[Civ2] Civilization II MGE User Interface Additions (CIV2UIA)

[Blake00]

Moron?

Rude?

 

[Buck2005]

Rude?

The Chinese man in the gif is acting very strange.

Am I the only one who thinks the red text on the City Unrest menu is overly bright?

 

[FoxAhead]

New version 1.17 (build 101).
Some fixes.
Changes:
19. Extended and renamed as 'Tweak units rotation algorithm'.
25. Improved quickinfo tooltip. More information, more icons, and it works also for units.
30. Added maintenance coins to the city change production dialog.
31. Improved City Status Advisor. Added sorting by production type, more icons, direct changing of production.
New:
36. Mass move units of the same type with Shift+RightClick. Less mouse clicking!
37. Added gold coins to the Foreign Minister.

First post updated.

Download
https://github.com/FoxAhead/Civ2-UI-Additions/releases/tag/v1.17

 

[Blake00]

The Chinese man in the gif is acting very strange.

That would be a young Stephen Colbert, an American comedian and talk show host who's definitely not Chinese haha!

New version 1.17 (build 101).

Congrats mate! Look forward to trying it out!

I've got another crazy wishlist item that you can completely ignore, as I'm pretty sure that's what TheNamelessOne did when I suggested it for ToTPP here haha!
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/the-test-of-time-patch-project.517282/page-68#post-16235289

Basically oldschool pre-MGE copies of Civilization 2 up to Fantastic Worlds actually used extra large and high resolution unit sprite images in it's Civilopedia but that this was scrapped in MGE for the blown up regular unit sprite images which ToT continued to use as well. I wonder just how much it was scrapped and if there's left over functionality. If there was an optional tickbox to turn it back on it would be pretty cool and it's source images could probably be edited by modders to make custom unit portraits.

Probably too messy and too much to ask for but the creative immersion opportunities for their scenarios if we had unit potraits that could be modded would be pretty cool. Of course the wheels and cogs turn in my mind over what I could do with my MGE mods and scenarios eg for my Heroes of Might and Magic 2 mod the original HoMM games had nice unit portraits that would have been nice to put in the pedia:

.

And the C&C and Red Alert games had nice pictures in their build menus albeit a bit small but I could enlarge and smooth out for my C&C Africa and Red Alert 2 mods.

 

[FoxAhead]

That would be a young Stephen Colbert, an American comedian and talk show host who's definitely not Chinese haha!



Congrats mate! Look forward to trying it out!

I've got another crazy wishlist item that you can completely ignore, as I'm pretty sure that's what TheNamelessOne did when I suggested it for ToTPP here haha!
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/the-test-of-time-patch-project.517282/page-68#post-16235289

Basically oldschool pre-MGE copies of Civilization 2 up to Fantastic Worlds actually used extra large and high resolution unit sprite images in it's Civilopedia but that this was scrapped in MGE for the blown up regular unit sprite images which ToT continued to use as well. I wonder just how much it was scrapped and if there's left over functionality. If there was an optional tickbox to turn it back on it would be pretty cool and it's source images could probably be edited by modders to make custom unit portraits.

Probably too messy and too much to ask for but the creative immersion opportunities for their scenarios if we had unit potraits that could be modded would be pretty cool. Of course the wheels and cogs turn in my mind over what I could do with my MGE mods and scenarios eg for my Heroes of Might and Magic 2 mod the original HoMM games had nice unit portraits that would have been nice to put in the pedia:

.

And the C&C and Red Alert games had nice pictures in their build menus albeit a bit small but I could enlarge and smooth out for my C&C Africa and Red Alert 2 mods.

I believe that big images reside in old PEDIA folder in GRAPHICS.APR file. This old civilopedia was completely removed. The only mention left is in the file CIV2FAQ.TXT:

   7) If you've tried all of the above and you're still having GPF's whenever
      you discover a new technology, try renaming/deleting the file
      GET_INFO.EXE from your Civ2 directory.  You won't get the fancy
      civilopedia, but you will get the beta civilopedia.  In this case,
      the problem is some conflict with the Authorware package we used
      to do the hypertext Civilopedia.

So there is no some magic checkbox to return this back.

 

[Blake00]

I believe that big images reside in old PEDIA folder in GRAPHICS.APR file. This old civilopedia was completely removed. The only mention left is in the file CIV2FAQ.TXT:

   7) If you've tried all of the above and you're still having GPF's whenever
      you discover a new technology, try renaming/deleting the file
      GET_INFO.EXE from your Civ2 directory.  You won't get the fancy
      civilopedia, but you will get the beta civilopedia.  In this case,
      the problem is some conflict with the Authorware package we used
      to do the hypertext Civilopedia.

So there is no some magic checkbox to return this back.

Bummer! No worries, thanks for checking.

 

[Kaiser0985]

New version 1.17 (build 101).
Some fixes.
Changes:
19. Extended and renamed as 'Tweak units rotation algorithm'.
25. Improved quickinfo tooltip. More information, more icons, and it works also for units.
30. Added maintenance coins to the city change production dialog.
31. Improved City Status Advisor. Added sorting by production type, more icons, direct changing of production.
New:
36. Mass move units of the same type with Shift+RightClick. Less mouse clicking!
37. Added gold coins to the Foreign Minister.

First post updated.

Download
https://github.com/FoxAhead/Civ2-UI-Additions/releases/tag/v1.17

@FoxAhead Thank you again for keeping update this masterpiece, I though there was not more room for improvement.

Question: I remember some years ago I had found a tool/update I do not remember exactly what was, which allow the possibility to destroy a single unit in a pile and not the entire pile.

I remember it worked, but sometimes the games was crashing, then I lost it somehow.

Probably it has been asked in the past but again, would it be possible to implement it here?

 

[FoxAhead]

New version 1.18 (build 451).
Some fixes.
Changes:
31. Turns to complete production in City Status advisor
City window: fix sell popup appearing bug after double click on change production list
Display UIA Version info in the top right corner of the main window
Shifted zoom details threshold for one step (zooming out one more step will keep details)
Added Cancel button to Sell City Improvement dialog (Esc is Cancel)
22. Attitude Advisor: draw food surplus/shortage icon.
Changes in UI Addition-menu: added About Popup.
25. Quickinfo: added food surplus/shortage and base trade in parentheses.
New:
38. Two new View-menu items: Arrange Windows S and Arrange Windows L.
39. PathLines for city trade routes and unit movement.

PathLineCity

• FoxAhead
• May 31, 2022

PathLineUnit

• FoxAhead
• May 31, 2022

First post updated.

Download
https://github.com/FoxAhead/Civ2-UI-Additions/releases/tag/v1.18

 

[FoxAhead]

@FoxAhead Thank you again for keeping update this masterpiece, I though there was not more room for improvement.

Question: I remember some years ago I had found a tool/update I do not remember exactly what was, which allow the possibility to destroy a single unit in a pile and not the entire pile.

I remember it worked, but sometimes the games was crashing, then I lost it somehow.

Probably it has been asked in the past but again, would it be possible to implement it here?

@Kaiser0985 You're asking for a game rules changing feature, and it's more about modding. That is another big TODO topic. It could be some COSMIC2 option. Maybe some percent value. For example 50% of units not in fortress or city will be destroyed instead of full stack.

 

[Blake00]

Great work mate.

This is a small one compared to my usual crazy dream suggestions haha but I noticed you've played with zoom stuff which reminds me of an annoying things about MGE and ToT in that when you start them upo and either start a new game or open a save game it's always on the wrong zoom instead of the normal 1:1 zoom and everything looks big, weird and ugly. ToTPP fixed this by adding a setting to remember what zoom you set it to permanently instead of it forgetting every time you exit the game. Would be great if MGE did that too!

 

[Hemrawc]

Wow! This is amazing!

I apologize if this has been asked before. Would this utility be able to address some of the AI issues in Civ2 MGE? (Such as being too aggressive)

 

[FoxAhead]

Wow! This is amazing!

I apologize if this has been asked before. Would this utility be able to address some of the AI issues in Civ2 MGE? (Such as being too aggressive)

Yes, actually there is an option "Hostile AI" in the launcher. This option was copied from another civ2patch project by vinceho. And it got there from somewhere from the ancient patches that appeared on this forum. And all it actually does is rudely cut off the function of changing the attitude of other civilizations towards the player. Which in my opinion is completely wrong. In my program, this option is disabled by default, and I myself always play without it, as it makes the game more interesting.
The attitude change depends of many parameters including leader's characteristics, difference in money, in techs, cities, etc. So, by overtaking computer opponents more strongly, you cause more envy and hatred, which is logical.
But if you really want peaceful game, try this option.

 

[Blake00]

New version 1.18 (build 451).

PathLineCity

• FoxAhead
• May 31, 2022

PathLineUnit

• FoxAhead
• May 31, 2022

Still amazed you were able to do visible trade routes, such awesome work.

If you're able to dig into the game's backend invisible features to make them visible then does that theoretically mean that you could also make city territory / zones of control visible with coloured Civ borders? Guessing that's probably much harder as things overlap and join etc.. but couldn't resist asking sorry haha.

 

[FoxAhead]

Still amazed you were able to do visible trade routes, such awesome work.

If you're able to dig into the game's backend invisible features to make them visible then does that theoretically mean that you could also make city territory / zones of control visible with coloured Civ borders? Guessing that's probably much harder as things overlap and join etc.. but couldn't resist asking sorry haha.

View attachment 630272

There is a global (common for all civs) map square field "Ownership" (you can find it at Catfish's Cave page about SAV format). It changes on unit movement, or city resource placing.
I don't believe it will be added next release. Because:
1) It looks like a mess
2) This can reveal hidden game information, which is essentially cheating. For example you can track enemy movement even if you don't see its units.

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

I've never figured out when rival civs' city tiles overlap how it decides which do and don't provoke a trespassing dispute.

 

[Blake00]

There is a global (common for all civs) map square field "Ownership" (you can find it at Catfish's Cave page about SAV format). It changes on unit movement, or city resource placing.
I don't believe it will be added next release. Because:
1) It looks like a mess
2) This can reveal hidden game information, which is essentially cheating. For example you can track enemy movement even if you don't see its units.
View attachment 630502

Oh man.. feels so close.. but yeah I figured it would show some unwanted weird stuff going on haha.. that's a shame!

 

[Dadais]

I've never figured out when rival civs' city tiles overlap how it decides which do and don't provoke a trespassing dispute.

AI pester you if you're on its city radius whoever uses the tile doesn't it ?

There is a global (common for all civs) map square field "Ownership" (you can find it at Catfish's Cave page about SAV format). It changes on unit movement, or city resource placing.
I don't believe it will be added next release. Because:
1) It looks like a mess
2) This can reveal hidden game information, which is essentially cheating. For example you can track enemy movement even if you don't see its units.
View attachment 630502

What about if it was restricted to land tile within cities' radius ?

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

AI pester you if you're on its city radius whoever uses the tile doesn't it ?

I thought so, but I've had instances where I'm working the tile and the AI still tells me to GTFO.

 

[FoxAhead]

There is another field 'City radii'. Here is visualization. But, again, it reveals cities hidden from the player.

 

[FoxAhead]

New version 1.19 (build 692).

40. Fix dye-copper demand bug. Due to uninitialized variable of number of roads there was very high demand quotients for dye and copper. More info on How Supply and Demand Lists Are Determine:
https://apolyton.net/forum/civiliza...47-how-supply-and-demand-lists-are-determined
And precise decompiled algorithm:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...additions-civ2uia.623515/page-6#post-15636593
41. Better grayed sprites for units on sentry. Instead of a simple gray silhouette, the unit is displayed in gray halftones, which helps to better recognize the type of unit.
42. Key 'U' now also loads (sets on Sentry) all ground units in stack. Pressing 'U' when there are no units on guard on the stack puts all ground units on that stack back on guard.
43. New game default map zoom 1:1. Now, when starting a new game, the map zoom is set to 1:1 (level 0), regardless of the screen width (previously, if the screen width was more than 1000 pixels, the zoom was set to level 2).

Download
https://github.com/FoxAhead/Civ2-UI-Additions/releases/tag/v1.19