ı am completely new in the forums , but ı have had a long standing affair with Cıv1 and in recent months ı have got hold of the Civ3. Have no web connection at home and ı have to download all the tutorials , files , threads etc and carry them to my computer . Somewhat old fashioned in the 21 st century , but ı have been a Civ fan since 1995 .

my vanilla Civ is version 1.07f .

ı had a previous experience with Civ3 (it was PTW ı think) on my brother's computer . ı had done a few scenarios but could never finish them , the max population of a city in one case as played by my brother was 77 if ı remember correctly . I have made transport and scouts to move on air , moved aircraft on the ground , put an Abrams tank to parachutist's backpack , used elephants as ground transport etc etc.Couldn't rename units though and ı have now got an inkling of why .

read or rather glimpsed at Colonel Kraken's at http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=71114
vanilla editor doesn't show the properties described or at least ı have failed to find the add units option .

not asking for step by step instruction for now but simply reserving the right to be involved in some probable future dumb questing for help , as ı am merely crawling and yet to walk , are there specific instructions for unit addition for vanilla ?

can't gainfully open pcx files with notepad or workpad mfc applications as it turns out that they are pictures that answer to Open Office software .Tried my luck with flics and ı had a 1107 page document of letters from a 136KB file .A viewing programme is in order , what should ı do look for ? ı have seen mention of Flicster which would probably be at download utilities sections .On page two of the guide Aragorn7 has asked the same question and the Colonel's answer is "I use Paint Shop Pro (Jasc Software). Some people use Photoshop (Adobe). You can download trial versions of both, I believe." Is there anything out there that doesn't die out in 15 days ? I had this pdf programme that put out jpg files . It expired , ı got another and it won't open files it had previously worked on . You would think , once removed the old programme would leave no trace in the computer ... As ı am not in a situation to use transactions on the web it has to be free and capable of working without connection to web . If not , nema problema as they say in former Yugoslavia . We will do with what is at hand .

the B-17 on the carrier problem :which looks somewhat odd if you still have it unmodified ... The vanilla folder for bomber has 5 flc files . Namely AttackA , Bomb ,Death , Default ,Run . A Skyraider folder ı have downloaded has 3 attacks A to C, death , default , run and a fidget . The last one is ı guess makes it possible for the Skyraider not to disappear if based on the ground or sea , something that had bedeviled me a lot 3 or 4 years ago . ı have checked and seen that helicopter has a fidget file while planes and the ICBM don't . Yes , the question leads to how we put a air unit like the AH-1W to the field with the troops and don't wait until it decides to come out of cloaking ! I can't see my scout running in the middle of the ocean or my bomber in the mountains but barbarians sure do well enough to attack and destroy .

anyhow ı am thinking to get 5 appropriate flc files from the Skyraider file , rename them as bomber without playing with the sound files or anything else .Will that be OK ? If this works then it is simple to replace the T-34 with a Panter or Tiger , another thing that my rivet counting mentality doesn't readily accept .

just do it and see what happens is a good advice and easy on the fellow forum members but unfortunately ı am utterly scared of doing something , anything that will knock out my hard found Civ . ı have to be sure of what ı am doing ...

ı have so far failed to find a Star Wars Stormtrooper in Civ3 section , think there might be one in Civ4 parts . The place , the forum ı mean is really huge . If ı do find one as a Civ4 unit is it transferrable to my version as outlined above ? Wrymmshadow had once replied a similar question as no in What If . ( Addition : ı have tested a few downloads and they are all named .nif , are they pictures that might be turned into flc ? )

might well have to remain with a personally counted 65 unit limit so ı am thinking of to cheat by giving worker actions to other units .I had tried something like this by giving the actions to Impi as ı had grown a liking to it (fast , acceptable defence for the early game period , cheap at 10 shields though choosing hidden nationality was a mistake , making invasion routes and fortresses in enemy territory without a fuss never worked and the national boundaries , well they do really slow down my offensives ) but it would stand just erect while making a road . Would merely copying and renaming workerroad.amb and flc files to Impi ones work ? Yes it is quite acceptable for him to leave the spear and pick up a shovel in the customary workman garb while working. Probably it would need all the worker sound files copied to Impi folder and renamed accordingly as well .

ı was saying dumb . I can be quite voluble too ... Just bear with me .

best wishes .

Welcome to the forum!

As long as you make sure that you create a folder in the Scenarios folder to contain your modding, you won't harm the game itself. Of course if something does somehow go wrong with the main game files you can always re-install them.

You would be very well advised to get hold of Conquests if you can, because it must be very cheap these days, and it is really much easier to do modding.

For viewing flics of units, Flicster is best and can be downloaded from the Utilities sub-forum. Civ3FlicEdit is also useful for viewing flics - in fact it is even better for that purpose - but you shouldn't use it for altering or creating flics because it adds an annoying extra frame. For viewing or editing pcx files, I use NeoPaint which can be downloaded but you have to pay for (not very much). Some people use The GIMP, which is free, but I don't know much about it.

Also, Civ 4 and Civ 3 files aren't exactly directly compatable. Civ 3 uses a sprite system while Civ 4 renders 3D models directly ingame.

thanks to Plotinus and Quinzy for the explanations and the advice for utilities .

ı was hoping to get that Eagle transporter of Space 1999 from Civ4 files . So only probable solution would be asking its maker whether he would also do it in Civ3 format ?

That's right, but it's very unlikely that he would do so, because most Civ IV modders aren't interested in Civ III - and also because making Civ III units involves completely different software and skills from Civ IV ones. Only someone who already makes Civ III units is likely to make it, and even then, it's not easy to persuade people to make units for other people! Unit-making is quite an arduous process. One thing that can help is if you provide the unit maker with the model. You might ask the Civ IV modder for the model he used for his unit, perhaps in 3DS format, and see if offering that to a Civ III unit maker entices them to try turning it into a unit. However, the models used in Civ IV units are usually much simpler than those used in Civ III units (because the latter are pre-rendered). You might be able to get away with it when it's a mechanical unit though.

As for the question about getting the Impi to do worker actions: yes, copying over the worker flic and amb files to the Impi folder will do the job. You will need to change Impi.INI, in that folder, to tell the game the names of these files. In fact you wouldn't need to copy over the amb file at all, because you can direct the game to look in another folder for sound effects. Have a look at the INI files of some custom units to see how this is done.

ı really appreciate the help and ideas .

have found a way to acquire the Conquests but the specs say 512 MB RAM with 1800 Ghz . Above mine 392 and 1700

ı was trying avoid to bring in the baggage but it is directly relevant to my newest problem. When ı was fired some years ago , ı had a long and bitter quarrel with my parents .They had many valid points and the peace came through my acceptance of , in addition to many other things ,not to buy anything for the PC until ı found a new job .ı still have the day for myself so adding extra Ram or replacing the damn thing is totally out of question . So ı will have software , namely the game and the expansion pack , copy its units etc to be used in the normal vanilla . Do you think this is possible ? Wikipedia names 8 new civs in Conquests .If unit addition works maybe ı could also add new civilisations and ı assume there are appropriate threads on this one as well . ı think the game screen allows only 15 countries to choose from but ı think ı could add the extra countries by replacing the standart ones as a huge world map scenario so ı would have 2 files of the essentially same scenario that the vanilla has ; one for the original 15 , the other for the additions .( ı might also look for PTW to get the art for its 8 new civs .) Would the editor of the conquests work stand alone so that ı could add units as well , as described in various threads . ı am in for improving my vanilla ; just getting familiar to avoid knocking it out by mistake because it will have to do until ı get a job . Since finding a job is just slightly more likely than an actual battlestar parking overhead ( ı am a nerd in full caricaturical reality and getting older , beyond the limit people would hire , never say this crisis everybody is speaking about ; ı have been in the crunch for years ! ) ı need full power of Civilisation as a junkie would need illegal and harmful substance ...

and yes , ı am a fan of the new Galactica series . Would it count against me ? ı hope not .

the local network is waiting to series to end so that they can buy it cheap . Yeah , ı can't watch the newest episodes either .

so you think you have problems ; barring health conditions ı will "woe out" you all , with my hands tied behind ...

ı am mostly after the units . Omitting era changes for workers and army for example , there are 65 or so units in vanilla . ı haven't tried it yet -as the Russians say , not a step without reconnaissance - and ı might fail adding units through normal ways .If ı could have some more in folders , ı might go with with only replacing the animations and some number changes through vanilla editor . While the name galley wouldn't exactly match with the X-wing ı have found in the database , who is to say it wasn't the code name for the development project ?

ı have some experience of C-evo and there , Leonardo's Workshop if ı remember it correctly , gave two extra units . I know this is quite possible in the editor , but is it possible to limit the build time in a way that it is possible to build only one single unit , the window of opportunity is only say for 20 turns ? Continiuing the theme of the post above ı somehow park Galactica above the world , probably as a non moving unit with max range , which ı have read is 362 and use it as a bombardment vessel with 40 or maybe higher . A world wonder probably would give the same effect but ı want it to behave as a unit twisting , turning around to engage et cetera .

If you can run Vanilla, you should be fine with running Conquests :)

Also, you don't need PTW if you have Conquests - Conquests comes with all the necessary PTW files, and all the "extras" can be found around here somewhere :D

I used to play Conquests on my laptop 384Mb (+128Mb video) 1.6GHz, no problems.

ı have some experience of C-evo and there , Leonardo's Workshop if ı remember it correctly , gave two extra units . I know this is quite possible in the editor , but is it possible to limit the build time in a way that it is possible to build only one single unit , the window of opportunity is only say for 20 turns ?
There is no foolproof way to do this, but you can make a very cheap wonder that spawns a unit and goes obsolete very soon. With a little bit of number balancing you can make it produce exactly one (or a few) unit fairly reliably.
Continiuing the theme of the post above ı somehow park Galactica above the world , probably as a non moving unit with max range , which ı have read is 362 and use it as a bombardment vessel with 40 or maybe higher . A world wonder probably would give the same effect but ı want it to behave as a unit twisting , turning around to engage et cetera .
Buildings can't engage in combat (except to provide additional defense) so a unit would be the way to go here.

the last two posts have made my day and being quite dumb as the title suggests , ı can give you no guarentee but if ı mange running it ı will thank Virote Considon and Weasel Op again , but this time silently .


(ah , the word should read manage )

ı am thinking of building corps that will unload to allow changing of units . Though making them airportable or with rebase option might be unfair .But they being armies , do ı still need a great leader to make one ? Or can ı produce them at say barracks without any reservations ? Have there been naval fleets and aerial squadrons ? Would they also need a victoriuos army rule ?

FYI to everyone else on CFC.. r16 is a member of a What-if Modeling forum that I also frequent. I had pointed him in this direction a while ago..

On your last post... it's been tried before. You cannot make naval or air armies. It just won't work. I don't think you can make an army unload a unit once you have added it. I've tried but have not been able, maybe someone else has found a way. I also have't played in over a year so I don't remember either.

Wyrmshadow's right on all fronts.

You can build armies without a leader, though, so long as it is in a city with the "Military Academy", or some similar wonder :)

If you make the army upgrade to a different army unit it will unload the units loaded into it. However that can also be problematic because of the way the army is currently organized with era specific graphics it would take some editing but is doable. Also remember the AI is notorious for not upgrading units.

thanks to all and hi to Wrymshadow , an impressive poster at What if forums as well . Unfortunately ı got myself kicked out from that great place quite recently and ı can say ı really asked for it .

for the question ı was thinking of making the corps with 2 units , and if it was not possible to load it to a ship , it would be "like a ship" and would allow me to replace the units inside .As far AI , ı hate it enough to give it no chances on my scenarios , he has already defeated me enough times in ordinary games .

Personally I would not do it that way because then you cannot move your armies to other continents / islands as needed. What you can do is set the Army to upgrade to another army type unit and name that army type unit anything you like. So you might have Army upgrades to Ancient Army upgrades to Medieval Army upgrades to Industrial Army upgrades to Modern Army and set each additional new Army unit to a tech in the appropriate era. That way if you get a battle created leader that you build an army with that leader that will be able to upgrade when available and when you upgrade that Army unit it unloads all loaded units so you can reload the new Army.

BadKharma , thanks for the view . It is a valid point regarding the ability to travel in ships but ı was planning to make the corps for my select civ only and so cheap that buying them at any continent from a newly captured city wouldn't so problematical . ı really hate the AI , it is justifiable for me .. But ı think ı will also have the way you mention , when ı feel confident enough to do scenarios on my own .

OK, let me make sure you do have conquests now? And if you need help with scenario or mod creation let me know.

maybe it is the loser ı am , but ı managed to convince my family that one more USB memory stick didn't count as new equipment (reply 7 explains the situation) , but an insurance and will get it today .So hopefully ı will be installing soon .

being honest makes it easier for all of us to face the fact my life didn't turn out as it easily could .

getting deeper into conquests ı had the misfortune of putting up Inqusition center (as a second palace) in the fourth scenario ( Middle Ages and ı am playing Turks ) . Not my tech tree but it is better to know things than letting Europeans to have the miracles . Anyhow ı quickly had to abandon the city and my core started to work again . Decreasing corruption meant ı was gaining 60 plus coins per turn instead of 26 and ı could now afford 10% higher science . So does the machine find the geometric center between the two locations and figuratively move the palace there ? In vanilla would allowing one more palace effect building in addition to the forbidden palace crash the game ?