Custom Size for Huge Maps

kserra11 · December 17, 2003, 12:05

With the recent purchase of Conquests, I'm just now really getting into Civ3...I love the ability to play against 15 opponents and have had some awesome massive wars going on later in the game...

How can I make my huge maps I use in my games larger...is there a file somewhere that would allow me to change the default size of these maps so that there is a little more room for my civs to start?

Does it matter that I start the game up with Conquests?

One other question...I would like to alter the movement bonus for Railroads...again, is there a file somewhere that I can edit to change this rating?

Thanks for all the help. Happy gaming.

Kevin

Shadow Dweller · December 17, 2003, 12:34

go to the editor. You can set up Senerios and make changes with that.

kserra11 · December 17, 2003, 12:55

how do I start a game with the changes I made then? What i really want to change is that when i create a random game with a huge map that it will be 200x200...

how would this be done?

Shadow Dweller · December 17, 2003, 13:50

The editor has random map generation. Just pop up a new map and change the settings. Then go to the senerio and have fun. There is a way to mod the game it's self I think, but I don't remember how...

vee4473 · December 17, 2003, 13:52

when you make a custom map and save it in the default scenario directory, you have to pick "civ content" when you start the game rather than new game.

you can easily make a 200 x 200 map, but i think you would then have to put in all the terrain, etc..

not sure if you can change the "huge" map setting to other sizes.

kserra11 · December 17, 2003, 14:09

vee...that's exactely what i'd like to do...i know one of the games...maybe AC...was really easy to change...just a number in a file...but I can't seem to find something like that with Civ 3 or conquests...

anyone else have any ideas?

All I want to do is change the default HUGE map from 160x160 to something larger...like 180 or 200...

help me obi one...you're my only hope...

Kevin

pauli · December 17, 2003, 14:26

step one: backup your current rules file (conquests.biq, i believe).
step two: launche civ3conquestsedit.
step three: from the scenario menu, choose custom rules. click ok.
step four: from the rules menu, select edit rules.
step five: from the world sizes tab, select huge from the dropdown.
step six: edit the size.
step seven: click close, and then save as conquests.biq.
step eight: close the editor, launch c3c, and start game. no need to choose civ content or scenarios or anything.

some notes:

a: best way to find out if your changes are working is to make the map something like 3x3 the first time. it'll be pretty clear if you've changed the map size or not

b: when you increase the size of the map, you should also increase the ocn, number of civs, civ spacing, and research rate. look at the other sizes to figure out a rough guess as to what to try.
c: you can also edit all the other rules in the same way.
d: careful not to make the map too big! i have yet to finish a game on a map larger than 256x256, and i'm a dedicated ocd builder. it just takes too long...
e: you should still have a palace and city view using this method. if you choose to save your rules as another name and just launch a scenario, you won't. hopefully, they'll fix this nonsense.

good luck!

kserra11 · December 17, 2003, 14:30

pauli...

thank you thank you thank you...

just getting ready to make the changes...

Kevin

kserra11 · December 17, 2003, 16:08

works great..thanks for the help...

now if i could only edit railroad attributes I'd be the happiest gamer there could be...

Kevin

vee4473 · December 17, 2003, 16:46

interesting...will have to try this

MrWhereItsAt · December 18, 2003, 01:05

Good luck - you may be exceeding your computer's ability to play very well. Even those with top-of-the-line P4s have reported that, around the late Medieval, there is a BIG increase in the amount of time taken to go between turns. This is due to the number of civs in your game and the mapsize. You may find that huge enough maps just kill you with the waiting by the middle of the game.

Just a word of warning before you get too into a mammoth world game.

pauli · December 18, 2003, 10:56

heh. i'll take that as a challenge.

in the one corner: c3c, 31 civ game, 200x200 map (five civs already dead, about 20 turns in... i screwed up the spacing and they all started in the squares surrounding my own!)

in the far corner: 2.4c@3.0, 512mb ddr500.

who will win? WHOSE CUISINE REIGNS SUPREME?

er...

i *did* notice the occasional one or two second pause in my last game - at the end of the other immense civ's turn, huge pangaea map, they were late industrial, i was working on future tech. :ahem:

ah well, i'll see how this game goes... i'm the arabs, i've got four wine within my city radius, and i've got ivory in range for my second city.

MrWhereItsAt · December 19, 2003, 00:31

pauli or anyone else who believes they can play without long waits between turns - can I post a save, you play with it and tell me how long your end-of-turn is?

pauli · December 19, 2003, 00:53

sure.

MrWhereItsAt · December 19, 2003, 01:20

This is one of the last (if not THE last!) savegame from the aborted Civ3 Democracy Game. We stopped it because turn ends were taking 5 minutes or more to run. There are 24 civs and the map is huge. We subsequently restarted on a smaller world with fewer civs, and turntimes are reasonable.

Please, tell me how long things take for a turn or two here. Feel free to play it further if you like, as this game was abandoned due to the lengthy waits. This map should be good, as it was designed by a neutral Apolytoner specifically for the purpose of our game.

vmxa1 · December 19, 2003, 04:03

I take a run on it as soon as I get my pc back. I swapped the MB for a better one and swap the mem for Muskin pc3200 and added a Raptor 10,000 rpm. Sam cpu 3.06GH. I would expect this to take no time at all as it is so early in the game, but I know it can get very painfull even on 3HG system late in the game.

The Mad Monk · December 19, 2003, 04:35

I've edited world sizes, but left huge as is. Instead, I retitled Tiny as Gargantuan and set it to 362x362, with the full compliment of 31 flavors and a spacing of 42.

I'll let you know if my PIII 450 blows up.

pauli · December 19, 2003, 10:40

Quote:

Originally posted by MrWhereItsAt
This is one of the last (if not THE last!) savegame from the aborted Civ3 Democracy Game. We stopped it because turn ends were taking 5 minutes or more to run. There are 24 civs and the map is huge. We subsequently restarted on a smaller world with fewer civs, and turntimes are reasonable.

Please, tell me how long things take for a turn or two here. Feel free to play it further if you like, as this game was abandoned due to the lengthy waits. This map should be good, as it was designed by a neutral Apolytoner specifically for the purpose of our game.

alright. i put the workers to various tasks, fortified any units who needed orders, and ended the turn at 8:29:26. i ok'd dialogs as quick as i could, and went with the previous units being built. i was able to move again at 8:31:35 - so it took about 2:10 to go from first turn to second.

second turn took about 1:30.

third turn took about 1:35, and the germans declared war when i wouldn't meet their demands

turns are a tad slow, but assuming they don't get any worse, i don't consider them excessive. i expect that once the map is thinned out a bit, things will improve - i've always had the impression that given the same total number of units, moves, and cities, turn time is simply a function of civs involved.

vmxa1 · December 19, 2003, 12:53

Capture a city or build a new one see what happens.

MrWhereItsAt · December 22, 2003, 00:44

Sounds OK, pauli, so perhaps one of we poor cash-strapped DG players just needed to get a meatier computer to play on and we would have been able to continue with the map...

But 1 minute wait this early on is nothing to sneeze at. This will quickly turn into treacle, betcha.

BTW, feel free to continue playing if you like. Please tell us what happens if you do (especially regarding the slowdown). If you really wanted, I'm sure I could track down the map itself for you to play with as another civ.

vmxa1 · January 10, 2004, 14:21

Bump for ease of location. I have downloaded the save and will try it today. Finally got my system back.

:) Smiley · January 10, 2004, 14:38

Ideally, large maps would have fewer good city sites, while still a low OCN, thus creating big empires w/o the big lag.

vmxa1 · January 10, 2004, 16:45

Ok I ran a few turns with the brute.

Load from save to ready for my turn was about 45 seconds.
Turns were measured from end of turn to first event involving my units (no combat) 1 min 11 secs and tehn you get some more action until you actually have real control 2 minutes and a few seconds.

This system is running XP PRO with lastest crit updates on Pent IV -3.066GH. 1 GB of Munckins PC3200. Civ is on Raptor 10,000 rpm drive using Alcohol120 (no real CD). Radeon 9800 Pro.

I seen that the player was not at war, but I did not check on teh others. Nor do I know how many units the civs have.
Once they get a few hundred each and go to war it would get a bit worse if all civs are still around.

You got to love the one that take these games on really massive 362x362 maps. I do not find it fun to wait for even 60-90 seconds breaks.