Long Winded Changes (LWC) Mod

[Dark Sheer]

Originally posted by Plutarck
About Oasis/Fruit: They definately _should_ be actual bonus resources, but there's a fine reason I didn't make them that. In the editor try opening up the .bic, setting the 2 resources to Bonus, then have the editor generate a map for you (say no about "save changes?", so it won't interfere with your actual .bic file)......

Funny.....I have the exact same two items in my own mod as bonus resources too but they don't spawn that much in my games

At least I won't call it Oasis world or something In fact, sometime their spawn rate is so low I only see a few of them I definitely like to be able to control the spawn rate of bonus resources just like the other two resources type.

 

[Anglophile]

I modded erp4 to have fruit and oasis as bonus resources because it made more sense and lots of luxuries make the game less challenging (despite my constant whining about never getting any luxury resources and the fact that I tried to add one myself); setting them as strategic resources with no strategic value is more sensible. However, they certainly haven't overspawned on my map - which is 256x256 which might have something to do with it; although the first time I added cotton, I too ended up playing in cotton world.
The LWC mods have been great ; I was playing .7 from the time it came out until I finally converted to erp4 for the game I'm currently in. I am only half way through the second age but so far the changes in units/unit values are very good - although I do miss my mighty horsemen/valiant knights. Shrines are also a great addition, making control of happiness much easier on higher levels. I also like mills because more shields are always a good thing.
I do have some questions about adding resources and this is the best thread to get expert feedback. I have five extra resources - Oasis and Fruit from erp4 as bonus plus timber (strategic - required for all the 'intermediate' wooden ships), sheep (something to add food to hills and dry terrain) and coffee (luxury). However, I can only have 'new' pictures for the first two. If I have unique pictures for the next three, they don't appear (they may be there and invisible, but I am too lazy to click every tile to find them, there are a lot of tiles on a 256x256 map). However, if I reuse one of the first 21 icons, the extra resources appear and as the additional resource. My first question is whether this is an absolute limit of the game, at least as of 1.16f or is there a clever way to do it better? My second question is that coffee was not one of the first two extra resources and the game crashed as soon as I built a road to coffee within a city limit. It had also crashed when I tried to build an embassy with the Iroquois who had coffee - but I didn't figure out why until after the second crash. So the multi-part question is whether to add an extra luxury resource, I have to have:
a) a unique icon for it
b) it in one of the first two extra resource slots
c) some additional mod to the bic file
d) some combination of the above or something else entirely
So far the game hasn't crashed with the appearance of timber and the non-unique icon appears in the strategic resource box in the city view but I haven't quite got to the point where the first unit requires timber as a prerequisite. When it does, am I likely to have the same problem, for the same reasons, as I did with Coffee? I got around the coffee problem by changing it to a bonus resource and the game accepted that happily. I will do the same with timber because the current game is a good one that I want to continue. However, I would like to be able to add strategic and maybe luxury resources so any advice on this will be gratefully accepted.
By the way, as a player of the English, the change in UU to Longbowmen is great; without them fighting off the Impi and Immortal hordes would have been almost impossible (32 cities, one horse which disappeared just before chivalry; and now an isolated colony with a rushed port to once again have a horse. I also only have one iron so my army is very precariously supported indeed).
Thanks for all your work on this; it has made an excellent game even better.

 

[Beelzibub]

there is probably a really simple answer to this, but how do i use the LWC mod in conjunction with another user created map?

i love the mod but as you have to use the "load scenario" option off the main menu and select the LWC mod, i cant load up another map.
The random maps the game generates are rubbish in comparison to the maps from this website, so please help.

sorry for my ignorance.

 

[jcollum]

I love this mod but it keeps bombing out on me everytime that I get to about 1750 AD. I can usually restart the game and continue to play from the last autosave but it will bomb out again soon. The farther I go the worse it gets. I'm playing on a fairly large map with about 8 other civs. Think this has anything to do with it? I don't know but it sure is frustrating.

Justin C.

 

[Joben]

Originally posted by Joben

*whacks forehead* 'fruit' is a bonus reasorce right? Boy is my face red.
I thought of that as soon as i posted the above but i had already shut down my comp.

*whacks head twice*
that was embarasing it IS a strategic reasorce.
thats silly...

Also "want to buy my oasis?" is a sureal concept.

 

[KALIROB2k2]

Hey Joben, perhaps its a moveable Oasis on wheels? (Like a parade float) (Guess you have to have seen that Kids in the Hall episode about the atrium on wheels heh.) :crazyeyes:

I do have one other comment though, and that is thanks Plutarck for making the Oasis! I mean when I used to start in a desert it felt like such a waste with so few bonuses (the rate and types)and barely any food. Now I dont mind starting in a desert anymore.

 

[Selous]

so what is it with oasis and fruit? i changed them with the editor and i got a few clumps of 2 or 3 but no oasis worlds or anything... i did notice on a few maps i generated that the size of the desserts didnt matter for the numbers of oasis generated ... so worlds with small desserts get big clumps of oasis, but i dont think it is very serious though ... i think it is better than having them in the stratigic resorces ... so i hope that firaxis will let us set the frequency of bonus resorces

 

[J C Woodman]

Originally posted by Selous
so what is it with oasis and fruit? i changed them with the editor and i got a few clumps of 2 or 3 but no oasis worlds or anything...

On the subject o changing the ERP-4 scenario.bic via the editor...
Plutarck suggested using the editor to lower the disappearance ratio witnin the erp-4 scnerio.bic... went into that file within the editor and lowerd disp. on Iron and Horses, also noticed that gems were @ 0/0 ?? So I changed that one also. Set disapp. for Iron and Horses @ 30 to see what happens. Started a scenario which crashed immediatley, twice. Any suggestions? Are there certain perameters I need to stay within to not mess up ERP-4??

 

[griffon65]

I regstered to just to tell you what an amazing talent you have. Now if your good with the programming aspect of games you will definatly become a success in the gaming industry . Thnaks for this mod.

I just barely browsed through it but I see a lot of balancing done most I love. Some im gonna correct for my own preference and historic balancing. But the change to the ships are awesome now they accrutly represent the real attack and defense values. Now my battleships wont even be scratched by the ironclads! And my carriers will actually require other ship support.

Anyways I know you prbably ansewer this but is there any way for you to make real animations? Like for the buildings without copying the existing ones? And will you add entries for all the units in the civitopia in the future?

Thanks again for the mod and keep up the good work.

 

[Caddy_NZ]

When i play now after downloading erp4 i seem to get a performed illegal operation message and it closes my game. The date at which it happens seems to vary slightly. The last game it happened at 650bc. I think i downloaded the correct one. I got it from a link of plutracks(forgive my spelling) but maybe im missing some files or something. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GraceofBhaal]

Sounds like a fun mod. I read all data in the Bic - before playing. Sadly game crashes around 2000BC- looks like I will never enjoy it. I had previously installed other mods without having any ill-effects. I allways do a reinstall before changing to a new mod- so the problem is not conflict between mods. Any suggestions or help are welcome- as I would love to be able to play LWC.

ASIDE: Is there anyway to make the aircraft attacks kill units as the cruise missle does? (airpower rules the world and isn´t worth anything in this game) Would also be cool to be able to load helicopter onboard carrier.

 

[GraceofBhaal]

Thank you for the personal reply (Plutarch).
The game still crashes- I have sent an E-mail to your yahoo address (with enclosed save game -standard settings map).
Please help -I would still very much love to implement the mod as the game without the mod lacks so very much.

 

[Plutarck]

ANNOUNCEMENT! ERP5 has been released! Download it below, which is linked from the first page (or will be in a minute).

From the changelog:

-NEW VERSION: Long Winded Changes, Early Release Preview 5 (ERP5). Changes the bonus resources provided by most resources (all changes are increases), tweaked the disappearance probability on Horses and Iron to make them 'move' less, changed Fruit to Bananas, fixed all the building bugs (including not being able to build some, and the coastal defense installations), minorly tweaked some unit costs, tinkered with a few naval unit abilitys (added Blitz to some...), and a few more minor changes.

The file is now called "LWC Mod ERP5.bic" to avoid confusing people. Load it as a Scenario to play with the changes. You must start a new game to see the changes, you can't just change the file name and load a saved game.

This version is a reccommended update for all users, and will not break (or effect) any old saved games. You will however need to reinstall the addon packs (like extra unit animations and non-labeled resource file), though those addon packs have not changed for this version.

NOTE: When unzipping the mod remember to OVERWRITE all the files it asks you about, or the mod may not install properly!




I'll get to the other replys as soon as I get the chance. I'll see if I can't track down the cause of the problems and solve 'em.

Got work in a few hours and have a few other things I have to attend to, so it'll probably have to wait till tommarrow.

 

[Plutarck]

###############################################
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DOWNLOAD HERE ##################################


Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Oh, and be sure to read the first post in this thread, too, as I've updated it.


ERP1 removed after 199 downloads.
ERP2 removed after 256 downloads.
ERP3 removed after 1566 downloads.
ERP4 removed after 602 downloads.

Download the mod here:

 

[GraceofBhaal]

I have resolved the crash problem myself. I had noticed a "not belonging" civ3 file in C: drive after each crash. I tried renaming all files to thier English language translations (i.e. "archivos de programas" a "program files" etc.) - I had success. In short the problem was because of having Civ3 installed to non-english directories (wierd that only with LWC though). Nothing ever really makes any sense in the world these days.
The mod now works "GREAT WORK".
Absolutely ALL of the tech icons are incorrect. Maybe someone could distribute a list of thier correct graphics numbers for easy editing.
If you do decide on 2 UU for each civ - I will share the following ideas...
American = give them back thier F-15 or special nuc (air power and nucs make them super power)

English = the Brits had the largest empire the world has ever known - due to the royal navy (UU has to be a 16 century era unit)
Japanese = has to be kamakaze unit ( I´m thinking a cruise missle available with flight and with fighter graphics.

Russian = a Spetznaz (like special ops) or a hind helicopter - someone has allready done the work for both units, however, I cannot vouch for thier quality as have not tried them.

ASIDE1: My oppinion also is that there are two governments the game should include (Nationalism/Fascism and Theocracy/Fundamentalism) they should not be over-rated.

ASIDE2: I still wish there was a way to make the airplane bombardments kill units not just wound them, and a way to put the helicopter on board the carrier.

THANKS TO PLUTARCH FOR ALL HIS EFFORTS.

...I am just going to download LWCERP5 right now....

 

[Goat_Guy]

GraceofBhaal: ON page 5 (i think), i told that to plutark. He said it would take him a long time to fix, becuase the icons are "hard-wired" into the game... ......Sorrry, but he doesnt have time to fix it.

 

[Troyens]

I've been playing the LWC the last few days. It is such an improvement on what Sid slapped together, both historically and in game execution, that I will keep on with Civ III for awhile thanks to it.

Great job.

Some things I wonder about:

Longbowmen have zones of control - but Horsemen do not?!? I changed that in the Editor. Workers should also be able to pillage, as should the majority of infantry (but not warriors and chariots).

An irrigated hill tile seems to produce like a grassland tile, or so it seemed. I wonder if the same is true with deserts. (?). They should be irrigatable, but not at the same level.

I'd prefer different types of hill tiles - for desert hills and jungle hills.

I changed barbarian War Galley to Man-O-War - just an English-specific Ship-o- the-Line with a few more attack and defense points. Barbarians can make do with galleys.

I wonder if I should drop the cost (and strength) of Minutemen by one each.

Too many inappropriate units still have airlift capability, such as elephants. Yes, elephants.

Tanks should not have blitz. That was why Panzers were so much better than Allied tanks - the blitz.

Armies - load of '4' instead of '3'. Makes leaders more important for combat, as it should be.

I lowered the cost a bit for everything related to Spying and Espionage.

Some strategic resources seem a little too rare, with too high a disappearance probability.

The problem of warships being unable to be sunk by any bomber I don't think has been resolved. This is a MAJOR PROBLEM.

I wish there was a way to allow privateers and submarines to damage trade by merely being present on trade routes, but I suppose the code would have to be rewritten. Too bad.


But all in all, LWC is so good it shows Sid and Firaxis what they could have done if they weren't in such a rush. The new units and techs are very appropriate. (I would like an Eifel Tower as in Civ II, though). The white circles on map resources are very useful (esp. for coal). And so on.

 

[Joben]

darn you stop working so fast!
im only like halfway through my ERP4 game :crazyeyes


btw the defensive bombard on units that gives them a free shot is great.
i put it into my personaly tweaked version for archer units.


Question about the AI: how will the AI deal with a unit haveing offence and
defence flags? im trying putting dual flags on units whoes attack and def are equal like Samuri and Legionarys.
anyone tried this before? does it work? does it change anything?

And about AIRPLANES. lots of ppl complain about how they cant kill units because they are bombard only.
Has anyone tried just takeing off the 'imoble' flag and giving them movement points and reasonable attacks?

 

[Daaraa]

Just a couple of questions.

What ever happened to the mighty stallions as a resource and mighty horsemen, knights. I really liked those.

Other than that...what's with the fruit and oasis bouncing around as a strategic resource? Is that fixed in version 5?

These questions are in refrence to pre-patch mod and version 4.

I'd like to say this is the best mod out there. Thank you for all your time Plutarck.

 

[Troyens]

Originally posted by Joben
And about AIRPLANES. lots of ppl complain about how they cant kill units because they are bombard only.
Has anyone tried just takeing off the 'imoble' flag and giving them movement points and reasonable attacks?

Bombers being unable to sink any warship is SO stupid, so non-historical, I rarely even bother playing the game after Flight is discovered.

I guess Sid never heard of Pearl Harbor, or all of WW II in the Pacific.

In Editor, I gave all bombers attack and defense values, unclicked 'immobile', and gave them movement points. They now can fly around and never need a base. Unfortunately, bombers may be able to be attacked by land units now. It's still more realistic than the nonsense Firaxis gave us.

Fighters may need to also have MP's.

Along with Culture Flipping, bombers being unable to sink warships is so idiotic and absurd it may be worse than even the hated Culture Flipping cities and borders.