Headlines

[Valen]

Has anyone tried to edit KING.TXT to customize the headlines lately?
When I tried swapping out a headline, it caused the game to lock up any time I talk to another king.
The Civ quiz also freezes.
My only hypothesis is the file has this year's date on it and the game doesn't like that.
I don't see any other difference between the new file and the old one.

Definitely keep a backup if you try it yourself.

 

[spod]

Editing KING.TXT is fun, and has always worked for me. Initial thoughts are - maybe you made a headline too long? Or with a special character the game doesn't like? There are plenty of guys on here who know more about the inner workings of civ than I do so they will probably come up with a better answer. And yep, always keep a backup!

 

[spod]

Oh, and make sure you don't accidentally delete/mess up the codes and symbols within the file, like * and ^ and $THEM and all that good stuff. Can send you an original version of the KING.TXT file if that helps.

 

[Valen]

Thanks for the offer. I have a backup copy. I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong.
I've attached copies of my last good KING.TXT and the corrupted one.

 

[spod]

This is what my KING.TXT file looks like these days...

 

[Theov]

I even edited the Civ3 eh... whaddayacallit... diplomacy. Added a lot of Civ1 phrases.
And in Civ1 I have edited so many times, once half to my native language, Dutch, once to some computer speak kind of language: -> war -> not war
Headlines? I don't know man, just just done gone and fudged it up somewhere I guess.

 

[tupi]

What matter here is number of symbols (or maybe bytes?) until *INIT message. Your 'bad' *NEWSE have 39 symbols and good one has 45. You need at least 43 symbols here for the game to not freeze at *INIT message. You can add these additional 4 symbols anywhere in messages before *INIT message.

EDIT: only now I noticed that you added NEWSO, NEWSP and NEWSQ, when normally last news is under NEWSN. Game calls random(14) here, so it cannot use these additional messages. We can hack it (more news = more fun!), though, at least to NEWSZ.

But first we should understand what the problem with number of symbols. With any (?) 'bad' king.txt file game freezes on any (?) different instance of reading from it, not only *INIT.

For now I only can say that there can be some 'good' and 'bad' numbers of symbols in your file (in intervals: if some number is ok, others around it are ok too). But I tested again - and it seems there are no any 'bad' intervals in my version of the file.

The problem is definetely in your data bytes at the beginning of the file. They are somehow corrupted/incorrect. But I have no idea about their meaning! If you can, restore you king.txt from the backup.

 

[tupi]

This data from CD version:

Spoiler :

30 30 30 30 DA 07 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 C2 20 30 30 30 30 A5 04 35 15 33 20 30 30 30 30 3B 09 42 0D 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 45 16 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 0D 0A 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 0A 07 68 0A 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 AF 13 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 2C 13 30 30 0D 0A 30 30 30 30 F7 0A 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 3C 18 30 30 6D 0F 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 FC 0E 6B 12 30 30 4E 10 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 38 14 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 06 0D 0A B2 14 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 24 1C 30 30 30 30 CA 08 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 12 02 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 3A 02 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 62 02 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 8D 02 6A 0B 30 30 0D 0A 30 30 30 30 B6 02 30 30 30 30 0E 11 30 30 E4 02 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 16 03 2B 0B 30 30 30 30 30 30 48 03 D3 15 30 30 30 30 30 30 7B 03 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 AC 03 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 0D 0A DA 03 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 0B 04 FF 09 7B 0C FD 1D 45 1E 3D 04 98 1E F2 1E 30 30 23 1F 74 04 57 08 9E 09 F3 0F 75 1F 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 0D 0A 30 30 30 30 30 30 72 1B 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 91 11 37 1A 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 74 05 00 0C D4 1F 30 30 0D 0A 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 12 30 30 30 30 30 30 29 0E 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

Can be useful for other people with corrupted king.txt too, I guess. I'm not too sure if it's ok to upload full king.txt, so let it be this way... Btw, my current king.txt is different from this, but still more similar to 'clean' version than Valen's.

Also, I just remembered some report about corrupted king.txt. IIRC, only some messages crashed the game in that case.