Awesome Aips Official Thread

[WesW]

In this thread are the install and mod readmes for the Awesome Aips v1.0 mod. This thread also has,(or will have, rather) links to the mod download. Please post any questions and/or comments about the mod here, and we will do all we can to answer them.

Users need to read and understand the install readme before installing the mod, as it contains info about the requirements for using the Awesome Aips, and has instructions for users to make manual changes to their own units.txt.

Here are the download links, the same as in Mark's post further down. The first is for the Pack version, the second for CD's mod only, and the third for Original setups.

http://apolyton.net/cgi-bin/ctp/files/download.pl?id=96
http://apolyton.net/cgi-bin/ctp/files/download.pl?id=97
http://apolyton.net/cgi-bin/ctp/files/download.pl?id=98

Note: This is the readme for the Pack version of Awesome Aips. The readmes for the other versions are slightly different.

Awesome AIPs (AAIPs) v1.0 Apolyton Pack Add-on Install Readme
December 12, 1999

REQUIREMENTS
Activision Civilization: Call to Power, C:CTP Patch v1.2, "1.21 Hack" and the Apolyton Pack.

INTRODUCTION
The Awesome AIPs Mod improves the AI's decision-making, diplomatic negotiations and personality types. See the AAIPs Readme Pack.doc and Dip Readme.doc files in the ...\scenarios\apolyton\AAIP_Readme directory for the specific changes.

INSTALLATION
1) Simply run the install program, 'AAIPsV1_Pack.EXE'. The install program will prompt you for the top-level CivCTP directory. If you did not install CTP to the default location make sure you alter this 'Install-To' directory during the install.
2) This install is only for the Apolyton Pack Mod (in the Apolyton scenario structure).
3) This mod will overwrite many of the default files. To see which files, run the install program and specify a temporary directory instead of the top-level CTP directory. The created directory structure will show up in the temporary directory. Then run the install again using the CTP top-level directory.
4) The ...\Original_CTP directory contains the original AIDATA & AIP files.
5) The ...\scenarios\Apolyton\Original_Pack contains the original Apolyton Pack files.

IMPORTANT NOTE
I would also recommend going into units.txt and reduce the pollution caused by rail launches from 50 to 1 for units that have this feature.

VERSION HISTORY
December 12, 1999, v1.0: Initial release

PROBLEMS/FEEDBACK
Mail any feedback to Wes Whitaker, wesw@hiwaay.net or Thomas Hempstock, nordicus@home.com. Also, you can post a message in the Apolyton CTP-Creation Forum, http://apolyton.net/forums.

[This message has been edited by WesW (edited December 16, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by WesW (edited December 16, 1999).]

[WesW]

Awesome Aips 1.0
by Wes Whitaker (WesW), and Thomas Hempstock (Nordicus).

Special thanks go to Don Blevins (Scorpion59), and Timothy Pintello for their playtesting, and to TP and Markos for their advice and participation. Don also wrote the install readme, and packaged the mod, which was no simple task. (You have heard the cliché that the Devil is in the details, and I now know what they mean. It’s really been nice to have a pro, like Don, to check things out thoroughly, and keep us amateurs from screwing things up.) Thanks also go out to JimMac, Monkey and all the others whose feedback and observations helped us in our efforts to produce this mod.

First of all, let me go through the formality of saying that I take no responsibility for any damage that may be caused directly or indirectly by our work. Also, feel free to use these files to make your own improvements to the game, just remember to do us the courtesy of mentioning where you got them from. Thank you. Now, on to the good stuff….

This mod improves the AI's decision-making process regarding many areas, and consists mainly of files in the aidata folder of the default directory.

This mod is designed to be used with the Apolyton Pack, specifically CD's mod, and will cause the game to crash if used with a default game, or another mod.

Below is an explanation of the changes I made to the various files.

Const. text:
Changes were made to increase the length of time that no-trespassing agreements last.
Also, the amount of time given to the AI to make its turn has been increased. This has been shown to significantly enhance AI performance on slower machines.
Finally, several changes were made to help control the production of, and damage caused by, pollution.
A list of the altered text lines is below, in case you want to change things back to the way they were.

LEAVE_OUR_LANDS_ROUNDS 10 (was 3)

AI_GOAL_TIME_SLICE 125 # time in milliseconds for an AI frame
AI_MAX_TIME_SLICE 1250 # (in milliseconds)if the ai exceeds this time its turn is ended
AI_TOTAL_TIME_SLICE 15000 # (in milliseconds) if the total time in time in the ai player exceeds this its turn is ended. (these were all increased by a factor of 5)

POLLUTION_FORCES_ANARCHY 2000 (was 1000)
RAIL_LAUNCH_POLLUTION 5 (was 50)
FLOOD_CHANGES_COAST_TO_WATER_CHANCE 0.1 (was .5)

gw text:
Changes were made to lessen the effects of flooding. Most notably, Swamps now turn into Jungles instead of Ocean.

Units text:
I would also recommend going into the units text, and reducing the pollution caused by rail launches from 50 to 1, for the units that have this feature.

FLI files:

The diplomacy and personality files were modified by Nordicus, and are explained in his Diplomacy readme.

Inputs:
Nordicus added lines so that creators could design mods for more than 8 players.

Set_food_or_prod:
Changes made to eliminate dependence upon the city_growth_ratio equation for civs of more than 2 cities, and to start building roads after 5 cities. Also, changes made to get the AI to set its PW percentage to 20 under normal circumstances.

Set_inst_priority:
Changes made to try to get the AI to build more farms when needed.

Set_pw:
Changes made to get the AI to set its PW percentage to even increments.

Set_resource_desire and Set_science_speed:
Changes made to eliminate dependence upon the city_growth_ratio equation for civs of more than 2 cities.

Set_settle_density:
Changes made to get the AI to stop crowding cities in amongst its own after all open space has been occupied. This still leaves the problem of the AI crowding in amongst other civs, which we may look at in a later version.

Set wgf:
Changes made to try to get the AI to mollify its habit of emphasizing one of the wgf bars at the expense of the others. Also, changes made to get the AI to believe that it will need more food when deciding whether or not to adjust the wgf settings. This is especially important for Cleric types.

Outputs:
This is the big one. All of my previous fli changes are cross-referenced in this file, along with numerous others. Changes were made to:

1)Get the AI to build more roads.
2)Equalize the weighting of the wgf settings.
3)Equalize the weighting of various factors in decisions on worker placement, workers vs. specialists, and in deciding on which improvements to build.
4)Space cities at an a more optimal distance for all AI types.
5)Get the AI to build more growth improvements, and fewer production improvements. This was to try to promote growth, and lower pollution.
6)Get the AI to have a better balance between farms and mines.

AIP files:

Note: Here is a section of the profile text, which explains one of the settings available in the userprofile text, found in the ctp_program/ctp directory (the same file where you changed the debug setting to “yes”).

# If MaxPlayers > 0, revolts will add new civilizations up to MaxPlayers,
# otherwise they will only add civilizations when there are fewer than you
# started with.
MaxPlayers= 0

Those of you who want new civs, rather than Barbarians, when revolts occur can find this file and change it accordingly.

Default:
Changes made to reduce the priority of some of the modern special attacks, in order to increase the use of conventional attacks. Testing has shown that the AI still uses an appropriate amount of special attacks, at least imo.

Default and Defend_normal:
The normal number of city defenders increased to 2. This helps produce fewer cities with no defenders, and the martial law effect helps with unhappiness.

Fallback:
The priority of troops has been raised.

Gather and Takecity:
The normal number of city defenders reduced to 1, in order to help the AI build as big of an invasion force as possible.

Get_army:
Troop build lists altered to match those found in the personality aips.

Green_me:
The priorities of cleaners were increased, and those of polluters decreased, in order to increase the AI's efforts to reduce pollution during eco-pacts.


Personality aips:
From the section "New Units Build List Stuff" on down, almost everything has been changed.

In the "Build Data" section, the priorities of naval troops have been raised. This is to get the AI to build competitive navies.
Also, the priorities for most modern special attack units have been lowered, or order to try to get the AI to launch more conventional attacks.

In the Build Lists section, the numbers of land and special attack units have been reduced, and the numbers of sea units have been raised.
The number of land units was lowered to reduce unneeded units, whose support costs were weighing down the AI. Extensive testing has been done to find settings that allow the AI to be able to wage war effectively, while keeping support costs manageable.
Special attack and naval units changes were made to support the aforementioned goals for those types.
The designers wanted the AI to greatly prefer cold wars over hot ones in modern times. My goal was to strike an even balance between these two options.

The AI should build about 1.3 defensive units, .7 ranged, and .4 assault units per city, before it begins city improvements or anything else. After that point, it should interweave improvements (including wonders) and more units, including naval, air, and special attack. Of course, this can get over-written depending on the situation.

Note: Those of you familiar with the old aip settings will notice that these figures for units per city are lower, sometimes much lower, than the original settings. From my tests, the original settings were burdening the AI with such high unit support costs that their civs were grinding down under it from about the Renaissance age onward. With the current settings, unit support cost consume about 25 to 30 percent of production for most healthy civs. This is plenty high enough, imo.

In the "New Building Build List Stuff" section, I made changes to the priorities of the various lists relative to one another, and to the improvements within the lists.

Build Lists Priorities
__Old____________New
1.Growth________Growth
2.Happiness_____Defense
3.Defense_______Happiness
4.Science_______Gold
5.Production____Transport
6.Gold__________Science
7.Transport_____Wonders
8.Wonders_______Production

The AI will now pursue Wonders eagerly, though not recklessly. Within the Wonders list, several changes were made to improve the choices the AI would pursue. Notably, all types will now pursue the Hagia Sophia, though Clerics will continue to pursue it the hardest.

Within the improvements list, there were many changes. The AI doesn't go strictly by the values listed here, though.

Improvement_____________Old____New__Rank(when list is active)

//Transport_List
AIRPORT_________________7850.0 ;9910.0 9

//Growth_List
SILO____________________9000.0 ;9990.0 1
AQUEDUCT________________9000.0 ;9980.0 2

//Happiness_List
TEMPLE__________________8999.0 ;9960.0 4
THEATER ________________8999.0 ;9950.0 5
CIRCUS__________________8999.0 ;9940.0 6
HOSPITAL________________7990.0 ;9930.0 7
CATHEDRAL_______________8999.0 ;8960.0 14
MOVIE_PALACE____________8999.0 ;8949.0 not used by AI
DRUG_STORE______________8999.0 ;9920.0 8
WATER_TRANS_____________8999.0 ;8939.0 19
BODY_EXCHANGE___________8999.0 ;8829.0 21
ARCOLOGIES______________8999.0 ;8919.0 20

//Production_List
MILL____________________7990.0 ;8960.0 14
FACTORY_________________7990.0 ;5980.0
DRUG_STORE______________8999.0 ;8950.0 16
ART_WOMB_COMP___________7990.0 ;5890.0
POP_MONITOR_____________8980.0 ;5880.0
NUCLEAR_PLANT___________7990.0 ;5990.0
RECYCLING_PLANT_________9000.0 ;6000.0
ZERO_EMISSION___________8000.0 ;4990.0
OIL_REFINERY____________7990.0 ;3000.0
FUSION_PLANT___________10000.0 ;4000.0
ROBOTIC_PLANT___________7990.0 ;2890.0
NANITE_FACTORY__________7990.0 ;4990.0

// Gold_List
BAZAAR__________________7980.0 ;9900.0 10
BANK____________________7980.0 ;8990.0 11
CITY_CLOCK______________7950.0 ;7990.0 22
TELEVISION______________7980.0 ;6930.0 28
AIRPORT_________________7850.0 ;8850.0 16
HOUSE_OF_FREEZE_________8920.0 ;6920.0 29

// Science_List
ACADEMY_________________7950.0 ;8980.0 12
LIBRARY_________________7950.0 ;8970.0 13
UNIVERSITY______________7950.0 ;7950.0 23
COMPUTER_CENTER_________7950.0 ;7850.0 26
KNOWLEDGE_CHIP__________7950.0 ;6950.0 27

// Defense_List
CITY_WALLS______________7900.0 ;9970.0 3
SDI_____________________7900.0 ;7950.0 23
BIO_WAR_FILTERS_________7900.0 ;7950.0 23
FORCEFIELD______________7900.0 ;8950.0 16

Installation instructions:
Note: The following installation instructions have been covered by the initial install (Clickteam) readme, and may be ignored if you have already installed the mod.

The files in the aidata folder MUST be put in the original section, as they are not read if placed in the scenario section. Thus, you need to back-up the aidata folder before over-writing it with the files in this mod.

The text files which accompany this mod may be placed in the scenario section. Make sure you have a back-up of the Pack version of the const.txt, as it will be over-written by the file in this mod.

This mod represents over two months' work by myself, and almost that much from Nordicus and the others.
You can post any comments and/or questions at Apolyton, or to us through our email links there.

We hope you enjoy.

Wes Whitaker

[This message has been edited by WesW (edited December 13, 1999).]

[WesW]

Awesome Aips 1.0

NO WARRANTY
-----------
THIS MOD (Awesome Aips, any version) IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY REGARDING MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. THE AUTHORS/CREATORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DATA LOSS, DAMAGES, LOSS OF PROFITS OR ANY OTHER KIND OF LOSS WHATSOEVER WHILE USING OR MISUSING Awesome Aips, any version, OR ANY FILES ASSOCIATED WITH Awesome Aips, any version.
-----------
The authors/creators are in no way associated with Activision or other company that is involved with Civilization: Call to Power.
-----------

----by NORDICUS, aka Thomas Hempstock.
Files merged with mine are the hard work of WES WHITAKER.

A thousand thanks to Timothy Pintello, Skorpion59 (aka. Don Blevins) for playtesting (and Wes), as well as Apolyton...also, special thank yous to Markos Giannopoulos and TP (Thomas),
as well for so many suggestions: Simpson, Big Dave, Daniel Frappier, JimMac, John LeMaitre, hexagonian, Monkey (aka. Martin), Gemini (aka. Darryl), TheBirdMan, Eli K. Moore, Demolition, Atahualpa, Harlan Thompson, Chris Whitaker, Lucky, Pchang (aka.Patrick Chang), Vlad (aka. Brian Burkholder), and anyone else who gave me good (or not so good ) suggestions, and my apologies if I forgot you (don't put up with that--email me! ), as well as CD (Tucson Luke Loh) and Dutcheese for their initial work, discoveries, and documentation.
It's not complete yet, but I'd like thanks these guys in advance.

Our aidata files--fused with & including those of Wes Whitaker--have been thoroughly tested, and in this tedious testing, we have found some improvements with AI civs' attitudes & behaviors.

The dip_str and info_str were changed because I grew tired of the AI's vocabulary and choice of general phrases, statements, et cetera. I wanted to expand these in some cases and in others make it all sound a tad more realistic, i.e. not so lame and monotonous.
This version has improvements over the last regarding dialogue, and many problems have been worked out, but further testing is necessary for all the bugs to be eliminated. Therefore, you may see instances where a message says something like “player.1.name”, instead of “English”, but these have no effect on gameplay.

The default/aidata files that I have altered:

diplomacy_begin.fli
This file is responsible for loading all relevant data used by the AI at the start of its turn and beginning diplomacy. This is the 'main' diplomacy file and it's distinctive from the others, and the changes I've made are very briefly listed here. I could be more specfic, but that would take a while. Anyway, to make the AI a worthy, intelligent, and humanlike opponent, we thought these changes were necessary--in all files mentioned here or those that will be--but a much more complex and detailed list can be made available if required, but just not for a while. Note: WAIS refers to Wandering AI Syndrome, our moniker for the AI’s habit or consistently and persistently violating its no-trespassing agreements.

1. WAIS balance: stricter border policy
2. Lower Regard for fighting AI's friends
3. Fewer WAIS: AI "incurions" adjusted
4. Trust values changed (neutrality created)
5. Lower Regard between AIs' Treaties broken
6. Regard lost to 1st place AI: distrust added, less hate
7. Regard lost to 1st place human: distrust added, less hate
8. Stronger Reaction by AI to closeness and quantity of others on same continent
9. Stronger Reaction by AI to human special attack
10. Stronger Reaction by AI to human many special attacks
11. Reaction to a little pirating: less trust
12. Weaker Reaction by AI to human trespassing to balance--values lowered--still very little tolerance
13. Slightly weaker reaction to human some trespasses--but values changed
14. Stronger Reaction to human & AI trespassing, many
15. Weaker Reaction to one demand rejected (AI will be neutral)
16. Higher Regard for attacking AI's enemy (trust)
17. Stronger Reaction by AI to attack other AI
18. Stronger Reaction by AI if human keeps word (trust)
19. A bit weaker Reaction by AI if human breaks stop pollution ONCE--only once
20. A bit weaker Reaction by AI if human attacks AI's friend ONCE--only once
21. Stronger Reaction by AI if human builds wormhole-- no trust, extreme cold war, etc.
22. Stronger Reaction by AI if AI builds wormhole
23. Higher Regard between AIs when human builds wormhole
24. Changed Regard lost to being human--if peaceful, neutrality by AI
25. Changed Regard lost to being human --if warlike, less 'bad feeling,' more distrust
26. WAIS (Wandering AI Syndrome) Vaccine
27. Less Trust when attacking AI's friends
28. Added Regard setting for ‘attack the AI’ if it does not remove troops from your territory (AI reaction will be slight), new "hate_attack" input
29. see 28 but for warlike civ
30. see 28 but for peaceful civ
31. see 28 but for alliances
32. see 28 but for Peace Treaty
33. Last place low Regard added for 1st warlike AI that considers last place civ (any) too close and too weak
34. see 33 but not very close (on same continent, however)

diplomacy_accepted.fli
This file is responsible for determining the AI's reactions & regard, i.e., how it "feels" when X happens. For example, if you break a no-trespassing agreement (and you're warlike and the AI doesn't like you or trust you and *whatever*), the AI will react to it according to the pre-defined code in this file. In the situation just described, it won't react in a very friendly way at all.

35. Neutral Regard for human Accepted greetings
36. Higher Regard for human Accepted advance demand
37. Higher Regard for human Accepted gold demand
38. Lower Regard for human Accepted stop pirate demand
39. Higher Regard for human Accepted attacking enemy of AI demand
40. Lower Regard if the AI Accepted human offer of gold
41. Lower Regard if the AI Accepted human offer of map exchange
42. Lower Regard if the AI Accepted human offer of map offer
43. Lower Regard if the AI Accepted human offer of ecopact offer
44. Loyality inputs (trust) added
45. More trust for keeping Stop Trespass agreement with AI
46. More trust for keeping Reduce Pollution agreement with AI
47. More trust for keeping Stop Piracy agreement with AI
48. More trust for keeping Attack Enemy agreement with AI
49. War-time advance exchange Regard: Neutral
50. War-time map exchange Regard: Neutral
51. Accepted Peace Treaty Regard adjusted
52. Accepted Cease Fire Regard adjusted

diplomacy_rejected.fli
This is very much like diplomacy_accepted, except that it handles the 'Rejected' side of the coin.

53. Stronger Reaction to human Rejected stop trespassing
54. Stronger Reaction to human Rejected attack enemy demand
55. Reaction to Rejected exchange advance neutral
56. Stronger Reaction to Rejected exchange advance (if AI-human equal)
57. Increased AI offering "Peace Treaty" (a peace-time "cease fire" agreement)

diplomacy_pre_incoming.fli
This file is responsible for handling "incoming" diplomacy: how the AI deals with you or other AIs.

58. Increased AI attack on 3rd party
59. Increased Reaction to human demanding AI attack
60. Increased Reaction by AI to leave lands
61. Lower Regard by AI after Accepted map offer
62. Increased Reaction to Cease Fire offer
63. Increased Reaction to Peace Treaty offer
64. Increased Reaction to Alliances offer
65. Increased Reaction to exchange advance offer
66. Increased Reaction to map exchange offer
67. All Regard concerning maps Neutral
68. AI may Accept wartime map exchange
69. AI Response to "Leave Lands": added for like, love, or neutral Regard
70. see 69 but for trust
71. see 69 but if AI is last place
72. see 69 but if you (or the civ whose borders are being violated) are in 1st place

diplomacy_pre_outgoing.fli
This file, similar to pre_incoming, is responsible for handing "outgoing" diplomacy.

73. Increased AI demand for advances
74. Increased AI demand for gold
75. Increased AI demand to stop trade with...
76. Increased AI demand to attack enemy (if allied)
77. Increased AI demand to exchange advances
78. Map priority changed
79. Increased AI offers of map exchange
80. Increased AI offers of Peace Treaty…
81. ...but not if allied
82. Increased AI offers of Cease Fire
83. Increased AI offers to form alliance
84. Increased AI offers of Advance if AI is losing war--if AI is warlike
85. Increased AI offers of Advance if AI is losing war--if AI is peaceful
86. Increased AI offers of Gold if AI is losing war--if AI is warlike
87. Increased AI offers of Gold if AI is losing war--if AI is peaceful
88. Increased AI offers of exchanging Advances if AI is warlike

Note that a lot of these are 'depending' or relative to whatever circumstances. The majority of default or CD's enhanced circumstances have not been changed. Some have been by necessity of the specific change or to keep the "fuzzy logic" rules applicable.

So, that's those five files.

slaver.aip
This file is responsible for defining the personality type of the Slaver. Changes include:

89. Intense desire to build Emancipation Act Wonder
90. More corporate, "greedy," behavior especailly after Emanc. Act wonder is built and slaves are freed
91. Increased interest in wonders that increase gold and trade
92. Increased interest in advances that increase gold and trade
93. Increased interest in city improvements that increase gold and trade

personality.fli
Files for WarMany, WarFew, SciMany, SciFew, Cleric, and Slaver have been changed to balance the AI offering Peace Treaties.

String text files--for the english/gamedata side.

info_str.txt
This file is responsible for sending to you many warnings, most messages, and a few diplomacy messages also. The changes here are entirely optional--any version of Awesome Aips will function just fine without this file or the next one ("dip_str.txt"). The changes are mainly just improvements with grammar, vocabulary, consistency, etc., as well as more interesting (not so dull or corny) and/or accurate for the situation. Again, the mod will function perfectly without it.

dip_str.txt
The second string file, it has been completely re-worked. This file is responsible for all diplomatic phrases, statements, etc., seen during diplomacy. Due to the unique nature of this file's structure (randomness, for example, in responses), it has been very problematic getting most changes to take effect in the desired way. The crashes have been eliminated, but there are still some rare gramatical errors.
Still, like the other string text file, the mod will work the same without this file. It is optional.

Since the AI behaved much smarter, I thought it necessary for it to sound smarter as well. The changes are way too numerous to list, but overall they consist of an expanded and varied AI vocabulary, (less insulting terms, less mundane and monotonous reactions to exchanges, demands, etc.), and generally an increased diplomatic tone from the AI.

And that’s it.

Please let me know if there's any goof-ups, bugs, oversights, or anything else that doesn't seem right. I'm certain it can be corrected. Lemme know.

So, to warn you, if your system explodes or you are hospitalized from stress regarding any of our files, I do sympathize but cannot assume responsibility.

And you may tamper with, distribute freely, destroy, criticize ruthlessly, abuse, ignore, or otherwise pervert any of these files--just name me as the culprit. Thanks.
And I'm speaking for myself and only for my modified files, not those of Wes Whitaker; see his read me for what you may do to his files.
Any comments, constructive criticism, problems, whatever, can be posted at the Aployton site CTP forums, in the Creation or General sections. Or you may reach the authors through email links there.
If you find anything at all not quite right, please let us know as soon as you can; that way we can correct it more quickly. Thank you.

Enjoy, and have a day!

Thomas (Nordicus).

[Nordicus]

Wes, cool, I think that covers it all.

BTW, if I spelled anyone's name wrong above, please let Wes know so that he can edit it later, or if you would like your actual name instead of your handle, please post so.

Thanks.

[MarkG]

NOW AVAILABLE ON APOLYTON

Awesome Aips 1.0 (Pack)

Awesome Aips 1.0 (CD's mod)

Awesome Aips 1.0 (Original)

[DON]

I did some more fooling around. I reinstalled the hack and pack without your mod and I'm still getting these slic errors. So sorry about that, I thought it was connected to your mod. I had played a game with the pack before with no problem but now when I try to play a saved game I get these problems. What changed? If you have any advice please tell.

[skorpion59]

Don,

Read the Apolyton Pack readme about playing saved games and how to load them.

The errors say the Apolyton Pack files are not loaded in CTP. You have to start a new Apolyton Pack game, which loads the Apolyton Pack files into CTP, and then load your saved game on top of that.

To get around having to do this, you have to put all the Pack files in the CTP original directory structure instead of the scenario structure.

Don

[skorpion59]

Wes, Nordicus,

For fun, I started a regular CTP game last night without the AAIPs. It didn't take long for me to forget that and go back to the AAIPs. Like they say, "Once you've had the real thing .....". I don't think I will ever play a game again that doesn't have your AAIPs in it. As well as your True Terrain, Wes.

Don

[DON]

Hi Wes & Nordicus

I'm having problems and was wondering if you could help me. I downloaded your Awesome Aip's for the apolyton Pack. I have patch 1.2 and 1.21 hack and the pack. I did the debug slic thing. I had no problem with the pack before I installed your mod. I create a game with no problem and play then save. When I try to load the saved game It comes up with Slic errors:

String ID Advance Fundamentalism not found
String ID Unit Noble not found
String ID Unit Seige Engine not found
String ID Unit Cruise Missile not found
String ID Unit Helicopter not found
String ID Unit Missile Cruiser not found
String ID Unit Transporter not found

After I click through all of these. Then it pauses and finally comes up with these again except in a little more detail.

Example:

C\Program Files\ Activision\Civilization-Call To Power\ Scenarios\Apolyton\Default\Gamedata\Script Slc 2188\Advance-Fundamentalism help not found in String Database.

After all this the game just crashes.

I remember that these things were not original units in the game. But stuff Cd and other folks added. I thought I read your read me well enough, but maybe I missed something. I 'm sorry if this has a real simple solution and I overlooked something. I'm not too familiar with the inner workings of Ctp so please keep that in mind when you offer advice.

Please Help
Thanx

[John LeMaitre]

Is there going to be a version of AAIPs that I can install myself? I have so many mods that I'm afraid that something will get wiped out.

Thanks!

[skorpion59]

JL,

It is actually pretty easy to do it yourself. When you run the install program, point the 'install-to' directory to a temp directory instead of the top-level CTP directory. Then just copy the files to the right directory.

Having said that, I might also point out that this won't really buy you much because the majority of the changes are to the AIDATA & AIP files so you HAVE to use these files.

Don

[Nordicus]

Skorp: Thanks for taking over here! And thanks for nice commnents.


John:
Yeah, this is why I wish some mod creators would please post their ideas before going ahead ahead and making it on their own...simply because there's many that conflict, which could be avoided with some cooperation, and cuz it just gets done more quickly with a partner! I realize that sometimes one person's vision can be rigid and inflexible (all too well), but for the most part, getting more creators together seems to me to be the only way to have the maxium modification enjoyed by the maximum number of people, without the constant and maddening file switching, in order to get a benfit from a particular mod.
[/speech over]

Anyway, Don has the answer there. Most mods don't change the aips or fli files, so these will prob'ly be ok, but be careful--I can't remember how many times I did what you're afraid of doing when I first starting coming here!

Later.

T.

Oh, geez...I just saw that Horse's Arse back with more of the same. Sigh. Just when this game is getting really good, these "people" (who probably don't play CTP it or else just get their butts kicked in it and so get angry) must feel threatened to increase their illogical, unfounded, and bitter little attacks, hey? Or...
Every time I stay away from OT, Arse comes lurking around the CTP section...either he likes me (!) or misses me over there... what do you people think?
Maybe my ego is too large, I dunno.
At any rate, I'll repeat what I said in the (and isn't there an Apolyton rule about similar threads?--not that I'm that bothered, since their arguments are hollow or full of holes) thread by our resident Historical Professor (or is it Living History...? can't recall) since these people clearly want attention (some desperately) and as responsible citizens should not indulge them (i.e. respond in their threads, fueling their problem), and give psychological advice instead
So, again:

I'm posting this to implore you sane CTPers not to dignify this metally
challenged in-duh-vidual with a response--God knows that Horse's Arse thread went on irritatingly too long before it was beheaded...how about post here
http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum7/HT...tml?date=05:01
instead?--staying on the side of reason and rational argumentation Haven't we had enough of trolls desperately in need of attention? Thanks.

[This message has been edited by Nordicus (edited December 19, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Nordicus (edited December 19, 1999).]

[DON]

Thanks Skorpion

I really appreciated that. I'm anxious to try out this Mod.

You know another great thing about this game. It is the people who play it. The folks like you guys that are willing to spend the time and energy making it a better game for all. Ctp players who are willing to help out other less technicaly talented players. I play alot of pbem games and the players are really cool, I really enjoy the interaction between the players, the willingness to help the other out, being positive and instead of negative all the time.

BTW......Screw that AHole
Why give a crap what that moron says?


[This message has been edited by DON (edited December 19, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by DON (edited December 19, 1999).]

[skorpion59]

Don,

Couldn't agree with you more. When I first started coming around here, which was to long ago to remember, all the people were more than willing to lend a hand to help the new guy out. Even if I asked what many might consider a basic, stupid question. They always took the time to explain something until you understood. I think part of this has to be contributed to Markos & Dan and the fact that they keep this a quality site. They don't let the flaming and insulting get out of hand.

I'm ashamed to admit this but one of my biggest problems was figuring out how to get rid of the icons that wouldn't go away at the end of a round. It got to the point where I had 2 or 3 pages of icons to scroll through. I tried everything I could think of before I finally figured out you right-click them. Seems simple and logical NOW, but back then I just couldn't figure it out. If I can save somebody from having to spend a few hours troubleshooting, then it is worth it to me.

Don

Sorry for hijacking the thread, back to the point at hand, AAIPs.
[This message has been edited by skorpion59 (edited December 19, 1999).]

[hexagonian]

Hey skorpion

Thanks for that bit of advice there. Those icons were bothering me too!! (You learn something new everyday here...)

I would echo the sentiments that everyone here is very helpful in sharing their insights. And I really appreciate all the Mod creators who have the talent and have taken the time to really improve the quality of the game - if all those who initially trashed the game loaded the mods that have been created and replayed the game - and got over their irritaion at Activision - their opinion would change

But some people rather would cut off their noses to spite their faces.

[Rowick Hepan]

Hi guys,

I'm running 1.2, 1.21 hack and Dutchese mod. Which version of Aips should I install?

[WesW]

Rowick, you need the Original version. I think Dutcheese's mod was mostly aip changes, though, so ours will undo most of his mod.

[Mark H]

It seems I can't "pirate" foriegn trade routes with land units now that I've loaded Awesome Apes, was that intentional? I tried with a phalanx, pikeman, knight and horse archer, but it took a ship to finally get rid of it....
Mark

[Paul]

You mention a horse archer so I assume you use either CD's mod or the Apolyton Pack which includes CD's mod. CD changes it so that no longer all units can pirate. I don't remember exactly which units can pirate, but you can find that in CD's readme.

[Mark H]

Yes, I have the A-pack installed as well, didn't notice the problem there but it wasn't long after that I loaded awesome apes.
Thanks for the direction on where to look, must be at least a dozen readme's on ctp now (ugh).
Can't say I understand overland trade routes being immune to pirating, somebody needs a history lesson. ;-)
Mark

[Lord Sigma]

Mark H

CD just changed it so only certain units can pirate but pirating now gives 100 gold instead of 50. Units that can include but are no limited to

Musketeer
Samurai(i think)
Swarm
Ship of the line
Destroyer
Longship
Marine(i think)
theres more

[Paul]

I went through the readme for CD's mod and here are the units that can pirate:

Ancient Age: Longship, Samurai
Renaissance Age: Ship of the Line, Musketeer
Modern Age: Destroyer, Marine, Paratrooper
Genetic Age: Missile Cruiser, Space Marine
Diamond Age: Plasma Destroyer, Swarm

[TheBirdMan]

Merry X-mas and Happy Y2K to all.

Special to Thomas and Wes:

In the last 1½ week, I've played 2 games (as usual not to an end).

Here is my comments:

Terrain:

I like most of it. Nearly everything. I have changed rivers (lengths), diamonds (value higher). What I do NOT like is, that you are able to move through swamps just as through plains. The costs for building roads/railroad/mavleg are too cheap (I have not changed that).

Sounds:

As I have wrote before: More sound to launching "space shuttels" - something like the landing sound". What we have sounds like between a rifleshot and a "young girl" trying to get off too much "air".

Units:

None - except that the new graphics are just....................... They are GREAT!!!!

Special "linespace" for that!

I have seen - believe it or not - a babarian settler!!! Well - he didn't settle, just walked around and at last got killed by one of the other AI player. But I watched him - funny - he acted as a kind of spy. I don't know where he came from - but it was new to the game.

Diplomacy:

The peaceful nations are just a little too peaceful. It's hard to me to attack them. It's much easier to go for the violent and slavers.

Special attacks:

NONE!!!! That must be changed.

Combat:

The Babarians are much more strong. In my last game, 2 middle-power-civs got into revolutions (and formed new civs) as their capitols falled into the babarians hands in thun 100-120. As a matter of fact: By year 2060 (plus/minus a year or two) I have "seen" 21 civs in a game "designed" for 11 (+ the babarians as the 12th) of those was 6 falled by attack by babarians as far as I could see. Their ability to use (and get) SiegeEngines in the first 50 to 200 turns are just marvellous. I just survived using the +<3> and the +<$> combination a couple of times (or more) when exploring "goody huts" (goody: My a.. - it was real cheating, but the other choice was re-starting).

Others:

And again, believe it or not: A babarian unit EXPELLED ONE OF MY SETTLERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pollutions:

It has been reduced too much. Launching should give something between the new value and the default (m'be 20%-40% of the default). And the disasters should be changed from 3 ozone and 2 flooding to 2 ozone and 3 flooding. Reason: I like the flooding better than the ozone disasters. Just personal.

More to follow (m'be).

[This message has been edited by TheBirdMan (edited December 26, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by TheBirdMan (edited December 26, 1999).]

[WesW]

Thanks for the feedback, TBM.
Are you playing with the Medieval mod 2?

As far as the Swamp changes, that is part of the True Terrain mod. I wanted to either eliminate Swamps, or drastically reduce their appearance in the land. I ended up making their characteristics identical to grassland, for reasons detailed in the Terrain readme.

The Barbarian behavioral changes weren't part of the public edition of the mod, but since you also have an earlier edition of the Aips, the changes will still be in place. You can replace the barbarian-related files with the originals if you want to, or just leave them as is if you like the changes. Leaving them out was a judgment call, and continuing to use them will have no adverse effects on the game.

Under the current diplomacy settings, friendly civs probably will not attack you with special units. Personally, I think this is a good thing. If you want to, you can open the defaults aip, and set the special attacks priorities back to their original settings. The ones I changed are denoted by "WW", along with the original settings.
This may get the AI to launch more attacks upon you, especially the unfriendly civs.

You may need to speak with Nordicus about the strength of the Barbarians. You may be using some of his personal files. (He likes hordes of Conans running around in his games.)

Our pollution changes are detailed in the Med mod readme, in case you want to alter them.

You can pop over to Morgoth's new units thread to congratulate him on the new graphics.

[madcow23]

Hi all, I hope someone can help. It's probably just me being stupid, but I've been away from CTP for a while and it's this mod that's brought me back into the fold. At least, that's the theory...

I gave up on CTP first time around because of the problems with scenarios, the loading & saving problems, and so on. So this time I thought I'd reinstall the game with all the original mods I used to use, and ignore the scenario function. Plus I thought I'd try out Awesome AIPs (which does, indeed, sound awesome).

So I installed in the following order:

Civ CTP (doh..!)
Patch v1.2
CD's mod v4.22
The graphics pack for CD's mod
Harlan's graphics mod
Awesome AIP's (the version for CD's mod)

Now when I try to run it I get a whole heap of errors along the lines of:

script.slc - CONTROLPANELWINDOW_TERRASWITCHES_DESERTS not found in string databse

plus a load of other terrain-type errors.

I assume either I've installed something wrong (although I've double-checked installation instructions) or something is incompatible with something else. I'm sure I used to use CD's mod and Harlan's mod together in the "old days".

Can anyone help? I'm itching for a game of CTP now!

[skorpion59]

MadCow,

Go to the CTP-Help section and search for old threads about CD's mod. There has been 4 or 5 threads explaining how to fix this.

The problem is v4.22 of CD's mod is no good. He tried to make it CTP v1.2 complient but left out some of the new v1.2 CTP files.

You have to cut & paste the v1.2 info into one of CD's files but I don't remember exactly which one anymore.

A better solution would be to install the Apolyton Pack instead of CD's v4.22 Mod. It has lots of goodies including PowerSLIC which is a must. If you don't want to deal with scenarios, install everything in the default CTP structure instead of the scenario structure.

------------------
Don, Apolyton Junkie

[This message has been edited by skorpion59 (edited January 09, 2000).]

[Paul]

The file that you need to fix for CD 4.22 is help_str.txt. If you look in the CTP help forum there are some threads dealing with this problem. I think one of those contained the lines that have to be pasted in help_str.txt.

[Locutus]

Madcow,

You can correct those messages by changing the value of DebugSlic in userprofile.txt from no to yes. Now all messages should be displayed fine.
(You can find this file in the *your ctp dir*\ctp_program\ctp directory and the DebugSlic-statement is near the bottom of the file.)

Locutus

[madcow23]

Yet again, someone helps me out in my hour of need (well, hour of stupidity). Nice to see the CTP community is as helpful as ever.

Cheers everyone.

[madcow23]

Thanks guys, that's done the trick. I said I'd been away for a while :-)

I've installed the Apolyton Pack plus AIPs and decided to put up with the scenario problems.

All works fine, but some of the messages are a bit strange. I seem to be getting variable names instead of values for things like city name and population size, but only in certain messages. I guess this is either something to do with PowerSlics or AIPs.

Was this fixed too? I can't find any references to it but I might be looking in the wrong place.