Cross-Platform Editor for Conquests now available! 1.51

[Quintillus]

Steph's editor has a visual drag-and-drop tech tree editor that will set the X, Y coordinates, accessible via the "Tech tree builder" in its TECH area. My editor does not have similar functionality; you can edit and add techs, but not set their visual position so easily.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

HI Quintillus. Does your latest editor have a drag and drop ability to reorder units? I need to have my units in a specific order and retyping them is a god-awful task.

 

[timerover51]

Greetings, Quintillus, i have been using the "Import Map" feature of your editor with great success, but have yet to get it to open a .SAV file. I am using the 0.98 version, as I cannot update my Mac OS without loosing some programs that I still use. I do have a computer running, I think, Mac OS 10.9, but I am not sure if my Mac version of Civ3 will run under that. It is sort of old. I do have a Windows laptop running XP that I could use, but with the right version of Java load on it? Not sure about that either.

 

[Quintillus]

FYI, I am adding some updated graphics technology to the program that will, among other things, make it easier to search and (after that) sort tech/unit/building/etc. lists. However, to work optimally it requires Java 8 Update 60, rather than plain-old Java 8. The good news Java probably auto-updated itself to that version on your computer more than a year ago. But, if you always ignore the update message, or have disabled it, you may be on an older version.

As such, if you are on too old of a version, then starting with 1.10 you will receive a message that looks like the following on startup:

There's a 90% chance you won't need an update, but if you get this message, that's why.

Spoiler Full Details and FAQ :

Alternately, you can stay on the old version, and the editor will continue to work, but without most of the enhancements of 1.10, instead falling back on the older 1.09 code. Eventually, I do plan to remove the old code; after that point you will have the new features even if you are on an old version, but they may be slightly buggy.

Curious if you should update? You can look in the log.txt file, and find the last instance of the row that looks like this:

Java runtime version: 1.8.0_45

If the number after the underscore is 60 or higher, you are good - in my case I've been testing with an older version on purpose, so it triggers the upgrade message.

FAQ:

Q. Does this work on all operating systems?
A. Yes; all OSes which support Java 8 also support Java 8 Update 60 or later (131 is the latest update).

Q. What is a Java update?
A. It's similar to a patch, like you would get for Windows or OSX. They typically fix bugs, but occasionally also give new features, and version 1.10 will use one of these new features.

Q. What alternatives were considered?
A. Leaving out the new functionality would lead to a worse experience, and was skipped for that reason. Leaving the new functionality in but without a message would seem a bit buggy to those on an old update, which seemed worse than a notice recommending an update.

I am thinking of changing the currently-empty area below the menu on program start to a Tour/What's New/Welcome area, which could potentially include this sort of message in a non-pop-up fashion. But that would take time away from list updates.

Q. Does this affect 1.09?
A. No; it only affects 1.10, which has not been released yet. If you upgrade now, you will never have a pop-up.

Q. When is 1.10 coming out?
A. Sometime in 2017. Depends on how good the weather is.

Q. I don't like pop-ups.
A. Me neither, but they can be less annoying than bugs.

HI Quintillus. Does your latest editor have a drag and drop ability to reorder units? I need to have my units in a specific order and retyping them is a god-awful task.

No, but I'm currently working on enhanced list abilities, so you are asking at the right time. Haven't looked into drag-and-drop yet, but it probably is easier with the newer technology I'm using now, so I'll add that to the prototype!

Greetings, Quintillus, i have been using the "Import Map" feature of your editor with great success, but have yet to get it to open a .SAV file. I am using the 0.98 version, as I cannot update my Mac OS without loosing some programs that I still use. I do have a computer running, I think, Mac OS 10.9, but I am not sure if my Mac version of Civ3 will run under that. It is sort of old. I do have a Windows laptop running XP that I could use, but with the right version of Java load on it? Not sure about that either.

Good question. There was a bug in some versions prior to 1.04 where the editor would try to tack a .biq on to the end of .sav files when importing them, which is likely why it is not importing SAV files for you. I'm not sure when it was introduced, but I fixed an input from SAV bug in version 0.81, so presumably it was working then. You may be able to open the .SAV file you want with that version - there are links to the old versions near the end of the first post.

It's good to know that you are still using the old version of OS X (10.4 or 10.5?). I wasn't sure if anyone still was; after 0.98, I'd initially planned to release versions that would continue to run on 10.4/10.5 (and Win98, etc.) in parallel, but without any features that they wouldn't run. I did release one, but it has a bug such that I wouldn't entirely recommend it. Without any feedback on it, I thought perhaps everyone had moved to a newer version, and it fell off my radar.

Now that I know you are using it, I'll be sure to make at least one more update, since there have been a fair number of fixes since then, including the 1.04 Input from SAV bug, and a fair number of feature updates that will work too.

For the "Import Map", is it the main "Import Map" or the BMP version? Always interesting to know which features are being used the most.

 

[Quintillus]

Version 1.04 Legacy

This is an update to the "Legacy" line, which will run on Java 5, and thus older systems such as Windows 98, ME, and 2000, and OS X 10.4 through 10.7 (including PowerPC). If you are on a newer system, you should stick with 1.09, but this is available for older systems.

Other than the CFC Workshop feature that allows downloading units directly to scenarios, this brings it to parity with the regular 1.04 version.

You can download it here.

Changes since 0.99 Legacy are below. These were spread across several regular versions; I've split them up by type below, with the larger features listed first.

Features/Functionality/Enhancements

• Add the ability to modify unit names of units on the map. It includes the ability to set unit strategies and scrolls properly.
• You can now add lists of cities/military leaders/scientific leaders all at once
• You can now delete multiple cities/military leaders/scientific leaders at once
• You can now add additional spaceship parts, or remove spaceship parts.
• If you use the Recently Used File menu to open a file, the Save dialog will now pre-populate your file's name for you.
• The editor now restricts the upgrade to/enslave to options to units of the same type (Land/Air/Sea)
• The GOVT tab will now report which specific values it believes do not meet safety levels.
• The GOOD tab now supports internationalization.
• All labels on the GOVT tab can now be localized.
• The BIQ export feature (BIC tab) now features more friendly output for map units.

Fixes

• Fixes a bug where the Input from SAV option would erroneously try adding .biq to the .sav file when opening it, and thus be unable to open it.
• Fix a bug that would cause "Enslave Results In" to not work properly in some cases
• Fix a bug that could cause units to upgrade to/enslave to an incorrect unit after deleting units.
• Fix the bug in the spaceship part code that caused the BIQs to not be handled properly in-game
• BIQ Compare mode will no longer occasionally set the title to Civ3 BIQ Compare 0.45.
• Fix an AI strategy bug that was causing undesirable behavior as observed by Lee_Dailey

I will likely update the Legacy branch to be as equal as possible with 1.09 in the near future as it was easier than I expected to update it from 0.99 to 1.04. However that will have to wait for another night.

@timerover51 - This should also solve the Input from SAV option you were seeing, and get you a decent number of new features and a few other bug fixes as well.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

I'll add that to the prototype!

Thanks Quintillus. I can’t tell you how much time and work that will save me.

 

[timerover51]

Thanks, Quintillus, for the updated Legacy version. I am running MacOS 10.5.8 as I need to be able to access older non-Intel programs. I will download it and give it a try.

I downloaded it and checked it against a .SAV file, and it opened it up with no problems at all. It would be nice to be able to see the map as well, and figure out where everyone else is. I am not sure if that is asking too much though.

Question: If I save a file as a .biq, and then open it in the Conquest Editor, will that show me the map of all of the other player locations, or will it show only what I have found so far. I will have to try that out later tomorrow.

 

[Quintillus]

The Input from SAV only handles rules currently. I do not currently have code to read the map information from the SAV file, which is more complex than in a BIQ file. It's on the long-term radar, but would require essentially a rewrite of that functionality; currently Input from SAV finds the BIQ rules embedded within the SAV (so that on resume from SAV, the rules still work the same, even if you changed or deleted the scenario file on your hard drive), whereas that would require fully reading the SAV format itself.

Saving the import-from-sav file as a BIQ will only have the rules, although it would be possible to add your own map or use the Import from Map functionality with it (note that I have not tested using both in one session, although I don't know of a reason why it wouldn't work). As originally written, Input from SAV was meant primarily for recovering the rules from a scenario whose BIQ has been lost, although being able to access the map would open up more possibilities.

 

[timerover51]

Okay, Quintillus, file the map idea away for much longer range efforts, in the mean time, it does mean that I can fix things in the .SAV without having to go back and totally restart the game with corrections in the mod.

 

[chickenx4]

Hey I installed the zip but there no launcher.jar

 

[Quintillus]

@Oni Ryuu - Good news, the basics of drag-and-drop are working in the prototype. It's not ready yet as I need more code for updating pointers to the things that got re-ordered in the drag-and-drop, but I am now able to reorder technologies, and have them show up in the correct new order in Firaxis's editor as well, with their data intact. So while it may be awhile yet, drag and drop will be a feature in the next version (and I'll also be expanding it to cover units as well as technologies, which have been my proving ground for new technology lately).

Okay, Quintillus, file the map idea away for much longer range efforts, in the mean time, it does mean that I can fix things in the .SAV without having to go back and totally restart the game with corrections in the mod.

Currently, it doesn't allow that, as back in the early part of the decade I intentionally stayed away from anything that could modify a SAV file, due to concerns about Game of the Month (GOTM) and Hall of Fame (HOF) competitions. Now, that is much less of a concern with the smaller, closer community, and I also learned some steps that would make any attempts to mod a SAV in one of those more difficult to pull off, and easier to detect if attempted. Thus, from that standpoint I'm now willing to add features that can modify an existing SAV. But there is still a technical challenge to doing that as well. I think it may work to find the equivalent BIQ sections, and try to update them in-place in the SAV, although that would be a somewhat delicate operation without understanding the entire SAV, and I'm not entirely sure that the game doesn't cache some of this information elsewhere (I've had mixed luck when manually editing .SAV files, and how much of the mixed element is due to mistakes when manually editing versus file structure differences I don't know).

So this would be a medium-range idea. There's a plausible way that it may work, which may not be too much effort if it does, but it's tentative enough I can't guarantee it. It would be interesting to take a look at though.

In the meantime, if you have a SAV with a small number of specific bugs to fix (say half a dozen or less, and among BIQ rules), I can take a stab at manually fixing them. Can't guarantee it will work, but I can at least use Input from SAV to get a fair degree of knowledge of whether the attempted fix is likely to work.

Hey I installed the zip but there no launcher.jar

The latest releases don't have a launcher.jar; double-clicking on Conquests Editor.jar should start the editor. The launcher.jar file only helped with old versions of Java, and now that a recent version is required it doesn't provide any benefit.

 

[chickenx4]

Thanks now I can start editing my mod

Edit:I forgot to said that jar has a winrar icon on it to open it how I undo it

 

[Oni Ryuu]

That’s excellent news.
After everything your editor enables; I shouldn’t be so excited about this feature.
Thanks Quintillus.

 

[chickenx4]

I since I'm a noob at .jar files how I use them

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Good news, the basics of drag-and-drop are working in the prototype. It's not ready yet as I need more code for updating pointers to the things that got re-ordered in the drag-and-drop, but I am now able to reorder technologies, and have them show up in the correct new order in Firaxis's editor as well, with their data intact. So while it may be awhile yet, drag and drop will be a feature in the next version (and I'll also be expanding it to cover units as well as technologies, which have been my proving ground for new technology lately).

Very excited for this - the one feature Steph's editor had that I had always wished was in yours . I guess my occasional pestering has finally paid off!

 

[Blue Monkey]

I since I'm a noob at .jar files how I use them

If you have java installed (usually it's there in your computer already) then you just open (double-click ?) the jar same as you would any other app.

 

[Vuldacon]

Excellent Quintillus! Keep up the Good Work.

 

[Quintillus]

Thanks Vuldacon!

Thanks now I can start editing my mod

Edit:I forgot to said that jar has a winrar icon on it to open it how I undo it

If you have java installed (usually it's there in your computer already) then you just open (double-click ?) the jar same as you would any other app.

That's usually the case. The key question is whether Java is installed. There are a couple options to check this:

1. Open Control Panel, and in the box in the top-right that says "Search Control Panel", type "Add or Remove", and then click on the "Add or Remove programs" link that shows up. Scroll down to the J section, and see if there is an entry for Java 8.
2. Open a Command Prompt, and once it's open type java and press Enter. If it responds something like "java is not a recognized program or command", then Java is not installed.

I'm hoping the answer is that Java is not installed, in which case installing it should solve the problem. Usually this works. However, there is at least one previous report of WinRAR setting itself as the default for .jar files (post 485). I'm not sure how this happens, but I believe the best way to correct that in Windows 8 and Windows 10 is to right-click on the .jar file, hover over the "Open with..." option, and select "Choose default program". You should have options like this (assuming Java is installed, and with WinRAR as the default instead of HxD, which I temporarily set as the default for myself for the purpose of taking this screenshot):

Hopefully either the issue is Java not being installed, or the default, and if the latter the above method fixes it. If not, report back with whether Java was installed and what options the Open With... dialog had, and we can investigate further from there.

That’s excellent news.
After everything your editor enables; I shouldn’t be so excited about this feature.
Thanks Quintillus.

Very excited for this - the one feature Steph's editor had that I had always wished was in yours . I guess my occasional pestering has finally paid off!

Glad to see the enthusiasm! To set expectations realistically, it will likely be mid-June or later before it's ready, due to various commitments and a near-future vacation. Since writing code is my day job, I keep a stict "no programming" rule on vacations, including side projects. Wouldn't be as much of a vacation otherwise, and burnout is bad all around.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

As with Game of Thrones; I’m happy to wait because I know it’s going to be awesome.
_ _ .. _ _ .... ….

 

[chickenx4]

I have jarx it runs .jar files but I don't have Java is there a to run .jar files without it