Cross-Platform Editor for Conquests now available! 1.51

[Quintillus]

So in summary for the above, I would very much be curious if you run into that issue on the Tech tab. I should also note that if you save the BIQ after it occurs, all your data should be preserved as it is at that time.

I am glad the skip-version reminder worked as expected. I always find it annoying when a program spams you about updates at every start until you update, so I made sure to add that option, and tested it with fake version files on my server prior to releasing it (and thus prior to when the fake version files would affect anyone).

 

[Kirejara]

While I have done very little editing in the tech section yet, I have played around in it now, but I was not able to trigger the hanging glitch as in the unit section. Sorry!

 

[Quintillus]

Version 1.18

Version 1.18 is now available! You can download it here. It has a focus on improvements to the ease of use of the Download Units option.

Changes:

• If you try to edit Civ Colors or Download Units without a scenario search folder, you are given the option of adding one right away.
• You can now verify that the decompression utility (7-Zip) that the editor uses to decompress downloaded units is present and accessible.
• If 7-Zip is not available, you now have the option to download it on Windows.
• Now supports versions 16.04 and 18.01 of 7-Zip, in addition to 9.20. Should in theory work with any version of 7-Zip now.
• Now supports unit downloads when there is not a nested folder in in the downloaded .zip/.rar/.7z/etc. file.
• Read-only files in the downloaded unit files will not cause copying it to a user-chosen name to fail.
• The file extension of the unit's .ini file having capital letters will no longer cause copying to a user-chosen name to fail.
• The Download Units browser will now default to the Civ3 Units download page, rather than the top-level Civ3 Downloads page.
• You can no longer add a unit to the scenario before its download has completed.
• You will now receive a proper notification message if a unit download fails, and be encouraged to report it.
• Improve messages around unit downloads in general.
• Auto-hide the unit-add-and-rename window 3 seconds after the unit is successfully added to the scenario.
• Don't show the intro window before unit downloads once 7-Zip has been successfully verified.
• Remove the duplicate file-already-exists warning when saving.
• Remove the "Filter..." ghost text on the Unit List, as it was suspected of causing list freezing issues.

At this point I expect Unit Downloads to be a mostly pleasant experience on Windows. The following limitations still apply:

• A unit page must fully load (including the ads) before you can download a unit. If you click the Download button and nothing happens, wait a second, an ad will likely appear, and try again. This is not intentional, but is probably good for CFC's revenue.
• Unit packs containing more than one unit are not yet supported.
• Only units hosted at CFC are supported (though so far I haven't found any that are in the DB but aren't hosted here).

Due to lack of a Mac, I have not been able to do similarly detailed testing on OS X, and expect somewhat more difficulties there. If you are knowledgeable about file decompression utilities on OS X (and in particular, how to configure one that the editor could download and load from its own directories, and which will support at least .rar and .7z in addition to .zip), that could be useful knowledge in improving the OS X experience. I am not aware of .rar and .7z support being built in to OS X, either, but this may have changed, and if you know how to make use of that at the terminal, that would also be useful information.

I am hopeful that the last item in the change list resolves the hanging issue that Kirejara (and possibly others) noticed in 1.17, but am not 100% sure about that as I have had difficulty reproducing it reliably.

 

[chickenx4]

Is it possible if I have units in my mod

 

[Quintillus]

Windows 95 Support!

I am pleased to announce that the editor now has some Windows 95 support! This much-requested addition brings the 1.09 Legacy version to another operating system, and further expands upon the editor's cross-platform promise.

You can download the Windows 95 version here. Once unzipped, run Editor_95.bat to start the editor. If your installation of Windows 95 supports VBScript, you may also run 95_launcher.vbs to start it without an MS-DOS window remaining in the background.

Screenshot:

The editor has been tested with the initial release of Windows 95, using Virtual PC. There are a few minor deficiencies to be noted compared to running on Windows 98, some of which may be resolved with more recent editions of 95 (such as OSR2) or on real hardware:

• The editor will hang (and sometimes the system as well) if you try to load the map tab. Thus, if editing a scenario with a map, you must uncheck "Map Enabled" in the Settings.
• The editor may fail to start, and if started with the .bat file, print out a Java crash message to the MS-DOS window. This appears to be correlated with starting the editor more than once without restarting the computer (but does not always happen in that case). Restarting the computer resolves the problem.
• You may receive a Blue Screen of Death when opening a .biq file. This is rare, and no pattern has been established. The same file will likely open successfully on the next attempt.

For decompressing the download, 7-Zip version 9.20 is recommended, as it is free, fast, and runs on 95. If you would like to not have the MS-DOS prompt in the background but do not have VBScript, installing Internet Explorer should also install VBScript. In theory version 1.0 will suffice, although I've only tested with version 5.5 so far.

I should also note that I am not sure if Conquests itself will run on Windows 95; according to the box it requires 98, but I've never tested whether that's a real requirement, or was simply the earliest version Firaxis tested with. But now, even if you can't play the game when you find yourself with only a Windows 95 box on hand, you'll still be able to edit scenarios!

Happy Easter!

Quintillus

 

[Meteor Man]

Hey Quint, seems like a great editor, but I can't get rid of this problem:

Spoiler :

Those buttons on the right keep disappearing unless I mouse over them. Any idea what's causing this? I'm on Windows 7, and Java is updated. It happens on other pages, too.

Also, does your editor refuse to save if the phantom resource bug is present?

All I really want to do is have units that cost more than 1000 shields. Is that even possible?

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Also, does your editor refuse to save if the phantom resource bug is present?

Make sure that you're saving outside o the Civ files. then move the file to the right folder manually.

All I really want to do is have units that cost more than 1000 shields. Is that even possible?

I have a satelite that costs 13500 shields and dosens of 1000+ units.

 

[Meteor Man]

Make sure that you're saving outside o the Civ files. then move the file to the right folder manually.

I have a satelite that costs 13500 shields and dosens of 1000+ units.

Thanks for the reply, my man. Unfortunately the editor is basically unusable because of that aforementioned display bug. :/

 

[Quintillus]

Hey Quint, seems like a great editor, but I can't get rid of this problem:

Spoiler :

Those buttons on the right keep disappearing unless I mouse over them. Any idea what's causing this? I'm on Windows 7, and Java is updated. It happens on other pages, too.

Also, does your editor refuse to save if the phantom resource bug is present?

All I really want to do is have units that cost more than 1000 shields. Is that even possible?

For the unit that costs > 1000 shields, you'll want to go to Options -> Adjust Safety Level, and set Unit to Exploratory or lower. This will allow setting almost any value for unit cost (and many other fields), and version 1.16 or later of the editor will remember your setting across restarts.

The Phantom Resource Bug check is enabled in version 1.14 or later of the editor. Version 1.13, which does not check for that, is available from this page.

Unfortunately, I've never seen that display issue before. The only display issue I was previously aware of involved the menus being occasionally overwritten by the map. Is it intentional that the background is all black in this scenario, or is that also part of the bug?

A few things that may help narrow it down:
- Are you using nVIDIA, Intel, or AMD/ATi graphics? I've tested with nVIDIA, ATi, and AMD (and Matrox), but do not have an Intel system.
- The log should give the Java version at some point, such as "Java runtime version: 9.0.4". It's possible that the very latest version of Java has a bug, and verifying which version you have would allow me to check that.
- If this scenario is on CFC, it's possible I may be able to reproduce it by downloading and running it. It doesn't look like it would be caused by scenario-specific graphics, but I also can't rule that out.
- On other tabs, does it also display the same thing, or does it show something different?
- You could also try the 1.14 XP release. Although originally targeted for Windows XP, it will work on any later version of Windows as well, as the key part of it is running on a specific version of Java. If indeed the issue is caused by an issue in a particular Java release, that may solve it.

 

[Meteor Man]

For the unit that costs > 1000 shields, you'll want to go to Options -> Adjust Safety Level, and set Unit to Exploratory or lower. This will allow setting almost any value for unit cost (and many other fields), and version 1.16 or later of the editor will remember your setting across restarts.

The Phantom Resource Bug check is enabled in version 1.14 or later of the editor. Version 1.13, which does not check for that, is available from this page.

Unfortunately, I've never seen that display issue before. The only display issue I was previously aware of involved the menus being occasionally overwritten by the map. Is it intentional that the background is all black in this scenario, or is that also part of the bug?

A few things that may help narrow it down:
- Are you using nVIDIA, Intel, or AMD/ATi graphics? I've tested with nVIDIA, ATi, and AMD (and Matrox), but do not have an Intel system.
- The log should give the Java version at some point, such as "Java runtime version: 9.0.4". It's possible that the very latest version of Java has a bug, and verifying which version you have would allow me to check that.
- If this scenario is on CFC, it's possible I may be able to reproduce it by downloading and running it. It doesn't look like it would be caused by scenario-specific graphics, but I also can't rule that out.
- On other tabs, does it also display the same thing, or does it show something different?
- You could also try the 1.14 XP release. Although originally targeted for Windows XP, it will work on any later version of Windows as well, as the key part of it is running on a specific version of Java. If indeed the issue is caused by an issue in a particular Java release, that may solve it.

Thanks for the reply, Quint.

• the black is because it's my Star Wars scenario that's being edited in the picture, it's the black of deep space
  
• I am using nVIDIA
• it's Java version "1.8.0_65"
• It does the same with other scenarios like AoI
• It does the same on the other tabs
• I downloaded the XP release and unfortunately it has the same behavior

However, strangely it seems to work just fine on the other tabs some times and other times I boot it and the problem arises again the map portion is always messed up, however. Unrelated, but I noticed the resources on my scenario's map all have the wrong icons, which is strange

 

[Quintillus]

Thanks for the reply, Quint.

• the black is because it's my Star Wars scenario that's being edited in the picture, it's the black of deep space
  
• I am using nVIDIA
• it's Java version "1.8.0_65"
• It does the same with other scenarios like AoI
• It does the same on the other tabs
• I downloaded the XP release and unfortunately it has the same behavior

However, strangely it seems to work just fine on the other tabs some times and other times I boot it and the problem arises again the map portion is always messed up, however. Unrelated, but I noticed the resources on my scenario's map all have the wrong icons, which is strange

Hmm... although that Java version is a bit out of date, it shouldn't cause any issue, and if it were the problem, the XP release should have worked. My best guess is perhaps there's an issue with the nVIDIA graphics driver. The only nVIDIA GPU I have is from 2007, and thus its driver version is fairly old, from around 2012. You probably have a newer nVIDIA graphics driver (and also have a newer OS, as I've only run the editor with nVIDIA on XP, Linux, and Vista).

As a potential solution, I've made a build that, as far as I can tell, disables graphics hardware acceleration, relying purely on the CPU. You can download it here, and see if it makes a difference. From a performance perspective, it's theoretically worse, but I don't expect a difference to be noticeable in practice.

 

[Meteor Man]

Hmm... although that Java version is a bit out of date, it shouldn't cause any issue, and if it were the problem, the XP release should have worked. My best guess is perhaps there's an issue with the nVIDIA graphics driver. The only nVIDIA GPU I have is from 2007, and thus its driver version is fairly old, from around 2012. You probably have a newer nVIDIA graphics driver (and also have a newer OS, as I've only run the editor with nVIDIA on XP, Linux, and Vista).

As a potential solution, I've made a build that, as far as I can tell, disables graphics hardware acceleration, relying purely on the CPU. You can download it here, and see if it makes a difference. From a performance perspective, it's theoretically worse, but I don't expect a difference to be noticeable in practice.

Thanks you very much for the effort, Quintillus, but it is to no avail, it seems. However, I noticed I haven't installed the civ3 files to another location than the program files, so I will give that a shot and see if it makes a difference.

 

[Quintillus]

Version 1.19

Version 1.19 is now available! You can download it here.

Changes:

• [C3E-76; C3E-118]You can now copy Units and Goods via the right-click menu on unit/good lists.
• [C3E-102]The opening page will now display information about various editor features that you may not have known about.
• [C3E-117]If you go to rename a city/leader for a Civ, and hit Enter without entering a name, it will now leave the old name

The first feature is as requested by @Kirejara . I plan to add copying for additional elements in future updates; goods were the proof-of-concept, and units was as requested, so I decided to release units now that it was ready. Copying units is available with both the new, reorderable-and-filterable lists, and the old-fashioned lists (goods are still on the old-fashioned lists).

The editor information feature on the opening page is meant to help you discover features that you may not know about due to having been released prior to when you started following the thread, as well as useful shortcuts that you may not know about. Currently there are 20 pieces of information it will share, not counting the welcome message that will display the first time. Hopefully you learn about something you didn't know you could do through this feature!

The small UI bug fix was one I noticed, which while not technically a bug from a Civ perspective, was not a great user experience. It was relatively easy to wind up with an empty city name in the middle of your list that would be quite difficult to notice within the editor, as it would only be one or two pixels tall.

I've also experimented a bit with this list by linking out to the issue tracking system where I keep track of ideas and bugs. Not sure if I'll keep doing that, but the list over there is essentially what's on my radar for future updates.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

You can now copy Units and Goods via the right-click menu on unit/good lists.

Excellent timing; I’m going to no need endless numbers of very similar units for The Salvation of Gaia RPG mod.

 

[chickenx4]

Would like to see when a extra resource or unit On the map I can’t see the PCX

 

[Quintillus]

Excellent timing; I’m going to no need endless numbers of very similar units for The Salvation of Gaia RPG mod.

All right! Timing being right doesn't always happen!

Would like to see when a extra resource or unit On the map I can’t see the PCX

I don't completely follow; when is it that you can't see the PCX? Are you running into a problem similar to Meteor Man's, or is there another situation where you can't see a PCX that is expected?

 

[chickenx4]

All right! Timing being right doesn't always happen!



I don't completely follow; when is it that you can't see the PCX? Are you running into a problem similar to Meteor Man's, or is there another situation where you can't see a PCX that is expected?

In the map when I add a extra resource it does show up

 

[Quintillus]

In the map when I add a extra resource it does show up

Yes, it will, as long as the icon you choose was in the resources.pcx file when you loaded the scenario. If you had to update the resources.pcx file to add its icon after loading the scenario, you'll have to re-load the scenario for the new icon to show up.

 

[chickenx4]

Good I’ll go upgrade

 

[Kirejara]

The XP-Version works so far (including "Copy Unit").

But then I wanted to save I have got this message:

All changes have been in the UNIT tab and are mostlty "Copy, Paste and Rename".
And there is no GAME tab. What did I miss?

After taking the screenshot, I have switched all safety settings to "Exploratory" and was able to save my changes.

Thanks again!

PS: Soon I will no longer need the XP-Version (I only need some spare time for my new PC to get ready for action).