Little help?

[Zlop]

Hey there,
I stumbled on this forum looking for a civ2 download so that I could play it again. And I was pretty amazed to see that people are still playing it and also some people even bothered to mod it pretty extensivley.
The possibility of modding civ 2 got a huge amount of cool ideas floating around in my head, so I jotted them down on a piece of paper. Basically a list of cool modifications I would like to do to the game.
Thing is, some of them might require some pretty heavy modding work.
Now I'm a total newbie, and quite frankly I have no idea where to start if I wanted to do an overhaul type mod. I know, its a pretty huge goal for someone who knows nothing about modding civ 2, but it is doable. I'm thinking of starting off by extending the tech tree, adding some units and changing the rules of the game so that it ends around the year 3000 for a start.
That I think is pretty reasonable goal, nothing too fancy, all been done before. But since I'm a newbie:


-->Could anyone point me to the right ressources to get me on the right track please?


(I used the search function but didn't get much in the line of "civ2 modding tutorials", and I've sifted through a few pages of potentially useful material, but since I'm new here and you guys know the forum better then I do I'm hoping you can point me in the right direction, would save me some time.)
Cheers!

 

[Birdjaguar]

Moderator Action: I'm sure a civ 2 junkie will be along to help you out, but in the meantime, you should know that we don't allow swearing on the forums. Please refrain in the future from using that kind of language. Thanks,
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Magic_gorter]

Moderator Action: Moved thread. It's more likely you get help in this part of the civ 2 forum

 

[Zlop]

Ok, won't swear again sorry.
And thanks for moving the thread, realised minutes after posting it that it wasn't really in the right section.

 

[Catfish]

Could anyone point me to the right ressources to get me on the right track please?

CFC's reference section is here. The other place to go is the Scenario League site. It's down at the moment, but I gather it's in the process of changing hosts (Apolyton → CFC). No link yet.

Moderator Action: I'm sure a civ 2 junkie will be along to help you out, but in the meantime, you should know that we don't allow swearing on the forums. Please refrain in the future from using that kind of language. Thanks,
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

1. How did that get past the autocensor?
2. Lucky you used strikethrough, I might've been offended.

 

[Harry Tuttle]

Hi Zlop! The Scenario League will be along shortly. In the meantime feel free to ask away. I'll point some of the others to this thread to help out before the SL tips site is back up.

 

[CurtSibling]

Same here! Willing to assist if possible!

 

[Zlop]

Cheers lads much appreciated!
@Catfish, yeah saw that thanks for the pointer. There are some really good ressources but it's not quite what I'm looking for. They focus on scenario creation mostly, which is a huge help for what I'm doing, but I want to stretch the game boundaries a bit.

Basically I want to build a huge mod(as all newbies do); but before I start taking my small steps I want to know if what I want to do is at all possible. So I'll just jot down a list of questions about what I want to do, if you don't understand something I'll do my best to clarify it for you. Meantime if could answer these questions it would be such a help!(I'll number them so you can go 1) Yes, 2)No, 3)Not without reprogramming the game engine etc...)

So:
1)Is it possible to stretch the timeline of the game so that you start earlier(say 3000 BC) and finish later(say 5000 AD)?
2)Is it possible to change the game so as to allow more than 7 civilizations?
3)Is it possible to massively extend the tech tree beyond the existing one?
4)Is it possible to add lots of units, city improvments and wonders on top of what is already there?
5)Is it possible add ressources and terrain types to what is already there?
6)Is it possible to add a zoom in and zoom out function the the game?
7)Is it possible to make gigantic maps?(my end idea is a world map real scale)
8)Is it possible to implement a function into the game so that you can play on 2/3 maps separetley in the same game?(the idea here is that you get to colonize the planet after the spaceship lands and you can play on Earth first then your new planet second)
9)Is it possible to add unit functions to the game?
10) Is it possible to change city view so that you get to build your improvments where you want them + make the city look like an actual city?

Then last of all, in light of all that:
Would you think I am better off:
A) Making a civ 2 mod, knowing that there are limited ressources on civ 2 modding and that I may only be able to do a fraction of what I would like to.
B) Making my version of a civ 2 game on another, perhaps more accomodating game engine.(this would probably take longer and may still have limitations)
or C) Making my whole game from scratch, taking into account this means I need to learn an appropriate programming language and make my own game engine.(the longest(yeeeears!) but the most accomodating for my needs probably)

If A, could you point me to some modding ressources that will help me achieve what I want to do?
If B, could you, if you know, point me to some good game engines?
If C, could you, if you know, tell me which programming language is most probable to suit my needs best?

Thanks again guys, lots of question so feel free to answer any of them or all of them

 

[Cyrion]

Hi Zlop!

Here are a few "quick-and-dirty" answers to some of your questions. If you need more informations, feel free to ask! What I answer is for MPG, but the principles are the same for the other versions, only the figures might change a bit; and for some of my answers, you need to save the game as a scenario, not a simple mod

1) Yes, 2)No, 3)Not without reprogramming the game engine etc...)

So:
1)Is it possible to stretch the timeline of the game so that you start earlier(say 3000 BC) and finish later(say 5000 AD)? yes, in a scenario you can set the starting time you want, as well as how long a turn represent! And you can set a fixed number of turns before the game ends too
2)Is it possible to change the game so as to allow more than 7 civilizations? No, except if you count the barbarians as a civ
3)Is it possible to massively extend the tech tree beyond the existing one? Not massively: you can add about 10 techs; otherwise, you can rename/move around the already existing ones
4)Is it possible to add lots of units, city improvments and wonders on top of what is already there? No: you can add some units (about 10), but no Wonder or improvements
5)Is it possible add ressources and terrain types to what is already there? No: you can only modify the existing ones
6)Is it possible to add a zoom in and zoom out function the the game? not sure I understand what you mean
7)Is it possible to make gigantic maps?(my end idea is a world map real scale) Yes, you can make much bigger maps than what is normally allowed by the game
8)Is it possible to implement a function into the game so that you can play on 2/3 maps separetley in the same game?(the idea here is that you get to colonize the planet after the spaceship lands and you can play on Earth first then your new planet second) not sure I understand what you mean! ToT allows for a true multimap which might be what you mean; or you can play around with splitting a map in 2 in other versions
9)Is it possible to add unit functions to the game? if I understand what you mean(something like "ignore ZoC" or "Submarine", then no
10) Is it possible to change city view so that you get to build your improvments where you want them + make the city look like an actual city? I doubt it!

Then last of all, in light of all that:
Would you think I am better off:
A) Making a civ 2 mod, knowing that there are limited ressources on civ 2 modding and that I may only be able to do a fraction of what I would like to.
B) Making my version of a civ 2 game on another, perhaps more accomodating game engine.(this would probably take longer and may still have limitations)
or C) Making my whole game from scratch, taking into account this means I need to learn an appropriate programming language and make my own game engine.(the longest(yeeeears!) but the most accomodating for my needs probably)

A, of course! I'm a Civ 2 fanatic...

 

[Catfish]

I'll add to the previous. First of all: which version of Civ2 are you using? Different versions have different limits. See here.

1)Is it possible to stretch the timeline of the game so that you start earlier(say 3000 BC) and finish later(say 5000 AD)?

Yes in scenarios (Cheat menu → Scenario Parameters), no in mods.

3)Is it possible to massively extend the tech tree beyond the existing one?

100 technologies is the maximum.

4)Is it possible to add lots of units, city improvments and wonders on top of what is already there?

The maximum number of unit types depends on which version of Civ2 you're using, ranging from 54 in classic Civ2 to 80 in Test of Time (ToT).

6)Is it possible to add a zoom in and zoom out function the the game?

There's already a zoom function. See View menu for shortcuts.

7)Is it possible to make gigantic maps?(my end idea is a world map real scale)

Real scale, as in 1:1? Is 32 767 tiles gigantic enough? That's the maximum.

8)Is it possible to implement a function into the game so that you can play on 2/3 maps separetley in the same game?(the idea here is that you get to colonize the planet after the spaceship lands and you can play on Earth first then your new planet second)

ToT allows you to play multiple maps (up to 4) simultaneously. Aside from making Earth uninhabitable with some nasty ChangeTerrain events, I can't think of a way to force a map switch.

9)Is it possible to add unit functions to the game?

No, but you can mix and match the existing ones.

10) Is it possible to change city view so that you get to build your improvments where you want them + make the city look like an actual city?

No. I guess you're not using ToT.

Would you think I am better off:
A) Making a civ 2 mod, knowing that there are limited ressources on civ 2 modding and that I may only be able to do a fraction of what I would like to.
B) Making my version of a civ 2 game on another, perhaps more accomodating game engine.(this would probably take longer and may still have limitations)
or C) Making my whole game from scratch, taking into account this means I need to learn an appropriate programming language and make my own game engine.(the longest(yeeeears!) but the most accomodating for my needs probably)

If you're thinking of reverse-engineering the game, take a look at FreeCiv first. No point reinventing the wheel.

 

[Zlop]

Thank you for your replies, I saw them but I've been having some connection problems latley so I couldnt reply. So thanks again.