Campaign???

[The Guardian]

So you mentioned that the Conquests scenarios did not have the campaign option checked, but in the hall of fame they must be played in order. Something has to be telling them which order to be played, unless it is hardcoded.

The only problem with that would be, in order for someone to make a campaign scenario, they would have to overwrite, or rename all the others.

Tom

I'm not sure yet exactly how it works Tom. I will run some more tests and see what it will do. I remember reading somewhere, egarding this hacked editor that some of the hidden buttons contained in this editor were working and some were not. The campaign button may or may not work. I am going to create 2 or 3 simple scenarios and do some testing. I think it is safe to say that there is some coding, because of the "NEXT" button in the Hall of fame screen. I don't know how it determines which campaign is next, whether it is hardcoded or is it determined by the scenario number as in "1 Mesopatamia". I will run more extensive tests and see if I can determine that. But think it safe to say that we can use this.

 

[The Guardian]

Here is some more info.

The Hall of Fame must have separate coding.
It uses the scenario folders in the conquests sub folder.
The name of the folder does not matter as long as the BIQ file has the same name as the BIQ files listed on the hall of fame screen and the name of the scenario search folders on the scenario screen of the editor match the folder name in the conquests sub folder.
IE: you can create a folder named game one. Place that scenario folder in the conquests/conquests sub folder. Place the biq file for game one in the conquests/conquests sub folder. Make sure the scenario folder pointer is set for game one and rename the biq "1 mesopatamia and your good to go.

I also tried using the campaign button on the editor. I set it for campaign 1 and saved the biq as 1 Napoleon. This did not work. I reopened the biq in the editor and the campaign button showed as 0 instead of one. So, I don't think it is working. If we can get that to work, maybe we can change the Hall of Fame list?

I am not a coding expert and can't offer any help with that, but maybe steph or someone else who has coding ability can check this out.

 

[The Guardian]

Just discovered something else about the Hall of Fame. In order to move forward to the second campaign, you must be victorious in the first campaign.

 

[tom2050]

This is good news! It may work perfect for the mod I am working on, as it will require something of this sort. I was going to pack it all into a single map, but if this works then I will definitely use this scenario method of doing things.

This could open up a whole new set of possiblities with mods, if it works well. Even WW2 scenarios could use this in a variety of ways, and could incorporate different aspects of how things happened along the actual timeline. I will do some testing on it as well tomorrow to get a feel for how the game handles it. From what you have stated, it seems there shouldn't be anything standing in the way (hopefully) of creating your own hall of fame scenario situations.

Tom

 

[wolf_brother]

So.... by simply moving around and renaming some BIQs and folders in the conquests/conquests subfolder, we can have linked scenarios?

 

[The Guardian]

So.... by simply moving around and renaming some BIQs and folders in the conquests/conquests subfolder, we can have linked scenarios?

Apparently, yes!

 

[The Guardian]

This is good news! It may work perfect for the mod I am working on, as it will require something of this sort. I was going to pack it all into a single map, but if this works then I will definitely use this scenario method of doing things.

This could open up a whole new set of possiblities with mods, if it works well. Even WW2 scenarios could use this in a variety of ways, and could incorporate different aspects of how things happened along the actual timeline. I will do some testing on it as well tomorrow to get a feel for how the game handles it. From what you have stated, it seems there shouldn't be anything standing in the way (hopefully) of creating your own hall of fame scenario situations.

Tom

It looks like it Tom. My 2 scenario test seemed to work just fine. It limited them to 4 turns each, and when the first one finished I was able to access the next, no problem.

 

[timerover51]

Just wish to clarify something, is the editor you are using for all of this the cracked editor or the Standard Editor?

 

[The Guardian]

Just wish to clarify something, is the editor you are using for all of this the cracked editor or the Standard Editor?

Everything I've done is with the cracked editor. However, I don't think it matters. As stated previously, the campaign button in the scenario screen of the editor doesn't seem to be working. I think that is why I can't change the Biq names in the Hall of Fame screen. This may bee a feature that was used by the dev's to create the Hall of Fame and then disabled. That is why it does not show in the standard editor. If someone can access the code maybe we can reactivate that feature.

All you have to do is put your scenario folder and Biq files into the conquests/conquests folder rename your Biq files to match the Hall of Fame biq's and you can play. What I did was rename the Conquest/conquests folder and create a new folder and named that conquests, then copied the original conquests biq's. I copied my scenario campaign folder to the new conquests folder then saved MY biq files as 1 Mesopatamia, 2 Rise of Rome and so on. From the civ III main screen you select Hall of Fame and start playing.

I really wish someone could activate this campaign button. I can think of a lot of applications for this feature. For example:
Lord of the Rings trilogy
WWII Campaigns
Star Trek
Rise and Fall of Rome
History of the British Empire
One scenario nine eras????? Its possible.

Here are a couple of screen shots that might help

Main Menu Screen
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/6023/halloffame1.jpg

Hall of Fame Screen
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/1152/halloffame2y.jpg

 

[timerover51]

I do not play the standard game enough to go through all of that, and the only two scenarios that I have been interested in playing are the Age of Discovery and WW2 in the Pacific. If I understand what you have done correctly, if you set it up that way, you have to play each scenario in succession in the correct order to play them. I have no interest in doing that.

 

[tom2050]

Yes, the scenario names on the Hall of Fame screen are hardcoded it seems, as changing the BIQ name does not change the name shown on the Hall of Fame screen. Of course, it may be possible by modifying the Conquests/Art/Advisors/CampRecBG.pcx (the background Campaign screen, I think this is the correct one) to put in your own names, and black out the ones Firaxsis has in there. I may conjure one up, and post it here for others to use when I can, after I test it out.

Tom

 

[The Guardian]

Yes, the scenario names on the Hall of Fame screen are hardcoded it seems, as changing the BIQ name does not change the name shown on the Hall of Fame screen. Of course, it may be possible by modifying the Conquests/Art/Advisors/CampRecBG.pcx (the background Campaign screen, I think this is the correct one) to put in your own names, and black out the ones Firaxsis has in there. I may conjure one up, and post it here for others to use when I can, after I test it out.

Tom

Have you discovered where the pointer is that directs the NEXT button to the scenario file it is suppose to activate. I think the key to all of this is to find the coding for that NEXT button. If you understand what I mean.

 

[The Guardian]

I do not play the standard game enough to go through all of that, and the only two scenarios that I have been interested in playing are the Age of Discovery and WW2 in the Pacific. If I understand what you have done correctly, if you set it up that way, you have to play each scenario in succession in the correct order to play them. I have no interest in doing that.

No offense Timeover I don't think you do understand what we are trying to do. We're trying to see if we can set up a series of "campaigns" in a single game. For instance, you are interested in WWII, fine. How about setting up a scenario with say the following campaigns. North Africa, the Invasion of Sicily, The Italian Campaign, D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, and the race to Berlin. ALL in one game were you would recieve VP scoring for each campaign and a cumulitive score for the entire set, and all you have to do to go to the next campaign is click "NEXT"? Would that interest you?

 

[nick0515]

This sounds very interesting and at first I was very excited to read it. But I started wondering is it really necessary. Why not just make say nine scenarios and then tell people to play them in order. If people want to enjoy the campaign feel they can just stick to the correct order and not start the next scenario until they have finished the one before. It would nice to have this represented in the way the Hall of Fame works, but for me unless you can have the scenarios named their proper names the effect is ruined.

 

[The Guardian]

Have you discovered where the pointer is that directs the NEXT button to the scenario file it is suppose to activate. I think the key to all of this is to find the coding for that NEXT button. If you understand what I mean.

Tom, have looked at the Hall of Fame screen in PTW? it is completely different.

 

[The Guardian]

I found this in the Conquests main folder.
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/6408/civ3editor.jpg

This is the same layout as the hacked version of my editor. Notice the Campaign selection button? If open the Civ3ConquestsEdit text file (this is the help file for the editor) and bring up the sceen above, you can click on any field on the screen and get an explanation, EXCEPT the campaign field.

 

[tom2050]

Well, the Hall of Fame screens I think are shown afterwards (?? after a campaign game is played), but I think the CamprecBG screen is the one that shows the Campaigns (camprecBG=campaign record background, I assume ) in the conquests folder since it has the same layout, although it has no text on it, which I found the text comes from the labels.txt. It includes text for the Next button, but that changes only the text, not where the Next button leads to.

Labels.txt


AND... IT ALSO HAS THE NAMES of the Scenaiors, so you change them there, and it changes them in game!

The only thing is, I don't think there is a way to have less than/more than 9 linked scenarios. So having only 2 linked scenarios is probably not possible. And even if they are put in as campaigns, the player can always play them in any order from the Conquests screen, only difference is no high score.

Tom

 

[The Guardian]

Well, the Hall of Fame screens I think are shown afterwards (?? after a campaign game is played), but I think the CamprecBG screen is the one that shows the Campaigns (camprecBG=campaign record background, I assume ) in the conquests folder since it has the same layout, although it has no text on it, which I found the text comes from the labels.txt. It includes text for the Next button, but that changes only the text, not where the Next button leads to.

Labels.txt
View attachment 232371

AND... IT ALSO HAS THE NAMES of the Scenaiors, so you change them there, and it changes them in game!

The only thing is, I don't think there is a way to have less than/more than 9 linked scenarios. So having only 2 linked scenarios is probably not possible. And even if they are put in as campaigns, the player can always play them in any order from the Conquests screen, only difference is no high score.

Tom

Great work TOM!!! Have you had a chance to test this?
Is it time to do the Walter Houston dance yet!?!?

 

[tom2050]

The labels.txt only changes the names shown in game, the BIQ files AFAIK still have to stay named as they are now, 1 Mesopotamia.biq, etc... It is possible that changing the names in the lables.txt allows you to use different BIQ names though, I will test it now.

EDIT: changing the labels.txt did not change it in game.. what a bummer! All other text's could be modified EXCEPT for the names of the campaigns themselves. ???

Another thing is: I don't think that a mod can make this change, since going into the Hall of Fame screen will always check the Conquests labels.txt, and not a mod labels.txt, which means that the original Conquests labels.txt may have to be backed up or overwritten for this to work. Not 100% sure on that though.

Tom

 

[The Guardian]

The labels.txt only changes the names shown in game, the BIQ files AFAIK still have to stay named as they are now, 1 Mesopotamia.biq, etc... It is possible that changing the names in the lables.txt allows you to use different BIQ names though, I will test it now.

EDIT: changing the labels.txt did not change it in game.. what a bummer! All other text's could be modified EXCEPT for the names of the campaigns themselves.

Another thing is: I don't think that a mod can make this change, since going into the Hall of Fame screen will always check the Conquests labels.txt, and not a mod labels.txt, which means that the original Conquests labels.txt may have to be backed up or overwritten for this to work. Not 100% sure on that though.

Tom

I ran a test on the labels.txt file (you have to change its properties. Its a read-only file) I change the name of 1 mesopatamia to 1 WW2 and change the name of the biq file to 1 WW2 and the scenario folder to WW2. I set the scenario screen folder to point to the WW2 folder. I could not find the Hall of Fame screen so I could not change the scenario name on the screen.

I start Civ conquests, selected hall of fame. The hall of fame screen came up normal with 1 Mesopatamia as the first scenario, BUT when the game started, it was WW2. Where is the Hall of Fame Screen?