Help Me Plzzz!!!!

[ezra12]

I try to put new civilization empires on because I am tired of the same old ones but I don't know where to put it at....

P.S I have a mac

Here is what I did:

First I downloaded High_elves.rar

Clicked on finder

Clicked on documents

Clicked on civilization

But then what do I have to click next?

 

[Rik Meleet]

Moderator Action: Moved to Mac forum

 

[AlanH]

Hello, welcome to the Mac Civ4 forum.

I've had a look a the High_Elves.rar file.

1. It is described as being for Beyond the Sword, so it may not be capable of working with Civ4 standard or Warlords, which are the only versions available on the Mac.

2. It is a compressed archive, so you have to expand it first, by double clicking it. That produces a folder called High Elves.

3. The folder contains a set of components that can be used to add this civilization, its unique units, and its two leaders to a mod pack. You cannot just add these files to your installation. They need to be assembled into a complete mod pack. That requires an understanding of the way to merge XML text and new units into a mod, and how to build the complete mod structure.

4. If you are able to build a complete mod pack you would install it in one of the Mods folders. There is a Mods folder in your screenshot, and it may work there. Some mods will only work if you put them in the Mods folder in the Civilization IV application folder. If the mod is for Warlords then you would have to put it in one of the equivalent Mods folders for Warlords.

From your question, I suspect you are not experienced at building mods yourself, just like me. If that is the case, I suggest finding a completed mod pack that is ready to use rather than trying to create one yourself from these components. Your next problem will be to find a mod pack that will work on a Mac. Most of the mods that you can download do not work on a Mac, but there are some recommended ones in the threads in this forum.

Hope this helps.

 

[ezra12]

Hello, welcome to the Mac Civ4 forum.

I've had a look a the High_Elves.rar file.

1. It is described as being for Beyond the Sword, so it may not be capable of working with Civ4 standard or Warlords, which are the only versions available on the Mac.

Ok I understand that part. Oh yea I forgot to say that I have the Civ4 standard.

2. It is a compressed archive, so you have to expand it first, by double clicking it. That produces a folder called High Elves.

Okay I tried clicking on High_Elves.rar but it just popped up in TextEdit then all this numbers and words appeared.

3. The folder contains a set of components that can be used to add this civilization, its unique units, and its two leaders to a mod pack. You cannot just add these files to your installation. They need to be assembled into a complete mod pack. That requires an understanding of the way to merge XML text and new units into a mod, and how to build the complete mod structure.

Oh.. So after I get that High_elves folder I have to click on it and put the other folders where it belongs?

4. If you are able to build a complete mod pack you would install it in one of the Mods folders. There is a Mods folder in your screenshot, and it may work there. Some mods will only work if you put them in the Mods folder in the Civilization IV application folder. If the mod is for Warlords then you would have to put it in one of the equivalent Mods folders for Warlords.

Ok I think I understand what your talking about.

From your question, I suspect you are not experienced at building mods yourself, just like me. If that is the case, I suggest finding a completed mod pack that is ready to use rather than trying to create one yourself from these components. Your next problem will be to find a mod pack that will work on a Mac. Most of the mods that you can download do not work on a Mac, but there are some recommended ones in the threads in this forum.

Hope this helps.

Can you help me find some?

 

[AlanH]

Okay I tried clicking on High_Elves.rar but it just popped up in TextEdit then all this numbers and words appeared.

I'm not sure why that would happen. It just unarchives here when I double click it, but I may have some software that you don't have. Try downloading UnRarX

Oh.. So after I get that High_elves folder I have to click on it and put the other folders where it belongs?

I don't think it's that easy. The mod includes some fragments of XML that would have to be edited into copies of the correct standard XML files in Civ4, and everything would have to be put together in a new folder structure to form the mod pack.

Can you help me find some?

Have you looked in the obvious place?

 

[ezra12]

I'm not sure why that would happen. It just unarchives here when I double click it, but I may have some software that you don't have. Try downloading UnRarX Have you looked in the obvious place?

Ok I downloaded the Mod Installer and UnRarX. Then I put the High_elves on the UnRarX and it made the folder High Elves. So what am I supposed to do now?

P.S Thanks for all the help!

 

[AlanH]

So what am I supposed to do now?

Build a mod. I already indicated that this is probably not something you can do in a few minutes. I admire your enthusiasm, but unless you are pretending to be more naive than you really are, you are about to embark on a very steep learning curve.

If you seriously want to learn how to create a complete mod then you should probably research the Creation and Customization forums, where there are tutorials and so on to help you. I've never created a mod, but here is my guess at the sort of steps involved:

1. Your mod needs a new folder where you will assemble it. I'll call it Your_Mod, but you can name it anything you choose. You should create it as ~/Documents/Civilization IV/MODS/Your_Mod/, since that's where it has to be in order to work. It will need to contain at least two subfolders called /Your_Mod/Assets/ and Your_Mod/XML/

2. The High Elves folder contains a number of Art folders for the various units and for the two leaders. I imagine (but I don't know) that these would have to go in a new /Your_Mod/Assets/Art/Units/ folder.

3. The High Elves folder also includes several XML files. I imagine (but I don't know) that you would have to make copies of various appropriate XML files that are part of the Civ4 software installation, put them in the correct /Your_Mod/Assets/XML/ subfolders to match their original locations in the Civ4 installation, and edit each one to include the additional text contained in the High Elves XML files. You can use TextEdit to edit XML files.

Learning which files you need, where they go, and how to edit them without breaking them, are all skills you need to research and develop. They are way beyond the scope of this Mac forum, or of my current knowledge.

4. You may then need a Your_Mod.ini file to put into your /Your_Mod/ folder so that the Civ4 software knows what your mod is called and some of its characteristics. TextEdit can be used to create this file as well, and it's probably a good idea to start by editing one "borrowed" from an existing mod.

5. You then try to load your mod using the Civ4 in-game menu option: Advanced->Load a Mod. If you have done everything right then it will load up and you will be able to start a game and select your new civilization as a playable civ.

6. It is MUCH more likely that it will fail to load. You may get errors during loading indicating that there are problems with an XML file, or you may get errors when it tries to run the mod. You are then into the tedious process of trying to work out what's wrong, fixing it, and trying again ... and again ... and again!

 

[ezra12]

1. Your mod needs a new folder where you will assemble it. I'll call it Your_Mod, but you can name it anything you choose. You should create it as ~/Documents/Civilization IV/MODS/Your_Mod/, since that's where it has to be in order to work. It will need to contain at least two subfolders called /Your_Mod/Assets/ and Your_Mod/XML/

Ok so I have to go in documents,mods,make a folder called Your_Mod (I already know that I can make my own name but this is just for testing) then double click on "Your_Mod" and make another folder called Your_Mod inside "Your_Mod"?

 

[AlanH]

No. You only need one folder called Your_Mod. Inside that you create a folder called Assets. Inside that you create folders called Art and XML. Inside Art you create a folder called Units.

If you are asking such basic questions it seems that you have little knowledge of the Mac OS X file system, and how it is used by Civ4. You have a long journey ahead, and I cannot provide step by step tuition for you. As I said, I've never even done this stuff myself!

In fact, I see that even the basic description I gave in the previous post is wrong, as XML has to go inside Assets. If you really want to learn this stuff, I strongly suggest that you need to look at existing mods and see how they are constructed, and to try to follow some of the tutorials in the Creation and Customization forums.

 

[ezra12]

Of course! I am only 11 years old! so that is y i am asking these questions that you think is basic!!

 

[AlanH]

I don't think your age should be any reason not to do anything you want to do in this arena. At age 11, your current ability to learn new stuff is likely to be far greater than that of many more mature posters.

The fact remains that, irrespective of your age, you need to know a lot about Mac OS, and Civ4, and how mods work, before you can make your own mod. I'm suggesting that you start in shallow water rather than jumping straight into the deep end. I would say the same to anyone, regardless of their age.

 

[vyeh]

ezra12,

You may already know the following basics.

Trial and error is a good way to learn in conjunction with reading (especially AlanH). The following will save you some grief.

(1) Back up everything. Back things up before you try anything. Back up when you reach something that pleases you. You may want to clone your Civ4 folder and do your trials on the clone.

(2) Take notes of what you're doing.

Good luck!

 

[ezra12]

ezra12,

You may already know the following basics.

Trial and error is a good way to learn in conjunction with reading (especially AlanH). The following will save you some grief.

(1) Back up everything. Back things up before you try anything. Back up when you reach something that pleases you. You may want to clone your Civ4 folder and do your trials on the clone.

(2) Take notes of what you're doing.

Good luck!

Ok??????? How is that ganna help me on putting the mod in? Plus I already back up my files because I got time capsule.

 

[ezra12]

I don't think your age should be any reason not to do anything you want to do in this arena. At age 11, your current ability to learn new stuff is likely to be far greater than that of many more mature posters.

The fact remains that, irrespective of your age, you need to know a lot about Mac OS, and Civ4, and how mods work, before you can make your own mod. I'm suggesting that you start in shallow water rather than jumping straight into the deep end. I would say the same to anyone, regardless of their age.

Ok then why did you insult me? (See below)

If you are asking such basic questions it seems that you have little knowledge of the Mac OS X file system, and how it is used by Civ4.

 

[AlanH]

Ok??????? How is that ganna help me on putting the mod in?

The point is, you don't *have* a mod! You would have to build a mod before you can "put it in".

High Elves is just a set of components for a small piece of a Civ4 mod - and it's not even advertised as being capable of running in the version of Civ4 that you own.

What you are hoping to do is like taking a box containing a few car components and expecting to be able to jump into it and drive it. The components you have downloaded are not even enough to construct a complete car; and even when you put them together with the rest of the bits you need, you might find that they are left hand drive when you need right hand drive!

 

[vyeh]

Ok??????? How is that ganna help me on putting the mod in? Plus I already back up my files because I got time capsule.

I don't know how time capsule works. If it only takes a snapshot when you're not using your computer, then you could get to a good situation and then destroy that situation without time capsule capturing the situation.

What I am suggesting is that you take the suggestions that AlanH has produced and try to implement it. If you come to a place where you are not sure what is going on, then you try something. If that doesn't work, you reverse that and try again.

I have an advanced degree in computer science. Yet when I try to modify game files, I usually find that the manuals don't provide a recipe. So I am left to troubleshoot.

If you can get a recipe to implement High_Elves.rar, which was probably designed for Windows, into Mac, that's great. Because of the small size of the Mac CivIV community, I am not sure if anyone has done it on a system identical to yours.

I'm sorry that I can't provide you with a detailed roadmap.

I will say one thing. If you are going to react angrily to my post, the likelihood that I will attempt to render assistance drops. (And other readers may be dissuaded from commenting.)

 

[AlanH]

Time Capsule is hardware. It's an external hard drive - wireless connected - that Time Machine can write to. Time Machine makes a snapshot of the files you allow it to back up, every 30 minutes. So you can revert to a saved copy of a file you had 30 minutes ago ... or an hour ago ... or 90 minutes ago .... It can be very useful as long as you are saving regularly.

Note that you should *never* modify the files in your master Civ4 software directory. That's why my list of suggested steps above included creating a new mod folder in ~/Documents/Civilization IV/MODS/, and then adding *copies* of existing files to it that you edit to build up your mod. While you are trying new things out you can use Time Machine + Time Capsule as a simple version tracking system to allow you to back-track to attempts that seemed more successful than your latest attempt.