CtP2 FAQ

[Locutus]

NOTE: If you're new to CtP2 and you're looking for important information for new users (info on mods, must-have downloads, etc), it is recommended that you have a look at this thread as well.

Rules of posting on this thread:
1) You must post a common question/complaint/argument.
2) The subject could be anything from how to play with more than 8 opponents to 'what mods should I download, in what order and why?' and to the complaint that the AI is too passive.
3) You must also post the answer/counter argument to it. If you have a question that is not in this FAQ and you're looking for an answer, please post a new thread in which you ask the question, don't post your question here (if you do, it will be deleted, and (only) if you're lucky someone will repost it in a new thread for you and answer it there).
4) Each question/argument must be numbered and unless you post an addition to an existing point (add the number of the point you're referring to if this is the case), you must post with a new number. So if #25 is the last question, you must number your point #26 (this makes for easy referring when someone asks the question outside this thread).
5) Corrections on the answers should not be made, only additions (e.g. dont try to correct other people, just add your perspective). (The best way to deal with incomplete/incorrect information is to email/PM the person who posted the question and discuss it privately - the person in question can edit his answer if needed).
6) Let's try and keep the answers fairly short, if it's a very 'big' subject with many different aspects or opinions, find/post a seperate thread about it and link to it from here.
7) This thread is for answering common questions/complaints/arguments, not for discussion! Irrelevant posts will be deleted without warning.

Since we're trying to help people locate the info they need fast (while relieving the regulars of having to answer the same questions over and over again), it's important that this thread remains relatively short (not *too* short of course, then it won't contain the info people need), otherwise it would take too much time to locate the info and people will start their own threads anyway. So rules #1 and #6 are particularly important.

Edit: for a copy of this FAQ (in case you need it when Apolyton is down, for example), go to Immortal Wombat's website: http://www.weaver1.btinternet.co.uk/ctp2/FAQ.html

Table of Contents
Here's a table of contents for this FAQ. Note that it may not always be entirely up-to-date, so when you can't find the question you need, check the bottom of this thread as well.

Start-up Options
Q68 How Can I prevent the game from showing the intro movie all the time?

Troubleshooting
Q01 Help! I play against the same opponents every time.
Q02 Why can I load Tanks into Cargo Helicopters?
Q07 How can I play against more than 8 opponents?
Q33 Can a revolting city become a new civ instead of a Barbarian city?
Q37 Why are there no ruins (goody huts) in my games?
Q44 Why do I sometimes not get production points for disbanding units in a city?
Q53 Why can't I find userprofile.txt and/or servers.dat anywhere?
Q56 Help! The game sometimes freezes for a few minutes when playing with a mod (usually Cradle).
Q60 Help! I can't unload units from stacks of 12 units.

Patch (and mods)
Q06 Why won't my savegame load?
Q09 What is the difference between the patch and a mod?
Q10 Will be there another patch by Activion?
Q24 Help! I get strange messages after installing the patch.
Q55 Help! The patch won't install.

Mods
Q03 What's with all the mods?
Q05 What is ModSwapper?
Q18 What do I need to play the CTP2 mods?
Q19 Are mods really needed?
Q30 Help! ModSwapper won't install.
Q30a Help! ModSwapper won't install. (Addendum for XP/NT)
Q31 Help! I have a non-English version of the game and a problem with mods.
Q48 Where can I download/upload mods?
Q49 Where can I download MedMod?
Q62 Help! I'm playing with the Apolyton Pack and at the start of the game my settlers have gone mad! They're moving all over the place on their own and I can't stop them.


Modding
Q04 What is SLIC?
Q16 Can TIs be modded so they can be placed outside my borders?
Q17 How can I continue playing after 2300?
Q39 How do I play on bigger/smaller/different maps?
Q51 Can Civ3 features such as Strategic Resources and Colonies be added to CtP2?
Q54 How do I change the colors of the civs?
Q59 How do I get sharper borders between climatic zones on the map?

Gameplay
Q08 What is the difference between players and civs?
Q20 What is the difference between gold an commerce?
Q21 Does trade help in the science development?
Q27 Why don't the numbers in the game add up?
Q28 How do I win the game with the Science Victory?
Q66 I'm looking to improve my game but there's not strategy forum. Where can I find strategy threads?


Interface
Q25 Is there a way to select the destination of newly captured slaves?
Q29 How can I rename my cities?
Q34 Why can't I get 60+ cities while the ranking talks of 500+ cities?
Q43 How can I see which of my cities are not producing anything?

Terrain Improvements
Q11 How can I place Tile Improvements?
Q12 What are Public Works?
Q13 Why I need PW?
Q14 Why is the PW system better than the settler/worker system?
Q15 Which TI(s) can be placed outside my borders?
Q41 Where can I change how the city radius is worked?
Q45 Can I place Tile Improvements inside other civs' borders?

Multiplayer
Q22 How can I play PBEM/Hotseat games?
Q23 Why can't I enter the lobby and is there only one server available?
Q26 How do I prevent loosing human players after resynchs?
Q32 How do I play scenarios in a multiplayer game?
Q35 How do I minimize resychs in MP games?
Q36 What is the "Infinite Build Cheat"?
Q57 How can I set up my own MP server?
Q58 Help! I get a message that I should dial in but I'm using cable/xDSL.
Q63Why does my Multiplayer save game sometimes get corrupted and wont re-load and crash when we try to resume?
Q64 Sometimes when i reload in multiplayer the game will resynch EVERY turn, for a few turns.
Q67 I have problems joining or hosting games once inside the server, what can I do?



Miscellaneous
Q38 What should I do when Apolyton is down?
Q40 Help! I lost some files of the game.
Q42 What is the relationship between CtP1/2 and Civ1/2/3?
Q46 How can I change the background music?
Q47 How do I prevent the skipping of music tracks?
Q50 Where can I find old CtP2-related news?
Q52 What cheats and easter eggs exist in CtP2?
Q61 Where on the CD can I find the music tracks from the game? How I can conver them to *.mp3s?
Q65 How does CtP2 compare to Civ3?


(Thanks to DeanToth for pointing out the errors in the indices)




Q1: When I start a new game, I always play against the same civs (in the unmodded game: Americans, English, Greek, Scottish, etc). Why can't I play against random opponents?

A1: If you want to play with random civs (regardless of what mods you're (not) using), there are two things to keep in mind:

1. You have to play on one of the higher difficulty levels, IIRC Prince/Medium or higher.
2. You have to make sure NonRandomCivs in ctp2_program\userprofile.txt is set to No.

If both these conditions are met you'll play against different opponents every time you start a new game.

[kaan]

Q2: Why can I / the AI load tanks into cargo helicopters, i thought they were for transporting troops (paratroopers).
A2: Its a bug that is easy to correct, here goes.
1 open the file called Units.txt in your favorite text editor (path \ctp2_data\default\gamedata from where you installed ctp2).
2 do a search for the word UNIT_TANK and find the line underneath that says "Size: Small".
3 change that line to "Size: Medium" and save the file.

remember when i say "something" it means just that but without the " ".

klaus

[Immortal Wombat]

Q3 Whats with all the mods?
A3 Basically, CtP2 out of the box is, in the opinions of almost everyone, rubbish. The patch goes some way to improve this, but not enough, so various people set about altering gamefiles and adding SLIC code to improve the level of gameplay. These are mods.
The three major (and most popular) mods are these:

• The Apolyton Pack for CtP2
• The MedMod II v2.0 - Crusade!
• Cradle Of Civilization (now version 2.1)

Changes too much to include here, see the threads for more details.

Q4 What is SLIC?
A4 SLIC is basically a programming language that works within the game of CtP(2). It can be used to modify all sorts of aspects of the game. - helpful thread

Q5 What is ModSwapper?
A5 ModSwapper is a program that allows a player to easily switch between different mods (eg MedMod2 and Cradle) so they can play different mods without messing around with the gamefiles manually - download here or if that still doesnt work, try here

Q6 Why won't my Saved game load?
A6 Probably because you messed with the files, either by swapping (or switching to) mods halfway through a game, or by installing the patch. Games saved before installing the patch cannot be played after installing the patch.

[Martin Gühmann]

Q7 How to play with more than 8 opponents?
A7 Just open your userprofile.txt in your ..\ctp2_program\ctp\ directory.
At the top of that file you find the entry: NumPlayers=17. Just change the number there to a one of your choice, and you will start a game with that number of players.
As I know the max number is 29. I never was able to reload a game with more players.
UPDATE
As with a lot of things that Has been fixed with the Apolyton Edition

Q8 What is the difference between players and civs?
A8 Players are all civs + the Barbarians. Therefore if you set (#7) NumPlayers=29 you will play against 27 opponents as you play a civ.

Q9 What is the difference between the patch and a mod?
A9 As we use the term patch here in the CTP2 community, we mean with the patch the official Patch 1.1 or 1.11 made by Activion. For us it must contain a modified ctp2.exe. However the patch is needed to play all the major mods.
For mods see #3.

Q10 Will be there another patch by Activion?
A10 No, Activion dropped CTP2, although after the Patch 1.1 the game looks unfinished and buggy. ...#3.

[Martin Gühmann]

Q11 How can I place Tile Improvements (Terrain Improvements) like roads, farms, mines...?
A11 On the control panel you find a Tile button. That leads you to the TI's boxes. There are four types of TI's available (of coarse only if you have the necassary advances). These types are Land, Sea, Structure and Terraforming.

Q12 What is Public Works?
A12 PW are a certain amount of the total production of your Civ. How much PW you get depents on your empire/production size and of course on your PW tax setting. Settings between 0% and 100% are possible. I use a setting of 30%.

Q13 Why I need PW?
A13 You need PW to improve the surrounding of your cities, as every TI costs a certain amount of PW. Of course the prize and contruction time depents on the type and how modern a TI is.

Q14 Why is the PW system so much better than this settler/worker system of Civ1/2/3.
A14 The PW system is superior as it doesn't depents on units, espechially in games with huge empires it is a pain if you want to develope your empire well and you have to do it with 200 settlers, that slows down the game a lot as you have to move these units, give them orders to build this and that...

Q15 Is that possible that I can place TI's outside of the borders of my empire?
A15 Of course there is a TI improvement that can be placed outside of your borders: The fortress. It can be placed everywhere as long as the terrain tile where you whish to place it is in the vision range of one of your units.

Q16 Is it possible to mod other TI's so that I can place them outside of my empire?
A16 Of course here is a thread where I gave a hint.

[Pedrunn]

Q17 How can I continue playing after 2300?
A17 Open the the file ...\ctp2_data\default\gamedata\const.txt and set the finishing year after the line END_OF_GAME_YEAR

Q18 What do i need to play the CTP2 mods?
A18 After installing CTP2 in your PC you need to download two files before start playing the mods. The CP2 patch first. Then the modswapper. This two files can be found in the apolyton CTP2 databases and are prerequisites to all current mods.

Q19Are mods really needed?
A19 CTP2 is completely playable although it has many unbalances and problems wich arent totally fixed by the Activision Official Patch. Thats is why mods are so spoken here. But if you just want to have fun with CTP2 not been worried by big changes in the game download the Apolyton Pack 1.02 wich is the ultimate patch for CTP2. You can find its thread in the CTP2 creation forum. PS: CTP2 does not require mods. Many had fun playing it right out of the box.

[Pedrunn]

Q20 What is the diference between gold an commerce?
A20 Commerce is a kind of resource that is harvest by the city as production and food. Once you have a input of this resource through your cities you can turn it into science or gold changing the percentage of commerce to science in the empire manager. The rest goes to the gold funds as you see in the top right corner of your screen. Used to keep buildings, rush buy, diplomacy, etc.

Q21 Does trade help in the science development?
A21 No. The Trade does not gives commerce but gold. So it cannot be turned into science. It goes direct to the gold funds.

[Locutus]

Good stuff guys, exactly what I was thinking about I had a whole bunch of questions I wanted to post here but now I'm having trouble coming up with stuff 'cause you already posted all of them Here's one more though:

Q22 I can't find the PBEM and Hotseat options anywhere. Have these been removed (they were included in CtP1)?
A22 They haven't been removed but they have been disabled. There were too many problems with them for CtP2 and the Activision programmers didn't have enough time to fix these problems before release, so they disabled these features. You can reactivate them though. To do this, open the file ctp2_data\english\uidata\layouts\spnewgame.ldl in a text editor (e.g. Notepad). Look for the numbers -490 (there should be 2 occurences, one in line 87 and one in 94) and change them to 490 (i.e. remove the minus sign). Save the file (and make a backup of the original, just to be safe). If you now start CtP2 the start-up screen will have 2 extra buttons, surprisingly called 'Hotseat Game' and 'Email Game'. Of course, these features weren't disabled without reason so noone can give you any guarantee that they are bug-free. However, experience showed that they overall work very well. The only major problem is that you can't have diplomatic negotiations with other human players, but this is a problem which modmakers (yours truly, to be precise) are working on.

Edit: added link

Edit2: now the source code is out, a more final solution is underway: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...hreadid=100536

[Martin Gühmann]

Q23 If I want to start a MP game I can't enter the lobby. And why is the only on server on the list of servers available?
A23 These are bugs caused by a defect servers.dat. It can be find in your ..\ctp2_program\ctp\ folder. So you have to replace this file by a intact one. To get one use one of these links:
The first place to look for it is the Apolyton Directory. Note this link is really the first choice, because we have here a dowload counter and you can rate and comment the file there. Alternativly it can be also found on my page and on the CtP2 Modmaker's Depot.
Edit: Apolyton Directory link added.

Q24 After instalation of the patch 1.1 the message system is broken. Now I get only wired messages like "noyon". Could this be fixed?
A24 Of course, just open the chat window by typing the apostrophe ky (') and enter:

/reloadslic

I know this contradicts A6 partly, but after reloading slic I had never a problem with a prepatched started game. But it is true that CTP2 is much better with mods and for most of the mods you have to start a new game.

[Locutus]

D'oh! #24 was also on my original list but I had forgotten about it. Here's another one:

Q25 Is there a way to select the destination of newly captured slaves?
A25 You can control slaves by moving around military units: slaves will be sent to the nearest city that has enough military units in it to guard them. I think in most mods 1 military unit can guard 2 slaves (you'll have to check the readmes though, this number may vary per mod and over time). So by simply moving military units out of cities between the location of the to-be slave and the city where it should be put to work, you can make sure the slave goes to the right city. If you're smart you'll move the military units on a river/road/railroad/maglev, so you can move them back again the same turn.

Edit: fixed typos

[child of Thor]

Q26 I keep loseing human players from my network game and when it resyncs their empire is taken over by an AI.
A26 In the options for setup of a multiplayer LAN game select 'Dynamic rejoin=on', this way if you lose anyone they can rejoin on their next go......It is possible to get the best civ-type LAN game out of CTPII!....no really
NOTE: To launch a Multiplayer game, 'Dynamic rejoin' must be on.

[Locutus]

Q27 I compared the numbers in the city screen with the terrain and/or other values and the numbers don't add up, what am I missing?
A27 The formulas CtP2 uses to calculate certain values in the city or civ screens can be somewhat complex. The most important thing to realize is that in CtP2 all squares in the city radius are worked but they aren't always worked at 100% effiency. If you (in the unmodded game) have 3 citizens in the field, you will harvest 3/6 (= 1/2) of the resources of every tile in the city radius (presuming your city is smaller than size 7). So a plains tile (which normally gives 10 food) will in this case give you only 3/6 * 10 = 5 food. When your city radius grows your citizens will first try to work the inner circle at full efficiency and only once that's realized start working on the outer circle. For more details about this system, see this thread.

Edit: this thread offers an interesting discussion on the topic as well.
Edit2: As does this one.

[Locutus]

And today's theme is: omissions from the manual...

Q28 I'm going for Science Victory and have built 10 Cores, 5 Obelisks and 10 Satellites already but I still haven't won. What am I doing wrong?
A28 As you can read in the readme for patch v1.1/v1.11, you need to cover at least 60% of the world with Obelisks (this includes ocean; you can build Obelisks on all tiles (land and water) controlled by you or your allies). Build more Obelisks and build them far enough apart to achieve this. You can also build more than 10 Satellites (maxium: 20) to increase the range of your Obelisks. You can use the Gaia Controller Screen to keep track of your coverage.
Addendum: if you meet all the requirements for Gaia and still haven't won, make sure you are not playing a Bloodlust game (this can be set in the rules menu when starting a new game), as this can only be won by wiping all your opponents of the face of the planet.

Q29 How can I rename my cities and/or reach management functions for my cities easier?
A29 The manual of the game explains how you can right-click units and get a menu with options to give the units orders. However, what the manual (and various readmes) fails to mention is that the same sort of right-click menu is available for cities. If you right-click a tile with a city on it, you will get a menu with various options. If the city has non-fortified units in it, you will see all the unit orders and below that the city orders; otherwise you will only see the city orders. The following orders are available: City Manager (goes to the City Screen of this city, same as hitting F3), Build Manager (goes to the Build Manager of this city, same as hitting Ctrl-B), Rename City (allows you to rename the city), Disband City (allows you to disband the city; only possible with cities of size 3 or smaller), Activate All Units (activates all fortified and sleeping units in the city; only available when there are inactive units inside the city), Turn Mayor ON/OFF (allows you to (de)activate the mayor for this city). Additionally, there is the option Map Info, which is available not only in cities but on all tiles with a city and/or units on them; this displays the Map Info screen, this is identical to right-clicking an 'empty' tile.

[Martin Gühmann]

Q30 Help I can't install ModSwapper. Is it possible to install a mod without ModSwapper?
A30 Of course here is the answer, basically it is just replacing 3 files:

1. After unzipping all the mod files into the right folder: Go to your ..\ctp2_data\default\gamedata folder. There you will find files called XXX_gamefile.txt. Every mod setup has a differnt prefix instead of the XXX.
2. Open such a XXX_gamefile.txt with an editor of your choice. (e.g. notepad)
3. Check the last lines of that file that will tell you the name of the mod setup.
4. If you explored all the XXX_gamefile.txt's and you selected one of the setups. Search for a gamefile.txt without the prefix rename it to whatever you like. (e.g. ORI_gamefile.txt for origianal gamefile.txt)
5. Reneame the XXX_gamefile.txt of your setup to gamefile.txt.
6. Replace origianal newsprite.txt and Great_Library.txt (can be found in your ..\ctp2_data\english\gamedata folder) as you did it with the gamefile.txt. Note the names of the according files are listed in the last lines of your XXX_gamefile.txt.
7. Afterwards you replaced the tree files with the according mod-files you are now ready to lunch CTP2 with the mod.

So now I explained you how ModSwapper basically work. Yeah it is easy instead of renaming every file. That is the power of a gamefile list.

Edit: Here is an alternative (and a more confortable) sollution to this problem by azalae.

Q31 I downloaded a mod. Unfortunatly my CTP2 version is not in English language. Now I get a bunch of error messages if I try to run the mod. How can I fix it?
A31 As you have a non English version there are some files not in the correct folder. To solve this problem go to the ..\ctp2_data\english\gamedata\ folder and copy or move all files of the according mod to the according folder of your language. Another folder to check out is the ..\ctp2_data\english\uidata\layouts\ folder. These file here are not essential, but they improve the user interface a little bit.

Edit: As the sollution will result a mod with mixed language, if you don't like it or you have some other trouble to get this to work here is another sollution to the problem.

[Dinner]

Q32: How do I play senerios in a multiplayer game?

A32: Just save the game during single player mode and then move the saved game file from the single player saved game folder in to the multiplayer saved game folder. The simple launch the saved game as normal.

[Martin Gühmann]

Q33 Is it possible if a city revolts that it becomes a new civilization instead of a Barbarian city?

A33 Yes, all what you have to do is open your userprofile.txt in your ..\ctp2_program\ctp\ folder with any texteditor (e.g. notepad) and search for this line:

MaxPlayers=0

Replace the 0 by a number above the number at NumPlayers, and evrey city from revolts will become a new civilization until you have reached the numbers of players in your game set at MaxPayers.

But not this feature is not bug free, at first you will get a repetive global warming warning at the start of the game, although nothing like floods or ozone damage will happen. After some turns it usually does not appear in my games again.
In the late game this feature can cause crashes usually this does happen if an already wiped off civilization is replaced by a new one. When this happen it is no problem to set back MaxPlayers to 0 and start a savegame from before the crash and the replacement civ occured.

Q34 Is it a bug that my cities stop growing when they reached size 60. From the score there should be cities possible of size 500.

A34 No, that is indentional that the cities stop at size 60 to grow, the bug lies rather in the score system.

So it is a rhule and it kept me from terraforming anything around the city to grassland. But as it is a rhule, CTP2 wouldn't be CTP2 if you couldn't change it. Check out

this thread. But note more population causes more pollution and more pollution causes more unhappiness.

[Dinner]

Q35: How do I minimize resychs in MP games?

A35: There are several things you can do to minimize resynchs:
1) both you and the other players should close all other applications.
2) make sure the person with the best ping, most memmory, & fastest CPU hosts.
3) make sure you;re playing on a patched version of the game.
4) make sure you play on a server that has a good ping rate for all of the players.
5) make sure the server isn't over loaded with other games.

If your computer is unstable and continues to crash then reboot the system as this will most often fix the problem. If the resynching STILL continues then there is either a lack of resources on someones machine or the other player is using the inifinite builds cheat. The cheat will cause the game to continually resynch because every time the cheater suddenly gets something new the other computers will think it is missing part of the game and will try to resynch.

[Dinner]

Q36: What is the "Infinite Builds Cheat"?

A36: The Infinite builds cheat (IBC) allows unscupulous players to build anything they want in just one turn be it wonders, units, or city improvements. Members of the Apolyton community are currently working on a fix for this cheat so it should be fixed shortly. You can tell that someone is using the cheat because the game will begin to resynch constently and your opponents graph will begin to grow at an unbelievably fast rate.

[PDA-CIV]

Q37 I have set game-difficulty to BEGINNER/EASY and though I have chosen the MARAUDERS-level at BARBARIAN THREAT ,
there are no barbarians nor any GOODY HUTS/RUINS ???? I have installed Activisions patch 1.1 , but it does not help .

A37 No , but you will get tutorial messages to help you learn some basics of the game at these levels
(there might be a bug at the EASY level as it shows up in the Editor as BEGINNER) . At the easiest level
you dont have ruins since the AI has a higher chance of getting good things out of ruins ...

You can disable tutorial messages , though you might have to restart the game (saved or not) in the beginning .

(Thanx to PEDRUNN for some of the explanation !)

[Locutus]

Q38 I'm completely addicted to these forums but sometimes I can't reach them - the server is down or whatever - what should I do to fill the enormous gap in my life when this happens?
A38 Well, first of all, you could play some more CtP2 Aside from that, some of the regulars here hang out at another forum at CivFanatics. It's not nearly as good as Apolyton of course, but a good substitute when you can't get here.

Q39 I want to play on bigger/smaller/different maps, the Gigantic map isn't gigantic enough for me, how do I do this?
A39 It's very easy to do, just go into ctp2_data\default\gamedata\const.txt (or XXX_const.txt if you use a certain mod, where XXX represents the prefix of the mod) and look for this section:

MAP_SIZE_SMALL		26	52	2
MAP_SIZE_MEDIUM		48	96	2
MAP_SIZE_LARGE		64	128	2
MAP_SIZE_GIGANTIC	70	140	2

The first two numbers represent the size of each map. Simply replace these numbers by whatever size you prefer and start the game to see the results.

Q40 I've been playing around with the files and accidently made some changes to the original gamefiles without making backups. Now I'd like the original files back, how do I do this?
A40 All the files of the game are in a ZIP file on your CD. However, this file doesn't have a *.zip extention, so it's probably not recognized by your unzip utility. What you need to do is open your unzip utility and then select 'open archive' or a similar option from the file menu. Then (assuming your CD-drive is drive D:) browse to D:\Setup\data and open either civmain.ctp or civlang.ctp. Files from the default folder can be found in civmain.ctp, files from the language folders (english/german/spanish/etc gamefolder) in civlang.ctp. Once the archive is opened you can extract the files like you ordinarily would.

Q41 In CtP1/Civ2/Civ3 I always managed which part of the city radius was worked in the city screen, but I can't find where to do this CtP2. Can I still do this?
Q41 No, in CtP2 all workers work all tiles within a certain ring, but each worker collects only a small portion of all the resources in this tile. The best way to control a city's production is with specialists (in the City Screen, F3-key) or with sliders (in the Empire Manager, F1-key). See Q27 (and especially the links mentioned there) for more info.

Q42 What is the relationship between CtP1/2 on the one hand and Civ1/2/3 on the other hand.
A42 Short answer: there is no relationship, except that they are similar types of games and share a name (CtP1's full name is Civilization: Call to Power). Long answer: here is a thread that discusses the exact relationship and history between these game in somewhat more detail.

Q43 I find it really annoying that I can't see when my cities are not producing anything, is there a fix for this?
A43 There are a number of ways to see which cities have empty build queues.

• Press the 'o' key to cycle through your units with movement points left. Once all units have moved, this key will cycle through all cities with an empty build queue.
  
• Scan your empire for cities who's name is yellow, their build queues are empty.
  
• Check the message tab in the control panel, messages are displayed here when something is built and a queue is empty.
  
• Scroll through the list of cities in the city tab (on the control panel) or City Screen (F3).
  
• Open the City Manager (F2) and click the Build tab.
  
• Open the file ctp2_data\default\gamedata\script.slc. Now search for '38UnitCompletedQueueEmpty', '38BuildingBuiltQueueEmpty', '38WonderBuiltQueueEmpty' and '38EndgameBuiltQueueEmpty'. Insert the following line after these texts:
  

  	Show();

  Now you will get a pop-up message whenever there is an empty queue somewhere.
  
  Additional by Mirimunchkin
  Select the National Manager, then select the Status tab.
  All cities with an empty Build Queue will have a Turns to Complete value of "N/A".
  If you sort by Turns all the empty queues will appear at the top of the list.

[Bluevoss]

Q44 : How should I NOT disband units?

A44 : If a unit is disbanded in a city, it should be done while the map is visible. This includes right clicking on the unit and selecting the "disband" option, or selecting the unit and hitting the "disband" button in the unit orders.


If this is done, the production time for whatever is on the build queue should be shortened (men & materials from the old unit are used in construction of the new unit).

The player should NEVER disband units from the "Unit" screen within the city display. Yes, there is a button marked "DISBAND", but no points from the old unit are applied to the new one.

[azalae]

Q30 Help! ModSwapper won't install.
A30
Symptoms[list=1][*]You use Windows XP/NT[*]Using a non-administrator level user-account[*]While trying to install modswapper, generated error: file not found (e.g. ctp2_data\default\gamedata\gamefile.txt).[/list=1]
Remedy
NOTE: You need to log on with an administrator level user-account (XP: not power-user) to perform the following...[list=1][*]Uninstall CTP2.[*]Reinstall CTP2.[*]Install patch.[*]Install modswapper.[/list=1]

Reason: During installation, CTP2 creates "sensitive" registry keys that require administration level clearance. Both the patch and modswapper use those keys.

TIPS

• You do not require administrator level account to install mods, only modswapper.
• To "completely" uninstall CTP after this, log-on as administrator, otherwise those "sensitive" keys will stay there.

Edit: step-by-step answer

[Martin Gühmann]

Q45 Is it possible to place tile improvements in territory owned by other players?
A45 In general it is not possible to do this (at least in the original game and in all the mods that are until now released. (25-07-2002)) To do this you need an alliance with the civ that owns the land on which you whish to place the tile improvement.

[Locutus]

Q46 After a few thousand hours worth of play, the music of the game is getting old. Can I get different music for the game?
A46 Yes, you can. Once the game has started (or immideately, if you're using a no-CD hack), replace your CtP2 CD with your own music CD. If necessary, use the Esc button to turn the music on again and the game will play the music on that other CD. You can also disable the music in the game and play your own MP3s or other music files with MediaPlayer, RealPlayer, WinAmp or some other audio player.

Q47 When playing with my own CD, Call to Power II skips the first track. Can I fix this?
A47 Yes, you can fix this. Edit playlist.txt (in the folder ctp2_data/default/gamedata) to include track '0'. Don't do this if your CD has both data AND music on it though (as is the case with the regular CtP2 CD), as the data is stored on the first track; if it's played, this could result in damage to your boxes, especially if you're using an older sound system (my own system seems to be able to handle it, but that's no guarantee for other systems).
Note that with this change, the track titles in the track selection screen of the game won't be much use: track 1 in that list will be track 2 of the CD. But the 'random order' option *will* certainly work (thanks to Maquiladora for noting this).
If you're having other sound problems (same track being repeated all the time, certain tracks being skipped), editing this file might also help solve them.

[SMIFFGIG]

Q48 I want to download Maps,Scenarios, Mods, new Units, new Tile Improvements (TI's) and maybe even have ago at modding myself. But I cant find them anywhere? Are there any?

A48 Yes there is all that and more at http://apolyton.net/~ctp2files/


Q49 I cant find the MM2 (Medieval Mod 2) that I have heard so much about. Its not in the CtP2 Files section WHERE IS IT!!!

A49 WesW the creator of the mod has his own site where u can download it from here

http://wes.apolyton.net/

Or you can get to it through the main http://apolyton.net/ site under hosted sites

Edit by Locutus: update: the file is now available in the Apolyton Directory as well, get it here (make sure you download both files).

Q50I want to see the news on CtP2 from last month and way back to 2000 is there anyway i can do this?

A50 Yes, go to http://apolyton.net/news/index.php?Category=CtP2 to view the news archive for Call to Power 2


Q51 I would buy CtP2 if it had Resources like in Civ3 and Colonies

A51 Well have a look in the modding community for more info
here: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=55580 for Civ3 style Resources
here: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=25902 for Colonies

There is also a thread on Cultural Boarders as in Civ3 somewhere in the CtP2/Creation/AI/Mods/Scenarios forum
here: http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisp...s=&forumid=118

update
As of Revision469 of the Source Code Project there has been the initial implementation of resources in Ctp2. The NeedsCityGood and NeedsCityGoodAll flags can be added to unit.txt, wonder.txt, and building.txt files. These flags need to be populated with the same resource value you can find in terrain.txt.

If you just want to add one good as a pre-requisite than you can use either the NeedsCityGood or the NeedsCityGoodAll flag. NeedsCityGood is an either/or flag meaning if you have two flags each with a different good than if the city has either good in its radius or is buying it from trade than the unit, building, wonder can be built.

NeedsCityGoodAll is an AND flag meaning if you have two flags each with a different good then the city has to have all goods in its radius or is buying them from trade for the unit, building, wonder to be built.


Q52 Is there any official cheats for CtP2

A52 Yes!
If you enter the leader name "Leemur", you get a million gold and a million public works. There's also a 1/100 chance that the very first time you open the Great Library, the words "lemur poo" will appear in the search text line.

Just had to include that last one

[mapfi]

Q53 I've installed Ctp2, Modswapper and a mod - Now I'm looking for userprofile.txt to change DebugSlic into No. It's not there!
A53 You have to run Ctp2 and start one game at least once in order for the file to be created. Then you end Ctp2 and change the file like advised and you're all set.

Edit/note: the same is valid for the broken servers.dat

[SMIFFGIG]

Now this is a good one and I thank Maquiladora for telling cheers

Q54
On single player im ALWAYS blue and its boring is there anyway i can change my colour

A54
Thank goodness there is

go to :\Call To Power 2\ctp2_data\default\gamedata\
and open "Colors00.txt"

and here you have it you are Player1 and your colour is by default "0 0 255" or in english BLUE

so look at the side to see what the other colours are like "0 0 0 " for black or "255 179 69" for orange. Anyway youl see in there so go to the file now and change your colour .

[Maquiladora]

Q55 Help! When i try to install the offical patch it cant find my installation of CTP2 even though its in the right place, and it wont install, what can i do?
A55 There is sometimes a problem with the patch installer and it cant find the installation, most notably on WinXP machines. You can download the patch in zip format and extract the files in the patch manually with winzip or another zip program. The patch for each language can be found in the directory here.

[hexagonian]

And for anyone thinking about giving Cradle a try, I'm posting the most FAQ that I get...

Q56: The game will seem to freeze up within a few turns of starting - either I entered a goody hut, or for no particular reason at all.

A56: The game is not actually freezing up, but it is processing what the civ is getting from a goody hut. This is caused by some unknown element in the militia SLIC coding - unfortunately, we haven't been able to fix this problem. The game will take anywhere from 1-2 minutes to process the info

And once the goody huts are cleared out, this is no longer an issue.

If you want to eliminate the problem, go into CRA_risks.txt and look for the following lines of text.

ADVANCE_HUT_CHANCE 0.15
UNIT_HUT_CHANCE 0.20

and change the numbers to

ADVANCE_HUT_CHANCE 0.0
UNIT_HUT_CHANCE 0.0

If you do this, you will not get free units/advances from the goody huts though.

[mapfi]

Q57 I want to play on the Internet but there are no servers... And I have enough time and resources to set up my own multiplayer server for evryone else. How do I do it?

A57 You find some answers here http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...52#post1321952
The source code of the hosting program has actually been released by activision.