22-11-2001 04:05									#31
	Got spare money?

good point about the ai... forgot he's never the swiftest person on the planet And what I was asking for is a combination of the two... little bit of variety with existing terrain tiles and the ability to incorporate newer terrain tiles.... a swamp, artic mountains, deep ocean, etc.

Don't worry about it if it's still beyond our understanding of the game... it will come...

	22-11-2001 05:03									#32
	this tool rocks! Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

works great in true color mode as well!
also, this site is very good for maps...

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/

Last edited by thecrazyroach on 22-11-2001 at 05:14

	22-11-2001 05:58									#33
	Increase Your PM Length

Ah, there we go. Figured it was something stupidly obvious. Thanks, I appreciate it.

	22-11-2001 08:57									#34
	Increase the size of your Attachments

Hay thanks that update did the trick....

The preview still gives me a white screen, but the bic works fine in the editor now.... And thats all I am concerned with...

	23-11-2001 05:34									#35
	Get a bigger avatar today!

quote: Originally posted by OmniGod If I can get the handle on this... the ctp2 maps will be converted to civIII maps and I'll try my hand at some new maps... this rocks... long live bmp to anything convertors

Yea, I'd like to see a bmp to mp3 convertor, where a picture with a lot of black areas would turn into a song by Dream Theater, and a dark blue pic would turn into the roar of the sea at storm

	25-11-2001 04:00									#36
	Increase the size of your Attachments

I'm looking forward to some porn-based maps

	04-12-2001 11:05									#37
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Many thanks!!! You've saved me HOURS!!!

	08-12-2001 05:29									#38
	Increase the size of your Attachments

A new version of the utility has been posted with many new features. Check it out at the top of the thread.

	12-01-2002 14:47									#39
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

How do I convert the map I d/l'ed off the net to the color palette you supplied?

(I'm getting waterworld right now)

	14-01-2002 21:52									#40
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

quote: Originally posted by Gordolordo How do I convert the map I d/l'ed off the net to the color palette you supplied? (I'm getting waterworld right now)

I can tell you how to do it in paint shop pro, and I would guess the procedure would be similar in Photoshop, but I am not sure. The easiest way would be to take the bitmap included with the map utility and save a Palette file from that bmp (go to colors -> save palette). Then load up your bitmap, and choose the colors-> Load palette file, and choose the name of the palette file you created.

If someone could comment on how to do the same in photoshop, that would be great.

	14-01-2002 23:34									#41
	Free Form? Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

This is a wonderful thing. Could I ask you to add another map size or even the option for user defined map sizes? Is this what you are talking about when you say “free form”? IMO 256 is too big but 180 just isn’t quite right. I want to make an earth map and I am looking for something around 220x220. maybe I am being too picky.

As it stands this is such a time saver, I can’t believe it didn’t come with the game. Love it.

	14-01-2002 23:39									#42
	bic to bmp? Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

LookANinja,

Another idea. Is it possible to convert from .bic to .bmp? I have already done some work on Europe, North America and East Asia, I would like to not have to rebuild that if possible.

Thanks,

dJ

	14-01-2002 23:47									#43
	bic to bmp? Remove this text

LookANinja,

Another idea. Is it possible to convert from .bic to .bmp? I have already done some work on Europe, North America and East Asia, I would like to not have to rebuild that if possible.

Thanks,

dJ

	15-01-2002 02:32									#44
	Increase the size of your Attachments

The easiest way to convert from .bic to .bmp would be to load in your .BIC file and then take a screenshot of the displayed map. paste it into a paint program, and edit it to the correct dimensions. (you can copy the current window to the clipboard by presssing Alt-Printscreen).

As for the free form map sizes. The reason they aren't included is because I was afraid it might cause problems with the game. I have however not been able to find any problems with different map sizes, so I plan on removing this restriction in the future (although there still may be some practical maximum and minimum for the map sizes).

Hope that helps

	15-01-2002 02:53									#45
	You're Beautiful Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

LAN,

Thanks for getting back on that. Sorry about the double post. I was afraid you were going to say that. I put together several screens of the map that I have been working on to give others a better idea of the changes I had made. (I took Marla Singer’s map and made some alterations to Europe, North America and Japan.) That process is almost more time consuming than actually making the map. Oh well.

here is a pic I posted at civfanatics: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3imag.../europe_naf.jpg

I am glad to hear that you are taking off the free form restriction. That will only make the tool all the better.

I have to think that if it can convert from bmp to bic it should be possible to reverse the process. (I know I am sounding like an ungrateful bastard, really I am not.) Did I mention I love this tool. It is a definite must have.

Thanks again,

dJ

	15-01-2002 02:57									#46
	Maybe I'm slow Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

Or did you mean the small pic in the retirement screen? Just thought of that now. That may work.

	15-01-2002 03:14									#47
	Re: Maybe I'm slow Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

quote: Originally posted by DJensen Or did you mean the small pic in the retirement screen? Just thought of that now. That may work.

I meant you can just load in your .bic file in the BMPToBIC Utility. And take the screen shot from there. It really is quite simple to convert it to the bitmap, and thats why I didn't add the functionality into the program itself to begin with. However, I may add it in when I get around to finishing the next version.

Thanks for the comments, glad I could be of help.

	15-01-2002 03:34									#48
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

You are really going for that Sixth star aren't you.

	16-01-2002 11:03									#49
	Put an end to popups!

quote: Originally posted by DaddyHolby You are really going for that Sixth star aren't you.

Don't you have some work to do or something?

	16-01-2002 21:54									#50
	Full PM-box? Change here!

Work? What is that?

	20-01-2002 02:14									#51
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

Can this program be used to edit maps made by the Civ 3 editor? One of the major problems with the current Civ 3 editor is the inability to zoom out to see the big picture.

Can someone describe how to use this program to edit Civ 3 maps?

	21-01-2002 00:07									#52
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Dr Strangelove: This is only a conversion program. It changes .bmp files to .bic files (or extracts .bic maps from .sav or .bic files, but that's another case). So, to create maps using this tool, you also need any graphics editor. But don't worry, included is the relevant palette, so creating a new map is a breeze.

	22-01-2002 21:58									#53
	Got spare money?

quote: Originally posted by LoD Dr Strangelove: This is only a conversion program. It changes .bmp files to .bic files (or extracts .bic maps from .sav or .bic files, but that's another case). So, to create maps using this tool, you also need any graphics editor. But don't worry, included is the relevant palette, so creating a new map is a breeze.

What I'd like to do is take maps created by the Civ 3 editor and alter them to my own liking. Can this be done using this program?

	23-01-2002 03:41									#54
	Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by Dr Strangelove What I'd like to do is take maps created by the Civ 3 editor and alter them to my own liking. Can this be done using this program?

It depends, are you interested in preserving information such as resources, rivers, goody huts, etc. If so then no.

If you are just interested in getting the land masses along with the terrain types from a civ3edit map, then yes that is something you could do.

The idea behind the BMPToBIC utility is to allow you to create a map with terrain from an image, so that you don't have to use the very rudimentary tools in Civ3Edit to do the hard part. Then you load the output of the BMPToBIC utility into Civ3Edit to fine tune the map the way you want it.

Hope that helps

	24-01-2002 02:53									#55
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

I'm looking for a way around Civ3editor's lack of a zoom out feature. It's very difficult to create a map without the ability to see more of the world at a glance.

	25-01-2002 01:30									#56
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Originally posted by Dr Strangelove I'm looking for a way around Civ3editor's lack of a zoom out feature. It's very difficult to create a map without the ability to see more of the world at a glance.

It is possible to get a mini-map view of an existing BIC file using the BMPtoBIC utility.

	31-01-2002 18:40									#57
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Great utility - i just have one question.

How does the BIC format actually work? I've tried using your map editor
to duplicate map detail that's already there (so that each Civ gets the same terrain), but if i copy and paste in a bmp file, things go wrong if i rotate anything. Provided you copy an even number of pixels in each direction, simple pasting seems to work, but rotating/reflecting doesn't.


Ideally i'm looking for a way to generate custom maps automatically, so was wondering how i could write the map information to bic files direct from a C program say.

Rob

	31-01-2002 23:02									#58
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

quote: Originally posted by rt41uk Great utility - i just have one question. How does the BIC format actually work? I've tried using your map editor to duplicate map detail that's already there (so that each Civ gets the same terrain), but if i copy and paste in a bmp file, things go wrong if i rotate anything. Provided you copy an even number of pixels in each direction, simple pasting seems to work, but rotating/reflecting doesn't. Ideally i'm looking for a way to generate custom maps automatically, so was wondering how i could write the map information to bic files direct from a C program say. Rob

I would look in the BIC File Format Thread under the files section of this web site. The actual layout of the .bic format is described there. The thread was very helpful to me when writing the bmptobic utility.

	24-02-2002 21:23									#59
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

Suggestion to make people's lives easier Rather than have a preset pallette, why don't you actually load it from BMPToBIC.bmp.

Basically, just load the bmp into memory at startup and grab the color in each labelled box to use for that terrain type. (you could even expand it to have rows of 2 or 3 boxes, so multiple colors can reference the same terrain).

It'd make it easier on people, since then they could just use a flood fill operation in whatever editor they like before they convert to specify what colors they used for what, and I dont think it'd take you over half an hour to implement since its relatively easy compared to what you've already done.

	25-02-2002 09:16									#60
	Suffering from ads?

quote: Originally posted by wervdon Suggestion to make people's lives easier Rather than have a preset pallette, why don't you actually load it from BMPToBIC.bmp. Basically, just load the bmp into memory at startup and grab the color in each labelled box to use for that terrain type. (you could even expand it to have rows of 2 or 3 boxes, so multiple colors can reference the same terrain). It'd make it easier on people, since then they could just use a flood fill operation in whatever editor they like before they convert to specify what colors they used for what, and I dont think it'd take you over half an hour to implement since its relatively easy compared to what you've already done.

Actually, what you describe is what happens. So, it is possible to change terrain types by just changing the color in the BMPToBIC.bmp box for that terrain type. However I would recommend making a backup of the original BMPToBIC.bmp before you do this, so that you can pull back in the original colors, because the palette is also used for all the map previews, etc.

Hope that helps.