PTW in Steam version

[Garvarg]

So I just updated my computer and bought the steam version of Civ 3 Complete. Conquest runs fine, and I can see PTW listed in the menu but there is no icon to load the game.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete\civ3PTW

Anyone know how to run PTW from the steam version?
Also there is no Saves file.

Thanks

 

[jimkirk]

i got another question all these nice mods for civ3 where do i extract them to or install them too for the steam version of civ 3 complete?.. i bought the steam version because i didnt feel like loading a sctratched cd rom into my computer anymore and besides the steam version was sooo cheap.. i'm not sure but i think complete is a bit different

 

[tjs282]

So I just updated my computer and bought the steam version of Civ 3 Complete. Conquest runs fine, and I can see PTW listed in the menu but there is no icon to load the game.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete\civ3PTW

Anyone know how to run PTW from the steam version?

Interesting -- sounds like the Steam version of C3Complete might be similar to the GamersGate version, which I have. My PTW directory structure is ...FiraxisGames\CivIIIComplete\civ3PTW\... This holds all the content originally released with PTW, with the glaring exception of an actual PTW1.27 .exe file! There is a 'Civ3X.bix' file in this folder, which I could open with the PTW Editor provided (Civ3XEdit). I had a quick look through the rules, and the tech-tree, Civs, civ-traits, terrain-types and units all appear to be those that were included in PTW -- none of the major differences for Conquests are immediately apparent.

However, I couldn't access the .bix directly through the 'Civ Content' menu on the Conquests loading screen. When I copied it into the civ3PTW\Scenarios folder*, Conquests could then find it, and start a Random-map game using it (which I just did, getting the Commercial and Religious Indians as my randomly assigned civ, and the Spanish, Celts and Mongols -- all introduced in PTW -- among my opponents). So (assuming you also have a Civ3X.bix in your PTW folder) you would certainly be able to play a 'PTW-like' game via Conquests.

Bear in mind though, that since you would be using the Conquests .exe to run the .bix, you will (probably) also have to accept the expensive upgrade costs (gold = 3x shield-difference instead of 2x), the Barb-Tunnel-Vision-bug (edit your conquests.ini to include the line 'NoAIPatrol=0'), and the fact that the AICivs won't use Armies properly (although you might be glad about that one!). On the bright side, the Republic-slingshot would probably work, and your MGLs should be able to rush Great Wonders...

Also there is no Saves file.

When I first installed (on WinXP), I was confused because, even though both the PTW and Conquests folders did include (empty) Saves folders, the base folder ...\FiraxisGames\CivIIIComplete\ (which contained the Vanilla1.29 .exe and the Vanilla Editor) didn't -- but the Vanilla Saves folder was created the first time I ran the game. However, if you've installed the game under Program Files(x86), you may need to consider re-installing it elsewhere, in a (user-created) directory outside the x86 structure, e.g. 'C:\Users\Public\Games'. Otherwise, you may find it difficult to save/reload games (or at least, to use helper-apps such as CivAssistII). If I understood the explanation rightly, Windows 7+ won't let unauthorised programs write to the x86 directory, so instead it saves stuff in 'Virtual Storage' somewhere else, where Civ3 can't find the files again (or... something. A techie could explain this better).

*@jimkirk
Mods made with the Conquests Editor (i.e. using a .biq file) should usually be unzipped to/ saved in the ...\Conquests\Scenarios folder, but if it's been majorly customised, you may need to make sure you have any necessary extra units, graphics and soundfiles in the relevant folders as well. As far as I can tell, most of the Civ3 modders active on CFC are pretty good at making sure that they've documented and included everything in their zipfiles. If a mod crashes though, make sure to screenshot any error messages you get -- that will make it easier for someone to (be able to) help you identify and fix a problem.

@All Other CFCers:
If I've made any seriously glaring errors above, please correct me/them.

 

[Garvarg]

Thanks for the reply.
So I created a game on another computer that run PTW from a disk set I had from "Soldout", saved it, loaded it into the steam version under conquest to see what would happen.
It played fine, dont know about increased costs but there was no slingshot from philosophy.

 

[tjs282]

Thanks for the reply.
So I created a game on another computer that run PTW from a disk set I had from "Soldout", saved it, loaded it into the steam version under conquest to see what would happen.
It played fine, dont know about increased costs but there was no slingshot from philosophy.

Yeah, Conquests can certainly load PTW saves -- but you'll be playing them with the hardcoded Conquests rules/bugs from then on. And once you've re-saved the game under Conquests, PtW will not be able to read/run that savegame any more.

And the reason why I'm ing the thread (sorry!): this weekend I noticed a few oddities in the Indian game I mentioned in my earlier post (which I started, then ignored for months):

1. My Workers have no problems with Jungle, but can't clear Marshes
   • I believe that this is because the map itself was generated in Conquests: it therefore contains the new Conquests terrain-types (Marshland and Volcanoes), but because the 'Terrain' tab of the Civ3X.bix doesn't include either of those types, the PtW-Workers don't know what to do with them
   
   On Jungle:
   
   
   
   On Marsh:
   
   
   
   
2. Sword --> Mace upgrades cost 40s (i.e. 4x shield-difference)
   • Upgrades in PtW (I think) should only cost 2x the shield-difference (as in Vanilla), and even in Conquests it was only 3x, so there is presumably some kind of unintended interaction between the Conquests.exe (where the upgrade-cost formula is hardcoded) and the Civ3x.bix, which is causing an unnecessary doubling from 2x to 4x (or maybe my Military Advisor is just skimming off some pork off the barrel )
   
   
   
   
   
3. (M)GLs can't rush GWonders
   • Well, that was an annoying discovery! Presumably something to do with the introduction in Conquests of 'Scientific Great Leaders' which (only) have the ability to rush GWonders (their intended 'Age of Science' function was/is broken), and the removal of that ability from Vanilla/PtW's (Military) Great Leaders

Unfortunately it's not possible to (or at least I don't know how to) change these settings for the game now in progress. What I did instead was to open the Civ3x.bix in the Conquests Editor, then immediately resave it as 'PtW_for_Conquests.biq', so that next time I feel like playing a PtW-like game, I can use that as a 'PtW-rules' mod.

Regarding the ignorant-Worker problem, because it's now a .biq instead of a .bix, the 'Terrain' tab now includes both the new types of terrain. Problem is, I can't seem to delete Terrain types (no option to do so), so in order to fix the ignorant Workers, I will simply have to add the appropriate info and Worker-jobs for each terrain, e.g. Marsh:

(I just copied all the values from Jungle)

Regarding upgrade-costs, I opened the PtW. bix in both the PtW Editor and the Conquests Editor, compared the General Settings tabs in each, and there is a possibly significant difference:

PtW Editor:

Conquests Editor:

I'm not sure, but I suspect that the 'Upgrade cost = 2' might be surplus to requirements, that it is actually doubling an already-doubled (by the code) number. I have set it to 1 in the .biq instead.Well that didn't work. Now my Chariot --> Horseman upgrades are only costing 10s per head (which is good for my cashflow, but not what I'd intended). I guess simply resaving the .bix as a .biq was sufficient to resolve the problem, whatever it was...

I'm not sure what to do regarding the (M)GL problem. Being derived directly from the Civ3X.bix, the 'Units' tab of the PtW.biq includes a 'Leader' unit which can 'Rush Improvements', but there is no specific checkbox for rushing Wonders -- nor are the GWonders (re)taggable as being (MG)Leader-rushable under the 'Buildings' tab. I have a horrible feeling that even if this state of affairs is not actually hardcoded in the .exe, changing it back might not be accessible through the standard Editor (but maybe in Quintillus' Editor...?).

A related potential problem is that my PtW_for_Conquests.biq does not (currently) include an entry for a 'Scientific Leader' unit, nor does it include SGL-names -- which means it may well crash, in the unlikely event that the Conquests.exe actually wants to pop an SGL after discovering a tech (3% chance, for a non-SCI% Civ). To avoid this, I (think I) would need to create an entry for an SGL in the modded PtW.biq, and copy graphics and GL-name lists (one list per Civ) across from the Conquests.biq, which would be very tedious...

Since the impossibility of improving Marsh (and the expensive upgrades) makes the current test a bust, I decided to ditch it, and restart using the modified PtW_for_Conquests.biq. I used CivAssist to identify the map-seed and all the relevant data, then entered those settings on the setup screens for the new game. My start-position looks identical, but I haven't done any exploration/met the neighbours yet (I had the Chinese, the Babs and the Germans on my continent in the last one)...

ETA: It is indeed the same continent/map, and I got the same Civs assigned as my neighbours. The only difference is that the starting positions of the Chinese and the Germans have been switched...

 

[jimmywfl]

Anyone have an update on how to get the PTW version with Steam?

 

[Puppeteer]

Nope, can't do it. You can open PTW saves with Conquests, and many of the rules stay the same, but in particular the corruption model is different. And if you're passing a save file around as in PBEM or SG, then PTW players can no longer open the save. But the PTW extras content is either included or available with both the Steam and GoG versions.

The GoG version doesn't have PTW, either.

Actually I made a video on this a few months ago (below). If you have the CDs there is a presumably-legitimate (this site allows mention of it and does not tolerate talk of cracks) no-CD patch set from a German gaming magazine site, but when I recently downloaded it I couldn't find a PTW executable in it, just vanilla and Conquests.

There are also reportedly some CDs without copy protection, but I don't know where to reliably get my hands on them.

I start talking about the no CD patches at about 5:22

 

[jimmywfl]

Nope, can't do it. You can open PTW saves with Conquests, and many of the rules stay the same, but in particular the corruption model is different. And if you're passing a save file around as in PBEM or SG, then PTW players can no longer open the save. But the PTW extras content is either included or available with both the Steam and GoG versions.

The GoG version doesn't have PTW, either.

Actually I made a video on this a few months ago (below). If you have the CDs there is a presumably-legitimate (this site allows mention of it and does not tolerate talk of cracks) no-CD patch set from a German gaming magazine site, but when I recently downloaded it I couldn't find a PTW executable in it, just vanilla and Conquests.

There are also reportedly some CDs without copy protection, but I don't know where to reliably get my hands on them.

I start talking about the no CD patches at about 5:22

Thanks

 

[Civinator]

I don´t have the steam Civ 3 Complete version, but some things must be cleared about PtW in the GOG Civ 3 Complete version.

The GOG version of Civ 3 Complete contains all files of PtW, too, including the PtW exe and the PtW editor.

The problem is, when starting the exe, the PtW game is asking for the Civ 3 Complete CD. There is no NO-CD version of the PTW exe included. When starting the GOG PtW exe with my Civ 3 Complete CD (from Sid Meier´s Chronicles) in the CD drive, I´m able to start PtW in the GOG version of Civ 3 Complete without any problems.

The reason, why there isn´t any No-CD exe included for PtW could be the following:

Many years ago Firaxis sold Civ 3 Vanilla to the German PC Games magazine and C3C to another German journal (at present I´m no longer aware of its name), but there were problems with both versions that were sold to those German journals. This was the reason, why Firaxis themselves made the No-CD exes for both Civ 3 Vanilla and C3C. Both exes are no hacks by third persons and for many years, links to these No-CD versions were on the home page at CFC.

As PtW wasn´t sold by Firaxis to German magazines, there was no need for Firaxis to do a No-CD version for PtW, too.

 

[tjs282]

The GOG version of Civ 3 Complete contains all files of PtW, too, including the PtW exe and the PtW editor.

Shortly after you first announced that GOG were offering C3C, way back in ... 2017(?), I bought it again while it was on sale, just to check this one thing — but was disappointed to find that, like my GamersGate version, the GOG version did not include the PtW .exe.

Which suggests that GOG's installation package has been updated since they first put it online* — do you know when that happened?

*Or — possibly — that you installed that PtW .exe yourself (from your CD) at some point, and then forgot that you'd done it...?

 

[Civinator]

Or — possibly — that you installed that PtW .exe yourself (from your CD) at some point, and then forgot that you'd done it...?

This could be the case, as I have the PtW exe on several CDs. At present I cannot proof, this, as it would need a reinstallation of the GOG version of Civ 3 Complete on my pc.

 

[U1I]

I had Civ 3 Gold on my old Windows XP, but the application cant open no more, it doesn't even have a error pop up it just doesn't open.

 

[tjs282]

I had Civ 3 Gold on my old Windows XP, but the application cant open no more, it doesn't even have a error pop up it just doesn't open.

Do you mean, it now won't open on your new (Win10?) machine?

If so, then that is, unfortunately, by design. The 'usual' reason for CD-based installations to stop working (on WinVista and later), was/is the Windows security-update rolled out in late 2015, which disabled the secdrv.sys driver, and hence the SecuROM/SafeDisk copy-protection that depended on it (without the driver, the game can no longer perform the CD-check, and boot-up fails without notification). The only way to play CivIII is then to re-purchase it: either a download-version (Steam or GOG), or the "Civilization Chronicles" CD-box-set, which is one of the few that doesn't use SuckyROM.

However, as noted above, the download versions do not include the PTW executable.

But if you mean, CivIII Gold won't open on your WinXP machine, then that's very strange. Micro$oft had already discontinued support for WinXP in 2014, so the secdrv.sys update was never applied to it, and CD-based installations should continue to run on it without a problem. In that case, the only thing I can think of is, are you sure that your CD-drive is still working properly?

 

[Puppeteer]

Crashing-to-desktop is kind of Civ3's thing when there is a problem. Many times this can be due to a corrupt or missing audio or video file. The old standard procedure is to uninstall and reinstall, possibly deleting all non-save files, but that really sucks if you have any mods installed or are not completely confident that your 20-year-old game will reinstall on your 10-year-old PC.

But with a PC, OS, and game that old, and my read is that you haven't played the game in a long time (it hasn't worked recently), there are too many wild cards to make a reasonable guess.

 

[Puppeteer]

it doesn't even have a error pop up it just doesn't open.

Something I just posted triggered my memory. Civ3 absolutely won't work on resolutions less than 1024x768, and after its publication 1280x720 became a semi-common screen size, especially for netbooks and chearper/smaller laptops, but some TVs used as monitors suffered the same problem with Civ3.

So be sure your screen resolution is at least 1024 wide and at least 768 tall.

 

[Lanzelot]

I managed to get Civ3 working on my 11" netbook, I bought in 2011 mainly for playing Civ3 while commuting... It was an Asus Eee PC with a resolution of 800x480.

The trick was to install a helper program that "virtually enlarges" the display area. So to other programs, the display area appeared to be bigger (1024x768 in my case), but you had to use special keys to scroll the display into the "visible area". Can't remember the name of that program, though... :-(

 

[Puppeteer]

Cool. If you ever remember it, please post in the tech help forum.

I remember considering a similar approach for my then-netbooks, but I had sufficient alternatives that I didn't bother trying. There were leads but no apparent easy turnkey solution.

 

[tjs282]

This could be the case, as I have the PtW exe on several CDs. At present I cannot proof, this, as it would need a reinstallation of the GOG version of Civ 3 Complete on my pc.

Bumping this (again) to confirm:

I just re-installed Civ3 on my Win8.1 machine using the GOG installer (so that I can finally start using @Flintlock's patches), and the installer does not include a PtW executable.

Fortunately, I already had one — *ahem* — just laying around...