PROJECT: Playtest

[J Bytheway]

CTP1 did have future techs, and they provided the top level undersea mines and assembly bays (mines in space). Other than that, I think they had no impact on gameplay.

[The Big Mc]

But what IF

Instead we did something like

Future production city’s production + 10

Future military units fire power + 10%

Future food farms + 5%

So the tech tree never really ends we just simulate the slow passage of time

[MrBaggins]

Doesn't really matter unless we can produce an effective AI that lasts towards the end of the tech tree. (well, MP is a different story... but would this be desirable in MP?)

[Maquiladora]

A game has never lasted that long unless both players agreed, mainly because its easier to attack than to defend. If it did get that far id rather it reach a climax with everyone going for a science ending. But thats pretty much impossible with having to place obelisks.

[epeterson]

Hi,

I think I read everythink in this thread but I may have missed something. I have the Activision 1.11 patch installed now. Should I just download the latest playtest version or should I download the first playtest version and then install the latest on top of that?? I am looking forward to playtesting and am pretty familiar with this game as I have played it to the end many times.

I take it that all playtesting is in single-player mode? I would like to start with the latest playtest version but for scientific purposes I will do what is necessary. Please advise me as to the correct procedure and I will comply to the best of my ability.

I am currently engaged in a MP game with my brother, so I would like to keep that seperate.--Unattached if possible from any playtest files/mods/etc. Is this possible??

[The Big Mc]

Originally posted by epeterson
I am currently engaged in a MP game with my brother, so I would like to keep that seperate.--Unattached if possible from any playtest files/mods/etc. Is this possible??

i would say yes before you install the play test version copy you activision directory (if you have a decent amount of hard disk space) you can then make a second short cut to the copy where you can install the play test so you have two version of the game play test and non play test .

[Tamerlin]

I was about to suggest the same thing, as far as I am concerned I have three CtP2 folders, one with the original version and all the mods tweaked to suit my own tastes, a second one for the Democracy Game and a third one for the playtest.

You can also start the game from the executable itself, you can find it in the "...\Activision\Call To Power 2 \ctp2_program\ctp" folder.

[The Big Mc]

yes me to I still got to re build my folder which contains my personal mod with the same method

[epeterson]

I may need a little help in understanding how to do this. I guess I would just need to rename the folder to something slightly different when asked during the install, right? I can't remember...How much room do I need to install another copy with the patch and playtest file?

Now, should I install the first and second playtest files or just the second?? Should I install any of the mods? I really would like to do this without the mods for the time being. I want to keep it simple and straight-forward--Take it one step at a time, document all that I encounter bug-wise and not waste time duplicating effort. So any advice on start-up would be greatly appreciated!

I intend on playing a hard game with max AI's. I will play it all the way through and will give progress reports along the way, (with bugs I encounter/possible fixes/etc.) Perhaps I will start a thread just for this playtest so that I can receive your guys input directly on the game I will be playing...

[Maquiladora]

Rename your original CtP2 folder something like "To be renamed Call to Power 2", then run install option from the CD. A minimum install (not including the movies etc) with 1.1 official patch and BOTH playtests zips takes about 260MB of space.

When installing ask to install to a different directory during installation rename it "Sourcecode Call to Power 2" or something.

When its done, install official 1.1 patch, then the first playtest zip file and then the second one. Then rename your first installtion BACK to its original folder name "Call to Power 2" or whatever it was called, that way you keep all shortcuts entact to your original install.

[epeterson]

Thanks Maq! I will do as you say this evening if I get a chance. Any suggestions on what type of map to play--size, environment, barb level, # or AIs, etc.? My pet peeve is that on the larger maps I can't put cities all over the place because of the governmental restrictions. I can understand it for the earlier govs, but the latter ones should be limitless.

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by Maquiladora
... install official 1.1 patch, then the first playtest zip file and then the second one.

I have only installed the source patch called CTP2_Playtest_2004[1].01.31.zip. Do you mean, Maq, that I should have installed another source patch before or after the one I installed in the first place?

[Maquiladora]

I dont know for sure either. I asked earlier if i should install 1.1 patch or not but no one responded, so i played it safe and installed 1.1 > 1st playtest > 2nd playtest.

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by Maquiladora
I dont know for sure either. I asked earlier if i should install 1.1 patch or not but no one responded, so i played it safe and installed 1.1 > 1st playtest > 2nd playtest.

I was just wondering if you really have to install two playtest patches.

[Maquiladora]

It didnt work right when i installed only the second one. I got the const.txt line 225: error, then it worked when i installed the first and then second again.