Multiverse

[tchristensen]

Multiverse



NEW VERSION (As of August 19, 2012)
Download Link:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/98989054/Multiverse.zip

​

Multiverse, version 3.0 is finally ready to be released to the general gaming public.

After several months of coding and more polishing and play testing, the mod is ready for people to play. This version cleans up numerous errors. Also added to the game are the following:

Mysterious Island -- build a ship with the capability to explore and visit the island. Bounties await, but it is dangerous.

Sargasso Sea -- deep in the ocean there are unlucky places -- places of evil, magic, and unknown destinies.

New Bonus Resource: Seals. Arctic tribes should fair better now with a rich source of meat and skins.

All new adjusted wonders

Adjusted Civics

New models and units scattered about

Download Instructions: I have found it most helpful to download to the desktop and uncompress. Then go to the Mods directory and move it there. If an older version of Multiverse is already present, delete it first.

Directory for a CD/DVD install should be:

C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Mods

If you got Civilization IV from Steam then place the mod in this folder:

Steam install=(driver Steam is on)/Program Files(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/sid meier's civilization iv beyond the sword/beyond the sword/mods

Multiverse is a rich and exciting game, much more difficult than many other mods and specifically more so than Extreme2. Not specifically a game with many UUs or UBs, this is more about having varied units of all types. The new version is changing that fact you need specific sorts or resources to gain bonuses to build -- a reversal of the prior version.


Multiverse has 65 resources: Aluminum, Ancient Ruins, Apple, Banana, Barley, Brimstone, Buffalo, Camel, Clam, Coal, Coffee, Computer Software, Copper, Corn, Cotton, Cow, Crab, Crystals, Dye, Elemental Storm, Feywood, Fish, Fur, Gems, Gold, Hardwood, Herbs, Hit Movies, Hit Musicals, Hit Singles, Horse, Incense, Iron, Ivory, Ley Line, Liftwood, Marble, Oil, Olive, Orange, Pearl, Pig, Psionics, Rice, Rubber, Salt, Sheep, Shrimp, Silk, Silver, Spices, Spirit, Stone, Sugar, Sulfur, Tea, Tin, Tobacco, Unholy Ground, Uranium, Whale, Wheat, Wild Animals, & Wine.

Multiverse has 176 technologies, which I am not going to list all of them here they include the basic tech from Civilization IV and: Abstraction, a series on Atlantean technology, Desert Living, Forest Culture, Tropical Culture, Steampunk Technologies, Fantasy Technology, Mastery of Monsters & Creatures, Road Systems & Sea Lanes, and Dinosaur Technology.

Multiverse has 312 units, with most being non-unique units. Having so many non-unique units allows every civilization to build a plethora of unit types from basic technological units such as spearman, swordsman, and bowman; to the fantastical creations of undead, elves, dwarves and demons; and towards the end of the game players will have the capability of building an array of steampunk units as flying ships, skyknights, and clanky robots.

Multiverse has 145 buildings, most of them being again not unique and available for all civilizations to build them. Most civilizations has at least one unique building, but some do not. Beyond the 142 buildings, there are 129 Wonders that offer all so many special capabilities and bonuses.

Multiverse has 42 Civics. In version 2 I use a vertical civic tree that fits better with lower resolution monitors or laptops. It looks a bit different, but works essentially the same.

Multiverse has 145 leaders of roughly 90 different civilizations. Many new civilizations and leaders were added in the core mod, Thomas' War and I have added a smattering of other civilizations too. Most notably is the inclusion of the Iskar race and the Atlantean race.

 

[tchristensen]

Position Saved for Screenshots and updates to game:

 

[Armadi]

This looks great! Downloading now. Probably won't have a chance to actually play for awhile though.

 

[Red Boxer]

Looks awesome, but it still seems to give me that same problem that the first Extreme Mod did, with the gross squishy time and what have you.

 

[tchristensen]

Looks awesome, but it still seems to give me that same problem that the first Extreme Mod did, with the gross squishy time and what have you.

What do you mean? Time in the game will not follow Earth technology/advancement -- that won't happen with all the added tech and units?

 

[Red Boxer]

I meant type, my apologies.

I made a thread about it in the main C&C section.

 

[tchristensen]

Oh yeah, now I remember that issue. I think it was caused because some other mod had corrupted the font file. I saw that crazy type before and can't remember how to get rid of it.

 

[Ambidexter]

I downloaded the mod, unzipped it with 7-Zip into the BTS Mods folder, opened BTS and tried to load the mod. I got the following error message:

Load Error - GFC Error: Failed to initialize the primary control theme.

I'm running a Gateway SX2851, Pentium G6951 2.8 GHz Dual CPU with Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit (SP 1). I have BTS 3.19.

 

[tchristensen]

Make sure you are putting it in the correct folder (if from the cd/dvd version of the game):

C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Mods

If you got Civilization IV from Steam then place the mod in this folder:

Steam install=(driver Steam is on)/Program Files(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/sid meier's civilization iv beyond the sword/beyond the sword/mods

Do not rename the mod

If you are still having an issue, try another large mod and see if that runs OK or not.

Your issue is very common and most players eventually figure it out (usually it is you are not putting the mod in the correct folder).

 

[Ambidexter]

Make sure you are putting it in the correct folder (if from the cd/dvd version of the game):

C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Mods

That's where it is.

If you got Civilization IV from Steam then place the mod in this folder:

Steam install=(driver Steam is on)/Program Files(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/sid meier's civilization iv beyond the sword/beyond the sword/mods

No, I don't get anything from Steam. The reason I don't have Civ5 is it only comes from Steam.

Do not rename the mod

I didn't do that. Why would I?

If you are still having an issue, try another large mod and see if that runs OK or not.

I've just finished a Realism Invictus game (Deity level, huge map, 12 civs, I got a domination victory).

Your issue is very common and most players eventually figure it out (usually it is you are not putting the mod in the correct folder).

It's in the right folder. It starts to load and then quits, giving the error message. I guess I'm not most players because I think I've done everything right (BTS mod folder, not renamed, no Steam download) and your mod doesn't work. I don't see it as my problem, I see it as yours.

I'll be dumping the mod and trying again in a few months when hopefully you've got the bugs out of your mod.

 

[tchristensen]

The problem you are having is not with the mod, but rather your setup. Read the opening pages in most of these complex mods and all of them have similar stories of players getting that GFC error and all are the result of not following the steps I and other modders have provided.

Try: Having a conflicting mod in your custom assets (such as BUG or BAT) please remove them from the custom assets and try.

Sorry you cannot get it to work.

 

[God-Emperor]

"Load Error - GFC Error: Failed to initialize the primary control theme."

That usually means one of 3 things, two of which are user end problems, one of which is a mod bug:

1) The mod fold name is not what it should be.

2) There is something in Custom assets that is interfering with the mod (this can be fixed by setting the mod's .ini file to specify "NoCustomAssets = 1").

3) The mod has a bug: there is a path specified in CIV4ArtDefines_Misc.xml for the type DEFAULT_THEME_NAME which is not relative to the mod, it starts with the Mods folder and therefore includes the mod folder name. The file that points to also probably has the mod name in it (it can apparently be changed to use relative paths starting at Resource, but may not do so). If the name of the mod changed at some point and both of these were not changed to match the new name then it will only work if you also have a mod with the old name installed too, in which case it is using the Civ4.thm file and other .thm files from of that other mod.

 

[tchristensen]

Thanks for the clarifications as I hope this helps people trying to run the mod. Multiverse is based off from ExtremeMod, which was based off from the Thomas' War mod. That being said, this family lineage has run smoothly on hundreds, if not perhaps, thousands of machines.

I run a weekly group of guys on a LAN with all variety of computers and having the mod in the correct file structure, latest patch, and no Custom Assets have proven to be 100% reliable. Not one time did Multiverse fail to run, and we have had guys come in with Pentium IVs with 128 megabyte video cards.

I hope everyone follows God-Emperor's suggestions and gets Multiverse to run because it is a fun and challenging mod.

I will be posting some tips on playing soon. . .

 

[Armadi]

I was able to play the mod without any problems. Just placed the mod folder into the Beyond the Sword mod folder, same as any other mod. Didn't play enough to provide feedback though, sorry.

 

[Tycho]

This looks interesting. You certainly put a lot of work into this mod

 

[Staty]

Looks nice ! I will download and play this mod

 

[HannibalBarka]

Downloaded and played yesterday. I see only three levels for playing 'warlord, something else, Prince) . Is that intended or is it a bug?
Played on prince, and I have no problems for now.

 

[tchristensen]

Downloaded and played yesterday. I see only three levels for playing 'warlord, something else, Prince) . Is that intended or is it a bug?
Played on prince, and I have no problems for now.

Not a bug. There are basic three levels of play: simple, normal, and hard. Got tired of trying to tell my player testers to use one of these three as some played on "chimp " level (aka settler) then tried to tell me how easy it was or visa-versa playing on God level and then asked why it was impossible to win.

Got rid of different speeds as well, just to simply game play.

 

[HannibalBarka]

Not a bug. There are basic three levels of play: simple, normal, and hard. Got tired of trying to tell my player testers to use one of these three as some played on "chimp " level (aka settler) then tried to tell me how easy it was or visa-versa playing on God level and then asked why it was impossible to win.

Got rid of different speeds as well, just to simply game play.

OK, I see now. I played Prince level and it seems almost good for my "skills" as I was in the bottom in the begining and start going up in the score to become first after some time (a little bit too early though). I however do not think you should care about "specific" type of players. I liked the more level options better (if Prince ends to be too easy for me, I'd be stuck with it
Now after some turns as China, I am in the classical period, I have some comments if I may:
1. Your mod has very unique features and that is truly good.
2. It lacks a little bit of clarity. There are some units that have no reason to be there: they have no specific abilities and there are much better units that have almost the same cost.
3. there are too many techs with no "clear" research direction or purpose. I end choosing techs almost "randomly" which is not good at all as you may guess. I think you should simplify the tech tree a little bit to make it easier for us to choose and planify our tech path.

 

[tchristensen]

Thanks for the suggestions.

As for the difficulty, I would rather push Prince a bit harder then and make the lower end a bit easier. But I do see your point.

I agree 100 percent that the mod needs clarification. In actuality, I think every unit does have a purpose but I think I did a poor job describing them in the Civiliopedia. I don't do the pedia like most people do and the result are spotty and undefined entries. My players and testers don't tell me these things, because they simply ask me -- dumb! I need to explain more

Have you tried making sealanes? This is a very case in point where people miss the entirety of sealanes because it is not well defined or described in the rules (will be corrected).

As for the techs, there is a obvious directions you want to take but alas you wouldn't know that just playing a couple of times. The mod takes a bit of practice to know which ones you need, and which ones you can really blow off -- part of the strategy of the mod, in my opinion. I tell new players that it isn't random techs you are picking but just like "real" civilizations you don't really know what you are going to get until you have several learned.

Thanks for playing the mod and I hope over time you will come back and play it now and then.

And, if you ever find a unit that you are scratching your head and asking, "why is this here?" post it and I will try and explain -- or admit that it was a dumb unit! Ha!

Thanks again -- truly appreciated.