Stop the MODness !!!

[ACEofHeart]

Okay,, I have never claimed to be a rocket scientist
but I feel I have reasonable intelligence.
But when it comes to this Wes's Med Mod that is splashed all over CTP land, I feel like a complete
moron.
uh What is it ??? Is it a scenerio ?? Is it a modification to the original game. ?? Is it a complete game but installed as a scenario. ??
I've yet to see even just a understandable capsule description of it anywhere.
I think too many assume that everyone have all been onboard with it from the start and know what it is.
So all I see is Version numbers !!! Thanks

[quinns]

I'm with you Ace.

Personally, I don't like to play on the Mods, but I have unwittingly joined a few PBEM games where they used them. I get so many error messages during diplomacy that sometimes I don't know whether I'm pressing "Accept" or "Reject". Instead, I have the obvious options of "Cleric String Missing" or "Wonder Movies". Hmmm... that's clear! There are many more examples of these tampering errors. LEAVE THE GAME AS IS! Is my vote. It's confusing enough without someone trying to be cute with their little messages, even though they are well intentioned.

Quinns

[ACEofHeart]

It's not that I don't appreciate a Mod and the work put
into it.
I think we gamers (not hackers) would just like to know what it offers in Gameplay. I could care less what files were changed or whatever else is going on behind closed doors.
I thought I could find the answer on the WEB site totally devoted to Wes's Mod but no, that would be too easy All that's there is files to be downloaded. Not a single word on what it offers.. geesh

[420]

Personally I like the MedMod. It balances some of the gameplay, adds more units, techs, and wonders to the game, and the AI do present more of a challenge. I have installed CTP on my computer twice so I can check out some of the mods and scenarios that other people have made, that way I don't lose or have to reinstall the entire game.

[Gregurabi]

The scrambling of the messages isn't just a mod thing. If you're in a PBEM with someone else who's using a different language version of the game, you'll get it. (E.g., I'm in one PBEM in which the game was started by someone playing the German version, while I'm using the US English version. If someone offers me a peace treaty (or whatever), the text of the message is in German, and the button labels are in nonsense English.)

[quinns]

Thanks Gregubari, I didn't know that (along with a lot of other things) . That's exactly what's happening. I unfairly blamed it on the MOD, but I guess it is a language cross over bug in the code itself.

But I still favor leaving the code alone for PBEM rated games only, mainly for standardization purposes. That is, we now have a "PBEM rating system". I believe it is best to play with the same rules in order to get the most fair ratings possible, and also just to get some common ground. The game is complicated enough as it is, without every game having a different set of rules. This is what I was talking about earlier.

Quinns

[gemini]

Well, I have only tried the med mod for a few turns but I noticed an immediate difference right away with the ai. It was better. But I have to agree, it is really confusing with trying to get mods to work if you don't have alot of experience with editing ctp. But that's not the fault of the mod makers, it's simply the fault of Activision doing a sloppy job adding the scenario support.

I used to be like some of you on this thread, if it was a mod I wouldn't look twice, but I slowly discovered how great alot of them are and it really extended the life of the game. But ya, of course some mods aren't that great as well. I am working on a scenario of my own and there were alot of problems that I had to work around, but I am doing it because I want to create what I envision. What would be fun for me. And hey, if others wanna play it great, but it's a choice. In the the ctp case, it's just as difficult making the mods/scens as the users are finding it difficult,confusing,frustrating installing them. But I think mods are pretty cool. I've spent quite a few late nights playing some of the half-life multiplayer mods. And alot of other games there's some really cool stuff.

But I know what you mean about the med mod. I'm sure its a great mod and I plan to starting playing it as soon as I get some spare time and see for myself, but it was a little confusing with the three capsules to download on wes's page. I know it was done to save the user some time downloading but there should be more of a description on his page, especially about how the game has been changed from the original.

About multiplayer rankings, ya, I agree, it should be standardized for the multiplayer rankings.

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Gemini
[This message has been edited by gemini (edited February 01, 2001).]

[WesW]

The Med mod is a scenario that plays like a default game. You simply select the scenario, then start the game as usual, and a random map is created. Then you begin play as you normally do.

See my post immediately below Mark's at the start of the Med mod 4 thread pinned to the top of the forum here. I have posted the Introductory readme for the mod.

To get the modpack, go to my webpage, and download the three parts of it there. Then you simply download each part into the Call-to-Power folder.