The Great Library Reborn - Civ3 Scenario/Mod Preservation Project Log

[Blake00]

Preservation Projects:

• Civilization 1 Scenario/Mod Preservation Project
• Civilization 2 Scenario/Mod Preservation Project
• Civilization 3 Scenario/Mod Preservation Project (You are here!)
• Civilization 4 Scenario/Mod Preservation Project
• Civ1-6 Scenario/Mod Search and Rescue Thread (That feeds into this project)

=======================================================================
Project Status:

PROJECT IN PROGRESS! What you see today may not be what's there tomorrow as this is ever expanding!

TOTAL PROCESSED SO FAR:

• ? INDIVIDUAL SCENARIOS/MODS (ON HOLD - I've done many Civ3 rescues over the years but will catalog them here later)
• 4 MEGA COLLECTION DONATION BACKUPS (Containing MANY scenarios/mods/maps)

=======================================================================
Project Intro:

Hey guys, some of you may have seen my similar Civilization 2 scenario preservation project thread over at the Civ2 Scenario League where I've been tracking down rescuing and uploading literally several thousand lost scenarios, or you may have seen my Civ series scenario search & cataloging project thread where I'm hunting for lots of cool scifi & fantasy scenarios which once found are included in the preservation project too. As most Civ3 fans know I've been popping in here for years too and rescuing Civ3 mods of interest to me and also ones folks have requested I rescue, however I didn't have a thread for keeping track & managing my Civ3 related work so I figured I'd make this new 'workspace'. Eventually the links & info I'm putting in this thread will be used as a source for my Playing Civ Games in HD with Scenarios & Mods video series, and this thread may end up being useful legacy resource for others too since it will be filled with scenario downloads, mirrors and pictures. Much like with the Civ2 project I also want to use this thread as a drop off point for kind people wanting to submit their Civ3 scenario collections in bulk to the preservation effort and I will arrange publicly accessible hosting for them so if you have a large collection of Civ3 scenarios/mods/maps you'd like to contribute please let us know. Unlike the other Civ games which got generic project thread names I'm calling this thread the 'The Great Library Reborn' in honour of our dearly departed friend Ozymandias as I promised him that I would and regret greatly that I took too long to get this started. As usual this preservation project will be split into 2 areas of work, individual mod processing and bulk mega collection donation processing. More details on both below..

The Playing Civ Games in HD with Scenarios & Mods video series:


Individual scenario/mod preservation work:
ON HOLD - I've done many Civ3 rescues over the years but will catalog them here later as I'm still busily working on my Civ2 preservation, modding and promoting work. However in summary much like with those other Civ games I'd like to eventually get a whole bunch of the best old scenarios triple preserved to here, ModDB, Internet Archive, and maybe even quadruple it on Nexus. Also for now a lot of individual scenario preservation work is happening in @Quintillus 's lost mod preservation thread here that I and others have been helping out on. However if anyone wants to jump the gun on this and do some then check my example Master of Myrror Civ3 mod on ModDB and Star Trek Civ3 mod on Internet Archive and make sure you use the hashtag "Civ3ModCollection" as that's what I use to ensure they appear in a browsable collection together. For example you can see me using a similar hashtag at Internet Archive below with my Civilization 2 collection creating a really nice looking visual library of mods. Would be cool to have something like that for Civ3 one day too! Also check out my full instructions on how to upload mods to ModDB & Internet Archive over in the Civ2 preservation project thread and just replace all the Civ2 references with Civ3 (I'll put proper Civ3 instructions here later), it's thankfully not hard to do..

Civ2 Mods Catalog example:


Test link for the Civ3 Mods Catalog: https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject:Civ3ModCollection&sort=titleSorter (use left side library search options to fine tune results, there's also a A-Z bar above)

Mega Collection Donation preservation work:
ACTIVE - This is the main reason I've started this thread early as while I lack the time to do the above individual mod work for Civ3 at this stage I do have time to preserve mega collections of Civ3 mods that kind folks are willing to donate to us. As I recently discussed over in the Civ3 Mod Reupload thread if we were to upload a bulk collection zip of mods then Internet Archive is probably the best (free) option for that. As Internet Archive creates a bonus torrent link as well so that fans can help them host and share (ensuring that even if they go down the community is still hosting and sharing) and they also allow you to view inside the archive you uploaded allowing people to check if a particular mod they're after is in there. @Quintillus also has some good ideas about creating some additional paid collection hosting that the community could fund that he can either post about here or in a new thread & I'll link to it here. But for now I'll start listing our first wonderful mega collection backups and donations below (from kind folks like Solver and Thunderfall) so if you have a large collection of Civ3 scenarios/mods/maps you'd like to contribute please let us know either here or PM me if you wish to stay anonymous (your donation will be given a generic name) and I have some publicly accessible cloud storage you can easily drag & drop your collection into for the transfer. I'll then process them and once again use the hashtag "Civ3ModCollection" as well as an additional "Super Collection" hashtag to differentiate these mega collections below from individual mod uploads above.

Test link for the Civ3 Super Collections Catalog: https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject:Civ3ModCollection&sort=titleSorter&&and[]=subject:"Super+Collection"

WARNING - These collections may contain older versions of mods currently available at CivFanatics!

Apolyton Civilization 3 Downloads Backup
Changes made: Most missing files added (some are still missing). Collection repacked in 7zip.
Full 2GB Download: Internet Archive and Torrent Link (Please helps us seed!)
HD screenshot & thumb:


CivFanatics Atomic Civilization 3 Downloads Backup
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip.
Full 4GB Download: Internet Archive and Torrent Link (Please helps us seed!)
HD screenshot & thumb:


Atomic Network Civilization 3 Downloads Backup
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip.
Full 7GB Download: Internet Archive and Torrent Link (Please helps us seed!)
HD screenshot & thumb:


King Arthur Civilization 3 Mods Collection v1.1
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip. Civ3 graphics collections added.
Full 6GB Download: Internet Archive and Torrent Link (Please helps us seed!)
Screenshot & thumb:


.

 

[Blake00]

Reserved 1. Will eventually be filled with rescued mods. See example here.

 

[Blake00]

Reserved 2. Will eventually be filled with rescued mods. See example here.

 

[Blake00]

Reserved 3. Will eventually be filled with rescued mods. See example here.

 

[Blake00]

Reserved 4. Will eventually be filled with rescued mods. See example here.

 

[Blake00]

Reserved 5. Will eventually be filled with rescued mods. See example here.

 

[Blake00]

No donations on the Civ3 front to report yet, however I have finally opened up similar new scenario & mod preservation project threads for Sid Meier's Civilization 4 too. If you have a large collection of mods for Civ4 that you'd like to donate, please let me know and I'll take care the rest!

After all these years work on my huge Sid Meier's Civilization 2 scenario & mod preservation project has finally reached it's likely conclusion, and so similar to what I did with the Sid Meier's Civilization 1 project I have finally released my Civ2 in HD Tour video showcasing all the best scenarios and mods I was able to catalog and rescue over the years. Hope to do the same in years to come for Civ3 and Civ4!
https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...ization-2-hd-tour-with-mods-scenarios.700268/

 

[Blake00]

Looks like I spoke too soon! @KingArthur has kindly donated his extra Civ3 units & graphics collections as well. I've updated his collection donation to include them which has doubled it's size from 3GB to 6GB as there's a lot of great stuff here!

Have updated the OP at the top and here's a copy down here too..

King Arthur Civilization 3 Mods Collection v1.1
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip. Civ3 graphics collections added.
Full 6GB Download: Internet Archive and Torrent Link (Please helps us seed!)
Screenshot & thumb:

 

[Stew Pid]

Looks like I spoke too soon! @KingArthur has kindly donated his extra Civ3 units & graphics collections as well. I've updated his collection donation to include them which has doubled it's size from 3GB to 6GB as there's a lot of great stuff here!

Have updated the OP at the top and here's a copy down here too..

King Arthur Civilization 3 Mods Collection v1.1
Changes made: Collection repacked in 7zip. Civ3 graphics collections added.
Full 6GB Download: Internet Archive and Torrent Link (Please helps us seed!)
Screenshot & thumb:

Awesome! Are you gonna upload his units to the Civ 3 database?

 

[Stew Pid]

Also forgot to ask if you can try to recover the Civ 3 monster hunter mod one here.

 

[Blake00]

Awesome! Are you gonna upload his units to the Civ 3 database?

If you mean stick them all in the CivFanatics download resources area then no sorry. Uploading individual items with pictures and write ups is enormously time consuming, which is why I draw the line at scenarios & mods (& as stated in the OP even that's on hold for now while I finish off Civ2 scenario preservation) as maps, units & other custom graphics is whole other ball game and a giant project someone else can take on as I'm already drowning in giant projects lol! However much like in the KingArthur case above if someone kindly donates a mod collection that's also filled with maps, units and custom graphics then I will absolutely keep that extra stuff in their collection download ensuring that all these great resources and creations are not lost and still preserved. I realise having to download an entire collection to sift through it for the things we want can be annoying (especially if you have slow internet) but it's still a hell of a lot better than all that stuff being completely lost. We've lost so much already so right now I'm focused on preserving as much as possible as quick as possible and mega collection donations are the best way to do that.

Also forgot to ask if you can try to recover the Civ 3 monster hunter mod one here.

Yeah sure I can have a look at it and see if I can rescue it. Do you have the thread link? I don't think I know that one.
.

 

[KingArthur]

My upload is basically a jumble sale — you might uncover a hidden gem if you dig around, but most of it probably isn’t what you’re after. I wouldn’t recommend venturing into the scenario folders; they’re full of my half-finished projects, and you’ll probably cut yourself on something metaphorically rusty and sharp. Still… you never know what you might find. I've been downloading long enough that there might be something valuable from the ancient past.