So, if you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or critisisms of MD, this is the place to put them.

More likely is the second problem. There is a known bug which causes an error when you run from some European versions of Windows. The error says something like "0.36343 is an invalid floating point value". This bug has already been taken care of in what will become the next version of the game.

In the meantime, to get version 0.3.6 to run on your system, make the following small modification. Go to Start|Settings|Control Panel, then double click on "Regional Settings". Click on the "Number" tab. You should see a setting which says "Decimal Seperator", and it will be set to a comma. Change it to a period, and hit Apply. Close all of that, and the game should run fine.

Hope that helps. Let me know if that doesn't work and you still can't run.

(Damn Anglo-Saxons; they're having everything the wrong way, just to confuse us normal people. )

quote: Originally posted by VetLegion on 05-26-2000 07:04 PM The map is very good. Is it generated flat, and then wrapped/adjusted to a sphere, or is it made on a sphere and then streched to the screen? The map in civ2:ToT also has a globe minimap, but it is prodeuced by mathematicall approximation from flat map. It cannot be zoomed, because, simply the civ world is not round. I think you did excellent job at your map.

IRL, if the US and the USSR had ever gotten into a nuclear war (heaven forbid), they'd have tossed the missles over the north pole, since that's the shortest distance between the two contries. We wanted to have the same option, and that is really what prompted us to create a true globe in the first place

In answer to your question, the map is created flat, with some modification due account for the distortion which will happen when it is wrapped around a sphere (otherwise, you'd get a squashed look to the landmasses as you get toward the poles). The flat map is then molded to the sphere to create a globe. This is true of both the mini-map and the large map, in fact.

quote: Yes, we will try to make OC3 have direct connections in multiplayer. Your system (files) is good for play by e-mail, but it is simmilary structured to what I thought of for OC3. Can you tell me what were your headaches for direct-connection MP? I think we are nearing a workable model, and I want to see if it is good.

quote: Also, I havent read that your game will be simultaneous turns. Can you please refer me to a document about it, or explain?

The host sends each player their individual player file, which they can then open to see the state of their game. They then give orders to their units/cities/civ and save. A save file is generated which is returned to the host.

The host collects one save file from every player, then generates the next turn. The turn generation sequence takes the info from each save file, combines them, and from that information, determines a new game state, which is saved in a new host file. The new host file splits the relevant info into the player files, which are sent back to the players, and the whole process repeats.

So, with this model, turns are simultaneous. You play your entire turn without any input from other players as to what they are doing that turn (you can only know what they did in their last turns).

I hope I explained that well enough

The turn system is clear to me up to the part of combining the turns. How are they going to be combined? If one player file is executed, and then the other and so on, obviously only the first player has advantage. If they are combined on another basis, is it by commands, or by time?

For example, if two players gave move orders to units, are they processed so that each finishes its movement, and then the other does, or are they combined so that first one moves, say 1 movement point, then another, then first... and so on.

In OC3, I hope we will implement something like the later, which is in effect a real time game.

I downloaded and tried MD. There were some things I really liked. The clan creation stuff especially, as a RPG enthusiast. I'm looking forward for the final game.

I'm also a member of OC3 team. Right now, my specialty is the map. The globe map would be nice in our game, too. At least as an option for the player. I'd love to hear more details about how you made your globe. Or if that's confidental, could you guide me to some good source of information on the net? Keep up your good work, I will register your game when it's ready.

quote: Originally posted by VetLegion on 05-27-2000 04:46 AM The turn system is clear to me up to the part of combining the turns. How are they going to be combined?

quote: For example, if two players gave move orders to units, are they processed so that each finishes its movement, and then the other does, or are they combined so that first one moves, say 1 movement point, then another, then first... and so on.

quote: In OC3, I hope we will implement something like the later, which is in effect a real time game.

quote: Tell me if I am bugging you too much

quote: Originally posted by Amjayee on 05-27-2000 04:46 AM I downloaded and tried MD. There were some things I really liked. The clan creation stuff especially, as a RPG enthusiast.

quote: I'm also a member of OC3 team. Right now, my specialty is the map. The globe map would be nice in our game, too. At least as an option for the player. I'd love to hear more details about how you made your globe. Or if that's confidental, could you guide me to some good source of information on the net?

As for sources on the web, as far as I am aware, there are none That's the problem with using a system no one else uses, you have to make it up on your own, heh.

The link is under the Alternative Civ section of the Apolyton board. Alternately, you can also hit the "homepage" button at the top of this post

I had a conversation with the programmer of it, actually (Mark Santesson, nice guy) a while back. He used a standard fractal landscape generator, but modified it to work on a sphere. A pretty clever bit of programming.

We talked about how it might apply to MD, but in the end, I pretty much determined that it is incompatable with our current tiling scheme.

Might be useful for you guys, though.

quote: Originally posted by RonHiler on 05-30-2000 07:58 PM He used a standard fractal landscape generator, but modified it to work on a sphere. A pretty clever bit of programming. We talked about how it might apply to MD, but in the end, I pretty much determined that it is incompatable with our current tiling scheme.

Actually, I've been working on a new version which should be usable by you. It's template based, so you can pick the properties you want each tile to have, and how it is modified by iteration, or whatever. Most importantly, you can ask for the value at a point not coincident with the internal representation and you'll get reasonable values. This means you can tell it to generate the planet, and then ask what the terrain is like at the locations where your hexes/squares/tiles exist.


I'm doing some final modifications to it, and it should be done RSN (~1week), but you can see screenshots and get the first version executable/source at:

Wow, nice work with the new program. And with the added ability to query for terrian values at any latitude and longitude, you are right, this became a whole lot more compatable with our system.

We are going to have to talk, for I am definately interested in using it. After I finish Alpha 1, I want to take a look at your system.

How long does a landscape generation take?

Sorry to hear you are having a problem. Could you be a tad more specific on what is going wrong? I'm not aware of any bugs which would flat out cause the game not to run at this point. It's pretty stable, as far as I know.

In order to run, you will need to be using a Win9x OS, and have DX5 or better installed. If you have WinNT, I'm afraid you're out of luck, you'd have to upgrade to WinME (NT doesn't support DX5, but ME does).

I would recommend using the Daily build version rather than the last official download, right now. You can find it at the bottom of our front page (Buid #657 currently, updated once or twice a week).

If you are still having problems, give me a yell, and I'll see if I can't help.