Hammurabi - Immortal Cookbook

Quick response on mods:

No, BAT is a stand-alone mod and will only work with games created from BAT or forum games in which a WB file is provided - like Nobles Club.

This is the reason I use the CA changer to switch my CA copies. I use BAT with a clean CA and use the BUG/BULL CA for many of the forum games like Kossin's that have a normal save - not a WB file. I use BUFFY with my Blue Marble only CA folder.

Simply do not run BAT and BUG single-player at the same time. Using the CA switcher is easier once you set it up.

Not sure about the unofficial patch in BULL and how much it changes. I know some good players like Kossin use it, as well as bad players like myself.

Warlords/Vanilla mods and stuff are irrelevant to this conversation.
 
I'm still trying to figure out what I should be downloading (just BUG or other things as well). Let's just say that I am used to playing all of my games with either the BUFFY Mod or the Hall of Fame Mod (for Vanilla and Warlords games) whenever I am not playing a different Mod, so I'm new to this idea of playing the game without a Mod but with files in the Custom Assets folder.

In regards to BULL, I ran into the following on the related FAQ:

I'm not really sure what the unofficial patch includes, but could the existence of this potentially "altered" gameplay affect our games when someone continues from a game that used BULL when they aren't using BULL themselves, and vice versa?

So, would I equally be able to install BAT, since it seems to already contain BAT and BULL, or would BAT not work with the saves that we are playing with?

This info seems to imply two things:
1. I probably can't use BAT with these saved games (but confirmation would be appreciated if someone knows for sure)
2. You could probably feasibly edit an .ini file for each of your Mods, so that you wouldn't have to replace the files in your Custom Assets Folder every time that you wanted to play a Mod which should ignore the BUG files installed in Custom Assets.

Quick response on mods:

No, BAT is a stand-alone mod and will only work with games created from BAT or forum games in which a WB file is provided - like Nobles Club.

This is the reason I use the CA changer to switch my CA copies. I use BAT with a clean CA and use the BUG/BULL CA for many of the forum games like Kossin's that have a normal save - not a WB file. I use BUFFY with my Blue Marble only CA folder.

Simply do not run BAT and BUG single-player at the same time. Using the CA switcher is easier once you set it up.

Not sure about the unofficial patch in BULL and how much it changes. I know some good players like Kossin use it, as well as bad players like myself.

Warlords/Vanilla mods and stuff are irrelevant to this conversation.

To make it clear, I used BULL when making this save - however it's not affecting anything when anyone else opens it.

The Unofficial Patch mostly fixes glitches and bugs that are in 3.19. The only 'noticeable' difference that you could consider is the fact that they fixed the overflow bug... the extra hammers no longer vanish all the time (although if you overflow too much it is capped), basically they kept their fix from 3.17 (the likeliest way Firaxis intended it to work).

BUG goes into My Documents>My Games>BTS>Custom Assets.
When you run BUFFY it's stored in Program Files>Firaxis Games\2k Games>Civ 4>BTS>Mods>BUFFY. You should open the BUFFYx.ini in there and change

; Custom XML and Python from user folder are not loaded
NoCustomAssets = 0

to

; Custom XML and Python from user folder are not loaded
NoCustomAssets = 1

This way you don't need to have a backup Custom Assets folder, you can just run any game you download.

~~~

Having BULL is a bit different however: it installs some files into Custom Assets but it also uses a modified CvGameCoreDLL.dll to enable the nifty UI upgrades that you see in BUFFY while keeping the save compatible with clean installs!

Therefore if you want BULL you'll have to keep switching CvGameCoreDLL.dll as HoF saves will not accept the BULL dll.

To make the switching easier I created a link to my
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Assets
folder where both .dll files are stored.

In that folder I have 4 files:
CvGameCoreDLL.dll
CvGameCoreDLL.dll.bull or CvGameCoreDLL.dll.BUFFY
BULL to BUFFY.bat
BUFFY to BULL.bat

The .bat files make a name change between CvGameCoreDLL.dll.bull or CvGameCoreDLL.dll.BUFFY so that I don't have to do it manually each time... basically I have a 5 seconds procedure to do when I want to switch between BUFFY or BULL.

IMO having BULL is fantastic as you get 100% compatible saves without the hassle of loading a mod each time for other players, but you get all the nice features from BUFFY (like actual yields, partial improvements on tiles, better city info, etc...)

Sorry for the off-topic spam :)
 
kos - those executables are exactly what i need. I'm not good at dos coding. Would you mind uploading them here?
 
BUG goes into My Documents>My Games>BTS>Custom Assets...
When you run BUFFY it's stored in Program Files>Firaxis Games\2k Games>Civ 4>BTS>Mods>BUFFY. You should open the BUFFYx.ini in there and change...
Thanks for the help, Lymond and Kossin!

I was able to install BUG into BTS' Custom Assets folder and when I opened the Ctrl + Alt + O Options screen, there were definitely entries that were grey-out (disabled), which sounds like it is expected behaviour, as I didn't have BULL installed at that point.


After putting most of the BULL files into the same Custom Assets folder, with the exception of the .DLL which got placed in a different location, and after backing up the original .DLL, I overwrote the existing version of the .DLL. I was able to load the game and all of the options on the Ctrl + Alt + O Options screen appeared to be enabled.

Presumably, that means that I did things correctly and can now use BUG and BULL for the saved games in this thread.


After reverting the .DLL back to the original one, I was successfully able to load an old BOTM (BTS of the Month) game.


The .bat files make a name change between CvGameCoreDLL.dll.bull or CvGameCoreDLL.dll.BUFFY so that I don't have to do it manually each time... basically I have a 5 seconds procedure to do when I want to switch between BUFFY or BULL.
You could probably even go one step further and have your .bat file launch the game with the appropriate Mod parameter (BUFFY or without the Mod parameter when not playing with BUFFY). Then, you could replace your shortcut to loading the game to point at the relevant .bat file and just have two such .bat file shortcuts--one for using the BUFFY Mod and the other to use the BULL DLL.
 
kos - those executables are exactly what i need. I'm not good at dos coding. Would you mind uploading them here?
Really, it sounds like all that he is doing is using the DOS copy command to copy one file on top of another.

The syntax is simply:
Code:
copy c:\path1\file1 c:\path2\file2
After that command executes, file1 will get copied over top of file2.


The only really tricky part about executing such a command is when you have spaces in the names of your folders. For example, a folder named "Beyond the Sword" has two spaces in it. These spaces can mess up the reference to a path or a file, since each space acts as a separator between parameters. The way around this problem is use quotation marks "" around the entire path or file.

So, you'd probably want to use a command that looks like
Code:
copy "c:\path with spaces1\file1" "c:\path with spaces2\file2"


To avoid having to retype that command time after time, you can put it inside of a file with the file extension of .bat.

For example, I created buffy.bat and bull.bat using Notepad.

The tricky part with Notepad is that it sometimes likes to append a .txt file extension when you first save your file. To avoid this issue, in the File -> Save As... pop-up window, you'll can change the "Save as type" drop-down list option from "Text Document (*.txt)" to "All Files."


To add a bit of redundancy and safety from accidentally overwriting the wrong file, I created a backup copy of EACH of the BULL .DLL and the original .DLL in the "C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Assets" folder.

So, I have the following 3 files in that folder:
CvGameCoreDLL.dll
CvGameCoreDLL.dll.original (4834 KB in size)
CvGameCoreDLL.dll.bull (5132 KB in size)

You'll need to create those copies of the .dll if you want to use my versions of the .bat files.


When you're using Windows Explorer, double-clicking on a .bat file will execute it, just like double clicking on a .exe file will execute the file. To change the contents of that file, right-click on the file and chose the "Edit" option from the right-click pop-up menu.

If your path to Civ 4 is not the default path, then you'll need to edit the path to your Civ 4 directory in each of the two .bat files that I have supplied within the .zip file.


The Steps to follow:
Step 1: Create the "CvGameCoreDLL.dll.original" and "CvGameCoreDLL.dll.bull" files as copies of their respective "CvGameCoreDLL.dll" files. Place them in the same location that Kossin said to put BULL's "CvGameCoreDLL.dll" file (C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Assets).

Step 2: Download the .zip file that I have attached to this message.

Step 3: Extract the buffy.bat and bull.bat files from the .zip file to wherever you want to be able to double-click on them easily (say, to the Desktop, or your C:\ root folder, or wherever).

Step 4: Open Windows Explorer (Windows Key + e) and navigate to the folder where you unzipped the .bat files.

Step 5: One at a time, right click on each of the .bat files and chose the "Edit" command from the right-click pop-up menu.

Step 6: Look for the following line and change the path to match where you installed Civ 4:
Code:
set civ4path="C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4"

Step 7: Save your change if a change was necessary. Presumably, Notepad was opened, so you could just go File -> Save to save the change.

Step 8: Make sure that you did Steps 5 through 7 for both of the .bat files.

Step 9: Double click on the relevant .bat file. Hopefully, it will either just magically work or an appropriate error message will appear in a command prompt window to help you out in diagnosing the remaining problem.


Note that I offer no guaranties, warranties, or any other promises that these files will work or will not cause damage to your system or to your sanity.
 

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Here is my try. Went ahead without much planning, didn't even read your discussion so made a few things differently.

Spoiler :


Tech path was AH-Mining-BW-Writing

http://img266.imageshack.us/i/civ4screenshot0000u.jpg/

Settled in place. Don't remember who said that, but point was that if you aren't Deity level player SIP is better than moving almost always - wasn't terribly upset about what I got, because missed resources can be taken by filler city later.

http://img825.imageshack.us/i/civ4screenshot0001.jpg/

Second warrior found gold and I managed to take it with my first settler. Notice that I don't have mysticism yet, but that isn't that tragic, because gold is in first ring

http://img801.imageshack.us/i/civ4screenshot0002.jpg/

Here is situation at turn 50 - I will have second city and third worker after 2 turns, writing after 3. Got absolutely no plan how to continue and haven't scouted NE either, are there any good spots there ?

 
@Dhoomstriker

Glad to be of help!

@lymond
Dhoom's bat files are much more complete than mine and probably even faster... all I did was:

BULL to BUFFY
ren CvGameCoreDLL.dll CvGameCoreDLL.dll.bull
ren CvGameCoreDLL.dll.buffy CvGameCoreDLL.dll

BUFFY to BULL
ren CvGameCoreDLL.dll CvGameCoreDLL.dll.buffy
ren CvGameCoreDLL.dll.bull CvGameCoreDLL.dll

However you must put them in the Assets folder, meaning a shortcut there is useful. Probably using Dhoom's will be more 'profitable' to total civving time :D
 
Dhoom - THANKS, MAN!!! I got the executables to work for me. This has greatly improved my quality of life! :lol:

I commented out lines that start CIV since I just want to switch the dlls only, and labeled the "buffy" dll as "vanilla". Works great.

Now, if you know VB you could incorporate this into ruff_hi custom asset switcher tool :lol:
 
Here is my try.
Hey Edzako,

Do you have a saved game from Turn 50 that you can attach to your message?

The Attachments icon
attach.gif
, which you can see when editing your message or when posting a new message reply, will let you upload your saved game to the civfanatics.com server.

Also, note that if you change the [url ] tags to [img ] tags for your images, then the images will appear in-line within your message.
 
Dhoom - THANKS, MAN!!! I got the executables to work for me. This has greatly improved my quality of life! :lol:
They really weren't all that complicated, but I'm glad that they were useful for you!


I commented out lines that start CIV since I just want to switch the dlls only, and labeled the "buffy" dll as "vanilla". Works great.

Now, if you know VB you could incorporate this into ruff_hi custom asset switcher tool :lol:
I assume that the custom asset switcher tool is just an executable file that you run, right? If so, find the exact path and filename of that executable.

Below where you commented out the "start "Civ 4 Beyond The..." line, put in a line something like:
Code:
start "Custom Asset Switcher" "{path of the custom asset switcher}\{filename of the custom asset switcher}"
where {path of the custom asset switcher} gets replaced with the path--i.e. don't put in the curly brackets--and the same deal for the filename

So, I'll probably look something like:
Code:
start "Custom Asset Switcher" "C:\Downloads\Custom Asset Switcher\Ruff_hi_CAS.exe"

Note that I totally made up the name of the path and the name of the program there.

You'll still have to be "smart enough" not to mix up the wrong .bat file with playing the wrong option in the Custom Asset Switcher, but that little bit of work should save you an extra double click each time that you want to play.

It wouldn't be too hard to turn the two .bat files into one single .bat file with a menu option, but then you'd have to press a number (like "1" or "2") plus the Enter key each time to select the desired menu option (the options being to use the BULL DLL vs using the "Vanilla" DLL), which to me sounds like more work than just double-clicking on a different .bat file.

Let me know if I've confused you.
 
Alright, playing is done, voting starts (sorry, I fell asleep early yesterday) until Wednesday...

I will make a post shortly with the various sets.
 
Voting is as usual, 3pts for the save you liked most, 2pts for the second and 1pt for the last.

Don't vote for yourself, it shows bias ;)

Voting will last until everyone has voted, a clear winner has emerged or when the new round starts on Wednesday.


Shadows (marked as shadow or lacking save)

none!

Sets
Fleme

sadmachines

Fierabras

Grashopa

Dhoomstriker - Part II

oppy

GKey

CivConvict

Nothingontv

drlake

lymond

Yoshi1 - Save Here

Edzako - Save Here

Wafflecakes

domi


If I missed anybody, be sure to tell me - thanks!
 
My vote:

I would like to play on with a save where Babylon is settled in place. This means that I have excluded a lot of saves, including my own. I also think that an early chariot rush was the most logical move.

1. CivConvict (3 points)

CivConvict convinced me with has answer to the question whom to rush. Expanding to the east seems more viable as well. Taking Athens before turn 50 is also very nice.

2. Grashopa (2 points)

It looks risky, but Grashopa might have enough chariots to kill Justinian.

3. Dhoomstriker (1 point)

Not settled in place, but at least riverside and good early expansion.


@kossin:

Yoshi1 did provide a save (link below screenshot): http://eqfantasys.de/Hammurabi_IC_Yoshi1.CivBeyondSwordSave
 
I'll put my money on CivConvict as well. Good plan to go for Alex as his land seems even better than Justinians and obviously takes out a warmongering ass early on which is always a plus in the big picture. 3 points.

Gets harder to vote after that. hmp.

2p to Fierabras. Good progress on Justinian. Almost ready SH for shrining buddhism.

1p to Dhoomstriker. Good expansion and in the long run that riverside coastal Babylon is going to be superior to other locations plus it frees up that fish in the north which you already settled. I'm a moai freak and that's a moai location :lol:
 
1pt: Grashopa
Solid set up for an early rush. I'd usually prefer your approach (without stealing workers) as it's more reliable.

2pt: Dhoomstriker
4 cities by 2000BC is a very good start. The war with Alexander might backfire, however.

3pt: Fierabras
Building Stonehenge while waging war with Justinian was quite a gamble, but if you manage to take Constantinople (a big IF), all that gold from the Mahabodhi should be enough to wrap up the game.
 
Hello, I'm kind of new to the forum but I've enjoyed reading the post so I thought I'd have a go. I know people have started voting already but it's just for fun I guess.
Spoiler :


I'm not an Immortal level player and this is my first attempt at this difficulty level:
I've SIP and gone for AH > Mining > BW > Mysticism > Hunting (with the intention of archery)

I explored and met ZY, Justinian, Alexander and Saladin. I sent my first settler towards Justinian to grab some land near the stone. Currently building a road there. Second settler nearly complete and will be getting the copper and cow nearby.

After that I planned to chop out an army sharpish and spank Justinian along my road. Most of the forest is intact:
immortalcookbookplayalo.jpg

 

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