Is it possible you can send me the snippet of the code for the custom house so I can add it to the mod I am making?
It is not as easy as that .. because the Custom House feature heavily intertwines with e.g. Storage System, Yields, Overflow logic ...
All of those things work differently in WTP than e.g. in Vanilla. It is like
backporting a feature from
Windows 10 to Windows 7 ...
To figure out the differences may cost 2 weekends of effort easily ... especially for people that did not write the code.
And also later on adjusting according WTP code to become compatible to Vanilla probably additional 2 weekends of effort.
The person who adjusted the Custom House Logic of TAC to RaR (WTP) and programmed e.g. the "New Storage System" and most of the Yield logic in RaR (WTP) is me.
But even I cannot easily give you the code you need without spending lots of time into it. For other modders it would be even more difficult.
P.S.:
WTP version is by far more advanced and has many additional improvements. But WTP logic is also far more complex.
TAC version is probably easier for you to adapt because closer to Vanilla. --> There are however no active TAC modders around anymore.
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Still, looking into
WTP may
save you about 1 weekend in your technial design ... figuring out a good solution approach.
Still you will need
a couple of weekends implementing something for
Vanilla ... maybe copying a few code sniplets as blueprints but afterwards
adjusting / fixing.
If you want, you can search for these comments in the code of WTP:
// R&R, ray , Changes to Custom House - START
// R&R, ray, finishing Custom House Screen
// R&R, ray, adjustment for less Custom House messages
// R&R, ray adjusting defaults of Custom House Screen to Gamespeed
// R&R, Robert Surcouf, Custom House Popup-Screen START
// custom house - network fix - start - Nightinggale
// Selling with Custom House will get Trade Founding Father Points
// Yield is boycotted but you have Custom House
... there are most likely more ... as there have been many people working on this over years.
But do not forget ... you also need to check the Screens ... not just DLL code.
(Did not search there ... because working in Python to fix Screens ... it is a pain in the ...)
And of course there are also XML settings and graphics around.
But those should be simple to find.
DLL references
XML
Screens reference
graphics
Good luck with this.
But it is defintely not a beginner task ...
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Main issues:
1) There are too many different places in the code related to storage and overflow. (It e.g. also affects Python for UI in CvMainInterface.py.)
2) It is mixed with WTP specific code that will cause any non-WTP mod to crash (e.g. "New Storage System", special rules for some Yields)
The only solution there is:
Analyse the WTP code and use it as inspiration to create your own solution ... if you are motivated to invest 4 weekends of effort.
(Again, taking a feature from WTP into another mod is easier said then done ... because WTP is quite complex / big and very different to Vanilla.)
What will not work:
Copy & Pasting any of our big features in WTP to Vanilla as "plug&play". (The difference between
Vanilla and
WTP is
15 years of custom development.)
Fixing the bugs resulting from dependencies to our own custom features will be more effort than programming something of your own from scratch.
In other words:
WTP and Vanilla are mostly incompatible these days ... forget simple copy&paste between both versions
When working based on Vanilla ... WTP will only serve as a blueprint of "how things might be coded" or as inspirationf or ideas.
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There are 2 possibilities in modding Civ4Col:
1) Start from Vanilla:
Massive amount of effort ... other mods will server as little more as input for your ideas and own concepts.
Here and there you may be able to copy a bit of code or a graphic ... but you will
always have to adjust / fix it, so it is compatbile again.
The amount of support you get will be very low ... because nobody these days really cares about Vanilla anymore.
2) Use an existing project as a base:
The amount of effort is reduced ... since a lot of stuff might be reused / or already there ... depending how big the difference to your own ideas is.
Still you have to do an "impact analysis" for everything you do and also fix compatibility according to your changes.
The amount of support you will get depends on how interesting your idea is for the other existing project ... if it is still alive at all.
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Comment on effort:
Each
major feature you want to
add to Vanilla may
easily take you a month. That is if you have the skills as a programmer / modder.
When we implemented the new storage / custom house in WTP we worked on it for 2 months until it was working as intended.
---
TAC was build over a time period of about
5 years by a team of
10 people.
RaR / WTP was built on top of that and continues development since
10+ years and overall about
20 modders contributed.
Both project had / have skilled programmers and graphical specialists on board of the
core team.
Basically experienced game developers after years of learning.
------------
Comment on old ModComps like this:
The original creators of these modcomps are long gone.
Nobody today is really using these modcops in their original form anymore anywhere.
95% of the old modcomps were never really finished at all. They were usually bugged and imcomplete and often even conceptually flawed.
Only once they were incorporate in the big projects like Medieval Conquest, DoaNE, TAC, RaR, WTP ... they actually became polished enough to be called features.
Using the stuff from the old ModComps without actually cleaning and improving the code is not advised.
Your chances of actually having severe bugs and CTDs are extremly high.
This is also the reason why all these ModComps have been abandoned ... because they were only
shared "asset development".
They only served as incomplete blueprints to
feed the major mod projects and share some ideas and concepts between them.
These modcomps are / were little more than
prototypes to demonstrate that something was possible.
A means to get interest in some project and find others to support it or contribute to the idea.
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I have
no intention to demotivate you ... just trying to realistically explain the situation and efforts necessary.
If you want to create your mod from scratch it will take you many many weekends of modding ... maybe even years if you have big dreams.
It might be really really
hard to find people interested to support it ... because they would put
effort into a mod / game they might
never play.
Not because they are mean ... simply because
effort vs benefit for them is just not in any good relation.
If you are really interested to create a
new mod from scratch ...
search allies ... people to cooperate with ... otherwise it will be a
rough ride.
But if you want to do so ... well then you also need to have some reason to cooperate ... e.g. common
goals and vision.
Best way to find support:
Create something other people want to have ... then maybe they will invest effort into it.
If you are a programmer and have the perseverance to dig through all the code of the other mods and program your own solution ... then it might work.
Hoping however that others can give you an easy soltuion that will not cost you weeks of effort ... that is unrealistic because they simply cannot do so without investing massive efforts themselves.
Very
specific and simple questions that can be answered in maybe in a few posts ... those have a good chance to be answered by remaining modders.
But discussions and
support over days or weeks to implement something a second time in a different mod ... at least very unlikely at the moment.
Sorry ... but that is current reality.
Telling you anything else would be lying to you.
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Anyways ...
good luck and I hope you have fun modding.
It is a challenging, but rewarding hobby ... especially if you like programming.
(Just do not expect that things will be simple when starting a new project.)
