Scottish Mod - WIP

[Pirate]

The thing people might want to consider before uploading a modified executable is this. Most games was meant to be runnable only if you have the correct CD loaded in the drive. This is to prevent piracy so your executable only will work if it is from your purchased game cd. Many people take out this protection feature so the game will load without needing to have a CD in the drive. It is well known that some game makers get downright fussy about sites that have their executable hacked and downloadable as this allows pirate gamers to skip buying the game. It is really up to the game manufacture as to what they will put up with or not from modders. Most don't mind as long as it doesn't allow game piracy. Take the .nif file or a .dds file for instance. What good is it to download a modified one without having the game? Hurts nothing but a hacked executable well that is a cat of a different color.

[AdamMil]

In practice, I doubt anybody will come to this website to download a random mod in order to play a copied version of the game. Few people copy CDs these days anyway; they just download cracked copies using bittorrent, and if they did copy the CD there are dedicated websites that provide no-CD cracks, and those exes don't introduce arbitrary and undesired changes to the gameplay.

If you want your mod to be legal, you can't redistribute any modified file, be it exe or nif or txt (unless you created the contents completely from scratch). I don't see any evidence that Firaxis is cracking down on any Pirates! modders in practice, let alone exe modders in particular.

And even if a modded Pirates! exe from this site did help somebody play a copied version of the game (which I doubt will ever happen), I don't think anybody could make a good case that it would be unethical at this point. On the contrary, I think a good case could be made that helping more people play Pirates! is an ethical activity, even if it means circumventing copyright. But that's a topic for another thread. :-)

So from the standpoints of ethics, legality, and practical consequences, I don't see any reason to differentiate between exe and non-exe mods for Pirates!. But of course, each person should make up their own mind about what they feel comfortable with. If you don't want to distribute an exe, you can distribute a patch instead.

[Pirate]

I do realize that most people who get their games illegally do so using bittorrent rather than coping games from cd's but still it exists. Of course I am neither suggesting people to or not to upload a executable. I have not seen any evidence either of Firaxis cracking down on modders. I don't really think most game makers care all that much about modders painting skins or simple stuff like that. They are more concern about torrents, no cd cracks etc... I have been a fan of other games in the past that mod sites either did not allow executables uploaded or they had to remove them due to the game creators threats. I have yet to see anyone arrested for painting a texture etc.. I think game makers realize that modders can in fact make their gams even more fun and perhaps help them increase their sells. Bottom line is No I don't think many people come here to get a no cd crack to play their game that they copied from a friends cd. No I don't think your going to be hung by the neck until you are dead, dead, dead if you do upload an executable. It is that should it be something that gets you in trouble than more than likely it is going to be something like a executable than a .dds repaint. Are you going to get shot for uploading the executable? So far as I can see I haven't heard of it happing so probably not. Of course there is always a possibility you could get in trouble so really the choice of doing it basically comes down with how you feel about it or whether your a risk taker or not. Just something to think about but certainly I am not telling anyone what to do or anything like that.

[Pirate]

I just want to say that I am not complaining about anyone who does choose to uploads the .exe. I think we have a great group of modders here who's hard work has been a joy for all of us. I never once thought anyone here is trying to help anyone trying to pirate the game but instead I think they do what they do to make the game different and help keep the excitement of the game alive. Hats off to you for that. I just understand when I hear of someone being concerned about getting in trouble if they uploaded the exe. No I don't think you will but I do think it is more likely than a .dds repaint. It is of my belief that even if both were considered illegal then likely Firaxis would go after the more serious threats like a torrent file, no cd crack etc.. Anything that could be used to get the game for free rather than buying it. A cop might let you go for speeding but the same cop probably want let the dude that robbed the connivance store off with a don't do that anymore warning. So much modding goes on it's always going to be the most serious threats that any game designers are going to be concerned with.

[Selkirk]

Definitely a series of good points on both sides, but when it comes down to it, once I figure out the damn Alpha maps for the flags, I could release the mod with a few text strings still saying "French". It's not a massive issue

I've been a little quiet for the last few days due to work, but I'm now off for a few days, so I'll get a little more work done and post some updates soon!
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[AdamMil]

[jlangsdo]

There is a file in one of the FPK files called "readme text rgb values.txt" which says:

[AdamMil]

Perhaps it can be changed in a data file on the Mac, but I'm pretty sure it's hard-coded on the PC. At least, I see the code that sets the color for the text on the nav view, and changing the code changes the color. Are there any other places where the text is colored based on nationality? (On the PC, the text on the world map is the same color for all nations.)

[Pirate]

Good luck with the Scottish Mod. I did change the Dutch over to Pirates once. I even changed all the military captains and merchant captains and the captain of the guard to the pirates already in the game. I was able to modify the text in .exe to replace the Dutch text. I never changed the orange color of the text that appears over the city's or settlement's because of the know how to do it thing. As for me now I am having fun in the East Indies. I have treasure fleets and everything else to take care of in a new environment from the Caribbean which I already played to death. I just recently replaced all the flags in the taverns into signs over the door. Pretty cool. I have modded the ballrooms and taverns and well just about everything. Bottom line for me is I will never finish changing stuff around. Once I am done modding I will start playing the game with the best of intentions on being done with modding only to decide to stop and mod something else.

[AdamMil]

Well, if anyone wants to know, changing the settlement text color on the nav view can be done as follows. In an unencrypted* PC exe, the file offsets to the text colors are:

Spanish=64FD6, English=64FDD, French=64FE4, Dutch=64FEB, Jesuit=64FF2, Indian=64FF7, Pirate=64FFE

At the offset, you'll find a 4-byte integer. The integer is an ARGB (alpha, red, green, blue) value, but since x86 is little-endian, the bytes will be in reverse order: BGRA (blue, green, red, alpha). For instance, the bytes for the Dutch are 18 76 FF FF. This is an RGB value of 0xFF, 0x76, 0x18 (in hex), or 255, 118, 24 (in decimal), which matches the file that jslangdo mentioned (and the alpha channel is 255, so the text is completely opaque). If you want to make the text bright red, for instance, change the bytes to 00 00 FF FF.

To get the addresses in memory, add 0x400000 (so 64FD6 becomes 464FD6, etc). You can use those to edit the colors in the Cheat Engine so you can get immediate feedback on how they look. (If you don't have the Cheat Engine, it's a useful program, but be very careful when installing it. It will try to trick you into installing malware that may harm your computer. You have to click the "Skip" button in the installer at least twice to skip past it. The "Skip" button is colored to be difficult to see (deliberately no doubt) but it's in the lower left corner of the window.)

* The file offsets mentioned are in the code segment of the exe, not the data segment. Both the Steam and retail exes have encrypted code segments, so they can't be easily edited, but you can obtain an unencrypted exe by running the Challenge Pack, deselecting all the mods, and generating the exe.

[Selkirk]

Seriously, I wish I could give you guys upvotes! That's a lot of great information! Thanks!

Progress has been a little slow, I've been away on business so haven't had much time at all to work on the mod. I'm fighting with the alpha values for some of the flags, but I've got the ones for the cities done and dusted

More info as soon as I have it!
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[AdamMil]

[corsair91]

Is this mod now dead ?

[themodelcitizen]

Nice timing with the bump, I was just looking at this last night about the colour offsets. I've thought about changing Holland to Scotland and adding the Darien colony. To be completely historical it would only be active for one or two eras though, and the game needs at least one city per faction in each era

[Pirate]

Either dude didn't finish the mod or decided not to share it either way it's never been available. I might change the Dutch text to Black I'm just concerned it would conflict with the pirates