Zefyrinus' random scenario editing questions

[Zefyrinus]

I'm updating an old scenario of mine, called Sdrawkcab, and thought I'd collect all the random little questions I have in one thread. Any answers you can provide are highly appreciated!

The idea of this scenario (or mod; there aren't really any custom graphics or units, but I've changed the various text files a bit) is that time flows backwards; so you start with modern era stuff and as you progress things get "upgraded" to ancient stuff.

1. I tried changing the file for the History of the world books or whatever it's called. Like the "Toynbee has listed the world's largest civilizations" stuff. In this file there is a list of names, and I tried reversing the order of these names. But they still seems to appear in the same order as before, though most names don't seem to ever appear. Does anyone know how exactly this file works? I've changed the starting year and how many years each turn is, so I'm thinking that that might have something to do with why some of these names never appear in the game. Also, is it possible to change which year or turn each name comes up?
2. At the science advisor page the science advisor always say things about techs when you hover your mouse over them. But this is all messed up. In the text file the techs are referred to by a number rather than the tech name. I was wondering, how do you know which number refers to which tech? Because the problem seems to be caused by the texts in the file referring to the wrong tech numbers.
3. There was some text file that referred to the era change splash graphics. I tried reversing the order of these, because my modern age is the first era, my industrial age is the second era, and so on. But in the game the era change splashes still appear in the original order. Why isn't it working? I guess I could just rename the graphic files instead, but if I can get away with just editing the text files instead of adding custom graphics, that would be preferrable.

 

[Blue Monkey]

... there aren't really any custom graphics or units, but I've changed the various text files a bit ...

... There was some text file that referred to the era change splash graphics. I tried reversing the order of these, because my modern age is the first era, my industrial age is the second era, and so on. But in the game the era change splashes still appear in the original order. Why isn't it working? I guess I could just rename the graphic files instead, but if I can get away with just editing the text files instead of adding custom graphics, that would be preferrable. ...

Forgive me if some of this explanation is redundant - trying to make it not too much of a mystery to others who may read the thread but have less experience.

The Art folder for your scenario (like all the other folders) doesn't have to contain everything, just what you are using that is different from the Firaxis'. The game engine will fall back on the standard stuff if it doesn't find a file inside your scenario folder. So ...

1. just follow the standard folder pattern but in the same place where your biq is: Sdrawkcab (use identical name to biq if it's different) > Art > EraSplash (no space) > the actual files.
2. Assuming that as it is now you are using the standard Firaxis pcx: just copy them and paste them into the EraSplash folder. Then rename them.

That's it. Creating a folder or two then copying and renaming 4 files is a lot faster than carefully and precisely editing a text file. Not to mention less prone to errors, and a lot easier to troubleshoot if one does sneak in.

 

[Zefyrinus]

Yeah I know, it's just that adding a lot of graphics tends to make the folder unwieldly big, (which can be a problem if I want to share the whole thing) and I already have a few modded graphics files. Well, I guess a couple of more images won't hurt. It's just odd that editing the text file did nothing.

 

[Quintillus]

2. At the science advisor page the science advisor always say things about techs when you hover your mouse over them. But this is all messed up. In the text file the techs are referred to by a number rather than the tech name. I was wondering, how do you know which number refers to which tech? Because the problem seems to be caused by the texts in the file referring to the wrong tech numbers.

I believe it's referring to its position in the tech list, minus one. So for example, #SCIENCEADVICETECH0 is for Bronze Working, as it's the first item in the list (minus one = zero), #SCIENCEADVICETECH2 is for the Alphabet as it is 3rd (minus one = two), etc.

Interesting idea to have time go backwards. I should note, though, that the download link in your scenario thread is no longer working.

 

[Zefyrinus]

Aha. Thanks! I will have check the editor and write everything down so I can see where it starts to go wrong.

Yeah, I've noticed that those super old links are no longer working. I'll update everything once I'm done with this new version of my scenario.

 

[Civinator]

Chapter 6 of Gray Wolf´s Tech Tree and Script.txt Tutorial deals with editing the TECH BLURBS in the Script text file.

 

[Zefyrinus]

Oh thanks! I will try downloading those arrows, because so far I've been photoshopping them using copies of the original tech backgrounds, and ughhh, that's really cumbersome.