Modmod State of the Union?

[ScottishViking]

Hey guys,

I'm going through my Mandated Once-a-Year Reinstall of FFH2, and I'm trying to navigate the bewildering sub-sub-subforums of the modmods. This was a lot simpler back in 2009! So, can you guys help out an old guy and give me some sense about which are the modmods that are a nice balance of popular and stable? From what I understand, these ones are the leading contenders...

1) I last played MoM/Wildmana a year and a half ago, and while it was fun, it had some pretty big flaws and stability issues. I understand someone has partly taken over development? What is its status right now, and is it worth playing? (I want to give this one the benefit of the doubt, but I get that it is controversial.)

2) I did play Orbis a few years ago and it seemed stable. I liked it, but I understand it is not being developed.

3) I have never played RifE or AoE (which sounds as if it is a modmodmod -- mod^3?). I'm a bit confused as to what it offers. MoM is a total overhaul, Orbis is mostly focused on economy, and RifE/AoE is...? Tough for me to get a clear sense since their website/wiki is down. But it also sounds like some folks are still working on it.

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

 

[Calavente]

check global responses there : http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=535928 it is only a few threads below yours.
If you have any further questions or a need for a more detailed opinion, please do not hesitate

but In short, depending on what you are looking for: Emm or AoE (which is not really RifE's modmod... but more like the successor of RifE, but with another dev)

 

[ScottishViking]

That's awesome. Thanks so much!

 

[A Moon]

If I had to describe RifE/AoE in a nutshell: Lots of new content. Not a total overhaul like MoM, but more different from the base game that Orbis (Of which RifE was orginally a mod mod mod.)

 

[Nor'easter]

If I had to describe RifE/AoE in a nutshell: Lots of new content. Not a total overhaul like MoM, but more different from the base game that Orbis (Of which RifE was orginally a mod mod mod.)

RifE originated as a modmodmod of Fall Further, not Orbis.

 

[A Moon]

RifE originated as a modmodmod of Fall Further, not Orbis.

Ack, my memory must be going in my old-age.

 

[deephouse7]

As a newbie, I want to ask this question in a different way. What are the major forks now called? I know Fall Further became Rise from Erebus and Wildmana became Master of Mana. Is Orbis still around in any way? Are there any other substantial modmods out there that change a lot? Is Magister's Modmod a good one? I'm gonna assume if I want to play strictly vanilla FFH2 that I should stick to More Naval AI?

Yeah sorry this is a little confusing.

 

[A Moon]

Fall Further is now Rise from Erebus which was continued as Ashes of Erebus,
Wildmana is now Master of Mana is now Esvath continuing it as Master of Mana Xtended,
Orbis is dead,
Magister's modmod is pretty cool,
More Naval AI is basically vanilla with better AI and bugfixes,
and there's also Terkhen's extra modmod, and the RealmsBeyond modmod, which are both designed to make vanilla FFH2 more balanced for multiplayer.

 

[deephouse7]

I'm getting mixed signals about Magister's Modmod. I've read some say this is as close to vanilla as possible, somewhat like K-Mod for FFH2. Then I read Magister's actual list of changes and these seem extensive. Which is it? Is this the one I want if I'm after the most vanilla-y experience to start off? I understand this also incorporates More Naval AI.

If I don't plan on playing multi (at least not yet), do I really need Erebus in the Balance?

Is Rise from Erebus at all updated anymore or can I ignore it in favor of Ashes of Erebus just as I can ignore Wildmana in favor of Master of Mana?

 

[A Moon]

Magister's Modmod focuses on making things match with the lore of vanilla. Gameplay-wise, there are massive, massive difference. It does include the AI of MNAI though.

You might want to try EitB if you feel like it, but meh.

The original RifE team stopped working on it years ago. Ashes of Erebus is basically bugfixing for RifE by some new people. Consider AoE the latest version of RifE.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

One thing I have to ask is why you'd ever reinstall FFH? That implies you ever removed it? Civ 4 is a game that frankly has not left my PC since I got it years ago.

 

[deephouse7]

One final question. Some of these mods (Ashes of Erebus is one of them) will tell me as soon as I load them up that I don't meet minimum requirements and set me back to 1280x720 resolution. Do mods like this typically require higher specs and if so where can I find the new specs? I've got a GTX 580, 4 GB RAM, and i5 2500k. Low RAM, maybe?

 

[PPQ_Purple]

That's not a feature of mods. Mods simply can not, or at least should not be able to be programed to do this. Personally I have newer had that happen to me and I have half your ram. Are you using the steam version? Maybe it's something they threw in?

 

[norwalkvirus]

That seems to be an issue where, when switching between mods, the base CivIV options are occasionally not read in properly.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I have that one every time. But I have newer had any error messages from that. The options just reset and you have to manually set the graphics and such. He actually gets an error message.

 

[sunbeam]

It's kind of sad about Orbis. I think this is the modmod that was the most fun for me. It has bugs in it though compared to later modmods. These bugs lead to turns taking incredibly long times in the late game (all of them do this, but Orbis is extreme even by FFH mod standards).

So much so that I have never finished an Orbis game. I just get to the point where I say "Yeah, okay this is probably what would happen." then just end the game at 350 or 400 or whatever.

Still think the gameplay and civs were better than other mods. Loved the Mechanos and the Spider people (started with "A" and had "Mother"). Not sure if those civs started in Fall Further or what though, but the whole thing just had a great feel.

 

[zldrago1000]

I think Ashes of erebus has the Mechanos and Archos empires as well. Try that one out, you might enjoy it.