Newbie Question: Unit graphics

[Wyrmshadow]

Ok, I've put together a rather nice batch of units in my .gif file, in fact I have filled up all the squares, is there a reason that no units on the bottom appear in the game? They should, I mean I've done everything to make them appear but they don't. This has caused a problem because I created some new units and had to push old ones down, so now I don't have any trade, diplomats or nukes!

Is there some sort of code that says I can't use the last line in the UNITS.gif file?

 

[Case]

I'm not sure what you're doing, but if you have a bitmap version of the units file in the same directory as your gif version, then civ will only load the bitmap version. Simply delete or rename the bitmap version to get civ to load the gif.
Hope that helps

 

[Wyrmshadow]

Allright, here is the deal, I've been using Photoshop to hack the .gif files buy hand for the last 2 years, Ive been dong this all on my own and have recently made a rather large modification. In the past I have only replaced certain units with better pictures, this time I have completely redone the file.

The picture file is a 9x7 grid and I have filled it all up with units, but for some reason the units in the last row at the bottom never appear in my game. I've looked in my rules.txt and dont see anything wrong because i had just copied the diplomat, caravan, explorer and cruise missle and nuke so that I could put different units in their place. I dont know what gives?

 

[Morten Blaabjerg]

The last line of units.gif is normally not used by Civ2, except for the "barbarian leader" slot (the redbearded viking type).

If you have MGE, you can add a full line of "extra" units. They are named "Extra1", "Extra2" etc. in the rules.txt. If you have the classic version of Civ2, you can only use the last 3 unit slots of the second-last line, which are named "custom1", "custom2" and "custom3".

There are many good reference documents on all this in the reference section. There are many things to consider, especially if you need to move around with the trade and diplomat-type slots. There are a few unit types that are COMPLETELY dependant on the slots used in units.gif, while most are solely dependant on the unit "role" in the rules.txt.

 

[Wyrmshadow]

Ah crap. My DSL connection went bad for 3 days and this is what I come back to? Nope, don't have MGE, too bad because I had made some real *****ing modifications, especially sea units, but those work, I just wish my caravans, diplomats, missiles and zeppelins would too.

 

[Morten Blaabjerg]

; role = AI role (Generally affects the way in
; which computer players use the unit, but
; roles >= 5 will actually affect abilities
; of the unit)
; 0 = Attack
; 1 = Defend
; 2 = Naval Superiority
; 3 = Air Superiority
; 4 = Sea Transport
; 5 = Settle
; 6 = Diplomacy
; 7 = Trade

Nuclear Msl., nil, 1, 16.,1, 99a,0d, 1h,1f, 16,0, 0, Roc, 001000000000000
Diplomat, Esp, 0, 2.,0, 0a,0d, 1h,1f, 3,0, 6, Wri, 000000000000010
Spy, nil, 0, 3.,0, 0a,0d, 1h,1f, 3,0, 6, Esp, 000000000000011
Caravan, Cor, 0, 1.,0, 0a,1d, 1h,1f, 5,0, 7, Tra, 000000000000010
Freight, nil, 0, 2.,0, 0a,1d, 1h,1f, 5,0, 7, Cor, 000000000000010

This is an excerpt of the "rules.txt" -notice the number right before the prerequisite tech? -That's the unit "role". If your caravans and diplomats don't work, you should change these numbers to 7 and 6 respectively, regardless of the unit slot you're using.

The only units that are 100% dependant on the same slot is the spy and the freight, which won't give any extra bonus'es if placed somewhere else.

Missile type units should have the flag for "destroyed after attack" checked in the last binary row. It's all in the rules.txt, you should be able to figure it out from the brief explanation there. Nuke missiles should always have an attack of 99, regardless of the slot you use.

Hope this helps!

PS : You can download an upgrade to MGE from a link in the downloads section, if you like. This doesn't solve the above issue, but it does give you access to a whole line of additional unit types, and about 11 extra tech slots.

 

[Wyrmshadow]

Ok, I did as you recomended and now Civ2 wont run. When I installed MGE it said that I am missing a required .dll but I cant find it on my cd or anywhere on my system.

xdaemon.dll

can you help me?

 

[Morten Blaabjerg]

hmmmm... sounds strange. Anyway, I have the dll-file you're missing, but it should definitely be supplied with the MGE patch.

Have you downloaded the "MGE patch", or just the "MGE Update"? -The first is the patch to use, and will change your classic Civ2 to Civ2 MGE. The second file is an update, if you have MGE already, and want to update to the latest version. -They might be mistaken for each other. You will recognize the difference by the sheer size of the files. There are some 5 big zip files or so for the MGE patch, and just one for the update.

If this is not the problem, can you give me some further details?

 

[Wyrmshadow]

Thanks a bundle. I tried the patch and it works great, now I have all my units