Tech Tree and Script.txt Tutorial

[Gray Wolf]

Note: A PDF file for this tutorial is attached in the zip folder below.

Tech Tree and Script.txt Tutorial (using GIMP 2.8 and notepad++)

In this tutorial, I'll explain how to add a new tech in the .BIQ editor, create pcx files for it, put it on a tech screen, make the advisor say something when you hover over the new tech, and also how to put arrows on your tech screen and connect all your new techs.

Before you do anything, I highly recommend that you always save a copy of your mod and .BIQ file first.

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Ok, let's start by adding a new Tech called Harvest which will be required for advancement.

1. Create a new Tech (the Civilization Advance tab in the .BIQ editor)
Click on the Civilization Advance tab. Click Add.

Type in: Harvest
Era: Ancient Times
x: 82 y:310 (see note below)
Civilopedia Entry: TECH_Harvest
Cost: 4

note: I am using my example of where I put my Harvest tech on the ancient tech screen... at 82, 310. If you don't have space available there to put a new tech, for learning purposes, just put the tech at x:800 y:480 which is on the right hand side of the ancient tech screen.

Example:

Spoiler :

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2. Make Pediaicons.txt Entry

Put this at the end of the Tech "small.pcx" section. (after Fascism)

#TECH_Harvest
Art\tech chooser\Icons\Harvest_small.pcx

Put this at the end of the Tech "large.pcx" section (after Fascism)

#TECH_Harvest_LARGE
Art\tech chooser\Icons\Harvest_large.pcx

note: If you see a tech in the pediaicon.txt file that is not in your .BIQ file tech list, you can safely delete it. But it won't hurt anything if you leave it in the file...
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3. Make Civilopedia.txt Entry

Find the section where all the #TECH_technames are located. The order doesn't matter so just paste this below one of the other tech's.

#TECH_Harvest
^
^Harvest.

#DESC_TECH_Harvest
^
^Harvest.

note: If you see a tech in the civilopedia.txt file that is not in your .BIQ file tech list, you can safely delete it. But it won't hurt anything if you leave it in the file...
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4. Make the Harvest-large.pcx file

4.1 Download a picture of some Wheat on Wikipedia and open it in GIMP.
We'll use this image on the civilopedia screen to represent a Harvest.

4.2 Image/Scale Image: 128 W x 128 H
4.3 Image/Mode/Indexed
4.4 Generate Optimum Palette
4.5 Maximum colors: 254
4.6 Leave everything else alone
4.7 Convert
4.8 File/Export
4.9 Name: Harvest-large
4.10 Set the "Save in Folder" to: Art/tech chooser/Icons (you need to create this folder in your scenario/mod...)
4.11 Click the + sign where it says Select File Type
4.12 Scroll down to the bottom and choose ZSoft PCX image
4.13 The filename should say: Harvest-large.pcx now
4.14 Click Export
4.15 Open up the Harvest-large.pcx file you just saved/exported.
4.16 Windows/Dockable Dialogs/Colormap
4.17 Resize the Colormap window so you can see all the colors
4.18 Double Click on Color Index=255
4.19 Set Color Index=255 to pink (ff00ff)
4.20 Double Click on Index=254
4.21 Set Color Index=254 to Neon Green (00ff00)
4.22 Scan the palette and look for anything that looks white
4.23 If anything is ffffff, change it to fffff3

Palette/Color Map:

Spoiler :

4.24 File/Overwrite/Harvest-large.pcx
4.25 The Harvest-large.pcx file is done
Example:

Spoiler :

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5. Make the Harvest-small.pcx file
Do the same steps you did to create a Harvest-large.pcx file
except (1) Scale the image to 32 W x 32 H and (2) name the image Harvest-small.pcx.

Note: This small image file is the image that shows up on the tech screen. (I'm using a different image for this part...)

Example:

Spoiler :

Make sure your -large and -small files are under Art/tech chooser/icons.

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6. Edit the Script.txt file

OK, now you have to edit the script.txt file to get your new tech to have words when you hover over it.

For example, when you hover over Masonry, the tech advisor's dialog box shows this: "With Masonry we can build walls and large monuments."

We need Harvest to say something too.

6.1 Copy the Script.txt file.

First, find the Script.txt file in the Conquests/text folder.

Copy the file and paste it in your mod's text folder, right beside civilopedia.txt, pediaicons.txt, and diplomacy.txt (if you have one).

6.2 Now open/edit your version of the Script.txt file (not the original one)

Ok, unlike the Pediaicons.txt file and Civilopedia.txt file, the script.txt file needs to have the exact same techs used in the .BIQ editor and all of them have to be in the same exact order...with no extra ones that aren't being used...

6.3 For people using Conquests version 1.20 or greater.
The radio tech was removed in version 1.20 so you will need to delete the Radio tech from the script.txt file.

The Radio tech looks like this:

#SCIENCEADVICETECH64
The {Radio} will enable communication in real-time across vast distances. What could be better?

Go ahead and delete it.

After you delete it, the techs will need to be renumbered. #SCIENCEADVICETECH65 will need to be renamed to #SCIENCEADVICETECH64. #SCIENCEADVICETECH66 will need to be renamed to SCIENCEADVICETECH65, etc...

There are 83 techs that come with the game that are listed in the script.txt file (0 to 82) so you'll need to renumber 65-82.
Fascism will end up being tech #82. And our new tech, Harvest, will be #83 at the end.

And the last part of the section will look like this:
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#SCIENCEADVICETECH81
What if we tack some iron plates on the sides of our wooden warships, then we'd have {Ironclads.}

#SCIENCEADVICETECH82
If we're going to war, then there's nothing like a little {Fascism} to bring victory to the troops.

#SCIENCEADVICETECH83
Let's learn how to yield a bigger {harvest}.

#ADVISORANGRY
#advisor Angry
I'm not even supposed to [be] here today!

#comment
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6.4 If you are using the Radio Tech
If Radio is a tech that is listed in your conquests.biq file, then leave it in the script.txt file.
Just make sure all techs in the script.txt file are exactly the same as the ones in the conquests.biq file and are in the same exact order ... and have the correct science advice orders also (#SCIENCEADVICETECH0, #SCIENCEADVICETECH1, #SCIENCEADVICETECH2, etc.)

6.5 Line Spacing, Carriage Returns, and Line Feeds
Don't worry about how many spaces are in between each section. Just make sure there is a CR/LF at the end of each line.

6.6 Your advisor should say something now when you hover over Harvest...and he should say something when you hover over any other tech in the tech tree also...

note: If you want to see the hover over text for each era, you have to go into debug mode...

Ok, my tech screen looks like this. You can see the Advisor text on the top right. And my tech image for Harvest.

Note: I don't have arrows on my screen. I'll explain later. Anyway, your screen should have arrows everywhere
except for where the new Harvest Tech is located...

Spoiler :

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7. How to add arrows to your New Tech(s) on the Tree Screen using a 2nd layer in GIMP.

7.1 Download the files that I attached (which came from Kal-el's tutorial).
7.2 Copy the science_blank.pcx file and put it in your Art/Advisors folder.
Put the file in your folder and rename it science_ancient.pcx

Note: If you start a new game now and look at the Ancient Tech screen, you will see that it has no arrows on it.

7.3 Print Screen Button
Click the Print Screen Button to save the image.

7.4 Open up GIMP. Edit/Paste as/New Image.
Now you have a copy of it in GIMP. Let's call it the "Tech Screen Without Arrows" image.

Spoiler :

7.5 Add a layer on top of the "Tech Screen Without Arrows" image.

Layers/New Layer
Layer Name: Top
Leave default width and height (1024 and 768)
Layer Fill Type: Transparency!

The title bar should say "RGB color, 2 Layers" now. And you are currently on the 2nd layer.

7.6 Open up the arrows.bmp file (made by Kal-el in 2001)
It has arrows with different lengths, shapes, curves, angles, etc.

7.7 Add an arrow to the 2nd layer of the "Tech Screen without Arrows" image.
Note: Like I said above, you are currently on the 2nd layer. We want to always add arrows to the second layer.

What you need to do is:
7.7.1 Find an arrow that you want
7.7.2 Copy it and Paste it as a New Image

Spoiler :

7.7.3 Make the background color of the new arrow image transparent

Click U (Tools/Selection Tools/Fuzzy Select).
Click on the white part outside the arrow.
Hit the delete key.
Select/None

Spoiler :

7.7.4 Edit/Copy the new arrow image that has a transparent-background
Edit/Copy

7.7.5 Edit/Paste As/New Layer into the "Tech Screen image with no Arrows"
It puts the arrow in the top left of the screen. It becomes "Layer 3" on top of "Layer 2".

Spoiler :

7.7.6 Click 'M' to move the arrow and drag it where you want to put it
7.7.7 Layer/Merge Down to lock it into place
This Merges Layer 3 back down into Layer 2

Spoiler :

7.7.8 Edit/Copy
This copies the 2nd layer (the arrow only part of the image)
7.7.9 Open the blank science.pcx file
It has 1 layer right now
7.7.10 Edit/Paste Into the blank science.pcx file
This puts the arrows file on top of the blank_science file and creates 2 layers.
7.7.11 Layer/Merge Down (this merges it back down to 1 layer)
7.7.12 Export the file as your new science_ancient.pcx file
Put it in your Advisors folder.
7.7.13 Open up the game and go to the Ancient tech screen and you will see the arrow you just added.

Note: So if you can add 1 arrow, you can add any number of arrows using the instructions above.
I recommend adding 1 or 2 at a time. I also recommend saving copies of the "arrows-only image"
as you progress...so that you can roll back to a previous version if you need to...
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8. Final Notes

These are the files for each tech screen:

Science_ancient.pcx = ancient tech screen.
Science_middle.pcx = middle age tech screen
Science_industrial_new.pcx = industrial age tech screen (I'm not sure why but it needs to have _new)
Science_modern.pcx = the modern age tech screen
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9. Techboxes.pcx

You can add this to your advisors folder if you want better techboxes.
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10. Why I don't like Arrows

10.1 It takes a long time to do all this work for each arrow you want to add.
10.2 The arrows look ugly on the screen anyway.
10.3. The arrows aren't needed because when you click on a techbox it will light up all of the pre-requisite techs.
10.4 It's more fun if the game forces you to click on techs and research them to find out what they do
and what the pre-requisite techs are, etc.

Anyway, after spending HOURS and HOURS making arrows for tech screens using this 2nd layer GIMP approach,
I finally realized that it's not worth the trouble. In fact, the game is better without them. Just my opinion of course.

But, still, I thought I'd share the 2 layer approach because it is an easy and fast approach overall. You just add some arrows to the 2nd layer and lock them in. ( No need to manually keep track of the x,y coordinates of any arrow's position, etc).

Ok, that's it. I hope this helps everyone.

 

[T-mun]

And radio is a tech that is not being used in Conquests so it needs to be deleted.

I have to disagree with you on this: Radio is used, you can see it in the Industrial era bottom-right corner.

 

[Gray Wolf]

I have to disagree with you on this: Radio is used, you can see it in the Industrial era bottom-right corner.

I guess I should have clarified which tech screen I'm using. I'm using the one here:
industrial tech screen. This is the one that comes with the default conquests game.

The point is this. If you don't have a Radio tech, it needs to be taken out of the script.txt file. If it is being used, then just make sure it is in order and numbered right so that the advisor says something when you hover over the tech.

The conquests.biq file in the game's conquest folder does not have/use the radio tech but the script.txt file lists it for some reason...

Anyway, I created my mod folder structure and use a copy of the conquests.biq file to get started. Maybe other people create their mod folders differently.

But the advisor stuff finally worked for me after removing the radio tech...

 

[Blue Monkey]

Nice to have an integrated tutorial with the whole process of adding a tech.

Not a criticism just an amplification:

Save the large 'pedia image in rgb format prior to indexing. Sometimes the small version comes out better scaled from the large 'pedia image rather than a much bigger source image. & scaling from rgb definitely gives better results than from indexed.

And a hint (not a required step). If the indexed color map has multiple blank spaces causing trouble by shifting the green/magenta away from the 254/255 slots, try this as step 4.1b:

• Make a layer a little larger than required underneath the icon's layer. 10 pixels by 10 pixels larger should be enough.
• Fill it with a "rainbow" gradient so that all colors show outside the icon layer. The full saturation gradient with a straight shape filled on the diagonal works well.
• Flatten the image.
• Index it. Even though some colors don't appear in the image they're still in the colormap. Eliminates those pesky blank slots.
• Crop it to the proper size.

 

[Gray Wolf]

scaling from rgb definitely gives better results than from indexed.

Definitely, good point...

Make a layer a little larger than required underneath the icon's layer...

Thanks, I never thought about that. And this is a good method to use if you want to ensure that the palette
has 256 colors right from the start. And then you can just index the last 2 (like you said) and then you are finished.

Bottom line. No matter which method you use for this...you have to go through a few steps and you have to
make sure index 254 and 255 are set to the transparency colors...

 

[Gray Wolf]

Just so everyone knows. I put these tutorials together for myself at first. But I decided to share them because I couldn't find tutorials that explained the whole process, especially the script.txt part...

Also, the tech tree tutorials were confusing to me because they wanted you to keep track of the x,y coordinates of where arrows should go, etc, and I knew you could accomplish the same thing in GIMP with a 2nd layer and not have to worry about coordinates. So I decided to share that also.... even though I don't use arrows anymore... I just don't like them...

 

[Etain]

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[Blue Monkey]

I'm curious what is the benefit of doing this versus filling in the blank spaces with black after indexing and then moving the transparent colors to the last two spots?

The indexing settings are for the maximum number of colors the program will map to. If you've got an image with just a few colors - for example some of the sepia-toned pcx done for the steampunk project - there are a lot of left over slots. These are sometimes left empty by the various indexing software programs. If you'd rather check dozens of color slots to make sure they're really black & not just an empty slot, edit them individually, rearrange colors to put the magenta/green in the last 2 slots, save the file, reopen it to ensure the colors aren't shifted to put any missed empty slots at the end, repeat the process as needed ...

In the process of making over 100 tech icons, as well as wonder splashes, era pcx, terrain pcx, etc. - in batches - I've found the method I described saves a lot of headaches & hair-pulling.

 

[Blue Monkey]

So I decided to share that also.... even though I don't use arrows anymore... I just don't like them...

One frustration I've found as a player is looking at a tech several steps away, but not being able to easily tell the order the intermediate techs need to be researched. If the tech tree is simple it's not too bad. But a tree as complex as Rise and Rule or Rhye's of Civilization with no arrows ...

 

[Etain]

.....

 

[Gray Wolf]

One frustration I've found as a player is looking at a tech several steps away, but not being able to easily tell the order the intermediate techs need to be researched. If the tech tree is simple it's not too bad. But a tree as complex as Rise and Rule or Rhye's of Civilization with no arrows ...

You do have a point there. If there are tons of techs, it w/b too confusing.
So I guess I'd use arrows if it needs it badly.

I've been trying to keep techs lined up linearly though ... and even without arrows, it seems to work pretty good.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Just an idea, but have you considered adding images to show what you're doing in each step?

Yea, it may need a few images. I'll probably add some when I get the chance, especially if someone tries to follow the tutorial and starts looking like this. or this or this

If anyone has suggestions about where best to put an image, please let me know.

 

[Etain]

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[Gray Wolf]

Generally, when I index an image to 256, and I only get, say 200, I add 56 slots of black, then move the transparent colors to the last two spots and then export as a pcx. There's no checking slots and once rearranged the colors don't shift anywhere. It takes maybe 10 seconds.

Whenever I have a file similar to your example that has only 200 colors, (1) I export it as a pcx and then (2) re-open the file.. and when you re-open it, it automatically puts 256 colors (with the last 56 being black). Then I (3) set the last 2 index colors to neon green and pink and (4) export again. Which takes about 10 seconds also...

Anyway, I guess it is whatever you get used to doing...

But I agree with you, I've never had to worry about unused slots or anything like that. Gimp always puts black for unused colors.

 

[Etain]

.....

 

[Gray Wolf]

and then if I need to I use the add foreground color in the palette/colormap window and select black and continue to add until I have 256 index colors.

Yea, that works well too, especially if there aren't very many colors to add.

 

[Gray Wolf]

When I first started doing pcx's I did it this way, but sometimes they would come out strange (palette messed up/transparency issues).

It always works good as long as you index 254 colors, export, and re-open, and then set the last 2 transparency colors, and then export/overwrite the file.

It actually took me 2-3 days to get everything to finally work all the time... and then I just kept doing it the same way ever since.
So I think people use whatever starts to finally work for them consistently.

What's sad is that even with our examples and notes in this thread, someone new at this will probably be totally confused and they will still have to go through a learning curve before they finally get things to work...

So I think I'll add some helpful images inside spoiler boxes or something...
[ DONE - also changed example tech from Buddhism to Harvest which is what I actually use in my mod ]

Thanks for the feedback...

 

[T-mun]

I guess I should have clarified which tech screen I'm using. I'm using the one here:
industrial tech screen. This is the one that comes with the default conquests game.

The point is this. If you don't have a Radio tech, it needs to be taken out of the script.txt file. If it is being used, then just make sure it is in order and numbered right so that the advisor says something when you hover over the tech.

The conquests.biq file in the game's conquest folder does not have/use the radio tech but the script.txt file lists it for some reason...

Anyway, I created my mod folder structure and use a copy of the conquests.biq file to get started. Maybe other people create their mod folders differently.

But the advisor stuff finally worked for me after removing the radio tech...

Sorry to jump in once again, but the pic you pointed to is not from Conquest, it is from the "vanilla" Civ3 game. I don't know how you got to play Conquest with Vanilla rules, but it is not a true Conquest game. The tech tree I posted is the standard Conquest tech tree for an epic game without any alteration of the rules. The Conquest.biq uses Radio for sure, the pic I posted came from it.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Sorry to jump in once again, but the pic you pointed to is not from Conquest, it is from the "vanilla" Civ3 game. I don't know how you got to play Conquest with Vanilla rules, but it is not a true Conquest game. The tech tree I posted is the standard Conquest tech tree for an epic game without any alteration of the rules. The Conquest.biq uses Radio for sure, the pic I posted came from it.

That is really strange. I just opened up my conquests.biq file again and it does not have radio in it ... in the tech advances section. And my WWX.biq file that I use for my mod is a copy of the conquests.biq file and so it doesn't have the radio tech. And when I go to my Industrial age tech screen it does not show the radio tech. (I should have put an image of my game's industrial tech screen but I just put a link to a tech screen that doesn't show the radio in the tech screen).

Can someone else verify that the conquests.biq file and conquests game is supposed to have the radio tech in it? I am 100% positive I never deleted the radio tech from the conquests.biq file tech advances section.

Anyway, if for some reason my conquests.biq file is screwed up, I'll reinstall Civ 3 complete and see what I get when I install..

Thanks for noticing this because I want to be using the same thing everyone else has and write this tutorial correctly.

 

[Etain]

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