Having Trouble Loading Game...

[Ochd12]

So this might be a stupid question.

I started a game using the Steam version, and a "no city limit" patch. Using the patch .exe, I was able to load a scenario I created, but after that, I can't figure out how to load my .sav file. If I use the .exe that came with the game, my files are listed under "Load Game" as expected.

But when I click "Load Game" using the patch, all it shows are .biq files. I can't find my .sav files under any option.

Is it something to do with the .exe, or am I just missing something?

 

[tjs282]

But when I click "Load Game" using the patch, all it shows are .biq files. I can't find my .sav files under any option.

Is it something to do with the .exe, or am I just missing something?

Yes, it's likely something to do with the .exe file. Most (if not all) of the widely available hacked .exes, were originally created from a CD-version, and predate the Steam-version by 5-10 years.

But if you have installed the Steam-version, it has been adjusted to support multiplayer, and your labels.txt file (in .../Conquests/Text/ ) will -- or should -- also have been adjusted to include an extra line, 'Unknown' between the lines 'Ping' and 'Host'. If you then use a non-Steam (e.g. hacked) version of the .exe file to run the game, it likely will not need that extra line in the labels.txt, so all the button-labels on the starting screens (and also in-game) will get thrown out of alignment.

Each button's function on the start-screen is determined by its position, top to bottom, not on the text-label that has been applied to it, i.e. the top button always has the function 'New Game', the second button is 'Quick start' (i.e. 'play last world'), the third button is 'Load Game', and so on. So if you're seeing .biq files when clicking a button which is only labelled 'Load Game', then that sounds to me like what you've actually done is to click the fifth button down -- which should properly be labelled 'Civ-Content' (i.e. mods, etc.).

 

[Ochd12]

Yes, it's likely something to do with the .exe file. Most (if not all) of the widely available hacked .exes, were originally created from a CD-version, and predate the Steam-version by 5-10 years.

But if you have installed the Steam-version, it has been adjusted to support multiplayer, and your labels.txt file (in .../Conquests/Text/ ) will -- or should -- also have been adjusted to include an extra line, 'Unknown' between the lines 'Ping' and 'Host'. If you then use a non-Steam (e.g. hacked) version of the .exe file to run the game, it likely will not need that extra line in the labels.txt, so all the button-labels on the starting screens (and also in-game) will get thrown out of alignment.

Each button's function on the start-screen is determined by its position, top to bottom, not on the text-label that has been applied to it, i.e. the top button always has the function 'New Game', the second button is 'Quick start' (i.e. 'play last world'), the third button is 'Load Game', and so on. So if you're seeing .biq files when clicking a button which is only labelled 'Load Game', then that sounds to me like what you've actually done is to click the fifth button down -- which should properly be labelled 'Civ-Content' (i.e. mods, etc.).

Yeesh, yep, click "Quick Start" did the trick. I didn't even think about something like that. Thank you very much!

 

[Civinator]

... and about the No-City-Limit patches (NCL) that are available for C3C: All NCL patches run into severe memory problems and therefore it´s better not to use them, especially if settlers can been built by the AI. I made a documented test in this post (and the post that is linked in that thread). You can only build a maximum of 556 cities (compared to 512 cities in standard C3C) with the current NCL patches, but starting with city 543, some menues in the game are not working any longer.

The same problem was reported for older forms of the NCL patch.

So at least it seems to be no good idea, to use such a NCL patch if the players (human and AI) can build additional cities on the map.