Extracting Civ1 Graphics/Sounds

[pdescobar]

Since I am planning on continuing Matrix's work on a civ1 graphic mod for civ3, I figured I'd take a shot in the dark and ask this question here. The folks in Civ3 C&C surely won't know

Does anyone know how to extract the graphics and sounds from civ1 (DOS) in order to convert them to other formats? All my attempts at reading the .pic files have failed miserably so I'll probably just wind up taking a billion screenshots. As for the sounds, I don't even know where the sounds are (stuck in those *sound.cvl files somehow?) I don't expect to be able to get at them, but it doesn't hurt to ask

 

[Ville]

I don't know is there but you must take many screenshots
I will use it if you finish it

 

[Bob_Smurf]

Sorry, can't help you, but maybe you can help me by posting (or something) your screenshots-I had a similar project for civ2, but was too lazy to finish the graphics.

 

[pdescobar]

I'll give you the same questions I put in the other thread. Is there any particular portion of the game you are looking for, do you mind if they are composite images of bits and pieces of the game, and can you handle PSP format?

I currently have most of the opening animations and intro screens, a composite of all the units in barb colors, several samples of terrain, a composite of all the advisors from government switches, a composite of pretty much everything you'd see on the city screen aside from some of the wonders, a bunch of images of Shaka and one of Mao. My next tasks will be to grab any missing pieces from the stuff I have and then go after all the tech icons and building graphics, possibly grab some city views, and work more on the leaders.

 

[Bob_Smurf]

No I can't do PSP(paint shop pro?) format, can you put it in gif or jpg or something reasonable like that?
I need all units(any color but white), all terrain, all improvment & wonder icons, and anything on the city screen(people, food, shields, etc.)

 

[pdescobar]

Well, if you can't do PSP, you're gonna have to wait cause I'm not converting 100+ images for ya right now I do all my image editing in PSP so it's easier to save them directly to that format. When I complete my composite images, I can convert those though as that won't be much effort

 

[Bob_Smurf]

Yes, a composite pic would be the best option. thanks.

 

[pdescobar]

OK, here's what I have so far that you might be interested in.

• All 28 units in barbarian red plus one or two in other colors,
• a simple city screen,
• a composite city screen with nearly everything possible on it,
• the 36x20 icons for all the improvements & wonders which have tech prereqs (those which don't should be on the city screen one),
• the larger city-view-style graphics for all improvements except the palace,
• and a barely-started terrain composite; hey, at least it has the resources

All are in BMP format to make sure there was no quality lost, the zip is about 150KB: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads4/pdescobar_temp_Civ1ScreensForBob_Smurf.zip

 

[Bob_Smurf]

:worshp: :worshp:
Thank you! This is exactly what I'm looking for!!:b :b :b
The only thing missing is the rest of the terrain(of course) and the other lightbulbs, but I can get those easy.
Could you post the terrain here when you're finished?
Oh, and you're missing the actual city, but I can get that, too. Although I may not use it.

 

[Bob_Smurf]

How are you planning on converting the terrain to isometric?
And what about the units/cities being different colors for the different civs? In Civ3 is there a color that is whatever the civ's color is?

 

[pdescobar]

Originally posted by Bob_Smurf
How are you planning on converting the terrain to isometric?

There are two approaches which I can envision. I will probably use the one Matrix used, which is to rotate the tiles 45 degrees and resize them. The other approach is to take something like a 3x3 section of a given terrain and essentially cut out a diamond from the center. The former makes things like coastlines much easier to match with civ3 which is why I'll probably do that; I might make a rough preview of the other way just to see how it looks, though.

And what about the units/cities being different colors for the different civs? In Civ3 is there a color that is whatever the civ's color is?

Civ3 units use a palette switch where several shades of a given color are replaced by similar shades of the civ-specific color. The tricky part is going to be outlining the unit so that, for instance, the blue guy riding the cavalry doesn't get lost when used by a blue civ. civ1 avoided this problem by replacing any "civ" color in the unit with teal, but I don't think that sort of thing can be done with the way civ3 handles units. You can see an early test of the settler unit in the upper left corner of this screenshot made for something else.

I was planning on cities being the same as units, but now that you ask this question, I can't remember seeing any color replacement done on the city graphics, which frankly kinda sucks. If I'm lucky, something like color 254 is replaced by the civ color. If not, I guess I just have to make do with generic city icons. Too bad you can't add culture groups...

 

[GenghisK]

It's so easy ripping off any of resources of MacCiv. I could get all the sound and music of Civ, and also all the pics of any units, and finally I got the discoveries screen too... anything I want..

 

[Bob_Smurf]

I've got a couple of things you're missing-pollution, mining, luxuries & the science counter. I've also isolated the resources & I'm working on isolating the roads/RR/irrigation. I'll put what I have here if you want it.

 

[pdescobar]

GenghisK, the problem with taking the images from MacCiv is that they're too good. The Mac version has the higher resolution graphics (which they also used in the Windows version), but I want the highly pixelated low-res graphics of DOS civ. If I'm gonna go to all the trouble of downgrading CIV3 graphics to CIV1-style, I'm gonna downgrade *all the way* I may swipe some sounds from my Mac though

Bob_Smurf, that'd be great. I hadn't gotten around to terrain improvements yet so If you could post what you've isolated here, that'd be helpful

 

[Brainly]

If you install this program to the civ I directory, you can atleast play the songs

 

[Brainly]

Also, I captured a picture from the civ cheat mode. When in the %^ mode, press F3 and you should see grafics like this. In the lower right corner are your advisors, so you can get them here.
Please don't kill me because cheating, I had a good reason

P.S. Those are the democratic advisors seen here.

P.P.S. Can't you get the units' sprites from the avatar list?
Look at my avatar and you'll know what I mean.

 

[Bob_Smurf]

Originally posted by Brainly
P.P.S. Can't you get the units' sprites from the avatar list?
Look at my avatar and you'll know what I mean.

Yes, but not all of them.

 

[Bob_Smurf]

Left row, top to bottom: oasis, horses, game(forest), coal, mining, pollution(more or less), grass resource
Right row, top to bottom: coal again, gold, game(arctic), seals, oil, gems, fish

Something interesting I noticed is that oil is just coal with a stripe, gems are coal with lines, and gold is gems reversed and with different colors. Also, arctic game is different colored forest game with antlers.