Ysevo: I'm a bit reluctant to answer to your post because, hrmmm, how to put it ... it seems to me that you lack some rather basic skills in managing Civ4 as well as Windows as well as these forums - which is not a problem per se, as you can of course learn, but it won't be easy if you blame the game for the things that you don't understand (yet). On the other hand, I may be very wrong in the assessment above, so I'll give it a try.
First and foremost, which forums for which specific topics would be best for the concerns I raised (see Ysevo, Sept 15th, page 915) ?
I’ll explore anyway, of course, but feedback would definitely save me time.
For question about how the game works or how to play it, use the general Civ4 forum or the strategy forum. For questions about modding, the "Creation and Customization" forum is the right place.
Secondly, I’m still puzzled about how to edit XML and Python _ can I have suggestions for where to find user-friendly info for first-timers ? I’ve messed about a bit with XML, and did get some results (e.g. changing which tech brings which religion), but that bit of experimenting was also enough to make me feel I need some instruction, rather than just diving in and randomly picking on stuff to change.
Aren't their some guides for this in the "Creation and Customization" Forum? Last time I checked, it had a "tutorials" subsection specifically for this. Personally, however, I just use the forum's search function if I need information. Another good place to find information is the Modiki (there's a link to it in the forum's top bar). Actually I've never seen a modding scene with so many explicit tutorials as this one, so it's a bit surprising to me that someone doesn't find them.
Also, what application are most of you using to edit XML ? I’m only able to do so by opening the files with Internet Explorer, clicking the View menu and choosing Source. Can’t help feeling that most of you probably have a better way.
And I’ve just realized _ even the above method doesn’t allow
IExplorer to view *all* XML files (for example, on the American
Revolution mod) from the browser _ though I guess it doesn’t
matter, as it still lets me open and edit the “source”.
Ummm ... why are you opening files with Internet Explorer (the next question would be why you use IE at all)? Why not just use Notepad, or any better text editor, like Notepad++? I mean, it's perfectly natural and easy to open a yet-unknown filetype with Notepad to see which kind of data it actually contains, and it's easy to tell Windows to use Notepad as the default editor for XML files. So why are you using IE?
As for Python files, my machine can’t open them at all. What do
most of you use to do so ?
Of course your machine can open .py files. Notepad comes with every Windows version for more than a decade now. And if you want color-coding, you can always install another editor. Personally I'm using Notepad++, but Python is recognized by so many editors that you can choose many others.
What puzzles me (and was the real source of my irritation in the
Sept 15th post) is that the Civ4 manual insists that editing both
Python and XML files is perfectly possible _ easy, in fact _ as if
anyone whose machine can run Civ4 can also open these files.
(Mostly) everyone running Civ4 is also running Windows. Windows comes with Notepad. Python and XML files are easily edited with Notepad. Where's the room for puzzlement?
The only "knowledge" necessary is that you _can_ use Notepad to open files with extensions that aren't yet bound to it, but that's a very basic Windows operation and nothing that they need to specifically spell out, imho. It's even explained in the Windows help system that every Windows user has on his machine.
As Civ4 is designed to run on Windows XP, I would have thought
that any XP-user should find Python and XML files as accessible
as the manual-writers expect. My machine is a typical Win XP home
laptop _ except that I don’t have MS Office (I’ve MS Works, which
generally does what I need). I assume the absence of Office isn’t
the problem ?
Erm ... no. Actually it's a bit beyond me why you think that a behemoth like MS Office (which I wouldn't recommend to anyone) is necessary to read data for programming formats. There's nothing that connects programming languages (like Python) to MS Office, so I really don't see where you got this idea from. You don't need Office. You don't need anything except plain simple Notepad, which you of course have on your machine, which is why every user _does_ have access to a tool for modifying these files.
That's the basic problem here, I think: Your problem is that you somehow totally ignore the easiest and most obvious solution (check the file with Notepad), go off on some weird tangent thinking about MS Office (which has nothing at all to do with the issue), and blame the game (or the manual) for your incapacity of using one of the most simple Windows tools to solve your "problem". That's also the reason why some of the replies that you got were less than polite.
_ I agree, but no: I *am* using siege, knocking down the bonus
before tackling the units inside. What I've found, though, is
that in practise, they endure one bombardment then blow hell out
of my artillery or catapults (of course they've to kill the
infantry/cavalry guarding them first).
The obvious lesson to be learned from this is, of course, to either use more siege or bring more guards. Or which lesson do you draw from your own example?
_ Well, don't get me wrong _ I've nothing against them putting in
African civs. In fact, now that you mention it, I think
they shouldn't have left out the Zulu (who were in Civ2) _ I'd
have no problem with both Zulus *and* Mali being there.
I'm sorry, but you definitely know nothing about Mali. That's not a shame, the knowledge that they once were among the leading civilizations on the African continent isn't exactly taught in schools. However, complaining about the inclusion of Mali (a dominant force in Northwest Africa) and then saying it's okay to include when the Zulus (which are historically of very little impact, had control of a very small region, and are just a bit more known because they won a couple of battles in Southern Africa) is baffling. In any case, it is _absolutely okay_ if you don't know much about history - but then you really shouldn't try to make arguments about Mali.
"Vanilla" !! I like the term. :-D But yes, my DVD, from what
you say, is the "vanilla" one.
If you don't even know the term "vanilla" ... ah, well. As I said, it's absolutely okay to know very little. Everyone started small somewhere. But for someone who knows so little, your attitude seems ... off. Sorry.
I'll look around for the expansions. Are they free, or do they cost much ? (I suppose
I can find out somewhere on the Firaxis site.)
They of course aren't free (how many Civ games do you know that have free official expansions?), but they don't cost much. Check amazon, or local game retailers. Here in Germany, you can get both expansions for 7 Euro, I think.
Not that I care about losing or winning _ just saying
I think I've done enough to make critical points
if I want to.
That seems to be the basic problem. You seem to lack very basic understanding in many areas (Civ4, Windows, forum usage, basic terminology), yet behave as someone who understands these things perfectly well. As a result, you make a lot of mistakes, and come across very badly. Yet, when called on this, you go defensive, cling to your false assumptions of competence that you don't yet have, and make snide remarks to the people who criticized you.
That's exactly the reason why I'm very skeptical if my answers above will actually help you. But you undeniably put a lot of effort in your post, so I thought it's worth a try.
