Red Front Scenario PC to Mac Conversion help needed

[MacUser]

Two questions: 1) I am looking for a Mac programmer who could create code similar in function to the .exe and .bat files in the Red Front scenario by "Captain Nemo and Alex the Magnificent." It can be found at <A HREF="http://www.chat.ru/~kabalero/">27 June 1709</A>. The following is a portion of an e-mail that I received from a frustrated Civer:

"I downloaded the scenario Red Front from "Captain Nemo and Alex the
Magnificent." This is a World War II Scenario in 9 Parts, which means that
there are separate Rules, Events and Pictures for each of the nine parts!
There is also a .bat-file included, which helps the PC-user to switch
between the different parts. Normally, when I convert PC-scenarios (which I
do a lot!), I open the .bat-file with a text-editor look what it does. Then I
simply do it "by hand"! But this time, there is a little problem with that.
In the package of the scenario is an .exe-file included (Delevent.exe),
which removes the event-part of the last saved file (called RF.sav). After
you did so, you can continue playing the next part with a complete new
Event.txt-file! Till now, I didn't know that all events are saved with a
saved game! So my problem is: I don't know how to use the events of the
second part of the Red Front scenario! How can I remove the event-part of my
saved game, so I can use the new event-file? I hope I could explain my
problem and I hope you got an answer!"

Several other Mac Civers have posted about the "Delevent.exe" file, but until now I didn't realize what it was or how it worked. I haven't a clue as how to help!

2) The second question is related to the same site. Another dedicated but frustrated civer, has been trying to convert the <A HREF="http://www.aha.ru/~suvurov/">Peloponnesian War</A>. This is also by Alex the Magnificent. The problem is converting the UNITS.GIF to pict. NONE of the applications I have, including civ, can open this file! I've tried Clip2gif, QuickTime 4 Pro, GraphicConverter, PhotoDelux and others. I have NO idea what is wrong! It would be helpful if a PC-user could download this file/scenario and confirm that it actually does work. I'm at a dead end here.

Thanks for your help and suggestions!

With apologies to Ming, I'm double posting in the Mac section as this is addressed to Forum users which may or may not visit both sections.

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Different is GOOD!

AOL IM--JacSamDad

[BeBMan]

I can´t help you with the first question, but I´ve also problems with Alex Mor´s units.gif from Spartacus (PhotoPaint says: File Format not supported or something - in German)
My solution for this: Some external viewers can read these files. I use PhotoImpact Viewer 4.0 to read the units.gif, then I saved the file as a .bmp.
This .bmp can be read by PhotoPaint and by Civ2 (FW).
If you send me the units.gif from "Pel.War", I can convert it into a .bmp, or a readable .gif, if this helps you...
Check my profile for the mail adress.

[Sten Sture]

Not to recommend triple posts... but you may want to link this thread to the Scenario League topic area as well.

[MacUser]

Thanks BeBro! I'll do that! This maybe the answer to the problem! I tried PhotoDelux, but that was no help.

------------------
Different is GOOD!

AOL IM--JacSamDad

[Captain Nemo]

Alex protected his .gif files against being dismantled and reused outside his games. I don't think he would have anything against a Mac version of his game being created so you could try to contact him to get an unprotected version of the files.

BTW I figured out a way to disable the protection, but I can't give it away because I don't want to circunvent Alex's wishes.

Doesn't the equivalent of Delevent.exe come with one of the Mac games? It came with Conflicts in Civilization for PC.

[BeBMan]

I would never use Alex´s units without permission, but I learned a lot about units design by viewing his units (and your´s, Nemo ) in a graphics software with the zoom tool.

[MacUser]

Capt. Nemo thanks for posting! No I don't think that an equivalent application (executable) file or script is in the Mac Civ II MPG. Conflict in Civ is included in MP Gold Ed. Where do you think that I might find it? Is there a Microprose scenario on the CD that uses it? I'll drop Brian Neese at MacSoft a line and ask about it. What about the .bat files?

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Different is GOOD!

AOL IM--JacSamDad
[This message has been edited by MacUser (edited May 27, 2000).]

[Captain Nemo]

I really don't know if any of the scenarios use delevent.exe... I don't see why they would since there are no "multiple event" type scenarios in the MPS collections. The utility is extremely simple as it just "strips away" the section of the saved file relating to events.

To see what that section is you can just do this simple test:
Start a scenario, a immediately save it.
Now rename events.txt to something else in the scenario directory, start the scenario again choosing the same options (But without events since Civ2 won't find the events) and save it again. Now use a Hex-editor to compare the two saved game files. Delevent.exe strips away anything that is in version A but not version B. Mercator has written Visual Basic programs that manipulate saved .mp (Map) files and he could certainly write the Delevent.exe utility in VB, but I don't know what the Mac equivalent is.

The Redfront.bat file is a simple utility to automate the task of substituting all the files at the end of each season. It basically just copies the different versions of rules.txt, units.gif, terrain1.gif, terrain2.gif, cities.gif, events.txt and a few sounds into their proper Civ2 locations, then runs delevents on the saved game to insure that each season starts with the new events.txt file.
It did write that myself (It's just a basic DOS batch file). I don't know Mac well enough to know if there is an equivalent, but there should be.
[This message has been edited by Captain Nemo (edited May 27, 2000).]

[MacUser]

Capt. Nemo and BeBro: I have sent an e-mail to Alex requesting his assistance in performing the Mac conversion of his graphics to .pict format. I asked him to do this so that file security will be maintained and his graphics protected from copyright infringement. Thank you for your help and suggestions.

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Different is GOOD!

AOL IM--JacSamDad

[MacUser]

FYI: Alex the Magnificent has agreed to send me pict format copies of his graphics! He will perform the conversion, so that the protections that he in place for the gif files will be included on the pict files. Hopefully, this will help to secure his copy right.

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Different is GOOD!

AOL IM--JacSamDad