CCM3 Epic Mod

[Civinator]

So what happened to that BIQ file, with a stamp sometime in this year of 2025 ??
Did you abandoned it ?

The answer is very easy. It is not abandoned - just in the contrary, but there is an explosion in the versions of the C3X mod with very interesting features, that I like a lot and it needed sometimes a longer time to test them and to integrate them to CCM (to have now up to 2048 cities on a map for me is the least important of these features). A bigger time consumed to make CCM 3 able to cover AOI 5 (without the music files), here I made alone a document of 64 pages about the units that will be covered with the next update of CCM 3 and a very innovative and nice new mod based on CCM 3, that I now name CCR, that will introduce at least two new features that I have never seen in modding Civ 3 (more about it when the time is ripe for more information).

 

[Chioban]

Hello. I've been playing your mod for two years. Although I've been playing Civ 4 for a while, and it has interesting ideas such as religions, I keep coming back to Civ 3. Recently, I tried C3X, where I really liked the district and day/night system, it really brings the map to life.

I wanted to ask if you plan to add something like the district system to CCM3. In addition to the visual improvement, I think it has a lot of potential mechanically, for example, when it comes to defending Wonders or the need to not place them all in the same city. Merging the quality content of CCM3 with the district mechanics of C3X could be an interesting experiment.

I need to download this new version of CCM3, as I have the previous one, I think it's 2.5. But if you plan to release an update soon, maybe I could wait.

 

[Civinator]

Chioban, welcome at CFC !

At present too much is happening with the C3X mod. So I cannot say when the next update of CCM 3 will be released. I always have the feeling that it will be soon - and than there are some new features in C3X and some additional RL-stuff and it is not released yet. The next update of CCM 3 is a very massive project that also covers some other big epic Civ 3 mods like an update of RARR and the upcoming CCR mod and several big scenarios like AOI, WW2 Global Gold, SOE, HoF and another WW2 scenario.

You wrote about some of the new district features in C3X. You can use those features even with your current version of CCM and see what is working and what is not working - but in any case CCM 3 in its current version in my eyes is worth a download, as it is concepted to work with the C3X mod, that was not released when CCM 2.5 was created.

 

[Chioban]

Thanks! Downloading.

I'll give it a try. Well, I know I'll like it since CCM is my favorite MOD, even though it has strong competition like Realism Invictus or Cave 2 Cosmos in Civ4. I'll also see how it works with the C3X district system. Hopefully nothing will explode.

 

[Civinator]

Chioban, thank you very much for your kind words about CCM as Realism Invictus and Cave 2 Cosmos are two great Civ 4 mods. But, as I wrote in the first post of the CCM 3 thread: The end of Civ 4 is the start of CCM (so this only concerns the Civ 4 manual)

I think nothing will explode. May be you will receive several messages that some functions of C3X will not be found when starting a game, as the scenario config file in CCM 3 was created with an early version of C3X, but it will run. If you want to have some of the C3X functions of the latest version of C3X, you will have to do a new scenario config file for CCM 3..

 

[instafluff]

Hopefully nothing will explode.

I think nothing will explode. May be you will receive several messages that some functions of C3X will not be found when starting a game, as the scenario config file in CCM 3 was created with an early version of C3X, but it will run. If you want to have some of the C3X functions of the latest version of C3X, you will have to do a new scenario config file for CCM 3..

Please keep me in the loop too, if you do run into issues. I want to make sure districts work seamlessly with great mods like CCM .

 

[Civinator]

Please keep me in the loop too, if you do run into issues. I want to make sure districts work seamlessly with great mods like CCM .

instafluff, thank you very much for your offer and for your great work. Concerning districts in the form of your mod, a lot of experience must be gained what is really improving the game for Civ 3 and each of the CCM and RARR test games consumes a lot of time. At present I think the new upcoming CCR mod will be the best suited to start with wonder districts, natural wonders and may be suburbs (neighbourhood), so the focus of CCR is on some other features, that I have never seen elsewhere yet in modding the Civ 3 epic game. CCR at present is my favourite modding project and I will post more about it when the time is ripe.

 

[Chioban]

After testing it for a couple of hours that I had free, I must say that, in general, CCM3 + C3X Distric can work. I don't know if the AI can build districts since I didn't venture into any enemy territory, so I'll just delve into the problems I saw.

There are graphical errors due to the difference in resources such as camels or tobacco, and also when using the day/night system, there is a particular time when the graphics fail and everything is highlighted in green. I don't know exactly what time it is, but it fixes itself when you move on to the next one, which is close to dawn

Due to the difference in technologies between vanilla and CCM3, there are districts that you cannot build. There are also no barracks as such (if I remember correctly, there are Wonders that give you barracks for all cities), so the Encampment makes no sense.

You can build wonder districts. I tried to rush to get the Pyramids, but you can't build temples without the holy site, so that path is blocked.

But in general, the core of the game system works well and can be adapted with minor modifications. Allowing districts to be built with the technology available in CCM3. I understand that the day-night cycle would take a lot more work, especially if the CCM3 wonders are added.

 

[Chioban]

Since the system is highly editable, I decided to change the technologies of the districts, and everything went smoothly. To make the Encampment more meaningful, I increased its defense bonus and also gave it a bonus of 1 shield (perhaps too little), since in many countries the military is also used as a source of labor (at least that's the case here in Venezuela).

It's a superficial fix, but it's enough to make everything work since the district system is quite compatible with CCM3. I think I can easily continue the RUN until the end, although I will probably restart it to increase the Encampment bonus.

 

[Civinator]

Chioban, interesting reports. What will you do with all these CCM wonders that have no wonder district graphics ?

 

[Chioban]

Chioban, interesting reports. What will you do with all these CCM wonders that have no wonder district graphics ?

The other wonders function like conventional ones, that is, they exist within cities. That's why, mechanically speaking, it can be said that the wonders assigned to wonder districts are the most important and powerful ones.

I made this Stonehenge with AI and editing.

I'm not good at editing, so it doesn't match the Civ3 style 100%, but it can serve as a placeholder, and on the map, as seen from a distance, it can pass for the real thing. Just don't look too closely...

 

[Civinator]

Chioban, that´s a nice try.

In many cases you can receive proper results easily by simply pasting the images in the Art\city screen\buildings-large file into the template. Here is per example the CCM 3 Stonehenge image created by that procedure:

 

[Chioban]

In many cases you can receive proper results easily by simply pasting the images in the Art\city screen\buildings-large file into the template. Here is per example the CCM 3 Stonehenge image created by that procedure:

Lol! Interestingly, I tried to do that, but I ended up in the wrong folder. Specifically, the image from Civilopedia. It will be faster, and it will look better that way, thank you.

Edit: Work in progress.

It's not nearly as neat as the C3X pyramid, but it fits better than the Stongehenge AI. As soon as I have time, I'll keep practicing with the vanilla wonders.

 

[instafluff]

In many cases you can receive proper results easily by simply pasting the images in the Art\city screen\buildings-large file into the template. Here is per example the CCM 3 Stonehenge image created by that procedure:

It's not nearly as neat as the C3X pyramid, but it fits better than the Stongehenge AI. As soon as I have time, I'll keep practicing with the vanilla wonders.

I'm not necessarily recommending others use the same methods, but districts art tends to be mostly AI-driven. I have a small library of prompts I use to generate art, then iterate, and iterate, and iterate - sometimes hundreds of times until I'm satisfied. And then finally some minor editing in GIMP to make it work in the PCX files.

I've had luck in some cases starting from screenshots of Civ 3, then specifically telling it to, for example, make the Pyramids look like the Statue of Zeus, and so on. Or if I think the art is almost satisfactory but not quite perfect, I'll take a screenshot and ask it to make the Wonder/District blend better. Then more editing in GIMP.

It tends to be time-consuming, but compared to doing so on my own - I'd say I have aesthetic sense but limited graphic design skills - far faster and more effective.

It also helps that I can do much of the programming and art generation in relative parallel this way.

 

[Chioban]

It tends to be time-consuming, but compared to doing so on my own - I'd say I have aesthetic sense but limited graphic design skills - far faster and more effective.

It also helps that I can do much of the programming and art generation in relative parallel this way.

The most complicated thing about AI is making it cohesive. You did such a good job that you can't even tell, nice use of the tools! I was playing around with your script in CCM using some wonders placeholders, and everything works great. I will elaborate further when I complete an RUN.

Chioban, that´s a nice try.

I have a quick question, and I hope I'm not bothering you because I understand it may go against realism. In Cave 2 Cosmos, there are, let's say, alternative units, extravagant prototypes such as the Zar Tank, or more hypothetical units such as Da Vinci's Tank, or Captain Nemo's Nautilus submarine. You don't plan on adding things like that in CCM3, right?

By the way, I don't know if you've been told yet, but camels offer a huge advantage! And correct me if I'm wrong, Fascism doesn't have any Wonders, right?

 

[Civinator]

In Cave 2 Cosmos, there are, let's say, alternative units, extravagant prototypes such as the Zar Tank, or more hypothetical units such as Da Vinci's Tank, or Captain Nemo's Nautilus submarine. You don't plan on adding things like that in CCM3, right?

So Civ 3 also has those (mostly) steampunk units, those fantastic, never built units are not in CCM 3. CCM 3 also holds some prototypes, but these units are more realistic and are only available in small numbers.

By the way, I don't know if you've been told yet, but camels offer a huge advantage!

Yes, "camels" have some advantages, but that is the reason why they are limited in numbers.

And correct me if I'm wrong, Fascism doesn't have any Wonders, right?

Fascism has the small wonder "Military Research Center".

 

[B-29_Bomber]

Does CCM3 support the latest version of C3X?

Edit: It would seem that the main download link is broken.

 

[Civinator]

Does CCM3 support the latest version of C3X?

I think nothing will explode. May be you will receive several messages that some functions of C3X will not be found when starting a game, as the scenario config file in CCM 3 was created with an early version of C3X, but it will run. If you want to have some of the C3X functions of the latest version of C3X, you will have to do a new scenario config file for CCM 3.

Edit: It would seem that the main download link is broken.

Please try to download and unzip it with WinRAR or the original 7z, as Win11 holds only a crippled version of 7z:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/rise-and-rule-revisited-epic-mod.549166/page-87#post-16887760

 

[B-29_Bomber]

Please try to download and unzip it with WinRAR or the original 7z, as Win11 holds only a crippled version of 7z:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/rise-and-rule-revisited-epic-mod.549166/page-87#post-16887760

I don't understand this, I have WinRAR installed on my computer... why would that impact the download link?

When I click the download link I get this:

 

[Arexander]

Ah, that's the browser trying to open the file instead of downloading it. Right-click on the download link and select the option to save it to your computer (not sure about the exact wording, I don't have my OS in English) and it should let you download the file.