[TOT] The Test Of Time Patch Project

Thorvald of Lym said:
The new .exe is tripping Avira; says it contains malware 'TR/Crypt.ZPACK.Gen4'.
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Ditto. I need to add it to my exceptions list to allow it to run unmolested.
McMonkey said:
Scenario folder name? I think there is a punctuation mark and I seem to remember this has caused issues in the past, though I don't recall what with.
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Yes, it does, menus in particular. If you know that much, why are you still doing it? :p
TheNamelessOne said:
Don't forget to link to Catfish's ToT installation guide, which is also pretty comprehensive.
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That guide is in need of an update. The last one was 10 months ago. Since then there've been significant changes that affect steps 4 & 5:
  • ToTPP v0.11 added DirectShow support.
  • ToTPP v0.11 launcher defaults to list of 'safe' patches.
  • The K-Lite codec pack has given Indeo the flick entirely since I last paid attention, so it's no longer a solution to the Indeo problem. However, DirectShow video and sound are now enabled by default with the ToTPP.
TheNamelessOne said:
I noticed that the DirectShow video patch crashes the game when Indeo codecs are missing. This might explain those crashes at startup some people are having. Try disabling it in the launcher for now, I've fixed the problem for the next release.
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That's odd. I've been testing this a little, with the aim of creating a suitable replacement for step 4 (Indeo codec installation) of the guide. That included removing Indeo from my machine; unregistering it and manually deleting it from the Windows\SysWOW64 folder. I didn't experience any crashes with 3 different DirectShow/ffdshow filter packs. The main problem I encountered was particular to my WotR scenario: the low-framerate videos Tootall asked about earlier in the thread flash on the screen for less than a second. Such low framerates don't seem to be supported by these newer codecs; at least I haven't found a way yet. It would be nice to retain this method because a) I think it's an elegant solution :D and b) the average file size is only around 50 kB. Any ideas?

I found a bug (ToTPP v0.13.1) with the 'Extra unit types' patch enabled: the @NEWXFORM and @NEWPARADROP boxes pop up when Advanced Flight is acquired. Also on the topic of the 'Extra unit types' patch, you might want to take a look at this thread started by Minipow in the Tech Support subforum.

ToTPP v0.13.1 Notes:
The barbarian diplomat unit still has to be the last tile in the last row, so be careful to move it all the way to the end.
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For me, the barbarian leader icon is mapped to the cell immediately following the block of regular units, not column 9 of the last row. Is that what is meant?

Do units 80 to 127 have any kind of sprite (static or animated) support? The train animation is unit99.spr.
 
Catfish said:
Yes, it does, menus in particular. If you know that much, why are you still doing it? :p
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I forgot about it until I added a Spy type unit which wouldn't do it's job. The older I get the worse my memory is. :sad:
 
Catfish said:
Ditto. I need to add it to my exceptions list to allow it to run unmolested.
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Which file causes the problem exactly, TOTPP.dll, or civ2.exe after it is patched?

Not a lot of information on it though, I could only find this. It's a heuristic match based on some generic detection routine. As long as it's nothing more specific it's definitely a false-positive.

Catfish said:
That's odd. I've been testing this a little, with the aim of creating a suitable replacement for step 4 (Indeo codec installation) of the guide. That included removing Indeo from my machine; unregistering it and manually deleting it from the Windows\SysWOW64 folder. I didn't experience any crashes with 3 different DirectShow/ffdshow filter packs.
Click to expand...

After removing Indeo the video stream doesn't render anymore, but the audio stream still does (it's unencoded PCM audio), this was returned as a "partial success" by the renderer, and I only checked for actual error conditions. Though the crash itself was caused by something not being initialized properly in that case, I didn't investigate any further after fixing the check.

But of course if you use ffdshow, the video stream will render as expected.

Catfish said:
The main problem I encountered was particular to my WotR scenario: the low-framerate videos Tootall asked about earlier in the thread flash on the screen for less than a second. Such low framerates don't seem to be supported by these newer codecs; at least I haven't found a way yet. It would be nice to retain this method because a) I think it's an elegant solution :D and b) the average file size is only around 50 kB. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I see, and I'm not sure how to fix this. Basically this is an issue with the decoder not being fully compatible with the actual Indeo format (the format has been reverse engineered in libavcodec). Other than filing a bug report at the ffmpeg site and hoping it will get any attention at all, I'd suggest looking for alternatives.

Catfish said:
I found a bug (ToTPP v0.13.1) with the 'Extra unit types' patch enabled: the @NEWXFORM and @NEWPARADROP boxes pop up when Advanced Flight is acquired. Also on the topic of the 'Extra unit types' patch, you might want to take a look at this thread started by Minipow in the Tech Support subforum.
Click to expand...

Both bugs have the same underlying cause. About 30 references (out of about a thousand) to the old unit definitions array (which contains the prereq for all units) had not been moved to the new memory location, so they were basically referring to uninitialized memory. I'll do a point release with the fix soon.

Catfish said:
ToTPP v0.13.1 Notes:
For me, the barbarian leader icon is mapped to the cell immediately following the block of regular units, not column 9 of the last row. Is that what is meant?
Click to expand...

Yes, it follows the regular units immediately (i.e. when using n units, it's mapped to tile n+1). I'll rephrase the description.

Catfish said:
Do units 80 to 127 have any kind of sprite (static or animated) support? The train animation is unit99.spr.
Click to expand...

They do, through the (undocumented) @COSMIC2 keys NumberOfAnimatedUnitSprites and NumberOfStaticUnitSprites. Though you're absolutely right this could cause conflicts with unit99.spr. I'll have to move that out of the way then, and document those keys.
 
That's strange, other than adding content I haven't changed the launcher since February (before v0.11). So why it would start complaining about the new release and not about previous releases is not clear to me. For now it would be best to add the exception as Catfish suggested.
 
Here's release 0.13.2, a bug-fixing release:

  • Fixed a crash bug in the DirectShow video patch when Indeo codecs are missing.
  • Fixed a crash bug in the Extra unit types patch caused by references to the unit definitions array not being updated to the new memory location.
  • Moved the train animation from unit99.spr to unit999.spr when using more than 80 animated unit sprites in the Extra unit types patch.

As always, detailed information about the patches is available in the launcher. For an overview of all patches, as well as installation instructions & requirements, see the included README.txt. Happy gaming! :)
 

Attachments

  • TOTPPv013.2.zip
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Catfish said:
The main problem I encountered was particular to my WotR scenario: the low-framerate videos Tootall asked about earlier in the thread flash on the screen for less than a second. Such low framerates don't seem to be supported by these newer codecs; at least I haven't found a way yet. It would be nice to retain this method because a) I think it's an elegant solution :D and b) the average file size is only around 50 kB. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

For me it seems that some of the WotR video files do work (e.g. T1), while others do not (e.g. B1). One difference between the files is the framerate, as reported by FFmpeg:

Code: 
Input #0, avi, from 'T1':
  Duration: 00:16:40.00, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 0 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: indeo5 (IV50 / 0x30355649), yuv410p, 500x532, 0.0010 fps, 0.0010 tbr, 0.0010 tbn, 0.0010 tbc

Input #0, avi, from 'B1':
  Duration: 00:33:20.00, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 0 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: indeo5 (IV50 / 0x30355649), yuv410p, 700x560, 0.0005 fps, 0.0005 tbr, 0.0005 tbn, 0.0005 tbc

It appears that a framerate of 0.001 fps still allows playback, while 0.0005 fps does not. This happens both when using the ffdshow video decoder, as well as using the official Indeo decoder through DirectShow.
 
Sorry for the threadjacking guys. I just reinstalled tot and decided to try this patch. It won't start though. I've got the game running on a win xp laptop. Any advice? I double click the TOTLauncher.exe and NOTHING happens. :(
 
There's nothing to go on? Could be any number of things to be honest. But since the launcher has been giving more problems recently, I've built a new one in which I also added error reporting. Could you give it a try, see if it does at least something this time?

Could either Thorvald of Lym or Catfish give it a try as well, see if it doesn't trip Avira anymore? Thanks!
 

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  • TOTLauncher.zip
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The thing is, when I start the launcher (IE double click the icon) NOTHING happens. Same with the new one you so kindly attached. There's no error message or anything. Usually Windows gives me an error message. :(
As stated, I'm running Windows XP SP3 (32bit).
 
TheNamelessOne said:
Could either Thorvald of Lym or Catfish give it a try as well, see if it doesn't trip Avira anymore? Thanks!
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Still trips Avira, but this time it says 'HEUR/APC (Cloud)'. :undecide:
 
I've noticed three interesting bugs.

First one that occurred, the last two civs, Orange and Purple (6 & 7), at some point became completely unable to research anything. I keep separate saves for every major change in my scenario, so in one save, they research fine, but in the next, they lost their ability to perform research.

Second one, is that when barbarians have a certain amount of cities under their control, they will refuse to build new units.

The final one, technology restrictions seemed to reset themselves at one point. I can't remember if I mucked up one of my events or not, so I painstakingly reset permissions for all advances ( :ack: ).

And because this scenario went through a huge overhaul (Guess what happened last month? :p ), for both units and terrain, I added my bmps, so I'm uploading a 7z file because 7zip is so much better with compressing images. :)
 

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  • wtfbugs2.7z
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Hello TNO and friends of TOTPP,

Although I am familiar with Civ since the very first days, I would describe myself as a typical lurker - and I think there are many more out there. Moreover, I resisted playing ToT for a very long time, simply because the advantages of ToT compared to MGE did not outweigh the disadvantages and efforts of converting.

But TNO, you changed that dramatically! You hear it quite often, but see it as a special mark of respect to get me excited writing my first post ever:
It is absolutely amazing what you have done with this old game! :)

Besides I wanted to address an issue, which hasn't been discussed yet, nonetheless a real flaw especially for scenarios: Cancelling trade routes.
Once all three trade routes are established, you can only override existing with better ones, but not turn them off again. (Abandoning the whole city I didn't count as a smart option.)

With food caravans it got even worse - as the official manual frankly admits: "Once a food route is established, it cannot be countermanded." And the next sentence of the manual is simply wrong(!), at least not working with my version "It (i.e. the food route) is automatically cancelled, however, if the sending city runs out of food for its own people." Does anyone have tried this and encountered the same problem? (Btw, I am aware of the fact, that 3 existing food routes can be substituted with 2 "normal" trade routes, but you don't get rid of the last one.)

One could think (just to give an example) of Britain in WWII, supplied with dairy products from Australia / NZ. If in a Civ scenario the Japanese would conquer those areas, the (now Japanese) cities would keep their deliveries to GB. Kind of unrealistic...

To summarize: It would be great to see an option to countermand trade routes (especially food routes). Suggestion: maybe by including an option to select trade routes in the city screen itself, which allows disbanding of the routes (similar to that for units). Alternatively, each time the player enters an enemy city an algorithm disbands all existing routes if the player's nation is currently at war with the trading partner.

Only "nice to have": Since event created trade units are always "hides", to add an option to specify the traded good (of a unit with the ability to trade, of course), in order to allow sending food supplies by event (maybe in the Civ2 event language as a parameter of the action word "CreateUnit"). But as stated, this is a "nice to have".
Whereas the option to countermand trade routes at all would be a great step forward in gaming and scenario design.

TNO, regardless whether you give that suggestion a try or not and if it is technically feasible at all, your work is highly appreciated - keep on that project and thanks for the great possibilities you have already added, above all the increased limits for cities, 127 unit types, 16 terrain types and the unlimited event memory!!

Cheers ...the voice of the silent lurkers ;)
 
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Arthedain said:
The thing is, when I start the launcher (IE double click the icon) NOTHING happens. Same with the new one you so kindly attached. There's no error message or anything. Usually Windows gives me an error message. :(
As stated, I'm running Windows XP SP3 (32bit).
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Can't really say what's going on there. I regularly test the project on Win XP, and it should run just fine... :confused:

Thorvald of Lym said:
Still trips Avira, but this time it says 'HEUR/APC (Cloud)'. :undecide:
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Sounds to me like their heuristics engine is a bit too aggressive then. Until I get around to installing it somewhere to test it myself, keep the exception.

PlutonianEmpire said:
I've noticed three interesting bugs.

First one that occurred, the last two civs, Orange and Purple (6 & 7), at some point became completely unable to research anything. I keep separate saves for every major change in my scenario, so in one save, they research fine, but in the next, they lost their ability to perform research.
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Could you tell me in which save they do, and in which save they don't research?

PlutonianEmpire said:
Second one, is that when barbarians have a certain amount of cities under their control, they will refuse to build new units.
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Confirmed, it looks like those barb cities don't get updated at all. Will look into it.

Metro Polis said:
Hi, TNO,
one more suggestion: can you alter the probabilities when a unit enters a village/hut? I mean so that you can't get friendly units in the game (only enemies, money or advances)? It would help me a lot with my scenario.
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Yes, this one's on the list already. I'll try to put it in soon.

SorFox said:
It is absolutely amazing what you have done with this old game! :)
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Thanks mate, appreciate it! :)

SorFox said:
Besides I wanted to address an issue, which hasn’t been discussed yet, nonetheless a real flaw especially for scenarios: Cancelling trade routes.
[...]
To summarize: It would be great to see an option to countermand trade routes (especially food routes). Suggestion: maybe by including an option to select trade routes in the city screen itself, which allows disbanding of the routes (similar to that for units). Alternatively, each time the player enters an enemy city an algorithm disbands all existing routes if the player’s nation is currently at war with the trading partner.
Click to expand...

This is a fair point, I'll put it on the list. Both suggestions sound fine to me, and should not be too hard to implement.

SorFox said:
Only "nice to have": Since event created trade units are always "hides", to add an option to specify the traded good (of a unit with the ability to trade, of course), in order to allow sending food supplies by event (maybe in the Civ2 event language as a parameter of the action word "CreateUnit").
Click to expand...

This should also be possible without too much trouble. That goes on the list as well!
 
In Scenario Setup 8d, they can research, meaning I can successfully set a research goal wih the Edit King Cheat. Starting in 8e, tribes Orange and Purple (6 and 7) are unable to research, and forcing a research Goal via edit king will not work for them. In the scenario I posted, the affected tribes are Communists and Middle Eastern. Saves Scenario Setup 8f and 8g are also like this. 8, 8b, 8c and 8d are unaffected. Hope this helps. :)
 
TheNamelessOne said:
Can't really say what's going on there. I regularly test the project on Win XP, and it should run just fine... :confused:
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Does the .exe file has a certain icon, 'cause mine is just the regular .exe icon (see pic).
And as stated, I double click it and nothing happens. Seems like windows won't let me open it.
 

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PlutonianEmpire said:
Second one, is that when barbarians have a certain amount of cities under their control, they will refuse to build new units.
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For barbarian cities there's a condition that sometimes resets city production to 0. This occurs when the city is already defended and they have more than 16 offensive units on that landmass. For example, in your save, the production of the city of Algiers does get updated (not defended), while neighbouring Tripoli does not, and Port Moresby gets updated because there are less than 16 offensive barb units on landmass #24.

I guess barbarians were just not intended to be a full-fledged tribe, but I'll make this 16 unit limit configurable in @COSMIC2.

PlutonianEmpire said:
In Scenario Setup 8d, they can research, meaning I can successfully set a research goal wih the Edit King Cheat. Starting in 8e, tribes Orange and Purple (6 and 7) are unable to research, and forcing a research Goal via edit king will not work for them. In the scenario I posted, the affected tribes are Communists and Middle Eastern. Saves Scenario Setup 8f and 8g are also like this. 8, 8b, 8c and 8d are unaffected. Hope this helps. :)
Click to expand...

I'll look into this next.

Arthedain said:
Does the .exe file has a certain icon, 'cause mine is just the regular .exe icon (see pic).
And as stated, I double click it and nothing happens. Seems like windows won't let me open it.
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That's ok, the launcher does not have a custom icon. Do you have the opportunity to try the launcher on another machine?
 
TheNamelessOne said:
That's ok, the launcher does not have a custom icon. Do you have the opportunity to try the launcher on another machine?
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Unfortuneatly not for now. My other laptop is broken. However the launcher did work on it while it was still running. Guess I'll have to do without. :(
 
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