[C4:AC][Programming] Tech Tree

[Gavin Berchler]

Hey Rubin

There is an entry in the tech tree to make And lines already!

The file I sent you had all the techs with prequisites built in. plus had the buildings put in ( i renamed the existing buildings to smac ones) I only encountered issues with the units and the religions.

I will hold off doing anything more, till I hear what you guys are up to. If you need me to help you get techtree and other stuff working I will be happy to help you with the "large amount of editing"

Just pop me a note if you need a hand.

Regards

Gav

[Rubin]

Originally posted by Gavin Berchler
There is an entry in the tech tree to make And lines already!

I am not sure we are addressing the same issue; I am addressing the lines drawn in the F6 Technology window (not the actual lines of code in the xml file). If there is an easy way to have the lines drawn in the F6 Technology screen via xml editing, then please let me know! I've been discussing this particular issue recently and it seems that the "AND" lines can be drawn instead and that we can have the four different colors (build/conquer/discover/explore) represented by four separate sets of colorded lines. Such changes would definitely make the technology overview better!

Originally posted by Gavin Berchler
I will hold off doing anything more, till I hear what you guys are up to. If you need me to help you get techtree and other stuff working I will be happy to help you with the "large amount of editing"

Just pop me a note if you need a hand.

I think it is far too early to start doing all the "large amount of editing"; and I am almost certain that any result we produce in the next few weeks (at least) on that part of the project will need to be significantly remodified. We could, however, do "placeholders" but then we'd need something that we wanted to playtest and also some kind of file and naming structure that we are "almost" certain to implement (don't know if that makes any sense).

I am currently working on the interface and how the different buttons/overlays/panels and other graphics elements are positioned and what options we have to change and modify those. I am hoping that some of the breakthoughs in this area will make it possible to, for example, do a nice F6 technology screen with all the correct prerequisites, icons and colors, etc.

[mdbill]

I will hold off doing anything more, till I hear what you guys are up to. If you need me to help you get techtree and other stuff working I will be happy to help you with the "large amount of editing"

The minute we get our files on sourceforge, I see the first task is to clean up the XML. When working on the civics, I had to edit too many other files to remove references. We don't want to work that way. There is a "Clean XML" mod on civfanatics. It was a little too clean, (I'd like to have at least one faction) but it might be a good start. Sounds like you might be interested in this task.

[Rubin]

Experimenting with tech box positions on the F6 Advisor screen, PJay and I have been able to add sets of arrows corresponding with the "build", "explore", "discover", and "conquer" values derived from the flavor tags in the TechInfo file.

In addition the arrows/lines now represent "and" relations and PJay figured a way to apply the flavor color to the tech boxes (I added a SMAC/X background to the screen).

This marks a major breakthrough in our attempts at modifying the technology tree and how it is displayed!

Edit: Image deleted.

This is, of course, unfinished work, but I am hoping that I'll soon be able to produce a to-do-list of basic xml editing and perhaps a list of more complex issues. For now, I am trying to un-tangle the technology prerequisite lines to fit a 7-row display style.

[Gavin Berchler]

Sounds really great Rubin...
Can you post some xml so I can play around too?

[Rubin]

Gavin Berchler, I would like to clean the xml files up a bit before making them available (I've used old pre-patch files for most of the technologies); but I think I can send you a rough copy within an hour. Please PM me about which files you are interested in.

[ForesterSOF]

This is looking way to good for a MOD.

[PJayTycy]

I modified the python code on my "normal" civ4 setup, so I didn't know exactly how the colours would turn out against a smacx background.

They look reasonably good, but a litle tweaking from a more art-inspired person would probably make them better. They are easy to change.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by Rubin
In addition the arrows/lines now represent "and" relations

How are the OR relations represented now?

[PJayTycy]

In smacx we don't have OR relations.

In the civ4 tech tree, lines are drawn for both OR and AND relations.

The problem with civ4's approach was: the smacx techtree didn't have any lines because all relations were AND.

If, for example for a C4:AC-Smaniac mod, you want to include OR relations, just tell me how you want them to be represented.

[Rubin]

I adjusted the box and line colors and am experimenting with semi-transparent line edges. For some reason the transparency is pratically unused in default Civ4. With transparency we may be able to clearly see different lines overlapping; which seems bound to happen with the structure of the SMAC/X technology tree (I've positioned all but 10-15 technologies and the display is a mess of lines).

Until I am able to upload the modified files (my ISP is causing problems at the moment), here's a sample of the modified tech tags in the TechInfo file:


[Type]TECH_APPLIED_PHYSICS[/Type]
[Description]TXT_KEY_TECH_APPLIED_PHYSICS[/Description]
I've done all the English entries of the descriptions. Only translation work left here.
[Civilopedia]TXT_KEY_TECH_APPLIED_PHYSICS_PEDIA[/Civilopedia]
These entries are undone. "Copy & Paste" skills are required to do this. Edit: ForesterSOF has done all the entries in the CIV4GameText_Civilopedia_Techs.xml file.

...

[Strategy]TXT_KEY_TECH_APPLIED_PHYSICS_STRATEGY[/Strategy]
These entries are undone too. Again, "Copy & Paste" skills are required to do this. Edit: ForesterSOF has done all of these.

...

[iGridX]1[/iGridX]
[iGridY]1[/iGridY]
I have done most of this, but the positioning definitely requires more attention.

...

[Flavors]
[Flavor]
[FlavorType]FLAVOR_MILITARY[/FlavorType]
[iFlavor]4[/iFlavor]
[/Flavor]
[Flavor]
[FlavorType]FLAVOR_SCIENCE[/FlavorType]
[iFlavor]2[/iFlavor]
[/Flavor]
[Flavor]
[FlavorType]FLAVOR_PRODUCTION[/FlavorType]
[iFlavor]1[/iFlavor]
[/Flavor]
[Flavor]
[FlavorType]FLAVOR_GROWTH[/FlavorType]
[iFlavor]0[/iFlavor]
[/Flavor]
[/Flavors]
[OrPreReqs/]
[AndPreReqs/]
All complete.

[ Quote]TXT_KEY_TECH_APPLIED_PHYSICS_QUOTE[/Quote]
Undone "Copy & Paste" entries. Edit: ForesterSOF has completed these entries.


[Sound]AS2D_TECH_APPLIED_PHYSICS[/Sound]
[SoundMP]AS2D_TECH_MP_APPLIED_PHYSICS[/SoundMP]
[Button],Art/Interface/Buttons/TechTree/TECH03_Applied_Physics.dds[/Button]
We'll need to figure out how to include the sounds. The implementation is easy, but I don't know if it would be a good idea to include the files for public distribution. I'll try to do all the buttons. Edit: Buttons done.

[#endgame]

Perhaps a script that the user must point to a SMA(C/X) installation? FreeCraft did this to read Warcraft 2 datafiles (yes, it got shut down by Blizzard, but that was because of name similarities, not the datafiles).

EDIT: I will remember to match my parentheses.

[ForesterSOF]

The Civilopedia is something I can do but how do I get the text of each item in SMACX easily without having to retype each desctipion by hand.

Cant Copy while in SMACX so what file/s has what I need.

Also can only do the English part.

[ForesterSOF]

This is to easy

I found the tech stuff in techlongs.txt file and who know what the other txt files will have.

[ForesterSOF]

Got 2 of them fine but wondering if Ican dump the other languages and not messup the program.

If so it will help decrease the size tremendously for testing purposes.