Imperium One - Off to a Flying Start - Info Thread

[Isit]

First off you can get the patch here. http://www.jonsullivan.com/misc/moo.php3

If you need a program to unzip it you can get it here. http://www.winzip.com/

Just download it and double click on it like you would the civ3 patch. It will install itself.

Then double click on the zipped file you downloaded. A new window will pop up with a list of files. Select all the files using the shift key and then click the extract button. A new window will pop up that looks a lot like the window you use to save a file when you download it. Browse through your computer to the directory where MOO is installed. This will probably be on your C drive in the orion or mps\orion directory.

Once you find the directory, select it and press the extract button. When you are asked if you want to overwrite any files click the Yes to All button. That will get the patch installed for you.

I don’t think directions have been posted for getting the tournament game working. It should be fairly similar to what I describe above with a little file editing thrown in. I am sure Sirian will post directions when the game goes up.

If any of that isnt clear just let me know.

[Zed-F]

Sorry the previous links weren't what you were looking for.

Checking what version you are using: Start the game and click through the intro sequence until you get to the continue/load/new/quit game screen. At the bottom in grey you should be able to see what version the game is. See the following screenshot:
http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/messag...geid=1078370136

If it's 1.3, you're good to go. If not, you will need to download a patch. You should be able to find the patch at Underdogs, but you can also get it at Jon Sullivan's site. There is a link in Sirian's site, but I'll also give it here:
http://www.jonsullivan.com/misc/moo.php3

To install the patch, or use a downloaded save, you will need to know where you installed MOO. You ought to be able to search your system using Start->Search->Find Files & Folders or similar. Look for Orion.exe, and once you find it, make a note of the directory it is in. Copy the patch file there, and extract it to that directory using winzip.

I think I remember the thread you were looking at before that seemed complicated, but I also can't find it at this moment. However, IIRC I think the problems they had in that thread getting saved games to work revolved around not ever having had saved games before, so the computer in some sense didn't know they were there. In any case, I've been able to download and play saved games previously, though not in connection with an Imperium, obviously. What I did was save an arbitrary game in some slot, download the save file I wanted to use, unzip it, and copy the save file over the arbitrary game I saved. I just tried it out and it worked correctly for me.

Here's a link to a savegame you can try this out on to see if it will work for you. Make sure you have got the 1.3 patch installed first, though.
http://apolyton.net/go.php?forums/attachme...=&postid=750479

[Griselda]

Hi,

Beyond not being sure what version you're running (which I think Zed covered in his post), I may be able to help you out if I knew what part of the process you found frustrating. You mentioned some trouble with zipping and unzipping, so I'll start there. First of all, please do get a copy of Winzip. Using the Windows file extraction software has caused trouble in the Epics, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is problematic for other files as well.

Now, make sure you're running Winzip in "Wizard" mode. I almost never say that, about anything, but if you're not too fond of computers and not sure what you're doing, the Wizard mode of Winzip should be able to do just about everything you're trying to get it to do. Also, it should walk you through the process. The "Classic" mode can be a bit intimidating if you're not sure what you're doing.

One thing to keep in mind- you'll need to "activate" your save slots in MOO, BEFORE you download any game saves. So, the process would be

1. Get MOO running
2. Make sure you're in 1.3
3. Activate your save slots.
4. Download your saves
5. Extract them to the proper location

I'm not the person to help you if you're stuck on #1 or #2. For #3, what you have to do is save a "dummy" game to each of your six save slots. MOO will not look for save games if it doesn't already think that the slot exists. It's like making a complete web site, but not linking the front page to any of your other pages. So, you're going to save dummy games to all six slots, EXPECTING those games to be overwritten with real games at some point. I believe that slots 1 and 2 will be left open for you to use for solo games. Slots 3 and 4 are for the tutorial games at this point. I think the Imperia will use slots 5 and 6 (Imperium one is slot 5).

After #3, you're ready to download the save(s) (step #4). You may try with Sirian's tutorial games now, so that you know if you will need more help before Imperium One opens. Besides the winzip information above, you want to make sure that you're actually putting the save file into your MOO directory, and not into a generic "unzipped" folder somewhere (step #5).

If you've tried these steps, in that order, and something is still not working, maybe you could mention exactly what step does not seem to be working for you, and what's going wrong?

Good luck!

-Griselda

[The Black Cursor]

Count me in as well. I'm having a blast with this game and look forward to the shared experience. Speaking of which, there apparently was a tournament effort several years back that also included a shorthand reporting format (similar to chess notation) called MOOCE -- I saw this in one of the FAQs. While the original site is long gone, Google Groups does have some info about this,

MOOCE 0.34

Is this an idea we may want to adapt for our purposes?


Be seeing you...

---> TBC (Tasty Burnt Cookies)

[Caesar_Augustus]

I've never played this fine game, and was wondering how quick can one pick this up? I'd like to try out this Epic (as soon as I can get a copy of MoO), but not if it requires a lot of time to figure out how to work the interface etc . . .

I realize that this is a pretty subjective question, but any thoughts? FWIW my strategy gaming background is limited to all of the Civ titles and pretty much all of the Koei games.

(re: the post title - I hope I wasn't the only one thinking about that when I first read about Realms Beyond Orion )

[Kylearan]

Hi,

learning the interface should be no problem! The game is rather old and so lacks some of the finesse of more modern game interfaces like tool-tips and such, but otherwise it's clear, simple and easy to learn. There are not many layers of menus where you could get lost, nor are the controls ambigous or hard to find. And since you're familiar with the civ series, you know the basic principles of empire-building games and know what to expect: A tech menu, a planet menu etc...

Additionally, the manual is quite good (and can be downloaded as well from the site where you can get the game), and I highly recommend Sirian's tutorial for the game, which can be found on his MoO page. There you not only will learn the controls, but also some basic strategy (although I must say I'm not sure if the level of micromanagement he describes there isn't a bit much for a beginner, but YMMV).

Once you've mastered the controls and learned what the game is all about, the harder part begins: Learning how to beat the AI. But that's what the MoO Imperia will be best for - I learned to become a variant Deity player for civ3 through participation in the Epic, and my first submitted results containes several losses.

As a sidenote, I just beat the game at hard, on my thrid try after my long break. Lots of fun. :D

-Kylearan

[Zed-F]

Kylarean is correct, the game is easy to learn. Learning Civ 1 was harder.

Mastery is, of course, another matter.

[Kabuki]

I'm in and good to go! :war:

I'm very rusty, but I'm about ready to take Sirian's comments on the game's quality as Gospel... Not quite, but close... not to clear off some of that rust before Monday and all the SGs for Civ coming up...

Thanks to Zed-F for the links.

[Sirian]

I'm about ready to take Sirian's comments on the game's quality as Gospel

I appreciate your confidence in my opinions, especially in regard to being willing to give this a try. I can't promise you'll have a good time, though. I can only explain how much of a good time I have, on the hope that others will have similar experiences.

I'll do what I can to give you the best possible chance to have a good time. That's about the limit of what you can hold me to, though.

I'm glad that you found your way though the process of hooking up the game with (seemingly) no major hassles. Perhaps that will encourage others to realize they can give this a try without a major up-front commitment or investment.


- Sirian

[barron of ideas]

Thank you all for your help. I will try your advice this weekend and report back.

I I understand the instructions, likely I will first need to download winzip so I can unzip a downloaded 1.3 patch to MOO. Then once 1.3 runs, try to download the tutorial games into MOO save game files and see if that works. If it does, likely I can download the Imperia files.

If this isn't the best plan, somebody stop me. Please.