Civ IV odd filestructure; how to apply "Blue Marble?"

[Pangaea]

To be fair, he just said he tried the mod again and it still didn't work. No idea what is wrong, but clearly something. Have you tried to uninstall and re-install the game? Might be worth a shot - just in case.

I'm not familiar enough with the various mods here to say anything general about the level of documentation. However, I see that with the BULL mod there are several .txt files, including a readme with clear instructions on how to install it. BUG has an install exe too, so not sure if there is documentation in case that doesn't work for some reason.

Supplying documentation is always preferable, ofc, but we are dealing with people who do this on a hobby basis so they probably won't put in time to test on various setups and so forth. Maybe this problem is so rare they don't even know about it. Install .exes tend to work as intended afterall.

 

[tim28403]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=158

Sorry pal, I don't really get you. You get a lot of great mod stuff here and a lot of people from the forum trying to help you - and all we hear from you is calling people "lazy" and "incompetent"? Do you really think this is an OK attitude - if you're the one who wants or needs help? Well whatever. Wasting my time here. CU...

The link you provided is utterly useless for the topic at hand; apparently you cannot grasp this discussion -- the problems caused by lack of proper documentation.

You pop up out of nowhere, offer nothing useful, and take offense when none was given. You remind me of those miserable people who drive others to walk on eggshells; a psychopathy sufferers are never self-aware of.

I'm an adult and a rationalist. I discuss the world as it is; good, bad, pleasant, unpleasant , whatever. If you're looking for someone to preach to the choir, bow down obediently to the lords, give kudos all day long (whether deserved or not), or anything of that sort - I suggest you not bother reading my posts.

 

[r_rolo1]

Moderator Action: Let's keep the accusations about psychopathy or bad attitudes out, pls. We are not here to discuss each other psyches, but a issue with the OP game

On the topic: Blue marble originally had two forms: the exe one and a zip that was to be extracted to the CustomAssets folder. The exe one has that page The_J posted as documentation and the zip had a nfo file for the same propose. By some reason the modder discarded the zip version some time ago when he fused BM with another mod he had, CivScale ...

 

[Kaosprophet]

The link you provided is utterly useless for the topic at hand; apparently you cannot grasp this discussion -- the problems caused by lack of proper documentation.

The issue is that you're working with what appears to be a version of the mod that was dropped in favor of packaging the contents into more extensive mods. Documentation tends to disappear when that happens, because the focus is on the new version; particularly when the project is being maintained by enthusiasts.

Documentation wouldn't have helped you out anyway, since all it could do is tell you to do what you did in the first place: in case of failure, try these steps (which you did) and if that fails go to community support (which, again, you did by coming here.) Most it might have done was save you some google-time by pointing you directly to the support forum.

And based on similar precedents, I would wager that it would have ended with you coming here ranting about how the documentation was "misleading and useless" instead of non-existent.

As for the charge of incompetence: a singular oversight on an otherwise quality project is just that, a singular oversight. I save my charges of incompetence for examples where the oversights outnumber the quality work.

 

[gps]

To get this tread back to constructive: something that solved a similar issue with another game franchise for me years ago, where a game thought is was allready installed based on the registry entries of one of it's predecessors - although it definitely wasn't. Usually information regarding all installed games / software / whatever is stored in the registry which can be accessed and changed by entering REGEDIT after pressing the start button. Maybe the mods installation routine checks here whether and how the game is installed before continuing properly. If the best buy version names it's entries there in a different way than the standard Civ installation does, the mod (that's pprobably programmed based on the standard version) might not be able to find the best buy version. So renaming it properly might solve the problem. Just an idea, sorry I can't be more elaborate. I have to admit I am rather incompetent in terms of REGEDITing and had a step by step instruction for the corrections described above...

 

[tim28403]

The issue is that you're working with what appears to be a version of the mod that was dropped in favor of packaging the contents into more extensive mods. Documentation tends to disappear when that happens, because the focus is on the new version; particularly when the project is being maintained by enthusiasts.

Documentation wouldn't have helped you out anyway, since all it could do is tell you to do what you did in the first place: in case of failure, try these steps (which you did) and if that fails go to community support (which, again, you did by coming here.) Most it might have done was save you some google-time by pointing you directly to the support forum.

And based on similar precedents, I would wager that it would have ended with you coming here ranting about how the documentation was "misleading and useless" instead of non-existent.

As for the charge of incompetence: a singular oversight on an otherwise quality project is just that, a singular oversight. I save my charges of incompetence for examples where the oversights outnumber the quality work.

A fair analysis for the most part.

My "concern" if you will, is if it happened to me - with nothing unusual about my computer or my game purchase - it's surely happened and will happen again (because the mod still sits there as it is) to others.

Many probably managed their way through the glitch it but I bet a fair number of people quietly abandoned the mod (you know; if it doesn't work right away, the heck with it.) Blue Marble is an excellent stand-alone mod; I see no reason why one would not want to use it as is -- without having to download some other mod just to gain access. I use it with a mod ("New Balance") that doesn't have it embedded.

By the way, when you unzip Blue Marble there is a short list of files, including a .text file. Problem is though -- the .text file is full of unintelligible gibberish. Being there are only a few files in the program, heck -- why not just put in a brief, simple, "read me" instructing where to place the contents? That would quickly and easily solve all installation problems!

And on a final note, that I've gone through all this posting is not simply because I was irritated (at the ripe age of 60 I've been irritated more than enough times already and can deal with it); but because I hate the idea of others abandoning an excellent mod or wasting so much time trying to get it to work. It's the "cumulative loss" that is so unnecessary. I hope you understand where I'm coming from.

 

[tim28403]

To get this tread back to constructive: something that solved a similar issue with another game franchise for me years ago, where a game thought is was allready installed based on the registry entries of one of it's predecessors - although it definitely wasn't. Usually information regarding all installed games / software / whatever is stored in the registry which can be accessed and changed by entering REGEDIT after pressing the start button. Maybe the mods installation routine checks here whether and how the game is installed before continuing properly. If the best buy version names it's entries there in a different way than the standard Civ installation does, the mod (that's pprobably programmed based on the standard version) might not be able to find the best buy version. So renaming it properly might solve the problem. Just an idea, sorry I can't be more elaborate. I have to admit I am rather incompetent in terms of REGEDITing and had a step by step instruction for the corrections described above...

Thanks for the tip but unless one is highly capable with the inner workings of a computer I'd recommend staying away from the registers -- other than using a standard registry cleaner (available free from download dot com or similar sources.)

If a mod required me to go into my REGEDIT program simply to make it work; this would be the point where I'd toss the mod out. We're here to enjoy the games, not teeter on the brink of wrecking our computers, LOL!

By the way, this is one heck of a game isn't it. I can't believe how many reading hours I've diverted to this enterprise... Yikes.

 

[gps]

Thanks for the tip but unless one is highly capable with the inner workings of a computer I'd recommend staying away from the registers --

You're welcome.
And you're right here. I would not recommend this either, however you pushed us quite hard to provide a solution. As said before from my point of view the modder made a lot of effort to esure this mod is as quick and easy to hande as possible. If this is really an issue of your Best Buy version (which may or may not have been around when the modder created his mod) using different registry entries than the standard version does, then this is not easy to fix. But you also could not blame the modder for a situation he could not anticipate or solve preventive, nor has he any obligation to buy and test his mod with any version available anywhere.

By the way, this is one heck of a game isn't it. I can't believe how many reading hours I've diverted to this enterprise... Yikes.

Nothing to add here.