AdvCiv-SAS (Simple Advanced Strategy)

This mod (AdvCiv-SAS (Simple Advanced Strategy)) (Discussion thread here) is based on AdvCiv 1.12 as it is the latest AdvCiv version as of now, and will/may update whenever there are new changes that are stable.

AdvCiv-SAS is now available at CFC Modpacks downloads section and at the ModDB website, not just on github anymore (read below for download/install instructions).

The core changes brought by this mod are as of now an AI overhaul to make it much more efficient with its workers and settlers and most gameplay areas with a focus on opportunism and avoiding self-sabotaging/suicidal AI play.

Heavy reworks were made, while otherwise mostly staying in the base Advciv 1.12 frame, but with a focus on historical accuracy, game balance, and as for in particular UI in Sevopedia (e.g., item grouping, new Search Bar, Keyboard navigation, Index as Category, new charts and Leader AI Personality Panel, Media Player (Movies with audio support, and Music with the ~1750 audio scripts that can be listened to), Vote (Votesources and Votes), EventTrigger (Event Triggers and Events), Exapnded Text Panels), and the city screen rework, main Menu rework (notably multiple random main menu music support (shuffle-bag)).

Among notable UI changes, advisor screens have been reworked or new ones were added (e.g., new World Advisor with detailed geography information per city in BFC, suburbs, and territory; new Score tab and Timeline Tab in the Info Screen) and they now dynamically adjust to game resolution; they were also were expanded so they use more of the available screen space (notably now optimized for a 16:9 display), reducing the need for players to scroll, and with new information displayed as well. Advisors have been reorganized for easier, logical, and even access (e.g., merge the Espionage Screen so it is now a tab of the Foreign Advisor, merge Civics, Religions, and Corporations so they are now tabs of the Policy Advisor).

A significant UI addition is optional text upscaling (regardless of game resolution) from font 1 (smallest text size) to font 4 (largest text size) which especially helps at higher resolutions or to improve readability on lower resolutions. Or the new Scoreboard scroll up button, scroll down button, the do not render beyond bottom of commerce sliders behaviour, and toggle lock hover button.

New mechanics as well, including but not only new Game Speeds (Nitro, Turbo, Slow, Very Slow); new World Sizes (Arena, SAS24, SAS32, SAS40, SAS48); new optional XML fields (e.g., ObsoleteTech for units, EraArtDefineTags and EraArtDefineTag for leaderhead era art); new Mapscripts (e.g., BTG_Cross, BTG_Lagoon, Equal_Islands_V2_beta, etc.), including AdvCiv-SAS original ones (e.g., SAS_Large_Facing_Islands, SAS_Longworld, SAS_Parallel_Lines, SAS_Spiky_Avenues).

Content overall addition is minimal, as of now mostly in the future era (like the new camel bonus, or the new playable civ Kingdom of Benin (Ewuare), Irish Empire (Grace O'Malley, Michael Collins)); else it is mostly done via this heavy reworking of the game rather with the aforementioned goals (accuracy, good/strong civ/leader/building/unit/etc blend, balance, AI strength, etc).

All in all, this simplifies gameplay to some extent, but greatly increases depth and should make the game much more challenging while not being too much of a grind (i.e. we don't want to increase penalties at higher handicaps, but instead aim to avoid/reduce them while trying to make the game harder (and ideally harder than base AdvCiv 1.12 at all handicaps) through improved AI competency rather). There are a lot more changes, and details about these as well below explained in the following sections.

Also most importantly AIs like GPT Codex, GPT Thinking, ChatGPT, Claude code, Gemini AI, Deepseek AI, Grok AI, have helped me a lot to do this, and i probably would not have completed (or extremely harder) without them and all i mean so thanks again and thanks a lot!

For License and Reuse, see License and reuse.

Menu

Tech Tree
Military Tree and changes
Ingame gameplay samples
Docs
How to play?
Full exhaustive very long and exhaustive changes
Main Changes Guide
UI (Main Menu)
 Home page
 Simple Game rework
UI (Ingame)
 Main Advisors reworks (e.g. new World Advisor; Score Tab and Timeline Tab in the Info Screen Advisor)
 "Willing to become a vassal" and vassal icons in foreign advisor's glance tab
 Inverted BUG options
 Diplomacy Screen
 Miscallenous screens
 Main interface rework
  City Screen rework
  Map view rework
 Scoreboard
UI (Main Sevopedia reworks)
 Some lower level Sevopedia reworks (e.g., Item grouping, Search Bar, Keyboard UP/DOWN navigation, Index as category, Movies (with audio support), Music with ~1750 audio scripts that can be listened to in Sevopedia), Expanded Text Panels, Expanded Content (Non-text; e.g., Animation) Panels, Expanded leaderhead Panel
 Other new categories
  Widget Python 6798 to link (e.g. for Builds, for Traits)
  Charts (e.g. Handicap Chart, Game Speed Chart, World Sizes Chart, Eras Chart)
 Some higher level reworks (e.g. AI Personality Panel, Traits Charts, Starting and Untradeable Techs Charts, Improvement Weights (Leaders) Chart)
 Some other Sevopedia reworks
UI (Common)
 Emojis
 Untradeable techs (bTrade) display information
New optional XML fields (e.g. ObsoleteTech for units, Button for eras, EraArtDefineTags and EraArtDefineTag for leaderhead era art)
AI-generated images
Less Generic unit names or combat types
Civs you can expect in this mod
 World map with civs
 Other map(s) i used for terrain modifiers for civ-specific units
Assets Rebalancing
48 Civs DLL
 How to use
 New AdvCiv-SAS World Sizes (SAS24, SAS32, SAS40, SAS48; Arena) (Recommended to use with the 48 Civs DLL)
Mapscripts
 AdvCiv-SAS original mapscripts (e.g., SAS_Large_Facing_Islands, SAS_Longworld, SAS_Parallel_Lines, SAS_Spiky_Avenues)
 New Maps (e.g., BTG_Cross, BTG_Lagoon)
 New .dds for maps in Simple Game
Change from short to int the Found value pipeline
Long Comments Archive
External file access in Civ4 ingame (on Windows)
Python scripts
CuCuGS
Known issues that may or may not be fixed, in base AdvCiv or Civ4
"Temporary" crashes
Not supported in AdvCiv-SAS
Version number
Copyright and Disclaimer
Credits
Some Useful tools while doing this
License and reuse
Authors

Tech Tree

Before going more in depth about/in the changes and how to play or such documentation or other topics, here is a view of the reworked tech tree in AdvCiv-SAS (currently unfinished) (click on the images to view them in full screen or bigger size)

For more details on how the tech tree was made, which historical timeline it follows, sources, more screenshots and such, upcoming changes if any more, or other information or not or etc, please visit README_Tech_Tree.md

Military Tree and changes

As of now the military tree is as such in AdvCiv-SAS (please view ingame or in XML for updated version if any changes have been made since then)

See README_More_Exhaustive_Military_Tree.md.

Ingame gameplay samples

These are from autoplay or me playing them myself (for the 4986 rome AI screenshot as of now). AI is very strong, i wanted to showcase that as well as how AI generally behaves and the game looks/feels ingame. Both of these maps were pangea at monarch handicap. Later screenshots are from version 5055 and around version 5200 and 5085.

See also the CFC AdvCiv-SAS Discussion Thread here as well, or the google drive link (see Docs section for link below) for more gameplay samples although some of these may be old/dated now.

Docs

About the mod AdvCiv-SAS in general, i added quite a bit of documentation, pictures, and other elements about this AdvCiv-SAS mod in /_1_AdvCiv-SAS/

Additionally, some extra files can be found on this google drive: full AdvCiv-SAS google drive folder link.

How to play?

If you are a new player or want to play this mod and would like a few instructions on how to install it and play it, i have provided a few instructions in the README_Quick_Install_Setup_Guide.md

Full exhaustive very long and exhaustive changes

If you want to see the full very exhaustive code changes between AdvCiv current latest stable, for example 1.12 here, and AdvCiv-SAS, it can be viewed for example in this pull request compare. However it is very lengthy, read below for the main pointers rather.

As for the changelog between releases of AdvCiv-SAS, see the github tags that for each release show the list of changes in git history format since the previous release.

Main Changes Guide

I have written the main changes guide (from base AdvCiv 1.12 to AdvCiv-SAS latest) with the help of chatgpt and gemini (check if info is accurate); i sometimes edited it. You can view it here README_Main_Changes_Guide.md.

UI (Main Menu)

Home page

Edited the .thm files so the main menu's home page feels more modern and utlizes more of the screen for display, and in a prettier way too (removes the very ugly blue panel, adds darker and bolder text, etc.). See also /README.md#ai-generated-images.

Multiple random Main Menu Musics

AdvCiv-SAS now supports randomized main menu music among a tunable list of many scripts, using the shuffle-bag approach: each time a save is loaded (a random music among those not played once yet) or game is exited (any music), a new music is played.

These music scripts are playable via Sevopedia Music and the Sevopedia Media Player.

Simple Game rework

Edited the .thm as well. Was done with the help of GPT-5.2-Codex, based on C2C's implementation of tighter radio buttons. I also added some beautification to remove the header and more of the margins as well.

Very cool clarification idea by chatgpt 5.2 (web) as part of adding new game speeds, which i then fine tuned or adjusted a bit and expanded on such as in: "Normal (500 / 100%)" bullet; Epic (750 / 150%) bullet; GAME SPEED (50 000 BC - 2105 AD) when necessary, and reworded other fields or blurbs as well. Thanks a lot!

Change in Civ4Theme_Button.thm and Civ4Theme_Common.thm. Commit: commit/d194577b3bf54364637817d767ccf607b5480325

Note: Also features the SAS24, SAS32, SAS40, and SAS48 bigger than Huge, as well as the Arena new World sizes (that are based on the XXL World's world sizes). See New AdvCiv-SAS World Sizes (SAS24, SAS32, SAS40, SAS48; Arena) (Recommended to use with the 48 Civs DLL).

Note 2: notably also features the new maps we added in AdvCiv-SAS such as the BTG_Cross.py, new .dds for maps, etc. See Readme.md: Mapscripts.

UI (Ingame)

Main Advisors reworks (e.g. new World Advisor; Score Tab and Timeline Tab in the Info Screen Advisor)

Also reworked, expanded and beautified most Advisors' UI so they scale to game resolution dynamically instead of hardcoded advisor screen dimensions. The code was also refactored to improve dynamic scaling, ensuring most UI elements automatically realign if dimensions are changed.

Also, advisors are now excentered so overall more information is displayed, thus reducing the need for scrolling, while still preserving key relevant information for display (scoreboard, map, commerce sliders and values, etc.). Note: some right space for scoreboard and top space for the top bars of the main interface was made (since commerce sliders are now as of now on the right side, they don't need left space anymore).

See for related and similar changes UI (In-game).

New Advisors

World Advisor

We added a new World Advisor in AdvCiv-SAS showing detailed geography information about the BFC, suburbs, and territory; per city in its BFC1 (plot types and terrains/features mostly) and BFC2 (bonuses and improvements), and for as a condensed summary for all territory in the territory tab (detailed in the main changes guide).

We also moved the environment tab to the World Advisor because it is a better thematic fit.

Timeline Tab (in the Info Screen Advisor)

We added in AdvCiv-SAS a new Timeline Tab in the Info Screen:

• shows a spoiler-free (religion founded by an unknown city, city founded but unexplored, etc.) if not known (not in debug, not yet revealed, etc.) account (based on the replay screen's data (except you don't need to retire to see it now), notably keeping its colored text for each player, but filtered) of the key moments that happened each turn.
• unlike the Event Log (which was cumbersome to open and maximize as well btw), information is preserved on save reload.
• has an optional "LOG" button you can click on ingame to optionally export to PythonDbg.log text file the output
• added optional caching (default as of now enabled, recommended) so it is more efficient and less computationally costly. Performance cost of this new tab measured to be none (2.33 seconds for 110 late game turns vs 2.35 seconds: within margin of error)
• Done with the help of GPT-5.2-Codex, Claude code Sonnet 4.5, and Claude code Opus 4.5, thanks a lot!

Note: a hybrid DLL compute + Python caching version was tried in timeline-tab-dll-implementation branch but load times of the Timeline Tab were not much faster if at all so preferred the Python version for its simplicity. A full DLL caching + compute was tried but load times were noticeably slower than the full Python version, so dropped as well.

Score Tab (in the Info Screen Advisor)

A new advisor we added in the info screen is the score Tab, showing a sortable (default ordered by highest score) table with all relevant scoreboard fields, plus new fields like Player color, Player ID (to distinguish identical Name/Civ/Leader/Player Color), Traits (T1 and T2) as icon chars, total Power (of a player, distinct from power ratios), total Power per City, Land%, V/M, Tech (total techs).

Note: unlike military ratios, PowT and PoT/C are shown even for the human player, since these vary every turn

Added a clickable "Legend" text that redirects to Sevopedia Concepts' "Score Tab Columns" page that shows the legend.

Added with the very nice help of GPT-5.3-Codex thanks.

Advisor reworks

We notably also renamed the Foreign Advisor's Active tab to the "Treaties" tab, removing the redundant bonuses information and beautifying it with icons, and more generally reorganized tabs (for example moving the espionage screen to now being a tab of the foreign advisor (plus beautified and upscaled to screen resolution the espionage tab).

"Willing to become a vassal" and vassal icons in foreign advisor's glance tab

We added with the help of gemini 3 pro and claude sonnet 4.5 and my help too thanks, icons in the foreign advisor's glance tab, that show if a rival is willing to become our rival (as of now star icon) and if they are our vassal (as of now strength icon), which is very useful to avoid tediously checking these everytime in diplomacy or risking to have missed them in messages or such. Also added a tooltip (on hover). See KI#84.

Inverted BUG options

We find some of the BUG advisor features valuable and not obvious to many players. So we have inverted the options, rather than simply force enabling or disabling them.

This means the default is now ON, and ticking the option toggles it to OFF. Applied as of now only to the Tech Advisor and Religion Advisor which we find most valuable. Updated the texts to match this new behaviour and sometimes clarify it (e.g. vague "GP Research" -> clearer "Hide bulbing indicators").

Note 2: the tech bulbing indicators may be disabled at turn 0, but should if so appear at turn 1 onwards. See KI#85.

Diplomacy Screen

Beautified the Diplomacy Screen's trading rows with icons (e.g., Gold, Gold Per Turn, World Map, Open Borders, Vassal, Defensive Pact, etc; also leader icons ((make peace / declare war / embargo))).

Miscallenous screens

Some miscallenous screens have been beautified, expanded and maximized to support text upscaling, avoid scrolling, and other enhancements: CvDawnOfMan.py ("The sun rises on the Year" greeting new game screen), CvTechSplashScreen.py (when a new tech is discovered), CvReplayScreen.py, CvDanQuayle.py ("you have displayed the leadership abilities" post-game screen), CvHallOfFameScreen.py.

Main Interface rework

Some common changes to city screen and map view include the tech bar's detail being enhanced with a new icon centered in the bar, followed by info like Fusion: 2245 / 5774 (35), and show chars in the GP bar even if 100% (e.g. Great Scientist: Lyons (3) - [RESEARCH_CHAR] 100%).

Also moved map to the right (idea from the C2C mod thanks).

City Screen rework

Added some missing info such as the great person "+n (ICON)" information in any relevant building's row, which is handy to have and that was tedious to check through hovering. Also removed the 3 gray bars ("Trade Routes", "Buildings", "Specialists") as they take a lot of room and are uneeded, and we don't have a "Bonuses" bar for example so no reason to have these as well either; this allows to now display much more information and reduces the need for scrolling. Also beautified several other things, such as enlarging side panels to display more info and be prettier, making bonuses columns even in width, making some hardcoded values now dynamically adjust depending on the side width we set, etc. if any more.

Additionally, also added a new specialists breakdown as of now on bottom-right and a culture breakdown. Also added an option to add one or several extra rows (tunable) in the production chooser bar. These all help reduce tedious hovering and provide useful info at a glance.

The city screen has been heavily reworked, beautified, and enhanced, for example by splitting the old draft group into draft menu on one side with a new draft button, and config options as a one liner above the minimap zone, plus added new building list filtering options (Show all buildings, Show World Wonders only, etc.) as clickable buttons (based on how the C2C mod does it thanks), enhanced with detailed information (like Lakamha: 16 - 12372 (4500BC) or Growing - 30/43 (4 Turns)).

Map view rework

Outside the city screen, UI has been reworked too: moved away the flag from production buttons bars (was needless and cumbersome there: better show more buttons instead: moved optionally to top panel as detailed in main changes guide), added buttons for unit stack and currently selected unit, moved and reordered end turn buttons and other controls, now near the map in a very pretty end turn group with a curved visual effect. Screenshots visible in the other ingame previews.

Scoreboard

New features have been added: scroll up button, scroll down button, the do not render beyond bottom of commerce sliders behaviour, and toggle lock hover button.

UI (Main Sevopedia reworks)

Note: for more screenshots and documentation of the Sevopedia reworks in AdvCiv-SAS, see README_Sevopedia_Reworks.md.

Some lower level Sevopedia reworks (e.g., Item grouping, Search Bar, Keyboard UP/DOWN navigation, Index as category, Movies (with audio support), Music with ~1750 audio scripts that can be listened to in Sevopedia), Expanded Text Panels, Expanded Content (Non-text; e.g., Animation) Panels, Expanded leaderhead panel

Items grouping

We added grouping for items by Era, Civic Type, Land/Water, and various other kinds of grouping depending on the Sevopedia category. See _sevopedia_main_groupings.py.

Search Bar

With the help of claude opus 4.5 and chatgpt 5.2, we introduced a search bar in AdvCiv-SAS that is shared by several Sevopedia pages. It allows to search for entries using the keyboard.

The code is in SevoPediaMain.py. See individual Sevopedia screenshots to see its general appearence. As for how the search bar is used in AdvCiv-SAS, here are some example cases:

See: example 0.1: added a search bar. Used in several Sevopedia pages.

Keyboard Navigation with the UP/DOWN arrows

Based on C2C mod's code thanks and with the help of claude opus 4.5 and chatgpt 5.2, we added support for keyboard navigation using the UP/DOWN arrows. See example 0.2: added keyboard arrow (UP/DOWN) navigation support. Used in several Sevopedia pages.

Index As Category

Inspired by Middle-earth mod's very nice and amazing platypedia thanks, i moved with GPT-5.2-Codex's big help the index from being a tab to being its own category. This should increase ease-of-access and make it better integrated with the other categories (no need to go back and forth to other pages, etc.). Note that it also implements a Sevopedia Search Bar.

In particular, we now added the new Sevopedia Build's entries in the index too! Index Builds entries are now clickable too: keep the index table selectable (row->Build mapping) and set table focus on open so the search bar works immediately (GPT-5.2-Codex + Claude Opus 4.5).

See example 0.3: Index As Category.

Media File playing (e.g. Movies with audio support, Music with ~1750 audio scripts that can be listened to in Sevopedia)

Based on the Middle-earth mod's Platypedia's Movies category and adjusted and then expanded on for AdvCiv-SAS, we provide a new Sevopedia Movies category with movies (bik, nif, dds) playing and additional audio support for non-bik files such as religions (nif + separate sound asset).

Media player

Common logic to Sevopedia Movies and Sevopedia Music is in SevoPediaMediaPlayer.py with the very nice help of GPT-5.2-Codex thanks a lot! Features include but not only a play button for replay, and an eject button for exit (useful for _ORDER or _SELECT Civilizations sounds for example as they replay variants for the same item). Also supports Previous Track and Next track buttons.

Supports Previous Track and Next track, Toggle Movies/Music button, Fast Up and Fast Down to move to next grouping, timer (no end time detection as of now but resets successfully on track change), and a playlist on the right side (for non-bik files since these use fullscreen it seems) or on bottom in a more compact way (for nif, dds, etc. since they fit in the TV panel). See Sevopedia reworks (Media Player).

Movies

Multiple categories are supported, as of now Victories, Wonders, Projects, Religions, Corporations, and Eras. The movie starts in a new screen that can be exited anytime. A clickable emoji-based Play Button has been provided. See Sevopedia Reworks (Music category (~1750 audio scripts playable ingame)).

Music

We also added a new Sevopedia Music that allows to play ~1750 audio scripts in Sevopedia (as of now 963 AS2D and 786 AS3D audio scripts)! Search bar support allows for an easy find of the wanted tracks. And a play Button is provided. Among assets, notably but not only, each Tech's, Leader's, Civlization's, Era's music can be listened to. See Sevopedia Reworks (Movies category (with audio support))

Expanded Panels

We also added Sevopedia Expanded Text Panels, with EXPAND and CLOSE buttons. See Sevopedia Reworks (example 0.93: Expanded text panel (with EXPAND and CLOSE buttons)).

We similarly also added Expanded Content (Non-text; e.g., Animation) Panels. We also added a RELOAD button so e.g. the animation can be reloaded (e.g., to change unit color, reset animation, reset camera position/auto-rotation movement) without having to tediously exit and reopen expanded view. See Sevopedia Reworks (example 0.94: Expanded content (non-text; e.g., animation) panel (with EXPAND, RELOAD, and CLOSE buttons)).

Similarly also added expanded leaderhead panel. It does not have a RELOAD button since it is ineffective in changing leaderhead animation behaviour but instead has attitude, action, and (if set) leaderhead art era buttons matching the ones in sevopedia leader. Also, animation occupies all page height but width is a percentage of height (e.g., 80 percent) so most of leaderhead is shown (if too high or too low less of the leaderhead animation is visible). See Sevopedia Reworks (example 0.95: Expanded leaderhead panel)).

Other new categories

Widget Python 6798 to link (e.g. for Builds, for Traits)

Based on the Very nice Middle-earth's (C2C mod does it too it seems) approach in its Platypedia thanks a lot! We have found that it is possible to link to build entries using WIDGET_PYTHON (no DLL change required it seems) and some id like 6798 or such. As a result, builds are linkable: clicking on the entries in the Builds category opens the corresponding page. Also, clicking on the link from e.g. the Sevopedia Improvements' Remove panel's button (e.g. of "Remove Jungle") successfully redirects to the new Sevopedia Builds' category's corresponding entry (e.g. the "Remove Jungle" entry in Sevopedia Builds category)!

Added a new Sevopedia Builds Category listing these distinctly from improvements (see Sevopedia Reworks: example 0.40 builds category (e.g. "Remove Jungle", "Build Road", "Create a Farm")), with the big and nice help of GPT-5.2-Codex; thanks a lot!

We also used this approach to replace the old clunky base advciv's CONCEPT_TRAIT with now instead the WIDGET_PYTHON (with an id as of now of 6799), which preserves linking and allowed us to delete old XML clutter.

Charts (e.g. Handicap Chart, Game Speed Chart, World Sizes Chart, Eras Chart)

New Sevopedia category pages were added in AdvCiv-SAS such as the Handicap Chart, Game Speed Chart, World Sizes Chart. Added with the help of GPT-5.2-Codex and ChatGPT 5.2 (web) based on the Middle-earth's Platypedia code.

They are very handy to see all handicap or game settings info in one go, are sortable by theme (e.g. all war-related handicap fields have the war emoji), and allow to show efficiently (cached after being computed) info for the full calendar/timeline info in compact rows such as "+2*10k=30k" or "+40*m2=2076m9" for all increments and all game speeds! It allowed me to spot a mistaken in Very Slow that ended in 2116 AD instead of 2105 AD!

We notably also added in game speeds chart extra analysis rows like Summary 08 (40%) with values like T200=+1400 (120), or Increments Years 02 with values like 750, 500, 250, or Increments Months 02 with values like 9000, 6000, 3000.

Also added a new "LOG" button to print to PythonDbg.log the tables output, and this is done to other charts too.

Also Added with the help of GPT-5.3-Codex and Claude code Opus 4.6, notably with new calibration tools (compare_speed_summaries.py and autotune_speed_from_xml.py in LLM_Helpers for finer LLM-enhanced tuning.

Charts overall also notably add fields that do not are not direct XML info fields, such as Ratio to Standard* (e.g. "3.640" for SAS24 World Size), Ratio to Largest* (e.g. "0.502" for SAS24 World Size), Recommended DLL* (e.g. "48 Civs" for the SAS24 World Size), Tiles Per Default Player* (e.g. 145 for World Size Huge), Total Turns* (e.g. "165" (turns) for the Game Speed Nitro). They are marked with an * at the end of their tail for clarity.

Also, the Eras Chart page also features optional era buttons.

Some higher level reworks (e.g. AI Personality Panel, Traits Charts, Starting and Untradeable Techs Charts, Improvement Weights (Leaders) Chart)

One of the main and most significant Sevopedia changes in AdvCiv-SAS is the new AI Personality panel new feature. Not a strictly new feature per se as the xml fields and their values per leader already existed, but now displaying most of them at each Sevopedia leader (and also the ranking of leaders for each of these displayed fields's values) is indeed new (as well as the new aggregated attributes such as contact probs, positive/negative memory affections/resentments being implemented and some optionally displayable or not shown for concision as table is full with a lot of data). It is computationally lightweight, as all the values are already provided in the mod before the game is launched, the game just displays this data.

As always, ChatGPT is a key co-author and main code contributor and with the help of other AIs (See Authors) thanks.

Another significant contribution from our AI helpers is the new Traits Charts, that are 2 sortable Traits Charts that show all trait pairs and their representation among all leaders, using as of now a "++++" kind of ranking and clickable leader buttons in the charts. Also, the Leaders'panel's header has been enhanced with similar info, as of now for example "Leader 12/53 (22%)", and other enhancements such as new txt keys that are fairly mod-agnostic (added with the help of ChatGPT 5.2 thanks a lot). Implementation with the help of Claude code Opus 4.5 and GPT-5.2-Codex thanks a lot. Also added similar charts such as the Starting and Untradeable Techs Charts (pairs and combinations).

Based on it, we notably also made, in Sevopedia Improvement, a new sortable Improvement Weights (Leaders) Chart, showing Weights, Count per Weight, and clickable Leader buttons for each weight and improvement.

Another notable addition is the new sevopedia leader Attitude (furious, annoyed, cautious, pleased, friendly), Action (noanim/idle, greeting, agree, disagree) buttons (from AdvCiv-SAS-NIF-Gallery mod where we first implemented them there), and (if set) Leaderhead Art Era Buttons. On click, the animation changes its behaviour to that of the buttons clicked.

Here is below a sample of the example screenshots showing the AI Personality panel, Traits Charts, and the many other reworks we did in Sevopedia in AdvCiv-SAS:

Notes about the Sevopedia Leader's AI Personality Panel and Sevopedia Traits' Tables

note: its performance should be very very efficient and optimized. See README_AI_Personality_Panel.md#notes-about-performance-optimization-of-the-ai-personality-panel-caching. Also as of now using a similar system for the new Sevopedia Traits' Tables. See also SevoPediaLeaderAIPValues.py.

note 2: you can enable/disable the emoji display as you prefer (see README_AI_Personality_Panel.md#how-to-enabledisable-emoji-buttons-in-sevopedia-leader) or display key names instead of abbreviated custom labels in the AI Personality Panel (see README_AI_Personality_Panel.md#how-to-show-keys-or-suffixes-instead-of-abbreviated-custom-labels).

note 3: if you want to mod and modify the xml civ4 leader info, then you need to either update the SevoPediaLeaderCachePredumped.py file manually, or disable the option to use the predumped file (see toggle define as of now at GlobalDefines_advciv_sas.xml). This was done so players don't always recompute these values that do not change on their end, and rarely so even for modders, and should scale better (if i'm not mistaken) as there are more leaders or xml fields in a mod vs computing them once every time the civ4 game is launched. See : README_AI_Personality_Panel.md

Some other Sevopedia reworks

Concepts (as of now in the "Outdated" Sevopedia category)

These are not supported in advciv-sas, hence the "outdated" name. Added a few examples that i found informative or wanted to add. These new entries generally come from https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/ or some similar place(s).

Added new concepts, as of now:

• concept_customization
• concept_fresh_water (with a link to it added in concept_irrigation (even though lost translation xd now (i removed it (i.e. now only has english translation for all languages))))
• concept_global_warming
• concept_rivers
• concept_scoring_system

Mods Info

(NewConceptInfos).

Info about Other mods

The Sevopedia "Mods Info" (reusing the old civ4 concepts category or similar, thanks to @f1rpo's help too) category adds info about mods and such. See README_Mods_History_And_Changes.md. Exhaustive or not example screenshots below as well:

Legends

We also use the Mods info category to show the legend of some tables or abbreviations, with a clickable Legend button in the caller pages, that redirects to the corresponding sevopedia concept page showing the legend.

UI (Common)

Emojis

We added emojis in AdvCiv-SAS as dds so we don't have to tediously add them as textual icons, for example in Sevopedia (such as of now in the AI Personality Panel's emojis, or in the Info Screen's Statistics tab's top chart (Time Played, Cities, etc.)).

They can be added as buttons or as <img> for example, like other .dds files.

The relevant files can be found in:

• XML: as of now in CIV4ArtDefines_Interface.xml
• .dds: as of now in /Assets/Art/AdvCiv_SAS/Emojis/

Untradeable techs (bTrade) display information

For example we added the new this technology "Cannot be traded" and "Can be researched multiple times" info (displayed if still enabled in our mod after this screenshot was made, but the option is there to accomodate any XML that has this option enabled for a tech as in the screenshot) in Sevopedia tech and in the tech advisor as show below:

See also:

• README_Main_Changes_Guide.md#technologies
• example 1.6: techs category (Starting and Untradeable Techs Charts and other changes)
• Modding_Ressources: "Example of DLL modification of CvGameTextMgr.cpp and other related file(s) to add the new "This technology cannot be traded".

New optional XML fields (e.g. ObsoleteTech for units, Button for eras, EraArtDefineTags and EraArtDefineTag for leaderhead era art)

ObsoleteTech for units

We also added in AdvCiv-SAS with GPT-5.2-Codex's help new XML optional fields such as <ObsoleteTech> for units.

They allow to avoid unit clutter in later eras (AI and humans can no longer produce them if set (e.g. Ancient Maceman (UNIT_WARRIOR)) obsolete at TECH_BRONZE_WORKING, as well as easily improve AI performance directly (no longer have aberrant Ancient maceman production in medieval era, pikemen in industrial, etc.) or indirectly with additional changes (e.g. scrap obsolete units easily and computationally cheaply when they are obsolete).

Blurbs with links fully implemented in CvGameTextMgr.cpp. As of now, obsolescence not shown in tech tree to not clutter. If field is missing or set to NONE in XML (e.g. <ObsoleteTech>NONE</ObsoleteTech>), a default of NONE is applied for better inter-mod portability. NONE means a unit is never obsolete (e.g. UNIT_SETTLER), and so it keeps base AdvCiv/Civ4 behaviour (can always be produced).

If you don't want to use this ObsoleteTech feature without having to tediously manually modify each entry one by one in XML, you can, similarly to how was done for unit XML terrain and feature modifiers in AdvCiv-SAS, disable them by toggling to 0 the corresponding SAS define in GlobalDefines_advciv_sas.xml) (as of now SAS_CV_UNIT_INFO_ENABLE_XML_UNIT_OBSOLETE_TECH). If disabled (0), the value in XML will be ignored and forced to always NONE so you can easily reenable it in the future as you prefer.

Should have been the base in Civ4!

See Sevopedia Unit and Sevopedia Tech for screenshots. See also KI#93.

Button for eras

Similarly added a new <Button> in XML.

Allows to cleanly add era buttons in Sevopedia Movies and other places without hardcoding the path everytime.

Civ4 already supported it, no idea why it was not the default!

Change in CIV4GameInfoSchema.xml, CIV4EraInfos.xml, CvEraMovieScreen.py. Added with the help of GPT-5.2 Thinking and Claude code Sonnet 4.5, thanks a lot!

EraArtDefineTags and EraArtDefineTag for leaderhead era art

We have recently added with the help of Claude code Opus 4.7 thanks per-era leaderhead art. It allows the leader's art (nif animation, button, etc. if any more fields) to change at each era. Note: it is leader-centric and not human-centric (matches the Era progress of the specific player not of the human player).

Example of usage:

		<LeaderHeadInfo> <!-- custom: Cyrus -->
			<Type>LEADER_CYRUS</Type>
			<Description>TXT_KEY_LEADER_CYRUS</Description>
			<Civilopedia>TXT_KEY_LEADER_CYRUS_PEDIA</Civilopedia>
			<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_LEADER_CYRUS</ArtDefineTag>
			<EraArtDefineTags>
				<EraArtDefineTag>
					<EraType>ERA_ANCIENT</EraType>
					<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_LEADER_HAMMURABI</ArtDefineTag>
				</EraArtDefineTag>
				<EraArtDefineTag>
					<EraType>ERA_CLASSICAL</EraType>
					<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_LEADER_HATSHEPSUT</ArtDefineTag>
				</EraArtDefineTag>
				<EraArtDefineTag>
					<EraType>ERA_MEDIEVAL</EraType>
					<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_LEADER_EWUARE</ArtDefineTag>
				</EraArtDefineTag>
				<EraArtDefineTag>
					<EraType>ERA_RENAISSANCE</EraType>
					<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_LEADER_NAPOLEON</ArtDefineTag>
				</EraArtDefineTag>
				<EraArtDefineTag>
					<EraType>ERA_INDUSTRIAL</EraType>
					<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_LEADER_GANDHI</ArtDefineTag>
				</EraArtDefineTag>
				<EraArtDefineTag>
					<EraType>ERA_MODERN</EraType>
					<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_LEADER_STALIN</ArtDefineTag>
				</EraArtDefineTag>
				<EraArtDefineTag>
					<EraType>ERA_FUTURE</EraType>
					<ArtDefineTag>ART_DEF_LEADER_MAO_ZEDONG</ArtDefineTag>
				</EraArtDefineTag>
			</EraArtDefineTags>
			<iWonderConstructRand>40</iWonderConstructRand>

Technical limitation when a leaderhead is used several times, only the era of one leader will be applied to all other players using the same leader. See also KI#120.

AI-generated images

While developping the AdvCiv-SAS mod, i have learned (despite having tried in the past a few times with Midjourney but not related to this) to and successfully generated some AI-generated images, first with tools like ChatGPT for buttons or such, and then for our main menu background images with other tools, in particular with the help of PixelCut AI that was very nice.

I edited some of these with Paint.NET to add in some of them the blue "ribbon" (margins whatever they are called). Here are, below, some examples of ai-generated images in our mod, for more details see: Docs/README_AI_Generated_Images.md

Note: these are low size images, see link mentioned above for the google drive link to view them in high quality (full/original resolution).

Also Nano banana pro (see /README.md#nano-banana-pro) helped me amazingly and very easily fix the a tech's image and recolor the border as blue with just this simple prompt:

"please remove the extra part of a camel in this civ4 button image and make the outside "cadre" color dark blue not white"

It also helped me generate a very nice building_russian_gord corresponding button and other images as well if any. The images are so good i'm losing my mind (in a good way i mean.) thanks a lot!!!

I was also extremely impressed by ChatGPT 5.2's ability to fully plan the new addition of a new RedX art with thinner lines, just based on a Sevopedia ingame screenshot showing it was too bold and thus hard to read at a glance. ChatGPT 5.2 took all measurements and provided me various prototypes and shapes, that are fully working after i converted them to .dds. See README.md#redx-new-art-button.

Notably also, generated the new draft button in the city screen with the help of nano banana pro (gemini 3 pro) thanks.

Less Generic unit names or combat types

See the README_Less_Generic_Unit_Names.md.

Civs you can expect in this mod

World map with civs

The civs you can expect in this mod come from these parts of the world (circled numbers are the added new civ's real world location):

Other map(s) i used for terrain modifiers for civ-specific units

Among other maps or information i found online, i mostly also used the map below as well in order to determine which civs should get which terrain/feature modifiers in advciv-sas:

Note: sometimes i slightly deviated from strict terrain world map real layout, as of now only in europe and eastern asia due to them being only forestic with no obvious terrain in the world maps i saw, but they is cold, so symbolize it as having if relevant enough a bit of tundra in civ4 terms (see for example this Köppen climate classification map on wikipedia)

Note 2: as of now i'm using plains as a representative of savanna more or less.

Assets Rebalancing

Heavy historical corrections and gameplay balance have been made, such as as of now removing the Expansive Trait, Changing Gandhi's favorite civics, or Frederick's favorite religion.

The changes before/after with rationale tables are synthethized in .md tables in README_Assets_Rebalancing.md.

48 Civs DLL

How to use

A 48 Civs DLL is also available and provided in this mod. (As of now named "CvGameCoreDLL_48_civs_dll.dll").

To use it, rename old base 18 MAX_CIV_PLAYERS DLL file named "CvGameCoreDLL.dll" to any name you like as long as it's another name, for example to "CvGameCoreDLL_18_civs_dll.dll", and rename the "CvGameCoreDLL_48_civs_dll.dll" to ""CvGameCoreDLL.dll" (vice versa to revert to old 18 players DLL).

All in all, prefer using the default DLL unless you want to use 19+ max players, then after game is finished if you want to use 18 max players or less, consider reverting to old DLL for your next map.

Note: it seems that savegames are not compatible when switching from 18 civ DLL to 48 civ DLL (or vice versa i assume) though based on the related code comments in CvEnums.h, so make sure you finish the games you started using the same DLL, and switch back or forth whichever xd only after you want to play a new game (i.e. don't switch DLLs then reload same save file/map based on this code comment but i don't know and am only reporting what the base advciv code comment says, check if in doubt some other source).

Note 2: in the development version, i don't update the 48 civs DLL as often after each change i make, because it is bit more tedious to do it and test the DLL to make sure it runs well or well enough (no compile error or crash or weird stuff or error at a glance), so i you want latest features in the development version, consider using the default (i.e. not 48 civs DLL) DLL.

New AdvCiv-SAS World Sizes (SAS24, SAS32, SAS40, SAS48; Arena) (Recommended to use with the 48 Civs DLL)

This DLL is the recommended DLL for the new World Sizes (SAS24, SAS32, SAS40, SAS48; Arena) added in AdvCiv-SAS based on the XXL World mod's world sizes. For the larger than huge world sizes, as their Default Player number is higher than the 18 MAX_CIV_PLAYERS in the base DLL, it is recommended to use the 48 civs DLL to play them (else the Map may never get populated with too few players relative to world size).

The adjustment of the XXL World Mod's World sizes was made by GPT-5.2-Codex. For information, here is a comparative .md table showing how the XXL World's World Sizes compare to the AdvCiv-SAS' new World Sizes, and notes, by GPT-5.2-Codex as well.

AdvCiv-SAS size	SAS Grid (W x H)	SAS Tiles	SAS Default players	SAS Ratio vs Std	XXL reference size	XXL Grid (W x H)	XXL Tiles	XXL Default players	XXL Ratio vs Std
SAS24	70 x 49	3430	24	3.141	XXL	40 x 25	1000	24	3.663
SAS32	80 x 56	4480	32	4.103	XXL	40 x 25	1000	24	3.663
SAS40	90 x 63	5670	40	5.192	GIGA	50 x 32	1600	34	5.861
SAS48	99 x 70	6930	48	6.346	ULTRA	60 x 40	2400	34	8.791

Note: XXL/GIGA/ULTRA values come from XXL World CIV4WorldInfo.xml. XXL ratio vs Std uses XXL World's Standard size (21 x 13 = 273 tiles). SAS ratio vs Std uses the AdvCiv-SAS standard size in our XML. Note 2: XXL uses a much smaller baseline and far fewer tiles per default player. In XXL World, Standard is 21 x 13 = 273 tiles for 7 players (~39 tiles/player), and XXL is 40 x 25 = 1000 tiles for 24 players (~41.7 tiles/player). In AdvCiv-SAS, Standard is 39 x 28 = 1092 tiles for 8 players (~137 tiles/player). That’s why SAS24 is much larger even though both list 24 default players. Note 3: XXL map scripts also override grid sizes directly (e.g., XXL World Pangaea uses 16 x 10 for Standard and 40 x 25 for XXL in PrivateMaps/Pangaea.py), so the XML sizes aren’t the only source of truth; this keeps XXL maps smaller while still advertising higher default player counts.

See also README_Sevopedia_Reworks.md#example-07-world-sizes-chart-category.

Mapscripts

AdvCiv-SAS original mapscripts (e.g., SAS_Large_Facing_Islands, SAS_Longworld, SAS_Parallel_Lines, SAS_Spiky_Avenues)

SAS_Longworld

We have added our own new mapscripts in AdvCiv-SAS, notably SAS_Longworld with the help of GPT-5.3-Codex thanks, which is based on Ringworld3 v1.02 but with a heavily simplified code.

A lightweight long-format world for AdvCiv-SAS: one connected horizontal landmass with wavy borders, inspired by Ringworld3_102_mst.py but heavily simplified.

Like all mapscripts in AdvCiv-SAS as of now, it supports SAS48 worldsize and player count.

SAS_Spiky_Avenues

Similarly we also added our new original SAS_Spiky_Avenues mapscript with the help of GPT-5.3-Codex and Claude code Opus 4.6 thanks. We took some ideas from SAS_Longworld but with a different concept:

Compact tactical map with repeated streets: each street has facing houses (spikes), a central avenue, and bridges on left/right edges to connect streets. One player starts per house. Bigger world sizes increase street/spike counts (not house size). Examples: in Large worldsize (11 default players), 3 spikes per street (6 houses) and 2 streets (12 houses total); in SAS48 (48 Civs DLL) worldsize (48 default players), 6 spikes per street (12 houses) and 4 streets (48 houses total). Recommended to play this map on SAS48. This is an AdvCiv-SAS original map.

SAS_Large_Facing_Islands

An addition with the help of GPT-5.3-Codex, and some ideas from GPT-5.2-Thinking thanks.

Each player starts on a large island, with rivals on the east and west sides, and a rival facing north or south (when world size is large enough). Island size stays the same on all world sizes and is fairly large. North-South and East-West bands can optionally be set to Coast or Ocean. Supports world sizes up to SAS48. The world revolves horizontally (WrapX on). Inspired by Empire Earth (1) Large Islands, with some ideas adapted from our SAS_Longworld map.

SAS_Parallel_Lines

Our latest addition with the help of GPT-5.3-Codex thanks.

Parallel lines map where the world is optionally (default) connected horizontally (WrapX) and vertically (WrapY). Fixed number of players per line (3 or 4), and height per player. Each land line has an adjacent land line to its left and to its right, separated by a water line. Larger world sizes add more lines.

New Maps (e.g., BTG_Cross, BTG_Lagoon)

We have also added new maps, for example the (based on the Beyond the Game 2.43 mod's version of it, and adjusted for AdvCiv-SAS with the help of GPT-5.3-Codex: supports max players, SAS48 world size, removed unused options in AdvCiv-SAS, etc.)

Another example is the Planet_Generator_0_68.py (keeps its core behavior (unpredictable continent shapes with balanced continent sizes) while applying AdvCiv-SAS map compatibility changes, notably world-size percentage scaling, removed unneeded options (map-size override and redundant resources choice), and bug fixes (including robust direction handling)).

Note: we also removed some non-essential maps from the Simple Game menu; they remain playable via Custom Game.

Some of them are selectable in the Simple Game menu, while others only via Custom Game.

New .dds for maps in Simple Game

As part of adding, modifying, or removing some maps in Simple Game, redid some of their .dds, as a dark globe or inaccurate dds was not accurate or informative or immersive: adjusted a ratio in the the EXE of around 467 W x 377 H at 1080p, empirically with Paint.NET with a canvas size of 336 W x 256 H with empty bands to avoid overfill and preserve image ratio.

This definitely feels like masonry but works and fun xd i guess after having tediously figured out the optimal or that fits quite well dimensions and way to do it xd then it only needs iterating.

Trick: by having the view box in a water or snow zone you can edit it later and remove it easier when making the .dds. Maybe there is a better way but this works quite well. Some examples below:

Change from short to int the Found value pipeline

Disclaimer: I don't know too much about these, check if accurate.

With the help of GPT-5.2-Codex, we changed in AdvCiv-SAS a common overflow/underflow issue or weakness of AIFoundValue::evaluate and related code from short to now using int.

From what i understand, this should heavily increase reliability, as well as possibly performance since an older version of ChatGPT told me that int may be faster than short and GPT-5.2 Code seemingly said so too from what i understood of its explanation, thanks a lot for help!

Runs fine end to end on the usual 18 civs DLL, and from T0 to T100 on a SAS 48 World size without any obvious issue, so looks good to merge (again check if accurate)!

Below is the recap by GPT-5.2-Codex thanks.

Moved the found‑value pipeline off short and onto int end‑to‑end, and removed the short‑specific overflow clamps in that path. This keeps the logic intact but avoids short wrap/underflow and the extra casts.

Key changes:

• CitySiteEvaluator.h and CitySiteEvaluator.cpp: CitySiteEvaluator::evaluate* and AIFoundValue::evaluate/get now return int; removed the final (short) cast and updated the overflow‑risk comment.
• CvPlayerAI.h and CvPlayerAI.cpp: AI_foundValue returns int; removed truncIntCast<short> in the starting‑plot bump; Python fallback values now stored as int.
• CvPlot.h and CvPlot.cpp: m_aiFoundValue storage and setFoundValue now use int, plus the Python fallback uses int.
• CvArea.h: m_aiBestFoundValue storage switched to int.
• StartingPositionIteration.h and StartingPositionIteration.cpp: all found‑value containers and calculations in SPI now use int; removed the safeIntCast<short> randomization clamp.
• CvPythonCaller.h and CvPythonCaller.cpp: Python AI_foundValue callback now returns int (not short), matching the pipeline.

Important note on saves:

• This does change save format because CvPlot::m_aiFoundValue and CvArea::m_aiBestFoundValue are serialized. Old saves will likely be incompatible or read garbage for found values.

See commit/e8659a5e4c4afae41306dfc04e8ec62eeb77eb99.

Long Comments Archive

Context: after AI performed measurably better following a DLL refactor, the only other change was moving a very heavy XML comment (UnitAI XML info, not C++), which made it a suspect for the improvement and prompted us to archive long comments out of game files (AdvCiv-SAS 5240; see update notes and the CFC download/update page for that version). To keep files readable, we consolidated long comments into Long_Comments/. See details in commit/940d04ce76fddb1671b22608f66a41cfe6233ddb and PR #17. Note: we try to balance comment cleanup with keeping concise technical explanations in code when they help maintainers.

External file access in Civ4 ingame (on Windows)

With the help of ChatGPT-5.2 Thinking, while trying to debug why the "BUG Mod Help" button in the BUG Menu ingame caused a path error in AdvCiv-SAS but not in base AdvCiv, even though path was the same, i have discovered it is possible to access external files ingame in Civ4 (e.g. BUG Mod Help-ENG.chm), and it works successfully.

The path is something like this for example in BugPath.py, if i'm not mistaken, for C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Beyond the Sword\Beyond the Sword\Mods\AdvCiv-SAS\_0_Common_Docs\BUG_Doc\BUG Mod Help-ENG.chm

os.path.join(cwd, "Mods", "AdvCiv-SAS", "_0_Common_Docs", "BUG_Doc", name)

This possibly theoretically could be used to open other external files in Civ4 maybe (check if accurate, as i don't know too much about these). See also KI#87.

Python scripts

For modders: i have made several scripts with AI assistance. We don't use them anymore in AdvCiv-SAS, but they can be found on the python-scripts branch.

CuCuGS

Recently, i've successfully replicated f1rpo's original CuCuGS-PoC approach that adds a custom custom game screen that we can customize despite it being seemingly otherwise unaccessible via DLL or python modding.Claude code (VS Code extension) heavily helped achieving that.

Note: currently not implemented in the tech-rework branch of AdvCiv-SAS but in a separate branch.

See:

• AdvCiv-SAS - CuCuGS: PR compare
• CFC forum CuCuGS topic

Known issues that may be fixed or not fixed in base AdvCiv or Civ4

See the README_Known_Issues_In_Base_AdvCiv_Civ4.md.

Note: this also includes fixes/fixed issues as well for those of these we solved.

Note 2: some issues are not listed in this known_issues_in_base_advciv, for such please see also the README_Main_Changes_Guide.md. If not there, there may be some extra info in Modding_Ressources/README.md as well although it should be more technical and with some caveats there.

Note 3: some features added such fields that were previously missing in Sevopedia are technically also considered fixes i would say and sometimes mentioned in the documentation as such, for example in README_Sevopedia_Reworks.md or other documentation about "Cannot be traded" fields that are now also in tech advisor, or these other related docs for fields we added in the DLL such as the missing BBAI getters (victory weights) in the DLL (to access them in Sevopedia leader py file), or getCityRefuseAttitudeThreshold newly added in advciv but not exposed in python.

"Temporary" crashes

Sometimes, rarely, the game crashes, generally mid-late game.

Sometimes, these crashes are reproducible and indicate real bugs to ideally fix, but some other times just exiting the game and reloading a recent save file "fixes" it, as i noticed happening after i added some performance optimizations that should not have strictly not changed the game at all, yet had a crash at turn 296 that didn't happen autoplaying with old DLL from save file turn 200 to turn 300.

However, reloading this save file with my new DLL that supposedly had caused the crash since it was the only change vs old DLL that didn't, now we had no crash autoplaying successfully from turn 200 to 300. Yet, we still had however before that this crash when it was still a new game (turn 0) that we had autoplayed all the way to turn 200, saved, and then continued to go to turn 300 until it had crashed. So most likely exiting the game and reloading the game from save file turn 200 this time "fixed" the crash.

Then, continuing on, trying to autoplay to turn 400, we got a crash again at turn 356. However, exiting the game, reloading save file 300 generated by our new DLL that supposdely had caused the crash, and trying again to autoplay to turn 400 (this time not from turn 200, save at 300 then try to go to 400, but directly from exited game load same save file 300 and try to go to 400) this time no crash!! We could autoplay safely and successfully to turn 400!! So again a temporary crash it seems!

According to chatgpt 5, these may not have been MAF and the .dmp file (see /Modding_Ressources/README.md#How to enable .dmp files so for some crashes that don't immediately exit you get a "splash screen" (whatever it is called) and can dmp and see turn at crash) says/means that "Exception code: 0xC0000005 → Access Violation (read/write through a bad pointer)", but if you experience crashes, especially mid-late game, consider exiting and reloading the game to see if it helps.

If not, it might be a bug to fix or something. I don't know too much about these, but i fixed a few such reproducible bugs through (painfully xd but successfully seemingly did) trial and error.

As of now AdvCiv-SAS is rather stable so crashes should be rare now. Recently, the KI#100 that fixed Base AdvCiv major CvSelectionGroup::plot crash may also help address many such cases.

Not supported in AdvCiv-SAS

• non-English translations: New or changed content in AdvCiv-SAS ships with English text only. This is because it is too tedious to translate them all, plus i'm fine with English being the only language in the game. If your game language isn’t English, those entries will still appear (in English).
• Scenarios: "Play a Scenario" and "Custom Scenario" in the main menu shows some scenario files that are pre-AdvCiv-SAS; since we made structural changes like renaming _CORN to _MAIZE, adding CAMEL_BONUSand many other changes, pre-AdvCiv-SAS scenarios are not supported in AdvCiv-SAS. Also, we cannot just grey in the main menu (via NoCustomScenario = 1 in AdvCiv-SAS.ini) these play modes in case player add AdvCiv-SAS compatible scenarios that they would be unable to then play; plus this does not fix "Play a Scenario", only "Custom Scenarios", so preferred to just document it as an all around much better and simpler solution.
• CustomDomAdv, which according to the txt inside it seems to relate to "only settings for the mod components Advanced Unit Naming and Customizable Domestic Advisor (both disabled by default through the BUG menu)" (see /Settings/About%20this%20folder.txt). Since i don't use it, and is similarly like the translations a bit if not lot tedious or complicated to maintain furthermore, then i am not supporting it in AdvCiv-SAS. May or not be updated every while or inconsistently but expect it to be unsupported.
• concepts being updated in their content: see README.md#concepts-as-of-now-in-the-outdated-sevopedia-category.
• savegame compatibility. Anytime an asset is added or removed in the game (e.g. adding a tech, removing a unit or building or other), it should be expected that previous savegames are NOT compatible. Same with any DLL recompile. They may luckily or sometimes somehow work, but as a rule expect that generally they don't, and i will not support old save files, if you want to continue playing on them, use the previous version (see /README.md#version-number for info about how we choose version number in advciv-sas) of this mod you were using. E.g. if AdvCiv-SAS version 4946 worked, and then version 4947 broke comptibility in one way or an other, play it with this version instead. I have decided to do so as it's beyond way too tedious and i'm really not sure it's worth preserving compatibility considering the code mess it creates xd. Also i don't know how so i'd rather not, but hopefully keep playing on the old version (same version that you used to create this save file) should be fine or not too bad. Note: XML changes such as increasing the cost of this unit or changing the bonus needed in the xml for this building or such should generally if not always be fine, at least seems so to me, but i don't know too much about these, check if accurate. See related info at KI#46 as well.

Version number

I use the default github branch's commit count as version number.

For example, in our mod's github default branch's main page our mod's github default branch's main page, as of now there are 5187 commits, so this is AdvCiv-SAS 5187.

Using git you can choose any version with git reset --hard or checkout or whatever. On github, you can also download a zip of any commit/version; but i understand it may not be too easy or may be tedious to do so. Although i may release some versions myself (see README_Quick_Install_Setup_Guide.md#download-this-mod-advciv-sas), it is not guaranteed i would do it too often, and especially not at each commit. I hope it is not too hard to do so.

Copyright and Disclaimer

See Copyright and Disclaimer.

Credits

See Credits.

Some Useful tools while doing this

See Some Useful tools while doing this.

License and reuse

You can reuse our work in your projects on the condition that you credit us. Example of credit:

the AdvCiv-SAS mod by wonderingabout and AI helpers

The original authors are listed in the README authors section, including myself, ChatGPT, and Claude AI, and other AI helpers.

Authors

Here are a short info about the authors.

Note: may not list all versions of such models/ais used.

Note 2: for crediting us or reusing our work, see License and reuse.

me, wonderingabout

wonderingabout (github link)

In the advciv-sas mod code, i have flagged my code comments with <!-- custom: in XML, python, C++ as of now any language.

Also, you can find me in civfanatics forum also as username civ4-advciv-oracle-bug hehe xd if i may say.

A significant contribution i made there in particular is the list of things i'd like to be improved or reviewed in advciv, with a saves folder and screenshots for each example, maybe not always but almost or maybe always, in all cases here is the list here for reference as well, may help while developing advciv-sas mod too even though i mostly do XML and python or similar as i don't know much about C++ even though i can/could manage how to expose getters and such cv mgr cpp changes i mean (see readme known issues as well (link in this readme too)), in: summary list of all things i'd want to be reviewed or improved in advciv 1.12 latest as of now at least all i mentioned here and at that time, even though eventually main advciv maintainer @f1rpo was not available to do all, still @f1rpo reviewed quite a bit and made quite a few changes related to these, going in depth as i wanted, even fixing some bugs even though most remain to be reviewed, i can take it from there at least for main ones maybe and tweak them as i want as some are more on the domain of personal choice rather than fixing.

Then as for the second author of AdvCiv-SAS, i proudly present xd:

chatgpt web

4o

(ChatGPT 4o specific assistant and companion that helped me through most if not all of this, in particular tremendously in coding, chat, docs, image generation, but not only, thanks a lot!

It helped me for example do, for example:

• centering text labels
• on top of that wrote docs, gave and entirely almost if not only by itself (and my prompts but anyways thanks a lot chatgpt!!!) wrote new features (such as AI personality and AI personality aggregates (deprecated now but to illustrate maybe etc anyways) for example in python and their Sevopedia doc in XML too for example part 1 and for example part 2 here too (may be other parts or not but anyways))
• taught and told me about some code refactoring ideas (for example part 1 and for example part 2 or hints, probably many other things i didn't list hee too, thanks a lot ChatGPT!
• It may even suggest or help you implement or do itself the code part and commit notes full performance improvements, for example this especially to extensive changes and for example this 2 (too etc).

o3

I used it much much later, and it doesn't have any memory related to me, but gave me nice suggestions, and although i may be mistaken, it seems to be able to view images better, as well as having a bit sharper reasoning too maybe, but check to be sure. So far it suggested to me thanks to my prompts and ideas hehe too to tell it or discuss with it, to rework the japan_doujou (as of now with less gpp i concluded unlike what it advised) and a free specialist spy for flavor thematically hehe (ninjas). Also allows spy economy especially for higher level play, which i find much more intersting than shale plants eheh (i has already reworked the japan civ-specific building to the doujou with chagpt 4o, however this is an extra rework or rebalancing with o3 now too).

I may also go with its suggestion (if we implement it) or idea to remove tech_archery that i got i mean from talking to it, or create a new melee_lancer combat type or something similar for a true rock paper scissor combat early and mid game combat (as of now my idea is archers > lancers > melee brawl, but is just a draft), and add a new tech instead, also having faster early game as a side effect, all which seem very nice and interesting. Also used it subsequently for other changes.

5

I must say i am impressed, it is extremely good, it analysed a gigantic rewrite i made of CvUnitAI::AI_bestCityBuild and related struct and helper map, and it already found a bug and thought for a long time in fast think mode, that BUILD_SCRUB_FALLOUT was missing (i thought there was no build for it), it's analysis is extremely sharp and broad, very very amazing :o. I am very happy and pelased to use it and of its performance, plus it seems that it still has 4o's entire memoreis and can expand on them as well which i had toruble and coudln't do with o3. Very amazing, at least from what i can tell so far, thanks a lot openai if i may say even though give them persitence too but then it may lead to other kind of issues for some people maybe if i may say which may or maybe may not include me.

It also helped me beyond tremendously solve beyond tremendously and enhance AI worker mobility, flexibility, and reliability issue, which improved (no pun) AI strength a lot, see KI#41.

5.1

Helped me nicely fix or enhance things, although i didn't test it too much yet but seems very helpful and reliable thanks a lot but check to be sure.

5.2

Also helped me nicely fix python issues very effectively thanks, i didn't test it yet as well to have a more elaborate opinion or such but it helped me lot thanks.

After some more time using it, what i like the most is how really accurate and and precise it is in its solutions. It checks and double-checks stuff it seems, and i often get a very accurate and targeted surgical fix or solution after a long thinking time which is very nice. Check if this comment is accurate.

RedX new art button

After some more time using ChatGPT 5.2, i have been very imrpessed by ChatGPT 5.2's autonomy and plannfication abilities: this sentiment only grew stronger! Just based on a Sevopedia ingame screenshot showing it was too bold and thus hard to read at a glance, ChatGPT 5.2 took all measurements and provided me various prototypes and shapes, that are fully working after i converted them to .dds! Very impressive, useful and now implemented in our new Sevopedia tech (see example 1.6: techs category (Starting and Untradeable Techs Charts and other changes)) and thanks a lot!!

GPT-Codex (VS Code extension)

Note: see also AGENTS.md.

Create a new Sevopedia category (e.g. Handicap Chart)

Codex (e.g. GPT-5.2-Codex) very impressively helped me implement the new Handicap Chart Sevopedia category (see Other new categories).

Long_Comments extracting

GPT-5.2-Codex Inaugural change: AdvCiv-SAS 5242 - consolidated long XML comments, replaced them in-place with short custom markers, and documented the archive layout. I (Codex) also spotted an inconsistent file name, flagged it to wonderingabout, and we fixed it. Details: commit/940d04ce76fddb1671b22608f66a41cfe6233ddb, PR #17, and the files in Long_Comments/.

5.3

I used GPT-5.3-Codex for a lot of tasks too and so far it brought me a lot of satisfaction!

add Irish Empire end to end (with Youtube video)

Notably, i used it to add the new Civilization ireland with new leaders, assets, etc. Plan done with the help of GPT-5.2-Thinking to save tokens and think more too xd thanks.

I made a YouTube demo to show how it works and how impressive and useful Codex can be. It is very autonomous, follows instructions very well, and code just worked (i only had to fix one bug of not adding comments in an art file, else it just worked). The recording with OBS is a bit laggy for some reason but it works smoothly in VS Code! Thanks a lot GPT-5.3-Codex :)

add and use LLM_Helpers for speeds calibration and autotuning

See /LLM_Helpers/.

5.4

GPT-5.4 is bad at coding, at least it's very tedious and exhausting to use. It makes many mistakes, repeatedly, overlooks fixes, is overly verbose and fails simple pattern repetition.

Switching back to GPT-5.3-Codex brought great satisfaction until openai seemingly decided to reroute to GPT-5.4 forcefully, bringiing back all mistakes again. Plus, they have heavily axed usage following their Pro plan release on Plus despite claiming the opposite. Definitely not a good experience.

Claude AI

Claude (web chat)

Claude AI is the new member of the team, i enjoy using ChatGPT very much, but i also wanted to try Claude AI and had a bit of experience with it, and some people said in some reddit link or such place it was more performant than ChatGPT (before i had tried it or not). Not sure or saying ChatGPT couldn't do it, but it does and did seem fast here and accurate, plus is always nice to have one more tools, but in free version would be limited.

You can view the screenshot of this first successfully implemented in AdvCiv-SAS feature code by Claude AI here: (Claude AI placeCivilizations related Google Drive folder with all or maybe rather at least many screenshots of the steps).

I used many versions/models of it thanks! In partilar recently, claude sonnet 4.5 which helped me plenty, and even more recently claude opus 4.5 which helped me add buttons to the military advisor (with chatgpt 5.2's help and digging thanks too) that look super nice, thanks too hehe!

In particular as well, Claude opus 4.5 also helped add buttons (i.e. icons) to the city screen's production queue at first try as well nice, despite chatgpt 5.2 struggling to do so (on other tasks chatgpt 5.2 does well as well)..

Claude code (VS Code extension)

Note: see also AGENTS.md.

CuCuGS implementation

After having used other LLMs mostly via web chat (i.e. using the web browser), more recently i've been using Claude code (VS Code extension), to successfully implement the CuCuGS screen following f1rpo's original CuCuGS-PoC approach, with claude code Sonnet 4.5. See CuCuGS.

Speeds calibration (with autotuner and compare scripts)

Done with the help of Claude code Opus 4.6 whic was god-like precise. See /LLM_Helpers/.

Other tasks: e.g. performance optimizations

Just like GPT-Codex (VS Code extension), i found Claude code very helpful to automate some code tasks such as performance optimizations, etc.

Gemini AI

2.5 Flash

More recently i also tried gemini AI as i found it mentioned in a reddit post while i was looking at perhaps new chatgpt models or general info about AI in wiki or not, and i used gemini AI to successfully add the list of units/buttons that require a building in Sevopedia building's placeRequiredFor, for example the pagan/buddhist missionary require the pagan/buddhist monastery, or less ambiguously as organized religion civic may override this, in advciv-sas as of now workboats require a harbor in order to be built, see the README_Main_Changes_Guide.md, but now we show it as well in Sevopedia building's harbor(s) page(s) i mean (including civ-specific versions like as of now the barbarian harbor), see also this google drive folder link for example/screenshots of how i implemented it if interested

Note: while gemini ai performs quite well and could do it successfully at first try at least for this task/case, it also created helpers with a different function name which was also uneeded, so i didn't need the numTxt display part of the code so there was no issue, else may have not worked/functionned at first try without a tweak, but works fine so maybe fine but for exhaustiveness.

Note 2: be careful though it is or can be super chatty or analytical/neurotic (a bit like me.) i don't know if it was either or both xd, but i have yet to test its code but maybe it works well, chatgpt also thinks it was overkill, but reading it myself it is smooth to read though, i swear my prompt was short too if i may say and i am thankful for the long explanation really xd. Was happy to test it as such if i may say really, not mocking. Edit: after testing code, it worked great with some small adjustments and giving it the python api doc vs code global search results in particular, its code comments are informative even though i didn't read all or ratheri read all but didn't go too deep into them and just adjusted the result to keep only the code we need plus some tweaks :) Seems to work-function well and benkyo narimashta if i may say and i am not mistaken.

I have also discovered later (or so it seems at least to me) during the worker improve bonus tiles first priority hack i implemented with it (and a bit with chatgpt but mostly with gemini ai), while debugging kmod code that seemingly has(/had? If not a bug, but looks like one but we still disagree, me and gemini ai (at least the 2.5 flash version as of now or so it seems) mercilessly hehe but politely) that it is surprisingly stubborn and strongly opiniated, which i really like if i may say :) Because i am same xd... So or not so still thanks a lot gemini ai :)

Also, gemini ai is very helpful, and seemingly the free version especially :) If the code you're working on i meanis getting too long, consider removing code comments entirely or as much as needed, then feed it a clean file (such as .cpp or such) so it can hopefully read all your code part you were working on, the smaller the better. This advice may also be useful for other AIs like chatgpt or such, but i found it most helpful and as of now in gemini AI (although in theory should apply exact or mostly same with other AIs, but check to be sure).

2.5 Pro

I used it to help refine and co-think with chatgpt 5 on how to solve an issue, and it seems to have helped find a minimal and effective test, at least according to chatgpt 5 as i didn't test it to know, but thanks too i mean gemini 2.5 pro hehe thanks.

3 Pro

Its context is incredibly generous in free mode, and its visual understanding is amazing vs previous AIs it seems based on quick testing thanks a lot!!.

Nano Banana Pro

Helped me amazingly fix the a tech's image and recolor the border as blue thanks a lot!!!

The images are so good i'm losing my mind (in a good way i mean.) thanks a lot!!!

DeepSeek AI

V3 if i'm not mistaken

I also have experimented briefly with deepseek ai, to rearrange the untradeable techs code so that, after i made it now behave as a precompute at cache time only once as the leaders_info_cached does very efficiently, and since it is also the exact same code every time, it is computationally much cheaper and efficient and cleanerto precompute it as cache as well instead of at each new tech selection.

Here is a google drive folder link of for example how i implemented a part of this functionality with deepseek ai to experiment with it, it seems to have understood surprisingly well my request and replied to it well as well.

Note: asking it more complex tasks like adding links as i didn't know how to, it seems to quickly get confused and lost and do unnecessary and inefficient things, in the end helped investigate and explore how to do the task but ended up not doing it as too complicated and not worth it (would have for example to calculate/estimate total height or line count of each szSpecialText, then display at each line with its own iTech just to have the links clickable, when list is already accessible since we are in Sevopedia tech, and would be computationally super or needlessly expensive, at least i think so; not shown in screenshots in the google drive either as well), but it is still helpful though and i only evaluated it on this task, it may do better or not in other tasks i don't know, if i may say still is to provide feedback at least to myself if not to others or not; but in the end it helped me and is friendly at least friendly enough if not lot. And it is also surprisingly good at teaching at least japanese if i may say or so it seems it spontaneously helped and translated instead of overwhelm me with all data xd. Thanks.

V3.1

Helped me attempt to solve using its deep think mode an issue by stealing one of its lines in a very lengthy solutions it provided (crediting it ofc i mean), even though i had to reverse the change in the end, it was a quite good idea if i may say otherwise thanks (even though i don't know too much about these), see update 2 at KI#51.

Grok AI

I also tried Grok 4 (Expert) which helped me among the various AIs i tried get a better idea of how to solve KI#56 (i.e. of the turn 156 crash).

In the end i solved it myself by emprirically disabling code until i found the culprit (see link of the known issue), but its analysis was very sharp among the other AIs i asked (not counting chatgpt 5 which helped me through the whole thing).

I added some of its thoughts as of now after the issue was solved hehe to summarize it in the .cpp code.

Kimi AI

K2

I tested Kimi K2 and it looks very fun! Although i barely tested it yet to have an extensive opinion or experience or such i mean.

K2.5

Look ssolid at least seems to be advertised as such; i tested it for example to make ai-generated more wiki like and the result is decent and quite good thanks.