General questions about mods

[furtigan]

Okay, I've never downloaded mods in my life, so forgive my stupidity. If I download multiple mods, will they all work? In other words, if I download the Firaxis patch, then somebody's new art for tiles, then a mod to add units, are they all going to work together? I expect this is not a yes/no thing, so any guidance given would be helpful. I am not very skilled with my computer, so go easy with the tech terms. And feel free to say "you really shouldn't screw with anything unless you absolutely know what you're doing."

Second, related, question: I download 18 mods and the game is a mess. Is there anything I can do to Civ3 that reinstalling won't fix? I reinstalled awhile ago after screwing with the editor and was alarmed to find some saved games that I did not remove from the folder within Civ 3. I thought these should have been erased.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Dearnen]

Each mod is a little different, since they do different things. Each should have its own readme.txt that explains how to install it, and just what it does. Some mods will not be compatible, others will work fine together.

For example, for my game, I downloaded the mod that changes the Wonder pics, the mod that changes the unit/improvement pics so you can see how much they cost, etc., and I downloaded the mod that changes the citizen pics so you can see their mood. These three mods work fine together because they modify completely different image files.

I have not downloaded any mods that change unit stats or any other gameplay data. If I did, it would work as advertised. However, if I downloaded a second such mod, it would replace the one I already downloaded, since they both effect the same civ3mod.bic file. However, I could rename either one and place it in the scenario folder, and thus play it as a scenario instead of a normal game. That way, I could have access to both mods, but not in the same game.

It all depends on which mods you are considering.

-Dearnen

 

[Dearnen]

Heh, oops. I forgot to answer your second question.

When a program is uninstalled, all of the files that were originally installed will be deleted (except those that are also used by other programs). Any files that were created later will remain, such as game files. When you reinstall, the installation will overwrite any files of the same name within the folder that you are installing into. Thus, you should not need to worry about mods interferring with reinstalls. However, you will need to reinstall the patch and any mods you do want to use, since they will be overwritten in the installation process.

-Dearnen

 

[furtigan]

That's all pretty much what I figured. Thanks.

 

[Fr8monkey]

The best way to add a mod is to save your origional Civ3.mod in seperate file and download new mods into a seperate file. then open the download and manually make changes to the origional mod. Then if things get too hairy, you just copy the origional (pre-changes mod) back into the Civ 3 file. This way you can make changes, try them; then if you don't like it you just replace it. I've gone in and used the Fundamentalism and Facist mods as well as using many other ideas mentioned (naval speeds/strenghts changes, changes to coulture and corruption, etc.). I know, it's confusing, but I never made ANY mod changes to any game untill Civ III; and I think I'm gettin' pretty good at it. Right now I am working on a few of the Wonders (Magelllen giving free harbors and Great Library giving free libraries etc)