Civ 3 Editor Vanishing Act o.O

Hola. To be rather blunt, my C3C editor has suddenly decided that it no longer wants to show certain overlay objects. That is to say, roads, barricades, railroads, goodyhuts, ect., ect. are currently NOT showing up when placed. After about thirty minutes or so of googling the issue, I found that it has in fact, been brought up here before back in 2007; the issue was never answered or resolved. I've spent the last few hours problem solving and have come to a dead end - short of re-installation. I have a legitimate copy of Civ 3 Complete. I have all the required disks. I also have put in a lot of work on my mods, and after years of personal life hangups getting the project this far... I'm rather cross to have to suddenly re-install and find a way to back up all the folders I'll need to continue...

I've tried just about everything I can think of. Made a new map outside of my mod, basic Conquests stuffins: Same issue. I tried using the other editors (PTW, Vanilla) and they work just fine. The cities also don't show in the Conquests editor, although the names come up fine and dandy. If I right click the tiles where items are placed, I'll see that a road or ect. has been placed. But it's not showing up visually.

I've done multiple scans with several flash drive portable scan tools and the like. From rootkits to spyware, I'm clean as a whistle. No trouble there.

I've run in Admin mode. Same issues.

I checked to make sure the .pcx's actually even exists, on the off chance that something was amiss there. From what I can tell, seems legit.

Restarted the pc. Safe Mode. And so on......

Guys....... Help....

Have you tried the editor that comes with the "No More City Limit" patch?

http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=13028

I have not, but I will certainly give a serious once over if nothing else. Thank you!

All the same, I'd really like to know if it's possible to salvage the regular Conquests editor. I'm just particular about things happening and then just ignoring them because it may well happen again to something else; a problem leading to another problem. Any ideas are welcome. Again, Ares, thanks for the speedy response. It is really appreciated.

EDIT:
..........So.... It can't be the editor. Even the NoMoreCityLimit Editor suffers from invisible textures on all overlays short of rivers. I'm baffled. I've checked my device manager and everything is working in fine order. But this seems like a purely graphical error; In-Game, roads and what not show up fine. I don't get it.... There's something I'm missing here, and I'm about fresh out of option except to try a reinstall. Time to unpack the external and sit down for an hour or so for something that MAY fix the issue, but doesn't promise it won't just happen again somehow. And if it does, what then? Just reinstall every time it does... *sigh* Sorry, venting I guess. I love Civ 3 Conquests, and modding has actually helped me during some rough times odd as that may sound to some. This is not a good week for me. Heh. Thanks for any suggestions or help....

This is an odd one. Did you ever have multiple copies of Civ3 installed at once, like the CD version and a Steam/Impulse/Gamersgate version? Occasionally that can cause a bit of confusion as to where files are located - and perhaps it can cause the editor to be looking at files for a deleted digital version install?

In particular it's odd that this is affecting the editor but not the game. It does sound like a graphical issue. You could try running my third-party editor (link in signature) and seeing if it displays roads/barricades/etc. display properly. If they do, it's another indication that it's a graphical problem.

It's also really weird that this is affecting roads, for example. When I saw goody huts and barricades, I thought, that file is updated in Conquests, maybe it is missing. But the road file is not.

First off, hi. Thanks for the response and insight, Quintillus. Sadly, none of that seems to apply, though it's extremely nice to have that info for future consideration - should the issue happen again. As it stood, I had actually tried using that editor after Ares' kind suggestion to use a the NoCityLimit verision - which also had zero results.

I checked all files for malware, adware, ect. - you know, just in case - and nada. And all present, in their proper locations. I even attempted replacing those not showing in the editor with files from other mods I'd attempted, downloaded some of Pounder's roads, and dipped into the Vanilla pot for a few copy and paste routines. All to no resolve.

Now, here's where it gets weird....

I had modded the game to have only four playable Civs. I had also changed the leaderheads. On the Civ selection screen (where you alter the rules and barbs and so forth), all but one of them worked. That is, I could select any of them except a particular nation. It froze the game entirely. Flatlined. No message, no error, not even an issue in my be-damned event viewer! Just crapped out, no response, but screen still visible. I'd select the nation and whatever nation I was on before would be where the cursor stayed, locked. With the leaderhead STILL moving...

Three-finger salute, end task. Reload game. Try again. Repeat, repeat. Same issue. Just that one nation. So, I checked to see if the leaderhead was there on the off chance that the message that says such things just... I dunno, took a vacation. But no. Like the other files in question everything was accounted for. I use MPC-HC to view .flcs and the leaderheads worked fine OUTSIDE the game... -_-

As you can see, and are probably thinking yourself... my entire game was more or less in question now. Not just the overlays. So... le sigh. Papa said learn when to fold, so I reinstalled... Or rather, I attempted.

Now, I've only ever had the disk. Never Steam. Nothing against it, just never had. But the uninstall removed everything but Conquests. The entire folder was empty except for just the Conquests section....

Have I mentioned this is all on Windows 8 and a fresh install, not an overlay of 7 or such? And I'm a tech. I mean, it's my job. So when I say my comp was clean before and after as well as during, please attempt to trust me in that. Though admittedly, even from where I was sitting, I just couldn't suspect anything other than some sort of virus. But the installation had gone without a hitch.

And now this.

So I deleted the folder and manually cleaned the registry. Not all that complicated, but a pain in the ass.

....How about I skip the part where the re-installation didn't work, or where when it did after clearing the 4 hours worth of registry crap it left behind allowed it to install but destroyed every .ini in ONLY the Civ 3 units I had saved... OUTSIDE of the download location.... But only for the units that were somehow connected to any and all the mods I had in Conquests....

And get to the part where I did a system restore....

Reinstall. Game works fine. Now. Leaderheads, pcx... all of it. Now, if you've managed to read all this, allow me to offer this bit of inisght for anyone who may google something similar in the future:

When you install Civ 3 Complete to Windows 8, it likes to go to Program Files x86. This file is unless changed locked for admin use only. And system. Basically, not for users. Now, if you have your UAC up enough, even being an admin will require confirmation for most modding activities, and even moreso may require altering the folder properties to allow users to mod.

If and when you need to do this, before you do anything like uninstall or move a folder or - and I'm only pressing possibilities here - running the game... CHANGE THE PERMISSIONS AND SECURITIES BACK FOR USERS. I truly believe that this is the only possible loose thread that could have allowed for the alteration of the editor's visual hangups and leaderhead issues, as well as deleting .ini files similar or connected. And the reason why I believe this is because of the folder left behind. Conquests was the ONLY folder I EVER altered the Securities for in order to work on .ini's for unit's without sounds. But I never changed them back. Now, I'm not sure that's why, and I've done this for years and never had an issue. But it's all I can think of. So I offer my hell as someone's possible caution.

Hope it helps. And thank you both for even giving it some consideration. This is not the first time I've had or heard of the vanishing .ini's, but often that's the fault of CCleaner being used for registry, which I've since stopped doing for years. All the same... this has never happened to me, and I really hope it doesn't happen to anyone else. I externally saved the mod before hand so I'm good. No date or info on when or what the mod is. But I will release it one day. My wife sort of demands it. Payment, you could say. Adios.

Glad to hear you got that figured out, and sorry for my response being so delayed - apparently all my CFC activity has been relegated to real life for the past week. It's funny that in the end, it came down to permissions and Program Files (x86). I guess that means I should have mentioned my standard "when installing Civ3 on Vista or later, make sure you don't install it to Program Files or Program Files (x86)" line, but it's been coming up often lately and I'm starting to feel like a broken record when mentioning it. The fact that the modifications seemed to be working in-game (but not in the editor) was a different twist than I'd seen before, though, and it seemed like maybe it was something different.

At any rate, if you start having issues again, I'd recommend re-installing, but to somewhere not in Program Files (x86), since that sidesteps all of this hassle with permissions and securities.

In related news, my favorite Mac ad of all time:


Link to video.

Codename:Gundam said:

Hola. To be rather blunt, my C3C editor has suddenly decided that it no longer wants to show certain overlay objects. That is to say, roads, barricades, railroads, goodyhuts, ect., ect. are currently NOT showing up when placed. After about thirty minutes or so of googling the issue, I found that it has in fact, been brought up here before back in 2007; the issue was never answered or resolved. I've spent the last few hours problem solving and have come to a dead end - short of re-installation. I have a legitimate copy of Civ 3 Complete. I have all the required disks. I also have put in a lot of work on my mods, and after years of personal life hangups getting the project this far... I'm rather cross to have to suddenly re-install and find a way to back up all the folders I'll need to continue...

I've tried just about everything I can think of. Made a new map outside of my mod, basic Conquests stuffins: Same issue. I tried using the other editors (PTW, Vanilla) and they work just fine. The cities also don't show in the Conquests editor, although the names come up fine and dandy. If I right click the tiles where items are placed, I'll see that a road or ect. has been placed. But it's not showing up visually.

I've done multiple scans with several flash drive portable scan tools and the like. From rootkits to spyware, I'm clean as a whistle. No trouble there.

I've run in Admin mode. Same issues.

I checked to make sure the .pcx's actually even exists, on the off chance that something was amiss there. From what I can tell, seems legit.

Restarted the pc. Safe Mode. And so on......

Guys....... Help....

Click to expand...

I have precisely the same problem when I use the editor under Windows 7. Is that the operating system you are using? My back up is using the editor under Windows XP on my Mac Laptop running with Parallels. It is easier on the eyes when I use an external monitor.

The editor initially worked okay under Windows 7, and then started acting weird after one of the updates. It still acts weird, and even weirder, when I use the Play the World or the Basic editor, and not the Conquest Editor, I can see everything. Whatever happened only affected the Conquest Editor.

Whoa, sorry!!!! I didn't catch this until just now, and responded as soon as I could. I hope it's working now for you Timerover51. Either way, I'll answer what I can and hope you don't mind a question or two:

First off, 'fraid not on the OS. I'm on Windows 8. When you say exactly the same, you mean every last issue? Roads and all? Weirder how? I'd be more than willing to try and brainstorm with you for whatever good it may do.

Mine, too, was only the Conquests, and so I have to ask if the mod in question was being made in Conquests or if you decided you were going to try that editor with a new project and the problem randomly sprang up. The reason I feel I should ask that is because if it's random, then I'll need to think from a different angle, but if it's a pre-made mod that suddenly took a nose-dive on you, well, if it's like what happened to me I can only suggest re-installing. But be sure it gets rid of the whole thing. If you read the post I put later on... yeah. Heh. Good times, good times...

So far, haven't had an issue since. And it's still in Program Files x86, because having said permissions lock down my files also prevents me from making many an error when editing units or renaming an image. Not to mention that, oddly, some Windows updates (as well as root kit cleaners and some adware removers) can have adverse effects on folders containing .ini files - going so far as to erase those same files all together. This action is also a permissions issue, albiet from the contrary in that lacking the restriction, the update allows the system the permission to dispose of the files without a prompt, notification, warning, ect. It's all rather tedious, really, and I'd just as soon have a chosen say so that I need to simply set back to locked than the alternative risk. Besides, either way, the fault was mine for not keeping better track of what I was doing in-folder. I really can't say the same thing might not have happened elsewhere, or that it isn't a combination of odd things that no amount of folder placement could have solved. Nearly ironic.

In the end, I did reinstall, after cleaning the registry manually, and everything is in the green. And that video cracks me up. Good show. lol I always think of stuff like that when I plug a flash drive to a Mac, because the nearly blind sense of security some Mac owners have sometimes sways them into thinking that their system has no virus or other malicious software on it, when in fact it does but the string isn't capable of "communicating" with a Mac... so it just sits there until some unsuspecting victim takes the software back to their PC unknowingly. Sure, the Mac itself only gets some lousy trojan at best, and that's usually deserved if it's on there, but it isn't like the computer itself is "clean". At times like that, I'm very thankful for "Do not allow". I've actually had to watch a buddy nearly smash his iphone over a similar incident. Eh, but the Mrs.' loves her igadgets, too, so what can you do, right? What I *won't* do, however, is ever use Vista. I'd rather have a Mac. But then, I'd also rather have 8, oddly enough. Adios, and thanks again.

P.S.
For anyone who experiences this same issue or very similar, please be aware that the video above does not reference Permissions. Its a joke on UAC (User Account Controls). Changing the UAC to a lower setting will not designate Permissions in any way. It involves right-clicking a specific folder and giving authority per check box for the system as a whole. Although doing this will effect the behavior of your UAC with said folder, User Account Controls being changed alone does nothing but effect how strictly these set policies are enforced. Once you learn how to access and control the Permissions of the Civ folder, it works exceedingly well and is to your benefit to have it placed in a secure location with the proper settings; while Quintillus' advice is very sound for Macs, Vista and to some extent even 7, I would not advise doing this with Windows 8. It's Refresh feature and how it operates the Restore function - as well as the use of many, many programs that involve deletion or sorting - can lead to serious issues. Often loss of data in folder that should normally be left secure. To be perfectly honest, I believe one such action my have inadvertently affected my Civ 3 folder prior to me changing the Permissions, and that I only noticed the results after doing so - or perhaps they only came to light then. Anyhow, it's a peculiar little problem that I hope doesn't resurface.

Sorry that I did not get back to you sooner, as I am not sure how I missed your reply. It hit on a pre=made mod that I was working on, and then occurs with every map that I open up, including pre-made scenario maps that came with the game.