Helpful (proven) Mod for BTS

[Sethy295]

Hi all,
I was wondering what mods are considered must have for BTS? Preferably no alterations to gameplay, just something has more ease of access, displays on the UI, stuff like that (like one meter showed when a great general was about to be born).
Thanks, and preferably stick to the publicly proven ones, not something that could have viruses, bugs etc.
Thanks again,
Seth
EDIT: Just realized that there is a OFFICIAL MOD forum within this forum, stupid me, I don't know how to move my thread :\
Also, please note the key reasons why you think "this mod is the best".

 

[need my speed]

BUG or any of its expansions, like BAT.

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

BUG is the one you've been seeing in screenshots. And no, the Official Mods + Scenarios Forum is NOT where you want to post this. That's for stuff like Afterworld, Mesoamerica, Charlemagne or any of the other BtS main menu mods.

 

[Sethy295]

So I downloaded the BUG mod,
Now what do I do, I have it saved on my PC, but when I press "load a mod" in the BTS menu, it only has official ones...

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

Rephrase that, please.

 

[need my speed]

You don't have to load it if I remember correctly. It automatically works. I think.

 

[Skwink]

You don't have to load it if I remember correctly. It automatically works. I think.

Wrong. To have it open on auto, you have to edit the Civilization.ini. To make it loadable, to have to put it in BTS-mods file.

 

[need my speed]

Ah, I knew there was something to it.

 

[bestbrian]

Get Legends of Revolution. It's awesome, it includes BUG, and it comes with an installer (no mucking around in ini files).

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

Get Legends of Revolution. It's awesome, it includes BUG, and it comes with an installer (no mucking around in ini files).

'Preferrable No Alterations to Gameplay' he said.

 

[bestbrian]

'Preferrable No Alterations to Gameplay' he said.

Rules Shmules

 

[PreLynMax]

Screw the rules, I have money.

 

[Sethy295]

Wrong. To have it open on auto, you have to edit the Civilization.ini. To make it loadable, to have to put it in BTS-mods file.

Not exactly a pro at this sortof thing,
That's done how?

 

[God-Emperor]

You don't necessarily need to do anything to use BUG.

Well, except install it.

When you downloaded it you presumably ended up with a file called BUGMod_4.4.exe. Run that and it installs the BUG mod. It gives a you a choice of how to install it. The "single player" method installs it into Custom Assets where it will always run by default with nothing else that you have to do. "Multiplayer" installs it as a mod, so you have to load the mod (from the game menu, click Advanced then Load A Mod) - although when installing it should also give you the option of creating a shortcut that you can use to directly launch it without doing that (I think - I just about never let them do this so I don't remember if it does, but it probably does).

All that is assuming you are running some version of Windows. If you are on a Mac then you need the .zip version instead of the .exe and need to unzip it and put it where it goes to install the thing (following the instructions - there is probably a readme.txt file in the zip file that tells you how).

 

[Sethy295]

Thanks,
I'm a windows man.

 

[Sethy295]

So now that I've got it, what all does it do? (got it loaded)
and how can I use it to my advantage?

 

[God-Emperor]

It just provides easier access to information that is, one way or another, already available to you.

A lot if information is available that would normally require you to go around to each of your cities and check each manually. Like "which of my cities does not have a monastery of my state religion?" You can see things like this on the domestic advisors screen which now has multiple displays you can pull up via a list at the bottom left, and you can add displays to the list, or customize the existing ones. You can also see this in the religion advisor screen in this case, but the domestic advisor's lists will also be useful if the question is about banks or universities.

There is also information available that would require you to contact each civilization. Example: On the scoreboard you will often see red fist symbols. These mean that that civ is in "WHEOOHRN" mode - it is most likely in the planning stage for declaring war on somebody, or actually at war with somebody already. Without BUG you can find out this information, but it requires you to engage in diplomacy with each civ, going to the trade screen and seeing what reason is given for them not being willing to declare war on the other civilizations (hover over a redded-out civ name in the "declare war on" section and if it is "We have enough on our hands right now" then that is it - "WHEOOHRN").

It also tracks changes in score from turn to turn, and changes in espionage points. When not using BUG, if you wanted to you could keep a list of everybody's espionage point totals (the points they currently have against you) and check it each turn to see if anybody spent them (the number goes down). BUG can do this for you and display the change on the espionage screen (you might have to activate this in the BUG Options - somewhere in there is an espionage related "show calculated information" or something like that, which I think is what activates this function).

Anyhow, you should check out the BUG Mod Wiki. Here is the page for the main screen. Start with the "Advanced Scoreboard" page to see what all the stuff on it means.

 

[Sethy295]

The Glance screen is nice! I always seem to make deals with my best friends enemies, shouldnt have to any longer.