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Ok, I've gotten a directory set up so that I can make files available to GC players and modders.  www.galciv.com/carielf

Just make sure that you have a bottle of asprin or other headache medicine on hand before using the tools. :)  Just keep in mind that we had to use pretty much the same stuff to make Gal Civ.

If any of you modders like Thrull have any suggestions of what I could add to the docs for people using the tools, let me know.

Ok this is what's currently there:

About Gal Civ Fonts.doc - some quick docs about GC fonts.

Data 1.05.zip - a zipped copy of a clean data folder from 1.05

Data v1-04-059.zip - zipped copy of a clean data folder from the version there, for any of you who haven't taken the plunge to 1.05 yet.

Font Gfx.zip - sample font gfx, in bmp format.  They would need to be converted to indexed pcx files before you could try encoding them as fonts.

M_util build.zip - this is the original, unmodified version of the program that we used to encode all of the graphics in Gal Civ.  If it's not a pcx, we used this (but it did begin life as a pcx)

Making a sample app.doc - these are the docs created by Mike Duffy, the person who created M_util and wrote a lot of the underlying code used in Gal Civ, LightWeight Ninja, and The Corporate Machine. (We call this code Pear and it's a layer between us and DirectX).

MUtil.doc - docs that I wrote about the same time that I was working on the ship encoder. It's more limited than Making a sample app.doc, but it has info more specific to Gal Civ.

ship encoder.zip - same as in the link in the ship encoder thread.  It's basically MUtil with the other part hidden, and I hardcoded all of the buttons that you'd have had to press if you were doing it with Mutil. This file and m_util build.zip are included mainly because they've been tested.  They both crash because that's just the way mutil is, but a reboot can usually clear up the problem.

ship encoder + mutil.zip - basically the ship encoder with buttons to let you switch between mutil classic and the ship encoder interface.  This way, you don't have to remember what buttons to press, but you can go into mutil classic mode to see the picture of what you just did, and maybe fool with the palette or whatever.

When I start work on GC2, I may put some more time into Mutil/ship encoder, like add windows to show your ships animating so that you don't have to load them into GC to test them.

GC2, as a side note, will allow for palette swapping, which will make your lives easier, assuming that you just want to change colors. :)

 

 

 

 

6,849 views 16 replies | Pinned
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Could you allow listing of files in the directory ?
Thanks.

In the meantime:

http://www.galciv.com/carielf/About Gal Civ Fonts.doc
http://www.galciv.com/carielf/Data 1.05.zip
http://www.galciv.com/carielf/Data v1-04-059.zip
http://www.galciv.com/carielf/Font Gfx.zip
http://www.galciv.com/carielf/M_util build.zip
http://www.galciv.com/carielf/Making a sample app.doc
http://www.galciv.com/carielf/MUtil.doc
http://www.galciv.com/carielf/ship encoder.zip
http://www.galciv.com/carielf/ship encoder + mutil.zip

~SDC~
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
there a way to link events to recieving items... like the events that give ships? or is that part of the hardcoded stuff?

~SDC~
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Ok, I've gotten a directory set up so that I can make files available to GC players and modders.
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Wow! This is very very cool! Thanks Cari (and Stardock)!!! :D

Just make sure that you have a bottle of asprin or other headache medicine on hand before using the tools.
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OMG she is not kidding! Using M_util is like torture
;p I have no idea how they suffered through it to make such a great game ;)
Seriously though be prepared to read, and re-read, and read again the documentation and crash the program lots before understanding what works and what doesn't (it is very picky about the .pcx files)

If any of you modders like Thrull have any suggestions of what I could add to the docs for people using the tools, let me know.
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Where do I begin? ;) Actually I will try to come up with some notes whenever I get some spare time (haha) of my experimenting with the programs :p

One big suggestion for anyone who is going to use it -
Use .pcx files that are 8 bit encoded and have only 256 colors (I know that sounds silly, but you can have 8 bit files which are much less than 256 colors in the pallette table)... oh and apparently the pallette is backwards from photoshops - or photoshops is backwards from it! (dunno about paint shop or other programs yet)

GC2, as a side note, will allow for palette swapping, which will make your lives easier, assuming that you just want to change colors.
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Oh that would be so wonderful! It would make life sooo much easier for us modders :D
And please for the love-of-God-and-the-galaxy: an override directory! Please please please! ;)

Thanks for all of your help Cari! You are awesome!!! :HOT:
(no wonder she has her own fan club hehehe)
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
OMG she is not kidding! Using M_util is like torture
I have no idea how they suffered through it to make such a great game
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Tell me about it! It's now my mission in life to make a librairy editor :P

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
OMG she is not kidding! Using M_util is like torture
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I hear you! How can it have import and export buttons that don't work? You'd think that would be on the early list of critical to-do's. I shudder to think that if the artists wanted to modify one small graphic, they'd need to generate the entire library from scratch! Some of those things had oodles of components. Poor, poor Galciv artists :(

btw, even the pared down Mutil was painful. If I hadn't automated everything into one step with macros, I would have probably quit after the first iteration of new ships.

One big suggestion for anyone who is going to use it -Use .pcx files that are 8 bit encoded and have only 256 colors (I know that sounds silly, but you can have 8 bit files which are much less than 256 colors in the pallette table)... oh and apparently the pallette is backwards from photoshops - or photoshops is backwards from it! (dunno about paint shop or other programs yet)
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Or easier yet, do whatever you want in Photoshop and don't worry about the pallettes. Save it, then use Rad Video Tools to batch convert them all (it does static graphics too.) It has a pretty good resampling algorithm and its resulting pallettes are galciv compatible.

As for the modding capabilities of GCiv 2, I don't really care about pallette swapping (how often are we really gonna want to change colors? The current need is pretty specific to one particular hard to see art choice.) What I'd like to see is a scripting language or C API. For a perfect example, look at the Unreal engine (truly the most moddable game ever.) With something along those lines, we could develop some really interesting mods: new techs that provide real new abilities, in-game dynamic tech trees, arbitrarily complex events, interfacing to other AI systems, etc. Though I could understand if you don't have the resources for this type of thing, I can't help but want it anyway. And given the quality of your staff, I think you guys could pull it off ;)

btw, Thrull, what is it that makes you want an override directory so bad?
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
like add windows to show your ships animating so that you don't have to load them into GC to test them.
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That's gonna be very useful, hope we get it soon..
saves much time..
:)
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
Or easier yet, do whatever you want in Photoshop and don't worry about the pallettes. Save it, then use Rad Video Tools to batch convert them all (it does static graphics too.) It has a pretty good resampling algorithm and its resulting pallettes are galciv compatible
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Ahhhh! Should have known that was the proggie of choice for the GalCiv team. Good tip, thanks MadMaz ;)

btw, Thrull, what is it that makes you want an override directory so bad?
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Well at it's base it would make mod swapping so much easier. For example if I want to try out a alterations to the tech tree I could just drop it into the override folder as opposed to having to back up the original and replace it. This is especially true of files which cannot be easily edited by the casual user. My replacement font (.fnt) file for the diplomacy sliders could be placed in the override folder without fear of harming the end users installation (to "uninstall" he simply deletes the file fromn the override folder)

Case in point - I (desperately) wanted to try out the new incarnation of the Star Wars mod (hmmm who made that one again... I forget LOL), but I didn't want to have to go through reinstalling and patching the game again (I know, I know it has it's own uninstaller, but I'm a purist ;)) so I made a copy of the entire folder... all 600 megs, before I applied the Mod. With an override folder everything could just be put into it... of course a true mod swapper utility would do the same thing (only better!), but built in support from the start would be best.

Plus it has the added benefit of allowing Stardock to give out test versions of files to thier beta testers without having to worry about screwing up stable builds. :D
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
I also can´t access that folder. How can I get these files? The links from Littleboy also don´t work, except for the Mutil.doc file... ? :notsure:
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
are there plans to make these file accessible again?

~SDC~
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
You can access them, via the links Littleboy gave. Thing is, the board cuts url with spaces in them, so you have to use the url in the link + the text that's next to it.
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
Links don't work, anyway to paste the links complete here.
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
Links don't work :(

I'm busy writing a front end for GC/AP.. to enable easy access to
All the utilitries currently available for GalCiv Family of products..
features may include:
Options editor.
Mod organizer/selector/backup library(groups of mods) builder
Save game Archiver
Score Calculator/database
Inbuilt web browser
launch CG/AP in fullscreen or window mode
Ability for user to set paths and programs

So if you have any programs you've written for GC or AP then please send me their links (not mods)