Installing custom units

[zulu9812]

Installing new units is a right royal pain in the a*se.
It just is. Either that, or I'm just being stupid. Anyone who's read my two other threads in the Help section will know that I've been messing around with pcx files, civlopedia icons and whatnot in order to add other people's custom units. Since my game had been modded already (new leaderheads, rules changes, etc.) I decided to go back to basics and reinstall Civ3. So, I now had a fresh install and I could start again.

I used the Multi-Tool to copy the Marine unit and rename it to Grunt. I then opened Civmod.bic and lo and behold there was the new unit complete with Marine icon. So far so good. I changed the attack & defense attributes to 10 & 6 and gave it Hidden Nationality. The new unit had no requirments so as to be able to build it from the off ( in order to test it).

Now, the Multi-Tool had automatically created a new unit folder (Art\Units\Grunt), complete with it's own Grunt.ini - which referenced all the appropriate .flcs and.wavs from the marine. That's al I did, I swear. No messing around with the civlopedia, civlopedia icons or pcx files. Nor did I copy any files to that folder. But, as soon as I build my first city -

"Civilization3.e.exe has generated errors and will be closed by windows"

And then I tore some of my hair out. Somebody help me please.

[SpencerH]

Did you restart the re-installed game before you added the unit? When I get into these kind of problems (in general) I try to get back to where I started from (thats why I suggested the re-install). Adding the unit in that way should definitely not have caused any crashes.

Did you totally uninstall civ prior to installing or did you re-install (I dont know that it makes a difference, I'm just throwing out a thought for you to consider).

I was thinking (but didnt want to say before) that it sounds like windows is having the problem. I've had a variety of "minor" civ3 rejections but I never saw the windows reference. As a matter of fact CIV3 doesnt run in windows why would it have a problem? What windows version are you running?

[zulu9812]

Ok - SpencerH, my version of Windows is Windows 2000 with full updates. The game ran fine when I deketed the custom unit, so the changes I made by adding a unit caused the game to crash as soon as I built my first city.

I wasn't really getting anywhere, so I tried a different method. The Alien Legacy Mod uses MS-DOS batch files to install custom units, civlopedias, etc. into tour civ3 directory. When I played this mod, all the new units worked fine and the game did not crash. So it must have been me doing something wrong.

Since these units obviously work, I tried taking one of these units and putting it in a normal game. I backed up everything I could think of that had something do with Mobile Infantry ( a kind of futuristic battle-mech thingy) - the civlopedia.txt, pediaicons.txt, large and small civlopedia unit icons, units_32.pcx, the units folder itself. I then uninstalled Civ3, restarted, deleted the Infogrames Interactive folder and restarted again.

I then did a full install of Civ3 and updated it with the two patches. I then put all the relevant Mobile Infantry files back to where they are supposed to go in the civ3 directory, confirming overwrites. I used the add-delete feature of Civ3 to add the Mobile Infantry, checking the Offense flag and using a custom icon ( taken from the new units_32). Started the game, built the first city and...guess what?

"Civilization3.e.exe has generated errors and will be closed down"

Damn.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

[SpencerH]

I feel your pain It took me a few tries to get my first to work too.

Well at least we know that there isnt some weird win2000 interaction with any mod files. I take it that the mod that worked for you had more than one file? So the civilopedia, pediaicons etc would have had a bunch of files that were missing when you re-started. That may be the problem this time.

Again, lets try to simplify whats going wrong. I have to do this kind of troubleshooting everyday with my work (not necessarily on a PC but its the same principle).

Get back to a version of the game that works. If that means re-installing again then do it. Ensure yourself that everything works. Then add one unit with the civ copy tool. Just make 1 copy of the spearman and re-name it to BronzeSpearman. NO spaces in the name, that can be important. Look in the art units to make sure its there. At this point there should only be an ini file "BronzeSpearman" with this data in the folder

;
Edited by Civ3CopyTool 3/23/02 8:05:53 AM
;Spearman-->BronzeSpearman
[Speed]
Normal Speed=225
Fast Speed=225

[Animations]
BLANK=
DEFAULT=..\Spearman\SpearmanDefault.flc
WALK=
RUN=..\Spearman\SpearmanRun.flc
ATTACK1=..\Spearman\SpearmanAttackA.flc
ATTACK2=..\Spearman\SpearmanAttackB.flc
ATTACK3=
DEFEND=
DEATH=..\Spearman\SpearmanDeath.flc
DEAD=
FORTIFY=..\Spearman\SpearmanFortify.flc
FORTIFYHOLD=
FIDGET=..\Spearman\SpearmanFidget.flc
VICTORY=..\Spearman\SpearmanVictory.flc
TURNLEFT=
TURNRIGHT=
BUILD=
ROAD=
MINE=
IRRIGATE=
FORTRESS=
CAPTURE=
STOP_AT_LAST_FRAME=
PauseROAD=
PauseMINE=
PauseIRRIGATE=

[Timing]
BLANK=0.500000
DEFAULT=0.500000
WALK=0.500000
RUN=0.500000
ATTACK1=0.500000
ATTACK2=0.500000
ATTACK3=0.500000
DEFEND=0.500000
DEATH=0.500000
DEAD=0.500000
FORTIFY=0.500000
FORTIFYHOLD=0.500000
FIDGET=0.500000
VICTORY=0.500000
TURNLEFT=0.500000
TURNRIGHT=0.500000
BUILD=0.500000
ROAD=0.500000
MINE=0.500000
IRRIGATE=0.500000
FORTRESS=0.500000
CAPTURE=0.500000
STOP_AT_LAST_FRAME=0.500000
PauseROAD=0.500000
PauseMINE=0.500000
PauseIRRIGATE=0.500000

[Sound Effects]
BLANK=
DEFAULT=
WALK=
RUN=..\Spearman\SpearmanRun.amb
ATTACK1=..\Spearman\SpearmanAttackA.amb
ATTACK2=..\Spearman\SpearmanAttackB.amb
ATTACK3=
DEFEND=
DEATH=..\Spearman\SpearmanDeath.wav
DEAD=
FORTIFY=..\Spearman\SpearmanFortify.wav
FORTIFYHOLD=
FIDGET=..\Spearman\SpearmanFidget.wav
VICTORY=..\Spearman\SpearmanVictory.wav
TURNLEFT=
TURNRIGHT=
BUILD=
ROAD=
MINE=
IRRIGATE=
FORTRESS=
CAPTURE=
STOP_AT_LAST_FRAME=
PauseROAD=
PauseMINE=
PauseIRRIGATE=
[Version]
VERSION=1
[Palette]
PALETTE=

Go to your editor and see if it is editable. Make sure it has an icon etc and set the unit parameters so that it will be built immediately. Start the game. That should work. If it works, you know you can add units its just a matter of playing with the details (and there are a bunch). But get to this point first. If that works, add a different flc file to the BronzeSpearman folder and edit the ini file to "point to" your new file. Try starting another game. Go one step at a time!

[zulu9812]

Thanks, SpencerH - you've been a great help. However, I think that the real problem lies with adding icons to the units_32.pcx file.

I discovered that I can add ANY unit successfully, and if I leave the units_32.pcx alone and just use a duplicate icon, the game doesn't crash. Messing around with this file does cause the game to crash. The only reaon for this I can think of is that extra lines have to be added to the units_32.pcx before the Leader icons ( so that Modern Worker is the last icon). Unfortunately, my art-editing skills ain't great. I tried, but I made a horrible mess. It's somewhat inconvenient, but I guess I can live with it.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by zulu9812
Thanks, SpencerH - you've been a great help. However, I think that the real problem lies with adding icons to the units_32.pcx file.

I discovered that I can add ANY unit successfully, and if I leave the units_32.pcx alone and just use a duplicate icon, the game doesn't crash. Messing around with this file does cause the game to crash. The only reaon for this I can think of is that extra lines have to be added to the units_32.pcx before the Leader icons ( so that Modern Worker is the last icon). Unfortunately, my art-editing skills ain't great. I tried, but I made a horrible mess. It's somewhat iconvenient, but I guess I can live with it.

Well that's a good start! Its more likely that maintaining the colour indexes are the problem. If you can get the new icon(s) to me I can add them (it only takes a few minutes to do once you have it down).

[zulu9812]

Thanks, SpencerH - that'd be great (if it's not too much trouble). Colour indexes do my head in. Here's an already-modified units_32.pcx (from the Alien Legacy mod) as well as 6 new icons. There would be one more, but I couldn't figure out how to use Photodraw to make the background pink.

[SpencerH]

I tried to unrar your file but it got stuck with the horse archer unit and crashed. That may have been the problem! Anyway email me the individual files. I may have some already done (like the horse archer).

[zulu9812]

"Sorry! That user has specified that they do not wish to receive emails through this board. If you still wish to send an email to this user, please contact the administrator and they may be able to help."

That was the message I got when I tried to email you. You say you've already got the Horse Archer icon? Well, here are the rest, minus horse archer, in a zip file this time.

btw - it could be a problem with your setup; they extract ok on my computer. Anyway, thanks for your help. I also added you to my buddy list (if that's alright with you).

[SpencerH]

This one extracted OK but the horsearcher was corrupted. As I said I have that unit anyway so thats no problem. I'll do them when I'm home tonight. Assuming there's no major problems I'll post it around 7pm tonight (my time).

[SpencerH]

Here it is. I can see all unit icons with the editor so it should be OK. There was an error in your template drawing that I've fixed. I added the units you sent plus the horsearcher, a chinese junk, and and the neo-something or other that I use (the flcs etc are at civfanatics, but you dont need to add them).

cheers

[zulu9812]

Brilliant! I've not actually tested it yet, but that should work out great. Thank you, SpencerH!

[zulu9812]

Brilliant! I've not actually tested it yet, but that should work out great. Thank you, SpencerH! Actually, I also use the NeOmega Assassin!

[SpencerH]

Let me know if there's a problem.

[Ralendil]

Originally posted by SpencerH
Let me know if there's a problem.

I love many of these unit we can see. Where have you found them? Is it a mod or your own work?

I think some would know as me.

Thanks to your work. I test it now.