Grakl
Chieftain
Grakl's Civilizaton 4 Mod Editor - Beta
This is my crack at making a fully functional Mod editor. My aim is to make it easy to use, reliable, and powerful. Base functionality should allow editing all CivilizationInfos properties while future versions hopefully will allow adding, editing, deleting the more complex mod aspects (units, buildings, techs). For simplicity, the Mod Editor for now only supports mods that are created for Beyond The Sword expansion. But you may assign text infos values from the previous products.
DDS Previewer (Edit ArtDefine Form)
DOWNLOAD
Current Features:
- Opens and parses CivilizationInfos and all corresponding XMLs, including Vanilla, Warlords, and BtS.
- Displays and allows changing of non-list properties (description, color, sounds, ...)
- Displays contents of list properites (Cities, Leaders, Techs...)
- Includes a Recent Projects menu for quick loading
- DDS previewer when editing the Art Define property (Buttons, Flags)
- Supports adding and deleting civilizations
To Do List:
- Mechanics for New projects
- Mechanics for Assigning/Removing list properties
- Tooltips
Wish List:
- Add Modular XML support
- Add Help topics
- Add backwards compatibility for Warlords and Vanilla
- Expand Editor to allow Adding/Editing/Deleting Units, Techs, Buildings, Civics, Leaders, Religions
Notes:
This is written in Visual Studio 2005 C# and thus requires that your PC have the .NET 2.0 framework installed. Which can be downloaded here.
Please please, remember, this is in BETA. So, always copy off a stable version of your mod before using the Mod Editor to manipulate your files. I'm not responsible for any mishaps that may occur, though I will be sad my work led you to it
. It doesn't do a whole lot yet, but I got it out the door and I believe it's reliable, though I have noticed 1 bug that causes 1 civ to copy the properties of another civ.
FAQ:
I accidentally selected the wrong folder when prompted for my Beyond the Sword directory or my mod directory, how do I fix this?
- Delete the config file generated by the Mod Editor, it should appear in the same directory as where the executable is, or you can edit it by hand if you know what you're doing.
None/Some of my flags and buttons are showing in the Art Define edit window.
- This could be caused by a couple issues. Make sure that the location for the button or flag file in the Art Define tag exists in your Mod folder structure. Also, the previewer currently doesn't support compilation DDS files, which are used by default civilizations. So if you have something like ,"Art/Interface/Buttons/Civilizations/America.dds 1, 5" then it's trying to reference a row/column in a compilation (at least I think).
Why is this not finished?
- Well, I'm married and have children for one thing, but regardless, I'm a UI developer IRL and so far I've sunk at least 12+ hours into the beta release, and I'm simply adding stuff I know how to do, I havn't spent any time on reasearch yet. Plus, I set a deadline (2 weeks) for myself to keep motivated, and I made it
. Don't worry, it's going to be constantly updated. I'm taking pride in my work if you can't tell by me arrogantly putting my handle in the Mod's title.
Suggestions, constructive criticisms, and complaints are fully accepted, and finally, Thank you for using my work, I take pride in knowing I'm contributing to the community.
This is my crack at making a fully functional Mod editor. My aim is to make it easy to use, reliable, and powerful. Base functionality should allow editing all CivilizationInfos properties while future versions hopefully will allow adding, editing, deleting the more complex mod aspects (units, buildings, techs). For simplicity, the Mod Editor for now only supports mods that are created for Beyond The Sword expansion. But you may assign text infos values from the previous products.

DDS Previewer (Edit ArtDefine Form)

DOWNLOAD
Current Features:
- Opens and parses CivilizationInfos and all corresponding XMLs, including Vanilla, Warlords, and BtS.
- Displays and allows changing of non-list properties (description, color, sounds, ...)
- Displays contents of list properites (Cities, Leaders, Techs...)
- Includes a Recent Projects menu for quick loading
- DDS previewer when editing the Art Define property (Buttons, Flags)
- Supports adding and deleting civilizations
To Do List:
- Mechanics for New projects
- Mechanics for Assigning/Removing list properties
- Tooltips
Wish List:
- Add Modular XML support
- Add Help topics
- Add backwards compatibility for Warlords and Vanilla
- Expand Editor to allow Adding/Editing/Deleting Units, Techs, Buildings, Civics, Leaders, Religions
Notes:
This is written in Visual Studio 2005 C# and thus requires that your PC have the .NET 2.0 framework installed. Which can be downloaded here.
Please please, remember, this is in BETA. So, always copy off a stable version of your mod before using the Mod Editor to manipulate your files. I'm not responsible for any mishaps that may occur, though I will be sad my work led you to it

FAQ:
I accidentally selected the wrong folder when prompted for my Beyond the Sword directory or my mod directory, how do I fix this?
- Delete the config file generated by the Mod Editor, it should appear in the same directory as where the executable is, or you can edit it by hand if you know what you're doing.
None/Some of my flags and buttons are showing in the Art Define edit window.
- This could be caused by a couple issues. Make sure that the location for the button or flag file in the Art Define tag exists in your Mod folder structure. Also, the previewer currently doesn't support compilation DDS files, which are used by default civilizations. So if you have something like ,"Art/Interface/Buttons/Civilizations/America.dds 1, 5" then it's trying to reference a row/column in a compilation (at least I think).
Why is this not finished?
- Well, I'm married and have children for one thing, but regardless, I'm a UI developer IRL and so far I've sunk at least 12+ hours into the beta release, and I'm simply adding stuff I know how to do, I havn't spent any time on reasearch yet. Plus, I set a deadline (2 weeks) for myself to keep motivated, and I made it

Suggestions, constructive criticisms, and complaints are fully accepted, and finally, Thank you for using my work, I take pride in knowing I'm contributing to the community.