How would I go about changing the date?

[Glyndwr]

This is just a personal bother I've always wanted to fix, but thanks to my limited modding skills I've never been able to do it.

I wish to change the dates of every standard game, preferably on every speed setting but 'normal' will be fine if I can only change one. I would like the Medieval Era to begin in c.650 AD and end in c.1450, rather than beginning at 20 AD. I want the modern era to begin in 1920 rather than 1645. I want the Industrial Enlightenment to begin in the late 18th century rather than the 1300s, and I'd love to know how to make the ages accurate.

Can any of you masters please direct me on what to do? I've grasped that I have to open files and edit them, but after that it just gets too complex.

[MMC]

The 'Ages' do not start at any given date... They are triggered by the technologies. When you discover your first Medieval Age tech, you start the Medieval Age, and so on. You could always play with the techs in the XML files, or you could take longer to do research when you play.

[Glyndwr]

I knew they were related, and this is why I wanted to focus on changing the gaps between turns (so Guilds may be discovered around 1000 rather than 10, etc) or even the starting year. I suppose I should have asked if there's a way to edit the length between turn.

[Glyndwr]

Something a little more complicated

I've found the XML that handles year increments, so now I need to play a game on each speed setting to see how they apply it. There we are, I've solved my own problem. Cheers anyway.

(unless someone already knows when the yearly increments change, which would be amazingly helpful)

Second Question

This is more complicated but I'm sure someone here can tell me how to get round this. I have all the music for my intended mod (unfortunately I could never release it) but I need to know how to make the game soundtrack change for culture or civ as well as era.

Is there a way to make the music played depend on civilisation/culture as well as era?

E.G. Mali gets West African music throughout the game, with Tribal music in the Classical era but a traditional Griot Ensemble in the Medieval era.

Egypt receives 'ancient' music during the Classical era, Arabic music during later eras, and Arab Orchestral music in the Industrial age, etc.

[MMC]

I believe that is already the case... The English, for example, have one of the 'alternate' national anthems (I forget which one at this exact moment) during the latter eras.

EDIT: It's a melody containing parts of Rule Britannia. You only hear it when you zoom in on one of your cities.

[Glyndwr]

I had no idea of that. I'll probably just mess up the XML files until I can't play the game anymore. It's the best way to handle something you don't understand.