Civ1 txt-files "last change"

[Verrucosus]

Looking at the Civ1 folder (DOS version) to access the replay file (one of those charming Civ1 features absent from any of the sequels), I noticed that some of the txt-files (BLURB1, BLURB2 and ERROR) have a "last change" entry well beyond the date of installation. The others all go back to 1996. I did not make any manual changes to these files.

Is anyone aware of changes made to these files during a game of Civ1?

 

[Mize]

Weird indeed. Blurb2 is unchanged for me but blurb1 and error are. There's a bit of binary in the header of those files, but it doesn't seem that Civ uses them to store game information on purpose. Maybe when something in the game overflows it spills onto those files and when you save it stays and corrupts them?

I have a scrapped Civ folder from a few months back, in which something got permanently corrupted and the game would crash every time someone built the Cure for Cancer, not just the current game, ALL games. The last changes in those files in that folder appear suspiciously close in time to when I had to scrap that installation and make a new one.

 

[Verrucosus]

Thanks, Mize. I've had occasional freezes, but none during the game that appears to have triggered the most recent change back in November. Still, with your hypothesis in mind, it might be a good idea to replace the files before they cause trouble and keep either an eye on them. I'm wondering whether making them write-only would be a good idea or whether the game's ability to let overflows spill into those files has saved me from crashes that would have occurred otherwise.

Happy New Year to everyone!