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Mercator
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Sorekara no Nanimo
Jan 1970
time: 06:15
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updated again...
Oh yes, not everything from civ3mod.bic is quit done yet. In the RACE section, the binary data for the build often and build never things has to be worked out.
Apart from that, the WCHR, WMAP and CONT sections are still largely unexplored.
Last edited by Mercator on 22-11-2001 at 03:58
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Nero Would
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quote:
Originally posted by Mercator
Oh yes, not everything from civ3mod.bic is quit done yet. In the RACE section, the binary data for the build often and build never things has to be worked out.
Apart from that, the WCHR, WMAP and CONT sections are still largely unexplored. |
Oops. You're right. Here are the build never and build often bits (the same layout is used in both fields)
4 long build never (binary):
00000000
off. land units .......1
def. land units ......1.
artillery units .....1..
settlers ....1...
workers ...1....
naval units ..1.....
air units .1......
growth 1.......
production .......1
happiness ......1.
science .....1..
wealth ....1...
trade ...1....
explore ..1.....
culture .1......
4 long build often (binary):
same layout as build never
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Nero Would
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quote:
Originally posted by Gramphos
The WMAP, WCHR and CONT are for maps, not present in the civ3mod.bic. IIRC there are 2 unknown values in the CULT section.
I believe CONT is short for continents, and should then define all islands in a way. (Don't ask me how)
(Used by the game to determine wonder effects and corruption.) |
I went a little too far when I stated that we have completed all the sections in civ3mod.bic. I believe we have documented every field that is displayed by the editor. However, there are a number of fields that do not seem to be displayed. Some or all of them may be unused, but some may actually control something in the game. Here is a summary of the unknown fields along with their values. If we can guess what some of them may mean, we could hex edit the file to experiment.
CULT Culture section
The start of this section is unusual. The section label (CULT) would normally be followed by the number of records in the section, and then the records themselves. But in the CULT section, there are two additional long integers between CULT and the record count: their values are 33 and 5.
GOVT Government section
There are three unknown long integers in each record of this section. There values of the three fields are:
- 0 for Repulblic/Democracy, 1 for the rest.
- -1 for Despotism/Communism, 0 for Anarchy/Monarchy, 1 for Republic/Democracy.
- 1 for Repulblic/Democracy, 0 for the rest.
Note that none of these control the trade bonus that Republics and Democracies get, the field that controls the trade bonus is already identified.
RULE Rules section
This section only contains one record, and it has four unknown long integers whose values are 50, 2, 16, 1000.
WSIZ World size section
There is an unknown 24 byte field (perhaps a 24 byte string) that is hex zeros in all records.
In addition, note that most of the binary fields have a few bits that we have not assigned a meaning to, but those bits are all zero, and most or all of them are presumably spare.
As Gramphos and Mercator point out, there are also some sections that do not appear in civ3mod.bic that still need to be documented.
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Nero Would
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quote:
Originally posted by skywalker
Could the unknown 1000 in the RULE section be the border expansion multiplier? |
I don't think so. The field that the editor calls the border expansion multiplier (and which also has a value of 1000) is the last field in the section. I suppose it's possible that there are two multipliers that are used in different circumstances, and Firaxis set both to 1000, but I can't think what the distinction might be.
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Tventano
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Enschede, The Netherlands
Feb 2001
time: 06:15
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Although I have not yet produced a useful tool, I spent already some time exploring the bic format. Hereby some not yet piblished info.
TILE Section
for each tile:
long length of tile data (22 bytes)
00 short river info
02 long resource number, -1 = nothing
06 byte image number
07 byte in file: 0 = xtgc.pcx, 1 = xgpc.pcx, 2 = xdgc.pcx,
3 = xdpc.pcx, 4 = xdgp.pcx, 5 = xggc.pcx,
6 = wcso.pcx, 7 = wsss.pcx, 8 = wooo.pcx
08 short 0 (always?)
0a byte binary flags as indicated in overview
0b nibble terrain: 0 = desert, 1 = plains, 2 = grassland,
3 = tundra, 4 = floodplain, 5 = hills,
6 = mountain, 7 = forest, 8 = jungle,
9 = coast, a = sea, b = ocean
nibble basic terrain: only 0,1,2,3,9,a,b
0c short binary flags as indicated in overview
0e short ff ff (-1) = nothing
4b 00 (75) = barbarian camp
10 long -1 (always?)
14 short continent number
CONT Section
for each continent:
long length of continent data (8 bytes)
00 long 1 = land, 0 = water
04 long number of tiles
It seems always to start with the land and with the largest
first.
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Hastur
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Atlanta, GA
Dec 2001
time: 00:15
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I found this thread on Sunday although I wish I'd found it earlier. Since Tuesday of last week, I've been working on my own editor for the .BIC files and that means that up until Sunday, I'd been decoding the .BIC format on my own. 
Now, this does mean a few things that may be of help...
First, I've got a set of VB6 class files that can read the entire .BIC file and break it down into its component variables with the sole exception of the map areas. If this would be helpful to anyone please let me know and I'll be glad to send/post the source.
Second, I'm currently in progress (and hope to be done tomorrow) writing the additional code into the class files so they can write the information back into a complete and correctly formed .BIC file. So you may want to wait a day or two for that source code...
Third, there's the obvious question, why am I writing an editor when there's a perfectly good one supplied with the game? Simple... aside from the ability to add which the Civ3CopyTool does admirably, I'm adding to it the ability to maintain a library of Civ3 datatypes so you can store all those cool units, governments, tech advances and so on without having to keep them in your main civ3mod.bic file. I'm also adding the ability to export and import pieces of the .bic file so that if you come up with a cool new government, you can export just that part of your .bic file, post it on a site like this one, and someone else can import it into theirs without having to retype all the info or download a full .bic and manually transfer just that one government.
This does have some limitations currently. The initial release won't support the other data files that store things like the Civilopedia or graphics. This will make the app a little less useful but I'm hoping to add such functionality in subsequent releases. Any suggestions or requests for features out there, please feel free to make them.
Lastly, I did note that there were a couple errors in the format that's been compiled on this thread... I'll try to take some time today and compare the format listed against my source and come up with a decent list.
And finally... thank you. This thread has been an immense help and I look forward to being able to contribute usefully to it rather than just using the great information you guys have put together.
Adam (Hastur)
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ajbera
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of the Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium
Apr 1999
time: 05:15
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From CivFanatics:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showt...20&pagenumber=4 (very bottom)
quote:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Dark Sheer
So, we are going to get an updated CivilizationIII.exe, Civ3Edit.exe and also a Civ3mod.bic not to mention Civilopedia.txt.
I wonder how this would affect the mods and editors that are currently available And can the hacked editor still be used if a new Civ3mod.bic is downloaded? If not then mod maker will no longer be able to add resources and such
All in all still a good patch
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Don't forget civ3edit.hlp!
old BIC files should be compatible, however the BIC file format can and does change as we add things in to the editor, so there is a good chance the "hacked" editor won't play nice with new BIC files. As long as the "hacked" editor obeys the rules of the BIC format, though, BIC's created with it should still work. No guarantees, though.
Dan (Magaha)
Will this affect the file mapping you've done so far? I hope not.
Now, a question: given that you've decoded the file, would it be possible to write a program that randomizes civ attributes? A program that reallocates the attribute pairings (commercial/religious, etc.) to random civs? That would be awesome, as such a feature probably won't ever make it to the editor.
Good job guys.
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Hastur
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Atlanta, GA
Dec 2001
time: 00:15
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As I said in an earlier post, I've been working on an editor using VB6. I've now gotten to the point that it's reading the .BIC file and parsing it fully into appropriate objects and properties. In addition, it's now able to write that information back into a .BIC file. I've found a couple small errors but hope to have them resolved early tomorrow. From there, I'll be adding in the editing interface.
As we all will, I'll be awaiting the patch with baited breath to see if it makes any major changes to the format (not to mention I really want to play too!). If there are changes, of course I'll be updating my source.
If the source can be of help to anyone out there, please let me know and I'll be glad to send it on to you...
Adam (Hastur)
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Apolyton Time is 00:15. |
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22-11-2001 03:33
Did I put the width/height in the WSIZ section the wrong way around, or are you referring to something else?
Excellent point there. I'd figured I'd use the .BIC format for the export file but to be honest, I hadn't thought ahead to the point of "cross-table" references as it were such as the unit table referencing the civs that can build that unit. I'm taking a look at your format for exports and will be glad to follow through on it and make suggestions where possible. Thank you for the info!
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