[BTS Total Mod] Thomas' War

[PPQ_Purple]

It does provide cultural diverse unit sets and city sets. I don't think it is as diverse as the VD mod at the moment -- so the unit sets are more divided between regions than individual civs (and I use different graphics for a lot of the sets), but this is more because Thomas' War itself is already so big that it got to a point where adding more file size became an issue. Still, it covers the basic regions and provides good diversity.

To bad, I don't realy want to see all cristians using the same fighters and tanks. It just does not work well with most units. One of the worst faults in vanila civ whas that the units all looked the same. Also, seing that you already have 5 downloads, I don't see why you could not have another 50. Could you give me some general idea as to how the diversity that you do have is made? (the download is slow and I am to eager to wait)

 

[turingmachine]

To bad, I don't realy want to see all cristians using the same fighters and tanks. It just does not work well with most units. One of the worst faults in vanila civ whas that the units all looked the same. Also, seing that you already have 5 downloads, I don't see why you could not have another 50. Could you give me some general idea as to how the diversity that you do have is made? (the download is slow and I am to eager to wait)

I can't speak for tsentom1, but just from making my own mod there's a big difference between having a download for leaderheads or movies and one for units. First, leaderhead graphics can be placed in modding only one XML file, movies don't even need a new XML file. Whereas adding diverse units is quite a few. Plus, these aren't files that readily interact with finals you edit for patches.

Plus, it's just generally a bad idea to have multiple versions of a mod - a hell to update - which is what happens when you have like 50 downloads. Thomas' War really has only 3 (the main mod, and you should count the animated and static versions of the leaders or movies as one as they address the same thing and only meant to cancel each other out), and these were only done due to MAF errors. Actually, Thomas' War is the ONLY big mod I know that the author even took the time to provide static versions of leaderheads or movies (Actually I know FFH has a media pack as well but I never downloaded).

As per diversity, I'd rate Thomas' War above average when it comes to units. Hell, he even added diverse units for some of the new unit types he added to the game (i.e. custom crusaders and envoys).

 

[DragonSB]

I have no other user made mods.... all the original mods working without any problem.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I can't speak for tsentom1, but just from making my own mod there's a big difference between having a download for leaderheads or movies and one for units. First, leaderhead graphics can be placed in modding only one XML file, movies don't even need a new XML file. Whereas adding diverse units is quite a few.

I don't quite see where you are coming from. Becouse once you settle on using a certain set of graphics and a set unit list you don't realy change it other than to remove old units or add new ones (hence you will rarely need to update it). Plus, the XML used for this is only in 1 file ArtDefines_Unit.xml. And it does not touch any other aspects of the mod. (please correct me if I am wrong)

As per diversity, I'd rate Thomas' War above average when it comes to units.

I certanly hope so. (1 minute to go. )

 

[turingmachine]

I don't quite see where you are coming from. Becouse once you settle on using a certain set of graphics and a set unit list you don't realy change it other than to remove old units or add new ones (hence you will rarely need to update it). Plus, the XML used for this is only in 1 file ArtDefines_Unit.xml. And it does not touch any other aspects of the mod. (please correct me if I am wrong)

I certanly hope so. (5 minutes to go. )

CIV4ArtDefines_Unit, first off is a big one, and when making a mod you often find better artwork for UU's or buttons and you tend to update this quite a lot. It becomes a big hassle if you have to make sure this file and all the ones in download packs are the same. (Not the mention in a mod that constantly adds new civs it's hardly a set unit list. Especially when new mods like EdgeCurshers Hero Units are being added to the forum daily, which I don't know if tsentom1 is adding but are always possibilities for the future).

Besides that cultural diversity can use any one of the following files:

CIV4CivilizationInfos
CIV4UnitArtStyleTypeInfos

Civ4CityLSystem
CIV4PlotLSystem

Plus, those file can be used in conjunction with a few Python files adding even more to the list. Diversity is hardly handled in one file.

 

[tsentom1]

I have no other user made mods.... all the original mods working without any problem.

I suspect you'd be having a problem with any user made mod that uses a custom HUD and even a few that don't. If it's at all possible I'd suggest you download one (such as FFH) to check if this is true.

I'm still looking into a solution for you, however.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Please don't take offense at this but I am just sad to see all europeans using the same aircraft and tanks and such.
Germans with a spitfire are just sad. It almost made me cry
All my hopes for this mod scatered to the wind.

 

[tsentom1]

To bad, I don't realy want to see all cristians using the same fighters and tanks. It just does not work well with most units. One of the worst faults in vanila civ whas that the units all looked the same. Also, seing that you already have 5 downloads, I don't see why you could not have another 50. Could you give me some general idea as to how the diversity that you do have is made? (the download is slow and I am to eager to wait)

turingmachine is correct, diversity can use quite a few files and isn't the easiest thing to add.

However, I would say it's one of the better ones especially in terms of city styles as it adds a few over the current version of the standard city style download that's on the forum as well as future era city sets.

As for units, I placed priority on the units that are used the most in a regular game so for those there is quite considerable diversity and less so for others. Modern units, well I'm afraid there really isn't much diversity with tanks, modern armor, mechanized infantry. There are a few unique bombers and fighters ,though. Infantry and Marines are generally better diversified. Parachuters, SAMs, Anti-Tank - well there aren't that many unique graphics available for these units. Each continent gets its own unit sets, however there are sub sets with more diversity for specific areas, e.g. an overall Asian but Siberian and SE Asian civs have different units for certain Eras than the standard Asian set. For the most part this is true for Europe as well. The Native Americas probably have the least diversity with only a North America general Native and a South America general Native. There's a modified European Colonial subset for the colony founded civs. I've also tried to flesh out the Naval sets, though this is mostly reflected in the mid-era naval units.

 

[Zibi1981]

In this new version (3.5) I'm not able to build cities on desert. Is it normal behavior? How can I change it?

 

[tsentom1]

All those changes, and his germans still use spitfires. ->

It's not like I don't show German love. Hell, there's technically like 4-5 German Civilizations in the game!!!

In all honesty the graphic of a late game unit for only a few civs (even less due to the amount of added civs) is at the bottom of a priority list of changes. Though, a future version will probably see the change.

 

[tsentom1]

In this new version (3.5) I'm not able to build cities on desert. Is it normal behavior? How can I change it?

In the current version, you can only build cities in desert if they are next to a source of fresh water (river / lake) or ocean tile. You can edit this in the CIV4TerrainInfos file.

 

[Zibi1981]

Thank you for your reply tsentom1, but I have to ask another question: which entry to edit and how? The file you mentioned is vast and I'm not very familiar with XML.

<TerrainInfo>
			<Type>TERRAIN_DESERT</Type>
			<Description>TXT_KEY_TERRAIN_DESERT</Description>
			<Civilopedia>TXT_KEY_TERRAIN_DESERT_PEDIA</Civilopedia>
			<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_TERRAIN_DESERT</ArtDefineTag>
			<Yields/>
			<RiverYieldChange>
				<iYield>0</iYield>
				<iYield>0</iYield>
				<iYield>1</iYield>
			</RiverYieldChange>
			<HillsYieldChange/>
			<bWater>0</bWater>
			<bImpassable>0</bImpassable>
			<bFound>0</bFound>
			<bFoundCoast>1</bFoundCoast>
			<bFoundFreshWater>1</bFoundFreshWater>
			<iMovement>1</iMovement>
			<iSeeFrom>1</iSeeFrom>
			<iSeeThrough>1</iSeeThrough>
			<iBuildModifier>25</iBuildModifier>
			<iDefense>0</iDefense>
			<Button>Art/Interface\Buttons\WorldBuilder\Terrain_Desert.dds</Button>

Is it the <bFound>0</bFound> entry that is responsible for this?

 

[zedo_m]

tom my frend, did thet thing with piton exception and still no interface inthe game, to clear this i have blu marbel not the gold version, v 3.17, and i see everthing exept thet interface. i removed the blu marbel but still no interface. i will apreceted thet you explain me where to find those conflict mods which folder i lookd maybe not so good but culdnt find them by my self. so help me pleas

 

[tsentom1]

Thank you for your reply tsentom1, but I have to ask another question: which entry to edit and how? The file you mentioned is vast and I'm not very familiar with XML.

<TerrainInfo>
			<Type>TERRAIN_DESERT</Type>
			<Description>TXT_KEY_TERRAIN_DESERT</Description>
			<Civilopedia>TXT_KEY_TERRAIN_DESERT_PEDIA</Civilopedia>
			<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_TERRAIN_DESERT</ArtDefineTag>
			<Yields/>
			<RiverYieldChange>
				<iYield>0</iYield>
				<iYield>0</iYield>
				<iYield>1</iYield>
			</RiverYieldChange>
			<HillsYieldChange/>
			<bWater>0</bWater>
			<bImpassable>0</bImpassable>
			<bFound>0</bFound>
			<bFoundCoast>1</bFoundCoast>
			<bFoundFreshWater>1</bFoundFreshWater>
			<iMovement>1</iMovement>
			<iSeeFrom>1</iSeeFrom>
			<iSeeThrough>1</iSeeThrough>
			<iBuildModifier>25</iBuildModifier>
			<iDefense>0</iDefense>
			<Button>Art/Interface\Buttons\WorldBuilder\Terrain_Desert.dds</Button>

Is it the <bFound>0</bFound> entry that is responsible for this?

You need to make foundcoast and foundfreshwater 0 and make found 1.

 

[tsentom1]

tom my frend, did thet thing with piton exception and still no interface inthe game, to clear this i have blu marbel not the gold version, v 3.17, and i see everthing exept thet interface. i removed the blu marbel but still no interface. i will apreceted thet you explain me where to find those conflict mods which folder i lookd maybe not so good but culdnt find them by my self. so help me pleas

Enabling the python exception should cause an error message to appear when you load the mod. What did the error message say? This error message can help me see why the interface isn't showing up.

Conflicting mods would be in your Custom Assets folder (My Games/Beyond the Sword/Custom Assets). Blue Marble shouldn't cause a problem (though BUG and BAT do cause I edit the same files as them).

 

[turingmachine]

All those changes, and his germans still use spitfires. ->
Vote against this atrocity. (vote terrible)

Wow, PPQ_Purple, you're real mature. Encouraging people to vote the mod and the thread's rating negatively because you don't like one custom graphic in the mod. Really, I'd like to see you make anything near as complex and balanced as Thomas' War, not the mention all the high-quality modcomps tsentom1 has contributed to the forum.

People like you should be banned from forums.

 

[tsentom1]

In all honesty I can care less about ratings and numbers, if I did I wouldn't have reset the download count by re-posting with versions 2 and versions 3 (would have about twice the amount of downloads if I hadn't).

~~~

I've decided, I'm going to remove the 3.5 Update patch. In truth, everyone should re-download the core mod for 3.5 because it improves performance to do so, plus the Static / Animated packs work with the core download (they functionally work with the update but actually make performance worse because they don't overwrite the files). People are PMing me about this, and to try to encourage a single version of the mod (which makes my job easier) when I post the patch for 3.5 I'm going to remove the update. Unless anyone has any serious objections?

 

[DragonSB]

OK, I tried it on another computer I have, it gives the same problem....


Tried FFH and the game crashed at load.

 

[renegade69]

Originally Posted by renegade69 View Post
I really like this mod except I have the interface problem mentioned on the forum.

I changed python exceptions to 1 as instructed in the forum and got an error message like this

sys.builtin_module_names = ('CvPythonExtensions', '__builtin__', '__main__', '_bisect', '_codecs', '_codecs_cn', '_codecs_hk', '_codecs_iso2022', '_codecs_jp', '_codecs_kr', '_codecs_tw', '_csv', '_heapq', '_hotshot', '_locale', '_multibytecodec', '_random', '_sre', '_subprocess', '_symtable', '_weakref', '_winreg', 'array', 'audioop', 'binascii', 'cPickle', 'cStringIO', 'cmath', 'collections', 'datetime', 'errno', 'exceptions', 'gc', 'imageop', 'imp', 'itertools', 'marshal', 'math', 'md5', 'mmap', 'msvcrt', 'nt', 'operator', 'parser', 'regex', 'rgbimg', 'sha', 'signal', 'strop', 'struct', 'sys', 'thread', 'time', 'xxsubtype', 'zipimport')
load_module CvEventInterface
load_module CvUtil
load_module traceback
load_module CvCustomEventManager
load_module CvEventManager
load_module CvScreensInterface
load_module CvMainInterface
load_module ScreenInput
load_module CvScreenEnums
load_module time
load_module GodsOfOld
load_module CvConfigParser
load_module ConfigParser
load_module CvPath
load_module _winreg
load_module CvModName
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 1, in ?
File "<string>", line 52, in load_module
File "CvEventInterface", line 13, in ?
File "<string>", line 52, in load_module
File "CvCustomEventManager", line 23, in ?
File "<string>", line 52, in load_module
File "CvEventManager", line 12, in ?
File "<string>", line 52, in load_module
File "CvScreensInterface", line 3, in ?
File "<string>", line 52, in load_module
File "CvMainInterface", line 11, in ?
File "<string>", line 52, in load_module
File "CvConfigParser", line 26, in ?
File "<string>", line 52, in load_module
File "CvPath", line 128, in ?
File "CvPath", line 113, in _getUserDir
File "CvPath", line 118, in _getInstallDir
File "CvPath", line 102, in __getRegValue
WindowsError: [Errno 2] The system cannot find the file specified
load_module CvAppInterface
A few questions, to narrow it down:

Are you using either Civ Complete or have Vista? Or, do you have the game installed in a non-default directory? No not using civ complete or vista, game is installedd in non-default directory D:\Games\civilisation4

Is the mod in the main BTS mods directory (program files/firaxis games/sid civilization iv/beyond the sword/mods) as opposed to the one found in My Games? YES

Are you patched to BTS 3.13 or 3.17? YES

Do you have anything in the custom assets folders (such as BUG of BAT)? NO

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Wow, PPQ_Purple, you're real mature. Encouraging people to vote the mod and the thread's rating negatively because you don't like one custom graphic in the mod. Really, I'd like to see you make anything near as complex and balanced as Thomas' War, not the mention all the high-quality modcomps tsentom1 has contributed to the forum.

People like you should be banned from forums.

I have a democratic right to state my mind. And encourage other people to agree with me. I am not inpeading on anyone elses freedom of opinion and I sugjest that you do not try to inpede on mine.

To quote from the universal declaration of human rights:

Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

I am not compelling anyone to anything. I am just using my basic human rights. It is you who are trolling and trying to start an arguement that are the real problem.

What I have seen with this forum is that all mods eather focus on one era, leaving the others unchanged, or only on models and forgoe gameplay. This was the first mod I saw that realy did what this game needs. But it's all null and void as it has the same feel to it (yes I have played it) as vanila civ. If anything, my action is intended to act on people to act on the mod maker.
After all, we all want the same thing. A perfect mod.