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  • How to make your custom unit icons for CIV2


    WARNING: backup the units.gif file situated in your CIV2 folder BEFORE changing anything.


    Well, you'll need Windows '95 or NT and the Paint Shop Pro (32-bit version) to work OK.

    First of all, you may create:

    a) a completely new unit or
    b) one based in a former unit.

    a) You may create the unit using a shareware icon editor. It is also possible to draw it using a program as Paintbrush, but I find that somehow difficult. Save your work in the *.gif format. If the program doesn't allow that, save under *.bmp or whatever and use Paint Shop Pro to convert to *.gif. Once you have it, go to the General Procedure section.

    b) If you want just alter some pixels of a former unit. Open PSP 32 and use the pincel tool to modify the icon you want. Go to the General Procedure.


    General Procedure. Working with PSP 32.
    1. You must get a copy of PaintShop Pro 32-bit version. It's shareware, but not freeware.
    2. Open PSP 32.
    3. Click "OK" to agree.
    4. The only tool set you need is "SELECT". Hide the rest.
    5. Load the units.gif, currently in your CIV2 directory, and set to 5:1.*(Control key and + ---increase---; control key and - ---decrease---).
    6. Also load your new_unit.gif (if you have read the a)--upper paragraph) and set its size to fit a blank diamond square in the units.gif.
    7. Choose "rectangular" selection from "SELECT" tools.
    8. Block the entire new unit gif with the crosshairs.
    9. On the bar, select EDIT and then COPY.
    10. Close your new unit gif.
    11. Go to EDIT and PASTE "as new selection" on the units.gif
    12. Move and fit the pasted gif in a blank diamond square (bottom). Overlap neither the margins (green lines) nor the horizontal corners of the diamond.
    13. Click twice and the custom unit will be permanently pasted.
    14. Again, repeat steps 7, 8 and 9. (NOTE: DON'T block the green lines, they are not part of the gif).
    15. Repeat step 11.
    16. Move the unit to be fitted in the former unit you want to change
    17. Click twice.
    18. SAVE the file as units.gif in your CIV2 directory as a GIF format using the "SAVE AS" option and "VERSION 89A NONINTERLACED"
    19. Exit PSP 32.
    20. Why are you still waiting for to play??

    This mini FAQ file was created by Antonio Leal, email:
    aleal at ctv.es.

    Hope this works (cross your fingers).

    This work is partially based in the file "iconhelp.txt", downloaded from the Junkies' Page, and was originally created by:
    tige at tiac.net
      Posting comments is disabled.

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    • The Rocky Mountain Civilization II Site presents: Mod Packs, Scenarios, Units, Hints and Tips
      by Martin Gühmann

      The Rocky Mountain Civilization II Site presents:

      Mod Packs, Scenarios, Units, Hints and Tips provided by our site are SHAREWARE
      This means that you are free to look at them, download them, use them, abuse them, etc. If you like ours, and they are of benefit to you, we ask that you consider sending us the following to offset the site subscription, email, counter, etc. costs, so we can continue providing all of this to Civ II enthusiasts around the world:
      Our Hints & Tips that help ......................... $ 1.00 (US)
      Our Scenarios you like ............................... $ 1.50 (US)
      Our Mod Packs you like ............................. $ 2.00 (US)
      *The Rocky Mountain Civilization II Site
      P.O. Box 295
      Nephi, UT 84648
      Thanks for your consideration.

      HINT or TIP : Microprose Scenario CD Impact

      Regarding the new Civ II Scenario CD by Micropprose and it's impact on Mod Packs. They have done some really good things that I will summarize below:

      a) They have included a number of very good scenarios, each of which is a virtual Mod Pack of its own. They have made switching between the scenarios, and all of the respective mods for each, very easy. They did this by establishing a SCENARIO sub-directory under the main Civ II directory which contains each scenario as another sub-directory. Within the sub-directory for each scenario are all of the .GIF and .TXT files for the mod, and a SOUND sub-directory whcih includes any new .WAV files. The Civ II program uses the mods in the sub-directory under SCENARIO when you start up a scenario or saved game from that sub-directory.

      b) The Civ II program now returns to the main, start-up menu whenever you quit, win or resign from a game. No more restaring the program each time you stop playing.

      c) They have created a nice macro language for creating conditional events within your scenarios. The conditional (IF, THEN) statements are included in an "event.txt" file for each scenario sub-directory and are then executed during the game according to the conditional statements in the "event.txt" file. For example, one could cuase any civilization to have its treasury increaded by X amount according to conditional happenings in the game; or, you can create new units for any civilization according to conditions you establish; or, you could have certain units move to various places on the map based on conditional statements at some point in the game; or, you could play a special .WAV file based on conditions, etc., etc..

      The net effect of this has been to force players to make one of two decisions

      1) You can take your existing Mods under MODPACK created by the Mod Pack manager and move each sub-directory under SCENARIO. A sub-directory called SOUND will have to be created for each for any .WAV files. For example, for a Mod Pack called "MoreReal", you would end up with:

      c:\civ2\scenario\morereal\sound

      .WAV Mod files for MoreReal go into "sound" directory of path above. .TXT and .GIF Mods files for MoreReal go into "morereal" directory of path above.

      2) You can load the new scenarios into a temporary place on disk, and then move the scenario sub- directories that come with the CD under your Mod Pack directory, doing away with the SOUND sub- directory for each and loading the .WAV files into the respective Mod Pack directory. This will allow you to use your current operation with Mod Pack manager, and the GAME.TXT and LABELS.TXT modifications for each Mod Pack.

      I opted for the first option. Changing between Mod Packs is much faster, and I've got the best of both worlds. All of the Mod Packs I've accumulated work, and I have the new stuff. Hope this helps.

      IMPORTANT

      Specific changes to GAME.TXT and LABELS.TXT files for each Mod Pack are rendered obsolete by the new civ2.exe. This is because these files have changed to accomodate the new functionality in Civ II, and the program does not use any GAME.TXT or LABELS.TXT files in the SCENARIO sub-directories. So, you'll have to change them once for your own general environment and put them in the main civ2 directory, then risk having to update them with any new releases.

      ...
      September 3, 2012, 18:01
    • Civilization II SAV/SCN file format
      by Mercator
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But feel free to add comments or ask questions, as long as they're specifically about this reference, and not about hex-editing in general.Please do NOT ask your hex-editing questions here. If you have a question, post a new thread.As you will notice, apart from the table of contents the file format is still mostly uncompleted. That's not because we know so little, but simply because I haven't added all of it yet. This thread will probably always remain a work in progress. And for the moment certainly not only for the file format itself. I will also be adding notes on the notation and some of the terms used. Notes will follow right after the table of contents, including notes on the table of contents itself.Table of ContentsNotesCreditsFile FormatHeader (12)Settings (CiC:558, FW/MGE:572, ToT:1238)??? (ToT:640)Menu (16)Game (38)Technologies (200, CiC: 186)First to Discover (100, CiC:93)Discovered By (100, CiC:93)Wonders (56)??? 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Instead, I indicate the size in bytes of all different parts of the file format. You should be able to calculate the exact position yourself.So, in parentheses is mentioned the size in bytes of that (sub-)section. Differences between the game versions are marked with their respective abbreviations:CiCCivilization II Scenarios: Conflicts in Civilization and all prior versions, including the original "classic" Civilization II v2.42.FWCivilization II: Fantastic WorldsMGECivilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition with the latest patch version 1.3 and all equivalent versions, including Civilization II: Ultimate Classic Collection and the add-on Civilization II: MultiplayerToTCivilization II: Test of TimeToT10More specifically, the unpatched version of Test of Time, version 1.0ToT11Patched Test of Time v1.1A size unmarked by any abbreviation applies to all versions, with the possible exception of any marked sizes. E.g. Header (12) means the header is 12 bytes for all versions, Header (14, ToT:16) means the header is 14 bytes for all versions except Test of Time, for which it is 16 bytes. Passwords (MGE/ToT: 224) means this section only exists in the MGE and ToT versions, where it is 224 bytes.File FormatData TypesOnto the file format notes. So far, there are three data types: The null-terminated string is a variable length type for text. It always ends with a byte value of zero, meaning a string of 9 bytes only has place for at most 8 characters. The signed short integer is a numeric data type taking up 2 bytes. It can take values from -32768 to +32767. The unsigned byte should be self-explanatory. It takes values from 0 to 255.DescriptionIf the specific order of a section with multiple values is not specified, you can assume the order as used in the RULES.TXT. This applies, for instance, to the technology and wonder sections.HexadecimalsI mark hexadecimals with the prefix "0x". In this guide I write them in big-endian notation. In other words, in the same way you'd see them in your Windows calculator. However, in the binary file format, the numeric data types use a reverse, little-endian, notation with the least significant value first. The bytes appear in reverse order. E.g. for a short integer value, your hexadecimal calculator might say 27, ...
      June 12, 2012, 12:03
    • The Rocky Mountain Civilization II Site Presents: RULES.TXT Comments and Notes
      by Martin Gühmann
      ;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
      ; The Rocky Mountain Civilization II Site 
      ;-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
      ; 
      ;   RULES.TXT Comments and Notes 
      ; 
      ;    May 1997 by Jeff Head and the Rocky Mountain Civilization II Site 
      ; 
      ;	What follows are the notes and comments that I have made in my own rules.txt file
      ;	for the changes I make to Civ II when making a Mod Pack.  Some of it is the stock
      ;	notes that Microprose sent out with the game, a lot of it has been added to or
      ;	clarified based on my many “trial and error” experiences.
      ;
      ;	We release this as a help to those making Mods, not as an “end-all”. Although
      ;	these comments represent our general experiences, they could well be sub-sets
      ;	of the actual game operation and programming, meaning they may not work as
      ;	stated in all cases.
      ;-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ...
      	
      April 8, 2011, 17:30
    • Advanced Scenario Design in Civ2
      by Martin Gühmann

      Advanced Scenario Design

      Leon Marrick (Leon2M at aol.com), assisted by Harlan Thompson (harlant at hawaii.edu) and others.
      Please see Credits for details.

      This manual is designed to assist those with both a firm understanding of the map editor and of the Cheat menu used in preparing scenarios to improve and polish their work. Novices are urged to read some of the excellent documents for beginners found on the "Ultimate Civ2 Page" now Apolyton, and practice with a design or two before delving too deeply into this document.

      This is a long essay, but not even close to being comprehensive. Additions are welcomed.

      If you see a section referance - example "(Section 5a)" - that section of the document (in this case, the discussion of the rules.txt file's cosmic principles area) will have further information on the subject.
      ...
      March 26, 2011, 20:10
    • CITY IMPROVEMENTS, WONDERS and UNITS for only Certain Civ2 Civilizations
      by Martin Gühmann
      I have received a number of inquiries into changing Civ II to accomplish a number of things. One of the premier requests deals with a fairly advanced capability in the Mod Pack area. I will answer this in this file:
      ...
      March 25, 2011, 18:41
    • Civilization 2: A few words about ...
      by Martin Gühmann
      • 'Conflicts in Civilization', Microprose's Civ2 Scenario Disk
      • 'Evolution - The dawn of humanity', Actura's Civ2 Scenario Disk
      • 'Scenarios & Maps für CivilizationII', Tewi's Civ2 Scenario Disk
      • 'The official strategy guide', Prima's Book for Civ2
      ...
      March 25, 2011, 18:31
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