A Few Questions

TechWins · August 1, 2001, 05:44

How do you get into the rules.txt? Can you change a units strengths and graphics in there? Do you need to create a mod. to do that? What exactly is a mod? How do you create a mod? Do you need any special talents (i.e. computer programming) or special software to do so? Obviously I'm not really informed on how to do these things but I would like to know how to do these things, though.

Scouse Gits · August 1, 2001, 05:53

Quote:

Originally posted by TechWins
How do you get into the rules.txt?

Using your favourite text editor - ie Notepad

Quote:

Originally posted by TechWins Can you change a units strengths and graphics in there?

Yes and No - you can change the unit characteristics, but the graphics are copntained in the file units.gif

Quote:

Originally posted by TechWins Do you need to create a mod. to do that? What exactly is a mod?

No - this would normally be referred to as a scenario. Good question - seeing as some scenarios do a great deal more than some modpacks - I wonder myself exactly what is the difference

Quote:

Originally posted by TechWins How do you create a mod?

see above

Quote:

Originally posted by TechWins Do you need any special talents (i.e. computer programming) or special software to do so?

I don't believe so, but a decent graphics package would be good

Quote:

Originally posted by TechWins Obviously I'm not really informed on how to do these things but I would like to know how to do these things, though.

fittstim · August 1, 2001, 06:22

Just wanted to add a bit of advice:

Don't forget to back up a copy of the rules.txt file BEFORE you start experimenting with changing the game. It can be really really frustrating trying to remember is a grass square gives 1 or 2 food or whether a mech. inf.'s attack is really 6. Otherwise, you have to reinstall the game.

Marquis de Sodaq · August 1, 2001, 09:37

If you tinker with graphics, be careful about background colors. There are some colors (the last few on a 256 color pallette) that CivII sees as invisible. They are the pink and gray (or purple) you see in the units.gif behind each unit. Changing these colors will make the "background" visible at playtime. Terrain can also be changed in a similar manner.

Paint Shop Pro is an excellent choice, but some sharewares have been found to work, too. PSP has a 30 day trial version if you need to try it first before coughing up the money to buy it.

A modpack is generally a set of altered game files, a scenario is a started game saved as a scenario. Scenarios almost always have altered game files as well, so the distinction has been blurred.

TechWins · August 1, 2001, 19:11

Thanks for the help all of you. Although, I'm still not quite sure on how to get into the rules.txt. Could someone go into more detail on how to open them up? Thanks.

H Tower · August 1, 2001, 19:57

i'll presume you have a pc and are running windows. you should open windows explorer and look for your civ2 folder. (it might be stuck in the program files folder.) after that, look in the civ2 folder for rules.txt and double click the file. that's all you need to do, but i've found its a lot easier to change the stuff from the rules.txt using the in game editor. I think that the editor only comes with Fantastic worlds and Multiplayer gold, i could be wrong though. You need to understand how all the things in the rules.txt file work before you go about using them, otherwise you'll end up having to delete the rules.txt file and using your backup file. did i forget to mention back up allmost all .txt files?

TechWins · August 1, 2001, 20:04

thanks. to tell you the truth i just figured that out before i got your post but still thank you.

H Tower · August 1, 2001, 20:43

good luck!

Alex 14 · August 2, 2001, 02:32

Do you need any help with editing the technologies? Sometimes you have to be careful or it stuffs up.

Rasputin · August 2, 2001, 03:38

is it possible to change the effect of wonders and make them d oother things for instance instead of Greatlibrary giving you the advances stuff, perhaps it builds a library in every city... that sort of thing anyway ...

Alex 14 · August 2, 2001, 03:51

I don't think so, unless you decode the game with C++, or whatever it was done in.

Vlad Antlerkov · August 2, 2001, 06:49

Hmmm... maybe Julius could check out the possibility of changing the effects of Wonders?

Oh, and on editing the technologies, keep the old abbreviations. Otherwise, the game goes bonkers when you try it out.

TechWins · August 2, 2001, 14:11

Quote:

Do you need any help with editing the technologies? Sometimes you have to be careful or it stuffs up

No, but thanks anyways.

I made some custom units. One of the units I made was a Harrier, now how do I change it's graphics from being the pre-determined barbarian look to a harrier look? Lets say I want the plane to look like a plane from the Aliens scenario's gifs, how do I do that? I'm just using an example there.

By the way thanks to everybody here that has posted and helped.

KrazyHorse · August 2, 2001, 16:00

units.gif file. You have to squash the unit graphics down to the proper size, and make sure you use the predefined background colour, or else you won't be able to see the terrain under the unit.

TechWins · August 2, 2001, 17:21

I've got to the units.gif file before and I don't know what to do. Could somebody go into greater detail than what KH did? I still do appreciate your help, though, KH.

Marquis de Sodaq · August 2, 2001, 20:48

In your graphics editor (after making a backup of the original!), set your color to the pink background color. Pink out the unit in the slot you intend to use. Do not change this and the second background color (gray or purple usually). Any colors in the pallette numbered < 230 or so are visible. Beware, some slots have special properties that affect the gameplay. Check tips at the Scenario League if you need details. The ones with special properties are musketeer, fanatic, partisan, knight, engineer, spy, and barbarian leader.

Anyway, pink out the slot and put your graphic in its place. Make sure it does not overlap the bottom edges of the original rectangle. Anything below this line will remain invisible. Do you see the blue dots along the green border? Those determine shield placement. A unit slot corresponds to the dots along its left and upper edge. The upper left corner of the shield is as high as the left dot and even with the upper dot. Place your shield where you want it - you can make it invisible if you want, just place it below the rectangle or behind your unit. Use the green border to green out the old dots. That should do it. Tinker as you wish to perfect its appearance. You'll need to restart the software for the game to see any edits you make after startup.

TechWins · August 4, 2001, 05:53

Hey, that really helped me out Marquis, thanks. I think I finally got it now. At least I hope I do.

TechWins · August 4, 2001, 17:57

I have finished my graphics and my rules.txt and now I'm ready to play. But when I try to start the game it goes thorugh the little movie of the game preview. Next of course it shows the screen of the 'start game', 'load a game', etc... really fast. The screen goes away after about 1 second and the whole game closes. I don't think I"ve done anything wrong? I think I've change all the rules.txt approperiatley and without any excessiveness on numbers. The graphics have also been done right. When I place the old rules back into the game and remove the new rules the game runs fine again. So it oviously has to be something wrong with the rules.txt. I've changed some of the techs around, such as making The Laser have preq. of Fusion Power and Super Conductor. I changed Stealth's preq. to Rocketry and Fusion Power. I made Genetic Engineering have preq. of The Laser and Medicine. I also changed Gunpowder's preq. to Invention and Iron Weapons (a new tech I made up). I've made a few other techs as well and have changed the preq. on a few other techs. Could this be the problem? If so what should I do? If not what else do you think it could be? The only other thing I've made changes to is adding new units and changing stats on a few units. Please help.

Marquis de Sodaq · August 4, 2001, 21:57

Did you edit other text files? If so, see if the game starts properly with your edited rules.txt and the original game.txt and the original labels.txt.

If you can't figure it out, you can probably find the problem in a tedious manner. Copy the original rules.txt to a new file. Edit in your changes one line at a time. Chances are you will stumble upon something that is not right. Such as a doubled line, a lost comma (yes, they matter!), or other miniscule but crippling error. It will take a while, but making it work will be worth the effort. It sounds as tho the selection to cancel is triggered. Just a guess. Changing techs would not do that, in any case.

On a side note, JFK's quote was actually "Ask not what..."

TechWins · August 4, 2001, 23:03

Quote:

On a side note, JFK's quote was actually "Ask not what..."

I have only heard it once briefly, before. It was back when I was in 7th grade. Which was a few years ago so I don't exactly remember the quote. I thought it was a good quote, though, so I decided to use it as my signature. I'll be sure to change it. Thanks for the tip.

Quote:

Did you edit other text files? If so, see if the game starts properly with your edited rules.txt and the original game.txt and the original labels.txt.

No, I haven't edited any other files. It's probably just a minor miscue that I don't seem to be seeing when I check for errors in my rules.txt. I'll be sure to do what you told me then.