City size and image

[Knighttime]

Within cities.bmp (or cities.gif in older versions), I know that in each row, the 4 images on the left are for cities without walls, and the 4 on the right are for cities with walls. I'm looking for details about how the game determines which image (in a given set of 4) to display.

I know this is based generally upon city size, but I also noticed that my first city appears with the second image -- is that a special accommodation made for cities with a Palace? Are there any other rules that alter which image is used, based upon the presence of city improvements or wonders?

Secondly, are the size ranges customizable in any way? For non-capital cities, is it true that the first image is for sizes 1-3, the second for sizes 4-5, the third for sizes 6-7, and the fourth for sizes 8+? Are those ranges fixed for the entire game, or do those thresholds change based on game year or technologies learned? I'd like to raise those ranges (more like 1-4, 5-7, 8-11, 12+) but can't figure out a way to control this.

This seems like something that is probably documented somewhere in this forum, but my searches didn't turn up anything useful. Thanks to anyone who can help!

 

[JPetroski]

I believe that you've outlined everything as it is and unfortunately I am not sure that you can change what size range will bring what city. I know TNO has been working with an experimental "draw on tile" for a future release that allows you to draw certain things on the map. If this gets released, you may be able to use this to draw right on top of the city with the image you like.

 

[Patine]

I believe that you've outlined everything as it is and unfortunately I am not sure that you can change what size range will bring what city. I know TNO has been working with an experimental "draw on tile" for a future release that allows you to draw certain things on the map. If this gets released, you may be able to use this to draw right on top of the city with the image you like.

Also, the Renaissance, Industrial, and Modern city sets have incrementally slightly more population as each before (and from the basic four for Renaissance itself) required to switch to the next graphic size.

 

[Knighttime]

Ah... so the ranges do vary, but according to the row of the file from which the images are being displayed. Thanks for the tip!

My original testing showed ranges of 1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8+ for the first four rows of images. I did some experimenting in TOT, and row 5 of cities.bmp (labeled "Early Industrial") has ranges of 1-4, 5-7, 8-10, 11+. Row 6 (labeled "Modern") has ranges of 1-4, 5-10, 11-18, 19+.

According to a page I found at Catfish's Cave:

In ToT, any tribe that possesses the Invention tech (Inv) will use the city style in the 7th row. This applies only if the tribe doesn't also possess Industrialisation (Ind) or Automobile (Aut) + Electronics (E2), in which case it will use the 5th and 6th rows respectively. The 7th row, used for the Renaissance city style in ToT's Original game, is not used by older versions of Civilization 2.

So if my interpretation is correct, the normal progression during a game would be for a civ to start on one of the first four rows; then jump to row 7; then row 5; and finally row 6.

This quoted information does seem accurate as far as what triggers images from row 7 to appear. However, based on my testing, the city size ranges for row 7 match those of row 6, instead of those of row 5 (or something between the base and row 5)! So to get the largest city picture, as you move through the game, you first need a city of at least size 8; then it jumps all way to 19 when you learn Invention; then back down to 11 when you learn Industrialization; and then finally back to 19 again when you learn both Automobile and Electronics.

That sounds kinda like a bug to me, unless there's a flaw in my testing process! I know it's a small issue, but perhaps @TheNamelessOne could consider including a fix for this in a future version of TOTPP?

I do still wish this was customizable... actually the ranges for row 5 ("Early Industrial") are about what I was hoping could apply from the outset, when images are being pulled from the first four rows. But at least I've learned quite a bit more about how this works.

 

[Civinator]

The activation of city sprites works different in scenarios based on the Civ 2 ToT Fantasy game: http://sleague.civfanatics.com/index.php?title=Test_of_Time_Advance_Slot_Properties I don´t know if it would influence the activation of city sprites if techs with slots 90 or higher were activated in your testgame (90 - X2).

The current ToTPP launcher holds a patch for city sprites:

 

[Knighttime]

Two more good pieces of information -- thank you, Civinator! I'm sure I saw that enhancement within TOTPP at one point, but I'd completely forgotten that it existed.