YnAMP sub-project: True location corresponding city names

[brick623]

Screenshots from Russia east and Arctic playtests. Endless, endless pine forests. And kalinka.

Spoiler Arkhangelsk region :

Spoiler Komi region :

Spoiler northern urals :

Spoiler Southern Urals :

 

[tomaltachpaulson]

The last of the Roman names in continental Europe have been added:

Spoiler Græcia :

Spoiler Pannonia :

Spoiler Gallia :

Spoiler Britannia :

Also, this is the last bit I will do for some time, as I will be on holidays over Christmas.

Finally, there seems to be a little unreliability in the civ-specific renaming, but I don't have the skill to pin down the problem. I think it is tied to the CityMap_Rome.xml file, but I am unsure. See for example the attached save, where the two settlers should settle Roman cities, but don't (at least in my case).

 

[guidemwit]

Hi all,
I have played your maps since Civ V and really appreciate your works here to improve the maps much further. I loved that TSL city name similar to Civ IV's Rhye's and Fall will be integrated into Gedemon's map code. I really want to join in the team to finish this job but I have some questions first.

1. Does the job assigned to only one person for each region? There is definitely duplicate work when two people working in same region but different civ since they both have to think about city placing at the same time.
2. How to handle cities at border of each region? Since I didn't see a detailed border of each region yet, there may be some times that your work overlaps each other. It can also lead to question 3.
3. What would happen if there are two 1-range-tile cities overlap each other and a settler founded new cities between them? I think it can happen in some very congested area e.g. USA and Chinese east coast or Japanese archipelago.
4. It could be much more productive if there is an outline cities name map which can be used for development of other maps. For example, use finished outline Europe map for Greatest Earth map. It means less rework for Europe now.

P.S. I lived in Bangkok, Thailand GMT +7.00. So, expect some delayed reply, sorry.
P.S.2 I have only basic IT coding knowledge but I will try my best to help you guys.

 

[brick623]

Welcome on board

I'll try to answer for you:

1. We are working in sequence, so for example me and @rock_and_ride are covering default names and @tomaltachpaulson added civ specific names once we finished. The current progress of the default naming is something like this (where black=complete, white=in progress):

Spoiler Current status :

Hopefully we don't duplicate work, just post your intention to work on an area before going ahead with it. At the moment I think no one is working on North Africa or Turkey on the PlayEuropeAgain map. I am going to work on Ukraine and southern Russia to join up with the Caucasus by @niklas153021. I don't know the exact area he is working on but I have a rough idea. If there are duplications we can always go back and edit them out.

@rock_and_ride please update the progress map again. My MS paint attempt is just bad.

2. This is pain but the method I have used is to study the XML and draw a map (screenshot the game in strategic view then paste to MS Paint), then draw a line around the area that is already completed. I have tried to complete areas along straight horizontal/vertical lines to minimise this problem.

3. The code will pick one of them or neither. We are adding "overlap city names" to force select one of them where this happens (you'll see them marked < OVERLAP > in the CityMap.xml), See @rock_and_ride post #2. Gedemon has also added a lua function to spot naming conflicts/bugs so we should be able to iron that out.

4. I don't understand the suggestion - do you mean changing the coastline?

 

[God of Kings]

MS Paint isn't good.

At least there's better free alternatives such as GIMP or Paint.NET.

I personally use Photoshop.

 

[guidemwit]

Good news!!

It's holiday in Thailand today. So, I did picked Morocco and West Sahara and just completed city placing in MS Paint. It is very challenging just like Siberia. The area is so empty so that I have to choose name of a gold mine or mountain peak for lower left of the map and province name for 2-tile cities in middle of the desert . All the name are in modern day English anyway.

Spoiler Morocco, West Sahara, Mauritania :

For question no. 4, I just think about what would be productive when we move to the Earth map. If we could share the finished regional city map (like above) and upload them to somewhere for reference, it would be faster for anyone who join the project later to use the same map to assign city location in other map e.g. Greatest Earth. I also think it's easier to do the detailed version in bigger map first then just remove the smaller cities in smaller map.

Actually I just want to finish Greatest Earth first because my PC can't play Civ with enormous map lol.

Two more questions. I want to know your opinion.
1. It took me about two hours for my first city map. It was trial-error until I found my way. The next one (50% done for Algeria and Tunisia) is a about 1.5 times faster. But I'm not sure should I go straight to coding instead of keep doing the city map. I still see benefit of the map when you move the Earth map anyway.
2. Does the city concentration is too much, especially 0-tile cities? I think no one really cared about those Saharan cities and rarely settled there. So, should I assign 2-ties cities for all of them instead to save my time?

 

[brick623]

1. It took me about two hours for my first city map. It was trial-error until I found my way. The next one (50% done for Algeria and Tunisia) is a about 1.5 times faster. But I'm not sure should I go straight to coding instead of keep doing the city map. I still see benefit of the map when you move the Earth map anyway.

You should do what works for you, for me, things would go very wrong very quickly if I only coded it without a map I need the map to see what I'm doing

2. Does the city concentration is too much, especially 0-tile cities? I think no one really cared about those Saharan cities and rarely settled there. So, should I assign 2-ties cities for all of them instead to save my time?

In the empty desert areas I would go for 2 or 3 range cities, no one is going to settle there unless near an oasis. Or oil. But it wont be too much of a problem. I used range=2 to cover the russian arctic ( away from rivers )

 

[rock_and_ride]

@rock_and_ride please update the progress map again. My MS paint attempt is just bad.

nah, it's enough for clarity. you don't have to win a design award with it

At least there's better free alternatives such as GIMP or Paint.NET.

yeah, but once you're used to photoshop GIMP is just a PITA

it would be faster for anyone who join the project later to use the same map to assign city location in other map e.g. Greatest Earth.

i was thinking about a web app programmed in javascript that would read out a map, display it on your browser and then you could just go and place the city names. and when you're done you would get a text file or a plain text to copy&paste into the real files. or even something like an email going out to someone who would code it into the source files. but i've 2 problems with that: i lack the coding skills for that. i know how it theoretically works and i'm sure i could make it work but, problem nr 2: i really dont have time right now. trying to find an appartment while living via airbnb and having a full time job during the week... now i miss being unemployed in my own place

But I'm not sure should I go straight to coding instead of keep doing the city map.

well, i did a visual map every time too before coding it in. just find your own best approach. however, just coding without a chance to quick check (like with a screenshot) is pretty difficult and you gonna lose yourself fast in all the lines.

So, should I assign 2-ties cities for all of them instead to save my time?

In the empty desert areas I would go for 2 or 3 range cities, no one is going to settle there unless near an oasis. Or oil. But it wont be too much of a problem. I used range=2 to cover the russian arctic ( away from rivers )

well it does work, however you might gonna end up with several cities with the same name. i'm not sure how far gedemon is with handeling double city naming. however, i think we can go for 1+ area tiles. at some point we will have something in place that takes care of that. saying that, i'll try to end my middle east part and upload it this weekend. can't really promise anything right now (damn i really want to be unemployed again... if it wasn't for the money...)

Does the city concentration is too much, especially 0-tile cities?

well, not sure if it's a big deal on the computer memory side, perhaps gedemon can give us an insight about that. but how detailed your map is, is basically your own descission. if you want to do all that work, you can map every tile independently. but don't forget the gameplay part of it. some cities might be just worth to be placed on several tiles, so people playing this map will get this city even if it's not EXACTLY on a specific tile. considering that your judgement of the "right place" for he city might be different from a gamer (who would like to found city X one tile more to the left), you might want to thik about more tiles having this name. just check my thoughts in the 2nd post ("advanced placing techniques"). i do an example with "Frankfurt" in germany and why i place the tiles the way i do there.

 

[God of Kings]

yeah, but once you're used to photoshop GIMP is just a PITA

That I strongly agree, given that I use both (and ever since I got Photoshop, I use it exclusively unless using another computer). There's a reason why Photoshop isn't free unlike GIMP (and I am only mentioning legal ways of obtaining Photoshop).

 

[guidemwit]

Thank you guys for all your response!

@rock_and_ride Don't worry. We all have jobs and family IRL. Please take your time. At least you didn't work in this project alone. I have no problem doing the way it is now.

 

[guidemwit]

Here we go. I finished West Africa part and will upload it to Github soon. But I have another question.

1. I can't find Map_XXX.xml in Gameplay folder. So, I searched and found new file CityMap.xml in Maps folder. So, I modified the CityMap.xml file instead. Is it correct?
2. Is it mean I have to upload two files in separate folders in GitHub?

Spoiler Morocco, West Sahara, Mauritania and West Algeria :

I also got crashed to desktop today when I did final testing the code in-game. Everything went fine at first the cities naming are ok for 30 turns. Then on turn 306 (I started in information era), it suddenly crashed when I clicked next turn. After around 6-7 attempts, I gave up and recreated new map. Set up everything the same and play. No crash for about 50 turns now LOL.

I've played Spain. Not sure what happened. I also attached all log files here.

Things already test to see if it create the crash. And none of them did.
1. Not settle new cities for 6 turns before the crash.
2. Stop all building. Change them to something else that didn't completed 0 - 1 turns before turn 306.
3. Stop moving all units.
4. Change policy.

Things I did differently in the new game (which did not crashed)
1. Didn't reveal all map.
2. No contact with other civs or city state.

 

[Gedemon]

Here we go. I finished West Africa part and will upload it to Github soon. But I have another question.

1. I can't find Map_XXX.xml in Gameplay folder. So, I searched and found new file CityMap.xml in Maps folder. So, I modified the CityMap.xml file instead. Is it correct?
2. Is it mean I have to upload two files in separate folders in GitHub?

Spoiler Morocco, West Sahara, Mauritania and West Algeria :

View attachment 461092

1/ Yes, it's CityMap.xml for the "default" (ie not civ specific) cities
2/ Just upload CityMap.xml in the PlayEuropeAgain folder.

Crashes in late game are more common since the Fall Patch, AFAIK they are not related to modding in general or YNAMP in particular.

 

[guidemwit]

1/ Yes, it's CityMap.xml for the "default" (ie not civ specific) cities
2/ Just upload CityMap.xml in the PlayEuropeAgain folder.

Crashes in late game are more common since the Fall Patch, AFAIK they are not related to modding in general or YNAMP in particular.

Thx Gedemon. I already request a pull for West Africa part.

 

[niklas153021]

Hey, it's me, the caucasus guy.

I'm sorry that I left you hanging with my region for so long. I've had a lot to do recently and this project was unfortunately what fell behind.

I have finished the area of Y:33 to Y:44, but I could do some tiles to the north and south more if you want.

I will upload my changes to github this weekend (when I'm finally gonna have the time to figure out how to do this)

Again, I'm sorry for the long delay, thus was just not the best time to start working on a project of this size for me.

Nevertheless, once I'll have my region uploaded, I'll be ready for a new one - this time faster

 

[rock_and_ride]

@rock_and_ride Don't worry. We all have jobs and family IRL. Please take your time. At least you didn't work in this project alone. I have no problem doing the way it is now.

this community rocks

Again, I'm sorry for the long delay, thus was just not the best time to start working on a project of this size for me.

i know that feeling

 

[guidemwit]

Finished testing Central Africa today. Also found a very special city the same day as Rogue One opening.

Spoiler Tunisia, Algeria and Western Libya :

Spoiler A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... :

It's this place IRL that the Star Wars films shoot a desert planet named Tatooine, homeworld of Lord Vader and Master Jedi Skywalker.

 

[guidemwit]

Finished Libya and Egypt today. I think default name for Africa was done by now.

Spoiler Libya :

Too many rebels LOL.

Spoiler Egypt :

 

[Gedemon]

thanks guidemwit, everything merged

Hey, it's me, the caucasus guy.

I'm sorry that I left you hanging with my region for so long. I've had a lot to do recently and this project was unfortunately what fell behind.

I have finished the area of Y:33 to Y:44, but I could do some tiles to the north and south more if you want.

I will upload my changes to github this weekend (when I'm finally gonna have the time to figure out how to do this)

Again, I'm sorry for the long delay, thus was just not the best time to start working on a project of this size for me.

Nevertheless, once I'll have my region uploaded, I'll be ready for a new one - this time faster

Don't worry, once you start modding, you realize that 24 hours per day is really not enough !

 

[God of Kings]

@guidemwit

"White Dessert" should be spelled "White Desert."

 

[guidemwit]

@guidemwit

"White Dessert" should be spelled "White Desert."

Thx, @God of Kings. I already corrected that and rechecked all the desert names.