About My Mod

[FrostyBoy]

The pressure is on me

The game is coming close to release, and my mind is flooding with ideas.


My main goal will be this:

To make Civilization IV's graphics better and neater.


But my question is this:

What is better and neater to you?
What do you want me to do exactly?
What do you not want me to do?


Just be aware that my first attempt at modding the game will be to make the land more realistic.

So.. what are your main complaints with what you have seen of CivIV so far?
What are the things I can do to make it more realistic?

[GeoModder]

- City improvements in proportion with the houses and stuff (in cities) Perhaps painting the colors more in comparison as well.
- Redrawing road errors.
- There's a sort of forest that looks rather artifical compared with pines and jungle. Wonder if that could be straightened.
- More variation in mountain tiles.
- Cliffs on some coastal tiles.

[H Tower]

mountain ranges, not just individual mountains next to each other.

[alva]

What is better and neater to you?
What do you want me to do exactly?
What do you not want me to do?

Never ever ask the customer what he wants...you know better than him.

Do what you do best Snoopy.

[Dracon II]

The units need to be smaller.

[Kiev]

I'm honestly confused as to how Firaxis let the game get this far with such poor graphics. I absolutely appreciate the amount of effort that they've invested into such things as animated resources, representation of city improvements and the diversity of tile improvements. I even don't mind the unit/city size ratio in the least, as it seems to be a sticking point for others. However, that doesn't change the fact that the base geography graphics are completely underwhelming.

http://home.comcast.net/~maginnis/civ4.jpg

This picture sums up my concerns. The 90 degree tile partitions are utterly obnoxious. Nearly every interview/preview so far has mentioned how it's possible to rotate the map at will, but in all the screen shots I've seen the right-angled tiles just jump out at you. I'm really baffled as to how they thought this was a good look to go for.

It's not a question of cartoonish, it's a matter of being grossly simplistic. World of Warcraft can be interpreted as having a cartoony style of art, but the game still generates a tremendous amount of atmosphere and aesthetic depth. The geography of Civ4 seems devoid of any visual personality; it seems to reduce graphics to a purely utilitarian function rather than a source of appreciation. The flat, bland coloration of grass/plains does nothing to draw the player in, it simply lets them know how much food that tile produces. I might as well be looking at a black and white map key.

It feels like they decided to not even bother investing in a sense of immersion, but rather simplified the landscape to a point where tiles look more like placeholder art than a finished product. Considering how appealing the new gameplay mechanics sound, I feel frustrated that I'm going to spend so much time looking at such unappealing graphics.

Anyway, specifics:

If possible, find a way to degrade the rigidness of tile borders. Please.

Mountains should be craggy, not mounds. A quirky detail might be to add clouds hovering around the peak.

Hills should be bumpy, not plateaus.

Add some texture to the grassland and plains art.

[Lancer]

Make mountains out of mole hills.

[FrostyBoy]

Thanks for suggestions

all are noted

[Adm.Naismith]

Re: About My Mod

Originally posted by Sn00py
Just be aware that my first attempt at modding the game will be to make the land more realistic.

You know I really appreciate your work .
That said I feel the need to remember to you: in Civ IV the whole world is the map. While in real life we use to enjoy the sightseeing and work on focused reproduction of the reality (maps, plant, etc.).
More realism would be appreciated, but we really need to *play* the game, not simply *enjoy* the painting.
Please let relevant kind of terrain, buildings, improvements and so on readable at a glance, or the player will be lost. IMHO, of course.

[FrostyBoy]

Of course Adm

[Atahualpa]

The forest here: http://image.com.com/gamespot/images..._screen003.jpg looks pretty dull. I've seen trees having shadows in another shot, but here it was turned off and it just looks ugly. The terrain below should be darker.

Mountains here:

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/251/919352_20050909_screen004.jpg

They could e.g. have more than just one top. Unfortunately I think this will increase polygoncount and thus decrease performance. Anyway I can perfectly imagine a combination like this in the real world, although it'd be more interesting if one was e.g. higher than the other.

Terrain here:

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/251/919352_20050909_screen005.jpg

A good example of what's wrong with the terrain. Without any of those mills, it would look really boring. Also there are lots of errors with the roads.


Anyway, I've selected about 60 photos showing parts of Spain (Mountains, farming land, limestone-formations), Portugal (beaches) and Austria (mountains, lower lands). Some cities as well (like Lisbon, Port of Malaga, Granada, Cadiz) and the fortress of Saguntum (that Hanibal besieged and attacked in 219BC). I can send them to you if you like (~7MB all; 1024x768; 80% JPEG for preview, I have higher res versions of most pictures as well).

[Senethro]

The units need to be bigger.

[Nikolai]

Originally posted by Senethro
The units need to be bigger.

[Addled Platypus]

no infinte RR




really

get rid of the flags on the ship units

get them back onto the sails

[Addled Platypus]

can this be done ?

Originally posted by Wise Ass
I don't remeber if that's who they kept as the leaders or not, but the question isn't exactly about which leader is better, but more can 2 civs face off with their different leaders.

Can I play a game where I play against the Lincoln Americans and the FDR Americans?

I think this could add playable civs to the game, it would be like they were shipping with 24 instead of 18.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=138608