Help! Can't see units clearly enough

[Eberbach]

Ok, I know this is gonna sound dumb, and this game is good and all, but i cannot see the infantry.

THey are so tiny and look like part of the terrain, that when the smoke of battle goes on and houses are burning and you have a huge amount of forces its almost impossible to distinguish the two sides from one another, let alone what TYPE it is by looking at it.

The graphics are too darn tiny in this game.

I have my icons set to "XXX" in the control panel, and they are still too small. It really takes away from the enjoyment.

Are there any mods out there that make the icons bigger, or outline infantry or apply unit bases kinda like East Front?

[kurtbj]

I always play with unit id flags on so you have a small flag next to each unit so you can't miss any. It would be difficult for me also to see units sometimes without this.

Have you tried using this?

[Gary Tatro]

Originally posted by Eberbach
Ok, I know this is gonna sound dumb, and this game is good and all, but i cannot see the infantry.

THey are so tiny and look like part of the terrain, that when the smoke of battle goes on and houses are burning and you have a huge amount of forces its almost impossible to distinguish the two sides from one another, let alone what TYPE it is by looking at it.

The graphics are too darn tiny in this game.

I have my icons set to "XXX" in the control panel, and they are still too small. It really takes away from the enjoyment.

Are there any mods out there that make the icons bigger, or outline infantry or apply unit bases kinda like East Front?

This might be a dumb reply but what sized monitor are you using. I have a 19" one and have some difficulty seeing the units some times. Puting the country flags on the units does help a lot, also there is icon on the right that you can hit to remove smoke and fire from the screen, this helps very much also. The thrid suggestion I would use is the little map on the of the screen shows all your units as little white dots this does not help always but it does show you where units should be if you did not know they were there. This happens some times in the MC's you will have units hidding in the back field of the enemy and never notice them. You can scroll though all your units by hitting the next unit icon and finally you can hit the the little icon that looks like a paper with righting on it, which will bring up a list of all your units showing there status. If you click on a unit in this screen and it is on the board it will go right to it. Hope this helps.

Oh and one more thing, if your units are suppressed to much it will be very difficult to see them. This is where the listing of all your units comes in handy because it will tell you if your units are in rout our retreating and you can click on them and go right to them.

[campekenobi]

Please excuse me if this may insult you, but is it possible you haven't 'zoomed' in for your viewing?? The icon in the menu on the right side looks like a magnifying glass that allows you to "+" or "-" your point of view.

After playing many top-view strategy games myself, I will admit that is the ONLY, mark my words, ONLY flaw in Panthers, where when you zoom out it looks crappy. But I usually play just 1 click away from the full zoom, and that's fine.

Let me know if this helps, k?

[Warhorse]

Well, if someone else wants to tackle it, they can, but I can tell you, as the one who did most of the unit graphics, there ain't no way in hell I will ever make them larger, tooooo many!!:D It seems like it wouldn't be too hard, but take my word for it, it would be a major undertaking!

Just ran a search on google, came up with this little goodie, might try it myself, there is a 30 day free trial. Enlarging utility for windows, you can run all programs while using this! Link is..http://www.bigshotmagnifier.com/product.asp

[campekenobi]

Originally posted by Warhorse
as the one who did most of the unit graphics, there ain't no way in ....

You designed the unit graphics??? I don't get it - are you from SSI, because I thought they were pretty much the same in SPWAW as earlier SP games...

At any rate, I don't think it's a matter of BIGGER is better, it's just CLEARER is better; when zoomed in the graphics look their best, when pulled out (which is more ideal for play), they get crushed... I've always found that strange since it's kind of the REVERSAL of zooming into pictures, etc... For instance in "Close Combat" the units are sharp & detailed in the normal, distant view, and when you zoom in they become larger, but more BLURRY & pixilated.

[Eberbach]

Hey thanks guys for the replies

Ok lets see

Yes, I am zoomed in all the way...i wish it would go in further

Unit Flags.....now there is an idea that i did not think of. I will have to go in and read up on how to turn those on i must have missed that feature ..DUH on me

Yes i had an instance last night when my GE engineer squads pretty much lit a whole town on fire and between the burning buildings and the retreating "smoke popping" units i really could not tell a bush from a soviet squad.

One thing i do miss from East Front is the tabletop miniatures game look it had, but that is a newer game than SP. I like the way the battles go better in Steel Panthers anyway, it just seems more realistic than the East Front battles. SP kina reminds me of Close Combat.

I have a 19" monitor yes.

[Warhorse]

Well, Steel Panthers Camo group originally 'colored' the SP original grey, green and brown icons. But what I did then, was further modified, and/or completely redid the icons, especially the Russian vehicles. You will notice alot of the German are different camo than original, and King Tiger and Tiger are totally different, so are the halftracks. There are over 1100 icons now, and originally there were only about 300-400 WW2 ones. so that tells you about how busy I was!!:D Just get out SP1, or SP3, go through the encyclopedia sometime, you'll really see the difference then.

[Tommy]

Originally posted by Warhorse
Just ran a search on google, came up with this little goodie, might try it myself, there is a 30 day free trial. Enlarging utility for windows, you can run all programs while using this! Link is..http://www.bigshotmagnifier.com/product.asp

Warhorse,

This is a slightly better link; you don't have to fill out the form -
BigShot.exe


This is by the Low Vision Group -
Screen Magnifier SW

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work when you run a DOS app such as SPWAW. Anyone have better luck?

TECHIES!! - I get an error about not using 16 bit or 24 bit video. I am using 24 bit video in Windows, what does SPWAW use when it switches to DOS mode, 16 bit?

Tommy

[Goblin]

Originally posted by Eberbach
I will have to go in and read up on how to turn those on i must have missed that feature ..

Its in the 'preferences' menu. Don't think it was metioned yet, but you can clear smoke hexes to see the terrain and units underneath. Its the paintbrush button on the control panel, or the 'U' key. This does not actually remove the smoke, just hides it temporarily. Your units and enemy units are still affected by the smoke.

Goblin

[BjörnR]

I was a little disturbed in the beginning because it was difficult to see the units, especially in the middle of battle with all the smoke and mess.
But - it is a great feature, because it adds realism. I have stopped using flags and figures to increase visibility of units.

[john g]

Originally posted by Tommy


Warhorse,

This is a slightly better link; you don't have to fill out the form -
BigShot.exe


This is by the Low Vision Group -
Screen Magnifier SW

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work when you run a DOS app such as SPWAW. Anyone have better luck?

TECHIES!! - I get an error about not using 16 bit or 24 bit video. I am using 24 bit video in Windows, what does SPWAW use when it switches to DOS mode, 16 bit?

Tommy

SPWAW doesn't switch to dos mode, it just changes the resolution to 800x600x256 colors (8 bit color). It also uses a shifted pallette, which is why you can't just add lbms to the game, or convert the .clp files that you get when you screencap.
thanks, John.

[Eberbach]

while we are on the subjext of graphics, whats the best way to get a screenshot of this game?

PRNTSCRN is not working for me even when i alt tab out to paste

are you guys using some program?

[john g]

Originally posted by Eberbach
while we are on the subjext of graphics, whats the best way to get a screenshot of this game?

PRNTSCRN is not working for me even when i alt tab out to paste

are you guys using some program?

Hypersnap has the lock on capping screens.
thanks, John.

[antarctic]

Hi guys

I prefer to just turn off the smoke if the **** really starts to fly, and there's smoke all over the place. I mean, you are the commander, in the HQ tent, with a radio link to all units...

Just my two cents

Antarctic

[chief]

Just a few words on smoke.....if you use the U key or button to wipe smoke it clears up the scene for you, but it also lets your opponent see much better also. So don't smoke an area then wipe cause you just blew your cover....yes it will return, but the damage is done.

[AJVa]

Originally posted by chief
Just a few words on smoke.....

Are you sure about this? I have used the U key alot and never have spotted any previously unspotted units and I don't think AI has done so either.

[chief]

If you have a unit in the smoke you will see your own, if you have an enemy unit in smoke he does not always show, you clear smoke now you (may) see his unit but he (may) now sees yours.

[Capt Chris]

I am pretty sure the 'U' key doesn't have any affect on spotting. It just clears the mess from the screen.

[chief]

Capt Chris: I Yield sir....I know I read this (what I wrote) in this forum a while back, but I could not fine it in ver 5.0 manual or using search feature. I looked in SPIII manual and it was a direct quote of your post....OK I now hit the F9 key I been taking a beating the past three days with posts.... :eek