Continent Maps - An Analysis

[tai4ji2x]

eh, after all this discussion, i still wish there were more options to customize continents maps.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Ranger101


Should I simply pick low sea level as opposed to the standard one, or is it better to edit the files?

You'll need to edit the file. It's called SeaLevelInfo.xml and can be found in Assets/XML/GameInfo. I lowered mine by an additional -10 and I'm seeing better splits all around.

The problem I'm facing now though is that there is so much more land, I'm having to make the map smaller. At first I was able to fit 8 civs on a Standard map, but my computer won't handle it. So now that I'm back to 7, with so much land available I'm back to ending up on a continent with just one other civ. Except this time it's a large continent with tons of room. I don't see 7 civs on one continent anymore at least, like I did before.

[Willem]

Originally posted by tai4ji2x
eh, after all this discussion, i still wish there were more options to customize continents maps.

CvMapGeneratorUtil.py. You can find it in Assets/Python. It has all the info there that create the Continent maps. You just have to figure out how it works.

All you need to edit it is Notepad.

[LzPrst]

I've been playing some MP games on continents and it seems most times one player is dumped on a continent all by his lonesome. kinda sux for that particular player...

also, I love the highlands map and an x wrap would be great. please please please tell us how to do it or let us choose it as an option in the patch?

[Willem]

Originally posted by LzPrst
I've been playing some MP games on continents and it seems most times one player is dumped on a continent all by his lonesome. kinda sux for that particular player...

Yes there's been some problems with the Continents maps. That will probably be cleared up in the next patch.

[Ranger101]

Originally posted by Willem


You'll need to edit the file. It's called SeaLevelInfo.xml and can be found in Assets/XML/GameInfo. I lowered mine by an additional -10 and I'm seeing better splits all around.

Isn't that pretty much the same as playing on low sea level which is -8 according to the editor (unless you are suggesting I lower the sea level by 10 AND play on low sea level)?

I wonder whether if I play on Large maps, the spread of civilizations should be better?

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Aro
Map #1 and #4 are exactly the same.

I think I've had 3 games on the exact same continents map. Twice I had the exact same starting spot too. The other time I was off on a different continent.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Ranger101


Isn't that pretty much the same as playing on low sea level which is -8 according to the editor (unless you are suggesting I lower the sea level by 10 AND play on low sea level)?

I wonder whether if I play on Large maps, the spread of civilizations should be better?

I'm saying you lower the sea another -10. So Low sea level would become -18, Normal is -10, and High is -4. And then you play on Low sea level.

And yes, the Large maps probably would be a bit better, but not by much. The problem is that many of the continents being generated are too small to support any civs, or only 1 or 2, so the rest of them tend to get clumped together on the larger land masses. By lowering the sea levels, you're adding more land and so the continents will be bigger. Which means a better spread of civs.

[tai4ji2x]

Originally posted by Willem


CvMapGeneratorUtil.py. You can find it in Assets/Python. It has all the info there that create the Continent maps. You just have to figure out how it works.

All you need to edit it is Notepad.

eh... maybe if i really have the time. haven't played a game in a while anyway.

would editing the xml files for map generation still allow you to play multiplayer?

[Willem]

Originally posted by tai4ji2x




eh... maybe if i really have the time. haven't played a game in a while anyway.

would editing the xml files for map generation still allow you to play multiplayer?

I'm not sure. But you don't need to edit the original file, just a copy that you put in your Custom Assets. So if you go play a multiplayer game, you can just stick the file somewhere else for awhile and the game will use the default settings again.

BTW, the map generator script is a Python file.

[tai4ji2x]

Originally posted by Willem


I'm not sure. But you don't need to edit the original file, just a copy that you put in your Custom Assets. So if you go play a multiplayer game, you can just stick the file somewhere else for awhile and the game will use the default settings again.

BTW, the map generator script is a Python file.

actually, i was wondering if both my and my human MP opponent could use the modded map scripts so that we both get a continents map more to our liking

[Willem]

Originally posted by tai4ji2x


actually, i was wondering if both my and my human MP opponent could use the modded map scripts so that we both get a continents map more to our liking

I don't know very much about MP games, but I don't see why not. You're essentially playing a mod, and that's doable in MP. As long as both of you are using the same script.

[Ray Radlein]

Originally posted by Axxaer
Erm, what does fantastical mean? My dictionary seems to be missing this word.

Since no one has answered this yet: "as in a Fantasy," i.e., in a manner that differs from reality.

X-Y wrapping maps, for instance, result in a world that is effectively a torus (doughnut-shape) since, in the real world, heading north from a location near the North Pole will not, in fact, cause you to suddenly appear down at the South Pole. North from Thule is not a short cut to Johanesburg.

In reality, "fantastical" means the same thing that "fantastic" used to mean, before the former became yet another one of the English language's five million words for "very good."


[Radlein's Rule of Descriptives: Sooner or later, all adjectives will come to mean "good" or "bad," including "good" and "bad" themselves; many of those adjectives will be used to mean both "good" and "bad," often at the same time -- including both "good" and "bad" themselves. Oh, and eventually, all adverbs will be used, at some point, to mean "very."]

[Modo44]

Re: Re: Continent Maps - An Analysis

Thanks for the info, everyone. I will remember to set the sea levels to "low" for continent maps...

Originally posted by Sirian
Civ4 Continents IS the classic Civ3 Continents. It is literally the same code!

Three things are different.

1) Sea levels are higher. In Civ3, they are 60/70/80. In Civ4 they are 70/78/84. That may be peeling a little more off the smaller continents than the largest one, so could be partially responsible.

2) Civ4 runs with fewer civs. Standard and smaller have one fewer civ per map size. Large and Huge have several fewer civs.

3) Civ3 maps are square, while Civ4 maps are more realistic, wider, with the poles chopped off.

[snip]

I repeat, this is literally the same map generation code as Civ3. Continents is the one script I didn't get to touch because they didn't want it changed from Civ3!

In a perfect world, the algorithm works well regardless of changing parameters, right? Well, kinda, I guess.

According to Cort Haus' research and your info, the changed map shape and sea level in Civ4 basically broke the original Civ3 script. So, the original script was based on some assumptions that became false now, and it craps out. I hope you will get green light to fix it.

[Aro]

Originally posted by Ray Radlein


Since no one has answered this yet: "as in a Fantasy," i.e., in a manner that differs from reality.

X-Y wrapping maps, for instance, result in a world that is effectively a torus (doughnut-shape) since, in the real world, heading north from a location near the North Pole will not, in fact, cause you to suddenly appear down at the South Pole. North from Thule is not a short cut to Johanesburg.

In reality, "fantastical" means the same thing that "fantastic" used to mean, before the former became yet another one of the English language's five million words for "very good."


[Radlein's Rule of Descriptives: Sooner or later, all adjectives will come to mean "good" or "bad," including "good" and "bad" themselves; many of those adjectives will be used to mean both "good" and "bad," often at the same time -- including both "good" and "bad" themselves. Oh, and eventually, all adverbs will be used, at some point, to mean "very."]

I can assure you, this is the truth for many other languages...