a new little step for civkind : over 320'000'000

Julius Brenzaida · August 26, 2000, 17:01

A new (very) little step for civkind
(unless someone already knew that)

I have found how to "debug" the 320'000'000 maximum population stop
Is it the right place to post that message ? I'm not sure, but I didn't know where to put it.

It works for the civ2 multiplayer french version, with the latest patch. It should be the same for the english one.

1) make a copy of civ2.exe (just in case)
2) Hex edit the civ2.exe
3) Find the second pattern of "007d", it should be followed by "00". (it is 0003633c on Hex Workshop 3.1, a freeware)
4) Replace it by a higher number, for example "ffffff" and your population count will go much higher than 320'000'000.

I would like to know if it works for someone else too. (my computer : 450mhz and 192mb of ram)

I don't know why the programmers did stop here. Maybe that your population affects how the AI values your situation and too high a number can alter the negocation process. But anyway, if you have that kind of population, there is no need to negociate with Caesar anymore.

The same method of research could perhaps be used to break the 30'000 gold limits.
It is 3075 in hexa and appears about 25 times in the prog. Should be easy to test.

I am much less optimistic for the 255 cities barrier. I don't even want to know how many times FF appears in the prog, and probably that it wouldn't work anyway, each cities requiring a lot of informations. It's not just a number to change in this case. But if anyone wants to give about one year of his life changing patiently all the ff00 in ff01 to see the ones that rules the 255 techs and the 255 cities, he has all my sympathy.

So one can guess that the maximum population should be 255x10'810'000(city size 46 : plains and 4 oasis/wheat) = 2'756'560'000 citizens. But maybe that you cannot have a map able to support 255 4-resources cities, so it should be a trifle less. Or more if that legendary 5 resources within a city radius really exists (please see my topic in the civ2-help section).

Anyway, I am quite happy with my little discovery.

Shadowstrike · August 27, 2000, 16:10

This sounds interesting. However, I have neither the skill nor the persistance to hex edit. Can you make a patch of a sort with the "fixed" exe file?

Julius Brenzaida · August 28, 2000, 17:13

Well,

Just to make it clear.
As for now, I've just suppressed the 320'000'000 population limit.
I think it could be possible to do the same with the 30'000 gold limit. I'm not sure. I shall try it this week-end (far far away).

Just the time perhaps for someone to tell me whether it would be legal or not to give (for free of course) a new version (let's call it a patch) of the main .exe programm of a game.

For example, would Apolyton accept such a patch ? Is it like a map or a scenario ?
It would be good to have a few opinions.

DarkCloud · August 28, 2000, 20:37

Just wondering could you provide the code for units if you know and it is not too much to ask, thanks.

Julius Brenzaida · August 29, 2000, 17:51

No, I don't know the code for the units.
I don't even know what do you mean.
But otherwise, it would not have been too much to ask.

I'm definitely not a programmer.
As I said, I just reckonded 32'000 (x10'000) was a rare number. So I looked for the hexa number (007d) and replaced it with ff; and then ran the new civ.exe and loaded a game with a population with more than 320'000'000. Luckily, on the second attempt (the second time 007d appeared in the prog), it worked.
I figure the same method could be applied to the gold limit, a rare number too.
I have just been very lucky, that's all.