CTP2 Apolyton Edition 2025-01-20

[jds]

I love this mod. Great work on making the AI much smarter!

[Ekmek]

Love it that this project still lives!

[Kull]

15) Polar Hill Tile Graphics bug fix: I talk about the problem (to include screenshots) in a series of posts in the Cradle 5 thread. In short, there's a long-standing graphical bug in which "Polar Hill" terrain doesn't merge properly with some (but not all) of the other terrain-types. The worst offenders are the intersections with Forests and Alpine Mountains and the issue is a pair of missing Border Files. Since Martin is familiar with the workings of the Tile Edit program, I'll describe how to make the fix in the AE-2025 til file:

Forest Border: Take an existing border file (BORD0307.tga) and added it to the til file in the last position (add, not replace) and set the "Inside" position as "20" and the "Outside" position as "22"

Mountain Border: Similar, except this time use the BORD0209.tga file, add it in the end of the Border group and set the "Inside" position as "20" and the "Outside" position as "8"

That will do it.

[Blake00]

Just wanted to say great work guys. While I knew about the new release earlier this year via the CTP Discord I didn't see this thread as I don't visit Poly as much anymore (as my project threads just fill up with bots and no real people sigh..). Which reminds me, I should probably mention this news at CivFanatics and the CTP Reddit & Facebook groups as I can't see any posts in them about this cool news!

[Kull]

14) HearGossip: This never worked in standard CtP2, but it's mostly functional and can easily be added to CtP2 AE. However it does require that you make some changes to the AE files:

- Give the "HearGossip" attribute to the Diplomat and Empathic Diplomat units (add it their entries in units.txt, same as "EstablishEmbassy" or "ThrowParty")

- There are 6 message texts in cut_str.txt (and one heading text), and all of them have to move over to info_str.txt

- The civ identifier code didn't work properly so I changed it from [player.1.civ_name_plural] to {player[0].civ_name_plural}

- The chance of hearing gossip is already set in const.txt (HEAR_GOSSIP_CHANCE) at .02, but I'd recommend something like .9 when you testing your changes (revert back afterwards, of course)

At this point it should work. Just park a Diplomat next to a foreign capital city and you'll soon get a Gossip message.

There are some issues:

- Of the six messages, 3 are associated with enemy readiness. Possibly because the AI is always at "full wartime readiness", that's the only one I've seen from that group. Or maybe the other two don't work and all you get is the first one (no idea how to test that). "GOSSIP_MAP" also works (the area revealed is controlled by the GOSSIP_MAP_RADIUS setting in const.txt). Of the remaining messages, "GOSSIP_BORING" never appears (you might want to look at the underlying code on that one), and "GOSSIP_COMPLETE_ATTACKER" also seems non-functional. Which is probably OK, because it gifts a free Advance, and that's just too powerful. All six Messages do have messagebox settings in script.slc

- There's a setting in const.txt (MAX_PARTY_CHANCE) which supposedly controls the chance of Hearing Gossip when throwing a party, but I've never seen it happen. Possibly an issue involving concatenation of two different events ("Party" followed immediately by "Gossip"). Personally I don't see it as an issue.

If you decide to make this part of the next release, I can provide a new messageicon (based on the CtP1 "Ear") and a Great Library entry (with yet another "Ear" graphic).

[Kull]

13) ORDER_BIO_INFECT is broken: This was a bug present in the AE 6-12-2011 version (possibly introduced by the Source Code team), and one which still exists in the current release (tested and verified). As described in the linked post (and the one which follows), this attack only works when the AI uses it against the Human player. AI vs. AI or Human vs. AI attacks have no functional effect. All the graphics, sounds, and messages work as one would expect, but the EFFECTS of the attack do not take place.

As an aside, a blinking Bio-hazard icon appears next to the city after a successful attack. I can't adequately describe how annoying this is - it's almost "seizure-inducing". If you guys could eliminate the blinking effect, please do so!

[Martin Gühmann]

9) "Fixed: Do not play sounds that come from positions the player does not, either because the position is unexplored or is under the fog of war."

I understand why you guys did this, but is it possible to add a setting which turns this off and on? As a modder, I find it enormously helpful to know whether the AI is using the various special attacks, and being able to hear the sounds coming out of FOW territory is really the only way to know. It might not sound like a big deal, but it's helped me to tweak various settings and know whether they increase or reduce the number and type of special attacks. Losing that insight is a real bummer.

Well, I also liked hearing the sounds, we talked about that. But undoing or modifying that would be a bit of trouble. If you really wanna watch the AI plying you can turn the visible player into a robot. For that, open the chat window and enter /attach 1. So player one will be a robot even if it is on screen until you open the editor or you enter /detach 1. Once your player on screen is a robot, enter /rnd 200 and the game will be for the next 200 turns on auto end turn or until you hit the escape key.

[Martin Gühmann]

I went through all the AE-2025 sprites and identified those which had problems and are fixed in Cradle 5. Here's the text file which is included with the attached zip file:

List of Fixed Sprites for AE 2025 v1 (all from Cradle 5, renumbered for AE)
To install, copy all 29 sprites into the ctp2_data\default\graphics\sprites folder. They will overwrite the existing 29 files.

Thanks, I got them.

[Martin Gühmann]

Anyone know what version of the Apolyton Edition the GOG version of Call to Power II uses exactly and where I can find details about it, in terms of bugfixes etc.

The GOG version is just the patch 1.1 from Activision, plus something to play the music from hard drive.

I seem to have an issue with the later version of AE that I can find on github, the very latest one just crashes/refuses to load up so I have to force-quit the game. What was the last known fully working version of AE and where could I get it? Thanks guys

If you can force-quit it, then it hasn't crashed. I guess you just get a black screen. It may also play some sound. So what happens if you press escape?

[El_Cid]

The CtP2 Discord channel has a copy of the 6-12-2011 release in their "mods" section.

Thanks Kull, that 6-12-2011 release seems to work fine

The GOG download says "1.1" as the version number, and has less options on the Apolyton Edition starting screen, so looks much older.

[Kull]

I went through all the AE-2025 sprites and identified those which had problems and are fixed in Cradle 5. Here's the text file which is included with the attached zip file:

List of Fixed Sprites for AE 2025 v1 (all from Cradle 5, renumbered for AE)
To install, copy all 29 sprites into the ctp2_data\default\graphics\sprites folder. They will overwrite the existing 29 files.

1) 8 Sprites used by AE:

- GU021.spr (Ship of the Line) - Adds new "broadside" attack mode
- GU026.spr (Galleon) - Adds new "broadside" attack mode
- GU032.spr (Stealth Fighter) Adds "stealth move" and various fixes
- GU035.spr (P-38 Fighter) Adds Idle
- GU040.spr (Nuke) - Adds Idle
- GU046.spr (Interceptor) Adds Idle
- GU051.spr (Stealth Bomber) Adds Idle & "stealth move"
- GU057.spr (Spy Plane) Adds Idle & "stealth move"

2) 21 Extra Sprites from CtP1 (included with AE but not used by the base game):

- GU01.spr (Cow) - Adds Idle
- GU03.spr (CtP1 Warrior, Cradle Pacal) Adds Idle
- GU05.spr (CtP1 Mounted Archer, Cradle Mounted Archer) - Adds Idle
- GU07.spr (CtP1 Trireme, Cradle Quinquereme) - Adds Idle & Ramming attack
- GU08.spr (CtP1 Phalanx, Cradle Hired Thug) - Adds Idle
- GU09.spr (Cow) - Identical to GU01.spr
- GU10.spr (CtP1 Diplomat, Cradle Emissary) - Adds Idle
- GU14.spr (CtP1 Fire Trireme, Cradle Trireme) Adds Idle & Ramming attack, Removes Fire
- GU15.spr (CtP1 Knight, Cradle Teutonic Knight) - Adds Idle
- GU16.spr (CtP1 Longship, Cradle Dromon) - Adds Idle & Fire Attack
- GU17.spr (CtP1 Pikeman, Cradle Pikeman) - Adds Idle, Replaces Halberd with Pike, Adds Stabbing Attack
- GU20.spr (CtP1 Cavalry, Cradle Field Marshall) - Adds Idle
- GU22.spr (CtP1 Musketeer, Cradle Brigadier) - Adds Idle & Death
- GU23.spr (CtP1 Lawyer, Cradle Ambassador) - Adds Idle
- GU24.spr (CtP1 Fascist, Cradle Red Guard) - Adds Idle
- GU28.spr (CtP1 Artillery, Cradle Howitzer) - Adds Idle
- GU42.spr (CtP1 Televangelist, Cradle Televangelist) - Adds Idle
- GU46.spr (CtP1 Interceptor, Cradle Interceptor) - Adds Idle & Death
- GU48.spr (CtP1 Cyber Ninja, Cradle Cyber Attorney) - Adds Idle & Changes Move, Attack, and Death
- GU50.spr (CtP1 Corporate Branch, Cradle Corporate Branch) - Adds Idle
- GU56.spr (CtP1 Subneural Ad, Cradle Subneural Ad) - Adds Idle

I couldn't upload the file to Apolyton, but here's the link to the zip file in DropBox:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q52wljviox115dl85mb0r/AE-2025-

[Kull]

The CtP2 Discord channel has a copy of the 6-12-2011 release in their "mods" section.

Link to the Discord w/invite:

https://apolyton.net/forum/other-games/call-to-power-2/9451278-call-to-power-discord#post9451278

[El_Cid]

Anyone know what version of the Apolyton Edition the GOG version of Call to Power II uses exactly and where I can find details about it, in terms of bugfixes etc. I seem to have an issue with the later version of AE that I can find on github, the very latest one just crashes/refuses to load up so I have to force-quit the game. What was the last known fully working version of AE and where could I get it? Thanks guys

[Kull]

I guess Craddle has a modified tile file, which overwrites the one from the Apolyton Edition. So I guess you have to merge them.

1. The folder is just left there from editing the tile file and was added to the repro. I didn't need to include it, but I did it.

2. No, they still have to be compiled into a tile file.

3. As the script in the screenshot says, you use tile edit for compiling and decompiling a tile file.

OK, got it. So yes, I'm going to have to pull all the new graphics out of the Cradle .til file and add them into the new AE 2025 .til file. That includes making sure that all of the Cradle stuff is appended to the new AE file so both the mod and the base game can operate seamlessly using just the one file. That may take a while, lol.

I thing you should clone the repro so that you can submit pull requests.

I have no idea what that means, lol.

I think we would like to have your updated sprites and also a tile file with the stuff from Cradle.

Be happy to provide this. The first is mostly a matter of assembling the new sprites to include a document describing them. The other will be more time consuming, albeit necessary anyway for Cradle to co-exist with the new release.

[Martin Gühmann]

12) New AE Tile System: I set up a clean version of CtP2 and then copied in the new CTP2 Apolyton Edition 2025-01-20. Next I copied in the Cradle 5 folders (to include activating the Trench System in Const.txt), altered userprofile.txt accordingly and then started a new game. I ran a few turns without any trouble and then used the Editor to display the whole map. Bad trenches.

I guess Craddle has a modified tile file, which overwrites the one from the Apolyton Edition. So I guess you have to merge them.

However, tile files also require some text elements (formerly embedded in the .til files), and those are now included in the gtset.src file (third image). A few questions:

1) Why was this not mentioned in the new Apolyton_README.txt file? This appears to be a major change!

2) Assuming that tile graphic files are now handled on an individual basis, is that in addition to the .til file embeds? Is it either/or?

3) If a modder wants to add a new standalone tile graphic (i.e. not embedded in the .til file, how do they generate a new gtset.src file?

1. The folder is just left there from editing the tile file and was added to the repro. I didn't need to include it, but I did it.

2. No, they still have to be compiled into a tile file.

3. As the script in the screenshot says, you use tile edit for compiling and decompiling a tile file.

I thing you should clone the repro so that you can submit pull requests. I think we would like to have your updated sprites and also a tile file with the stuff from Cradle.