Civ4 Map Finder Announced!

[Denniz]

As part of the HOF Mod V1.61.004 we are releasing a new utility. Those of you who are Civ3 HOF veterans will remember Moonsinger's Map Finder utility. In the spirit of the original we bring you Civ4 Map Finder!

For those who are unfamiliar with Map Finder, it's a utility that allows your computer to generate start positions while you're doing something else. When you come back, you'll find multiple start files waiting for you to pick and play from, the amount depending on how specific your criteria and runtime was.

Civ4 Map Finder comes in two parts. The first part is contained within the HOF Mod Version 1.61.004. The second part is a separate install with a couple of VB programs (see attached images):

• Civ4 Map Finder Rule Builder
• Civ4 Map Finder Report

See the MapFinder tab on the mod page for details and the download link.

Enjoy!

[Edit]If you are geting the "specified module could not be found" error check this thread.[/Edit]

Edit2: Link to Civ4 Map Finder 1.1 beta VB App download.

 

[DaveMcW]

Cool!

First impression: I hate the Update Row button. My changes should update automatically as soon as I make them.

The ruleset is missing the following items:
- Settler is standing on a 2-hammer city tile
- Settler is standing on a 3-hammer city tile

There should be a way to load a savegame directly from the mapfinder report. Also, make the name of the save easier to find.

I changed my "Save File Path" to C:\Documents and Settings\David\My Documents\My Games\Civ4\Saves\single\Map Finder. But the reporting tool is still looking in C:\Program Files\Ci4_Map_Finder\Saves.

 

[Denniz]

First impression: I hate the Update Row button. My changes should update automatically as soon as I make them.

The update row button is a bit awkward, I am not sure it would be better the other way round. If enough people agree, it is easy enough to change.

The ruleset is missing the following items:
- Settler is standing on a 2-hammer city tile
- Settler is standing on a 3-hammer city tile

I am expecting there to be many suggestions along these lines. They will come in two categories. Those that can be done without HOF Mod changes and those that would have to be included in a future release of the Mod. This one would be mod change. BTW, what would be a 3-hammer tile? Are you talking a non-Ancient start?

There should be a way to load a savegame directly from the mapfinder report. Also, make the name of the save easier to find.

Interesting idea. I will look into it.

I changed my "Save File Path" to C:\Documents and Settings\David\My Documents\My Games\Civ4\Saves\single\Map Finder. But the reporting tool is still looking in C:\Program Files\Ci4_Map_Finder\Saves.

The Map Finder Report doesn't read the HOF ini file. Use the Set Dir menu option to look at your savegames.

 

[DaveMcW]

BTW, what would be a 3-hammer tile? Are you talking a non-Ancient start?

Stone or Marble on a plains hill. And various strategic resource in later starts.

The Map Finder Report doesn't read the HOF ini file. Use the Set Dir menu option to look at your savegames.

I want to change it permanently. It's useless changing the HOF ini path if I have to reset Map Finder Report every time I open it.

 

[Denniz]

Stone or Marble on a plains hill. And various strategic resource in later starts.

Ah, I hadn't considered settling on those. Okay, suggestion noted.

I want to change it permanently. It's useless changing the HOF ini path if I have to reset Map Finder Report every time I open it.

Yeah, I thought about having it read the ini file, but I expect the whole management of savegames will turn out to be more complex. For now, why don't you uninstall and reinstall under My Games?

Also, make the name of the save easier to find.

I think I missed this one before. The name was a real estate issue. I guess I could add a text line instead of just putting it in the tooltip of the picture.

__________________________________

All good points. Thanks for the feedback. This is a 1.0 release. I keep as much external from the Mod as possible to allow for these kind of changes. I figured there would be alot.

 

[DaveMcW]

Some more feedback.

When I mimimize Map Finder Report I get:

Using a ruleset of "2 farm resources, 2-tile radius" I get this map. The second corn is not in a 2-tile radius of the settler. Also, does the radius refer to a cultural border or square?

 

[JungleIII]

Looks like you've been busy. Very interesting feature! I'll give it a go! It seems to produce those maps really fast

 

[Denniz]

Some more feedback.

When I mimimize Map Finder Report I get:

Using a ruleset of "2 farm resources, 2-tile radius" I get this map. The second corn is not in a 2-tile radius of the settler. Also, does the radius refer to a cultural border or square?

Thanks. I will look into these in the morning.

A 2-tile radius would be the same as your fat-cross if you settle in place. (ie. It ignores the corners.)

 

[JungleIII]

O.K... I am not seeing the above "buttons" people speak of. I can activate MapFinder and it goes through several map generations and then I stop it after 6 or so. I then have to manually load the games from the save file. What "buttons" and what "report" are people referring to... What I have is as cumbersome as just regenerating maps on my own...

Thanks... ...Jim

 

[Denniz]

O.K... I am not seeing the above "buttons" people speak of. I can activate MapFinder and it goes through several map generations and then I stop it after 6 or so. I then have to manually load the games from the save file. What "buttons" and what "report" are people referring to... What I have is as cumbersome as just regenerating maps on my own...

Thanks... ...Jim

Are you using the Report program to view your saves? Menu option: Civ4 Map Finder Report.

 

[Denniz]

Using a ruleset of "2 farm resources, 2-tile radius" I get this map. The second corn is not in a 2-tile radius of the settler. Also, does the radius refer to a cultural border or square?

There is a bad line in the test range logic. Effectively, the range is always whatever is visible.

It will be fixed in the next HOF Mod release. Whether that is sooner rather than later is TBD. Waiting for bit to see what, if anything, else shakes out is probably the wisest course of action, at this point.

 

[Big_Ben]

Jungle: There are two seperate installs for this program. You must install the HOF mod update and the seperate install itself. Then you use the map finder report utility to check the save files rather than loading them directly into civ4

 

[DaveMcW]

The ruleset is missing the following items:
- Settler is standing on a 2-hammer city tile
- Settler is standing on a 3-hammer city til

After more research, it looks like the settler can't spawn on top of a resource. So I'll modify my request to:
- Settler is standing on a plains hill
- There is a marble/plains/hill visible
- There is a stone/plains/hill visible

 

[dutchfire]

When I use it, I have to wait until it loads a game, even if it's a game that doesn't match the rules. Is this correct?

 

[RemoWilliams]

Could we have an option for the settler to settle?

Obviously, this reveals tiles, making the likelihood of finding the map you want much greater.

When I regen by hand I always do this.

Also, can we have a per-row setting for distance?

I may be able to find the time to help you guys work on the rule finder (or write a new one in c#, I'd probably want to redo the UI, as I find it pretty clunky).

 

[superslug]

Could we have an option for the settler to settle?

No, I'm afraid not.

 

[Lexad]

After more research, it looks like the settler can't spawn on top of a resource

Incorrect, if you're not speaking about particular stone/marble + plains hill combo. I've not witnessed the latter start also although I did a start with 3 marbles in fat cross

 

[RemoWilliams]

No, I'm afraid not.

May I ask why? I could see 3 reasons why not:

1. Against the rules -

You said it was within the rules in the 2nd post on this page:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=154736&page=2

Has that changed? Are we no longer allowed to settle and move on to the next regen?

2. Tecnically difficult

3. Classified

Wink wink nudge nudge, nuff said nuff said

 

[superslug]

Has that changed? Are we no longer allowed to settle and move on to the next regen?

No, that hasn't changed, you're still allowed to do that.

It's just that I don't feel a computer program should be giving the settle command instead of the human player. Map generating and utilities are all well and good, but HOF games should be played in their entirety by the human.

It's a very subtle line, but this is where I draw it.

 

[Lexad]

What if you settle and uncover the land and decide you'd better settle say 1 left? If you've already settled, that'd be a reload - you use info obtained from later in the game to improve your start.