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  • CtP2 FAQ

    NOTE: If you're new to CtP2 and you're looking for important information for new users (info on mods, must-have downloads, etc), it is recommended that you have a look at this thread as well.

    Rules of posting on this thread:
    1) You must post a common question/complaint/argument.
    2) The subject could be anything from how to play with more than 8 opponents to 'what mods should I download, in what order and why?' and to the complaint that the AI is too passive.
    3) You must also post the answer/counter argument to it. If you have a question that is not in this FAQ and you're looking for an answer, please post a new thread in which you ask the question, don't post your question here (if you do, it will be deleted, and (only) if you're lucky someone will repost it in a new thread for you and answer it there).
    4) Each question/argument must be numbered and unless you post an addition to an existing point (add the number of the point you're referring to if this is the case), you must post with a new number. So if #25 is the last question, you must number your point #26 (this makes for easy referring when someone asks the question outside this thread).
    5) Corrections on the answers should not be made, only additions (e.g. dont try to correct other people, just add your perspective). (The best way to deal with incomplete/incorrect information is to email/PM the person who posted the question and discuss it privately - the person in question can edit his answer if needed).
    6) Let's try and keep the answers fairly short, if it's a very 'big' subject with many different aspects or opinions, find/post a seperate thread about it and link to it from here.
    7) This thread is for answering common questions/complaints/arguments, not for discussion! Irrelevant posts will be deleted without warning.

    Since we're trying to help people locate the info they need fast (while relieving the regulars of having to answer the same questions over and over again), it's important that this thread remains relatively short (not *too* short of course, then it won't contain the info people need), otherwise it would take too much time to locate the info and people will start their own threads anyway. So rules #1 and #6 are particularly important.

    Edit: for a copy of this FAQ (in case you need it when Apolyton is down, for example), go to Immortal Wombat's website: http://www.weaver1.btinternet.co.uk/ctp2/FAQ.html

    Table of Contents
    Here's a table of contents for this FAQ. Note that it may not always be entirely up-to-date, so when you can't find the question you need, check the bottom of this thread as well.

    Start-up Options
    Q68 How Can I prevent the game from showing the intro movie all the time?

    Troubleshooting
    Q01 Help! I play against the same opponents every time.
    Q02 Why can I load Tanks into Cargo Helicopters?
    Q07 How can I play against more than 8 opponents?
    Q33 Can a revolting city become a new civ instead of a Barbarian city?
    Q37 Why are there no ruins (goody huts) in my games?
    Q44 Why do I sometimes not get production points for disbanding units in a city?
    Q53 Why can't I find userprofile.txt and/or servers.dat anywhere?
    Q56 Help! The game sometimes freezes for a few minutes when playing with a mod (usually Cradle).
    Q60 Help! I can't unload units from stacks of 12 units.

    Patch (and mods)
    Q06 Why won't my savegame load?
    Q09 What is the difference between the patch and a mod?
    Q10 Will be there another patch by Activion?
    Q24 Help! I get strange messages after installing the patch.
    Q55 Help! The patch won't install.

    Mods
    Q03 What's with all the mods?
    Q05 What is ModSwapper?
    Q18 What do I need to play the CTP2 mods?
    Q19 Are mods really needed?
    Q30 Help! ModSwapper won't install.
    Q30a Help! ModSwapper won't install. (Addendum for XP/NT)
    Q31 Help! I have a non-English version of the game and a problem with mods.
    Q48 Where can I download/upload mods?
    Q49 Where can I download MedMod?
    Q62 Help! I'm playing with the Apolyton Pack and at the start of the game my settlers have gone mad! They're moving all over the place on their own and I can't stop them.


    Modding
    Q04 What is SLIC?
    Q16 Can TIs be modded so they can be placed outside my borders?
    Q17 How can I continue playing after 2300?
    Q39 How do I play on bigger/smaller/different maps?
    Q51 Can Civ3 features such as Strategic Resources and Colonies be added to CtP2?
    Q54 How do I change the colors of the civs?
    Q59 How do I get sharper borders between climatic zones on the map?

    Gameplay
    Q08 What is the difference between players and civs?
    Q20 What is the difference between gold an commerce?
    Q21 Does trade help in the science development?
    Q27 Why don't the numbers in the game add up?
    Q28 How do I win the game with the Science Victory?
    Q66 I'm looking to improve my game but there's not strategy forum. Where can I find strategy threads?


    Interface
    Q25 Is there a way to select the destination of newly captured slaves?
    Q29 How can I rename my cities?
    Q34 Why can't I get 60+ cities while the ranking talks of 500+ cities?
    Q43 How can I see which of my cities are not producing anything?

    Terrain Improvements
    Q11 How can I place Tile Improvements?
    Q12 What are Public Works?
    Q13 Why I need PW?
    Q14 Why is the PW system better than the settler/worker system?
    Q15 Which TI(s) can be placed outside my borders?
    Q41 Where can I change how the city radius is worked?
    Q45 Can I place Tile Improvements inside other civs' borders?

    Multiplayer
    Q22 How can I play PBEM/Hotseat games?
    Q23 Why can't I enter the lobby and is there only one server available?
    Q26 How do I prevent loosing human players after resynchs?
    Q32 How do I play scenarios in a multiplayer game?
    Q35 How do I minimize resychs in MP games?
    Q36 What is the "Infinite Build Cheat"?
    Q57 How can I set up my own MP server?
    Q58 Help! I get a message that I should dial in but I'm using cable/xDSL.
    Q63Why does my Multiplayer save game sometimes get corrupted and wont re-load and crash when we try to resume?
    Q64 Sometimes when i reload in multiplayer the game will resynch EVERY turn, for a few turns.
    Q67 I have problems joining or hosting games once inside the server, what can I do?



    Miscellaneous
    Q38 What should I do when Apolyton is down?
    Q40 Help! I lost some files of the game.
    Q42 What is the relationship between CtP1/2 and Civ1/2/3?
    Q46 How can I change the background music?
    Q47 How do I prevent the skipping of music tracks?
    Q50 Where can I find old CtP2-related news?
    Q52 What cheats and easter eggs exist in CtP2?
    Q61 Where on the CD can I find the music tracks from the game? How I can conver them to *.mp3s?
    Q65 How does CtP2 compare to Civ3?


    (Thanks to DeanToth for pointing out the errors in the indices)




    Q1: When I start a new game, I always play against the same civs (in the unmodded game: Americans, English, Greek, Scottish, etc). Why can't I play against random opponents?

    A1: If you want to play with random civs (regardless of what mods you're (not) using), there are two things to keep in mind:

    1. You have to play on one of the higher difficulty levels, IIRC Prince/Medium or higher.
    2. You have to make sure NonRandomCivs in ctp2_program\userprofile.txt is set to No.

    If both these conditions are met you'll play against different opponents every time you start a new game.
    Last edited by Ekmek; April 6, 2007, 17:47.
    Administrator of WePlayCiv -- Civ5 Info Centre | Forum | Gallery

  • #2
    Q2: Why can I / the AI load tanks into cargo helicopters, i thought they were for transporting troops (paratroopers).
    A2: Its a bug that is easy to correct, here goes.
    1 open the file called Units.txt in your favorite text editor (path \ctp2_data\default\gamedata from where you installed ctp2).
    2 do a search for the word UNIT_TANK and find the line underneath that says "Size: Small".
    3 change that line to "Size: Medium" and save the file.

    remember when i say "something" it means just that but without the " ".

    klaus

    Comment


    • #3
      I was ondering when this thread would turn up, or whether I'd have to do it...

      Q3 Whats with all the mods?
      A3 Basically, CtP2 out of the box is, in the opinions of almost everyone, rubbish. The patch goes some way to improve this, but not enough, so various people set about altering gamefiles and adding SLIC code to improve the level of gameplay. These are mods.
      The three major (and most popular) mods are these:
      Changes too much to include here, see the threads for more details.

      Q4 What is SLIC?
      A4 SLIC is basically a programming language that works within the game of CtP(2). It can be used to modify all sorts of aspects of the game. - helpful thread

      Q5 What is ModSwapper?
      A5 ModSwapper is a program that allows a player to easily switch between different mods (eg MedMod2 and Cradle) so they can play different mods without messing around with the gamefiles manually - download here or if that still doesnt work, try here

      Q6 Why won't my Saved game load?
      A6 Probably because you messed with the files, either by swapping (or switching to) mods halfway through a game, or by installing the patch. Games saved before installing the patch cannot be played after installing the patch.
      Last edited by Immortal Wombat; April 22, 2002, 08:06.
      Concrete, Abstract, or Squoingy?
      "I don't believe in giving scripting languages because the only additional power they give users is the power to create bugs." - Mike Breitkreutz, Firaxis

      Comment


      • #4
        Q7 How to play with more than 8 opponents?
        A7 Just open your userprofile.txt in your ..\ctp2_program\ctp\ directory.
        At the top of that file you find the entry: NumPlayers=17. Just change the number there to a one of your choice, and you will start a game with that number of players.
        As I know the max number is 29. I never was able to reload a game with more players.
        UPDATE
        As with a lot of things that Has been fixed with the Apolyton Edition

        Q8 What is the difference between players and civs?
        A8 Players are all civs + the Barbarians. Therefore if you set (#7) NumPlayers=29 you will play against 27 opponents as you play a civ.

        Q9 What is the difference between the patch and a mod?
        A9 As we use the term patch here in the CTP2 community, we mean with the patch the official Patch 1.1 or 1.11 made by Activion. For us it must contain a modified ctp2.exe. However the patch is needed to play all the major mods.
        For mods see #3.

        Q10 Will be there another patch by Activion?
        A10 No, Activion dropped CTP2, although after the Patch 1.1 the game looks unfinished and buggy. ...#3.
        Last edited by Ekmek; April 6, 2007, 17:57.
        Civ2 military advisor: "No complaints, Sir!"

        Comment


        • #5
          Tile Improvements and PW

          Q11 How can I place Tile Improvements (Terrain Improvements) like roads, farms, mines...?
          A11 On the control panel you find a Tile button. That leads you to the TI's boxes. There are four types of TI's available (of coarse only if you have the necassary advances). These types are Land, Sea, Structure and Terraforming.

          Q12 What is Public Works?
          A12 PW are a certain amount of the total production of your Civ. How much PW you get depents on your empire/production size and of course on your PW tax setting. Settings between 0% and 100% are possible. I use a setting of 30%.

          Q13 Why I need PW?
          A13 You need PW to improve the surrounding of your cities, as every TI costs a certain amount of PW. Of course the prize and contruction time depents on the type and how modern a TI is.

          Q14 Why is the PW system so much better than this settler/worker system of Civ1/2/3.
          A14 The PW system is superior as it doesn't depents on units, espechially in games with huge empires it is a pain if you want to develope your empire well and you have to do it with 200 settlers, that slows down the game a lot as you have to move these units, give them orders to build this and that...

          Q15 Is that possible that I can place TI's outside of the borders of my empire?
          A15 Of course there is a TI improvement that can be placed outside of your borders: The fortress. It can be placed everywhere as long as the terrain tile where you whish to place it is in the vision range of one of your units.

          Q16 Is it possible to mod other TI's so that I can place them outside of my empire?
          A16 Of course here is a thread where I gave a hint.
          Last edited by Martin Gühmann; September 15, 2002, 09:02.
          Civ2 military advisor: "No complaints, Sir!"

          Comment


          • #6
            Q17 How can I continue playing after 2300?
            A17 Open the the file ...\ctp2_data\default\gamedata\const.txt and set the finishing year after the line END_OF_GAME_YEAR

            Q18 What do i need to play the CTP2 mods?
            A18 After installing CTP2 in your PC you need to download two files before start playing the mods. The CP2 patch first. Then the modswapper. This two files can be found in the apolyton CTP2 databases and are prerequisites to all current mods.

            Q19Are mods really needed?
            A19 CTP2 is completely playable although it has many unbalances and problems wich arent totally fixed by the Activision Official Patch. Thats is why mods are so spoken here. But if you just want to have fun with CTP2 not been worried by big changes in the game download the Apolyton Pack 1.02 wich is the ultimate patch for CTP2. You can find its thread in the CTP2 creation forum. PS: CTP2 does not require mods. Many had fun playing it right out of the box.
            "Kill a man and you are a murder.
            Kill thousands and you are a conquer.
            Kill all and you are a God!"
            -Jean Rostand

            Comment


            • #7
              Q20 What is the diference between gold an commerce?
              A20 Commerce is a kind of resource that is harvest by the city as production and food. Once you have a input of this resource through your cities you can turn it into science or gold changing the percentage of commerce to science in the empire manager. The rest goes to the gold funds as you see in the top right corner of your screen. Used to keep buildings, rush buy, diplomacy, etc.

              Q21 Does trade help in the science development?
              A21 No. The Trade does not gives commerce but gold. So it cannot be turned into science. It goes direct to the gold funds.
              "Kill a man and you are a murder.
              Kill thousands and you are a conquer.
              Kill all and you are a God!"
              -Jean Rostand

              Comment


              • #8
                Good stuff guys, exactly what I was thinking about I had a whole bunch of questions I wanted to post here but now I'm having trouble coming up with stuff 'cause you already posted all of them Here's one more though:

                Q22 I can't find the PBEM and Hotseat options anywhere. Have these been removed (they were included in CtP1)?
                A22 They haven't been removed but they have been disabled. There were too many problems with them for CtP2 and the Activision programmers didn't have enough time to fix these problems before release, so they disabled these features. You can reactivate them though. To do this, open the file ctp2_data\english\uidata\layouts\spnewgame.ldl in a text editor (e.g. Notepad). Look for the numbers -490 (there should be 2 occurences, one in line 87 and one in 94) and change them to 490 (i.e. remove the minus sign). Save the file (and make a backup of the original, just to be safe). If you now start CtP2 the start-up screen will have 2 extra buttons, surprisingly called 'Hotseat Game' and 'Email Game'. Of course, these features weren't disabled without reason so noone can give you any guarantee that they are bug-free. However, experience showed that they overall work very well. The only major problem is that you can't have diplomatic negotiations with other human players, but this is a problem which modmakers (yours truly, to be precise) are working on.

                Edit: added link

                Edit2: now the source code is out, a more final solution is underway: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...hreadid=100536
                Last edited by Locutus; December 14, 2003, 22:42.
                Administrator of WePlayCiv -- Civ5 Info Centre | Forum | Gallery

                Comment


                • #9
                  Q23 If I want to start a MP game I can't enter the lobby. And why is the only on server on the list of servers available?
                  A23 These are bugs caused by a defect servers.dat. It can be find in your ..\ctp2_program\ctp\ folder. So you have to replace this file by a intact one. To get one use one of these links:
                  The first place to look for it is the Apolyton Directory. Note this link is really the first choice, because we have here a dowload counter and you can rate and comment the file there. Alternativly it can be also found on my page and on the CtP2 Modmaker's Depot.
                  Edit: Apolyton Directory link added.

                  Q24 After instalation of the patch 1.1 the message system is broken. Now I get only wired messages like "noyon". Could this be fixed?
                  A24 Of course, just open the chat window by typing the apostrophe ky (') and enter:

                  /reloadslic

                  I know this contradicts A6 partly, but after reloading slic I had never a problem with a prepatched started game. But it is true that CTP2 is much better with mods and for most of the mods you have to start a new game.
                  Last edited by Martin Gühmann; July 29, 2002, 16:58.
                  Civ2 military advisor: "No complaints, Sir!"

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    D'oh! #24 was also on my original list but I had forgotten about it. Here's another one:

                    Q25 Is there a way to select the destination of newly captured slaves?
                    A25 You can control slaves by moving around military units: slaves will be sent to the nearest city that has enough military units in it to guard them. I think in most mods 1 military unit can guard 2 slaves (you'll have to check the readmes though, this number may vary per mod and over time). So by simply moving military units out of cities between the location of the to-be slave and the city where it should be put to work, you can make sure the slave goes to the right city. If you're smart you'll move the military units on a river/road/railroad/maglev, so you can move them back again the same turn.

                    Edit: fixed typos
                    Last edited by Locutus; February 6, 2002, 08:35.
                    Administrator of WePlayCiv -- Civ5 Info Centre | Forum | Gallery

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Q26 I keep loseing human players from my network game and when it resyncs their empire is taken over by an AI.
                      A26 In the options for setup of a multiplayer LAN game select 'Dynamic rejoin=on', this way if you lose anyone they can rejoin on their next go......It is possible to get the best civ-type LAN game out of CTPII!....no really
                      NOTE: To launch a Multiplayer game, 'Dynamic rejoin' must be on.
                      Last edited by child of Thor; July 29, 2002, 16:48.
                      'The very basis of the liberal idea – the belief of individual freedom is what causes the chaos' - William Kristol, son of the founder of neo-conservitivism, talking about neo-con ideology and its agenda for you.info here. prove me wrong.

                      Bush's Republican=Neo-con for all intent and purpose. be afraid.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Q27 I compared the numbers in the city screen with the terrain and/or other values and the numbers don't add up, what am I missing?
                        A27 The formulas CtP2 uses to calculate certain values in the city or civ screens can be somewhat complex. The most important thing to realize is that in CtP2 all squares in the city radius are worked but they aren't always worked at 100% effiency. If you (in the unmodded game) have 3 citizens in the field, you will harvest 3/6 (= 1/2) of the resources of every tile in the city radius (presuming your city is smaller than size 7). So a plains tile (which normally gives 10 food) will in this case give you only 3/6 * 10 = 5 food. When your city radius grows your citizens will first try to work the inner circle at full efficiency and only once that's realized start working on the outer circle. For more details about this system, see this thread.

                        Edit: this thread offers an interesting discussion on the topic as well.
                        Edit2: As does this one.
                        Last edited by Locutus; October 17, 2002, 17:37.
                        Administrator of WePlayCiv -- Civ5 Info Centre | Forum | Gallery

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          And today's theme is: omissions from the manual...

                          Q28 I'm going for Science Victory and have built 10 Cores, 5 Obelisks and 10 Satellites already but I still haven't won. What am I doing wrong?
                          A28 As you can read in the readme for patch v1.1/v1.11, you need to cover at least 60% of the world with Obelisks (this includes ocean; you can build Obelisks on all tiles (land and water) controlled by you or your allies). Build more Obelisks and build them far enough apart to achieve this. You can also build more than 10 Satellites (maxium: 20) to increase the range of your Obelisks. You can use the Gaia Controller Screen to keep track of your coverage.
                          Addendum: if you meet all the requirements for Gaia and still haven't won, make sure you are not playing a Bloodlust game (this can be set in the rules menu when starting a new game), as this can only be won by wiping all your opponents of the face of the planet.

                          Q29 How can I rename my cities and/or reach management functions for my cities easier?
                          A29 The manual of the game explains how you can right-click units and get a menu with options to give the units orders. However, what the manual (and various readmes) fails to mention is that the same sort of right-click menu is available for cities. If you right-click a tile with a city on it, you will get a menu with various options. If the city has non-fortified units in it, you will see all the unit orders and below that the city orders; otherwise you will only see the city orders. The following orders are available: City Manager (goes to the City Screen of this city, same as hitting F3), Build Manager (goes to the Build Manager of this city, same as hitting Ctrl-B), Rename City (allows you to rename the city), Disband City (allows you to disband the city; only possible with cities of size 3 or smaller), Activate All Units (activates all fortified and sleeping units in the city; only available when there are inactive units inside the city), Turn Mayor ON/OFF (allows you to (de)activate the mayor for this city). Additionally, there is the option Map Info, which is available not only in cities but on all tiles with a city and/or units on them; this displays the Map Info screen, this is identical to right-clicking an 'empty' tile.
                          Last edited by Locutus; February 6, 2002, 14:29.
                          Administrator of WePlayCiv -- Civ5 Info Centre | Forum | Gallery

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Q30 Help I can't install ModSwapper. Is it possible to install a mod without ModSwapper?
                            A30 Of course here is the answer, basically it is just replacing 3 files:

                            1. After unzipping all the mod files into the right folder: Go to your ..\ctp2_data\default\gamedata folder. There you will find files called XXX_gamefile.txt. Every mod setup has a differnt prefix instead of the XXX.
                            2. Open such a XXX_gamefile.txt with an editor of your choice. (e.g. notepad)
                            3. Check the last lines of that file that will tell you the name of the mod setup.
                            4. If you explored all the XXX_gamefile.txt's and you selected one of the setups. Search for a gamefile.txt without the prefix rename it to whatever you like. (e.g. ORI_gamefile.txt for origianal gamefile.txt)
                            5. Reneame the XXX_gamefile.txt of your setup to gamefile.txt.
                            6. Replace origianal newsprite.txt and Great_Library.txt (can be found in your ..\ctp2_data\english\gamedata folder) as you did it with the gamefile.txt. Note the names of the according files are listed in the last lines of your XXX_gamefile.txt.
                            7. Afterwards you replaced the tree files with the according mod-files you are now ready to lunch CTP2 with the mod.

                            So now I explained you how ModSwapper basically work. Yeah it is easy instead of renaming every file. That is the power of a gamefile list.

                            Edit: Here is an alternative (and a more confortable) sollution to this problem by azalae.

                            Q31 I downloaded a mod. Unfortunatly my CTP2 version is not in English language. Now I get a bunch of error messages if I try to run the mod. How can I fix it?
                            A31 As you have a non English version there are some files not in the correct folder. To solve this problem go to the ..\ctp2_data\english\gamedata\ folder and copy or move all files of the according mod to the according folder of your language. Another folder to check out is the ..\ctp2_data\english\uidata\layouts\ folder. These file here are not essential, but they improve the user interface a little bit.

                            Edit: As the sollution will result a mod with mixed language, if you don't like it or you have some other trouble to get this to work here is another sollution to the problem.
                            Last edited by Martin Gühmann; June 25, 2002, 10:29.
                            Civ2 military advisor: "No complaints, Sir!"

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Q32: How do I play senerios in a multiplayer game?

                              A32: Just save the game during single player mode and then move the saved game file from the single player saved game folder in to the multiplayer saved game folder. The simple launch the saved game as normal.
                              Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

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