HoF Map Finder/Generator Utility 2016-10-05

[IgrOK[SU]]

My Output Dir were "c:\" and "c:\MF".

 

[IgrOK[SU]]

My process of map generation:

1) Close and stop all except "Civ3" and "Mapstat".
2) Set off all sound and game options.
3) Start "New game" with needed settings.
4) Exit to main menu and go to "Quick start".
5) Repeat intil N=10:

1. Enter. Enter. Ctrl+S. Enter. Alt+Tab. Ctrt+R.

2. If domination limit is big enough than Alt+Tab. Ctrl+S. N (N is number 1, then 2,3,...,10). Enter. Else simple Alt+Tab.

3. Ctrl+Shift+Q. Enter.

6) We have 10 maps with needed domination limit!

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by IgrOK
2. If domination limit is big enough than Alt+Tab. Ctrl+S. N (N is number 1, then 2,3,...,10). Enter. Else simple Alt+Tab.

Yes, I'm well aware of better way of doing it, but I'm in no hurry of going there. At the moment, this program is just a prototype to help some of us to find a good map for our HoF attempt.

I apologize for not thinking about people who may be using ancient technology like Win95 with 128 Mb of RAM while I was coding it. Well, most people with ancient technology do not milk the game anyway, therefore, would have very little use for this utility. Since I assume that the computer is doing all the work anyway, a few extra second longer isn't going to hurt anyone. Therefore, I didn't put too much effort into it. Sorry, but after a long day at work, I really don't want to do any more work on my computer at home unless I have to.

 

[boogaboo]

Originally posted by boogaboo


Hmmm... my resources are my RAm machine and brain, I don't have gold but ok with money, tech is ok, since most people are dum, and luxury? I already smoke, thnx!
Also, I am not the "Dark Ranger" from Warcraft3, so I can't charm u.

U a man or women?
Nvm, I can't charm either one.

I am a programmer though - very good in C, less in C++.
Less in GUI, more in data structures and algorithms..
I know math..

Gimme the code!
Give it 2 me baby, aha aha!


Chaim.

Moonshine!!!!!
What about the code?????

 

[fret]

This a cool-tool

A thousand thankyou's Moonsinger

Scanning through the thread it isnt clear whether we can or cannot use it for HoF attempts ? Can you clarify?

 

[EMan]

........because it does nothing you can't do manually! (Notwithstanding the already-HOF-approved MapStat program.)

 

[Aeson]

I've added it to the acceptable utility list in the HOF rules thread.

 

[fret]

Justa quick note on useability - If your PC's normal resolution is greater than Civ 3's native res of 1024x768, lets say 1280x1024, it presents a problem in that when Civ 3 loads up it automatically sets your resolution to 1024x768 - and therefore puts the Mapfinder button off-screen to the right, hence you cant click it.

Me being a bit thick and all, took me a few attempts to work out what was going wrong

 

[Artofcybermars]

Regarding "ancient" technology I have Civ installed on a P2 so naturally this utility takes longer to run than advertised but I still find it is an time saver. I can set it up run it go for coffee with friends or work on one the other computers. I may only get 2 or 3 maps selected within my guidelines an hour but that is more than i would get manually because of the boredom factor. Plus I feel that my time is more productivly used and less guilt over my Civ time. So thanks again Moonsinger. BTW milking is an pain on a P2 but one must be diligent if one wants to rule an empire.

 

[Moonsinger]

I have followed IgrOK's suggestion on using the QuickStart game option which would save us at least another 10 second per ech iteration. Thanks IgrOK! This utility is now updated to version 1.5. See the new download link at the second post. That's it! My work is done for now. I will be out of town for awhile and when I get back, I will add option to look for food/shield/gold bonus at the starting location. Dianthus had update his DLL to calculate food/shield/gold within the 8 squares surrounding starting location, but I haven't had time to write the new interface for it yet.


PS: @boogaboo, I also release most important section of the source for this utility, see the second post! Sorry, can't give you the whole thing because the rest has my home address written all over the place and it would take me forever to clean that up.

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by fret
Justa quick note on useability - If your PC's normal resolution is greater than Civ 3's native res of 1024x768, lets say 1280x1024, it presents a problem in that when Civ 3 loads up it automatically sets your resolution to 1024x768 - and therefore puts the Mapfinder button off-screen to the right, hence you cant click it.

That could be a problem! How about I will give you an option (in the mapfinder.ini file) to configure the exact X,Y location where you wish this icon to appear. How does that sound? Version 1.6 is now supporting this new feature.

Here is an example of what you can put into the Mapfinder.INI

[Config]
IconPositionX=100
IconPositionY=13

In this example, the icon will be displayed at 13 pixel down from the top of the screen and at 100 pixel horizontally.

 

[fret]

Originally posted by Moonsinger


How about I will give you an option (in the mapfinder.ini file) to configure the exact X,Y location where you wish this icon to appear. How does that sound?

Thats unbelievable! Thanks!

 

[Moonsinger]

I just discovered a couple problem with the QuickStart game in PTW and Civ3 (note: this is really an abnormal behavior in Civ3 and PTW).

In PTW v1.27f: You can't select AI opponents! However, you can select the number of opponents. Basically, all AI opponents will be 100% random.

In Civ3 v1.29f: You can select upto 6 AI opponents and the rest will be random

In C3C (all version): The AI opponents will be selected based on your the settings as your previous game. This is really exactly how the QuickStart game option suppose to work.

Enlightening by this discovery, I think I will have to an option check box to the MapFinder program so that we have choice to start new game with the QuickStart path or the New Game path. I will implement this as soon as I have some free time.

 

[fret]

Are these supposed to be spelt like this ?

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by fret
Are these supposed to be spelt like this ?

I'm not sure what you mean there!

____

Update on C3C: It seems to me that C3C v1.15 is a little bit unstable. It has cracked on me twice already during the map generating process. After a few hour of restarting the newgame, C3C reported a memory error and rolled over and died.

Anyway, by using this utility, I have found many good decent size map with good starting location for PTW1.27 with domination limit of around 4550.

 

[Darkness]

Originally posted by Moonsinger


I'm not sure what you mean there!

Uhm... I think he means the words minimum and maximum are spelled wrong...

 

[boogaboo]

yes, moonsinger, the miniMum and maxiMum are spelled wrong.
Also, I've seen the QuickStart bug... It's true.

 

[Moonsinger]

Thanks for the correct spelling! I will correct that this weekend (when I work on the next version of it). My first priority is to add an option for us to go with either the "QuickStart" or the "New Game" path. Using the QuickStart option would save us at least 10 second per iteration (if you have no problem with random selection for the AIs in PTW or vanila Civ). Using the New Game option would take about 10 seconds more, but we can pre-select the AI players. Of course, If I have time, I will work with the food/shield/gold issue after that.

 

[superslug]

I know what my computer's going to be doing next week! Your follow through is almost as awesome as the program itself!

 

[Moonsinger]

Just a little footnote:

Please keep in mind that there is a little bit of memory leak bug in C3C. Basically, if you restart a new game or quickstart a new game for so many times, C3C will become "nil". Here is a sample screenshot of that:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/c3c1nil15.jpg

Of course, C3C will be self-destructed shorly after that. If you are planning to use this ulitity with C3C, please keep in mind that my program doesn't cause that and please don't blame it on me. Anyway, if Firaxis doesn't fix that bug in the next patch. I could easily have my program to automatically quit and relaunch C3C every 30 minutes or so.