TLC Mercantile (Experimental)

[Jarovid]

I stucked for the third time in Advisors' screen. Whan it happens I cannot move between advisors, can return to main screen via some of F1 to F12 buttons but cannot resume the game. I can restart from the last save and continue normaly.

It never happened before so I recon it is peculiarity of this mod.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

That’s not good. Can you send me a save and instructions on how to cause the error?
I have a delay when I change adviser but that sounds much more severe.

Edit: I’ve updated the BIQ and main file if you want to see how it’s developed. The main file is compatible with my current game and it should also work for yours. There is a chance that you’ll need a patch if you replace your main file but that’s just five more minutes of fuss.

 

[Jarovid]

I haven't noticed anything that may be causing this problem, using save file again does not produce another freeze. Unfortunately I haven't kept the save file prior to freeze, but I'll see to it to send you a file next time I experience this problem.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Thank you, I’ll get to work as soon as it’s available.

I’m working on a Lend-Lease system for the game. It would enable you to exchange mediocre units like medium tanks, fighters and cruisers with neutral players and allies. It could be useful if you’re low on equipment or deprived of resources. It could be extremely lucrative if you monopolise scares strategic resources. If only one member of your alliance has the required resources and none available to trade, they could still export that equipment and anyone could use it.

 

[Jarovid]

I’m working on a Lend-Lease system for the game. It would enable you to exchange mediocre units like medium tanks, fighters and cruisers with neutral players and allies. It could be useful if you’re low on equipment or deprived of resources. It could be extremely lucrative if you monopolise scares strategic resources. If only one member of your alliance has the required resources and none available to trade, they could still export that equipment and anyone could use it.

Sounds interesting. Let's see how will it work.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Jarovid, Terrible News.

I don’t know if you’re aware of the problems I’ve been having with Civilisation but original game is now being effected. It looks like I’m going to have to uninstall everything to do with Civilisation. Civilisation is located in my Program Files so when I uninstall it I’d lose my saved games (including this test) because it prevents BIQ’s and SAV’s from being copied.

If that doesn’t work I won’t be able to do anything until I get a new computer.
If that doesn’t work, I’m going to go feral and live in the hills.

I could still resume the test by continuing with a copy your game but it would be more practical to test the latest version (assuming it works afterwards).

I don’t expect you to continue an out-dated version of a game that doesn’t yet work. If you’ve not been deterred by all of the complications I’ll happily welcome you to retest the game when I’m certain that it’ll hold together.

I must apologise because until I deliver a working mod, I’ve wasted your time.

 

[Civinator]

It looks like I’m going to have to uninstall everything to do with Civilisation. Civilisation is located in my Program Files so when I uninstall it I’d lose my saved games (including this test) because it prevents BIQ’s and SAV’s from being copied..

May be you are writing here about a problem with the VirtualStore of windows. I made a search for the location of my VirtualStore in win10 and have no problems to copy the changed biqs and other files from that location to my Civ 3 files.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Hi Civinator, thanks for the heads-up.

I’m using windows 7 and my computer doesn’t recognise anything called VirtualStore or Virtual Store.
I can use the original editor to save a BIQ outside of my C: drive allowing it to be accessed but saved games just won’t work. The computer will only recognise them in-game.
The game has become unplayable with the original setup or any mod. If I reinstall it outside of my C: drive I’m told that I can then share saved games and I expect it to fix the growing pile of errors.
As soon as Jarovid responds I’m going to begin the reinstallation.

EDIT: I’m still available to support games in progress. Don’t panic and quit your game if you’re still enjoying it. I’ve lost most of my ability to contribute anything useful whilst my computer is in this condition but I expect to be in “fighting form” immediately after repairs.

 

[tom2050]

I run Windows 7 also, and I had to turn UAC off for things to work normally / saving files, etc. You can try verifying UAC is off first, and that will allow you to run as administrator instead of standard user.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Hi Tom2050
Is this what you mean by UAC?

EDIT: I set it to "Never notify" and restarted my computer. I'm assuming that wasn't what you meant because i still can't access the files.

 

[Civinator]

In Win7 on my laptop it is also possible to copy biqs and save-files into and out of the virtualstore without big problems.

Go to your folder Conquests and if you have changed something in it (biqs,save-files, art-files, etc., you will see a new option to click on (in German Kompatibilitätsdateien). I don´t know the English expression for that term (may be VirtualStore??).

Klick on it.

Now a new window opens with the folders where you have changed something in Civ III Complete. In the folder Conquests you will find a folder scenarios and here the changed biqs. In the folder Saves you will find your save-files.
If there is any copy protection on those files you can disable the copy protection of those files.

I hope this can help.

 

[Jarovid]

No time spent on playing Civ III can be deemed wasted.

Do as you find most convenient for you. I intent to finish this game (if possible), because that is the way I like to play, but it does not mean you will loose your main test player .

Maybe it will be a bit slower for me to play two games simultaneously, but if you can live with it, I can too.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Civinator, my hero.

tom2050, Civinator thank you both. I didn’t expect your help yet you offered it immediately, you’re good people.

Jarovid, I didn’t know you were a T-800 . I’m very happy that you’re willing to continue, it’s much appreciated.

Now that I can protect my saves, I’m going to reinstall everything tonight. I’ve copied the whole game and my test save to Dropbox. Any further editing that isn’t strictly repairs will have to wait for TLC2.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

One last irritation; I can’t uninstall Civ.
Civilization doesn’t appear in the control panel and I can’t see the compatibility files option that worked for saves.

I tried to directly uninstall it with no effect.


It went through the process and the game remains. I restarted the computer and did all of the usual computer rituals and nothing's changed.
Why won't it just play nice.
(We need a smiley with a guy standing in the bathtub holding his computer)

 

[Nathiri]

One last irritation; I can’t uninstall Civ.
Civilization doesn’t appear in the control panel and I can’t see the compatibility files option that worked for saves.
View attachment 473501
I tried to directly uninstall it with no effect.
View attachment 473502
View attachment 473503
It went through the process and the game remains. I restarted the computer and did all of the usual computer rituals and nothing's changed.
Why won't it just play nice.
(We need a smiley with a guy standing in the bathtub holding his computer)

Can you not just use your CD to install and uninstall? or maybe just delete all the files in the folder? If you delete the files, you could just install it without going through an uninstalling process?

 

[Civinator]

The compatibility files option appears only if you have changed files in the protected folders. If I remember well, when you haven´t changed any files this option in win 7 won´t appear. As Nathiri posted, have you tried to use the install/uninstall function of the cd? You showed a screenshot of that function. Did the install/uninstall wizard stop during that process? In that case it is to consider to delete the single files manually.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Did the install/uninstall wizard stop during that process?

Yes, it started to do something then disappeared without a message.

I deleted everything
Emptied the recycling bin
Reset the computer
I tried to reinstall the game (It said the game was already installed but let me proceed anyway)
After installation, it then enabled the option to uninstall so for good measure I uninstalled it properly
Reset the computer
I finally reinstalled it as though it was a new game

Everything was intact (except for my shortcuts) like I hadn’t done a thing. The upgrade problem now applies to fewer units but it’s still there. I haven’t noticed the randomised stats bug yet so it has helped a little.

How do you completely wipe a game from your computer? I’d be willing to restore the whole thing to factory settings.

EDIT: I can't load my mod or continue my saved games. I checked the folder names and the layout and everything looks the same as before.

 

[tom2050]

It would be registry entries.. there might be some floating around that the uninstaller leaves in there. Here is an older thread that has some discussion about it: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/how-to-really-uninstall-civilization-iii.17184/
You should make a backup of your registry first, then you can delete the old registry entries, and the computer won't think it's still installed.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Thanks tom2050

That sounds intimidating. I’m going to wait until I’m a little more confident about performing a craniotomy my PC.

EDIT: I got some sleep so I know which way is up now.
There was a dysfunctional copy of “TLC Mercantile” in the scenarios folder that was being prioritised. I found and deleted it using the compatibility files setting.
I think that the problem with trying to load the test game could be as simple as 1 file. The new version uses a smaller resources.pcx so some references would be missing.I think I’m still going to get a new PC after I get back from France. This thing’s been dying a slow death for years.

More positive news
You can now trade or mothball land transports, medium tanks, transport helicopters and cruisers. Unfortunately, aircraft units need cross class upgrades to be exchanged in a practical way.

The game should be ready for testing so I’m going to plough through a quick game to find the main problems. Too much has changed to move straight into a beta test but I welcome you guys to take a look at the changes.

Civinator, tom2050, Nathiri thank you for your help.
Nathiri, you now have a mention in the credits with Civinator, tom2050 and the others.

 

[caddysax]

Loving the mod so far. One thing i thought i would bring up is that not being able to make entertainers seems to make it so you cant micro manage which tiles are worked.
It makes it a little awkward if for example you want to stifle growth to avoid disorder, though i could be missing something.
Awesome work though keep it up!!