Modular loading under Vista

[Caradoc]

Modular loading does not work under Vista. I did not enter this as a .32 bug, because I believe it applies to .31 and possibly other versions as well.

Yeah, Vista sucks for a lot of other reasons, but we need to face the fact that it's what PCs are shipping with now. Microsoft has once again jammed a piece of crap down everyone's throat and it is one again up to us to fix it for them.

So I beg you. Take a look at the problem and see if there is a fix.

I have discussed the situation with Xienwolf, whose modular mod I am desperate to play. He tells me the problem has to do with the loss of resource numbers over multiple passes of resource placement. More than that, I can't say, but maybe he can provide more information.

Here I just want to escalate the problem in hopes it gets the attention I feel it deserves. My deepest gratitude to whoever can get this to work.

 

[Viatos]

This is odd - I use both Vista and Xienwolf's mods, and I don't believe I've ever had a problem - Silverback Gorillas show up, Elohim with Salsa works correctly, Circle of Gaelan founds, et cetera.

Although that's certainly not an argument that Vista isn't worthless trash. Someday, I will back up everything on this laptop and put it back the freak on XP.

 

[HadesScorn]

Vista is definitely subpar. Sadly, we'll all be running it before long.

Your issue may be related to running the game as an administrator. I know that when I tried to play AoI, the graphics did not load properly until I tried running BtS as an Admin and then loading the mod. It may be worth a try here as well.

 

[smjjames]

Vista is definitely subpar. Sadly, we'll all be running it before long.

resistance is futile! prepare to be assimilated!!

lol, ok, couldn't resist saying that.

Still, there is nothing that we can do to stop microsoft from phasing out xp.

 

[xienwolf]

Some people have reported that Modules seem to work under Vista if they turn modular loading OFF in the .ini, worth a shot.

WoC has Modular Loading taken to a whole new level. I am awaiting their 1.00 release (should be soon) and anticipate merging it into FfH sometime so that we can have the ultimate smoothness of Modular loading (and supposedly it helps speed up the mods in general by a considerable factor). I know that they incorporated a team who had specifically worked on Vista Compatability at some point, so I am hoping that it has no issues with Vista (they report none when asked)

 

[Caradoc]

Vista is definitely subpar. Sadly, we'll all be running it before long.

Your issue may be related to running the game as an administrator. I know that when I tried to play AoI, the graphics did not load properly until I tried running BtS as an Admin and then loading the mod. It may be worth a try here as well.

First off, thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

I am running as a User with Administrator privileges. This means every time I turn around Vista is asking for permission for something, which I always grant. I have UAC turned on. I had to give permission to unzip the modular mod, to copy and rename FFH .31, and to edit the ini file. (Vista was really upset with that and made me change the file properties.)

At the end of the day, I am allowed to start BTS and load FFH .31 with Modular Mod and its contents. But if I set Modular Loading to 1, it crashes. If I set Modular Loading to 0, it runs but does not load the modules.

Viatos, can you see where I've gone wrong? Or can you maybe tell me how your system is set up?

So otherwise... I guess its back to .32. Does anyone have a list of what modmods are known to work with Vista?

 

[Jean Elcard]

This question has nothing to do with Vista, but I'll will ask anyway:

Is there somewhere a list of the XML files incompatible with modular loading?

I run into trouble recently again with a mod of mine to CIV4GameOptionInfos.xml. Civ4 loads perfectly but my added game option seems to get ignored completely. It works when I put my changes into the original file but not with modular loading.
There are some other files I know of, which aren't working, if you mod them in a modular fashion. I learned of all these files the hard way - by trial and error. It would be really nice to know if your changes are going to work before you start making any.

 

[xienwolf]

General Rule of thumb is that if it refers to anything else but the text file, it won't work. So any PROMOTION_xxx, BUILDING_xxx, TECH_xxx... any of those typically fail. I am 90% certain that ALL of those fail, and all of the raw numeric entries work without a problem.

I am pretty sure the issue is based in the way that XML is loaded. All the numbers are loaded and assigned to your entry in "Pass 1," then any strings which refer to items in the same file are loaded in "Pass 2" (so things like Promotion Pre-Reqs in the Promotion File). Any strings which refer to another file are loaded in "Pass 3" (things like the Tech or Religion Prereq in Promotion File).

Pass 1 works great with Modules. Pass 2 & 3.. not so great.

 

[Jean Elcard]

Ok, thx, I think I won't do any modular loading stuff in the near future anymore - considering all the more or less unknown files not working correctly and the Vista problems with it. It's great and all, but maybe somone is implementing it right with Civ5 or so. I can wait.