HOF Mod Support/Suggestions

[Denniz]

Haven't installed BTS so it doesn't work with just vanilla and warlords installed

We didn't take those options out of Vanilla or Warlords.

Still ... does this mean I'm now safe to install BTS without having to worry about my HoF submissions? Or will everything be beta until the issues are resolved? My copy of BTS is sitting there, looking at me yearningly, in its little plastic case so I'd like to install if I don't have to do the dual-install, rename the directories, fiddle around with all my shortcuts and edit 8 .ini files nonsense ... <tired grin>

Edit to add: Yeah, yeah, I know it's not 8 .ini files. But it *feels* like it

I am somewhat confused here too.

If you install BTS, you get Vanilla at 1.74 and Warlords at 2.13, the same as the downloadable patches. There are HOF Mod versions available for both that are being accepted for the perminate HOF. Everyone should be starting there new games with these versions. 1.61 and 2.08 will be obsolete with the next update.

The current version of BTS is 3.03 and the is a HOF Mod version for that that is being accept only for Beta.

At this point the only need for dual install would be if your are trying to finish a xOTM.

I may have missed your point. I hope my answer is close to relevant.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

I am glad to hear you aren't afraid to modify your ini file using Notepad.

I am not totally sure what was causing the ini file parser indigestion. It is a freeware component so it bit of a black box to me. The only thing I noticed was that there were some commented out sections where you modified options. (Lines beginning with "#" are comments.") For at least one option, it was uncommented so maybe you caused a duplicate in the section above it.

I commented out a lot of options for BTS, because they were obsolete or temporarily not included. I guess I should been less of a pack rat and deleted them.

You might want to use the in-game options menu to modify your other settings this time.

It is normally easier for me to put 2 notepads (new mod, old mod) on my desktop and try to figure out, which option I had changed, other then trying to remember what I have to click in Ctrl-O. And right, I remember that I changed some comments. Next time I know, where I have to be careful

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

I don't think the Warlords references are anything to worry about. You get most of the Warlords content with BTS.

The error is occuring when it is trying to read the HOF ini file. The key line contains the following error:


If you aren't using an admin account you probably should. To make sure Civ4 is has access to all the files you should also follow the security procedure noted here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=5740809&postcount=1142. Vista security has been causing a lot of headaches.

What I can say about using admin rights: For installation you have to use the admin account (this includes installation of hof-mod too). And if you haven't changed anything in the installation directory by hand you normally can play as standard user without any access problem.

To make the world easier, i.e. when you are logged in as standard user and want to install the new hof-mod, I have an "admin-drop" shortcut on my desktop on which I just drop the hof-exe for installation. Create a bat-file with contents:

runas /user:Administrator /savecred %1

and add a shortcut on your desktop pointing to this bat-file. The shortcut is only necessary to give the "admin-drop" a nice icon

Anything unclear? Ask

 

[Rockin_T]

I can't seem to get map finder to list the BTS games it saved. I think I finally discovered the problem though. The BTS games are saved with the file extension CivBeyondSwordSave so if I rename them to Civ4SavedGame then map finder will list them. I have uninstalled, deleted the map finder folder and reinstalled version 1.6 several times. Is there a dll file that is in a windows folder that might be getting left behind after an uninstall?

 

[Thrallia]

it might just be that Denniz forgot to update it to display BeyondSwordSave files, instead of just Civ4Save and WarlordsSave files.

 

[Denniz]

I can't seem to get map finder to list the BTS games it saved. I think I finally discovered the problem though. The BTS games are saved with the file extension CivBeyondSwordSave so if I rename them to Civ4SavedGame then map finder will list them. I have uninstalled, deleted the map finder folder and reinstalled version 1.6 several times. Is there a dll file that is in a windows folder that might be getting left behind after an uninstall?

it might just be that Denniz forgot to update it to display BeyondSwordSave files, instead of just Civ4Save and WarlordsSave files.

I didn't forget, you have to download Version 1.6 of the Civ4_Map_Finder utility which has support for BTS. There is a "Verion" menubar dropdown where you can select BTS.

I wonder if I should have changed it to default to the latest release instead of vanilla.

 

[Rockin_T]

I didn't forget, you have to download Version 1.6 of the Civ4_Map_Finder utility which has support for BTS. There is a "Verion" menubar dropdown where you can select BTS.

I wonder if I should have changed it to default to the latest release instead of vanilla.

Do you have a link to that version. On the map finder page I only see one link to download 1.6. And in that one the only menu options are File and HOF. Nothing about version under either of them?

 

[Denniz]

Do you have a link to that version. On the map finder page I only see one link to download 1.6. And in that one the only menu options are File and HOF. Nothing about version under either of them?

Oh heck, someone else reported the menu was missing, or was that you? Try this, find the Civ4MapFinder.ini in the "My Games\Civ4_Map_Finder" folder. Change the grid version to text as below and see if you get something different.

[DEFAULTS]
;Values: "Icons", "Text", "Override" ("None" allows the program to try Icons) 
GridVersion=Text

What OS do you have?

 

[Rockin_T]

Oh heck, someone else reported the menu was missing, or was that you? Try this, find the Civ4MapFinder.ini in the "My Games\Civ4_Map_Finder" folder. Change the grid version to text as below and see if you get something different.

[DEFAULTS]
;Values: "Icons", "Text", "Override" ("None" allows the program to try Icons) 
GridVersion=Text

What OS do you have?

That just changed the icons to text? Still can't find any dropdowns for version?

XP Pro

 

[Denniz]

That just changed the icons to text? Still can't find any dropdowns for version?

XP Pro

Okay, I think I know why it is acting that way. It is getting an error but the it isn't displaying error messages properly. In this case, it continues on without finishing the build of the menu. The problem is I don't know what the first error is.

Anyway, I sent some suggestions in a reply to you e-mail so I am not going to repeat them here. Let's continue the discussion via e-mail.

 

[KMadCandy]

i installed the new HoF mod for vanilla today and it's working fine, in that a test game got accepted. but there's a change from the old one and i can't figure out if i did something weird or the actual behavior changed. i have things set up so that my save files do not go to the My Games folder. i just hate using up space on my windows drive, so i /altroot. the previous HoF mods sent the auto start/exit saves to the folder that all my saves go to, which was great.

but right now, the HoF mod is sending the auto-saves it makes to the My Games folder, not to the folder that Civ4 itself saves games in. my guess is that the HoF mod is using the original Civ4 default, and is not checking my own settings to see where i want them to go.

edit: figured it out. it's just being weird, when it makes them, it stores them in My Games. but then the next time i start civ4, they disappear from My Games and show up where i told civ4 to put them. it actually has to create a /saves/single directory in My Games every time, since that totally goes away when i start the game. i don't understand that, but ok

 

[purger30]

I have question for expirienced CIV4 moders.

Is it possible to mod CIV4 that map focusing on enemy bombardment (bombers, artillery units and ships) works in exact way that map focusing on every other battle works? I wont to see where and when my enemy bombard me(cites or plots) as well when enemy plunders my plots.
Is that possible?


I have seen that you added option "show enemy combat". Maybe you can add "show enemy bombard"??

 

[Denniz]

I have question for expirienced CIV4 moders.

Is it possible to mod CIV4 that map focusing on enemy bombardment (bombers, artillery units and ships) works in exact way that map focusing on every other battle works? I wont to see where and when my enemy bombard me(cites or plots) as well when enemy plunders my plots.
Is that possible?


I have seen that you added option "show enemy combat". Maybe you can add "show enemy bombard"??

I believe someone else ask for this too and Gyathaar was looking about the possibility. Maybe next version release.

 

[azzaman333]

Is it possible to have something shows which cities are in "Avoid Growth" mode from the domestic advisor?

 

[Denniz]

Is it possible to have something shows which cities are in "Avoid Growth" mode from the domestic advisor?

I'll look at it when I refurbish the Special Modified Domestic Advisor.

 

[Ronnie1]

How do you turn off the error screens that keep showing up? I installed the 3.03 version and Hof mod, and now I am getting this error screen every turn.

 

[da_Vinci]

How do you turn off the error screens that keep showing up? I installed the 3.03 version and Hof mod, and now I am getting this error screen every turn.

I think you turned logging on as a diagnostic for an earlier problem? If you are not having any problem other than these "error" screens, I assume that you just find the post above that had the "turn loggin on" instructions and undo that to stop getting the screens.

Not making any guarantees but give it a try ...

dV

 

[AlanH]

It's never a great idea to ignore error messages by turning them off. What are the error messages saying?

 

[Ronnie1]

I always thought those settings reset to default on reloads.

 

[Ronnie1]

I posted a screen of the error above.