Gaunathor Gaunathor

[MOD] Autumn Twilight - v2.3 Release

[Disclaimer: Stardock does not endorse or support this mod. This thread has merely been stickied so users can more easily direct comments or questions to the authors of this popular modification.]

About:

Autumn Twilight v2 is a overhaul mod for Galactic Civilizations 2 - Ultimate Edition. Its purpose is to remove the more extreme changes made to the game due to the integration of the Community Update, to make the gameplay more like how it was in the last official version (v2.04), and to fix as many of the remaining bugs as possible.

Highlights:

  • restored a lot of content that got removed/replaced by the Community Update (e.g., technologies, planetary improvements, starbase modules, etc.)

  • changed the tech trees to more closely resemble the original ones, and made a few balancing adjustments (primarily to the weapons trees)

  • changed a lot of techs so you can trade and/or steal them again

  • restored the original gameplay values (i.e., abilities, planetary improvements, and so on) and made some small balancing adjustments

  • undid several changes to the UI made by the Community Update (e.g., the removal of the ability to buy planets from the AI)

  • and more...

For more details regarding the changes made in the mod, please take a look at the changelog.

For a comparison of the gameplay related differences between Autumn Twilight and v2.04 of GalCiv 2, please take a look at the Comparison spreadsheet.

You can download the mod on NexusMods.

Questions, feedback, and general comments are always welcome!

I hope you like Autumn Twilight, and have fun playing it!

Installation:

1. Download and unzip the file, then place the Mods folder into GalCiv 2's Twilight folder.

The exact path depends on where you got the game from and where you installed it.

For example, the standard-path for the Steam-version is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II – Ultimate Edition\Twilight

While for the GOG-version it's:
C:\GOG Games\Galactic Civilizations II\Twilight

1.1 This part is optional. If you don't care about the campaigns, then continue with point 2.

Place the unzipped Campaigns folder into the following folder:
...\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English

1.2 When asked to overwrite the existing Campaigns folder, press 'Yes'. None of the existing files will be overwritten.

2. Start the game and go to the Options menu. On the 'Game' tab, activate the 'Use Mods' option.

3. Now click on the 'Change' button in the lower right corner of the 'Current Mods Directory' box. This will open a new window. There click on 'Default'. This will close the window and cause the game to use the mods directory for the expansion Twilight of the Arnor instead of the base game.

4. Click on 'Change' again. Now select Autumn Twilight and click on 'Done'. The 'Current Mods Directory' should now look like this (depending on your game-version and installation path): C:\GOG Games\Galactic Civilizations II\Twilight\Mods\Autumn Twilight

5. Restart the game, so the changes take effect.

6. If you have played the game or a previous version of Autumn Twilight before, go to the folder User Name\My Documents\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor and delete any files with the ending .raceconfigxml. Otherwise, any changes to the races can't take effect. You will also need to start a new game, because mod-changes cannot affect games currently in progress.

Uninstallation:

1. To uninstall the mod, change the 'Current Mods Directory' to 'Default' in the game. Then delete the Autumn Twilight folder under Galactic Civilizations II\Twilight\Mods and repeat all steps from point 6. of the Installation instructions.

2. To uninstall the updated campaigns, delete all files starting with AT from the Campaigns main and sub-folders under Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns

Credits:

MarvinKosh – for inspiring me to expand my original mod to fix the tech trees too, and inviting me to help with the CU (which ultimately lead to this new version of Autumn Twilight)

Tolmekian – for discussing several balance changes in the original version of my mod with me, and providing general tips

Sole Soul – for providing information regarding several game mechanics (especially logistics and taxes)

MabusAltarn – for providing information regarding some issues with the minor races' tech tree and how the espionage flavour text entries work

MisterAedan – for helping with the testing of my original mod, providing feedback, and giving me an idea for some small changes to the Drengin tech tree (part of which are still in the new version)

UnleashedElf – for helping with the testing of my original mod and providing lots of feedback and encouragement

Spinorial - for providing a fixed version of the RaceImage05_neutral.bik (fixes the flickering)

Maiden666 – for discussing several balance changes with me (primarily to the ability bonuses, political parties, and UP proposals)

921,888 views 298 replies | Pinned
Reply #126 Top

Quoting UnleashedElf, reply 125

Out of curiosity, what races are you finding are underperforming right now?

I haven't worked on the mod for the last weeks, so I can't answer that question. The temperatures in my apartment are currently between 29 and 32°C, which makes it really hard for me to think straight. Once the temperatures are down again (and I no longer have constant headaches), I'll get back to work.

Reply #127 Top

I have found somewhat of a minor bug with the Yor:

They lack the prerequisite tech for their manufacturing collectives. I just fired up an obscene immense game for testing and landed a 700% manubonus tile on my HW, only to find out I can't build any factories (the techs are greyed out). This is going to be a bit of a challenge.

Interestingly, when I pick the Yor with a custom race, I can select the required tech and therefore can research and build the yor collectives...

Reply #128 Top

I think, I know the reason for this. You probably have an old .raceconfigxml file from playing the Yor. Go to My Docs\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor, remove the file 'Yor Collective.raceconfigxml', and start a new game. That should fix it.

Reply #129 Top

Quoting Gaunathor, reply 126


Quoting UnleashedElf, reply 125
Out of curiosity, what races are you finding are underperforming right now?

I haven't worked on the mod for the last weeks, so I can't answer that question. The temperatures in my apartment are currently between 29 and 32°C, which makes it really hard for me to think straight. Once the temperatures are down again (and I no longer have constant headaches), I'll get back to work.

 

Yeah my room has been very variable as well. A week ago, it was a blistering 36C. When it gets near body temperature in your room, it gets really uncomfortable. I bought myself a large fan, and took frequent showers to stay cool. Another option is to dress in white.

 

The weather has been odd where I live. Right now it's cooler. About 25C in my room, which is comfortable.

Reply #130 Top

Quoting UnleashedElf, reply 129
A week ago, it was a blistering 36C.

8(| I'd be unconscious by that point. My body really can't stand heat.

Quoting UnleashedElf, reply 129
The weather has been odd where I live. Right now it's cooler. About 25C in my room, which is comfortable.

Yeah, the weather here has also been pretty odd. Last weekend, it was about 40°C here in Germany. I was pretty lucky not to get the full brunt of this (only slightly above 32°C in my apartment). Right now, it's 27.9°C, but it isn't even noon yet, so that is about to change.

Reply #131 Top

That, of course, fixed it. A shame about my 700% bonus tile. ;)

Reply #132 Top

Hey sorry, don't know if this is the right place to post this. But I'm unable to see any defensive modules for the Drengin when I click the defenses tab in the ship builder. I only had access to the cargo, tiny, and small hulls at that point if it matters. Great mod by the way.

Reply #133 Top

Quoting Tspar85, reply 132
Hey sorry, don't know if this is the right place to post this. But I'm unable to see any defensive modules for the Drengin when I click the defenses tab in the ship builder. I only had access to the cargo, tiny, and small hulls at that point if it matters.

You need to research the defenses first, before you can put them on your ships. If you've already researched a defense technology, and still have no access to the defense module, then please tell me the name of the technology, and I will take a look at it.

Quoting Tspar85, reply 132
Great mod by the way.

Thanks.

Reply #134 Top

Well I havn't modded but I have customised races the best way I've found the Korath to be is even better tha n the Torians is put all the points into morale economics and then population growth with a generic Ai this actually causes them to do better expansion than the Torians with almost as much research as the Thalans. If U can control the Ai can U get them to stop trading away planets another annoying thing they do is after they get planetary improvements they automatically upgrade their planets even if they have blank spaces I still want to run a Jagged knife scenario by you When the Jagged knife or the order or the other event happen they take a lot of planets that crash their economies and make them useless I would like to see them fix this by possibly upgrading units for possibly economic buildings also at this point they got the ability to make a lot of super projects they should at least build the ones that would at least help them out economically this is a good way to sweeten the pot by increasing the number of wonders at the same time the other races should be struggling to obtain the new planets and getting back their planets by researching planetary invasion and weapon techs to go to war with the Jagged Knife One way to fix the Jagged knife I think is to give them a generic Ai This would make this part of the game more challenging Here's an idea thanks for leading me to this mod ill try it out

Reply #135 Top

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 134
If U can control the Ai

I can't. The only thing we modders can do with the AI, is to slightly adjust it's research pattern, and how it uses planetary improvements. However, even that is very limited, and time consuming to do.

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 134
One way to fix the Jagged knife I think is to give them a generic Ai

As I said in your other thread, this isn't possible.

Reply #136 Top

Quoting Gaunathor, reply 9


No, but they can work under specific circumstances. They just need enough habitable planets within their influence at the start of the game. If that is the case, they can build up a strong enough base for a military, and eventually conquer all the worlds they need. Getting enough planets for the start, however, is the problem.

I ran several tests, and Common Stars, Occasional Planets/Habitable Planets and Loose Cluster seems to be the absolute minimum for AIP7 to work at least decently. Don't play them on Scattered, that just cripples them. The number of extreme planets should be either kept on Occasional or lower. At least on smaller maps. If you play on Large or bigger, the number of extreme planets doesn't matter that much. As long as the map isn't too crowded, that is.

 

I was just wondering what does the minimum mean I understand loose clusters, but for the other stuff does that mean instead of common abundant works or does that mean rare works when u mean minimum. The reason I ask is what I want is on a immense map aabuntant everything and I know I will have to settle for loose clusters so I need to know which direction by what u mean by at least. except the special planets I will keep that on occasional

Reply #137 Top

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 136
I was just wondering what does the minimum mean I understand loose clusters, but for the other stuff does that mean instead of common abundant works or does that mean rare works when u mean minimum.

The options range from lowest (rare) to highest (abundant). Minimum means, that you shouldn't use a setting that is lower than the one I mentioned. The more habitable planets the AIP 7 races have within their area of influence at the start of the game, the better. For this reason, abundant all with tight clusters is the best option for them. However, anything between that optimum and the minimum I stated, will work.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that, despite the settings, the AIP 7 races may still have a bad starting location (low amount of stars, or right next to another race). If that happens, I start a new game until they have an at least decent starting location. Otherwise, they will not provide much of a challenge (though I have seen the Yor make a pretty good comeback on several occasions, despite the early disadvantage).

Reply #138 Top

Well I've wondering still having problems with the Ai not building bioldings one of the things I thought of is maybe the Ai puts a number on the Techs which is in a order of research and maybe the Ai puts a number on units. I know that u r not a programmer but litterally and object on the game is also an object with a value to the computer so this means there's a database somewhere with these objects somewhere now if u can get a copy of these numbers to look at maybe a database in a modding file or an array in memory u just need a copy of this not the actual item u can assign these improvements these numbers so the computer will treat the new techs or improvements as the original techs or improvements but there may be an easier way do u use the editor for the game if u don't then this will solve the problem this will avtually give u an ability to add or remove techs to the races or at least create files which u can find and then move to the appropriate place in the mod there is no reason to think this method wont work for the Ai to recognize these new techs this way otherwise the Ais may not be recognizing the new values the editor comes at least with the ultimate edition this at least explains why the Ai might be having problems with techs or units  now about the Thalans for the most part the morale comes from techs not units as far as I can tell every other race builds morale through units not techs this explains why the Thalans r nit byuilding units if u r not using the editor I might would consider using it to either remake your techs and units or just the problomatic techs to see if this will work

Reply #139 Top

All techs and planetary improvements have an AI value, which determines the priority the AI should assign to them. However, each AI personality also has certain likes and dislikes, which makes it quite difficult to find the right values for them. For example, AIP 7 (the AI of the Drengin, Korath, and Yor) really likes morale improvements. It usually builds two to four per planet, even with a very low AI value. All other AIs don't much care about morale improvements, so you need to assign those a much higher AI value.

 

As far as the game is concerned, the original techs, planetary improvements, etc., and the new ones I added are the same. It makes no difference between them.

I use Notepad++ to edit the files, because I found the Editors to be quite limiting. For one, they only allow you to edit the tech trees and planetary improvements. Secondly, they are missing several useful features, like a search function or the ability to quickly add similar entries (like a line of new factories). With Notepad++, I have all of those features and none of the limitations.

As for the AI not building anything in your game, please make sure, that there are no old .raceconfigxml files in the My Docs\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor folder. They would prevent my changes to the races from taken place.

Reply #140 Top

[quote who="Tiokon" reply="110" id="3366150"]
EDIT:  LOL I just saw that the post right in front of this replies to the morale+food idea.  It still seems like it might be worth pursuing considering how much trouble population growth and morale causes the AI.

--Could farms be made to add morale as well as increase population?  I think the Yor already do this in vanilla or some mods.

Gunathor already mentioned that the reason he wasn't going to add morale to farms is because it was to much like the Yor tech tree U brought up the same issue if it was me I would have also suggested some other special techs to make up for making the Yor more generic instead of bringing up the same. They do need a specialised tech tree Kindof like the Iconians Altarians Krynn this would at least give him reason to go this route the fact that everyone have specialise techs that actually do different things make everyone to think a little more where Sins of a solar empire have techs with different names that do the same things adding morale to farms would even make the Yor more generic the problen is the Yor tech tree is to generic most of the techs come from everyone else so if u r going to back making everyone farms like the Yor maybe it would be a good idea to suggest some techs that the Yor could use that only they have.

--It's been mentioned that the AI economy gets hurt by building upgrade costs while players just skip upgrades until practical or until they reach the top level building, then do the upgrade just once.  We can't stop the AI from upgrading each time even if their economy can't handle it but could the costs be additive?...in other words not possible to skip the upgrade cost at each upgrade?  Then players wouldn't have the advantage of skipping these costs either.  In other words, either a building couldn't be upgraded to level three until it first upgraded to level two OR the cost to upgrade two levels at one time be made twice as much?

This idea inspired me to come up with another idea the answer may actually in controling the user interface under planet description u have option to change the governor settings if u shit off the auto upgrade option either taking it out or by default having it off this would at least stop the Ai from auto upgrading everything also u need to shut off automatic improvements this is something the Ai does to its own detriment if U want to cripple the Ai just give it soil enhancements they will even pay u for it as soon as they buy it it auto upgrades spaces on every planet until it is done even if the planets have blank spaces they wont build anything on the blank spaces until the planet is fully upgraded.

Reply #141 Top

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 140
I would have also suggested some other special techs to make up for making the Yor more generic instead of bringing up the same.

How did I make the Yor tech tree more generic? Could you please explain that?

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 140
They do need a specialised tech tree

It is already specialised for manufacturing and soldiering. What more do you need? Can you give some examples?

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 140
the problen is the Yor tech tree is to generic most of the techs come from everyone else

How so?

Manufacturing techs? Unique.
Research techs? Unique.
Economy techs? Unique.
Farming/Morale techs? Unique.
Soldiering techs? Unique.
Repair tech? Unique.
Propulsion tech? Unique.
Weapon techs? Got the new ones in common with the Iconians, but have an easier time to research beyond Phasors.

Those are more unique techs, than some of the other races have. They are also missing all of the Influence and Government techs, plus most of the Diplomacy techs and some of the Propulsion techs (Hyperwarp).

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 140
This idea inspired me to come up with another idea the answer may actually in controling the user interface under planet description u have option to change the governor settings if u shit off the auto upgrade option either taking it out or by default having it off this would at least stop the Ai from auto upgrading everything also u need to shut off automatic improvements this is something the Ai does to its own detriment

The only way I know of editing the UI is via DesktopX. However, it is no longer being sold by Stardock, and I never aquired a copy of it. I'm also not quite sure, if it is possible to remove aspects of the UI completely. Still, the AI wouldn't be affected by editing the UI in any case, because the AI isn't using it. The only way I could stop the AI from autoupgrading would be to remove the Upgrade_Target line from all improvements. However, that would do more harm than good, because the AI only rarely builds over existing improvements, and it would be forever stuck with low-end improvements on it's worlds.

Overall, though, I'm not worried about autoupgrading in my mod. The buildcosts are much lower than in the vanilla game, and the maintenance cost remains static. This means, that upgrading is done much faster and isn't as big a burden on the economy.

Reply #142 Top

[quote who="Gaunathor" reply="141" id="3405373"]

How did I make the Yor tech tree more generic? Could you please explain that?

I haven't really had time to play the mod yet but this was really in defense of the fact he was suggesting changing the farms to be more like the Yor even after U said this was not a good idea. I've actually been reading your posts for Autum twilight that takes a long time and just got done. But in the Vamilla game it is pretty generic.

matter of fact I hope they take a look at your Yor tech tree instead of the stock Yor tech tree for Galactic civilizations 3 its about time R u going to buy the Alpha I am.


Reply #143 Top

Gunathor can U rank all 12 races to which 1s r better so I can kn ow which 2 to take off the game.

The Korath Drengin and Yor do have similar playing styles

I also heard that their r 4 Ais 2 r broken can U tell me which races have broken Ais

Reply #144 Top

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 143
Gunathor can U rank all 12 races to which 1s r better so I can kn ow which 2 to take off the game.

I haven't tested/played the mod in a while, so I'm not entirely sure how they currently stand. However, from what I remember, it should be something like this:

Top races:

Terrans

Torians

Yor

The Altarians and Iconians are also very good under some circumstances (they were nr. 1 and 2, respectively, in my last game), but are usually more avarage.

 

Bottom races:

Thalan

Arcean

Drengin

 

All the other races are pretty avarage.

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 143
The Korath Drengin and Yor do have similar playing styles

How so? The Drengin and Korath have some similarities, but the Yor are very different.

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 143
I also heard that their r 4 Ais 2 r broken can U tell me which races have broken Ais

Didn't we go over this already? I mentioned twice to you that AIP 10 (Torians and Iconians) will stop building improvements on it's worlds after a while. It is also referred to earlier in this thread. In my mod, I changed both races to use AIP 11, so it won't be a problem.

AIP 7 (Drengin, Korath, Yor) doesn't colonise planets in range of foreign influence. This is also mentioned in this thread. However, as I said in the post you were asking me about earlier, they can still work as long as certain settings are used.

Reply #145 Top

Really the Yor Drengin and the Korath unless the Korath has a different setting and a Generic Ai has a playing style of which is not that much different from each other at least in the colonising sense, I am thinking of the sandbox though I was wondering if that the Torians and the Yor wouldn't be a better combination under the same Ai instead of the Torians and the Iconians since the Yor require a morale and farming stradegy while the Torians r encouraged with their super breeder

I was also wondering since I have the Alpha do I also get the beta too

Reply #146 Top

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 145
Really the Yor Drengin and the Korath unless the Korath has a different setting and a Generic Ai has a playing style of not colwhat I onising

That's the "broken" part of AIP 7 I was mentioning. As long as they have enough colonisable planets within their sphere of influence at the start of the game, they should be fine.

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 145
since the Yor require a morale and farming stradegy

The AI treats the Charging Stalks as morale improvements. AIP 7 is the only AI that uses morale improvements effectively, building two to four of them per planet. In other words, the AI is already using the correct strategy with the Yor.

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 145
while the Torians r encouraged with theur super breeder

The AI doesn't know how to use Super Breeder. If any of it's worlds are at 100% approval, then it is more likely by chance, than design.

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 145
I was also wondering sonce I have the Alpha do I also get the beta too

You mean GalCiv 3? The Alpha isn't out yet, but yes, you will receive Beta access too.

Reply #147 Top

Oh what I rally meant by the Yor and the Torians I wrote this as a suggestion for Galactic civilization 3 I guess I also wrote this here. Is that the Torians and the Yor have the same stradegy was this actually Ai wise it would make more sense that the Yor Ai not the Iconian Ai should be coupled together since they could have more or less the same stradegy to work one question does the creativity work on Autum twilight and if u changed it how I did load the new version of negative abilities I think should give me an extra boost it sounds like a good idea my question is do u think I can also use negative abilities without hurting my oppenents to make them stronger and what would u recommand on this.

I'm guessing your noticing my mispellings seems to be one of the quirks of using a labtop.

Something I've been wondering I've been playing Autum Twilight even though they r on the game I haven't ran into them to much but judging by the rankings did U bring the Thalans  down I was wondering why u would do that since they r the most powerful race the sandbox game has and if this is true I might would want to put a little steam back into them maybe not full power but a little more how would I go about doing that

Reply #148 Top

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 147
does the creativity work on Autum twilight and if u changed it how

I couldn't make changes to Creativity, even if I wanted to. It's mechanics are hardcoded.

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 147
do u think I can also use negative abilities without hurting my oppenents to make them stronger and what would u recommand on this.

I don't see why you couldn't. Everything should work, except for penalties in Economics, Morale, and, possibly, Pop-Growth. Those are the AI's biggest weaknesses.

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 147
did U bring the Thalans  down

Not intentionally. Their AI is pretty erratic when it comes to research. I've done my best to help it, but it just won't cooperate.

I'm currently in the middle of making some small changes. Once that is done, I'm going back to tweak the AI. Maybe I'll have more success with the Thalan this time around.

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 147
I might would want to put a little steam back into them maybe not full power but a little more how would I go about doing that

More money and research. That is always a good thing for the AI. 

Reply #149 Top



More money and research. That is always a good thing for the AI. [/quote]

So is this more important to the Ai than population growth and moral I wasn't sure.

Reply #150 Top

Quoting michaelwhittaker, reply 149
So is this more important to the Ai than population growth and moral I wasn't sure.

Moral and pop-growth are very useful in getting more money. Take that as you will. ;)