Civ4Tools - My stab at a Civ4 editor

[austin316hockey]

Well, this is my first post in this forum, and I certainly start with gusto

I have enjoyed every title of Civilization that has been released, but this one definitely takes the cake. Of course, if a game can be edited or modded, I love to get my hands dirty. I come from the train simulator side of things, and some of my work is now featured in an international product:

http://www.railroadsimulator.com

Anyway, on with the show...



This is by no means ready to release, but it's actually capable of doing something at this point. The TextInfos are some of the easiest objects to deal with, even though there are literally hundreds of them across several files.

Civ4Tools at this point is able to add or edit the TextInfos, and is able to save a properly formatted XML document. My end goal is to have a fully functional editor that can edit just about anything. Comments/suggestions are certainly welcome.

Dec 14, 2005: See page 2 for my first release of this project.

Dec 16/05: Posted the download in this post to make it easier to find. A small update, adding some more function, mostly with the civilization dialog.

[edit Jan 6, 2005]
Removed the demo, since it is now outdated.

 

[Hakkie]

Will this edit the existing files or will it place the edited files in a mod folder?

Looking very promising btw.

 

[Gaias]

All I have to say is, if you pull of what your promise you are going to make alot of civvers happy. Good luck in your endeavors!

 

[Gr3yHound]

neat, will have a look on that when i come home.

 

[baptiste]

/cheer

 

[austin316hockey]

Will this edit the existing files or will it place the edited files in a mod folder?

Looking very promising btw.

I could have it do either. The program can write files at this point, but it's still really just in the testing stages. No matter where the files are written, it has to be formatted exactly as it was read. So far, I can say it does exactly that.

 

[I_batman]

I could have it do either. The program can write files at this point, but it's still really just in the testing stages. No matter where the files are written, it has to be formatted exactly as it was read. So far, I can say it does exactly that.

What are you writing this in?
I am trying something similiar in Python with a wxPython GUI, but am miles and miles away from getting anything useful out of it.

 

[austin316hockey]

I'm writing it in VB.NET. I certainly know C++, but Basic is easier, and now with .Net, it's just as capable.

 

[4_HoTA]

Looks great austin,will probably like too use it but will it back up the files also?.

 

[thamis]

OMG! This looks like the perfect XML editor. XMLSpy does similar stuff, but it's tedious. Why can't you release it yet? I'd be happy to test it.

 

[Gaias]

Yes give it to thamis! He must finish TAM mod in record speed! Man I really need a hit bad!

 

[austin316hockey]

It's far from a releasable utility, I'm afraid. It's for the most part read only at this point, although I can edit and add records, so on. But it doesn't really write anything. That's still in the beginning stages, while I continue to grasp the ins & outs of the XML spec. Of course, I'm not completely in the dark on that aspect, it's just making sure it writes a perfectly-formed new file, something Civ4 isn't going to choke on.

I've decided that this will not overwrite the default Civ 4 XML documents, since the standard is to create new 'mod' folders instead. This will be what Civ4Tools will do. Unless people want the capability to overwrite the default XML. Do people want this capability?

 

[Hakkie]

Not really, its not a good idea to do it anyways, especially not for newbies, so I'd stick to the mod/folder

If some people really want it (wich I doubt), please make it a special attribute a user has to set before it overwrites the default files (with an onscreen warning perhaps?)

 

[austin316hockey]

Then so it shall be handled that way. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[austin316hockey]

It's been a while since my last update. But I have been busy. I hope to have something to release very soon, although it will still be quite limited in what it can do. The thing is, it will demonstrate the potential of what I hope it will do.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c320/austin316hockey/Civ4Tools/civ4tools_002.jpg
Editing the game speed options. Want an epic game that takes twice as long? This is where you do it.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c320/austin316hockey/Civ4Tools/civ4tools_003.jpg
This shot shows the turn increment options. The meat of the matter, here is where you can adjust the turn length, etc.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c320/austin316hockey/Civ4Tools/civ4tools_004.jpg
The main window, showing the "normal" game speed option.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c320/austin316hockey/Civ4Tools/civ4tools_005.jpg
The load dialogue.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c320/austin316hockey/Civ4Tools/civ4tools_006.jpg
The area I'm working on right now. The civilizations. As you can see, the treeview at right hasn't been filled in yet; only a few tags are shown.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c320/austin316hockey/Civ4Tools/civ4tools_007.jpg
Editing a text info. This dialogue is used for a few files, since the content is similar.

So, that's where things are at right now. Sorrry for having to post image links rather than thumbnails, photobucket doesn't do that. But imageshack seems to be broken lately.

 

[Colonel Kraken]

Thank you very much for working on this!

 

[Hakkie]

Awesome!

When do you think we can have a beta version of this?

 

[austin316hockey]

It looks like I have some bad news. Just after posting the update on Friday, my computer stopped working. I turn it on, the fans come on, the hard drives start up, but it won't POST. So, it looks like I'm out of commission until a few days before Christmas. Sorry about that, but fate has it in for me lately.

I've had to post this from a friend's computer. Anyway, thanks for the comments, and I will get cracking on this utility as soon as I possibly can.

 

[NateDawgNY]

Well I definitely look forward to seeing this tool completed.

 

[austin316hockey]

Thanks to a great friend and $200, I've been able to get my computer back up and running. My old XP2200 will be given a proper funeral, now replaced with a slightly faster XP 2800+. So, it's back to work, with hopes of being able to release something to the community very soon. I'm actually installing VB.NET as I write this, so I can get back to business.