Help me find a simple mod.... really simple...

[blind biker]

Hey all,


I just realized that the part that would most improve my Civ IV (vanilla, warlords and/or BtS) experience, top-down view, might have been released as a mod.


Let me explain: the fist thing I do, when I load or start a Civ IV game, is to zoom out until I have a top-down view but JUST before I get to that useless "satellite" view (where you don't see the borders, nor can you control your units). Often I need to press the PgUp/PgDown buttons several times to get to the right top-down view.

I figure there could be a mod that does this for me - fixes the view in top-down position. Bonus points if there is a way to automatically load that mod at startup. More bonus points if I get a zoomed-out top-down view.



Is there such a thing? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[lymond]

Well, the BUG mod adds a zoom filter bar to the UI that allows you to change the view quite dramatically. BUG does a lot of other very cool things related to UI and info without altering gameplay and is used by most experienced players. Also, BUG can be installed in what is called "single player" mode. This mode installs it into your Custom Assets folder so that it runs any time you load BTS normally.

BUG is for BTS only. Not sure why you would want to play the older versions anyway.

Here's a link to the BUG forum:

BUG Forum

Also, note that BUG is included in many of the big modpacks if you choose to play them.

 

[blind biker]

I just tried the BUG mod and... it seems to have a bug. All I see is the map, but no commands can be clicked (I can give the shortcuts), nor the advisors nor the "New turn" - none of the icons is visible. Only the map, nothing else.

 

[theskibum]

I just tried the BUG mod and... it seems to have a bug. All I see is the map, but no commands can be clicked (I can give the shortcuts), nor the advisors nor the "New turn" - none of the icons is visible. Only the map, nothing else.

I had this issue too on install. Make sure of a couple things.
1. it is for Beyond the Sword Expansion only. It doesn't work with Vanilla.
2. Try to re-install it over the top of the existing one. It has an executable installation file if you DL it from the BUG website. Use that and make sure to check box "Run BUG mod" on the last page of the install. That helped me.

 

[T-hawk]

No mod needed. Alt-F in game already does what you want.

 

[blind biker]

I had this issue too on install. Make sure of a couple things.
1. it is for Beyond the Sword Expansion only. It doesn't work with Vanilla.
2. Try to re-install it over the top of the existing one. It has an executable installation file if you DL it from the BUG website. Use that and make sure to check box "Run BUG mod" on the last page of the install. That helped me.

1. Yes, I know.
2. What do you mean to reinstall it over the existing one? Do you mean to reinstall the BUG mod one more time?

By the way, I Alt-tabbed back to the running BtS/BUG game, and now I have all the interface elements visible. Weird... and unpleasant. Also, I still have to use PgUp/PgDown to set myself into the top-view position but I can zoom out more, which is nice.

 

[blind biker]

No mod needed. Alt-F in game already does what you want.

Indeed it does! THANK YOU!!!!!

 

[blind biker]

Well, unfortunately, there are other bugs in BUG, so I'll have to give it a pass. I really really like the zoom-out feature, but too many things don't work. I can't zoom in a city (not in a way that I would have control over it or see what buildings I have in it or any other info), and some of the advisor screens seem to be broken. I tried to Alt-tab a few times in and out of the game, but it's not bringing any new benefits. Oh well. Alt-F still gives me a lot to cheer about, even without the BUG mod's zoom-out facility.

 

[lymond]

biker - Your issues with the BUG mod are likely related to your install. BUG works fine. It could be you have something already installed that is conflicting with BUG or you are not on the latest patch. I've heard of these issues for first time users/installations, but I forget at the moment what the issues were. A simple post in their questions thread and they will help you with it.
(I'm assuming you installed BUG for BTS only)

The nice thing about the zoom bar in BUG is that you can move it to a fix point - like the overhead view - and then use the mouse wheel zoom to zoom in and out from that fixed point. In other words you can have a fixed overhead view and then zoom in on that view.

 

[blind biker]

I already removed it (BUG) and conquered most of my continent as Justinian Alt-F is great. However did I play without it for so long?

 

[vincentz]

There is a function in GlobalDefines.xml that you might want to play with (after you BACKUP the original ofcourse or make a simple mod)

	<Define>
		<DefineName>FIELD_OF_VIEW</DefineName>
		<fDefineFloatVal>42.0</fDefineFloatVal>
	</Define>