The Civ2 Renaissance

[JPetroski]

Hi all - how about a little Throwback Thursday?

I reached out to Ori who granted permission to post this here rather than the Civ2 forum (since the whole point of this thread is to reach people who aren't currently playing Civ2!)...

I know many of you probably have been around since Civ2 or earlier and may hold some fond memories of the game. Others may have come on later and sadly missed it.

You may not have heard, but there’s a bit of a renaissance going on with Civ2 right now. @TheNamelessOne has created a patch for Civilization II Test of Time that has expanded the game greatly and fixed several prior issues that people had with the game compared to MGE. He has expanded the number of units and terrains available and more impressively has integrated lua coding in the game.

@Grishnach and I have recently released the first scenario that implements lua, Caesar’s Gallic Wars. Some innovative features include ranged combat, an area of recruitment (certain units can only be built in certain areas), tying recruitment of other units to certain city improvements (stables for horses, siege workshops for artillery, etc.), and the instantaneous change from summer to winter terrain without any need for batch files. We are now working with @McMonkey to develop a second scenario that aims to overhaul the Civ2 diplomacy model.

The community remains alive and energized by these new developments and we would welcome you back to take a peek at the patch project as well as the new scenarios coming out.

For those who signed on for the source code petition, this is pretty much what we always wanted. Lua seems limited only by our imagination.

For those who never had the opportunity to enjoy the game before, its big appeal is customization by the masses for the masses. Scenarios that would take a team of people to create for later versions can be accomplished by an individual. Anyone (and I mean anyone) with a paint program and the patience to read some resources and ask some questions can create a very good scenario all by themselves. Someone with basic lua coding knowledge could create an outstanding scenario all by themselves. It’s a creative outlet and fun to see how you can manipulate the game to achieve different situations. There is 20 years’ worth of art (some of it truly gorgeous) and resources freely available to incorporate in your own scenarios and mod packs.

If you’re interested in revisiting the game or exploring it for the first time, please join us at the Scenario League forum - we can help get you set up to play or create.

Scenario League Forum
https://forums.civfanatics.com/forums/civ2-scenario-league.428/

Test of Time Patch Project Thread
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/the-test-of-time-patch-project.517282/

Scenario League Wiki site for Caesar’s Gallic Wars
http://sleague.civfanatics.com/index.php?title=Caesar's_Gallic_Wars

Hope to see you around,

 

[Narz]

Cool, Civ 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. I'd still mess with it from time to time but it won't work on my current computer. It's the reason I originally joined CFC. One of my early highlights here is getting a 7-player multiplayer game going. Eventually it fell apart but we did have at least 5 players going for over a month IIRC.

 

[JPetroski]

What kind of operating system do you have? It seems like every time windows releases an update that "finally kills" civ2, a small group of people figure out a workaround.

I'm using a windows 10 machine and it largely works fine (sometimes it "thinks" during AI turns rather than showing all of their attacks).

Another option (which I get isn't palatable to everyone) is picking up a windows xp laptop on ebay or a tag sale. Civ2 doesn't require many resources at all, and old corporate laptops work just fine for it.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

What kind of operating system do you have? It seems like every time windows releases an update that "finally kills" civ2, a small group of people figure out a workaround.

I'm using a windows 10 machine and it largely works fine (sometimes it "thinks" during AI turns rather than showing all of their attacks).

Another option (which I get isn't palatable to everyone) is picking up a windows xp laptop on ebay or a tag sale. Civ2 doesn't require many resources at all, and old corporate laptops work just fine for it.

I do have an XP laptop that I bought specifically so I could play Test of Time and some of my older games. I haven't used it in awhile since neither browser I had would connect to the internet any longer.

I'd love to be able to play it on my Windows 10 as well, but I have no idea how that works (the instructions in the Civ II forum might as well be in an alien language; I'm not that computer-literate).

 

[Cheetah]

Cool initiative. Maybe I should try to go back to Civ2 at some point...

Another option (which I get isn't palatable to everyone) is picking up a windows xp laptop on ebay or a tag sale.

Why not just set up a virtual machine instead?

 

[onejayhawk]

Cool, Civ 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. I'd still mess with it from time to time but it won't work on my current computer. It's the reason I originally joined CFC. One of my early highlights here is getting a 7-player multiplayer game going. Eventually it fell apart but we did have at least 5 players going for over a month IIRC.

Yeah. This goes nowhere without a Windows 10 patch or workaround.

J

 

[Lexicus]

Another option (which I get isn't palatable to everyone) is picking up a windows xp laptop on ebay or a tag sale. Civ2 doesn't require many resources at all, and old corporate laptops work just fine for it.

I've actually been circling the drain of this idea for a little while now, not just for civ 2 but for a few different super-old games that don't work (or don't work as well as I'd like) on my windows 10 machine.

 

[Samson]

Can anyone recommend somewhere to get a Test of Time from? There are places on the internet saying download it from us, it is freeware, but they seem very dodgy and it cannot really be freeware.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I do have an XP laptop that I bought specifically so I could play Test of Time and some of my older games. I haven't used it in awhile since neither browser I had would connect to the internet any longer.

I'd love to be able to play it on my Windows 10 as well, but I have no idea how that works (the instructions in the Civ II forum might as well be in an alien language; I'm not that computer-literate).

Are these instructions any easier?

http://users.tpg.com.au/jpwbeest/cc_tot_install.htm

 

[JPetroski]

Yeah. This goes nowhere without a Windows 10 patch or workaround.

J

Well, I play on windows 10. The Test of Time Patch Project includes some 64 bit patches.

It's been perhaps a year or so since I installed Test of Time and truth be told I do think I encountered some minor issues but I'll try to look into it this weekend and help you all out with a workaround as best I can. The information is out there but seeing as how I've found it once before I'll try again.

I do know the first step is an install into an actual drive (not program files) followed by the 1.1 patch. Then you install the Test of Time Patch project and launch it.

If it crashes, try unchecking a few of the options towards the bottom regarding videos (sorry I'm not in front of a computer right now). That made it work for me.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Can anyone recommend somewhere to get a Test of Time from? There are places on the internet saying download it from us, it is freeware, but they seem very dodgy and it cannot really be freeware.

Try either eBay or Amazon. I lost my first disk (the one that came in a box with a manual and gorgeous poster of the tech trees for Lalande, Midgard, and the Original/Extended Civ II). So I found an Amazon Marketplace seller and ordered a replacement from him.

But be aware: It's not cheap.

Are these instructions any easier?

http://users.tpg.com.au/jpwbeest/cc_tot_install.htm

Thanks, I will check it out.

 

[innonimatu]

You may not have heard, but there’s a bit of a renaissance going on with Civ2 right now. @TheNamelessOne has created a patch for Civilization II Test of Time that has expanded the game greatly and fixed several prior issues that people had with the game compared to MGE. He has expanded the number of units and terrains available and more impressively has integrated lua coding in the game.

Hello. I do have civ2 and miss some of its play style (and those advisors!), though there is one elusive scenario I have lost. But this work is only meant for ToT, not MGE?

 

[Kyriakos]

Civ2 was probably the game i spent more time playing, and certainly the game i actually bought more times than any other (possibly 7 times...).
Bought it so many times because i was so addicted i could only stop by destroying the cd.

Although that was happening almost 20 years ago... (uni years).

 

[JPetroski]

Hello. I do have civ2 and miss some of its play style (and those advisors!), though there is one elusive scenario I have lost. But this work is only meant for ToT, not MGE?

Yes the patch project is only for ToT. It does fix some "little things" (like lack of unit atrack animations) that used to bug people about ToT.

 

[FriendlyFire]

I have Civ TOT on CD somewhere
It was the first game that had mod support, I remember playing it with WH40k Units