HELPFUL BUILD LIST - GRAPHICS PACK
Revision: 2002-03-14
Version of Civ 3: 1.17f

CREDITS:
First off all let me make clear one thing: this Graphics' Pack is heavily based on the works done by Il Mafioso with the "Civ 3 Usability Pack" and Nemo with "Nemo's Graphic Build Queue". I just tried to improve on their efforts and make things a bit tidier.

So, *most* of the credits should go to them, for having the splendid idea of doing these two original graphics packs and sharing their efforts with the world, which I've been using.

You can find their original work in these threads:
Il Mafioso ("Civ 3 Usability Pack"):
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8079

Nemo ("Nemo's Graphic Build Queue"):
http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=6ad104f3f68fbca29d11ae9f34d74a3a&threadid=34617


WHAT THIS PACK DOES
The pack intends to change two graphics files used in the Build List as well as in the Built List of the City View. It is updated for version 1.17f.

The files that need to be replaced are the two: 
1. <Civ3 Folder>\Art\City Screen\buildings-small.pcx   (Buildings and Wonders)
2. <Civ3 Folder>\Art\Units\units_32.pcx   (Units)

So these are the files you should backup. However, I also include the original files, just in case you need them or want to uninstall. ;-)

For Buildings I included the following info given by each Building or Wonder:
1. Culture Points generated (original ones, before the Millennium doubling)
   Color used: Blue
2. Maintenance cost
   Color used: Golden
3. Pollution Points generated
   Color used: Red
4. Happy Faces generated (just for that city)
   Color used: Green

For Units I included the following info:
1. Number of possible upgrades
   Color used: Green
2. Number of "carryable" units
   Color used: Blue

I used colors to distinguish between types of information given by the numbers.

I have attached three images so that you can see units, buildings and wonders.
 
I also included an Excel XP spreadsheet containing the most important information regarding buildings and Units, taken from the civ3mod.bic file, which I used in doing this. You can check or update the data (for newer versions) by yourself. :-)


The Pollution Points affect how pollution appears in a *city*. The formula for that is this:
Percent chance of pollution per turn = Pollution Points + 1 per citizen above 12
I took this from the Civilization III Official Strategy Guide.

However, I suspect that this percentage chance is also affected by the global warming effect, but I havent had the chance to confirm that yet.


HOW TO INSTALL IT
Unzip the file which I provide. It should create a folder named "Helpful Build List. Inside:

STEP 1
1. Folder Art
   a) buildings-small.pcx
      Original file. No information included.
   b) buildings-small(cult_maint).pcx
      Culture + Maintenance
   c) buildings-small(cult_maint_pol_happy).pcx
      Culture + Maintenance + Pollution
   d) buildings-small(cult_maint_pol_happy).pcx
      Culture + Maintenance + Pollution + Happy Faces
   e) buildings_numbers.pcx
      All the numbers I used.

2. Folder Custom
   a) units_32.pcx
      Original file. No information included.
   b) units_32(upg).pcx
      only upgrade info
   c) units_32(upg_carry).pcx
      upgrade + carry info
   d) units_numbers.pcx
      All the numbers I used.

STEP 2
If you just want all the information, you can just copy the Art folder to your Civ 3 folder. When asked about replacing your files click Yes.
You can start Civ 3 now! :-)

Otherwise continue reading.

STEP 3 (Optional)
If you do not want to use all the information, you can use a custom version. I included other versions of these files with only some of the information, in case you dont like to see them all.

So, all you have to do is rename the file you want (by removing everything in brackets) and put it in the correct Civ3 folder.
I think this should be very straightforward.

STEP 4 (Optional)
If you want to change the files for yourself, you can do that easily by using the files with the numbers. You just have to copy and paste.

The reason why I have two different files with numbers (one for Buildings and another for Units) is the fact that the color palettes of both original files are different. Therefore I had to make two different files, so that colors wouldnt be messed up.
      

WHY AND HOW I DID IT
Although I liked their ideas very much, I thought the graphics should be more readable and consistent (ex: placed always on the same place of the graphic).
So I tried to make things a bit tidier and more readable, mixing (what I thought to be) the best ideas from them both, and adding some bits of my own ideas too.

BUILDINGS
I based my buildings on Il Mafiosos ideas. He came up a with a very simple (but excellent!) idea of adding a little blue bar for each culture point, and a golden bar for each 1 gold of maintenance cost for a building or Wonder.
It worked fine for most of the buildings in v1.16f.

Nemo used the Gold symbol for maintenance (a pile of red coins) and the music note for culture points. It is more beautiful, but unfortunately the image does not allow having enough dots to produce such a complex image in a readable form, and therefore I thought it wasnt suited especially for buildings with lots of Culture.

But then came v1.17f, with some Wonders giving you a massive 8 culture points (Shakespeares Theater). It was completely impossible to put it in 8 tiny bars on the graphic, so I just used a number for that.

Therefore I decided to use a number for everything else, in order to gain some space for other useful info such as the Pollution points and the Happy faces that each building or Wonder produces.
These were my additions to Il Mafiosos and also Nemos efforts.

Nemos work is updated to v1.17f. However, Il Mafiosos work isnt, as much as I know. So I corrected some things from his work, (like the Temple and Palace) and updated the data for v1.17.
So what Im doing is mainly contributing to his work and following it.

Changes in my City Improvements file
(From Il Mafioso's file)
====================================

M  Maintenance (Golden Color)
C  Culture (Blue Color)
P  Pollution (Red Color)
H - Happy Faces (Green Color)
    This value regards to Happy Faces in The City where the improvement or Wonder is built. Don't forget that 3 Wonders (The Hanging Gardens, JS Bach's Cathedral and Cure for Cancer) also improve the happiness in all other cities. However, I thought that number would be too much confusing to be used in these cases and so I decided not to use it. That was my compromise to make things readable.

			New	Old
Object			Value	Value	
======================================
Palace			0 M	2 M
Temple			2 C	1 C
Coastal Fortress	0 M	1 M
Police Station		2 M	1 M

Shakespeare Theatre	8 C	6 C
JS Bach's Cathedral	6 C	5 C
Hoover Dam		2 C	0 C
Cure For Cancer		3 C	4 C
Forbidden Palace	2 C	3 C
Apollo Program		2 C	3 C

Factory			2 P
Manufactoring Plant	2 P
Coal Plant		2 P
Research Lab		1 P
Offshore Platform	2 P
Airport			1 P

Temple			1 H
Cathedral		3 H
Colosseum		2 H
The Hanging Gardens	3 H
Shakespeare's Theater	8 H
JS Bach's Cathedral	2 H
Cure for Cancer		1 H


UNITS
This file was based on Nemos work. I liked his idea of the arrow pointing up, to indicate the upgrade path. He used one arrow for each possible upgrade. However, again, too many arrows meant it was difficult to read (ex: Spearman). So, again, I chose to use numbers instead of any other images, and that was it.
Besides that, I decided to put them all on the top right side.

I have also put the carry value (for ships and the Army) right next to the number of possible upgrades. That way I was able to maintain some consistency in graphics without overlapping any of the original graphics.

I didnt have to fix any value (although I checked every one) because thankfully Nemo had already updated it to v1.7f.



I hope to make your Civ 3 experience even better! :-)

Silvagem

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A BIG Civilization Fan

