Mod Idea: The Wild West
- Thread starter cfkane
- Start date
TC01
Deity
I've downloaded it. Will start working on it, fix text errors.
By "add the leaderhead", do you mean I have to add the art or the actual LeaderheadInfo in the file of that name?
By "add the leaderhead", do you mean I have to add the art or the actual LeaderheadInfo in the file of that name?
Flintlock1415
Emperor
Just the art. CFKane made a nice leaderhead for me, but I never added it. 
All of the leaderhead XML should be in, just not the art.
All of the leaderhead XML should be in, just not the art.
TC01
Deity
Just the art. CFKane made a nice leaderhead for me, but I never added it.
So far I've:
1. Renamed Oregon to Cascadia.
2. Added in all four city lists.
3. Downloaded the art for Brigham Young.
Now, there seem to be a lot more files in the art directory for Brigham Young than I need... and I'm not certain how the Leaderhead art XML works, so this may be a stupid question, but which files go where? Below was my best guess...
Code:
<LeaderheadArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_LEADER_YOUNG</Type>
<Button>,Art/Interface/Buttons/Civilizations/Colonization_Civilizations_Leaders.dds,4,2</Button>
<NIF>art/LeaderHeads/Young/brigham young.nif</NIF>
<KFM>art/LeaderHeads/Young/Charlemagne.kfm</KFM>
<BackgroundKFM>Art/LeaderHeads/Young/alexander_BG.kfm</BackgroundKFM>
</LeaderheadArtInfo>I only needed three files, but there's a lot more in there.
Further, which button numbers should the art use?
Flintlock1415
Emperor
Your artdefines look good to me. 
I'd just leave the buttons alone for now, since the lh didn't come with a button. Once/if you make the buttons for the leaderheads, I'd just make a folder called leaderheads in the same directory as the game (<Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/Civilizations/Leaderheads/yourleader.dds</Button>)
Make sure you leave out the commas though, the game uses one file to put all of the buttons on and grab the ones they need from the numbers, hence the commas for separation. Just make them individual files, and reference them that way for ease.
I'd just leave the buttons alone for now, since the lh didn't come with a button. Once/if you make the buttons for the leaderheads, I'd just make a folder called leaderheads in the same directory as the game (<Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/Civilizations/Leaderheads/yourleader.dds</Button>)
Make sure you leave out the commas though, the game uses one file to put all of the buttons on and grab the ones they need from the numbers, hence the commas for separation. Just make them individual files, and reference them that way for ease.
Flintlock1415
Emperor
Okay, I think I'm going to start modding again, but I'm going to focus on my Battle of Hastings mod (see link in my sig and this post.)
I plan on being around here to help out though, so TC01, if you need anything, I'll (try) to help. I don't know how back and for I'll be between programming and modding (just look at the last few pages to see how much of a waffle I am!
) but hopefully I won't totally run off again.
I hope that this mod can generate some interest, and I hope to offer at least some help arond here!
I plan on being around here to help out though, so TC01, if you need anything, I'll (try) to help. I don't know how back and for I'll be between programming and modding (just look at the last few pages to see how much of a waffle I am!
) but hopefully I won't totally run off again.I hope that this mod can generate some interest, and I hope to offer at least some help arond here!
TC01
Deity
Okay, I think I'm going to start modding again, but I'm going to focus on my Battle of Hastings mod (see link in my sig and this post.)
I plan on being around here to help out though, so TC01, if you need anything, I'll (try) to help. I don't know how back and for I'll be between programming and modding (just look at the last few pages to see how much of a waffle I am!
I hope that this mod can generate some interest, and I hope to offer at least some help arond here!
Okay, thanks.
I'll start working on the railroads code.
TC01
Deity
I've solved one mystery- why the railroads were unbuildable.
The BUILD_RAILROAD existed in BuildInfos.xml... but was never assigned to any unit in UnitInfos.xml. So the command existed but no unit was capable of executing it. So they can be built (now that I gave every colonist unit the ability to do so).
The odd thing is that they connect to a nearby road, but not to another railroad. (However, my trains can move only on the railroads, even though they don't appear connected, and can't travel on the graphically connected road).
The BUILD_RAILROAD existed in BuildInfos.xml... but was never assigned to any unit in UnitInfos.xml. So the command existed but no unit was capable of executing it. So they can be built (now that I gave every colonist unit the ability to do so).
The odd thing is that they connect to a nearby road, but not to another railroad. (However, my trains can move only on the railroads, even though they don't appear connected, and can't travel on the graphically connected road).
Flintlock1415
Emperor
Well, at least the script works.
Does the railroad still look like a road or did you get the railroad art to show up?
Does the railroad still look like a road or did you get the railroad art to show up?
TC01
Deity
Well, at least the script works.
Does the railroad still look like a road or did you get the railroad art to show up?
No... which I suspect is the reason why the railroad connects to a road and not to a railroad...
I'm running PakBuild as I write this to unpack the main Civilization 4 art files to search for the railroad art, copy it into WestwardHo art, and then copy over the RouteModelInfos.
So it's not done yet, but will be soon.
TC01
Deity
I was right.
Making the railroad art show up fixed the "railroads not connecting to other railroads" problem. They still connect to roads but they are supposed to, so this isn't a problem.
I think I'll add in Quantumf8's Founding Fathers from the last page. They seem fine, I just have to figure out where to replace the other FFs with and which category to put them in first.
Flintlock1415
Emperor
Nice to see the railroads are in working order. 
After the founding fathers, I think art, buttons, and a new map script are the major concerns, anything else?
After the founding fathers, I think art, buttons, and a new map script are the major concerns, anything else?
TC01
Deity
Nice to see the railroads are in working order.
After the founding fathers, I think art, buttons, and a new map script are the major concerns, anything else?
Don't think there's anything else- except for maybe renaming some of the yields?
I can work on the mapscript, but someone else will have to do the artwork.
Do those look okay? I'm not sure where Theodore Judah should go, cheaper railroads seems to have little comparison against any existing FF.
frekk
Scourge of St. Lawrence
I would say not. There were a few groups during the expansion West that got alot of attention due to some small-scale wars and raiding that went out, but they were tiny in number and low in terms of actual impact. Nothing even approaching the kind of campaigns conducted in the East by groups like the Iroqouis. The warfare in the east just doesn't make that much impression in the modern imagination because, for the most part, they predate US history, and the most aggressive and warlike groups fought for the English rather than against them, so warfare involving natives in the east remains more obscure. But the warfare was definately more intensive, right into the 1800s (eg War of 1812, Tecumseh's campaigns and the surrender of Detroit and so on). During the initial phase of colonization in the east, in conflicts with natives, Europeans were almost always greatly outnumbered. But in the west, the opposite was true.
The big difference is that by the time westward expansion began, natives were better armed and had more extensively taken up use of the horse. They were tiny in number, but presented a headache for the authorities and colonists because they were much more mobile and, individually, a mounted man with a repeating rifle presented a much greater threat than a man on foot with an axe and a musket. But overall they just weren't capable of offering the kind of resistance seen in episodes like the French experience with the Iroqouis, or the English experience during King Phillips' War, or numerous other episodes. They just didn't have the numbers.
TC01
Deity
As a mapscript, I'm thinking the Great Plains.py mapscript from the original Civilization 4 would be a good base. Granted, it would have to be altered to add in the new terrains and change the dimensions, but these are the regions the mapscript defines:
1. Rockies
2. Plains
3. Eastern Grasslands
4. The Gulf
5. Ozarks
6. SW Desert
The grasslands should probably be cut (or moved to the other side of the Rockies), and there probably should be some ice terrain in the Rockies or to the north. But I think I like the look of it.
1. Rockies
2. Plains
3. Eastern Grasslands
4. The Gulf
5. Ozarks
6. SW Desert
The grasslands should probably be cut (or moved to the other side of the Rockies), and there probably should be some ice terrain in the Rockies or to the north. But I think I like the look of it.
Flintlock1415
Emperor
Nice to see you're still on this, I was afraid you would get tied up in the many other projects you seem to have. 
Anyway, take a look at this thread. Its the mother cities on the map modcomp from Mare Nostrum. I wanted to use it on the Great Plains map, and I discussed it with Koma13 a little if you read the rest of the comments.
Anyway, take a look at this thread. Its the mother cities on the map modcomp from Mare Nostrum. I wanted to use it on the Great Plains map, and I discussed it with Koma13 a little if you read the rest of the comments.
TC01
Deity
Nice to see you're still on this, I was afraid you would get tied up in the many other projects you seem to have.
Anyway, take a look at this thread. Its the mother cities on the map modcomp from Mare Nostrum. I wanted to use it on the Great Plains map, and I discussed it with Koma13 a little if you read the rest of the comments.
Merging in the Home Cities on Map is probably a good idea. The cities can start in the grassy area in the east- perhaps, in order to encourage "westward exploration", yields that originate in grass should be worth less then those in other terrains? The gulf coast can be moved to the western edge of the map. Rockies are already in the map.
That just leaves adding rivers, which I'm not quite sure how to do. The Great Plains mapscript (and mapscripts like the Final Frontier ones) have code like this:
Code:
def normalizeAddRiver():
return NoneSo possibly removing this will make rivers be generated?
TC01
Deity
I'm wondering if getting a mod forum for this mod might be the next thing to do for this mod?
That way we could have individual discussion topics and stop cluttering up this thread. It'd probably be at least as active as the Mare Nostrum forum...
That way we could have individual discussion topics and stop cluttering up this thread. It'd probably be at least as active as the Mare Nostrum forum...
Flintlock1415
Emperor
I actually planned this once I released a Beta for the mod
Maybe release what you have and then PM a moderator (Thunderfall?) to ask for a development forum.
TC01
Deity
I actually planned this once I released a Beta for the mod
Maybe release what you have and then PM a moderator (Thunderfall?) to ask for a development forum.
I'll do that as soon as I add in the four remaining Founding Fathers that I have not yet added in (because, as you said, I was working on other projects). However, that should take less than an hour or half hour. So there should soon be a release, and then possibly a forum, after I finish documenting stuff for a readme.
