New PediaIcons Editor - extremely quick, must have! 2016-10-05

[alacn]

Unit editor, instantly add units by *drag and drop*.

To use this program all you gotta do is drag and drop your newly downloaded units folder into the program and thats it!! The unit gets added to your mod folder and your pediaIcons.txt file gets updated.

This is a beta version, more updates will come after testing.

You will need the JRE (java runtime environment) installed on your computer in order to run this program which is a .jar file.

This can be found here

http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp


screenshots of my program:

See attached for latest Download
Current Version 1.1.2

 

[Takhisis]

Phirst!
I'm fiddling around a bit now... it certainly helps with the drag'n'drop feature.

 

[Takhisis]

Both added at the end of file. It's good, and rather fast.

 

[alacn]

good im glad its working, thats the main thing .

If someone could write out for me the text that needs to be written to make buildings and other new objects etc that can be added to the pediaIcons.txt file.

That way i can quickly check back on this thread, and add new features. If someone just writes out an example of each different type of object, that should be great.

 

[Takhisis]

Here's a few.
Worker Actions (called terraform in-game)
#ICON_TFRM_Mine
art\civilopedia\icons\terrain\minelarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\terrain\minesmall.pcx
Terrain
#ICON_TERR_Coast
art\civilopedia\icons\terrain\coastlinelarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\terrain\coastlinesmall.pcx
Resources
#ICON_GOOD_Animals
art\civilopedia\icons\resources\animalslarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\resources\animalssmall.pcx
Buildings
The first three were fairly simple, weren't they?
Buildings are a bit more complicated as their entry indicates whether their graphics are the same for ll civs, or wether they change depending on the era or cultural group.(PediaIcons.txt doesn't just add the civilopedia icon gfx
I've borrowed from an old tutorial by Ukas, as I didn't feel like doing all the explaining myself.

Spoiler :

1.Add the building in Civ3Edit


Add a building in Civ3edit Improvements and Wonders tab, name it Ziggurat, in civilopedia entry type BLDG_Ziggurat. Give the Ziggurat wonder charasteristics of your choice. If you are unsure how to do it study the way the original Civ3 buildings are marked.




2.Copy images to folders


Copy Zigguratlarge.pcx and Zigguratsmall.pcx found in the zip package into your Civ3\art\civilopedia\icons\buildings folder.
Copy Zigguratsplash.pcx into your Civ3\art\wonder splash\ -folder.




3.Add the Wonder Splash to PediaIcons.txt


In the zip package there's ziggurat.txt with lines:

#WON_SPLASH_xx
art\wonder splash\Zigguratsplash.pcx

NOTE: xx is number of the wonder splash, last one of civ3's own wonder splashes is numbered 63; for battlefield medicine. Then there are slots for spacecraft parts (I think) and first available for you to use is 74 - so if Ziggurat is your first self added wonder the line should look like this:

#WON_SPLASH_74
art\wonder splash\Zigguratsplash.pcx


Add the lines to your Civilopedia.txt after lines battlefield medicine lines in #WONDER_SPLASH_ART begin -section. The battlefield medicine lines will look like this:

#WON_SPLASH_63
art\wonder splash\Battlefield Medicine.pcx


After the lines for Battlefield Medicine splash there is a long row of #'s. The Ziggurat part should be added in between.

So, the result should look like this:


#WON_SPLASH_63
art\wonder splash\Battlefield Medicine.pcx
#WON_SPLASH_74
art\wonder splash\Zigguratsplash.pcx
############################################################################

Wonder splash is the image Civ3 shows when you build a wonder therefore Zigguratsplash.pcx is the pic Civ3 shows when you build the Ziggurat wonder.
Your Civ3\art\wonder splash\ -folder is the place these images are located. By adding lines to PediaIcons.txt you will show Civ3 where it can find images for it's purposes.


_Now Civ3 is able to play the wonder splash during the game._




4.Add the building icons to PediaIcons.txt


Next locate line #Start buildings in your PediaIcons.txt file.First line after it is #ICON_BLDG_Airport for Airport improvement. The buildings are in alphapedical order so the last lines for buildings will be for wealth "improvement".

#ICON_BLDG_Wealth
SINGLE
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\wealthlarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\wealthsmall.pcx


Again look at Ziggurat.txt file in the package, and add following lines after the last Wealth line and before #HomelessIcons line.


#ICON_BLDG_Ziggurat
SINGLE
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Zigguratlarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Zigguratsmall.pcx


The result should look like this:


#ICON_BLDG_Wealth
SINGLE
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\wealthlarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\wealthsmall.pcx
#ICON_BLDG_Ziggurat
SINGLE
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Zigguratlarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Zigguratsmall.pcx
#HomelessIcons
etc.
etc.


_Now you are able to see appropriate icons and images in science advisor screen and when viewing civilopedia._




5.Difference between Era specific building and Single building


In era specific building graphics may vary when changing the era. Then you must make it appear four times, once for every era. Let's imagine that the Brothel improvement is available from the industrial era. There's only one icon but you choose to do some art work and make it look different for modern ages. Then the lines should look like this:

#ICON_BLDG_Brothel
ERA
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Brothellarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Brothellarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Brothellarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Brothellarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Brothelsmall.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Brothelsmall.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Brothelsmall.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Brothelsmall.pcx

Note that


My Gallows graphics are era specific. Different image and different name for the image for every era (gallows for ancient times, guillotine for middle ages, electric chair for industrial and firing squad for modern times. Gallows improvement needs following lines:


#ICON_BLDG_Gallows
ERA
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Gallowslarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Guillotinelarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Electricchairlarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Firingsquadlarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Gallowssmall.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Guillotinesmall.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Electricchairsmall.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\buildings\Firingsquadsmall.pcx


With improvements there are no need for Splashes. In my ---.txt file in the package there are always needed additions for both civilopedia.txt and pediaicons.txt - no need for more.

I'm not looking up the rest, I'm too sleepy (its past 1 a.m. here)
Look around the Tutorials section and see what you can find. Others will tell you eventually

 

[Samez]

Will download it as soon as I am home. Drag and drop feature seems to be very nice.

 

[alacn]

ok so lets say someone wanted to add a new worker action or terrian or resource and they just so happen to call it Dig, Beach and Super_Oil, would the following be the only thing they need to add to the pediaIcons.txt file? assuming they've done all the rest of the work ie edited the game and moved the files in correct place.


#ICON_TFRM_Dig
art\civilopedia\icons\terrain\minelarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\terrain\minesmall.pcx
Terrain
#ICON_TERR_Beach
art\civilopedia\icons\terrain\coastlinelarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\terrain\coastlinesmall.pcx
Resources
#ICON_GOOD_Super_Oil
art\civilopedia\icons\resources\animalslarge.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\resources\animalssmall.pcx

If someone who is currently into editing could help me test these features so that i can add loads of new things quickly. This person would need expierance adding all the different elements to the game.

 

[Takhisis]

You can't add new terraforming or terrain, all you can do is edit the existent ones. You can add a new civilopedia entry and change the name of an unused worker action or terrain type in your .biq file.
To add a resource, you must have a valid entry in the Art\resources.pcx file as well as the individual civilopedia icon .pcx files.

 

[alacn]

You can't add new terraforming or terrain, all you can do is edit the existent ones. You can add a new civilopedia entry and change the name of an unused worker action or terrain type in your .biq file.
To add a resource, you must have a valid entry in the Art\resources.pcx file as well as the individual civilopedia icon .pcx files.

ok so assuming someones done all the edits nessesary to complete the mod except for editing the pediaIcons.txt file.

If they wanted to add new work actions or terrian then the program would need to edit an exisiting entry.

and to add a new resource, then you "can" just add new information? without writing over any other lines?

Also for adding new resources, can it just be added to the bottom of the pediaIcon.txt file?

What other things can just be added? ill work on them first

and what other things need to be edited?

refering to the pediaIcons.txt file only.

edit

btw ive updated the program to include adding buildings. Heres a screenshot below.
The program adds all the new information at the bottom of the pediaIcons.txt file rather than under the appropiate heading so i need people to test to see if this will still work. i read somewhere here that it doesnt matter where you put the entries, just as long as they are there.



download link

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=58XPSL9D ver 1.0.1

 

[Samez]

So I finally tested it and must say: it's quite intuitive. Only thing I didn't figure out yet is how to add multiple units (with different .pcx files) without closing the editor.

edit:
I was obviously not able to find the big fat "Clear Field" button... Perhaps it's a bit late for working with civ...

 

[alacn]

Hi

ive been updating my program and i added a auto pcx file mover shown in the screenshot below.

So lets say you want to add a new unit after youve downloaded it. If you drag and drop the two pcx files into the program and write the name of the unit and click generte then then unit gets added to the pediaIcons file and the pcx files get moved into the correct directory. So all you would have to do is move the unit folder to the corect place and all ur works done.
Ive just built the interface for it, havent written the code yet.

 

[alacn]

Nevermind i think im gonna redesign this program so its more easier to use.

Im gonna make it so that all you gotta do is drag the unit folder folder into the text field and it will create do all the work for you. ie move the files to the correct directory and add unit to pediaicons files. I dont think theres much use adding any other types of objects.

 

[alacn]

Ok ive updated the program so its ALOT quicker.

Basically all you do now is drag and drop you newly downloaded units folder into the textArea, press the 'move files' button then the 'generate' button and its all the work is done. All you need to do then is make your unit in the ci3 editor.




download link version 1.1.1
http://www5212.megaupload.com/?d=1pv7rd82

source code 1.1.1
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IJNAH9X0

 

[Ares de Borg]

I noticed sth:

Your program sorts the small icons first, then the large ones:

art\civilopedia\icons\units\VCC-1_SM.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\units\VCC-1_LG.pcx

It would be correct the other way around:

art\civilopedia\icons\units\VCC-1_LG.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\units\VCC-1_SM.pcx

Big file 1st.

 

[alacn]

I noticed sth:

Your program sorts the small icons first, then the large ones:

art\civilopedia\icons\units\VCC-1_SM.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\units\VCC-1_LG.pcx

It would be correct the other way around:

art\civilopedia\icons\units\VCC-1_LG.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\units\VCC-1_SM.pcx

Big file 1st.

i tested this and it sorts it in Ascending order for me automatically so the large always appears first.
I dont know why its doing this for you.
Although i am using a later version.
Try downloading latest version

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=263002&d=1283704751

This version clears up some file copy issues and other stuff

 

[Mithadan]

Holy crap, no way! I'm super going to try this. I've bogged down with modding again, but this might open up the mother lode for me!

 

[Mithadan]

Okay, I tried it and it worked with Plotinus' African Settler, but then I tried it with Sandris' Saxon Spearman and I got the attached error message: "Not enough PCX files uploaded" Why's that? All the necessary PCX files are in the folder, and after this message I even did the program the favour of moving them out of the 'pedia' folder that Sandris always includes with his units. Suggestions?

 

[JSnider]

Just a guess based on post a few above ...
art\civilopedia\icons\units\VCC-1_LG.pcx
art\civilopedia\icons\units\VCC-1_SM.pcx

would say the pcx are not in the right directory. Haven't used program yet so just a guess.

 

[alacn]

Okay, I tried it and it worked with Plotinus' African Settler, but then I tried it with Sandris' Saxon Spearman and I got the attached error message: "Not enough PCX files uploaded" Why's that? All the necessary PCX files are in the folder, and after this message I even did the program the favour of moving them out of the 'pedia' folder that Sandris always includes with his units. Suggestions?

Hi, and thankyou for testing my program.

I had a look at the screenshot and i think you dragged the folder to the wrong text box.
Try dragging it to the big text box and see what happens.

Reason why i think this is because the top text box has the file directory of the unit folder when infact that text box should be the directory the your pediaIcons.txt file.

Compare your thumbnail to my screenshot to see what i mean.
please note that even though the below screenshot is of an older version, the principle is still the same


To make like easier i made the program find your pediaIcons.txt file for you automatically. All you gotta do is drag your mod folder to the bottom text box and then the program will find the Text Folder automatically in there and put the pediaIcons.txt link in the top box, then click the save button that appears and that location is permeantly saved. Then go crazy with the unit drag and dropping.

If you read the help text thats in the big text box when the program starts, it explains alot.

If for some reason it still fails to work, then send me a link to the unit so i can test it myself.

Regards,

Alacn

 

[Mithadan]

Yup, that's what I did wrong -- I dragged the unit folder into the narrow "pediaicons.txt" window instead of the big window.

It works now! Thanks a bunch.