilizationArtInfo>

 

[Wolfshanze]

Okay... some may be aware of this, others may not... but there is a fix to the Japanese General "face-glow" issue which came out (as usual) in less then 24hrs after I released v2.70.

Since it's a 200MB download, I'm offering two solutions to anyone interested.

1) The main download has been updated as-of the posting of this message (check the time-stamp). If you were one of the first 90 folks who downloaded Wolfshanze Mod v2.70 on 21 May 08, you've got the version with the "glowing face" Japanese General... if you downloaded the mod after the time of this post (let's just say 22-May-08 to make it simple), you're already updated... thank you, come again! Anyone who has the "old" v2.7 may redownload it to get the fix... or...

2) In the 1st post in this thread (way back on page-1), if you scroll down a little, you'll see the Optional Downloads section, and there's a very small download that fixes the Japanese General "face-glow". You're more then welcome to use this option if you don't want to redownload the whole thing!



After the fix, the Modern Japanese General will look like this:

 

[tomppb]

I keep getting an "error reading file" message everytime I try to extract the 2.70 zip file into the mod folder Not sure why every other upgrade has extracted just fine. I even erased the whole mod and started all over again several times to make sure. There seems to be a problem with the zip file.

I really love this mod and its killing me I can't play!!!

 

[tomppb]

OK I have been fooling around with it and this is what I did, If I extract 2.70 over 2.69 it goes along fine until I get a "Wolfshanze FPK is password protected" I skip the file and it continues to install. But when you start the game the flags are all blank colors and the active unit has three big red dots underneath it. Then if you try to extract 2.70 again you get the error message. So is there a password I can enter?? Any help?