Tried to add new tech using editor+tutorial, getting PediaIcons.txt error

[JRN]

I should say up front that I am completely new to this sort of thing.

I wanted to add a new tech to the game (I have Civ3 Complete) in the editor (International Law, to replace Fission as a prerequisite for the UN).

I tried to follow this tutorial as closely as I could. And I got as far as getting my civ to research the new tech. But once it's done being researched, I get this error:

But I do have a _LARGE entry in PediaIcons.txt for this tech:

And there is an image in the Art\tech chooser\Icons folder under the associated name:

And I have a Civilopedia entry for it:

So I'm not sure what's going on! Can anyone help me?

 

[Nathiri]

Did you put the right entry in the editor? and is your BIQ finding your mod folder properly?

 

[JRN]

Thanks for the reply! This is what I have in the editor:

(Never mind those X-Y coordinates, I entered them arbitrarily since I don't care about this showing up nicely on the tech tree.)

I don't know how to answer your second question, since I don't think I have a "mod folder". Maybe that's the problem. (Like I said, I'm new at this.) All I can say is that I'm able to research the tech and get just short of completing it in-game, and all the other changes I've made in the editor are coming through fine.

 

[Nathiri]

Try reducing the length of the name of the image file to InternationalLawLARGE. I assume you have the Small entry done as well?

As soon as you hit add on the Civilizations Tab, it becomes researchable ingame, that is handled by a different function in the game. But if it has no pediaicons entry, or it fails to read it, then it crashes, because it shows up a popup right after research/things become available.

Often, I found when it just said _LARGE, it meant it couldnt read the file path because it being too long. I mostly encountered this with units however, but its the same for all, you are just less likely to hit it on these.

 

[wuhjah]

You'll also need to verify the palette for the pcx file is correct. If you're unsure about this, upload it for someone to check.

 

[Bluemofia]

Under the "Scenario Properties" section, (in the toolbar, the 4th icon from the right, the hand over a note card), what does the "Scenario Search Folders" say? Also, what is the folder that contains the Art and the Text folder called?

 

[JRN]

Under the "Scenario Properties" section, (in the toolbar, the 4th icon from the right, the hand over a note card), what does the "Scenario Search Folders" say? Also, what is the folder that contains the Art and the Text folder called?

When I posted this, it didn't say anything. I've now created a separate folder for my ruleset, into which I've copied the Art and Text folders from the Conquests folder (which include the additions I've made to PediaIcons.txt, Civilopedia,.txt and the tech chooser folder so far to try to get this new tech to work).

So to answer your question: the Scenario Search Folders says "My Rules", and a folder by that name contains (exact copies of) the Art and Text folders.

Thanks for the tips everyone! I'm going to try a couple of things based on what you've suggested.

 

[JRN]

Alright, I tried shortening the filenames for the images (to IL-large.pcx and IL-small.pcx), and I did fix something about the images in GIMP (they weren't perfectly square), but still no dice. Here are those image files, if anyone would be so kind as to to take a look.

 

[wuhjah]

So far, everything you've describe seems right. Your images look fine to me. The next simplest thing to rule out is that your "My rules" folder is actually in the
Complete>Conquests>Scenarios folder and not in any of the other similar looking places such as vanilla or PTW.

 

[JRN]

Funny story: I just tried creating a "Test" tech that would be available right at the start of the game (so I could test it right away, and not worry about any problems that might arise from changing a .biq and then loading a save file that began with an earlier version of that same .biq), and this time it worked. I even used the same images I tried to use for International Law.

So then I went back to the editor and made International Law available right at the start of the game, without changing any of the stuff I'd put in the text files. And that worked too! So something you guys told me to do appears to have worked in some capacity.

I'm going to chalk this up as a success for now, at least until I put International Law back to its original purpose and play another game through to that point. Thanks so much for your help, everyone. It's amazing to me that there's still an active community for this game, and that people were so quick to offer their advice to me. I really appreciate it.

 

[Nathiri]

If it can be researched at the start with no crash, then it should be fine once you put prerequisites.

 

[Bluemofia]

Funny story: I just tried creating a "Test" tech that would be available right at the start of the game (so I could test it right away, and not worry about any problems that might arise from changing a .biq and then loading a save file that began with an earlier version of that same .biq), and this time it worked. I even used the same images I tried to use for International Law.

So when you load a save file, a saved game loads in the information stored in the .biq at the time when the .biq was accessed. This is most notable for rule changes, such as giving the temple an extra culture, deleting the Feudalism government, or upgrading the Cavalry to an Attack Helicopter that you added later. This change will not be propagated into the saved game, as it has its own rules already saved in the save file.

Likewise, in the scenario search folder, if it initially did not say "My Rules", and was instead pointing to the default locations, it will not add that in later, if you are loading from a save file.

However, any changes to the information in the "My Rules" folder, whether to the text, the art, etc. will be propagated, as the game was instructed to read information located in the "My Rules" folder, so even if you made modifications to those, the save file only has records pointing to the files to begin with, and won't be aware of any modifications that you have or have not made.