Expansions, mods: confused...

[BrantleyL1]

I know there are two expansion packs out...
Warlords
Beyond the Sword (BTS)
And the original version is referred to as Vanilla......

I have vanilla and am contemplating a purchase.

From what I've read here, the BTS expansion pack also contains the changes that are in Warlords.

There are several folks who post (including Firaxis, Realms Beyond and individual posters) saved games (usually starting points) so we can all compete and/or learn.

I know that Warlords saved games cannot be played in Vanilla.

And I played an Game of the Month (or two) which requires the Hall of Fame (HOF) Mod. I know that when starting Civ, I can go to options and have it load up the HOF. (I know that you can set one of the option files to do this automatically, but I don't want to do that. I've also never completely understood WHY the HOF mod exists.)


When/IF I install Warlords, what does that do? Are there two versions of Civ on my PC? Or do I have to select an option when starting it to start in Warlords mode? Can I continue to play either a vanilla or warlords game?

The same thoughts apply to BTS. If I had all 3, could I pick and choose which version to play??

And if I bought just BTS, can I load up and play a save from vanilla, BTS AND Warlords??

I feel like I'm still learning about some elementary aspects of the vanilla game and don't want to muddy the waters by moving on to the expansion version. BUT, it might be fun to load up a saved game from Warlords (or BTS) that someone posted and "follow along" on their commentary - playing a shadow version.

Hope my questions make sense.

 

[GVBN]

When/IF I install Warlords, what does that do? Are there two versions of Civ on my PC? Or do I have to select an option when starting it to start in Warlords mode? Can I continue to play either a vanilla or warlords game?

Installing Warlords creates a new directory inside Civ4 directory and puts all Warlords game data there, leaving vanilla files untouched

So yes, you have two versions of Civ:
- Vanilla civ, located in C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4
- Warlords civ, located in C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Warlords

You can start vanilla by running Civilization4.exe and Warlords by running Civ4Warlords.exe. BTS works in similar way

 

[BrantleyL1]

Installing Warlords creates a new directory inside Civ4 directory and puts all Warlords game data there, leaving vanilla files untouched

So yes, you have two versions of Civ:
- Vanilla civ, located in C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4
- Warlords civ, located in C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Warlords

You can start vanilla by running Civilization4.exe and Warlords by running Civ4Warlords.exe. BTS works in similar way

OK, that makes sense....

But, will BTS load a warlords game??

From what I read, BTS contains the mods for warlords. By that I assume that it (BTS) has the leaders, trait modifications, etc. from the Warlords changes -- PLUS, the new leaders, new traits, modern weapons, etc.

I suspect that if I want to load/play a warlords game that someone uploaded, that I will need Warlords...

 

[GVBN]

No it won't load Warlords games, you'll have to buy Warlords separately