[TOT] The Test Of Time Patch Project

[Knighttime]

What is the full path of your Test of Time directory?

Did you try running the TOTPP launcher as Administrator? or try running it in XP compatibility mode?

Could your anti-virus program be blocking the launcher? Can you temporarily disable that and try it then?

You might need to try various combinations of the above, if there are multiple issues.

Can you start a new game (without TOTPP) and play normally for several turns, just using the normal executable?

I think the very first time you run the launcher, it actually edits and rewrites the civ2.exe executable. That's different from when you run it the second and following times, so you may need more enhanced permissions (or something) in order to make that initial change -- different from what is required to run the game (with TOTPP) afterwards.

Problems like this aren't easy to troubleshoot in a forum like this, since the problem can be so machine-specific. I hope one of the above ideas helps, or at least reveals more details about the issue.

 

[Rui_TNV]

What is the full path of your Test of Time directory?

Did you try running the TOTPP launcher as Administrator? or try running it in XP compatibility mode?

Could your anti-virus program be blocking the launcher? Can you temporarily disable that and try it then?

You might need to try various combinations of the above, if there are multiple issues.

Can you start a new game (without TOTPP) and play normally for several turns, just using the normal executable?

I think the very first time you run the launcher, it actually edits and rewrites the civ2.exe executable. That's different from when you run it the second and following times, so you may need more enhanced permissions (or something) in order to make that initial change -- different from what is required to run the game (with TOTPP) afterwards.

Problems like this aren't easy to troubleshoot in a forum like this, since the problem can be so machine-specific. I hope one of the above ideas helps, or at least reveals more details about the issue.

I think I got it using the XP compatibility mode, altought, it worked when I unchecked all but the city/unit limit.

Now how can I get another map like GIGAWORLDED.MP with the same lenght, 254x230, or maybe make one?

Thanx.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Now how can I get another map like GIGAWORLDED.MP with the same lenght, 254x230, or maybe make one?

It is probably best to start a new thread to ask this question. More people are likely to see it.

 

[kawabunga]

Hey!
I am curious , how could i if possible get this list of music choices in pick music?
@PICKMUSICFANWORLDS

I only see list under
@PICKMUSICTOT
game.txt
Thanks

ok i figured i can add example "Aristotle's Pupil" to pickmusictot under original game.txt or fantasy. But i am not getting audio

 

[kawabunga]

@Nameless One

Adding /q on the command line will make it go straight to the game with your previous settings.

Doesnt seem to be working?

CivII ToT>TOTLauncher.exe /q

i still get launcher popup

version 0.15

Are patches maybe being applied to exe without need of launcher?

 

[Knighttime]

Here's how I think it works: when you run TOTLauncher.exe the first time, it patches civ2.exe primarily to introduce references to the two new DLL files (TOTPP.dll and lua.dll) where the new code of the patch project resides. Once you click "Save and launch" to run the game, you should have a TOTPP.ini file in your game directory. This contains all of your saved selections of the specific TOTPP patches and features to enable.

From that point forward, I'm pretty sure that if you just run civ2.exe directly, you will still be running the patch, with the saved selections in that .ini file, but without seeing the launcher screen. If you ever want to change your selections, or just review some of the notes/documentation about them, then run TOTLauncher.exe again.

Sorry about your issues with music files, I'm not sure quite what to suggest there.

 

[Patine]

@Nameless One

Adding /q on the command line will make it go straight to the game with your previous settings.

Doesnt seem to be working?

CivII ToT>TOTLauncher.exe /q

i still get launcher popup

version 0.15

Are patches maybe being applied to exe without need of launcher?

You COULD play the CD-ROM as a music CD with CD-playing software off of the optical disk drive and set it to shuffle CO-TERMINOUSLY with playing Civ2. That's all I can think of. However, the music tracks will not be linked to events, or hardwired in-game things like the funeral dirge when a civ is destroyed or Ode to Joy when a "We Love the <Blank>" is declared, though.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Hey!
I am curious , how could i if possible get this list of music choices in pick music?
@PICKMUSICFANWORLDS

I only see list under
@PICKMUSICTOT
game.txt
Thanks

ok i figured i can add example "Aristotle's Pupil" to pickmusictot under original game.txt or fantasy. But i am not getting audio

I'm 99% sure that the music tracks are hard coded to specific file names by TOTPP.dll . I opened that file in a text editor and by changing the names of files got the game to read a different mp3 file, or look in a folder named Musik instead of Music. However, the easier way to do this is simply to save a different file as "alien.mp3" or whatever, and listen to the music (maybe changing the game.txt entry to match). Since TNO never posted the source code for the dll, we're stuck with hard coded values.

What I can do, if you are interested, is write a Lua Event that offers a selection of music to play, and which will be able to reference any file name you choose. This would let you play Aristotle's Pupil on demand, but it wouldn't put it into the "rotation" of music to play. I've spent a little time thinking of how to put arbitrary music into a scenario, but haven't thought of anything workable.

 

[kawabunga]

I'm 99% sure that the music tracks are hard coded to specific file names by TOTPP.dll . I opened that file in a text editor and by changing the names of files got the game to read a different mp3 file, or look in a folder named Musik instead of Music. However, the easier way to do this is simply to save a different file as "alien.mp3" or whatever, and listen to the music (maybe changing the game.txt entry to match). Since TNO never posted the source code for the dll, we're stuck with hard coded values.

What I can do, if you are interested, is write a Lua Event that offers a selection of music to play, and which will be able to reference any file name you choose. This would let you play Aristotle's Pupil on demand, but it wouldn't put it into the "rotation" of music to play. I've spent a little time thinking of how to put arbitrary music into a scenario, but haven't thought of anything workable.

Yes that sounds like amazing thing to do. I really love how deevis did his dll (For MGE), u can change music list by changing album choice ( MGE, 1 for Classic, 2 for Conflicts in Civilization, 3 for Fantastic Worlds) if u choose fantastic it would put entire library of music files which includes Aristotle's Pupil.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

@kawabunga

Extract this file into the "Original" directory in Test of Time, and allow lua events when you start a game. This won't work for scenarios that already have events. (It can work, but the relevant code would have to be inserted into that scenario's events.

Then, put some mp3 files that you want to listen to in the Music directory in the TOT directory (that you created when using the music patch).

Open the file events.lua in the Original directory (which you've just added there, along with a couple other files that make the 'menu' work). At the very top of the file, there is the musicList. Add extra lines, using the name of the file you added to the music directory (except the .mp3 portion). Oh, and don't put double quotes in your file name, since lua will interpret the " as the start or end of a file name.

You can remove lines from the list, if you don't want some of the original songs in this menu. The menu will split into multiple pages if you have enough entries.

If the menu has too many lines, change the line

text.setLinesPerWindow(15)

to

text.setLinesPerWindow(10)

or something.

Let me know if you have any trouble.

EDIT: Use Escape key to trigger the menu.

 

[kawabunga]

@Prof. Garfield
Ok i did what u said. There were couple steps i needed to do before i could enable script. Had to enable cheats , then ctrl+shift+f3 to open lua window and then load script. After that i could call script with escape.
Is there a way to make that more automated?

P.S Sorry for the delay in response!

P.P.S
MGE had big tab for music choices, i am curious can that be achieved here?

 

[Prof. Garfield]

@Prof. Garfield
Ok i did what u said. There were couple steps i needed to do before i could enable script. Had to enable cheats , then ctrl+shift+f3 to open lua window and then load script. After that i could call script with escape.
Is there a way to make that more automated?

P.S Sorry for the delay in response!

P.P.S
MGE had big tab for music choices, i am curious can that be achieved here?
https://i.imgur.com/g1pqbbA.png

Are you playing the Original game, or one of the other games, or a scenario? If events.lua is in the directory Test of Time\Original, then it should work automatically in the orignial game. You'll get the box asking if you want to use Lua events, you agree, and then the "events" are loaded. I have plans for something better, that will probably come in a couple days (maybe longer, if RL gets involved). If you're playing a different game, then loading the events in a script might cause other parts of the scenario to not work.

Maybe @TheNamelessOne could make something like the big tab for music choices, but I don't have those skills (and I don't think any of the other regulars do either). What I can do is allow you to load a pre-specified playlist of 13 tracks (11 if you exclude Ode to Joy and Funeral March) before you start a game, so you can have some variety.

 

[kawabunga]

Are you playing the Original game, or one of the other games, or a scenario? If events.lua is in the directory Test of Time\Original, then it should work automatically in the orignial game. You'll get the box asking if you want to use Lua events, you agree, and then the "events" are loaded. I have plans for something better, that will probably come in a couple days (maybe longer, if RL gets involved). If you're playing a different game, then loading the events in a script might cause other parts of the scenario to not work.

Maybe @TheNamelessOne could make something like the big tab for music choices, but I don't have those skills (and I don't think any of the other regulars do either). What I can do is allow you to load a pre-specified playlist of 13 tracks (11 if you exclude Ode to Joy and Funeral March) before you start a game, so you can have some variety.

Ah i see, i guess i made mistake. I interpreted your ""Original" directory in Test of Time" as root of game.. While its actually its "mod-ed" folders. Yeah it works now without all ctrl +shift+f3 thingy.
Thanks! This will work. Big nice tab with all music would be nice tho

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Ah i see, i guess i made mistake. I interpreted your ""Original" directory in Test of Time" as root of game.. While its actually its "mod-ed" folders. Yeah it works now without all ctrl +shift+f3 thingy.
Thanks! This will work. Big nice tab with all music would be nice tho

I can't give you a big tab exactly, but I can give you the playlist option in my Custom Music Patch. A single large playlist will give you a random selection of 11 tracks (plus funeral march and ode to joy) when you start or load a game.

 

[AyCe]

Hi, just tried the patch, great work!

Some bugs:

- When enabling the custom river/road/railroad movement function, rivers and roads by default behave like railroads, so the original mods don't work right. Toggling it off solved it though.
- Got a script error when testing the SciFi lua mode. "Colonist" is actually wrong, since I was using the german version, but even then the crash should have happened a few lines further I think?
(SciFi/events.lua:127 -> unittype.buildTransport = unittype.buildTransport | mask)

What exactly does one need to do in order to get the "Play a mod" function to work?

 

[Prof. Garfield]

- When enabling the custom river/road/railroad movement function, rivers and roads by default behave like railroads, so the original mods don't work right. Toggling it off solved it though.

Try this thread https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/problems-with-pre-totpp-scenarios.643862/

- Got a script error when testing the SciFi lua mode. "Colonist" is actually wrong, since I was using the german version, but even then the crash should have happened a few lines further I think?
(SciFi/events.lua:127 -> unittype.buildTransport = unittype.buildTransport | mask)

You're probably correct that the problem is that you're using the German version, and "Colonist" therefore is not "Colonist". What probably happened is that the code to get the unit type object for "colonist" returned the special nil value and the line unittype.buildTransport was where the game "discovered" that something was wrong, since nil.buildTransport has no meaning.

If you have issues that aren't resolved in a week, let me know (either by @ tting me, quoting me, or PMing me). (I'm rather busy for the next few days).

 

[techumseh]

Appeal to to the TheNamelessOne :

The Patch Project has been a godsend for ToT scenarios. But it has one serious bug. It renders the "continuous" modifier of the Macro events inactive. While I know that you would like to encourage scenarios designers to utilize LUA as a preferred alternative, many scenarios were made before this. If they have events that use the modifier "continuous", they can't be played on a Civ exe. that has been patched. Please fix this bug. Thank you.

 

[Konig15]

I have questions, I'm not even sure where to look:
WIth ToTPP, could it be possible, although not yet implemented:
To re-enable the airbase "bug?" And possibly add it to transporters? I ask for map flavor in scenarios (such as building monasteries with the airbase command)
Modify governments, mostly in reducing Fundies science to 1/4 for a human player and making it so Despotism works like monarchy for the purposes of resource generation?
Is it possible to give spy features to a diplomatic unit and freight to a trade unit, the same way you can give engineer abilities to settle unit?
Is there a hard limit for the number of techs? or can you add more with TOTPP?

 

[CurtSibling]

I'm not sure if TNO is still reading, but would it be possible to add a patch to turn off the terrain-chaning effects of global warming and nukes?
I know this was hex-changed back in the day, so I am hoping the code to prevent the terrain-change is not to hard to access...

 

[Konig15]

I'm not sure if TNO is still reading, but would it be possible to add a patch to turn off the terrain-chaning effects of global warming and nukes?
I know this was hex-changed back in the day, so I am hoping the code to prevent the terrain-change is not to hard to access...

I want to second this. It would provide a lot of latitude in post apocalyptic scenarios. As is, most designers simply turn off pollution, which is a shame because it's a great balancer for the player.