Freeciv 2.2 beta

[Harry Tuttle]

The Freeciv development team has generously posted a compiled windows version of the beta of Freeciv 2.2 to their sourceforge.net and gna.org download pages. The beta improves upon the already excellent Freeciv 2.1x and includes a much anticipated in-game editor.

The in-game editor includes such features as:

• Terrain painter (tundra, grassland, deep ocean, etc...)
• Terrain resource painter (gold, furs, fish, etc...)
• A special terrain painter (huts, roads, irrigation, etc...)
• Military base painter (fortress, buoy, ruins, etc...)
• Unit painter
• City painter
• Player vision painter
• Start position painter
• Player editor
• Player advances editor
• City editor (improvements, size, name, etc...)
• Unit editor (veteran, move points, hp, etc...)
• Tile editor
• The ability to save a game as a scenario

Check it out today. I recommend the gtk version as it has the editor. http://sourceforge.net/projects/freeciv/files/

http://download.gna.org/freeciv/packages/windows/

[curtsibling]

Giving it a download at the moment...!

[Harry Tuttle]

and yes it runs in a 64 bit environment

[fairline]

Freeciv seems to be getting to a point where it is possible to make a decent scenario. I guess the sticking point know is still lack of properly-implemented events (?).

The editor functions sound good though, so I'll definitely be checking this new version out. Thanks for the heads-up HT :b

[Harry Tuttle]

No problem,

Freeciv is definitely very close to matching the scenario making capabilities of Civ2. One thing to think of, we'll need to make up a best practices tutorial for Freeciv scenarios. The directory and save structure is a bit different, but that can be overcome easily enough.

I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't support for editing tech trees, but that is something that can be done by editing the ruleset text files.

[fairline]

OK, had a quick look-see. I thought the units file now supported ToT-sizes, but it appears to be still restricted to vanilla-civ2 pixel height. Shame

[Harry Tuttle]

The default ruleset "Amplio" still uses the old pixel height like MGE, but that can be changed by editing the ruleset and then the unit file.

I think I'll go and ask for a quick tutorial on the Freeciv site forums as to how to change this.

Irregardless, I think a new ruleset should be created to accommodate our wants (more than the usual amount of techs, more unique units, etc)

[fairline]

The default ruleset "Amplio" still uses the old pixel height like MGE, but that can be changed by editing the ruleset and then the unit file.

I think I'll go and ask for a quick tutorial on the Freeciv site forums as to how to change this.

Thanks Is there a good place in the Freeciv forum to ask this sort of stuff, to save pestering you?

Irregardless, I think a new ruleset should be created to accommodate our wants (more than the usual amount of techs, more unique units, etc)

On a kind of related note, I wonder if it would be possible to have multiple units files - one for each nation would be good in addition to a default unit set to add flavour units / unique units.

[Harry Tuttle]

Thanks Is there a good place in the Freeciv forum to ask this sort of stuff, to save pestering you?

Oh don't worry, you're not pestering me. We're probably answering a lot of questions for others.

I would ask any graphic related questions in the Graphics section or the Ruleset section

On a kind of related note, I wonder if it would be possible to have multiple units files - one for each nation would be good in addition to a default unit set to add flavour units / unique units.

It might be possible to have the game pull the unit graphics or unit stats from multiple files, instead of just one. I don't know if any sort of modular system will work, or really be worthwhile, as you could just add more units to a single unit file, like say go from the default 57 unique units to 200 or so. I could see allowing a player to mix and match, but that might become a headache when designing a ruleset.

I think you would have to do divergent tech trees like with Civ 2 to get totally unique units, with obsolescence techs thrown around... I'll have to look into that.

[Harry Tuttle]

I started a thread here.

[fairline]

Excellent, thanks HT. I'll chip in when you get a response.

[Harry Tuttle]

Fairline, see the Freeciv thread I linked to earlier before you download the zip attached to this post.

Open the "Mongol - Freeciv 2.2 mod by Cazfi.zip" first and put it into the Data directory of Freeciv. Put the files contained in Graphics 1&2.zip into the tileset directory. Run Freeciv gtk 2.2 beta, and load the "mongols" saved game.

Edit: I can't stand this limited upload.. 488kb? It's like I'm playing on a Compuserve bulletin board.

[fairline]

Thanks

Edit: I've put the 'Mongols' folder straight into data, right? So I now have:

.../data/mongols/mongols/.....

I've fired up Freeciv but can't load the save game. Did I place the files in the right location?

[Harry Tuttle]

I think the files are in the right place, but I'm not at home right now and can't femember exactly what you need to do. Try browsing for the save file. When you load up the save it should ask you if you want to load up the mongols ruleset, so I don't know if you even need to have the files in the same directory path.

[Harry Tuttle]

Any luck Gareth? I'll try and give you a directory structure tonight if you can't get it to work