HOF Mod Support/Suggestions

[DeafDolphin]

Denniz: Thank you for your hard work on the new MapFinder. Works perfectly

 

[Temujin_Khan]

I just downloaded mapfinder v. 1.4 and the .net framework for it but the problem is what exactly does it do and how do you use it ??? I’m assuming that I can use it to try to get a start with iron for Rome so I can do a prat rush would this be correct for what it is supposed to do?

 

[dutchfire]

You can only get a start with iron if you start in the medieval age or later (at least an age where you start with Iron Working), as you need iron working to see the iron.

 

[Temujin_Khan]

thanks for the fast reply could explain how to use it as well because relly dont know what i do with it.
well other than generate maps

 

[Denniz]

I just downloaded mapfinder v. 1.4 and the .net framework for it but the problem is what exactly does it do and how do you use it ??? I’m assuming that I can use it to try to get a start with iron for Rome so I can do a prat rush would this be correct for what it is supposed to do?

dutchfire answered your iron question.

The Civ4_Map_Finder utility is used to view games saved by HOF Mod map finder process (ALT-M). In addition, you can edit/create the rules files that are used the HOF Mod's map finder process to specify what you want to save. (i.e. Terrain, Bonus Resources, etc.) Take a look at the Readme.html or the Mod Page for sceen shots and some other information.

 

[DeafDolphin]

And if you modify the rules, be very careful about how picky you get. with some of the rulesets I've played with, I can easily get 200 regenerations and not one acceptable save. Jeez. Gotta be generalist.

 

[Denniz]

And if you modify the rules, be very careful about how picky you get. with some of the rulesets I've played with, I can easily get 200 regenerations and not one acceptable save. Jeez. Gotta be generalist.

Yeah, I always watch it for a little while when I am trying out a new rule file.

 

[ruff_hi]

Honestly - what is wrong with 4 food resources, stone, ivory and gold (or gems)? Doesn't everyone wait until they get one of these?

Spoiler :

 

[KMadCandy]

newbie questions:

i'm not the type to play one game until the end. i switch between games depending on my mood. it did finally dawn on me that this makes the autosaves folder change games too. not a big issue since i save often myself, and don't have to depend on the autosaves except for a crash while playing, but now that i know that, i copy the folder with something to remind me what game it is if i'm playing a game i think i might submit later.

i saw a thread in the GOTM forum that made me wonder if switching between games messes up the autolog? i don't use the autolog feature in the HOF mod, so i don't name it anything. i just let the game do its thing. i assume that it's tied to the saved game file itself, since that's all we submit to the HOF, just checking.

in addition, i don't use my default name in my .ini file as my name for the leader in my games. i change it, so that when i want to play whichever game, i know what file to look for. i've downloaded a few saves from the HOF boards to see other people's styles (interesting stuff!), and all the ones i've looked at so far, their leader name matches their forum name. am i supposed to be playing the game that way? if i am, because that makes it easier for the HOF scoring system to know what files belong to which user, would it be okay to rename the files before i submit them, in my current case from KMaoZ BC-0330.Civ4SavedGame to KMadCandy BC-330.Civ4SavedGame, so that it matches what the system expects even tho i didn't play the game with that name?

i know what answers i'm hoping for here, but if the true answer doesn't match my hopes, better to know now than to keep playing the games i have been playing so far, with the expectation that they'd qualify.

thanks!

 

[azzaman333]

It wouldn't matter what name you use in game as long as your forum name and your HoF database name is the same. AFAIK.

 

[playshogi]

The autolog is a mod that is different from the logs in the HOF. I don't use autolog and switching between games won't mess up the logs ultimately appearing in submitted HOF games. The game overwrites autosaves of the same year, so you would have to move them to a separate folder if you wanted to keep them. But if you save when you exit, why would you need them again? The name doesn't matter, I never use my forum name because I don't like my forum name anymore, but I'm stuck with it. I'm using "owner xx" where xx is a number. Not that, 'owner' is a better name, but that's what the game defaults to.

 

[Denniz]

The upload system renames the saves files so they all have a unique name. We have over 5000 submissions to Civ4 so far. That makes for around 15000+ files to keep track of...

 

[Methos]

I have a question on the date score.

Say you have only two games in a specific category that have been published to the tables. The game #1 achieved victory on turn x and the game #2 achieved its victory on turn (x + 2). Using the formula the average between these two submissions would give us an average date of turn (x + 1). Using this, raw score would be given as 100 for turn x and 50 for turn (x + 1). Am I reading this correctly? The slope is based entirely off of minimum date and average date. Even though game #2 came within two turns of #1, he/she will have a very low raw score.

If someone submitted another game next update that achieved victory on turn (x + 5) than the average would be recalculated, given us a new average of turn (x + 2). So game #2 from above would now have a raw score of 50 due to the new average. Again, minimum date and average date are not static, but fluctuate based on submissions.

Another question, are all submissions for that category calculated when figuring the average, or just y number of submissions?

Edit: Adding a little hilarious oops:

I learned that 'Accepted' games use all current values. I submitted a game and after it was accepted I noticed it had a DateQScore of 38+ when I had figured up the max DateQScore was 35. Confused, I started redoing my calculations and kept coming up with the same amount of 35. Looking back at the specific game I finally noticed a raw score of 111+. Whoops, found the problem.

 

[ori]

A thought on Play Now:
given that play now for some reason no longer remembers settings for custom games is there a chance that you could include the following in the next releases for both Vanilla and Warlords:
Assets\XML\GameInfo\Civ4GameInfos.xml
with the following change:

Type GAMEOPTION_LOCK_MODS
Description TXT_KEY_GAME_OPTION_LOCK_MODS
Help TXT_KEY_GAME_OPTION_LOCK_MODS_HELP
bDefault 0

changed to:

Type GAMEOPTION_LOCK_MODS
Description TXT_KEY_GAME_OPTION_LOCK_MODS
Help TXT_KEY_GAME_OPTION_LOCK_MODS_HELP
bDefault 1

This would force Lock Modified Assets on for both Play Now and Custom Games (obviously could be unchecked in Custom Games if wanted) - and would only do this when using the HOF-Mods. Thus you could use Play Now for HOF play without worrying about this setting...

 

[Misotu]

Hi. Have just installed Warlords, the patch and the latest HOF Warlords Mod and have encountered 2 problems. I've scanned this thread back to November and can't see an answer but apologies if this has already been dealt with somewhere.

Any game I create says it's not valid for HOF because " the assets are different from a standard install" & says to refer to HOF staff. I've emailed a save. I haven't made any changes to the standard install files at all so I'm confused. Not hard. I'm not technical and it's late here <yawn>

I've tried running map finder, changed all the paths etc. It generates one new map and stops. No contact with other civs. No saves although it satisfies the rules. I can regenerate through the menu with no problems.

Help please! :suicide:

I was hoping to try the major gauntlet for my first game. Should be good for a laff.

 

[Denniz]

Hi. Have just installed Warlords, the patch and the latest HOF Warlords Mod and have encountered 2 problems. I've scanned this thread back to November and can't see an answer but apologies if this has already been dealt with somewhere.

Any game I create says it's not valid for HOF because " the assets are different from a standard install" & says to refer to HOF staff. I've emailed a save. I haven't made any changes to the standard install files at all so I'm confused. Not hard. I'm not technical and it's late here <yawn>

I looked at your saves. You definately have something different in either your "Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Warlords\Assets" or "Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets". Did you put the patch file or some other file somewhere in either of those paths? A couple of typical things could be CivScale or the Warlords Hotseat fix. The best route may be to uninstall both Civ4 and Warlords, delete everything left over in the install paths, and re-install and re-patch.

I've tried running map finder, changed all the paths etc. It generates one new map and stops. No contact with other civs. No saves although it satisfies the rules. I can regenerate through the menu with no problems.

Help please! :suicide:

I was hoping to try the major gauntlet for my first game. Should be good for a laff.

It doesn't have to be just you in contact with an AI. Two AI's in contact counts the same. Try different map settings for more land or seleting the minimum civs.

When it starts it should display the paths/files is is using. When it stops does it display any messages? You can check the log if it has scrolled off.

If there are no messages, you might try turning on logging in the "My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Warlords\CivilizationIV.ini" file. Send us any popup error messages and the files in "My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Warlords\logs" folder.

; Set to 1 for no python exception popups
HidePythonExceptions = 0

; Enable the logging system
LoggingEnabled = 1

; Overwrite old network and message logs
OverwriteLogs = 1

; Enable message logging
MessageLog = 1

 

[Misotu]

Hi Denniz

Thanks for replying so quickly. I have checked both Assets folders & there appears to be nothing untoward in either. I've not put anything in there at all or opened any of the files or actually these directories. Which is worrying because I don't understand how something in them has changed ...

I didn't realise that the contact thing also applied to the AI, but of course that would be logical. So I ran up a Duel game with 2 civs - no contact for me = no contact for them. Map Finder still stops, no messages.

I will try reinstalling everything and patching everything as you suggest. It'll definitely be quicker than trying to track down the Assets problem. I'll look at MapFinder again after that. You never know, it might all get fixed. <hopeless optimist mode on>

 

[Gyathaar]

I will try reinstalling everything and patching everything as you suggest.

Dont forget to delete the Assets folder after uninstalling (if it exists). If the problem was caused by an extra file, then the uninstaller wont remove it..

 

[Misotu]

Yes, thanks Gyathaar - I didn't see your post until I'd done everything but it was definitely a worthwhile reminder, heh. I nearly forgot that the uninstall won't remove everything. Caught myself just in time, about to press "install" ...

It's all fixed. The assets problem remains a mystery but I think I located the map finder problem. User error of course. I forgot to change the rule builder path this time, and got exactly the same result. Runs for one turn, stops, no error message. When I realised that I'd only updated 2 of 3 paths in the options and did the amend, it ran perfectly. So I reckon that I had an error of some sort in the rule builder path yesterday.

Everything runs perfectly Thanks so much. Life is good

Now to get the **** kicked out of me on my first Warlords game

 

[Misotu]

Assets problem solved. This is so basic that I'm sure it's documented somewhere on this thread and I just haven't gone back far enough. The thread is so long ...

I can reproduce the problem and fix it consistently. I modified the CivilizationIV.ini file in the Warlords directory to set autosaves to 1 because I have crash problems on some games. And I set the Mods option to load the HOF mod automatically. This modifies the assets apparently , but in Warlords only.



When I restore the vanilla ini file, there is no warning message, so I guess it doesn't add an extra file to the assets, or at least not permanently, which is what I was looking for.

So to avoid rejected games, how do I set it to autosave every turn? And how do I get it to load the Mod automatically?

Thanks for your patience