Final Fixes Reborn

[Jerrian]

I'm getting closer to release, with my immediate todo list less than 10 item large ( it was 50 last week end ^^). I'm not giving a date yet though, as i already missed a couple for that one ^^
As for the Scions, yeah they have issues in 343, some consequences of my cutting the Creepers and missing a couple of reference to them. Should be fixed for 344

Thanks for your reply. Wow, it seems to be a really huge patch. maybe I ´ll wait then before I start a new game . As for the scions I noticed the "production finished" sound twice in a short row before my crashes dunno what this causes but as the Illians have stasis active I can only guess it is because I ´m terraforming tiles to haunted. I ´m not using creepers, but Rangers for it at the moment.

 

[black_imperator]

Thanks for your reply. Wow, it seems to be a really huge patch. maybe I ´ll wait then before I start a new game . As for the scions I noticed the "production finished" sound twice in a short row before my crashes dunno what this causes but as the Illians have stasis active I can only guess it is because I ´m terraforming tiles to haunted. I ´m not using creepers, but Rangers for it at the moment.

yeah, you cannot have creepers, but there are still some Scrion code that references them, which causes crashes.

As for the size of the patch, there's no major gameplay changes, but plenty of smaller content ( around 100 new lair results is the headline)

 

[black_imperator]

Revision 344 is out

 

[Nor'easter]

I just read the changelog for Revision 344, looks good, looking forward to trying it out.

BWT, I think you meant that the AI won't cast Hyborem's Whisper (not Pax Diabolis) on a major city.

 

[black_imperator]

no, i did mean Pax Diabolis ( the ritual that destroys a city to get peace with the demons).

 

[Nor'easter]

My mistake, sorry. I don't think I've ever used Pax Diabolis -- or if I did, it was so long ago that I didn't remember how it worked. And the 'pedia entry doesn't say that it destroys a city, although I guess you could infer that from what it does say, that a leader signs over the souls of their subjects. Anyway, my mistake, as I said.

 

[Nor'easter]

What are the Crime Balance Test and One Potion modules supposed to do? I understood the other new modules from the Revision 344 changelog, but these two weren't clear. I also ask because one or both of them seemed to be causing a crash on startup when I tried a Play Now game. Now that I've disabled them it looks like I can start up normally, at least a Play Now game.

Also, a Huge map has 25 starting civs, which seems like too many.

 

[black_imperator]

Crime Balance Test and OnePotion were already in 343. The first one is based on a suggestion someone made that, when you get a crime building, it actually decreases crime per turn a bit.
The second one allows units to carry only one type of potion at the same time.
I'll check them to see what possible way they can cause instability...

As for Huge map, i made a mistake. The file is the custom one i use for my extra-huge maps, and not the standard one. (you can revert to the 343 version of the map to get the smaller one, i'll commit it in a quickfix patch soon when i have other stuff to commit with it)

 

[Nor'easter]

Crime Balance Test and OnePotion were already in 343. The first one is based on a suggestion someone made that, when you get a crime building, it actually decreases crime per turn a bit.
The second one allows units to carry only one type of potion at the same time.
I'll check them to see what possible way they can cause instability...

As for Huge map, i made a mistake. The file is the custom one i use for my extra-huge maps, and not the standard one. (you can revert to the 343 version of the map to get the smaller one, i'll commit it in a quickfix patch soon when i have other stuff to commit with it)

If it helps, the modules I had active when the Play Now games crashed on startup were the following: Advanced Workers, Black Duke, Chislev Expansion, Churel, CrimeBalanceTest, Dao, Dural, Dwarves, Emergent Leaders, Everchanging, Flight of Drakes, Fortifications, Frozen, Lizard Art Fix, Magister Ashes, MOM Buildings, More Events, Noggormotha, One Potion, PPQ Effects, PPQ Flavor, PPQ Navy, and Scion Healthcare.

Speaking of the Dao, I didn't see in the changelog for Revision 344 a fix to the Calligraphy House, so I disabled that module. The problem I experienced when playing the Dao in Revision 343 was that trying to build the Calligraphy House appeared to cause a CtD, but I don't recall anyone else reporting that problem, so maybe my experience was a fluke.

 

[black_imperator]

Speaking of the Dao, I didn't see in the changelog for Revision 344 a fix to the Calligraphy House, so I disabled that module. The problem I experienced when playing the Dao in Revision 343 was that trying to build the Calligraphy House appeared to cause a CtD, but I don't recall anyone else reporting that problem, so maybe my experience was a fluke.

i'm sure i fixed the visual aspect of the calligraphy house at least, don't remember about the rest. I'll check tomorrow

 

[Nor'easter]

If it helps, whatever problem I was having starting a new game has gone away and I was able to start.

I deleted my Ashes of Erebus folder and then re-downloaded the latest SVN. I tried a Play Now game with the default modules and was able to start. I exited to desktop, used the launcher to choose which modules I wanted (activating some, disabling others), and again was able to start a Play Now game.

Specifically, I'm using these modules: Advanced Workers, Black Duke, Chislev Expansion, Churel, CrimeBalanceTest, Dao, Dural, Dwarves, Emergent Leaders, Everchanging, Flight of Drakes, Fortifications, Frozen, Lizard Art Fix, Magister Ashes, MOM Buildings, More Events, Node Yields, Noggormotha, One Potion, PPQ Effects, PPQ Flavor, PPQ Navy, and Scion Healthcare.

I exited to desktop again, used the launcher to launch AoE, kept the same modules active, then created a Custom Game using my preferred settings, and was able to start. So far, so good.

So looks like I was mistaken about the Crime Balance Test and One Potion modules possibly causing a crash on startup.

 

[Nor'easter]

I had a couple of questions and comments about some of the inactive modules.

1) Jotnar. My recollection is that the Jotnar module is disabled by default because the civ hasn't been balanced or is overpowered or something like that. Is that still the reason? I don't remember seeing any changes to the Jotnar in any of the SVN changelogs, which is why I ask.

2) More Arcane. I vaguely remember there being some problem with More Arcane, but I don't remember what it was, so I'm trying to remember why it's inactive by default.

3) Silver Circle just adds (or brings back) the Silver Circle World Wonder, right? And the related Alchemist unit? (Plus the prerequisite Alchemy Tech, I guess.)

4) Werepyre. I stopped using the Werepyre module when the death rate from the Conflicted Blood seemed much higher than I expected, so might be something to look into. It really only matters for the Calabim if they're able to build Duin and get other werewolves, but I thought it was a nice flavorful addition to the game, until my units started dying. I think the original thread said that the Conflicted Blood promotion lasts 5 turns, with a 7% chance each turn of killing the unit, but it felt like I was losing all of those units (I don't exactly remember, it was a while ago).

 

[black_imperator]

I had a couple of questions and comments about some of the inactive modules.

1) Jotnar. My recollection is that the Jotnar module is disabled by default because the civ hasn't been balanced or is overpowered or something like that. Is that still the reason? I don't remember seeing any changes to the Jotnar in any of the SVN changelogs, which is why I ask.

2) More Arcane. I vaguely remember there being some problem with More Arcane, but I don't remember what it was, so I'm trying to remember why it's inactive by default.

3) Silver Circle just adds (or brings back) the Silver Circle World Wonder, right? And the related Alchemist unit? (Plus the prerequisite Alchemy Tech, I guess.)

4) Werepyre. I stopped using the Werepyre module when the death rate from the Conflicted Blood seemed much higher than I expected, so might be something to look into. It really only matters for the Calabim if they're able to build Duin and get other werewolves, but I thought it was a nice flavorful addition to the game, until my units started dying. I think the original thread said that the Conflicted Blood promotion lasts 5 turns, with a 7% chance each turn of killing the unit, but it felt like I was losing all of those units (I don't exactly remember, it was a while ago).

1)Yeah, the civ is wholly unbalanced at the moment, overpowered in the hands of a player and very underpowered in the hands of the AI due to the randomness. I have a plan to rework them bu haven't got to it ( Ideally, i'd like someone to handle it for me, like Alsark did with the Chislev)

2) More Arcane, and most of the inactive by default modules are modules that were not made by the Rife or AoE teams, and thus aren't necessarily part of the plans i have. I keep them in the download to have something central with everything, and i maintain them, but i'm unlikely to add to them. for More Arcane specifically, i think there was something related to miscast, but i'll check

3) Yes exactly that

4) i've never really looked into the details of that one, but i'll check that death rate

 

[Ag0range]

Dear black_imperator, it's have been literally eons I was waiting for you to come back to keep advancing this marvelous project! I believed, and there you are, developing this great game!! You inspired me! I will keep pushing forward my personal projects as well, because the things I love in my life, like Final fixes reborn, do exist and move forward!!! Yeah!! =)

 

[Jerrian]

Thank you very uch fpr the update Black_Imperator and everyone who participated . I ´ll try out the new version and go for error/bug hunting ;-) . Any clue to this error message in modules and how to fix it?

edit:

I got another error when loading a game after update but got rid of it as I deleted all game files and made a full new installation of AOE.

I tried to start 3 new games, by the first attempt I forgot to start a singleplayer game first and got crush in customized game. In singleplayer I was able to start a game then, but I had no Interface (known phython bug) , second and third attempt to start an own customized game it crashed instant at 20% loading screen. I will try to delete the game cache again to get it work.

Note:
I ´m still using the regular game version, not steam version.

 

[black_imperator]

the error from the picture is not major, it's just a version name that's not using the planned format, no actual error caused by it.

As for the rest, do try to run BtS through Win7 compatibility mode, it should take care of most of the unstability ( though you'll still get an occasional crash during map creation, i haven't been able to pinpoint it yet)

 

[PPQ_Purple]

the error from the picture is not major, it's just a version name that's not using the planned format, no actual error caused by it.

If the version name is wrong on my module please forward me the details so that I can correct them for my next release.

 

[black_imperator]

If the version name is wrong on my module please forward me the details so that I can correct them for my next release.

the version name must be a number, not letters, so svn doesn't work. You can put 2021 or 344(the revision number) or something like that

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Oh. In that case feel free to change it to 2020 or when ever the last release was. And I'll start using numbers next time round. This said, according to my files it is a number and is stuck way back on 2017 because I forgot to update it. But it is a number.

 

[Jerrian]

the error from the picture is not major, it's just a version name that's not using the planned format, no actual error caused by it.

As for the rest, do try to run BtS through Win7 compatibility mode, it should take care of most of the unstability ( though you'll still get an occasional crash during map creation, i haven't been able to pinpoint it yet)

I ´m already using win7 compatibility mode. I was able to create a game after 3 further attempts, the 20% loading crash to desktop error is like you said a very known issue, the 20% loading is done, then you hear the short break in the music and you know the game is crashing right now:-D. I ´ve sometimes the feeling it is caused because the game is loading to quickly due to fast hardware as civ4 was more created for older hardware, but it ´s just a feeling.

I´m running a game with scions and as you said I´ve way less problems as in the previous revisions until now. Sometimes crashes when loading a savegame but it ´s rare, but I m still at round 100. The game usually get ´s more troublesome when there are more units and cities so this is an early review.

The new graphis and events are awesome btw. only thing I noticed is that the new mage tower model can be overseen very easily, as it is very small and the color of it nondescript.