Patch v152 out

[Silver14]

I'm downloading the latest patch through the update system, did they just release this today? I havn't tried in awhile but didn't see any threads on the 1.52

No ideas what it improves yet I'll follow up once the download completes.

edit by markg

FULL README (changes list, official system requirements and more)

http://civilization4.net/3/177/373/

DIRECT DOWNLOAD

http://boa.apolyton.net/civ4/files/official/Civ4Patch1.52.exe

[Silver14]

Automated workers leave forests is an option now. I thought there would be a readme with the new patch but the readme only had 1.09 information.

[Demon Rob]

it sticks santa hats on all the leader heads.


(just guessing that, its still downloading.....)

[Silver14]

Civ Fanatics people don't know what all the patch does either due to a lack of a readme and there isn't a posting on what it does yet.

It is about 45 megs in size though.

I have both the blue marble mod and hark's memory mod installed. The patch went over them fine and it left the blue marble mod intact. It did reset all the options and graphics settings though. Not sure what it may have changed with Harkonens mod but the game is working fine right now.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=149195

[Slartibartfastt]

Big topic over at fanatics already

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=149195

I guess I was a little slow

[dacole]

HEY, they changed the Civilopedia! It's now easier to find stuff because it has the words next to the icons.

quote from civ fanatics . My response THANK GOD! Hated that they used the pics only...(though I admit having them is nice and they do look good)

[Shaka II]

They know how to release the patches in time for the holidays. Two for two.

I'm taking next week off. Not just to play Civ mind you, but there will be some serious playage.

[asleepathewheel]

[Barry Caudill]

v1.52 is a major upgrade to Civ IV and includes numerous optimizations for memory usage that should help performance on all machines but are tailored to especially improve performance on machines at or near the minimum specification.

Major changes include:

-Shared low-level graphics buffers

-Removed many unused fonts and reduced interface memory usgae

-Paged out units which are not visible

-Reduced terrain data size and overhead

-Reduced route data size

-Created a set of low-res movies for machines without dynamic texture support (this is a separate download)

These changes not only reduced the amount of system memory required, but lowered video memory usage extensively. Also, the rate at which the game consumes memory in the late-game has decreased, which is extremely important.

In addition, a new config file (ini) option called 'MemorySaver' has been added for further memory reduction, at the cost of alt-tabbing support. If you set MemorySaver=1 in the config file, you can lower your system memory usage by 70% of video memory. So if you have a 128MB video card, you can save an additional ~90MB of system memory. MemorySaver defaults to off, and is not officially recommended since it doesn't handle alt-tabbing and other cases of graphics device loss at this time. However, we recognize that some users may want to experiment with it.

Finally, the use of unofficial patches is not recommended and is largely redundant with the memory fixes in this patch. Unofficial patches may slow performance, cause graphical problems or conflict with Firaxis code resulting in crashes or other problems. It also makes it more difficult for us to respond to error reports and debug issues reported by users running unauthorized patches.

Suggestions for optimal performance:

Increase AGP memory size in your BIOS settings to 128 or 256 if necessary.
Go to www.windowsupdate.com and apply updates
Update graphics and sound drivers
Close other background applications
Turn graphics to low and use low-resolution textures in the options screen
Turn off Antialiasing in your display properties
Disable virus protection

-Mustafa Thamer

Civ IV Lead Programmer



Fixes
unit attack move bug
civ naming bug in sp
no longer keep your gold and techs when regenerating a map
missing civic name from popup help
minimap now appears correctly after regenerating map
unit cycling bug
load game freeze bug
movement freeze bug in si-move
unit cycling bug in PitBoss and HotSeat
missing plot list buttons bug with large stacks
pathfinding bug involving defensive terrain and group movement
bug with AI attacking over rivers
can no longer see spies on caravels
group attack bug
group attack bug with gunships
GS lobby ignoring game settings bug
disappearing popup help bug
diplo city trading bug
wonder movie/zoom to building crash
no camera adjustment to city screen bug
user profiles with build queues no longer crash
no more negative gold in diplo screen
fixed gifting bad cities to AI exploit
AI issues with Always War and Always Peace
units not moving into tiles after combat bug (graphical only)
pathfinding reuse fix
fixed pathfinding bug
fixed SHIFT-selecting multiple cities
end score not matching up with timed winner bug
fixed bug allowing selection of disabled techs in tech chooser
fixed Sentry promotion visiblity bug
fixed AI city targeting bug
fixed AI healing bug
AI city attack bug
no more message lag in single-player
fixed bug with gunship stacks attacking cities
random seed bug (causing duplicate world maps...)
unit health bars no longer show up in city screen
two-palaces-from-culture-flipping-capital bug
Foreign Advisor: Gold available for trade does not show up when there cannot be a trade for gold
Diplomacy screen fix for gold popups not appearing properly
Foreign advisor: Resources for active player are shown multiple times if you have more than one instance of a resource to trade.
Fixed weird little bug with Unit Categories page in Civilopedia
diplomacy bug for PBEM/Hotsesat
Removed some cheats from password-protected games that should not have been allowed in the first place
Fix for competitive games: Password-protected saves can no longer be easily stripped of their passwords, and the assets checksum in the save can no longer be modified by external means
Fixed vanishing yield symbols in multiplayer
Fixed some PBEM/Hotseat issues when there is just one human player
River and Wind sounds are now properly classified as ambience. This fixes inconsistent behavior in audio options
Minimized or No Interface no longer reverts to normal after entering, then exiting city view
You can no longer duplicate deals with the AI from the "Active deals" section of the diplomacy screen
Out of memory message problem on machines that don't allocate small textures properly
Assert error for software vertex processing only machines
bug where you could draw strategy lines and signs outside of globe view
"globe view buildings disabled" option now hides buildings in globe view properly

Changes
tech cost rebalancing
improved city attack AI
moved MaxAutosaves to ini file
slower Great People name generation
hide health bars during combat
increased late-game tech costs
waypoints now invisible when city screen is up
ai more willing to trade cities for peace
ai stays at war longer
cottages no longer grow durring anarchy
combat info now shows odds of success
WBS's now contain unit damage
score from land doesn't count until you own land for 20 turns
better invasion AI
Slavery: No Upkeep
Emancipation: Low Upkeep
tweaked AI civic values
filled in missing diplo entries for Frederick
Praetorians: 40->45 hammers
Jaguars: 40->35 hammers
AI turn optimizations
interface game messages are now flushed at end of turn
Environmentalism moved to Medicine
increased industrial era tech costs
Environmentalism is medium upkeep
Free Speech is low upkeep
Forests give 0.5 health
firepower in combat now based on max strength
Lobby sorting improvements
Clearing the table in the MP diplomacy screen resets the "They accept/They do not accept" text
Dawn of man screen closes with ESCAPE just like all the other interface screens
The hall of fame now shows only games that have been played with the currently-loaded mod
When trying to build an item that it not allowed in a city, you will get a production popup asking for a build instead of leaving production empty
Wonder Movies and other popups may appear in PBEM/Hotseat
Incremented save version to 102
simplified city billboard placement. This should fix the weird billboard offsets and scaling.


Additions
Lobby chat and buddy lists from staging rooms
combat odds now shown in combat turn log
ALT-S now allows you to place signs
added "Leave Forest" option for automated workers
added Marathon game speed (longer than Epic)
added NoTechSplash ini setting
More communication about autopatch failures
Domestic advisor remembers which cities you had selected last time screen was up.
Added "no cheating" game option for single-player
In addition to tradeable techs, techs that are not allowed to be traded to you are also shown, provided that you can research them yourself at the moment
Added event and replay messages when a human founds a city. This got broken when we added city renaming
Support for Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
When you zoom to a city from the domestic advisor, you return to the domestic advisor after you exit the city screen
Updated Info Screen with changes 'borrowed' from one of the forum modders


The reader's digest version.
BC
Firaxis

[Joseph]

Thank you.

[Jon Shafer]

There were more changes than Barry's list includes, but that's most of the major stuff.

[Silver14]

They also added some scenarios, mainly Battle for East Asia. I got some errors when loading it up though.

There are also several all grassland maps of every size I presume to make it easier to edit/create your own maps.

[alva]

Originally posted by Shaka II
They know how to release the patches in time for the holidays. Two for two.

They worked hard for it.

Happy holydays!! except the families then.

[Jon Shafer]

Originally posted by Silver14
They also added some scenarios, mainly Battle for East Asia. I got some errors when loading it up though.

There are also several all grassland maps of every size I presume to make it easier to edit/create your own maps.

Unfortunately BFEA was released without the mod folder.

The assets should be available sometime in the near future.

[Urban Ranger]

Trip now works for Firaxis? Good, another person to beat on when there's a problem.

I'll need try the new patch when I get home.