Hey,

I'm writing in here because I guess many people want to play with all civilizations in correct starting positions. It's really easy to do so. That's why I won't post saved games, this way, you would play with the civilization, the rules and the difficulty level you want.

Message Edited:
It's now even more easier than ever !
There's only ONE file to download, the map above. It's a self extractor that will automatically install every files in the correct folders.

The read me file explain how to do to get correct locations, with Gramphos and Vonotar, it's becoming so easy that we almost think it's part of the game.

Note: You really need 30 seconds to do it and when you load your edited saved game, you're not in the black and you don't see the map where you used to appear on the first time.

Thanx to Vonotar for that version. I would also like to thank Gramphos cause he already helped a lot with his copy tool before.

Version 1.13 removed after 1786 downloads.
Version 1.17b removed after 1106 downloads.
=> It works now with 1.17f version of Civ3

Here's just the mini map of the Earth Map I'm talking about:

Thanks for the tutorial, Marla. I am going to top this thread. :)

Is there any way to play with a smaller version of the map? The reason I ask is because I played a 16 civ game with correct starting positions on your map, but after about 25 turns, the game goes SOOOOOO slow, it's practically unbearable.

I see they worked out the bugs about the blacked-out starting position and being able to view the previous location.

Very nice. Cant wait to try it.:D

Try to resist the temptation of playing in one sitting.

Instead of trying to play the game in one sitting, treat it as an epic. Take time when it's your turn, plan strategy, then click end of turn. In the 3-10 minutes waiting for your turn, grab a cup of tea, go read a chapter of a book, call up an old friend, etc. you get the idea. Glance once in a while at the screen in case of some message (ie AI wants to talk to you, some city wants to join you, etc). Then when it's the end of the day (or two hour session, or however long you want to play), save your game and make notes of what you plan to do the next day. Then, the next time you play, reload and go at it again. I actually get a lot of chores and things done while waiting for the computer to make it's moves.

I've tried this for a huge map game, and it actually is not too bad, you just need to exercise a little patience, and resist the temptation to sit in front of your computer staring at the computer's moves or all your automated moves. Until there's a patch to fix this, it's basically all you can do.

Hope this helps!

crayonx:egypt:

marla, looking forward to playing your map....i'm not a CIV newbie but am wondering where to save your map file? in the SAV game folder or the scenario folder? thanks for the help. rgds, will

Well, I advise you to save my map in the scenario folder.
To play on it, you just have to choose "new scenario" in civ3 main menu.
Every .bic files should be in scenario (well it's easier)
Every .SAV files should be in saves.

For example, the joan d'arc.sav files I've posted as an example of the result when we play with all civs in correct locations, should be in the saves folder.

Bye :)

thanks marla! i'm looking forward to trying your map. rgds, will

Marla,

This is a fantastic map!!

Carefull! I might actually start liking the French if you keep this up :D

The Zip attached below contain's Marla's 1.085 Map and Mortioso's CivBreed 0.45 Utility.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Extract files to your Civilization directory

2. Start new scenario game with Marla's Map

3. Save game as "FIX.SAV"

4. Run the file "RUN_THIS.BAT" in your saves directory (inside the Civilization directory)

5. Load up "FIXED.SAV"

6. Play :D

My apologies to Gramphos I crawled all over your Civ3CopyTool thread, installed numerous VB runtimes and OCX files and it still would not work on my XP system so I decided to find a better way

Aloisia Vonotar

P.S.
Marla / Mortioso, yes I suppose I've taken liberties with your files but you two really should team up together on this. The attached zip is only 108K while I downloaded over 2Mb trying to get Civ3CopyTool working!

P.P.S.
Sorry Mod's I intend to post this a few places where people are experiencing the same problem's as Me (both on Apolyton and CivFanatics). Feel free to dock my Post's count accordingly!

Edit: See New Version (1.13) further down this thread

The copytool doesn't work on xp ??? :(
Damn', with my old windows98 I haven't checked that (ok I'm lazy to do upgrades). Ok, I've just put online the version 1.10 of the map and I've totally relooked the readme file. I guess I just need to add your tutorial in the readme for xp users.
To be honnest, I've downloaded civ3breed, but to ask me to write myself the name of the save file is already too much. Anyway, it doesn't look that hard, I'll add civ3breed tutorial to the readme file.

Mara: Can I post this as a tutorial at my site ?(http://www.trakoria.f2s.com)

Well, I feel a lot honoured that you want to post it to your site :).
Of course you can do so, I would be pleased about it !!

:hammer:
:flamedevi

I tried the map provided by Marla_Singer and also the instruction provided by Thunderfall as to how to get the map working but I
recived the following error:
" Civilization3.e.exe generated errors and will be closed by windows. You will need to restart the program".

By the way I'm running win2000.(i'm not sure whether that has any bearing)

Any help is appreciated....:(

Thanks

Hi you all,

I have trouble changing the number of civs with the scenario editor. I'm interested in playing on small and tiny maps with say 8 to 10 oponenets, but when I change this number in the editor my tech tree does not work any more (I can not select which techs I want to research). Did anyone have the same dificulties and/or knows the solution, ot is it only the problem with win'95.

Thanks a lot,
Blue

VERY GOOD JOB, i tried World Maps 1.11 and thanks to you Marla, Vonotar and Mortioso ! :goodjob:

i've posted vonotar's World Map 1.11. zip on my Civ3 webpage
Eyn's World (http://www.multimania.com/eyn)
I've just had a french readme.txt in the zip (which credits and thanks all of you and translate instructions)

what a wonderfull earth map Marla !

Firaxis should contact you to help them to create good earth map
Perhaps could you allow them to use your map for their next patch =)))

encore Bravo !

Originally posted by Eyn
VERY GOOD JOB, i tried World Maps 1.11 and thanks to you Marla, Vonotar and Mortioso ! :goodjob:

i've posted vonotar's World Map 1.11. zip on my Civ3 webpage
Eyn's World (http://www.multimania.com/eyn)
I've just had a french readme.txt in the zip (which credits and thanks all of you and translate instructions)

I'm going all red now :blush: see my next note about v1.13

I've just finished a tool I've been working on since the XP problem showed up. It is a C++-made tool to move the civs with CPF-files.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11829

I don't know if it work on XP, but it doesn't use a single line VB in it. (Only very many lines converted from VB)
Could anyone with XP test it.
It should also be easier (and faster) then the C3CT to move the civs, as you only can do that with the tool.

OK, I think I've finally cracked it!

Firstly I should point out that the Map included in this package is identical to Marla's v1.10. The difference is I've now added a proper installation routine. This has been tested on Windows 95/98 & XP.

Download the attachment below, it's a zip with one single file inside. I had to zip the file since I can't post .exe's direct to the forum. Extract the file (to anywhere) and run it. The installation will ask for your Civilization III directory and then install itself.

Once it is installed you will have a new folder in your Start Menu called “Marla Singer’s Scenarios”. In this will be two shortcuts, one is the Read-me file (Word format), the other shortcut is the tool for correcting player locations

This version automatically uninstalls versions 1.09 1.11 & 1.12 (all of which were my messes). It doesn’t uninstall any of Marla’s official versions.

As before, start a game like normal with Marla's Map. Save it straight away as FIX.SAV, then run the player location tool off the start menu (you don't need to quit Civ3). Once the tool has finished load up FIXED.SAV in Civilization, and that's it!

Email me at aloisia-vonotar@lastlands.org with your comments (complaints) and that will help me to produce a better product.

Hope you find this straight-forward and easy to use. Happy Civing!

Aloisia Vonotar

UPDATE: v1.13 Goes Official!! Download it now from page one of this thread!

Vonotar, your file has been added on the first post.
I thank you a lot for all your time and all your help.
I would like also to say a BIG thanx to Gramphos who helped already a lot with his copy tool.
Thanx to both of you and to all the others. I feel so great !!

Hi aurigas & CaptBlue, you guys probably should ask for help in Marla Singer's tutorial thread directly. :)


http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10798

Thanks for creating that map. I downloaded it just and I will now test it. False starting positions are very bad thing in Civ3. I wonder, why there were not correct starting positions in the game, because there were in the Civ2. Why the game got worse?

great job marla and the many others creating great maps and stuff like even starting positions...
i remember i couldnt bear myself to play civ3 if the egyptians or romans didnt start in their CORRECT place! I mean WTH! Whats soo hard bout firaxis implenting this?!
makes me mad :mad: that we have to do all this and make up mods because they couldnt implement them in the first place!
aaaaaaargh

just my rants....
keep up the great work guys :)
:p

Real World Maps:-

One thing that worries me about playing with a real world map is that I KNOW what the World looks like - for example I can send a settler to Saudi Arabia to grab the oil even before it appears. The AI civs of course don't know this. Because of this, using the Firaxis world map I got my easiest victory ever (Chieftan level) as I had all the strategic resources wrapped up before the Middle Ages started!

To my mind the only fair way to play is to set everything to random as then you have idea whether you're on a small island or Pangaea.

Hey, do you know if that download works on the MAcintosh version as well?:confused:

Marla....

Marla was that annoying scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you would stop tounging it.

Thank you Marla. Thank you so Very much. Just a word to the wise.....Avoid the clam chowder.

Greetings, Marla!

I have PM'ed a query to you. Your map is beautiful, I would be honored if you could help me figure out some problems I'm having with it. Thank you!

Is there any way to get your start positions fixer working for Civ 3 on a mac?
I am a programmer so if I had acess to the source code I'd be more than happy to port the program u use.

Originally posted by bloodycelt
Is there any way to get your start positions fixer working for Civ 3 on a mac?
I am a programmer so if I had acess to the source code I'd be more than happy to port the program u use.
Drop me an email and I can see what I can do. (Have been looking for someone to port CPT for a while, but the one I found never replied, so I guess that you might be able to do it instead)

non-windows version

read the worldmap.txt for a list of things you will need to change/copy I don't have a Mac or the expertise to create an automatic installer for the Mac version.

You'll also need to wait for Gramphos CPT to be converted if you want correct start positions

Vonotar

Nevermind, I got it to work... :D

i use marla's map 1.13 and i've just patch to 1.17f
with or without the new Civ3Edit, i can't load FIXED.SAV !
error msg while it load:

DATAIO error
Operation system error: TILE

I am having this same error... I have conversed with KittenofChaos about it. I was unaware it was patch related.
Anybody have a fix on this yet?

Joe

Help me! I can't get it to work on the Mac, but I bloody need it! :confused: Could someone port this please?

:love:

Originally posted by Eyn
i use marla's map 1.13 and i've just patch to 1.17f
with or without the new Civ3Edit, i can't load FIXED.SAV !
error msg while it load:

DATAIO error
Operation system error: TILE

Known problem, Download 1.18 from top of thread

All other problems please see the main thread for this map here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9829)
(Including info on Mac compatibility)

This isn't really a "problem" but I'm having to manually enter the city names each time I create a new city. It defaults to the capitol name. I'm not THAT lazy, but was just wondering if this was normal. Thaaaanks.
-W.T.

Yes, I have the capital name problem too. Having to think up new city names each time quickly become a major pain in the butt!

Also, I don't know if this is a bug or just plain dumb luck on my part, but I played a game on Marla's map the other day and I didn't have ONE Great leader! And I was using the Germans (militaristic)! Attacking the AI and winning with elite units was never so unrewarding.

Anyone else have this problem or was it just bad luck? At any rate, an excellent map to plan on. I especially enjoyed the lack of uranium on the map - makes the nuclear era much more realistic.

Originally posted by DubTee1480
This isn't really a "problem" but I'm having to manually enter the city names each time I create a new city. It defaults to the capitol name. I'm not THAT lazy, but was just wondering if this was normal. Thaaaanks.
-W.T.

Only thing I can think of is that you don't have a city by that name, e.g. if your playing England then the game will keep suggesting London until you call one of your cities by that name. So if your playing England but don't want a city called London then the game will forever suggest the name London.

This is how Civ3 works, it's not part of the Map/Mod

Well, it's freeware... so I'm not complaining. Bundled with the Read Me is a list of cities for each civ, you can print it out and look at it everytime you create a new city. Idk about the leader thing, I've played a few games w/o using Marla's world (but never finished b/c of time and new patches coming out) and I have til yet to get a leader. It'd be nice to learn a little strategy using armies, but.... Anyway, Marla's World is awesome I can live with typing a city name in each time :goodjob:

Vonotar: I was playing Germany, but I used Berlin the first time it suggested to and kinda winged it naming Leipzig and Hamburg (from memory) but even though I had a city named Berlin, it persisted in suggesting that one. idk, I'll survive though....

When playing with germany i had the same naming cities problem, however while playing japan i did not. In fact, i've built so many cities that it's regurgitating my old cities except throwing "new" in front of them (eg. New Kyoto), I also have a "Neo" Kyoto. So i'm wondering if it's maybe just a problem with some civ's (eg. Germany) and not others (eg. Japan), or if it just works randomly. It would be interesting to see what others have found.

Thanks for the map marla

This means we get scenarios soon?

OK so i just downloaded the zip, but i'm unsure what chaotic forces i will unleash when i run the EXE.

Do i just run it in my CIV3 directory? (no readme attached)

Also, what exactly does this exe do? I'd hate having to unassemble and uncompile it.

Thanks Marla it worked really well! I'm no longer bothered by haveing annoying starting locations of other civs like japan in rome and egypt were the u.s. is. Thanks again.

Okay - this is wierd.

When I try to use the correct starting positions exe's, they dont work. Both the small exe and Civ3edit give me some type of "invalid file" or "wrong file type" message.

It is saying that my sav files are not sav files! WTH?

I am running Windows XP, and am using the NT style file format.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

:confused:

It just doesnt work. i get a pop up box with nothing in it and the "ok" button. the title bar says "Invalid". The "FIXED" file is 0 bytes large... I am running off of 1.21 patch on an XP based system. any ideas on how to fix it so I can place the Civs in the right places?

Thanks
Myke

I don't know if you're even checking this thread anymore, because it is rather old, but when I try to use this program, it gives me the FIXED.SAV file. But when I try to load that file it just gives me an error message. Any idea what I may be doing wrong?

Oh, wow, I just read some of the posts above me and I notice I'm not the only one. So what's wrong with it?

Originally posted by Myke5161
:confused:

It just doesnt work. i get a pop up box with nothing in it and the "ok" button. the title bar says "Invalid". The "FIXED" file is 0 bytes large... I am running off of 1.21 patch on an XP based system. any ideas on how to fix it so I can place the Civs in the right places?

Thanks
Myke

This is a Known Issue Due to 1.21f Patch

-- Issue Description:

This issue is due to a change in the way CivIII saves files, which has taken place in the 1.21f Patch. Save files are now compressed, so that where as they may have taken between 3 and 5 megs to store before, they now only take a few hundred K. the prevcious version of CPT (which is a tool used in correcting the start positions) did not have to un compress the files, and as such no longer works.

-- Issue Fix:

There is a new copy of CPT (CPT 1.05), it is located here:

CPT 1.05 (http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=131945)

After Downloading, extract the file into the following directory:

Civilization III\Modpacks\common\tools\cpt

It will replace the existing file. You will now be able to use the Marlas maps, and have the correct starting positions by following her instructions! :-D

Enjoy!

Cool, thx. It works fine, now. :)

Marla's map makes for one real good game. I add some horses to the american continent though just to make things more even.

Will this work with v1.21? And why is the GOTM always for 1.17, too? I like the newest patch

Originally posted by 1297ad
Will this work with v1.21? And why is the GOTM always for 1.17, too? I like the newest patch

Yes, the problem is that the 1.21f patch changed the way the saved games were stored, so that they are compressed now, the jump was from the 1.17f patch directly to the 1.21f patch, and the previous patch was 1.13f. do to this, and sinc ethe people above mentioned that they were useing the 1.21f patch I neglected to mention the patch number. I will re-edit the above message to include it.

Originally posted by Sparhawk
Marla's map makes for one real good game. I add some horses to the american continent though just to make things more even.

I was thinking about this too Marla, and it would be right to assume that you should not, from YOUR perspective, that the last of the equine Native to North and South America dissapeared roughly 20,000 years before the start of the game, however, America did not exist in 1600 AD, let alone 3000BC, yet we play with that as a civ (kind of silly I admit, but there would never be a way to correctly have a civil war witht he english leaving americans in a meaningful way in the game (though they tried civil wars in civ2 the concept was hardly workable). But I digress.

In any case, I was thinking that it might make sence to include equines since they were there at one point and simply died out due to Ice ages, and now, today roam freely and wildly on the plains of America, as they once did 20,000 years ago.


What really irked me, was that COAL, one of the most abundant reasources on earth which also appears in-game, is highly under represented in the map you have created. even today it is still our most plentiful fossile fuel, and nearly every location on earth has a source of coal near to it. Eroup and america especially have many coal deposits.

Another I feal, inadequately scattered reasource is Oil.

I know part of the problem in Civ3 is that Oil only occurs in the Desert tiles, and that this is far from the truth in real life; however, Central and south america are not a wholely Oil devoid area, in fact many of the dictatorships there support themselves on Oil, it is most of the Nationalised comerce comes from such. We as americnas refuse to trade with them for political reasons, but the Oil exists none the less. Perhaps some areas of Oil that are also being mined at sea coudl be represented on land near-by as well.

I know you took the time to try and spread the reasources to increase the trade between nations, but I question whether these two major reasorces were adiquately proportioned to their distribution on earth. that of course, is my two cents, and you may take it or leave it.

Aah the famous marla, i think i have some other world maps on you. very nice very nice indeed. this may seem like a stupid question, but im too lazy to read through whole thread....clarify this. what vers patch is your new world map with all the civs in correct place, and what is civbreedtool? it puzzled me

Great map. I ran into few probs tho. The first time the starting point for me (America) was correct and then I clicked 'correct start locations' and did the whole save thing. When i loaded 'Fixed.Sav' it started me off in a wrong location (Japan). I then played the Fix.Sav file which was correct and played it until my CPU (windows millenium edition) made an error. I've tried again about 10 times and it did the same thing. Whats wrong and what should I do since I really want to start the game as realiistic as possible (with your map). Thanks.

Cool map!

You forgot to explain for what it is:CIV3 VERSION ?! or PTW ?!

I got the CIV3 1.29F and that Mod does not work !!
When I follow the instructions and run the tool, it tells me just:

"INVALID TYPE:"

hmm another mod that doesn't work *LOL*

Whitestar, if you look at the dates of the previous posts in this thread (the most RECENT one is almost a YEAR OLD), you might realize that it was done for Civ3, original version. I believe it has been tweaked up to about v1.21f for Civ3.

Don't complain that a mod released 2 years ago, and last updated a year ago, doesn't work with the current version of the game. ;) Heck, PTW didn't even EXIST the last time anything of import was added to this thread.

Sorry that I was a little bit angry about it :o(((

I just uninstalled Civ3 and installed it new with 1.17F Patch and now it works perfectly...

Sorry again :o((

It's now really good I like it much !!