I had some time on my hands this morning, so I took another look at the way PB was loading. This is what I found:
A Little History:
1) Initially, PB gathered all unit, building, and tribe data from the civ3mod.bic file. This caused it to be incompatible with scenarios or custom games which modified the file and saved it under a different name.
2) Later, I located the position in which the process stored the name of the rules file being used. That allowed PB to locate custom files, and use their data - thus making PB compatible with custom games and scenarios.
3) This presented another problem however. There are times when Civ 3 does one of the following:
1) Records the filename without the path.
2) Truncates the name of the file, or assigns it a .tmp descriptor.
3) or does something else that prevents PB from being able to find and open the data file.
Of course, without access to the game's data set, PB isn't very useful so it just sits there.
Today's Build:
Okay, we just might have a work around option that'll allow PB to function in these situations. Here's the scenario:
1) A player starts a game, launches PB, builds a city, then clicks 'Load'.
2) If PB is unable to open and read the data file, the player will receive a message suggesting that he do the following:
a) back-up his Civ3Mod.bic file to Civ3Mod.bak (or something).
b) Copy the bic file being used to the Civ3 folder
c) Name the newly copied file: Civ3Mod.bic
d) Start the game, start PB and check the 'Use default rules' option on the splash screen.
This will force PB to use the newly created rules file (or the default Civ3Mod.bic if you didn't rename it). At any rate, the game and PB will use the same data and everything should gel at that point.
Anyone having load problems and interested in trying this new load routine is encouraged to email me at:
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net
I'll send you a copy and we'll see if it helps.
Cheers,
Joe
A Little History:
1) Initially, PB gathered all unit, building, and tribe data from the civ3mod.bic file. This caused it to be incompatible with scenarios or custom games which modified the file and saved it under a different name.
2) Later, I located the position in which the process stored the name of the rules file being used. That allowed PB to locate custom files, and use their data - thus making PB compatible with custom games and scenarios.
3) This presented another problem however. There are times when Civ 3 does one of the following:
1) Records the filename without the path.
2) Truncates the name of the file, or assigns it a .tmp descriptor.
3) or does something else that prevents PB from being able to find and open the data file.
Of course, without access to the game's data set, PB isn't very useful so it just sits there.
Today's Build:
Okay, we just might have a work around option that'll allow PB to function in these situations. Here's the scenario:
1) A player starts a game, launches PB, builds a city, then clicks 'Load'.
2) If PB is unable to open and read the data file, the player will receive a message suggesting that he do the following:
a) back-up his Civ3Mod.bic file to Civ3Mod.bak (or something).
b) Copy the bic file being used to the Civ3 folder
c) Name the newly copied file: Civ3Mod.bic
d) Start the game, start PB and check the 'Use default rules' option on the splash screen.
This will force PB to use the newly created rules file (or the default Civ3Mod.bic if you didn't rename it). At any rate, the game and PB will use the same data and everything should gel at that point.
Anyone having load problems and interested in trying this new load routine is encouraged to email me at:
crsadrjoe@earthlink.net
I'll send you a copy and we'll see if it helps.
Cheers,
Joe
