Is possible adding resources on normal BTS?
- Thread starter Maltazard
- Start date
you can certainly do the same changes in the xml files to add resources as mods can do and just put those files into your custom assets instead of the mods folder - maybe there even are some such compilations - try looking in the downloads database and the creation and customization subforum 
Maltazard
Prince
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2008
- Messages
- 421
Well, thanks for answering so soon 
I've searched through all the various Civ IV Downloads' subforums, and i've found finally something wich was looking the right think, Resources. But it seems there isnt' much... (i don't wish to download coca plants
) i was searching something like Tobacco, Apples, Jade, Cotton.... and more... like for example all the additional resources in WoC. May not all all but some yes...
Now i know that i could play WoC directly, but my PC isn't very very fast... and sometimes i just want simply adding like a bit of resources and play the game normally
I've searched through all the various Civ IV Downloads' subforums, and i've found finally something wich was looking the right think, Resources. But it seems there isnt' much... (i don't wish to download coca plants
) i was searching something like Tobacco, Apples, Jade, Cotton.... and more... like for example all the additional resources in WoC. May not all all but some yes...Now i know that i could play WoC directly, but my PC isn't very very fast... and sometimes i just want simply adding like a bit of resources and play the game normally
you would need to find the files that contain those resources (probably one xml file) and just put that into your custom assets directory - however I have no idea what the other changes in these large mods would do. Best bet would be to ask in their thread/forum
Maltazard - Now i know that i could play WoC directly, but my PC isn't very very fast... and sometimes i just want simply adding like a bit of resources and play the game normally.
Hi! I am, at best, modestly skilled with tweaking Civ. This is not an expert answer. However, I have/had exactly the same desire. Plus I'm moderately lazy. So this might be a good answer.
I looked over the offerings in "Resources" sub-subforum of the "Graphics" subforum and didn't see much. Just coca plants. But I noticed that some of the mega-mods, like Rise of Mankind, had tons of spiffy resources. RoM is fun to play, but I also wanted to borrow just a few resources to spice up ("apple up"?) my normal games. So we have to download the whole Mod and then look for the resource files.
Here's the trick:
The art files that we want are "packed" into .FPK files. They are sort of like .zip files: They're used to store lots of information more efficiently. They are located in the root "Assets" folder of the mod and look like this (using Rise of Mankind as an example):
RoMPak0.FPK
RoMPak1.FPK
STEP 1
The sloppy/lazy technique would be to copy the .FPK files into your Custom Assets folder (or the Assets folder of your custom mod). The art files will then be automatically unpacked and made useful when your game/Mod loads. Skip to step 2 if you do it this way.
However...
These .FPK files can be huge (circa 120MB for RoM). So you might want to "unpack" them and copy out just the files for the resources. You'll need the PakBuild utility.
1a) Use the first link (below) for WindowsNT. It might run on Vista. I have no idea:
http://www.civfanatics.net/downloads/civ4/utility/PakBuild.zip
http://www.civfanatics.net/downloads/civ4/utility/PakBuild-Win2000.zip
By the way, the download is really tiny (~200KB). Unzip and install the utility.
1b) Find the .FPK files from the mega-mod. Run the utility (PakBuild.exe).
1c) Select the pack (or maybe it's "pak") pull-down menu and choose "unpack". Select the .FPK files that you want to get stuff out of. Choose a destination folder (probably something temporary).
A moment will pass. The PakBuild program won't show anything-- look in the destination folder and you will find a folder named "art". Ta da! Close the PakBuild utility.
1d) Within this "art" folder (that was just created by the pack utility) you will find subdirectories named after resources. Something like this:
art\terrain\resources\apple\
art\terrain\resources\pearls\
Copy these into your Mod's folder (or your custom assets folder). Make sure the path is the same (you might have to create a new folder).
IMPORTANT NOTE: These do NOT go into the XML\Art folder. They go into the Assets\Art folder. Example:
My_simple_mod\Assets\Art\Terrain\Resources\apple\ (for a mod)
My Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\CustomAssets\Art\Terrain\Resources\pearls\ (for custom assets)
ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: If there is more than one .FPK file with the mod, the stuff you want could be distributed throughout multiple .FPK files. So unpack all of them to the exact same destination and the files will be combined within the proper directories.
1e) Finally, you'll need one more tidbit of art to make the buttons. Copy the worldbuilder file into your mod/custom assets, creating an identical directory path as necessary:
art\interface\buttons\worldbuilder\apple.dds
art\interface\buttons\worldbuilder\pearls.dds
etc.
You'll want these even if you never use the worldbuilder. The little icon is used elsewhere.
STEP 2
Now you have to add the stuff in your XML files. I'm guessing you might know how to do this already, but I'll summarize briefly just in case.
The relevant files are:
Assets\XML\Art\CIV4ArtDefines_Bonus.xml
Assets\XML\Terrain\CIV4BonusInfos.xml
Assets\XML\Terrain\CIV4ImprovementInfos.xml
Assets\XML\Text\CIV4GameTextChanged_BTS.xml (or somesuch)
Assets\XML\Buildings\CIV4BuildingInfos.xml
You could simply copy these from the mod. But that's not very selective. Moreover, some mods will have additional tags or references that won't work with the basic game. Better to copy these files (creating identical directory paths as needed) from the main BTS XML folder into your mod/custom assets and then modify them.
2a) CIV4ArtDefines_Bonus.xml - This is the file which tells the game where to find the art information. I recommend you find the identical file from the mod and copy the dataset for each resource. It will look something like this (with triangle brackets instead of square brackets, of course):
[BonusArtInfo]
[Type]ART_DEF_BONUS_APPLE[/Type]
[fScale]1.0[/fScale]
[fInterfaceScale]1.5[/fInterfaceScale]
[NIF]Art/Terrain/Resources/Apple/Banana.nif[/NIF]
[KFM]Art/Terrain/Resources/Apple/Banana.kfm[/KFM]
[SHADERNIF]Art/Terrain/Resources/Apple/Banana.nif[/SHADERNIF]
[Button]Art/Interface/Buttons/WorldBuilder/Apple.dds[/Button]
[FontButtonIndex]46[/FontButtonIndex]
[/BonusArtInfo]
Add them to the end of CIV4ArtDefines_Bonus.xml
2b) CIV4BonusInfos.xml - Here, I recommend you find a similar resource and copy it. With potatoes, for example, you would probably copy "wheat". You'll then need to change just a few tags to make it work:
[Type]BONUS_WHEAT[/Type]
[Description]TXT_KEY_BONUS_WHEAT[/Description]
[Civilopedia]TXT_KEY_BONUS_WHEAT_PEDIA[/Civilopedia]
[BonusClassType]BONUSCLASS_GRAIN[/BonusClassType]
[ArtDefineTag]ART_DEF_BONUS_WHEAT[/ArtDefineTag]
Substitute "POTATO" for "WHEAT". Make sure the ArtDefineTag is identical to the "Type" tag from step 2a.
I'm not going to cover the Civilopedia part. All it provides is the text description on the history of potatoes (or whatever). The 'Pedia will automatically give you the right game information (yields, improvements, etc.) based on what you create in the XML files.
Of course, that's all you must change. But you can tweak other things, too. Maybe you want potatoes to provide more food (iYieldChange) or allow them to grow on tundra (TerrainBoolean). I'll let you play with that.
2c) CIV4ImprovementInfos.xml - Now it gets easier. Simply find the relevant improvement (farm, plantation, whatever) and add your new resource to the list.
2d) CIV4GameTextChanged_BTS.xml - As far as I can tell, it doesn't matter which game text file you use. Just copy the format from any other slip of game text and modify as needed. The "tag" should be identical to the "description" from 2b (e.g., "TEXT_KEY_BONUS_POTATO").
2e) CIV4BuildingInfos.xml - You don't have to change this one, of course. But if your bonus is going to provide extra happy/health with certain buildings (e.g., Market & Grocer) you'll want to add it to the list of resources. A good strategy is to search the BuildingInfos file for a similar resource.
STEP 3
Launch your mod (or your game using custom assets) and watch for error messages while it's loading XML. If you made a lot of changes, little errors are likely to crop up. Hopefully, these will just be syntax problems (like using "TerrainBooleans" where you should have used "Terrain Boolean").
By the way, I have done all of this and it works for me.
Cheers,
J
P.S.: It seems that the "olive" resource already has art files included with the game (for pre-installed scenarios, I assume). So when adding olives, you won't see any art files coming out of the .FPK folder. You'll just need to cover the XML part.
Hi! I am, at best, modestly skilled with tweaking Civ. This is not an expert answer. However, I have/had exactly the same desire. Plus I'm moderately lazy. So this might be a good answer.
I looked over the offerings in "Resources" sub-subforum of the "Graphics" subforum and didn't see much. Just coca plants. But I noticed that some of the mega-mods, like Rise of Mankind, had tons of spiffy resources. RoM is fun to play, but I also wanted to borrow just a few resources to spice up ("apple up"?) my normal games. So we have to download the whole Mod and then look for the resource files.
Here's the trick:
The art files that we want are "packed" into .FPK files. They are sort of like .zip files: They're used to store lots of information more efficiently. They are located in the root "Assets" folder of the mod and look like this (using Rise of Mankind as an example):
RoMPak0.FPK
RoMPak1.FPK
STEP 1
The sloppy/lazy technique would be to copy the .FPK files into your Custom Assets folder (or the Assets folder of your custom mod). The art files will then be automatically unpacked and made useful when your game/Mod loads. Skip to step 2 if you do it this way.
However...
These .FPK files can be huge (circa 120MB for RoM). So you might want to "unpack" them and copy out just the files for the resources. You'll need the PakBuild utility.
1a) Use the first link (below) for WindowsNT. It might run on Vista. I have no idea:
http://www.civfanatics.net/downloads/civ4/utility/PakBuild.zip
http://www.civfanatics.net/downloads/civ4/utility/PakBuild-Win2000.zip
By the way, the download is really tiny (~200KB). Unzip and install the utility.
1b) Find the .FPK files from the mega-mod. Run the utility (PakBuild.exe).
1c) Select the pack (or maybe it's "pak") pull-down menu and choose "unpack". Select the .FPK files that you want to get stuff out of. Choose a destination folder (probably something temporary).
A moment will pass. The PakBuild program won't show anything-- look in the destination folder and you will find a folder named "art". Ta da! Close the PakBuild utility.
1d) Within this "art" folder (that was just created by the pack utility) you will find subdirectories named after resources. Something like this:
art\terrain\resources\apple\
art\terrain\resources\pearls\
Copy these into your Mod's folder (or your custom assets folder). Make sure the path is the same (you might have to create a new folder).
IMPORTANT NOTE: These do NOT go into the XML\Art folder. They go into the Assets\Art folder. Example:
My_simple_mod\Assets\Art\Terrain\Resources\apple\ (for a mod)
My Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\CustomAssets\Art\Terrain\Resources\pearls\ (for custom assets)
ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: If there is more than one .FPK file with the mod, the stuff you want could be distributed throughout multiple .FPK files. So unpack all of them to the exact same destination and the files will be combined within the proper directories.
1e) Finally, you'll need one more tidbit of art to make the buttons. Copy the worldbuilder file into your mod/custom assets, creating an identical directory path as necessary:
art\interface\buttons\worldbuilder\apple.dds
art\interface\buttons\worldbuilder\pearls.dds
etc.
You'll want these even if you never use the worldbuilder. The little icon is used elsewhere.
STEP 2
Now you have to add the stuff in your XML files. I'm guessing you might know how to do this already, but I'll summarize briefly just in case.
The relevant files are:
Assets\XML\Art\CIV4ArtDefines_Bonus.xml
Assets\XML\Terrain\CIV4BonusInfos.xml
Assets\XML\Terrain\CIV4ImprovementInfos.xml
Assets\XML\Text\CIV4GameTextChanged_BTS.xml (or somesuch)
Assets\XML\Buildings\CIV4BuildingInfos.xml
You could simply copy these from the mod. But that's not very selective. Moreover, some mods will have additional tags or references that won't work with the basic game. Better to copy these files (creating identical directory paths as needed) from the main BTS XML folder into your mod/custom assets and then modify them.
2a) CIV4ArtDefines_Bonus.xml - This is the file which tells the game where to find the art information. I recommend you find the identical file from the mod and copy the dataset for each resource. It will look something like this (with triangle brackets instead of square brackets, of course):
[BonusArtInfo]
[Type]ART_DEF_BONUS_APPLE[/Type]
[fScale]1.0[/fScale]
[fInterfaceScale]1.5[/fInterfaceScale]
[NIF]Art/Terrain/Resources/Apple/Banana.nif[/NIF]
[KFM]Art/Terrain/Resources/Apple/Banana.kfm[/KFM]
[SHADERNIF]Art/Terrain/Resources/Apple/Banana.nif[/SHADERNIF]
[Button]Art/Interface/Buttons/WorldBuilder/Apple.dds[/Button]
[FontButtonIndex]46[/FontButtonIndex]
[/BonusArtInfo]
Add them to the end of CIV4ArtDefines_Bonus.xml
2b) CIV4BonusInfos.xml - Here, I recommend you find a similar resource and copy it. With potatoes, for example, you would probably copy "wheat". You'll then need to change just a few tags to make it work:
[Type]BONUS_WHEAT[/Type]
[Description]TXT_KEY_BONUS_WHEAT[/Description]
[Civilopedia]TXT_KEY_BONUS_WHEAT_PEDIA[/Civilopedia]
[BonusClassType]BONUSCLASS_GRAIN[/BonusClassType]
[ArtDefineTag]ART_DEF_BONUS_WHEAT[/ArtDefineTag]
Substitute "POTATO" for "WHEAT". Make sure the ArtDefineTag is identical to the "Type" tag from step 2a.
I'm not going to cover the Civilopedia part. All it provides is the text description on the history of potatoes (or whatever). The 'Pedia will automatically give you the right game information (yields, improvements, etc.) based on what you create in the XML files.
Of course, that's all you must change. But you can tweak other things, too. Maybe you want potatoes to provide more food (iYieldChange) or allow them to grow on tundra (TerrainBoolean). I'll let you play with that.
2c) CIV4ImprovementInfos.xml - Now it gets easier. Simply find the relevant improvement (farm, plantation, whatever) and add your new resource to the list.
2d) CIV4GameTextChanged_BTS.xml - As far as I can tell, it doesn't matter which game text file you use. Just copy the format from any other slip of game text and modify as needed. The "tag" should be identical to the "description" from 2b (e.g., "TEXT_KEY_BONUS_POTATO").
2e) CIV4BuildingInfos.xml - You don't have to change this one, of course. But if your bonus is going to provide extra happy/health with certain buildings (e.g., Market & Grocer) you'll want to add it to the list of resources. A good strategy is to search the BuildingInfos file for a similar resource.
STEP 3
Launch your mod (or your game using custom assets) and watch for error messages while it's loading XML. If you made a lot of changes, little errors are likely to crop up. Hopefully, these will just be syntax problems (like using "TerrainBooleans" where you should have used "Terrain Boolean").
By the way, I have done all of this and it works for me.
Cheers,
J
P.S.: It seems that the "olive" resource already has art files included with the game (for pre-installed scenarios, I assume). So when adding olives, you won't see any art files coming out of the .FPK folder. You'll just need to cover the XML part.
Maltazard
Prince
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2008
- Messages
- 421
Well, that's was just what i was wondering for, and i don't think tahta could be explaned better. 
Thanks a lot for all the dectailed instructions, even if i would not understand nothing just following them i can't fail. Luckily I understand something
I'm going to try this as soon as possible... first i'll download RoM and then i'll custom all what i want... sounds awesome
ThankYou
Thanks a lot for all the dectailed instructions, even if i would not understand nothing just following them i can't fail. Luckily I understand something
I'm going to try this as soon as possible... first i'll download RoM and then i'll custom all what i want... sounds awesome
ThankYou
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