MapCopy is done (finally!)

[Dusty]

Many moons ago, I posted about changing a quick and dirty utility I wrote into a mapcopy utility capable of copying between .SAV and .MP files. I got quite ambitious with its features, and I could only work on it on weekends (and only when I wasn't playing Civ2 ). But finally it is done. The 1.beta1 version of MapCopy is available at:
http://home.san.rr.com/dustyr/download/mapcopy.zip

Here are some excerpts from the README.TXT file:

MapCopy is a utility for copying map information between Civ2 saved game files and saved map files. It supports Fantastic Worlds and Multiplayer Gold Edition files, and has been tested on on Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0. It WILL NOT support MS-DOS or Windows 3.1. Nor will it support versions of Civ 2 prior to Fantastic Worlds, or TOT. It is able to copy resource seed, terrain, improvement, visibility, ownership, civ specific view, fertility, and other types of information between .SAV files and .MP files. It can also calculate values for fertility if needed.

Earlier someone asked if they could post MapCopy on their web site. The answer is: yes, but please let me know so I can notify you of updates.

Let me know if you find this utility useful.


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Dusty

[Shadowstrike]

That would have been me. My site can be visited by clicking on the "homepage" icon about this post. I'm currently planning a big update. I'd be delighted to put this on my site.... I'll tell you when the update happens (a couple of weeks at most, but its a major rehaul)

[MarkG]

hey there,

please submit your file for our database! http://apolyton.net/cgi-bin/civ2/db/add.cgi

[Dusty]

Currently I consider MapCopy to be beta. I'll put it in the database when I release a 1.0 version. This will happen when it either fails to blow up people's computer, or it fails to get used by anyone.


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Dusty

[St Leo]

I'll add it to the Zigg tomorrow.

[mail]stleo@sidgames.com[/mail]
[mail]petrazi@sprint.ca[/mail]

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St. Leo
http://ziggurat.sidgames.com/
http://www.sidgames.com/forums/

[Dusty]

Kull: That is exactly why I started working on this, although I was planning on writing a custom utility to simulate a large meteor impact in the middle of the game.

(One of these days, I'm going to finish that scenario, honest! )

Another idea I considered is the ability to copy units, cities, and subsections of maps. This would allow you to simulate a scrolling world. Once the player reaches the end of the world and kills a special unit, you can switch event files, AND switch maps so that the player can now continue further on, but can't go backwards. Unfortunately, it would require a bit more work before MapCopy could handle this.
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Dusty
[This message has been edited by Dusty (edited September 30, 2000).]

[Shadowstrike]

Hmm.... the scrolling map would be a neat idea for an quest-based scenario. Or any scenario for that matter. MapCopy is going to become another nifty tool for Civ2 scenario builders everywhere.

[Kull]

Dusty: I tested it on my current scenario, and it seems to work fine. Thanks for adding another useful tool to the Scenario-builder's kit.

All: As I played around with this, it occurred to me that Batch file aficionados could use this to make MAJOR changes to the map DURING a scenario. Rivers could alter course, vast floods could be simulated, Atlantis could rise from the sea, etc. Plus there's one other use which is so completely revolutionary and unheard of that I almost salivate just to think of it. But you'll have to wait another month or so before it's revealed in action. Wouldn't want to spoil any surprises!