Civ3 Community Scenario Compilation DVD

Quintillus · Jan 30, 2021

The Community Scenario Compilation DVD is a disc containing 4.3 GB (binary) worth of mods and scenarios developed by the CivFanatics community. It is designed to make it easy to install these mods, to encourage trying out more mods, and to aid in the preservation of these mods over the longer term.

You can request the actual DVD by sending a PM with your address, or download the ISO (4.35 GB, 9.2 GB uncompressed) from this link.

See below for a picture of the physical disc, next to the retail Civilization III and a Conquests disc:

Spoiler Picture :

You can see the list of scenarios and mods included on the disc in this copy of the on-disc readme; a less detailed list of mods included is below:

Spoiler Mods :

Discs are currently shipping, free of charge and worldwide (except countries experiencing pandemic-related restrictions), to any member of the CivFanatics community who would like one.

In order to request a disc, please send a PM to me with your shipping address. Discs are send by first-class letter; as an example shipping time, the test disc from the U.S. to Europe arrived in 11 days, despite winter weather.

Some people have asked about covering costs. This is intended to be a free service to the community. However, if you would like to do so, mention that in your PM and I can send you information. As an alternative, sending a postcard from your part of the world to the return address included with your disc is encouraged.

Spoiler Original Pre-Shipping Post :

Questions

Please ask question! I have included answers to some early questions in this FAQ:

Spoiler FAQ :

Chicken Pizza · Jan 30, 2021

Let me express how I feel, without being judged, looked down on or accused of being bitter, because I'm really not.

I've been programming since I was 10 years old, I managed to see what's missing in Civ 3 (that's one of my other talents), which was a command line script for calculating battle odds.

I wrote the script, and the explanation/instructions/manual may I add, in a way more professional way that no Tcl programmer, programmer in general, or The Civ Forum have any reason to doubt.

It's just plain uninterest, and I totally understand that. You can come up with any idea, or do any work, but if you don't manage to sell it it's not worth anything.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm sure others feel the same. So I'm not buying what you're selling.

Rhye · Jan 30, 2021

I'd like to see more historical scenarios. Albeit, filtered for quality and polishing. No incomplete works.

Chicken Pizza · Jan 30, 2021

Rhye said:
I'd like to see more historical scenarios. Albeit, filtered for quality and polishing. No incomplete works.

No work is incomplete if you don't try to do too much.

Quintillus · Jan 30, 2021

Rhye said:
I'd like to see more historical scenarios. Albeit, filtered for quality and polishing. No incomplete works.

Reviewing the list of scenarios, 13 of the modpacks have historical settings (of which 10 cover specific periods), and 6 are non-historical. The historical modpacks also are the ones that tend to have multiple scenarios, so an estimated 75% of the scenarios will be historical. I've updated the opening post to include that overview.

WildWeazel · Jan 30, 2021

I was just thinking, you've also brought up the decade/20-year awards. Have you thought about tying the two together? Maybe the "awards" could be the selection process.

Nathiri · Jan 31, 2021

Cool idea! There are still people who dont like to download stuff from the internet, or they might have internet problems at times, so this provides a good option I think that someone can carry around with them. Also, instead of just providing a series of download links, which someone might consider it is "work" to install, this compiles everything into something more official and ready to play. I wouldnt think demand would be high though as its target audience would be on the smaller side. But I think its worthy enough to be undertaken.

Additionally, you could provide a list of suggested mods that didnt make it onto disc as a sort of shortlist for people to go to directly rather than navigating to civfanatics, then to downloads, then looking through pages etc.

I will say that I would be one of the first ones to buy a dvd just to have it

. I think it would be cool to have it in my future collections.

Quintillus · Feb 2, 2021

WildWeazel said:
I was just thinking, you've also brought up the decade/20-year awards. Have you thought about tying the two together? Maybe the "awards" could be the selection process.

That's an interesting idea. It had occurred to me that the compilation could be sort of a "20-year compilation", and I looked to the last decade awards as part of the selection criteria for essentially that reason, but I hadn't considered having the selection process be the awards. It's certainly a valid consideration for how to choose the scenarios, and perhaps the best of a number of imperfect options for determining the "best". Indeed, the reason I included the first decade awards as a criterion was to have a "best" component and not just purely a "most popular" component.

One logistical consideration that comes to mind is that many of the newer mods are also the larger mods. Some are multiple gigabytes, e.g. Civ III: Worldwide, CCM2, and SOE. Even with modern compression technology, only 3 or 4 of these can be put on one DVD. It's a case where I think quantity (and variety) wins out when trying to decide what fits on the disc.

That said, I think it would be an excellent idea to tie the "expanded"/Blu-Ray option to the decade awards. That would drastically increase the amount of space, allowing any award winners to be included while still allowing plenty of space for existing mods to provide sufficient variety to ensure there's a scenario for everybody.

Nathiri said:
Cool idea! There are still people who dont like to download stuff from the internet, or they might have internet problems at times, so this provides a good option I think that someone can carry around with them. Also, instead of just providing a series of download links, which someone might consider it is "work" to install, this compiles everything into something more official and ready to play. I wouldnt think demand would be high though as its target audience would be on the smaller side. But I think its worthy enough to be undertaken.

Additionally, you could provide a list of suggested mods that didnt make it onto disc as a sort of shortlist for people to go to directly rather than navigating to civfanatics, then to downloads, then looking through pages etc.

I will say that I would be one of the first ones to buy a dvd just to have it . I think it would be cool to have it in my future collections.

Indeed, I've found it is a certain amount of work to install a bunch of mods; though some are easier than others, it's not as easy as hitting "Subscribe" in the Steam workshop and waiting 30 seconds. It appears you are right that demand isn't through the roof, but as a good chunk of the compilation is already compiled, it makes sense to go ahead with it.

Rather than recommend particular mods, which I'm not really qualified for and which varies by taste so much anyway, I'll probably point to the selection criteria so it's relatively easy for people to look and see, "what are the next few that would have been chosen in the disc could fit ten more scenarios?"

Quintillus · Feb 2, 2021

I realized that by making the poll anonymous, I inadvertently made it more difficult to collect feedback on who is interested. If you are interested, you can still vote, but by either replying to the thread or liking the first post, you can also register your interest so I know to reach out to you when the disc is ready. Of course you're welcome to simply lurk as well, but then you'll have to be more proactive about registering interest when it's ready as I'll have know way of knowing you are interested. That also increases the chances that there won't be enough ~~doses~~ discs for everyone who requests them when they are first available.

--------------------------

It's been a few days, and I think it's time to reveal the full planned list of mods.

These are somewhat subject to change, and I have a little bit of extra space so I may be able to squeeze in one or two more.

Items in bold are confirmed to be in the compilation. Items in italics are winners or runners-up from the first Decade Awards (or successors thereof) and are thus essentially confirmed.

Spoiler Mods :

If you are the author of one of these mods and would not like it to be included, please reply to the DM I sent last week.

The non-bold, non-italic entries should all be considered "likely". They are based on the "popularity" criteria, being either in the top 10 by downloads among mods or scenarios, or the top 10 in thread popularity among mods or scenarios (there is quite a bit of overlap among downloads and thread popularity, and also considerable overlap among Decade Awards and popularity). I'm considering doing a second pass on the popularity metric to consider taking into account either number of unique visitors to reply to a thread (versus a couple collaborators being responsible for most of the replies), as well as potentially normalizing across mods vs scenarios, and perhaps examining some year-weighted or year-based metrics. But I'd say it's likely that all those in the list will be included, and the additional analysis would be for deciding which "bonus" mods get to fill any extra space.

I should also note that a couple mods, notably Age of Imperialism and WW2 Global, will not be the absolute latest version. For Age of Imperialism, I plan to include version 4.1, which remains the one in the main post in the thread. For WW2 Global, there's a newer WW2 Global Gold which is primarily a graphical update, but alas, it roughly triples the size of the scenario, which would push either Worldwide or several other scenarios off the disk. I'd like to include the Gold edition in a larger disc format, should its next update be ready then and its download once more be available.

hth · Feb 4, 2021

Another (additional) way of distribution can be torrent. With few faithul seeders it can live quite long.

Also, speaking about scenarios - some of really great stuff was mostly lost here: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/conquests-scenario-library.315473/

Quintillus · Feb 6, 2021

That's a good idea to seed a torrent. I pretty much only use them for the occasional Linux ISO, so it hadn't occurred to me yet.

I'd seen that thread awhile back but haven't mined it for this collection yet. It will definitely be on the list as I archive more content, and potentially assemble a larger collection.

I found a good deal on heavy-weight envelopes, and have placed an order for them, which should arrive in 1-2 weeks. That will allow the test shipments to be sent out, which will test the theory that heavyweight envelope + CD sleeve + regular postage is adequate for optical discs. Given that we're looking at perhaps a couple dozen discs given current interest levels (and that's assuming a few more people discover the thread over time), that isn't super important, but especially for international shipping it is an important factor should interest grow once it's a finished, shippable compilation.

I already have CD sleeves and enough stamps to send a few out (assuming weight/size requirements are met, which it appears they will be), so that means that beyond continued testing of the scenarios, the only remaining component to acquire will be the discs. I will most likely do an initial run of 25 discs, because the cost per disc of any smaller order size is much higher (over 3x the cost per disc), based on current registered interest. I plan to go with the high quality (Taiyo Yuden) discs, since at the quantities we're talking it's a difference of a couple bucks and I know from experience these discs are built like tanks. And if it saves even a couple coasters when burning, it will have paid for itself monetarily too, not to mention in time.

One remaining question is artwork. I know there are far more experienced creators in this area. However, in lieu of any design suggestions, I may well go with the prototype, likely with slightly different font but with the same design. Perhaps I'll try a few different options by Vernet and see which one works best; his seaside paintings seem appropriate for a Civilization themed collection. And there's enough of them in high resolution that if I do have to order more discs in a year or two, each printing could have a different painting as the cover art.

hth · Feb 6, 2021

Quintillus said:
That's a good idea to seed a torrent. I pretty much only use them for the occasional Linux ISO, so it hadn't occurred to me yet.

I can make it if you will find it appropriate.

I'd seen that thread awhile back but haven't mined it for this collection yet. It will definitely be on the list as I archive more content, and potentially assemble a larger collection.

Scanned that up to "Early Modern" section and should say they now in much healthy state than five or so years ago, then I last checked. Now majority can be downloaded from civfanatics nicely. Only few are really lost.

Quintillus · Feb 12, 2021

Time for an end-of-week update.

First thing to call out is if you are interested in receiving a disk, please either like the first post, or reply to the thread. I've added the people who have already done so to my registry of interest, but I may well order discs this weekend, as tonight I did another pass on the disc design, so it is ready to be sent in. While I plan to order somewhat more than what demand appears to be so people who discover this in a few months can still request a copy, if most people are lurking and only express interest once the discs are available, there may be a shortage.

Logistically speaking, envelopes have arrived. I learned a lot about paper researching options, and am hoping to hear back soon from my application to be the new assistant to the regional manager at a local paper company. This means that a shipping test disc can now be sent out; reach out if you are interested in being the guinea pig; a PM with your address, and a reply to the thread so people know someone has volunteered, would be great. It would be beneficial to have a test shipper (and ideally, one in the U.S. and one outside the U.S.) as if it is successful, that means the finished discs can be sent out as soon as the printed discs arrive, versus having to wait 3-14 days to confirm that the first one arrives successfully. I don't want to send out half the discs only to find out they need heavier-duty shipping, and that's the primary job of the test shipment. If heavier duty shipping is needed, better to learn that early.

Compilation continues, with another pass on each of the scenarios roughly halfway completed. Primarily, this involves ensuring there is on-disc documentation (including the first page of a scenario's CFC thread, but also additional resources such as a PDF if the scenario has them), so it's self-contained and a more complete package. Along the way, this has also involved restoring images from threads that are no longer displaying where an original can be located. So, for some scenarios this means the on-disc documentation will have advantages over the web version.

I've also been adding alternative maps for mods as I become aware of them, so long as it doesn't require a significant amount of extra space. For example, I've added the Europe (BIGGER) map for the Medieval European Mod II, and the Small map for The Cold War. This provides a more complete set of scenario options while having a minimal impact on the size of the compilation.

Indeed, the size of the compilation is such that it is very unlikely any more scenarios will be added. I initially thought I'd have several hundred extra megabytes and could include a bonus scenario, but after updating a few scenarios and including some optional artistic components of others to give a more complete experience, that space has been used. Only 1-2% of the space is free, and I haven't finished adding all the documentation. It will likely all fit when I turn on the compression level up to 11, but the default compression level might not be sufficient.

I expect the current pass to take roughly another week to complete, although what that really means is another 4-6 hours, which will likely be done over a week. After that I'll have two short passes - one to validate everything is still working okay (scenarios start, links in the documentation aren't broken), and one more where I burn a test copy and validate the process with a disc, primarily intended as making sure the burning process is working despite the disc being 99% full, and being able to give a realistic time estimate for how long it might take to copy the scenarios from the disc.

Looking at the initial timeline, things are progressing at more or less the projected rate, with a shipping volunteer being the main question mark at this point in time.

hth said:
I can make it if you will find it appropriate.

Scanned that up to "Early Modern" section and should say they now in much healthy state than five or so years ago, then I last checked. Now majority can be downloaded from civfanatics nicely. Only few are really lost.

That may be helpful, although I'm curious to read up on it and try it myself first; it could be another area like paper where I learn something I wouldn't otherwise have learned.

tjs282 · Feb 12, 2021

I saw this thread when it went up, and I think this is a really cool idea :thumbsup:

Looking at the mods you listed, and squirrel that I am, I (am pretty sure I) already have most of them, but having a DVD-backup can only be an advantage.

FTR, I play C3C using a download-version from GamersGate (pre-Steam MP-update), but I also bought a copy via GOG when it became available there (might even still have that test-installation in place, would have to check that).

So if you still need a non-US guinea pig for shipping, I am in Germany.

Quintillus said:
The goal would be to have the discs printed with artwork, and mailed free to anyone who wanted one.

This is a very generous offer, but speaking for myself, I would have no objection to covering your materials, printing, and shipping costs. Being outside the US, these might be higher than you expect, especially if you find that you need to use heavy-duty packaging to ensure safe delivery.

(NB Not sure whether public discussion of this aspect would technically be allowed under CFC's forum-rules; feel free to PM me if necessary)

templar_x · Feb 12, 2021

Backing everything tjs says, especially how cool this idea is and that taking my share in the overall costs would feel absolutely fine to me - count me in! and thank you!!
t_x

Lanzelot · Feb 13, 2021

Great idea! :thumbsup:

And surely I'll cover the costs.

Expanding on tjs282's idea: in my experience we have a big share of Civ-fans from all over the world here at Civfanatics. There is certainly a big German/Austrian community and a big "former Soviet Union" community. And I've also met quite a few people from most of the other European countries and a few from South America.
Rather than you having to ship discs to all these countries all over the world (with probably extraordinarily high postage), you could perhaps set up a downloadable image or sent one copy to one volunteer per country, and then this volunteer could then burn & distribute more copies for people from his country.

Another point: I remember that in 2007 when I discovered this forum, one of my first actions was to download "The Great War" and "Age of Imperialism" and play them. However, having only the German edition of C3C at that time, there was a big problem: most of the scenarios that are/were downloadable here from Civfanatics, only work on an English edition of C3C. The reason is that when Firaxis translated Civ3 into other languages, they had the "great idea" to also translate the paths, where sound&graphics for units and other stuff can be found. For example, the art work for the Warrior can be found here:
English version: Art\Units\Warrior\
and there are 32 files named like "Warrior.ini", "WarriorAttackAFoot1.wav" etc
German version: Art\Units\Krieger\
and there are 32 files named "Krieger.ini", "KriegerAttackFoot1.wav" etc

And similar for the French, Russian, Spanish, Italian, etc. localization of Civ3... :crazyeye:

So when I first fired up e.g. The Great War, it immediately exited with tons of errors that certain units cannot be found...
After I found out the reason for this, I then spend a couple of evenings creating "copies" of all required units. E.g. I would copy the directory "Krieger" to another one named "Warrior" and then renamed all files in there to match the English name... Until TGW finally started without errors...
A few years later, Kulko (who is from Austria) told me a much simpler way to fix this problem: one only has to prepare a new "pediaicons.txt" file for the Scenario in question, where the paths are adjusted to the localization, and then replace the pediaicons.txt that comes with the Scenario with the modified one.
I don't remember all the details of how this works, but I can imagine this problem still exists today for everyone playing a non-English version of Civ. And I think I can try and dig up the details of how to fix it easily. (Probably it's also described somewhere in the Creation & Customization forum.)

Question for all, who are playing the Stream or GoG version: how does it look like here? Are there still different localized versions and if so, do they still have "translated" names for all the animation files, or did Firaxis or Steam fix this mess?

Nathiri · Feb 13, 2021

Lanzelot said:
Great idea!
And surely I'll cover the costs.

Expanding on tjs282's idea: in my experience we have a big share of Civ-fans from all over the world here at Civfanatics. There is certainly a big German/Austrian community and a big "former Soviet Union" community. And I've also met quite a few people from most of the other European countries and a few from South America.
Rather than you having to ship discs to all these countries all over the world (with probably extraordinarily high postage), you could perhaps set up a downloadable image or sent one copy to one volunteer per country, and then this volunteer could then burn & distribute more copies for people from his country.

Another point: I remember that in 2007 when I discovered this forum, one of my first actions was to download "The Great War" and "Age of Imperialism" and play them. However, having only the German edition of C3C at that time, there was a big problem: most of the scenarios that are/were downloadable here from Civfanatics, only work on an English edition of C3C. The reason is that when Firaxis translated Civ3 into other languages, they had the "great idea" to also translate the paths, where sound&graphics for units and other stuff can be found. For example, the art work for the Warrior can be found here:
English version: Art\Units\Warrior\
and there are 32 files named like "Warrior.ini", "WarriorAttackAFoot1.wav" etc
German version: Art\Units\Krieger\
and there are 32 files named "Krieger.ini", "KriegerAttackFoot1.wav" etc

And similar for the French, Russian, Spanish, Italian, etc. localization of Civ3...

So when I first fired up e.g. The Great War, it immediately exited with tons of errors that certain units cannot be found...
After I found out the reason for this, I then spend a couple of evenings creating "copies" of all required units. E.g. I would copy the directory "Krieger" to another one named "Warrior" and then renamed all files in there to match the English name... Until TGW finally started without errors...
A few years later, Kulko (who is from Austria) told me a much simpler way to fix this problem: one only has to prepare a new "pediaicons.txt" file for the Scenario in question, where the paths are adjusted to the localization, and then replace the pediaicons.txt that comes with the Scenario with the modified one.
I don't remember all the details of how this works, but I can imagine this problem still exists today for everyone playing a non-English version of Civ. And I think I can try and dig up the details of how to fix it easily. (Probably it's also described somewhere in the Creation & Customization forum.)

Question for all, who are playing the Stream or GoG version: how does it look like here? Are there still different localized versions and if so, do they still have "translated" names for all the animation files, or did Firaxis or Steam fix this mess?

Havent come across this problem that often. I have had people ask for local versions of civ3 as steam's is english. Usually they are pointed to a german pack found online which then then apply to the steam civ3 files. I guess mods has not crossed their minds.

Quintillus · Feb 13, 2021

tjs282 said:
I saw this thread when it went up, and I think this is a really cool idea

Looking at the mods you listed, and squirrel that I am, I (am pretty sure I) already have most of them, but having a DVD-backup can only be an advantage.

FTR, I play C3C using a download-version from GamersGate (pre-Steam MP-update), but I also bought a copy via GOG when it became available there (might even still have that test-installation in place, would have to check that).

So if you still need a non-US guinea pig for shipping, I am in Germany.This is a very generous offer, but speaking for myself, I would have no objection to covering your materials, printing, and shipping costs. Being outside the US, these might be higher than you expect, especially if you find that you need to use heavy-duty packaging to ensure safe delivery.

(NB Not sure whether public discussion of this aspect would technically be allowed under CFC's forum-rules; feel free to PM me if necessary)

I do still need a non-U.S. guinea pig! (As well as a U.S. one, for that matter) Send me a PM with a shipping address, and it will likely be shipped out on Tuesday (the US Postal Service is closed on Monday for George Washington and Abraham Lincolns' birthdays).

It appears I've picked up quite a few Civ copies over the years; I have GamersGate, GOG, and Steam, as well as disc. When it goes on sale for $1.24, it's hard to resist picking up a copy "just in case", so even if Steam implodes and my disc fails, I'd still be able to play.

Lanzelot said:
Great idea!
And surely I'll cover the costs.

Expanding on tjs282's idea: in my experience we have a big share of Civ-fans from all over the world here at Civfanatics. There is certainly a big German/Austrian community and a big "former Soviet Union" community. And I've also met quite a few people from most of the other European countries and a few from South America.
Rather than you having to ship discs to all these countries all over the world (with probably extraordinarily high postage), you could perhaps set up a downloadable image or sent one copy to one volunteer per country, and then this volunteer could then burn & distribute more copies for people from his country.

(abbreviated but still read)

Question for all, who are playing the Stream or GoG version: how does it look like here? Are there still different localized versions and if so, do they still have "translated" names for all the animation files, or did Firaxis or Steam fix this mess?

It did occur to me that it may make sense to have a few localized centers of distribution. I think a lot of it will come down to "is heavy-duty packaging needed?" If the answer is yes, the chance that it makes sense to have a few localized centers is much higher. Otherwise, I did a little bit of research on postage, and found that the rates for the optimistic scenario are not much if any higher shipping from the U.S. to the world than many other parts of the world to the world. Maybe that's why the U.S. Postal Service is always short of money?

Spoiler Shipping Research :

That's an interesting point about the various international variants of Civ. Alas, despite having a lot of digital versions, I don't have any non-English versions. What you suggest about having a different PediaIcons.txt file to make mods work with different variants of Civ3 sounds like a promising idea, and one that would require far less disk space than the original solution of copying folders. That means it could likely be included on the disk. If you are interested in testing out the mods and helping with this, let me know!

WildWeazel · Feb 13, 2021

Lanzelot said:
However, having only the German edition of C3C at that time, there was a big problem: most of the scenarios that are/were downloadable here from Civfanatics, only work on an English edition of C3C. The reason is that when Firaxis translated Civ3 into other languages, they had the "great idea" to also translate the paths, where sound&graphics for units and other stuff can be found.

That's just... wow, what a short sighted and wasteful idea to build in the scenario search path and then change filenames. I had no idea that's why mods weren't cross-compatible.

@Quintillus I don't either and I don't suppose it's possible to buy the Steam version outside your account region, but now I'm imagining a collection of dummy Steam accounts each from a different region. Can you get in trouble for opening or logging into several accounts from the same IP? $1.24 a pop isn't bad for deployment testing, but the setup may be a headache. Anyway I think it'd take more than PediaIcons since some paths are found in the BIQ or hard-coded, right? (Not knowing how far the translation extends, what about things like leaderhead animations and city graphics?) I imagine symlinks would work but that's a lot of files to touch.

Lanzelot · Feb 14, 2021

Ok, I found Kulko's old instructions (from 2008...) and I think I know again how it works. Apparently the PediaIcons.txt contains the paths to all important things: unit animations, leader heads, buildings&wonders. (But Civilopedia links may be a different file, I'm not sure.) In any case, all Scenarios I played back in the day could be made to work by just editing the PediaIcons.txt. I think no BIQ file modifications are necessary. (But of course I did not play every available Scenario... Only a handful.)

So I would volunteer to provide German PediaIcon versions for the above scenarios and test them a bit. (Only need to reactivate one of my PCs that has a German installation... In 2010 or so, I bought an English version on eBay and have been using that for new installations ever since.

Civ3 Community Scenario Compilation DVD

Would you be interested in the compilation?

Yes - DVD

Yes - Larger disc (e.g. Blu-Ray) farther in the future

Yes - Downloadable DVD image

Yes - Downloadable larger image farther in the future

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