Julius Switch

Julius
Julius
General
Author	bvschaik
Type	Strategy
Version	1.7.0
License	AGPL-3.0
Last Updated	2021/10/13
Links
	Download
	Website
	Source

Julius is a fully working open-source version of Caesar 3, with the same logic as the original, but with some UI enhancements, that can be played on multiple platforms.

The goal of the project is to have exactly the same game logic as Caesar 3, with the same look and feel. This means that the saved games are 100% compatible with Caesar 3, and any gameplay bugs present in the original Caesar 3 game will also be present in Julius.

Enhancements for Julius include:

Support for widescreen resolutions.
Windowed mode support for 32-bit desktops.
A lot of small in-game quality of life improvements.
Support for the high-quality MP3 files once provided on the Sierra website.

While Julius does not implement any gameplay changes, a fork of Julius named Augustus is implementing many long-wanted gameplay changes, such as roadblocks. Beware: Augustus does not support the original Caesar 3 save files, while Julius does. So use Julius for a more vanilla experience with some visual improvements, or Augustus for a different gameplay experience.

Installation

Julius will not run without the original Caesar 3 files. You can buy a digital copy from GOG or Steam, or you can use an original CD-ROM version.

Note that your game must be patched to 1.0.1.0 to use Augustus. Most digital versions of the game (like GOG.com for example), already are patched to 1.0.1.0. But if your version isn't, you can download the update here.

To run Julius on Nintendo Switch, follow these steps:

Ensure you have a jailbroken Switch. Detailed jailbreaking instructions can be found on Nintendo Homebrew's Guide or, alternatively, on AtlasNX's Guide.
Extract the contents of julius-switch.zip into the switch folder on your SD card, so that you have a folder /switch/julius with julius.nro inside.
Copy all the files from a Caesar 3 install into the /switch/julius/ folder, so that you have the file /switch/julius/c3.eng and more.

User guide

More Julius-specific information can be found here.

Touch modes

Touch modes can be toggled with the minus button. There are three modes:

Touchpad mode (default):
- Single finger drag = move the mouse pointer (indirectly like on a touchpad).
- Single short tap = left mouse click.
- Single short tap while holding a second finger down = right mouse click.
Direct mode:
- Pointer jumps to finger, nothing else.
Julius mode.

For multi-touch gestures, the fingers have to be far enough apart from each other, so that the Switch will not erroneously recognize them as a single finger. Otherwise the pointer will jump around.

Controls

Left Stick - Move the mouse pointer

Right Stick or D-Pad - Scroll the map

R/A - Left mouse button

L/B - Right mouse button

ZR - Hold to slow down analog stick mouse pointer

ZL - Hold to speed up analog stick mouse pointer

X - Simulate Page Up keypress (speed up in-game time)

Y - Simulate Page Down keypress (slow down in-game time)

Plus - Bring up on-screen keyboard, useful to enter player name etc.

Minus - Toggle between touch modes

Physical USB mice and keyboards are supported. All keyboards seem to work. Not all mice work. A mouse compatibility list is available here.

Screenshots

Media

Caesar 3 Review | Classic City Builder Game (StefaNonsense)

Changelog

v1.7.0 2021/10/15

General improvements:

Touch devices: added the ability to pause the game using an on-screen button.
The game looks more crisp when using scaling on high DPI screens.
File dialog: when typing a name, the list automatically scrolls to the first matching file.
File dialog: input textbox now only suggests 'My Rome' when saving, not when loading a game.
Added support for new platforms: Haiku and Emscripten.
Population graph on the populator advisor is now usable for populations larger than 51200.
Bridges are now shown on the minimap.
Joystick support for Vita and Switch.
Ships now play the proper phrase when leaving the docks.
Configuration: new option to disable scrolling when the mouse is near the window's edge.
Configuration: hotkey config now gives a warning when you try to assign a hotkey that's already in use.

Language improvements:

Better font rendering for Korean and Chinese. This requires new font files for those languages, which are included in the Patches. Please (re-)download the patch file for your language and extract into your Caesar 3 installation.
Korean: fix money being drawn as "100 Funds" instead of "100 Dn".

Bugfixes:

Fixed possible corruption and linked storages when an earthquake destroys a warehouse.
Fixed the game self-destructing the entire city when a wall/aqueduct blocked the road to Rome.
Fixed build images in the sidebar not showing the correct image when a building was selected for construction.
Fixed being able to construct a building that's been disabled in the menu using the "clone building" hotkey.
Fixed interest on financial advisor showing last year instead of this year.
Fixed incorrect house devolve text related to food types.
Fixed going back in help jumping to random scroll position.
Fixed static in sound from videos played on low sound volume.
Fixed alternative hotkeys for arrow firing on modifiers.
Fixed corrupt dialog text when language fails to load on configuration screen.
Fixed potential crash on Vita and Switch when creating a new file.
Fixed not being able to type text when using SDL 2.0.16 with the Wayland video driver for Linux.
Fixed Android not saving the Julius configuration options when using the home button to exit the game.
Mac: fixed MP3 playback not working due to missing mpg123 framework.
Switch: fixed mouse cursor not being able to move beyond 960x540 when playing on external screen.

Technical improvements:

Upgraded SDL to 2.0.16.
Vita: updated toolchain.

v1.6.0 2021/01/03

General improvements:

Minimap of the scenario can be displayed when selecting a map to play.
Bridge cost is shown before building the bridge.
Roads lead into the access ramps to indicate that access ramps are part of the road network.
Undo is disabled after certain houses upgrade to prevent visual corruption.
Granary info window shows cart status when it's getting food from another granary.
Construction: plaza shows as green when over a road with people on it. Previously it was red but the player could still place it.
Construction: fountain shows as red when over a building or other non-clear tile. It still indicates whether that tile has reservoir access.
Android release is available on Google Play.

Configuration options:

New option: display scale.
New option: cursor scale.
Note: both options were already available as command-line arguments.
Removed option: "Fix Emperor change and survival time" - the option wasn't in line with the project's goals.

Bugfixes:

Fix entertainer corrupting building memory in certain cases.
Fix screen that stayed black after pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del on Windows.
Fix people on bridges not having a portrait on right-click.
Fix crash on Vita when no music is installed.
Fix being able to place disabled buildings in tutorial missions using their hotkey.
Fix "Disable right click to drag map" also disabling scrolling on touch devices.
Fix some Android devices showing the window with wrong colors.
Fix small bug with visual feedback on delete.
Fix cursor corrupting on certain Windows 10 versions.
Fix intro video playback causing skipped videos and unexpected audio on slow devices.
Fix top menu items overlapping with the city funds for more verbose languages.
Fix press effect not showing for image buttons.
Fix 'right-click to close window' not working when mouse cursor was over a button.
Fix visual bug when undoing deleted houses.
Fix incorrect scaling mode applied when using a custom display scale, which resulted in pixelated graphics.
Fix freeze on Vita and Switch when opening the keyboard input window.

Technical improvements:

Upgraded SDL to 2.0.14.
Android: upgraded build tools and SDK version.
Performance improvements for editor and top menu.
Performance improvements related to file handling on Vita and Switch.

v1.5.1 2020/10/29

Technical fixes:

Android: crash when starting Julius when the Caesar 3 directory had not yet been set has been fixed.
When supplying a display scale on the command line, the correct scaling mode is now applied, resulting in less pixelated graphics.

General improvements:

Mission victory and intro videos now scale up to fullscreen.

v1.5.0 2020/10/28

General improvements:

(Julius now runs on Android) We found out 1.5.0 is crashing on startup on Android. 1.5. fixes this.

UI improvements:

Add right-click image to some enemies which were missing images.
Number of unemployed people has been added to the senate tooltip and Chief advisor.
Setting hotkeys for construction of common buildings is now possible.
Setting a hotkey for quickly selecting the building under cursor for construction.
Changing trade status (import/export) for resources can now be done from the Empire map.
Some more in-game messages have a button to the relevant advisor.

Configuration options:

New option: highlight legion on cursor hover.
New option: enable military sidebar.
New option: disable right click to drag the map.
New command-line option: use --windowed to force the game to start in windowed mode.

Language improvements:

Use localized filenames for mission saved games. For example, Citizen.sav will now be called Bürger.sav in the German version of the game.
Users running the Korean or Chinese version of the game can now save files using Korean/Chinese characters.
Add Italian, Polish and Swedish translations for the configuration screen.
Add support for the Simplified Chinese version of the game.
Tweaks to make texts in more verbose languages fit in their dialogs.

UI/Gameplay fixes:

Fix aqueduct tile turning into gatehouse image on a certain aqueduct configuration.
Fix graphic glitch in road tile caused by plaza.
Fix visual bugs when visual feedback is active.
Fix Religion being shown as Health on chief advisor.
Fix warehouses/granaries getting linked during delete/undo.
Fix combat short and long music being swapped.
Fix population advisor showing the wrong end date for the history graph.
Fix not being able to delete files with non-ascii characters on Windows.
Fix education advisor always saying that people want more libraries.
Fix displayed price for clear land being double the actual amount.
Fix right-clicking the buttons on the sidebar going to the wrong help page.
Fix game speed being way too fast on the higher speed settings on >60Hz monitors.
Fix columns on damage overlay being too tall.
Fix minimap not immediately jumping to the right location when "go to problem" button is used.
Fix minimap not immediately updating when placing a building.

Technical fixes:

Vita: fix music-related crash/freeze (#474).
Fix crash/memory corruption on difficulty dialog.
Slight tweaks to touch support on Vita/Switch.

v1.4.1 2020/06/01

Improvements:

Price is now shown in localized currency for game languages other than English.
Added Russian translation for the configuration screen.

Bugfixes:

Fixed: reservoir range was not displaying properly for orientations other than north.
Fixed: filenames were not displaying properly when using the Chinese version of the game.
Fixed: building ghost flickered after scrolling.
Fixed: aqueduct ghost was showing green on curved roads and plazas.
Fixed: scroll speed calculations were incorrect for monitors not running at 60Hz.
Fixed: the select folder dialog crashed on certain Linux systems.
Fixed: mouse double-click was not working properly.
Fixed: Korean message about missing fonts was not displaying due to missing fonts.
Fixed: escape button was not working in the city when using touch.

v1.4.0 2020/05/10

General improvements:

New hotkeys:
- Ctrl+O / Ctrl+S for loading and saving games.
- Alt+Enter for toggling full screen.
- Numeric keypad 0-9 for going to the advisors.
Changed hotkey behavior: Escape now closes dialogs instead of exiting the game.
Configurable hotkeys: you can now assign your own keys for the hotkey actions. This means that existing hotkeys may no longer work if you use a non-US keyboard layout. Go to Options -> Configure hotkeys in the game to set them.
Support for language packs. If you have multiple language versions of the game you can easily switch between them.
Support for Korean and Swedish versions of the game.
Configuration option screen has been translated to French, German, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

Gameplay improvements:

Building a fort no longer triggers a message that the city needs workers.
Right-click info for fountain and mission post now shows workers.
Tooltip on the religion overlay now shows to which gods the house has access.
New config option: fix emperor change events and survival time win criteria - more details.

User interface enhancements:

New config option: show reservoir, fountain and well range when constructing.
New config option: show size when constructing draggable buildings.
Right-clicking and dragging when in the city will now move the map.
Double-click can be used to load files.
Make certain elements more color blind friendly.
Tweaks to the interface to fit languages with longer texts.

Bugfixes:

Fix graphic artifacts while building draggable reservoirs.
Fix amphitheater right click not playing the corresponding sound file.
Fix walls destroyed by enemies showing "nowhere" when right-clicking the rubble.
Fix map not scrolling properly when using certain custom display scales.

Technical improvements:

Screen no longer turns black when resizing the window when a dialog is showing.
Fix bugs when using touch.
Fix missing audio for certain sound driver/OS combinations.
Disable setting windowed mode on platforms that do not support it.
Better support for Wayland in the flatpak image.
Upgrade SDL to 2.0.12.
Add runtime version checks for SDL, allowing the use of older SDL libraries.

v1.3.1 2020/02/24

Improvements:

Screenshots taken using F12 (current screen) and Ctrl+F12 (full city) are now saved as PNG images instead of BMP.
The file dialog for loading a city or choosing a map can now contain an unlimited number of files. The previous restriction was 200 files.
Music starts immediately when loading a city or starting a map.
Confirmation dialog has been added to the replay map menu option.
Smooth scrolling works a bit faster to match the original scroll speed.

Bugfixes:

Fixed: building a wall on top of buildings is no longer possible.
Fixed: building a reservoir on top of a reservoir no longer costs money.
Fixed: construction getting stuck when dragging and letting the mouse go over the sidebar.
Fixed: broken scrolling of the map on Vita and Switch.
Fixed: memory leak on Windows while listing files.

v1.3.0 2020/02/15

New features:

"Accept none" button on granaries and warehouses. Hit the "x" button to set all resources (also future resources) to "Not accepting".
New configuration screen to enable/disable options. Access it using the "Options" button on the main menu. An explanation of the new options can be found on the Wiki.
New setting: monthly autosave - automatically saves the game to autosave.sav every game month. Enable it in the Options menu.
Editor: requests for denarii are now possible. These also work in Caesar 3.
Full city screenshots: press Ctrl+F12 to save the whole city as one (big!) bmp file in your Caesar 3 folder.

User interface improvements:

New config option: playing intro videos on game start.
New config option: show game speed, employment information and ratings in the control panel (sidebar) in the city, when the height of the window allows.
New config option: smooth scrolling in the city view: scroll by pixel instead of by map tile.
New config option: quickly build temples to each of the gods. Select "all" in the build menu, the temples will then be built in the following order: Ceres, Neptune, Mercury, Mars, Venus.
New config option: visual feedback when deleting buildings. In the previous release this was on by default, it's now a setting which defaults to off (Caesar 3 behaviour).
Visual feedback on delete is now also available when using overlays.
Editor: user is now warned about unsaved changes when the map has been edited.
Invalid .sav files will no longer be loaded.
Messages with video show the text in small font if it does not fit the window.
Trade routes show whether it's a land or sea route on the open trade button.
Julius version number is now shown on the main menu.
Right click can now be used to close messages.
New career dialog now has a back button.
Go to problem button has been added to video messages for invasions and disasters.
Some tweaks to make texts fit in different languages.
Game year (123 BC/AD 123) is now shown using the correct order according to the used language.
Screen will no longer go black when showing a dialog and then resizing the game window.

Gameplay enhancements:

New config option: fix immigration bug on very hard.
New config option: fix 100-year-old ghosts when building eternal cities.
Roads will now lead into granaries to indicate where the granary entrance is.
Buttons to the relevant advisor have been added for some more messages.
Prefects now also give feedback about the city's conditions in the right-click information.
Trade caravans now say something when right-clicking them. Previously only the first animal talked.
When you are fired, the Emperor will voice his dissatisfaction with you out loud.

Performance improvements:

Videos skip frames when decoding the video takes longer than frame duration on slower devices.
Game startup is now faster because audio files are now only loaded on demand, not at startup.

Bugfixes:

Fixed: freeze/infinite loop caused by migrating seagulls.
Fixed: gatehouses no longer add roads next to the gatehouse when rotating the map.
Fixed: crash in the editor when using a c3_map_mm.eng which does not contain editor help entries.
Fixed: text scrolling twice as fast in the manual texts when using the mouse wheel.
Fixed: several visual issues when deleting buildings.
Fixed: music no longer resets when canceling the sound options dialog.
Fixed: accented characters in tooltips will no longer be at the wrong height.
Fixed: trade cities not showing with a red flag on some empire maps.
Fixed: houses with partial fountain access not showing blue on the water overlay.
Fixed: rating targets were shown on the ratings advisor for open play scenarios.
Fixed: go to problem button in the sidebar did not work when an invasion has only just started.
Fixed: months remaining banner still showing for time limit / survival time missions after winning the scenario.
Fixed: being able to set a resource to both stockpiling and exporting at the same time.
Fixed: editor: tool selection no longer immediately paints on the map.
Fixed: editor: flags not showing in some cases.
Fixed: editor: request favor not saving.
Fixed: editor: showing the fired/victory screen when editing win criteria.
Fixed: editor: native huts disappeared when building roads.

v1.2.0 2020/01/09

Gameplay enhancements:

Editor: use the assignment editor directly from within Julius. The editor works the same as the original Caesar 3 editor, with the following enhancements:
- Painting terrain is easier because a green footprint of the terrain appears.
- Demand changes: a feature supported by Caesar 3 but not available in the original editor: events to change the amount that cities will trade with you, similar to price changes.
- Open play: toggle this option to create an open play scenario, without goals and without Caesar's favor dropping every year.
- The editor is available from the main menu. Note that it requires the editor files to be present in the Caesar 3 installation. Get them here.
Better visual feedback when clearing land: buildings to be deleted are highlighted in red.
Diagonal scrolling using the keyboard: hold down two arrow keys to scroll diagonally.
Right-click on the City Construction Kit screen to go back to the main menu.
Aqueduct images are updated when sections are deleted.
Intro track is played when returning to the main menu.

General improvements:

Upgrade SDL to 2.0.10.
- Note that this SDL version drops support for Windows XP. To play on Windows XP, use the SDL 2.0.9 library instead.
Smacker videos should play smoother.
Support for Linux AppImage.
Support for MP3 files that were available on the official Caesar 3 site.
Support for the Traditional Chinese version of the game.
Show warning when Julius detects an unpatched Caesar 3 installation.
Command-line options meant for HD monitors:
- --display-scale will scale the display by a factor between 0.5 and 5.
- --cursor-scale will scale the mouse cursor by 1, 1.5 or 2.

Gameplay bugfixes:

Fixed: fishing wharf changing orientation upon save/load game.
Fixed: infinite loop/game freeze during large battles, notably in the Carthago campaign mission.
Fixed: corrupt native meeting center graphic when starting custom maps.
Fixed: governor name was not set or carried over properly in campaign missions.
Fixed: visual artifacts on earthquake cracks when deleting buildings.
Fixed: small differences in distant battle behaviour compared to Caesar 3.
Fixed: figure drawing was slightly off compared to Caesar 3.

Technical fixes:

Fixed: crash when tooltip is drawn off-screen.
Fixed: crash when a rioter destroys buildings.
Fixed: crashes when screen becomes smaller than 640x480.
Fixed: video sound playing too fast on certain hardware.
Fixed: corrupted video sound for German videos, which use 16-bit audio.
Fixed: set difficulty and gods enabled to sensible defaults when loading a settings file from an unpatched Caesar 3 installation.
Fixed: mouse cursor 'hotspot' not in the proper location on Vita and Switch builds.
Fixed: ok/cancel/scroll buttons reacting to click outside the visible button.
Fixed: multiline text drawing a space before the 2nd and further lines.

v1.1.0 2019/05/26

General improvements:

Support for non-ascii characters in filenames.
Support for non-ascii keyboards for hotkeys and file input.
Touch support.
Playstation Vita port.
Nintendo Switch port.
Show directory dialog when no valid Caesar 3 installation has been found.
Save chosen directory to preferences.
Support for Russian and Polish versions of the game. Get the required patches here: Russian, Polish.

Gameplay enhancements:

Feedback when clearing land: hovering over a building will now highlight the building.
Window positioning when coming out of fullscreen is handled more smoothly.
Right-click info dialog now shows up at cursor instead of at the other side of the screen.
Long filenames are truncated/ellipsized in the file dialog.
Keyboard ENTER can be used to confirm yes/no dialogs.
Mouse cursor is restricted to the display the game is playing on in fullscreen mode.
Videos now play at the volume settings for "sound effects", rather than at 100% volume.
Reduced audio lag when clicking buttons.

Performance enhancements:

Better performance when tooltips are drawn.
Fixed memory leak and crashes when playing videos.
Optimizations to drawing routines.

Bugfixes:

Fixed: farm not drawing correctly on overlay in certain orientations.
Fixed: earthquake tiles turning into rocks on map rotate.
Fixed: soldiers not acting properly on enormous maps.
Fixed: crash in manual entry for pottery.
Fixed: strange things happening to fires caused by earthquakes.
Fixed: after deleting a bridge the player could not rebuild a bridge on the same location.
Fixed: random weird things caused by reuse of building memory.
Fixed: some scenarios not loading on Linux because of case-sensitivity.
Fixed: arrow keys not scrolling when hovering over buttons.
Fixed: abandoned houses creating vacant lots at the wrong locations.
Fixed: large insula not merging properly in some locations.
Fixed: super-fast mouse clicks were not handled.
Fixed: corrupt screenshots when taking them with hotkey F12.

v1.0.0 2018/11/11

The first public release of Julius.

External links

GitHub - https://github.com/bvschaik/julius
GitHub - https://github.com/rsn8887/julius