Graphics Errors with BAT Mod

[lymond]

Oh...I didn't realize BULL was not in 2.0. The problem with BULL is the optional components appear to be rather difficult to get working, unless there is some tutorial somewhere and a way to get the tools needed to compile.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Hi

Just wanted to say tyvm Lemon for the fix info and link for vd 7.5 you rock

Kaytie

I rock? *blush*

Thank you.

hey, I tried the work-around that Lemon Merchant posted above and it seemed to work for a while but I still get crashes to desktop very frequently.

A number of people are still having problems. I seem to have the strangest computer on CFC. Civ works on Windows 7, the BAT-VD fix works without crashes. Now if I could just keep the darn thing from blowing up...

 

[EmperorFool]

There are tutorials on CFC for "compiling a DLL using Visual C++", especially Refar's tutorial. I include a makefile and the sources with BULL, along with all of the optional components. Merging in the XML changes required is pretty easy, and there are tutorials on XML files all over the web.

Unfortunately, dealing with Visual C++ is non-trivial, and when things go wrong it can be very difficult to figure out why without specialized knowledge. At this point I do not have time to help each user figure out how to compile a DLL, but others might be willing to help if you post in the SDK/Python forum.

 

[EmperorFool]

@Lemon Merchant - Have you been able to continue games that used to crash under stock BAT 2.1? If you haven't tried any of your own games, could you please grab one or two from this thread that crash and see if you can open them on your modded BAT 2.1LM?

This will help verify the problem as VD or BULL.

 

[phungus420]

I'm sure it's VD, as there are numerous reports that 0.8 crashes in the VD thread. The most logical thing to do would be to abandon the modular loading of VD, combine the necessary XML files and run it through civchecker.

 

[EmperorFool]

The most logical thing to do would be to abandon the modular loading of VD, combine the necessary XML files and run it through civchecker.

Oh boy, that sure does sound like a lot of fun! Alerum had considered doing that a year or so ago so that BAT could work in the CustomAssets folder. The main problem is that each new release of VD would need to be redone, again and again, unless Avain converted VD himself (or used whatever someone else produced as a new base).

Any takers?

 

[phungus420]

Well I've offered LoR's ethnic art before. I'm in the process of splitting out all the BtS standard ethnic art so that I could release a pure art mod with no gameplay changes based off LoR's art. The issues I have is that LoR's graphic artist has disappeared (said his computer had fried and couldn't get online easily on the 12th of November and haven't heard back from him since), so the art is where it is, and doesn't look like it'll be continually updated like VD's is. Avain also has disapeared, though you can see in his profile he still logs in, he just hasn't posted, or fixed the his mod... which is odd.

Currently LoR's and VD's art are pretty similar, I can't tell them apart. Achilleszero and Avain were sharing each others work, so the only differences in chosen ethnic models are due to the artistic preferences of them. But yeah, like I've said before I can package up LoR's art into an ethnic art pack for BAT if you guys want it. Hell, I'll even package the installer, and pack the art in an FPK in the process.

 

[KaytieKat]

Hi

::sigh:: something told me it couldnt be THAT easy. Was trying agme with the lemon and fix and it was going great no crashes or anything THEN:



I hit ren era and LOTS of the city style art just disappears :/. Some impovements also disappear tooo--ALL the floodplains in that screenie are cottaged but the cottages are invisible. Regular 2.1 had a minor glitch where the ren (or maybe it was indy era) forts would turn invisible. They still worked and if you moused over a forted tile it would say it had a fort and it would give defensive bonuses and hook up resources etc its just that the tile didnt show any fort graphic. But once you hit the modern era the forts art showed up again. That wasnt too bad since I hardly use forts much and them being invisible but still working for JUST one era wasnt too distracting. Im not sure if that was a VD issue tho since Emp told me to post about it their and I was told by the VD ppl that it looked like more an issue with the city art styles mod whatever it is that is being use. However whatever the glitch may be ENTIRE cities (nothing showing up but arts for wonders and wall/castles everything else is invisible) disappearing as well as all cottages is a little more jarring :/. Did anybody else have this problem and is there a way to fix it?

Kaytie

 

[Lemon Merchant]

@Lemon Merchant - Have you been able to continue games that used to crash under stock BAT 2.1?

I found my old crashed saves on my backup HD and I was able to load them from the crashed point and continue. I had previously finished a couple of un-loadable games after applying the fix with no problems at all.

If you haven't tried any of your own games, could you please grab one or two from this thread that crash and see if you can open them on your modded BAT 2.1LM?

I grabbed three saves from this thread:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=343349

I wasn't able to load any of them, either in game, or from the command line. I would get the error that it could not uncompress game data, then a CTD. This doesn't happen with any of my games, so I think it must be that these saves are referencing something that I don't have installed, however, they do load BAT 2.1 then freeze. There are no XML errors other than the uncompress message, and "Load Failure"

This will help verify the problem as VD or BULL.

I have to agree with Phungus on this one, the problem is not BULL. BULL works fine when used with BUG, and everything works fine when used with VD 7.5 as applied to BAT 2.1 as a downgrade. Currently in my system, I have the following third party mods installed:

BUG 4.2
BAT 2.1, downgraded to Varietas 7.5, with the following VD component add-ons worked into the downgrade:
- Hungary, Poland, Australia, Cuba, and Polynesia Civ packs
- Native America Expanded
- Leaders of Varietas Delectat
Legends of Revolution 0.9.8b

As I've mentioned a couple of times, I have zero issues in game play, and no crashes at all, and I have completed a number of games without issue, both from a fresh start, and I have resumed a couple of crashed games after downgrading. I don't understand the uncompress error, other than what I've stated above.

If it helps, I can take some screenies of my directory structure with respect to the downgrade. I can post them tomorrow evening if you'd like to see them.

EDIT: @KaytieKat: Eeek! I haven't noticed this yet. I'm playing an LoR game atm, but maybe someone else has seen this happen...

 

[phungus420]

That's an LSystem error. It means the civilization artstyle is in the GlobalTypes.xml, but there is no referenced art in the LSystem files for that artstyle, specifically in that era since that's when the buildings disappear. I can't think of any easy fixes for that. I've checked Avain's account again and he logged in today, just hasn't posted on civfanatics for like a month. Maybe someone should PM him and see what's up.

 

[KaytieKat]

Hi

Just thought maybe this would give clearer picture of what happens:

Screenie of city in med ere 1 turn b4 ren ere:



Everything looks normal you see the cottages and achen looks like a nice developed city althouth with some yucky and happy problems

Then next turn when in ren era:




Cottages dissapear although you can see from mouse over game still says they r there you just cant see em and aachen now has grpahic where you just see the castle walls around a few wonders and a vacant lot.

I go into wb add some indy techs and:



Cottages come back and achen not a vacant lot anymore.

Kaytie

edit: okies just saw lemons and phungus's post so guess ther eno easy fix :/.

I know this probably the place to ask and sounds really selfish but is there ANY way to get the unit style graphics changes but NOTHING else to work with bug? That is pretty much the ONLY reason I keep trying to use BAT. I LOVE the unit graphics (although I do miss the ninja axes of japon) but all the other stuff the quotes, the flags (actaually I like the default banners so much better I always take out the flags mod) even the city art and improvement art styles I can do without and tthat seems to be where all these glitches come from --just trying to put sooo many diff mods all in one package. Cuz I dont think bat has worked 100% since like version .9 or something. It makes me miss version 1.0 where only glitch was that some of the civs team colors got mixed around but otherwise graphics worked. If there was just someway to get all the cool unit graphics and regular bug/bull features without all that other stuff I would be happy and maybe there wouldnt be as many glitches from trying to put so much different stuff together.

 

[KaytieKat]

Hi

I did a lil test and uninstalled bat2.1 and reinstalled it and then loaded my game and all the buuildings on the map work so it seems like there is something going on when I merge the assets folder to downgrade from VD 8 stuff to vd 7.5.

I TRIED to do a test run with vd7.5 but I cant get it work. I uninstalled and reienstalled it and can load it as a mod but anytime I try to start a game when a game loads they is NO command buttons and I get a mssage saying "cannot find xml for mod init" or something like that and end up just having to quit the game :/

But aside from vd 7.5 itself not loading right on its own it seems like the problem has to do with merging the assets. I did notice that after merge there ends up being two cultural city styles fpk's one is "cultural citystyles v0.55wh.fpk" which is from vd 7.5 and one is cultural citystyles v0.80.fpk which was in the assets folder of bat2.1 originally. Now thinking just like there shouldnt be two vd fpk's maybe there shouldnt be two citystyles fpks but taking out the 0.55 one doesnt seem to make any difference and taking out the 8.0 makes it even worse cuz then not only are the cottages etc still inivisble but there are now lots of pink blobs in the cities. So I am kinda out of ideas now :/

Kaytie

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Hi

I did a lil test and uninstalled bat2.1 and reinstalled it and then loaded my game and all the buuildings on the map work so it seems like there is something going on when I merge the assets folder to downgrade from VD 8 stuff to vd 7.5.

I TRIED to do a test run with vd7.5 but I cant get it work. I uninstalled and reienstalled it and can load it as a mod but anytime I try to start a game when a game loads they is NO command buttons and I get a mssage saying "cannot find xml for mod init" or something like that and end up just having to quit the game :/

But aside from vd 7.5 itself not loading right on its own it seems like the problem has to do with merging the assets. I did notice that after merge there ends up being two cultural city styles fpk's one is "cultural citystyles v0.55wh.fpk" which is from vd 7.5 and one is cultural citystyles v0.80.fpk which was in the assets folder of bat2.1 originally. Now thinking just like there shouldnt be two vd fpk's maybe there shouldnt be two citystyles fpks but taking out the 0.55 one doesnt seem to make any difference and taking out the 8.0 makes it even worse cuz then not only are the cottages etc still inivisble but there are now lots of pink blobs in the cities. So I am kinda out of ideas now :/

Kaytie

Kaytie, can you post a save of the game where the buildings disappeared, just before they went away? I would like to try loading it in my machine and see what happens.

I also renamed the Cultural Citystyles v8.0.FPK in my Assets folder and started a new game. I didn't get pink blobs but I played less than 200 turns as a quick test. A longer game is necessary. I think that the newer Citystyles file isn't needed for the game to work, and may actually be confusing the game engine. And, stupidly enough, I think it depends on the civ that you play, as it draws different artwork from the files for the ethnic flavor. I think that I just got lucky and didn't use a civ that had competing artwork between the two files. If I understand this right, (using some wacky feminine logic, barely remembered C courses in college, and extrapolating from some comments by Phungus and EF), a call for a single game resource that comes from two different places will cause both to fail to load (The game can't make up it's mind, so it ignores the conflicting information) - viola! No cottages!

This is my theory anyway. I'll test more over the holidays.

 

[EmperorFool]

I would expect that it uses the first one it finds, searching the files and folders in some order (who knows what). When you rename an FPK, it's important to change its file extension (the .fpk part) rather than it's base name because BTS will load all *.fpk files. At least, that's how it works for the XML files. Best is to move it out of the Assets folder entirely.

 

[KaytieKat]

Hi

Hope everybody had a nice x-mas

I did a cpl of more tests and HOPEFULLY I got it all sorted out. Thinking MAYBE for some reason it was VD 7.5 acting screwy I downloaded 7.0 and and merged that with bat and tried that. Same dealio UNTIL I removed the 8.0 cuktural city styles fpk. I didnt keep the save from that game I showed screenies of above cuz I started playing new games before I saw Lemon asking for it (sorry Lemon).

But it was duplicable in wb. I would start a game use wb to plob some cottages then use it to give the ren techs and cottages and city disappear and then when I gave it indy techs they would come back.

HOWEVER like I sad when I removed the newer cultural city styles.fpk and started a NEW game THIS time cottages and city art all stayed.

So thinking I maybe only THOUGHT I removed the 8.0 city style fpk so I uninstalled bat and vd again. reinstalled bat and this time vd 7.5. Removed the 8.0 citystyles fpk (and yeah like emp says whenever someone say to rename a file to "old" I just remove it from folder completely) and did wb test again and THIS tme the cottages etc all satyed in ren era.

So thinking MAYBE it fixed I started up a new game with carthage and tried to play it to ren era (I say TRIED cuz my neighbors in that game were shaka, monty and vicky so actually GETTING to ren era was no gurantee hehe) But I did and all cottages and city art stayed this time. ANd also saw I WASNT imagining pink blobs when I said I tried removing the 8.0 citsyle fpk cuz they were back. ALthough on closer look they wrent really all THAT blobby:



Im PRETTY sure thats supposed to be a forge. I had a city 3 turns from building a forge whip it and sure enuff while it didnt have bright pink building b4 it did as soon as forge was whipped. I THEN went into wb and added INdy techs and all the hot pink forges disappeared.

Now I have NOOO I idea WHY it started working. ONLY thing I did differet from before was installing VD first THEN Bat THEN merging instead of installing Bat first which I dont THINK should make any diff. Only other thing is I guess maybe that earlier game was all messed up and changing the folders couldnt save it. Or it was just a xmas miracle hehe.

Anyways as long as the cottages and most of city art sticks around I can live with blacksmiths getting in touch with their feminine side for the ren era. So thanks Lemon and everybody If anybody else had this problem then just removing the new cultural citystyles.fpk and leaving the olderone from vd 7.5 fixes it Just sorry it took me soo long to figure out but when it comes to computery stuff like this I am TOTALLY lost hehe.

Kaytie

 

[_Phaethon_]

Due to a blown up hard disk and motherboard, I've had to do the reinstall of BAT 2.1/VD 7.5 twice now, and both times it has worked flawlessly. To clarify, I did this:

1. Install BAT 2.1 as normal.
2. Install VD 7.5 as normal.
3. Install any Civ and expansion packs to VD as normal.
4. When you're happy that everything in VD is installed the way you wish, drag the Assets folder from VD to the BAT 2.1 folder. Tell Windows to merge the folders and overwrite every duplicate file.
5. Rename "Varietas Delectat v8.0.fpk" (In the main BAT folder) to "Varietas Delectat v8.0.old", and make sure that "Varietas Delectat v7.5.fpk" is in the same folder.

Voila! BAT should work with all of 2.1's goodness, but it won't crash anymore. I've played four complete games after doing this with no issues at all. Don't give up, it really does work.

BAT 2.1 installs into C:\Users\John\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\MODS\BAT 2.1

VD 7.5 is trying, by default, to install into C:\Program Files (x86)\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword (I'm using Vista 64, with UAC disabled, just in case).

What is the right course of action? Where should I install VD?

Slightly irrelevant to the aforementioned issue, from sourceforge.net: "Both BUG and BAT work with the Unofficial 3.19 Patch as long as you install it to the BTS Assets folder." Is this C:\Users\John\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\Assets or C:\Program Files (x86)\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Assets ?

This is very confusing for me and my non-existent programming\modding abilities.

Thanks in advance.

 

[EmperorFool]

Where should I install VD?

You're just copying the files out of VD's folder into BAT's, so it doesn't matter. Let VD install where it wants.

Slightly irrelevant to the aforementioned issue, from sourceforge.net: "Both BUG and BAT work with the Unofficial 3.19 Patch as long as you install it to the BTS Assets folder." Is this C:\Users\John\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\Assets or C:\Program Files (x86)\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Assets ?

The latter, but BAT includes BULL which includes the Unofficial Patch (older version, but unless you remove BULL you can't use the newer version until I update it). BUG already contains the XML/Python fixes from the UP, and BULL includes the DLL fixes.

 

[_Phaethon_]

Very prompt and accurate response.

Thank you, kind sir.

 

[ruff_hi]

Should we either pull BAT v2.1 due to its borked nature ... or issue a corrected update?

 

[phungus420]

If you give me a couple days I'll package up a corrected update. Was actually working on it, however got sidetracked by a couple of issues that crept up in LoR.