Quick question: Do interface mods work in multiplayer?

[Kolath]

Hey all, hopefully this is an easy question, I couldn't find it in search though.

If I want to use an interface-only mod like the resource display mod or the extended promotion tooltip mod, can I use it in multiplayer without the other players having those mods enabled?

 

[ArgentumStudios]

Nope, unfortunately no mods are loaded in multiplayer right now. While it may not make sense at first glance, it is because there is no way for the system to know that a mod is really just UI. Also, there can be UI mods that reveal information that would give a player an advantage over a player without that UI mod.

 

[Kolath]

Nuts! I was afraid that might be the case. Could you use UI mods unilaterally in Civ4? It's been so long since I played vanilla civ4 I've forgotten.

I wonder if they will implement some way to check what parts of the code are being modded and declare some "safe."

 

[ArgentumStudios]

I doubt they'll do anything to declare some 'safe', since they would have to run any lua code associated with the mod in a way that would explore all of the code paths to see if it touches anything 'sensitive' or otherwise write a parser that may or may not work in much the same way. Even with xml only changes, it would require that they be parsed to determine if they are modifying anything that shouldn't be.

As a whole I don't see doing something along any of those lines is going to be a priority compared to everything else needing attention. Not to mention it has a relatively low return on investment, very few people are likely to buy the game primarily because they can use mods that their friends aren't.

So I would expect to have to have the same mods active when playing multiplayer, whenever they enable mods in multiplayer.

 

[Kolath]

Fair enough. Well, hopefully someone will make a comprehensive IU compilation mod for use in MP, once they enable it. Several of my friends seem to think that dealing with mods is just too much of a hassle for them, but I might be able to convince them to enable one master mod. I will miss your resource info panel in MP!

 

[Wirapuru]

Some time before sdk was released one thread like this was started on 2k's. We talked about a solution on this and came a bright idea on flagging some functions on Civ Lua API as safe, if we were Firaxis - so the game could accept the mod as MP/Achievements friendly if all the functions on that mod were 'safe'. Of course this involves lots of aspects, as a new layer etc etc.. At that time we had hope that things were coming more mature, WAY more mature than it came. Unfortunately it didn't and now my hopes are as low as hell =\

 

[ArgentumStudios]

Fair enough. Well, hopefully someone will make a comprehensive IU compilation mod for use in MP, once they enable it. Several of my friends seem to think that dealing with mods is just too much of a hassle for them, but I might be able to convince them to enable one master mod. I will miss your resource info panel in MP!

Thanks, I'm glad you like it! Hopefully it won't be too long before we see MP support for mods.

Some time before sdk was released one thread like this was started on 2k's. We talked about a solution on this and came a bright idea on flagging some functions on Civ Lua API as safe, if we were Firaxis - so the game could accept the mod as MP/Achievements friendly if all the functions on that mod were 'safe'. Of course this involves lots of aspects, as a new layer etc etc.. At that time we had hope that things were coming more mature, WAY more mature than it came. Unfortunately it didn't and now my hopes are as low as hell =\

Yeah, I'm not really expecting any more support than requiring that all players have the same mods loaded.