MapFinder Help

I've been trying to use MapFinder (the newest version) on several occasions, and have had several problems with it...

(1) It works only sporadically in moving through the Quick Start to new maps, closing. I have to "prime the pump" a lot it seems by hitting Ctrl-Shift-Q or by hitting return in-game

(2) Even when it finds a map, it doesn't seem to save it.

Any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong?

Obviously, your delay timing is all wrong! If you tell me the speed of your system, I will help you to correct the timing. Also post a copy of the "MapFinder.INI" file; it can be found in the MapFinder directory (where you installed MapFinder).

In summary, two things I need from you:

#1. Tell me your system speed.
#2. The content of MapFinder.INI

Hmm, I'm a lawyer, so the tech question on system speed has got me a bit stumped. Running Windows 2000 (NT), Pentium at 1.7 gigaherz. What other data would you need? I appreciate the help.

Here's the INI file.

[Config]
Delay4NewGame=2000
Delay4SaveGame=1000
Delay4RestartC3C=6000
OutputDir=c:\Civ3Map\Good Maps
AutoSaveDir=C:\Program Files\Atari\Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Saves\Auto
Counter=33
Delay4Keystrokes=100
Delay4CivDialogs=500
MaxAcceptGame=250
QuickStartGame=1
NoRun2RestartC3C=256
JPGCompressionQuality=70
DisableRuleSetWarning=1

According to the configuration that you just show me, you will need a system with a speed of at least 7GHz or above to run MapFinder. You have two options:

Option#1: Wait until 2007 or after or when Intel unlease their Pentium 6 or above chip. You also need to wait for Firaxis to release another patch for C3C too...because the current version of C3C 1.22 couldn't run stable for 256 straight games without restart!


OR


Option#2: For it to work on your 1.7 GHz machine at the present time, change your timing to as follows:

[Config]
Delay4NewGame=9000
Delay4SaveGame=10000
Delay4RestartC3C=15000

Delay4Keystrokes=500
Delay4CivDialogs=4000

NoRun2RestartC3C=30

Once it's running stable, you may consider tunning the folowing two variables further down (note: don't do this unless you get it running stable first):
Delay4Keystrokes=300
Delay4CivDialogs=2000

That's it! It should work now.

LOL, Moonsinger! What if I sprinkled my computer with cocaine? Wouldn't it work on my current settings?

Thanks for the help! And thanks for your hard work on MapFinder!

I'm just curious on how you come up with those values in the first place? For example:
Delay4NewGame=2000
Delay4SaveGame=1000

Why 2000? And not 3000 or 4000? I don't believe that you just draw those numbers out of thin air, so you must have had your reason. Just curious!


Btw, if you are wondering how I came up with those values for your system. Here is how:

Take Delay4NewGame as an example:
#1. From the main menu of Civ3, click on Quick Start a new game then immediately counting 1001, 1002, .... Note: the time it take to say 1001 out loud is usually equal to 1 second. If you use a stop watch instead, you don't have to count out loud.

#2. It will take Civ3 sometimes to setup a new game. In the mean time, keep counting. If you are tired of counting, use your watch.

#3. Eventually, Civ3 will finish setting up a new game and when it comes to the 4000BC screen, now stop counting!

#4. The Delay4NewGame is really equal to the time elapse between step #1 and step #3 plus a few extra seconds to be on the safe side. Of course, on faster system, Civ3 will start faster; therefore, the time deday will be shorter and so on. Use the same techique to calculate other Time Delay and so on.

How did I come up with them? For the most part, they were the minimum values that MapFinder allowed me to set (some may be modified when I was playing with it, but the key ones must not have changed). So, the real reason for those values is that I tried to get MapFinder to work as quickly as possible and when it didn't work, I just screwed with it randomly.

And, yes, I am an IT person's nightmare.

I'm an [ex-] IT person and am married to a Lawyer. No nightmares here..............But, the computer does get blamed a lot for what turn out to be "User Errors"!