GRAPHICS: Improved Wonder pics

Hey mafiosi boy, you are our savior!! :goodjob:

2 remarks:

- how do I download the mod? the link shown in your first post doesnt work

- could you be so kind as change the look of the "inventions"?
I think they are all ugly. The guy who made them is worth crap. Have you looked at the "magnetic" picture, we can hardly understand what it is. Why not a simple magnet for exemple?

Anyway, anything coming in the future? new mod?
 
Originally posted by starfox
Hey mafiosi boy, you are our savior!! :goodjob:

2 remarks:

- how do I download the mod? the link shown in your first post doesnt work

- could you be so kind as change the look of the "inventions"?
I think they are all ugly. The guy who made them is worth crap. Have you looked at the "magnetic" picture, we can hardly understand what it is. Why not a simple magnet for exemple?

Anyway, anything coming in the future? new mod?

To download, please see the first post in the thread. I just updated it to include the location provided by our gracious host.

I'll look into the advances pictures... not sure if they can be changed (but I'd think so) I'll see what they look like and if I can see a definite benefit in doing so (specifically... can I come up with better pictures :D)

As far as future mods... I'm taking it slowly now, trying to keep the girlfriend and get some play time in as well.

I don't know if you saw the final release v2.0 of ELVIS as your domestic advisor. That took *A LOT* of work...

No concrete plans for the next update but at this time I'm looking into ways to make the in-game tech-tree more meaningful.

Thanks for the positive comments!

Alessandro
 
So you have to keep your gf happy too

I just received Civ3. My gf is very new to computer games and she is disappointed by civ3. She doesnt like to see units kill each other with realistic sounds and prefer to play the only game she knows, Heroes of Might and Magic 3.

But I'll try to convince her of the interest of playing Civ. Although I love HoM3 I've been playing it for years and need a change! :D

Anyway, thank YOU for your mods, I downloaded them at my work and install them tonite :)

PS: I think you should be hired by Firaxis as a game consultant!
Contact them, it can work!
 
I have downloaded actual PHOTOGRAPHS of some of the Wonders, and have made them game-ready.
They include:
Hoover Dam
Wall Street
United Nations (Assembly Hall)
Notre Dame (Great Cathedral)
Great Wall (of China)
Manhattan Project (photo is of TRINITY Cloud)
Sistine Chapel
Adam Smith's Trading Company
Sun Tzu (portait)
Qin Dynasty Terra-Cotta Warriors (for Military Academy)
Colossus (photo of The Great Buddha of Leshan)
Pentagon (aerial view)
STONEHENGE (a really nice pic I use for Solar System Explained)
Forbidden Palace (Forbidden City with moat)
Pyramids

:cool:
 
to Quin2002:

I'm kind of surprised by the size of the file you're quoting... I could see it being slightly larger than my modpack (which includes ALL the wonder pics)... but you're talking almost 2x the size for about 1/2 the wonders.

Odd... did you save them as index table PCX files, and are they sized same as the Game's PCXs?

Not trying to second-guess you here, but I'm a bit at a loss.

Alessandro

P.S. Please don't email it to me... my hotmail account has a 2mb theoretical limit, which is more like a 1mb actual limit (don't ask... I don't either :D )
 
Hello Alessandro -Yessir..I said "hmm" to myself as well..:-)
But I just doublechecked..You're right- It's 16 .pcx files (copied right back from \ART\WONDER SPLASH),total 4797 KB.(3829 KB zipped.)Each one ranges from 128K-392K.

I haven't gone back and "pasted" YOUR modded Info Boxes over yet..I was thinking of letting the photos stand on their own merits for now..but I havent seen one in a game yet..haven't beaten anyone to it...:-)
Thank you!
-Jeff

Here's one of my favorites in jpg:
 

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Thank you for taking the time to create and share the Wonder pics! This was really needed, and adds much to the enjoyment of Civ3! Keep up the great work.
 
Originally posted by Qin2002
Hello Alessandro -Yessir..I said "hmm" to myself as well..:-)
But I just doublechecked..You're right- It's 16 .pcx files (copied right back from \ART\WONDER SPLASH),total 4797 KB.(3829 KB zipped.)Each one ranges from 128K-392K.

I haven't gone back and "pasted" YOUR modded Info Boxes over yet..I was thinking of letting the photos stand on their own merits for now..but I havent seen one in a game yet..haven't beaten anyone to it...:-)
Thank you!
-Jeff

Here's one of my favorites in jpg:

I'm still surprised.

Not saying the sizes you report aren't possible, I'm sure they are but I'm surprised.

Now the catch thing here that I'm curious about is the statement that you haven't seen one in a game yet

....mmmm

let's go out on a limb for a moment here and assume that the file sizes you're reporting are indeed too large for a 256 color indexed PCX (the only kind of image that won't CRASH civilization)... let me repeat that again... with emphasis... the only kind of image that won't CRASH Civilization... then the fact that you haven't achieved any of those wonders still leaves a possibility that indeed the files are not encoded correctly.

And before you get offended by my statement that they may not be encoded correctly... how do you think I found out Civ3 will Crash if it's not spoonfed exactly the kind of file it wants?

So my suggestions to you, at this point, both to find out if you could package these smaller and more importantly to prevent you from having a climactic experience end in a Reboot....

1 (The exciting one) Backup your Wonder Splash files and rename any of yours with the name of the one used for the Oracle, then start a game at chieftain level and go get that oracle!

2 (The boring one - requires Photoshop or ability to translate PhotoShopese into whatever graphic program you're using) Open the PCX in Photoshop, go to Image Mode. It should say INDEXED COLOR. If it doesn't you're looking at a guaranteed crash. Oh yeah, in the crazy assumption that the PCX format supports indexed color above 256 colors (I don't believe it does but who knows) also make sure that When you click on INDEXED COLOR it says 256 and whatever palette you want (I usually like Selective for conversion to 256 but I don't like strict rules... whatever works best).

Incidentally if you DO have Photoshop I would be happy to provide you with the template and action to add the Info Semitransparent thing on it. I'd do that rather than cuttin' & Pastin' from the ones I distributed as you'd obviously miss out on the pretty cool transparency.

Alessandro

Boy I need to master briefness :D
 
Hmm..you're absolutely right-- I'd say your explanation is accurate and I should play-test more before I continue..Ill also try to convert the photos to 256-color as you suggest .
Thankx for the help and advise!
And thankx for the great work on your Wonder work, I appreciate the time and effort..:-)

-Jeff

BTW-did I mention I'm a rookie at this conversion stuff? Maybe I should leave well enough alone :eek:

>>UPDATE<<
Alessandro, YOU ARE THE MAN! I converted the photos to 256-color, then playtested. Everything seems to works fine.
For starters, I built Pyramids, Colossus, and The Great Wall , and the photos displayed fine. :goodjob:
That explains the larger file size of the unconverted photos.. I did not know that the photos had to be 256, now the file sizes are more inline with the others. Thankx for the benefit of your experience and knowledge..:D

SO, may I now take you up on your offer?
>>>I would be happy to provide you with the template and action to add the Info Semitransparent thing on it. <<<
I do have PSP.
THANK YOU!
Jeff (zootnik@hotmail.com)

I can now finally eat dinner!:p
 
Is it just me or are there two different lists of CSAs going around?

There's the one in the manual on page 162-3, which is what it looks like you used for your image, and there's the modified version you get after you apply the changes in the README.txt:
  • Rome: MC with Warrior Code and Alphabet
  • China: MI with Warrior Code and Masonry
  • Persia: SI with Masonry and Bronze Working
Does anyone know offhand if the changes listed in the readme are actually implemented in the game (and if there aren't any extras they forget, which wouldn't surprise me)?

...or do I just have to check this out myself? :D
 
I know that Persia is SI, as a default. I noticed because I too was wondering about Il Mafioso's error on this count. Not to take anything away from a truly fantastic mod!
 
As someone pointed out there must be a difference between what is stated in the manual and what is actually set in the game.

I appreciate everyone who's been pointing out the problems as this is the only way I can find out there's a problem (after all I've always played as Greek, Roman or Babylonian so far so I wouldn't have noticed the problems with Americans [a typo I assume] and Persians).

I made a note to myself to go through the EDITOR and check each civ individually and redo that one graphic based on what's in the Editor.

Not sure I'll have time to do it tonight but expect an update very soon.

Of course as I think I mentioned before (I get confused sometime as to whether something came up here or at apolyton) I will make the update available as a patch as it would be paramountly RIDICULOUS to have to download a 2mb file just for a silly ONE GRAPHIC change.

If time permits I'll also set up a quickie web page on my isp (finally use it for something other than distributing files and moving stuff 'tween home and office) so that updates can be gathered from there as well.

Thanks for the feedback!

Alessandro
 
:lol: :) :p :cool: :D :crazyeyes :king: :love: :goodjob:

HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY!
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YAY!

THIS IS GREAT I was SO pissed off :-) I got the game on Halloween, and it was like a prank, it's a good game but Geeze!

Thank ytou so much for making these updates, and YES they shoudl have KEPT elvis!!!!


GOD! what were they thinkign. anyoen know how to zoom out? I hate that they keep the dsiplay size at 640 by 480 or 800 by 600 whichever. That bugs me. I'd liek to get the rez up to 1280 by 1024 32 bit color. that woud be nice. or even just the ability to zoom out to see more of the map, I coudl deal with that. I kinda wish they'ed stuck with the "window" like civ2 did, it makes it easier to do other things while playign the game.

and this is just preference, but, I woudl have liked them to have movie files for the advisors as they did in Civ2, they were funb to listen to.

and, to piss me off did you notice that the manual has tons of pictures of (and references to) things that arent in civ2 liek the sword for the espionage command or the ability to change the scale of the "history" view of yoru power, culture, and score to years or turns?

and one last *****y thing. they coud have given us a speed option for the replay at the end, it woudl make it worth watchign if you coudl make it go faster.

well thats the end of the ***** fest (for now)


thanks again for all the cool mods! :-)
 
Hit 'z' to zoom in and out. There are only two settings. Normal and zoomed out.
 
In the Civilization3.ini file, add the line KeepRes=1 at the end; this will use the desktop resolution for everything instead of switching.

The readme file says you can specify a specific res in this file but I hear it's broken (until the patch anyways).
 
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