Unit Creation in Tot

[DsrtLzrd32]

I have just started exploring all of the text files and bmp files I can edit in tot. I understand how to alter all the text files and from what I have read I know how to alter the bmp or gif files. But I am having trouble altering the bmp files. If I replace the Units.bmp that has the regular units, the game shows that the Units are changed in the city and civilopedia screen but the actual units on the map are still what they used to be. If I move the old Units.gif into the file and remove the Units.bmp, the units in the city screen and the map are the old Units.gif. Why doesn't the bmp file work the same way, is there something I am missing?

 

[yoshi]

Most of the files in Civ2:ToT are not compatible with Civ2:MGE.
In the case of text (.txt) files, this is due to added information such as the 'Advanced Unit Concepts' (or something to that effect) section at the bottom of the Rules.txt file.

In the case of the bitmap files (.bmp), there ar two problems: a) like the text files, most of ToT's bitmap files include new stuff (e.g. Units.bmp includes up to 80 unit slots, unlike MGE which only includes 63 --you'll also notice that the slots themselves are bigger in ToT); b) you must set the default unit animations off (done through cheat menu I think) and then delete the unit sprite (.spr) files in the 'Original' folder --the game has a nasty habit of using the sprite instead of the bitmap files even when when the feature is turned off. (Note: you might want to 'cut' the .spr files and 'paste' them in a seperate backup folder in case you want to use them again --although I can't image why you would since they really suck).

Again, if you try to swap most ToT files with MGE files, they will not be compatible and the program will either tell you so or just crash. You CAN use MGE maps though.

P.S. I know there are utilities out there that can convert scenarios from MGE to ToT format --at least where the game information is concerned.

 

[Mercator]

Yoshi pointed out the correct problem, ToT uses the sprites by default.

There are two types of units sprites, though:
1) animated unit sprites (unitXX.spr). These can simply be turned off by disabling unit animation in the ToT game menu (graphics options).
2) static unit sprites (static.spr). These are pretty much always used, even when unit animation is turned off. This'll be what's causing the problem. There are several ways to solve this problem:

a) Edit the rules.txt, specifically the @UNITS_ADVANCED section. With one of the flags there you can override the .spr files for each unit individually.
b) If you're making a scenario, and you want to turn off all sprites anyway, there's a better way. Instead of editing the rules.txt, use the Cheat menu. Go to Cheat > Scenario Parameters > Edit Special Rules and set the .SPR file override to 1.

If you also want to disable unit/resource animations, first disable those options in the game menu, then set the lockout values in the special rules to 1. This is because lockout does NOT disable the animation per se, it simply locks whichever option you set in the game menu.

c) Finally, you can create your own static.spr using a utility I made called SpriteGen (also see my homepage/signature). That way you don't have to override the .SPR files, you only have to turn off unit animation.

More importantly, SpriteGen allows you to hide the unit shield (for say impassable terrain or fixed objective units in a scenario), something that isn't possible otherwise.

 

[DsrtLzrd32]

Hey thanks Y and M, I will give that a try. I figured it had to be drawing the units from another location, I just didn't know where. I dont have MGE just TOT. I have been just using microsoft paint for edit currently until I get a better program. This is mostly just to mess around with, it is fun. Especially the different possibilities that come in the rules.txt and events.txt