JCivED - a toolbox for Civilization

I took a couple hours to write/fix the code and make a quick attempt to do what you want, that is to generate a Civ MAP from any picture that respects the Civ terrain color nomenclature:

  1. First I googled a map of LOTR, and selected this one: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/lord-of-the-rings/images/2329809/title/map-middle-earth-wallpaper
  2. Next I opened GIMP and set up my Palette to started painting "Civ-like" terrain values:
    gimp_002.jpg
  3. Next I painted:
    • Oceans, seas and mountains:
      gimp_003.jpg
    • Forests and hills:
      gimp_004.jpg
    • Rivers:
      gimp_005.jpg
    • Arctic, tundra, desert and grassland:
      gimp_006.png
    • the remainig space with plains:
      gimp_007.png
  4. Next up I tried several attempts to convert my painting into a Civ MAP, and ended up with the most satisfying result below:
    test_003.png
  5. I saved it in MAP.PIC format, and then opened it in JCivED:
    jcived_lotr_map_pic.png

That's it!
If you want to start working on this map, to make final adjustments, then here is the MAP.PIC: View attachment LOTR_MAP.PIC.zip

You'll note that there aren't any jungle or swamps, and you may want to adjust this to your liking (I'm not an expert of LOTR geography ;))

Also, there was still some work to do to paint the original map with Civ colors, for the moment I don't see how to handle this otherwise... Or is there some international map topography/geography standard for terrain "types"?

For the moment, the feature is not implemented in JCivED directly, but I'll put it there before the next release.
 
Quick question, is there a way to change the name of the map that civ uses? I have several maps, but it's getting kinda old changing the name of the files so often..
 
kirkham7 said:
Quick question, is there a way to change the name of the map that civ uses? I have several maps, but it's getting kinda old changing the name of the files so often..
Click to expand...

How would you see this feature work exactly? I think it's possible to modify "MAP.PIC" to something else inside CIV.EXE, but you would still need to change your custom maps names to this name every time, or change CIV.EXE every time...
 
Well if you can change the pic file that civ references, then all you would have to do is create a pic file, and then change the name of the file that civ uses. At least that is what I envision the feature doing. So, if you can make a feature that changes the name civ uses, you can ask the user to specify what pic file they wish to use. Then you can have multiple pic files, but you won't have to try to remember which one you have as the map.pic (which is the main reason for this feature).
 
kirkham7 said:
... you can ask the user to specify what pic file they wish to use ...
Click to expand...

I see your point, but when you say the above, who do you expect to "ask the user" what PIC file they want to use: CIV ? JCivED ? Something else ?

It could be JCivED, since another item on my -very long- To-Do list is to enable support for "dynamic" patches, i.e. patches with an additional user GUI to customize some values. I've wanted to do this primarily for the custom Civ colors patch, but didn't start working on this yet.

If you expect CIV to ask you this, however, then it's definitely too long a shot for the moment :) (although the challenge is appealing...)

There could be a hybrid solution, combining a .BAT file and DOS command-line patching of CIV.EXE, that runs every time you start CIV... But I don't know if command-line patching is easy to do.
 
Well, which is easier? I figure jcived is easier, but I'll leave that up to you. You can have a browse button and have the user select the map they want to use (or a text box and just type in the name of the map). I am a big fan of using one program to change as many things as possible, as it makes it easier for the user as they don't have to open up multiple programs.

I reckon having civ ask you would be a bit too much to ask, but if you want to work on having civ do it someday, feel free. ;)
 
It's implemented and working in development version of JCivED now:

dynamic_patching.png

In addition, I made this patch modify the CIV Main Menu so if you ever forgot what's the current "EARTH map file" config, you'll see it directly:

civ_menu.png

I've also made a component for Civ colors, but it needs some more polishing:

dynamic_patching_civcolor.png

All this will be delivered in the next release of JCivED, I expect it to happen within 1 or 2 weeks.
 
So another question from, well, me... ;)
I have found the place to edit the tax and science rate, but is there a place to edit the luxury rate as well? If you put the tax and science at 100%, then the luxury goes down to -100%, which makes all of my citizens content or unhappy.
 
kirkham7 said:
So another question from, well, me... ;)
I have found the place to edit the tax and science rate, but is there a place to edit the luxury rate as well? If you put the tax and science at 100%, then the luxury goes down to -100%, which makes all of my citizens content or unhappy.
Click to expand...

No luck here: CIV does not store the luxury rate... Rather, throughout CIV.EXE, it is always computed as "100 - (science + tax)".

So the only way to change that, I believe, would be to change every place in CIV where this formula is computed... Well, it should deserve some investigation, actually (adding to to-do list ;))
 
Hah, figured you would be interested. Sounded like a good challenge for you.
My other post about the Colosseum is more important to me, so whenever you get to it is up to you. Thanks.
 
Hi everyone,

It's been the longest gap between 2 version releases, but finally I am glad to announce the release of JCivED 0.0.13a (download from sourceforge.net)

The most prominent update in this version is related to the Map edition enhanced capabilities, to finally create cities and units very easily, among other things.

Another big update is related to dynamic patch configuration UI to get user input. This makes it possible to implement new user-configurable patches, such as the Custom Civ Colors patch, or Custom Earth Map patch.

Less visible to users, there is an enormous codebase rework in progress, code being split, moved, deleted, re-organized all the way... I'm not exactly sure where this is going, but hopefully in the right direction ;)

Hereunder are the release notes, that you can also find at the beginning of the thread.:

Release notes:

version 0.0.13a (latest)
  • GameSave editor:
    • Added initial support for Undo/Redo
    • Map GUI: cities and units can be created through toolbar buttons, and deleted or edited through right-click contextual menu
    • Map GUI: map can be translated ("earth rotation") to re-center the view
    • Map GUI: units' GoTo destinations can be shown as overlaid arrows
    • Map GUI: general toolbar layout rework
    • Map GUI: multiple rendering improvements matching original CIV.EXE logic
    • Data UI: several drop-down lists added for user-friendliness (unit's type, unit type's enabling/disabling techs, etc.) - more to come...
  • CIV.EXE modding:
    • New patches available (see above for full patch list)
    • Added support for dynamically configured patches: 2 patches feature dynamic user configuration, Custom Civ Colors, and Custom Earth Map
  • General updates:
    • Background loading of files opened in JCivED with non-blocking progress bar
    • Heavy rework of Civ data model and logic (work in progress)
    • Ported several original Civ routines (work in progress)


Cheers!
 
So Darkpanda, we have a problem. For the patch for using custom maps... dosbox, just like old dos based systems, appends the filename with a ~1. So that creates a problem when having longer file names. So something to take into account in the future. :)

Edit:
Also, when you do it more than once, it seems to be using the file extension twice...
 

Attachments

  • pic_problem.png
    pic_problem.png
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Alright, that works. But as a side note, after you have tried to use a map that is too long, the patch will no longer put in the right map's name correctly. So, it's quite important to back up your exe beforehand.
 
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