[SCENARIO] Escape From Zombie Island Elite - January 31, 2017

[Vuldacon]

Blue Monkey... Thank You for your encouraging post and I am Happy you can have some Fun with the Game because that is the Main Reason for it

 

[Takhisis]

Hey Vuldacon! I happened upon this article today and was happily reminded of the 'pedia entry for one of the units here.

 

[Vuldacon]

Takhisis... Yes indeed, What Ever Man can Think of and Believe, can become Reality!
T-800... "Drop Your Weapon" --

 

[Takhisis]

‘Talking, walking, and tea-making’-800.

 

[Nwoll]

Haven't played in years. Back again with Steam trying my favorite scenario. The .txt file seems messed up? Might be a steam issue. I can post screenshots if you need it, but I figured it might be a known issue with this mod and steam. Any ideas for a fix?

 

[tjs282]

Haven't played in years. Back again with Steam trying my favorite scenario. The .txt file seems messed up? Might be a steam issue. I can post screenshots if you need it, but I figured it might be a known issue with this mod and steam. Any ideas for a fix?

The text-problem is caused by an incompatibility between the Steam conquests.exe and the scenario's labels.txt file.

Basically, to add labels to the appropriate points in the GUI, the .exe looks for specific line-numbers in the labels.txt, but when Steam started hosting MP-games again, the conquests.exe file in the installer was reverted back to the MP-capable version from the GameSpy-era, and the (base-game) labels.txt file was also modified/reverted to include a new line "Unknown" between the lines "Host" and "Ping" — which shunted every subsequent label down by one place.

But scenarios like EFZI, which were built to be run on a "single-player-only" .exe published during the years intervening between GameSpy-MP going defunct and Steam-MP being introduced, don't have that now-needed-by-Steam labels.txt line — so when the scenario is run under Steam, the player sees the random word-salad.

It's an easy fix, though. Go into your ..Conquests/Scenarios/EFZI/ scenario-folder, then into the ../Text subfolder. Open the labels.txt file in a simple text editor (e.g. Notepad or similar), scroll down to the "Host/Ping" lines, and insert the needed "Unknown" line in between them.

Then enjoy your zombie-fightin' madness!

(BTW, this fix can be applied for any other scenario where you see this problem as well)

 

[Nwoll]

Thank you!

 

[Vuldacon]

Yes, the Steam version needs to use Unknown between PING and HOST in the labels.txt

Perhaps I will add the Labels.txt for Steam in with the Download.

 

[Nwoll]

Game freezes when it goes to spaceship screen as the company for Destroy all Evidence.

I can't get it off the spaceship screen. I hit "x" and it freezes, I hit "launch" and it freezes. I've reloaded and tried several times. I do give up after about 20 minutes so it could just be taking longer. But other turns have been very short.

4pm Day 9.

 

[tjs282]

IIRC, the hung-game problem occurs when the .exe tries to play the Space-victory movie at a non-native resolution.

While you're not actually trying to launch, you should be able to exit the Spaceship/"DAE" screen using <ESCAPE> — and that might also work to bypass the movie-autoplay when the last component is built.

I sometimes (also) need to use <ESC> to pass through all the end-of-game score/taunt-screens (in the epic-game) without hangs.

 

[Blake00]

Hi @Vuldacon ,

In our email convo you mentioned interest in setting up mirrors on other sites.. here's my regular 'spiel' which contains some instructions and recommendations that I usually give to Civ3 modders with large file hosting issues/concerns.

Firstly I recommend using the free 7zip on max compression settings to make a 7z file is probably better for future releases. Rar is better than regular Zip but 7zip is better than rar and is one of the front runners for compression (EDIT: Although I recently found out about ZPAQ's super compression but no one would have the required software sadly). For example I just downloaded your efzi2_elite 257MB zip file and recompressed it's contents with 7zip and was able to get it down to 161MB nearly shaving 100 megs off the file size! Better for you (uploading & hosting space wise) and better for any fans with slow download speeds.

Secondly you're using FTP upload access here at CivFanatics like I do however I'm hearing talk from admins that they may be moving to something else in the future so I'm not sure what's going to happen with it or how good the replacement will be. I've noticed a lot of the mods around this place have links to personal cloud storage, mega upload, mega nz, rapidshare, mediafire etc as they're quite popular, however they sadly seem to time out after a couple of years (usually because they have a 'delete all files for inactive users' policy), so if you want a more reliable permanent hosting option elsewhere (as a mirror to your existing one) then I recommend ModDB.

Spoiler ModDB advice and guide :

You can either design a full mod page by going to the Civilization 3 section here and clicking on the + 'add mod' button which would allow you to create a full page with lots of pics, info and most importantly the files:
https://www.moddb.com/games/civilization-iii-conquests
(Click to expand example picture - I Accidentally had it on Civ2 instead of Civ3 when I took this snap but you get the idea haha)


ModDB will also host pictures and videos of the mod for you too, and even host blog like dev diaries & announcement articles to attract more fans to your work.

Here's my Civilization 2 Red Alert 2 scenario page if you want a example how one looks:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/civilization-2-red-alert-2-siege-of-new-york-scenario

Another example is from when I made a similar suggestion to Vindsval for his massive 1.5 gig Downfall Apocalypse Civ3 scenario that was sitting in personal cloud storage and he went and created this page for his mod:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/civilization-downfall

OR if you want the easiest quickest option then don't even make a mod page and just add your mod to the general Civ3 files/downloads section here instead (add file button is in the same place as on the mod page I showed above):
https://www.moddb.com/games/civilization-iii-conquests/downloads

ModDB file uploader has an AWESOME option to mirror an existing file download url so you may not even have to upload the file again (unless you make that new recompressed 7zip version ) as it can probably easily make a copy of your existing download.
(Click to expand example picture)

I'm happy to do that for you (eg I made one for Drift's Master of Myrror Civ3 mod with his permission) as I know ModDB like the back of my hand these days (currently 12 projects on there and counting haha) but then you wouldn't have control over the download should you update the mod and would need me to update it which would suck a bit, so I usually recommend modders create their own pages.

Other stable long term free hosting alternatives include Internet Archive Org which I've been using to preserve hundreds of Civ2 scenarios and recently successfully did the Star Trek Civ3 mod on there as they support permanent file/pic/vid/chat hosting like ModDB, I recently found out about Nexus Mods supporting Civ3-6 and they are another popular mod file/pic/vid/chat hosting site, and even Sourceforge (which people think is just for source code but I've seen people use it to host regular mods as well) would you believe as they support free file/pic/vid/chat hosting too. @Quintillus this last paragraph is relevant to our PM convo too as I forgot about some of these other excellent options!
. . . .

 

[Vuldacon]

Blake00... Good Host Possibilities. Depends on how things go here.

As for zip programs, I use WinZip with its Legacy zip type because it allows people to unzip the files without having WinZip. If everyone had WinZip I would use the Advanced compression "zipx" for smaller files.

WinZip vs 7-Zip Comparison:

WinZip | Download Your Free Trial

WinZip makes it easy to encrypt, share, compress, and manage your files! Enjoy direct integration with popular cloud services and keep files safe with apps for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

www.winzip.com

 

[Blake00]

Blake00... Good Host Possibilities. Depends on how things go here.

oh yes I was only suggesting as a mirror download and certainly not a replacement for here. Mirrors give that extra security/redundancy in case something goes wrong, which lets face it, judging by the massive workload ahead of Quintilius and I fixing lots of broken civ3 mod downloads here over the next few weeks, things go wrong a lot lol!

I use WinZip with its Legacy zip type because it allows people to unzip the files without having WinZip.

Yes regular zip is certainly number 1 for accessibility as anyone with windows can unzip the files so I can certainly understand that reasoning.

WinZip vs 7-Zip Comparison:

hah oh man.. that winzip marketing page gave me a good laugh.. they compare their Pro version (a paid product) to the completely free 7zip and list a huge amount of features no one will ever care about or use... no info about compression ratios/sizes whatsoever of course.. just a tick box list of features.. lots pretty features.. very good winzip lol very good hehehe.

Fancy bells and whistles aside 7z absolutely smashes regular zip format every time with compression. However I didn't know about their more recent special ZipX format until you mentioned it so thanks for that mate! I looked into it on some more trustworthy 3rd party testing sites and it looks like it's pretty good and seems to be on par with 7z for compression and file sizes. I also noticed from these comparison sites that there's apparently yet another format out there that seems to smash them both in compression making even smaller file sizes known as ZPAQ. No good for sharing mods on the net as no one would have the program required for it probably, but it might be good for backup stuff as I compress a lot of stuff to spare usb drives so I'll have to give that new ZPAQ one a try!

EDIT: I tried PeaZip and it's ZPAQ mode and wow! It's definitely better than even my beloved 7zip.. using your mod as a test subject I got it down to 152MBs, nearly 10MBs less than 7z managed.. wow! Looks like I've got a new favourite backup tool lol!

 

[Vuldacon]

Currently Game Testing with the Zombie Witch, two more Key Locations and another Building that auto-produced Units for the Zombies...
I plan to Update EFZI2 Elite this year.
The Zombies are Stronger! Game Play is more Challenging and Fun ... and the Zombie Witches are a Fun and Good addition

When the Zombies Rally, it seriously will get your attention but when played well the Human Player will gain more Needed Champions to deal with the Various "Hot Spots"

 

[Takhisis]

I have to say that I specifically like how adding some immobile artillery units down by the hotel forces tactical choices such as loading cars with shooters but then having to retreat within the same turn instead of the typical civ-like stacking units and waiting for the bombardment animations to stop displaying.

 

[Vuldacon]

I have to say that I specifically like how adding some immobile artillery units down by the hotel forces tactical choices such as loading cars with shooters but then having to retreat within the same turn instead of the typical civ-like stacking units and waiting for the bombardment animations to stop displaying.

Depending on when you want to capture the White Sands Hotel, it is faster to Use the Cruisers and Voyagers to Kill those Guardian Evil Units after capturing Adventure Island.
My Game Testing has gone well... the Zombie Witches are Fun and really not a problem because usually 1 and sometimes 2 Shots, depending on the terrain she is on, Kills her. Strong but not too strong and she is able to kill general units and especially the Other AI units fighting directly.

In the current Test Game I have 62 Champions on turn 93. That is extreme but they are needed. Battles on many areas keeps them spread out over the Island.
The Additional Building I added, "Ocean View Cafe" between the Airport and White Sands Hotel, Helps the Zombies and especially by Zombiegeddon the Zombies get tough with more units all over Paradise Island. Of course when the Zombies reach The Omega, you really do Not want them to have many more than 10 Buildings... the Domination turn 140 provides Extremely Powerful Zombie Units.

The Zombies progressively become more Powerful from start to Finish and the Strategy Players use is Critical

The Zombies Rally several times and it feels Overwhelming for a few turns during game play but persevering pays off Greatly... Over All the Game Play is Better than ever from the beginning to the end

 

[CorvusFortis]

Company will be next then

 

[Geffalrus]

Holy smokes, I can't believe this epic scenario is still getting updates.

 

[Vuldacon]

The Game is Now Updated December 10, 2022 ... Uploaded today December 20, 2022. Download on Post 1

The included Biq is named EFZI2 Elite v5 due to all of the past and present Updates.
Same Game with additions and adjustments.

The Game is now improved as intended and details are corrected and specific.
The included Game Update list states the additions and adjustments. The Extra files are inside the EFZI2 Elite Folder.

Merry Christmas to all of you

 

[Blake00]

Congrats buddy! Look forward to checking it out!