Multiplayer Issues

[couriers]

Hello.

A couple of weeks ago I set up BUG on 3 systems in my home and haven't had any issues on any of the systems while playing single player games. Now that we can't live without BUG and have decided to take our games to a multiplayer level there seems to be an issue.

While setting up a multiplayer game via Direct IP, none of us had BUG any longer. Everything had been set back to it's default layout. I've tried running a game via LAN but ran into other problems that I'll try to fix if thats the only way to get BUG to work in multiplayer games but Direct IP had given us the best stability so far.

So my question simply is, what am I doing wrong? It seems as if all signs point to BUG being multiplayer friendly. We used the Installer on all 3 systems from the same download and have everything set to their default settings. It has been set up in the CustomAssests folder and not as an individual MOD that needs to be loaded separately. Lastly, we have no other MODs installed and each of the systems have a fresh install of BTS fully patched and running well otherwise.

Also, I can't seem to access the BUG download via SourceForge any longer. Is this another problem on my end or is something else going on here that would effect that? Currently, every BUG download link that I click on takes me to BAT instead. I was going to get a new download file to see if that helped any (not that I really think it would) but can't seem to find the right link any longer.

At any rate, I have started and will continue to research this on my own throughout the day but was hoping that someone might come along in the meantime and have some quick answers for me. Any insight would be highly appreciated.

Thank you kindly.

EDIT: I was able to get multiplayer working via LAN but still no BUG on any of the systems. Out of curiosity, which would be better for 3 systems next to each other on the same network, LAN or Direct IP? We haven't' had any connection issues via Direct IP but I'm not sure if LAN would be better in the long run or not.

 

[·Imhotep·]

The CustomAssets Install doesn't work on MP. You have to load BUG as a Mod with the exact same versions - then it will work.

 

[couriers]

Beautiful. Thank you very much.

I had considered that and was thinking about removing the CustomAssest installation and setting up as a MOD but hadn't gotten that far yet. With your advice I just went ahead and installed it a second time (as a MOD) without removing the CA version and everything worked perfectly.

Couple of questions for anyone willing to lend some further assistance:

1. Continuing from my previous post...is there an advantage to LAN over Direct IP for systems in the same room on the same network? I wouldn't think so but it wouldn't hurt to gain some more knowledge on the types of game play options and find the one that best for me overall.

2. The Planet Generator that comes with BUG is an awesome tool but it seems that in MP the options are limited to only Size, Climate, Sea Level, Era and Speed as opposed to the numerous available options for Single Player games. Is this normal or am I missing something? I would love to play a MP game with all of the options of the SP game if at all possible.

3. How does MP and BUG (loaded as a MOD) handle other unrelated files in the CustomAssests folder? Meaning, if I edit the CIV4CivilizationInfo.xml file with BUG run as a MOD still recognize that custom file or does it need to be placed in the BUG MOD folder as well?

4. Was the MP Score Board issue resolved in the latest download of BUG or do I still need to take further action to get it to work correctly?

5. Are there any other MP changes or tips that I should consider?

Again, any insight is highly appreciated.

 

[EmperorFool]

LAN vs. Direct IP vs. Internet only affect how you locate the host for a game. Once you are playing, it's all Direct IP as that is how IP networking works.

Think of going to a party to a new house. Direct IP is being told the address whereas LAN would be like following directions that end in "the second blue house on the left". In the end you're going to the same place -- a street address -- using the same method of transportation (car, bike, foot, whatever).

So to answer your question, it doesn't affect performance in any way.

As for modifying some files, I believe you need to put your changes into BUG. If you want, feel free to copy the entire "Mods/BUG Mod 3.0" folder to a new folder, say "Mods/Custom BUG Mod 3.0" and make your changes there. That way you can use either one.

Important: everyone must have the exact same set of files for whatever mod they are running.

BTW, the scoreboard issue is fixed but not released in a new EXE yet. We will be making a new release soon. I'll check out the download links. AFAIK we haven't changed anything, but I know that SourceForge has been doing a lot of server migration work lately.

 

[couriers]

Excellent. That pretty much covers everything and thanks for the connection explaination (in plain english so that I could understand ).

The only question that remains is that of the Planet Generator. Should I be seeing all of the options while setting up a MP game or is it normal for only the basic few to be available? If it doesn't work the same in MP as in SP is there anything that can be done to change that?

Thanks to everyone that has ever had any part in this MOD as it just can't be beat. You guys are the best. Please keep up the great work and hard effort.

EDIT: One more just for clarification, if I have a custom CIV4CivilizationInfo.xml in my CustomAssests folder and decide to play MP by loading the BUG as a MOD, should I remove that file before hand or will it just be ignored since the others wouldn't have it? I just want to make sure that it won't cause any problems if it's just left alone since it's easy to remove it to avoid such problems is that's the case. Thanks again.

 

[walbeek]

The CustomAssets Install doesn't work on MP. You have to load BUG as a Mod with the exact same versions - then it will work.

Then why do Blue Marble and Chuggi's Improved Graphics Mod show up in MY multiplayer game? They are installed in CustomAssets? Why can't the system use BUG (and BAT) that way for MP? Seems strange.

However... Installing it as a mod did not work for me either. A friend and me started an Internet Game (with the normal Lobby within the game). But for the both of us the staging room was completely blank. No active games were present... Of course, we figured, since we were both running BAT mod, only other BAT mod games (same mod) would appear. If one of us was to host a game the other should be able to see it. But we were wrong: NOTHING!

Unloading the mod brought back a lot of games, but not with BAT/BUG. We were able to play but without the mod We received a warning that player were not having the same gamefiles (I had stuff in CustomAssets, so I guess that's what triggered this warning), but after acknowleging this fact, the game started normally.

We tried putting the mod from the mod folder into CustomAssets but still it wouldn't work (like I mentioned above). We are both using the same version of the game and both downloaded BAT at that time and used the exe install, so we whould have been running the same mod (BAT mod 1.0). Single Player it works.

I've noticed some line about mod's and multiplayer in CivilizationIV.ini that lists the origional Civ mod's. Do I have to alter something in the .ini? Do I have to add BAT mod 1.0 in that line? Maybe other suggestions?

Or does it only works with Direct IP (Lan is not possible since my friend lives 150km away). The Mod to be played from the Mods folder, we get that much from all previous posts

 

[EmperorFool]

Then why do Blue Marble and Chuggi's Improved Graphics Mod show up in MY multiplayer game?

Because they modify the Civ4 theme which is not considered part of custom art or assets. I know, it's arbitrary and weird, but that's how they roll.

A friend and me started an Internet Game (with the normal Lobby within the game).

My understanding (having never played a multiplayer game myself) is that this should work. Have you tried doing a Direct IP game? It won't allow other unknown players to join your game, but maybe that's not as important as getting to use BAT or BUG?

I've noticed some line about mod's and multiplayer in CivilizationIV.ini that lists the origional Civ mod's.

The line I have like that in my CivIV.ini file lists which mods should show on the main menu. It doesn't seem to be geared toward MP. If you have a different line, please paste it. I doubt this is related, though.

 

[walbeek]

My understanding (having never played a multiplayer game myself) is that this should work. Have you tried doing a Direct IP game? It won't allow other unknown players to join your game, but maybe that's not as important as getting to use BAT or BUG?

No have not tried direct IP yet. Just "internet game". The staging room appears where all games should be in. Playing a mod I suppose only other playing that mod should appear but no games appear at all, not even when I host one myself (not visible to other player(s)). See image (older image, don't look at "BUG mod" in upper right corner)

There should be games in the screen under "Game Name". But we can try a Direct IP game. I don't care about other players. I am the only one of my friends that is a "Civ Junky/Addict". Fortunately one friend is willing to join me for a game once in a while. I don't like multiplayer, if it is not with someone I know and we can talk in the meantime with VOIP using SKYPE. So if Direct IP is the solution I'm all for that... Just want to have BUG and preferably BAT in our game, and don't care about other players.

The line I have like that in my CivIV.ini file lists which mods should show on the main menu. It doesn't seem to be geared toward MP. If you have a different line, please paste it. I doubt this is related, though.

You're right. Main Menu Mod's... That couldn't be it you'd think? Because the ini lines above all have to do with MP I think:

; Game Name
GameName = Rob en Bas

; Save Path - relative to working (Civ4) folder
FileName = 0

; Account Username
Nickname = Robbedoes

; Email Address
Email = walbeek

; DirectIP Host Address
DirectIP = 0

; In-game Alias
Alias = Robbedoes

; Modular XML Loading
ModularLoading = 0

; Main Menu Mods
MainMenuMods = Afterworld;Broken Star;Charlemagne;Crossroads of the World;Defense;FfH Age of Ice;Final Frontier;Gods of Old;Next War;Rhye's and Fall of Civilization;The Road to War

; Move along
CheatCode = 0

 

[Greatsword]

Sorry for reviving this topic. I found it while searching for a similar problem regarding running BAT&BUG in a LAN game. The hosted game didn't show up in the lobby but all players had the same patch/mod installed. This thread didn't help me, but I found the solution in another forum (regarding another mod). It might be obvious for multiplayer veterans, but I decided to write it down for other clueless people (like me) who end up in this thread while looking for help.

The Mod-Installer (in my case "BATMod_11.exe") extracts all files into the documents folder ("C:\Users\Username\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\Mods"). This won't work in LAN games (and possibly online; don't know).

The mod must be located in the install directory (for example: "G:\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete\Beyond the Sword\Mods"). Cut/paste the mod files from the documents directory to the install directory and it will work (it did for us).

Excellent mod btw

 

[EmperorFool]

@Greatsword - I doubt I would have ever thought to try that. Nice catch, and thank you for posting that info here.

 

[walbeek]

Thank you! I had not figured out a solution yet! Will try this out asap!

 

[ezolak]

Sorry for reviving this topic. I found it while searching for a similar problem regarding running BAT&BUG in a LAN game. The hosted game didn't show up in the lobby but all players had the same patch/mod installed. This thread didn't help me, but I found the solution in another forum (regarding another mod). It might be obvious for multiplayer veterans, but I decided to write it down for other clueless people (like me) who end up in this thread while looking for help.

The Mod-Installer (in my case "BATMod_11.exe") extracts all files into the documents folder ("C:\Users\Username\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\Mods"). This won't work in LAN games (and possibly online; don't know).

The mod must be located in the install directory (for example: "G:\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete\Beyond the Sword\Mods"). Cut/paste the mod files from the documents directory to the install directory and it will work (it did for us).

Excellent mod btw

When you do this (copy/paste), how does the game know to look in Program Files instead of My Games?

 

[walbeek]

When you do this (copy/paste), how does the game know to look in Program Files instead of My Games?

The game always "looks" in both directories. You may have noticed that the standard campaign-mods are located in these directories, not in My Games.

Haven't had the time to test it yet :-(. I'm still hitting walls with a 'no interface'-error, by getting the mod to work on other systems than my main system (bug with VD merged). Don't know what I did to get it working on this system, but here it works fine. But that's a different topic for a different topic ;-). Still looking for possible solutions in the BUG problems topic.

 

[EmperorFool]

When you do this (copy/paste), how does the game know to look in Program Files instead of My Games?

The game looks in both places. However, if you copy/paste so the mod folders have the same name, I don't know if that will cause issues with Civ4. BUG will look in both places, and having the same name will only cause problems if you have different versions in each. For safety, I recommend moving the folder instead of making a copy.

Future BUG/BAT installers will put it in the Program Files location and allow you to choose a different location if you want.

I'm still hitting walls with a 'no interface'-error.

I'm following too many conversations. Have you posted the contents of your Logs/PythonErr.log file yet?

 

[Blackcompany]

Hello,

First, let me say that the BUG/BAT mods have improved my enjoyment of Civ 4 which I didn’t think was possible. Excellent job with the Mod, thank you.

My issue is almost exactly the same as walbeek described. Five of my friends and I love to play against the cpu using the internet games connection tool. Using the BAT mod would be fantastic for us as we only play by ourselves.

After doing as much forum trolling as I could one of my friends and I tried to get BAT mod game going last night and were unable to do so. We took the following steps:

1. We both had BAT downloaded and installed, we confirmed that we could both play BAT games in single player.
2. We started Civ 4 BTS normally, loaded the BAT mod and used Internet Games to connect to the lobby.
3. We saw no games exactly as walbeek described, but figured we were ok. I created a game, but my friend was unable to see it.
4. I forum trolled some more, and found notes about having the mod copied into the BTS installed mods folder. We both backed out, copied the entire BAT 1.1 mod folder into the BTS/Mod folder (alongside the standard mods). We tried again, same issue.

Our group would really like to enable and use this mod to connect to games with each other via the Internet Games connection/creation feature. Can anyone help point us in the right direction?

A few things to mention here. We are not the most tech savvy individuals, we actually tried to do a two person direct ip after the above failed, but couldn’t get that to work either (really never have) and after looking it seemed that Direct IP opened up a whole different can of worms, opening ports and such. So we are stuck trying to get this mod to work through the Internet Games feature. Also, my tech level is beginner at best, as my last bit of programming ended with BASIC and Logo somewhere around 6th grade and tight rolled jeans… So please be gentle.

Thanks,
Blackcompany

 

[EmperorFool]

Double-check that each of you has named the copied BAT folder exactly the same: "BAT Mod 1.1". Unfortunately, I just don't have any MP experience. I set up a LAN GAME on my own computer to test out that it can work MP, but I didn't try INTERNET GAME.

 

[Blackcompany]

Thanks for the response. I confirmed that the folder is named exactly BAT Mod 1.1 on both systems. We both used the exe installer, and copied the folder from the C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\MODS (where the exe put it) path to the C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Mods path. Both computers have the mod now in both places.

The only thing we changed was we both removed the IG v2.07.FPK file in all locations.

We both load Civ 4 BTS normally, then add the mod through the advanced feature, then use the internet games feature to log into the lobby.

The only difference that I know of between the two is that I installed the BUG mod on my system before installing BAT (didn't realize at the time I didn't need to), but I don't think that is effecting anything.

I included more information than you probably needed here, but I am hoping we might have done something small incorrectly that you might notice.

 

[EmperorFool]

I don't know if this matters, but open the "BAT Mod 1.1.ini" file and change NoCustomAssets to 1. This will tell it to ignore the CustomAssets folder.

When you previously installed BUG, did you do the Standard Install or as a mod? The EXE installer gives you an option, and Standard puts the files into CustomAssets. If you don't have any other mods installed, you can safely delete the CustomAssets folder and Civ4 will create a new empty one.

If you have BlueMarble installed, it shouldn't affect anything, but maybe make sure both of you have it installed. It puts the files into CustomAssets as well.

 

[Blackcompany]

Ok, we will both try changing the ini file to 1 in both places on both cpus. I will let you know how it goes once we both can try again.

When I first installed BUG I used the exe, and it installed it as a Standard Install. I will delete the custom assets folder from my system to clean it up. Thanks.

Neither of us have Blue Marble installed.

EDIT: Ok stupid question here, but where do i find the BAT Mod 1.1.ini file? I looked in multiple places and ran a search using that filename, but could not come up with anything...

EDIT 2: Is the ini file the BAT 1.1 Mod Configuration Settings file in the BAT Mod folder when using XP?

 

[Blackcompany]

Ok, I figured out the ini file. We both changed the Nocustomassets to 1 and no luck. I did see the following lines in the ini file in the BAT Mod:


; No team play allowed
NoTeams = 0

; Read Game options from XML, not .ini
ForceGameOptions = 0

; Always start in the standard era
ForceStandardEra = 0

; Scenario file (Single player)
ForceScenario = 0

; This mod is only for single player games
SinglePlayerOnly = 0

Would either the no teams at 0 or the singleplayer only at 0 be having an effect?