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Mercator · September 19, 2005, 14:06

Do they have a custom labels.txt file? CivConverter doesn't convert that, but it does need to be adjusted.

Removing/renaming it is the easy way to check if it is the culprit. If you want to convert it, you can do it as follows:

- Open the ToT Original game's Labels.txt and find the line that says Available Now. Select and copy all the lines starting with that one up to and including the line Teleporter type 2 to the clipboard (Ctrl+C).

- Open the scenario's Labels.txt file and change the number below @LABELS from 888 to 922.
- Find the line that says Modem/Direct Connect. Paste the selection you copied earlier right after this line.

- Now go to the end of the scenario's Labels.txt file and find the line Map Size:. Remove everything after it.
- Now find that same line in the Original game Labels.txt. Copy everything after it and paste it at the end of the scenario's Labels.txt file.

- Save the scenario's Labels.txt file and you're done. Keep a backup of the original.

fairline · September 19, 2005, 14:08

Do you have the same problem with the latest version of Bonaparte Alex? I have a complete set of units I'm happy with for this one.

techumseh · September 19, 2005, 14:42

Originally posted by fairline

I'd like to check the units first before anything is posted

I'll send you a converted copy of AE1200bc, one of my all time favorite scenarios, once I hear from Kull. I think we should get permission where possible before posting scenarios with new graphics.

With your units, Catfish's terrain and Curt's cities, it is gorgeous! I've used a bit of historical license to fill in some of the units exclusive to AE1200, eg. I used one of your Hyskos infantry to represent the Sea Peoples.

Curt, if you've got any time, we could sure use a couple of city styles to go with your beautiful blue Babylonian city. Greek and Egyptian styles would be a perfect addition. Any chance?

Alex Woehr · September 19, 2005, 16:44

Actually, as far as I know, Bonaparte will work fine once I get the major objective bug solved. I guess I'll have to go through it tonight and remove the x3 objective flags and adjust the scoring etc. .
@Mercator: Thanks for the tip.

EDIT: I just converted Colonies IV without Civconverter crashing, so I guess it is the Labels.txt. Btw, Colonies 4's labels.txt only has 458 lines.

Catfish · September 20, 2005, 05:22

Originally posted by Alex Woehr
Btw, Colonies 4's labels.txt only has 458 lines.

It's from vanilla Civ2 (or possibly CiC). Mercator's example was for MGE files. BTW, labels files derived from vanilla Civ2 (458 lines) or FW (606 lines) are the ones that cause CivConverter to crash. Those from MGE (888 lines) appear to be fine.

Maybe I should add this to the CivConverter guide (the link Fairline posted). Then again, based on some of the questions and comments in this thread, nobody bothered to read it anyway. :|

Originally posted by Alex Woehr
One reminder though, Civconverter cannot convert scenarios that use major objective cities.

Originally posted by Alex Woehr
Actually, as far as I know, Bonaparte will work fine once I get the major objective bug solved. I guess I'll have to go through it tonight and remove the x3 objective flags and adjust the scoring etc. .

Well, before you start, you might consider that Red Front uses major objective cities and its conversion runs fine. I have converted several scenarios that use major objectives and they run fine. ToT, like MGE, simply ignores the x3 flag. You will need to replace the major objective flags with minor ones and adjust the victory thresholds accordingly. This is covered in the CivConverter guide. BTW, how did you reach the conclusion that this was the cause of your problem? It's possible that it's somehow associated with the problem without being solely responsible.

techumseh · September 20, 2005, 10:31

I have another problem. For some reason Civconverter 1.4 doesn't convert the Rules txt. file. The scenario still runs, but the rules are in the old format. I've converted AE1200, and the scns Alex has sent me have the same bug. Other scenarios I've converted in the past, such as Prince of Darkness, have the rules text in the ToT format. I believe I used an earlier version of Civconverter for that.

BTW, welcome back, Catfish!

Alex Woehr · September 20, 2005, 13:55

Scotto mentions it in his readme file so I assumed that that was the problem. I actually did read your guide on your site (even the counter examples that you mentioned).

Anyway, in other news I am struggling with the so called "Alternative Modern city style" bug in another scenario. This particular scenario uses 5 city styles, but the game had almost all the civs using the alternative modern city style. The author also implemented the once-removed/twice-removed unique unit method. I assumed (me and my assumptions again) that the reason the game was using the wrong city style was that the author used some of the extra techs to be obsolecence techs. I dutifully replaced the old system with ToT's built in system (which works) and took away the apparently offending technologies, but the game is still using the Alternative modern city style. I have tried to use civtweak but that failed as well. Any ideas?

EDIT: Syntax

Catfish · September 21, 2005, 05:47

Originally posted by techumseh
I have another problem. For some reason Civconverter 1.4 doesn't convert the Rules txt. file. The scenario still runs, but the rules are in the old format. I've converted AE1200, and the scns Alex has sent me have the same bug. Other scenarios I've converted in the past, such as Prince of Darkness, have the rules text in the ToT format. I believe I used an earlier version of Civconverter for that.

I don't recall how older versions of CivConverter handled rules.txt, but version 1.4 only changes the barest minimum. It inserts the Transporter improvement into the @IMPROVE list and adds the impassable terrain column to the @TERRAIN section. Anything after @ATTITUDES has to be added manually. The last few entries are missing from the Cosmic Principles section as well – important if the scenario uses goody huts.

Originally posted by Alex Woehr
Scotto mentions it in his readme file so I assumed that that was the problem.

Yes, I had a look through it last night to see if there were any clues there. He says:

BUT i've not been able to fix the first turn bug so some FW scenarios (those with Major Objective Flags enabled) cannot be converted successfully; luckily it seems that these scenarios are very few (sadly near all WW2 scenarios use Major Objectives Flags).

So there's definitely an issue related to the use of major objectives, however I've found that most scenarios of this type work fine. I don't know the nature of the first turn bug to which he refers. I only know of THE first turn bug (cleaning out a civ's gold when capturing a city). So far I've only had two scenarios crash on me due to a bad .scn file. They are 2194 Days of War and Bonaparte 2. Both are FW scenarios that contain major objective cities. I tried removing the major objectives from Bonaparte 2 prior to running CivConverter. No dice. The game still crashed.

Originally posted by Alex Woehr
Anyway, in other news I am struggling with the so called "Alternative Modern city style" bug in another scenario. This particular scenario uses 5 city styles, but the game had almost all the civs using the alternative modern city style. The author also implemented the once-removed/twice-removed unique unit method. I assumed (me and my assumptions again) that the reason the game was using the wrong city style was that the author used some of the extra techs to be obsolecence techs. I dutifully replaced the old system with ToT's built in system (which works) and took away the apparently offending technologies, but the game is still using the Alternative modern city style. I have tried to use civtweak but that failed as well. Any ideas?

It does sound like a tech issue, but unrelated to the extra tech slots. These are the techs that determine city style:

7th row (Renaissance): Invention (Inv)
5th row (Industrial): Industrialisation (Ind)
6th row (Modern): Automobile (Aut) + Electronics (E2)

Do any of the civs possess Invention?

Mercator · September 21, 2005, 15:06

Originally posted by Catfish
It's from vanilla Civ2 (or possibly CiC). Mercator's example was for MGE files. BTW, labels files derived from vanilla Civ2 (458 lines) or FW (606 lines) are the ones that cause CivConverter to crash. Those from MGE (888 lines) appear to be fine.

And I even had to go through extra trouble to get the MGE labels.txt file as well, while of course it applies to all pre-ToT versions with their varying labels.txt files.

Maybe I should add this to the CivConverter guide (the link Fairline posted). Then again, based on some of the questions and comments in this thread, nobody bothered to read it anyway. :|

Quite...

Alex Woehr · September 21, 2005, 23:20

All right, it works great now. I guess I had it confused with the scheme used for Fantasy games. Thanks for your help!

Catfish · September 22, 2005, 03:44

Originally posted by Mercator

And I even had to go through extra trouble to get the MGE labels.txt file as well, while of course it applies to all pre-ToT versions with their varying labels.txt files.

I just figured you thought the MGE example was sufficient explanation.

Originally posted by Alex Woehr
All right, it works great now. I guess I had it confused with the scheme used for Fantasy games. Thanks for your help!

If you decide to start fiddling with the technologies, just remember that a civ requires Invention (Inv) and Philosophy (Phi) to use the 2nd row in People.bmp.

techumseh · September 22, 2005, 09:01

I found the older CivConverter version 1.31 on my old computer. This version does convert the Rules txt. files. I'll recover it and post it by the weekend.

Alex Woehr · September 24, 2005, 01:05

Sorry Fairline. I am running into the same problem with Bonaparte that Catfish mentioned. I have removed the x3 objective flag from every city, and removed the labels.txt, but the game still crashes. If you start out as the British, you can advance civilization by civilization (using Set Human Player) without the game crashing.

Catfish · September 27, 2005, 07:32

I've updated the files for the converted scenarios I have stored here at Apolyton. Changes include corrections to labels.txt (see Mercator's earlier comments) and people.bmp files. The cells in people.bmp are misaligned in converted files. This mistake was originally made by Microprose in their Original game. CivConverter repeats the error. It produces transparency problems, eg, Elvis' black hair is invisible in the official file – quite noticeable if you're using a custom skin for your GUI.

Red Front for ToT (1.07 MB)
Sounds (1.83 MB)

Imperium Romanum for ToT (811 kB)
Sounds (607 kB)

Catfish · October 20, 2005, 05:26

I finally decided to nail the crash problem. Luckily it only took me about 20 minutes to isolate it in the .scn file. The crashes in Bonaparte II and 2194 Days of War are caused by a corrupt table found at the end of each block of tribe variables. The table contains entries for up to 64 map locations. Its function is a bit of a mystery, but it may have something to do with AI goals.

In FW/MGE, these tables are located at bytes 3322-3705 + 1428N, where N is the tribe number (0-7, starting with Barbarians). Each table is 64 x 6 (384) bytes: the first 4 bytes of each entry are the map coordinates; the function of the last 2 bytes is unknown (to me, anyway). In ToT, these tables are located at 5778-6289 + 3348N. That's 64 x 8 (512) bytes; ToT has an additional coordinate (2 bytes) for map number.

Instead of expanding the original table to include the 2 extra map bytes, CivConverter, inserts 98 zero bytes at 5753-5850 + 3348N, then takes the 25 bytes that preceded the table in the original FW/MGE scenario and dumps these at 5851-5875 +3348N. The first 49 x 6 (294) bytes of the original table are copied unaltered to 5876-6179 +3348N, but the last 15 entries are expanded from 6 bytes to 8, with 2 zero bytes inserted at the beginning of each entry. In a nutshell this means the tables are buggered.

Solution: It's a hex editing job (bytes 5778-6289 + 3348N). You could either recreate the tables in the ToT file (if you're insane) or zero everything in the tables up until you reach any entries of 0x000000000000FF00 (what I've done). Old values in the tables are overwritten as players take turns, so if a scenario survives the first turn it'll probably work fine.

Anyway, I've gone and converted Bonaparte II - the single-player version. I've also applied the same fix to the other scenarios I've uploaded here – even though they don't actually crash on the first turn.

Bonaparte II for ToT (410 kB)
Sounds (570 kB)