How to add ANYTHING to "vanilla" Civ 3

This guide is those of you without PTW. It is possible to change or add just about everything you can download to vanilla Civ3.
It's even possible to load custom tech trees without changing the default rules. How you ask? Lots of research on these forums ( 5 days worth) and a little PC know-how.

this info is for Civ 3 patch 1.29f NOT for PTW

Prep.
backup the Art and the text directory before you add stuff but AFTER you patch Civ3. The patch changes a lot of files and WILL remove your mods from the text files. on a side note, the science advisor screens are different after the patch. I found out the hard way and had backed up my art directory before I patched the game. I went to copy an "old" file back (science_ancient.pcx) and the arrows were all messed up in-game.

Leave the default stuff where it is! you don't have to move or change any of the original files to play a mod!

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Adding units - stuff they don't tell you

1. when you download a unit it usually comes with a .ini file, make sure you look at it! open it in notepad and make sure that you have all the files it specifies!
2. the 1.29f patch makes the civilopedia "read only" and you can't edit it while it's like that. right-click on it and click properties, remove the check from read only.
3. the civilopedia entry isn't completely necessary but the pediaicons entry is.
4. if a unit isn't in your .bic file it doesn't show up in the game even if you have it in the civilopedia.txt, pediaicons.txt, and units_32.pcx and have the unit folders there. it won't show in the civilopedia either until you load a scenario or .bic with it in.
5. the little grid lines on the units_32.pcx file need to be there.
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Adding buildings and wonders

1. there have to be entries in civilopedia.txt, pediaicons.txt.
2. make sure the building or wonder is on the buildings-large.pcx and buildings-small.pcx.
3. the other art goes in the civilopedia directory.
4. the building won't show up in the game until it's specified in a .bic file.
5. the grid lines on the buildings-large.pcx and buildings-small.pcx need to be there.

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Adding a leaderhead aka Adding a race - not making one

1. the .flc files go in Art\Flics
2. the *_all.pcx file goes in the Art\Advisors folder ( the pic with all the circle heads)
3.the large and small .pcx files go in Art\Civilopedia\icons\races
4. all the other art goes into Art\leaderheads
I had to download a leaderhead and find this out, which is a pain on a dial-up with a 2.2k connection.
5. there has to be an entry in pediaicons.txt and civilopedia.txt
6. there needs to be extra entries in diplomancy.txt (a lot of them)
I suggest you download the one for 31 civs that can be found on these forums.
7. the race won't show up in the game if it isn't in the bic file.
even with all the extra stuff you have put into all these files, nothing will show up in game if it's not in the .bic so leave the master alone and make a new one with the editor.
8. limited to 31 playable + barbarian
9. there HAS to be 76 barbarian cities or the game will crash.

Addition 3/22/03
10. if you are going to add new civs make sure you get the color palette fix! it adds the missing colors for the extra civs.

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Adding a resource

1. it has to have a civilopedia.txt entry AND a pediaicons.txt entry
2. it has to be on resources.pcx AFTER the default stuff. ( leave the default stuff alone)
3. if it's a luxury icon it should be on luxury_icons.pcx in the city screen folder . search the forums for a picture and a better explanation.
4. yet again, it won't show up in-game if it's not in the .bic file.
5. you can even delete resoures from your bic and as long as you haven't removed it from anywhere else it will still show up in the default game.
6. the game is limited to 256 resources.
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Adding a technology - this is where it gets hairy

1. you can add techs to your hearts content and get them to display right if you follow the tutorial "how to make a modified tech tree look professional" but there are a couple problems.
If you have PTW you can just tell the scenario loader to load your modified science advisor screen ( the arrows in the tech tree are part of these screens and aren't an overlay like everything else)
but if you don't have PTW and you edit those files they will be forever changed. this is the only thing that will show up in the default game whether the new techs are in the .bic file or not.
This is why you backed up your Art directory. you need to put your modified advisor screens somehwere besides the advisors folder ( I put mine in a new folder in the Scenario folder along with the bic for it.) so to start you should have unmodified science advisor screens in your advisor folder, unmodified screens in a backup folder and modified screens in yet another folder.

to play with your modded tech tree COPY not move the modified screens to the advisors folder and play.
to go back and play default civ COPY not move your backup screens to the advisors folder and play.
you CAN ( I do ) go to the main menu in Civ, Crtl-Esc out of the game, do the copying, load scenario or play new game and it will work fine. ( I use a batch file to do the copying)
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If you have any questions about my methods feel free to e-mail me at dracoraven@yahoo.com

Attached are MY batch files for your use and/or research
it took me a while to remember how to copy in DOS.
DO NOT try to add the civilization.exe command to these because civ3 won't load from a DOS prompt.

Nice compilation, dracoraven. This should be a good resource for those who are working with vanilla civ3. A couple comments:

6. there needs to be extra entries in diplomancy.txt (a lot of them)
I suggest you download the one for 31 civs that can be found on these forums.

Click to expand...

Recommending the 31-civ diplomacy is a good idea. The direct download for it is here and the thread it was posted in is Montezuma's Tutorial: How To Add Extra Civs in v1.21
Incidentally, "a lot" is, by my calculations, 31 different sections, 2 of which require a single entry, 24 of which require 3 entries, and 5 of which require 6 entries. This is what must be added/modified for *each* civ using the standard diplomacy.txt. Pesloco's Diplomacy Editor is a great help in that regard.

9. there HAS to be 76 barbarian cities or the game will crash.

Click to expand...

I hadn't heard of this before. Do you happen to know if that applies to PTW as well?

You may also wish to mention in the buildings section, that any buildings added will not appear correctly in the aerial view of the city.

Actually the barbarian city number is in the editor help file and says that the game will crash with a different number. you CAN change it but IIRC you can't add or remove entries. I have no idea if it applies to PTW since i don't have PTW. look in the help file for the editor. ( as a side note, the 1.29f patch seems to get rid of the clickable resource tab help page)

On the issue of the city arial view:
you can make it look different and change the buildings but as of yet, you can't add more to it. Anther forum user is looking into using the additional-buildings.pcx for adding things to the city arial view and has even e-mailed firaxis about it but no answer is forthcoming yet. the additional buildings file seems to be something that was used during developement but not taken out before shipping the game, just like resource.pcx.

Hmm. Looks like that help warning on barbarians is still there; I suppose that's another potential cause of our ACW woes. Thanks for pointing that out. As for the city view, yeah that's pretty much what I meant. IIRC, the request to Firaxis for more information was a very long time ago and the modding community has pretty much written off being able to do anything useful with the view.

i've done everything you've said to do to get an allready made civ loaded into my game, but the game keeps crashing when i click on that civ at the beginning of the game. All of the other civ's work fine. I did everything you said to include:

put all of the files in the approp. folders
i updated pediaicon.txt, and civilopedia.txt
downloaded and replaced the diplomacy.txt
added the civ to the .bic file with the cracked editor.
barbarians have 76 cities

i'm not sure where to fing the color palette update.....

the civ i'm trying to add is the scottish, and it shows up in the list of civs to play, but when i click on it the game crashes, and i have no idea why....

any help would be appreciated.

ok i fixed it, i apparently forgot to enter the flix in the hacked editor.

Do u guys know the link where i can download the patch 1.29f ??
Another question - With this patch do I need something else to add units???

1.29f is the newest patch out there for vanilla Civ III. vanilla Civ III is just plain Civ III without PTW or Conquests, that also means that It doesn't include the Gold edition of Civ since that comes with PTW included. I didn't have PTW when I wrote this and I still don't. The patch is about a 10 meg download so I hope for your sake you aren't on a slow dial-up. You should always check official manufacturer's sites for patches for any game first.

Hope this helps,
dracoraven

PS: please correct me if there is a newer patch out.

OK thanx...
Also do u know a link were I can download nice and usefull units??

I get all of mine from the unit library here in the forums. I find everything I could ever want here at civfanatics.

Caveat: when you download JUST a unit, you're only getting the animation, a configuration file, and maybe the sound. The stats of the unit are all up to you. If it isn't in the bic, it won't be in the game.

Before Starting a new game.... how do I know is the added units are properly working???

Because before start a new game, I wanna edit them in the Civ3edit so i can use them without waiting so much???

Sorry bodering to much!

I usually set them up with no technology requirements, a very small shield cost and give them only to the civ I'll be using for testing .. that way only you get them and you get them in the first few turns, I have one bic I use just for testing new units.

Thanks for this summation ... I must say that making a new Civ seems rather more complicated than one would intuitively think it would be ... admittedly it hadn't occured to me that there was a problem with the absence of images of the Ruler, but even aside from that it seems excessively confusing ... I shall have to come back to this on a morning, I think, but any specific hints and tips would be gratefully received.

Background: the only previous modding I've done (for CivIII, that is) is modifying units so that, for example, they have different offence/defence values, or upgrade to different things. I had hoped that this would be comparably simple, but it appears this is not so ... All I'm wanting to do is create my own little Civ, the Dutch (although that's a comparatively random pick) with my own cities, leaders, etc., non-aggressive, expansionist and probably scientific ...

In regards to the recent rash of e-mails and responses to this thread/guide:

I am no longer modding CivIII due to unforseen computer problems. In other words, my system crashed and i haven't re-installed CivIII yet. I stil have all my modding stuff (always backup!) and will most likely re-install at a later date but for now my time is taken up with other large projects. This guide is still good since no new patches came out for vanilla civ after 1.29f.

Happy modding and keep those coments coming! I apreciate them, and the more I get, the more I realize I need to start modding Civ again.