Making Cradle 3+ fully compatible with the Apolyton Edition

[Kull]

Wonder Unit Issues (Part 3) - Before moving on to the related changes, here are some additional details:

1) Cradle has three other "ancient era" units that will upgrade using this new system:
- Great King upgrades to Brigadier
- Hero upgrades to Brigadier
- Great General upgrades to Field Marshall

2) Besides "better" stats, there are additional differences between FM-General and Brigadier-Colonel:
- FM-General exert ZOC and are Ranged units
- Brigadier-Colonel do not exert ZOC, are Flanker units, and can Beach Assault

3) To compensate for the loss of Victory Enslavement and Siege Attack attributes, all four of the new Leader Units can now generate Plunder.

4) There are three remaining Wonder Units, and they are treated differently from the others:
- US Grant is an Industrial era unit who arrives after the "Age of Reason", and will upgrade to General (see attached) with the discovery of "Electricity"
- Eisenhower is a Modern Era unit and never upgrades
- Schwartzkopf is also a Modern Era unit and never upgrades

[Kull]

Wonder Unit Issues (Part 2): Among Cradle's many neat features is the slic code which allows the player to upgrade Elite Units (described in post # 67). For example, after the discovery of "Bronze Working", Elite Spearmen can be upgraded to Elite Hoplites. This is controlled by code in the updater3.slc file, which is quite large - over 1700 lines!

I'll spare you the details, but after a huge amount of editing and testing, I was able to identify the necessary portions of code and developed a 300-line file which automatically upgrades selected units from one type to another, without player intervention, upon the discovery of a particular Advance. The code can distinguish between civs, so it applies individually as each civ discovers the triggering Advance.

Once that became possible, I developed 4 new "Age-specific" leader units, none of which have the Siege or Victory Enslavement attributes:

1) Field Marshall: This is an early Industrial Age Leader unit, which has the sprite and most of the statistics of it's near-equivalent, the US Grant Wonder Unit. All of the "Great House" Wonder Units will automatically convert to Field Marshall with the discovery of "Age of Reason". It also has a new unit card which combines features of the Elite (a large letter in a strip on the left side) and Wonder Unit cards (a number of stars indicating relative strength).

2) Brigadier: Another early Industrial Age Leader unit, the Brigadier makes use of the Ctp1 Musketeer sprite, dismantled and rebuilt so it now has Idle and Death animations (and thus full on-map movement). The statistics are "similar-but-less" than those of the "Field Marshall" (hence one star instead of three - see attached unit card example). Most of the remaining Wonder Units will upgrade to Brigadier, the exception being those with "Religious Conversion" capability, all of which convert to powerful "Patriarch" units instead.

3) General: With the discovery of Electricity, both leader units upgrade to modern types. The FM becomes a General, and uses the CtP2 Brown General sprite from the WW2 scenario. It has all required animations and features a new unit card, similar to those in the attachment. The stats are a level below those of the Dwight Eisenhower Wonder unit.

4) Colonel: This is the upgraded Brigadier, and uses the fully animated CtP2 US Paratrooper sprite (also from the WW2 scenario) and a new "Leader Unit" card. As with the FM-Brigadier duo, the Colonel's stats are a reduced version of those given to the General.

This new mechanism resolves all of the late game Wonder Unit issues, but that wasn't the end of the process...

[Kull]

Wonder Unit Issues (Part 1): Wonder Units (those which are awarded by the construction of certain Wonders) are a fun feature in Cradle, and definitely add to the atmosphere, particularly in the early game. Having Caesar, Hannibal, or any of 20 others leading your armies into battle is pretty cool, especially since each one of them has unique skills. Among the many "Special Attack" abilities, some can generate plunder, others perform sieges, and many have the "Victory Enslavement" ability (sending slaves to nearby cities).

The issue is that some of these abilities become problematic as the game moves along, in particular:

1) Enslavement: The Emancipation Wonder abolishes slavery worldwide after it's built. That includes turning all slaves into citizens and killing off all slaver units. But it has no effect on Wonder units with the enslavement attribute, and soon your cities will start to fill up with slaves again. Definitely a disconnect.

2) Siege Attacks: I spent a LOT of time analyzing and reviewing the many special attacks (see post # 95) and there is now a mechanism which changes the graphics and unit abilities so that ancient era attacks are converted to modern with the implementation of the "Modern Era Swap file" (see post # 146). However, I was not able to fully convert Siege attacks since they share graphics with the Infector's modern era "Plague" attack, and there's no way to change that. And once again, this is an attack which is performed exclusively by Wonder units.

3) Era Disconnect: The final issue is that while it's really cool to have your ancient and medieval era armies led by historical characters such as Nebuchadnezzar and Attila, that becomes increasingly strange once the game stretches on beyond the Renaissance. By the Modern Era the visual effect is quite ludicrous, with chariot-archers and sword-wielders operating in tandem with tanks! (see attachment)

One solution was to simply kill them off as the game proceeds, either through slic coding or by making them government dependent. Which would solve the problem, but was kind of a blunt force approach. So I played around with some other ideas, and one in particular became increasingly attractive....

[Kull]

Hey thanks!
The current project involves a lot of slic code and some new units. Hopefully it all works as planned......

[Blake00]

Love those new wonders! I've updated my CivFanatics thread about your project and will share your work around some of the CTP and Civ social media groups as more people should know about the great work you're doing here mate!

[Kull]

Fixing the P-38 Fighter Plane sprite: With the inclusion of the Spitfire there isn't a current need for a second WW2 era fighter plane, but I decided to go ahead and fix the P-38 anyway. After all, it's the only remaining CtP2 sprite that does NOT have in-game motion so this completes the catalogue. It will be included in the download using the original sprite number (GU035.spr) since all of Cradle's in-game links now point to the Spitfire (GU108.spr). The original P-38 voices are good and because they weren't assigned to another unit (for exactly this reason), are still available. It can be utilized in non-Cradle games simply by copying the sprite into the ctp2_data\default\graphics\sprites folder.

There are three good animations (Move, Attack, & Death - no editing required), comprising 238 images and shadow files. All the Move images have a blurry in-motion propeller, so for the missing Idle we'll use the first file from the Death animation (shows a P-38 parked on the ground with a non-moving 3-bladed prop) but will change it's location to place it in the air.

This completes the air unit sprite project.

[Kull]

Fixing the Spy Plane sprite: The CtP2 Spy Plane is actually a modified version of the CtP1 Stealth Bomber. The unit has good Attack & Death animations (no changes necessary), but Move was pretty minimal - a slight rocking motion along with a blinking light. Given the appearance and role, this is another sprite which can benefit from the special effects used by the two stealth units. Accordingly, the sprite was deconstructed (118 images) and a new Idle animation created, while fading effects were added to the Move.

In addition, as you can see in the attachment, the colors of the Grand Canyon have been toned down and a set of rapids added to the central river.

[Kull]

Fixing the Stealth Bomber sprite: Like many other incomplete sprites, the Stealth Bomber has only three animations (Move, Attack, & Death), comprising 226 images. Fortunately the Attack and Death animations required no editing, and originally I planned to add nothing more than a short Idle. However, the successful "fade in-out" effect used by the Stealth Fighter is obviously a natural fit for this unit as well. Especially since the existing Move animation had only 6 files featuring a barely visible up-and-down rocking motion, along with blinking red lights on the wing tips. The Idle for the rebuilt sprite uses the original 6 Move files along with the Stealth Fighter's "fade-in" effect. And the new Move animation follows the same approach, with a sequential fading and reappearance as it moves through the air (see attached).

[Kull]

Fixing the Spitfire and Stealth Fighter (again): Hoo boy, it never fails, one step forward and two steps back, lol!

One reason for selecting the Spitfire was the opportunity - for once - of using an existing sprite exactly as-is, no modification required. But looking closer at the attachment in Post 207, something clearly was missing - the Idle animation has no shadows! Even worse, opening the sprite confirmed there were no shadow files for ANY of the animations. Fortunately the WW2 scenario includes the German Bf-109 sprite which is exactly the same size as the Spitfire, and it DOES have shadow files. So I deconstructed both sprites, copied the shadow files from Bf-109 to the Spitfire, rebuilt the sprite, and voila! Shadows that match perfectly, for every animation.

While doing that, I also decided to revise the Stealth Fighter's Idle animation. Turbulence coming off the wings of an "Idle" jet doesn't look right (see the attachment above), so the images have been fixed and this sprite rebuilt as well.

[Kull]

Fixing the Stealth Fighter sprite: The Stealth Fighter sprite has four animations (Move, Attack, Idle & Death), comprising 132 images. However, even though it has all the necessary animations, there are several problems. To begin, the single file Idle animation is of little benefit since the "movement" animation consists of 5 identical files with no motion of any kind. In addition, there were graphical errors associated with 24 of the "Move" and "Attack" animation files, in which turbulence is only shown coming off of one wing, while several of the "Attack" files had a similar problem in which missiles were fired from only one wing. Conversely, the "Death" animation features an interesting 5-file sequence in which the fighter gradually fades away.

That sparked an intriguing idea. Since this is a "stealth" unit, why not use the Death animation for the Idle, but rather than "fade-out", have it "fade-in"! Likewise, why not use the same effect for the Move sequence? As for "Death", the "explosion" effect used by the Spitfire works just as well for any unit, so that could be inserted here as well. The final result was a completely re-imagined sprite with new animations which look great in-game. As an example, the attachment shows two Stealth fighters, one at rest and the other fading in and out of view as it moves across the map.

[Kull]

New Fighter sprite: The existing fighter sprite (a US P-38) does not have an Idle animation, so there is no "on-map" movement. Rather than rebuild the unit, I decided to use the "Spitfire" sprite (see attached) which was included with the CtP2 "World War 2" scenario. This unit has all 4 animations, including a nice "Idle" in which the plane touches down and bounces. No sprite editing required! In addition it's a 1-engine fighter, and thus more emblematic of the fighter planes of this era.

Unfortunately the existing fighter pilot's voice features an American drawl (files GUV031-034), and is thus not appropriate for a British plane. Luckily there is a British air alternative: the file group GUV105-108, which is currently assigned to the "Bomber". That unit is an American B-52, so reassigning the British pilot voice to the Spitfire opens the door for improving the Bomber voice as well. To that point, while searching through the voice files I spotted another issue. The voice sequence for the "Machinegunner" (GUV101-104) is actually that of an American-accented pilot. He talks about "skies open" and you can hear the "mic click" at the end of each phrase. Definitely NOT correct for a ground unit, and it means these voices can be reassigned to the Bomber.

Of course, that means we now need a "ground unit" voice replacement, and the best option was the GUV076-079 series, previously assigned to the "Leviathan". That's a very late game unit that can easily accommodate a more electronic sound. And fortunately, that is EXACTLY the voice used for the Leviathan in CtP1! Why it was changed, I don't know, but now it's back.

The result of all this is a new sprite for the Fighter and new voices for the Fighter, Bomber, Machine Gunner and Leviathan. All of which required changes to newsprite.txt, sounds.txt, & uniticon.txt along with new 2D art (borrowed from AOM), the Spitfire sprite, and four Leviathan voices copied over from CtP1.

As a side note, take a look at the Road network built by AI Rome. Not a sprawling mess, but rather a coherent connection of one city to another. Very nice.

[Kull]

Fixing the Interceptor: The CTP2 Interceptor sprite (GU046.spr) does not have an "Idle" animation, and thus displays no movement on the map. There are three animations (Move, Attack & Death), comprising 238 images (including shadows), so I added a 4-image Idle in which the jet rocks side to side a bit. Unfortunately the "movement" portion is so subtle (a slight waggle of the wings) that it's not visible on the map, especially given the obstruction from the reticle graphic (see post #204 above, which includes the modified CtP2 interceptor).

Conversely, the CtP1 Interceptor has a very noticeable "after-burner" effect as it moves, so I decided to give that a closer look. This sprite has only two animations (Move & Attack), comprising 140 images (including shadows). In addition to a new single image "Idle" animation, I copied in the 28 "Death" animation files from the CtP2 unit (altering them slightly to better match the CtP1 unit), and the result was a distinct improvement (see attachment).

Since both Sprites have now been fixed, I'll include the two of them in the download but will renumber the CtP1 sprite (from 46 to 225) and change all the text references accordingly (newsprite.txt & uniticons.txt). Also includes new 2D art which matches the look of the new sprite.

[Kull]

"Exploding Unit" sprite graphics: Any unit which has the "SingleUse" AND "Explodes" attributes in units.txt is destroyed after it hits the target. Apparently, when it is given a target and is moving toward it, the game has ALREADY taken into account that the unit is dead (even before it is actually destroyed) and so the unit sprite disappears the instant it starts moving toward that final destination. The only solution is to have it move one hex short of the target and then attack from there, which is kind of silly, but at least you don't lose the "flight animation" sequence until - after stopping - it is sent on to the target.

In the attachment, you can see the effect on the Cruise Missile sprite in each case. The top example shows the appearance of the sprite when the unit is told to stop one hex in front of the target. The one below shows that the sprite has disappeared (all that's visible is the unit shield) as it moves directly to the target.

There's no fix for this - and in fact the "Nuke" missile has the same issue - but I wanted to highlight the problem and make it clear that there's nothing wrong with the sprites, but rather the graphics are "working as designed" (unfortunately).

[Kull]

"Sprite Selection" Reticle color: While testing out a new air unit sprite (more on that later), I realized that it's very hard to see the unit motion because of the "sprite selection circle" or "reticle" (a graphic based on the CtP symbol). Not only is it "neon green", but the reticle continues to surround the unit as it moves, thereby obscuring many of the "in-motion parts" as the unit proceeds to a new location. The question is, can it be made smaller or at least less obtrusive?

Digging a bit deeper, the reticle comes in several colors, each of which means something:
1) Green: Unit Sprite has movement points available.
2) Yellow: Unit Sprite has used up all movement points on this turn
3) Red: Unit Sprite has no movement points (f/e a "city")
4) Black: Sprite is a Good (reticle appears and then fades away)

Unfortunately I could not find the reticle graphic in any of the files. It's not included with the compressed .zfs or .til files, nor is it one of the editable cursors. In addition, there is a different look for the settler-type units, as the green reticle also includes a small green outline around the adjacent hexes.

The good news is that I found the file which controls the colors: Colors00.txt. Rather than require modders to edit this file, the SC team added a line to userprofile.txt (ColorSet=0). The way it works is, you create an alternate file with a different numeric ending and the game will use that file instead of the default. For example, Cradle5 now uses a file named Colors06.txt and the line in userprofile.txt has changed to ColorSet=6. As for the specific color, Line 44 is the culprit, specifying that the reticle is a bright neon green. I played around with this and tested a number of different colors, but unfortunately all of them obscure the movement to some degree. The big problem is the reticle graphic itself does not have an alpha channel (nor can one be assigned), so it's impossible to add a transparency effect, which would solve the problem. Anyway I finally settled on a "less bright" tone of green, and the reticle is now somewhat less obtrusive (see attached).

[Kull]

Parchments (Rev2): Shrinking the culture symbols and placing them in the bottom right of each parchment did the trick, as they no longer conflict with the text display. The "fixing" process would have been even faster, if only I'd bothered to save each symbol as a separate file the first time. As opposed to having to create every one of them from scratch (again). Lesson learned.