Cross-Platform Editor for Conquests now available! 1.51

Oni Ryuu · Aug 31, 2018

Sorry for the delayed response. I didn’t want to post until I knew for certain that you regain control of your government’s spending at a max of ≥50%. I think it’s actually beneficial to have this locked spending for the earliest governments, so I’m quite happy with it.

Quintillus · Sep 16, 2018

Version 1.23

Version 1.23 is now available! Download it here. Changes:

Introduce a system that allows updating the embedded rules (for now, RULE, aka General Settings) in a .sav file
Significant speed improvements on BMP to BIQ functionality
If you save a BIQ to a new file name, .biq will once again be appended automatically if forgotten
If you create a new BIQ, and then add custom rules, the BIQC tab will enable the rule section check boxes right away (vs after save/restart)

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The first one is the most notable one. This stems from an idea from @Oni Ryuu , and the basic question is, "What if the rules could change over time?" The concept works like this:

- Suppose you wish barbarians were relevant for a bit longer. Maybe they should have their basic unit upgraded to the Swordsman at some point, and the advanced becomes a Celtic Warrior.
- Create your base BIQ file.
- Create a second BIQ file, where you give the barbarians stronger units.
- Play the scenario until the time where the barbarians should become stronger.
- Open the editor, and use the new "SAV Actions" --> "Apply Rule Changes" actions, selecting your .sav file and the second .biq file. This will apply the new rules with stronger barbarians to your .sav file (and create a backup of the original).

For now, the second (and any subsequent) BIQ files should modify only items on the RULE tab, and should not re-order units from the original .biq file. But you can do things such as gradually increasing the maximum town size, or modifying city defensive bonuses over time, with this system.

Over time, this will likely be expanded, including allowing more sections of the BIQ to be patched in, and adding logic for the editor (or perhaps a standalone program dedicated to this task) to detect when changes could be applied - for example, saying, "in 1000 BC, the barbarians should be upgraded". The player would still have to reload the updated SAV file, so updating it every turn would be tedious, but a dozen times per game might be a good balance of a more dynamic experience, while not taking away the "one more turn" experience.

It should also be noted that, for now, the original BIQ must have custom rules (you can't update the rules on a game started via the "New Game" item in the main menu), and that applying rule changes will disqualify the playthrough from the GOTM and HOF competitions - the submission systems for GOTM/HOF will detect the .sav, and subsequent .sav files, as being modified.

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The BMP to BIQ speedups are significant - the time to create the BIQ from the BMP is reduced by 40-45% on my dual-core laptop from 2007, and by two-thirds on my quad-core desktop from 2011, on large maps. Multi-core systems are required to see the speedup.

The bug fixes are pretty much what they sound like in the one-line descriptions.

Oni Ryuu · Sep 16, 2018

Don’t forget Barbarian pirate ships, the defensive values of cities and fortifications, ait to air interception rates, food consumption pre citizen, movement bonus on roads, production to gold ratios and citizen moods.

Excellent work Quintillus. Thank you.

Kirejara · Sep 16, 2018

Sounds interesting. I will definitely try the idea with the "upgraded" Barbarians a try.

May I suggest for the future the ability to place barbarian owned cities?

I have tried barbarian cities via safe game editor and they work more or less as intented. While they do nothing and produce nothing (anarchy

), they could be useful for scenarios (no settlers or similar?).

But it should be noted, that one have to add the barbarian to a cultural group for this, otherwise the game will select any random picture it has lying around. During my first try without cultural group all barbarian cities showed a (fittingly angry) Smoke Jaguar potrait as city graphic... :eek:

Civinator · Sep 16, 2018

This sounds very interesting.

Can the name of the civs and the cities also be changed during the gameplay?

Oni Ryuu · Sep 16, 2018

The idea is to eventually enable it for everything in the .biq.

Nathiri · Sep 17, 2018

Oni Ryuu said:
The idea is to eventually enable it for everything in the .biq.

Thus making more eras?

Quintillus · Sep 17, 2018

@Kirejara - The culture group must be what I didn't know about when I played around with barbarian cities several years ago! For me it was Hiawatha whose countenance was shown at the location of every city. I will have to experiment with barbarian cities with culture groups. I also wonder if, were Anarchy less devastating, they might produce items. As an example, RFRE has the "anarchy" government be Civil War, which still allows production - just with the Despotism penalty, Rampant corruption, and half speed workers.

@All else - Indeed, the idea is to eventually make (at least most) things in the BIQ customizeable, though this will not be an overnight process. I like the city/civ name one though; that's one of my favorite aspects of a number of Civ4 mods.
coup
More eras is a possibility, and indeed while working on the initial changes for this I was reminded of Steph's extended scenario capabilities, which are focused on adding eras. And, provided there is sufficient interest/time, that is one way you could use these capabilities. But I intend for it to be more flexible as well. Have triggers based on date, land area, population, technologies (not just at era end)... essentially based on what makes sense for the scenario.

I should also note that editor progress is likely to be slower over the next couple months than it has been the past couple due to increased out-of-work commitments, both work and social, and trying to take advantage of good weather while it lasts.

Kirejara · Sep 19, 2018

Hi Quintillus,

Quintillus said:
If you save a BIQ to a new file name, .biq will once again be appended automatically if forgotten

could you please remove or disable this feature.

It adds everytime an additional ".biq" to the file.

After saving three times in a session, I had to discover, that the "myconquest.biq" was still unchanged, but there were "myconquest.biq.biq", "myconquest.biq.biq.biq"... I thing you see the picture. :eek:

I reverted back to the previous version 1.22.

EDIT: But the rule change in savegames works flawless. I changed in my just finished game the city size to 9/18 and food consume to 1 (improved food production

) and both applied to the running game. :thumbsup:

PS: I am still using the XP-Launcher, since CIV3 is currently not running on my new PC. Maybe that is related to the problem.

Quintillus · Sep 19, 2018

Kirejara said:
Hi Quintillus,

could you please remove or disable this feature.

It adds everytime an additional ".biq" to the file.

After saving three times in a session, I had to discover, that the "myconquest.biq" was still unchanged, but there were "myconquest.biq.biq", "myconquest.biq.biq.biq"... I thing you see the picture.

I reverted back to the previous version 1.22.

EDIT: But the rule change in savegames works flawless. I changed in my just finished game the city size to 9/18 and food consume to 1 (improved food production ) and both applied to the running game.

PS: I am still using the XP-Launcher, since CIV3 is currently not running on my new PC. Maybe that is related to the problem.

Oops

. Turns out it isn't related to the XP-launcher at all, but is due to the equivalent of autocompleting the wrong word in a message on a phone. In one of the two places where I was fixing the "lack of .biq" method, I accidentally used the function that was alphabetically before the one I meant to use (selecting from the autocomplete list). It did fix the "lack of biq" problem, but also introduced the "extra biq" problem. 1.24, with a fix for that and one other small issue (which was around before 1.23) is incoming.

Glad to hear the rule change is working though! That's likely going to be a focus.

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

FYI in general - Java 11 is coming out next Tuesday, and unfortunately it un-bundles the modern graphics layer that the editor uses for some features, such as the re-orderable lists, load/save dialog, and the Download Units from CFC functionality. So, if your Java updates to version 11 in the next couple weeks and things stop working, I recommend:

- Download the XP version. This bundles Java with the editor, including the modern graphics layer.
- To update to 1.24, download 1.24 again (or remove the civ3editor.ini file), and use the "Import Settings" wizard on the start page to import the settings (and bundled Java version) of the XP version. Then use the XP_launcher.vbs script to launch the editor (which will use the bundled Java version).

Alternately, the Legacy version does not use the modern graphics layer at all (though it still supports map editing), and will work perfectly with Java 11. However, it lacks some of the more modern features, such as the re-orderable lists.

It's also possible that your Java version may stay with Java 8 (which is still supported, and will run the editor), or that you've become very good at ignoring the update notifications over the years. In both cases you will not notice anything different.

I have not yet decided on a path forward for how to handle this with the editor, as I just learned of this change recently, and had not anticipated the possibility of the graphics layer being unbundled (prior to this year, Java had always had perfect backwards compatibility). Three main options seem to appear:

- Bundle the modern graphics layer with the editor (but don't bundle Java). This will likely increase the editor's minimum requirement to Java 11, which I don't really want to do (in part because not all of my systems support Java 11, including the one I'm writing this on), but especially not so soon after Java 11 is released. It will also increase the download size (to perhaps 10 MB per update).
- Bundle Java with the editor. This is similar to the XP version, and would allow continued support for Java 8 (and with it, XP, Vista, and other systems that support Java 8 but not 11). But it would significantly increase the download size (to 40-50 MB for each update), and require separate releases for Windows/Linux/OS X... which is a hassle and would decrease the frequency of updates, particularly for non-Windows systems (as I don't have a Mac of my own, and don't have expertise on all the various ways of packaging software on Linux).
- Keep shipping the editor as-is, and provide instructions on how to set up JavaFX (the modern graphics layer) on the user's system. I am not sure of the complexity of this yet, but the extra step is not desirable. It's possible that the editor might be able to detect this condition and download it (similarly to how it can download 7-Zip if needed for decompressing downloaded units), but that will require testing. This would keep the current download size of about 2 MB per update, with a one-time download for installing JavaFX (which would then be copied locally as the editor updates).

This is mainly an FYI, but I would be interested to hear from those with preferences, including if you are on a low-bandwidth or metered connection where 40 MB once or twice a month might be significant. Back when I first started visiting CFC, that was the case for me, so I try to take that into consideration.

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

As an aside, I also am considering removing the non-menu navigation option, as seen in the two screenshots in the front page. This system long ago ran out of space, and no longer offers the editor's full functionality, but has remained as an option. However, it adds complexity to the code, and has complicated development and resulted in a couple bugs recently. Thus, if it isn't being used, I think the time may have arrived to remove it.

On the other hand, someone might find it useful (obligatory XKCD), so I've left it in there for now, and 1.24 will fix one of the bugs related to it. But absent a vote in favor of it, the non-menu system may be removed in a future release.

Quintillus · Sep 19, 2018

Version 1.24

Version 1.24 is now available! You can download it here. Changes:

A duplicate ".biq" is no longer appended to filenames when you save to a filename that already ends in ".biq"
Safety levels can once more be adjusted without a restart when menus are in use

The second change is the one alluded to in the previous post, and was caused some complexity around supporting both the menu system and a non-menu system.

Also potentially good to know is that Java 11 is coming out next week, and may cause some undesirable effects. More information is available in the previous post, and depending on the strategy decided on (and pending further research), a 1.25 update may be released to address any resulting Java 11 issues.

Kirejara · Sep 20, 2018

That was fast... again!

I have just done a short test and have found no more extra-biq.

Thanks again for Your great work! :thumbsup:

I am thinking of doing the next game with improving barbarian (barbarian changes at Iron, Feudalism, Chivalry, Astronomy, Military T., Industrialization, Replacable P., Combustion, Motorized T. and end of techtree - not that there are normaly any barbarians so late around

) and improved food production at Ecology.

Quintillus · Sep 23, 2018

Update 1/27/2021: Version 1.39 is now available.

Download version 1.39 from this link (41.7 MB). It is fully feature-equivalent to the regular 1.39 build, and works on Windows XP through Windows 10.

The instructions for how to use it are the same as for the 1.24 XP build below.

Windows XP Build Update - Version 1.24 XP

Version 1.24 XP is now available! You can download it here. It is fully feature-equivalent to the regular 1.24 build, and will run on Windows XP through Windows 10.

After downloading it, use 7-Zip (a free decompression utility) to decompress the download. Then start the editor using XP_launcher.vbs (recommended) or Editor_XP.bat (which will leave a command-prompt window up in the background). At this point, you will be running the editor just like the normal 1.24 build.

For applying Windows XP compatibility (and, in the interim, compatibility with Java updates) to an XP build, simply download the new 1.25 or later version, and on first start, use the "Copy existing settings" option on the main start screen. Then exit the editor, and restart with the XP_launcher.vbs file that has been copied over to your 1.25 (or later) editor.

Quintillus · Sep 23, 2018

Java 11 Compatibility Post

Update August 28, 2024

The editor now works out-of-the-box with Java 11, so long as it includes JavaFX. Please see the updated information in the Downloads Database page.

If you are reading this post in 2024, chances are you got here because you are running an incompatible version of Java 11 (or later). In that case, the recommended course of action is to uninstall the incompatible version (likely from Oracle, the OpenJDK, or Adoptium), and to install one of the compatible versions.

Older information from this thread is now in the following spoiler, for the unlikely case where it is useful to somebody.

Spoiler Obsolete Information :

Civinator · Sep 23, 2018

Quintillus said:
If you receive Java update notices, you may wish to postpone them if they will update you to Java 11 (Java 8 will also continue receiving updates, and these will not break compatibility). This will allow you to continue using the editor just like today.

Quintillus, thank you very much for that information and good luck with updating your great editor. It´s a pity that there are always such negative events that try to destroy one´s work. :wallbash:

Kirejara · Sep 25, 2018

Java 11 seems to became a huge backfire.

It is at least good, that you have allready created the XP-Edition.

The upgrading Barbarian work by the way as expected.

In the picture we see three generations of Barbarians/Bandits
- Bandit (Start, together with Horseman)
- Bandit Horseman (Iron, together with Swordman)
- Mounted Raider (Military Tradition, together with Musket Infantry)

Since this camp is maxed out their are not all types in it (this includes the latest generation of Guerilla and Armored Car). .

Not shown, but I have seen so far all generations of barbarian/pirates ships (Pirate Galley, Corsair Galley, Privateer, Pirate Frigate and Q-Ship), but the KI hunts them down very quickly.

Please continue your excellent work! :thumbsup:

Quintillus · Sep 25, 2018

Civinator said:
Quintillus, thank you very much for that information and good luck with updating your great editor. It´s a pity that there are always such negative events that try to destroy one´s work.

Thanks! It is unfortunate, but I remind myself that I am fortunate that this is the first such significant instance for me, whereas Steph's editor had a speed bump with .NET 3.5 to .NET 4, and CivAssist II is difficult to set up nowadays due to being on .NET 1.1, which is probably the most-forgotten version of .NET from a support standpoint. Java had near-perfect compatibility for over 22 years, which is a very good record, and one which only a few other systems such as IBM mainframes and 32-bit Windows can make similar claims to.

Even Civ3 itself (in disc form) has run into more issues, in that the disc version does not work on Windows 10, or on 7 or 8 with all updates installed (let alone the PowerPC Mac version working on modern Macs). So I can't complain too much.

Kirejara said:
Java 11 seems to became a huge backfire.

It is at least good, that you have allready created the XP-Edition.

The upgrading Barbarian work by the way as expected.

In the picture we see three generations of Barbarians/Bandits
- Bandit (Start, together with Horseman)
- Bandit Horseman (Iron, together with Swordman)
- Mounted Raider (Military Tradition, together with Musket Infantry)

Since this camp is maxed out their are not all types in it (this includes the latest generation of Guerilla and Armored Car). .

Not shown, but I have seen so far all generations of barbarian/pirates ships (Pirate Galley, Corsair Galley, Privateer, Pirate Frigate and Q-Ship), but the KI hunts them down very quickly.

Please continue your excellent work!

I'm really pleased to hear that the barbarians are evolving and that's being put to good use! That screenshot is great motivation to expand that piece of functionality, once the editor is fully back and working by default again.

And indeed I'm glad I already had the XP version prepared, and that it could be updated so quickly and easily. It wasn't great fun when the first XP-related bugs in Java appeared (and XP was never officially supported on Java 8, so it was a bit of a bonus that it worked at all), but figuring out how to keep XP support in the editor wound up being great preparation for today. One of those times when it really is beneficial to have an XP install on all my laptops.

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

I'm putting together a small 1.25 update right now that will alert users on Java 11 to its incompatibility and how to mitigate the effects. This will not fix the issue, but the idea is to ship it soon enough that most regular users will update to it before their Java updates, and thus be notified of how to keep using the editor in the meantime (and in this case, the "check for updates" feature is going to earn some of its keep!).

Quintillus · Sep 25, 2018

Version 1.25

Version 1.25 is now available. This is purely an update to alert users to Java 11 incompatibility issues. You can download it here, although if you are already on 1.24 and do not have Java 11, you will see no differences;if you are on 1.24 and have Java 11, the only difference would be be alerted to the issues. In the latter case, 1.24 XP or 1.19 Legacy are recommended instead.

Thus the main target audience for 1.25 is those who see the "new version" alert, and go to the Downloads Database to download it, without reading the thread. Those users will thus be notified of the issues involving Java 11, at least as long as they get the new version pop-up before Java updates itself to version 11.

When you start 1.25 with Java 11 (or later), you will receive a pop-up at start alerting you to the incompatibilities. This is intentionally a pop-up at start, so that it appears prior to any incompatibility-related issues. After reaching the splash screen (which will occur so long as the editor has been used at least once with an older version of Java), the "Editor Feature Spotlight" in the upper-right will include more information about the incompatibilities and recommended alternatives, including a link to post #134.

When you start 1.25 with Java 10 (or earlier), it will behave exactly as 1.24 currently does.

Note that if you are running 1.24 XP, you may be prompted to update to 1.25. It is recommended that you do not do so; instead choose the "alert me when the next update is available" option.

Future updates will work to restore compatibility; the priority for this one was timing, as Java 11 itself shipped earlier today.

Quintillus · Oct 1, 2018

Version 1.24 Legacy

Today I took an attempt at figuring out the Java 11 problems. Unfortunately, while I found a way to make a build for Windows 7+ that would work and is somewhat thinner than the XP version, I did not find a way to build a cross-platform version that would work with Java 11. It's possible the 7+ method would also work on Linux or Mac if I build it on Linux or a Mac, but my efforts to get Java 11 working on Linux were unsuccessful (too soon after release for it to be easy), and not owning a Mac precluded attempts there. Given the amount of time required to figure this out that could otherwise be spent on better SAV functionality, I think for the next few weeks I'll refocus any time I have on that, and do battle with Java 11 again once a few other people have taken a stab at it.

But updating the Legacy branch went much more smoothly, and as a result there is a 1.24 Legacy version now, that includes most (though not all) of the 1.20 through 1.24 changes. This is the recommended version if you wind up with Java 11 on Mac or Linux, and is the most widely-compatible available (Windows 98 through 10; OS X 10.4 through 10.14, including PPC; Linux, and other systems supporting Java).

You can download 1.24 Legacy here. Note that this download works best with Firefox or Netscape Navigator, and does not work with Google Chrome and browsers based on its engine (Edge, Brave, etc.). Firefox will display a warning but allow the download, and Netscape works just as well as it did when this post was written in 2018.

If you are on Windows XP or later, however, 1.24 XP is the currently recommended version.

Changes included:

Spoiler :

Changes not included:

Spoiler :

As a note, the other major missing features are sortable/reorderable lists, and downloading units from CFC.

I may be revamping the SAV-updating functionality to work on the Legacy branch as well, so that it remains more cross-platform.

Quintillus · Oct 14, 2018

Version 1.26

Version 1.26 adds the ability to replace Civilizations in a save game file with updated civ information. You can either replace both civs and the RULE section, or just one or the other. It is available for download here.

There is also a Mac build that is now available with Java 11 compatibility, to complement the XP build on Windows. You can download it here here (33 MB). This is the first version (other than the Legacy one) to work with Java 11 on Macs. A few notes:

- If your Mac still has Java 8 (in other words, if the editor is working just fine for you right now), sticking with the "regular" version is recommended. Switch to this one when your Mac's Java updates to Java 11 or later.
- The Mac version is built a bit differently than the XP version, and as such it won't be possible to "Macify" future "regular" builds like it's currently possible to "XP-ify" regular builds. Re-downloading the full new Mac version will be necessary in the future, at least for 1.27.
- I noticed occasional (but inconsistent) issues with drag-and-drop not working as expected, which can be noticed by the blue drag-and-drop shadows not clearing properly. I haven't had a Mac to test with for quite some time, so I am unsure if this is related to Java 11, or has been an existing issue on Macs. It also could be related to the wireless mouse I was using. This will require additional investigation that is unlikely to occur this weekend. So far, it seems that if the first drag-and-drop of an editor session works, subsequent ones will too, so the recommendation is to save prior to dragging and dropping, and exit and retry if it leaves the blue dropshadow after dropping.
- Parts of the Mac UI integration have been broken for awhile, such as the menu integrating with the menu bar. I hadn't noticed this due to a lack of a Mac to test with. This has not yet been fixed, but thanks to falling prices on semi-old Mac Minis, that is now within the realm of possibility. Functionally, however, these do not prevent any editor tasks from being completed.

Feedback on how the new build works is appreciated. I don't consider this the end-all of fixing Java 11 issues yet, but rather an update to allow twice as many operating systems to have all the core functionality despite Java 11.

Finally, I wanted to note for @Civinator and others that this update, through its Civ-replacing functionality, does allow changing Civ names, and generally all other aspects on the Civ tab save the civ color (which appears to be stored elsewhere). I've thought about renaming cities as well, but that will have to wait until a future update.

Cross-Platform Editor for Conquests now available! 1.51

King

Resident Medieval Monk

King

King

Blue Lion

King

Commander

Resident Medieval Monk

King

Resident Medieval Monk

Resident Medieval Monk

King

Resident Medieval Monk

Resident Medieval Monk

Blue Lion

King

Resident Medieval Monk

Resident Medieval Monk

Resident Medieval Monk

Resident Medieval Monk

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