Version 0.70 is a combination bug-fix and feature release. Changes:
- Fixed the bug where scenarios with duplicate unit names could not be opened.
- Should fix the inability to exit via menu on OSX
- Some map editing has been made available.
More on the map editing in a minute. I've also added the following scenarios as tests of being able to open a wide swath of BIQs. This means that all future releases will be tested before release to make sure they can open at least these BIQs without the map enabled (in addition to the generic non-real-world tests I had previously):
- Rhye's of Civilization Expanded v1.23.biq
- The Great War 2.1.biq
- MEM Europe (Small).biq
- RFRE 275BC Hard.biq
- AoI4.1-31civs-FULL.biq
- Twillight of Byzantium.biq
- TCW1.6.biq
- Rood.biq
- Manhattan.biq
- 5 Mesoamerica.biq (the actual Conquest)
The selection was mostly based on what I had on my hard drive. If you'd like to add a scenario to this list, let me know. It does take a bit of time to run the tests, so I don't want to test thousands of BIQs, but fifty or so would probably still be reasonable. Especially useful would be BIQs with unusual features (teleportation, deepwater harbors [note to self: add Age of Piracy to tests], etc.).
Download
link here.
And now for map editing.
NOTE: Map editing should be thought of more as a curiosity than as something to use when creating mods at this point. If you do use it for the latter, save often.
NOTE: Read about map editing if you plan to do it. This will help you avoid some of the known pitfalls.
At this point map editing is not bug free. For example, I haven't dealt with editing tiles on the edge of the world yet, and adding hills/mountains/volcanoes has not been specifically addressed (you can add them, but the base terrain will be slightly odd). It also seems to have trouble with scenarios with custom resources. However, you can do a decent amount of things with map editing, so in light of the fact that the current OSX BIQ editing ability is zero, I've enabled map editing for the first time.
By default, map editing is not enabled, as it's still for the intrepid. To enable it, click on the Settings button and enable map editing:
Now you'll be able to edit maps. Unfortunately, by default Java gives programs too little memory to open all the PCXs a Civ3 map needs. To solve this, download this
launcher program, save it to the same folder where the editor is located, and run it instead of the editor itself. It starts the editor with more memory (128 MB to start with, up to 999 MB), allowing it to open maps. If you don't have the map enabled, you can still just run the editor itself.
The next time you restart the editor (via the launcher) and open a BIQ, you'll notice a new MAP tab on the far right (you may have to scroll over depending on your choice of font). It will be grayed out for a few seconds after the rest of the tabs are ready for action, as it takes awhile for the PCX files to load. Once it's open, you can go over to it and start editing the map.
If the BIQ doesn't load with the map enabled (or the map tab never stops being grayed out), try disabling the map in Settings, restarting, and opening it again. It should load then.
The interface will look somewhat like this:
By default the map is in 'selection mode' - clicking on a tile will bring up information about it. Here I have selected the city of Din Ganwy. You can change its name, population, or culture. Buildings are rather unstable, and changing them is not recommended at this time. The owner can also be changed to a different civilization, although you cannot at this point switch between a 'civilization owner' or 'player owner'. If you want the barbarians to own the city, choose 'Barbarians' from the Civilization drop-down, not the barbarians button. You can also delete Din Ganwy (you will be asked to confirm the deletion of a whole city).
Farther down, you can change the resource on the tile, as well as other overlays. Note that you can have rails without roads or vice versa. Rivers are selected relative to the center of the tile - NW means there is a river along the NW border. Right now, adding overlays is a bit cumbersome, as you have to select a tile, then add the overlay(s), select the next tile, etc. A quicker mode to add lots of one overlay will be added later. The tradeoff is the current method gives you more precise control of river flow.
Below the overlays, you'll see a misnamed "Existing Units" box. This is where you add units. You can add up to 8192 units at once by adjusting the slider - but it is your job to make sure you don't go over 8192 units total (unless you play on requiring the infinite unit patch).
And below this is the actual existing unit, organized into a table. Units of the same type and skill level are grouped together, so you can delete (the X) or change the experience level of all at once. You can also change how many units of that type and skill level exist with the up/down arrows.
There are several other brush modes, but the only one that is implemented so far is the Terrain mode. This lets you change the map's terrain. To activate it, click where I've outlined the second box from the right in the screenshot (the images didn't make the JAR apparently). This will bring up a dialog asking you which type of terrain you wish to add. Desert, grassland, tundra, plains, coast, sea, ocean, forest, jungle, and marsh should all work at this point (except at the edges of maps); the others are luck of the draw. Now click on the map where you want to add the terrain. If it is possible to make that change on that tile, the tile will have the new terrain. Overlays, etc. will remain intact.
What do I mean by 'if it is possible to make that change on that tile'? CivIII doesn't allow every combination of tiles to border each other. For example, tundra can't border desert - there's no PCX file for that and Firaxis's editor doesn't allow it. Thus you can't do it here, either. If you try to, nothing will happen. One special case you should be aware of is grassland bordering sea/ocean. That isn't allowed, so if you want to expand a landmass into coast that borders the sea, you have to first expand the coast, and then expand the landmass. A more smooth method of handling this will be added in a future version.
Other limitations currently are that you have to paint each tile with a mouse click (think
Seurat), and you can only paint one tile at a time. These are both planned to be addressed in future revisions.
Less tested areas include coastal boundaries. You're generally safest modifying inland areas, or modifying water areas. This doesn't mean you can't modify the coastal land/water areas, just that it's more likely to cause errors. Save often.
If you want to go back to selecting tiles rather than painting them, click where I've outlined the first box from the right (the rightmost) in the screenshot.
There currently is no way to add new cities, and all units currently use the default color scheme (no civ specific colors). The owner of a unit can be determined by clicking on the tile where the unit is and seeing who is specified as the owner.
'Specialized' traits such as PTW Custom Unit Names ("23rd Cavalry Division", etc.) are not yet editable. Units that already have such names will retain them, but new units will just have the generic name of their unit type.
Scrolling is currently only available via the scroll bars. There's no minimap. It may show up in the future. Similarly, there's no grid at this point. Tile coordinates are visible on the right side when the tile is selected (unless the tile contains a city).