Status and "To Do" List

[Wyz_sub10]

Thanks! No, the NoM files were all integrated into CIV Gold, proper.

So paking doesn't relly reduce the size much, does it? Do you have upload access to the repository? If not, I'll get it for you and we can create space for these files.

 

[rockinroger]

No i dont have upload rights, at least that im aware of. It does reduce the size you just have alot in there,lol. I have seen ranges of size for fpk from 100,000 kb to 600000. I can arrange the size how ever you want. Trying to keep some organization to it, like alphabetical order for civs/leaderheads. that way if anything needs added updated its easier to unpak the correct one. Where the fpk helps tremendously is the inital loading times. I know it was in the neighborhood of 5-10 minutes the first time i loaded civ gold. while i havent loaded since the fpk have been built. i can just give comparisons to woc. Although woc has more python and sdk changes, with 89 some civs and 110 some leaderheads it loads in 3-3:30 minutes. With the fpk's pm me if you want me to upload them.

 

[rockinroger]

Ill do some testing tonight on load times with/without fpks. takes awhile to set it all up though. So wont have results until tomorrow then. Dont worry i have 2 computers so i can upload them on one computer, play test on another.

 

[Wyz_sub10]

I'll look in to getting you upload permissions, which will make it easier.

 

[rockinroger]

Sweet getting some good preliminary time results. Without any art paked, on my best computer vista 64 bit 4gb of ram i averaged loading times of 4.25. With Custom civs A-L,fpk only running average load time of 56 seconds. Once i get the rest of the custom civs M-Z deleted and fpk in, plus custom leaderheads, it should drop some more. Unfortunately i have to hand delete the art in the mod b4 i can add the fpk. Dummy me, Im sure there is a svn command that would export out just certain files, but i dont know it. Good looking first results though. Still have to delete the rest of the art, and verify everything is working though. Give me one more day.

You, Frank, and everyone else did a great job on this mod, I just hope I am being of some service as we borrowed heavily from civ gold for our civs and leaderheads.

 

[mrsako]

Wow, this sounds great! Can't wait for the decreased loading times.

 

[rockinroger]

Well everything is paked and everything loads great. Average load time is 1 minute. The problem is the first screen shot, num 26. I hope Im missing something easy, like something in the ini. I have tried various fixes, possibilities, combinations. I suspect it might be related to the folder structure in the Art defines, but not sure. So Im posting this to get help/feedback. I kept the art in the respective folders called for in the Art defines, ie, Modules\Custom Civilizations\aborigines\boraring as a example.

 

[Fierabras]

That first screenshot is really weird. Nothing like I have ever encountered before. The odd thing is that CIV Gold mod doesn't touch the terrain art, so this might be something unrelated to the actual mod. If I wouldn't know any better, I would say it's graphic card related, but I know Roger is running decent hardware...

Could you try changing some of the Game Options, like single unit, low/high graphics, etc.?

 

[Ekmek]

when I fpk'd my personal mod - i got that, then a maf

 

[rockinroger]

Think i got it figured out its related to one of 3 files. anime.h, settings or db. Im taking fresh install of gold, and deleted the art just for the first civs i paked A-C. I left in those 3 files and it worked with the fpk. So now im having to delete the art for each fpk, and then add the fpk, test to confirm it works. Next fpk is D-L. Leaving in the aforementioned files. Tedious as he.. since there is over 10,000 art files. Im down to 7000 and will try the second fpk soon. Wish me luck.

 

[rockinroger]

when I fpk'd my personal mod - i got that, then a maf

Did you ever get it working? The fpk?

 

[rockinroger]

OK got the first 2 civs fpk's art deleted and the fpks in, seems to be fine per this screen shot. still got 6000 some art to hand delete. LOL Load time was 2.33 instead of normal 4-5 minutes on my computer.

 

[Fierabras]

Roger, you rock (woc style) for doing all this work!

 

[Ekmek]

Did you ever get it working? The fpk?

nope. gave up in frustration

 

[rockinroger]

Argh, boy this is a headache, but im not quitting on this. It seems that the fpk does not like it when a kfm is pulled from civ4, warlords, or bts. Or some combination of the above. Everything will load in the pedia fine, but then the black terrain background. So I put back all 51 units that does not have the kfm with that particular unit. Now I get a null error too much...... something. So I had this problem with WoC b4 and dont really remember if its because of the kfm being in civ4 or bts, I suspect its civ4.

So to fix it I had to use Esemjay Konverterfm, make a new kfm and add all the kf's to each unit. Thats 51 units and 9 leaderheads. Bogggggggggg!

 

[rockinroger]

Seems to be working now. That was the issue only got 35 more units and LH to do.

 

[mrsako]

Hmmm... after you are done with the making of the FPK and what not... then I'll have to learn how to make additions (aka adding Leaderheads or UU, etc)

 

[rockinroger]

Finally it works, right now I got all the custom civs and custom LH in one fpk of 1909614 kb. Too tired to do the mb/gb conversion. load time was 1.55 on my lesser computer, amd 5600 with 3 gb of ram. Had to make multiple changes too units and some to LH. Mostly involving the kfm. If the kfm is not in the art to be packed, it gives off wild errors. So sorry it took so long. One day turned into what 4-5 days? Ill have to talk to Frank and wzy.... to see how they want me to get it too them. Assuming they still want it, lol.

 

[EMT]

I'll gladly take 1.5 minute loading times, lol. You got way more done that I did in a day in the name of CIV Gold. In a day, all I did was preset civ placement and find maps.

 

[rockinroger]

Does anyone still have a xp machine they can test this on? Both of my machines are Vista now, 32 bit and 64 bit. Im just curious if the fpk is too large for xp machines. If so pm me.