Need help with culture Groups

[The Guardian]

I am working on a mod and ran into a problem. There are many great city graphics that have been contributed by several memberss. I would like to use several of these in my mod howeever I have run into a roadblock. I want to use several city graphics within the same culture group. I am using all five culture groups so I cant use them as replacements. I need to increase the number of culture groups. Can this be done? Can anyone help?

 

[BadKharma]

Sorry at this point new culture groups cannot be added.

 

[Steph]

Unfortunately, you cannot do what you want, the culture group are hardcoded in the game.

 

[The Guardian]

Thx Badkharma and Steph. I thought might be the case. And thx steph for the new tool.

 

[Blue Monkey]

The only possibility would be to use something from more than one set to completely change either the look of a size or an era.

 

[The Guardian]

The only possibility would be to use something from more than one set to completely change either the look of a size or an era.

Sounds interesting but I am not sure what you mean. How would you set that up? I am using only one era for the entire game.

 

[Blue Monkey]

I am using only one era for the entire game.

Then it's not really feasible. There is a technique for using resources to display the city graphics, but I think it's pretty kludgy (not the fault of the author, it's the game engine). You'd have to search for the thread.

 

[Steph]

Sounds interesting but I am not sure what you mean. How would you set that up? I am using only one era for the entire game.

You can then do it if you are ready to have "independant" tech tree.
Imagine you have 20 civilizations, and you want all of them to have their own city graphics.

You need to make 4 groups of 5.
Let say the group of Europeans, Asians, Middle East and Americans.

You make a tech tree for the Middle East group, with Era1 techs.
All these techs would require "Middle East group" tech, no era, and you give it only to the 5 civilizations of this group. So no one else will have it.
Then you "copy" this tech tree for Asians, except you set all the techs to Era2.
Then you "copy" this rech tree for Euroepans, , except you set all the techs to Era3.

Now, you edit the city graphics.

You have 4 eras, and 5 groups, so that's 20 different graphics. The only thing you do is to put the proper graphics at the proper place.

If you put France, Britain, Germany, Scandinavia and Russia in "European tech group", then you can say France is "culture group 1", Britain "culture group 2", etc.

The drawback is that France can exchange techs with Britain, but not with Egypt, as they won't be in the same "tech tree" and so not use the same tech tree.

Of course, you can play a bit with it, and change a few things. Like having some civs share the same graphics (ie same "tech tree" + flavour), to reach the 31 civilizations.

The important thing is that playing with culture group and era, you have 20 different city graphics availabe.

 

[The Guardian]

You can then do it if you are ready to have "independant" tech tree.
Imagine you have 20 civilizations, and you want all of them to have their own city graphics.

You need to make 4 groups of 5.
Let say the group of Europeans, Asians, Middle East and Americans.

You make a tech tree for the Middle East group, with Era1 techs.
All these techs would require "Middle East group" tech, no era, and you give it only to the 5 civilizations of this group. So no one else will have it.
Then you "copy" this tech tree for Asians, except you set all the techs to Era2.
Then you "copy" this rech tree for Euroepans, , except you set all the techs to Era3.

Now, you edit the city graphics.

You have 4 eras, and 5 groups, so that's 20 different graphics. The only thing you do is to put the proper graphics at the proper place.

If you put France, Britain, Germany, Scandinavia and Russia in "European tech group", then you can say France is "culture group 1", Britain "culture group 2", etc.

The drawback is that France can exchange techs with Britain, but not with Egypt, as they won't be in the same "tech tree" and so not use the same tech tree.

Of course, you can play a bit with it, and change a few things. Like having some civs share the same graphics (ie same "tech tree" + flavour), to reach the 31 civilizations.

The important thing is that playing with culture group and era, you have 20 different city graphics availabe.

This may be a solution. I have 29 civs in the mod now and was planning on adding 2 more. The problem as you say is trading techs, and this problem would be amplified for bordering cultures and would nullify one of the chief aspects of the game ie: why would the europeans want to go to asia if they cant trade. I may be able to solve that problem by using resourses and linking them to production. This is my first attempt at modding and it is getting really huge, 1.5 gigs as of now. A huge map, Tierra362_El_Mencey, lots of techs, many flavored units (many are yours Steph, Thx in advance) This also makes the pedicons file rather large and difficult to manage also. I have been working on this for only a month but its beginning to take shape. Thx again for your help.

 

[Steph]

This is my first attempt at modding and it is getting really huge, 1.5 gigs as of now.

Making a huge mod requires a lot of organization if you don't want to be overwhelmed.

many flavored units (many are yours Steph, Thx in advance)

I made units??

This also makes the pedicons file rather large and difficult to manage also. I have been working on this for only a month but its beginning to take shape. Thx again for your help.

Same, for pedia icons you need to be organize. I happen to have some experience with large mods, don't hesitate to ask if you want some advices.

 

[The Guardian]

Making a huge mod requires a lot of organization if you don't want to be overwhelmed.


I made units??


Same, for pedia icons you need to be organize. I happen to have some experience with large mods, don't hesitate to ask if you want some advices.

I am refering to the units you converted from other games. Particularly the north and south american indian units and several mideasten units and european units. Excellent work.

I am familiar with your contributions and have always enjoyed reading your posts as they are always informative and well founded. I have been playing strategy games since the game "Tactics" came out as a board game and snatched up civ civII civ III play the world and conquest as soon as they became available. I also got civ Iv but to be frank, I am hook on conquest. Nothing compares. I also have AOW. I have been a member here since jan 2005, but this is my first attempt at creating a mod. I have done some extensive editing of existing mods for my own use but never anything as ambitious as this.

Regarding your offer of advise, I am most grateful and will of course contact you if you don't mind. Your advice is always welcome.