Unofficial BtS 3.17 patch
Welcome to the forum for the Unofficial patch for Beyond the Sword 3.17. This is the third installment so to speak, following Bhruic's 3.13 and Solver's 3.02 patches.
This unofficial patch is intended to fix bugs that exist in the official Firaxis patch 3.17 for BtS, as well as provide patch-like improvements such as minor interface tweaks for extra information or AI improvements. This patch will not add any new gameplay features, units or similar.
Two methods of installing the patch exist. You can download a zip file that is to be extracted to your main BtS folder or you can use the installer generously kept alive by Grumbler, which would also give you the option of running this unofficial patch as a mod. For more information and download links scroll down to the bottom of this post or peruse the download thread. And now time for some Q & A.
What do I need to use this patch?
This unofficial patch requires the official BtS 3.17 patch from Firaxis. For questions and issues regarding the official patch, please refer to the 3.17 thread of these forums. If you have 3.17 installed, you can use the unofficial patch after downloading it from the links at the bottom of this post.
What's the goal of this patch?
The goal here is to fix gameplay bugs not addressed or introduced in 3.17, as well as provide other improvements that are in line with patching, such as allowing the interface to display some extra information or improving the AI for a better gameplay experience. I am trying to stay consistent with the official process and I generally aim to make things work as intended by Firaxis.
Shouldn't the unofficial patch stick to bug fixes only?
Some people believe that the unofficial patch should only fix bugs - no AI improvements or any other changes. I should start by saying that I really understand this viewpoint. However, I've decided to continue like in the past, which means that I'm going to add some AI improvements as well. My goal is to remain consistent with the official Firaxis patching process, and every official patch to date has included AI behaviour improvements (in particular, the first Warlords patch).
How is this patch related to Firaxis, and how are you?
As the title indicates, this is an unofficial patch. It hasn't been produced and isn't getting distributed by Firaxis in any way. I have been working on Civ4 with Firaxis "behind the scenes" for a few years now, so I'd like to think that I have a pretty good grasp of what the designers generally want and like in the game, but I by no means have the authority that a designer does.
Does this patch work with multiplayer or with other mods?
It will work in multipayer if the other players have it also installed - you must have the same version. Mod compatibility is harder to say. Generally, if a mod comes with its own CvGameCoreDLL.dll file, then the unofficial patch is not compatible with that mod. If a mod doesn't have its custom dll file, then it's probably compatible with the unofficial patch. There are exceptions, too, for example, some mods include the unofficial patch's changes in their custom dll file.
Download links:
The current version is 0.19.
You can download the zip version - in that case, extract the zip file to your BtS folder, which will overwrite the files you currently have. You probably shouldn't use this method if you intend to play online.
There is also an installer by Grumbler, which will give you the option to install the unofficial patch as a mod. Please check that the version number the installer displays is the latest version of the unofficial patch.
These download links and the list of changes are available in the download thread.
Welcome to the forum for the Unofficial patch for Beyond the Sword 3.17. This is the third installment so to speak, following Bhruic's 3.13 and Solver's 3.02 patches.
This unofficial patch is intended to fix bugs that exist in the official Firaxis patch 3.17 for BtS, as well as provide patch-like improvements such as minor interface tweaks for extra information or AI improvements. This patch will not add any new gameplay features, units or similar.
Two methods of installing the patch exist. You can download a zip file that is to be extracted to your main BtS folder or you can use the installer generously kept alive by Grumbler, which would also give you the option of running this unofficial patch as a mod. For more information and download links scroll down to the bottom of this post or peruse the download thread. And now time for some Q & A.
What do I need to use this patch?
This unofficial patch requires the official BtS 3.17 patch from Firaxis. For questions and issues regarding the official patch, please refer to the 3.17 thread of these forums. If you have 3.17 installed, you can use the unofficial patch after downloading it from the links at the bottom of this post.
What's the goal of this patch?
The goal here is to fix gameplay bugs not addressed or introduced in 3.17, as well as provide other improvements that are in line with patching, such as allowing the interface to display some extra information or improving the AI for a better gameplay experience. I am trying to stay consistent with the official process and I generally aim to make things work as intended by Firaxis.
Shouldn't the unofficial patch stick to bug fixes only?
Some people believe that the unofficial patch should only fix bugs - no AI improvements or any other changes. I should start by saying that I really understand this viewpoint. However, I've decided to continue like in the past, which means that I'm going to add some AI improvements as well. My goal is to remain consistent with the official Firaxis patching process, and every official patch to date has included AI behaviour improvements (in particular, the first Warlords patch).
How is this patch related to Firaxis, and how are you?
As the title indicates, this is an unofficial patch. It hasn't been produced and isn't getting distributed by Firaxis in any way. I have been working on Civ4 with Firaxis "behind the scenes" for a few years now, so I'd like to think that I have a pretty good grasp of what the designers generally want and like in the game, but I by no means have the authority that a designer does.
Does this patch work with multiplayer or with other mods?
It will work in multipayer if the other players have it also installed - you must have the same version. Mod compatibility is harder to say. Generally, if a mod comes with its own CvGameCoreDLL.dll file, then the unofficial patch is not compatible with that mod. If a mod doesn't have its custom dll file, then it's probably compatible with the unofficial patch. There are exceptions, too, for example, some mods include the unofficial patch's changes in their custom dll file.
Download links:
The current version is 0.19.
You can download the zip version - in that case, extract the zip file to your BtS folder, which will overwrite the files you currently have. You probably shouldn't use this method if you intend to play online.
There is also an installer by Grumbler, which will give you the option to install the unofficial patch as a mod. Please check that the version number the installer displays is the latest version of the unofficial patch.
These download links and the list of changes are available in the download thread.
