Xml

[the100thballoon]

I should have it friday, and then it will take me approx. a week to put up short descriptions of each XML file and element. Then I'll make it public and start working on the detailed descriptions of each XML element (as necessary).

You are wonderful.

 

[WildWeazel]

Yes, I forgot to mention that. Along with Trip, Isak is now on my favoritest people list.

 

[rkyte]

This sounds like a perfect project to set up a wiki for. For anyone unfamiliar with what a wiki is, check out wikipedia.org. That would provide an east, public interface for all of the information that can be updated any time something new is discovered.

 

[BrentRitchie]

I second the wiki idea. A centeral repository to wotk from would be so much easier to help figure out what each tag does. That way we don't spend time on tryiing to figure out tags that have already been confirmed. Also new modders will be able to make sense of the mass amount of files fairly quickly.

 

[kattana]

so...is that week up yet??

hehehe

 

[Isak]

Hardly, it's not even friday yet

The game is released tomorrow here in Denmark, but I'll be putting some of the documentation up in a few days or so. Might as well just make the files available as I go along.

.. oh, and some of the people in this thread must be psychic ...

 

[WildWeazel]

.. oh, and some of the people in this thread must be psychic ...

I smell wiki

 

[grallon]

The only question I have is why wasn't there an interface, built into the main game engine, and designed to handle all of this ? Oh yes - it's probably done already but Firaxis will try to bill us another 50$ for it in a few months


G.

 

[Isak]

The only question I have is why wasn't there an interface, built into the main game engine, and designed to handle all of this ? Oh yes - it's probably done already but Firaxis will try to bill us another 50$ for it in a few months

Because the interface would only hamper us, like the Civ3 editor did.

 

[Vino6]

Hello, i was reading this thread and there was no way i couldn't post to it. I hope some of you who posted here could help me in my little project.
You can see what it is about in this thread:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=136733

It is mainly a Civ4 XML editor, i mean, the idea is to make an XML editor for everyone out there who doesn't know anything about xml, and for the ones out there who do know it, but, as i do, prefer to save their time for the playing itself.

 

[WildWeazel]

Isak, any news? Did you get it yet?

 

[deKoven]

Altova also has a free XML Editing Tool. It is the home version of XMLSpy - (I believe the professional version is the tool that Firaxis used for Civ4).

It is way too complex for me - it says it can convert XLM files to XLS files. The Text editor is what I got it for - it is much better that WordPad as there are color schemes. It will also Validate the XML file. You can also view the XML file as an html file.

Anyway, here is the link to the Free Home XMLSpy page. (They do ask for personal info in order to download it - but the app is fully functional and free.) ( I am not associated in any way with ths company.)

http://www.altova.com/download_components.html

Yeppers, I went right to the site and picked it up yesterday. Looks freakin' good to me. I'm certainly not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to any of the modern languages but it looks like even I can figger out small things. I'll be looking at XML Marker today to see if I like it better.

Kudos to all who make these free proggies for us $$-challenged players.

 

[rkyte]

I smell wiki

Isak, what the status in that wiki? (I suppose we're assuming at this point. You never outright said that was your plan.) I've got some spare bandwith and could get it up and running right now, although I doubt I'd want to host it indefinitely.

I've noticed some scattered discussion, but not much initiative in actually creating one. I think it would be a huge benefit to everyone. The sooner it is up and running the better.

Edit: Something else I've noticed. There have been a few threads started asking where to find information on xml tags. Someone always jumps in the thread and says "I'm working on it. Give me a few weeks." Invariably it's a different person each time. It seems like the process would go a lot faster if all of these people had an efficient way to collaborate. Right now they're mostly doing their own thing....

 

[WildWeazel]

The only downside to wiki is that anyone can post anything. Some people are bound to post information based on assumptions or guesses rather than tested information. Then everyone else reads it, assumes it's correct, and ends up with a bunch of bugs. I don't know much about wiki, but is there any way to "censor" what gets posted?

 

[rkyte]

The key to a good wiki is good administrators and a good userbase. Anyone can post anything. Anyone can add/delete/overwrite anything. But article histories are saved and if bad information is posted or someone improperly messes with an article it is easily corrected.

The userbase must reach a critical mass for it to be effective. With enough people participating, new information tends to get independently verified and bad/false information gets corrected. It has built in discussion pages and people can discuss questional additions without modifying the article.

Think about wikipedia. It's an exceptional site in spite of the fact that anyone can post anything. I rarely read anything there and say to myself "Can I trust this information? Some random schmuck wrote this!" As a whole, everything there is spot on. The same thing could apply here.

 

[Mr. Will]

I've already started a guide to just the LeaderHeadInfos.xml file (its in the tutorials/guides section), but most of it is blank or implied from the variable names. You're welcome to lend a hand in testing those variables or giving your input.

 

[rkyte]

Actually, your post is a great example of what a wiki is good for. Sure, anyone can contribute information to your thread, but only you can update the first post with up-to-date information. Also, cross-referencing your information with other threads is extremely difficult and only gets harder to keep up with as more threads are added to the forums.

Just for kicks I slapped a wiki up on my site and threw in an article for LeaderHeadInfos.xml

Main_Page
Civ4LeaderHeadInfos

 

[Mr. Will]

We definitely need one of those.
It will make documenting the XML and eventually Python much easier.

A Civ4 Modder's Wiki.

 

[The Great Apple]

I'd love a wiki - and I think it would work. If it were to be opened now, for example, I would imagine we would already have a pretty comprehensive description of most of the tags between us.

 

[Isak]

Isak, what the status in that wiki? (I suppose we're assuming at this point. You never outright said that was your plan.) I've got some spare bandwith and could get it up and running right now, although I doubt I'd want to host it indefinitely.

Sorry - i'm still typing, but wouldn't mind making what's I have available to everybody. I just don't have any control over when it will be posted, but I'm tugging and pulling all that I can. Please stay tuned...