CivOne - An Open Source remake of Civilization 1

The GTK experiment is succesful. I've merged the GTK and WinForms code, Windows uses Windows Forms, Linux and MacOS X use GTK. That means, from now on, if you want to compile CivOne, you need to install GTKSharp (http://www.mono-project.com/docs/gui/gtksharp/installer-for-net-framework/).

I've added classes for all Civilization Advances. There are entries for all Civilopedia pages, except for the Misc pages. This weekend I will try to finish work on the Civilopedia. After that I will implement loading advances and units from the save files, and loading/displaying railroads, fortresses and pollution.

I will also try to update the CivOne wiki and website.

Edit: Lack of time this weekend, so I won't get it done. Soon though.

Edit 2: Civilopedia for units is finished. Tech/Wonder requirements for units are set. Units are loaded from save games and shown on the map.

Edit 3: I think I can get Civilopedia finished by tomorrow. Here's the status:
* Civilization Advances (DONE!)
* City Improvements (buildings/wonders) (DONE!)
* Military units (DONE!)
* Terrain Types (DONE!)
* Miscellaneous (DONE!)

Edit 4: I noticed that the improvement icons for Hydro Power and Power Plant are reversed in version 47x.01. Does anyone know if this was fixed in 47x.05?
I'm going to keep the wrong icon, and I'll make a patch setting later for (optionally) fixing graphics flaws like this.

Civilopedia is fully implemented, and in the process I've corrected data and graphics that I can use in other parts of the game, and loaded extra data from the save files.

Next up: Fog of war, SHIFT 5+6 cheat, and Palace/F1-F9/Demographics screens.

Great work!

Just wanted to throw out the fix that darkpanda did for the f9 screen... As it was writing over the map, he disabled showing the icons for the wonders. Not sure if it would make a difference in the remake, but just in case...

The F9 bug is not affecting CivOne. I'm not bound by the same memory limits as the original Civilization, so the map will not be overwritten by showing too many icons.
I consider this bug a flaw, and while I will try to implement bugs/exploits (graphics glitches, 1-turn settlers, etc.), I will not implement such an obvious unintended flaw.

Progress update:
I'm going on holiday for 10 days at the end of the week, not too much time for now. I will probably commit some small changes this week but don't expect anything big for now. Don't worry, I will be back.

Nice work so far. I can confirm that it does compile and run with Visual Studio 2010. I wasn't able to actually do much since I don't have Civ1 yet, and thus don't have the resources, but it was pleasantly easy to get set up development-wise.

Thanks for testing Quintillus!
I hope, eventually, to replace all original graphics with open graphics so anyone can play the game without owning the original.

Funny thing, I received take-down notices for the binaries of in the previous attempt at this project. Mega sent me an email to inform me that the files were removed because they received a complaint. I'm very surprised because my project does not contain any of the original game files. Does anyone here understand more about copyrights? Am I doing developing something that I'm not allowed to?

I suppose you should ask Mega directly for the details.

SWY said:

Funny thing, I received take-down notices for the binaries of in the previous attempt at this project. Mega sent me an email to inform me that the files were removed because they received a complaint. I'm very surprised because my project does not contain any of the original game files. Does anyone here understand more about copyrights? Am I doing developing something that I'm not allowed to?

Click to expand...

Well, CivDOS is technically still under copyright, and arguably you're reverse-engineering it.

So even if the final version of your code won't look anything like what MicroProse originally released, the front-end/GUI will, since it will use the original (graphics) files, so technically you could still be said to be breaching that copyright. And even if your stated ultimate aim is to produce a standalone version which doesn't require any of the original files, if you're then going to make that version freely(?) available, i.e. it could be acquired and used by people who'd never bought the original -- then (in theory at least) you could eventually cost the copyright-holder sales.

We all know that, in reality, this is a doubtful premise. Anyone who already knows about CivDOS and would be likely to have an interest in this project, probably already has a copy of the original -- and whether they've acquired that copy legitimately, or downloaded it from an 'abandonware' website, either way, no further purchase is likely to be made. And FreeCiv et al. have been around for a long time as well. But little things like practical real-world considerations aren't always enough to prevent lawyers from throwing their weight around...

I'm not sure who currently holds the CivDOS copyright, but it's most likely to be 2K Games -- they're certainly the current publisher for all Civs from III to BE, so are also likely to be the current copyright-holder for the Civ franchise as a whole.

Says wikipedia, the franchise owner is Take Two...

Although I tend to agree with the previous post that history plays in SWY's favor, the recent years have shown unprecedented revival of old school titles in modern setups, so... Someone, somewhere may be interested in keeping the good old Civ in its rightful legal place...

I hope we find out who/why... I've sent an email to Mega.
Anyway, I'm not going to let it stop me until I get a really convincing official explanation (from someone official).

The other approach (I've been pondering) would be to directly go ask for clearance at the source, like Take Two, Firaxis, or even the great Sid himself - I mean it's still his name in it after all

SWY said:

Edit 4: I noticed that the improvement icons for Hydro Power and Power Plant are reversed in version 47x.01. Does anyone know if this was fixed in 47x.05?
I'm going to keep the wrong icon, and I'll make a patch setting later for (optionally) fixing graphics flaws like this.

Click to expand...

yes, I made a patch for this already, but that included some other icons as well:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=518839&highlight=pyramids

Hi SWY,

I am very glad that bookmarked this thread and kept looking for news.
At one point I was losing hope

Good thing to hear that everything worked well in your family, congratulations and all the best for your child and wife! Many times they can be the spark and fuel for anything we want to achieve in life!

So I am again impressed with the speed you are putting things together, and can't wait to see this project gaining shape. I have an artistic background but am also a programmer, working with ANSI C mostly (embedded). I could help in the future with graphics.

My dream is to see a Civ clone that would support modding, like changing the rules, adding new units, buildings or techs. We have all these in the other Civ iterations, but am thinking more about having mods that would recreate the antiquity, middle ages or even fantasy realms, using the old simple Civ mechanics that made the game fun and timeless.

But anything you will do I can guarantee will be greatly appreciated!

Hey everybody.
Thanks for the replies.

Laterego, my dream is the same as yours. CivOne will be fully modifiable. I'm going to add a modding API, so people can use their favourite .NET language to create plugins... and graphics mods can be created without any programming experience.

But the modding API is a secondary goal. First focus is on recreating the original game.

I totally agree, recreating the game is most important.

One of the things that I really loved about the 1st Civ game was the animated graphics from the city screen, like buildings, people rioting, troops invading, etc. Not to mention the world leaders. Will you recreate these as well?

P.S. Did you think about placing a paypal donation link on your project page?
Maybe some people will like to contribute to your effort!

I will include animations. I've gone through quite a lot of trouble to get the map and intro animations working, the walking soldiers and riots are a lot easier to implement. They will definitely be included.

The world leaders will also be included... I've already experimented with the leader facial expressions. It's easy to implement as well.

The biggest challenges lie in getting city view rendering working properly, and getting the AI to play the game.

About the money...
I will not work any faster when I get money for my work, and it costs me nothing but time... and yearly costs for the domain name which I can miss. I'm not rich, but I have no reason to complain either.
I'm afraid when I receive money for the game, I might get into legal trouble with the owner of the Civilization franchise. Let's keep it free and as long as it only costs me about 7 dollars a year, I will not ask for donations. Thanks for the suggestion though.

If you remember, the game sometimes rearranged the existing buildings when you built new buildings. I think it uses some placement grid, because some are fixed, like the aqueduct, or certain wonders.

SWY said:

The biggest challenges lie in getting city view rendering working properly, and getting the AI to play the game.

Click to expand...

Freeciv is a mature game with open source. Maybe it can help you as a model (especially with AI), because the game is quite similar to Civ, I think it even has a Civ 1 ruleset...

Laterego said:

Freeciv is a mature game with open source.
Maybe it can help you as a model (especially with AI),
because the game is quite similar to Civ, I think it even has a Civ 1 ruleset...

Click to expand...

Won't work in the desired way.


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*about my use of the term 'fake-AI':