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  • Skinnydipping

    A title involving nudity always gets attention.

    A month or so ago, Techumseh asked me to come up with a means to change the 'skin' of ToT. By that he meant copy a set of City.bmp, CivWin_Back.bmp, and Dialog.bmp files into either the Original, SciFi, or Fantasy folder. Then he had the nerve to suggest keeping it open ended without hardcoding filenames.

    That put it into seriously advanced batch programming or VB territory. Opting for the latter, I cobbled together something using VBA in Excel (yes, it requires Excel at the moment). If there is demand, I'll port it into regular VB.

    To use, download CivSkin02.zip and extract all files into the same directory (i.e. must keep the xls and bmp's in the same folder). The xls code should find where ToT is on your PC without your intervention.

    From the opening screen:
    CivSkin v1.0
    This program changes the 'skin' of "Civ2: Test of Time" by copying three files from a storage folder to the appropriate game folder: City.bmp, Dialog.bmp, & Civwin_back.bmp. Skins can be previewed before copying.
    Directions
    1. Edit path to ToT, if not correct.
    2. Click "View and Choose Skins"
    That pops up a dialog.

    1. Select a skin set
    2. Select game
    3. Click "Load"
    4. Click "Close"
    5. Start ToT
    You're done.

    This is a beta. Works on two of my PC's. The gfx lack credits at the moment, but they come from Techumseh, Catfish, and myself.

    Screenies coming up as soon as I remember how.

    Would some brave soul test this for me?
    El Aurens v2 Beta!

  • #2
    Screenies

    Opening screen in Excel.


    The dialog that does the work.

    El Aurens v2 Beta!

    Comment


    • #3
      Hey, pretty cool man, thanks!

      Comment


      • #4
        Standing O

        Attached Files
        Tecumseh's Village, Home of Fine Civilization Scenarios

        www.tecumseh.150m.com

        Comment


        • #5
          Excellent work D.

          Er.... can you believe that I don't have Excel on my PC at home? Or any other spreadsheet prog. for that matter. 'What a numpty' I hear you cry.

          How difficult is it to implement this in regular VB?
          http://sleague.apolyton.net/index.ph...ory:Civ2_Units

          Comment


          • #6
            I will try this one out today when I come back from Uni....
            http://sleague.apolyton.net/index.php?title=Home
            http://totalfear.blogspot.com/

            Comment


            • #7
              How difficult is it to implement this in regular VB?
              Well, numpty , I did finally install VB6 on my PC. Normally, it shouldn't be too hard to shift over to VB, but I haven't programmed in it for almost a decade . Let's first see whether the program is useful enough to put in the effort.

              @curt
              El Aurens v2 Beta!

              Comment


              • #8
                Uhm, isn't *.xls an excell file? I don't have that program. Any other way I can change the skins? I really like the MGE city skin better..
                "Peace cannot be kept by force.
                It can only be achieved by understanding"

                Comment


                • #9
                  I don't have Excel either, so...
                  But if you need any help with VB6...

                  Originally posted by Arthedain
                  I really like the MGE city skin better..
                  You don't need Boco's program for that. There's an option in one of the menus for that. I think it's "City View" or something in the View menu that toggles between ToT and "pre-ToT", just like the "Map View" thing toggles between ToT screen layout (unit details on top) and pre-ToT screen layout (unit details on the right).
                  Civilization II: maps, guides, links, scenarios, patches and utilities (+ Civ2Tech and CivEngineer)

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    'Numpty' -

                    It's good to see the vile chittering speech of the Scots Ned being used here in poly!

                    Not!

                    http://sleague.apolyton.net/index.php?title=Home
                    http://totalfear.blogspot.com/

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Boco
                      @curt
                      You flatter me, I am but a mere tweak freak!

                      But, wow!
                      Some rather lovely city screens here!
                      Especially 'Blood and Iron!'

                      Top stuff!

                      http://sleague.apolyton.net/index.php?title=Home
                      http://totalfear.blogspot.com/

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I have scanned this file, but can Boco assure me there are no viruses in the macros before I proceed further...

                        PS
                        The program is a nice bit of work.
                        http://sleague.apolyton.net/index.php?title=Home
                        http://totalfear.blogspot.com/

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Mercator
                          You don't need Boco's program for that. There's an option in one of the menus for that. I think it's "City View" or something in the View menu that toggles between ToT and "pre-ToT", just like the "Map View" thing toggles between ToT screen layout (unit details on top) and pre-ToT screen layout (unit details on the right).
                          Thanks Mercator!
                          "Peace cannot be kept by force.
                          It can only be achieved by understanding"

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            This cool utility has inspired me to create civ-specific city screens for my current project!

                            http://sleague.apolyton.net/index.php?title=Home
                            http://totalfear.blogspot.com/

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I am happy to report fully working skin changes!

                              I want to package this utility with my upcoming ToT scenario, to take advantage of the city skins I have prepared!

                              The choice to personalise your civ to whatever faction or era you are playing is pretty cool!

                              Grand work, Boco!

                              http://sleague.apolyton.net/index.php?title=Home
                              http://totalfear.blogspot.com/

                              Comment

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