Editing Units

Caesar the Glutton · November 5, 2003, 19:00

I'm back into playing Civ2 after far too long away...I was just checking out some sites with scenarios and new units. I've never tried editing units, but what I'm looking for is to change the spy unit into a James Bond type of character.

I hope I'm not posting this in the wrong forum, but thanks in advance for your comments.

atawa · November 5, 2003, 21:12

Do you mean the graphics?

Caesar the Glutton · November 5, 2003, 21:22

yes, the units file...I checked out several sites today which provided alternate units, but I've never actually edited my units file. I like some of the units included with the scenarios, especially the spy unit from Jules Verne. I was just wondering how difficult it is to change them in the regular game mode. I especially want to change the lady spy unit to either the one from Jules Verne or to a 007 styled character.

I appreciate your reply.

rjmatsleepers · November 6, 2003, 02:26

It is fairly easy to change the images. I have used photographs to produce new graphics. Photoshop allows you to simplify the colours and reduce the size of the photo you are working from. Once you have an image that you are comfortable with, reduce it to the size of the existing units in the .gif file. Then paste your new image on top of the old one and save the combined image under the old name. (It's a good idea to save a back-up of the old file under a different name or in another folder.) This can be done with other image editing programs, but beware, there seems to be more than one version of the gif format and Microsoft Photo Editor saves in the wrong format.

Good luck

RJM at Sleeper's

PS You can use the same method to "borrow" a graphic from a scenario and incorporate it in your standard game. Just cut and paste the unit from one gif to another. You need to get it lined up correctly, but that's no big deal. (RJM)

Scouse Gits · November 6, 2003, 04:41

Yup - RJM has it right - no big deal - I use Paint Shop Pro - have you looked at mindseye's graphics in the directory here - I think they rock!

Stu

Caesar the Glutton · November 6, 2003, 12:59

Thanks to everyone for the advice! It doesn't sound too difficult, so I'm looking forward to trying out a few things. I love Civ2, but sometimes I get bored with the same old units. I can't wait 'til work is over today

Caesar the Glutton · November 6, 2003, 14:47

I couldn't wait until after work, so I tried using Microsoft Paint to edit the units file. It appeared that all was going well until I tried to run Civ2, then I got some error message. After I replaced the modified units file with the original, Civ runs fine. I guess I'll have to use some program other than MS Paint? I think that's all I have, and there probably isn't a free version anywhere either....

Bloody Monk · November 6, 2003, 16:18

I don't know how to do this either, but I seem to recall that MS Paint does not create gif files. Did you try to save as .gif??

Monk

Caesar the Glutton · November 6, 2003, 16:32

yeah, I tried loading the UNITS.gif file with MS Paint, editing it, then saving it as a GIF file, but Civ still won't run when I used the edited UNITS.gif file...I guess I'll have to get another program before I can edit anything

Caesar the Glutton · November 6, 2003, 16:38

I just noticed that the CITIES.gif file includes a "Modern Alt" design...does anyone know if these can be used in a regular game?

Mercator · November 6, 2003, 17:40

What version of Civ2 do you have? If you don't have classic (2.42) you can also use bitmaps...

But you definitely can't use MS Paint for GIFs for Civ2.
Most people here use demo versions of Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. Funnily enough, all those demo versions seem to magically work forever.

And sure you can use the "modern alt.". Not as an extra style, but simply by copy-pasting it onto one of the other city styles.

Caesar the Glutton · November 6, 2003, 17:48

I have Civ II MPGE 5.2.5f

Thanks for the tips....so I can just search for "download paint shop pro demo" ?

Caesar the Glutton · November 6, 2003, 17:56

Nevermind...I'm downloading a evaluation version of Paint Shop Pro 8...and I'm getting very little done @ work today

Caesar the Glutton · November 6, 2003, 18:31

hmm, I must be retarded...I got the evaluation version of Paint Shop Pro, and tried editing my units.gif file. I basically just cut the spy unit from the Verne scenario and pasted it over the regular spy unit...then I saved the file as a .gif, but I still get an error message when I try to run Civ...aaaargh!

rjmatsleepers · November 7, 2003, 01:44

Quote:

Originally posted by Caesar the Glutton
hmm, I must be retarded...I got the evaluation version of Paint Shop Pro, and tried editing my units.gif file. I basically just cut the spy unit from the Verne scenario and pasted it over the regular spy unit...then I saved the file as a .gif, but I still get an error message when I try to run Civ...aaaargh!

Interesting. My experience has been that if you don't get it right, the game still runs, but without the images - rather an eerie experience.

At the moment, it sounds to me as if there is a problem with the format of the file you are saving. If you can give us the exact error message we may be able to give some specific suggestions.

RJM at Sleeper's

Mercator · November 7, 2003, 07:51

You must save as a non-interlaced 87a GIF. You can choose the right format in the save dialog.

Caesar the Glutton · November 10, 2003, 14:51

Thanks, Mercator...that did the trick!

rjmatsleepers · November 11, 2003, 01:59

BTW

If you look at the scenario forum, there is a lot of advice on how to convert photographs to game icons. They also post quite a few examples that can be "borrowed".

RJM at Sleeper's

Caesar the Glutton · November 11, 2003, 20:43

I've been playing around with editing units, cities, etc. for the past couple of days...everything was peachy until this...now my units and cities have a grey bowtie shaped thingy around them...it looks like the triangle shape from the units.gif file. Any idea what I did to cause this?

rjmatsleepers · November 12, 2003, 04:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Caesar the Glutton
I've been playing around with editing units, cities, etc. for the past couple of days...everything was peachy until this...now my units and cities have a grey bowtie shaped thingy around them...it looks like the triangle shape from the units.gif file. Any idea what I did to cause this?

When you cut and paste, you sometimes get a fringe in the background colour. (There are some tips in the scenario section on eliminating this.) If this is a colour that isn't in the pallete I suppose it could turn grey. Any way, it sounds as if there is something in you units.gif that the game thinks is part of the icon, but you can't see very well in your image editing program.

My suggestion is

a) edit your icons with a white background to try to avoid any stray pixels.

b) completely eliminate the icon you are replacing by pasting a blank shape over it. (It's worth having one around.)

c) then paste your new icon in position.

If it still gets the grey bow tie, it may be worth checking for inconsistency between the source and destination pallete. After that, if you still have a problem you will need to post in the scenario forum.

RJM at Sleeper's