[Map]_TWC_Earth_256_x_128

[Gatekeeper]

How does one make a map generate random resources? Does this involve turning the "cheat" code on in the .ini file (i.e. going from a "0" to "chipotle").

I'm curious because, while it's nice to deliberately place *some* resources, it's not not fun having to do the entire shebang. Not to mention the fact that it takes away some of the "gee-whiz, what will I find?" factor on Earth maps.

Gatekeeper

P.S. Any insights whatsoever you can offer on this whole "cheat" code thing when it comes to modding would be nice.

[Flash]

Gatekeeper,

Good point, But the brillance of starting clean on this map serves many roles. If I want try to be historic then I place the resources where they need to be. If I want something different, then I can also re-roll the resources.

As far as the cheat code, it goes like this. Yes you have to use 'chipotle'. But to access the sheat menu, you have to hit the "~" key without shifting.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=145278

[Flash]

Some Screenshots:

[Flash]

Another one:

[Gatekeeper]

Flash:

You da man! Seriously. Putting the effort you have so far into building this grand Earth map of yours shows your dedication and skill.

Thanks for the link you provided above. Heh. Too bad the console for the "cheat" commands apparently works *only* in-game and not in WorldBuilder itself. Oh, well. The Earth map I recently modified isn't 100 percent predictable, resource-wise. There must be some randomness built in because I swear I didn't include half as many uranium resources as what showed up when they were finally unveiled in-game. Same holds true with some of the other resources, like marble and stone.

Hmpfh. I only wish aluminum were more common. Heh. Guess I'll have to "add" that in myself!

Gatekeeper

[Flash]

Gatekeeper,

Thanks, very much for those kind words. I use the cheat mode in the worldbuilder.

I thought about generating random resources but then adding in the historical ones. before I released the beta map, I randomly generated some resources, but It clumped together too many resources. example, it put 5! gold resources together in the moddle of Turkey.

[Gatekeeper]

Flash:

Well, if it works for you, it should work for me, unless Aspyr (the company that ported Civ IV to the Macintosh platform) did something Apple-centric to the underlying code. And I don't think they did, judging from conversations I've read and had with Brad Oliver (one of the Aspyr programmers who did the port) over at CivFanatics.

I'll give it a shot once I've finished my current game. I've only got 17 civilizations left to destroy!

Gatekeeper

[Flash]

Gatekeeper,

Good Luck. Have fun with your game. I hope you will enjoy my map.

[Flash]

TWC_Earth_256x128_v0.03

Okay, this is a minor map correction. The worldbuider doesn't work quite right with this map and added forest echo terrain in the coast or ocean quares. I thight I fixed them all.

[Will9]

Try to hurry up the warlords version.

[Flash]

Will9,
Technically, that's not much of a problem.

I ran into a snag today. I was running some memory configurations. I can run the map and even edit it worldbuilder. But unless I get another memory chip, I will be restarting my computer a lot.

I have 1.536 GBytes of RAM. I start off with 1.26 GB free. After moving to medium graphics setting. and single character units, I have about 445 MB left.

[Gatekeeper]

Flash:

Congratulations!

I downloaded your Earth map and was pleasantly surprised to see that it opened right up in the Mac version of Civ IV. I had my doubts at first, since the icon reads as an "executable" file, which aren't supposed to be readable by Macintoshs (at least according to my understanding). However, being saved with the *WB extension on the file must have made the difference. That or I don't know what I'm talking about.

You weren't kidding about its size. It clocks in at 2.7 MB, according to Preview. The next-largest map I have (the 18-civ Earth map I'm currently customizing) checks in at 700 KB. It took my machine — a 2GHZ, 2MB RAM, 256MB VRAM Intel iMac — about a minute to build and open the map.

Also, tons of forests and no resources (which I knew about from reading this thread), but that's eminently changeable on my end of the information superhighway!

If you don't mind, Flash, I'm going to inform other Macintosh Civ IV players about your map. I think they'll get a kick out of it, so long as their machines can handle it.

Again, congrats, and here's to hoping someday I can become something like you in terms of dedication and skill in modifying Civ IV!

Gatekeeper

[Flash]

Gatekeeper,

Thanks, You can go ahead and tell all your friends.

I'm glad you could run it. I think Europe should be big enough that all the Euro civs can get about 4 cities.

I'm debating whether to do an actual scale map. It would either be 256 x 120 or 240 x 112. If I get the Memory I plan on doing a 272 x 128.

Anyway, Let me know what you think about the map. Is it too big, too small or just right, etc.

[Gatekeeper]

Flash:

Most of the Macintosh community posts over at CivFanatics now, and I believe you're over there as well, correct? At any rate, I'll put a post in the Macintosh Civ IV Forum pointing them toward the download in this thread at 'Poly, unless you have the DL at CF as well (in which case I'll send them thataway).

Regarding the map — and, mind you, this is just based on a cursory exam — it almost seems too large in some areas (Africa and South America come to mind) while Europe is still fairly small (but larger than anything on the maps that shipped with Civ IV, sans the Europe map). I'm no cartographer, but I'm pretty sure there's no way to get around that fact (Europe being naturally small, other areas such as SA, Africa and Asia being large) w/o distorting the Earth map to the point where it's not really an Earth map anymore.

When I think about it, someone created an Earth map for Civ II that was Northern Hemisphere only. I think it's still available for DL here at 'Poly. Anyway, I found that map to be *perfect* for Civ II games. It'd be great if a version could someday become available for Civ IV because it'd probably give the right balance between area of space in which to play and the demands it would place on most folks' CPUs.

I wonder if someone DL'd the file, it could be "converted" somehow to work on Civ IV w/the right "helper" application, rather than having to start from scratch. If that's the case, well, it'd be great. I think a Northern Hemisphere map for Civ IV would be pretty popular.

All that said, you've done an excellent job with what I'll call "Flash's Masterful Earth Map." Don't feel pressured to do a Northern Hemisphere map.

Best regards,

Gatekeeper

[padillah]

Flash, if you're gonna keep doing maps that size you may seriously want to look at WorldPainter. To load the entire game just to get access to an editor is not gonna work with sizes like that.

Tom P.