HoF Map Finder/Generator Utility 2016-10-05

[EMan]

I've NEVER seen anyone help out Ginger_Ale before.........Never!!

He's (she's?) ALWAYS so Prompt, Knowledgeable and Patient at the Civ 3 Quick Answers thread.........helping out the less-experienced players............Good on you Ginger_Ale........and Gold Star to you too, Ms. gmaharriet!

 

[gmaharriet]

Thanks, Eman! I've gotten much help from Ginger Ale as well, whether he knows it or not, and would love to return a favor to him (as well as all the other folks I've learned so much from).

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Hehe, I require help once in a while. (And I'm a he, yes!).

That is exactly like mine gmaharriet - except there was no save in the folder where the .jpg and .set one was. I think this was because MapFinder wasn't "done" yet - it still had yet to find 99 more acceptable maps, but it was stuck with my 2nd problem, where it wouldn't launch again. If it had found all the saves and stopped by itself (I manually stopped it when it wasn't doing anything), I bet it would work. Thanks again.

 

[GoToParaguay]

Heya, I don't wish to sound completely stupid, but I can't for the life of me firgure out how this works, I dl'd the file unzipped it, run the game clicked on the exe, and now what lol? Any help would be marvelous!

 

[bed_head7]

Check the second post of the thread. You should find what you need there, and if not, you can always ask more specific questions.

 

[GoToParaguay]

that helped a bit, but I'm still lost, how do I create new rulesets? it asks for those when I click 'start map generator' and I can't figure out where to make them/get them from

 

[bed_head7]

Go to File then Setup, and you will get a new window with three little tabs. One is general, one is rule set, and one is extra.

 

[Moonsinger]

Thanks Eman, GmaHarriet, and Bed_Head for helping out while I was gone.

To Ginger_Ale: Are you still having problem with MF? If yes, please post the spec of your system (CPU speed, # of RAM, and # of video RAM). I also need a to see what inside your MapFinder.INI file (it can be located at where you installed MF; please post a copy of it). If you provide me with those information, I'm pretty sure I can help your MF running smoothly with 100% satisfaction.

To GmaHarriet: There are some very nice features in the MapReport program that you may have missed. May be you already know about them, may be not, but I'm just going to list them down here just in case:

#1. By clicking on the column header (any column header), the report will be sorted by that column. For example, if you want to sort all maps by the cows column, click on the cow column (now you can move on to #2 below to select mass move, mass save, mass delete, etc.)

#2. If you right hand click on any row in the report, a popup menu with some very nice feature (like mass delete maps, mass move, etc) will appear. For example, first select a range of rows by clicking on one row then drag the mouse cursor to include other rows, then right-hand mouse click to activate the popup menu, then select "save as..." (it will prompt you for folder destination, etc...it also remembers the location of your last selected file folder ...isn't that nice?). Of course, for those maps that you don't ever want to play, just select delete and MapFinder will delete them (all three *.JPG, *.SAV, and *.DAT files). Please note that MF would delete only maps for those selected rows and nothing else.

 

[gmaharriet]

Thank you SO much, Moonsinger!!! I wasn't aware of the "mass" possibilities directly in your program. That should save me having to do it in Windows Explorer, since I file them by playing level, map size and type.

I may never get listed in the Hall of Fame, but I sure get some terrific starts to have fun playing with.

 

[Moonsinger]

No problem, gmaharriet!

 

[MSTK]

Does this mean that I have to leave this on overnight or somehting?

 

[superslug]

Does this mean that I have to leave this on overnight or somehting?

I'm not entirely sure which post or person you're addressing, but yes, the general idea behind Mapfinder is to let it run while you're not using your computer.

I guess sitting and watching it run could be somewhat meditative, I'm not really sure, I only do that a few times a week. I guess what really defines me as hard core is that I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night because my CD drive hasn't spun recently and I know that Mapfinder needs restarting.

 

[gmaharriet]

I often watch it running when I'm having a problem with insomnia. The sorta regular routine of clicks and thumps and staring at the screens changing requires no effort on my part and I get drowsy...a TERRIFIC added benefit that I'll bet Moonsinger never intended.

 

[superslug]

You're right, gmaharriet. I sometimes don't turn my speakers off when I go to bed. It's almost like mellow tribal percussion.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

To Ginger_Ale: Are you still having problem with MF? If yes, please post the spec of your system (CPU speed, # of RAM, and # of video RAM). I also need a to see what inside your MapFinder.INI file (it can be located at where you installed MF; please post a copy of it). If you provide me with those information, I'm pretty sure I can help your MF running smoothly with 100% satisfaction.

When I get burned out of regular Civ like now I turn to the HoF for fun, so this would be a great help!!

Sys. Specs: P4, 1.8GHz, 256 MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 400 video card, 64 MB for it.

[Config]
Delay4NewGame=18000
Delay4SaveGame=18000
Delay4RestartC3C=24000
MinDomLimit=100
MaxDomLimit=1000
OutputDir=C:\HoF\Histographic\
AutoSaveDir=C:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III\Conquests\Saves\Auto\
Counter=407
Delay4Keystrokes=1500
Delay4CivDialogs=12000
MaxAcceptGame=100
QuickStartGame=1
NoRun2RestartC3C=33
JPGCompressionQuality=70
MinCattle=2
MinFish=-1
MinGame=-1
MinGold=-1
MinOasis=-1
MinSugar=-1
MinTobacco=-1
MinFruit=-1
MinWheat=-1
MinDyes=-1
MinFurs=-1
MinGems=-1
MinIncense=-1
MinIvory=-1
MinSilks=-1
MinSpices=-1
MinWines=-1
MinGrassland=4
MinFloodplain=-1
MinPlain=-1
MinForest=-1
MinHill=-1
MinJungle=-1
MinDesert=-1
MinTundra=-1
MinMountain=-1
MinCoastal=-1
MinMarsh=-1
MinFreshWater=1
MaxGrassland=-1
MaxFloodplain=-1
MaxPlain=-1
MaxForest=-1
MaxHill=-1
MaxJungle=1
MaxDesert=1
MaxTundra=1
MaxMountain=-1
MaxCoastal=-1
MaxMarsh=1
MaxRiver=-1
MinFoodBonus=-1
MinLuxury=-1
MinShieldGrass=2
MinGoodyHut=-1
MinLimit4ForceSave=-1
MinCow4ForceSave=3
DisableRuleSetWarning=0

According to other people who have similar specs, these seem OK... I'll be gone until the 16th, so take your time...

 

[Moonsinger]

Hi Ginger_Ale,

I'm back. Your configuration looks ok, except these two values as follows:

Delay4Keystrokes=500
Delay4CivDialogs=5000

Make you turn off all automatic scheduler! Make sure your virus protection isn't schedule to do a complete system sweep while you are running Civ3 (because that would cause MapFinder out of sync with Civ3). Other than that, it should work. If it runs for day without giving you any maps, may want to check your rule sets to make sure that you aren't asking for the impossible (like give me a map with a domination limit of 4700 or something).

PS: If you like, you can remove all those MinXXXXX keys from your MapFinder.INI file. Those keys left over from the previous version, the current version use the rule set and doesn't need those values.

 

[Own]

I've got a problem with this utility. Whenever I generate a map, it says, "Highest Dom limit: 0" and lowest "Lowest: 9999999." I have made sure autosave is on and the autosave directory is the conquests one, not vanilla or ptw. It's worked before.

Edit: Also, I saw it generate a kind of map I wanted, but it wasn't considered acceptable! I had

Cow on grassland
And River > 0

 

[Moonsinger]

Cow on grassland
And River > 0

That is an invalid rule! That would explain why it doesn't work. How many cows on grassland are you looking for? Please be more specific. For example, you could correct that rule as follows:

And Cow on grassland > 0
And River > 0

Now, it will work!

 

[Own]

Will that fix the domination limit thing too?

 

[Moonsinger]

Will that fix the domination limit thing too?

Yes, it will! Btw, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the domination limit counter. Mininum=999999 and maxinum = -1 is exactly the initial values that I had programmed it to begin with.

Here is how the program really work:

Step #1: intialize the "lowest limit counter so far" with 999999 and the "highest limit counter so far" with -1.

Step #2: start the map evalution subrountine

Step #3: if the limit of the current map is less than the "highest counter so far" or if is greater then the "lowest counter so far", update the counter.

Setp #4: Loop back to Step #2 for next iteration.

As you see, because you gave it an invalid set of rule, step #3 has never get a chance to do its job; therefore, the program evaluate nothing; therefore, you end up seeing the initial value as stated in step #1.