Cross-Platform Editor for Conquests now available! 1.48

[Civinator]

Is there anyway to mod the functions of terraforms? What does "order" do?

I would like to trick the AI into building Airfields instead of Radar Towers. When I tested changing the "order" nothing happens.

Are worker functions hardcoded into the game in these slots and all that can be modded is cosmetics?

With the Quintillus editor it is possible to remove one or more functions from the worker unit and still receiving the terraform strategy for the worker unit. The problem is that the AI can do worker jobs that are excluded for the worker unit. Per example some time ago I had the idea to remove the irrigation flag from workers (as one of the possible settings) to avoid the problem of the AI irrigating grassland when under the tile penalty in government despotism and let these workers upgrade to workers that can perform irrigation that become available when reaching monarchy or republic. When remembering well, the human player was excluded from the worker job irrigation, but the AI still performed irrigation with those workers while under despotism.

The radar workerjob could be eliminated from the terraforming strategy for workers, too, but if the AI would still be able to create radar towers, despite that elimination, must be tested (but not by me).

 

[Predator145]

With the Quintillus editor it is possible to remove one or more functions from the worker unit and still receiving the terraform strategy for the worker unit. The problem is that the AI can do worker jobs that are excluded for the worker unit. Per example some time ago I had the idea to remove the irrigation flag from workers (as one of the possible settings) to avoid the problem of the AI irrigating grassland when under the tile penalty in government despotism and let these workers upgrade to workers that can perform irrigation that become available when reaching monarchy or republic. When remembering well, the human player was excluded from the worker job irrigation, but the AI still performed irrigation with those workers while under despotism.

The radar workerjob could be eliminated from the terraforming strategy for workers, too, but if the AI would still be able to create radar towers, despite that elimination, must be tested (but not by me).

If a unit is flagged as "terraform" AI strat and has worker strength value the AI can use every worker function regardless if you tick them or not. I tested that by creating an auto produced "engineer" unit that could only build forts, barricades, outposts, airfields and radar towers flagged as "terraform". The AI promptly used it to irrigate.

If you want to eliminate a worker function you'd have to put the tech requirement to something like "Hidden Reserve".

 

[Civinator]

If you want to eliminate a worker function you'd have to put the tech requirement to something like "Hidden Reserve".

Yes, this is, why I wrote "one of the possible settings".

 

[Vuldacon]

Here is how I eliminate Worker Jobs I do Not want Workers to do:

Make a Strategic or Luxury Resource on your resources.pcx file.
In the Biq, in Worker Jobs, Use the Resource as the Prerequisite for the Worker Job. (Do Not place the Resource on the Game Map).

The Reason I do Not list anything in the Civilopedia Entry area is because I do Not want the "Unobtainable Resource or Entry to show in the Civilopedia anywhere. It is not necessary to show what is not used or needed

The above shows the Worker Job for Build Mine but you can use any worker Job you want to eliminate by listing the Worker Job in the same manner.

I am certain there are other ways to adjust Worker Jobs and Flintlock could possibly add the ability to adjust them, although that may be a Chore to accomplish.

 

[ThesaurusRex]

So is there currently no way to have workers with civ-dependent abilities that can also change later in the game?

Also, is anyone else encountering...odd issues with the interface, such as being invisible until you mouse over the buttons?

 

[Quintillus]

So is there currently no way to have workers with civ-dependent abilities that can also change later in the game?

Also, is anyone else encountering...odd issues with the interface, such as being invisible until you mouse over the buttons?

I missed this somehow. The_Omega had a similar problem on the last page.

My only guess is that it's something to do with the ability to hide the right side panel not working on your machine; I've attached a copy of the editor with that panel fixed in place to see if that changes it. I don't necessarily expect it to though.

I cannot reproduce the problem, which suggests it's likely caused by a unique combination of operating system version + Java version, maybe with graphics card having an impact as well. If you post your configuration, there's a chance I could emulate it and possible reproduce it, although I don't have every bit of hardware out there.

For reference, The_Omega is running:

OS is Windows 10, graphics card is NVidia GeForce RTX 2080 ti

Are you also running Windows 10 + nVIDIA, and if so, is it an RTX model? My GeForce 1050 laptop running Windows 10 doesn't exhibit the issue, and it's the closest hardware I have to The_Omega's configuration.

You could also try the XP build and the Legacy Build. The XP build ships with Java included, so if the problem occurs there too (when started with XP_launcher.vbs or Editor_XP.bat), it's something about the hardware or operating system setup rather than the Java version. The Legacy Build in theory won't fix anything on the Map tab, but uses older Java technology elsewhere and is kind of the "safe mode" option. That doesn't necessarily mean it would fix this problem, though.

I would be curious if you can try the XP and/or Legacy builds and report back, as it's clear that something has changed that the editor doesn't like with some setups in the past year, but I have no idea what that might be. Testing those on a machine that exhibits the symptoms, and knowing the specs of the machine, would at least narrow things down a bit.

----

The worker question probably should be in its own thread, that's more of a scenario design question. I don't know why you couldn't use the Available To and Upgrades To options to do something like that, though. I'm also not an expert on scenario design.

 

[timerover51]

Quintillus, I cannot get the editor to open in any format. I am running Windows XP Service Pack 3 on an old IBM laptop. I am try to open the .97 editor and I also have the .jar laucher. When I try to open either, it default to opening Firefox, and asks if I want to save the file, without opening anything. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Quintillus]

Quintillus, I cannot get the editor to open in any format. I am running Windows XP Service Pack 3 on an old IBM laptop. I am try to open the .97 editor and I also have the .jar laucher. When I try to open either, it default to opening Firefox, and asks if I want to save the file, without opening anything. What am I doing wrong?

It sounds like somehow the default program to open .jar files got set to Firefox. I've seen that sort of thing happen occasionally over the years, although it's more often a decompression utility that takes the file association than a web browser. It's the same basic problem that would occur if somehow .mp3 files were set to open with Notepad.

In theory the default program can be changed by this set up of steps. However, I'll note that it can be tricky to configure it exactly correctly in practice; I think I wrote it up in one of the 1408 posts in this thread. Maybe the upgraded forum can find it. Update: It did; this post mentions it. The UI is a little different in XP, but the article I linked in this paragraph covers that difference, the important part is setting the default to the Java(TM) Platform SE binary, at which point it should work, in theory.

However, what I would actually recommend is trying the XP 1.39 build. I should note that if you don't have 7-Zip to decompress it, you'll probably want version 9.20 from this page; the most recent one doesn't work on XP and I can't remember whether version 16.04 does or not. But the 1.39 XP build includes a XP_launcher.vbs file that will automatically launch the editor with the bundled version of Java - no worries about .jar files being associated with a non-Java-related program. You'll get a world of new features over 0.97 in the process, and I specifically bundled the version of Java that it includes because I haven't encountered any bugs related to XP support with that version.

(Another option, if you prefer to use build-in decompression rather than 7-zip, is the 1.09 version for Windows 95, which is in the .zip format. Otherwise it works the same way by bundling a version of Java. But it has fewer features and is much more lightly tested than the XP version)

 

[timerover51]

Quintillus, I now have it working. BLESS YOU, BLESS YOU, BLESS YOU.

I now have the 362 X 362 file of Test of Time loaded into the Test of Time scenario. I will now have to clean up the map using the regular Civ3 editor, but I most certainly will be poking at other scenarios and Savs as well.

I just did a quick check, and the regular editor work fine on it. I will likely try your editor as well, and maybe poke at it with Steph's editor as well.


(Hopefully you will get the idea that I am a tad happy. Just a tad. Maybe more than a tad.)

 

[Vsevolod_Lashtabenko]

Dear Quintillus!
Thanks a lot for your great job!
I have a little problem with creating of a map. I made a lot of work to calculate the type of any tile of the Earth Map with their coordinates. But we cannot to see coordinates directly on map. It would be a very good idea to include this option like at a standard Civ 3 editor. Now we can only set grid net without coordinates. Maybe there is a simple method to implement this option myself?
I know that I can see coordinates after choosing a tile, but it is not convenient. I would prefer to set desired type on tile with visible coordinates

 

[MadGAD]

Hello there, master Quintillus!
I've tested your editor heavily in Units tab and found something:
1) If you want to sort units by moving them up and down then sometimes (quite often for regular use in mod with hundred added units) they change their civilopedia PRTO entries for some other units for which you move them upper or lower.
2) Also sometimes upgrade links broke when you move units in list upper or lower.
Also what maybe needed is an ability to sort out Units, Buildings and Techs by Alphabetic order without losing PRTOs and Upgrade links (like Sort A - Z) and saving that list in that order. At least, ten years ago Steph made that thing work, but his editor is not working anymore.
3) What is realy cool is that your editor works fine with custom large unit icon palettes and with added PRTOs, when Steph's one sometimes brokes on a half-way in scenario making.

 

[Quintillus]

Dear Quintillus!
Thanks a lot for your great job!
I have a little problem with creating of a map. I made a lot of work to calculate the type of any tile of the Earth Map with their coordinates. But we cannot to see coordinates directly on map. It would be a very good idea to include this option like at a standard Civ 3 editor. Now we can only set grid net without coordinates. Maybe there is a simple method to implement this option myself?
I know that I can see coordinates after choosing a tile, but it is not convenient. I would prefer to set desired type on tile with visible coordinates

Thank you, first of all!

I hadn't added this because the map code is not the best quality (being written over 10 years ago when I had much less experience), and is kind of a pain to modify, but also because no one had asked. But I decided to see if I could add it in a reasonable amount of time, and came up with the following:

This is with 50% transparency for the background, and slightly below-center of the tile, both seeking to address what I see as the main shortcoming of Firaxis's editor in this regard - the tile coordinates often hide resources and other tile improvements.

I still need to add it to the settings (so it can be toggled on or off), but it looks like the answer is yes.

Hello there, master Quintillus!
I've tested your editor heavily in Units tab and found something:
1) If you want to sort units by moving them up and down then sometimes (quite often for regular use in mod with hundred added units) they change their civilopedia PRTO entries for some other units for which you move them upper or lower.
2) Also sometimes upgrade links broke when you move units in list upper or lower.
Also what maybe needed is an ability to sort out Units, Buildings and Techs by Alphabetic order without losing PRTOs and Upgrade links (like Sort A - Z) and saving that list in that order. At least, ten years ago Steph made that thing work, but his editor is not working anymore.
3) What is realy cool is that your editor works fine with custom large unit icon palettes and with added PRTOs, when Steph's one sometimes brokes on a half-way in scenario making.

For 1) and 2), is that with the latest version, and if so do you have a sample BIQ, along with unit-reordering instructions, that I can reproduce it with?

There were issues with the unit upgrades and reordering in an old version, but as far as I know those have been fixed, and I was unable to reproduce either of those with a high amount of random reordering in the current version tonight.

Realistically, I am probably not going to add alphabetic sorting, since modifying the lists requires a high amount of work (due to a mix of new and old tech, where even the "new" is not so new anymore), and even more testing to ensure nothing is broken. As I recall, in Steph's editor the view could be reordered while the underlying order in the BIQ would remain unchanged. It was a good idea, and perhaps if I were starting a Civ VI editor today, I would do that. But as it is, the amount of effort required to add it likely exceeds time saved by anyone making use of the feature.

Custom unit icon palettes are definitely supported! I always found it odd that there wasn't a visual way to select palettes ("Select Icon" on the units tab), and once I added that supporting large palettes became necessary.

 

[Vsevolod_Lashtabenko]

Dear Quintillus! Thanks for you quick answer! Your job with coordinates is very good!
And I have seen next problem. In scenario with 31 civs at start I see this:

And then after starting a game I see this:

I really dont know what is a problem. I created a map 512x256 with only plains tiles - a lot of place to locate civs. But...
What do you think about this case?
UPD: If I generate a map in editor RARR 1.7 Civ 3 always loads only for 8 players, and Civ 3 on next step cannot create locations for them. Error and exit.

 

[B-29_Bomber]

When I open your editor I get the below window. When I try to go to File -> Open and I try to open a BIQ file nothing happens and when I try to do it again I get a warning that I can't open a second file at the same time, but as far as I can tell I don't have a file open to begin with (or at least I sure as hell don't see it). What am I doing wrong? I summon @Civinator in attack mode!

 

[SayHayKid]

I can't get the editor to load on M2 MacBook Air running MacOS 13.0 (Ventura). I installed Java, placed the folder inside of Conquests folder(GOG Windows version using WINE), but when I click to run nothing happens. Any ideas?

 

[Quintillus]

I really dont know what is a problem. I created a map 512x256 with only plains tiles - a lot of place to locate civs. But...
What do you think about this case?
UPD: If I generate a map in editor RARR 1.7 Civ 3 always loads only for 8 players, and Civ 3 on next step cannot create locations for them. Error and exit.

Well, I can reproduce the error on the 512x256 only plains map. I am not sure why yet, but have enough information to investigate it.

When I open your editor I get the below window. When I try to go to File -> Open and I try to open a BIQ file nothing happens and when I try to do it again I get a warning that I can't open a second file at the same time, but as far as I can tell I don't have a file open to begin with (or at least I sure as hell don't see it). What am I doing wrong?

Can you check the last few dozen lines in the log.txt file that was created in the same folder where you run the editor, or upload it? It should have more information about why it failed to open. I could speculate on the causes, but the log will at least point me in the correct direction. The error should be a long list of lines that include a bunch containing "com.civfanatics"; include all of those and a few above them and it should help track down the issue.

I can't get the editor to load on M2 MacBook Air running MacOS 13.0 (Ventura). I installed Java, placed the folder inside of Conquests folder(GOG Windows version using WINE), but when I click to run nothing happens. Any ideas?

Theoretically, if you have Java 8 on an M2 Mac, such as this build of Java, it would work (Java 19, the latest version, would not). But if Java 8 on an M2 Mac does not work with the editor, I have no way of debugging why. I don't own an M1 or M2 Mac, and have no interest in buying one. With Intel and PowerPC Macs I could buy an older used one for a low price that was justifiable for testing the editor and other projects and seeing if they ran nicely cross-platform. M1 and M2 are way too expensive to justify, especially since I'm already planning to upgrade my PC to Ryzen this winter.

The lack of ability to test the editor on non-x86/PowerPC Macs is why, several months ago, I updated the supported systems list on the first post to specify only Intel Macs (and PowerPC for legacy editor builds). Admittedly, that was somewhat buried in the post; I've now made the list of supported operating systems/architectures a bit more prominent.

 

[B-29_Bomber]

Can you check the last few dozen lines in the log.txt file that was created in the same folder where you run the editor, or upload it? It should have more information about why it failed to open. I could speculate on the causes, but the log will at least point me in the correct direction. The error should be a long list of lines that include a bunch containing "com.civfanatics"; include all of those and a few above them and it should help track down the issue.

There you go.

 

[Erlend Philip Wood]

When I open your editor I get the below window. When I try to go to File -> Open and I try to open a BIQ file nothing happens and when I try to do it again I get a warning that I can't open a second file at the same time, but as far as I can tell I don't have a file open to begin with (or at least I sure as hell don't see it). What am I doing wrong? I summon @Civinator in attack mode!


[IMG alt="Quintillus Editor.png"]https://forums.civfanatics.com/attachments/quintillus-editor-png.643430/[/IMG]

I'm having a similar problem... I can open the Editor and get the same screen as B-29_Bomber. But it has almost no functionality. I cannot open any BIQs or saves, only change the Editor Settings and use one or two options in the Help menu.

However, I'm not entirely convinced I am opening the ConquestsEditor in the correct way. I started it by double-clicking the "Conquests Editor.jar" within the main folder, which seemed the only logical choice. But the original post of this discussion mentions a "launcher.jar" file which is supposed to start the Editor, and a download link for a "start.bat" file that also references "launcher.jar". Same in the HTML documents. I'm pretty sure that no such file exists within the current v1.44 download.

I'm on Windows 10 and installed the Liberica full JRE 8 as recommended. The Civ install path (a non-system folder) was auto-detected correctly according to the Settings tab.

 

[Quintillus]

There you go.

So, unfortunately, there are no errors in the log. The only hint of what might be an issue (but in theory should only affect saving files, not opening them) is that Civ is installed under C:\Program Files (x86)\. Windows Vista and later tend to protect access to that folder, which has been the root cause of many mysterious "I made updates to my BIQ and re-saved it, but when I re-opened the BIQ, the changes weren't there" type bugs over the years, including with the Firaxis editor. This can apply to Civ saves as well; back in 2007 when Vista was new and I had Civ installed to C:\Program Files\, my saves would mysteriously disappear.

I should really add a warning message about potential issues when those install directories are detected. It's common since it's it was and still is the default, but any of us old-timers who lived through Windows Vista + Civ3 likely learned the hard way to avoid it.

There's a 10-50% chance this is causing what you are seeing; the only way that comes to mind to test it is to copy the whole Civ structure to somewhere outside of Program Files (and Program Files (x86)), change the editor's "Civ Install Directory" in Editor Settings (Ctrl+P) to point to that folder, and try again.

But read on...

I'm having a similar problem... I can open the Editor and get the same screen as B-29_Bomber. But it has almost no functionality. I cannot open any BIQs or saves, only change the Editor Settings and use one or two options in the Help menu.

However, I'm not entirely convinced I am opening the ConquestsEditor in the correct way. I started it by double-clicking the "Conquests Editor.jar" within the main folder, which seemed the only logical choice. But the original post of this discussion mentions a "launcher.jar" file which is supposed to start the Editor, and a download link for a "start.bat" file that also references "launcher.jar". Same in the HTML documents. I'm pretty sure that no such file exists within the current v1.44 download.

I'm on Windows 10 and installed the Liberica full JRE 8 as recommended. The Civ install path (a non-system folder) was auto-detected correctly according to the Settings tab.

This seems to be happening significantly more this year, and alas, never on my machine so figuring out why is quite difficult.

But I would suggest trying this "Windows XP build" and seeing if it works as expected. It included a bundled build of Java, includes a XP_launcher.vbs script to start it, and should work just as well on 10 as on XP. Originally the bundling of Java was only necessary on XP, but it seems to be an increasingly good idea on all versions of Windows nowadays.

launcher.jar was required in the early days as back then Java would restrict itself to low amounts of memory by default - I think 64 MB - and the launcher would tell the editor it could use more memory, which was necessary for map graphics. Over the years, Java became more willing to use more memory by default, so launcher.jar was eventually retired. start.bat was used to launch the launcher on systems that didn't have Java installed at all.

This year, I've seen reports of Java restricting itself to 256 MB again, which on larger maps with graphics enabled is not enough. So launcher.jar may be coming back.

You do get brownie points for checking the HTML documents. I'm glad someone has looked at them!

Let me know if the "XP build" works. If it does I'll probably switch that to the default for 1.45, on Windows anyway. It's more work to build and upload it (while still having the traditional build for Linux/Intel Mac), but if it is solving the "2022 Java issues", that work will be saved in terms of support.

 

[Erlend Philip Wood]

Let me know if the "XP build" works.

The XP build 1.39 works, the normal 1.44 does not. I made a working ConquestsEditor 1.44 by: Creating a new folder, copying the contents of the XP version 1.39 into it, then dumping the contents of the normal 1.44 version on top of it and overwriting. Which might suggest it is the different Java updates, not the Editor itself. The XP version uses build 1.8.0_111, the newest downloadable version from BellSoft is 1.8.0_352.

Everything Civ-related is in C:\Steam on my computer, so Program Files and other system folders are not an issue.

Regarding the HTML documents, it might be a good idea to put something more obvious in the main folder, like a Readme.txt with basic installation and startup instructions. Then point the way to the HTML docs from there.