When playing Civ3 Conquests (C3C) with a large number of civilizations it can be difficult to keep track of who is at war with whom, who has MPPs etc, as the C3C diplomacy screen display is limited to 8 civs.
This tool displays a single matrix (see attachment View attachment DiploToolExampleDisplay.doc) that shows the relationships between all civilizations:
- Empty white: no contact has been made (or unknown relationship - see note below)
- Empty grey: civilization is dead
- 'C' on a light blue background : contact has been made
- 'E' on a mid blue background : embassy has been established (overwrites 'C')
- 'R' on a light geen background : ROP in place
- 'M' on a mid green background : MPP in place
- 'Y' on a purple background : at war, but willing to talk
- 'N' on a red background : at war, not willing to talk
If multiple relationships exist, e.g. Embassy / ROP / MPP, all letters are shown, using the background colour/color of the most significant relationship - in this case 'EMR' on mid green.
The horizontal line is that civilization's relationship with the other civs from that civilization's perspective.
The vertical line is that civilization's relationship with the other civs from the other civilizations perspective.
The two intersections per civilization can therefore be different, e.g which side is willing to talk.
Note: tool can be configured using .ini file to display either only those relationships that the player's civilization has had contact with - i.e what would appear in C3C diplomacy screen (default), or to show all relationships including those for civilizations that have not yet been contacted.
The tool also has a feature to remove the Fog Of War. Once a civ reaches modern times, the concept of FOW is unrealistic, and at this stage of the game, waiting for the turn to complete can take a long time, so it is more interesting to watch the otherwise hidden AI civ battles. Although this gives the human player an advantage, this can be mitigated by playing at a higher difficulty level.
Installation
-------------
This tool requires Civilization III Conquests v1.22, with auto save configured.
It has not been tested with autosave files produced by other versions of Civ III, and cannot read compressed save files.
The tool consists of a single standalone executable - DiploTool.exe
It does not require installation. Copy it to an appropriate directory, and double click it to run.
On first invocation it will generate file DiploTool.ini, containing:
[DiploTool]
; Configuration file for DiploTool.exe
; Show only contacted civs (0) or all civs (1)
Contact=0
; Path to Internet Explorer executable
IEpath=C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
; Path to C3C Autosave files folder
Savepath=C:\Program Files\Atari\Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Saves\Auto\
; Left,Top position of button
XYloc=10,90
The .ini file can then be edited if necessary and the tool restarted.
Operation
------------
When started, a button sized window will appear in the top left of the screen.
This button window will display on top of the C3C window if C3C is running.
The default button location has been chosen so as not to conflict with the C3C and CivAssist buttons, on a 1024*768 resolution, but can be changed in the .ini file.
Press the D button to generate the latest matrix.
Press the F button to toggle the FOW setting in the latest autosave file.
Press the close window icon to terminate the tool.
When the D button is pressed the DiploTool button window will disappear.
The tool will read the latest (by time of creation) autosave file and on completion (can take several seconds) generates a HTML file containing the relationship matrix.
The tool then automatically invokes Internet Explorer to display the HTML file in Kiosk mode - which is full screen with no controls except scrollbars.
There is also a link to a separate Attitude matrix page which displays each civs war weariness/happiness (-/+), and the Gold Per Turn in square brackets that the horizontal civ is paying the vertical civ.
To return to C3C, press Alt-F4 keys together to close the browser window, then the C3C display and the DiploTool window will reappear for reuse.
Note that because the tool reads the latest autosave file, it will not display any changes that have occurred in the current turn.
When the F button is pressed the DiploTool button window will disappear.
A message popup will notify whether FOW has been removed or reinstated and the name of the modified file.
When OK'd the DiploTool window will reappear for reuse.
Load the modified autosave file into C3C.
When FOW is removed the entire map is displayed with all units, cities, resources visible.
Miscellaneous
-----------------
If the .ini file properties are invalid, the tool will output an appropriate error dialog and terminate.
If you are running security programs, you may get a warning for cmd.exe when DiploTool invokes Internet Explorer.
The tool is written in Perl which is why a camel's head appears on the button window.
If anyone has more information on the C3C SAV file format, I can add further features to the tool.
The tool can be downloaded from http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/103820/DiploTool.zip
This tool displays a single matrix (see attachment View attachment DiploToolExampleDisplay.doc) that shows the relationships between all civilizations:
- Empty white: no contact has been made (or unknown relationship - see note below)
- Empty grey: civilization is dead
- 'C' on a light blue background : contact has been made
- 'E' on a mid blue background : embassy has been established (overwrites 'C')
- 'R' on a light geen background : ROP in place
- 'M' on a mid green background : MPP in place
- 'Y' on a purple background : at war, but willing to talk
- 'N' on a red background : at war, not willing to talk
If multiple relationships exist, e.g. Embassy / ROP / MPP, all letters are shown, using the background colour/color of the most significant relationship - in this case 'EMR' on mid green.
The horizontal line is that civilization's relationship with the other civs from that civilization's perspective.
The vertical line is that civilization's relationship with the other civs from the other civilizations perspective.
The two intersections per civilization can therefore be different, e.g which side is willing to talk.
Note: tool can be configured using .ini file to display either only those relationships that the player's civilization has had contact with - i.e what would appear in C3C diplomacy screen (default), or to show all relationships including those for civilizations that have not yet been contacted.
The tool also has a feature to remove the Fog Of War. Once a civ reaches modern times, the concept of FOW is unrealistic, and at this stage of the game, waiting for the turn to complete can take a long time, so it is more interesting to watch the otherwise hidden AI civ battles. Although this gives the human player an advantage, this can be mitigated by playing at a higher difficulty level.
Installation
-------------
This tool requires Civilization III Conquests v1.22, with auto save configured.
It has not been tested with autosave files produced by other versions of Civ III, and cannot read compressed save files.
The tool consists of a single standalone executable - DiploTool.exe
It does not require installation. Copy it to an appropriate directory, and double click it to run.
On first invocation it will generate file DiploTool.ini, containing:
[DiploTool]
; Configuration file for DiploTool.exe
; Show only contacted civs (0) or all civs (1)
Contact=0
; Path to Internet Explorer executable
IEpath=C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
; Path to C3C Autosave files folder
Savepath=C:\Program Files\Atari\Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Saves\Auto\
; Left,Top position of button
XYloc=10,90
The .ini file can then be edited if necessary and the tool restarted.
Operation
------------
When started, a button sized window will appear in the top left of the screen.
This button window will display on top of the C3C window if C3C is running.
The default button location has been chosen so as not to conflict with the C3C and CivAssist buttons, on a 1024*768 resolution, but can be changed in the .ini file.
Press the D button to generate the latest matrix.
Press the F button to toggle the FOW setting in the latest autosave file.
Press the close window icon to terminate the tool.
When the D button is pressed the DiploTool button window will disappear.
The tool will read the latest (by time of creation) autosave file and on completion (can take several seconds) generates a HTML file containing the relationship matrix.
The tool then automatically invokes Internet Explorer to display the HTML file in Kiosk mode - which is full screen with no controls except scrollbars.
There is also a link to a separate Attitude matrix page which displays each civs war weariness/happiness (-/+), and the Gold Per Turn in square brackets that the horizontal civ is paying the vertical civ.
To return to C3C, press Alt-F4 keys together to close the browser window, then the C3C display and the DiploTool window will reappear for reuse.
Note that because the tool reads the latest autosave file, it will not display any changes that have occurred in the current turn.
When the F button is pressed the DiploTool button window will disappear.
A message popup will notify whether FOW has been removed or reinstated and the name of the modified file.
When OK'd the DiploTool window will reappear for reuse.
Load the modified autosave file into C3C.
When FOW is removed the entire map is displayed with all units, cities, resources visible.
Miscellaneous
-----------------
If the .ini file properties are invalid, the tool will output an appropriate error dialog and terminate.
If you are running security programs, you may get a warning for cmd.exe when DiploTool invokes Internet Explorer.
The tool is written in Perl which is why a camel's head appears on the button window.
If anyone has more information on the C3C SAV file format, I can add further features to the tool.
The tool can be downloaded from http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/103820/DiploTool.zip
