ToT sprite question

[fairline]

I've been messing with a ToT conversion of Harlan Thompson's Mongol scenario, and I've used Merc's SpriteGen to 'remove' the health bars on mountain and fortification units. So far so good; I've created a spr file with the requisite units selected to hide health bar, placed it in the Mongol folder and edited the advanced units section of rules such that only these units have sprites selected (this will allow me to easily edit the other units as I go along without continually regenerating the sprite file).

Here's the problem: I load the game and open the graphic options menu to select animated units and find that this option is blanked out with no way of selecting it. Can anyone help?

You should know that I hashed up rules by tagging the default ToT rules from @civilize2 onwards onto the end of Harlan's rules. I'm not sure if this has any bearing on my problem....

[Boco]

I suspect it's in the settings, not your hash. I'm sure there's a more thorough answer on Catfish's site, but here's a fast and dirty. Click through these menus: Cheat!; Scenario Parameters; Edit Special Rules. Switch the last 3 items to 0. It's been a while, but I think that should enable the items in the Graphics Options dialog.

Any help?

[Catfish]

Originally posted by fairline
(this will allow me to easily edit the other units as I go along without continually regenerating the sprite file)

It also makes the file size much smaller.

Originally posted by fairline
Here's the problem: I load the game and open the graphic options menu to select animated units and find that this option is blanked out with no way of selecting it. Can anyone help?

That's because CivConverter automatically enables Animated units lockout, but that won't affect your static.spr file (note static vs animated). The static sprite file is being blocked because CivConverter also enables the .SPR file override in the Cheat menu. You'll need to load the scenario as a saved game, enable cheat mode and disable the override in the Cheat menu (as Boco described). Hex editing is far quicker, though. I'd recommend Boco's blanket fix of disabling all three sprite options in the Cheat menu; the 2 animation lockout options are simply a pain in the arse. BTW, there's a section on hiding health bars in the scenario conversion guide. Sprites are covered in more detail in this guide.

Originally posted by fairline
You should know that I hashed up rules by tagging the default ToT rules from @civilize2 onwards onto the end of Harlan's rules. I'm not sure if this has any bearing on my problem....

No, that's what you need to do if you want to customise the settings for unit sprites and sounds.

[Boco]

Originally posted by Catfish

It also makes the file size much smaller.

If you have a snail of a PC, you'll notice that units with the SPR overridden move faster as well. Theoretically speaking, of course.

Catfish, did you ever get a patch of ToT that doesn't suck up all of the available CPU?

[Catfish]

Originally posted by Boco
Catfish, did you ever get a patch of ToT that doesn't suck up all of the available CPU?

I e-mailed Timbatron about a week ago. It didn't bounce, but still no reply. Next stop Skyer, I guess; Timbatron included his assembly code and offsets with the MGE patch. I'll wait another week or so and see what happens.

BTW, if anyone wants to try Timbatron's CPU patch for MGE (version 1.3), you can find it at Tim's Code Archive.

[fairline]

Originally posted by Boco
I suspect it's in the settings, not your hash. I'm sure there's a more thorough answer on Catfish's site, but here's a fast and dirty. Click through these menus: Cheat!; Scenario Parameters; Edit Special Rules. Switch the last 3 items to 0. It's been a while, but I think that should enable the items in the Graphics Options dialog.

Any help?

That's got it, thanks Dave

[fairline]

Originally posted by Catfish
That's because CivConverter automatically enables Animated units lockout, but that won't affect your static.spr file (note static vs animated). The static sprite file is being blocked because CivConverter also enables the .SPR file override in the Cheat menu. You'll need to load the scenario as a saved game, enable cheat mode and disable the override in the Cheat menu (as Boco described). Hex editing is far quicker, though. I'd recommend Boco's blanket fix of disabling all three sprite options in the Cheat menu; the 2 animation lockout options are simply a pain in the arse. BTW, there's a section on hiding health bars in the scenario conversion guide. Sprites are covered in more detail in this guide.


No, that's what you need to do if you want to customise the settings for unit sprites and sounds.

Thanks Catfish. I'm embarassed to admit I used your guide to convert the scenario in the first place; I must have the attention span of a goldfish and/or ignored the 'hiding health bar' section. Kinda makes me wonder what else I ignored...... I think a full re-read is in order

[Boco]

I miss his 'fine print' all the time. I think he re-edits his site after people post. Can't be that we're slipshod lazyarses.

[Catfish]

Originally posted by Boco
I think he re-edits his site after people post.

You suggesting I'd go out of my way to make you guys look silly?

[Cyrion]

Originally posted by Catfish

You suggesting I'd go out of my way to make you guys look silly?

As if we needed your help for that...