MGE Peculiarities

[kobayashi]

I am making my first scenario using MGE (having used FW for all my others) and I just realised that the pedia doesn't show the predia facts (examples below)

@PEDIACIVFACTS
^Allows government form of same name.
^Allows settlers to build fortresses.
^Allows settlers to build airbases.
^Allows settlers to build railroads.

etc. etc.

Is this normal? i.e. the description files now contains that info now or what?

 

[Peregrine]

that I understand your problem, but I do use MGE exclusively.

I have to place a new pedia file in every scenario. If I want those phrases changed, I have to go into the pedia file and change them myself. You can change most everything in that file except the government readouts.

 

[kobayashi]

Lets put it this way, after you changed the pedia.txt.

Where in the game can you see the changes?

In FW, when you see the pedia entries for an advance, the special features of an advance will be shown. But in MGE (my copy anyway), I can't seem to see the same.

 

[Henrik]

Thats right unfortunatly those facts arent shown in the MGE pedia (in scenarios that is, if you place the file in the support folder they will show up in the normal game).

 

[kobayashi]

What a bummer. How will you know which is the tech which makes ships faster etc.

In case some people still don't understand, the screen in FW

 

[kobayashi]

and the same screen (supposedly) in MGE...

 

[Henrik]

You'll have to write about it in the readme (and hope that some people read it), possibly you could have an event popup once the tech is discovered the first time, but that would probably not be a very good solution (considering that events space is allready short)...


EDIT:
If you have the time to make one, that information could be put in the describe.txt...

 

[Showstealer]

speaking of events... could anyone tell me how to place events in a scenerio?

 

[Andrew Livings]

...for threadjacking.

Showstealer, you should really have started a new thread on this question rather than asking the same question in different threads.

What you need to do is to read the file "macro.txt" in your civ2 root directory. This is a self-explanatory guide to the macro language used. You should then compare that with examples of events files used in other scenarios. Then ask us for more specific clarification.

Basically you're creating a new file called events.txt. This must be formatted in a specific way the game can understand:

The first line will always be: @BEGINEVENTS
This lets civ2 know that you're defining events to be used.

Then the individual events like this:

@IF
trigger
@THEN
action1
action2
@ENDIF

Note that while you can have two different actions from the same trigger in each event, you cannot have two duplicate actions in the same event, so you have to create duplicate events. For example, I can create a unit, display a text box, and adjust treasury figures, as a single event. But to create two units requires two seperate events. Duplicating the trigger doesn't matter.

 

[Showstealer]

THank you for that information, and let me please say that I am sorry for diverting the focus of this thread temporarily. However I am also quite certian that I don't have a macro.txt. Very sorrry.

 

[kobayashi]

A convenient way to create the events file is to toggle the scenario mode and activate the events editor. Than just put whatever gibberish you want and click OK. The save is automatic. Then the events file will be created in the correct format and correct place. You can then edit it manually to your hear's content.

 

[Peregrine]

You can either;

1.) Create the events file w/the FW/MGE editor,

OR

2.) Create the file manually and place it in the scenario folder yourself, using the macro language and typing in its contents until complete.

If you create the events file folder using the FW/MGE events editor, and then go into it and start typing in events, it won't work--it'll crash the program every time.

So . . . the question is; why would anyone NOT simply use the events editor?

Because some events functions cannot be done w/the editor. IIRC, if you want to use createunit events in a given scenario, you MUST create the file and its contents manually and NOT use the editor at all.

Think of it like beer and liquor. If you mix them, bad things will happen.

 

[Morten Blaabjerg]

showstealer, you can find the macro.txt here :

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7001&highlight=events+guide

 

[kobayashi]

Originally posted by Peregrine


So . . . the question is; why would anyone NOT simply use the events editor?

Because some events functions cannot be done w/the editor. IIRC, if you want to use createunit events in a given scenario, you MUST create the file and its contents manually and NOT use the editor at all.

why?

 

[Peregrine]

Because whenever the events editor is used, there is no createunit event listed in the possible events effects. Yet, done manually, these events effects can be done. My own scenarios prove it. It's just that the FW/MGE events editor doesn't have the capability, and if you try to go into the file and create them manually after having created the events file using the editor, it will crash the game whenever the program tries to access that events file. Not sure why that happens, though. It just does.

 

[Andrew Livings]

Didn't you also say there were things you could get to work having used the game editor but not manually? Could you expand on that? I've been searching previous post both here and poly trying to find more info.

 

[Peregrine]

There aren't any events triggers or effects that can't be done by putting in the lines manually, by typing them in. Everything can be done that way. With the FW/MGE editor, there are a few triggers and effects that do not appear in the editor's menu. Many people manually type theirs in and, if one is practised at it, you can find the "problems" when they appear. The FW/MGE editor creates the events itself and never screws them up. Whenever the editor writes an event, everything is perfect, and an entire events file can be done this way. When it's complete, there's no need to parse it or double-check it--it works. Period. Typing/manual creation is quite another thing and, so far, I've never been able to put an events file together that way without some problems appearing. The problems usually get resolved (sometimes with help), but it's a pain bothering with it, especially if one's events file won't be utilising the triggers/effects that the editor doesn't offer. Again, it's the createunit effect that is most pertinent, AFAIAC.

 

[kobayashi]

Originally posted by Peregrine
Because whenever the events editor is used, there is no createunit event listed in the possible events effects. Yet, done manually, these events effects can be done. My own scenarios prove it. It's just that the FW/MGE events editor doesn't have the capability, and if you try to go into the file and create them manually after having created the events file using the editor, it will crash the game whenever the program tries to access that events file. Not sure why that happens, though. It just does.

As far as I know, the only events that require 'manual' intervention are those involving barbarians.

 

[Peregrine]

I knew that I was forgetting something. Kob is correct. It's the Barbarian-creating events that can't be done w/the editor.

 

[kobayashi]

Just a bit more background on the events file.

It is normal to use a xxx.sav file as your base file instead of a xxx.scn file - this stops the game from incrementing with each iteration. You make the changes to the xxx.sav file and then save as xxx.sav and then xxx.scn each time.

The problem with this is that the xxx.sav file has its own version of the events file built in stretching back to the first time you saved the xxx.scn as a xxx.sav. So if you activate the events editor after loading the xxx.sav, you wipe out all previous changes when you click ok after editing.

So this had lead to the manual editing of the events file (well plus the barbarian reason).

However, there are cases where it will be difficult to edit the events file manually. - like when you want to give a tech and you don't know the corresponding number. In those cases, you can load up the xxx.scn and use the event s editor but don't save.