Back to Civ II: brain and software a bit rusted...

[Cyrion]

Hello there! After a long break away from Civ II (shame...), I am trying to relaunch the best game ever!

Quite happy to see that a lot of my long time civ friends have been more faithful than me and are still around and active!

My current problem is to be able to play on Windows 10 64 bits:
- could someone provide me a civ2 executable suitable for MPGE on 64 bits?
- and how could I play Red Front on 64 bits (notably with the redfront.bat and delevent.bat executables)?

Thanks in advance for you help!

 

[techumseh]

Welcome back Vincent! Regrettably, I can't help with those requests, but do take a little time to get caught up. There have been quite amazing developments since you've been away. You wouldn't recognize the game since the Patch Project emerged on the scene. Things are now possible that were previously only dreamed of. Check this thread out. The Test Of Time Patch Project | Page 69 | CivFanatics Forums

(edit) I see from your old posts that you were aware of this before you left, but the evolution since has been amazing.

 

[tootall_2012]

Hi Cyrion,

It sounds like you have an old copy of Civilization 2. I may be mistaken but I believe it's against the CivFanatics policy to allow sharing of the civ executable (would be considered piracy which they don't support).

You may need to acquire a newer version of the game. Many years back I got the Sid Meiers Chronicles version which includes Civ I, Civ II, the complete Civ III and finally Civ IV and I think can still be found on sites like Amazon. They all work on 64 bit computers.

With regards the redfront.bat and delevent.exe files you can go to the CivFanatics Download section of the RedFront ToT version here and download the scenario files. From there you can extra the 2 files in question which are both compatible with 64 bit computers.

I hope this was helpful.

 

[Cyrion]

Welcome back Vincent! Regrettably, I can't help with those requests, but do take a little time to get caught up. There have been quite amazing developments since you've been away. You wouldn't recognize the game since the Patch Project emerged on the scene. Things are now possible that were previously only dreamed of. Check this thread out. The Test Of Time Patch Project | Page 69 | CivFanatics Forums

Hello techumseh! Thanks for your welcome my friend! No doubt you haven't been lazy in the last years, I'll have to check that!

 

[Cyrion]

Hello tootall!

Actually I have 2 CDs of Civ II: MPGE and ToT. I don't think newer versions have been realized for them.

Unless I'm mistaken, they don't work as such on 64 bits systems. I got a working executable for ToT a few years ago (I think a manipulation was required to get it) but am missing a MPGE one.

Regarding the delevent and redfront files, are you sure:
- they work on 64 bits systems?
- the files included in the ToT version would work with the MPGE version?

 

[tootall_2012]

I believe so. Both files were simply modified to work with 64 bit computers, otherwise they should work exactly the same as for MGE

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Here are a couple patches for MGE:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/civilization-ii-mge-user-interface-additions-civ2uia.623515/

https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...ks-on-win10-1709-fall-creators-update.622154/

I use Linux and WINE, so I can't be any more help for Windows 10 issues.

 

[Knighttime]

Hello @Cyrion, I believe the first link from @Prof. Garfield ("MGE User Interface Additions") should be all you need to play MGE. I think it includes the patch from the second link ("64-bit Editbox Patcher") so you wouldn't need that separately to get MGE up and running. (If I'm wrong, someone please let me know!) My understanding is that the "64-bit Editbox Patcher" is still valuable, though, to update the map editor (civ2map.exe) so that it doesn't crash whenever it displays an editbox widget.

For TOT, you definitely need the Test of Time Patch Project (TOTPP), which @techumseh referenced above. Here is a link that takes you directly to the post where you can download the latest version, which is 0.18.4 as of this point in time. That includes everything you need to run TOT on 64-bit Windows systems. If you experience graphical glitches (such as action happening "off-screen" during AI turns, meaning the screen doesn't re-center as often as it should) you may want to try running the game in XP Compability Mode. (I think people have had different experiences in this regard.)

Hopefully @tootall_2012's advice regarding Red Front also works for you and you're able to get everything running soon.

 

[Genesis21]

Hello tootall!

Actually I have 2 CDs of Civ II: MPGE and ToT. I don't think newer versions have been realized for them.

Unless I'm mistaken, they don't work as such on 64 bits systems. I got a working executable for ToT a few years ago (I think a manipulation was required to get it) but am missing a MPGE one.

Regarding the delevent and redfront files, are you sure:
- they work on 64 bits systems?
- the files included in the ToT version would work with the MPGE version?

I think this is the last version: 2003 civilization II mge edition spanish version. This is from my Collection

 

[Fairline]

Great to see you Cyrion. Welcome back!

 

[techumseh]

Cyrion is the only SL member I have met in person. We met for a beer in Lausanne about 15 years ago, with Mrs. Techumseh, as he put it then.

 

[Cyrion]

@tootall_2012: thanks for your support, but the ToT files don't seem to work for MPGE: redfront.bat tells me it can't find the specified files (sprite file is obvious, but shouldn't it access rules and units and terrain??); not so sure about delevent as there is no notification when I launch it (is it normal? I don't remember how it worked)

@Prof. Garfield and Knighttime: thank you! the file under the first link didn't work (see picture) but the second one did and I can know play standard game and scenarios!

 

[Cyrion]

Great to see you Cyrion. Welcome back!

Thanks Fairline! Nice to be back!

Cyrion is the only SL member I have met in person. We met for a beer in Lausanne about 15 years ago, with Mrs. Techumseh, as he put it then.

Yes, that was fun! Mrs. Techumseh was really forgiving with the 2 civ geeks...

 

[tootall_2012]

@tootall_2012: thanks for your support, but the ToT files don't seem to work for MPGE: redfront.bat tells me it can't find the specified files (sprite file is obvious, but shouldn't it access rules and units and terrain??); not so sure about delevent as there is no notification when I launch it (is it normal? I don't remember how it worked)

Sorry taking a closer look at the ToT version of the bat file, I now realize it was using different file name extensions (i.e. bmp vs gif for images, bak vs txt for events files, etc), hence the reason you were getting messages that it coudn't find files. I've corrected the file and attached it to this post (to be able to attach it I changed the extension to txt, just change it back to bat).

The newer version delevent.exe file should work. Though it's not always the case, typically a designer will make it obvious when you load a new event by adding a message indicating so when you reload the scenario, which allows you to confirm that the delevent worked correctly.

Looking at RF event1, I see that it will ask you to save and reload the scenario at the end of turn7. Looking at event2 file I see that you should get the following message on turn 8:

@IF
TURN
turn=8
@THEN
TEXT
^Finnish troops, very well trained in winter warfare take the offensive on the
^Karelian front, North of Leningrad.
^Meanwhile the Germans tighten their grip on Leningrad from the South by closing the
^last access roads to the city... Citizens face fuel shortages, starvation and a
^sustained artillery bombardment...The siege has begun!
ENDTEXT
@ENDIF

If you don't then the event switch didn't work. A trick I've used in the past to ensure the delevent works is after running the bat file, but before reloading the scenario, is to physicaly grab your saved game file in the scenario folder with your mouse and drag it on top of the delevent.exe file and release the mouse. This should ensure that the delevent event worked.

 

[Knighttime]

@Prof. Garfield and Knighttime: thank you! the file under the first link didn't work (see picture) but the second one did and I can know play standard game and scenarios!
View attachment 623109

Glad you're up and running. When you say the "second link" worked, do you mean the Civilization II 64-bit Editbox Patcher? That's good, at least -- but Civ2UIA contains many cool fixes and features, and I'd encourage you to give that one more shot. Did you update your Civ II:MGE with the latest official patch first? That's available here: Civ2 Multiplayer Gold Edition: v1.3 (US)
After installing that, then try running the Civ2UIA installlation again. If it still doesn't work (and you're interested in pursuing the matter) you could try posting your issue to the development thread for this utility and see if the creator is able to help you out.

 

[Cyrion]

Glad you're up and running. When you say the "second link" worked, do you mean the Civilization II 64-bit Editbox Patcher? That's good, at least -- but Civ2UIA contains many cool fixes and features, and I'd encourage you to give that one more shot. Did you update your Civ II:MGE with the latest official patch first? That's available here: Civ2 Multiplayer Gold Edition: v1.3 (US)
After installing that, then try running the Civ2UIA installlation again. If it still doesn't work (and you're interested in pursuing the matter) you could try posting your issue to the development thread for this utility and see if the creator is able to help you out.

OK, after a long wait I succeeded in installing Civ2UIA, thanks!

And as I was at it, I installed ToT with TOTPP) as well! Now, if I could just find some time for playing...