“Ready-Made Ancient Multi-Figure Units Modpack”
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This is a first of four modpacks, and is intended for those people who wish to use multi-figure units in their game without having to create their own.
All the units were created using Steph’s-SBB utility tool, which can be found here….

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=718161#post718161

How to Download
-------------------
NOTE: if you are lucky enough to have a fast connection, then Thunderfall has supplied the following link to a SINGLE downloadable zip file, that contains ALL 50 odd MF units:-
(You will still need to download the sound fix patch seperately, and this zip file is some 65 megs in size)

http://www.civfanatics.net/downloads/civ3/modpack/Civilization%20III%20Multi-Figure%20Modpack.exe

If, like me, you have a slow connection, then I'm afraid that you will have to download each unit (and the sound fix patch) seperately.
(For 364 days of multi-figure civing, you will have to spend just one day downloading them.
It is a very small price to pay. :) )

Once Downloaded, Here's What You Do
-----------------------------------------

1) First, go to your Civ3 unit’s folder and left-click with your mouse on the unit you wish to change.
2) Next, hold down the Ctrl key and holding down the left mouse button, ‘drag’ the folder to some other place on your PC (this will create a copy, in case you wish to reload the files at a later date).
3) Now simply copy all the contents of the zip file into the original folder (say “yes to all” in the popup warning window).
And that’s it!
There is no need to touch the .ini files, or to make any changes in the editor.
This can even be done with your current game: just save it, replace the old files with the new ones, and then continue your game. :D

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Ancient_preview.gif

Archer = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Archer.zip (1,069kb)
Bowman = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Bowman.zip (1,346kb)
Catapult = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Catapult.zip (555kb)
Chariot = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Chariot.zip (1,201kb)
Galley = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Galley.zip (476kb)
Hoplite = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Hoplite_fixed.zip (1,596kb) ***FIXED***
Horseman = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Horseman.zip (1,337kb)
Immortals = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Immortals.zip (1,776kb)
Zulu Impi = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Impi.zip (2,039kb)
Jaguar Warrior= http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Jaguar_Warrior.zip (1,603kb)
Legionary = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Legionary.zip (1,438kb)
Mounted Warrior= http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Mounted_Warrior.zip (1,468kb)
Spearman = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Spearman.zip (1,614kb)
Swordsman = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Swordsman.zip (1,799kb)
War Chariot = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_War_Chariot.zip (1,999kb)
Warrior = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Warrior.zip (1,354kb)

To fix the flaw with the 'screeching' sound files, just use your zip browser to unzip the following patch bundle DIRECTLY into the CivIII\Arts\Units folder (or wherever you have put them), and say "yes to all" to overwrite the ini & sound files that come with the above units......

MF Units Sound patch1 = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Units_sound_patch1.zip (1,595kb)

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Known Issues
--------------
If a unit is destroyed near a coast or lake, then some of the routing figures will seem to be running across water!
The may be fixed at a later date.

All the multi-figure units are 'cut in half' in the city build window.
I don't think there is a cure for this at the moment.

Game speed does NOT seem to be affected by multi-figure units.
(My thanks to seesjuh for testing this for me)

If you are worried about ‘map clutter’.... then customise your units.
All you have to do is keep the original animations for most situations, but replace the .ini and the attack/victory/death flc files with these new multi-figure ones (just keep the names of the flc files the same).
Then they will only be seen during the combat sequences.

Suggestion: because each unit 'advances' slightly during combat, they seem to be a bit intermingled (which I think looks realistic).
However, you could always give ALL these multi-figure units the "Ranged Attack Animation" option in the Civ3Editor.
This will stop them from trying to climb into each others tile while fighting (but remember; if you do use the editor then you will not be allowed to continue any saved games, and so will have to begin a fresh one).

“Ready-Made Middle Ages Multi-Figure Units Modpack”
-----------------------------------------------------------

The second of four modpacks (please see above for downloading instructions).

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Medieval_preview.gif

Cannon = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Cannon.zip (502kb)
Caravel = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Caravel.zip (998kb)
Cavalry = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Cavalry.zip (1,384kb)
Cossack = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Cossack.zip (1,378kb)
Frigate = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Frigate.zip (1,791kb)
Galleon = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Galleon.zip (1,741kb)
Knight = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Knight.zip (1,515kb)
Longbowman = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Longbowman.zip (1,639kb)
Man-O-War = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Man-O-War.zip (2,159kb)
Musketeer = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Musketeer.zip (1,383kb)
Musketman = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Musketman.zip (1,369kb)
Pikeman = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Pikeman.zip (1,541kb)
Rider = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Rider.zip (1,404kb)
Samurai = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Samurai.zip (1,583kb)
Elephant = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_War_Elephant.zip (1,926kb)

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Some notes about the units:-

I have left the Civ3 Privateer as a single-figure unit because piracy was usually a solitary profession.

Please note that the Frigate and Man-O-War units deploy into a line astern formation during the combat sequences, showing how naval warfare had improved since the 16th century Spanish Armada days.

Some of you may ask "why is the Musketeer & Musketman in two ranks when the rear rank doesn't do anything?".
Well, in reality, 17th century musket units fought in 6 to 8 ranks deep, each one discharging their weapon and then being relieved by the next rank. Once all 6 or 8 ranks had fired, the first rank will have reloaded, and the whole process would start again.
So I have shown them in two ranks in order to represent this.

The Samurai: the rear rank of 'peasants' is a figure created by Kinboat, and used with his permission.
PLEASE don't look at it with FLICster and tell me that there are weird shadow lines all around it.....if it looks ok with the alpha.pal palette, then it will look ok in the game.....and it does.
That's all that matters.

Cannons: yes, it would be nice to have gun crews like they have in PTW.....but we are not allowed to post ANY figures from PTW (Friaxis are worried that downloading these for free may affect sales of the PTW expansion disk).
So if you want gun crews, then may I suggest that you use Steph's wonderful SBB utility and make your own.

Cannon sound effects: it is very, very hard to try and make the animations match the sound of guns being fired.
Anyway.....sound travels at a speed of about 333 meters per second.....so if you were some 600 meters away then you wouldn't hear the cannon roar until 2 seconds after you saw the cannon flash.
(How's that for realism! :p )

“Ready-Made Industrial Ages Multi-Figure Units Modpack”
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The third of four modpacks (please see above for downloading instructions).

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Industrial_preview.gif

Artillery = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Artillery.zip (888kb)
Bomber = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Bomber.zip (1,013kb)
Destroyer = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Destroyer.zip (814kb)
Fighter = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Fighter.zip (626kb)
Infantry = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Infantry.zip (1,032kb)
Marine = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Marine.zip (1,061kb)
Panzer = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Panzer.zip (1,384kb)
Paratrooper = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Paratrooper.zip (1,153kb)
Rifleman = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Rifleman.zip (940kb)
Tank = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Tank.zip (1,364kb)
Transport = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Transport.zip (836kb)

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Some notes about the units:-

I've tried several different versions of the fighter, and finally settled on three aircraft in a tight 'vic' formation, as the Civ3 figure is obviously a British Spitfire, and the British at the begining of the Battle of Britain flew in this inefficient formation.
(This of course leaves open the possiblity of the German Me109 MF unit being 4 aircraft in an open loose 'finger of four' or 'shwarm' formation....with two normal sized fighters in the foreground and two half sized ones spread out behind them. ;) )

I tried to give the Battleship & Carrier an escort of Destroyers, but even reducing the Destroyer by 60% still didn't look convincing....so in the end I left these as single-figure units.

Making the Infantryman kneel down was very hard, so only the SE direction is fully animated. In all other directions, they 'jump' from standing to kneeling (but the animations during the attack sequence run so fast that it hardly shows).

I have not included Helicopters is this set because, well, they came in to general use after WW2, about the same time as jet aircraft, missiles and nuclear submarines (i.e. the 'Cold War' period).

Here are some previews.....

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_preview_Paras.gif

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_preview_Tank.gif

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_preview_Bomber.gif

Please let me know if there are any problems.
:)

“Ready-Made Modern Times Multi-Figure Units Modpack”
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The fourth....and last....of four modpacks (please see above for downloading instructions).

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Modern_preview.gif

Cruise Missile = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Cruise_Missile.zip (192kb)
F-15 = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_F-15.zip (1,386kb)
Helicopter = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Helicopter.zip (1,735kb)
Jet Fighter = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Jet_Fighter.zip (1,077kb)
Mech Infantry = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Mech_Infantry.zip (308kb)
Modern Armor = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Modern_Armour.zip (1,216kb)
Radar Artillery = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Radar_Artillery.zip (927kb)
Stealth Bomber = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Stealth_Bomber.zip (764kb)
Stealth Fighter = http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_Stealth_Fighter.zip (1,390kb)

EDIT: Oops! I originally had the MF Marines in this set.
The are now only in the Industrial Modpack (the link was repeated).
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Some notes about the units:-

The Mech Infantry uses the APC animation created by J-S, as I think that the Civ3 version looks too much like a light tank.
(It also gives me an excuse to use a very nice 50 cal heavy machinegun sound wave)
You know you could, if you really really wanted to, use the multi-figure Marine attack & victory animations for the Mech Infantry, to give the impression of troops leaving their vehicles to fight. ;)
Just copy and rename these two Marine flcs and place them in the Mech Infantry folder as MechInfantryAttackA & MechInfantryVictory.

The multi-figure Stealth Fighter & Bomber have already been created by sprnv8.
All I have done is renamed them, added some shadows (as sprnv8's shadows seem to have been lost), and changed the death flc a little bit.
They still use sprnv8's lovely stereo sound waves. :goodjob:

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Well, after some 50 multi-figure units.....I need a rest! :crazyeye:

Any problems with any of the above, then please let me know.

Happy civing everyone!

:D

Originally posted by Kryten
Also, some people will be concerned about the map looking ‘cluttered’ with lots of these large units scattered all over it.

Or you can always download SBB and make your own munit using the "alone" formation :D

I have discovered some problems when two of the new charge & melee sound waves are played together (see "Known Issues" in the first post).
Could anyone with more knowledge about sound files than myself help?

There are transparency problems with the shadow of the Hoplite.

To Kryten: Love the work
But since i had a couple of problems with the connection, can you please state the size of each file, just in case i got cut of, so that i know whether i got it all?
Thx veeeeeeeeery much :)

Edit: workers can be cool if multi-figure, no?

That's just so nice I love it
Just one question are you going to make all original units into multi-units
I mean Carriers and battleships are only really one unit and not a task force
Allso im second to ask for info about the file size I regularly gets kicked of especially when downloading

They look really cool. Do you mind if I post them all (and future ones) on my site? Most likely they will get their own section.

GIDustin

Kryten: several of the units have a small probem with little spots of magenta; I assume it is part of the palete change process, but it will make little areas of the figures transparent as someone already noted witht the hoplite.

Otherwise no problems- exelent work! Cant wait for the other packs.

It looks certainly great, Kryten! One question though, could you put the filesizes with the files? I am coping with a dial-up modem, and would like to know the sizes, so that I know in advance how long it is going to take.

If only I had the memory space on my computer! :cry: :cry:

Terrific work. One question, are you sure about the formations for swordsmen? I had sort of pictured them in the Bowmans' formation ;) but I'm sure you did more research than I.

I noticed that the INI files for these units require the sounds to be in the same folder, either copying from the civ3 unit folders or replacing the flcs in the civ3 unit folders. I've put together these INI files which point to remote files (e.g. ..\Archer\ArcherRun.amb) and corrected a few typos which were preventing the units from loading (e.g. "Swordsman .wav", rather than the incorrect "Swordsman.wav").

EDIT: for some reason when you download this file you end up with that old "attachment" thing - just rename to "Civ3 Ancient munits INI files.zip".

wonderful work Kryten. :goodjob:

I'm puttin all these units int a scenerio to save people the trouble, plus I wanted to do that anyway :p

EDIT: Nevermind, ifggured out my problem

I'll try to answer a few of the many questions you have all posed. :)

First of all I have added the zip sizes next to each unit in the first post.

To mrtn & Smoking Mirror,
Yes, something must have happened during the alpha.pal palette conversions on some of the units, but hopefully it won't be too noticable on the map.
(Er....there are 15 frames in each direction, and 8 directions per flc, and 6 flcs, with 6 figures in each frame. That's a total of over 4,300 figures for the Hoplites alone!!!....all of which would have to be adjusted by hand, as I can't use the PaintShop Pro 'colour replacer' tool or the 'pink' background will lose it's transparency.
So I very much doubt that I will be fixing it for some time! :crazyeye: )

To Akula,
Fear not.....modern ships are far too large to be able to get two in a tile.
I could squeeze two Destroyers together, but it looks unrealistic.
It would be nice to have Carriers & Battleships escorted by a couple of Destroyers, but they would have to be drastically resized first, and that means a loss of quality.
So almost all ships will have to stay as 'single-figure' units.

To GIDustin,
Of course you may place these units on your excellent website....but personally, I would save your limited webspace for all the hundreds of player created multi-figure units that will be made once people suss out how to use Steph's wonderful new utility.

To The Troquelet,
Legionaries are Roman, Hoplites are Greek, Immortals are Persian.
And Swordsmen are......who?
The only people who used trained, disciplined, uniformed and paid sword armed soldiers led by strict officers in ancient times were the Romans (in reality the Immortals fought with spears and shields, not scimitars).
All the other sword carrying troops, be they Celtic Gauls & Britons, Germanic Goths & Vandals, Spanish Iberians, Adriatic Illyrians, and so on, all fought in loose undisciplined groups called 'warbands'.
So that's how have I tried to show them; untrained, disordered, unruly tribal mobs with no actual formation.
(Of course, with Steph's wonderful new utility, you could always change it. :) )

To Zulu,
Thanks for those .ini configuration files :goodjob:, but my original idea was to simply replace the current flc animations with these new multi-figure ones.
This means that they will go inside the existing unit folders, where the Civ3 sound files already live. This seemed the quickest and easiest way of doing it.
(I know what a lazy lot you all are! :D )

Originally posted by Kryten
To Zulu,
Thanks for those .ini configuration files :goodjob:, but my original idea was to simply replace the current flc animations with these new multi-figure ones.
This means that they will go inside the existing unit folders, where the Civ3 sound files already live. This seemed the quickest and easiest way of doing it.
(I know what a lazy lot you all are! :D )

Well, what I've done is created a new folder under CIV3PTW\Scenarios and created a bix with no map detail and put the folder name in the Scenario Search Folders box. That way, I have the choice between random map games with single figures, or random map games with multi-figures.

Even if you do overwrite the original files, the Legionary INI file has an error. The INI file refers to a Legionarymelee.WAV, but the wav is actually named Legionmelee.WAV.

That is the only problem I found, and I tested them in game.

Also, my site has been updated. Thanks Kryten

GIDustin

Originally posted by zulu9812
Well, what I've done is created a new folder under CIV3PTW\Scenarios and created a bix with no map detail and put the folder name in the Scenario Search Folders box. That way, I have the choice between random map games with single figures, or random map games with multi-figures.

Ah! That was what computerdude113 was probably trying to do.

Originally posted by GIDustin
Even if you do overwrite the original files, the Legionary INI file has an error. The INI file refers to a Legionarymelee.WAV, but the wav is actually named Legionmelee.WAV

Remember that I have found that some of the new "charge" & "melee" sound files 'screech' when Civ3 tries to play them together.
Still, give them a go.
I might be lucky and it's only a few of them that do this instead of them all.
Let me know what you find. :)

I was just stating that because PTW crashes when you tell it to use a sound file that doesnt exist.

I didnt actually test the meele sound in game, so I might go do that now.

GIDustin

Edit: Yeah, there are many units with bad wavs. My ears hurt now. That was really high pitched!

Yes, I have found that some screech and the problem I had was that I wanted the PTW Editor to look for the file Multi Units when it was called Multi Unit
Stupid mistake, but sorted out and they look great!
BTW I am making a scenerio w/all of these in it, for all to eventually download.

Originally posted by GIDustin
Even if you do overwrite the original files, the Legionary INI file has an error. The INI file refers to a Legionarymelee.WAV, but the wav is actually named Legionmelee.WAV.

That's one of the fixes in my collection of INI files

btw, Kryten - is this 'screeching' error caused when two units play the same sound file at the same time (even if there are 2 copies of the file, 1 in each file), or when 1 unit tries to play 2 sounds at once (i.e. a problem with looping attackA and attackB)?

Originally posted by zulu9812
btw, Kryten - is this 'screeching' error caused when two units play the same sound file at the same time (even if there are 2 copies of the file, 1 in each file), or when 1 unit tries to play 2 sounds at once (i.e. a problem with looping attackA and attackB)?

Well, I have 6 different "charge" sounds, and 6 different "melee" sounds. My cunning plan was to have the "charge" sound in the first round of combat, then the "melee" in all the others.
But it didn't feel 'right' with the Horsemen, they they only have the "melee" sound.
Because I know nothing about how to alter the attack.amb file (which, like the .ini file, tells the unit what sound to play in a certain situation), what I did was to replace it so that "charge" always plays for the attackA.flc, and "melee" for the attackB.flc .

Now when Warriors fight Warrios, apart from a slight 'click', everything seems ok.
But Warriors ("charging") fighting Horsemen ("melee") the result is = 'screech'!

I was just thinking that you (if you had time :P) could make the workers multi also. It would be kinda funny to see the ancient time worker look like a chain gang.

This could be applied to the settlers and make them look more like a civ2 style caravan but of people.

As for the scout and army, they should stay as single units.

Thnx, L8r.

If someone took the time to make, possibly as an advanced scout, make a MUnit Louis and Clark unit...

I hope you all realise that Steph has posted his wonderful SBB utility tool that automatically makes these new multi-figure units here....

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=718161#post718161

....and that we could have lots of people making them, instead of just one poor sod! :p

We could, but we don't quite understand how the utility works. We need instructrions!

Originally posted by computerdude113
We could, but we don't quite understand how the utility works. We need instructrions!

Did you read ther user's manual :)

hi,

I downloaded all of this stuff yesterday and played around with it for a while.
First of all : Tried it with a game, many many visible munits but NO slowdown :D :D

Second, I backup computerdude, i read the flicster manual as well as yours but I tried making a munit of a berserker.
So i loaded one of the FLCs into Flicster, exported this to 8 individual pictures (cant remember the format :D).
Then tried SBB, selected the formation (4 bersekers seemed fine to me), but how to go from there..... I cant seem to get a preview.
The storyboard making goes fine, but what do I do then ?

How do I get this all back into Flicster ???

Well why dont you guys make a example of you making a munits from scratch..... with pics .. pls !

Greets

Repeat : I wanna work munits but I cant seem to get it right !

Right, you had used FLICSter to extract the original storyboard, so you already have the XFM file. Open the SBB-generated stroyboard bmp in a graphics program and change the colours to 256 (in Paintshop Pro this is done by the Colours drop-down menu, i.e. at the top on the same row as File, Edit, etc., selecting Decrease Colour Depth and going from there). Now save this bmp as pcx, overwriting the original storyboard you'd extracted with FLICSter. Use FLICSter to open the XFM file and you should be able to preview your animation. Now go to the Export tab and export it as a Civ3 Unit FLC.

Originally posted by seesjuh
hi,
So i loaded one of the FLCs into Flicster, exported this to 8 individual pictures (cant remember the format :D).


You must export as a single PCX storyboard, not 8 individual pictures

Originally posted by Kryten
First of all I have added the zip sizes next to each unit in the first post.

Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
:worshp: :worshp: :worshp:

He did, of course, say right at the start that each d/l was between 1 and 2 MB...

Originally posted by zulu9812
Right, you had used FLICSter to extract the original storyboard, so you already have the XFM file. Open the SBB-generated stroyboard bmp in a graphics program and change the colours to 256 (in Paintshop Pro this is done by the Colours drop-down menu, i.e. at the top on the same row as File, Edit, etc., selecting Decrease Colour Depth and going from there). Now save this bmp as pcx, overwriting the original storyboard you'd extracted with FLICSter. Use FLICSter to open the XFM file and you should be able to preview your animation. Now go to the Export tab and export it as a Civ3 Unit FLC.

Zulu, that's fine and all said, but have you yourself tried it? I have and no matter what I try I can't get the new bmp that SBB creates to be the same size as the one FLICster produces. There are also problems with the program that I have found, like I can't combine two different units to create a bomber w/fighter escorts and when I try to create a pack of Dinos, a lot of the body gets chopped off by SBB in all directions cept for the S view. Also I tried to make a squad of F-14s and the preview was not only off ot begin with, meaning I had to center them manually, but when I went to play the animation, the filcs jumped all over the place! ARG!

Thanks Kryten!!!

Originally posted by computerdude113


Zulu, that's fine and all said, but have you yourself tried it? I have and no matter what I try I can't get the new bmp that SBB creates to be the same size as the one FLICster produces. There are also problems with the program that I have found, like I can't combine two different units to create a bomber w/fighter escorts and when I try to create a pack of Dinos, a lot of the body gets chopped off by SBB in all directions cept for the S view. Also I tried to make a squad of F-14s and the preview was not only off ot begin with, meaning I had to center them manually, but when I went to play the animation, the filcs jumped all over the place! ARG!

If you're having trouble combining storyboards from different units, I imagine it's because SSB probably requires all input storyboards to have the same cell size and also the same no. of frames (so that the animation times are the same). I took BeBro's Imperial Legion, input the FLICSter-extracted run storyboards and SSB exported the bmp no problem. I then converted it to a 256 colour bmp, then a pcx, and I was able to preview the 6-figure run animation no problem with the XFM file.

Originally posted by zulu9812

I imagine it's because SSB probably requires all input storyboards to have the same cell size and also the same no. of frames (so that the animation times are the same).
Right. All the storyboard must have the same size, and the same number of frames
I will complete the User's manual to integrate this. Next time, instead of requesting I post my tool immediately, be a bit more patient! I write the user's manual in a hurry to post the tool Sunday as promised.

Steph, You REALLY need to open questions/bug/suggestions thead for your program so people can tell you and others what they think.

In the meantime, I have bug to report. In the frame viewer circle (whatever you call it), when holding the mouse button and rotating the mouse (in order to view the animation), the preview of the unit eventually dissappears, and only resets when you exit the program. Just thought you'd like to know.

Originally posted by Kryten

(Due to size, each multi-figure unit being between 1 & 2 megs, I have posted each one separately, to help people with slow modems)

Any chance you can roll them into a single file for those of us without slow modems?

noticed a couple more typos in that swordsman ini

Originally posted by Kryten
Can anyone out there help? :confused:

I possibly can help :). I can do the PTW multi-figure units and also the Custom units that I use the most :).

Edit: If I ever figure out how to get the "Dark Pink" area, that the game uses for Smoke/Shaddows, To be carried into the PCX frame. :mad:

I've had a short run through, getting to grips with the multi unit story board program, and its great; there are some problems that users may run in to the first attempt to use it, but once you figure out what you are doing wrong, its prety easy to use.

Here are some tips that I picked up, just to steer people round what I found to be the most obvious difficulties:
#1 Make sure the animations are the same size and the same length in frames.

#2 convert all your individual animations to the same pallete before attempting to merge them. They have to be in 256 colours and everything works best if you use an alpha blended pallete (one in which all the shadow colours are graded, from light to dark).

#3 where it says frames under the part where you enter the locations of the individual animations, this is asking you how many frames there are in the animation, it does not automaticly know! If you dont set this to the same amount of frames as are in the animations then you get lots of muck ups.

#4 when you reduce the size of the image it reduces the whole frame size, so that it can not be just saved as PCX and attacked back on to the original storyboard (the pcx and story board are now different sizes). when you create a new story board in flickster as a housing for the new PCX you must use a calculator to determine how big the new frames have to be.
For example; if you start with the max size and reduce it by 85% the new storyboard created by fickster must be 85% of 240= 204 pixels.

Remember the thing that you get from this utility is just an image-storyboard, in order to turn it back in to a flick you need it to be the same size as the original and have the same number of frames.

Oh well, probably caused more confusion than help there, but hopefully people should get the hang of this eventualy.

Finaly one other tip; Use an apropriate civ colour, as when you juggle the pallettes around some bits and peices can end up being not what they should, civ colours (especialy if you use red or blue) can become shadows and shadows can become civ colours. I would recomend using civ colour 10 (bright green) for units without a lot of camoflage and civ colour 1 (bright red) for units with a lot of green in them, risky as it can become shadow, but at least it cant mix with the green.

I forgot to ask:

How do the units look when in an army?

GIDustin

Looks great, but i'll Download them when Kryten or who ever works out all the bugs. :) No need DLing them 2 or 3 times after minor fixes.

Originally posted by CamDawg
Any chance you can roll them into a single file for those of us without slow modems?

Any chance that you could press the download button 16 times seeing that your modem is so fast? :p

(Actually, it's better to keep each one seperate, just in case I want to change any of them)
Which leads me on to.....

Volker,
I would download them now if I was you, because the only 'bug' at the moment is my new sound files, which there is a 'quick fix' for mentioned in the "Known Issues" part of the first post.
Speaking of the sound files.....

CivGeneral,
My cry for help was really for fixing the sound files 'screech'.....but, if like Civanator, you want to start with the modern multi-figure units, then we could meet at about the begining of the Industrial Age and get these Ready-Made Modpacks out even quicker. :D

Zulu,
Thanks again for fixing another .ini file.
(Maybe I should make you a new animated gif........"WRONG INI !!!" :lol: )

Smoking Mirror,
Good advice on using Steph's utility.
I think you should copy it and post it in Steph's SBB thread in this forum so that people can find it easier.
I am trying to write a full tutorial.....but although I have two hands, two eyes, and several other bits that come in two's, 'multi tasking' is not part of my programing!
So I'm afraid it's either a tutorial or part two of the Ready-Made Multi-Figure Modpack......not both. :crazyeye:

GIDustin,
Multi-figure armies look like this.....

Originally posted by Kryten
.....but although I have two hands, two eyes, and several other bits that come in two's

I don't want to know... :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Kryten
So I'm afraid it's either a tutorial or part two of the Ready-Made Multi-Figure Modpack......not both. :crazyeye:

part two of the Ready-Made Multi-Figure Modpack, definitely ;)

Ok, ok thanks Zulu and Steph, I get it now! Now that that's over with, Kryten do you need any help making these units? If so I'll be lgad to help.

Originally posted by Kryten


Any chance that you could press the download button 16 times seeing that your modem is so fast? :p

Touche! ;) I only have the fast modem at work. I only have a 28.8 modem at home. Grrrrr... :mad:

BTW, the units look great and I'm looking forward to the rest. Thanks for your work!

I'll just finish a game in the modern era, then I'll start all over and get to see the MF units in action. I LOVE the idea, and the sneak peeks I took of the flc's made me really excited (OK, there are greater things in life, I know).

Just one question: Where are the MF unit FIDGET flc's? Sure, maybe I should see the units in the game before asking this question, and you guys would probably not make such a misstake, but I felt that it would be interesting to know why they are left out.

I guess the .ini file has been tweaked to not use the fidgeting, but, hey, why not address the issue. I hope you guys won't be cross with me.

Your doing a GREAT job, and I'm really looking forward to installing all other era MF units, as well as the PTW MF units.

Thanx!!!

Thank You! These multi-unit figures are so good that I just had to leave my "read-only" status and join the forum!

GOOD JOB, Kryten! :goodjob:

Since I'm one of those who prefers using the little time I've got to actually PLAY the game, I just love these ready-made units (no time to learn to use the editor...).

But, playing around with the units, I found one thing that annoyed me a bit: My cities disappear (behind the units) :cry:

Not knowing the logic behind the unit-files, I still ask: Is it possible to keep the original single-figure "fortify"-version of the unit? So that a city's garrison won't be so dominating?

Anyway, I hope the guys in FIRAXIS SEES THIS and include these ideas in later versions (who needs dinosaurs anyway...)!

Kryten,
I'm still wandering about that hoplite. Of course I'm not asking you to fix them all by hand, but could it be that you missed something in the conversion? Some evil pallette thing? Maybe some step in the process that you forgot?

Kryten...........just amazing work........... :yeah:
....Reminds me when I have created the "Kradschützen" with the two German units :)
AWSOME WORK!!!!!!!!!!

Good news everybody........seesjuh has done some in depth game testing ( :goodjob: ) and has discovered that MF units DO NOT slow down the game speed!

Also, I have found a cure for the new sound wave 'screech'!
(It involves changing the name of the "charge" wave to something that the attack.amb file already knows about, and discarding the "melee" sound wave altogether.....
....a bit obvious when you think about it, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.... :crazyeye: )
I'll update the first post with these changes, as well as incorporating all of Zulu's corrected ini files (thanks BTW), probably as a new downloadable 'patch' zip file.

To Notech,
I have deliberately left out the 'fidget' animations (like most unit creators do) for several good reasons:-
1) very few people miss them
2) it makes the zip files a little bit smaller
3) I was not sure if the game speed would be affected
4) it's a lot of extra hard work just to make something that can rarely be seen
(Ok, I admit it......item 4 was the main reason!)
You could of course always use Steph's marvellous new utility to create your own fidget animations if you really want them....... ;)

To Datsekkar,
If you find that the new units obscure the cities, then you could always do this.......
Originally posted by Kryten
…..customise your units.
All you have to do is keep the original animations for most situations, but replace the attack/victory/death flc files with these new multi-figure ones.
Then they will only be seen during the combat sequences, thus not affecting the game speed and keeping the map free. :D
So, right-click on the animation FLC file that you don't like, rename it (add "MF" to the end so that you know that it is a "Multi-Figure" FLC), then place the original Civ3 FLC file in it's place, making sure that it has the same name.
There is no need to touch the .ini file, and this can even be done in the middle of a game. :)

To my old mate nonnob,
I'm sure that this has gone through your and every other cut-'n-pasters' mind; "why put just one figure in a frame when you could put six!".
But the person we should really thank is Steph.
Although we could cut-'n-paste one of these new units a week, his fantastic tool allows us to do it in less than half an hour! :eek:

To mrtn,
Originally posted by mrtn
I'm still wandering about that hoplite. Of course I'm not asking you to fix them all by hand, but could it be that you missed something in the conversion? Some evil pallette thing? Maybe some step in the process that you forgot?

I'm afraid not.

Just so that everybody knows what we are talking about, here is a picture of the multi-figure Hoplite flaw.....

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/Hoplite_flaw.gif

Here is the situation:-
Steph's lovely tool creates a bmp file, which we then have to transfer to the FLICster created storyboard.
Now the golden rule with shadows is this: "ALLWAYS use the nice grey alpha palette when cutting-'n-pasting shadows, otherwise they will be bright red or green in the FLICster 'clock-face', and in the game".

The problem is, as Moeniir says in the FLICster readme file, the alpha palette is only an approximation of how the unit will look in the game.
As you change from one palette to another, the colours are 'approximated', and sometimes they get changed slighty (in the case of the Hoplite, a blue-grey pixel has been 'approximated' into a more grey than blue one, which gets left out when transfering from the bmp to the storyboard).

But all is not lost mrtn!
I have found the missing pixel!
Here it is......

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/Hoplite_flaw_fix.gif

All you have to do to correct the Hoplite is to take a screenshot of this page, convert all the multi-figure animations into storyboards, then paste this missing pixel in to the 14 empty slots shown in the above frame.....and there are 15 frames per direction....and 8 directions....and 6 different flcs.......so it only needs to be pasted some 10,080 times. :D

(Alternatively, I could just change the original pixel on the Civ3 single figure to a slightly bluer colour before Steph's utility turns it into a bmp file....then it wouldn't be lost in the first place.
The shadows need fixing anyway.
"Leave it with me.....")

I installed the multi-figure units last night.

The swordsman attack sound(s) seems to have some problems. It has an unusally high pitch. Can you check?

EDIT: oops, never mind. You already addressed this problem in your post. :)

Love the units. very cool. So, if I want to 'create' my own units (or modify current ones) I need to download sbb and flickster AND also have a photoshop program? I'm confused... more than normal, I mean. Please clearify. Thank you.

It's a brilliant idea, these armies.

I am taking the step of making a host cost one population point, an extra attack and hit point too, to represent the power of these hordes of men.

Oh, I never even saw those wanton pixels, I just noticed the border on the shade.

take a look at the Hoplite's shadow

close up

To be honest , I could put up with that, but It is noticable.

Heh, I didnt know that hoplites have huge deformed calf muscles though.

i dont if anybody has addressed this with a solution yet, but im still getting this loud SCREECHING sound during some battles, aka the spearmen, hoplite, etc.

is there a fix? ive got skull9812's ini files, but it didnt seem to fix it

Originally posted by Kryten

Also, I have found a cure for the new sound wave 'screech'!
(It involves changing the name of the "charge" wave to something that the attack.amb file already knows about, and discarding the "melee" sound wave altogether.....
....a bit obvious when you think about it, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.... :crazyeye: )
I'll update the first post with these changes, as well as incorporating all of Zulu's corrected ini files (thanks BTW), probably as a new downloadable 'patch' zip file.


He did mention how to fix the sound problem..so I and probably Kriten would like people to read the posts before they start to complain.
L8r

BTW, Kriten, AMAZING JOB. All I did to 'solve' the problem of the sounds was to TURN THEM OFF. Mostly cuz I couldnt' figure out how to fix it myself.

[post edited by TF: try not to be too harsh]

Why do you all talk about bugs and flaws? Write about how great Civ now looks. Thir picture shows my adversaries the Koreans, showing off their military. You have to admit, it is much more impressive then when it was in single units.

I assume they talk about the bugs in order to get them fixed so that it can be perfect. :)

I may install multi figured units in my new scenario. Also i might in the current scenarios. Well the new one is english civil war.

I've also noticed that grey outline around the Hoplites in the death flc

I agree with piderman. while it is good to give comments on the problems, we should praise just as much as we point out the bugs! I love this, and i can NOT wait until the rest come out!

Jason

If people are being pernickety, it's only because we care :)

Thank you for being my 'beta testers' everybody. :D

I have now updated the ancient modpack on page one of this thread with the following changes....

*Hoplite shadows & most 'missing pixels'............FIXED (just download it again)

*The faulty multi-figure sound wave 'screech'....FIXED (just follow the instructions)

*Spelling mistakes in the new ini files................FIXED (the correct ini files are automatically downloaded to the right folders when you unzip the sound bundle patch)

(If there are any more problems, then I am sure that you will all let me know. ;) )

Impressive!! (quote from the image below :) )

Really, it's an outstaing work; but why no PTW units?
I know that posting PTW units would make the expansion pack nearly useless (except for MP games), but multi-figure units are different because customized units, aren't they?

Do you need to d/l the sound patches only if you d/l the first round of munits, or do you need the updated zipz and the sound fix?

Originally posted by Rhye
Impressive!! (quote from the image below :) )

Really, it's an outstaing work; but why no PTW units?
I know that posting PTW units would make the expansion pack nearly useless (except for MP games), but multi-figure units are different because customized units, aren't they?

Because PTW licence agreement says you can use the material and editor to procude a mod, and publish it, prodiving it is necessary to have PTW to run it. So you can make a scenario a post a bix file (because Civ III cannot read a bix, only PTW can), but you cannot post a FLC made from PTW units, because it can be used without PTW

Originally posted by zulu9812
Do you need to d/l the sound patches only if you d/l the first round of munits, or do you need the updated zipz and the sound fix?

The only 'unit.zip' that I've changed is the one that says ***FIXED*** (i.e. the Hoplite shadows have been corrected), so that is the only one you need to download.
Then download the 'sound patch.zip' to fix all the sound waves for all 16 ancient multi-figure units.
(This so that people don't have to go through all the hassle of downloading all 16 units for a second time.....a bit time consuming, especialy if you have a slow modem/connection)
:)

Kryten, will you marry me?

Of course if the PTW units were "Flipped" to mirror images, they would be new images an no longer covered by the original agreement; You can copyright an image or an moving image but as soon as that image is sufficiently altered (like being flipped) it is no longer the original image.
It would however mean that all the new "mirror" units would be left handed- Oh well, can't have it all I supose.

You would just have to flip the cells and reposition them so that they still faced the right way (So that the SW image did not face SE for example).

Actualy (my knowledge of copyright law is, understandably, somewhat limited) I'm prety sure that just adjusting the image in to a multi unit would qualify as sufficient modification.
I'm gonna have a look see if there is a website about copyright law.

To Smoking Mirror,

There are lots of websites about copyright law.
About the 'easiest' to understand (and I use the phrase 'easiest' as a purely relative term :crazyeye: ), is probably this one......

http://desktoppub.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.benedict.com%2Fd igital%2Fsoftware%2Fsoftware.htm%23Top

Have a good read of this and see if you can suss it out.

Basically though, it seems to me that you are NOT allowed to to simply 'mirror', or change in any other way, something that is owned by someone else without their permisson.

Example: can you imagine anyone 'mirroring' a Walt Disney cartoon character and getting away with it? (an extreme case perhaps, but you see my point).


Originally posted by mrtn
Kryten, will you marry me?

Only if you can bear me children. ;) :lol:

Kryten, are the middle ages munits done?

The news page will tell us if he's done, I suppose.

Basically though, it seems to me that you are NOT allowed to to simply 'mirror', or change in any other way, something that is owned by someone else without their permisson.

Yes, Thats what I found; Unfortunately copyright law seems to have been writen by an american; It just makes no inherent sense- Copyrighting an image is like copyrighting a flower, or a rainbow IMHO~ just plain stupid! Especialy if you are using it for non-profit (Perhaps we could get ourselves declared a "educational resource") :)

The next problem is what happens when I want to make multi units for a mod I'm working on in the 20th century;
Yes there will be units that feature only infantry from PTW , but many of the units will include Artillery (such as the anti-tank gu below).
What can I do? include instructions in the mod on how players should create the units using stephs tool? What if Steph had never built his tool and I had to make them "by hand"? Would I expect each and every player to spend weeks making units for a mod that I'm provideing- And how do I ensure they are used purely for PTW mods?

I'm going to put these points to the guys at firaxis, Once an image is out in the public domain (and civ III as a player custonisable game should realy count as public domain shouldn't it?) It is there for people to do what they want to do with it. If this is not the case why include the units in the first place?

SM, I agree totally. But my main question is if we make multi-units out of them, they will be our work, right? And since you can't replicate the rigonal unit from the MUnit, are we able to post them because technically they are our work and it won't take away from people getting PTW?

I wondering why they wouldn.t want to let the PTW unit to be used... it's not like as we trow PTW out ... we just use the graphic not the stat and all .. just the graphic....

well my 2 cents


PS Great job Kryten and Steph!

Gral'Tok- we just use the graphic not the stat Yes, but im willing to bet that making the stats cost next to nothing;), graphics however, are a different story. Don't forget, a lot of people haven’t bought PtW yet. Smoking mirror- Copyrighting an image is like copyrighting a flower, or a rainbow IMHO~ just plain stupid! Not exactly, The graphics are part of the game, and making PtW units into Munits, is taking part (a major part) from PtW, and making it totally useless. . . Or close to it. Computerdude- And since you can't replicate the original unit from the MUnit, are we able to post them because technically they are our work and it won't take away from people getting PTW? Im not so sure you can't replicate it, since you have all animations, just slightly smaller, all anyone would need would to cut and paste one of them, and make it bigger. Not a hard thing to do. And then the second one, is that there are lots of people who think munits look better than their counter parts, so if they had a choice, they would choose munits over single units any day. This way, the makers of PtW munit conversions, are actually leading these people to breaking the law, unintentionally of course.

A way around the difficulties-
Some ways would be to ask Firaxis to make a download munits section, i.e. only the people who had registered for PtW could access it. I doubt they would do this, but it seems a possible happening.

there seems to be a problem with the attack flc of the bowman. When they're attacking to the right (90°), the arrows seem to stay there. They keep hanging in midair.

Nice to see that I'm not the only Belgian in here.. :D :D :D

I have a suggestion for making the Settler unit into an Munit, wouldn't it be possible to make the Settler into a couple? One man alone isn't going to be the right start for a new city, right?

Or is there a deus ex machina in the game who takes a rib and creates a woman, so that the city can grow? :crazyeye: :crazyeye:

*taps his watch* hmmm...late munits......I hear an approaching mob of kinboats fanatics come to take kryten away....

Hehe, take as much time as you want. :)

Hey! Leave Kryten alone. It's bad enough tring to get units done on time for the unruly CFC mob; but he also has to put up with Rimmer and Lister. ;) (Inside joke.) Although if the Fanatics multi-unit had pitchforks added in with the torches....

ahem ;)

The Cat doesn't help either. (;)Another Inside Joke) Also, should the Privateer be a single figure? Imagine one of those going up against a bunch of Galleies or Caravels? They're transports! They wouldn't stand a chance!

Twenty normal guy against one martial art master. Who will win the fight?

Originally posted by redhat
Twenty normal guy against one martial art master. Who will win the fight?

In real life?
the twenty normal guys:p

Kryten where are those multi units from the middle ages?!?! :D
I really need to implent some to my scenario. Btw you did an awesome job with the ancient units!

hey, I wasnt rushing him....I was joking.

so was I.

Hmmm... well the clock is ticking, in my current game I'm approaching the end of the ancient era, and I'm not sure I can bear to lose the MUnits... but seriously, he has had to do the patch, and fix the hoplite shadow, so he's probably behind shedule... (he also might have Holly at his heels :D)

BTW... is it just me, or the the swordsmen have no attack animation?

Originally posted by The Great Apple
BTW... is it just me, or the the swordsmen have no attack animation?

I guess that must be you then... :lol:

AHHHHHH!! KILLER SHEEP!!

j/k

It's probably just you.

I do apologise for being 3 days late with the Ready-Made Middle Ages Multi-Figure Modpack.
But The Great Apple was right.....delays due to fixing the sound patch, the Hoplite shadows, trying to get the Middle Ages sounds to work correctly, difficulties with the Samurai unit, attacks by double-glazing salesmen, solar flares.....(I shall come back and edit this post later when I think of better excuses).

(Now I know why Fraxis never gives exact times for new patches and expansion disk release dates!)

Anyway, the next modpack is ready and I'm uploading all the units now, which will take a couple of hours as my connection is so slow.
:)

Take your time krytey me boy. 'Better late than never.'

YAY! The new ones are done!

Kryten, want me to send you the Jet Fighter formation to put into the modern patch?

This is like dangling candy in front of a baby. But being late is better than all bugged up.

Great work so far!

Love everything so far!!!!

Is it just me or is the link for the samuari not working. Other than that im about to install them.

Originally posted by The Great Apple
BTW... is it just me, or the the swordsmen have no attack animation?

Do you use PTW?
If yes, PTW has a own Swordsman.ini in the folder:
Civilization III\CIV3PTW\Art\Units\Swordsman
If you copy krytens swordman.ini into this folder
you become an error that the game cannot find the swordmanFotify.wav.
Open the copied ini and change
FORTIFY=SwordmanFortify.wav
to
FORTIFY=SwordmanFortify .wav
(the space between y and the.)
then it works correct.
If you don't change the ini's the Munit changes to one swordman if it attacks

There are new inis for the F-15, ICBM, Infantry,Tac Nuke and worker modern times too, and the catapult and cannon are with new animations!(all in Civilization III\CIV3PTW\Art\Units)
People should keep that in mind if they want to use this munits with PTW!
p.s. I want to say nice job, kryten and you too steph!

Originally posted by Spade7
Is it just me or is the link for the samuari not working.

Oops!.

I forgot to add ".zip" at the end of the link.

Now fixed.

:)

Great work Kryten! :)

Originally posted by Lurchfang

Do you use PTW?
If yes, PTW has a own Swordsman.ini in the folder:
Civilization III\CIV3PTW\Art\Units\Swordsman
If you copy krytens swordman.ini into this folder
you become an error that the game cannot find the swordmanFotify.wav.
Open the copied ini and change
FORTIFY=SwordmanFortify.wav
to
FORTIFY=SwordmanFortify .wav
(the space between y and the.)
then it works correct.
If you don't change the ini's the Munit changes to one swordman if it attacks



Yes :D that would be it... thx

I give them a score of 100!
Wow!

Originally posted by Kryten
CivGeneral,
My cry for help was really for fixing the sound files 'screech'.....but, if like Civanator, you want to start with the modern multi-figure units, then we could meet at about the begining of the Industrial Age and get these Ready-Made Modpacks out even quicker. :D

Kryten, sorry for the late reply,
I am planing on getting started on making some Modern age Multi-unit figures. Once I get PSP7 installed, But I can do the units with an older version of PSP, Ill get to work on the Modern Age Multi-Figure units :).
I hope My help would benifit the Multi-figure unit project, Kryten :).

Did I miss the a units.pcx file that shows the units as MF. If I didnt' miss it and someone has made one, could you post it for me.

Thnx
L8r

Kryten i have started work on the the world 1650-1750 scenario could i email it to you if you could install some multi figure graphics? This includes units from the English civil war

You don't really need to bundle the graphics with the mod, unless you are using specific formations.

If you specify the folder, Civ will just take the graphics from where you tell it

well thats the whole point, specific formations.

:worshp: *Bows before the Smeeee Heeeeed!* :worshp:

The units are beautiful! I would have done this myself, but I don't do windows!:groucho:

Kryten, many thanks. Got the units installed this afternoon and got so involved watching their movements that I darn near lost a game! Well worth it, though.

Sorry for being a bit late in my replies to you all (....I've been busybusybusy.....)

To computerdude113 & CivGeneral,

Yes Please! With more people handling the Modern Age units, we can get the whole project done much sooner. :goodjob:

I suggest that you upload your creations to the CivFanatics Upload file as normal, then PM me with the link. Then I can just post the link (crediting yourselves of course) in this thread under the Ready-Made Modern Age Multi-Figure Modpack slot I have reserved on page one.

I was thinking along these lines:-
single-figure units = ICBM's, Tactical Nukes, and all modern warships (so from the Ironclad onwards, all warships are left as singles).
2 figure units = Stealth Fighters & Bombers, and all Tanks, Mech Inf & Radar Artillery.
3 figure units = all Fighters & Bombers, Helicopters, and Cruise Missiles.
I am currently finishing the Industrial Age units, which should be ready....with luck....in about 3 or 4 days (4 figure Rifleman in a line, 3 Transport 'landing craft' in a 'V', 4 figure Infantry/Marines/Paratroopers in a loose skirmish 'diamond' formation with two of them kneeling, and 2 figure Artillery/Tank/Panzer units)

Please note....and I'm sure that that you have already thought of this....that this leaves room for another German 'Unique Unit':-
The Wolfpack (three WW2 U-Boats, with a higher attack factor than normal, and the radar abilty to refect that they were spread out in a long line, which made it easier for them to spot allied convoys. ;) )


To EskimoPie,

There is no units_32/units.pcx file, because it is impossible to get multi-figure units into the small cramped frames.
And resizing/reducing the MF units to fit would merely turn them into unrecognisable blobs.


To _Impreza_,

Yes, please do tell me the types of units you require.
I will then post them in this forum for all to see and use.
I was thinking along these lines.....
Renaissance English foot (of Henry VIII's time) = 3 longbows + 3 pikes
Swiss Mercenary Pikemen = 3 pikes + 1 pike & 2 crossbows
Spanish Tercio = 4 pikes in a block, with a musket on each corner (forming an 'X' shape)
Pike & Shot Regiment = 4 pikes in a block, with a musket on each flank (so the front 4 figures, 2 pikes & 2 muskets, forms a 'line')
18th Century Fusiliers = 3 tricorne hats + 3 tricorne hats (using Dark Sheer's Musket Infantry)
17th Century Cannon = one gun & 2 crewmen (converted Civ3 Musketeer figures)
18th Century Cannon = two guns & 2 crewmen (converted tricorne hatted figures)
:)


To everyone else,

Thanks for all the praise, but the real hero is Steph.
Without his wonderful SBB utility, it would have taken about a year to make all these units (probably longer).

BTW, nobody has said anything about the new MF sound waves.
Are they all right, do they work correctly, are they appropriate?

Thanx for the clarification.

Originally posted by Kryten
... and 2 figure Artillery/Tank/Panzer units ...


Aw, I was kinda hoping for the tanks to be traveling in a wedge formation, especially the panzers to simulate the blitzkrieg attack.
I agree with the pairs for aircraft, because of wingman formation that has always and still is the standard.

Originally posted by EskimoPie
Aw, I was kinda hoping for the tanks to be traveling in a wedge formation, especially the panzers to simulate the blitzkrieg attack.
I agree with the pairs for aircraft, because of wingman formation that has always and still is the standard.

Not possible I'm afraid, all due to the size of the figures.

Have a look at the picture below.
These have not been resized, but are as they appear in Civ3.
As you can see, even getting 2 tanks in a terrain tile is a bit of a squeeze.

Yes, we could reduce them in size....but when you consider that those 4 Infantrymen are all supposed to fit in one of those tanks....well, making the tanks smaller just to be able to fit 3 in a tile makes them look like toys.

Aircraft are not too much of a problem, because they can 'fly' outside of the terrain tile (their true position will be indicated by the shadows on the ground).

As for how many aircraft a multi-figure unit should have; remember this:-
A Civ3 air unit represents anywhere from a squadron of about a dozen aircraft, all the way up to over a hundred aircraft in a Fighter or Bomber Wing (depending on peoples preferences).
So one aircraft, or two, or three, or four.....it's doesn't matter.
It just represents a large body of aircraft, nothing more.

Kryten, how do you make the kneeling soldiers?

Originally posted by Kryten
As for how many aircraft a multi-figure unit should have; remember this:-
A Civ3 air unit represents anywhere from a squadron of about a dozen aircraft, all the way up to over a hundred aircraft in a Fighter or Bomber Wing (depending on peoples preferences).
So one aircraft, or two, or three, or four.....it's doesn't matter.
It just represents a large body of aircraft, nothing more.
Couldn't the same be said for almost all the units, with the possible exception of the naval units?

Originally posted by Kal-el
Couldn't the same be said for almost all the units, with the possible exception of the naval units?

Exactly!
Modern infantry work in 3 man 'fire-teams'....who cares. A Infantry unit represents a 500 man battalion or 12,000 man division, not just 3 men.
Aircraft work in pairs....so what. An aircraft unit represents between a dozen to a hundred planes, not just two.
(I do hope that nobody thinks that a Roman cohort/legion consisted of just six men! :D )

Originally posted by Steph
Kryten, how do you make the kneeling soldiers?

With a little bit of cut-'n-paste my friend. ;)

Phase one = make one kneeling figure, just to make a kneeling 'base'.

Phase two = paste all the top halves (down as far as the red belt) onto this one and only 'base'.

(After all, it's only the top half of the figure that has any animated movement)

That's cool, Kryten, but it looks painful for the soldier!

No one ever thinks of the units.

Why have a row of peasants with the Samurai Kryten?

I think I can answer that.
It COULD be because of some law (I don't remember the name), but it's the same as WW2 Kamikaze fighters. It's better to die than to retreat. Because it would be a great shame to warrior to fail in combat and retreat. That is what I think. Samurais retreating is not historically correct!

Originally posted by Ville
I think I can answer that.
It COULD be because of some law (I don't remember the name), but it's the same as WW2 Kamikaze fighters. It's better to die than to retreat. Because it would be a great shame to warrior to fail in combat and retreat. That is what I think. Samurais retreating is not historically correct!

Depends what period you're talking about. The view you have of the Samurai is from the Tokugawa period, when the samurai invented their own code of honour to give themsleves something to do because there was no real fighting anymore. The samurai of the Heian period were illiterate peasants (usually farmers) who fought from horseback with bows and were generally held in contempt by the ruling class. The word 'samurai' simply means mounted warrior, anyway. And the kamikaze thing of WWII was simply a fascist propaganda tool to stop their troops retreating, which they were doing in droves.

Good answers everyone.

Not every soldier on a 15th century Japanese battlefield was a Samurai, just as not every soldier on a European 15th century battlefield was a Knight (I think that many foot troops of the MIddle Ages, dragged off of their farms to fight for their local feudal lord, could be classed as armed peasants).

But the truth is....er....I thought it looked nice. :D
I needed something to put in the 2nd rank, and more Samurai just didn't feel right. So Kinboat's Chin Spearman, although technically Chinese and not Japanese, was the best thing I could find (we are not allowed to use figures from PTW remember).

Now that utahjazz has made an excellent European Swordsman figure, I have an urge to put a 2nd rank of these behind the Knight in order to represent a baron's feudal levy.
Any thoughts anyone?

(While I'm here.....the Industrial Age Multi-Figure Modpack should be ready in a day ot two.
Sorry for the delay....I'm having to do a bit of cut-'n-paste in order to make some of the foot soldiers kneel down....it looks better that way)

Speaking of kneeling units, is there any chance you could post these kneeling units as singles as well? I'd like to be able to do some formation modifications, and it would be a waste to have to ignore your finely crafted units for whatever I would cobble togeather!

Will do matey.

If it helps to get your creative juices flowing, then it shall be done. :D

Kryten: Amazing job on these units. I should have complimented you earlier, but for the first few days all I could say was, 'Gah . . . guh . . . gahga' and drool. You knocked me back all the way to infancy.

Anyway, I think the Chin spearmen make a great back row for the Samurai (maybe 'cuz I'm no expert on the medieval Orient), but I'd really rather see guys with polearms or spears behind the knights. A baronial feudal levy, made up of serfs, wouldn't have had swords, which were very expensive and not much use on the farm. These guys would be more appropriate for, as you say, Franks/Saxons/Vikings/Goths/whatever, tribal warbands made up of freemen.

On t'other hand, I haven't seen any other units that would be better behind the knights, except maybe the crossbowmen (or pikemen, I suppose, but that's getting a bit later). It's not like I'll refuse to use them, anyway!

And when will we see the Chin spearmen alone in a munit?
Oh, and I've seen some funky residues in the chin spearmen in the samurai unit.
Otherwise I'll just quote Barbarella: LOVE.

Originally posted by Kryten

BTW, nobody has said anything about the new MF sound waves.
Are they all right, do they work correctly, are they appropriate?

Well... for me the cavalry attack sound didn't seem to work (but then again, I've never had cavalry attack sound working properly anyway... it usually works for a bit, then is no longer heard for the rest of the game, anybody else have this problem :confused: )

I'm also not too sure about you're frigate bombard (and maybe attack, if it's the same) they seem to jump into line astern formation, and then one seems to begin firing a second time, but is cut off in the middle of the animation!

All these units are very good :D keep up the good work (hehehe I love the swordsman who keeps yawning at the back :lol: )

Originally posted by The Great Apple
(hehehe I love the swordsman who keeps yawning at the back :lol: )

Well, at least he's not scratching his balls.

I really need those Industrial Age units.
In the meantime,
:worshp: Kryten :worshp: Kryten :worshp: Kryten :worshp: Kryten :worshp: Kryten :worshp:

Kryten, my suggestion for the second row of samurai would be samurai bowmen. They were frequent enough, and yes, most fighters were not knights or samurai, however, that's represented with pikemen, medieval infantry (looks weird in japn but thats ok) and longbowmen (which I guess do represent samrurai bowmen.) Also, since samurai fought in closeknit formations (am I wrong on this? I'm not an expert), maybe a second row of them would be ok?

I dont actually mind too much because I like the ashigaru spearmen, I'm just suggesting other varients.

My bigger, more important suggestion, the one I REALLY care about is Mechanized Infantry. Instead of putting two of these tanks side by side, maybe have 1 and some infantry unit(s) around him.

Samurai (at least, the era most people think of) really fought more duelist style. You'd have huge groups clash that would end up being LOTS of one-on-one fights. Compared to 'Unit' battles where the formations were the important thing, rather than individuals. I.e Roman legions, Greek Hoplites, etc.

As for soldiers with the Mech. Infantry, that was my thought on the matter as well. It looks kinda wierd to never see a foot soldier with the infantry! ;)

Originally posted by Kryten

Now that utahjazz has made an excellent European Swordsman figure, I have an urge to put a 2nd rank of these behind the Knight in order to represent a baron's feudal levy.
Any thoughts anyone?



Nope, I've gotta disagree on this one. When you put 3 calvary and 1 infantry in an army, what happens? You only get to move one per turn. So in my eyes, if you're goint to put the swordsmen in with the knights, you have to mod it to put the movement down to 1. With the samurai/chin spearman it's slightly different, because for some reason samurai can run really fast, so why not chin spearmen too? :D But I'm definitely going to say leave the european swordsmen out, so the knights don't have to slow down to keep up with the foot soldiers.

~ Brendan

Is it just me, or is the Longbowmen MFunit slightly pixelized at certain angles

Kryten, for the sake of realism, don't make the Rifleman munits kneel! It isn't easy to reload a percussion cap weapon when kneeling(take my word as a former ACW re-enactor). Though it looks wrong, just have the second rank fire between the heads of the first rank, it's what actually happened.

Originally posted by Mephansteras
.....*snip*
As for soldiers with the Mech. Infantry, that was my thought on the matter as well. It looks kinda wierd to never see a foot soldier with the infantry! ;)

I would also like to see this. Maybe it's my poor eyesight, but current mechanised infantry and modern armour look too similar.

What may look good would be to show multiple troop carriers/ jeeps (whatever) during the run animation and then for fortify, attack, death, victory etc a single Wheeled vehicle and soldiers.

If you want the tanks or mech infantry to have acompanying infantry you will need to make them a different size.
I recomend leaving that to a future modification that I'm working on. I'm making military formations featuring soldiers at 50% normal size, the tanks look good next to these guys at about 80% normal size.
At the moment my plans only include 17th to 19th century formations, but eventualy I want to feature a full spread from ancient to near future, featuring a host of modified and civ specific figures.

Here is a preview of a huge WWII era mixed infantry and armour unit, this would be the biggest formation in the industrial age; Tanks and artillery with infantry support;

Nice! I wonder how well that looks in game, with the units that small, though.

Still, I like the concept!


BTW, I havn't tried yet, but is there a really easy way to shrink down a unit? Other than shink each frame and do a copy&paste?

I like that, though isnt the artillery a bit big?

That mod sounds very promising

EDIT: spelling :p

Originally posted by Mephansteras


BTW, I havn't tried yet, but is there a really easy way to shrink down a unit? Other than shink each frame and do a copy&paste?

Yup, right in Steph's SBB there is an option to resize the unit you're working with. It's as easy as clicking a button!

As for the infantry-escorted Panzers you've got there Smoking Mirror - It looks cool. However, it looks like this would exceed the grid square a little? Perhaps you could only have one Panzer in there. And yes, the artillery seems a tad too large. Oh yeah... Suggested stats for something like this? 16/10/1 and then the artillery bombard stats?

:) Brendan

Neat! I JUST got internet at home again last night, so I havn't had a chance to try out Steph's tool. That helps a lot!

Originally posted by Schizo_Angel
I like that, though isnt the artillery a bit big?

Not really - the artillery of WWI dwarfed the MKIV, and whilst WWII saw the introduction of smaller, portable field artillery, big guns still had their place.

Artillery as big as tanks? Must've had quite a range. I thought in WWI they only had to go about a mile to get across no-man's land. Oh well, you'd probably know more than I do.

The reason the artillery was so big in WWI was dues to lack of technology. As technology progressed with radar prosimity fuses, HEAT rounds and so forth, they could put the same (if not more) destructive power and range on a smaller chassis, as they did in WWII. But the need for the really big guns still remained.

Ah. I wish you were my history teacher...Seems as though you're more knowledgable :P

Originally posted by Smoking mirror
If you want the tanks or mech infantry to have acompanying infantry you will need to make them a different size.
.....

Very good point :cringe:

Building on the excellent work of Kryten and Steph, I believe your approach is defenately the next step in evolving the look & Feel of CIV III units...great job. :cool:

Originally posted by Rabid Pop Tart
Artillery as big as tanks? Must've had quite a range. I thought in WWI they only had to go about a mile to get across no-man's land. Oh well, you'd probably know more than I do.

The German were able to send some shells at Paris with the "Big Bertha" gun. The gun was so big it could be moved only on a train wagon. The biggest guns were 800mm IIRC. As a comparison, battleships had guns of 380mm.

Smoking Mirror, I have seen a few MUnit previews from you that look SUPERB! My question to you is ARE YOU MAKING ANY OF THEM! THEY ARE GREAT and it would be horrible if they didn't turn into units!

Originally posted by Kryten
“Ready-Made Industrial Multi-Figure Units”

(Under construction……..due the end of January)
I have reserved this slot in order to post the units here.

you got to hurry up a bit Kryten;)

Originally posted by Yoda Power
you got to hurry up a bit Kryten;)

I know!

I do apologise for the delay, but I originally thought that Steph's wonderful SBB utility would be a godsend, by allowing the creation of these multi-figure units so much more quickly......
......but instead, they have made my life harder, not easier! :crazyeye:

I am being bombarded each DAY with about a dozen e-mails/PM's/suggestions/requests/cries for help along these lines:-
*"Kryten, where is the next modpack?"
*"Kryten, how are your single-figure units coming along?"
*"Kryten, how do I fix the MF unit shadows?"
*"Kryten, how do I add units to PTW?"
*"Kryten, do you think this is a good idea for a MF unit....?"
*"Kryten, do you know that there is a problem with one of your MF units......?"
*"Kryten, what's happening with the Alexander the Great scenario?"
*"Kryten, what is the best way to invade Iraq...."
(The answer to the last question is classified. ;) )

So weekdays have become answering sessions, which just leaves weekends for unit creation (but please do keep sending me questions.....I promise that all will be answered).

Nonetheless, I shall be posting the last two modpacks over the next couple of days (so that although the Industrial Age is a week late, at least the Modern Age is on time).

Please bear with me........from a very overworked...........Kryten.

:)

Take your time, dude. And everyone else - stop asking Kryten questions!!!!

Hey, It's fine by me. Take all the time you want or need. The middle age units were well worth the wait.

Consider that preemptive praise for the next few ages' units.

Please take your time. Time frames are no excuse for bad work (not that you ever do any).

"Kryten, what is the best way to invade Iraq...."
(The answer to the last question is classified. ;) )


Your don't work for the Pentagon, do you? If you do, can you pull some threads and tell us who REALLY killed Kennedy?

We all will wait patiently :)

I also like Smoking Mirrors' idea.

Hi Kryten! Maybe you could update the expected release dates of the upcoming modpacks.

Kryten, what is the best way to invade Iraq? :)

Sorry for the long delay with the Industrial Multi-Figure Modpack everybody, but I had some problems, which I'm sure you don't want to hear.
(I'll tell you anyway: troubles with the smoke 'biting' large chunks out of the figure so that the terrain shows through....making the Infantrymen 'kneel'....resizing some of the aircraft....the sizes of the aircraft shadows once they had been resized....and so on.
Generally, just trying to makes Steph's SBB untility do things that it wasn't designed to do.)

Anyway, they are now ready and I'll start uploading them staright away (which will take an hour or two, as my connection is so slow).

While you're waiting, here are some quick previews.....

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_preview_Paras.gif

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_preview_Tank.gif

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/MF_preview_Bomber.gif

Originally posted by Rhye Kryten, what is the best way to invade Iraq? :)

The way Alexander the Great did it. ;)

Originally posted by Kryten
The way Alexander the Great did it. ;)

:D :D :D

YEAHOO!!!

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!

*HOLDS BREATH!*

Kryten... We may have to raise you up to god-hood status. I'll see if there are any openings. Awesome job!:goodjob:

Yay! Finally! I could've used these about a week earlier, as I was just finishing up a game, and could've used these in the Industrial age. The previews look great, nontheless! Can't wait to see them in my next game!

Awsome job and ideas.

love the paradrop flc :goodjob:

Originally posted by zulu9812
love the paradrop flc :goodjob:

Yes thats really cool.

Kryten, once again your work excels even the most brave expectations. :goodjob: :goodjob:
If there's no godhood position open, you still have some alternatives:
:king:
:egypt:
:santa:
:jesus:
:borg:

end result will be the same:

:worshp: :worshp: :worshp:

Is there a thread to get that paradrop unit it looks awesome and I would love to have this unit.:confused:

The pradrop .flc is one of the best things I have seen for some time

Wonderful!!
Fantastic!!

What unit did you use to fly over the paratroopers?

Looking foward to the next batch...cant wait

(BTW, for anyone who was as dumb/forgetful as myself, the download files are on the first page of this thread.)

Brilliant Kryten and Steph :).

Many props.

Jason

Wow!!!! Exxxxxxxxcellent!

The formations, the feeling of a group instead of a lone warrior.
What a ying yang balance! :goodjob:

How did you solve the smoke problem? Frame by frame editing?

Ive found that the only easy way to do it is convert the smoke to shadows, the unit is always displayed over the shadow, even if its not its own shadow. However that doesn't look as good as yours. :)

The Multi-Figure Fighter is ready and now uploaded (see page one of this thread). :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several of you have indicated an interest in the aircraft used in the ParatoopDrop animation.

Well, after searching through Lab Monkey's excellent unit library, I decided that the nearest thing to what I was looking for was the Air Tranport by BlueO.
Unfotunately, there seems to be something wrong with this flc file, as every time I try to run it through FLICster I get a "Runtime error 9" message.
Also, it doesn't appear to be complete, as when I opened it with the PaintShop Pro Animation Wizard (in order to convert it to a gif file), only 4 directions were available.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/Air_Transport.gif

So what I did was to take the south direction, paste it onto the paratrooper storyboard, copied and pasted the twin tailplane onto the front, pasted the engines onto the back of the wings, added some propellers, and last of all changed it to a brown colour (as there is not much green in the paratrooper palette).

So I'm afraid what you see is all there is.....just a single frame moving in the north direction.
(....and no, I have far, Far, FAR too much to do already! :crazyeye: )

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by Smoking mirror
How did you solve the smoke problem? Frame by frame editing?


Not quite.....just a little bit of storyboard copying and overpasting.
(This procedure looks complicated: it's not. It's just that I'm not very good at explaining things.)

1) run the storyboard through Steph's wonderful SBB utility to make an MF unit
(Let's call this storyboard 'A')

2) keep a copy of the orginal 'single-figure' storyboard, but remove all the shadows using PaintShops 'colour replacer' tool on all the bright red bits
(We'll call this storyboard 'B')

3) now make a copy of storyboard 'A', and do the same to remove all the smoke
(Called....you guest it......storyboard 'C')

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/smokebites_1.gif

Now what I want to do is to turn the whole of storyboard 'B' light grey.
To do this, you have to be in 16 million colours 24 bit format.

Soooo.....
4) open a new 24 bit image, and paste storyboard 'B' onto it
(I like to use a black background, as it shows the colours better)

5) now using the 'retouch' tool, pick a nice grey from the original storyboard (NOT a shadow or smoke grey), and use the 'colour to target' option to convert storyboard 'B'
(I also used the 'lightness up' option in order to brighten the dull grey a bit)

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/smokebites_2a.gif

Last bit.....
6) as you can see below, storyboard 'A' has those annoying 'smoke-bite' chunks missing.
So copy the grey storyboard 'B' and paste it directly over the offending tank
(Picture 'A+B')

7) this has of course left the grey tank overlapping the green tank.
So, copy storyboard 'C' over the whole lot!
(Picture 'A+B+C')

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/smokebites_3.gif

The result is to very quickly fill-in the missing 'bites' with a grey area, which looks like the washed-out view you get when peering through smoke! :D

great work steph and kryten! When shall we be expecting the modern day?

Jason

@Kryten, Is The Smoke fix done with PSP?

can someone tell me what psp is and if it's neccessary for making units if so someone please direct me to it and thanks kryten for all the help i'm almost there just a little more work and i'll have the hang of this.:D

psp just stands for paintshop pro (JASC)
Trial version free for download at jasc.com.
I use it to apply pallettes to the storyboard Flictser created and the one SBB has created. It's also fairly easy to replace the background color.

Greets Jurimax

Hey thanks Jurimax I'm trying to get the hang of making units and i'm almost there guess i got to get that too by the instructions kryten gave me evreyone has been so cool on civfanatics it's appreciated to all who have been nice and at least tried to help me :goodjob: :D

To HorseMatrix and all others who are having trouble creating M-Units, I have posted a tutorial on how to do this. This is the Multi Unit Tutorial (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44695)
If there are any problems, feel free to PM or mail me.

Greetings Jurimax

Hey thanks Jurimax I'm going to check that out right now:D

No problem HM, I just put together pieces and bits I found here and there. I hope it's helpfull.

greets

Anyone know what i did wrong here? After i save the file over the FXM pcx the background of the unit is purple. I want to post a image here so you can see it, but i don't know how to put the image in here.

Originally posted by KLHM2009
Anyone know what i did wrong here? After i save the file over the FXM pcx the background of the unit is purple. I want to post a image here so you can see it, but i don't know how to put the image in here.

If you don't have own webspace, so use the "attch file" option at the botton of the "post reply" screen. There you can upload a small jpg-file from your harddrive to your message.

wow very cool kryten!

AT LONG (LONG!) LAST, THE MODERN TIMES MODPACK IS FINISHED!
(Yippee.....) :D

Please see page one of this thread for the downloads.



(And now I need a rest!
So I'm going to do something that I haven't done since before Christmas....
....I'm actually going to play a game!) :lol:

Huraa[party]

wow thx a lot!(sigh im not even done installing the ancient units...;)

YAH! Very nice!
Only one suggestion, the stealth bombers and fighters (assuming they're based off of the B-1B Spitit and F-117 Nighthawk) fly alone, or I have seen a formation of F-117s as a diamond (don't ask me). That\s my only suggestion. Otherwise, great job!

Now that all of those are finished, what are you planning on doing?

YAY! thanks kyrten! They look great!

Originally posted by computerdude113
Now that all of those are finished, what are you planning on doing?

....RESTING! :crazyeye:

Soon I'll continue with the Alexander the Great scenario, which requires:-
* many single figure units still to be created.....
* many units to be converted to multi-figure versions.....
* bringing all the bits-'n-pieces together in order to make the scenario work....

"Will this torment never end?!" :lol:

and fixing all bugs,getting complaints,full Pm boxes...;)

:goodjob: they all look great kryten great work once again and I plan on useing many of them:goodjob: :king:

Kryten, look at my avatar and you will see how much I like them!

Originally posted by Kryten


....RESTING! :crazyeye:

Soon I'll continue with the Alexander the Great scenario, which requires:-
* many single figure units still to be created.....
* many units to be converted to multi-figure versions.....
* bringing all the bits-'n-pieces together in order to make the scenario work....

"Will this torment never end?!" :lol:


Haha :p

Most of these munits are very nice but I have one pb with the Egyptian war chariot. The driver/warrior definitely looks like a pharaoh to me and I don't think they would have had two of them fighting in the same "division"... :crazyeye:

Hmmm....I do see your point LouLong.

In fact, not only should there