Looking for People Willing to Help make a Mod

[Standish]

I am looking for people willing to help make a mod. I am thinking about an 1860s-1900s time setting. I have not decided on a lot of the details, until I know if I can get a team together. I myself have had some success modding XML, but I have about 10% experience in other areas. I highly doubt any one will want to invest time into a mod, but if you do, please let me know.

Thanks!

-What I think we will need-

.) 1-2 people to do the XML (Me included.)
.) A person willing to do Python and such.
.) Someone to either, make unit models, or implement in ones from around Civfanatics
.) A person to do graphics like civ flags, leaderheads, stuff like that.
.) Someone who can tell me what SDK is.
.) A experienced modder who I can call on to help with things as problems arise.
.) A person to search for and find information, such as maps, city names, and other info like that.
That is just a rough list to start.

So please let me know if you are interested, either in the thread or by PM.

I have thought of more things I would like to put into this mod:
What I really want is this mod to show the industrial revolution. So I am thinking of a new resource system, such as say I want to build an infantry unit, I would need small arms, which would need a factory. To get that factory I would need iron. Now, instead of a resource on a plot giving you 1 of that, and you can build anything you want, it would give you a certain amount per-turn, and if I was making, say artillery it would use up a steady stream of iron. which means, if it uses more then I am getting coming in, I would need to trade for iron, or take over the land with it.

Make sense? That is just another idea I have had. I am for now going to begin work on it, but these ideas will have no hope unless someone with the skills to help with it helps. I am experienced in that aspect.

And also know that nobody is getting paid, as unfortunately, I don't really have a job. And, this would be a cooperative mod, as in every body has a say of what they think it should have.

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

What I really want is this mod to show the industrial revolution. So I am thinking of a new resource system, such as say I want to build an infantry unit, I would need small arms, which would need a factory. To get that factory I would need iron. Now, instead of a resource on a plot giving you 1 of that, and you can build anything you want, it would give you a certain amount per-turn, and if I was making, say artillery it would use up a steady stream of iron. which means, if it uses more then I am getting coming in, I would need to trade for iron, or take over the land with it.

Platyping has a Python mod that already does this sort of. See here. It needs a little work to make it do what you want. Luckily I am experimenting with it for Caveman2Cosmos so you may be able to use what I come up with.

And also know that nobody is getting paid...

Situation normal

 

[Standish]

Hmm, that looks like its what I need. I will check that out thanks.

 

[Nightinggale]

Rather than starting your own mod, you may want to read this thread: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=558676
It's about "recreating" Imperialism in Colonization. In other words it will focus on the industrial revolution, which isn't that far from a 1860s-1900s era. The plan is to use the DLL from Medieval Conquest, which is best described as a Civ/Colo hybrid. This will also more or less cover your list of things/people you need.

It's up to you what mod you want to work on, but I would recommend at least looking into this mod.

 

[Standish]

Its for Colonization though... But I will look into it.

 

[Lib.Spi't]

To be fair no one is working on that mod at the moment.

It is a secondary project for me and the other person who was involved is too busy at the moment and I am too rough(sick). Plus as you say it is only any good if you have colonisation or want a mod in Col.

To be honest I don't think this advert will really draw anyone in.

Generally speaking to get people interested in an idea you need to show them some progress you have made on your own to demonstrate a level of commitment on your part, if there were a crowd of people with all the things you have asked for that wanted to make an 1860-1900 mod, then chances are it would already be done.

Also you haven't even really got to the point of actually figuring out what your mod will be. At the moment you could make an 1860-1900 Map/Scenario with just xml.

I don't think anyone will join in without a plan of what you hope to make, or displayed progress of what you have already done.

In Answer to your question the SDK is the source code of Civ, which is compiled into the/a .dll and is written in C++

My advice to you would be not to go near it until you have successfully made something work in both xml and python, as the dll is a whole other level of modding difficulty.

For a small 1860-1900 mod, chances are you could get everything you need from xml and python with content from forums.

 

[Nightinggale]

To be fair no one is working on that mod at the moment.

There you go. Leave it to Lib.Spi't to spoil my recruitment attempt

In Answer to your question the SDK is the source code of Civ, which is compiled into the/a .dll and is written in C++

I would recommend finding an existing dll file from another mod and use that one. K-mod or the unofficial 3.19 patch mod would likely be a good foundation for what you want. Include the source code in your mod in case somebody does show up and wants to mod the DLL and if not, then you will still have a decent dll you can use. They should both be better than vanilla (faster, less bugs, more features etc).

With the right DLL/python to start on, you could get pretty far with just xml editing. The forum is usually helpful with small python tasks if they are very specific, meaning making a mod without any coding abilities isn't farfetched. It would not rival great ones like FFH2, but it could still be worth playing.

I would recommend using git from day one. I recommend sourceforge as it has no size limit (add as many graphic files as you like) and it's free. When using git and something doesn't work, you can just provide the link and other people can get all the files they require to answer your question and/or fix the problem for you. Often when people ask for help, answering is a bit tricky due to lack of access to the mod in question. I recommend smartGIT as git client since experience tells me it provides the fewest issues for people with no//minor git experience.

 

[Lib.Spi't]

I just did not want CaptainM to go to all the trouble of getting Col and downloading the mod only to find himself in more or less the same boat he is now!

Everyone is always welcome to jump in a boat with me, but then they have to face the reality that they are stuck on a body of water with me!

 

[Standish]

Well I do have Col and play it quite alot, and I have considered making the mod for colonization seeing as it already has the system of resources being turned into another resources.

 

[Lib.Spi't]

yeah that is the biggest benefit of Col.

That particular trick is a lot more complex in bts.

You are always welcome to join us at VIE.

 

[Lib.Spi't]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=14073439&postcount=69

This was the last point of doing something with it I think.. I might have done a bit more after but not a lot

 

[Standish]

Are there any big differences in modding between Civ4 and Colo?

 

[Nightinggale]

It depends on how you define "big difference". Firaxis more or less made a BTS mod and released it as Colonization, meaning most of the internals are the same. The setup with dll/python/xml and media files (audio/graphics) is precisely the same and for most tasks the documentation for BTS works for colo too. This mean there is no real engine difference between BTS and Colo.

The only real difference you would notice would be some color table in 3D models. There is a guide for conversion somewhere. People who have done it says it's quick and piece of cake, but I haven't tried it as I haven't touched the 3D parts at all. (I like in a binary 2D world )

The biggest difference would actually be the DLL itself. There is a short overview here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=523087
However since writing that, I came up with the idea of merging civics, traits, techs and others into one base. This base called CivEffects then contains all the tags for all of them combined (more than 100) and it is then set in xml what each one should do. This mean if a feature is coded to be used for say a trait, you can use it for a civic or a tech as well with no modifications to the dll. It works, but I'm not 100% done coding this yet. Traits haven't been converted, help text is missing etc. It will be done in the near future.

Generally speaking, since multiple mods are to share precisely the same DLL code, as many design decisions as possible are moved to xml and more will be moved. As a result, it is likely the mod, which gives the greatest modding freedom to the modder, who only modifies xml, not dll/python. Needless to say, those extra abilities mean there are lots of xml options, which aren't in vanilla.

 

[Lib.Spi't]

in general terms no, if you can mod the xml in bts then you can do it in Col.

The details are different though, because of how different Bts is to Col.

For example the difference between units, as you have units and professions so these files look and work a bit different to the bts unit file.

I would put it at about 80% the same. (from an xml perspective.)

 

[Standish]

Ah. I might give it a try then. What would I do about techs? Use the Medieval: Conquest Mod as a base?

 

[Nightinggale]

You should use the development version of Medieval Conquest as a base. Try to follow this guide and see how far you get. Being able to pull and switch to the develop branch should be enough for xml modders. Forget about the compiling part for now as it is outdated (the MS download link is dead )

 

[Lib.Spi't]

What is the current state of tech code in the dev build Night?

Is civeffects stable now, or are you going to do anything else that would make anyones work explode catastrophically?

 

[Nightinggale]

I think it's sort of stable now. CivEffects have been moved and renamed and seems to be finished from a design/schema perspective. One big exception is traits and eras, which are still loaded in the old format. I can't remember any other reason for not modding xml than that and not touching those two files should be doable for now. Once those two files are done, they can be copy pasted.

I might rename some files at some point to make naming consistent, but it's not hard to rename to match such changes. I think that's it for xml stability in the develop version.

 

[Lib.Spi't]

Fantastic.

Yeah there would be plenty of jobs to do instead of traits ad eras. It took me ages just to do a more or less cosmetic shift for units, buildings and resources.

So much work to do for VIE. So much work to do for FTTW.. SO wrecked don't even want to think!

If you do have a go CapM and you can get the dev version as Night suggested, you should be able to more or less just straight replace a bunch of xml files from the project I sent you, which will give you a bit of a head start into the victorian era.

The biggest bit being the resources/yields which are all changed, but use the same .dll setup as M:C, so you don't have to compile a new resource file. (which is a headache!)

There are still 101 jobs to do, but it may give you a few less to worry about. feel free to PM if you want any advice or guidance or want to know more about the baisc plan behind Victorian Imperial Empires.

Man I wish I had the energy to mod right now!

 

[Standish]

Okay than, thanks.