1.29 Semi-public beta

[Brad Oliver]

Time to let the secret partly out of the bag. I've been working on the 1.29f patch in my spare time for MacSoft, and I've got their approval to do a public beta for it.

Thing is, I don't want/need the whole entire Mac-using world to bang on this yet, so I'd appreciate it if you guys don't go out of your way to announce this to everyone and their dog. I'm fairly comfortable at this point that the regulars here at CivFanatics will find the most egregious bugs, and once that phase is done, I'll feel better about seeding it to a wider audience. I don't have the time to deal with a potential avalanche of bug reports from hundreds of users at the moment.

For those of you who follow the GOTM, this build works with the PC 1.29f GOTM files. It should also fix any rogue DataIO errors that you'd occasionally get when using a PC saved-game file. If you're currently playing the April GOTM, I would not recommend this update as it could alter the score or do other unpredictable things. You'd be better off starting fresh, presuming that this build is of course stable.

What about the editor? Since I'm doing this in my spare time, I can't promise a whole lot. I do have a really rough build, but it's got a lot of missing/broken features that I need to fill in. Once it becomes a little more robust, I'll see about getting it out for a public beta as well.

I can't promise a timetable for when this will all go final, and I can't promise that I'll reply to all the bug report e-mails, but I will read them all. I'd like to encourage people who report bugs to try and be thorough - list your OS version at a minimum. If you get a crash, then a Civ3 crash log from the Console in OSX would be great. (Enable this in the Console preferences.)

So with that out of the way, here it is. If someone wants to mirror this, I'd be very grateful. I can't claim that this version is stable or bug-free, but I can say that I was able to play a few turns and load up a bunch of saved-game files with no incident.

http://www.macmame.org/Civ3_129_b1.sit

 

[tao]

Brad: Great work. Thank a bundle. I will try it with the deity level version of GTM18, once I finished my official play.

 

[dust_rat]

Perfect, something to do during the weekend! I'll do my best to find any little bugs.

Brad for president!

 

[Trabpukcip]

This smell very good... I remember the days when 1.29 was something reserved to the PC caste...

I think I can sense something encouraging for PTW!

 

[dojoboy]

Brad, thank you very much. Since I'm in the process of closing on a house for sale and on one for purchase, I've little time to get involved right now w/ the GOTM. However, I will play some casually to check out your 1.29f build. Thanks again.

 

[Txurce]

Brad, this is greatly appreciated. I'm ready to start testing it right away.

Could you (or someone else) give us some direction on how to implement this patch, so that it could be removed and the game restored to 1.21 status, if it turns out to be too buggy?

Thanks again.

 

[jpalacino]

Bravo Brad!

Thank you so much for taking the initiative on this (hopefully MacSoft will ensure that you are properly rewarded).

As far as Txurce's question, I wonder if we can just make a copy of our current Civ folder (with all pertinent files) -- rename it Civ Original. Then we can delete the one with the beta 1.29, rename that folder, and return to 1.21. That's assuming your hard drive has a few hundred megs free for an extra copy of the folder.

JP

 

[cracker]

I can only echo Brad's cautions to make sure you complete Gotm18-Celts in the V1.21 version if you have already started. This is because the tech rate progression impact will be doubled up and will slow your game to a snails pace if you attempt to upgrade midstream.

For players who have already finished and submitted their Gotm18 game in v1.21g thst I would suggest you upgrade to v1.29 for the MAC and attempt to use the Civ3v1.29 game file as a test vehicle for the patch. If you played the v1.21 game you will have an excellent frame of reference to see if the patch basically works for you. The v1.21 gotm version had the tech rate equalized to what you should see in the v1.29 patch.

For short term game test opportunities, I would invite you to use the "Quick Games" that we have opening on the 20th for variations of the Gotm18-Celts game. These will not be to submit for GOTM results scoring but you will be able to keep a brief timeline of events and compare you games to other players on the Mac and on the PC to see if the patch is functioning properly.

There are already at least three choices for v1.29 quick games and more should be available later in the month. The two most significant shifts that you should see in the v1.29 game play will be the increase in the Commercial trait corruption benefit from 12.5% to 25% and then the tech progression shifts at Monarch, Emperor, and Diety levels that a number of you have already been experimenting with.

Here's the link to the Quick Games subforum:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=99

I will also add a hearty thanks to Brad for making this a priority. With the v1.29 patch available to Mac Players you will at least have the opportunity to join in with your peers in the PC world. You can survive without the editor but you were dead in the water with v1.21 even with the v1.21 editor.

I would also get up on my soap box here and add that I would advocate that no priority be given to wasting resources on a v1.29 Mac editor. Even beyond that a multiplayer version of PTW must be a lower priority than getting you functionally up to speed with the PTW single player games. Editor functions are nice but if their implementation has to be balanced off against the choice of whether your games are compatible with the PC game versions then the tough choice need to be made.

 

[jbouklas]

Thanks for spending your extra time on this project.

-Jim

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by cracker

I would also get up on my soap box here and add that I would advocate that no priority be given to wasting resources on a v1.29 Mac editor. Even beyond that a multiplayer version of PTW must be a lower priority than getting you functionally up to speed with the PTW single player games. Editor functions are nice but if their implementation has to be balanced off against the choice of whether your games are compatible with the PC game versions then the tough choice need to be made.

Easier said than done. PTW would be a totally separate project - and contract - for Westlake and MacSoft. I couldn't do anything with PTW unless that went forward.

Even if Mac PTW goes forward, there's no way on this earth that MacSoft would ship it without multiplayer, and even if they did, I'd try my hardest to talk them out of that. Other people have tried that approach on the Mac, and it smacks of profiteering and often leads to having the netplay functionality be delivered _much_ later, after much criticism. I would not want to be associated with a project that took that path, especially one where netplay is the main selling point.

Finally, cross-platform saved-game compatibility is never (at least in my book) considered to be an "extra" feature. The intention is always for it to be present and working from day one. I hope my past track record on Civ3 patches (and Alpha Centauri patches) in this regard speaks for itself.

 

[dojoboy]

Played to 110 BC before saving. So far, its very smooth. Playing as the Romans to check out the commercial trait improvements, but've yet to make a deal. I'm hearing a lot more of the fx for the units. Also noticing the new barbarian behavior.

 

[Sid]

Gee, despite workload, I've gotta get into this.

Thanks, Brad. will our debt to you never end??

 

[Mavfin]

Thanks, Brad! I might actually play this game again now.....I had given up in complete disgust.....

I think patch parity is more important than the editor, as then you can use all the stuff created for the PC. As it was, we couldn't.....

 

[Sid]

Played a few turns and found it very smooth -- nothing to add to previous comments. Can't wait to finish off my work for the day and get back to it.

Oh, I did notice a new .sav icon -- are these now specific to the civs -- mine is a stone tablet for the Babylonians?

 

[Txurce]

Brad, the I/O error has not appeared as of 450AD in GOTM16, which means it's not likely to later. Everything is working well, with noticeable differences in both tech rate and corruption.

If anything seems off, it's the scrolling on the edges of the screen - the pointer pauses, then the screen jumps in the proper direction. The opposite is a smoother, noticeably faster scrolling. I don't know if this has anything to do with the new version, but it seems to.

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by Sid
Oh, I did notice a new .sav icon -- are these now specific to the civs -- mine is a stone tablet for the Babylonians?

No, that's been in there for a while. It's a generic save icon, although it is a neat idea to have individual ones for each civ. I don't have the skills necessary to draw them up though.

 

[senecasax]

File Mirrored here.

It should be up for at least until May 9, when I leave school for home.

Thanks Brad, this is sweet!

 

[senecasax]

Quick question then - This supports 1.29 BIC files? So theoretically I should be able to mod a BIC for starting locations, units, etc?

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by senecasax
Quick question then - This supports 1.29 BIC files? So theoretically I should be able to mod a BIC for starting locations, units, etc?

It supports loading 1.29 BIC files, yes. You won't be able to create them with the current Mac editor. I assume you already know as much, but I mention that just in case someone else is reading who hasn't been following the editor as closely.

I'm getting closer to a release for the 1.29 editor. It won't support zoom or the minimap window in the first few releases, which technically makes it an alpha since it isn't feature-complete.

 

[Beamup]

Wow, I check back in after being a thorough MOOIII addict for a while and looky what I find. On to some testing!

*Bows to Brad's almighty admirable Civness*