Just Another Religion Mod (BtS / Modular)

[JustATourist]

Just Another Religion Mod (JARM) Version 1.2​

created by JustATourist and Refar


Download and screenshots: Just Another Religion Mod [BtS / Modular]​

JARM is a modular mod for Civ4-BtS adding more religions to choose from. It will only run properly, if you start a new game and activate the option "Choose Religion".


Features:

- adds 10 new religions to the game (Ancient Greek/Roman Polytheism, Norse Mythology, Ancient Egypt Religion, Zoroastrianism, Shinto, VooDoo, Toltec/Aztec Mythology, Shamanism, Druidic Traditions and Freemasonry)
- every religions comes with unique graphic: buildings (40 in total, 20 of them created by Refar and haven't been released anywhere before), found religion screen, build shrine screens, missionaries, sounds, etc.
- allthough 10 religions are addes (which makes 17 religions with the vanilla religions) only 7 be founded in every game, the 7 which are chosen first by player or AI
- you will only see those religions in your city and religion screen, which you really have spread in your cities

Version History:

Spoiler :

v 1.0: Initial version
v 1.1 (after 231 downloads): Changed scaling and nodes for buildings for improved look by GeoModder
v 1.1.1 (after 524 downloads): - added individual background textures in the found-religion-animations (walls and floors)
- fixed religion screen (showing religions influence again)
v 1.2 (after 814 downloads): Added Shamanism, Druidic Traditions and Freemasonry

Run the Mod:

Spoiler :

- unpack and move the folder "JARM" to \MyGames\Beyond the Sword\MODS
- load the mod at the "Advanced" options menu of BtS or load automatically it via CivilizationIV.ini by changing the Mod folder entry:
; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = Mods\Jarm
- you need "Modular XML Loading" to be enabled in the Civilization4.ini:
; Modular XML Loading
ModularLoading = 1
- play the Mod. Start a "Custom Game" and enable the "Choose Religions" checkbox to see the new religions founded.

Important!!!
If you have added any custom leaderheads to the game, delete the file \JARM\Assets\XML\Civilizations\CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml (or merge it with your file)
It has only the vanilla Leaders.
The only changes are, that the new religions are added to the favourite religions of some leaders. If you want, you can edit your CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.XML to add the new religions as well. The relevant tag is:
<FavoriteReligion>

Have fun with it.


Edit:
What we wanted was a very neutral term for each religion, which won't restrict us to specific aspects of these. (Which wasn't an easy job for the greek, norse, egyptian and mesoamerican religion.) Both of us aren't experts or theologicans, all we know about these religions, we found out by internet research. But as far we have investigated, for none of this four religions there isn't anything like an official name for them. But of course we are open to suggestions.

In the light of (recent) events we want to say, that we don't want to offend anybody with whatever he does believe in. Like said, we are no experts in theology. We created this mod because we thought the vanilla religions in Civ4 aren't the only important ones in history. And of course we wanted to spice up Civ4. But we can't implement every single religion, we can only do it as laymen, and there are also limitations by want can be coded and what not.

 

[ripple01]

Very, very nice.... can these graphics, etc. be used in other mods as long as credit is given?

Cheers,
ripple01

 

[JustATourist]

Very, very nice.... can these graphics, etc. be used in other mods as long as credit is given?

Sure, as longs as credits is given.

 

[GeoModder]

Something I'd liked to see for over a year.
If you and Refar have no objections, I include it in the Ethnic Citystyles mod.

 

[Refar]

Sure, this is cool. ^^

I have uploaded some pictures of the new buildings in the mod.
And there is a lot more stuff in the mod, that you can't see in any screenshot - JustATourist made sounds, missionary effects, pedia text, ...

Spoiler :

Norse: Small shrine / Longhouse / Great hall / Shrine of Uppsala.


The Oracle of Necromantheion.


A "Voodoo Witch's Hut" / Voodoo Market / Temple des Python


Shinto bell tower / Monastery with Sakkura "graden" / Big Pavillon / The Naiku in Ise


Fire Temple / Zoroastrian Monastery / Surakhany Fire Temple in Baku / The Temple of Firouzabad

 

[Psycadelic_Magi]

So will this mod only work with 'choose religion' switched on?
Or is there a system for deciding which religion is founded when its off?

 

[Refar]

It will work with "Choose Religions" off, but of course religions will be founded that are to the techs, leaving you with the 7 standard religions.

 

[Vrenir]

Quite impressive. I especially like the missionary effects (the mist modded ones I've seen). The music choices are pretty good too, though the Odin yell gets a little old after a while.

 

[-sr]

Hello, I downloaded your Mod too and I have a problem that I want to report you: Because I do not like modular loading I changed all files, so that modular loading isn't necessary anymore. I always got an error report with this text: "TECH_RELIGION_ROOT is incorrect". I believe it's impossible to found the new religions if they have all the same technology as prereq. So I exchanged TECH_RELIGION_ROOT by NONE and removed the new tech. Now the mod works.

 

[Refar]

Well, modular or not is a question of preference. I prefer Non-Modular myself. But with the content being very well suited for it (additions only, no overwriting/intersection with exisiting stuff) we reasoned that a module would be easier to use/merge for most users.

I can't really tell you what went wrong, when you changed the files. You moust have mistyped or mis-copy-paste'd something.

What i can tell, is, that the released version of the Mod does work as designed.
It is possible to found the new religions, if they all have the same technology - this is what "Choose Religions" is for.

Replacing the prereq tech with "NONE" is possible, but will need a additional SDK or Python change, other wise the Mod will not work as designed. (By default all the religions without tech prereq will be auto founded by random civs on turn 6).

I can point you to the needed changes, but we dicided that a mod without SDK/Python is better for the wide audience.

 

[-sr]

Hello Refar,

thanks for your reply. Please apologize if I don't write English correctly, I'm no English native speaker.
I'm sure I did not misspell anything, I controlled each phrase three times and I do often create mods by myself. I have an account on the German Civ4 Forum and there are also other users complaining about problems: They can not found the new 7 religions, only the already known ones. I don't know why...
So I downloaded your mod once more (I kept modular loading) and decided to insert 6 more religion root techs, all impossible to discover. They are called RELIGION_ROOT1, RELIGION_ROOT2 and so on. They are now prereqs for the new 7 religions. As I tried it, there were no problems anymore.

 

[GeoModder]

I included this mod in Ethnic Citystyles, and it seems to work fine.
The only 'glitches' are with some of the new religious buildings. Some of them are too big for their node. Nothing I can't correct for myself.

 

[Refar]

The mod was tested (on german and english version of the game btw.) before release and it definitely does work.
There might of course be situational glitches (however i dont think so - the mod is quite simple from the gameplay point of view, so there should be no major oversights) or maybe conflicts with other mods, but from the information you gave, it is impossible to tell.
Giving each new religion it's own Root technology is possible, but not necessary.

The most probable reason for not beeing able to found one of the new religions is not having "Choose Religion" turned on when starting a game. Doing so is only possible from the "Custom Game" screen, where the according boc must be checked. Not via "Play now!".
Or of course beeing too late to the founding tech(s).

@-sr
If you / users on the other forum continue having issues, you should upload savegames from offending games (Best autosave short before researching a founding technology), so we can check those issues.

Without additional information it is impossible to say what causes the glitches for you.

I included this mod in Ethnic Citystyles, and it seems to work fine.
The only 'glitches' are with some of the new religious buildings. Some of them are too big for their node. Nothing I can't correct for myself.

If you can forward the fixed Node entries / Sizes to me or JustATourist we would incorporate them in the mod. You certainly have more experience with this than any of us.

 

[tsentom1]

This mod is great and I will be incorporating aspects of it into my mod. Ideally, I want to make some sort of minor religion concept where I could have more than the base religions in the game without causing balance problems due to the inherent gold, culture, and espionage bonus that religions provide.

I noticed you removed the base icons from the city and religion advisor screens and they show up only once founded. I assuming this is all done in the two python screens (I haven't looked yet) but thanks a lot for this code. It was a hurdle that I've encountered in the past.

Great work on all the art files, really amazing, wow!

Two things, if you're interested. Norse Myth can have both the technical name of Ásatrú or Eddic, and Mesoamerican religions; Nagualism, if you are looking for less clunky terms for Aesir Myth and Toltec Faith.

 

[Ekmek]

i did somethimg similar and having none in the xml limited the founding of religions witout any special python. i'll dig into this more.

also i like the generic religion cutscenes but i may try to tweak them. refar is it possible to put other stuff in (I assume it is). I was thinkingof putting ramses hood on the table for egyptian/pharoanic. or a small scale zeus teple building on the table for hellenism (or pericles helmet). for mesoamerican maybe the skull from montezuma.

 

[JustATourist]

Two things, if you're interested. Norse Myth can have both the technical name of Ásatrú or Eddic, and Mesoamerican religions; Nagualism, if you are looking for less clunky terms for Aesir Myth and Toltec Faith.

Well, I did only do internet researches, so I am absolutly no expert on this, but as far as I have understood Ásatrú is only the name for a "neopagan" (I am sorry for this word) tradition found in the 1970s, Poetic Edda is only a collection of old norse poems written in the 13th century (when christianity exiled most of the norse traditions), and Nagualism is only one aspect of the mesoamerican religions, and doesn't mean the whole religion.

What we wanted was a very neutral term for each religion, which won't restrict us to specific aspects of these. (Which wasn't an easy job for the greek, norse, egyptian and mesoamerican religion.) Both of us aren't experts or theologicans, all we know about these religions, we found out by internet research. But as far we have investigated, for none of this four religions there isn't anything like an official name for them. But of course we are open to suggestions.

In the light of (recent) events we want to say, that we don't want to offend anybody with whatever he does believe in. Like said, we are no experts in theology. We created this mod because we thought the vanilla religions in Civ4 aren't the only important ones in history. And of course we wanted to spice up Civ4. But we can't implement every single religion, we can only do it as laymen, and there are also limitations by want can be coded and what not.

 

[Refar]

I noticed you removed the base icons from the city and religion advisor screens and they show up only once founded. I assuming this is all done in the two python screens (I haven't looked yet) but thanks a lot for this code. It was a hurdle that I've encountered in the past.

The 2 python files in the Python/Screens folder are responcible for this. This code was made by Johny Smith, so credit him, if you reuse it. I made a few minor changes to better suit our needs.

Two things, if you're interested. Norse Myth can have both the technical name of Ásatrú or Eddic, and Mesoamerican religions; Nagualism, if you are looking for less clunky terms for Aesir Myth and Toltec Faith.

While we indeed would be interested in "less clunky terms" for those religions, we do also want very general and as possible neutral terms. Those we choosen - after a good deal of researchand internal discussion - seem a good compromise from our point of view.

i did somethimg similar and having none in the xml limited the founding of religions witout any special python. i'll dig into this more.

I already did the digging, so you can just ask
Since i am not sure what exactly it is you need, here a brief general overview:
On each turn (after turn 5) Civ4 will run a test for aquired religions and, if it should find a religion not founded yet, while someone has the needed tech, it will make the religion found.
If a religion has "NONE" as Prereq Tech, technically everyone has the Tech. So the religion will be auto-founded by a random Civ.
You can override this behaviour by changing the DoHolyCity() method in the SDK or by overriding the DoHolyCity() function in python.

Also i like the generic religion cutscenes but i may try to tweak them. refar is it possible to put other stuff in (I assume it is). I was thinkingof putting ramses hood on the table for egyptian/pharoanic. or a small scale zeus teple building on the table for hellenism (or pericles helmet). for mesoamerican maybe the skull from montezuma.

Sure. Those are nifs, and you can do all the usual nif Surgery on them. It's been a while since i made them, but iirc. all the objects on the desk are separate, so you can delete those with nifscope. Adding stuff is of course possible as well.

Note however, that the objets and textures are quite high res there, and do have backed shadows. So while parts of a LH would probably work ok, a building from the game - like SoZ - will most probably stick out as being crude and low-res.

 

[GeoModder]

If you can forward the fixed Node entries / Sizes to me or JustATourist we would incorporate them in the mod. You certainly have more experience with this than any of us.

Will do once it's done. Not this weekend though.

 

[tsentom1]

You're right, Ásatrú in the United States usually refers to the modern movement of the Norse religion due to an independent development in 1974, but in many European countries - especially Germany - it's used for both. Using the term Eddic (based on both the Poetic and Prose Edda) is more an academic colloquialism, I'm guessing, and then usually when referring to individual gods as it encompasses both the Aesir and the Vanir.

Actually, I've seen people use the term Asa (there may be an umlaut or accent on one of those A's) in academic writings when referring to viking religion. The only problem is that I'm not sure if this was specifically in reference to the Viking cult or the common religion of ancient Scandinavia. Germanic Polytheism is always another choice.

Nahualism used to be used a lot more generally, and in fact was often used as the term for the cult of Quetzalcoatl as he was the patron of the act that wiki currently describes as nahualism. Quetzalcoatl of course, as Aztec mythology developed, eventually became one of the prime - and in certain areas prime - god of the religion so using it as a general term for the entire religion is still viable. Also, as Quetzalcoatl was the patron of the priestly class of the ancient Aztecs and Toltecs the term was used to describe the more ceremonial parts of the religion. Of course the dynamic between the priestly aspects and that of the common people in ancient religions was vastly different than it is today, so that also causes a problem with that term.

I completely agree. I wasn't complaining about your choice of terminology and I know, even when dealing with 'ancient' faiths you have to be careful not to offend anyone. I was just saying some terms I knew that can be used as there's no specific agreed term for many of these faiths. The problem, as you said, is in keeping it general and many terms are often used both ways. For example, calling ancient Greek Polytheism Hellenism only works if you want to include ancient Greek (all the varying ancient Greek cults), parts of Turkey and Roman mythology (which actually has a lot of differences). Clunky terms just annoy me and I wish that there were specific words for them. I think you guys did a great job though, and Pesedjet was a really good choice for the Egyptian cults (cults in the ancient 'mysteries' sense, not the modern term that has negative connotations).

Once again, thanks for the great mod. Sorry if I offended you or anyone else. Didn't mean anything

The ancient Canaanites / Phoenician mythology is another important and interesting religion to add if you're looking for more religions in future versions. On the one hand it's related to the Mesopotamian religions of the time, but I mention it specifically because there's already a lot of art done for it (actually the art is viable for both Canaanite and Meso mythology as main gods such as Innanna, Ishtar, and Astarte although different were all cognates of each other similar to the Greek and Roman Zeus/Jupiter ). The face symbol from the Warlords Rise of Rome mod res file, and then the temple buildings from the BTS Gods of Old mod (using any one of their shrines as the shrine model, of course giving it a historical name. If it's the Canaanite, Zephon / Temple of Ba'el would work when using the techtonic citadel model as it was the site/shrine mountain location of Hadaad who eventually became the head god of the pantheon. If the Mesopotamian route there's the Ishtar gate model from the Greek World Vanila Civ 4 mod). I wish there were more missionary graphics (and I knew how to edit them for the religion spread effect) I would try to do it myself.

 

[JustATourist]

Once again, thanks for the great mod. Sorry if I offended you or anyone else.

You didn't. I was just expressing my doubts, that these suggestions do really mean, what we want to express. Of course I'd prefer too, if there would be better terms for this religions. (And about, what I wrote later in my reply: There have been some other discussions, to I thought it would be better to "give a statement".)

The ancient Canaanites / Phoenician traditions are an interesting suggestion, and I wasn't aware there might be useable artwork. Actually I had some more religions on my personal list, I liked to add, especially Shamanism, perhaps Rastafari, the celtic traditions and some others, but I was running out of artwork. And Refar has some other projects, so he can't create new buildings all the time. So it is somewhat unlikely, that there will be a second version of JARM with even more religions. Also there have been too little requests, that people do want more religions to choose from.

About the missionaries: Perhaps you have noticed, that I used three reskines, I have created for missionaries and I think, they are quite useable. This spread effect itself is really easy: Have a look at the included effects. You just have to copy them and to exchance the alpha channels in the dds files. After that you only have add the definitions for the new effect in CIV4EffectInfos.xml and to edit the ...activate.kf of the missionary: Usually the last block there has the values for the used effect and sound.