06-05-2000 03:17 | www	edit | quote	#1 | report |
something to reveal: text commands Enter the AD-FREE zone

Let us bring into public knowledge what I wanted to keep
for myself

code:
TEXT COMMANDS:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

By Allard H.S. Höfelt

May be used freely without my permission.

-----------NOTES-----------

     Not all of these function everywhere, eg. they do not work in
  events, menus, etc. Also, some functions are prefixed, eg. the field
  to fill in your name is an editbox, though the @options tag is used
  as with any other value. Also the "^" command works very differently
  in CREDITS.TXT than normally.
  It is also unfortunately not possible to add icons/units to places
  where they are not originally, nor is it possible to make "links"
  to other dialog boxes or to call up movies, etc.

      I am not certain about the commands in Test of Time. There might
  be more commands (though I seem to remember John Possidente said there
  were none), and there might be new tricks.

      The commands given here are all the commands that work. It has
  been checked while hex-editing the civ2.exe file (near the end of
  the file) and there are no more of them. In Colonization and Antietam
  and probably more similar MicroProse games, various other commands
  are usable, but they do unfortunately not work in civ2.

      Combining several values, however, can lead to surprising results,
  and I am certain that not all of it has yet been found. Be original,
  therefore, with your tries, and remember that a command might not work
  the same in one place and another (especially true for the @options
  command).

      Not all commands have to be added at the top of the file. This
  again is especially true for @options.

-----------main commands-----------

@listbox=.... 
    box with list of choices. You can add @options later.
    .... is the no. of rows

@options      
    radio buttons that can be selected. You can type text
    before you add @options to make that text appear on
    top of the options, so you do not necessarily have to
    add @options at the top of the file.
 @default=... number of radio button selected by default
 @checkbox    uses checkboxes instead of radioboxes
  option1     text that shows up in available
  option2         options (every new line is new option)

   Note: leaving one line empty usually also automatically
   ----- add the @options command to the next lines.

@text
    forces all the next text to be displayed as normal
    text instead of listboxes, options, etc.

@columns=....
    columns, appears to be only used with listboxes and options
@button=..... adds new button left of OK with .... as text on button

@title=...... title of box


-----------location commands-----------

@width=.....  width of dialog box
@height=..... height of dialog box
@length=..... length of dialog box
@y=.....      y location (- is lower)
@x=.....      x location (- is more to right)

-----------obsolete commands-----------

@smallfont
  and
@system

  These are both older (used in Colonization) commands with no effect.

-----------some more useful strings/commands-----------

%STRING0, %STRING1, ... = pieces of text used in memory.
%NUMBER0, %NUMBER1, ... = numbers used in memory.


^  - New paragraph.
^^ - Center this line.
@@ - Skips this line.
;  - Used to time comments after it. Does not always work.
_  - A space. Used by some scenario authors (JB) to add empty lines.
&  - Adds a line under the next letter. May be used only once per line.
%  - Indicates a string or number. Works inpredictably in other cases.
|  - Seems only usable in menu.txt and mapmenu.txt. Aligns further text
     to the right.

-----------interesting tricks-----------

- You can let the player choose its tribe from the scenario introduction
  screen instead of the next screen, which does not appear then. Simply
  open myscenarioname.txt, add "@listbox" on top, and add "@options"
  later on where you want to have the choices. Like this, you can also
  devide the available civs in 2 or even 3 columns and have more fun.
  The normal (next) screen where you choose your civ itself is not
  editable in the game.txt (!) so this is the only way of modifying it.

- You can make a much longer scenario introduction text than normally
  (you can almost add half a book  ) by adding "@listbox=.." with ..
  meaning the number of lines you want the text box to be high, and
  later add "@options". All text after options will be in a scrolling box.
  Note that this is basically the same as the trick above only you type
  your text AFTER @options. The nice thing of this is that it also allows
  you to type the more important text above the box, and you can use the
  box itself for text giving flavour. You can add "."'s in an further
  empty line to make it empty, and allowing a new paragraph, which would
  normally not be possible, because no empty lines are allowed.

- If you wish to disable certain options (which only works for menus, and
  therefore only to humans and then only to options which do not have
  keyboard shortcuts) in menus, game.txt or wherever, simply add @@ at
  the beginning of the line. Unfortunately, this does not change the
  assigned command for that location (i.e. if you remove "begin scenario"
  in the first screen when you start up the game, selecting "view credits"
  will show you the hall of fame, and selecting "load game" will still
  bring you to the load scenario screen). Adding a ~ before the first or the
  second character in various of the lines might do the trick, but it is
  very unstable, illogical, and only works at some places (i've only seen
  it working in the same very screen I just talked of).

- A great deal of fun can be achieved by adding more options (simply more
  lines below) to certain values, such as adding more levels of difficulty
  and more barbarians. This is known already for a while.
  However, another fun thing to add is this. In the field in GAME.TXT where
  the scenario player has to fill in its name, you can simply add more lines:

      @NAME
      @width=440
      @title=Please Enter Your Name
      @options
      Name:
      Political Preference:
      Nationality:
      Date of Birth:
      Place of Birth:
      Homepage:
      Email:

  In the next screen, the gender screen, let's remove the gender question,
  assuming that Stalin is only supposed to be male, and let's add this
  instead:

    ^^NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS
    ^^
    ^^New %STRING2 Ruler has been announced.
    ^^%STRING0 will soon start his new function.
    ^^
    ^^%STRING0 was born on the %STRING3 in %STRING4. As
    ^^soon as he finished his University carreer, he
    ^^joined the %STRING1 party.

  Remember that the %strings values will soon be overwritten with new values
  that the game uses (it's funny to find these out by adding a %string0 or 1
  to a frequently occuring pop-up screen). Therefore, you might want to ask
  the more important questions later, to allow them to return later. Remember
  however, that when quitting the game, the values are lost and are also not
  saved when you save the game. Keep this in mind to avoid strange messages
  in the game, and use the strings only in the very first few pop-ups and
  the first turns.

- Remember that any text can be changed in GAME.TXT. If you wish to make
  clear that the human player should only choose Deity level, write that
  before the @options start. You can add whole little stories, for example
  like this, another, more fun, way of asking your name.

    ^"Friends, - for common to all is our return hereafter, and common
    to all is our path - now therefore with ungrudging heart choose
    the bravest to be our leader, who shall be careful for everything,
    to take upon him our quarrels and covenants with strangers."
    @options
    Name:

  You can also change the text that you see when you save or load a game,
  such as remove the title of the leader, or you can change the text if
  a saved game is in obsolete or later format ("Sorry, this scenario is
  only playable using Fantastic Worlds").

- I imagine many more things are possible without me yet knowing of it.
  Explore these commands and use them in your scenarios.

05-02-2003 07:20 | www	edit | quote	#29 | report |
Support Apolyton

Related to this but far less groundbreaking, you can put in underlines using the 'macron' character (Alt+0175). The following text in the 'scenario name.txt':
@SCENARIO
@width=750
@title=El Aurens, A ToT Scenario by Boco
@listbox=25
@default=1
@options
PLAYER'S NOTE: On the next pop-up, CHOOSE "Allies (Lloyd George)"!
                                                  
   ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
  §§§§§

(Poly trimmed out the extra spaces prior to the macron characters. Using Windows WordPad, I worked out the spacing to get the 'underline' at the right region by editing in Arial font)
Looks like this:

Attachment: ulineex.png
This has been downloaded 143 time(s).

05-02-2003 07:28 | www	edit | quote	#30 | report |
Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Attachment: ulinecode.png
This has been downloaded 145 time(s).