Question: SDK- adding more civs

[trancers21]

Have we found out how to play with more than the standard amount of civs??
. I have a capable pc and would love to play huge games with all the civs..

I remember hearing that it was hard coded and we would have to wait for the sdk release..

was wondering if anybody had found a solution.

 

[Kael]

Have we found out how to play with more than the standard amount of civs??
. I have a capable pc and would love to play huge games with all the civs..

I remember hearing that it was hard coded and we would have to wait for the sdk release..

was wondering if anybody had found a solution.

No, its not possible even with the SDK. We are stuck at 18 for the time being.

 

[Dale]

Kael:

That's not quite true........

Dale

 

[The Great Apple]

Kael:

That's not quite true........

Dale

So, how do you do it then?

IIRC, Rhye asked Firaxis, and they said that it was hardcoded.

EDIT: I even have a quote:

I haven't followed your discussions too much because I was involved in investigating the SDK.
It was driving me crazy trying to find out what was causing crashes, error popups etc.
In the end I asked Firaxis lads and got the true answer: it's hardcoded, it will be fixed in the expansion pack

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3852979&postcount=108

 

[Dale]

True, you can't just simply change the max civs define in defines.h. But there is another way. Albeit, difficult, but another way. Define your own player array on top of the Firaxis one, and ensure every pointer to the Firaxis player array also points to your one. I had 20 civs in a game, but very unstable. It's a big job, and one that I stopped halfway through.

Dale

EDIT: I was in that conversation with Rhye and Firaxis, so I know it well. From that conversation is what made me persue the idea. But being a lazy ass I gave up halfway through due to the time it was going to take.

 

[The Great Apple]

True, you can't just simply change the max civs define in defines.h. But there is another way. Albeit, difficult, but another way. Define your own player array on top of the Firaxis one, and ensure every pointer to the Firaxis player array also points to your one. I had 20 civs in a game, but very unstable. It's a big job, and one that I stopped halfway through.

I can imagine it would be! There's so many different things depending on the current player array that it must get quite... messy.

 

[Dale]

I would suggest wait till Warlords is out. They may move the hardcode into the DLL at that point.

 

[dalek master]

so, with Warlords will the amount of civs in a game rise or will they un-hardcode it?

 

[Dale]

I heard they are going to un-hardcode the limit.

 

[Rhye]

True, you can't just simply change the max civs define in defines.h. But there is another way. Albeit, difficult, but another way. Define your own player array on top of the Firaxis one, and ensure every pointer to the Firaxis player array also points to your one. I had 20 civs in a game, but very unstable. It's a big job, and one that I stopped halfway through.

oh really? Well, I'll just wait Warlords

 

[mjs0]

But how long after warlords comes out will we have to wait to get an updated SDK from Firaxis, and what about the inevitable patch a few weeks later that will require another SDK update, and then further patches to follow.

IMHO the reason we did not get the SDK until now is because they did not want to release it until the last patch for the base product was done (as a dev't mgr that would have been my recommendation).
I suspect the same will hold true for the expansion which will probably, based on prior experience, have 2-3 patches one near term and one or two more before the next expansion arrives.
If this reasoning is sound, the updated SDK may be some time off!

Edit: Emphasize that issue is how long before updated SDK is released by Firaxis not how long to make the code changes.

 

[Dale]

Takes my computer about 4:30 to compile the complete DLL. An edit like that'll take 15 seconds. To upload to my website..... oh....... 2 minutes? Then another 3 minutes to post here.

I estimate about 10 mins after I start it'll be available to all.

Dale