Stupid question, how do you edit?

[Mark2010]

Ya I just want to know, how do you edit in the game??? Sorry for asking











"Strategy is the art of making time and space. Space we could recover, but time, NEVER!" Napolean

 

[sumthinelse]

Let's assume you want to edit the rules in a "regular" game. There is something more complicated called a "scenario," which gives you more options but is more difficult to start on.

before you start, back up civ3mod.bic. this is the file you will change, and you want to be able to get back to the original configuration if you change something and it doesn't work. (I don't know why they won't let you specify the config file name in a regular game. It's always civ3mod.bic.

Infogames main menu->Civ 3->Civ3edit

Load civ3mod.bic

For example, if you want a warrior to move 100 squares, go to

Rules->Edit Rules->Units->warrior.

Then change his moves from 1 to 100. Then you have to save the file.

Then start your game.

There are lots of other things you can change, but you always have to change the file and save it before you start a game.

 

[Gastric ReFlux]

Yeah, it would be much easier if you could choose which .bic file you want to play with, rather than having to move and rename files.

 

[sabo]

sumthinelse,

Will I know what options affect just one Civ or all of them in the editor???

Is there a Tutorial here or somewhere on tips to use it??

Merci

 

[warpstorm]

You can, just choose load scenario instead of load game. In fact, I would go so far as to say that sumthinelse is giving you bad advice. Do not ever change civ3mod.bic. Always choose a new file or open mod that you built.

 

[warpstorm]

For the most part, changes affect all civs. There will probably be more options for Civ-specific stuff in the "new editor", when it arrives.

I agree, there is no built-in tutorial. The help files are good if you know more or less what you're doing. But if you are trying to learn this stuff...

 

[sabo]

Sounds like a good project for someone who has nothing better to do, anyone want to put together a little tutorial??

 

[sumthinelse]

Originally posted by warpstorm
You can, just choose load scenario instead of load game. In fact, I would go so far as to say that sumthinelse is giving you bad advice. Do not ever change civ3mod.bic. Always choose a new file or open mod that you built.

If you don't change civ3mod.bic you can't change the rules for a "real game." You can play a scenario, but scenarios have bugs. For example, a non-expansionist civ will never get a barbarian from a goody hut in a scenario. If you are happy with scenarios, or if you are happy playing "real" games without any changes, though, you don't ever have to change civ3mod.bic.

Warpstorm and I would agree that you have to be careful if you do change it. I have a copy of it, named 121f.bic, that I never change.

 

[warpstorm]

I use scenarios all the time and I don't see any bugs like you've described, but then again the tweaks I've done are fairly minor (making CMs work right (having then load onto modern ships and have a real range) and moved the corruption slider down one notch).

AFAIK, choosing Load Game is identical to choosing Load Scenario with civ3mod.bic instead of a custom .bic file. At least that has been my experience.

In any case, yes, I agree that you should keep a backup of civ3mod.bic if you do decide to change it.

 

[sumthinelse]

Originally posted by warpstorm
I use scenarios all the time and I don't see any bugs like you've described

Etj4Eagle is my witness; he saw the same bug. Sometimes I use scenarios for some things but I consider them untrustworthy in some ways.

Maybe you won't have these problems if you don't let the scenario editor generate the map -- not sure about that.

 

[Mike B.]

Selecting "New Game" is a shortcut for selecting "Load Scenario" and choosing civ3mod.bic. I also recommend you never modify this file. Scenarios are identical to so-called "real games." Any bug you saw in a scenario is specific to the scenario you were playing or it exists throughout the game. The barbarian bug you mentioned was probably caused by having the barbarian level set to sedentary in the scenario (it's easy to get this to happen without realizing it). By the way, the game does know when you've modified civ3mod.bic and marks it as a "scenario" anyway...

 

[sumthinelse]

Originally posted by Mike B. FIRAXIS
Selecting "New Game" is a shortcut for selecting "Load Scenario" and choosing civ3mod.bic. I also recommend you never modify this file. Scenarios are identical to so-called "real games." Any bug you saw in a scenario is specific to the scenario you were playing or it exists throughout the game. The barbarian bug you mentioned was probably caused by having the barbarian level set to sedentary in the scenario (it's easy to get this to happen without realizing it). By the way, the game does know when you've modified civ3mod.bic and marks it as a "scenario" anyway...

Thanks, for posting, Mike.

I can see why changing civ3mod.bic might lead to trouble if you are not careful. Maybe I'll change the file attribute to "read only," but I would have to remember to restore the "write" attribute when I installed a new patch. Nah, I'll just leave the file attributes alone.

The bug was not caused by setting barbs to "sedentary." It was set to "roaming." etj4Eagle observed the same thing and did verify that barbs were set to "roaming" in his scenario (and I sanity checked my scenario). And it did not occur in games started with "New Game." Based on what you said, I think it's probably related to generating a map in the editor. I'll post a saved game if anybody is interested.

But "New Game" has not always been a shortcut for "Load Scenario"->civ3mod.bic, because in earlier patches when you changed civ3mod.bic the changes applied to games in progress that were started with "New Game" but this did not apply to "scenarios."

So you can see why some of us are in the habit of modifying civ3mod.bic. I'll try "Load Scenario" next time I start a game. Sounds like a useful tip.

So thanks for the tip, warpstorm, and thanks again for coming to see us, Mike.

But to tell the truth I really don't trust maps generated in the editor. I suppose that I'll rename the buggy .bic file civ3mod.bic and make sure the bug is still there after "New Game."

 

[warpstorm]

To test this theory, I just built a map in the editor and put lots and lots of goody huts near the player starts. I loaded this scenario as the Romans (non-expansionistic). The 11th goody hut was packed with barbarians.

Post the buggy .bic and we can all look at it in the editor and maybe see why it doesn't work. Mike probably has better tools for looking at the scenario than the 1.21f editor. I'm sure if there is a bug, Mike would want to fix it (contrary to what some people think).

 

[Zouave]

Reminder: we do NOT have TRUE scenarios, or scenario-building, in Civ 3. That despite Firaxis' misleading reference.

Sometimes different MODS will crash if you have not edited the Arts/units folders so you have the right picture, sound, and .ini file in each unit's folder. It's a BIG HASSLE - no doubt the result of Firaxis hardcoding a lot of stuff to make changing things difficult so we will buy more Firaxis add ons. Not good.

 

[sumthinelse]

Yes, I know Mike is a good guy. I have done some programming myself and I know there is more to it than some people think.

Thanks warpstorm for going to that much effort. I did the same thing, based on several different .bic files, and I was unable to recreate the problem just now.

So maybe etj4Eagle and I both missed something, or perhaps this is a real problem, but it's extremely rare. The latter hypothesis is hard to believe, though, since Eagle and I both believed that we saw the problem, but had very different configurations.

I'll email Eagle to see if he saved a .bic file from that time that recreates it.

There is a zip file on http://forums.civfanatics.com/showt...y=&highlight=goody probabilities&pagenumber=3 by PCHighway but I'm not sure if it's supposed to produce barbs or not. I'll download it to see what it does. Anyway, etj4Eagle had some .bic files in which he explored many hundreds of huts without producing a barb. This thread discusses what might be causing it.

OK, back to the main point of this thread:

I believe Mike B. that you can load a .bic file via "Load scenario" without causing any strange behaviour. And it really is easier and safer than editing/copying/etc. civ3mod.bic This question about editor-generated maps is a different subject (which I am still trying to find answers for.)

 

[kring]

I have also gotten goody hut Barbs from my own scenarios (set to Raging) with maps generated in the editor or randomly generated maps.

I always open the civ3mod.bic and immediately save as, then make any mods to that new file.

 

[sumthinelse]

Originally posted by kring
I have also gotten goody hut Barbs from my own scenarios (set to Raging) with maps generated in the editor or randomly generated maps.

Yes, that is what I get too now. At a minimum, I overstated the frequency of the phenomenon. I need etj4Eagle to see if he remembers how to create the non-barb scenarios, but I guess he's on a break.