Cradle IV

[Chiko]

HI i just dled your mod cradle 4 and it doesnt work,if i select play scenario for cradle , it just shut down and windows say program call to power stoped working. i instaled CTP2 and on it i overwrite all files with your mod. normal games works but scenarios for cradle not. i rly need guide how install it .and all files for it if need.

and pls can you post picture how it look in game?i am not sure i have it right

[hexagonian]

The download here onsite at Apolyton is not working so you have to download the files through the link provided in my or Thistleknot's post.

Did you install the Official CTP2 patch from Activision , which has to be downloaded from Apolyton...and are you launching the game through Modswapper?

There is an icon in the Call To Power 2 folder called MODSWAP.exe. Double click on that and you will have the various Cradle gameplay options, including the Scenarios. Pick your option and launch the game...if you want to play a Cradle map or scenario you will also have to select the scenario option in Modswapper and then when the game launches, select the scenario again through the in-game Scenario option.

I have also clarified the installation instructions in the first post of this thread. Hopefully this will make things easier for everyone.

[HuangShang]

Man I need to play this.

[hexagonian]

So did anyone play this...

[arcozelo]

I was thinking of using DBCSV to export to a csv the advance file.

then multiply each age by it's own number.

I'm thinking age 1 4.222; 2 4.444; 3 4.666, up to age 9, which the tech cost would be 5.98 (or 6, I'll probably just round).

(...)

Further note on this issue:
I was thinking it would be best to map out all the advances and draw out there dependencies, so I could use a better gradual sliding scale, but this might be overkill, but it could alleviate the hard jump inbetween ages, for example, Age Five I believe only has like 3-4 advances. By mapping the advances, I could have a smooth increasing progression of cost.

I've had good results (in several strategy games) doing TECHCOST=OLD_TECHCOST^X.

If you use x=1.16, writing goes from 380 to 380^1.16=983 in cost, a 2-3x increase, whereas robotics for instance goes from 464125 to roughly 8 times the cost, with the added benefit that the transition between sucessive techs is as smooth as a baby's bottom.

I've tried an apoyton pack game with techcosts modified by 1.16 but i found out that late game techs (around the modern age) become unbearably slow (~30 turns with a large and well developed empire), since by then you have explored, expanded, milked and/or pacified everything you can and you're just waiting for a new govt to expand your city limit or underwater city tech, resulting in hundreds of turns of just turning down serveral AI diplomatic propositions per turn + pressing enter.

Update on lag issue:
Seems to be related to medium difficulty, as beginner or the 1st difficulty don't have this issue (changing bandit settings under medium difficulty had no effect).

The lag is a result of goody huts. You don't get any goodie huts on beginner or easy level, so no lag either. You can easily verify that this is the cause by playing on medium and scouting out huts yourself. Huts that give you nothing or money generate no lag, goodies that give you tech or new units freeze the game for some seconds.

[arcozelo]

So did anyone play this...

I played cradle III, and I tried to make a europe scenario for it. I ran into a problem with the homeguard script that creates militias where if i ended with a city with no units in it it would lose 1 pop every turn while trying to create a militia and failing. From casual reading of the slc i thought it was a problem with being a player other than player 1, since in scenarios you get to pick which player you are and 1 is not guaranteed, but apparently it's actually a global bug that I have replicated in a random game.

To test this, start a new game, wait till you have a city sized 2, disband the militia and take all units out of the city: on the next turn pop goes back to 1, and afterwards the city disappears

EDIT:
I hacked a fix on the homeguard.slc that solves this issue but I'm not sure how the etiquette on all this is, since it's neither my .slc neither my mod.

EDIT2:
Discovered the bug applies to random games too, not just scenarios.

[ahmedabdo]

So, does the mod work with GOG version of the game? I'm yet to decide on buying it. I want to see weather it support the mods in this site.

[arcozelo]

I've been using the GOG version and haven't had any problems so far.

[ahmedabdo]

Thank you very much. You made my day

[boosterc4]

so have not been here in years. downloaded cradle 4 from the mediafire link. would not load, got missing file msgs. such as uptg03 a through i and other tga files, and playlist text file and others. could not find those in your files or ctp2, strangely found them in the AOM5 files. I have original ctp2 disk and patch etc. this is all on the same laptop, older. I did not do a fresh install of ctp2. copied missing files from AOM files and transferred them to your files. started to load, load bar half way, then more errors. I could spend time copy and pasting all missing file errors, but something is wrong. any ideas? start from scratch on newer computer as AOM somehow in the way? would prefer all of this on one computer.

[hexagonian]

Are you launching the game through Modswapper? You cannot launch Cradle any other way.

You also need to do a separate install devoted exclusively for Cradle, with no other Mods. I'm guessing that this is the problem.

[boosterc4]

yes, but I think the problem is this. I need to install CTP2 again as you say. Then copy?? your files over the ctp2 files??? Currently your files are simply on the desk top. and launch that way. But the ctp2 aom version seems to interfere, and if I copy your files over ctp2, then aom wont play I bet. Maybe I just rename the cradle ctp2 version and have a new file name like Hex. Will it play with a new file name or is it best to install on a different computer altogether. Thanks hex.

[hexagonian]

The best option is to have separate CTP2 installations for Cradle and AOM. I actually have a total of 5 separate installations of CTP2 on my computer. The main folder can be renamed to each Mod version. I have versions named Call To Power 2, CTP2_SOURCE, CRADLE_SOURCE, CRADLE_BASIC, CRADLE_LOTR, etc. I use shortcuts of Modswap that is installed in each of my main folders to launch the Mods.

Do a fresh install, patch ctp2 with the Activision patch, duplicate that installation for each Mod you want to have, and then copy Cradle files over one of the duplicate setups, overwriting any files when prompted (look at the folder structure of Cradle and locate the same folder structure in the main folder (Call To Power 2, or whatever you decide to rename that folder to)). You will know you have the correct setup when you are prompted to overwrite/merge folders and files.

Go into the main folder and you will see a file called Modswap.exe. Create a shortcut of that file and place on your desktop. Launch Cradle (and the various Cradle play options) from that shortcut.

[boosterc4]

Thanks Hex. It all makes sense and I was going to try that. You helped a lot by explaining the duplicate file stuff. Was not quite sure how they would interact. So Call to Power 2_Cradle it shall be. Everything else you state I understand completely. Will let you know after I play. May be a few days, got busy...lol

[Aias]

I'm looking around for my old Windows ME Dell and see if I can get it running. I log in here from time to time to see what's new. Love Cradle and I'll have to take this one out for a spin.

I'm glad to see a few of the 'old timers' still post on here.