[TOT] The Test Of Time Patch Project

[McMonkey]

The strangest thing has just happened. I have just tried the scenario on my laptop and suddenly everything seems to be working. I'm certain I tried it a dozen or more times last week on the laptop and more on my desktop at home. I will go back home and check if the issue has resolved itself on the desktop too. I really hope it has, but I'm really puzzled as to why it would suddenly rectify itself without me making any changes. Test of Time and the scenario files are all stored on a solid state hard drive which I plug into my Desktop or Laptop depending on where I am. Therefore the files used are identical whichever machine I'm using.

One thing I will mention. When I first loaded the game the unit shield colours were Orange and Turquoise instead of Yellow and Red. When I reloaded the save they reverted back to Y - R. I have noticed this happening quite a bit when I load games recently.

Anyway, for whatever reason everything would appear to be working as it should. I will keep my fingers crossed that this is the end of the issue. Normally when I get to the bottom of this kind of issue I realise it was me having a blonde moment, but on this occasion I really cannot come up with any logical explanation for what has been going on!

Thanks for your patience TNO

 

[McMonkey]

Just woken up and tested SCW on my desktop and everything is working A1 OK. I'm still puzzled about what was wrong before but it must have been something I was doing wrong my side rather than anything with ToTPP given all the evidence. I'm looking forwards to working on the events now and releasing the upgraded 127 unit version.

 

[TheNamelessOne]

Glad to hear it's working now

 

[McMonkey]

I have worked out where I was going wrong and I'm ashamed to admit it was a really dumb error on my part. I just wanted to reassure you that there are no issues with ToT, just with McMonkey!

I had two SCW folders. v1.1 and v1.2 which had the new units file and rules. When I loaded up the game I didn't swap to the v1.2 folder and didn't notice as the end of the save file name was not visible. I though I was reloading the save from v1.2 but all along it was the save from the v1.1 folder. Such an dumb mistaka ta maka! Because I could see the extra units in the cheat menu I assumed I was working from the v1.2 folder as I knew that was the only rules file I had added the extra units units @COSMIC2 line to. It looks like the extra units show in the cheat menu even if you haven't amended the rules file, but without the altered graphics and extra units listed in rules you get the problem I was describing. I can only assume that when I went on my laptop I had to navigate to the folder from the main drive and I picked the v1.2 folder and hey presto. Sorry for wasting your time!

 

[TheNamelessOne]

No worries, at least you found a minor bug, if the extra units show up in the cheat menu without making any changes.

 

[McMonkey]

I have added a sticky thread here to help with the installation of Test of Time and the Test of Time Patch. I will add the guide using the text from your read me file and will include a link back to this thread instructing people to check for updates etc...

If you have any objections to this thread please let me know. I thought it would be good to make it as widely available as possible and I hope that new players (who still turn up from time to time) and old players returning to Civ2 will find it as useful as I have found ToTPP.

 

[TheNamelessOne]

That's a great idea. Don't forget to link to Catfish's ToT installation guide, which is also pretty comprehensive.

 

[McMonkey]

Thanks. I will add a link to Catfish's page. I think the guide will be bullet points with links to this thread, Catfish's site and the site where the v1.1 patch lives plus an explanation of how to install scenarios. I will give you a shout when it's ready to see if there's anything you would recommend changing or adding.

 

[McMonkey]

I have come across a little problem with compatibility between the latest version of ToTPP and one of my other favourite utilities: Civ City Version 1.3

When I try to load my latest save file (which includes 127 units) I get the following message:

This file is not a valid CIV II save or scenario file - unrecognised version number:51

I know it's not your utility but I was wondering if you knew of any way to get around this as I use Civ City extensively when creating my scenarios.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

As I understand it, TheNamelessOne has changed the saved game structure to implement the TOTPP. (It seems he has wisely changed the part of the saved game that tells the version.) It follows that old utilities designed to change the original data structure will not work on the new saved games. It might be wise to request that certain utility functions be added to the game directly as part of a future update.

On the subject of updates, I'd like to suggest the ability to give units other than settlers the property that building them diminishes population. Infantry units may be cheap in terms of material, but too much conscription takes its toll on the population. Perhaps you could implement a counter so that only every X units causes population decline.

Similarly, what about implementing a system so that units can take a minimum number of turns to be produced, regardless of rushbuilding or city production?

I'm not a scenario maker, so these are ideas and not requests.

 

[Alsbron]

Quick question: I have TOT1.1 installed on a 32-bit machine, but when I patch using the TOTPP .DLL, my Test of Time doesn't run anymore and crashes upon launch. I have tried to "uncheck" the 64 bit compatibility box, but it seems the various selection boxes only become clickable or choosable after I select the option to apply the patch. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong. I looked all over the guide threads to no avail. Thanks for any advice.

 

[TheNamelessOne]

I have come across a little problem with compatibility between the latest version of ToTPP and one of my other favourite utilities: Civ City Version 1.3

When I try to load my latest save file (which includes 127 units) I get the following message:

This file is not a valid CIV II save or scenario file - unrecognised version number:51

As I understand it, TheNamelessOne has changed the saved game structure to implement the TOTPP. (It seems he has wisely changed the part of the saved game that tells the version.) It follows that old utilities designed to change the original data structure will not work on the new saved games.

This is correct, but it only applies to patches requiring extension data ("Save file extensions" in the launcher). As the description states: "Saved games with extensions are stored with version number '3' (ToT 1.1 uses '2'), so they cannot be read by the vanilla game". The extra unit patch is one of those.

If you're feeling adventurous you can hex-edit the version back to '2' (decimal 50, hex 0x32) (refer to the file format here), try making the required changes in CivCity, and hex-edit the version number back to '3' (decimal 51, hex 0x33). The city data has not moved, so editing with CivCity should still work. Though whether or not it preserves the extension block after saving the changes is a bit of a guess.

On the subject of updates, I'd like to suggest the ability to give units other than settlers the property that building them diminishes population. Infantry units may be cheap in terms of material, but too much conscription takes its toll on the population. Perhaps you could implement a counter so that only every X units causes population decline.

Similarly, what about implementing a system so that units can take a minimum number of turns to be produced, regardless of rushbuilding or city production?

The first suggestion could be implemented with a unit flag, but adding the counter would require storing it in the saved game and is somewhat trickier. The same applies to the second suggestion.

Quick question: I have TOT1.1 installed on a 32-bit machine, but when I patch using the TOTPP .DLL, my Test of Time doesn't run anymore and crashes upon launch. I have tried to "uncheck" the 64 bit compatibility box, but it seems the various selection boxes only become clickable or choosable after I select the option to apply the patch. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong. I looked all over the guide threads to no avail. Thanks for any advice.

You're going to need to press "Apply patch" first, before you can make any changes. Then you could try to figure out which patch is causing the crash by unchecking them one at a time (bit of a pain I'd imagine). Or else attach crash details from Windows' Event Viewer (Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer, then "Windows Logs" -> "Application", and look for relevant entries) and I will take a look instead.

 

[countmc]

I uploaded TOTPP.dll alright, and it detects my version of TOT and the Patch (both buttons are green), but when I go to launch it takes me to the TOT game and then the message "civ2.exe has stopped working."

Does anyone know what is going on and how to fix this?

 

[minipow01]

On the subject of updates, I'd like to suggest the ability to give units other than settlers the property that building them diminishes population. Infantry units may be cheap in terms of material, but too much conscription takes its toll on the population.

That's a brilliant idea. I think it would be even better if certain military units could consume food like settlers do. This is realistic because it would require cities to have food surpluses in order to feed troops. Imagine how it would revolutionize the strategy of besieging enemy cities! You could literally starve out an enemy garrison! Sieges are currently pretty useless because the only way to reduce enemy garrisons is to occupy its shield-producing terrain (and even then, some government types grant free support for units).

 

[TheNamelessOne]

I noticed that the DirectShow video patch crashes the game when Indeo codecs are missing. This might explain those crashes at startup some people are having. Try disabling it in the launcher for now, I've fixed the problem for the next release.

 

[Alsbron]

Is there any hope the patch could eventually:

(1) - Enable more than 7 civs?

(2) - Create national borders as in subsequent Civs?

 

[countmc]

Thanks, that was the problem.

 

[Patine]

Two more things that would be very helpful to scenario making (they may have already been brought up): allowing events to change a civ or leader name (or gender of a leader, even) mid-game, and forcing an AI to make a cease-fire, peace treaty, or alliance with either a player or other AI-controlled civ; currently, only forcing them to declare war is possible.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

I know in the subsequent Civs, the tribes can have "start biases", meaning one the game may prefer to have Tribe A spawn at or near Jungle terrains, or prefer to have Tribe B spawn at or near hills. Would it be possible to implement something similar in ToTPP?

 

[Metro Polis]

That's a brilliant idea. I think it would be even better if certain military units could consume food like settlers do. This is realistic because it would require cities to have food surpluses in order to feed troops. Imagine how it would revolutionize the strategy of besieging enemy cities! You could literally starve out an enemy garrison! Sieges are currently pretty useless because the only way to reduce enemy garrisons is to occupy its shield-producing terrain (and even then, some government types grant free support for units).

Sound good to me, or maybe combine city size and unrest level if there are too many troops inside a city (thus, you can't simply buy new troops in case of emergency).

May I suggest another idea: Deactivating the idea of buying units/buildings if an enemy unity is within city range.