Some info on Civ3: Complete for would be buyers

[Ivan the Kulak]

Well, picked up Civ3: Complete yesterday, thought I'd post and let ppl know exactly what is in it. You get 3 discs, and a manual that seems to be mainly the regular Civ3 manual with a new cover. You have to install all three discs in order to play. (Note, when switching CDs make sure you wait for your PC to read the CD before you click ok, otherwise the installation fails. I have WinME, and it takes a bit for the PC to figure out there's a new CD in the drive. Some cursing and messing about was required to get this to go smoothly )

There is a new intro movie, composed of various scenes from the Civ3 and expansion pack movies. Kind of neat, but on my PC the colors were a bit off. Not that I care, I've seen all the movies anyway. The interface is quite different. Oddly, there is only a shortcut to the C3C editor, and to play a game, only a shortcut to Civ3: Complete. This apparently launches you right into a game of Conquests format, I would assume you can play the others too, by clicking on the EXE files. It looks as though everything from all 3 games is in there, though I didn't have time to go through everything. Scenario folder setup for Conquests seems to be the same, so you can apparently do mods just as you can for the original Conquests expansion. The game installs to Program Files\Atari\Civilization 3: Complete. You need the first disc in the set in the CD drive to play.

The discs are loose in a plastic tray, as stated in a different thread. Better than paper covers, which scratched up my original Civ3 disc, due to junk in the cover This will actually be handy for me, there is just enough room in the box for the 3 CDs if you put them in the compact style CD cases that you get with CD-R discs, plus room for one more, containing all the extra units, mods, etc you might want to store with it.

 

[Crimso]

Keep it nice and tidy! Years from now I predict we'll want to go back to this game.

 

[Mr. Do]

Is there a fan-kit as well?

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

Fan kit? You mean like the extra stuff that came with the limited edition? Nope.

 

[Mr. Do]

Well, I don't know if I mean the stuff that comes with the limited edition, but either way the answer is the same! The UK version of Complete, known as "Deluxe Edition" supposedly comes with the fan-kit but I have no idea what it is, but if there's nothing like that with the US version, then that's that.

 

[thetrooper]

By "Fan-kit" do you mean images, sound effects and stuff to create fan-sites on the internet?

 

[Mr. Do]

The UK version of Complete, known as "Deluxe Edition" supposedly comes with the fan-kit but I have no idea what it is, but if there's nothing like that with the US version, then that's that.

no idea- hence the question

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

Looking through the manual, it is a bit different, they have added in some stuff about C3C features, nothing major, though. The main interface is different, too, the game selection screen has that steel safe look to it, and the buttons are steel. BTW, this also installs previews for Pirates and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3.

The Conquests and Civ Content are accessed through the main screen, nothing appears to be different there. Spent a bit more time looking through the folders, seems that everything that came with PTW and C3C is in there.

 

[zurichuk]

what are the different versions patched to? i presume vanilla and ptw are fully patched but is conquests patched to 1.22?

 

[moondoggi]

what are the different versions patched to? i presume vanilla and ptw are fully patched but is conquests patched to 1.22?

Correct, sence it appears no more offical patches it is "complete".
And I am using win ME and had no problem installing.

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

Yeah, it's 1.22, or so it says down in the corner. Apparently 1.22 did not fix the resource bug in C3C, there are only 2 Iron on my continent in this game, and only ONE saltpeter, which the Germans controlled until a few turns ago. Catherine has been whipping up on Frederick with hordes of longbowmen, apparently she has NO early resources whatsoever. Now WHY did they not fix at least THAT? Oh well, time to fire up the editor, I guess.

 

[Kalador]

The UK complete version (Civ III Deluxe Edition) appears to come with it's own unique version number system!
It's got everything in it, no doubt about that, right up to the equivalent of 1.22 for conquests (as far as I can tell), yet it calls itself version 1.00...

Now, that's all well and good, as it does seem to have everything in it, BUT... is this gonna cause any sort of problems playing multiplayer with someone who has Complete in the US with version 1.22?

Gonna try and find out later tonight, I'm sure I won't be the only person wondering this

 

[zurichuk]

The UK complete version (Civ III Deluxe Edition) appears to come with it's own unique version number system!
It's got everything in it, no doubt about that, right up to the equivalent of 1.22 for conquests (as far as I can tell), yet it calls itself version 1.00...

Now, that's all well and good, as it does seem to have everything in it, BUT... is this gonna cause any sort of problems playing multiplayer with someone who has Complete in the US with version 1.22?

Gonna try and find out later tonight, I'm sure I won't be the only person wondering this

that's why i asked in my post above, Civ Gold was often said as being patched by members of this site but here in the UK it wasn't (well mine wasn't, it was just a glorified box repackaged to contain the old Vanilla and PTW cases), I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't have to patch Complete yourself in the UK, but I hope I'm wrong

 

[Kalador]

After much frustration, fiddling with firewalls and such, and being generally baffled... this is what I can report.

My wife (currently in the states) and I (in the UK) had the following.
1: She couldn't see any game I created in the list (really don't know why) and couldn't direct connect to my IP either. Even with ALL firewall protection completely turned off. It simply didn't find the game.
2: I COULD see a game she created, and could join into the setup part, but as soon as she actually launched the game, it claimed we had incompatible versions.

She has Civ III complete, it's version number (judging by the version number shown on the title screen) is 1.22... which to my knowledge is the fully up to date Conquests.
I have Civ III Deluxe edition. My one shows a version number of 1.00... but comes with everything that conquests should have, all the mini-campaigns, the new game options, the new wonders, etc etc. It's all there.

Having checked firaxis' website, I believe I'm right in saying there are no patches for either the complete, or the deluxe editions, only for the individual ones.

As a further point of interest, her title screen for Civ III complete is the rather dull looking metalwork type background, wheras mine is the background of a samurai observing a building, in a dramatic-ish about to go to war type pose.

So... anyone got any suggestions?

Ignoring the fact she can't see me at all for now... it seems fine until it actually launches at which point it decides they're incompatible versions.

Possibilities...
1: The UK and US version are incompatible?... I find it rather unlikely, but can those who have Conquests connect to one another between US and UK versions? If they can, then I guess we can discount that option.
2: It's checking some obscure ini or registry setting which has a different version number, so it reckons it won't work.
3: The Deluxe edition (for whatever bizarre reason) needs the Conquests patch applying?....

Will try that tonight, and update (sorry for the long waffle in the message but detail is always helpful for anyone trying to get to grips with a problem)

 

[Kalador]

Okay, it DOES need patching.

So anyone out there who's got the UK 'Deluxe' edition, assuming that deluxe should be up to date with patches (quite a reasonable assumption since it was only released last week in the UK! 8th October to be precise) be prepared to download the 20+MB patch in order to play online.

Bit annoying, but hey. At least it works now.

However, it's worth mentioning, even though it now lets us play, she STILL cannot see any game I create, even with my firewall turned off completely.

Anyone got any ideas at all?...

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

Huh, that's very odd. I wonder if we are going to be in for another yelling session as we had with the different release dates for the various foreign language patches when Vanilla Civ3 first came out.

I would email Firaxis about this, ask what's going on.

 

[Kalador]

I think I just might do that.

It's also worth noting (for any other UK potential buyers of 'Deluxe' out there) that mine, though it came in a very nice presentation box (which unglued within a day of being out of it's shrink-wrap), it doesn't have ANY manual of any sort in it whatsoever. Which came as quite a shock.
It has a quick-key chart thingy, but that's it.

Good job I know my way around Civ games

Not really my idea of 'Deluxe' though.

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

No manual at all? The US version has a fairly thick manual, more like the original Civ3 manual than the little booklets that came with PTW and C3C. These must be 2 fairly different versions, I wonder if somebody in the UK preordered a large amount of these and they whipped up the package before they were even done with the US version.