I've finally updated the PowerBar trainer to be compatible with Civ III version 1.16f (the not-so-recently released patch). Sorry, I should have checked for the existence of a patch before releasing the PowerBar.

The files are too large to post here, so both versions of the PowerBar are available at:
www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com)

Please contact me with any problems at crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

The features are the same, here they are:
==============================

1. Identifies all civs currently playing.

2. Gives player complete control over all civ treasuries - set them at will.

3. Identifies all cities.

4. Gives players the ability to complete (at no expense) or ruin the production in any city (player's or opponent's).

5. Allows player to build a particular unit or improvement in each city with the click of a button. Simply select that improvement in one of your cities, then click the "build -> All" button and voila, each of your cities completes the project (at no expense). This quickly adds marketplaces, banks, etc. to each of your cities, rather than visiting every city individually. And it builds huge militaries FAST.

6. Allows the player to ruin the production in each city of a selected Civ, or just a particular city.

7. Allows players to assign opponents to an "Enemy List", whereby the production in each of their cities is ruined each turn. Great for limiting their expansion early in the game.

8. The PowerBar resides in the upper right corner of the screen, and can be retracted upward and out of the way using the "Hide" button. It returns when the player clicks on the lower part of the bar that remains barely visible while retracted.

Hi everyone. I received an email indicating that the production some of the Wonders was not being fully completed with the "Build" functions. I've corrected the problem and posted revised versions of the PowerBar at www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com)

I've also uploaded smaller "patch" files for those who have already downloaded the entire program. Simply download, unzip, and copy the executable to the install directory and you'll be patched.

Thanks for the kind emails I've received, and thanks to squirle99 for reporting the "Wonder" bug.

Please feel free to report additional bugs to crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

Thanks ,
Joe

Your program looked ok, until it crashed my game.

you have to get these things right:

1) make the program all in 1 file (size doesn't matter)
2) fix the Wonder bug (its probably fixed already)
3) Get a more modern freeware installer application (I'm sure they're out there somewhere)
4) NO DLL'S IN MY WINDOWS DIRECTORY
5) NO DLL'S IN MY WINDOWS DIRECTORY
6) NO DLL'S IN.. erhm.. nevermind... :)

you get the point.. thanx for the effort though ;)

Sorry to hear that. Can you describe the events that led to the crash? I'd like to try and figure out what happened. Thanks for the Freeware tips too. BTW, which version of windows are you running?

Thanks,
Joe

Actually, I think the Powerbar is great CrsadrJoe. Very easy to use, and i like the hide feature..and no crashes here...win98

Only problem I have found, is that it has problems finding all the cities. Still a small nation, four cities, however, even after about 20 turns, it only picked up my first two. Closed everything, restarted, this time, found two other cities (but not even my captial this time).

oh well, wait to see a new download!

For the most part, a very good job, Joe.

I noticed a marked difference between performing functions mid-turn and performing functions at the end of a turn [when one chooses to always wait at the end of the turn]. It seemed that quick build only worked at the period of suspension at the end of the turn. Quick build also seemed not very reliable if there were to be special events [palace upgrades, technology advance, etc.] in the following turn.

I also noticed some problems with 'quick build'ing in 'ALL' cities. The PB built the city improvement [in this case the Colosseum - which is misspelled in the PB, btw ;)] in my capital city [Moscow], but merely qued the Colosseum in all my other cities.

I also noticed the aforementioned unreliable city finding function.

Again, a very good job. Keep it up.

Thanks guys for the very constructive comments. I did a good amount of play-testing myself (I use PB every game for something or other), but you just don't get a good thorough evaluation until others have a chance to put it through its paces (and i never catch those spelling mistakes ;)). Right now I'm focussing on stability. I'm trapping every possible exception all throughout the code - leaving nothing for Windows to handle. i think this will greatly reduce (read: hopefully eliminate) any potential crashes.

Regarding the missing cities, that was a problem in my initial testing also. There is a trade off between the speed of the search function and its thoroughness. I thought I had it pretty well optimized, but evidently not. Soooo, I've loosened it up a bit and tried it with a variety of game situations, each successfully. One instruction I neglected to include is that PB shouldn't be launched until a city has been created. I'll either eliminate that requirement, or test for and handle it.

I'm uploading a test version here, and would greatly appreciate any feedback - especially as it relates to "find city" and "Build all" functions (both of which are improved here).

As to PB's effectiveness during mid-turn periods, that is a very good point! During the pause at the end of the player's turn is when PB-changes should be made (which of course means the option to 'pause at the end of each turn' must be enabled). This is partly because PB should write to the CivIII process memory when CivIII is working as little as possible with it. The game doesn't really modify a lot of stuff during this "pause", thus it tends to be safe writing time. i will either need to disclaim this in the instructions, or find a way to synchronize the activity between PB and CivIII (yikes, a scary thought).


Thanks again for the feedback!
(attached file is the zipped executable. Just drop it into your PB install folder and rename it to match your shortcuts - or rename your shortcuts :) )

Joe,

The only "problem" I had with your utility is that it only lists my first 10 cities...is there any way to "fix" the code so all cities are shown and not just the first ten?

Redman

Joe,


Great job!!

I had no problems using PB with "Windows ME" on the "Chieftain level" at this time I am up to Modern times on the tech chart.

I have 24 cities and all cities are displayed.

The hide feature is a great thing.

Every thing listed in the pull down menu’s seem to me to be working as described, as I play more and at higher levels, I will give you feedback if I encounter any problems.

Thanks for a great utility,

Ken

Just an FYI, I also cannot get the city list to load completely. I'm using Windows 2000 Professional.

I still get what I want, though, because I just set my money really high and rush production in each city. The full city list could build one hell of an army, though.

ok i found out how to start the program after starting civ 3 but i have a problem well when i load my game yes it is there but all the boxes are empty how do i select my cities in it so i can start using it? i know im not doing something right.


Thanks for your time!

This programs looks like it would be pretty good, but can you make it compatible for windows XP?

hi guys,

I was away for Christmas and haven't been online lately. I'll try to answer most of the posted questions here.

Please note that I uploaded a patch and new version of Power Bar to www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com) . This is the same version I uploaded to this board a few days ago for testing, and the feedback has been pretty solid. I'd suggest that if anyone has had problems with cities not showing up, crashes, lock-ups etc, that they give this patch a try if still interested.


NOTE: It is highly recommended that players wait until at least one city has been built before launching PB (this does not apply to loading saved games wherein cities have already been built).


1) Cities Not Showing - This should be fixed in the current patch

2) Crashes and Lock ups - It is HIGHLY recommended and possibly necessary to only perform PB functions at the end of your turn, prior to the computer's turn. This requires that we enable the 'pause after each turn' option in the 'Preferences' menu. This is simply because PB should only write to a memory space in the Civ process when Civ is as idle as possible. That tends to be the case during this pause.

3) Windows XP Compatibility - I do not have a version of XP to compile and test on. I'm afraid this will have to wait.

4) Sharing Source Code - I have a policy against sharing source code, sorry. There are many references on the internet and at the Microsoft Knowledge Base about inter-process communication though. Some are specifically written with gaming in mind.


Thanks again to all of you who have written and posted your positive and constructive findings and criticisms. I will continue trying to enhance and bullet-proof PB, and will announce new versions as they develop.

Thanks,
Joe
:)

hi guys,

just finished using Gramphos' excellent copy tool and Cokal's hacked editor and guess what --- PB will not work with versions of the game that have been modified. i know why though, and tomorrow I will look into expanding its compatibility with customized versions of the game.

Joe

Originally posted by CrsadrJoe
hi guys,

just finished using Gramphos' excellent copy tool and Cokal's hacked editor and guess what --- PB will not work with versions of the game that have been modified.

I've noticed some wierd stuff here too. I've been trying to use PB to help me test my Brittish Isles mod.

First thing I noticed is the civ names in PB are the original names. For example, the Romans have been replaced with The Danelaw in my mod but shows up as Romans in PB.

Money adjustment always works :)

I have the find city problem also (this is without the new version - I'll try that tonight). It seems to find cities better if they have names from the original game (will usually find Edinburgh but never Mont St Michel).

Great job on this program. It's a huge helper for testing this (rather massive) mod!

Thanks for the tool! Works great, but here's a suggestion. I know you have the feature to build a certain improvement/unit in all your cities at once (by clicking ALL). But what I'd prefer is to have my cities finish building whatever they're currently building, not the same thing as the city selected.

Right now, I have to click each city individually and click Build.

sensei

CrusaderJoe,

Nice Program. I am probably the guy you like to hear from least. You can't fix any bugs if I don't find any. :D I run XP and Civ PowerBar and have had no problems with either. I sometimes would get a crash from the PB program, but I just load it up again with no problems. I'm about to download your newest update so if something changes Ill be sure to let you know.

Excuse me but it not piracy to give out a download of a CD!

It would be piracy for me to have given out the cd-key but not the software! thanks


Now if anyone would like winodws XP let me know

you'll have to supply your own KEY!

Well, i downloaded the newest version here and i used PB for a german game i had already started with near 30 cities, it worked just fine untill i started a new game as the germans, and everything got changed for the new game. it recognized all the civs (there are 15 civs instead of 5), but the problem is, it still has my old city list with 30 cities instead of my one city of berlin.

Devman133
"An eYe above the rest"

Hmmmm, the old city data is probobly still in memory. It may be necessary to save the game, exit, and restart Civ III and PB both when that happens.


New version on the way
I am testing a newer version of PowerBar right now which includes the following features:

1) It is compatible with 'customized' units and buildings. Meaning, it will recognize the new units and buildings created with the CopyTool and editor, and treat them normally.

2) A new button was created to complete the existing production in each city. This is in addition to the button that completed the production of a particular unit/bldg in each city - as suggested by senseilee.

3) I've optimized the code a bit, so it's smaller and more fault tollerant. That is stuff i should have done before I posted it - sorry I jumped the gun a bit :crazyeyes

4) minor changes to the interface were made to allow for more buttons. It looks cleaner now, although maybe not as intuitive.

5) The city lists are now sorted alphabetically, another senseilee request :)

I will post a note here when this version is ready for public testing.

Again, thanks to all who have written me with your suggestions, bugs, and comments.
Joe

Well now this thing (Powerbar) is fun.

For those of us who like to watch massive armies swoop down on those pesky whoevers, this is the trainer.

The only problem I have is that sometimes I get most of the cities and sometime I only get one. I never get them all. But I see in this forum that you're working on that.

If you really want to have nearly complete control of things, combine the Powerbar with Erik Tan's Savegame Editor.

"Fear me. I rule."

Originally posted by MartinW
For those of us who like to watch massive armies swoop down on those pesky whoevers, this is the trainer.


Funny, I would have said it's for those of us that don't like seeing massive armies swooping down :D

I swear, Ghandi and I just can't share a planet. Every time I get near him, a plague of elephants rains down upon my poor, peaceful peoples :eek: :lol:

"Funny, I would have said it's for those of us that don't like seeing massive armies swooping down."

I didn't mean that I would bombard somebody's coastline with an unusually large fleet of AEGIS Cruisers a little too early in the game.

Okay, so maybe I would.
:egypt:

I have tried severl times to install your utility and I always have the same problem.

pspapi.dll is already in use.
I am using win 2000 pro and only have my virus scan running.

hi Slane,

This error is generated because the install program is trying to copy a file to your machine that 1) you already have, and 2) is in use with another program.

The solutions are:

1) Terminate the program using the file, then install (it could be your AV software. psapi.dll is used for process monitoring and information gathering).

2) Simply download the "patch" file from the website instead of the entire installation program. You may need two additional files, msvbvm60.dll and an .OCX file, which you'll be notified of when you launch PB. Simply download those from the Microsoft website into the PB folder (or the Windows\System folder), and you'll be set. It's very possible you already have those however, they're widely distributed.

A much improved version of Powerbar is available at

www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com).

It includes the features I previously mentioned as "in testing", and is much more stable. Those who have previously downloaded the entire program will only need the patch file.

Slane, this version does not use psapi.dll :-)

:goodjob:
I've used this on some recent games and it works great. It is a grumpy program sometimes and loads slow. It's helped me through a couple of roughmoments (learning experiences) I just recommended it to the Yahoo Civ II Club.

Thanks

yeah, the power bar is great but, it does take awhile to load, and another thing that takes away from it is that after you make a new city you have to load it again which takes time and becomes irritating. other than that its a great program, good job :crazyeyes

Wow, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself, but the new PowerBar just picked up a new city the same turn I built it! Huge improvement over the earlier versions, and I quite liked those. ;)

One thing, though - why can't I set treasuries to zero? All three versions of PowerBar I've used have had this same limitation. Is there a reason it can't be done? :confused:

well, i hadn't been able to play long enough with it to see something like that, but i do like that its gonna work with modified parts of the game. i haven't gotten any of the mod packs that make like units and stuff but now i can :D

Great job Joe!

Ran it this morning with the Brit Isles mod. It picked up all of the correct civ and city names perfectly. Load time is appreciably longer but it's worth it to get everything in there.

One thing I noticed was when I completed a construction with the PB then changed it in the city I got a message that 67,500 odd shields would be wasted. I'm assuming you moved away from applying the exact number of shields and are just applying a sh*tload of shields now?

hi guys,

Glad to hear it seems to be working alright. :)

A word about the load times - each attempt I've made to optimize the city searches has resulted (inevitably) in some cities being missed at some point. Not always though. In fact, some of the optimized searches worked pretty well. What do you guys think of adding a "Quick Search" option in addition to the "load" function? Quick-Search could be used until it fails to locate a city, at which point we'd have to re-Load the bar. I agree though, the load times are sometimes unbarably long, and I haven't given up on finding a successful means of optimizing the search.

Treasuries not bing set to zero however is a serious problem! :) I had forgotten about that, and I just fixed it. Early on there was a reason for that, but i don't recall what it was at this point. The feature will be included in the next release. If you'd like it right away, send me an email and I'll zip it on over to you(crsadrjoe@earthlink.net).

Shaitan you are absolutely correct - good eye! :) I abandoned the precise shield count because I kept running into variations in the amounts required based on difficulty levels. Then i was informed that the option is customizable in the editor, and figured too many is better than not enough - so 'completing' a city project literally throws 65535 or so shields at it, no matter what it is. I guess we could consider the excess to be pork-barrel spending... :P

Please continue to send any requests or suggestions, and of course bug reports.

Don't worry about the 0-patch, I'll just pick it up on the next update.

As for the number of shields, though: I don't know what size integer Civ3 uses for production, but if it's only a 16-bit number (which seems likely) then using 65535 could be dangerous - if somebody hits the Build or Build all button before Civ3 gets around to calculating a city's production for the turn, it could result in an overflow, which could be varying degrees of bad.

A safer - but still quite sufficent - value would be 60,000 or so.

That is a very good point. They do use a 32-bit value though, so there is a bit of room to spare.

Still, I could bring the shield count down so as to not "waste" so many. Does anyone know what effect (if any) continually wasting shields has on the other aspects of the game, like the score, public opinion, etc?

the mod works great, good job. that quick search button idea would be cool. :cool:

The problem with the Powerbar is that it's downright addicting. I tried to give it up for a while, but had to come back to using it. When I did, I found you had updated it and it's even better.

This last game I must have had 40 cities and it found them all. (After a couple tries, but who's complaining?)

Some trainers are interesting but can take away from the fun of the game. This one actually makes the game more fun.

Well, that's enough ranting for now.

I would like to suggest something that might be too much trouble but I think would be great. What if you put a button that would complete all production projects instead of just the one? We could fill the production cue of all or some of our cities and then go through them with the push of a button.

Is this a good idea or am I just getting spoiled?

(I used the game editor to create an all-powerful panzer that goes through and wipes everybody out who gets in its way. Why is this so much fun to me?) :scan:

Found a few bugs, Joe.

Intermittent - When you use the "Donate" button to complete the current build in all cities, sometimes the city that is in the list box does not get built.

Intermittent - After using "Donate" button, return focus to game screen to refresh map view. Some cities still show time left to build. Go to city screen and shield box will be full. Return to map and it now shows 1 turn to build.

Intermittent - When you have a wonder being built and use the "Donate" button the wonder will not always be built. Sometimes it simply goes down to a few (17 to 25 was the range I saw) turns left. Using the "Build" button on that city will work correctly.

The MYTH trainer that was made for the pre-1.16f patch allowed you to hurry science production also. I know this is not where you are currently focusing your attention, but I really miss this option. It would be nice to see this in a future version. I must congradulate you on the excellent :goodjob: trainer you have put together! You are really helping us addicted players get the most we can out of the game.

Keep on!
Laura
laurasmiles69@hotmail.com

hi guys,

Regarding the bugs shaitan found:

1) I will investigate this. That should not happen.

2) This relates to when the game refreshes this part of the display. Usually clicking ahywhere which causes the screen to shift position is sufficient (and sometimes that isn't even necessary). Sometimes you actually have to open and close a city screen to force it to refresh.

3) I will look into this. It's possible we're still applyng only 255 shields in this function - instead of the 65535 applied in the 'Build' routine. That will have to be chnged.

Thanks for the heads up! Keep 'em coming... :-)


Regarding Laura's request:

This has been a popular request, and I've begun looking into it. I expect to add the ability to complete or ruin the research for any tribe - and perhaps add that to the 'Enemy Suppress' feature. I hope to have something done by Sunday (might be tough though, my girlfriend just informed me that we're painting the living room this weekend :confused:

I loved your trainer so far! Great stuff!

I've downloaded the new version, and any time I try and run it, it comes up with a Run-Time Error'9' : Subscript out of range message.

Now, im assuming im the only one experiencing this problem, but I thought I post anyways to see if any knows how I can fix this or if they are having the same problem.

If not, I guess obviously it's something wrong with my computer, and I wont be able to get any help :)

If you have any idea what's up with that, please leave a message here. If not, well I guess Im on my own :)

Thanks a lot for your time.

And thanks a lot for a great program CrusdrJoe!

Im also getting that out of range error. On the old version it used to load and then nothing would be displayed in the drop down boxes...but if i typed in the city name it would be found...i just couldnt do anything to it because i couldnt find the civilization.
But the new version just crashes with that error 9.

Works fine so far with XP. Have been playing heavy for 2 weeks and no problems.

Yeah Ive been using it for about 2 weeks as well. and the old version worked fine for me, no problems. it's the new version, released on like the 7th, that ive had trouble with. If you've been playing it for 2 weeks, chances are you have the old version, which, as Ive said I had no problems with either.

But, other people have already posted that the new version is working fine for them, so perhaps it's just me with the new version :)

Thanks

I haven't seen it in the new version yet, but I got 'subscript out of range' errors several times in the previous version, and I finally worked out the pattern to it. The error occurs whenever you try to pull the list down, but the list contains a city that isn't on the map. This would happen when I loaded a save game but forgot to tell PowerBar to look for new cities, and sometimes when a city got destroyed. Fortunately, on Windows 2000 (and probably XP) this doesn't cause any real problems, and PowerBar can simply be re-opened. I don't know if 95/98/Me have more serious problems with it.

for me it happens when I open the program. It doesn't even start to load, just comes up with the error message.,

Hi Menahs,

I've compiled a version of the program that includes some message boxes that will help us locate the problem. Since i can't seem to reproduce the error here, would you mind giving it a try and letting me know which of the messages you receive?

Please email me if you can, and I'll send you the file.

Thanks,
joe
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

h ey love the power bar but i would love to edit my units? its that fesiable?

(trying to make a army but i don't know how)

Just received good word on the testing of the latest build, and it looks like the run-time 009 bug might be dead. I encourage anyone still receiving this error to email me for this file.

I'm going to release the next version as soon as I can nail down a "Rush Research" function (I hope it shouldn't be long).

After that, I plan on scrutinizing the city search function again to see if I can finally get something that loads more quickly (i know how disruptive those delays are, they bug me too!)

Thanks SO much for those of you who are helping debug the 009 error. That couldn't have been done without your help!

Joe
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

lovely, lovely piece of programming, Joe, I've been enjoying it for a while now. . . but I have an eensy problemo.

with the newest version (and the patch, and the old version, for that matter) if I attempt to build a barracks in any game I have used the powerbar, I get a stack fault error and the game quits on me totally. I didn't have this issue before I tried the powerbar, and now, every time. Win 98, v1.16f.

otherwise, nice work! :)

stack fault error and the game quits
hmmm, not good.

anyway, i installed it and ran it then launched civ. after 3 turns then setting gold for my city (after loading) all sebsequent use gave me the subscript error. even exiting the game and running powerbar got the same error. i just ran the setup again (didn't uninstall), launched civ, started a game, then launched powerbar and things seem find. i must admit the above stack fault error gives me reservations. not to ridicule the software, great effort! but i really don't want to "contaminate" all my games. i'll just stayed tuned. :D

hmmmm, a stack fault. That's a problem. LadyTetsu, can you send me an email? I'd like to send you the latest build to see if that doesn't clear it up.

Thanks,
Joe
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

PowerBar now has buttons to complete and ruin the research progress for each tribe. It's being tested now, and will be released in a couple of days if all goes well. Also included in this release will be:

1) the Donate (D) and and Complete (C) buttons now fully build wonders (although D will only build them in one city - the game forces that). Thanks for the heads up Shaitan.

2) much more stability. The 009 error is gone.

3) The exit button has been relocated and made smaller to avoid accidental clicking.

Please feel free to send additional suggestions...


Joe

I'd like to be able to edit the values for a cities culture and food.

Hi guys,

PowerBar 1.2 available for download at www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com)

Well, it's taken awhile but the latest version has just been released. In addition to correcting a few errors (like the 009 error and the misbehaving D and C buttons), there are a few new features:

1) Rush or kill research for any tribe

2) Choose from multiple Enemy Suppression options:
-Destroy all unit production
-Destroy only settler units
-Destroy building production
-Ruin research progress
-Empty the treasury
Players can now select any combination of these actions and have them implemented each turn (note: production actions are taken against each city of each tribe in the enemy list).

3) There is now a counter that displays the number of cities created since the last load. It reports in real time as the cities are created by the player or computer. The counter turns a color when advancing from zero to one to draw attention. This is intended to help players determine when might want to reload.

4) The interface is a bit cleaner and more intuitive.

Many thanks to Gramphos who located the city counter variable in the game data record. Thanks to him, this option is available!

I'm also experimenting with various ways of using this (and other variables) to streamline the city load routine. Right now, performance has only imporved for games where the cities all load near the base address (a seldom occurrance). this is because the search terminates after finding X number of cities (because that's all there are to find :)).

Known issues:
There is only one issue I'm aware of at this point. That is, it's been reported that when launching PB before Civ3 on games that reset the screen resolution, PB disappears. I haven't been able to reproduce this (but then I play the game at my desktop rez of 1600x1200), so i don't know how prevalent it wil be. Nonetheless, launching PB after Civ III resets your resolution is an effective work-around.

Next:
I'm determined to streamline the city search, so I'll be working on that. I am also looking for a way of determining when a tribe has been eliminated so they can be removed from the PB. As soon as I figure out either of those, I'll upload a new version.

Thanks again to all those who helped with their suggestions, bugs, tips and testing. Without your help this release would have taken much much longer, and PB would be what it is. Keep it coming... :)

Joe

Those are good ideas. Stored food can probably be edited pretty easily. Culture though, I have a feeling, is calculated based on the cities improvements and the tribe's stats, and might not be as accessible. I'll look into it though.

Originally posted by blacklic
Hey i have XP pro sitting on my ftp site let me know if you want i'll let you DL it. But you have to have your own licene code Let'd keep the talks of piracy out of the Forums please.

okay, this version represents a huge improvement in the city load routine. I found the city pointer list in the game data record, and PB now loads the cities directly without having to search for them. Entire lists of 50+ cities are loading in a second or two - and in the SAME turn that they're created! No more waiting. Also, the 'new city' counter works as intended. When cities are razed, they're removed from the list within a second or two so the -1 counter shows or only that period of time.

A few players are testing this version right now. if all goes well, I'll have it released within 24 hours. If anyone is interested in joining the testing send me an email and I'll zip the file on over to you.

NEXT:
A few have noticed that tribes are not removed from PB after they've been conquered. I'm working on a way to scrub that list. Hopefully I'll have something soon. I might include a food and/or population option to. Do those sound interesting to anyone?

Joe
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

thanks for the updates so far the error 9 has dissapperared

an idea about the problem of loading pb before civ3

can you make PB show up in the taskbar? if its possable a person could just click on it to bring it to the forground

also i liked the previous versions hide button (i have hit exit several times by accedent)

Joe,

for some reason or the other when i try to download the full powerbar zip from your site its not saving to my regular download folder it puts it in some temporary folder and then after the download is finished it just opens up winzip and doesn't unzip the install for the powerbar because like i said it just opens winzip.

Hi Realm,

that's strange. email me and I'll shoot you a copy.

Joe
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

Originally posted by Realm
...its not saving to my regular download folder it puts it in some temporary folder and then after the download is finished it just opens up winzip...It sounds like it has to do with your copy of WinZip. Try this:

1) Double-click "My Computer" on your desktop
2) Open the "Tools" menu and select "Folder Options"
(If that's not there, try the "View" menu and "Options")
3) Click on the "File Types" tab
4) Scroll down to WinZip files and double-click it
5) Put a checkmark in "Confirm open before download"

HTH!

Thanks Dark Ryder,

I had just seen your reply like about 10 or 15 minutes before all the downtime with the forums started. I don't know what would have caused winzip start doing this hadn't experienced anything strange before. Anways, thanks for your reply to my question and for belping me because, I don't think I would have ever figured it out. :crazyeyes

Both the complete program and the patch are available at www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com)

Here are the latest improvements and additions:

1) PB gathers the unit, building, and race data much more reliably. Errors on load should be eliminated (please contact me if any are encountered).

2) Load times have been reduced to about 1-2 seconds! YES! we've finally got it. :) PB now uses the game's pointer to the array of city record pointers to directly read city data - no more searching.

3) Cities can be loaded in the same turn they're created! And pretty reliably too. It hasn't missed one yet. This is also a benefit of the direct read.

4) Players can now complete or ruin the research of any tribe, and this feature is included in the suppression options.

5) Buttons have been rearranged and the interface looks much cleaner (again) :)

NEXT:
I'm working on one fix and one new feature right now for the next release:

FIX: Conquered tribes should be removed from the tribe list

Feature: I think a 'reveal map' feature is possible and would be pretty cool. I've received a few emails about it too, so it's on the agenda.

Please do report any bugs you find to me via email. I will do my best to solvem them as quickly as possible, and update the patch.

Thanks, and a very BIG thanks to those who helped me test this one. You guys did a great job! :)

Joe
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

hows it goin. many of the files such as the add 1000 gold file dont work with the no cd form of the game. i found and downloaded that because my civ 3 cd was scratched beyond repair and the game itself wouldnt run. so im just askin if ur file works with that style of playin the game. hopefully it does. ill test it out after i get out of class today. Thanks again.

hmmmm, not sure if it works with the "no-CD" utility or not. I haven't tried it.


Okay, a couple players have reported a load bug in the current version - either tribes or improvements not loading. I'd like to encourage anyone having this problem to email me. I'd like to step through the load sequence with their saved game to see what's happening (or not happening as the case may be :)).

Thanks,
Joe

I'm using the no CD executable and have no problems with the PowerBar.

Ok, here is what I encountered.

When I first install the latest version, everything seems fine. Loading is super fast! :goodjob:

However, when I launch it the second time the next day, it loaded fine but can't seems to find the data for Civ3 in the memory :confused: :confused:

Everything is blank in the powerbar. You might want to check it out.

Ditto for me Too, I then have to clean out all the remnants on my PC and then redownload again. When I remove the program I find multiple entrys of POWERBAR in the list and have to remove every one.

Then download it again. Crudadr joe is getting alot of "Hits" at his site from me. But I've got addicted to the Bar.

Well, I haven't noticed anything of the sorts happening to me but one thing thats been happen in this version and in past version is that when i press the Donate button or the Complete button that completes all current projects for all cities, it like moves the capitol cursor around to other cities in my civ. Like, this last game I am still playing as the Romans it moved the capitol from Rome to Cumae or Neapolis.

Anyways this is just one small incident that really doesn't take away from the powerbar and the new loading time is great! :D

Originally posted by Realm
...when i press the Donate button or the Complete button that completes all current projects for all cities, it like moves the capitol cursor around to other cities in my civ. Like, this last game I am still playing as the Romans it moved the capitol from Rome to Cumae or Neapolis.

It sounds like you had the palace under construction. Perhaps to get a jump on a new wonder construction?

Hey CrsadrJoe,
I really like you trainer. It works great!!! I do have a suggestion though. Could you create a "Hurry Terrain Improvement" button? Like it could hurry things that workers are doing. Like clear forest, clean polution, etc... That would be really cool. Is something like that possible?

I agree, that was a great idea. Plz do it if possible.

oops, I never knew that actually making the palace in a city would move the capitol, this is the first time i've ever played any of the civ games and didn't know that :crazyeyes

Hey Joe, I downloaded your modpack off your web site and it works just awesome. Only question I have, is there any tell tale signs that someone has been using it in one of thier games? Would be a shame to see a neat feature like the GOTM deal on the website compromised by the powerbar. P.S. to all the mod makers out there, you gotta get this to test your late age units allows you to progress at an incredible rate (Assuming it works with a modified rules set). Only problem i have with it joe is that it will make another temple in a city that already has one if you hit the Donate button, is there a way for you to fix this if i say wanted to finish the Great Library in one city and then temples in the rest (so it will not make an item that is already in that city) hope that makes sense, thanks for a great tool :D

Originally posted by Edgler Vess
P.S. to all the mod makers out there, you gotta get this to test your late age units allows you to progress at an incredible rate (Assuming it works with a modified rules set).

Absolutely! The PowerBar has saved me an enormous amount of time in testing my mod changes.

Originally posted by Edgler Vess
Only problem i have with it joe is that it will make another temple in a city that already has one if you hit the Donate button, is there a way for you to fix this if i say wanted to finish the Great Library in one city and then temples in the rest (so it will not make an item that is already in that city)

Donate for the temple build and then change production in one city to the Great Library.

Hi guys,

Things are really picking up at work, and lately I haven't had as much time to work on PB. Nonetheless, some progress has been made in the following areas:

1) My testers and I are close to pinpointing the elusive, seemingly random load errors. We're continuing to build and test debugging versions of the program. It will be fixed.

2) I've added the option of Auto-Enlighten, which can be toggled on or off for any tribe. I decided that having to hit the E button every turn really detracted from the game - PB should be a unobtrusive as possible.

3) I've located the terrain tiles in the process memory, and have been able to change their visibility and types. I'm confident that a "map-reveal" feature is possible, and I'm trying to figure out a way to work in a "Terraform" option (similar to the rush-terrain feature requested above.

I'll continue posting updates until there's a new version to release. Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions. This is a GREAT brainstorming forum! :)

Hello,

Thanks for making this utility.

I have a problem though, I can't seem to get it to work. I am running the latest patch, 1.16f, and have ran the install program for your utility.

When I go to START PROGRAMS POWERBAR, the short cut in it is invalid. (not linked to anything)

So I find the install folder and create a new short cut. I start Civ3 up, and play for a bit. I usually wait until I have two cities established before starting the PowerBar mod. It starts fine, but that is all it will do. It does not find any cities or cultures. I click the load button on it, and still nothing.

I was wondering if perhaps I have installed it incorrectly. As I said above, I used the install program to install it into its own directory.

Does the Mod need to be installed in the Civ3 folder or something?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

EDIT:

I should also mention that I am running win2k, with not other mods for civ3. The game is a fresh install, with latest patch.

The same thing is happening to me, only the first time it happened I uninstalled the powerbar and reinstalled it and now its happening again and doing that again isn't working the shortcut was invalid too. I then thought that maybe it was because i opened it after i had launced civ3 so i tried it different and nothing again. Then I thought well maybe its because this is a saved game i'm playing, so I started a new game and nothing...... :(

Try un-installing each instance of PB that you find in the "Add and Remove Programs" section of the Control Panel.

Then, instead of installing, just download the "Patch" version and unzip it directly to your desktop (it's just the executable).

Run it directly (not through a shortcut) and let's see what happens.

i think that the installation program might be problem.

Thanks for the help suggestions, but they did not work. :(

I did as you recommended, but the PB still does not load any cities or cultures. I did not start a new game, I just loaded my save game.

Again, my game is un-modded, fresh re-install. I run win2k.

I really do appreciate your help, and think that this utility is going to be a must have for any civ3 player. Thanks for making it. :)

Can you email me copies of your saved game and your civ3mod.bic files? I'd like to step through them and see if I can find the problem.

Thanks,
Joe
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

I was playing a modded game, and I had renamed civ3mod.bic to be myrules.bic Civ3 plays fine when I load this as a scenario, but PB wouldn't load any info until I made a copy of this .bic to civ3mod.bic, then it loaded fine.

Well, I use that LWC mod so my save probably won't be the same for you. But, I'll still send it if you want it.

I accidentally messed up both my original and my backup civ3mod.bic file, and had to reinstall the game. The PB would no longer work after this happened, so I assumed I had to uninstall the PB and reinstall it, too ... so I did.

When I tried to uninstall it, it told me that there were files that could not be uninstalled (even after reboot). I decided to try and find and delete those files myself ... big mistake. The short version of this is that I'll never be able to use PB again because I can't completely uninstall it, and I messed up a file called "st6unst.txt" that evidently shouldn't have been messed with (it says so right there at the top, but like a jerk, I didn't bother reading it before deleting it).

Anyway ... just a tip -- exercise caution when uninstalling/reinstalling this utility. I'm completely bummed about it, because I was using it to play-test a mod I was developing, and now I have to go back to the old trainer (PB is far better, IMO).

-D&C

I did like you said downloading the patch and then launching pb directly from the exe file and it didn't work. Also, after I tried launching it from the exe I tried doing it from the shortcut and it was looking for the old exe file you had named powerbar116b.exe I think it was don't remember for sure the name of it but it wasn't powerbar.exe. Anyways, like do something! :aargh:

There MUST be a civ3mod.bic file in the Civ III instalation folder for PB to load.

Everyone who has had trouble with PB loading tribes, cities, and units/buildings, do you have this file and is your saved game using it - instead of another *custom-file*.bic?

I didn't know that games could use bic files other than the one called civ3mod. I may have to enable PB to function with other file names.

hi joe!

ur proggy is very nice

but now i have some troubles with it... i saved a game and after i reloaded it and tried to get my city info powerbar got me an error. since this happened im unable to get powerbar to run again

i reinstalled it around 10 times now (ay i deleted all dlls and crap he tried to install and reinstalled it again..) but it still wont work :(

can you pls help coz civ3 without powerbar isnt that much fun anymore :(

yes yes basicly its cheating but i finished the game in deity on huge map and now im goin to find out the last things in game...

pls help :(

The first three things to do when fixing a problem.

Seriously though, If you get errors in just about any program, always shut down and restart the PC before doing anything drastic like uninstalling and reinstalling. Always shut down and restart the PC between an uninstall and a reinstall. Also between an install and use of the installed program.

ay ;)

i did that, nothing happens everytime im starting a new game OR loading an excisting one PB doesnt work ...

Shut down and reboot (full shut down, not "restart"). Launch PB first, then Civ3. Load the game, take a turn then Load PB.

Hi

I bought CIV III about a month ago, played like most people and got bored coz i want 2 build things fast and i want 2 cheat. came on this site and found joe's webpage.

i've downloaded both the patch (from the official game site) and now i've downloaded joe's PB. But, when i click on setup for the PB it says i have some old files, need to replace them (by clicking yes or continue or something like that) and then it restarts windows. i go back to setup and the same thing happens.

does this mean i cannot download the PB or my computer wont let me??

can anyone help?

thanx

simz

Hi

I bought CIV III about a month ago, played like most people and got bored coz i want 2 build things fast and i want 2 cheat. came on this site and found joe's webpage.

i've downloaded both the patch (from the official game site) and now i've downloaded joe's PB. But, when i click on setup for the PB it says i have some old files, need to replace them (by clicking yes or continue or something like that) and then it restarts windows. i go back to setup and the same thing happens.

does this mean i cannot download the PB or my computer wont let me??

can anyone help?

thanx

simz

shaitan

errr without flaming im not a dumbling m8 ;) (even when it looks like...)
i shut down pc and tried that too (and it didnt worked)

but its ok now i found the error, some other programms got kicked too and my windows was screwed...i installed a backup and now alls working fine again ;)

thnx anyway to all who wanted to help

This is going to sound odd, but I do not have a civ3mod.bic. I did a search for it, and found only the editor. HELP please......

Ok, this is very weird. I un-installed the game, and re-installed it. I started one of my older saved games, and then ran the PB. ITS WORKING. :)

It is working. I will play the game for a while, and let you know if I have any other probs. *I am so excited, finally, I can rid my island of the dreaded barbarians. Muwhahaahhaahahaah

I thought the civ3mod.bic file was essential to the game. When I rename mine, I cannot load previous, or start any new, games.


Advocate, do you have any files with the .bic extension in the Civ III installation folder?

I think the load problem is related to the existence (or non-existence) of the civ3mod.bic file (this is the file from which PB gathers data regarding units, races, and buildings).

For now, it is recommended that anyone having PB load difficulties check for the existence of this file. If using a separate rules file, copy that file and rename the copy "civ3mod.bic" (make sure it's in the civ III folder). That way you will play from the custom file, but PB will gather data from the copied file - and you will both have the same data (always a good thing). Remember that PB needs the civ3mod.bic file to be in the same folder Civ III was installed to.


I will begin working on a better data load routine tomorrow (Saturday), perhaps one that reads the data from the process memory instead of the file - or one that figures out which file is being used.

I will post a progress update Saturday night (PST).

Joe

Originally posted by srgsls
shaitan

errr without flaming im not a dumbling m8 ;) (even when it looks like...)
i shut down pc and tried that too (and it didnt worked)

Didn't think you were ;)

I should have explained that post better. The specific sequence I described will just about ALWAYS get a successful launch and load.

Sorry if my previous post came across as condecending.

Yay, I did like Shaitan said to uninstall and then totally shutdown my comp and then boot it up and then install pb and then launch pb before civ3 took a couple of turns and then hit load and it worked! Thank you! :D

Though I do not get what could have caused something like this to happen. :confused:

Improvements:
Okay, I found a way to locate which rules file the game (or scenario) is using. The unit, building, and race data is now being loaded from that file instead of only reading the civ3mod.bic file. This will hopefully go a long way in eliminating load errors with scenarios, altered rules files, and provide generally better stability during the load process (he says with his fingers crossed :) ).

I have abandoned the installation and setup programs also, as I think they were responsibile players running older version of PB after "installing" newer builds. Thus, there are two downloads available: 1) the executable and 2) the support files. Most people will only need the executable. If support files are needed, they can be downloaded and copied to the windows\system or PB folders.

New Features available in v1.3.1:
1) Auto Enlighten is available for any tribe (toggles on and off via the A E button. The button face is green when the feature is ON for the selected tribe. It is no longer necessary to hit the Enlighten button every turn... whewwwww, that was a pain! :)

2) A text box displays the number of cities owned by the selected tribe next to the "New City" counter - by the Load button. This gives a quick view of the civs expansion, and eliminates having to count the cities. Also, clicking on the tribes drop down box, and cycling through them using the Down Arrow key allows one to quickly view the number of cities foe each tribe - good for examining expansion.

Still in Progress:
1) Still working on a way to determine when a tribe has been conquered, so as to remove them from the tribes list. I'll get this soon.

2) I have a working model of a Map Reveal feature. I'm trying to refine it though, as for now it "searches" for the tiles - and we all know how long that takes. It's probably acceptable as it only has to be performed onece per game, and takes about 43 seconds on my machine. Still, there's got to be a way to locate the tiles directly (I can't believe how scattered around they are in the process memory). We'll see what happens inthe next week or so.

As always, please report bugs to me directly via email:
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

Thanks,
Joe

Are you still going to do that thing with the terrain?

I'm trying. I can change the terrain types, but locating them has been a problem. It's going to take a good deal of investigation yet.

The problem with it not loading again...... :mad:

not trying to load you down with too much, but here's a thought...how about an auto-complete button? i've gotten tired of hitting complete every turn.

Realm... email me. i want to send you a debugging build

King O'Rome: Great idea! In fact, I can just create an "options" pane to select various functions to process for the player each turn - similar to the suppression pane for the enemies. I'll put that on the agenda :)

Not sure whether or not this problem has been addressed or not (didn't want to read ALL 6 pages...):

How do I get the bloody info? When I load it (after i load civ3), everything is blank. Hte powerbar is up there, but no enemies or civs or cities or anything are in the blanks. I pressed load... nothing...

Does the powerbar only work for NEW games, where you have to discover the civs with the powerbar? Cause I was loading saved games...

I also tried a new game as the Germans, but The civ 'Germans' didnt show up either... what am i supposed to do?

yea - i just tried it after loading the required files off your site... still nothing... I have the civ3mod.bic in my civIII foler and am running win98. I have absolutely NO CLUE how to get his thing working... It sounds awesome and I really wanna try it...

can you give a step-step way of using it and/or getting it to work?

great!!but it is just cheater:goodjob:

Power bar STOPPED WORKING!!!!!
i upgraded to the newest version
did all the tricks listed here so far

no help at all

its just not loading

its been doing this for a while
it wont load
it wont load
it will load
now it wont load no matter what

HELP!!!!!!

before i finished the msg i tested the old test version that i was sent to be a beta tester ( can you send me a current copy i want to still beta test)

it works... if your haveing problems you can use it but USE AT YOUR OWN RISK... I NOR THE PROGRAMMER SAY THIS WILL WORK

Crusader Joe the Seghillian people are in awe of your culture! :)

Wow! That's a great utility. I'm impressed at how it works, presumably by finding where all this info is in RAM and then being able to change it.

To be honest I've no desire to actually use the thing to cheat, build instant wonders, get all the tech BC etc, but it's nice to know how the opposition is doing. In this respect, would it be possible for you to indicate how long a city will take to complete it's current production? So if I know the Aztecs will take 50 turns to get the Great Library, I'll know if I have a chance of beating that or just concentrate on something else.

Once again thanks. Great program!

PowerBar Source code is now Available!

Hi Guys,

I just accepted a new position at work and regret that I will no longer have the time to dedicate to improving, or enhancing powerBar. Thus, I've decided to make the source code available trough my website www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com).

This has been an exciting and fulfilling project, and I greatly appreciate the hundreds of emails I've received from players who've enjoyed enhancing their game experience with PB. I also owe a big THANKS to those who reported bugs and helped me chase them down. :)

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of creating a real-time trainer is the variability that exists in the structure of the process memory from one instance to another. Mapping and locating variables in a process the size of 190MB to precise locations can be dificult to perform reliably from machine to machine. Being off by even one byte can crash both the game and the utility. I think I've nailed down a pretty effective method for doing so, though certainly not a perfect one.

Feel free to write me with comments, questions or general chat and I'll be happy to respond.

Thanks,
Joe

Congrads on your promotion. :)

I am sorry to hear that you will be unable to continue support for your power bar program. I find it very helpful, and wish you the best in your future endevors. Thank you for what you have done.

PowerBar v1.4 for Civ III v1.17f RELEASED!

I went ahead and updated PB for use with the game patch that was just released (v 1.17f). It's available atwww.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com)

NOTES:
Here are the latest features: :)

1) There is an Auto Enlighten toggle for each tribe.
2) There is a Map Reveal feature that works well up to the Standard map size, and about 90 percent on large and huge maps (for some reason, some of these tiles exist in protected memory blocks).
3) There is a text box that displays the number of cities owned by the currently selected tribe.
4) There is a text box to indicate when new cities are built (and how many since the previous load).


Joe

the FTP there using does not have the patch?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

anyone know where to get it?

It's at:

http://www.civfanatics.com/downloads/civ3/patch/Civ3v117f.exe :)

Congratulations on your new position. I'm also glad that you haven't vanished.

I have had a problem with this program. I click the Load button and nothing happens. This is the same for the new version that you did for the new patch.

I am using Win XP, and have copied the support files into the windows/system directory.

I can use the "test" version that someone posted a few messages back, but I suppose it won't work with this new patch.

e-mail is rizzen @ bellsouth net

I have a very important question Does the Power Bar Trainer work on version 1.17f ?????

All versions of the PB could not work on my PC! I tried the one for 1.16 patch and it could not load. So I took advice and used the test version. It did. Then the next day while playing halfway it stopped working!:mad:

It either couldn't load at all or there was an error message saying 'invalid argument 5' or something like that...

Does someone have older versions that they can post up???

I'm having problems getting Power Bar to load. I'm running windows XP.

Feel free to email me at gatael@shaw.ca.

Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks

I find that SOMETIMES after launching either version that I can get it to load by Double clicking on the LOAD button or at least clicking on it several times. This works for me sometimes. Also I did get midway through my recent game before a runtime error occured and then it crashed.
I am not a technician of any sort so I can't explain what or why this happens. It must be my setup/PC because others apparently have little problem with this great program.
I would be interested in finding where or what folder that everyone unzips the trainer into as I unzip it to a new folder created by me cleverly named POWERBAR. Maybe it needs to be placed in a specfic folder. I can hear everyone saying DUHUUR as I type this out.
Also CrusaderJoe has put eons of time into this project and am sorry that Life takes him elsewhere but I do thank him for all he has done on this project.
Its a great program once it loads but it is addictive.

Wilhelmsteel
l

I'm having a problem too just reply to this thred, but i'm running ME

I had some time on my hands this morning, so I took another look at the way PB was loading. This is what I found:

A Little History:
1) Initially, PB gathered all unit, building, and tribe data from the civ3mod.bic file. This caused it to be incompatible with scenarios or custom games which modified the file and saved it under a different name.

2) Later, I located the position in which the process stored the name of the rules file being used. That allowed PB to locate custom files, and use their data - thus making PB compatible with custom games and scenarios.

3) This presented another problem however. There are times when Civ 3 does one of the following:
1) Records the filename without the path.
2) Truncates the name of the file, or assigns it a .tmp descriptor.
3) or does something else that prevents PB from being able to find and open the data file.

Of course, without access to the game's data set, PB isn't very useful so it just sits there.


Today's Build:
Okay, we just might have a work around option that'll allow PB to function in these situations. Here's the scenario:

1) A player starts a game, launches PB, builds a city, then clicks 'Load'.
2) If PB is unable to open and read the data file, the player will receive a message suggesting that he do the following:

a) back-up his Civ3Mod.bic file to Civ3Mod.bak (or something).
b) Copy the bic file being used to the Civ3 folder
c) Name the newly copied file: Civ3Mod.bic
d) Start the game, start PB and check the 'Use default rules' option on the splash screen.

This will force PB to use the newly created rules file (or the default Civ3Mod.bic if you didn't rename it). At any rate, the game and PB will use the same data and everything should gel at that point.

Anyone having load problems and interested in trying this new load routine is encouraged to email me at:
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net
I'll send you a copy and we'll see if it helps. :)

Cheers,
Joe

I am one of the people that used one of the "setup" programs you started out with.

I scanned the registy and deleted all entries for "project1" and "powerbar". I also deleted every folder that had any version in it, and extracted the powerbar that is currently posted at www.crusaderjoe.com

I loaded up the game and hit the load button and it worked like a charm.

I would suggest everyone who is having problems, try this procedure.

Cheers!

Thank you for the heads up! That is an Excellent thing for any PB user to do.

I abandoned the setup program for that very reason. There were problems associated with multiple installations - and with a program like this that was experiencing rapid revision, the problems were compounding.

For those having PB load problems, I second Rizzen's suggestion to scrub your machine of all traces of PB, then proceed with the manual placement of the files where ever you want them to reside.

Kudos Rizzen! :king:

i'm running WinXP and Powerbar works fine. The only thing i can think of is... make sure you've got a game running, then Alt-Tab out and start up Powerbar the Alt-Tab back into the game, the Powerbar should show up at the top right of the screen. Good Luck, have fun

OK, well I've been having a problem with PB as CrsadrHoe should know as we were e-mailing back and forth for a while and i never had any lucky getting it to work until last night (2-17) when i deleted all over versions of Powerbar after reading the posts here from Rizzen... it worked. BUT when i tried today, it wouldn't load ANY thing in my game, i went through, redeleted all the powerbar items, folders, etc. and then used Norton's utilities Registry editor to delete all the powerbar files, and it STILL won't load... any ideas?

I don't recognize your email address in my book. Email me, I have a version of PB I'd like you to try.

Thanks,
Joe

I've tried everything I've read in this group and still cannot get PB to load. Anyone else have any ideas on how to get this program to work??

I put the extra files in my /windows/system directory and have removed any instance of PB in my registry and I can't get this thing to load the info.

I'm running XP if this helps.

Thanks

Email me... crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

I just uploaded a brand new build for v1.17f that includes a revised work-around for loading problem. Anyone having trouble with PB loading for games v1.17f might want to give this one a try - even if I've recently emailed you a copy. Please email me with the results and we'll take it from there. Again, the site address is www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com)

Thanks,
Joe :)

I received several emails this morning from players who had been having load problems, which indicate that the PB version I uploaded last night (02/19/02) is working for them. Again, anyone having load dificulties is encouraged to give this version a try - and please email me with the results. :)

Thanks,
Joe
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

On the X version it takes checkign use default rules... and clicking the load buttonseveral times

BUT IT WORKS!!!!

When I tried to use the new PowerBarX afer installing the Civ3 1.17 patch I get a message telling me to change the civ3mod.bic to civ3mod.bak, then find bic_in_.tmp and rename it civ3mod.bic and put that in place of the old civ3mod.bic. The problem is that I can't find bic_in_.tmp even with file searching.

I installed PowerBar X by unzipping it into the "Program 1" file, then I edited the Start Menu to link to PowerBarX instead of PowerBar1.16b.

I haven't tried clicking on the "default rules" box in PowerBarX because I modified the number of optimum cities allowed in my huge map game. I like conquering the world!

My computer is a PIV and uses Windows XP.

When PBX asks you to find the rules file called: bic_in_.tmp proceed with the following:

Standard Game:
1) Verify that you have the civ3mod.bic rules file in the civ3 folder. If not, get one and place it there. I will upload the default civ3mod.bic file to my website later tonight.

2) Launch Civ3, launch PBX, on the PBX splash screen make sure you check the box that says "Use default rules".

3) When at least one city exists on your map, click the PBX "Load" button.


Scenario Game:
1) Locate the filename.bic file in the scenario folder that you're using for that specific game, where filename resembles the scenario you're playing.

2) Back-up the civ3mod.bic file in your civ3 folder by renaming it to something like civ3mod.BAK

3) Copy filename.bic from the scenario folder to the civ3 folder.

4) Rename the copied file in the civ3 folder to civ3mod.bic

5) Launch Civ3, launch PBX, on the PBX splash screen make sure you check the box that says "Use default rules".

6) When at least one city exists on your map, click the PBX "Load" button.

Explanation
What's happening is Civ3 is assigning a generic descriptor to the path of the rules file, instead of recording the actual path in memory. Thus PBX is unable to locate and open the file - just as the players have been unable to locate the bic_in_.tmp files.

The work-around is to back-up the main rules file (if it exists), copy the scenario rules file to the main civ3 folder, and rename it so PBX thinks it's the main rules file. Thus, Civ3 and PBX will get the same rules data from different different files, yet everything will still gel.

I hope this work-around is a temporary requirement, as I am trying to locate the actual rules data in the process memory. If I'm able to do so reliably, then the locations and names of the files will become irrelevant and PBX will be able to read that data directly from the process as it does everything else. :)

Joe

Tried it. Doesn't work.

Is it "Civ3Mod.bic", "civ3mod.bic", or CIV3MOD.BIC" or something else?

It shouldn't matter what the caps are, mine is Civ3Mod.bic


Do you have this file in your civ3 folder?

Originally posted by CrsadrJoe
It shouldn't matter what the caps are, mine is Civ3Mod.bic


Do you have this file in your civ3 folder?

Yes, I took the old civ3mod.bic file, renamed it and put it in a seperate folder, then took the file for the scenario I am playing, renamed it civ3mod.bic, and placed it in the main Civ3 directory. After starting my game and PowerBar, I selected "default rules", but when I click on load I get a message that says that I should change files, you know, yadda yadda yadda.

Could it be Windows XP?

hmmmmm....

Does the same thing happen when you start a new standard game - one that isn't part of a scenario?

XP shouldn't be the problem. I've had people test successfully on that OS.

Oh great! Now I can't start a new game! I even put the old Civ3mod.bic back in, but it doesn't work any more.

wow.... that is strange. I know when I've renamed the civ3mod.bic file and forgot to change it back it doesn't let me start a new game.

Crusader Joe!

What did you do to the Power Bar. It's so fast!

It used to take five minutes to load, but now -- ZAP -- it's loaded. I thought something had gone wrong and it wasn't going to load, but it had already loaded. ALL THE CITIES!

But what's this about you getting out of the Power Bar business?

We can't allow that. We'll get a law passed or something. It's the best cheater...I mean...ahhh... External Game Altering Device (EGAD) (like that?) available anywhere.

What happens when the next patch comes out? What do we do then? :aargh3:

But anyway, thanks for all your work. You've made the game a lot more fun.

:cry:

Originally posted by CrsadrJoe
wow.... that is strange. I know when I've renamed the civ3mod.bic file and forgot to change it back it doesn't let me start a new game.

Well, I reinstalled the game after copying my old scenarios and saved games into a safe file, put in patch 1.17, then started a new standard game and created a city. Activating the new PowerBar, I still had to click on "default rules" to avoid getting the error message box, but when I clicked on "Load" the only thing that happens is the city# box reads "0".

Then I tried to use my old scenario save games and they won't load at all. I'm a little leery now about moving around the "civ3mod.bic". I do note that for some reason I now have one icon labeled "civ3mod.bic" in the main civ3 directory, and an identical icon below it labeled just "civ3mod".

How many cities were on the map when you clicked Load?

Originally posted by CrsadrJoe
How many cities were on the map when you clicked Load?

I tried it with one of my own, then with two.

Can you give this version a try and see if it helps? Please let me know what happens.

No such Luck! Using the standard game I saved, selecting "default rules", when I hit "load" the power bar fields still remain blank except for the "0" in the box for cities added since last load.

Runtime Error 5 Invalid Procedure: this is the message I get when I try to run PB, whether 1.17f's update or the X version. I'm using WinXP sure. And the 1.17 patch was working until, well, yesterday.

A great util!

i get the exact same problem too. i installed PowerBarX, did everything told (changing the civ3mod.bic things) and pressed Load. then the message 'runtime error 5 - invalid procedure call or argument' came out. then the program shut down itself.

I'm not sure what's causing these load problems, especially since they seem to occur sporadically among players (and never for me, which is quite frustrating). Nevertheless, I've made progress on extracting the data from the process memory and expect that I should have a working model ready for testing by Sunday evening. I will post a note when it's available.

Thanks,
Joe

I too get the "runtime error" :(

Pity I've never gotten to use this, it looks like great fun :D

Hey Joe, do you think it's possible to add to your program what one Civ's Reputation is with another Civ? You know, if they trust me or think I total and complete lying :):):):):):).

I was playing around with VB6 Pro, and tryed to access a save through ADO... needless to say it didn't work. How are the Save's formated? Is it a database of some sort or something totally unique to civ and I have to hack around with the Hex to find what I'm looking for?

~Matthew

I just uploaded PB v1.5 which abandons the rules files altogether as the source of game data. Now, PB gathers all game data from the process memory. I've tested this version with all world sizes and a few scenarios and everything worked well. it is now ready for general testing.

My fingers are crossed... please email me with your findings - good or bad :)

PB v1.5 is available at www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com)

Joe

it works great for me...even in the scenarios :-)

Originally posted by CrsadrJoe
I just uploaded PB v1.5 which abandons the rules files altogether as the source of game data. Now, PB gathers all game data from the process memory. I've tested this version with all world sizes and a few scenarios and everything worked well. it is now ready for general testing.

My fingers are crossed... please email me with your findings - good or bad :)

PB v1.5 is available at www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com)

Joe

Originally posted by CrsadrJoe
I just uploaded PB v1.5 which abandons the rules files altogether as the source of game data. Now, PB gathers all game data from the process memory. I've tested this version with all world sizes and a few scenarios and everything worked well. it is now ready for general testing.

My fingers are crossed... please email me with your findings - good or bad :)

PB v1.5 is available at www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com)

Joe


By jove i think he's done it!
:king:
:rotfl:
:beer:
[party]
:yinyang:
:jump:
:love:
[pimp]

I was all set to be ecstatic--but I STILL got the runtime error.

From what I can tell based on browsing the term on the net, seems Powerbar can't find some file or other. However, I've uploaded the DLLs it needs into the Powerbar, Civ3, and...I forget offhand which was required--Windows/system or Windows/system32 directory. I put it into the appropriate one.

All this on an XP system.

Seems like Joe is doing a lot of work, given he had abandoned support. But thank you Joe anyhow!

Aggravating is that PB was working for me until it just decided to start having this error.

Well, i'd like to say it works for me finally... heh. Thanks a lot.
If i was any good at trying to code stuff, i'd be tempted to buy the code from you and work on it myself to add stuff like to alter the date, culture of each city, pollution levels, and all kinds of such of individual cities... (pollution for enemies... under the sabotage stuff to make 10 levels of pollution per city... hehe evil evil... though that could turn back for the game in general...) I miss the original civ that even with ALL the power plants, factories and such... a recycling center and mass transit would usually take care of it ALL...

I have been having the same problem as Mushpuppy in Win 98. See Attachment.

Thank you for posting the screen shot, that helps a lot. Here's what to do:

Follow these steps:
1) Make sure MSCOMCTL.OCX is in the windows\system folder (or system32 - which ever you have).

2) Click on the START button and select RUN

3) type regsvr32 c:\windows\system\MSCOMCTL.OCX -or- regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\MSCOMCTL.OCX and click OK.

4) You should get a message that the file has been registered.

5) Run PB and see what happens.

6) Post your results here or email me :)

Interesting. That's a different error than I'm getting, though. I'm getting Runtime Error 5. It says:

Project 1

Runtime Error 5

Invalid procedure call or argument.

This has happened with every version of PB since the 1.17 patch. However, PB was working for a while after the patch. Then one day it just started doing the above.

Here's my setup: PB in a subdirectory beneath Civ3. (Happens when I place PB in Civ3's directory also.)

The DLLs in Civ3, system32, and system directories.

Typically I'll load Civ3, then load a game, then alt-tab to start PB. Then I'll click on Civ3's map (to remove the desktop) and then PB, then I'll try LOAD--and then the error happens.

Looks like you have the support files in the right places. The runtime 5 error usually occurs for the following two reasons:

1) A call is made to a procedure that isn't valid (or uses different parameters) on the particular platform. Some VB procedures may only be valid for certain versions of Windows (ie 98 or NT etc). It's possible that PB includes a procedure call in the Load routine that is not supported on the XP platform.

2) I've found that the Mid( ) function in particular (which is used throughout PB for string manipulation) is handled differently by different Windows versions. It's possible that a value being passed as a parameter to this function is considered invalid on XP - like a zero or -1.

I will comb through the load routine for anything that might fall into either of these categories and let you know what i find.

Joe

MSCOMCTL.OCX does not exist on my system. So no joy at this point.

I have MSCOMM.OCX in my system directory, but not MSCOMCTL.

The file is included in the support files available at my site (www.crusaderjoe.com). Just download the support file package, unzip it to your windows\system folder, then try PB.

If it doesn't run, proceed with the file registration steps I described earlier and you'll be off and running.

Joe

Just wanted to stop by and say that the newest version works flawlessly. Thanks a bunch :D

Glad to hear it... Thanks! :)

That did the trick, Joe.

Nice little program. It really speeds up scenario creation.

i reinstalled the game, and used the latest version of the program. i still get this:

Project 1

Runtime Error 5
Invalid procedure call or argument.

after i click 'Load' button while in the game. i am running on Win98 though.

I am getting that Project 1 runtime error too. I am on Win98se. I have all the required files in their places and I am at a loss on what to do. I have a picture of the error that happens when the Powerbar loads.

I think I found the cause of the Runtime 5 error Joe: PB can't handle city names of more than 19 letters.

I started a new game and PB worked. Then I tried to name a city something long like: Captain Jones' Locker, and it squawked. So I deleted the apostrophe, and it still squawked. And kept squawking til the name got to 19 letters. (It does apparently accept an apostrophe ok.)

Since Civ3 apparently takes the long names ok, is there a way to adjust PB so it will also?

why don't all my cities appear in the list? I have clicked load, but since creating/gaining 50 or so cities it's stopped adding the new ones to the list. I love the auto complete feature and would like to use it on the newer cities that need it. What's up? Great prog otherwise!

hi guys,

Thanks to Mushpyppy's troubleshooting, PowerBar is now compatible with city names greater than 19 characters. The 20 character limit was a carry-over from a previous version and was causing the run-time 5 error in the recent versions. Excellent job Mushpuppy, Kudos!

PB 1.5.1 is available at www.crusaderjoe.com (http://www.crusaderjoe.com)

andersonjoy:
I will look into the 50 city max problem. If someone can zip a save game with 50+ cities and a copy of their civ3mod.bic file and email them to me, that would be a big help.

Thanks,
Joe
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net

i got a 49 city game... let me send it to you (you only have to build 1 city

Do we still need to rename the tmp file to civ3mod.bic

or has that changed since it gets it from memory

BTW a sugestion... with the program file can you include a version list?

This way people can see what work you have had to go through :)

Thank you! That will be a big help.

In PB version 1.5 and greater, the name of the rules file does not matter - they're no longer used... Yayy! :)

Good suggestion about the revision list. I'll see if I can work that into the schedule.

Thanks again for the save game!

Hi all;

I'm going to download ver 1.51 after I finnich this post (and the cake I have in the oven). I have had trouble with "... run-time '9' & run-time '5' ..." massage too. I hope the new ver. stops the proublems.

My question is; to where should the program be loded on the computer? The 1.16 opened up and created a folder called "Progect 1". The 1.17 & 1.17X had you open to any folder that you chose. For 1.17X I created a "PB X" folder in the 'Civ3' folder. I opened the firest 1.17 in both 'Project 1' & 'Civ3' folders without a folder of it's own. So; what is the best way to deal with the ver. 1.51? ?????

P_S_ Joe; thank's for all your hard work on PB & the upgrades. If Firaxis dose not put you on their pay they should atleast put you on as a 'sub-contracter'. You "After-Market programers" make Civ3 into a 'real' game.

Joe; if I can get you to come to the weestern valley area of OR., USA.; we'll go out to our gold claim and you can pan your own gold for yourself. :king:

:love: Civ.; :love: gold prospecting ::

:) be well;
be happy; :)

".. the gold is where you find it ..." :crazyeyes

The new PB worked perfectly!

:) I thought you gave this up a while back CrsadrJoe?

Glad your still in the game. :) And thanks for all the hard work on your power bar program. :egypt:

How do I install the Power Bar? Should it be in the game directory in its own folder? Or should all the files and supporting files should be by the civ3 exe run files? Should the support files be in the power bar folder in the game directory or in the windows system folder?

Gah!

Whenever I used PowerBar and used the build function for a single city, it made the produstion item Theory of Evolution (hadn't discovered prerequisite yet...). But, other than that, it is a good program.

SimUmp

you don't need to put it anywhere
with the latest build its reading from the ram

I have been having a little problem with ver 1.5.1 for civ III patch 1.17f and the Powerbar program...I wasn't going to say anything
because it is a great program and I think he did a great job on it, but someone said "ram"...maybe that is my problem..I am running XP Pro..with 384mb ram and a P4 with a G-force 3..

When ever I say build any warriors with PB is switches to courthouse...here is a little list I made tonight...


Built Now With PB (then it ) Switches to:
---------------------- * -------------------
worker = barracks
scout = granary
warrior = courthouse
archer = walls
spearman = aqueduct
longbowman = factory
knight = recyling center

and so on and so no.....but it does not happen if I am building anything else say like a aqueduct,or courthouse..seems to be only when I select military units....

I then have to select the city...click on say warrior and up pops
a box saying I will be wasting ( any amount from 65465 - 65525) shields, and I have to select yes to build the warrior or no not to.

I think maybe it is reading the wrong area in ram and seeing the wrong table... But its wierd no one else has had this bug....

Oh well, its works....just have to use a couple of extra mouse clicks.....

thanks for all your work on Powerbar....

Chain

the powerbar has worked very well:), but i'm wondering if there is an updated one to use for the 1.21f patch....

Has any one used the PB 1.17f with the now game patch v1.21f?

Will PB 1.17f work w/patch civ3v1.21f? :confused: :crazyeye:

I down-loaded the new game patch last night, but I have not installed it yet. If anyone has used it with the PB 1.17f would you let me know how it works. I am assuming there will be proublems, PB 1.16f did not work w/civ3v1.17f, so dose anyone know how it will work?


:love: Gold Prospecting; :love: Civ.

:( :( I did last night and it doesn't seem to be working on the new patch 1.21.

i dont think crusaderjoe will be updating the powerbar any longer. anyone know a good alternative to powerbar??? there must be some way to get it to work with the new patch....:confused:

Who can carry on with the PB tool? I don't even seem to know enough to be able to add any of the 'User-made Units' into use in any of the games I've tried to use them in. :confused: :crazyeye: Oh well.

I set up a 2nd Civ.3 folder & called it "Civilization III-test". Then I upgreaded that game-folder to v1.21f and used the PB 1.17f with games that I started in that folder. I worked them for several hours. (It will be great when the waters go down in the creeks & I can get back to prospecting -- and a REAL LIFE . :love: ) Well PB1.17f seemed to work with the new games. But when I loaded an old (circa 1.17f) game from the regular Civ3 folder, the game gave me an "Illeagle Opp." notice about the 4th. turn when I tried to ettablish the 3rd. new city after I opened the old game. So maybe it will work with all-new games in v1.21f (maybe not); but I dought it will work with old games started under v1.17f..

If anyone knows more, has there own expieance, please let us all know. And if anyone comes up with a new ver. of the PowerBar please let me know. Now if anyone wants to have some fun in the 'real world' come on out to the upper Willamitte Valley in OR., USA., and do some gold prospecting & panning. We can still do some Civ. 1, 2, or 3 at night. Well by for now.

Oh did I forget -- "Hi; I'm 'Peacock' & I'm a CIV-oholic."
-- oh ya !!!

Well, as far as upgrades and PB go, I dont know what quite to say. I only dl'd the 1.21 upgrade posted and tried PB. It doesn't work for me, I tried it over the course of about 5 turns with a pre-built civ. I am probably not doing something right and it isn't working because of that rather than a deficiency in the actual program.

If someone who has had this problem respond, or for guidance for me, I'd certainly appreciate it. Here is what I'm doing:

1. start up the game and load the saved file

2. let the game run 1 full turn before i do the alt+tab to switch over to the file in that PB is in, then start that

3. try manually entering the name of my civ (i.e. Greece or Germany) and wait for it to recognize my civ.

4. nothing happens, and i repeat step 3.

This file didnt come with an instruction manual for idiots like myself because i assume crusader joe suppositioned that most would know how to use it. Oh well, I'm rambling.

Here (http://cyberman.agava.ru/f/cht/tr/cm-cv3tr.zip) is a link to CyberMan's 1.21f trainer, if you didn't know about it already :)

it loads but it does not function

I have been lurking since December.

I am of the mindset that without the memory map any upgrade to Powerbar would be the result of trial and error, and be unreliable.

I am game for a go at it if someone can send me the source code. The links to that have gone away.

As a programmer, the two copies of the game we have are licensed. One is 1.17f which can make use of Powerbar and the other 1.21f which can use CyberMan's 1.21f trainer to get money and advances.

In the earlier games I only hacked the save file to get more money.

Tom

Will this new version solve the city reconizion problem?

Originally posted by Charlie Martel
Here (http://cyberman.agava.ru/f/cht/tr/cm-cv3tr.zip) is a link to CyberMan's 1.21f trainer, if you didn't know about it already :)


:confused: I can't seem to get the CyberMan's Trainer to work for me in any ver. of Civ III. I must be doing something wroung -- or not doing something right. What si the "Gray Key"????? that is mentioned? Id it the 'Control; Ault; or Shift Keys" or a combonation of them? :confused: I hate being 'ill-informed' (stupid); so could someone inliten me?? Thank you.



P.S.__I'm doing less Civ right now --- I'm reading "Shelters Of Stone" to me wife. See; reading proves that I do 'have a Life' -- I think; Ha!; ha!!!!!

Once the trainer loads you will have to click on each of the 3 choices given. To be active they have to be in green. Then everytime you click on the first or add 10000 button you will see that it adds $10000 to your money. I guess thats denominated in CIV dollars.

When each of the others are hilited in green they are active. The second one allows you to "Hurry" any build to include WONDERS.
Once it is green you will be able to go to any city and speed up whatever it is producing.
The third button when hilited will allow you to speed research. When it is in green any item that you select for research will only take one (1) turn to complete. Once selected I beleive its automatic until you deselect it. IE: All research will only take one turn.

I don't know what the gray key means either. clicking and double clicking seems to work for me.

Keep reading to your wife.............She'll let you play CIVIII more..

Wilhelmsteel

Too bad its not pay to download. :) CrsadrJoe would be very wealthy by now. :)

If you upgrade this to work on v1.21f, i would like to request a culture editor for cities so that i can have 1 city with tons of culture. Maybe I can take over a continent!!! Buah hahahahaha!

GREY KEY
I will tell you what the grey keys are. When you run the trainer then run civ 3 you switch to the trainer program by pressing ALT and then TAB. with they cheat program up you use the mouse to click things off and on or just click the money one to get money. Or, you can use the grey key also known as the NUMBER PAD KEYS on the far right side of your keyboard. Make sure the Num Lock light is on. Turn this on and off using th Num Lock key

Hey, crusaderjoe! (love the nick!)

PB shows no civilizations, no citys, no nothing... it runs alright, but....

i'm running version 1.21f, on winXP...
i figure the problem might be, that since my cd-drive sucks hard, i fetched a no-cd "crack".....dont know exactly what the patch has changed, but could it be the problem? ...well, guess that's kinda hard to answer, not knowing what the changes are.... anyway, i dosent work at all.... frustrating.

:cry:

/SheeZar

SheeZar, the problem may be that he has not updated POWERBAR for 1.21f yet. :) Just a thought.

Has anyone heard from Crusaderjoe about the future of the PowerBar lately?

Does he plan on working on it any more, or was PB for 1.17f the last of a good thing?

Last time he posted (see thrads) he said he didn't have the time. It was pretty work entensive replying to all the emails he received.
I don't know anything about code etc. but he seems to have posted it on his web site should anyone want to continue his fine and much missed work.
http://www.crusaderjoe.com/
:(

:confused: On the CrusaderJoe's web site he offers the codes to tht 'PowerBar'. I don't know anething about altering the codes & I don't thingk I have the software to do it. I keep hoping that SOMEONE out there who knnows who to do it will take it up for the rest of us. Is there any one out there who can "take up the challange"? :confused:

:soldier: -- P.S. These "Smiles" are COOOOLL !!! I wist some one would come up with a USMC, & a Gold Panning +/or Prospector. That would really be cool for me. :love: Prospecting; :love: Civ.. :tank:

Our little Gold claim in the Mountians; "Peacock's Den" ::
http://tobi_wan_2.tripod.com/PeacocksDen.html (http://tobi_wan_2.tripod.com/PeacocksDen.html )

i'm new here, does it work with mac kuzz i dont want to spend money then find it doesn't work with mac

SargentCola:

Sorry but it doesn't appeat to work on MAC's... PC's only and it hasn't been updated since early May. Although you could write CrusaderJoe and see what is needed to compile it for MAC's.

Hey could someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong with this or help me through the proccess of installing and using powerbar.I have v.1.17 of Civ three,but I don't know how to use and load PB.:confused:[plasma] :sniper:

Snobok,

With Civ3 running, execute PowerBar (double click on the exe file), click on load (it will load your current game) and then make what ever changes you with to make.

Fans of Joe's Powerbar - I have purchased the code and updated the addresses to work with the new 1.29 patch. :D

Thanks again to CrusaderJoe for all his hard work!

**EDIT: I had rolled the powerbar version to 1.6.0 with the changes to work with the 1.29f patch. Last night's testing session, I found the problem with military units being switched to a building... a problem referenced by some earlier in this thread. The new version is 1.6.1 (1.6.0 replaced after 19 downloads), and corrects that problem.
**EDIT New Version 1.6.2 (1.6.1 replaced after 101 downloads)
**EDIT: 3 bug fixes and 1 modification - see version.txt for details New Version 1.6.3 (1.6.2 replaced after 186 downloads)
**EDIT: NewVersion 1.6.4 (1.6.3 replaced after 17 downloads)
**EDIT: Map Size Error Fixed - NewVersion 1.6.5 (1.6.4 replaced after 18 downloads)
I am willing to address the CivFanatics community requests for changes/updates to the powerbar, but please be patient. (I have a wife, three sons and a consulting job!):crazyeye:

The attachment is a zip file - Just unzip Powerbar.exe from the attachment and double click to run it...

Thanks for doing this SpiderZord

Yeah... a new hero has been added the the CIVIII pantheon. He answers to the title of SpiderZord.

does this new version only work with official civ3 stuff? I remember the original powerbar trainer crashed the game if you used it rush-build a custom unit.

I have only tested it with the original civ data, but theoretically mods should work - is anyone out there using it to test their mods?

Another update coming soon - I added another button ("F") to the powerbar. This will fill the foodbox for the selected city (pop growth next turn). I will also include a version history starting from my updates...:)

I just uploaded version 1.6.2 which adds the "F" button to the interface. It will fill the food storage box for the selected city. With all new versions, please let me know if there are any problems!

I've started using it to test the British Isles mod. No problems noted yet. Thank you so much for getting this thing back. You have NO IDEA how difficult it was to test mods without it, especially since Firaxis started keeping bic data in the save files.

I am willing to address the CivFanatics community requests for changes/updates to the powerbar, but please be patient. (I have a wife, three sons and a consulting job!):crazyeye: [/B]

I like the Powerbar. :goodjob: It has helped in testing many new units I am toying with while I learn how to make them look good and function the way I want.

I would like to make a request. Can you add a culture increase function? There are times I just want to be able to increase my borders. ;)

Thanks.

Could someone please make a new version of PB that woks with 1.07. I haven't upgraded because I exploit the bugs alot.

P.S. Put in a tutorial so people who have never used it know how to work it. :) :) :nuke: :nuke:

If you were quick to download version 1.6.2, you will have problems with the map reveal feature. I have uploaded the 1.6.2 version again - I compiled my working copy which included some text dumps for the map reveal feature:o (I'm working on city terrain improvements :) )

Briant416 - I'll put culture on my list...:)
Snobok - I'm not sure I can manage the time for multiple versions, but I'll put it on the list!

Thanks everyone for the feedback!:D

My plan is to tackle terrain improvements and then to hunt down units. These are much more complicated, but would be quite useful...;)

Where can we download that? Sorry to ask such a newbie question, but I'd like the latest version so my system doesn't crash...

In my book, for continuing this great program, you are now considered an honorary demi-god. :goodjob: :king: :D

Hey,

I have downloaded the latest version of TB but when i tried to install it, it was trying to install it thru microsoft front[age which i dont have, is there any other way to run the installation.

I know this may sound dumb but I am a newbie and was wondering if you could also tell me as to how to use the PB

Thanx:confused:

just open it with win zip and click the globe icon

hey is there any way to increase the number of citys from 15 because after that it doesnt do anything for them

Originally posted by Suleiman Pasha
Hey,

I have downloaded the latest version of TB but when i tried to install it, it was trying to install it thru microsoft front[age which i dont have, is there any other way to run the installation.

I know this may sound dumb but I am a newbie and was wondering if you could also tell me as to how to use the PB

Thanx:confused:

There is no installer now - the latest version is an attachment on my first post in this thread (page 11)... the attachment is currently named powerbar162.zip. Just unzip the file (an executable program) and doubleclick on it:)

hey spider the trainers build one of these in each city option will only build a guild hall umm a little help:confused:
buy the way nice job:goodjob:


:lol: :mwaha: :cooool: :groucho: :jump: :beer: [dance] :rotfl:
everyones HAPPY

Hi

I ran the program as u said, I clicked the globe button but it still was trying to install something using microsoft front page i cancelled that. Then a golden box appered on the top of the scree which i am sure is the PB. I started the game and I have pressed load a like a thousand times now but it doesnt show any of my cities. Am i doing anything wrong or do i have to install some mod or something for this? How do I use PB plssssss someone tell meeeeee,

Thanx for ur earlier reply spider :)

Originally posted by Suleiman Pasha
Hi

I ran the program as u said, I clicked the globe button but it still was trying to install something using microsoft front page i cancelled that. Then a golden box appered on the top of the scree which i am sure is the PB. I started the game and I have pressed load a like a thousand times now but it doesnt show any of my cities. Am i doing anything wrong or do i have to install some mod or something for this? How do I use PB plssssss someone tell meeeeee,

Thanx for ur earlier reply spider :)

It depends what happens when you pressed load, but it might be that you over looked the fact that PB only works with version 1.29f, which was in the read me file. If you're not you if you have it, Download the latest patch at http://www.civfanatics.net/downloads/civ3/patch/Civ3v129f.exe and try it again. Make sure you click load after the game is opened.

Yes I have a 1.29 version. I had installed the update before running the game. I even uninstalled the patch and installed it again but still the pb doesnt seem to work. Whenever I press the load button it all the fields remain blank it doesnt show any of my cities or anything. Also everytime I try opening PB for some reason windows installer window pops uo and then it tries to configure with Ms Frontpage which i dont have and then says the installation failed. Does anyone know why this is happening??Any suggestions?

First off many thanks to SpiderZord for updating the Power bar. I do have a question, in the older version (1.17f) was there a button to Auto Complete for Improvements much like there is a Auto Enlighten for Techs? Or maybe I'm just thinking of one of the other programs. Anyhoo... thanks again SpiderZord

I am so stupid, I had two icons for civ3 for some reason and one fo them was teh updated one and the other was the older version.I was trying the pb in the olderversion thts why cudnt use it. sorry for putting all of u thru trouble. Thanx for help :)

I'm in modern times and every time I click the donate button to build something in all my cities the only thing that gets built over and over again is the mass transit system.

I made progress this weekend on tiles - my new tile class is working and using an array pointer just like cities now. This will make the map reveal feature much quicker, not to mention the terrain improvements I have in mind...:)

Everyone that has reported bugs - thanks for the feedback! I'm planning some debug time shortly. Stay tuned.

i have upgraded to civ3 1.29f, where do i find an exe for powerbar. i will download an early version if that is what it takes to use the attachments. i just dont have an exe for powerbar. or am i way off base??

I just uploaded version 1.6.3 of Powerbar. ..

This fixes two major bugs - a city index problem preventing some cities from being listed and the problem with the donate button switching the production to a building project instead of the selected unit. A minor bug with the food box value for larger cities was also fixed. Another major change was made in the Map reveal feature - it now utilizes a new tile class which uses tile array pointers which is much faster and more reliable.

As always, let me know of any problems!

The new tile class is coming along... look for a major update again soon. (Including clear pollution, clear all jungle, clear forrest, add roads, etc in city radius of selected city...;) )

The update can be found as an attachment on my original post found here:
SpiderZord's Powerbar Original Post (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?postid=415620#post415620)

Spiderzord,

Idownloaded your latest 1.6.3 updated powerbar but I get two error messages:

Error getting mapsize
Run-time error '11' : division by zero

I am running WinXP and the latest 1.29f patch on Civ3.

Any suggestions?

Originally posted by mantis69666
Spiderzord,

Idownloaded your latest 1.6.3 updated powerbar but I get two error messages:

Error getting mapsize
Run-time error '11' : division by zero

I am running WinXP and the latest 1.29f patch on Civ3.

Any suggestions?

Ditto here. For anyone having this problem I am attaching the 1.6.2 version to my post in case you happen to have overwritten your old .exe with no backup.

Thanks Goofball and Mantis - I thought I trapped the map size sufficiently...:o

Is this an XP issue or are others getting the error under other operating systems? Please let me know!

I will finish trapping the mapsize and repost until I can determine the problem.

i have the same error messages with WinXP and V1.29f

WinXP users - please try 1.6.4... If this is an XP issue, this version should work, but will disable the map reveal feature (until I can fix it).

where do i get ver 1.6.4 ??

im using win98 and got the same error

I spent some time on my neighbor's XP computer last night and found the problem with the map size code. The new code should work with all operating systems.

You can get the update on my first post here:
PowerBar Version Update (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?postid=415620#post415620)

Let me know of any problems!

its working, its working !! :D you're tha man :)

Originally posted by storm6296
First off many thanks to SpiderZord for updating the Power bar. I do have a question, in the older version (1.17f) was there a button to Auto Complete for Improvements much like there is a Auto Enlighten for Techs? Or maybe I'm just thinking of one of the other programs. Anyhoo... thanks again SpiderZord

Thanks storm6296. Look for a major interface design change with my next update (I'm going to roll the version to 2.0.0 because of all changes included). I have designed the interface to allow AUTOSUPPRESS/AUTOCOMPLETE options at the Tribe and City Levels. For example, Research is suppressed on the individual tribe level, while Production and FillFoodBox options are stored on the individual city level. Set a city to build a worker and toggle the auto settings for production and fillfoodbox - in 10 turns you have 10 workers with no intervention...:D
I have also added a suppress production option at the city level to suppress production of everything, buildings only, units only or list only - where list is a custom list of any combination of units and buildings... so you can suppress just ICBMs and tactical nukes for conventional warfare only games...

Look for the update soon :)

I see 1.6.5 is working for Lemming - any other feedback?

This may sound stupid, but what should I download exactly for the patch to work properly with civ3 1.29 ?

In this thread there are many corrections and updates, what should I download exactly ?

Originally posted by Alexander86
This may sound stupid, but what should I download exactly for the patch to work properly with civ3 1.29 ?

In this thread there are many corrections and updates, what should I download exactly ?

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=415620

Originally posted by Alexander86
This may sound stupid, but what should I download exactly for the patch to work properly with civ3 1.29 ?

In this thread there are many corrections and updates, what should I download exactly ?

The Powerbar program for civ3 1.29f (including all updates) will always be posted as the attachment on my original post in this thread, with the attachment name as powerbarXXX, where XXX is the current version. Here is a link to where the program can be found:
PowerBar program for Civ3 1.29f (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?postid=415620#post415620)

Follow the link and put it in your favorites for an easy check on program updates.

If you would like to be a beta tester for me, please email me with Powerbar Beta Tester in the subject and let me know your computer system details... I'll assemble a beta team for testing these new releases before subjecting everyone to errors.;)

PS I have the v200 interface ready for beta!

My email is SpiderZord (wmahler@egma.com)

Thanks to all!

SpiderZord, you may want to open a new thread, post a link to it from this one then have the mods close this. That way you'll own the first post to keep the most current copy available and easy to find. It'll cut down on the number of people asking where to download. This thread is up over 240 posts so will auto close when it hits 300 anyway.

Originally posted by Shaitan
SpiderZord, you may want to open a new thread, post a link to it from this one then have the mods close this. That way you'll own the first post to keep the most current copy available and easy to find. It'll cut down on the number of people asking where to download. This thread is up over 240 posts so will auto close when it hits 300 anyway.

Thanks Shaitan - I'll do that with the next post going to v2.0.0;)

I downloaded powerbar 1.6.5 and I still get an error:

Error getting Map Size

When I started a new game the powerbar worked fine but when I loaded the game I can't get the powerbar to work. Any suggestions?

Originally posted by mantis69666
I downloaded powerbar 1.6.5 and I still get an error:

Error getting Map Size

When I started a new game the powerbar worked fine but when I loaded the game I can't get the powerbar to work. Any suggestions?

Was this an old save game predating the 1.29f patch?
Does anyone remember one of the patches changing the map sizes? I faintly remember the larger maps getting changed to something smaller (i.e. Huge map going from 200x200 to 160x160). That would hang up my mapsize check:o

Mantis - would you email that game? Thanks

Changes v1.21f:
Decreased Large Map Size to 130x130.
Decreased Huge Map Size to 160x160.
hope that helps

:lol: ;) :)

Originally posted by Tatsu_kao
Changes v1.21f:
Decreased Large Map Size to 130x130.
Decreased Huge Map Size to 160x160.
hope that helps

:lol: ;) :)

That does help - thanks Tatsu_kao and thanks for beta testing! :)

Powerbar will have problems with old save games predating the 1.21f patch. Does anyone still have large and huge map sizes save games lying around that I could test?

I do! a huge save game map(scenario)