Preservation Projects:
Project Status:
PROJECT IN PROGRESS! What you see today may not be what's there tomorrow as this is ever expanding!
TOTAL PROCESSED SO FAR:
About:
Hey guys, some of you may have seen me asking, searching and collecting lots of stuff for many months and talking about preserving them, well now it's time to put my money where my mouth is and actually get everything I've collected uploaded and cataloged for the benefit the communities. I've already got ongoing threads for lost scenario searches and super threads for cataloging my scenario discoveries, but I don't have a thread keeping track & managing all my uploads to different sites. Eventually the links & info I'm putting in this thread will be used as a source when I post my Civ HD video series. This thread may end up being useful legacy resource for others too since it will be filled with many scenario downloads, mirrors and pictures.
The video series:
Step one is to obviously make sure that each scenario/mod is hosted at CivFanatics either in the downloads section or at the Scenario League wiki. Everything on both would be great in the long run however they're on the same server and my priority at the moment is protecting scenarios from another Apolyton disaster & CFC atomic disaster (where the entire download sections were lost and the SLeague was nearly lost too) so getting copies of these files onto other sites will help protect from that. These other sites will not just be some run of the mill upload/download site where files disappear within a year or so (eg cloud storage, rapidshare, mega upload etc) but actual long standing huge sites dedicated to the preservation of mods and other files that will hopefully keep these scenarios safe for decades.
I'm using ModDB for the first offsite file mirror as ModDB has been around for 20 years and is by far the largest Modding support site on the net. So it shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon and it includes a barely used Civ2 section just waiting for us all to take advantage of it ( @Catfish did some stuff in it a few years back so I'm going to pick up where he left off). While modders can create full blown fancy mod project pages with pictures, videos and dev diary articles (like I have done for my own Civ2 mods) modders can also just use the simple file hosting section which behaves similarly to the CFC downloads area (eg just file, description, tags, picture and you're done).
I've also made a late decision to add even more redundancy and have a second offsite file mirror on archive.org internet library as once again they've been around for more than 20 years and much like Wikipedia is probably such a critical part of the internet now that it should hopefully never fall despite surviving on donations. While it's not normally a site used for mods it pretty much hosts everything you can think and I've been using it for retro Aus video game magazine preservation efforts so I've become used to its systems and believe they can be adapted for good mod hosting and browsing. Ironically there's a large amount of not so legal copies of Civ game install cds in the library too eg I can see Civ2, CiC, FW, and ToT CD iso's on there and no one seems to care, so clearly they really do accept nearly everything lol. Your uploads even get auto generated torrent share links! Also because they're essentially an online library they have excellent search options allowing you to really fine tune & break down the collection into authors and sub categories (eg scenario, modpack, ToT, MGE, Star Trek, author etc) for easy browsing.
I particularly like how things look visually on Internet Library as the mods are displayed in quite an attractive fashion with nice big thumbnail pictures.
These new expanding scenario collections on each site can be browsed using these links thanks to a new tag I made:
Hopefully by setting up these offsite mirrors it'll ensure the era of peoples hard work disappearing within 1-5 years comes to an end. While I'm setting up mirrors for a lot of old previously lost content I'm hesitant to do it for newer content without permission from creators first since if I upload the file to these other sites then they won't have control and would need me for updates. That's why I usually talk people into doing their own uploads and I just do the legacy rescue uploads. However most of this stuff is old stuff so it shouldn't be much of a problem anyway and I can just power on through it lol.
While most scenarios are as they were originally I've recompressed them in 7zip to shrink their file size and if their sounds came in a separate file I inserted those into the main file as the days of missing sounds files due to separate (dial up era) download files getting separated needs to come to an end. In some cases I even went above & beyond and fixed graphical bugs in the scenario or added a title.gif if it didn't have one. However don't worry I don't want to irk the original creators so I wouldn't dare make any bigger changes/improvements unless it's in a separate addon pack (eg like what I did with Warcraft, Terminator & Civ2 Civ1 graphics mod addons). In some cases this improved recompressed copy only went onto the mirror sites because the original file is not under my control or I'm putting it off to a later date. Oh and I should also say more ToT content will start to appear as I transition from MGE to ToT over the coming months so don't worry about that either.
Because this is a WIP workspace the scenarios below are listed merely in the order of when I process them (I've already been uploading scenarios to CFC for a year now so I gotta go back and clean them all up to match the new standards). I'll probably reserve the first few comment spots in this thread and then edit them later to squish as much as I can into each to be more efficient and keep things together (ie not letting the work get separated by conversations) just this case this thread gets big as the thread is going to be the backbone for building 3 different libraries, and 1 of them (CFC) has existing content I don't want to accidentally duplicate. With so much information being copied and pasted backwards and forwards the chances of human error are high so let me know if I accidentally duplicate something already on CFC or accidentally put the wrong author or link on something!
As for how much stuff I'm covering, well right now I'm limiting myself to total conversion scenarios I plan to cover in my video series plus any other rare/lost scenario I'm given from collectors that I can't see anywhere else. If I expanded to everything else out there I'd be here in this thread for the next 10 years and never even get to ToT and Civ3 etc haha! HOWEVER people have donated to me entire collections filled with hundreds of scenarios so if you don't see a scenario in my scenario collection then make sure you check out these super collections below! I simply don't have time to add every scenario ever made individually so if you want to see some of your favorite scenarios added to the main collection instead of being hidden away in these super collection zip files then feel free to add them into the library collection yourself, as I hope that others in the future will be inspired to add scenarios to these libraries! I've written up step by step guides below with pictures on how to add content to these libraries.
If people want to help but don't want to fluff about with uploading individual scenarios then they are also very VERY welcome to donate their entire scenario collections to this project for me to sort out and preserve on these sites. I have setup some publicly accessible cloud storage with several gigabytes free that anyone can just drag and drop files into (literally it's that easy) so if you have an old CD or hard drive somewhere filled with scenarios from long gone websites and would like to donate please let me know and I'll PM you the link to my cloud. You will be publicly praised and credited for helping me or should you wish to remain anonymous that's no problem either.
One of the big Civ2 super sites still missing from the preservation collection is Whistler's (Kunal Shah) SidGames and it's hosted satellite sites like Civ2 Ziggurat, Jorrit's Civ2 Site, Markus's Ultimate/Planet Civ2, and Civ2 Scifilization which all had their own scenario collections with quite a few rarities that never made it to Poly or CFC. From what I can tell none of them survived Sidgames's rather sudden disappearance and webarchive didn't backup any of the downloads. Now that we've got Apolyton (& it's satellites), CivFanatics Atomic, and Dustin Dunns DSquared Zandanian League site it means SidGames (& it's satellites) really is the last super site missing from the Civ2 preservation project. So if anyone out there has content from those SidGames sites or a way to contact Whistler I'm all ears!!
Well hopefully that answers any questions people might ask so I think that's all the explanations done... now it's time to get busy!!
How to add a scenario/mod to ModDB:
1. If you don't already have a ModDB account you'll need to register a new one. Pretty much as easy as signing up to a forum.
2. Go to Civilization 2 ModDB page. Here you can read articles posted by Civ2 modders, and browse pictures, videos and mods/scenarios.
To add a scenario/mod you have 2 choices. You can either A-Simply go to the Civ2 area "Files" subsection and add the file to the downloads area, or B-If you're the author or you have the authors permission you can go to the "Mods" subsection and create a full tribute page to the mod with it's own screenshots, videos, articles and files section (EXAMPLE I made for my Red Alert 2 scenario) . For the purposes of this guide we'll be taking the simple option A, although I certainly encourage modders to try option B to present their work in the best way possible.
3. Click on the "Files" tab subsection (the one yellow circled in picture under Civ 2, NOT the one in top menus) and you will see many files others have added. On the top bar of the files window you will see a small "+" plus icon. Hover your mouse over it and it will expand to say "+ Add file" (also yellow circled in picture below). Click on this to add your file (note: People who chose option B will find an identically placed "+" under the "Mods" tab subsection too).
4. The first area you'll see is the "Upload file" area. Click on the "Choose File" button to select the scenario/mod file you wish to upload. Click on the "Start Uploading" button to upload the file.
Alternatively you can click on the small "upload a file from a URL" link to switch to copying a file from another website (I've not tested that with CFC downloads though and Civ2 downloads are so small that re-uploading from your computer shouldn't be an issue).
I also recommend you use 7zip to compress your mod files before uploading as it will make them smaller than any other compression software out there (eg regular zip or WinRar). While less important with Civ2's smaller files it will still make a difference and save upload/download time and usage.
5. Next is the "Preview image" section. It is STRONGLY recommended that you take a picture of the scenario/mod, and the bigger the better! People are less likely to download scenarios they can't see (Personally I like to take a nice HD 1920x1080 screenshot and slap in the title.gif and a unit list to present the work in the best way possible!). Click on "Choose File" to select your picture file for uploading.
6. Next is the "Scheduler" which I normally just select to release immediately.
7. For "Category" if the mod is essentially finished then go with "Full Release". If it's an abandoned WIP then I guess "Demo" is the best option I can see.
8. "Tags" are very important for people finding your work and also ensuring that your file is added into the tag collections I've created with all the other files. So paste these tags into the field:
Civ2ModCollection, Civilization 2 Mod, Civilization 2, Civ 2, Scenario, MGE, Civilization Games, TOPIC
Switch out "Scenario" for "Modpack" if it's a pure modpack you're uploading that has no scenario. Keep both tags if the download is both a scenario and a sandbox modpack!
Switch out "MGE" for "ToT" if you're doing a Test of Time scenario. As this allows users to separate ToT and pre-ToT content in the file libraries.
Switch out "TOPIC" for the topic of the scenario/mod eg "Star Trek", "LOTR", "Roman" etc. If in doubt check out other similar scenarios in the collection to see an example of what to use.
9. Enter a title "Name" using the below format suggestion to best match the rest of the collection:
Name + Scenario/Modpack + version number (if there is one) + (CiC/FW/MGE/ToT)
Examples..
Lord of the One Ring Scenario v1.1 (MGE)
Dagor Bragollach Scenario v4.02 (CiC)
Star Trek The Final Frontier Modpack (ToT)
10. In "Summary" write a short description of the scenario/mod and include the author name. Personally I just write one line similar to what we do at CivFanactics.
11: In "Description" write or paste in details about the scenario/mod. Personally I have an "About" subsection where repeat the summary line (with author name), write where I got it from, if there's a support site or forum thread, and mention the rest of the collection. Then I do a "Original Description/Intro" subsection and paste in the original authors intro text or readme description.
12: The remaining options are automatically selected to match Civilization 2's categories and requirements etc so all that's left for you to do is hit the "Save Download" button on the bottom of the page! After a short delay (usually caused by them uploading your picture) you'll be redirected to your finished scenario/mod page!
You can then copy the link of the page and paste it into forums or on the Scenario League wiki site as mirror backup links to the respective scenario being discussed.
How to add a scenario/mod to Internet Archive Library:
1. If you don't already have a Archive.org account you'll need to register a new one. The process is quite simple.
2. Go to Civilization 2 mods library search page. Here you can see all the existing scenarios/mods added to the collection.
3. No matter what page you are on in the website you should see a "Upload" button near the top far right hand corner of the website in the top menu bar (circled in yellow). Click on it to go to the Upload page (or my link).
4. You'll probably end up on a interim "Share your files" screen. Click the "Upload files" button to continue.
5. You should now be on the Upload screen where you'll have the usual options of either dragging and dropping your file into the screen or using the traditional "Choose files to upload" button. Use either to load your scenario/mod file into the site.
I recommend you use 7zip to compress your mod files before uploading as it will make them smaller than any other compression software out there (eg regular zip or WinRar). While less important with Civ2's smaller files it will still make a difference and save upload/download time and usage.
6. Once the file is either selected or dragged in you'll be finally taken to the proper upload page. In the top right area of the upload window you'll see the option to add additional files. Use this to add 1 or more screenshots. It is STRONGLY recommended that you take a picture of the scenario/mod, and the bigger the better! People are less likely to download scenarios they can't see (Personally I like to take a nice HD 1920x1080 screenshot and slap in the title.gif and a unit list to present the work in the best way possible!). Click on "Select files to add" (circled in red) to select your picture files for uploading (or you can drag & drop again).
7. Enter a name into "Page Title" using the below format suggestion to best match the rest of the collection:
Name + Civilization 2 + Scenario/Modpack + version number (if there is one) + (CiC/FW/MGE/ToT)
Unlike ModDB this is not a mods site, it has no Civ2 section, duplicate names are not allowed, and people can upload almost anything so its important to have "Civilization 2" in the title otherwise no one will know what it is!
Examples..
Lord of the One Ring Civilization 2 Scenario v1.1 (MGE)
Dagor Bragollach Civilization 2 Scenario v4.02 (CiC)
Star Trek The Final Frontier Civilization 2 Modpack (ToT)
8. "Page URL" usually has a not so good suggestion generated from the file name. Duplicate names are not allowed so I recommend full scenario name separated by dashes.
9. In "Description" write or paste in details about the scenario/mod. Personally I have an "About" subsection where I write a short one line description of the scenario/mod and include the author name, write where I got it from, if there's a support site or forum thread, and mention the rest of the collection. Then I do a "Original Description/Intro" subsection and paste in the original authors intro text or readme description.
10. "Subject Tags" are very important for people finding your work and also ensuring that your file is added into the tag collections I've created with all the other files. They're extra important on archive.org as almost anything can be upload to the site so things lacking identification can get lost real easy. Paste these tags into the field:
Civ2ModCollection, Civilization 2 Mod, Civilization 2, Civ 2, Scenario, MGE, Civilization Games, TOPIC
Switch out "Scenario" for "Modpack" if it's a pure modpack you're uploading that has no scenario. Keep both tags if the download is both a scenario and a sandbox modpack!
Switch out "MGE" for "ToT" if you're doing a Test of Time scenario. As this allows users to separate ToT and pre-ToT content in the file libraries.
Switch out "TOPIC" for the topic of the scenario/mod eg "Star Trek", "LOTR", "Roman" etc. If in doubt check out other similar scenarios in the collection to see an example of what to use.
NOTE: It's critical that you include the "Civ2ModCollection" tag as that is what is being used publicly everywhere to link people to the collection.
11. In "Creator" put the original scenario/mod authors name, do NOT put your name unless you're the actual creator of the mod.
12. In "Date" enter the date the scenario/mod was released.
13. In "Collection" you have a very limited selection so go with "Community Software". In time site admins may add your file to other collections out there too.
14. "Test Item" should be left as "No".
15. Select the primary "Language" of the mod which is usually "English".
16. For "License" select "Public Domain" as that would seemly be the most appropriate option for released Civ2 scenario/mod (Techumseh has since confirmed to me that this is best too).
17. Leave "More Options" alone unless you're an expert with such things. Many of your tags will automatically be copied into your metadata, and they'll stick some other stuff in there too. I don't touch it!
18. All that's left for you to do is hit the "Upload and create your item" button on the bottom of the upload window! After a sometimes lengthy delay (usually caused by them uploading your files) you'll be redirected to your finished scenario/mod page!
You can then copy the link of the page and paste it into forums or on the Scenario League wiki site as mirror backup links to the respective scenario being discussed.
SUPER COLLECTION BACKUPS (Containing THOUSANDS of scenarios):
Apolyton Civilization 2 Downloads Backup
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
HD screenshot & thumb:
CivFanatics Atomic Network Civilization 2 Downloads Backup
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip.
Download: Internet Archive
HD screenshot & thumb:
PC Master Magazine May 2003 DVD Civilization 2 Collection
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip, located cover photos.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
HD screenshot & thumb:
PC Gamer Magazine Sept 1997 CD Civilization 2 Collection
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip, made cover photos.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
HD screenshot & thumb:
Walnut Creek Toolkit Aug 1996 CD Civilization 2 Collection
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
HD screenshot & thumb:
Metro Polis Civilization 2 Collection
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip, added English folder names.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
Screenshot & thumb:
DSquared Civilization 2 Collection
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip, reorganised some folders for easier navigation.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
Screenshot & thumb:
- Civilization 1 Scenario/Mod Preservation Project
- Civilization 2 Scenario/Mod Preservation Project (You are here!)
- Civilization 3 Scenario/Mod Preservation Project (Coming soon)
- Civ1-6 Scenario/Mod Search and Rescue Thread (That feeds into this project)
- Civ2 VERY LOST Scenario/Mod Call For HELP Thread (That feeds into this project)
Project Status:
PROJECT IN PROGRESS! What you see today may not be what's there tomorrow as this is ever expanding!
TOTAL PROCESSED SO FAR:
- 378 INDIVIDUAL SCENARIOS (374 MGE & 4 ToT)
- 7 SUPER COLLECTION BACKUPS (Containing THOUSANDS of scenarios)
About:
Hey guys, some of you may have seen me asking, searching and collecting lots of stuff for many months and talking about preserving them, well now it's time to put my money where my mouth is and actually get everything I've collected uploaded and cataloged for the benefit the communities. I've already got ongoing threads for lost scenario searches and super threads for cataloging my scenario discoveries, but I don't have a thread keeping track & managing all my uploads to different sites. Eventually the links & info I'm putting in this thread will be used as a source when I post my Civ HD video series. This thread may end up being useful legacy resource for others too since it will be filled with many scenario downloads, mirrors and pictures.
The video series:
Step one is to obviously make sure that each scenario/mod is hosted at CivFanatics either in the downloads section or at the Scenario League wiki. Everything on both would be great in the long run however they're on the same server and my priority at the moment is protecting scenarios from another Apolyton disaster & CFC atomic disaster (where the entire download sections were lost and the SLeague was nearly lost too) so getting copies of these files onto other sites will help protect from that. These other sites will not just be some run of the mill upload/download site where files disappear within a year or so (eg cloud storage, rapidshare, mega upload etc) but actual long standing huge sites dedicated to the preservation of mods and other files that will hopefully keep these scenarios safe for decades.
I'm using ModDB for the first offsite file mirror as ModDB has been around for 20 years and is by far the largest Modding support site on the net. So it shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon and it includes a barely used Civ2 section just waiting for us all to take advantage of it ( @Catfish did some stuff in it a few years back so I'm going to pick up where he left off). While modders can create full blown fancy mod project pages with pictures, videos and dev diary articles (like I have done for my own Civ2 mods) modders can also just use the simple file hosting section which behaves similarly to the CFC downloads area (eg just file, description, tags, picture and you're done).
I've also made a late decision to add even more redundancy and have a second offsite file mirror on archive.org internet library as once again they've been around for more than 20 years and much like Wikipedia is probably such a critical part of the internet now that it should hopefully never fall despite surviving on donations. While it's not normally a site used for mods it pretty much hosts everything you can think and I've been using it for retro Aus video game magazine preservation efforts so I've become used to its systems and believe they can be adapted for good mod hosting and browsing. Ironically there's a large amount of not so legal copies of Civ game install cds in the library too eg I can see Civ2, CiC, FW, and ToT CD iso's on there and no one seems to care, so clearly they really do accept nearly everything lol. Your uploads even get auto generated torrent share links! Also because they're essentially an online library they have excellent search options allowing you to really fine tune & break down the collection into authors and sub categories (eg scenario, modpack, ToT, MGE, Star Trek, author etc) for easy browsing.
I particularly like how things look visually on Internet Library as the mods are displayed in quite an attractive fashion with nice big thumbnail pictures.
These new expanding scenario collections on each site can be browsed using these links thanks to a new tag I made:
- https://forums.civfanatics.com/tags/civilization-2-mod/ (Unable to tag other peoples uploads so this tag list is smaller. Regular tag filter removed list HERE )
- https://www.moddb.com/tags/civilization-2-mod (Regular tag filter removed list HERE)
- https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject:Civ2ModCollection&sort=titleSorter (use left side library search options to fine tune results, there's also a A-Z bar above)
Hopefully by setting up these offsite mirrors it'll ensure the era of peoples hard work disappearing within 1-5 years comes to an end. While I'm setting up mirrors for a lot of old previously lost content I'm hesitant to do it for newer content without permission from creators first since if I upload the file to these other sites then they won't have control and would need me for updates. That's why I usually talk people into doing their own uploads and I just do the legacy rescue uploads. However most of this stuff is old stuff so it shouldn't be much of a problem anyway and I can just power on through it lol.
While most scenarios are as they were originally I've recompressed them in 7zip to shrink their file size and if their sounds came in a separate file I inserted those into the main file as the days of missing sounds files due to separate (dial up era) download files getting separated needs to come to an end. In some cases I even went above & beyond and fixed graphical bugs in the scenario or added a title.gif if it didn't have one. However don't worry I don't want to irk the original creators so I wouldn't dare make any bigger changes/improvements unless it's in a separate addon pack (eg like what I did with Warcraft, Terminator & Civ2 Civ1 graphics mod addons). In some cases this improved recompressed copy only went onto the mirror sites because the original file is not under my control or I'm putting it off to a later date. Oh and I should also say more ToT content will start to appear as I transition from MGE to ToT over the coming months so don't worry about that either.
Because this is a WIP workspace the scenarios below are listed merely in the order of when I process them (I've already been uploading scenarios to CFC for a year now so I gotta go back and clean them all up to match the new standards). I'll probably reserve the first few comment spots in this thread and then edit them later to squish as much as I can into each to be more efficient and keep things together (ie not letting the work get separated by conversations) just this case this thread gets big as the thread is going to be the backbone for building 3 different libraries, and 1 of them (CFC) has existing content I don't want to accidentally duplicate. With so much information being copied and pasted backwards and forwards the chances of human error are high so let me know if I accidentally duplicate something already on CFC or accidentally put the wrong author or link on something!
As for how much stuff I'm covering, well right now I'm limiting myself to total conversion scenarios I plan to cover in my video series plus any other rare/lost scenario I'm given from collectors that I can't see anywhere else. If I expanded to everything else out there I'd be here in this thread for the next 10 years and never even get to ToT and Civ3 etc haha! HOWEVER people have donated to me entire collections filled with hundreds of scenarios so if you don't see a scenario in my scenario collection then make sure you check out these super collections below! I simply don't have time to add every scenario ever made individually so if you want to see some of your favorite scenarios added to the main collection instead of being hidden away in these super collection zip files then feel free to add them into the library collection yourself, as I hope that others in the future will be inspired to add scenarios to these libraries! I've written up step by step guides below with pictures on how to add content to these libraries.
If people want to help but don't want to fluff about with uploading individual scenarios then they are also very VERY welcome to donate their entire scenario collections to this project for me to sort out and preserve on these sites. I have setup some publicly accessible cloud storage with several gigabytes free that anyone can just drag and drop files into (literally it's that easy) so if you have an old CD or hard drive somewhere filled with scenarios from long gone websites and would like to donate please let me know and I'll PM you the link to my cloud. You will be publicly praised and credited for helping me or should you wish to remain anonymous that's no problem either.
One of the big Civ2 super sites still missing from the preservation collection is Whistler's (Kunal Shah) SidGames and it's hosted satellite sites like Civ2 Ziggurat, Jorrit's Civ2 Site, Markus's Ultimate/Planet Civ2, and Civ2 Scifilization which all had their own scenario collections with quite a few rarities that never made it to Poly or CFC. From what I can tell none of them survived Sidgames's rather sudden disappearance and webarchive didn't backup any of the downloads. Now that we've got Apolyton (& it's satellites), CivFanatics Atomic, and Dustin Dunns DSquared Zandanian League site it means SidGames (& it's satellites) really is the last super site missing from the Civ2 preservation project. So if anyone out there has content from those SidGames sites or a way to contact Whistler I'm all ears!!
Well hopefully that answers any questions people might ask so I think that's all the explanations done... now it's time to get busy!!
How to add a scenario/mod to ModDB:
Spoiler Click to EXPAND :
1. If you don't already have a ModDB account you'll need to register a new one. Pretty much as easy as signing up to a forum.
2. Go to Civilization 2 ModDB page. Here you can read articles posted by Civ2 modders, and browse pictures, videos and mods/scenarios.
To add a scenario/mod you have 2 choices. You can either A-Simply go to the Civ2 area "Files" subsection and add the file to the downloads area, or B-If you're the author or you have the authors permission you can go to the "Mods" subsection and create a full tribute page to the mod with it's own screenshots, videos, articles and files section (EXAMPLE I made for my Red Alert 2 scenario) . For the purposes of this guide we'll be taking the simple option A, although I certainly encourage modders to try option B to present their work in the best way possible.
3. Click on the "Files" tab subsection (the one yellow circled in picture under Civ 2, NOT the one in top menus) and you will see many files others have added. On the top bar of the files window you will see a small "+" plus icon. Hover your mouse over it and it will expand to say "+ Add file" (also yellow circled in picture below). Click on this to add your file (note: People who chose option B will find an identically placed "+" under the "Mods" tab subsection too).
4. The first area you'll see is the "Upload file" area. Click on the "Choose File" button to select the scenario/mod file you wish to upload. Click on the "Start Uploading" button to upload the file.
Alternatively you can click on the small "upload a file from a URL" link to switch to copying a file from another website (I've not tested that with CFC downloads though and Civ2 downloads are so small that re-uploading from your computer shouldn't be an issue).
I also recommend you use 7zip to compress your mod files before uploading as it will make them smaller than any other compression software out there (eg regular zip or WinRar). While less important with Civ2's smaller files it will still make a difference and save upload/download time and usage.
5. Next is the "Preview image" section. It is STRONGLY recommended that you take a picture of the scenario/mod, and the bigger the better! People are less likely to download scenarios they can't see (Personally I like to take a nice HD 1920x1080 screenshot and slap in the title.gif and a unit list to present the work in the best way possible!). Click on "Choose File" to select your picture file for uploading.
6. Next is the "Scheduler" which I normally just select to release immediately.
7. For "Category" if the mod is essentially finished then go with "Full Release". If it's an abandoned WIP then I guess "Demo" is the best option I can see.
8. "Tags" are very important for people finding your work and also ensuring that your file is added into the tag collections I've created with all the other files. So paste these tags into the field:
Civ2ModCollection, Civilization 2 Mod, Civilization 2, Civ 2, Scenario, MGE, Civilization Games, TOPIC
Switch out "Scenario" for "Modpack" if it's a pure modpack you're uploading that has no scenario. Keep both tags if the download is both a scenario and a sandbox modpack!
Switch out "MGE" for "ToT" if you're doing a Test of Time scenario. As this allows users to separate ToT and pre-ToT content in the file libraries.
Switch out "TOPIC" for the topic of the scenario/mod eg "Star Trek", "LOTR", "Roman" etc. If in doubt check out other similar scenarios in the collection to see an example of what to use.
9. Enter a title "Name" using the below format suggestion to best match the rest of the collection:
Name + Scenario/Modpack + version number (if there is one) + (CiC/FW/MGE/ToT)
Examples..
Lord of the One Ring Scenario v1.1 (MGE)
Dagor Bragollach Scenario v4.02 (CiC)
Star Trek The Final Frontier Modpack (ToT)
10. In "Summary" write a short description of the scenario/mod and include the author name. Personally I just write one line similar to what we do at CivFanactics.
11: In "Description" write or paste in details about the scenario/mod. Personally I have an "About" subsection where repeat the summary line (with author name), write where I got it from, if there's a support site or forum thread, and mention the rest of the collection. Then I do a "Original Description/Intro" subsection and paste in the original authors intro text or readme description.
12: The remaining options are automatically selected to match Civilization 2's categories and requirements etc so all that's left for you to do is hit the "Save Download" button on the bottom of the page! After a short delay (usually caused by them uploading your picture) you'll be redirected to your finished scenario/mod page!
You can then copy the link of the page and paste it into forums or on the Scenario League wiki site as mirror backup links to the respective scenario being discussed.
How to add a scenario/mod to Internet Archive Library:
Spoiler Click to EXPAND :
1. If you don't already have a Archive.org account you'll need to register a new one. The process is quite simple.
2. Go to Civilization 2 mods library search page. Here you can see all the existing scenarios/mods added to the collection.
3. No matter what page you are on in the website you should see a "Upload" button near the top far right hand corner of the website in the top menu bar (circled in yellow). Click on it to go to the Upload page (or my link).
4. You'll probably end up on a interim "Share your files" screen. Click the "Upload files" button to continue.
5. You should now be on the Upload screen where you'll have the usual options of either dragging and dropping your file into the screen or using the traditional "Choose files to upload" button. Use either to load your scenario/mod file into the site.
I recommend you use 7zip to compress your mod files before uploading as it will make them smaller than any other compression software out there (eg regular zip or WinRar). While less important with Civ2's smaller files it will still make a difference and save upload/download time and usage.
6. Once the file is either selected or dragged in you'll be finally taken to the proper upload page. In the top right area of the upload window you'll see the option to add additional files. Use this to add 1 or more screenshots. It is STRONGLY recommended that you take a picture of the scenario/mod, and the bigger the better! People are less likely to download scenarios they can't see (Personally I like to take a nice HD 1920x1080 screenshot and slap in the title.gif and a unit list to present the work in the best way possible!). Click on "Select files to add" (circled in red) to select your picture files for uploading (or you can drag & drop again).
7. Enter a name into "Page Title" using the below format suggestion to best match the rest of the collection:
Name + Civilization 2 + Scenario/Modpack + version number (if there is one) + (CiC/FW/MGE/ToT)
Unlike ModDB this is not a mods site, it has no Civ2 section, duplicate names are not allowed, and people can upload almost anything so its important to have "Civilization 2" in the title otherwise no one will know what it is!
Examples..
Lord of the One Ring Civilization 2 Scenario v1.1 (MGE)
Dagor Bragollach Civilization 2 Scenario v4.02 (CiC)
Star Trek The Final Frontier Civilization 2 Modpack (ToT)
8. "Page URL" usually has a not so good suggestion generated from the file name. Duplicate names are not allowed so I recommend full scenario name separated by dashes.
9. In "Description" write or paste in details about the scenario/mod. Personally I have an "About" subsection where I write a short one line description of the scenario/mod and include the author name, write where I got it from, if there's a support site or forum thread, and mention the rest of the collection. Then I do a "Original Description/Intro" subsection and paste in the original authors intro text or readme description.
10. "Subject Tags" are very important for people finding your work and also ensuring that your file is added into the tag collections I've created with all the other files. They're extra important on archive.org as almost anything can be upload to the site so things lacking identification can get lost real easy. Paste these tags into the field:
Civ2ModCollection, Civilization 2 Mod, Civilization 2, Civ 2, Scenario, MGE, Civilization Games, TOPIC
Switch out "Scenario" for "Modpack" if it's a pure modpack you're uploading that has no scenario. Keep both tags if the download is both a scenario and a sandbox modpack!
Switch out "MGE" for "ToT" if you're doing a Test of Time scenario. As this allows users to separate ToT and pre-ToT content in the file libraries.
Switch out "TOPIC" for the topic of the scenario/mod eg "Star Trek", "LOTR", "Roman" etc. If in doubt check out other similar scenarios in the collection to see an example of what to use.
NOTE: It's critical that you include the "Civ2ModCollection" tag as that is what is being used publicly everywhere to link people to the collection.
11. In "Creator" put the original scenario/mod authors name, do NOT put your name unless you're the actual creator of the mod.
12. In "Date" enter the date the scenario/mod was released.
13. In "Collection" you have a very limited selection so go with "Community Software". In time site admins may add your file to other collections out there too.
14. "Test Item" should be left as "No".
15. Select the primary "Language" of the mod which is usually "English".
16. For "License" select "Public Domain" as that would seemly be the most appropriate option for released Civ2 scenario/mod (Techumseh has since confirmed to me that this is best too).
17. Leave "More Options" alone unless you're an expert with such things. Many of your tags will automatically be copied into your metadata, and they'll stick some other stuff in there too. I don't touch it!
18. All that's left for you to do is hit the "Upload and create your item" button on the bottom of the upload window! After a sometimes lengthy delay (usually caused by them uploading your files) you'll be redirected to your finished scenario/mod page!
You can then copy the link of the page and paste it into forums or on the Scenario League wiki site as mirror backup links to the respective scenario being discussed.
SUPER COLLECTION BACKUPS (Containing THOUSANDS of scenarios):
Apolyton Civilization 2 Downloads Backup
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
HD screenshot & thumb:
CivFanatics Atomic Network Civilization 2 Downloads Backup
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip.
Download: Internet Archive
HD screenshot & thumb:
PC Master Magazine May 2003 DVD Civilization 2 Collection
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip, located cover photos.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
HD screenshot & thumb:
PC Gamer Magazine Sept 1997 CD Civilization 2 Collection
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip, made cover photos.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
HD screenshot & thumb:
Walnut Creek Toolkit Aug 1996 CD Civilization 2 Collection
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
HD screenshot & thumb:
Metro Polis Civilization 2 Collection
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip, added English folder names.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
Screenshot & thumb:
DSquared Civilization 2 Collection
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip, reorganised some folders for easier navigation.
Download: CivFanatics and Internet Archive
Screenshot & thumb:
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