[MOD] CivMore

[Tycoon101]

Thoughts on military-
I agree with Officer Reene's words and the others about lowering war weariness. The military ideas are also good. More suggestions:
lowering exp. costs: 2,5,9,14,20,27,35 etc.
lowering tech costs slightly
changing movement- a tank is as fast as horses?
If I think of anything else I will tell you.

 

[Officer Reene]

Opps! I was too tired and forgot to add these tweaks

**I got some sleep and remembered so other changes I made**


I always hated the fact that once you discovered gunpowder you could not upgrade to musketman... and had to wait for riflemen "discovery"


I change that. Upgrade to Musketmen include:

Crossbowmen
Longbowmen
Macemen
Pikemen

(All upgrades work when you discover gunpowder)


I also allowed the scout unit to be upgraded to archer.

(I felt that later in the game these scout units are useless and upgrading only to explorer is a waste if you search the whole map already by the time you get to upgrade to explorer...)

this way the scout unit doesnt become obsolete after every place is explored

(unsure if this works because all my scouts were destroyed prior to this tweak was implemented )

I also did some minor tweaking:

- allowed for 3 national wonders to be built in a city (unknown if it works because I do not have 3 national wonders in one city ...yet)

NOTE: I wanted to allow 3 world wonders in one city but the xml file was a bit confusing...

The original tagline for max national wonders was "2" (so I believe changing that to "3" is self-explanatory)

HOWEVER - the tagline for max world wonders is "-1" huh?
I didnt want to mess with that because I dont know what "-1" means...

any ideas????

- reduced Global Warming Percent Probability to 0% (NO GLOBAL WARMING: unknown if this works since I am not up to that era)

- allowed air units to destroy land units completely (unlike vanilla version that only allows 50% damage - didnt invent air units yet so unknown if it works at this time)

- lowered cost of upgrades because I felt it was too steep and once a better military unit/weapon is made... usually modern armies will discard the old obsolete units or upgrade them accordingly (this works - upgrades cost less)

- raised barbarian xp (works. I wanted to allow mil units to promote faster early... I figure that when the more advance mil units are discovered... barbs have gone away before that... so there it is not too unbalanced)

- decreased the cost of moment on roads... and when you discovered engineering (I think that is the right tech) you get a +3 movement on roads instead of vanilla +1

- decreased the cost of moment on railroads ... I wanted it more like CIV3 movement (virtually unlimited) so I modified this too.... (dont know if this works because I have not discovered coal yet therefore I can not make railroads yet!)
well that's it for now... in a couple of hours I'll get another 6-8 hour MP game in with my bro....


more reports to follow...

 

[Officer Reene]

... More suggestions:
lowering exp. costs: 2,5,9,14,20,27,35 etc.
lowering tech costs slightly
changing movement- a tank is as fast as horses?...

I dont know about the exp. part but....

lowering tech costs could be done easily by modifying the gamespeedinfo xml that defines the percentage for tech research in each game speed (marathon/epic/etc)

although it is incomplete here is a link that explains some of the taglines in that file:

http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/CIV4GameSpeedInfo

I've done this before but inversely of your request....
I modified it to increase tech costs because I made the time slower (lowered time increment for each turn)

I basically like long games

(still need to tweak it because in my SP game I am at the year 2000 AD and I dont have musketmen yet - but I am the most advanced civ)


I am trying to tweak the time with each new mod release...


NOTE: in MP mod my brother likes the standard time settings so I dont mess with the normal game speed



As for that tank thingy I believe you can edit that in the UnitInfos XML file...
(something like that)

unsure since I have not looked at that... but maybe this weekend I look into it...


hope that helps!

 

[Officer Reene]

Another reason I believe the AI cheats is that Julius Ceaser was "cautious" to me when he demanded a world map or he will declare war on me...

so I gave him the map and he was "pleased"

then 3 turns later he declared war on me!

my cultural boundries were not next or even near him

we had the same religion

yet he still declared war on me (right when I was at war with Alexander)

and this was AFTER I edited the handicap to help out human players over AI cheaters!


hhmmm coincidence... or does the AI's work together (cheat) against human players????


I guess Im gonna have to tweak the handicap xml again... when the next civmore release come out... to set a fairer playing field...


another example is that Salidin is the most powerful he is at 2000 pt while the rest of us are at 1000 or less (human players barely scraping 600pts)

he has dicovered uranimum while the human players barely have muskets!!!


yeah I believe the AI cheats... I can give you dozens of examples...

so (yeah Im justifying it) I will continue to tweak the handicaps to make a fairer playing field!

FYI only

 

[Grey Fox]

I think the AI play to win. And sometimes, if it sees that you are about to win. A civ with the confidence might declare war on you to stop you from winning.

A theory only.

 

[Officer Reene]

I think the AI play to win. And sometimes, if it sees that you are about to win. A civ with the confidence might declare war on you to stop you from winning.

A theory only.

A theory if we were winning...


Unfortunately the Human players are at the bottom or near bottom... so to stop us from "winning" by declaring war is not logical

there are other civs that are more threatening and border them closer...and have diff religions....

 

[Grey Fox]

Maybe it is that they prey on the weak? Good relations isnt always a cure against that.

 

[Perfect_Blue]

It's all about the power graph...

 

[Officer Reene]

The good news it is probably not the mod itself, nor my tweaks and editing, nor my router


The bad news it is the Civ4 Engine/coding itself!


The Problem is memory.... or memory allocation and cache

This problem has been in v1.0...patches 1.09 and 1.52

I noticed this problem in v.10 and 1.09 and found a fix for it called the Harkonen Patch... He made a script/mod to fix the "memory leak"

however he has not been able to implement this script in the new 1.52 patch

He did comment that the 1.52 patch is missing or not fully fixing some issues where a new patch has occurred...

I first noticed this memory error when I could not exit to the main menu after playing a game and load a new one.... I got the msg:

"Bad memory allocation - exiting program"

then the game would shutdown...

to avoid this problem you would have to exit the WHOLE game (not just to main menu) to load or start a new game.

Not too bad, since I can still play single player games

then MP came around and the first error I got was an OOS error

It only happened once so I was not worried after about 30 turns

then this new problem occurred

during this gameplay I noticed in MP the connection to other human players would be slowed by lag... not to bad... then the "deal breaker" occurred

anytime an AI civ would contact a human player via DIPLOMACY ... We would lose contact with the human player and I would have to reset the game...


this happens in LAN or IP direct connect systems

this in itself is not too bad... but consider this:

for a human player to connect a host game it takes about 2-3 minutes to transfer data... then it takes about 10-12 mins to join again... plus I would have to reset the router and the other player would have to restart his computer (since CIV4 jams up and locks up)

so for 1 turn (we are at about 1500 AD) it takes around 15 mins!!!!

I think it is the animations for the leaderheads that are causing the disconnection.... I believe it comes back to the bad memory allocation thingy...


I believe this would happen with wonder videos too (for some reason in MP we still get wonder movies) but since other civs beat us to World Wonders... we dont see much videos... besides AI diplomacy window is more frequent than WW videos...

Scanning other threads I believe this is not an isolated problem... It is a game developer engine issue that only they can fix or a really really good modder/coder can fix (possibly with SDK editor)

but that wont be until the next patch... and since the other patches didnt fix this memory problem... I dont think this will be fixed any time soon


I believe this error will occur more in MP (than SP) because it involves more data being used (because of multiple comps) and data that is off will cause OOS errors... and major lag that cause disconnect.


Possible solutions:

- Obviously hope future patches fix this problem or an ingenius modder/coder/scripter can fix it

- lowering the map size and # of competing civs (I believe this is a quick fix because I think eventually the errors/lag disconnect will occur) I dont like this option because it doesnt address the core problem too well... (just avoids it) and I like bigger maps and more civs... to increase the enjoyment of the game (IMHO)

- disable the Leaderhead Animations - If anyone knows what code/script/file I need to edit - please advise!!!

- change the leaderhead animations to static pics... (screenshots) or a blank/black pic - this hopefully would curb the lag issue...

again if anyone knows how to do this...



so that's my report so far...

- If I can not solve this problem or at least limit the lag... I can not further test this mod in the late stages (time period) of the game

- I will limit the size and the # of civs but this is a quick fix... where I will still get the error...only later

****I will continue to test when new mod versions come out... but if I can not rid/reduce the lag/memory error, my playtesting will be limited to the early parts of the game...


++++ To leave on a positive note... besides the engine/original coding (that has nothing to do with this mod) errors... the mod works fine!

 

[Grey Fox]

You can put any changes you want in ALL your mods and the main game in the CustomAssets folder.

So just put the static leaderheads there, in the correct subfolders. The static leaderheads that are downloadable from these forums should include some instructions.

It works like this. If there is no files in the current mod folder, and no files in the CustomAssets folder, the normal file is used. If there is a file in CustomAssets folder but the same file exists in the current mod folder, the mod folder file is used. If not, the CustomAssets file is used.

 

[Officer Reene]

You can put any changes you want in ALL your mods and the main game in the CustomAssets folder.

So just put the static leaderheads there, in the correct subfolders. The static leaderheads that are downloadable from these forums should include some instructions.

It works like this. If there is no files in the current mod folder, and no files in the CustomAssets folder, the normal file is used. If there is a file in CustomAssets folder but the same file exists in the current mod folder, the mod folder file is used. If not, the CustomAssets file is used.

I tried it but it only works in SP (where I dont need it as much)

(I followed the instructions and used the Custom Assets folder)

when I try to use it in MP the game crashes once I try to "Launch" from the Staging Area



That is the only file I changed ... any other ideas on how to disable the leaderhead animations?

 

[Officer Reene]

We restarted the game this time with a smaller map and less civs

maybe this time we can reach 2050 AD before the lag countdown to crash disconnect!

I had some server problems so we could not continue long and it took two hours to re-establish the router and internet connection...

We wont be able to MP until next week

we will continue to report our progress...

NOTE:

I changed the states for FORT KNOX where it did not go obsolete with Corporation...

I can understand the reasoning behind this.... but I felt that since there were limited Great General wonders I did not one to obsolete and limit the great general wonders...

maybe you can limit the bonuses from it so you dont have to make it obsolete?

come on...its Fort Knox baby!


QUESTION:

I noticed that when a Great General is "born" he has some promotion military skills...

Can you use this General in a stack of military units to give them bonuses?

what if you upgrade the General? do you lose the bonuses? Do you lose the opportunity to use the General to build military academy/make a great specialist to city/discover tech...etc?

 

[Grey Fox]

Can you use this General in a stack of military units to give them bonuses?

THats what the one TheLopez made does.

 

[fitchn]

Hey, guys! Just wanted to let you know that I am still around...! I've been sick for the last couple of days, and was a little behind schedule with the next release of the mod. However, since Firaxis released the 1.62 patch this past week, I'm going to need to take a few extra days to bring my mod up to standards. I also won't be able to work on it much this weekend (going to be spending most of the weekend with my wife and son). Long story short, the next release is going to be delayed by another week or so... Sorry to disappoint... hang in there though; I am working on it...!

PS: I will get to your posts sooner or later!

 

[Tycoon101]

Bump
I don't want this mod to fall behind the times: so I'm trying to get it fresh again!

 

[Officer Reene]

Im still around but not much to report since I have not updated to the 1.61 patch...yet



1516 AD

Rival civs are way more advanced than both me and my bro

I just started to get Mark V and they already got helicoptors, tanks, and SAM infantry

(I still think the AI cheats)



Having so health issues (I think it was posted here before by another person) even when I had 2 fish type resources and changed my civics to the best health civics


so I started to draft new tweaks for the next game (possibly in 1.61 patch)
where more +health is in buildings

More on that when I implement the changes and what other tweaks I will be making (I will get a better idea once I finish the game)

I was thinking of adding +25% Gold to Supermarket since if you dont have resource bonuses it is a wasted building

and Adding +1 Happiness to the Superhighway

There will probably be more tweaks but I wont know until I playtest further

No OOC errors this time around (maybe it was a fluke)


I also changed things for Great General (again) where their things dont go obsolete or can not start production in later time periods


MP is going slow since my brother is training IRL and our schedules are out of wack...

but we are still working on it

just wanted to know we are still testing and are still working on it...



NOTE: I didnt post earlier since Fitchn has been busy and I didnt want to flood or spam the thread... Just waiting to hear on Fitchn on my input

 

[fitchn]

Bump
I don't want this mod to fall behind the times: so I'm trying to get it fresh again!

Thanks, Tycoon101, appreciate it!

Just wanted to post a quick update: I finally finished updating the mod to 1.61... what a pain in the neck! There's got to be an easier way! Well, anyway, I've got to put a few finishing touches on the next version (mostly adding in the text keys, and the like), but I'm expecting it to be finished by Monday-ish, and (hopefully) posted sometime Tuesday-ish!

 

[Officer Reene]

Since We all had a respite (with the new 1.61 Patch) for waiting patiently for the arrival of the newest version of CivMore...

I decided to go a little crazy and experiment in modding...

I will break it down in two posts since I don't want a long and confusing post...

Basically you all know how I like the Great General aspect of this mod... but I felt it needed to expand the military aspect... so I made some minor changes (see previous posts)

However I wanted to expand it further...

so I took the time to create:

- 5 World Wonders
- 6 National Wonders
- 3 Normal Buildings

all focusing on the Great General aspect of it!

Some Features:
All Wonders/Buildings have text in Civpedia
All Wonders/Buildings have building models and pic buttons assigned
(I got sick of seeing the "?" pic so I assigned them pics from EXISTING buildings and buttons - More on that later)
All Wonders/Buildings have construction sounds (From EXISTING sounds)

Some Notes:

It took me approximately 3 days (12 hours each day) to complete this!

I basically cut and pasted alot from existing buildings/wonders and modified them to make them unique
**SPECIAL THX to FITCHN because his modified files showed me the way!**

I took away the GGC from the BARRACKS (as previously posted) because I think (hopefully) will represent Great General Coinage better.

I HAVE NOT PLAY TESTED THIS YET! I don't there will be any problems since this only modifies XML files like CivMore does... and since the AI uses CivMore Unique buildings... I dont see a problem about mine...

I will PLAY TEST it in the next few weeks (depending when I finish my other games/update to the 1.61 patch/arrival of the latest version of CivMore)

The changes load up fine (I did get some problems but that was due to typos in code that I fixed) so I dont forsee any compatability issues

Known Errors or Bugs:

some of my wonders are "Seaport" wonders where you only can create them if you have a city connected to the ocean (you will understand in next post) There is a code you have to assign to make this so. However the pics in Civpedia show the wonder with a sea background... Although the wonder is a building! (I believe this is a coding thing that I can not change... w/o some serious hard-coding) It does not affect gameplay... it just looks weird in the Civpedia



Other Issues:

MODIFIED CIV4PromotionInfos (Completed) - expanded BLITZ Promotion to include Gunpowder type (UNITCOMBAT_GUN) units
(I wanted to go crazy and see what it would be like if more units had multiple attacks! )
This can be easily reverted back to default with a simple "cut" of three lines of code...

DID NOT UPDATE CIV4GameText_Strategy XML File (Since I think it is only used in tutorial?) and should not affect regular game play...

DID NOT UPDATE values of New Wonders/Buildings for proper victory calculations - since I am unsure about this and do not play timed games

Since there is a limited amout of building models and button pics, some of them repeat (besides repeating the original wonders/buildings themselves)
I tried to mix and match the models and buttons to have different combos and
less repetition...

I changed Red Cross to Great General +3 GGC/+1 Health/ to match the other wonders and I added construction sound to it


The MEDICAL Wonders are designated to Great General Coinage rather than scientists because:

A) They produce military units so therefore they should be given GGC

B) I felt GGC was under represented and put it that way...


I could not limit free promotions to land/sea based units (although I figured out how to do XP in that fashion) any ideas would be greatly appreciated

I could not allow a specific building to provide defense for the city in which it was created (they only have an option for defense except gunpowders(idefense) - which I didnt want to use since it would be outdated like walls/castles when the building is created) and the only other option was to have it create defense for ALL cities simulatenously(iallcitydefense - or similar to that) (which I didn't like but used in lieu of nothing) If anyone has the answer to this...

ETC:

@Fitchn - You are welcome to use and modify any and all of these items, just send me a pm and I will email you the file components. (just give me credit somewhere! )

Anyone is welcome to use this or modify it (see above msg)

most of it will be cut and paste to existing files with little or no changes to existing wonders/buildings

I might make a mod component file but I am waiting for:

A) To add custom Buttons/sounds to the wonders/buildings (modeling is way to complicated)

B) I find a place to host/upload it since my own ISP doesnt allow it

ANYONE with suggestions or advice (or answers to my questions)... please feel free to PM me...


Future Plans:


FIX COALPLANT Sound - It has a sound but does not use it (Possibly no designator for it)

ADD HARBOR Sound - No sound or designator for it

ADD CUSTOM Sounds for My GG Wonders/buildings

ADD CUSTOM Button Pics for My GG Wonders/buildings

Add more Unique Great General names

ADD more GREAT GENERAL Wonders/buildings if need for better gameplay

MODIFY FLANKING PROMOTIONS??? - I feel this is a useless promotion and does not describe the military manuever appropriately - Flanking the enemy means going to the side of the enemy to attack them better and get an advantage (as opposed to a frontal assault) not getting better withdrawal chance
plus to get to mobility (+1 Movement) you have to promote to this useless promotion TWICE before you even get that option - way to many XP points wasted IMHO

MODIFY GUERILLAS PROMOTIONS? (For Special Warfare Center - see below)


NOTE:

The button editing looks fairly understandable (on the other hand modeling buildings looks exponentially complex and I'll leave that to professionals) so I may be able to figure it out in a week

@ Fitchn - if I do figure it out... maybe I can help you with some of your custom buttons!


If anyone has any custom modeling for any of the buildings/wonders I am willing to take suggestions and preview ideas!

all my previous tweaks (as posted) are still AVAILABLE for usage upon request
(examples: No Global Warming/Allowing almost all units to upgrade to musketmen... not just riflemen)

 

[Officer Reene]

ADMIRAL HORATIO NELSON NAVAL ACADEMY (World Wonder)

ADMIRAL_HORATIO_NELSON_NAVAL_ACADEMY

- Requires OPTICS Tech
- Requires Harbor
- +3 GGC
- +6 CULTURE
- +7 XP for Naval Units only
- Only Allowed in Seaport Cities
- -1 Health
- Pic Reference GREAT LIBRARY
- Button Reference GREAT LIBRARY
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_LIGHTHOUSE

THE NAVAL WAR COLLEGE (World Wonder)

THE_NAVAL_WAR_COLLEGE

- Requires ASTRONOMY Tech
- Requires OBSERVATORY
- +3 GGC
- +6 CULTURE
- Constructs Naval Units 50% faster
- Requires Level 5 Unit
- Only Allowed in Seaport Cities
- Pic Reference COURTHOUSE (Building)
- Button Reference HERMITAGE
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_IRONWORKS

CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ MILTITARY ACADEMY (World Wonder)

CARL_VON_CLAUSEWITZ_MILTITARY_ACADEMY

- Requires CIVIL SERVICE Tech
- Requires Barracks
- +3 GGC
- +6 CULTURE
- +7 XP for Land Units only
- -1 Health
- Constructs Land Units 50% faster
- Requires Level 5 Unit
- Pic Reference COURTHOUSE (Building)
- Button Reference VERSAILLES
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_CASTLE

WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER (World Wonder)

WALTER_REED_ARMY_MEDICAL_CENTER

- Requires MEDICINE Tech
- Requires Hospital
- +3 GGC
- +6 CULTURE
- Medic I Promotion
- +20% Military Production
- Requires Level 5 Unit
- +2 Health
- Pic Reference VERSAILLES
- Button Reference HERMITAGE
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_HOSPITAL

HIPPOCRATES MEDICAL ACADEMY (World Wonder)

HIPPOCRATES_MEDICAL_ACADEMY

- Requires CODE OF LAWS Tech
- Requires Library
- +3 GGC
- +6 CULTURE
- March Promotion
- +3 XP
- +2 Health
- Pic Reference PARTHENON
- Button Reference GREAT LIBRARY
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_HOSPITAL

NATIONAL NAVAL ACADEMY (National Wonder)

NATIONAL_NAVAL_ACADEMY

- Requires MILITARY TRADITION Tech
- Requires Harbor
- +3 GGC
- +4 CULTURE
- +6 XP for Naval Units only
- Only Allowed in Seaport Cities
- Pic Reference ACADEMY
- Button Reference UNIVERSITY (Building)
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_DRYDOCK

NATIONAL NAVAL WARFARE SCHOOL (National Wonder)

NATIONAL_NAVAL_WAR_SCHOOL

- Requires IRON WORKING Tech
- Requires Lighthouse
- +3 GGC
- +4 CULTURE
- +6 XP for Naval Units only
- Only Allowed in Seaport Cities
- Pic Reference OXFORD UNIVERSITY
- Button Reference PARTHENON
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_AQUEDUCT

DUKE OF WELLINGTON MILITARY ACADEMY (National Wonder)

DUKE_OF_WELLINGTON_MILITARY_ACADEMY

- Requires MONARCHY Tech
- Requires Barracks
- +3 GGC
- +4 CULTURE
- Combat I Promotion
- +2 XP
- Pic Reference BARRACKS (Building)
- Button Reference NATIONAL EPIC
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_BARRACKS

SPECIAL WARFARE TRAINING CENTER (National Wonder)

SPECIAL_FORCES_TRAINING_CENTER

- Requires RIFLING Tech
- Requires Barracks
- +2 GGC
- +4 CULTURE
- -1 Health
- Blitz Promotion
- +1 XP Land Units only
- +2 XP for All Units in All Cities
- Requires Level 5 Unit
- Pic Reference TEMPLE OF SOLOMON
- Button Reference RIFLING (Tech)
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_BARRACKS

NATIONAL GUARD COMMAND (National Wonder)

NATIONAL_GUARD_COMMAND

- Requires FASCISM Tech
- Requires 4 Military Reserve Bases
- +2 GGC
- + 4 CULTURE
- City Garrison I Promotion
- +2 XP
- Adds 15% Defense to ALL Cities
- Pic Reference VERSAILLES
- Button Reference ACADEMY
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_BARRACKS

UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE (National Wonder)

UNIVERSITY_OF_MEDICINE

- Requires EDUCATION Tech
- Requires a University
- +3 GGC
- +2 CULTURE
- Medic I Promotion
- +1 Health
- Pic Reference COURTHOUSE (Building)
- Button Reference GREAT LIBRARY
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_HOSPITAL

MILITARY RESERVE BASE (Normal Building)

MILITARY_RESERVE_BASE

- Requires NATIONALISM Tech
- Requires Barracks
- +2 GGC
- +2 CULTURE
- Requires 2 MILITARY RECRUITING STATION to make 1
- +2 XP
- +20% Military Production
- -1 Health
- Pic Reference BARRACKS (Building)
- Button Reference NOTRE DAME
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_BARRACKS

MILITARY RECRUITING STATION (Normal Building)

MILITARY_RECRUITING_STATION

- Requires GUILDS Tech
- Requires Barracks
- +1 GGC
- +1 CULTURE
- +10% Military Production
- +1 xp
- Pic Reference BUNKER (Building)
- Button Reference VERSAILLES
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_BARRACKS


POLICE HEADQUARTERS (Normal Building)

POLICE_HEADQUARTERS

- Requires CONSTITUTION Tech
- +2 GGC
- +2 CULTURE
- Requires Jail
- +1 XP
- -1 Health
- +1 Happiness
- Pic Reference SCOTLAND YARD
- Button Reference JAIL
- Construct Sound AS2D_BUILD_COURTHOUSE

 

[Officer Reene]

Well I dont know if anyone cares....

but I updated all of the Wonders/buildings where all have unique custom buttons...


seems like this thread is dead though... but I figured I'd keep you posted (if any of you were interested...)




@fitchn Now that I "mastered" the button art... I can help you with your unique custom buttons... and civpedia texts.... just let me know...


I'm thinking about adding more wonders too (may work on that later)


FYI the AI's are building my new wonders


Im thinking of changing the mobile sam to a vehicle pic...

Ill keep you posted...