Improvement Idea: Project Smoke of War on the Ground

[Coronel_Civ3]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and a fan of this Civilization 3 game. I'm Spanish and I'm using Google's translator so I apologize if you don't express yourself well when translating it.



While I am playing my fictional game on a map of Europe downloaded on this forum (thank you very much), Greece is at war with Poland and has razed the entire country destroying all infrastructure to date (roads, irrigation, mining, etc...) I had an idea that I need help from this thread to add a war visual effect.



I would like to add this effect as if the crates or sinkholes from the aerial bombardment or artillery when it hits the target and destroys it; we have the drains, creters, the debris of the cities and I want to add this:



Could anyone make me the GIF file to implement in the game or how can I do it?

Thank you very much, greetings to all.

 

[Coronel_Civ3]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and a fan of this Civilization 3 game. I'm Spanish and I'm using Google's translator so I apologize if you don't express yourself well when translating it.



While I am playing my fictional game on a map of Europe downloaded on this forum (thank you very much), Greece is at war with Poland and has razed the entire country destroying all infrastructure to date (roads, irrigation, mining, etc...) I had an idea that I need help from this thread to add a war visual effect.



I would like to add this effect as if the crates or sinkholes from the aerial bombardment or artillery when it hits the target and destroys it; we have the drains, creters, the debris of the cities and I want to add this:



Could anyone make me the GIF file to implement in the game or how can I do it?

Thank you very much, greetings to all.

Hello forum!

After researching I have managed to redesign the craters file by adding the aforementioned smoke... it is the first one I have done and it will surely be fatally done but it is what I wanted to do, I await your opinions from the most experts and give me advice to improve or that you contribute to me more ideas. Thank you very much I hope you can download it without problems. Greetings!

Have mercy on me, it's the first thing I do and I'm a rookie...

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

I like it very much. Looks really good and gives the impression that a recent battle took place.

 

[Coronel_Civ3]

Me gusta mucho. Se ve muy bien y da la impresión de que tuvo lugar una batalla reciente

Me gusta mucho. Se ve muy bien y da la impresión de que tuvo lugar una batalla reciente.

Thanks!

 

[Ozymandias]

@Coronel_Civ3 -Welcome! And thank you for this first

-z

 

[Coronel_Civ3]

Thanks to you, a pleasure to contribute.

 

[Coronel_Civ3]

Hello, after so much time of inactivity I'm back.

I need help, I redesigned the file of craters or sinkholes in the terrain with fire and war or battle smoke effects but they are not GIFs.

Can someone help me somehow get the effect of demonstration or unrest cities to be used on the ground as battle damage?

Thank you.

 

[tjs282]

The art-files which add static features (roads, mines, irrigations, etc.) to terrain-tiles are, by definition, not animated.

The only exceptions are the "Smoking" and "Eruption" animation(s?), which currently only apply to Volcano-tiles. It might be possible to hijack one of those animations and apply it to Cratered tiles generally, rather than Volcanoes specifically, but this would likely require modifying the .exe file.

Our resident .exe-patching genius @Flintlock might therefore be the best person to ask about this?

*vague summoning gestures*

 

[Coronel_Civ3]

The art-files which add static features (roads, mines, irrigations, etc.) to terrain-tiles are, by definition, not animated.

The only exceptions are the "Smoking" and "Eruption" animation(s?), which currently only apply to Volcano-tiles. It might be possible to hijack one of those animations and apply it to Cratered tiles generally, rather than Volcanoes specifically, but this would likely require modifying the .exe file.

Our resident .exe-patching genius @Flintlock might therefore be the best person to ask about this?

*vague summoning gestures*

Thank you, I have written to you and asked if you can help me.

Maybe there's luck. I have many ideas in mind that arise while I play since I do it in a way of continuous improvement.

Unfortunately I don't have that computer skills to run it.

 

[Civinator]

There are even more animations in Civ 3, especially in the art/animations folder of Civ 3 vanilla. The animation coming closest to the desired crater animation is the disorder animation.

Unfortunately there must be a trigger in the programming for those event animations. The most common animations are the unit animations beginning with #ANIMNAME_PRTO_Unitname . For existing craters on a map this could be symbolized by preplaced special unit animations, but this is not working for not preplaced craters.

I think here a special trigger in the program must be enbedded, but I am not able to do such a hack. May be it could be helpful to know for what the abreviation PRTO is standing for (#ANIMNAME_Animations_Crater or something like that ????????).

 

[Coronel_Civ3]

Right, that's it!

The idea that when an area is bombed and has sinkholes, include that. What I did was take a small image representation and put that smoke on some mosaics of ruins or sinkholes, but it's not a gif, it's static. It looks good and gives it a special touch but it would be perfect if it could be made to work on land with movement.

 

[Coronel_Civ3]

There are even more animations in Civ 3, especially in the art/animations folder of Civ 3 vanilla. The animation coming closest to the desired crater animation is the disorder animation.

View attachment 688005

Unfortunately there must be a trigger in the programming for those event animations. The most common animations are the unit animations beginning with #ANIMNAME_PRTO_Unitname . For existing craters on a map this could be symbolized by preplaced special unit animations, but this is not working for not preplaced craters.

I think here a special trigger in the program must be enbedded, but I am not able to do such a hack. May be it could be helpful to know for what the abreviation PRTO is standing for (#ANIMNAME_Animations_Crater or something like that ????????

Could you send me the file? or how can I get it in gif format?

I'll see if I can put the graphics in pollution proof mode.

 

[Civinator]

Could you send me the file? or how can I get it in gif format?

You have the needed FLC files in the Animations folder of Civ 3 Vanilla:

Gif files have no use for animations in Civ 3. You can copy the disorder gif in my last post in this thread if you want to have a gif file, but as written, the gif file is not working in Civ 3, as here you need flc files in a special format (as they are per example in the Animations folder)

 

[Coronel_Civ3]

You have the needed FLC files in the Animations folder of Civ 3 Vanilla:

View attachment 688008

Gif files have no use for animations in Civ 3. You can copy the disorder gif in my last post in this thread if you want to have a gif file, but as written, the gif file is not working in Civ 3, as here you need pcx files in a special format (as they are per example in the Animations folder)

And if we pass the image file, for example, pollution from PCX to FLC with movement. Could the game read it? or it would detect that the file is missing such as it is not found

 

[Civinator]

And if we pass the image file, for example, pollution from PCX to FLC with movement. Could the game read it? or it would detect that the file is missing such as it is not found

In my last post I had an error, that I now have corrected. The animations need of course flc format (not pcx format).

 

[Vuldacon]

Coronel_Civ3... The Civ Game is not programed for long animations, especially for Units. That said, probably the best way to get at least a short animation of Fire/Smoke from Artillery Attacks or Bombs would be to Remake the Attacks for them and of those two types of Attacks the Artillery Attacks offer the most Plausible way to have something closer to what you are wanting.
The Artillery Attacks can use the Flag Bombard Fx for the Artillery Units in the Editor, Units section. Those Animations are found in the civ3PTW>Art>Animations>Trajectory Folder. Those animations offer 4 Flcs that can be Remade to show more of what is wanted. They are each only about 1.25 seconds (hit.flc, hit2.flc, hit3.flc and hit5.flc).
A possible example: make or use hit.flc for the Artillery Hit then use hit2, hit3 and hit5 Flcs for added and continued fire and or smoke. You could play around with combinations of hits and Fire/Smoke using those 4 Flcs. Yes, each flc is short but because I believe each plays in an immediate sequence there is no hesitation between the playback in game and that allows for making a smoke or Fire continuation after the initial Hit Explosion that would last around 3.75 seconds using the original flc speed to show Fire and or Smoke longer.

To create this animated graphic FX you would either use one of the existing Hit Explosions for hit.flc to show the Artillery Hit then for Flcs hit2.flc, hit3.flc and hit5.flc you would make one long animation that would fit in all 3 Flcs (45 Frames long), by dividing the animation into 3 sections, 15 frames each. Although you could experiment changing the Flc Speeds to a slower speed that would make the Flcs play longer, the Civ Game would probably shorten the flcs if too long because it seems to be programed for shorter animations. Therefore, it is probably best to simply use the same number of frames and flc speed for each of the flcs. That said, you can try a slower flc speed for lets say hit2.flc, hit 3.flc and hit5.flc after making the new flcs to test in game. Test example: try 100 flc speed to have those 3 flcs play 1.5 seconds each in game.

My above suggestion and technique is basically the same thing I had to do with my Unit "The Drunk". The Attack animation needed to be much longer than the game would play so I divided the one long animation into 3 sections and adapted each section to AttackA, AttackB and Attackc. Because the game plays AttackA, B and C in a sequence with no hesitation, and loops, the animation plays through as if it is one animation in game. After much work on the Unit, I was happy to find a way to have the game play the Attack as I wanted it.

Working within the programed boundaries generally requires using some sort of "work around" to try to get what we want and many times "Thinking Out of The Box" we can get at least something that will suffice

 

[tjs282]

I understood that what @Coronel_Civ3 wants is not an extended unit-animation, but rather for Cratered tiles to continue burning/ smoking for (1 or more) full turns after getting bombed -- as Volcanoes do just prior to erupting, and also as cities do during disorder.

 

[Coronel_Civ3]

I understood that what @Coronel_Civ3 wants is not an extended unit-animation, but rather for Cratered tiles to continue burning/ smoking for (1 or more) full turns after getting bombed -- as Volcanoes do just prior to erupting, and also as cities do during disorder.

Correct, I am not referring to a unit but to the effect of a bombardment, whether a catapult, or cannon or any attack via bombardment, if it bombs ground installations (terrain improvements) I have that holes appear due to the successful bombardment. I have personalized it, some of the crater mosaics are among ruins of cities, sinkholes and some I added a kind of fire with smoke but aesthetically pleasing. I think I attached a file of how I have it and the truth is when a country is at war you can see the effects and it looks very good. Well, I would like to add, if possible, an animated effect, such as that of cities when they are in demonstration. But if the problem is programming, my knowledge is not that great, I depend on the most experts.

 

[Vuldacon]

Coronel_Civ3... I understand now that you want Tiles to Smoke/Burn for at least 1 full turn or more. Even if that could be created, there would also be the problem of stopping it.
I believe that is something that, IF possible, will need additions to the Game. Perhaps Flintlock might find a way to allow Continued map graphics. That will also be a chore to have a way to trigger the graphics then end them.

The only way I have managed to have continued Map Graphics is for Scenarios where the Graphics begin with the Game such as Electronic Billboards that are actually Units placed on impassable terrain. They "die" vanish when the Civ that owns them is gone.
I used the disorder flames for apartments . I adjusted the flames and added them so they burn from the apartment windows.

Basically, creating immobile Units that are pre-placed on impassable terrain with no attack/defense is the main way to have Map Graphics and even then you have to work out a way to explain how they vanish when the actual Civ that owns them is gone.
The reason for impassable terrain is to keep other Units from covering the units as they would try to "kill" them if at war...and because the Graphic Unit cannot be killed, the attacking units just stay on the same tile, masking out the Graphic Units.

 

[Coronel_Civ3]

Coronel_Civ3... I understand now that you want Tiles to Smoke/Burn for at least 1 full turn or more. Even if that could be created, there would also be the problem of stopping it.
I believe that is something that, IF possible, will need additions to the Game. Perhaps Flintlock might find a way to allow Continued map graphics. That will also be a chore to have a way to trigger the graphics then end them.

The only way I have managed to have continued Map Graphics is for Scenarios where the Graphics begin with the Game such as Electronic Billboards that are actually Units placed on impassable terrain. They "die" vanish when the Civ that owns them is gone.
I used the disorder flames for apartments . I adjusted the flames and added them so they burn from the apartment windows.

Basically, creating immobile Units that are pre-placed on impassable terrain with no attack/defense is the main way to have Map Graphics and even then you have to work out a way to explain how they vanish when the actual Civ that owns them is gone.
The reason for impassable terrain is to keep other Units from covering the units as they would try to "kill" them if at war...and because the Graphic Unit cannot be killed, the attacking units just stay on the same tile, masking out the Graphic Units.

I thought about that idea and it came to me when I saw that someone on this forum created the walls for Age of Empires 1, I don't remember who it was but if I remember correctly it was made using units I think I remember, could the Maginot line be created as a wonder or improvement of terrain with self-firing effect like coastal fortresses?... xd but this is something else, I'm not getting lost hahaha...

I discarded the idea of using the unit because of the issue you mentioned, but it had several problems:

1- If it is an escort, it requires units but for my desired purpose it is not useful.

2- If it is without an escort, it has the problem that if it loses the territorial zone it will be destroyed and it is of no use to me.