Civilization III BIX/BIQ file format

[GIDustin]

So basically it is unused. Sweet

Thanks Gramphos

[GIDustin]

Gramphos

Do you have a version of this for C3C? I am trying to figure out where "Orders Enslave" and "Orders Stealth Attack" are and I think they are in "PTW special actions (binary)" but I am not sure.

- GIDustin

[Gramphos]

I think I've sorted out the unit flags for my UCW. I'll look into that next time I open that source. Have many other things to do.

[GIDustin]

Perhaps you can explain this Gramphos:

In the conquests.biq and several other scenerios, there are units that are "ghosted" that do not appear in the editor, but are in the BIQ more than once. Do you know why this is? I made a thread at CFC (link) but no one responded. really, all I need to know is how to tell whether the unit should be there or not. How does the editor know which units in the BIQ are real, and which arent.

Thanks again

GIDustin

[Gramphos]

4 long other strategy for unit (-1 if first strategy/not multiplie strategies)

If this is non -1 the unit isn't showing in the editor or to any human player. It just represenyts another strategy for an existing unit.

[GIDustin]

AAAAH Thanks

[wotan321]

Does anyone know where the C3C locked alliances settings are located? I have gone into the GAME section in a .SAV file and changed the alliance # to 0, but when I get back into the game, my civ is still in a locked alliance with the former members. Then I went back and changed ALL the members of the alliance to 0, with no noticable results.

Is there a second location that controls this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[wotan321]

...ahem... no response for a few days.... well, I guess I am just gonna have to figure this out myself!

[Gramphos]

I've not had time to dig out the locked alliance locations in the saves. That is one thing that is on my todo list for completing the C3C compability of C3MT. I can't give any time for when I will have time for doing that.

[wotan321]

Don't worry about it. I think I have an idea of what is going on. I noticed in using the SGE that the # of turns of MPP in the diplomacy section was some astronomically high number. That must be part of the solution Atari came up with... locked alliance is just a MPP with a 10000 turn duration. In one saved game, I just changed that number to 0. But now I cannot get that number back on the menu of options, so I cannot change it.

Where is that number in the saved games?

Gramphos, I know you are busy. I am in no hurry. Half the fun is figuring it out, anyway.

[jokemaster2002]

does any1 know where i can get a HEX editor to download?

[AlanH]

Hi

I'm trying to create a Mac application to display a Civ3 map (vanilla 1.29, as that's the only format available on the Mac )

I have it displaying the base terrain using the appropriate .pcx files, and overlaying it with mountains and hills, but I haven't been able to work out which bits in the TILE structure define which hill or mountain image to draw.

Here's an example of a much reduced standard map in a raw test window. As you can see I have identified which mountains are snow capped and the basic terrain if working. But all the hills and mountains currently use the same image. Can anyone help?

[Dianthus]

Hi AlanH, fancy meeting you here .

I don't know how to get that info out either. For my CRpSuite stuff I work it out myself. You can obviously tell which .pcx file to use for a tile based on the "real terrain" field. I then calcualte the offset based on the NW, NE, SE & SW tiles. Start with 0, then :
Add 1 if there is a mountain/hill NW
Add 2 if there is a mountain/hill NE
Add 4 if there is a mountain/hill SW
Add 8 if there is a mountain/hill SE

[sabrewolf]

wow, some CFCers show up here

[AlanH]

Hi Dianthus
I'm glad it's not just me! I realised I could get it from the adjacent tiles, but that seems rather laborious. Also, I don't think that's the way Civ3 does it. I haven't looked at it for a while, but last time I did I was pretty sure that I fount it was using two different variants in equivalent situations. I'll try to find an example again.

Hi sabrewolf. Yeah, well, sometimes the mountain must come to mahomet (aka Gramphos)

PS Love your avatar, brings back fond memories. I even built a primitive speccy emulator on my Mac once, and succeeded in loading Manic Miner into it from audio tape through the audio in socket! It ran, too, excruciatingly slowly!

[sabrewolf]

about the map preview you're doing: i actually this this way is better to see details of the map. if you start using comined hill and mountain ranges and especially start using the "softened" coastlines, then everything will get more blurry. that might be nicer to look at, but worse to see the details, requiring a bigger picture

Hi sabrewolf. Yeah, well, sometimes the mountain must come to mahomet (aka Gramphos)

PS Love your avatar, brings back fond memories. I even built a primitive speccy emulator on my Mac once, and succeeded in loading Manic Miner into it from audio tape through the audio in socket! It ran, too, excruciatingly slowly!

impressive... an own emulator!!! how come, all great programmers (except graphos of course) come from CFC? :hmm:
i've seen some around in the web, but mostly you can find games (like attic attac, MM, JSW, sabrewulf , etc.) already extracted and they can be loaded. so no audio sockets needed . i once saw a java-version of several games. never looked further into it, but i presume there's an emulator or a speccy-->class compiler in it

sorry for going off topic, gramphos!

[Dianthus]

Originally posted by AlanH
I realised I could get it from the adjacent tiles, but that seems rather laborious. Also, I don't think that's the way Civ3 does it. I haven't looked at it for a while, but last time I did I was pretty sure that I fount it was using two different variants in equivalent situations. I'll try to find an example again.

It's not that laborious, and at least it's derivable. What's not derivable is the index into the forest/jungle bitmaps (I currently just randomize these) and whether to use the deltaRivers.pcx/mtnRivers.pcx. If you find this in the file make sure and let us know Alan .

Oh, one last tip, mountains/hills (and lots of other stuff) have to be shifted vertically by half a tile. Can't remember whether that's up or down, but that's something you can look for when you're testing.

[AlanH]

Originally posted by Dianthus

It's not that laborious, and at least it's derivable. What's not derivable is the index into the forest/jungle bitmaps (I currently just randomize these) and whether to use the deltaRivers.pcx/mtnRivers.pcx. If you find this in the file make sure and let us know Alan .

Sure will

Oh, one last tip, mountains/hills (and lots of other stuff) have to be shifted vertically by half a tile. Can't remember whether that's up or down, but that's something you can look for when you're testing.

Been there, done that. The image is just a 10% reduction of a full size map. Apart from the fact that the hill sand mountains are all the same, at 100% it looks indistinquishable from an in-game map terrain. Here's a bit of the 100% version ...

[Dianthus]

Hi Gramphos,

I think your "free units"/"all units free" fields are not quite right in the GOVT section, at least for C3C. I'm seeing values of 0xCCCCCCCC for your "free units" field for Facism/Feudalism. Rather than:

    4	long		??? (1 for Republic/Democracy, 0 for the rest)
    4	long		free units
    4	long		all units free (-1 = yes, 0 = no)

I think it should be:

    4	long		??? (1 for Republic/Democracy, CCCCCCCC for Feudalism/Facism, 0 for the rest)
    4	long		??? (CCCCCCCC for Feudalism/Facism, 0 for rest)
    4	long		free units (-1:all free, >=0:number of free units)

[Gramphos]

Now it would be interesting to know when that changed.

[Dianthus]

Originally posted by Gramphos
Now it would be interesting to know when that changed.

That sounds like challenge . I'll take a quick look at the latest versions of CivIII and PTW tonight. Older versions are obviously a bit more hassle.

[Dianthus]

I've been so busy releasing my new version of CRpSuite that I almost forgot I promised to do this!

Anyway I've got 1.29f of Civ III installed and I edited the civ3mod.bic file and checked the differences:

Changed The Republic to have all free units:
Before:

      workerRate(4) = 2
      Unknown(12)=
         000000:01000000 .... 
         000004:01000000 .... 
         000008:00000000 .... 
      freeUnits(4) = 0
      freeUnitsPerTown(4) = 0
      freeUnitsPerCity(4) = 0
      freeUnitsPerMetropolis(4) = 0
      costPerUnit(4) = 1
      warWeariness(4) = 1

After:

      workerRate(4) = 2
      Unknown(12)=
         000000:01000000 .... 
         000004:01000000 .... 
         000008:00000000 .... 
      freeUnits(4) = -1
      freeUnitsPerTown(4) = 0
      freeUnitsPerCity(4) = 0
      freeUnitsPerMetropolis(4) = 0
      costPerUnit(4) = 1
      warWeariness(4) = 1

Changed Democracy to have 5 free units:
Before:

      workerRate(4) = 3
      Unknown(12)=
         000000:01000000 .... 
         000004:01000000 .... 
         000008:00000000 .... 
      freeUnits(4) = 0
      freeUnitsPerTown(4) = 0
      freeUnitsPerCity(4) = 0
      freeUnitsPerMetropolis(4) = 0
      costPerUnit(4) = 1
      warWeariness(4) = 2

After:

      workerRate(4) = 3
      Unknown(12)=
         000000:01000000 .... 
         000004:01000000 .... 
         000008:00000000 .... 
      freeUnits(4) = 5
      freeUnitsPerTown(4) = 0
      freeUnitsPerCity(4) = 0
      freeUnitsPerMetropolis(4) = 0
      costPerUnit(4) = 1
      warWeariness(4) = 2

[Gramphos]

I verified this againcst BICs form v1.07f, and is seems as if it never changed, but always have been as you state it.

[wotan321]

Has anyone stumbled across where in the C3C saved games files or the .biq files the "locked alliances" or "locked war" info is stored?

Thanks.

[Gramphos]

The colony and City ref in the TILE section are swaped. I'll update it next time I edit the first post.

[Legend]

Originally posted by Dianthus

It's not that laborious, and at least it's derivable. What's not derivable is the index into the forest/jungle bitmaps (I currently just randomize these) and whether to use the deltaRivers.pcx/mtnRivers.pcx. If you find this in the file make sure and let us know Alan .

Don't know if you're still subscribed to this Dianthus

It appears that the decision to use the deltaRivers / mtnRivers is dependent on the underlying terrain Icon number.

If the underlying terrain uses (say) icon 4, then it will always use (say) DeltaRivers. I haven't worked out the exact detail, nor the pattern, but I will endeavour to do so. Presumably this approach extends to the forest and jungle as well.

[Dianthus]

Originally posted by Legend
Don't know if you're still subscribed to this Dianthus

Yes, I'm still around.

Originally posted by Legend
It appears that the decision to use the deltaRivers / mtnRivers is dependent on the underlying terrain Icon number.

If the underlying terrain uses (say) icon 4, then it will always use (say) DeltaRivers. I haven't worked out the exact detail, nor the pattern, but I will endeavour to do so. Presumably this approach extends to the forest and jungle as well.

From the meagre research I did it looked like delta rivers were used on the coast, and mountain rivers on hills/mountains/volcanos, but I couldn't see any other correlation. I use the 4 tiles under the river to decide if the terrain is water or hill/mountain/volcano. I'm checking 4 tiles because the rivers are offset by half a tile vertically from the hills/mountains/volcanos or other.

If you can find a better way of doing (I.e. to look the same as Civ) then that would be great!

[AlanH]

I was playing with the hills in the editor (unfortunately the 1.21 version, as that's all that's available on a Mac). You can get a different pattern of four hills in a diamond on grassland substrate depending on which order you place them. I didn't spend much time on it, but it looks like there must be something other than the known fields determining which graphic is used for an overlay on base terrain.

[Dianthus]

I just tried something similar. I cleared the map to plains (wasn't sure whether bonus grass would make a difference). I then created a number of 4 tile diamonds of hills, always creating them in the order top-bottom-right-left. I got quite a few different combinations!

[Legend]

That is what I meant - the overlay terrain icon (hills, mountain, forest, river etc) depends on the icon of the underlying terrain.

Take you base terrain, and add visible numbers on it corresponding to the icon numbers (might want to do this with the overlays as well).

There are four hill icons that don't connect to anything (0, 1, 2, 3); I'm sure that you will find that if you draw an unnconnected hill on base terrain icon "X", it will always be the same one. I'm sure that the same will hold for two connected hills - the icon chosen will depend on the base terrain.