Introduction

This is Freeciv 2.0.0, an open-source game that is similar to the Civilization game series.  There are quite a few improvements made over the previous 1.14.x versions, such as the ability to conduct diplomacy with AI players and new units.  If you are interested in the details, visit

	http://www.freeciv.org/index.php/NEWS-beta
	http://www.freeciv.org/index.php/NEWS-rc1

This file augments the contents of Freeciv Readme.html.

Change Log

April 16th, 2005

1.	Based on Freeciv 2.0.0 source code.

April 13th, 2005

1.	Based on Freeciv 2.0.0 RC 2 source code.

April 9th, 2005

1.	Based on Freeciv 2.0.0 RC 1 source code.

February 24th, 2005

1.	Based on Freeciv 2.0.0 Beta 8 source code.

2.	Added sound support to both Freeciv and Freeciv (GTK+2) game clients.

3.	Added libreadline support to civserver.

4.	Modified Freeciv Server (now at version 0.2.2) to accommodate behavioral change in civserver due to libreadline support.

February 17th, 2005

1.	Include additional game client Freeciv (GTK+2).  This client has a richer GUI than Freeciv.  It includes its own interface to both launch the game server (civserver) as well as configure many of the game server options.  In many ways, it fills the gap I had intended the Freeciv Server application to fill.

2.	The Freeciv (GTK+2) game client requires certain files to be located in well-known locations.  The place I've chosen for these files is in the

		/Users/[your_user_name]/Library/Application Support/Freeciv

	folder.  Whenever you launch this game client, it will check for the existence of these files, and create them if they don't exist.  This is done on a per-user basis.

3.	Include version 0.2.1 of Freeciv Server:

-	Added ability to launch either game client

4.	Updated this document to include useful information about the new game client.

February 3rd, 2005

1.	Include version 0.2 of Freeciv Server that contains the following enhancements and fixes:

-	Added icon for .civgame documents
-	Fixed bug where hosting multiple games concurrently would crash the application
-	New Game dialog now remembers settings you last used
-	Save item from the File menu now works
-	Added Launch Game Client item to the File menu

January 29th, 2005

1.	Based on Freeciv 2.0.0 Beta 7 source code.

2.	Include version 0.1 of Cocoa application Freeciv Server.  This application allows you to run the Freeciv server executable (civserver) without having to launch the Terminal application.  Scroll down for a quick tutorial on using this application.

January 6th, 2005

1.	Based on Freeciv 2.0.0 Beta 6 source code.

December 12th, 2004

1.	Based on Freeciv 2.0.0 Beta 5 source code.

November 22nd, 2004

1.	Based on Freeciv 2.0.0 Beta 4 source code.

November 9th, 2004

1.	Based on Freeciv 2.0.0 Beta 3 source code.

2.	Removed confirmation dialog when launching the game client.

3.	Added launcher program Freeciv Server (thanks, Bob Ippolito).  Games are saved to the Saved Games folder.

4.	Added an AppleScript droplet named Load Save Game.  You can drag and drop a game file onto it, and it will run the game server and load the dropped game file.

October 27th, 2004

1.	Based on Freeciv 2.0.0 Beta 2 source code.

2.	Removed dependency on DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH.

3.	Removed extraneous library files.

4.	Placed all items within a single folder inside the disk image.

5.	Updated this document.

September 30th, 2004

1.	Based on September 30th source code.

2.	Replaced symbolic to civserver with a shell script of the same name to address two issues when running the game server from Saved Games folder.  Basically the shell scripts sets the FREECIV_PATH and DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables for the actual civserver executable:

a.	Game server crashes when the start command is issued.

b.	Game server exits unexpectedly, and the client complains about missing SDL_mixer support.

3.	Added paragraph to Saving and Restoring Games section of this document to illustrate setting server to save the game more (or less) frequently.

4.	Added section on setting AI player skill levels.

September 18th, 2004

1.	Resolved dependence on /opt/local.

September 11th, 2004

1.	Initial release.

Requirements

You need the following in order to run my build of Freeciv:

1.	Mac OS X Panther.

2.	X11 (see Freeciv Readme.html).

3.	This package.

4.	Basic knowledge about command-line interfaces (at least a willingness to use it).  This is now optional.

Caveat and Disclaimer

I cannot guarantee that this package won't do bad things to your computer or your data.  It is provided strictly as-is.

Installation

If you are reading this file, then you've most likely have downloaded and mounted the disk image successfully.  To install this build of Freeciv on your computer, simply copy the folder named Freeciv 2.0.0 Beta 7 to somewhere on your machine.  Either /Applications or your Home directory will do.

The Freeciv 2.0.0 Beta 7 folder should contain the following items:

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Uninstallation

To uninstall the game, do the following:

1.	Delete the Freeciv 2.0.0 Beta 7 folder.

2.	Delete the .civclientrc file from your Home directory.  This is basically a preference file for the game client, and is created only if you have selected Game -> Save Settings from the game client at some point.

3.	Delete the .freeciv folder from your Home directory.  If you use the built-in interface of the GTK+ 2.x game client to run the game server, saved game files are stored here.

4.	Delete the /Users/[your_user_name]/Library/Application Support/Freeciv folder.

Single Player Game Using Freeciv Server and Freeciv Applications

Freeciv has two parts:  server and client.  To start a game with just you and some computer players, you need to run both the server and the client.

To start the server, follow these steps:

1.	Double-click on the Freeciv Server application.

2.	From the File menu, select New Game…, and the new game dialog will appear.

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3.	Click Start Server to get a game going with you and 7 computer players on the Easy level.

4.	Next, a sheet will drop down, asking you where to place saved game files.

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5.	After you select a location, name, click Save.  At this point, a window will appear, with the game server executable (civserver) seemingly to run inside an application window.

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	At this point, switch over to the Finder and locate the file My Freeciv Game.civgame (assuming you saved it under this name).   Notice that it appears as a file, not a directory.  This is because I've created my own document bundle to collect the saved game files.  The individual saved game files are hidden within this document bundle.  If you don't understand what this means, it is okay.  Keep going.  You'll see what I mean later on in this document.

To run the Freeciv client:

1.	Double-click on the Freeciv application within the Finder.

2.	When the client starts, click the Connect button in the Connect to Freeciv Server dialog.

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3.	The connect dialog should now disappear.  The game's main window (whose title is Freeciv) should have some text scroll by in the message pane.

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4.	Click on the message line area (the very bottom of the window) and type

	/start

	(including the / character) and press Return.  The game should now start and allow you to choose your nation, name, gender, and city style.  You can also switch over to the Freeciv Server application and click the Start Game button.

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5.	After you specify your nation, name, gender, and city style, press the OK button.  The game's main window should eventually look something like this.

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6.	If you see the above, the game has started properly, and you should all ready to go.

7.	Go ahead play a few turns, if you like.

8.	Now switch over to the Freeciv Server application, and click the Save Game button.  The current state of the game is now saved.

	Note:  Clicking the Save Game button is the same as typing "save" in the command text field and clicking Execute.

9.	Stop the game by either closing the window or clicking the Quit Game button.

Restoring A Saved Game

To manually save a game, switch to the Freeciv Server application.  You can either type "save" in the command text field and click Execute, or click the Save Game button.

To start a game from some saved state, follow these steps:

1.	Launch the Freeciv Server application if it is not running.

2.	From the File menu, select Open Saved Game….  Navigate to the My Freeciv Game.civgame file, and click Open.

3.	What you should see now is a list of what I call save points, listed in reverse chronological order.  Highlight the one you want, and click Resume.

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	At this point, a game server window should open.

4.	Launch the game client to join the game.  You can then start the game by either clicking the Start Game button in the server or typing in the "/start" command in the game client.

By default, the server saves the game every 10 turns, and each save generates a new file.  To change this to save every turn, type "set saveturns=1" into the command text field and click Execute.

AI Player Skill Settings

The game has four AI player skill settings: novice, easy, normal, and hard.  The default setting is easy.  To change it to, say, hard, type "hard" into the command text field and click Execute.

Now, you know that the hard setting just means the AI players cheat a whole lot more, right?

Notes About Freeciv Server

1.	This application allows you to host multiple games on a machine concurrently.  However, each game must run on its own connection port, with the default being 5555.

2.	For each game you run, a separate instance of the civserver executable is launched in the background.  When you close a game window in the application, the corresponding executable should have terminated as well.  Otherwise, you will not be able to host another game on the same port.  If you find this to be the case, you can launch the Activity Monitor application (in /Application/Utilities), locate any civserver dangling processes, and end them.

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Single Player Game Using the Freeciv (GTK+2) Game Client

To start a single-player game using the Freeciv (GTK+2) game client, follow these steps:

1.	Launch the Freeciv (GTK+2) application.  In the intro window, click Start New Game.

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2.	Specify Number of Players (including AI), AI Skill Level, and click Start.

3.	Select a nation and a leader name, and press OK.

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4.	The game should now start and present you with the game window.

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Notes About Freeciv (GTK+2) Game Client

1.	If you followed the above steps to start a game, saved game files are located in the /Users/[your_user_name]/.freeciv/saves folder.

2.	You can use Freeciv Server with this client.  To do so, first start a game with Freeciv Server.  Then, run the game client, click on Connect to Network Game in the initial game window, then click on the Local Area Network tab and click OK.

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	If you have more than one game started using Freeciv Server, they should be listed in the window.

Gameplay Help

For more help and information on how to play the game, visit the Freeciv web site as well as the discussion forum at these respective URLs:

	http://freeciv.org/
	http://forum.freeciv.org/

The forum is frequented by players as well as some of the actual developers.  They can probably answer your questions better than I can.

Furthermore, this package contains five (5) HTML files generated by a game utility called civmanual.  They are in the Manual folder.  You can view them using your favorite browser.

Package Help

For help and questions on this particular package, you can either find me on the Freeciv forum (username saltybanana), or visit my blog at

	http://blog.saltybanana.com/peel/

and leave me a comment under the entry where you downloaded this disk image from.

Credits

1.	This installation was originally made by someone named emj on the Freeciv forum.  You can download it at

	http://ftp.freeciv.org/pub/freeciv/incoming/freeciv-1.14.1-app.dmg

I took that package and overlaid the build I made as well as made some small modifications.  He also provided the tip that eventually allowed me to remove the dependency on /opt/local/lib.

2.	The binaries I put into this package are compiled using Apple's developers tools (Xcode 1.5).

3.	The Freeciv game client is using GTK+ 1.2.10, whereas the Freeciv (GTK+2) game client is using GTK+ 2.4.0.  Both of which are made possible on Mac OS X by the DarwinPorts project at

	http://darwinports.opendarwin.org

4.	Kudos to Bob Ippolito for showing me how to remove the dependency on the DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable.

5.	Whoever wrote the code for the TaskWrapper class, thank you.

6.	Lo'oris, whose success with GTK+ 2.x of the client led me to include it with my package also.

7.	Lastly, thanks to the Freeciv developers for bringing Freeciv to the world and keeping it open.