Modding a game in progress?

[Peter Principle]

In civ3 if you changed the rules of the game with the editor you needed to start a new game to see those changes go into effect. Is it the same way with Civ4? Or if I'm playing along and I decide "You know what would be cool? Railroads provide 100 movement, not just 20" then can I change that in the xml files and then see that change implemented when I save and restart my game?

 

[Dresden]

You can load an existing game after making XML, Python, and even DLL changes, if those changes aren't too drastic. For example, I believe games started under patch 3.13 could even be loaded and continued after updating to 3.17.

 

[phungus420]

Yeah, it depends on what sort of changes you do. For instance, you can't add new units or buildings and load a game that doesn't have them (You get a CTD when the game loads), but you can tweak existing buildings or units, very drastically I might add. In general you can tweak anything pre-existing and maintain save game compatibility, but you can't add something entirely new.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Yeah, it depends on what sort of changes you do. For instance, you can't add new units or buildings and load a game that doesn't have them (You get a CTD when the game loads), but you can tweak existing buildings or units, very drastically I might add. In general you can tweak anything pre-existing and maintain save game compatibility, but you can't add something entirely new.

You can add leader heads, so long as you add them to the end of the list (out of alphabetical order)... but for the most part, adding new things from units to buildings to promotions will cause a CTD in a saved game.

Editing existing things... the sky is usually the limit.

 

[Marshall Thomas]

Is it possible to mod a saved game's difficulty setting?

I'm playing a game on "monarch" difficulty, but I want to switch to "emporer" difficulty without beginning a new game? Thanks in advance