v6 feedback

[Dresden]

Is there any special stuff you need to look out for when editing those icons stored in gamefont.tga and gamefont75.tga ? *noobish*
If yes, can you point me to a FAQ dealing with this file ?

It's not that difficult but the font files are very, err "fragile." You have to be quite careful about maintaining the borders between icons including making sure the Alpha Channel doesn't alter them. There are easy to follow instructions in the gamefont tutorial.

Note that it will take more than altering the font file to get different icons to show in version 6c; I whipped up some quick icons based on the SMAC Social Engineering icons when I was trying out the mod thinking it would be a quick fix and it was an utter nightmare getting them to work properly. A massive XML hack was needed that took me forever to come up with and I had also recompiled the DLL along the way to get the enums pointing at the new symbols only to find out later that wasn't going to help...

Anyhow, here are the icons in action:

They aren't perfect (the baseline in particular seems too high although that might be a text issue) but it's a whole lot less confusing and they can always be improved/replaced later. These are the steps needed to use them:

1) Replace the font files in Assets\res\Fonts with the attached ones.

2) Open up Assets\XML\Text\TextPlanet.xml in a text editor that has search & replace. Globally replace [ICON_HEALTHY] with ⇽ and globally replace [ICON_UNHEALTHY] with ⇿ (all the symbols, including the semicolon, are necessary.)

Spoiler SDK Enum info and extra font notes :

The enum changes needed to match the attached font files are: (POWER_CHAR listed for context)

	POWER_CHAR,
	MAP_X_CHAR = POWER_CHAR+3,
	PLANET_GOOD_CHAR,
	PLANET_GLOBAL_CHAR,
	PLANET_BAD_CHAR,

The icon for MAP_X_CHAR is just a copy of the globe icon since I haven't a clue what it's supposed to be used for and PLANET_GLOBAL is just a blue tree for the same reason. The "+3" is used to skip the empty spots at the end of the first line.

 

[Maniac]

.

Do you still have a save of that game? I'd like to have a look at the amount of eco-damage bases are producing, and the placement and civics of the bases causing eco-damage.

Does the AI recapture bases conquered/infested by native life btw?

Anyway, I'm once again brooding on some ideas to reduce the annoyance factor of native life spawning.

2) Open up Assets\XML\Text\TextPlanet.xml in a text editor that has search & replace. Globally replace [ICON_HEALTHY] with ⇽ and globally replace [ICON_UNHEALTHY] with ⇿ (all the symbols, including the semicolon, are necessary.)

Thanks for this info! Though I don't understand why this works. :-s

The icon for MAP_X_CHAR is just a copy of the globe icon since I haven't a clue what it's supposed to be used for

I don't know what it's for either. Ellestar, a previous SDKer added these new chars. It's been months ago, so my memory may be spotty, but IIRC the DLL refused to compile if I tried to remove that char. I haven't got a clue why. MAP_X_CHAR isn't referred in any other file.

 

[Dresden]

2) Open up Assets\XML\Text\TextPlanet.xml in a text editor that has search & replace. Globally replace [ICON_HEALTHY] with ⇽ and globally replace [ICON_UNHEALTHY] with ⇿ (all the symbols, including the semicolon, are necessary.)

Thanks for this info! Though I don't understand why this works. :-s

The ICON_* shortcuts are apparently hardcoded into the translator (which isn't available in the SDK). At least, I've never been able to find a way to make a new shortcut work. However, by looking at the output of CyGame.getSymbolID() I was able to determine that civ4 assigns these icons to certain unicode character slots. In the case of the "miscellaneous" icons the is character 8675 and those which follow continue on from there. So the power char (offset/enum 22) is 8697, the first character of the last line (where I chose to put the MAP_X_CHAR) is 8700, etc. And since the text allows us to use the &# numeric codes to insert special characters, then those can be used to directly embed the icon characters too.

It's a hack (and damned confusing if you don't know the details) but it seemed much easier than changing all the text-handling to support another argument that would insert the characters at run-time.

 

[Shakiko]

@Dresden: Huge Thanks - took me quite alot of (frustrating) hours to get a basic understanding how to use that alphachannel, but your file (and links) really helped to finally understand the basics


@topic:
(v 6c)

- I remember being unable to build bases on rocky terrain, but I don't remember a height restriction in SMAC - so is it supposed you can't build bases on ridges in Planetfall ?

 

[Maniac]

Dresden, does the game automatically know when to use the icon from the normal gamefont or the gamefont_75?

- I remember being unable to build bases on rocky terrain, but I don't remember a height restriction in SMAC - so is it supposed you can't build bases on ridges in Planetfall ?

Yes, that's working as intended. It's because cityset graphics don't show up well on ridges. So it's due to graphical limitations, not gameplay reasons.

 

[Dresden]

Yeah; the icons in gamefont.tga are 20x21 and the ones in gamefont_75.tga are 16x16. The size dictates their use. I can probably dig up a link that describes the different situations. From working with BUG I know gamefont_75 is the one used in the scoreboard and advisor screens.

EDIT:

Here's what each is used for:
-GameFont.tga: Worldbuilder, city bar icons, main menu and all associated screens
-GameFont75.tga: Everything else, notably the city screen, diplomacy, the civilopedia, and all other screens

 

[Shakiko]

Yes, that's working as intended. It's because cityset graphics don't show up well on ridges. So it's due to graphical limitations, not gameplay reasons.

Ah, thanks.
I guess that's the same reason why Fungus can't ever spread on ridges ?


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(v.6d feedback/questions )

Forests give +0.5 health while Xenofungus provides +0.5 unhealth per plot in the city cross.
So is it intended that hybrid forest give +0.5 unhealth, too ? (like Xenofungus and more than jungle? )
As far as I remember it's a hybrid between earth's and planet's Ecosystems, so it seemed more logical to me that Hybrid forests should be inbetween the health values, too (?)

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I also still got a pink square in the box of Neural Crafting in the tech tree (see attached files on last page - techtree is still abit messed up at some spots, too)

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Empath guild shows a red blob of doom in the city screen when being built.

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still alot issues with techquotes (check your email for details)

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Working greatly so far is the new promotion system: Assigning special ability slots works really fine
Just abit skeptical that both maintenance bay and assembly hall grant +1 slot each for Rover/treaded/artillery units as you can obtain the techs to build thos pretty early and those are 2 really good buildings to get early, too.

Also working greatly (and imho a great additoin, too) is the new tradenetwork-system.
Makes getting culture even more usefull

 

[Maniac]

Yeah; the icons in gamefont.tga are 20x21 and the ones in gamefont_75.tga are 16x16. The size dictates their use. I can probably dig up a link that describes the different situations. From working with BUG I know gamefont_75 is the one used in the scoreboard and advisor screens.

Thanks!

Ah, thanks.
I guess that's the same reason why Fungus can't ever spread on ridges ?

Yep.

(v.6d feedback/questions )

Forests give +0.5 health while Xenofungus provides +0.5 unhealth per plot in the city cross.
So is it intended that hybrid forest give +0.5 unhealth, too ? (like Xenofungus and more than jungle? )
As far as I remember it's a hybrid between earth's and planet's Ecosystems, so it seemed more logical to me that Hybrid forests should be inbetween the health values, too (?)

That could indeed be said to be more logical. In fact some time ago hybrid forests gave +0.5 health. But the intention of a hybrid economy is lots of small bases. Hybrid forests giving health would allow huge bases.
Roleplaywise you can say that to be able to coexist with planet, population growth and size needs to be controlled. There's some Deirdre Skye quote on that which illustrates this. Perhaps even the Hybrid Forest quote?

I also still got a pink square in the box of Neural Crafting in the tech tree (see attached files on last page - techtree is still abit messed up at some spots, too)

I'm aware of this. I simply haven't looked into how to connect a button to enabling espionage spending.
Tech tree isn't set in stone, and is guaranteed to change. So fixing minor cosmetic problems now which will be changed in the near future anyway, is a low priority.

Empath guild shows a red blob of doom in the city screen when being built.

Thanks. I have connected some other building graphic to it for the meantime.

Just abit skeptical that both maintenance bay and assembly hall grant +1 slot each for Rover/treaded/artillery units as you can obtain the techs to build thos pretty early and those are 2 really good buildings to get early, too.

After the next tech tree 'horizontalization' Assembly Hall will be fourth or fifth level techwise.

Also working greatly (and imho a great additoin, too) is the new tradenetwork-system.
Makes getting culture even more usefull

And it's somewhat a counter against ICS/REX (unless you're running high Planet of course).

 

[JosEPh_II]

Examine city for me is a Pink square, using 6d, did I do a poor patching job?

JosEPh

 

[Maniac]

That is weird. That button was missing in patch b IIRC, but it should be present in patch c and d.
Do you have Assets/Art/Interface/Buttons/Actions/BuildBase.dds in your Planetfall folder?

 

[JosEPh_II]

No

I also have a 2nd Planetfall folder inside the $[31] folder. It does contain the Assets/Art/Interface/Buttons/Actions/BuildBase.dds . The 1st doesn't.

I suspect my patching didn't install correctly now.



JosEPh

 

[JosEPh_II]

Re installed Planetfallv6 and then patched 6a, 6b, 6c, and then 6d patches.

Lost 1st game to Barbs with only 2 cities built. Not enough defense.

Had CTD in 2nd Game when establishing 3rd city and sent 3 formers to build Field station on Grenade fruit in 3rd city's original 9 tiles.

Log file reads: [3867.718] ERR: InitWinApp() failed, exiting
[3867.718] ERR: CIV Init FAILED, exiting .

Had been playing this game for about 3hrs off an on.

JosEPh

 

[Maniac]

Re installed Planetfallv6 and then patched 6a, 6b, 6c, and then 6d patches.

You only need the main version 6, and then patch d. No need for a, b and c.

(Are there any games or mods out there which require you to apply several patches on top of each other instead of the latest?? I wonder why people regularly ask if all patches are required.)

Lost 1st game to Barbs with only 2 cities built. Not enough defense.

Hmm, perhaps I might have to bring back the flowering counter threshold before native life can move into borders...

Had CTD in 2nd Game when establishing 3rd city and sent 3 formers to build Field station on Grenade fruit in 3rd city's original 9 tiles.

That sucks. I thought Planetfall was CrashFree(tm) now. Do you have a save prior to the crash? Was the crash caused by some specific action, or did it crash after pressing End Turn?

 

[soggy_amphibian]

(Are there any games or mods out there which require you to apply several patches on top of each other instead of the latest?? I wonder why people regularly ask if all patches are required.)

I don't know about games or mods, but Windows is like that. Reinstall XP, connect to Windows Update and there are countless updates. You get through them all, and oh no! there's more.
This is the only mod I've put on Civ4, and each patch has incremental changes. You change a bunch of things in A, a bunch more things in B, etc. So there's logic in thinking one needs to install patch A for the A changes, B for the B changes and so on. Because there's logic in that, people check (or just do it straight that way) because they don't want to break anything.
Just put it down to their inexperience

 

[JosEPh_II]

View attachment 197986

Was the crash caused by some specific action,...

Edit: It happens at End of Turn. Tried it 3 times now with same results. Save is posted above.

As for the patching, I wanted to be sure.

JosEPh

 

[Maniac]

I'm afraid I'm unable to determine the exact cause of the crash.

I've been able to narrow the cause down to the fact that Morgan Industries is under barbarian ownership. But I have no idea how that could cause crashes.

I've set up a game myself in which I let the barbarians capture a city, waited for the occupation riot turns to pass etc, but I got no crashes. So something more must be going on. No idea what. I'm stuck.

If you want to continue that game though, you can prevent the crash by returning control of Morgan Industries base to Morgan Industries faction. Delete the barb mindworm and place a Morganic unit instead in the city.

 

[JosEPh_II]

Started new game with same faction almost at the same number of turns as the posted save. We'll see if anything develops or not.

JosEPh

 

[JosEPh_II]

Patched to 6e. New Game.

CTD at end of turn, similar to the 6d save CTD I posted before.

Save attached.

JosEPh

 

[Maniac]

Thanks. The cause is once again the fact that the barbarians have gained control over a city.
Do you perhaps have a couple autosaves of the turns leading up to the current one? That might lighten up if something special is happening, and on which turn after the capture exactly the crash occurs. That could narrow down what SDK code I need to look at.

Btw, if the purpose of the game is to bughunt, may I ask not to play on a larger than standard mapsize? On my computer it takes two minutes for your save to load. Two and a half minutes for your previous save. Makes bughunting vey tiresome.

 

[JosEPh_II]

My purpose is to play. I'll see what I can do about previos turns.

But if Planetfall requires smaller maps I'll try to remember that.

I play 2 other BtS Mods too, besides Planetfall, Rise of Mankind and Star Trek. And I've gotten used to playing Huge Maps.

I'll try a smaller Map game later this week and if I have another CTD I'll post it. I'll also try to remember to save more often. IIRC both these versions CTDs came after about 150+ turns into each game.

I had no intentions of bughunting, but if it makes Planetfall better..............isn't that good?

JosEPh