Modding Q&A

[Bluemofia]

In the base game, the army unit has 2/3 the movement of a regular unit, so it shows up as 0/0, but you can still select it and move it 1 square without roads, and 2 squares with roads. I'm not sure what would make it unselectable, but the 0/0 for movement is normal behavior.

 

[Meteor Man]

Yeah the unselectable bit is what gets me. But as long as it works: whatever, man!

 

[Meteor Man]

So how in the world are you supposed to edit nuclear weapon graphics? The tact_trail.flc has too few directions so Civ3FlEdit refuses to render in just 2 directions (what a terrible design idea) so I can't edit the tactical nuke bombard.

 

[Bluemofia]

So, .flc files aren't a civ3 specific file type, so I think the custom nuclear weapon graphics were done primarily through other programs, such as JSAC AnimationShop or something.

The Civ3FlcEdit was probably built out with "standard" civ3 units in mind, so the creators didn't make it robust enough to handle things easily like Nukes.

 

[Meteor Man]

So, .flc files aren't a civ3 specific file type, so I think the custom nuclear weapon graphics were done primarily through other programs, such as JSAC AnimationShop or something.

The Civ3FlcEdit was probably built out with "standard" civ3 units in mind, so the creators didn't make it robust enough to handle things easily like Nukes.

Too bad. Fortunately, by extending the tact_trail.flc to the full 8 directions and leaving the rest blank, the game plays the final approach animation quickly enough to make my "flaming projectile," which normally has a tail, just look more "flamey" (the tail seems to spin around). It's hard to explain but the patchjob works. Maybe this solution will help someone else.

 

[Vuldacon]

Funny how we all have had to Figure out How in the world they did the programing for everything... Well THAT is the way they did it and we are stuck with it.
Makes MODDING a chore but at least we can do it.

Sort of like if you build a plane and it actually Flies
The Joys of Modding. It is what it is.

 

[Meteor Man]

Indeed, Vuldacon. I am ever grateful for people like yourself that blazed the trail for me.

I have another question, guys: how would you go about making a unit un-buildable, yet able to be upgraded to from a captured unit? It seems you can't flag the captured unit 'king' as it gets destroyed and not captured. And if it instead is a normal unit, it can't upgrade to a 'king' flagged unit. So, the only way I've figured to get around this is to make the 2nd unit cost 255 citizens. (Can't use a dummy resource or tech because you wouldn't be able to upgrade).

Is there another way to do this that I'm missing?

 

[Vuldacon]

Unfortunately, only a King Unit will Upgrade when "created" from battle and a captured unit will not upgrade as far as I know. This is probably due to the fact that you captured the Unit and it is Not Really Yours but rather a captured Unit you own. Who knows the way this was all programed.
As you stated, we have to make a "work around" to get what we want with this programing.

This is sort of like having to make a pre-placed Wonder require X number of armies to build it in order to prevent the Advisor from stating that it is being built at the start of the game when it is already there. No Armies in EFZI so that prevents the Advisor from telling you a pre-placed Wonder is being built when the game starts.

It is all due to programing and that is the way it is.. Funny but that is also another aspect and Challenge of Modding the game.

IF you can get what you want with some "work around", GREAT... you managed it and it will "Fly".

 

[Meteor Man]

This is sort of like having to make a pre-placed Wonder require X number of armies to build it in order to prevent the Advisor from stating that it is being built at the start of the game when it is already there. No Armies in EFZI so that prevents the Advisor from telling you a pre-placed Wonder is being built when the game starts.

Aha, so that's how you fix that little bug. Thanks for that . So many little things with this old game.

 

[Vuldacon]

Yes Meteor Man... and we are learning more as time goes on. Rather than be really peeved about programing, it is best to see it as a challenge and be happy when you make a "work around" to get what you want. All part of the Modding experience.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Can someone tell me how to make the wonder splash image and the centre panel of the wonder splash window invisible?
I just want to the screen to jump to city and frame it with the wonder splash window.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Can someone tell me how to make the wonder splash image and the centre panel of the wonder splash window invisible?
I just want to the screen to jump to city and frame it with the wonder splash window.

That's the key word. Any pcx that has the "invisible" colors in the last two palette slots can be made invisible. Those are the colors that are usually Magenta & Green. They should be easy to spot on a standard Firaxis pcx - they'll be that bright green & magenta at the end of the palette.

In this case just fill the whole pcx with either one of those colors. Don't even have to change the mode or anything since you're using a color that's already in the palette.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

I had problems with pallets under 256 colours but I’ve got the background working now.

The wonder splash image starts as a solid colour that fades in to transparency. Is there a way to avoid seeing the initial block of colour?

 

[Meteor Man]

I had problems with pallets under 256 colours but I’ve got the background working now.

The wonder splash image starts as a solid colour that fades in to transparency. Is there a way to avoid seeing the initial block of colour?

Pretty sure that's hardcoded. All wonders fade in.

 

[Blue Monkey]

post the file you want to change. i'll take a look

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Thanks Blue Monkey
Download wonder splash

 

[Blue Monkey]

Can someone tell me how to make the wonder splash image and the centre panel of the wonder splash window invisible?
I just want to the screen to jump to city and frame it with the wonder splash window.

If I understand this correctly, you want the file called wonderBackground.pcx (found in the Civ III/Art/WonderSplash/ folder) to be visible?

I had problems with pallets under 256 colours but I’ve got the background working now.

The wonder splash image starts as a solid colour that fades in to transparency. Is there a way to avoid seeing the initial block of colour?

It would be helpful to know what color it is. I would suspect black, but knowing the color would help track down where the problem is.

I'm currently playing a standard game so I can see what normally happens. I'll save a couple turns before the first wonder is built. Then I can swap your file in for the standard pcx & see what happens differently.

 

[Blue Monkey]

At first I thought perhaps there was a problem with your colormap. All the colors except for the transparent ones are black and sometimes that obscures a problem. However ...

In the standard game it does fade from black to the splash. I edited the standard pcx so that the black was bright yellow. It still fades from black. Which means that color is coming from somewhere outside the pcx file. I looked through the wonder & interface folders & didn't find any with a likely name for a solid black file or something similar to a wonder with that area in black.

So I'd have to agree with Meteor Man that it's hard-coded, which means short of editing the code for the game itself there's nothing we can do.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

I’ll just have to use the original system and improve my graphics.
Thank you for trying; you too Meteor Man.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Hi guys.
I want to have only one specified civilisation (Player 1) available when you start a new game. I also need the other 30 civilisations to be available to the AI.
To rephrase it; I need only 1 civ on the left and 30 AI slots on the right of the setup screen.

Spoiler :