Steph's crazy (?) idea to expand the game without the source code.

[Ozymandias]

Silly detail re: say, Vista: I run 32 bit; make sure you're (that is, whoever is testing) is truly running 64 bit mode.

Best,

Oz

P.S. from MicroLeper:

To run a 64-bit version of Windows, your computer must have a 64-bit-capable processor. If you are unsure whether your processor is 64-bit-capable, do the following:

1.Open Performance Information and Tools by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Performance Information and Tools.

2.Click View and print details.

3.In the System section, you can see what type of operating system you're currently running under System type, and, under 64-bit capable, whether you can run a 64-bit version of Windows. (If your computer is already running a 64-bit version of Windows, you won't see the 64-bit capable listing.)

-O.

PPS Interestingly, according to Microsoft, Civ3Complete is NOT compatable with Vista:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/co...=&pf=0&pi=7&c=PC Gaming&sc=Strategy&os=32-bit

-O.

 

[White Elk]

Steph, you continue to justify the "Multi Many Tasks man" title ;~P

Expanded Editor2 sounds like a phenomenal idea! As does your game! I for one think that even as much as a half years delay to your game is a small price to pay for an editor such as this. And I wouldn't mind reloading the game every era. Though reloading the game every turn would be a bit much, save for some really brilliant mods.

The first thing that came to mind was that this might finally provide a way to add some real epic'ness to the space race. The progressive era's would be very nice for it. But even better would be if this editor could provide a way for the results of one game to impact another game...

A players accomplishments in Game1, sets up their situation in Game2. This could be interesting for a variety of mods I think. Imagine an Old World/ New World mod... players play a full game in the Olde World... their accomplishments in that game dictates how they start the New World game. As in the better job they do developing their Old World nations, the better position they will be in to settle the new world. Same thing could work with off world development. The better the player sets up their earthly infrastructure, the better they will be able to support the colonization of space.

And I've always thought that a system like this would make for some interesting tournaments... 6 or so players on a single continent battle for dominance. At a set in-game date (or the learning of a tech... such as an ocean going tech?) the game ends. The survivors of each continent have their empires ported to a new map. The new map consists of continents from each of the first round games. These continents could be exact replicas of those from the first rounds... or some conversion could be used... like you get one city in round 2 for every two cities from round 1. Or something. Whatever makes sense map size and detail wise. There are a variety of ways to go about the conversions.


I see the hints of other things that could be done with your proposed editor. I think it would open new doors in Civ3 modding.
For that reason I think this project is well justified!

 

[Steph]

Agreed, I can't wait to be able to afford my new comptuer to start working on that, hopefully in January.

My main concern is if it's work and I open the Pandora's Box, who knows if I'll be able to close it again?

 

[Civinator]

My main concern is if it's work and I open the Pandora's Box, who knows if I'll be able to close it again?

Why should you close it?

 

[Steph]

Arthritis my friend! When I'll be and my fingers will be too gnarled to type properly on the keyboard.

 

[WildWeazel]

FWIW, I was able to launch the editor and load a BIQ in the Windows 7 x64 release candidate, but it looks like some of the data is corrupted and it complained about there being 0 slots in the resource and units32 files. That may be because I'm opening it from a different partition, where Civ3 is not installed.

 

[joelwest]

I voted to devote your time to your own game

as interesting as expanding eras or civs's is, the other built-in drawbacks of the Civ 3 game editor, even as modified by you, just make you want to tear your hair out

if they would just release the non-proprietary parts of the C3C source code like in Civ 4 with the SDK, all this time spent hacking would be better devoted to improving real gameplay

joelwest

 

[Steph]

I don't think there is anything like a SDK for CivIII, so it's useless to ask.

Out of curiosity, look at your installation folder, and check how many exe or dll you can find.

 

[timerover51]

Steph, here is another idea that you might want to include in the new game that you are working on. It is the result of something that Goldfool has run into on working up a set of unique tundra resources, the specific case being the Walrus. If he sets it to be restricted to the tundra, he not only gets it in the coastal tundra tile where it should be, but also well inland, where it should not be. If he sets it to be restricted to the coastal tile, the walrus appears in the tundra, and also in the tropics. What is needed is the option of putting two restrictions on resource appearance, such as Coastal + Tundra for the Walrus and other cold-water restricted sea life (Polar Bear, Sea Otter, Beluga Whale, Penguin, etc.), Coastal + Jungle for something like the dugong/manatee and salt-water crocodile, and Tundra + Forest for perhaps the mammoth and wolf. This would allow you to more precisely locate resources, and also allow for greater differentiation of resources.

 

[Steph]

I could do this in my game.

I may also be able to add it in my expanded CivIII editor. The idea would be after the map is generated, to check the resource distribution, and delete resources which are not where they should be.

However, this would require reloading the game after the first turn.

I'd like to be able to "force" the starting location as well, like Egypt in a flood plain, Scandinavia up north.

However, I'm not sure I can do it without the source code. Just after the map has been randomly generated, it could be possible to save it, and then go through a "map correction", where the starting location could be change by the program... But it may be a bit strange.

Another solution would be to develop my own map generation tool.

 

[Balthasar]

I'd like to be able to "force" the starting location as well, like Egypt in a flood plain, Scandinavia up north..

Of course, if you're going to save after the first turn to save a map, you might as well just make a map and "force" the starting locations in the first place, right?

Another solution would be to develop my own map generation tool.

That's a wonderful idea if a map generator could make changes in the biq that an editor can't, like the Map Tweaker program can. My dream is a program that would automate the adding of terrains as once described by Embryodead...

 

[timerover51]

I could do this in my game.

I may also be able to add it in my expanded CivIII editor. The idea would be after the map is generated, to check the resource distribution, and delete resources which are not where they should be.

I would love to see that in an expanded editor, since I use primarily pre-generated maps for my mods and games. That would also be idea for real-world maps, as the terrain would always be the same, but you could vary the resource distribution or add new resources in the correct area, rather than doing everything by hand.

Another solution would be to develop my own map generation tool.

Steph, if you develop a new game, you are going to have to develop a map generator anyway, might as well do it sooner than later.

 

[Steph]

There are two different project here.

One is expanding CivIII as much as possible. It will still be limited to what the engine allows, as long as we can't have access to the source code. However, it's something that can be done in a short term.

The second is to make my own game. There I'm not limited. But it's very long.

A random map generator for CivIII is not compatible with a random map generator for my game, as the way terrain is handled is very different.

 

[timerover51]

Understood, Steph.

 

[D.Durand]

You probably know it already, but for the graphics the animated PNG work well (my Opera browser read them perfectly).

http://animatedpng.com/

 

[Steph]

To expand CivIII, I use the same graphics as civIII.

For my own game, I'm using my own format.