CivSwap released! (finally)

[Mercator]

No April Fool's this time... (but not nearly as exciting either)

Anyway, what the title says...

CivSwap is a little program that monitors game progress by checking the autosave, and can launch a program/batch file on set turns. As the name suggests, that program/batch file will most likely be a file swapping batch file, although it can be anything else.

Scenario players will no longer have to start a batch file while playing. All they need to do is run CivSwap at startup, turn on autosaving, and load the specified savegame when notified by events.

The readme contains a more detailed description, as well as a lengthy example (based on BeBro's Imperium Romanum)...

You can find CivSwap on my utility website. The readme is also available online, in the help section:

http://www.civgaming.net/mercator/mapedit/

Oh, you'll need the VB6 run-time files, as usual... If you have any of my other utilities, you'll have these already.

I would especially like to hear some comments about my readme.

[Exile]

Some questions

DLed it. Some questions.

1.) The Delevent thing; I've heard delevent doesn't work on MGE. Does your utility bypass that problem?

2.) what can it do? Can it replace old units w/new ones? Change terrain or terrain values? Alter the rules.txt?

3.) Ok, not a question here . . . . very thorough readme. Well done.

[Mercator]

Re: Some questions

I assume (3) meant the first two questions were answered?

In any case...

(1) Delevent most certainly does work on MGE. Not that I have actually tried it out, but delevent is a rather basic program. All it does is truncate a file at the first occurrence of "EVNT". In savegames this happens to be the events marker... You can even test this yourself: Make a new textfile, and put some random jibberish in it, with EVNT somewhere in the middle. Now drag 'n' drop that file onto delevent... Open the textfile again, and look! EVNT and everything after it has disappeared.

In other words, delevent can't possibly not work.

(1)/(2) CivSwap is nothing more than a gateway. It keeps track of the game turn and can then launch a program on the turns you've specified. That program can be just about anything you want, but will typically be a batch file. A batch file like you're used to from before.

So, CivSwap can do anything you can do with batch files. It simply runs that batch file automatically.

(3) Thanks.

[Exile]

Ok, I'm not at all clear about batch files and their use. I've stayed away from such things up until now because I felt their use was too cumbersome and didn't like the interruption of the game.

But now it appears as if you've succeeded in automating the whole thing. That's great, but I would like to know what CAN be done with these tools.

Is there some sort of Batch-files-in-Civ2-for-dummies somewhere?

The hiddden agenda here is that, if this thing works like you say it does, Merc, it will neatly solve quite a few dilemmas in terms of a scenario that I've conceived, but not yet completed.

[Stefan Härtel]

Superb work, Merc!!!!!

Exile, you can take a pre-existing batch file and alter it with notepad. I've done this a couple of times to test it, and it works (one is in my "Lost Paradise" scenario).

[Mercator]

Originally posted by Exile
Ok, I'm not at all clear about batch files and their use. I've stayed away from such things up until now because I felt their use was too cumbersome and didn't like the interruption of the game.

Batch files date back to the DOS era (and should really be outdated by Windows scripts by now). They're basically text files with a lot of DOS commands in it.

I guess you could compare it to what you can do with Windows Explorer (except it's in a command-line environment). You can create/delete/move/copy files and directories, run programs, see directory listings and file properties. That sort of thing.

The things of interest for civ2 are mostly just executing programs (i.e. run delevent to delete events), copy, move and delete files (for file swapping), and possibly creating textfiles (you can redirect DOS output to a text file).

Is there some sort of Batch-files-in-Civ2-for-dummies somewhere?

Well, you can start by reading the example in the CivSwap readme.

The hiddden agenda here is that, if this thing works like you say it does, Merc, it will neatly solve quite a few dilemmas in terms of a scenario that I've conceived, but not yet completed.

[Exile]

It's becoming clearer . . . .

Ok, this is my fault for failing to phrase my inquiry in a sufficiently precise manner.

WHAT can batchfiles do ?

can they . . . ;

alter rules.txt ?
terrain.gif ?
units.gif ?
universal principles?

. . . and these things at precise turns in a given scenario?

Sorry to belabor this point, I'm just trying to establish what is NOW do-able, scenario-wise, thanks to your stirling efforts.

[Mercator]

Re: It's becoming clearer . . . .

Originally posted by Exile
WHAT can batchfiles do ? [...]

Oh, I see what you meant (I think )...

No. Batch files can't edit files, so you can't change individual units or terrains. You can only swap complete files. If you have all the different versions of the rules.txt and graphics files ready, you can use a batch file to swap them.

That's what I meant when I referred to Windows Explorer, too... Say, in Explorer you can move files and start programs, but you can't edit files. You can of course open a program that can do the editing, but that's no longer Explorer, that's a text editor or image editor.

. . . and these things at precise turns in a given scenario?

With CivSwap, yes.

Sorry to belabor this point, I'm just trying to establish what is NOW do-able, scenario-wise, thanks to your stirling efforts.

No problem...

[Catfish]

One down, two to go.

What's this on the site update?

Finally, I've expanded the utility descriptions a little (thanks to Catfish).

Really, it was no trouble at all.

Erm, what did I do? A reference to a passing comment in that Starcraft thread at CFC, perhaps?

[Mercator]

Yep... Is the CSPL description good enough now?

[Mercator]

It looks like I was actually almost 4 years late with CivSwap!!

Pano already made something like this, back in 2000. It's called Mfe (multi file editor). It's available here:

http://reflet.via.ecp.fr/~pano/Mfe/index_.html

http://coc.apolyton.net/utilities/index.shtml

Moreover, it uses its own configuration files rather than relying on batch files.

Could anyone else have a look at this?

[Catfish]

Originally posted by Mercatore Uno
It looks like I was actually almost 4 years late with CivSwap!!

Actually, I've had this utility sitting on my HD for years. I've never used it and had completely forgotten about it. At a casual glance, the user guide appears a bit rough. It's written in broken English and could probably do with a decent example for clarification. Looks impressive, though.

Originally posted by Mercatore Uno
Yep... Is the CSPL description good enough now?

Sensitive, aren't we? It's passable, I suppose. Can't have Kull's site surpassing yours now, can we?

[Mercator]

Originally posted by Catfish

Actually, I've had this utility sitting on my HD for years.

I don't think I've ever actually downloaded it, but I know I've visited that utility page many times.

It is a bit rough, but it's turn options are quite a bit more advanced, although that will only be of any importance if you want to change files very often.
It also uses it's own configuration files, rather than batch files, which probably makes it a bit easier to understand.On the other hand, it doesn't automatically track the autosave like CivSwap, so it still requires some interaction with a program outside of civ2.

Sensitive, aren't we? It's passable, I suppose. Can't have Kull's site surpassing yours now, can we?

[Exile]

Cullivan's got a site?



Url?

[Mercator]

Let me think... I'm sure I must have that link somewhere... What was it again... Yes, it's... no, now it's gone again.




cullivan.com