New Unit: Engineer

ok. i just checked your file with FLICSTER

the following problems occurred:
FRAME COUNT: (0 frames x 0 directions)
Directions: 0
FlicAnimHeaderSize: FAIL
Original Geometry: FAIL

Did you use FLICster to make the FLC. Civ Unit FLCs are not plain FLC files. You must use a program like FLICster to make them. You can get FLICster from the Utilities section of the forum.

I use Paint Shop Pro (free from download.com) and FLICster to create my units.

I think if you use the new version of FLICster it may solve your problem
 
I'd like to report an error. In the Civilopedia entry, your #DESC_PRTO points to Settler instead of your unit.

Personally I've tweaked the rules so that settlers cost 40 shields - to slow down the initial city sprawl so the game stays fun longer - leading to the engineer costing 80 shields. Also I didn't follow up on having Motorized Transportation increase the speed of workers, because that means ordinary workers speed up as well, and they already do that in the game once.

On the other hand I gave the engineer the Scout ability of treating all terrain as road - makes sense since they have all kinds of terrain vehicles. And I upped the pop cost to two since it's a settler and not a worker.

Thanks for a great unit, pesoloco : )
 
Yep. yer right it did point to the settler.
I never used the civilopedia file in my own game so it never was tested.

Anyway, here is a fixed civilopedia file:
 
I have a pretty crappy .pcx editor and I am having some major problems inserting the engineer.pcx into the units_32 file.

Could you please post your units_32 file with the engineer pic in there. This would help me a lot.
 
I have just reached the point of getting to use my engineers for the first time since i've installed them and, unfortunately, they are showing up as a modern worker and there don't seem to be a dang thing I can do about it.

What's odd is that when I set the requirements to nothing to test them out when they were first installed, they worked fine with all the graphics done by Pesoloco. My suspicion is that whenever the advancement with the "double worker productivity" ticker is discovered (i.e., in my mod industrialization) the hard coded game replaces all the workers with modern workers. Because I used the multi-tool to develope the engineer off the frame of the worker, I think the game is treating my engineers as regular workers.

Has anyone seen this or developed a work around?
 
Originally posted by JeffNebraska
I have just reached the point of getting to use my engineers for the first time since i've installed them and, unfortunately, they are showing up as a modern worker and there don't seem to be a dang thing I can do about it.

What's odd is that when I set the requirements to nothing to test them out when they were first installed, they worked fine with all the graphics done by Pesoloco. My suspicion is that whenever the advancement with the "double worker productivity" ticker is discovered (i.e., in my mod industrialization) the hard coded game replaces all the workers with modern workers. Because I used the multi-tool to develope the engineer off the frame of the worker, I think the game is treating my engineers as regular workers.

Has anyone seen this or developed a work around?

Are you using the engineer graphic as a replacement for modern worker or are you making the engineer as an upgrade for the modern worker?

If you are just using the graphic as a replacement for modern worker here is what I suggest you do (which is how I do it ;) ) :

1) Unzip the engineer flcs into worker industrial ages.
2) Rename worker industrial ages folder to say, worker temp
3) Rename worker modern times (both folder and ini file) to worker industrial ages
4) Rename worker temp to worker modern times and rename engineer.ini to worker modern times.ini

If you make engineer as an upgrade for worker, then you need to upgrade the worker just like any other military units before the engineer graphic will show. :king:
 
Originally posted by Dark Sheer


Are you using the engineer graphic as a replacement for modern worker or are you making the engineer as an upgrade for the modern worker?

If you are just using the graphic as a replacement for modern worker here is what I suggest you do (which is how I do it ;) ) :

1) Unzip the engineer flcs into worker industrial ages.
2) Rename worker industrial ages folder to say, worker temp
3) Rename worker modern times (both folder and ini file) to worker industrial ages
4) Rename worker temp to worker modern times and rename engineer.ini to worker modern times.ini

If you make engineer as an upgrade for worker, then you need to upgrade the worker just like any other military units before the engineer graphic will show. :king:

I believe that this will work. I did not realize that was a problem. I never played it far enuff into the game to really test it out. Let me know how things turn out.
 
I did want to make the engineer an "upgrade" from the worker and settler because I was giving them a movement of two and the ability to settle cities.

Here's what I tried last night and what I saw. I realized I needed to tinker with the modern worker and industrial worker folders. If you just make the Engineer an upgrade, the units upgrade in the sense that their title and stats change, but the modern worker graphics are the only ones shown.

I put my engineer files in the industrial worker folder, pretty much like what you suggested, but I got some weird results. Regular workers became engineers, which was not too surprising since I was in the industrial age. Engineers (i.e., workers who I paid to upgrade), however, reverted to the modern worker graphics. That was quite surprising.

So... the ideal goal is to get all the workers looking like they normally do UNTIL I upgrade them, and then have them looking like engineers. I, of course, also want the upgrade to change their stats and abilities. I haven't played with this enough yet, but I'm not sure if my ideal is attainable.
 
So with Dark Sheer's technique, the engineer graphics appear when you hit modern times, but gameplay is unaffected. It's an elegant solution, but I would like to be able to tinker with the stats and make it an actual "upgrade." Let me know what you guys can figure out.
 
What I have done is put all the engineer graphics in a folder called "Engineer" and created the Engineer as a separate unit. (I think should be separate because realistically, the engineers do all the planning and blueprinting and leave the hard work to the laborers. Although, one could argue that this unit represents an engineer and a team of workers since it is able to do so many things by itself)

Anyway, my theory is this:
- The worker is changed to modern worker somewhere around steam power or steel, right?
- So, if we have the workers upgrade to the Engineer at say, Motorized Transportation ( a little later ), they would change into the new engineer unit and have all its stats and abilities
- One could still hold on to workers and they would still look like modern workers.
- The engineer would not be hindered by modern worker graphics but rather have its own unique graphics since it is a different type of unit.
- I am about to try this out and I think it may just work
 
I enjoy messing around with different ways of using your engineer. You've done a marvelous job. . .but of course, you have already heard that. One problem. . .during game play the engineer loses it's main sounds (Irrigate, mine, etc,.) I still have all other sounds. . .units, environment, music. . .everything. The engineer still performs it's tasks but no tractor, grader or sounds associated with them. Please tell me this is a simple problem. I've tried restart, delete and reinstall engineer, downloading it again and re-installing. Nothing.

Hope someone can tell me how to solve this, the fx and graphics are a major part of the enjoyment with this unit.
 
I'm glad ya'll like the engineer. At least I know my work wasn't in vain.

As for the sounds, I have one question. Do the sounds work for a while and then stop or do they not work at all?

If they don't work at all, check the engineer.ini file to make sure all of the mentioned wav files are located in the same folder as the unit. I think someone mentioned putting the engineer animations in the Worker Industrial folder. If you did this, and now want to create the engineer unit, make sure you move all the wav files over to a folder called Engineer.

Another possibilty is that because the sounds are not very loud, the background music may be overpowering them.

Good luck!
 
Appreciate the quick reply. The sounds work fine for a while and then they become intermittent. Never had this problem before. Checked ini and all looksto be matched up. As for noiose level. . .I have tried it with and without environmental sounds. One other thing that might add some light. I just discovered that everytime the sound departs it seems to take the engineer's ability to respond to keyboard commands???

I can still use the engineer utililizing the buttons and forgetting the fx and graphics. Any ideas??
 
Pesoloco,

This is pretty tough to explain in writing, but when I just add the Engineer unit, as I did with the five other units in my mod, the engineer graphics you made (i.e., the reason we all love unit) never show up. Instead, the hard code usurps the unit, which is copied from the worker using the civcopytool, and make its a modern worker in every respect.

On my post on the main board, I think Dark Sheer has offered a fix. You base the engineer on the warrior instead of the worker. He says when you tick off all the terraforming tasks (e.g., mine, irrigate, etc.) the option to tick of the terraform AI function will appear. This way, you get the Engineer into the game with no guff from the hard coding.

I think I'll have to wait to complete my current game before I start making these major changes, but I'll let you know if it works when ever I get back to it.
 
About the sounds, I have never experienced that problem on my computer or the programming refusing to use keyboard. One thing you may want to try is just reinstalling civ and the engineer. Perhaps this will solve the problem since I am unable to determine what is causing the problem.

Yes, you do need to check all worker jobs to make the Terraform AI checkbox light up. I have it that way on my computer but I just forgot to make the changes in the readme. (sorry)

As for the hardcode graphics taking over, I will investigate this furthur. One question, though, if I may ask, are you using this unit as a separate unit or just causing it as a replacement for modern worker graphics?
 
Separate unit. Along with the engineer, I have successfully added and played whole games with the crossbowman, gunship and the Perry Class frigate. I think I'll just have to wait till my next game, remove the engineer and re-add it from scratch. Without using the civcopytool. That ought to fix it.

What's the key I press to make the add, delete buttons show up without the hacked civeditor? Or do I need the hacked civeditor to get the remove function at all?
 
Without the hacked editor, hit tab to move the focus to the Rename button
Push A for Add
Push D for Delete
 
Originally posted by pesoloco
Without the hacked editor, hit tab to move the focus to the Rename button
Push A for Add
Push D for Delete

Dude That is awesome How did you ever figure that out?

Now I guess there is no need for a hacked civ3edit 1.17f

BTW Nice unit. Can I get permission to add it to my modpack (which seems like it will never get done cuz people keep making really cool stuff)?
 
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