HoF Map Finder/Generator Utility 2016-10-05

[Trooper4985]

Why is it not working with C3C? It works fine with PTW but wont acknowledge C3C. I know not the first thing about computer code but could this be because Civ3 Complete installs to diffrent directories and uses diffrent executables than the original Civ3 with the addons installed seperately?

 

[Tzar Sasha]

I tried it out last night. For the most part it works. I like the new interface a lot better. I have Win98 and I used it on Conquests. I set my restart C3C to after 30 iterations and it restarted just fine unlike the previous versions. I did have to dink around with the timers to get it right though. That's why I like the new interface it tells you what it is doing. I had to increase the load time to 18000 and the save game to 10000. I could probably kock a second or two off of the save game, but it works fine.

However, I had told it to provide me with 250 maps and it stopped and 105 or 150 I can't remember which. I'll test that out again and see what happens. My C3C had stopped responding for some reason as I couldn't get out of it once I closed mapfinder. I don't know if that's Mapfinder's doing or something else on my system.

The only other thing I can think of right now is that I can now see Ivory and all the other stuff on the final report. Could a small change be made to the report view? I'd like to see ( and for people with not so large resolutions) the iteration# at both ends and at least once in the middle of the colums. I found a map that had Ivory but when I scrolled back to the left I lost my place and could not figure out which map it was.

Thanks for updating the program!!!!

 

[Moonsinger]

Update: 3 small bugs correction! Here is the latest:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/MapFinder2005v2.zip

I have to go now....will explain and answer all your questions later. Thanks!

 

[Moonsinger]

Here is the list of the three small bugs that I corrected last night (which I didn't have time to explain previously):

1. I discovered that the save game dialog in Civ3/PTW/C3C has a buffer limit of 64 characters for directory+filename. Since MapFinder filename is 48 characters + "\" separtor for the directory, that would leave us with 16 characters for the output directory. Therefore, I programmed MapFinder to display a warning message about this and ask you to pick a shorter path as needed.

2. Every time C3C restart, the display counter is off by 1.

3. Since we are checking for all visible tiles at the starting location now, it's possible to have more 9 rivers, grassland, cows, or whatever. Therefore, those information is now encoded in base16 instead of base10; otherwise, those map may not show up on the report. Anyway, it's now fixed!

That was it! That was all the bugs that I found after running it for almost 18 hours straight with C3C v1.22. All these three bugs were fixed this morning in version 2005v2 release.

 

[Moonsinger]

I can't figure out why I am recieving the following error message:

The only change to the conquests.ini file was adding the noaipatrol line, and I can't figure out why that would do it.

Would you check to make sure the "conquests.ini" is not in READ-ONLY mode! Also make sure to select the correct AUTO SAVE folder...since I use the AUTO SAVE folder to figure out the location of your "CONQUESTS.INI" file.

 

[Moonsinger]

Why is it not working with C3C? It works fine with PTW but wont acknowledge C3C. I know not the first thing about computer code but could this be because Civ3 Complete installs to diffrent directories and uses diffrent executables than the original Civ3 with the addons installed seperately?

Not too worry! I will make it work for Civ3 Complete...I wasn't aware that they changed C3C Window Caption/Title in Civ3 Complete. If you have some knowledge of window programming, you may have heard of a Windows API function called "FindWindow". What it does is to locate an instant of an application that is currently running in your system by searching for its window title/caption or window class. Since I do not have Civ3 Complete, there is no way for me to find out what they have changed it to, may be you can help me out on this one. Just do the following:

1. Launch your Civ3/ Complete, C3C or whatever on WinXP/2K (I hope you are running WinXP or Win2K if not, may be some one else can help)

2. While Civ is running, hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete to access the Windows Task Manager. Under the Application Task list, please tell me the exact the name/caption of the C3C window/application. For example, on my system it said "Sid Meiers's Civilization III: Conquests". I bet it says Civ3 Complete or whatever mumble jumble on your system. Just let me know exactly what it says and I will make it work for you. Thanks!

 

[Moonsinger]

The only other thing I can think of right now is that I can now see Ivory and all the other stuff on the final report. Could a small change be made to the report view? I'd like to see ( and for people with not so large resolutions) the iteration# at both ends and at least once in the middle of the colums. I found a map that had Ivory but when I scrolled back to the left I lost my place and could not figure out which map it was.

Not a problem! I could add another column on the far right. Anyway, I was thinking of adding another special display column using graphic icons. For example, if the map has three cows, 1 ivory, and 2 wheat, three icons of cows + 1 icon of ivory + 2 icons of wheats will be displayed. It would make it easier to spot that one special map, I think. What do you think?

 

[bed_head7]

Would you check to make sure the "conquests.ini" is not in READ-ONLY mode! Also make sure to select the correct AUTO SAVE folder...since I use the AUTO SAVE folder to figure out the location of your "CONQUESTS.INI" file.

Well, I should have asked my question more clearly. The old version worked fine, the only change made was adding that line, as I said. When I got that message, the first thing I checked was that it was not read only, and it isn't. The conquests.ini file is in Civilization III/Conquests/, and the auto save folder is in Civilization III/Conquests/Saves/, which is where it is supposed to be, and the correct directory is selected in the setup for MapFinder.

 

[Moonsinger]

Well, I should have asked my question more clearly. The old version worked fine, the only change made was adding that line, as I said. When I got that message, the first thing I checked was that it was not read only, and it isn't. The conquests.ini file is in Civilization III/Conquests/, and the auto save folder is in Civilization III/Conquests/Saves/, which is where it is supposed to be, and the correct directory is selected in the setup for MapFinder.

Would you post a copy of your "Conquests.INI" file? I would like to try it with your INI file to see if it make any different on my system. Thanks!

 

[bed_head7]

Guess I should have done this from the beginning.

[Conquests]
Voice Quality=0
ScrollSpeed=1
Prefs Format=2
Difficulty=0
Aggression=0
Top Menu=2
Faction0=4
Faction1=28
Faction2=26
Faction3=0
Faction4=5
Faction5=6
Faction6=7
Faction7=8
Faction8=32
Faction9=32
Faction10=32
Faction11=32
Faction12=32
Faction13=32
Faction14=32
Faction15=32
Faction16=32
Faction17=32
Faction18=32
Faction19=32
Faction20=32
Faction21=32
Faction22=32
Faction23=32
Faction24=32
Faction25=32
Faction26=32
Faction27=32
Faction28=32
Faction29=32
Faction30=32
num cities to eliminate=1
one city culture to win=20000
all cities culture to win=100000
domination pct terrain=66
domination % pop=66
building wonders=10
killing units=10
researching advances=5
capture cities=100
holding vp locations=25
capturing princess=1000
Victory Point Limit=50000
Turn Limit=540
Preferences=00000111011001111010111110000111
Rules=00000000000001001000000111011111
CleanMap=00000000000000011010111010000000
Governor=00000000000000000000000000000000
Gov Prod Never=00000000000000000000000000011000
Gov Prod Often=00000000000000000000000000000000
CustomLeaderName=
CustomLeaderTitle=
CustomFormalName=
CustomNoun=
CustomAdjective=
CustomGender=0
WorldAridity=2
BarbarianActivity=-1
WorldLandmass=2
WorldOceanCoverage=1
WorldTemperature=1
WorldAge=1
WorldSize=0
WorldSeed=1115831178
Latest Save=D:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III\Conquests\saves\dman01_2550BC
Main Volume=127
Sound Volume=127
Music Volume=127
WorldSeedName=0
ActualWorldAridity=2
ActualBarbarianActivity=-1
ActualWorldLandmass=2
ActualWorldOceanCoverage=1
ActualWorldTemperature=1
ActualWorldAge=1
ActualWorldSize=0
ActualCiv0=4
ActualCiv1=28
ActualCiv2=26
ActualCiv3=0
ActualCiv4=5
ActualCiv5=6
ActualCiv6=7
ActualCiv7=8
ActualCiv8=-1
ActualCiv9=27
ActualCiv10=12
ActualCiv11=11
ActualCiv12=-1
ActualCiv13=27
ActualCiv14=12
ActualCiv15=28
ActualCiv16=-1
ActualCiv17=4
ActualCiv18=13
ActualCiv19=5
ActualCiv20=14
ActualCiv21=6
ActualCiv22=28
ActualCiv23=15
ActualCiv24=17
ActualCiv25=18
ActualCiv26=19
ActualCiv27=27
ActualCiv28=20
ActualCiv29=24
ActualCiv30=25
Seafaring=1
WindowsFileBox=0
Latest Scenario=Conquests\2 Rise of Rome.biq
MapZoom=0
PlayIntro=0
GridOn=0
noaipatrol=0

 

[Tzar Sasha]

Not a problem! I could add another column on the far right. Anyway, I was thinking of adding another special display column using graphic icons. For example, if the map has three cows, 1 ivory, and 2 wheat, three icons of cows + 1 icon of ivory + 2 icons of wheats will be displayed. It would make it easier to spot that one special map, I think. What do you think?

Graphic icons would be a help especially beside the iteration# and save file link.

Oh, I noticed the iteration# being offset at every restart which is tolerable but you did fix it. However, I tried the new version and it did not work for some reason. I will try it again before making a major complaint.

On the first 2005 version, when I tried it a second time to give me 250 maps it locked up at 111. I think my system an 800Mhz Intel Celeron with 256Mb ram running Win98SE may not be able to handle as much new game & restarts as some of the newer machines. May want to provide some kind of warning/suggestion for older machines that they search for fewer maps (100 or less). Of course, it could just be me and nothing with general PC configurations or OS's. I guess we can wait and see if other users of older systems report a similar problem.....

EDIT:
I ran 2005 v2 a second time. This time it was setup for 250 maps and to restart after 30. 18000 for loading, 10000 for saving and 9000 for restarting. It ran fine and saved maps. Restarted after #30 and continued to save maps. Shut down C3C after #61 but did not restart. However, mapfinder continued to run counting and saving non-existant maps. Could there be a bug in there? (as well as my "old" system misbehaving)

To be complete I will try it with PTW and C3V and get back with you....

 

[Moonsinger]

Guess I should have done this from the beginning.

[Conquests]
...
Latest Save=D:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III\Conquests\saves\dman01_2550BC
...
noaipatrol=0

On your original error message you posted previously, you told MapFinder that your Conquests folder was installed in drive C but in the INI file you just posted, it said drive D. Please verify and give MapFinder the correct drive letter or wherever your C3C actually is.

 

[Trooper4985]

Not too worry! I will make it work for Civ3 Complete...I wasn't aware that they changed C3C Window Caption/Title in Civ3 Complete. If you have some knowledge of window programming, you may have heard of a Windows API function called "FindWindow". What it does is to locate an instant of an application that is currently running in your system by searching for its window title/caption or window class. Since I do not have Civ3 Complete, there is no way for me to find out what they have changed it to, may be you can help me out on this one. Just do the following:

1. Launch your Civ3/ Complete, C3C or whatever on WinXP/2K (I hope you are running WinXP or Win2K if not, may be some one else can help)

2. While Civ is running, hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete to access the Windows Task Manager. Under the Application Task list, please tell me the exact the name/caption of the C3C window/application. For example, on my system it said "Sid Meiers's Civilization III: Conquests". I bet it says Civ3 Complete or whatever mumble jumble on your system. Just let me know exactly what it says and I will make it work for you. Thanks!

Good guess.... Sid Meier's Civilization III: Complete

I can't wait to run this on C3C... I have kicked out 5 or 6 nice maps with 3 or more cows for PTW in the short time I've had this awesome little program.

 

[Tzar Sasha]

2005 v2
I tried it on Civ3 Vanilla last night with the same settings except the save directory was changed (of course)

I saw this morning that it had stopped at #211. I had an error message something about file parameter incorrect. I could not run any graphics programs to take a screen shot because Mapfinder and Civ3 were using up my resources. I did manage to manually save the map that the error occured on and will include that in this post (See it below labeled #211_parameter_incorrect.zip). Maybe you can use it to determine what caused the error whether that be Civ3, Mapfinder or something else specific to my system.

PS. I almost always play on Huge maps and that was the type of map I was saving. If that helps any....

 

[bed_head7]

Wonder how I missed that? Thanks, Moonsinger!

 

[Moonsinger]

Update: MapFinder 2005v2.1 (edited: link deleted)

Adding two more features:

For Trooper4985, it should now detect "Sid Meier's Civilization III: Complete". I am assuming that Civ3 Complete is just another name of C3C, am I right? Anyway, if my assumption was correct, it should recognize Civ3 Complete now.

For Tzar Sasha and those that are using older and slower system, you are now have complete control of two generic sleep functions (time delays). You can adjust it in File/Setup/Extra (it's just another TAB in the setup screen). The two sleep functions are as follows:

A. Time delay/sleep between keystrokes -> If you press a key in Civ3, you must give it time to process. MapFinder will put itself to sleep during the wait time. For example, if you press ESC key in Civ3/PTW/C3C, it will take time for the Civ program to process that keystrokes. The default setting is 100ms which is good enough for most system of 1.3 GHz or above. For slower system, you may want to increase that to 500ms or more. Btw, 500 mili-seconds is equal to a half second.

B. Time delay/sleep between Civ Dialog -> The Civ dialogs (small popup window in Civ3) would naturally take Civ3/PTW/C3C more CPU time to process than the keystrokes. For slower and older system, you may want to increase that to 5000 ms or 5 seonds. The default is set to 1000ms (1 second) which is perfect for my system.

Basically, just like in real life, if we sleep less, we would have more time to do things. However, if we don't get enough sleep, our body functions may not work correctly or effectively. If MapFinder doesn't give Civ3 application enough time to process, eventually it will overload Civ3 messages buffer and may cause the system to run out of resources. On the other hand, if MapFinder give Civ3 too much time (by putting itself to a lot of extra sleep), it won't be very productive either. It may take some times to fine tune it to work with your older system.

 

[Tzar Sasha]

Thank you Moonsinger. This new revision works great.

Your suggestions at changing the new timers are just right for my system.

I think I found a new bug. I told mapfinder to stop after finding 250 acceptable maps. The only requirement was that there had to be at least 1 ivory. After testing 250 maps, it stopped on #251 and showed the report with only 3 acceptable maps. This had nothing to do with my system resources as nothing was actually locked up unlike the other times. Should it not continue checking maps until it finds 250 maps with ivory, even if it has to check 250,000 maps?

I will do some further tests at lower #'s but I fear that the # of acceptable maps entry is actually the # of maps to test...

EDIT: I ran it again with C3C. This time I told it to stop after find 10 acceptable maps. To restart after 20 maps. And to save only maps that had a minimum of any 2 luxuries. On the 11 map, I had not had any saves and Mapfinder did not continue to search anymore maps. It did not generate a report presumably because there were no maps to report. I think somewhere the # of maps to accept is being confused with the # of maps searched.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Hm, I have two problem:
1) Once an acceptable map is found, the game isn't restarted, but the iteration counts on and on, saving the same start over and over again. Have to stop mapfinder, and close the save location box to get it to restart.
2) Sugar is counted as Food Bonus. Would exclude that, since it simply is none in Despotism (and that's what the game is about, when we're only looking at the start).

 

[Moonsinger]

Hm, I have two problem:
1) Once an acceptable map is found, the game isn't restarted, but the iteration counts on and on, saving the same start over and over again. Have to stop mapfinder, and close the save location box to get it to restart.

Logically, when an acceptable map is found, MapFinder will ask Civ3 to save the game for you. Note: The offical SAV file is compressed where the AUTOSAVE file isn't. Anyway, since it seems to stop working at this point, it can mean only one thing, you didn't give it enough time to save the game; therefore, you need to increase the "Time Delay for Saving".

2) Sugar is counted as Food Bonus. Would exclude that, since it simply is none in Despotism (and that's what the game is about, when we're only looking at the start).

For the time being, if you are really looking for food bonus, just tell it to look for cows. I will reprogram it to not consider "sugar" as food in the next release. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Moonsinger]

Thank you Moonsinger. This new revision works great.

Your suggestions at changing the new timers are just right for my system.

I'm glad it worked!

I think I found a new bug. I told mapfinder to stop after finding 250 acceptable maps. The only requirement was that there had to be at least 1 ivory. After testing 250 maps, it stopped on #251 and showed the report with only 3 acceptable maps. This had nothing to do with my system resources as nothing was actually locked up unlike the other times. Should it not continue checking maps until it finds 250 maps with ivory, even if it has to check 250,000 maps?

I will do some further tests at lower #'s but I fear that the # of acceptable maps entry is actually the # of maps to test...

EDIT: I ran it again with C3C. This time I told it to stop after find 10 acceptable maps. To restart after 20 maps. And to save only maps that had a minimum of any 2 luxuries. On the 11 map, I had not had any saves and Mapfinder did not continue to search anymore maps. It did not generate a report presumably because there were no maps to report. I think somewhere the # of maps to accept is being confused with the # of maps searched.

Thanks for locating that bugs! You are probably right about me getting confused between the acceptable counter with the run counter. I will fix that next.