Wow. Oooookay... last time I try and help a fellow modder; back to just keeping my mouth shut lol. Where to start...
I said I like many aspects of your mod, but I didn't say I necessarily liked it.
These two things seem pretty equivalent to me, at least with the "many" in there.
It may be time to shelve it and get some fresh perspectives.
This is especially amusing coming from someone trying to accuse the other person of arrogance, btw.
Overall it is just too busy -- you got clutter everywhere!!
First time I've ever heard "too cluttered" as a complaint (after ~1800 downloads)... Seems to me vanilla is too uncluttered.
Seriously... have you actually looked at the other major mods? They are as "cluttered" or more "cluttered" than mine, but with the "clutter" significantly less well organized, imo. I'd also strongly recommend you try playing a game with my mod before criticizing the density of the tech tree... I suspect your opinion will change once you actually experience what everything in there does.
I would think calling yourself an Expert in Civilization IV would be a gross overstatement without the ability to model.
If you think modelling is more important than programming for Civ4 overall, well, see my previous statement you took such offense to. You can still have tons of custom content without any custom models; it just won't look very good. But you can't have greatly improved gameplay without custom programming.
Plus I have actually made several custom skins for units that people have liked (check my Downloads page), and I have some limited 3D experience which I've already used in a different game project. It's more a matter of not having the software I would need (3DSMax for Civ4 modelling), not having time (my mod takes all my time as it is), and not needing to (the artists on this site have done a terrific job making custom leaderhead and unit graphics).
You seem to be quite egotistical (from other posts I have read) but to call yourself an expert at modding Civ IV because you can hack some XML and borrow some code doesn't make you an expert but just a braggart.
If having nearly all XML files, and nearly all tags in those files, memorized, as well as being intimately familiar with most of the DLL code that implements and/or utilizes those tags, doesn't make me an XML expert, I dunno what does.
If rewriting one of the most popular and essential components for BTS, the Sevopedia, 3 years ago when no one else was willing to take it on, and now having it used in most major mods... As well as porting the latest version of the best and most popular map script ever made, PerfectWorld, back from Civ5 to Civ4 because the author didn't have time to, and then tweaking and improving it substantially (with map scripts being very complicated things)... doesn't make me a Python expert, I dunno what does.
If having one bugfix in an official Firaxis game patch 4 years ago, another half-dozen-plus bugfixes in the standard DLL mod, Better BTS AI, that everyone uses, and having ~50 custom DLL mod components that have attracted substantial interest and over 100 downloads just for the source code alone, doesn't make me an SDK/DLL expert, I dunno what does.
Of course I'm egotistical and arrogant. I freely admit that! The thing is: that's only a bad thing if it's not justified. Otherwise it's a very good thing, in all areas of life (helps break beaurocratic inertia and get things done right).
Many aspects of modding is simply cutting and pasting, which without sounding too critical appears to be what you have done.
If you think I copy/pasted most of my content, that's just silly. In addition to what I said above, I've had and used an absolutely staggering number of original XML ideas, along with a few original Python ideas. My credits section still needs some updating here and there, but it fully covers everything I've used that isn't original. You may also want to consider the possibility that other mods have copied me, and not the other way around (I am in Quot Capita's credits for this reason, to name one example).
Even the python stuff is easily borrowed from other people's mods.
That is true, and would be a relevant statement, if I had actually borrowed more than half of my Python from other mods, or if I hadn't customized or rewritten most of what I borrowed. Or if I had much Python in my mod at all.
I didn't say that XML modification was the end all of modding, but I do firmly stand behind the pure fact that many aspects of the game can be accomplished through simple XML changes. Can it do everything, of course not. But to state that my stance on it is of extreme ignorance is both arrogant and blatantly without merit.
I said XML could do a lot, and that I was all for getting the most out of it that you can. I also did NOT say that trying to mod XML was related to ignorance. What I DID say, was that the DLL was crucially important, and ignoring it, which you indicated you were doing (for no particular reason so I'm left to assume ignorance, stubborness and/or laziness), was a very, very bad idea.
I suggest you read the BetterAI and BetterBTSAI patch notes, in full, if you want to learn... The base, unmodded DLL is a functional starting point, but it is full of serious bugs and poorly-written, badly-performing functions that JDog and others have spent years improving. Yes, the Firaxis code really does suck in many places and no, they really aren't miles above certain forum contributors when it comes to programming skill just because they have jobs at a game company and we don't.
Unless you have a multiplayer game full of nothing but human players, I don't see how AI programming isn't THE most important thing... a game is only as fun and interesting as the skill of your opponent/s, just in general. BBAI also includes the Unofficial Patch code, in which you will find literally dozens of distinct bugfixes to problems that were all annoying, and some downright game-breaking.
Then there's the point I already made, that the dozen or so major custom functionalities in MongooseMod, plus another three dozen minor custom functionalities, are, I strongly suspect, a lot of what you were so interested in using yourself. Or maybe you just meant my civic list (at least half of which were my original ideas) and tech tree (Exploring leads to Dog Training because early humans have to get out and explore to encounter dogs, btw). In any case, when you try and duplicate a lot of my stuff just using the XML you may be very surprised when you find out you can't.
I also strongly suggest you read, if not my monolithic Change Log document, at least the Stuff to Know and Patch Notes documents or sticky threads. They will help you get an idea for the sheer magnitude of stuff that's been done in MongooseMod, and just how heavily tweaked and customized every last setting is compared to vanilla and other mods. Editing XML may be easy the same way typing English sentences is, but that doesn't mean everyone can write a best-selling book. I'm not implying anything there because I hate writing, but you get the idea.
