Is is possible to mod the game? What's the requirement (city number) to get the city building task from Alderman office?

  • Not sure if this forum is still active.
    Does anyone know how to mod the game?
    I bought the Patrician 4, played a number of hours, well they have added a lot of good stuff in it (like improved auto trade route management system, university research system, inland cities founding etc) but more things were removed.
    In the end, I found that I still enjoy Patrician 3 much more than 4. However there are a some things I would like to modify.


    One: if I start a game with the default map, there are only 24 cities, and I'm only able to get 2 city building missions from Alderman's office.
    I know I can change the number of starting cities in the mapeditor, or even the German MapAdjust tool, but I just like to be able to build cities that I can fully control with less production items, it is quite fun.
    If I start a game with like 38 cities on the map, I won't get any city building mission from the Alderman's office. There seems to be a hard limit that says "If the map has more than a certain number of cities, then do not offer any city building mission". Does anyone know what is this city number limit which you still get the city building mission? Or even better does anyone know how to change this number?


    The second thing I would like to mod is the speed of time in battle. It is a little too slow at times if I want to sail my ship to the other side of the screen, especially when the wind is against me.

  • Seems like no one knows about it.
    Fortunately I'm a programmer myself, I found out how to mod the game allowing me to accept city founding missions bypassing the 26 cities limit.
    I've done the hard work of finding out which address you need to modify using a free program called Cheat Engine.
    If anyone else is interested, you just need to modify the value of address 13275F using a hex editor. The original value is 1A which is 26 in decimal and you can change it to any number you like, such as 28 (40 in decimal) so you get to build new cities up to 40 in total.
    Note I never tested with a number more than 40, I think that may crash the game if you decide build another city when you already have 40 cities on the map, so try at your own risk. I don't recommend having it at 40 though, as it may mess up the pirate hideout mission.
    If anyone else is interested, I can also attach my copy of Patrician3.exe so you don't need to do the "cracking" yourself. I only have the English version 1.1 though, don't ask me for version of other languages as I don't have any other versions.

  • Let me add, this mod will work with any previously saved game. So you just need to modify the Patrician3.exe and load your previous game, you should now be able to get another city building task in the Alderman office (up to the number of cities you set).
    For the speed of battle, I still haven't got a clue of how to mod it. Perhaps I should leave it for now.

  • Nice man! i wanted to build more city from alderman office but time passed and no one apperead (alredy have 2). So i 've read your post and download a hex editor but i can't find the line 13275F. My version is 1.12 and is a Italian version. Can you help me out how mod the correct line? may can i send you my game for modding ?

  • Unfortunately I'm not able to help you as the game won't start with your file.

    I may need to download your whole game folder in order to start the game for your version.

    Here's the error I got when using your file.

  • Then load your game which you have different number of cities, like the ones you have already built up to 26, or like mine I have 32 cities on the map now, then enter the number of cities on your map into the Value box and press "Next scan":

  • If there are still a few more results in the left, then repeatedly load the game and enter the number cities in the box and press "Next scan", until you have only one result left.

  • Then go back to your game, load a saved game where you are Lord Mayor, go to the Alderman office for task. This step is crucial as it is the only time when the game checks if you have more cities than its limit. .

  • Then alt tab back to cheat engine and press the stop button at the bottom right corner of the new debugger window, and find the string "cmp dword ptr", and in your screen it should say 1A, but mine I've modified it to 28 (which represents 40 in hexadecimal)

  • Then right click that line and click "Show this address in the disassembler":

    And mark down the address next to the Patrician3.exe. My version now says 1340FC which is a different version from when I did it the first time above. In the "Bytes" column it says something like 83 7D 10 28 (or 83 7D 10 1A for you), you should be able to see the same pattern in your hexeditor.

  • Now you can exit the game, start up HxD (a hexeditor), and drag your Patrician3.exe game file into the HxD window. And look for the address 1340FC, note the same pattern as seen in Cheat Engine 83 7D 10 28 (or 1A for you).

    Just modify the 1A to 28 and save the file. Remember to make a backup of the file in case you mess something up. Now you should be able to build up to 40 cities in game. Enjoy!

  • Thank you so much for coming back and making this greatly deatiled guide dark3001  
    I've tried myself to do this procedure as I'm playing a custom 31-city map, but without more in detail instructions it was hard to achieve the desired result.

    As soon as I am home, I'll give it a go. Thanks again :-)


    EDIT: Tried it and indeed I can now build a new settlement despite playing a 31-city map! Thank you so much, it's awesome!

  • Hello guys,

    Nice find. Wanted to add you can easily replace every single sound in the game, by simply replacing the associated files in the game folder (the sound files only need to be renamed, game just plays them). You will need mp3 format for this.

    Regarding cheat engine tricks: you can mod basically any value in game (population in a city, how much money you have, how many goods, etc). Careful to type sane values (no huge values; in some cases it doesn't matter), or you will crash the game. You can mess around with this, but ultimately it is cheating :) The technique is identical to what dark3001 described (obviously you need to determine the correct memory address for it).


    I also have some mods (from the internet) that I got some time ago, not sure if you can still find them hosted somewhere but I am willing to share if anyone needs:
    -> high resolution pack (you can play the game full hd <3)

    -> patch to v1.1. This patches the game to work properly on windows 10. (fixes MOST crashes; not all; but still huge improvement).

    I would like some insight here if anybody knows: the alt tab issue (the game keeps crashing when alt tabbing in win 10). I tried several things, like various compatibility modes, analyzing logs and whatnot but ultimately I didn't find much useful info (apphelp.dll will ultimately crash, but this is not the source of the problem; it is just where the game dies).

    Good luck everyone :)