American Civil War (by Procifica)

[Procifica]

I realize most people are waiting for the full-release version to come out, but if anyone would like to offer any comments or suggestions about Beta Version 1.93, or ideas for the full-release version, please feel free to do so.

 

[LouLong]

Sorry, not some help on the beta...

But just to let you know I posted a new-looking barbarian hut looking like a North-American Indian teepee in the graphics forum.
I guess it could interest you !
Let me know if you are interested and need a pedia pcx.

 

[tkmjcw]

Having never used the editor before reading this thread, I assume that a .bic is converted to a .bix by opening it with PTW editor and just "save as" a .bix file type.

When I did this, I was unable to save in the main Scenario directory and was forced to save in the ACW directory. Is this to be expected? If so, then step 4 in "InstallPTW.txt" should come before step 3.

 

[Procifica]

Hmmm, that's strange. The .bix file should be in the Scenario directory.

One sec, I'll type up directions on how to convert.

 

[tkmjcw]

I successfully loaded under PTW 1.21 using normal load.

While configuring my .bix in the editor I noticed that the start year and turn duration were set to the default, 4000BC and years. Weren't there other settings that should be changed as well? These details, although minor, should be in the "InstallPTW.txt"

 

[tkmjcw]

By the way, the issue of converting to a .bix (assuming I did it correctly) is not intuitive. Some folks may have never done this before and simply saying "convert the .bic to a .bix using the editor" may not be quite enough...I know I was just making an educated guess!

 

[Procifica]

Here is the revised first 5 steps for InstallPTW.txt (going into Version 2.00):

1) Extract the ZIPFile to the Scenarios Folder. This will create a new "Acw" Folder inside your Scenarios Folder.

2) If you downloaded the custom graphics as well, extract these 3 files into the Units Folder inside the Art Folder of the
"Acw" Folder.

3) Convert the Acw.bic file into a Acw.bix file using your PTW editor.

4) To convert, open the PTW editor. Go to file, then import. Check all 3 boxes. Go to the acw folder and select the
acw.bic file (you may have to have it look for all files). Click import. Go to Save As under file. Save it as Acw, in
your scenarios folder. Now you have a acw.bix file.

5) To play as the CSA, be sure and change in the editor, under Player Properties, that Player 1 has CSA government and
Player 2 has USA government. Failing to do so can unbalance your gameplay, since the two governments are designed with
the Union and Confederacy in mind. No changes of this nature are needed to play as the USA.

NOTE: If the scenario fails to load after steps 1-5, please proceed to steps 6 through 13. Be sure and post in the
CivFanatics forum about this failure. If the scenario does load, proceed to step 14.

 

[Procifica]

I've been meaning to type up instructions on how to convert from .bic to .bix, but 1) I forgot to ask someone how, and 2) I just today got the PTW editor to work...on my girlfriend's computer (not mine though).

So, I should be able to start uploading .bix versions myself, and eliminate the need for conversion.

Quote: While configuring my .bix in the editor I noticed that the start year and turn duration were set to the default, 4000BC and years. Weren't there other settings that should be changed as well? These details, although minor, should be in the "InstallPTW.txt"

See post above this one first on why I was unaware of how these settings were set up till today.

I'll write out "optional" PTW instructions when I get time again on the other computer.

 

[Procifica]

LouLong: Yes, this would definitely interest me. Most of the tribes I'm using are based in the Great Plains where tepees were used (Sioux for example).

 

[tkmjcw]

Regarding "InstallPTW.txt" I also recommend modifying the directory string in item 6 to read "..\Scenarios\ACW" with quotes.

The first time, I had typed in the entire path (C:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III\CIV3PTW\Scenarios\ACW) and it didn't like that!

Item 4 in your draft above should be merged into item 3.

 

[Procifica]

I left items 3 and 4 like that because I was too lazy to change the numbers. I'll fix it here in a minute, I wanted to get a quick reply out to you.

I'll modify step 6 so there isn't confusion for others.

Edit: Steps 3 and 4 are combined, steps 4 through 14 now are renumbered as such, step 5 (was 6) now reads:
5) In the PTW editor, make sure under Scenario Properties you have set Scenario Search Folders to: "..\Scenarios\ACW"
(without the quotes). Double-check before you save and close file.

 

[tkmjcw]

Ok, after my first real look at the scenario, a few things jumped out at me from the very beginning.

I loaded as CSA.

Is it realistic for the entire Union to be under the fog of war? I should at least know most (or at least some) of the geography and perhaps even a few unit placements. I should not have to guess where major cities are going to be--this should be, at least to some extent, known at the start.

Also, am I at peace when this thing kicks off? I appear to be...is that intentional?

 

[Procifica]

There's no way to undo the fog war. Preferably, the geography should be viewable, but there's no way to fix it that way. Unit placements on the whole should be secret though.

A suggestion would be to trade world maps with the other side.

There's no way to set relations at the beginning. You have to declare war.

 

[Rocoteh]

"3) Convert the Acw.bic file into a Acw.bix file using your PTW editor.

4) To convert, open the PTW editor. Go to file, then import. Check all 3 boxes. Go to the acw folder and select the
acw.bic file (you may have to have it look for all files). Click import. Go to Save As under file. Save it as Acw, in
your scenarios folder. Now you have a acw.bix file. "Procifica

WARNING!!!
Converting .bic to .bix this way will cause game to crash at
30%!!!

Rocoteh

 

[Procifica]

Oh crud, I forgot to add the ..\Scenarios\ACW part.

Edit: Does this look better? It ran for me this way.

1) Extract the ZIPFile to the Scenarios Folder. This will create a new "Acw" Folder inside your Scenarios Folder.

2) If you downloaded the custom graphics as well, extract these 3 files into the Units Folder inside the Art Folder of the
"Acw" Folder.

3) Convert the Acw.bic file into a Acw.bix file using your PTW editor. To convert, open the PTW editor. Go to file, then
import. Check all 3 boxes. Go to the acw folder and select the acw.bic file (you may have to have it look for all files).
Click import. Go to Save As under file. Save it as Acw, in your scenarios folder. Now you have a acw.bix file.

4) In the PTW editor, make sure under Scenario Properties you have set Scenario Search Folders to: "..\Scenarios\ACW"
(without the quotes). Double-check before you save and close file.

5) To play as the CSA, be sure and change in the editor, under Player Properties, that Player 1 has CSA government and
Player 2 has USA government. Failing to do so can unbalance your gameplay, since the two governments are designed with
the Union and Confederacy in mind. No changes of this nature are needed to play as the USA.

NOTE: If the scenario fails to load after steps 1-5, please proceed to steps 6 through 12. Be sure and post in the
CivFanatics forum about this failure (include version of scenario and version of PTW). If the scenario does load, proceed to
step 13.

 

[Procifica]

Or does this look better?


3a) Convert the .bic file to a .bix file. To do so, open the PTW editor. Save file as a .bix file (without the .bic part) into your Scenarios folder.

3b) Alternate way to convert: Open the PTW editor. Go to file, then import. Check all 3 boxes. Go to the acw folder and
select the acw.bic file (you may have to have it look for all files). Click import. Go to Save As under file. Save it as
Acw, in your scenarios folder.

 

[Rocoteh]

Converting .bic to .bix:
When you have installed ACW in PTW, move the .bic file
to scenarios(PTW-scenarios) open PTW-editor.
Now choose open .bic files. and open Acw.bic.
(Concerning search path I still write ..\Scenarios\ACW
since my PTW 1.14f Europa english will not accept
"..\Scenarios\ACW".)
Then to convert from .bic to .bix:
Choose save as. You will now see: Acw
Write in after Acw: .bix ,press enter and you will
now have a Acw.bix file.

 

[Rocoteh]

Does the import really work for you ,Procifica?

 

[tkmjcw]

3) Convert the ACW.bic to a .bix file. To do so, run the PTW editor (accessible from the Start Menu under PTW). Load/open the ACW.bic then select "Save As" from the file menu. Be sure to delete the ".bic" in the file name and choose the .bix file type. After making the changes in the following steps, save the .bix file again.

a. Change 1
b. Change 2
etc...

 

[Procifica]

Yes, it really did work for me...

The other way did too. I'll delete the import way.