Custom unit problems in PTW - Firaxis?

[Boris Godunov]

Hey all,

I'm having a problem with my custom units. I have downloaded several from here and civfanatics and added them to a mod. I then transferred the mod to PTW.

For the German civ, I added the WW2 era infantry made by nonnob. It worked fine with Civ3, but in PTW, the graphics revert back to the Civ3 infantry. Why is that? The custom folder still has the custom flcs and everything. Why is the game no longer pointing to that, and how on earth is it going to the Infantry?

I tried substituting the German rifleman that came with PTW's WW2 pack, but the same thing happened--graphics were all the old Civ3 infantry.

Thanks for any help.

[Boris Godunov]

bump...come on, someone has to know...

[notyoueither]

I'd answer you Boris, but I don't know. I suspect it is to do with the new mod management system.

Try to hunt down warpstorm or kittenOFchaos. They can help you, I am sure.

[WarpStorm]

Have you updated the pediaicons.txt file?

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by WarpStorm
Have you updated the pediaicons.txt file?

No...I never had to do this before PTW, and the custom units worked fine. Has this changed?

And update it how?

[korn469]

Boris

what is the name of your mod/scenario?
try doing something that approximates this

*locate the PtW scenarios file
*Create a folder in the PtW scenarios file and name it Mod (whatever you are going to call it)
*in the Mod folder create two other folders and name one Art and the other text
*in the art folder create two other folders name one Civilopedia and name the other one Units
*in the Civilopedia folder create a folder called Icons
*in the Icons folder create a folder called units
*in the units folder extract any pcx files
*go back to the mod/art folder and in the folder named units create unit folders and put the .flic files here
*go back to the mod/text folder and extract the Civilopedia.txt and the PediaIcons.txt files to this folder make sure to change the .txt files so they include your new units

hope that helps some

[Tassadar500]

Looks like Korn469 knows what he is talking about.

[Boris Godunov]

That sounds like a royal pain in the ass. Does anyone know an easier way to do this?

Thanks for the info, though, korn...I will give that a shot when I have a few hours at my disposal...

[Amadan]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
That sounds like a royal pain in the ass. Does anyone know an easier way to do this?

Thanks for the info, though, korn...I will give that a shot when I have a few hours at my disposal...

Royal Pain? Yes.
But it does look like the only way. And probably the best for managing multiple mods.

[korn469]

Boris

it just doesn't look like a royal pain in the ass it IS a royal pain in the ass, lol i added a bunch of buildings and some 6 new units to the ptw version of the blitz mod and unlike normal civ3 it didn't wanna cooperate when i just threw stuff in, but it doesn't take too long to do i guess

[Zurai]

It should only be a big pain the first time. I suggest making a set of template folders, nested correctly, so you can just copy and paste the top folder, rename it, then add the unit folders into the units area and the icons in the icon area. Should cut down the amount of time it takes.

[Boris Godunov]

Thanks all. Will try it tonight if I get a chance.

This seems unneccessarily complicated, Firaxis. I think there could have been a MUCH easier way to implement adding units so that all these steps weren't necessary (how about automatically creating the folders, for instance, so all we have to do is put the right files in the right folders?).

[Boris Godunov]

I give up. Couldn't get it to work. I created all the folders and even copied every damn unit, pretty much everything that was in my original Civ3 units folder. I then coped the PTW civilopedia and pediaicons. I don't know how to update the text files properly, I think...I think it's stupid we need to go through all these steps to add a frickin' unit.

Could someone who knows do a step-by-step example of adding a custom unit, including specifics on editing the txt files? I am not tech-savvy enough to figure this out, I suppose.

Firaxis, damn it, why is this so $#*$&^ hard?!

[Boris Godunov]

Ah, wait...I got it. I didn't see the animation files in the pediaicons.txt...woohoo.

Still, this seems unneccessarily difficult...

[Unconquered]

What if I don't want it to be a mod, but part of the default rules instead? This doesn't seem to work.

[WarpStorm]

Originally posted by Unconquered
What if I don't want it to be a mod, but part of the default rules instead? This doesn't seem to work.

I've said it before, but you really don't want to do this. The next time a patch comes in it'll over-write these files and all your work will be lost. Make it a scenario.

[Unconquered]

I'm a dumb sh*t, I'm having problems on the last step... could someone break it down in potato-head language. Thanks

[Unconquered]

I've done everything correct, using Korn469 instructions and following some MODs that came with PTW. I keep getting a message asking for:

ANIMNAME_

A screenshot of the error is at:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=66438

When I do the following:

ANIMNAME_
Modern Infanty

it shows all custom units as Modern Infantry, but keeps the stats of the unit. Only the pic is wrong.

I'm Stumped!

[Minuteman]

Unconquered,

That line in the PediaIcons txt should read something like this:

ANIMNAME_Modern_Infantry
Modern Infanty

not...

ANIMNAME_
Modern Infanty

Try it that way. Hopefully that will do the trick.

[Unconquered]

It does say that (I have similar entries for all my custom units), but for some reason the game is looking for an ANIMNAME_ entry all by itself... strange. I just stuck something in there (called it modern infantry) and now all of my custom units are the modern infantry animation but with the correct unit stats and name... Only the animation is wrong.

[Minuteman]

Originally posted by Unconquered
It does say that (I have similar entries for all my custom units), but for some reason the game is looking for an ANIMNAME_ entry all by itself... strange. I just stuck something in there (called it modern infantry) and now all of my custom units are the modern infantry animation but with the correct unit stats and name... Only the animation is wrong.

That is a strange problem. You might have better luck asking one of the prodigies over in the mod section for help with this one. I'm as baffled as you are.

[Unconquered]

I used the nuke on an ant hill approach... I re-installed the game, the patch, put my custom folder back where it goes and ran the mod... It worked I guess we'll never know what really happened... I'd like to thank everyone who tried to help and I'd like to thank firaxis for making these custom units such a pain in the a$$.

[Boris Godunov]

Actually, the new format could be simplified by adding a few simple macros (or whatever you call them) to the editor.

For instance, when you want to add a new unit, the first step will be to make sure you have the unit folder in the right place. Then, when you hit the "add" button, the editor will ask you to choose a folder in the units directory to add. It will take the name on the folder and automatically create the PRTO_UNITNAME entry, generate the entries in pediaicons.txt (ICON and ANIMNAME), and have another dialogue box asking for the right pcx files to put under ICON.

All the user would have to do after that is adjust the traits in the editor as normal and make a civilopedia entry if desired. Et voila.

Now, wouldn't that be much easier than the current mess? We could even take it a step further and have a "Mod creator" which would automatically create all the mod folders needed.

[Unconquered]

Sounds good to me... I also would have appreciated something from firaxis stating that they were changing the way they do custom units. If an explanation/statement exists I am unaware of it... Call it professional courtesy, but I wasted 3 hours figuring this out and that information would have been helpful at the start.

[Boris Godunov]

Step-by-Step Guide to Adding a Unit with PTW.

Okay, so you’ve just downloaded a cool new unit from online. How would you add it?

Here is a step-by-step guide. For the purposes of this guide, the unit is the “Napoleonic Rifleman” (available at civfanatics.com)

1) Create the Mod folder.

a.) In your PtW directory (under Civ3), there is a folder called “Scenarios.” Create a new folder here and name it whatever you want your mod to be called. Ours will be “Napoleon.”

b) Now, within that folder, you need to create a directory of several folders that the game will search for your files. The directory should look like this:

I. Napoleon
. |____A) Art
. | |__1) Civilopedia
. | | |____a) Icons
. | | |____i) Units
. | |__2) Units
. |____B) Text

Naturally, IGNORE the outline notation when naming the folders!

2) Place the Napoleonic Rifleman unit folder you’ve downloaded in the 2) Units folder (the one under Art, not the one under icons).

3) You may have a couple of .pcx files for the unit, depending on whether or not the creator made them. If you do (they are likely in the unit folder), copy and paste them into the i) Units folder under Art-Civilopedia-Icons-Units. If you don’t have pcx files for this particular unit, don’t worry—they aren’t necessary.

4) Go to the main Text folder under PTW. Among the text files there will be Civilopedia” and “Pediaicons.” Copy these and paste them in your B) Text folder

5) In the Pediaicons file, scroll to the section where you see a bunch of entries that say #ICON_PRTO_[Unit name]. Go to the end of this list and create a new entry named #ICON_PRTO_Napoleonic_Rifleman. If you have .pcx files for it, add the two lines underneath this one just like all the other units, substituting the names of the .pcx files with the nap. Rifleman pcx.files. If you don’t have custom .pcx files, you still must have something here, so just cut and paste another unit’s .pcx files (like the regular rifleman).
[What this is doing is telling the civilopedia which pictures to use when you display the new unit during the game]

6) Also in the Pediaicons file, way down near the bottom, there is a section for the units where the entries start #ANIMNAME_PRTO_[Unitname]. At the end of this list, add a line that says #ANIMNAME_PRTO_Napoleonic_Rifleman. Now underneath this line, enter the name of the unit exactly how it should appear in the editor/game – Napoleonic Rifleman (no underscores).

7) This step is optional for if you want a detailed civilopedia entry for the new unit. Open up Civilopedia.txt and find the section that is giving the unit descriptions. This is pretty easy—just copy the exact format of other entries, substituting the PRTO_Napoleonic_Rifleman i.d. and adding text as you wish. Even if you don’t do this, that’s ok…the unit should still work.

8) Let’s go to the PTW editor. Start a new PTW scenario. In order to be able to edit the rules for units, you have to check the “Custom Units” option. It’s under one of the toolbars up top (I forget which). Once you do this, open the rules and go to units.

9) On the units screen, press the “Add” button. When prompted, enter “Napoleonic Rifleman” as the unit name. Now you can set all the values, requirements, etc. for the unit as normal.

10) BE SURE to fill in the text box on the unit screen that says “Civilopedia” the name of the unit like this: PRTO_Napoleonic_Rifleman –this is critical! Now you should be done with the units screen.

11) Back in the main editor, go to the “Scenario Properties” screen. There is an icon for it on the toolbar that looks like the army standard the armies in Civ3 carry. On this screen, on the left side underneath the large text box is a smaller one which says something like “Scenario Search files” (I am not at home, so this is from memory). Enter in the name of the MOD folder you created: Napoleon – this tells the scenario to look for modifications in these folders when you load it.

Once you do this, save and exit, you should be set. I usually set up a test scenario for all my custom units—you can add the unit to the map and start the game with it to test it out.

If you encounter and crashes where the game just drops to the desktop with no message, then things are likely not right in the .txt files you edited. If you get an error message like “Cannot find file Art/Unit/ etc.,” that probably means something is screwy in the ini file for the unit in its folder (this is also a text file you can alter—make sure the .flc and .wav files it is referencing are spelled correctly/in proper folders and that the .ini file itself is named EXACTLY what the unit name is as it appears in the game).

Thanks to korn469 and Warpstorm for their help. Any additions/changes to this guide welcome. Like I said, I’m not at home, so this is from memory. And if there is a better thread to post this in, let me know.

Firaxis, can I get a fee for doing your job?

[Boris Godunov]

PS--Is there another forum where this would be better put?

[Unconquered]

Thanks for doing the task that should have been done by the Firaxians...