MapEdit 2.1 + Advanced Scenario Design

[Mercator]

MapEdit 2.1
Just to let you know... There's a new version of MapEdit out.
The changes:
- exporting maps to c-evo map fomat
- closing a map shifts the focus to the previous tab rather than the first (I'm glad I added that one, it pissed me off big time when I was working with lots of maps)
- better ToT map handling

Oh, and St. Leo, I added the 2nd thing after mailing it to you, so I'm afraid you have to download it again. Then again, the "official" download includes the readme, so you'd probably want it anyway...

Oh, another thing... 2.1 is available both as a full download and as a minimal (64K) patch, so it shouldn't be much trouble.

Advanced Scenario Design
Along with it comes an updated site design, including a "new" version of Leon Marrick's scenario design document (OK, the changes are far from radical, but it's got the "how to add rivers in a scenario" thing in it ).

Before I forget, a big thanks to CivMania's Jared Ostlie for that one... He somehow managed to be the only one with this version 1.9, rather than the 1.8 everyone else seems to have... Not anymore.

[Hendrik the Great]

That's cool Mercator. Perhaps I find something new I can use

Maybe I can add here that there is a very simple online Version and a god downloadable one at my own website.

The clue, its all in German! For those that are not so well versed in the english language.

I only translated version 1.8 though one or two years ago with the approval of Leon Marrick. But i guess for anyone who doesn't know english it's a good thing.

German:

Auf meiner Website gibt es eine Uebersetzung dieses super Guides ins Deutsche. Das sollte es fuer diejenigen mit nur wenig Englischkenntnissen etwas leichter machen. Aber nur version 1.8, nicht die ganz neue von Mercator.

[Mercator]

I turned the 1.8 one into HTML with hyperlinks and all with his approval, then a few weeks ago I found the "other" version at CivMania. I'm afarid I didn't ask for Leon's approval this time, but apart from a few corrected misspellings and some slight rearrangement of the sections (the version at CivMania contained some new sections, but removed a few others. I only added the new ones, and didn't remove any) everything's still Leon's.
And "ganz neu" is a bit of an overstatement too, the version at CivMania is from 1998! So it just took me a little while to discover.

(Oh, and CivMania would be here)

[Exile]

Mercator . . .

I know nothing about programming. Nada. So can you tell me, in layman's terms, what Mapedit does exactly?

I have a feeling that it's a really, really good prog to have, I'm just in the dark as to what it does.

[Henrik]

You use it to make civ maps from graphic files
(as well as hundreds of small other things I think)
I can't use it myself as I use a mac, but I've had people do all kinds of stuff with it for me

[klesh]

Exile, this prog is definately a MUST have for designing!

Here's an example: I have a map that is from someone else's scenario, or simply premade. Perhaps the shape is too small, not exactly what you need. A map for WWII that is just short of Moscow or Stalingrad lets say. You cue up the file and you can manipulate it as if it were simply a several coloured bitmap. You can swap huge terrain swaths with other ones in the game, highlight or limit terrain resources, as they are represented in a slightly different shade of colour in the bitmap.

It basically allows you to do all these magical things to maps that aren't available elswhere. If you can handle civcity, you can certainly handle this.

-FMK.

[Exile]

And I can get it on your site, Mercator?

I'll have to look into this. I'm toying with some ideas for scenarios now.

[Mercator]

FMK and Henrik nicely summarised it... Yes, you can get it on my site (on a separate utility "sub-site", though).. Or just follow one of the links in my first post/signature.

That "utility site" also has a bunch of screenshots and the readme online, so you can basically find out all it does on my site.

[Exile]

Understood.

I saw on another thread where you mentioned that Mapedit can "suppress" unwanted resources. How do you do that?

[Mercator]

I assume you mean that as in "how is it possible to have Civ2 not display a resource?" rather than "how can I do it in MapEdit?"...

Have a look at any game you're currently playing. Are there resources everywhere (that is, does the pattern occur equally throughout the map)? You'd think so, but no, Ocean only has resources near the coastline (within reach of the city radius of a coastal city), never in the middle of the Ocean!

Civilization2 marks these squares with a special "flag" to suppress the resource (much like the "flag" to give a square a river or not), rather than handle it internally.

MapEdit allows you to use that flag on any square you fancy, rather than just on the mid-ocean resource squares as done by Civ2.

This is all thanks to Harlan Thompson (who else ). He was the first to actually consciously notice the absence of resources in oceans and suggest that this information was actually saved in savegames.

[Exile]

Jorrit . . .

Sadly, I couldn't get Mapedit to work for me.

No surprise there, huh?

Here is what it said;

Cannot start main setup program [create process []returned error code 0x00000485H]

I bet it works for everybody else too. lol.

[El León]

Exiled, but not alone.

[Mercator]

That is not acceptable...

I've never seen anything like those, so I'm just relying on what I found on the Internet...

Exile: Try and install the Visual basic run time files (available on the same page as MapEdit). That *should* solve it.

El Leon: It seems like that problem is a bit more complicated... This error occurs when you're trying to run MapEdit, right, not when installing it?
Anyway, please also try installing the runtime files...

Let me know if it works (or not)! I think I'll start some sort of a FAQ with all possible problems I hear of...

[El León]

Originally posted by Mercator
That is not acceptable...

El Leon: It seems like that problem is a bit more complicated... This error occurs when you're trying to run MapEdit, right, not when installing it?
Anyway, please also try installing the runtime files...

Installing runtime solved the problem in my case! Now back to drawing that map. Thank you, Mr. Mercator the Cartographer.

[Mercator]

Great!
Exile?