[Mod] A proper score graph

[ulfn]

I really liked the score graph back in the days of Civ I. There was only one problem: at some point (probably when the score wouldn't fit in 16 bits) it capped off and refused to show more of my exponentially growing score. This really bugged me. So when Civ II came out, I thought that surely they had fixed this problem (seeing as it would have taken 10 minutes tops). Of course they didn't, nor did they fix the 30000 gold cap, by the way. Still, Civ II was a lot of fun.

Quite a while later Civ III was about to be released. This time it was remade from scratch so there was no way it was gonna have the same problem. It didn't. Instead they chose to present the score in what is without doubt the worst way known to man. I despaired.

When Civ IV came out I didn't dare hope for improvement. And sure enough, not only did they keep the hopeless presentation, but they made it look incredibly ugly too. They did however do one thing right: they made the source code available for hacking. Seeing as I had complained to all my friends that I could've implemented a vastly superior score graph in a few hours had I only had the chance there wasn't really a choice.

So here it is: my first attempt at a proper score graph.



I spent about 4 hours total on this (including the time to learn python) so there is some room for improvement. One thing in particular I'm not too happy about is the drawing of the lines. I stole that from the foreign advisor screen where the lines do look a bit funny. It would be nice if there was another way of drawing proper lines.

[EDIT]

Latest screenshot:


Downloads:
Version 1.0 (pre v1.09)
Version 1.1 (pre v1.09)
Version 1.2
Version 1.3
Version 1.4
Version 1.5
Version 1.6
Version 1.7
Version 1.8

Change log:

v1.8

* Added instructions for installing without the research history.
* Don't show the names of leaders you haven't met (in demographics tab).
* Split the statistics table in two (one for units and one for buildings).

v1.7

* Research score graph (thanks to Bhruic).

* Show who is the best/worst rival in demographics tab.
* List which city has built a particular wonder in wonders tab. (only for completed wonders, to avoid revealing too much information)
* Fixed bugs in demographics tab where your score was displayed instead of the best/worst rival's score.

v1.6

* Displays more dates.

v1.5

* Full screen graph (moved the demographics table to a new tab).
* Added rival best/worst to demographics table.
* Sideways scrolling.
* Shows what years are being displayed.
* Improved legend layout.

v1.4

* Legend showing who is who.

v1.3

* Thicker lines.

v1.2

* Works with patch 1.09.
* The graph is no longer displayed in the background of the other tabs.
* Resets the number of turns to display to match the drop-down selection.

v1.1

* Fixed bug where the score dropped to zero at the last turn.
* Fixed bug where dead civs still got score.

[Becephalus]

I always thought the Civ3/Civ4 graph method was an interesting, but also clearly inferior way of displying the data. Glad to see someone is going to fix that

[ulfn]

New version available.

Changes:

• Fixed bug where civs continued getting score after dying.
• Fixed bug where civs sometimes didn't get any score for the current turn.

[Junuxx]

This is cool!
Exactly what I wanted!

[Tiberius]

Originally posted by ulfn
Quite a while later Civ III was about to be released. This time it was remade from scratch so there was no way it was gonna have the same problem. It didn't. Instead they chose to present the score in what is without doubt the worst way known to man. I despaired.

When Civ IV came out I didn't dare hope for improvement. And sure enough, not only did they keep the hopeless presentation, but they made it look incredibly ugly too.

Right on, Ulf, right on

Thanks for the new graph. I'll include it in my game for sure.

[Bhruic]

Very nice. I dislike the present system myself. A comparison graph is much nicer.

Bh

[Stone-D]

Quite frankly I have difficulty comprehending the original. Thanks for this!

[LDiCesare]

Looks great. Downloading it right now.

[ghen]

the mod doesn't seem to let me see the info screen in 1.09

from this thread:: ((not exactly the same problem, but extremely similar))

Snapster
With patch 1.09 installed, this mod prevents the Info Screen (F9) from opening.

Bhruic
Yup, the easiest way to fix it is to copy over the new CvScreensInterface.py file ("Assets\Python\EntryPoints"), and modify the line that says:
import CvForeignAdvisor
to
import CvCustomForeignAdvisor

and:
foreignAdvisor = CvForeignAdvisor.CvForeignAdvisor()
to
foreignAdvisor = CvCustomForeignAdvisor.CvCustomForeignAdvisor()

But I'll throw up a new version soonish.

Bh

Not sure if Bhruic ment to say CvInfoScreen or not, but I'll try it both ways to see what works

edit3: seems even without your custom info screen it won't show it to me. I guess I need to do more testing to find out what the problem is.

[Adagio]

Yay, thank you

[ulfn]

New version for patch 1.09 available. It also fixes some minor bugs:

• The graph is no longer displayed in the background of the other tabs.
• Resets the number of turns to display to match the drop-down selection.

ghen: There is no need to modify CvScreensInterface.py. The problem was that they added an extra argument to the display function. I've modified my version accordingly.

A nice thing with the patch is that they fixed the line drawing routine. Now the lines look quite nice, if a bit thin. I'll look into the possibility of drawing thicker lines.

Edit: I made thicker lines by drawing three lines instead of one. It's not the most efficient way but it looks good.

Download thin line version
Download thick line version

[ulfn]

Oh.. and by the way, here's what the latest version (with thick lines) looks like:

[Tiberius]

Is there any way to put a legend into the screen, with who's who?

Like:
orange - Catherine of the Russians
yellow - Hatshepsut of the Egyptians
...and so on

[Becephalus]

I am surprised that someone doesn't know the colors after the first few games.

[Tiberius]

I don't pay attention to colours. Besides, some of them are very close and difficult to distinguish.

I once played England and started near the germans. Well, I can tell you that on the minimap I could not tell where the border was, because of the similar colours.

What's wrong with a legend ?

[ulfn]

I agree that some of the colors are very similar. To add to the confusion the colors doesn't quite match the color of the text in score display of the main screen.

The only thing is that I'm not sure where the legend would fit. Top-left corner seems like the best bet, but with many civs and the graph zoomed in it'll probably overlap.

Anyway, I'll see what I can do.

[ulfn]

Ok, here's what I came up with:



As I suspected it does overlap with the graph sometimes, but I don't think it's a big problem.

Download

[Tiberius]

Great, thanks!

[Aro]

Thanks!

[Adagio]

It keeps getting better and better

[Adagio]

I finally got time to test the mod, but it doesn't work for me

In the game I can't open the info screen, clicking on the button does nothing, pressing F9 minimizes the game

[Falconius]

ulfn, you are the freakin' man! You've solved what's been the bane of this game since Civ 3. Your graph is so much more understandable than the shipped version. Firaxis should bow their heads before you, or at least hire you! Your graph puts theirs to shame, and they've had six years to work on it!

I tested it, and it works with saved games, other mods, and saves from other mods. Great work!

[ulfn]

Originally posted by Adagio
I finally got time to test the mod, but it doesn't work for me

In the game I can't open the info screen, clicking on the button does nothing, pressing F9 minimizes the game

First check that:
(a) You have upgraded to v1.09.
(b) You downloaded the correct version of the mod (psg1_4.zip)

If it still doesn't work check My Documents\My Games\Civ 4\Logs\PythonErr2.log and post any error messages you can find.

[Adagio]

Ahh, I didn't see it was for v1.09 only, then I guess I'll wait a little (sounds like the patch only makes things worse)

[ulfn]

Ahh, I didn't see it was for v1.09 only

You can download version 1.1 which works with pre 1.09. It has a few minor glitches, but nothing serious.

[Addled Platypus]

thanks

what other great ideas are you considering

[ulfn]

Well.. I'm gonna polish the score graph a bit. Other than that I don't have any grand plans at the moment. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears

[ghen]

How about working on the religious and civic tab next, adding more details at the bottom for religious/civic changes on your total gold/research/hammers per turn.

[ulfn]

Actually I've already done some work (which I haven't released) on the religion screen. I haven't added any information, though, just put all the cities in a table to make it easier to see which cities have what religions.
As to adding the information you're looking for, which I agree would be really nice, I'm not sure exactly how to do it. The only way I can see at the moment is to force change the civics/religion, get the information and then change back. I'd have to try it out to see if it works.

On a different topic, the polishing of the score graph is progressing nicely. I've moved the silly demographics table to a tab of its own to make more room for the graph, and added some nice features to the graph. I'll release it shortly.

[padillah]

Originally posted by ulfn

Originally posted by ghen
How about working on the religious and civic tab next, adding more details at the bottom for religious/civic changes on your total gold/research/hammers per turn.

Actually I've already done some work (which I haven't released) on the religion screen. I haven't added any information, though, just put all the cities in a table to make it easier to see which cities have what religions.
As to adding the information you're looking for, which I agree would be really nice, I'm not sure exactly how to do it. The only way I can see at the moment is to force change the civics/religion, get the information and then change back. I'd have to try it out to see if it works.

I don't know if it's what ghen is talking about but the religion screen already shows the changes that would occur when you mouseover the given religions. You may have to wtch closely because if you have two religions in a city and change from one religion to another you still get the same bonuses. The bonuses and such don't change, just which city gets them.

Tom P.