[We the People] Mod overview

[Mr. ZorG]

Hello

I am translating WTP into Russian (my little knowledge of English and google translator help a lot with this))). the Russian community has a problem: in the camp of the Indians, the translation of the text is incorrectly displayed (the names of the professions that they can teach the colonists). someone said that you need to replace the font. I am not a programmer, but just an enthusiast who is interested in playing with the Russian translation (which I share with other players as the work progresses). and I don’t know how to change the font. can you help me with this?

PS: sorry if the phrases in English are incorrectly constructed. it's not me, it's a translator)))

 

[raystuttgart]

I am translating WTP into Russian (my little knowledge of English and google translator help a lot with this))). the Russian community has a problem: in the camp of the Indians, the translation of the text is incorrectly displayed (the names of the professions that they can teach the colonists). someone said that you need to replace the font. I am not a programmer, but just an enthusiast who is interested in playing with the Russian translation (which I share with other players as the work progresses). and I don’t know how to change the font. can you help me with this?

PS: sorry if the phrases in English are incorrectly constructed. it's not me, it's a translator)))

Hallo Mr. ZorG,

Nightinggale had suggested to add support for Russian Gamefonts.
(So basically instad of 5 languages as currently we would then support 6.)

However it is considerable effort to do this.
Basically one programmer (most likely Nightinggale) will be blocked for a considerable time to do so.

If however people from community are really willing to do the actual Russian translation for WTP texts, we would discuss again in the team.
Otherwise we would simply waste an incredible amount of effort for making Russian translation possible without any russian translation ever being created.

Currently the only one who has already dug into a possible solution for adding "Russian Gamefonts" is Nightinggale.
So he can tell you a lot more about it.

 

[Nightinggale]

One thing you can try before going all out and start replacing graphics files (more specifically GameFont.tga), you can try to open XML\Art\GlobalArtDefines.xml. Find CITY_BILLBOARDS near the bottom and change the value from 0 to 1.

 

[Mr. ZorG]

I understand that the distraction of even one person to add another language can significantly slow down the entire existing process. therefore, if possible, you can try to solve only this point, without adding another language. at least for now)

Unfortunately, the proposed Nightinggale option did not help. in the attachment, you can see that the translation is incorrect only for the bottom line of settlements (everything else is displayed correctly).

By the way, what is the CITY_BILLBOARDS block responsible for?

 

[Nightinggale]

By the way, what is the CITY_BILLBOARDS block responsible for?

The nameplate on the map is called city billboards.

Unfortunately, the proposed Nightinggale option did not help. in the attachment, you can see that the translation is incorrect only for the bottom line of settlements (everything else is displayed correctly).

Plan B. Try to download this file and place it in Assets/res/Fonts. Yes it will mess up yield icons and all sorts of other stuff, but you can test if it fixes the name display issue.

 

[arievillo]

The mod works fine except for a interminal pop ups like this:

 

[Mr. ZorG]

arievillo, you have a problem with the specified file: either it does not exist or it contains an error.

Nightinggale, Plan B also did not work. Yes, images of goods disappeared, but nothing more.

By the way, to display Russian letters in the game, I have to translate them into code that the game itself can perceive. in txt-files I write not "game", but "èãðà". maybe this is the problem?

 

[arievillo]

I dont understand what u say. So..its normal these pop ups?

EDIT: And in game i have a lot of TXT KEY error to. Similar things?

 

[Nightinggale]

@arievillo You somehow managed to get a broken mod install. There are two things you can try:

1. copy the dll file into Assets (if it's not already there)
2. remove the mod entirely and install it from scratch

By the way, to display Russian letters in the game, I have to translate them into code that the game itself can perceive. in txt-files I write not "game", but "èãðà". maybe this is the problem?

Most likely. Maybe we should put this on hold for a few days because I'm currently updating how the game reads the text xml files in order to make it easier to create and maintain translations. It seems pointless to spend a lot of time figuring out what has gone wrong for you if the problem is gone next week anyway.

 

[arievillo]

How i broke the install if the instructions says to unrar on mods folder? Sorry im kinda new on this.

U say the dll file (1/2 city plot)?

The image shows what i got from the rar. I put this on mods folder right?

 

[arievillo]

I got another mod (medieval conquest) on mods folder and no errors. Dont no what im doing wrong.

 

[Mr. ZorG]

stlikely. Maybe we should put this on hold for a few days because I'm currently updating how the game reads the text xml files in order to make it easier to create and maintain translations. It seems pointless to spend a lot of time figuring out what has gone wrong for you if the problem is gone next week anyway.

Well, let's wait. I'm afraid I have to re-translate everything that was translated)))

 

[raystuttgart]

@arievillo

About Installation:

It is not really your "fault" if you are new to this, do not worry.
(It is more than just extracting to the mods folder, and we are sorry for that. It is not that difficult though.)

We made the mistake to make the download "modder-friendly" instead of "user friendly".
Please do read the "intall_instructions.txt" included, follow its instructions and most likely it will work.

You need to copy one of the 2 DLLs contained in a separate folder to the "Assets" folder".
(I suggest you copy the 2-Plot-DLL version to the Assets folder.)

About missing TXT_KEYs:

That is not your fault either.

We messed up in our internal quality control in our last beta release. (Of course it was just a beta, but still we could have done better.)
We tried a new "modding tool" to convert texts to UTF8 and allow us to automatically generate TXT_KEYs to later fill them.

However, now in the current release we got it all fixed just yesterday.
Nightinggale really worked hard to get that done.

Summary:

We realized our mistakes in the last beta release and we now got it all corrected.
In the upcoming improvement release we will do it better and it will be published soon.

1) A default DLL will be provided in the "Assets" folder (but still you might want to copy the other one for your personal game style)
2) The TXT_KEY issue is fixed and you will not need to worry about it.

In the upcoming relase which we will publish soon, everything will be ok again and we also fixed and improved a lot of other things.

Suggestion:

Give us a few more days to publish the current improvement release.
(We are just doing final testing and merging of all progress we have made the last weeks.)

Try it with that one once download is available publicly.
You should not have the problems you have run into anymore.

------------

We are really sorry for any inconvenience you had.

 

[arievillo]

That was the most educated, friendly, didactic and complete answer I have ever had on this forum.

I've been here since 2014, but now with a new profile and starting to play civ iv just now, leaving civ v for countless reasons.

Thank you very much guys, congratulations on the project, long life!

 

[raystuttgart]

Multiple mods started up, but building your dreams turned out to be hard and many died out completely.
...
This one rebel has now suffered the same fate with disagreements about ideology and direction of development and has split up. (talking about RaR)
...
We are a group of 4 programmers, who have forked the now dead Religion and Revolution mod and intend to turn it into a community developed mod. This means we are very open to outside ideas and contributions. We also welcome new team members.

Hi guys, there is some message and implication in this, that I want to say a few words about.

Why did RaR survive for so long and now continues to live in WTP?
(Even though basically all other ambitious mods for Civ4Col had ended ...)

Well, for me the answer is relatively obvious.

RaR was more than just a loose cooperation of community members / modders that shared their work.
Thus we achieved to create the largest mod ever for Civ4Col and still achieved high quality.

We really tried to be a team.

A) the right team members

• motivation, dedication, commitment (having fun working together and being able to rely on your team mates)
  
• willingness for consense (well, people have private tastes and you will not always get your wishes accepted - but often you do)
• common vision, objectives and goals (e.g. considering "what we wanted as mod contents", "how we wanted to work together", ...)

B) the right form of organisation

• basic rules and agreements (e.g. considering "voting on features", "how to handle team membership", ...)
• planning, scheduling and task management (e.g. feature planning, scheduling release dates, work distribution, ...)
• open, honest and timely communication (e.g. giving feedback, giving criticism, status updates, ...)

----------

A skilled modding team can be highly efficient.
Simply because of work sharing and strong support for the other team members.
Instead of "many separate projects" a team focusses on a single "core project".

It is really difficult to keep up a team spirit though. --->
Once the team looses its vision or willingness for consense suffers, it will break up into sub-mods / private mods again.
Once motivation, dedication and commitment are not there anymore, efficiency and quality suffer heavily.

----------

A "modding community" is nice as well, but it works quite differently.
(It does have advantages but also disadvantages.)

Disadvantages:

In a simple modding community you just share openly but there is little commitment because you do not have the same vision and goals.
You can not really rely that somebody invests effort for your benefit unless he is a really good friend or you have something to trade.

--> You basically do most of the work yourself or start running around begging for help.
--> If you lack some skills you can not realize things and you will also often have to live with low quality.

Advantages:

But sure you do not have to find a consense, you can simply implement your private mod following only your personal taste.
You do not need to discuss endlessly to get things agree and organized.

--> You are free to do whatever you want.
--> You will not be annoyed by overhead for agreements and organization.

----------
@team:

Spoiler :

Currently I feel that WTP is at a crossroad and we might discuss again which way to go.
(We are still a small team but a few more people start being interested to join as supporters and eventually becoming a team member.)

Do we want to be a team or a loose modding community?

As a team, we could dream about bigger projects and would most likely be successful realizing them.
Sometimes it will simply be great when we feel your achievements but there are other times when it will simply be annoying and frustrating.
We can then also regularly deliver content and quality (by releases) to players and really keep our community alive.
At some point the team will break up again, but until then we will have produced a great mod that we can and will be proud of for years.

As a community, we can simply work relaxed on our private versions of the mod and only worry about the things we really care about.
No need for consense, no obligations, no disagreements, no ...
In the end however all we will have achieved is a few bug fixes, a few improvements and maybe a few really small features.
Occassionaly or irregularly some of that stuff might be merged and published of course.

----------

I can live with both options quite well to be honest but it will heavily influence the way we work and cooperate.
Take your time and think about it.

 

[Kendon]

[We the People] Strategy
[We the People] Mod overview, raystuttgart, Feb 7, 2020:
‟We have asked a couple of times for experienced players of the mod if they would like to start a thread here in the forum with a guide or a strategy but nobody volunteered yet. E) Maybe somebody in community wants to start a "WTP strategies and guides" thread as well.”

I can do that. Years ago I replaced my computer so I could start playing TAC. It's definitely been worth it. I've never been the best player but through RnR and now WtP I've learned some tricks that work. Other players will likely have better ideas.

I can also proofread the English Colopedia and in-game text, if that would help.

I see on the thread ‟How do we make an introduction/Tutorial for new players?”, lethiel has a well thought-out plan for videos on Twitch. That sounds excellent, but I will probably just stick to written comments on this forum, even though I spent years scripting, shooting and editing industrial training videos.

So! One way to beat the King is to sink incoming Men of War. Their army goes down with them. A Ship of the Line with Veteran I usually survives a fight with a MoW because of the bell bonus that's already substantial by the time independence can be declared.

It's also helpful if Frigates and Privateers with promotions from hunting sharks and Caravels can come in to finish off the crippled Men of War.

All coastal settlements should be manufacturing Ships of the Line, typically taking three or four turns, which is about the time it takes for the next wave of the King's ships to show up. You replace your losses. The King can't.

That's one strategy, not the only one or even necessarily the best, but a new player might not even consider it after comparing the attack points for settler ships versus the King's ships; yet over many games the naval defence has been so reliable I now look for a different victory path to keep the game interesting.

 

[Androrc the Orc]

@raystuttgart It's great to see you again on the Civ4Col modding scene after all this time! I hope you are doing well

 

[raystuttgart]

@raystuttgart It's great to see you again on the Civ4Col modding scene after all this time! I hope you are doing well

@Androrc the Orc
Thanks for the nice welcome back.
And yes, I am doing fine.
I hope you are doing well, too.

 

[oldmole1984]

In my opinion, even with the release of version 2.8, there are quite a few bugs related to new elements.
So, it would be better to release 2.7.3 as soon as translation-related bugs are released, and then release 2.8 to increase the utility.

 

[AnAmericanCommunist]

Is there a release window for those two updates? Not to rush you guys just wondering.

And to everyone affected by this pandemic, stay safe and hang in there.