Solver's unofficial BtS 3.17 patch

[pchem]

Does this patch work with the Steam version of BtS? I'd be installing both vanilla and BtS via Steam. What's the procedure to make this work? Thanks! Yes, I know I'm asking about the unofficial patch, not the official 3.17

 

[GeneralGab]

I bought all three versions (Vanilla, Warlords and BTS) via Steam, and the patch works fine for me.

 

[odysseus741]

how do i install the unofficial patch

 

[Woody1]

You may want to hold off installing Solver's unofficial patch, for now. It's a good patch to beta test, but isn't ready for final release yet, IMO. It breaks the use of AI bombers, which is far worse than anything it improves at this time.

Wait for the next release.

As for how to install... there's plenty of posts already explaining that. I understand your confusion, though, since the unofficial patch really should come with a readme explaining how to install it. (Another reason it isn't ready for general release, IMO.)

 

[Wodan]

Use the Wolfshanze mod. He has all of solver's fixes, plus he's actively supporting it and has the bomber fix as well as other.

 

[Woody1]

Yeah, but his mod changes a bunch of stuff many users may not want. Try the better AI mod, it doesn't change the gameplay like Wolf's mod does. Although, I still say wait for an update to the unofficial patch, if you don't want to mess around with mods changing the gameplay.

If you do want to change the game, then go ahead and install a mod.

 

[onomastikon]

Sorry, Solver, do you know if you happen to have changed Stealth Bombers in 3.17? My stealth bombers don't seem to be causing collateral damage. Is that intentional?

 

[Peng Qi]

Any chance any of these patches will ever reduce the chance of nuclear meltdowns?

 

[Dresden]

Any chance any of these patches will ever reduce the chance of nuclear meltdowns?

Doubtful, but you don't need a patch for that. Just open up XML/Buildings/CIV4BuildingInfos.xml, scroll down to the BUILDINGCLASS_NUCLEAR_PLANT entry, and change <iNukeExplosionRand> from 2000 to something bigger. (The chance is 1/that number). If you want to completely remove the possibility of meltdown, just change it do 0.

 

[Pfeffersack]

Any chance any of these patches will ever reduce the chance of nuclear meltdowns?

I don't think so, as it is something working as intended. However, it is likely very easy to mod yourself:

1. Open the CIV4BuildingInfos with a Program capable of editing XML (e.g. Wordpad)
2. Search for "iNukeExplosionRand" to get to the entry for the Nuclear Power Plant
3. Change the figure there (it is 2000 - I'm not sure if higher or lower values reduce the chances, but I'm sure someone else can answer this)

Make a backup before changing!

Edit: Crosspost

 

[GooglyBoogly]

Sorry, Solver, do you know if you happen to have changed Stealth Bombers in 3.17? My stealth bombers don't seem to be causing collateral damage. Is that intentional?

The lack of collateral from bombers is a bug. Bunkers were supposed to reduce collateral damage from aircraft to 50%. (it is a listed change in the official 3.17 log), however, during the collateral damage 'fix' there was an error which caused bunkers to reduce collateral damage by 100%, making cities effectively immune to bomber collateral damage.

 

[Jerrymander]

Doubtful, but you don't need a patch for that. Just open up XML/Buildings/CIV4BuildingInfos.xml, scroll down to the BUILDINGCLASS_NUCLEAR_PLANT entry, and change <iNukeExplosionRand> from 2000 to something bigger. (The chance is 1/that number). If you want to completely remove the possibility of meltdown, just change it do 0.

Divide by zero? Oh God.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Yeah, but his mod changes a bunch of stuff many users may not want. Try the better AI mod, it doesn't change the gameplay like Wolf's mod does. Although, I still say wait for an update to the unofficial patch, if you don't want to mess around with mods changing the gameplay.

If you do want to change the game, then go ahead and install a mod.

Or you could say my mod changes a bunch of stuff many users may indeed want. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

Truth be told, most of my changes are "minor"... when you play Civ4 with the Wolfshanze Mod, it pretty much plays like default Civ4, only with a few more units and a lot of prettier graphics. There's a zillion mods out there that make far more drastic changes to the game then my mod does.

Having said that, if you don't want to change ANYTHING from the base game, then you shouldn't be using any of these mods or unofficial patches, and that includes the better AI patch (it makes changes from the base game too, but I included the better AI patch in my mod as well). Install any mod or patch, and you're varying from the default game... how much you vary and how important it is to you not to vary is all in the eye of the end-user.

Compared to a lot of mods out there, the Wolfshanze Mod is pretty tame on the number of changes from default BtS. But any user-made mod or patch, including Solver and Better AI, all vary from the base game by some degree.

 

[Dresden]

Divide by zero? Oh God.

No, it doesn't actually divide by zero. Zero is interpreted as a special value to signal that there is no chance. Logically, think of it like this:

If (DEFINE == 0)
    chance = 0
else
    chance = 1/DEFINE

I hadn't thought it necessary to go through all that the first time. I guess I was wrong.

 

[Woody1]

Or you could say my mod changes a bunch of stuff many users may indeed want. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

I don't disagree with that. But since this is a thread talking about Solver's unofficial patch, which is supposed to be designed with minimal impact to gameplay (i.e., just fix bugs), then suggesting someone use a mod (that does change a whole bunch of other stuff) is bad advice. That's why I suggested to wait for Solver to at least fix any bugs he's introduced.

If you want to change gameplay, then by all means use a mod.

 

[Wolfshanze]

I do agree this patch as-is is severely flawed... unless you never play a game into the age of flight!

That's a pretty major bug. Most folks who have made mods and/or custom DLLs from Solvers have fixed that bug though (just Solver hasn't yet).

 

[Blitzscream]

Im unsure but so are like the roads now supposed to stay normal through out the game instead of the yellow lined road.

 

[Dresden]

Yeah. The official 3.17 patch seems to have disabled the modern roads; the unofficial patch does not change this. If you like the modern roads you can try ricardojahns' I Love Asphalt mod which gives new, darker modern roads.

 

[MusX]

are there any exe unistaller for Solver patch which can restore original 3.17 files and delete one extra xml? just an application to do make full unistall process

 

[Woody1]

are there any exe unistaller for Solver patch which can restore original 3.17 files and delete one extra xml? just an application to do make full unistall process

If you installed it properly, you shouldn't have touched any of your original game files.