The Third World War 1989

[AnthonyBoscia]

Updated for C3X 20. The config file is attached at the end of post one if you already have the full mod.

 

[AspiringScholar]

Hello! I enjoy reading this thread and this scenario has always piqued my interest. I've tried to play it a few times but it always seems to crash upon loading. Apologies if this has been mentioned before or if I am missing something obvious, but I am consistently getting this error when attempting to load it:

Missing entry in "text\pediaIcons.txt": ICON_BLDG_PartyHQ

To install, I simply downloaded the mod and extracted it to my Civ 3 Scenario's folder, so if I missed a step, please let me know. Civ 4 is my preferred title so I am not familiar with any common knowledge about the modding scene for this game, but I like to go back and dabble in 3 from time to time.

Thanks.

 

[AnthonyBoscia]

2) Place the 1989 folder and 1989.biq in the Civilization III\Conquests\Scenarios folder. Make sure that inside the 1989 you see the Art, Text, etc. folders and not another 1989 folder.

This is usually the culprit. When extracted, the program may create another 1989 folder inside the first one. This makes it so the game can't read any of the files, and errors like the one above happen. If this isn't the issue, let me know and we can try something else. The Flintock patch is highly recommended for improving performance, also. Glad you are drifting back to Civ 3 on occasion. I came back to Civ 3 one day and never went back. Feel free to post updates on your game as well.

 

[AspiringScholar]

This is usually the culprit. When extracted, the program may create another 1989 folder inside the first one. This makes it so the game can't read any of the files, and errors like the one above happen. If this isn't the issue, let me know and we can try something else.

Yeah, it looks like the .biq file is in the Scenarios folder and not inside the mod folder itself.

The Flintock patch is highly recommended for improving performance, also.

This made realize something that is very likely relevant to troubleshooting the above. A while back, I installed Civinator's mod CCM3, which when I originally ran into problems trying to run 1989, I realized was affecting the core game rather than being a separate "mod" which is individually selected and run separately (the way that they're compartmentalized in Civ 4), since I noticed the UI changes were persisting even when running normal games. So, I attempted a full uninstall/reinstall on Steam this evening, but I am still seeing the changes from CCM3 in the UI, so I don't think that Steam properly uninstalled the game and this is likely what is creating the conflict when attempting to run your mod. Not sure why it isn't properly uninstalling, but I believe this is the reason it's failing. Would outright deleting the Civ 3 folder, clearing the Recycle Bin, and then repeating this on Steam be the way to go, I guess?

Glad you are drifting back to Civ 3 on occasion. I came back to Civ 3 one day and never went back. Feel free to post updates on your game as well.

While I do consider Civ 4 (personally, and especially modded with Realism Invictus) to be the better game, Civ 3 was the first one I started with, and it has a certain charm aesthetically which on its own I still prefer between the two. Also, the greater simplicity and larger scale is sometimes just plain out more fun. That said, the UI is a bit rough to go back to admittedly. That's the biggest drawback for me when the mood hits.

If I can get the scenario to work, I would gladly play a full Third World War campaign and post some updates here!

 

[Civinator]

Hello AspiringScholar, I remember well our civilized and in my eyes good discussions about comparing Civ 3 and Civ 4.

It seems you have installed 1989 in the scenarios folder of Civ 3 Vanilla and not in the scenarios folder of Civ 3 Conquests. I try to show you the correct installation:

1. Open the Conquests folder of Civ 3 Complete. Now the scenarios folder for Civ 3 Conquests is appearing.

2. Open the Scenarios folder of (Civ 3) Conquests and install there the scenario 1989. It is correct that the 1989 biq is outside the 1989 folder.

As you have the steam version of Civ 3 Complete you have to deal with an additional issue in the text folder of the 1989 scenario. In the text folder of the 1989 scenario you must rename (or cut out) the labels text file and rename the labels-Steam text file to labels, otherwise the steam version of Civ 3 Complete will play havoc with the texts of that scenario.

The easiest way seems to cut the 1989 folder and the 1989 biq out of the Civ 3 Vanilla scenarios folder and to paste them into the Conquests Scenarios folder and than fix the problem with the labels text in the steam version of Civ 3 Complete.

AspiringScholar, also thank you very much for trying CCM 3. It must be installed in the same way as the 1989 scenario. It is true that the older versions CCM 2 and CCM 2.5 and their installation could influence other Civ 3 mods and scenarios by filling out gaps in those mods and scenarios with existing information from the CCM 2 and 2.5 mod. This problem and the C3X mod, that was not existing when CCM 2 and 2.5 were concepted, lead to a new installation concept of CCM 3. CCM 3 should be installed in the same way as it is shown here with the installation of the 1989 scenario. It only influences other mods and scenarios that have a direkt link to CCM 3 in their biqs.

If you want to install the C3X mod (what is recommended) this must be done in the Conquests mainfolder as it is shown in the second screenshot (where you can see the additional C3X_R20 folder). The scenario 1989 and the mod CCM 3 both have additional scenario config files to adapt the C3X default settings to the settings of these mods/scenarios without influencing other mods and scenarios.

 

[AnthonyBoscia]

Thanks for the great comprehensive answer, Civinator. I would add only one small correction: in this scenario, the steam labels file is the default, and won't need to be replaced. Scholar, if you had installed the CCM2 files as master files like Civinator said then when you uninstalled Civ3 through Steam, it would only remove the base files and not the CCM files. You would have to manually clean out the art and text folders in Conquests before re-installing. It's too bad though, because after all that work on the city screen in CCM 2, which was fun to have back when it was in the master files.

 

[AspiringScholar]

Thank you both for the thorough and helpful answers! Unfortunately, I believe I am dealing with (unrelatedly, but also simultaneously) my hard drive starting to fail, as basic functions on my old laptop have begun taking concerning amounts of time even after full restarts and that's sort of pointing towards that, but hopefully it's just an anomaly. I spent a while in the meantime backing up several of my files just in case, but after the fact, as long as it's still working at all, I'll try to get this to work while I buy and build a new PC, which I've been toying with doing for a while now anyway.

Hello AspiringScholar, I remember well our civilized and in my eyes good discussions about comparing Civ 3 and Civ 4.

Hello! Yes, I remember and enjoyed those conversations as well.

It seems you have installed 1989 in the scenarios folder of Civ 3 Vanilla and not in the scenarios folder of Civ 3 Conquests. I try to show you the correct installation:

How embarrassing! I'd had a long day (and really, this whole week has been a lot) but still that should have been obvious.

AspiringScholar, also thank you very much for trying CCM 3.

Thank you for making it! It is a very pretty mod, and I have enjoyed playing it. I only uninstalled it reluctantly beforehand in trying to troubleshoot this scenario not working, but for random map games of Civ 3 it will remain my go-to.

If you want to install the C3X mod (what is recommended) this must be done in the Conquests mainfolder as it is shown in the second screenshot (where you can see the additional C3X_R20 folder). The scenario 1989 and the mod CCM 3 both have additional scenario config files to adapt the C3X default settings to the settings of these mods/scenarios without influencing other mods and scenarios.

And this would be fully compatible with 1989?

Thanks for the great comprehensive answer, Civinator. I would add only one small correction: in this scenario, the steam labels file is the default, and won't need to be replaced. Scholar, if you had installed the CCM2 files as master files like Civinator said then when you uninstalled Civ3 through Steam, it would only remove the base files and not the CCM files. You would have to manually clean out the art and text folders in Conquests before re-installing. It's too bad though, because after all that work on the city screen in CCM 2, which was fun to have back when it was in the master files.

Yes, and with redirecting the 1989 folder to the correct directory under Conquests, I got the scenario to load as far as selecting a faction. However, loading the map itself got stuck on "Configuring" towards the end, but that's almost certainly conflicts with CCM that are causing this, as you'd mentioned about needing to manually remove these. I went headlong and wanted to see if it would work in spite of manually removing them, but as expected, that didn't work. I'll attempt a full reinstall alongside that and report back to see if I can get it to work. I'm looking forward to giving this scenario a try! Hypothetical world war in the 1980s is something I've always been fascinated by, and the grand scale and flavor of this campaign is exciting.

Thank you both for your patience and your help.

 

[SayHayKid]

It's too bad though, because after all that work on the city screen in CCM 2, which was fun to have back when it was in the master files.

That and I am still a sucker for the Palace mini game.

 

[Civinator]

AspiringScholar, thank you very much for your kind words about CCM.

It seems you had installed CCM2 or CCM 2.5 and not CCM 3 on your pc. In the CCM 3 thread there is an instruction about the deinstallation of CCM 2/CCM 2.5:

CCM 3 is simply installed in the C3C scenarios folder like a normal scenario and is not influencing 1989. The same is true for the use of the mod C3X. C3X is installed in the main (or master) folder of C3C and the special options for 1989 or CCM 3 are enabled in different special scenario config files in the 1989 scenario or the mod CCM 3. This said, even with the former installation of CCM 2 and CCM 2.5 in the main (or master) folder of C3C I was able to run 1989. May be the strength of a pc here is playing a role, too.

 

[AspiringScholar]

After a properly full reinstall, the 1989 scenario loaded just fine! A couple of questions I have off-hand, after playing the first turn:

1.) Are fixed-wing air units able to "float" over a tile without needing to rebase somewhere? Several bombers and fighters seem to be doing so after moving or performing their air strikes. Though the time scaling seems to be in individual days, it's a bit strange that they wouldn't need to return to an actual airbase.

2.) Is there no air interception ability from the defending air force? Though in the context of the scenario they would have a great element of surprise, the Soviet air force unleased a huge wave of airstrikes and bombing runs, none of which were intercepted at all. Shouldn't NATO have been able to scramble and intercept some of these?

3.) Speaking of the alliance, I consistently got hostile-worded messages from various other member states taking issue with my forces being near theirs. I realize that this is a vanilla Civ 3 mechanic, but shouldn't all of the NATO member states (especially in the context of Article 5 being triggered) start the scenario with mutual military passage?

4.) This one's purely aesthetic, but why is North America twisted clockwise ninety degrees? It doesn't seem necessary for creating space (unless the expanded mid-Atlantic is supposed to be a strategic hotspot), and if it is a "world-wrap" feature, it doesn't seem equivalently twisted east of the Prime Meridian. Really just curious on this one, since it seems to have been very much deliberate.

My first impression is still that this is a really cool scenario. I love the scale and modeling of this conflict!

 

[AnthonyBoscia]

1) Land-based aircraft should not be anywhere but cities or airbases. Naval patrol bombers move like ships. If this isn't the case, screenshots could help.

2) It is not possible to set interception states at the start of a scenario. Welcome to Civ 3 modding.

3) It is not possible to set rights-of-passage at the start of a scenario. You'll want to request them on turn one from each of your allies, which will also improve your relations.

4) More than anything I wanted to give a little more realism to the battle of the North Atlantic by making the sea lanes closer to what they would be. The camera, as it were, is centered not on Greenwich or the middle of the map, but the inter-German border. You can see the East start to bend at the Caucasus and the Volga.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy without any further technical obstacles. If the first game starts too sloppy, a new start will definitely begin smoother.

 

[AnthonyBoscia]

Updated for C3X 22. The config file (with a spare biq) is attached at the end of post one if you already have the full mod.