[MGE] Civ 2 Patch Project

[deeves]

I've been working on a patch for MGE similar to the ToT patch project. So far, my patch includes stuff that are already in the wild (e.g. AI fix, No CD checks).

https://github.com/vinceho/civ2patch

Here are some unique features my patch provides:

* I implemented my own way of fixing the CPU usage. Maybe I'm the only one experience this, but during long AI turns (e.g. WWI scenario), sometimes the application hangs for a few seconds. My patch should fix this.
* Playing MP3/OGG music files.
* Speed up combat animations. I got tired of watching the puffs of smoke during combat

The project is open source, so I encourage anyone to contribute

 

[thecrazyscot]

This is awesome! Now I only need to get it to work

I copied the files into my CIV2 directory and ran the patcher (which, btw, neither Windows nor Avast! anti-virus liked at all), but when I try to open the CIV2.exe it still asks for the disk.

The .ini file was created and here's how I set it:

Spoiler :

[Options]
Log=1
Music=0
FixCpuUsage=1
Fix64BitCompatibility=1
DisableCdCheck=1
DisableHostileAi=1
SetRetirementYear=1
SetCombatAnimationFrameLength=0
SetPopulationLimit=0
SetGoldLimit=0
SetMapTilesLimit=0

[Limits]
RetirementYear=9999
RetirementWarningYear=9979
MapTilesLimit=32767
PopulationLimit=200000
GoldLimit=2000000000

[Advanced]
MessageStatusInterval=3000
MessageWaitTimeout=1
CombatAnimationFrameLength=8

[Music]
Frequency=22050
ChunkSize=8192
Volume=64
Album=0

Despite enabling the log feature, no log file was created so I don't have anything to share with you on that front. (EDIT: I ran the patcher again and it created the log file but it's blank)

BTW, this was a clean vanilla install which was then upgraded to MGE using the patch on civfanatics, if that makes any difference.

 

[deeves]

I just tried it with the Classic to MGE patch from here. It seems that the version of MGE provided from that patch is old. You need to apply the official v1.3 US patch first. Sorry, I didn't code my fixes to work with any other version

As for the anti-virus, my NOD32 didn't complain. I'll try to get it to work with others. Meantime, there's an alternative way to run this project. There's a bsdiff patch file in github to patch civ2.exe to use the civ2patch.dll (https://github.com/vinceho/civ2patch/blob/master/dist/civ2patch.bsdiff).

For simplicity, I'll upload the patched exe here. Copy the content to your Civ 2 folder and run civ2.exe instead of civ2patch.exe. You still need to upgrade to v1.3 US first.



Technical side note:
The difference between running the game from the patched civ2.exe vs the civ2patch.exe is that civ2.exe is modified to load the civ2patch.dll. Where as civ2patch.exe launches vanilla civ2.exe and loads the civ2patch.dll in memory, which some anti-virus goes crazy about.

 

[thecrazyscot]

I just downloaded the 1.3 patch and installed it into the same folder I'd previously installed your patch to, then tried running civ2patch.exe...and voila, the game started! Thanks, that fixed it.

 

[thecrazyscot]

deeves, is there any way to change how railroads act? i.e. would it be possible to change them from unlimited movement to something like 5 or 10 movement instead?

 

[Patine]

<Deleted>

 

[deeves]

deeves, is there any way to change how railroads act? i.e. would it be possible to change them from unlimited movement to something like 5 or 10 movement instead?

Hi Scot, I don't intend to add anymore gameplay changes. I'll take a look at this. If it's simple enough, I'll add it

 

[deeves]

Hi thecrazyscot,

I looked into limiting movements for railroads. Turns out in Civ 2, the movement points are incremented by 3. For example, if a unit has 5 moves, it actually has 15 points for movement. A normal tile move costs 3. Thus, the lowest movement cost is 1 (one-third movement cost which is the affect of roads/rivers). For railroad to have a movement cost relative to a road, I need to scale all the movement costs. This change doesn't seem easy for me - I don't think I can add this feature at this time

 

[thecrazyscot]

Ah well, thanks for checking anyways!

 

[Cocat2517]

Hi deeves, can you help me get my Civ2 working please, I've tried everything but cannot get it working right.

I have an old Civ2 (16bit) cd, I managed to getting working on Win7 (64bit) as MGE using Roberts guide (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=507226), it all works fine, but I have the horrible aggressive AI problem.

How do I get my Civ2 working on Windows 7 without the AI problem? I don't need Gold edition or anything.

Can I use your patch after installing from Roberts guide? How do I install your patch?

Cheers
Pete

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Take a look at
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=573000
Hopefully, it helps.

 

[Cocat2517]

Take a look at
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=573000
Hopefully, it helps.

Thanks Ali, sadly none of those have been successful.

 

[Cocat2517]

Take a look at
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=573000
Hopefully, it helps.

Think it's sorted.

I downloaded a copy of Civ2 MGE (seeing as I own it already I wouldnt consider this illegal :/)
Patched it to 1.3 (US) (not sure if this was needed or not)
Patched it with Masterminds 64-bit patch
Then ran the attitude.exe within Civ2 directory.

Ran the game and so far all ok, AI attitude is remaining as it should and not defaulting to hostile.

I'll post back if I get any issues.

Thank you!

 

[CaptainKoloth]

I've been working on a patch for MGE similar to the ToT patch project. So far, my patch includes stuff that are already in the wild (e.g. AI fix, No CD checks).

https://github.com/vinceho/civ2patch

Here are some unique features my patch provides:

* I implemented my own way of fixing the CPU usage. Maybe I'm the only one experience this, but during long AI turns (e.g. WWI scenario), sometimes the application hangs for a few seconds. My patch should fix this.
* Playing MP3/OGG music files.
* Speed up combat animations. I got tired of watching the puffs of smoke during combat

The project is open source, so I encourage anyone to contribute

I'm trying to run this but I'm not experienced with github. When I download the files to my computer there's no executable; the notes say "run the makefile" but I don't know what that means. Is there another program I need to use to compile it?