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**Gatekeeper** · August 24, 2006, 15:36

Bump, plus ...

5. On the Earth map I've been using, I notice the pre-set level for AI civilizations is Noble. I can change that on the civilization I choose to play (say, America). Here's the question: If I choose to play at the Settler level, do the other AIs as well, regardless of the "pre-set" level when one's setting up the game? Same with the higher levels; if I go up to Monarch, does the AI do the same, or keep playing at the Noble level?

Gatekeeper

**LDiCesare** · August 24, 2006, 16:14

2) I think you cannot get random resources in a WBSave.
3) You should download a mod which creates a new civ and look at wou don't have to replace a civ by a new one, you can just add a new one (look in the directory, I think Sumer's in it for instance).

**Gatekeeper** · August 25, 2006, 03:33

LDiCesare:

2.) I was worried about that. If so, I guess I'll have to settle for the wee bit of "randomness" that is built into these maps (i.e., mining an ordinary hill offers a small chance of turning up a truly unexpected resource).

3.) That's always an option. Heh. However, I think the 18-civ Earth map is already quite crowded, so to add more would just worsen the problem (unless I put it in NW North America or somewhere in Australia ... my "modified" 18-civ Earth map is a "greenhouse" one). But, yes, adding a civ would likely be a lot simpler. Then again, the "find and replace" command is a nice time-saver, too! Just have it "find" MALI and "replace" it with DRAKA or something like that.

Gatekeeper

**Locutus** · August 25, 2006, 06:40

1) If you've had no problems with the WB you probably have nothing to worry about, the whole thing is probably not relevant for the Mac. One way to test is by pressing '~' (Shift-`), if that opens up the Python console for you you know the cheat mode is enabled (at least if you have a US Qwerty keyboard). That (and limiting what you can do with the WB a little bit) is pretty much all cheat mode does IIRC.

2) See LDiCesare's response.

3) Depends on how much you want to change/add. Assets/XML/Civilizations/CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml contains your basic info on what names, leaders, cities, etc a civ has. There's no actual text in there, all the in-game text is in the Assets/XML/Text folder, so you'll have to add any new text you may have (civ name, city names, etc) there and refer to it from the CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml file. If you want to define a new leader as well, you'll need to change Assets/XML/Civilizations/CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml. To change things like sounds, graphics, etc you'll have to change/add sound/art files in the Assets/Art folders and change the art definitions in Assets/XML/Art/.

But in short, everything you need is in Assets/XML/Civilizations/CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml and Assets/XML/Civilizations/CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml -- from there there are hooks into other files and by just searching your asset tree for those hooks you can find anything you need (e.g. if you see AS3D_MALI_SELECT and you want to change it, just search your asset tree for that key and change any file that it finds to suit your needs). As LDiCesare says, downloading a mod and seeing how it's done there is a good way to learn.

And yes ModPath lets you link a WBS file to a your own mod folder.

5) The AI always plays at the level set for it in the WBS file.

**LDiCesare** · August 25, 2006, 13:47

2) Come to think about it:
You can (I think someone did that already, you would have to look for it), turn a WorldBuilder save into a map script python file and use only some parts, namely terrain/forests/rivers generation and player placement, and leave the resources to the default python function which would then randomize them.

**Gatekeeper** · August 25, 2006, 19:19

Originally posted by Locutus
1) If you've had no problems with the WB you probably have nothing to worry about, the whole thing is probably not relevant for the Mac. One way to test is by pressing '~' (Shift-`), if that opens up the Python console for you you know the cheat mode is enabled (at least if you have a US Qwerty keyboard). That (and limiting what you can do with the WB a little bit) is pretty much all cheat mode does IIRC.

2) See LDiCesare's response.

3) Depends on how much you want to change/add. Assets/XML/Civilizations/CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml contains your basic info on what names, leaders, cities, etc a civ has. There's no actual text in there, all the in-game text is in the Assets/XML/Text folder, so you'll have to add any new text you may have (civ name, city names, etc) there and refer to it from the CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml file. If you want to define a new leader as well, you'll need to change Assets/XML/Civilizations/CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml. To change things like sounds, graphics, etc you'll have to change/add sound/art files in the Assets/Art folders and change the art definitions in Assets/XML/Art/.

But in short, everything you need is in Assets/XML/Civilizations/CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml and Assets/XML/Civilizations/CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml -- from there there are hooks into other files and by just searching your asset tree for those hooks you can find anything you need (e.g. if you see AS3D_MALI_SELECT and you want to change it, just search your asset tree for that key and change any file that it finds to suit your needs). As LDiCesare says, downloading a mod and seeing how it's done there is a good way to learn.

And yes ModPath lets you link a WBS file to a your own mod folder.

5) The AI always plays at the level set for it in the WBS file.

Locutus:

Thanks for your in-depth reply! *whistles* Boy, have I got my work cut out for me if I ever hope to be able to do anything beyond surface modifications to Civ IV. This is much more complex than that old warhorse Civ II was!

WRT No. 3, my changes would be limited to city names, leader names and, possibly, adding in artwork of the new leader and nation's flag. Still, it sounds like I'd have to modify multiple files, and some of those said files are redundant in nature (i.e. the cities ... change them in one file, have to change them in the other file as well).

WRT No. 5, is there a way to alter this outcome in a WB file? If I'm playing at the monarch level, I'd like to the AI to play there as well w/o having to alter each and every civ every time in the WB file before playing a game. For example, right now I'm playing at the Settler level, but the AI is locked in at the Noble level. I'd like them to be Settler/Settler if at all possible.

Last, but not least, is there any way to get a WB save to list *both* leaders of a nation as options instead of just one or the other? Take America for example: Right now, FDR is the only choice, but I'd like Washington as well. Do I just add a second "leader" line to the XML coding in the WB save in order for this to work?

Thanks, Locutus!

Gatekeeper

**Locutus** · August 25, 2006, 20:05

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
Thanks for your in-depth reply! *whistles* Boy, have I got my work cut out for me if I ever hope to be able to do anything beyond surface modifications to Civ IV. This is much more complex than that old warhorse Civ II was!

It sounds a lot more complicated than it is, once you get the hang of it it's not harder than modifying Civ2's rules.txt or whatever it was. A bit more work maybe, but you get a LOT more power in return.

And in the end it all boils down to having a good editor and knowing how to use it. My editor supports keystroke macros and with those converting a list of city names into the necessary XML code for aforementioned files is as simple as pressing a key.

WRT No. 5, is there a way to alter this outcome in a WB file?

No.

For example, right now I'm playing at the Settler level, but the AI is locked in at the Noble level. I'd like them to be Settler/Settler if at all possible.

Why would you wanna make it harder on yourself? I imagine if you play at Settler the last thing you need is for the AI to get the same bonuses as you...

This how the regular game works as well, unless you specifically set it in the game setup options. The AI always plays on Noble. If you play on a lower level, you get more bonuses than the AI, you play on a higher level, the AI gets more bonuses. If both you and the AI play on Settler that's pretty much the same as both of you playing on Monarch, since you both get the same bonuses (although I believe there are some additional bonuses for the AI if the human plays on higher levels, but in comparison this is minor stuff IIRC).

The difficulty levels don't determine how easy or hard the game is for the human ("if the AI plays at Settler it behaves like a n00b") but rather how many bonuses/maluses the player in question gets ("if the AI plays at Settler it gets the same huge bonuses the human gets when playing at Settler").

Last, but not least, is there any way to get a WB save to list *both* leaders of a nation as options instead of just one or the other?

No. I would like this too and have requested it for a future XP but it remains to be seen if we'll get it. It's harder to implement than one might expect.

**Gatekeeper** · August 25, 2006, 23:42

Locutus, again, thanks. I'm going to bookmark this thread so I can come back to it at my leisure (and to avoid asking repeat questions, so if others have insights to offer, feel free to offer away).

Gatekeeper

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