Mod Packs for Mac

[Plechazunga]

Hey I'm playing GOTM 54 and trading screenshots with some ofther players and some of what I see has finally whet my appetite to bring in some graphics mods (for terrain and such - not necessarily units). Don't know if this is an easy task on Mac Civ III or not ... can anyone here impart some advice?

Gracias.

 

[AlanH]

If all you want to do is terrain mods then you can use The Gimp or GraphicConverter or Photoshop to edit/create the static terrain .pcx files.

I think the .flc unit animations are more of a challenge, and although you can display and run them in some of the above programs, I'm not sure whether you can edit or create them., as they are composite files, each containing several animations.

 

[Plechazunga]

No, Alan, I'm much lazier than that ... I'm hoping there's a package I can download somewhere on the Civfanatics site ... but I don't know if much of what's out there is strictly for the PC world.

 

[AlanH]

Well, if all you want is a ready-made modified terrain, and you are playing Civ3 Complete, there are some installed with it. Three versions of Snoopy's plus Warpstorm's Watercolor terrain are included. Load them up by selecting them in the Civ3 Content menu in PtW or Conquests.

There's also a whole Creation and Customization forum here, full of mod packs for everything in Civ3 that's moddable.

 

[one_hoop]

That's great news! My copy of C3C is en route, but I'm unusually expectant since my PC's power supply recently had a heart attack and died.

However, I'm still confused about how the PC mods work with the mac version. I'm also not interested in creating my own mods, but two other mods in particular that I would be sad without are the smiley-faces and the civ2-style railroads.

If anyone can quickly respond if they work with C3C and if any special steps were required or if the instructions for installing them on a PC are strictly analogous, I'd be mighty appreciative!


Tanks,
M@

 

[AlanH]

Mods are a bit hit and miss right now in Civ3 Complete.

Since I posted the above, it has become apparent in another thread that if you try to use the installed (PtW) versions of the terrain graphics mods you get some rather violent geothermals as a "bonus" - the volcanoes appear to go hyperactive It is reported that you *can* download the C3C versions of these terrain mods and they *do* work OK, but you'll need to find out how to install them.

Installing mods is another minefield.

The intention is that you should be able to place mods and scenarios in the Civ3 Complete and Play the World Scenarios folders that are automatically created in your ~/Documents/ folder. Thids is a worthy objective, as it aligns well with the Mac OS ethos that user data goesn in user home folders and Applciations should be read-only.

However, it appears to have backfired, and few mods and scenarios actually work when placed there ... or even when placed in the Scenario folders in the Application. It appears that more complex file path translations are needed to cope with the changes Aspyr made to the folder structures.

The changes required are in a patch that Aspyr are planning to release "Real Soon Now" (TM). So it may be worth while to hold off trying to customise your Civ3 Complete installation to within an inch of its life until after that patch is released.

If you really can't wait then I'm sure there will be willing helpers here to try to get you going, but be prepared for a bumpy ride. My solution so far has been to use Brute Force. I do it the same as I did in the old MacSoft version - replace the basic /Applications/Civ III Complete/Civlization 3 Game Data/Art and /Text files with the ones from the scenario I am trying to use. But that means you have to be prepared to back up files you are changing, and swap them back afterwards, or reinstall the game to get back to the standard version.

 

[benjaminz]

Plechazunga - see the thread, "Volcanus Warpstorm Watercolor Terrain" for more details.

It's not that hard to install working graphics mods. Just make sure that you've downloaded the Conquests version of the mods, then drop them into the Civ 3 Complete/Conquests Game Data/Scenarios folder. The only hard part is tracking down the mod packs, but they're out there. I found the Warpstorm Watercolor and Sn00pys terrains no problem, just by searching on this very site.

Enjoy!