modding sprites into counters questions?

[jack54]

thanks Michael,

It's going good. I think I've got all the majors ready maybe some tweeks here and there. I only need to do the lesser powers such as vichy, british union, and allies.
I totally re-did the british and Italians, they where too messy ,You really couldn't see the necessary info at all.
I also played around with the csv to get all the info I could on the counters. much thanks to Bleck for the csv template and also Agent S. I compared the stock csv to Blecks template and Agent S's; it really helped me get a handle on what I needed to do.

here's a screen...

jack

[Magpius]

Jack, not sure what program you're using, but rather than a wood grain, you could add in some 'noise' over the counter background. It's a little bit subtler than a wood grain. Also, you could 'alpha channel' the flags a little, this would make them less intense, and not compete as much with the info graphics. Which may mean you would not need the black band behind the text values.
but wow, a really nice direction you're heading down.
great work.
[edit] oh, one question, is the small country flag really necessary? eg. The big union jack background on UK units, kind of makes the small flag superfluous?

[Uxbridge]

It's beginning to look very nice! [:)]

[Michael the Pole]

ORIGINAL: Agent S

Jack, not sure what program you're using, but rather than a wood grain, you could add in some 'noise' over the counter background. It's a little bit subtler than a wood grain. Also, you could 'alpha channel' the flags a little, this would make them less intense, and not compete as much with the info graphics. Which may mean you would not need the black band behind the text values.
but wow, a really nice direction you're heading down.
great work.
[edit] oh, one question, is the small country flag really necessary? eg. The big union jack background on UK units, kind of makes the small flag superfluous?

Agree with Agent S about the smaller flag -- background icon is so good that the little flag could be safely removed, espescially if the background change works as he thinks it would. This would reduce the "clutter" and perhaps help clarify tech levels, unit size (division, corps, etc.) On the gripping hand, however, you could use the same background for say Axis minors, and distinguish them only with the little flags. Decisions, decisions. I'm really glad that I leave all artistic opinions to my wife!

Also, in keeping with the "blind old fart" issue, the French units appear to my tired old eyes to be exactly the same color as the Nazis![X(]

I love the way your going with this, Jack! Any idea what your going to do with planes and ships?

[Michael the Pole]

BTW, I thought that I'd share this with you... it's the flag of the Spanish Falangist (fascist) party, but might make a cool background for your Axis Minors, perhaps with different counter colors to differentiate the various countries (white, yellow, orange, etc.)
Just a suggestion.[8D]

[Michael the Pole]

I really hate it when I get interested in something...

This is the flag of the Hungarian National Socialist party.

[Michael the Pole]

And this is the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Romania.

I'll stop now.

[Magpius]

good stuff Michael, keep them coming.
perhaps we need a thread in mods for good pix/ resources.

[jack54]

thank you all for your kind words and constuctive critisism.

I agree that the little flags are overkill and in some cases downright clutter. I left them on to differentiate the minor countries. I have no idea how to remove them from indiviual countries. I would love to have seperate backgrounds for minors,but again I'm not sure how it's done. So far all I've done is edit existing countrys in 'unitsprites' folder. there's only one flolder for minors it's named [Units].

Also, I really like the text values on the counters but ,as Agent S mentioned, this caused me leave in the dark rectangle behind the text for visability. Perhaps a text box on the counters themselves would work. I could move them back below the counters what do think; I'm open to sugestions.

funny, I kind of like the french counters and was waiting to get laughed at for the british;I think the british counters are over the top,silly. I wanted to see what everybody thought.
So far ships are still sprites I like them, I may make ship counters in the future. I think I really need to look into minor countries though,without the flags they're all the same, little hamburgers.
thanks again! Oh I'm using adobe elements.
jack

[Bleck]

ORIGINAL: jack54
I agree that the little flags are overkill and in some cases downright clutter. I left them on to differentiate the minor countries. I have no idea how to remove them from indiviual countries.

There is no way to remove them from individual countries.

ORIGINAL: jack54
I would love to have seperate backgrounds for minors,but again I'm not sure how it's done.

Simply create new file and name it "units_XYZ.png" where XYZ is country name.

ORIGINAL: jack54
So far all I've done is edit existing countrys in 'unitsprites' folder. there's only one flolder for minors it's named [Units].

This part I don't understand, sorry... [8|]

[Michael the Pole]

Jack, it is impossible to make a British uniform or a British counter look "too silly." Funny, I seem to have heard that somewhere before.

I hope I haven't opened a can of worms with that stuff about the minor powers -- I'd feel awful if putting my foot into your magnificent project caused you any trouble whatsoever.

[jack54]

thanks Bleck,

what I mean is that inside the [units sprite] folder there is another folder named [units]. This seems to be units without their own folder.so luxumberg,turkey,norway, finland all use this folder.

If I understand you correctly I can make a folder for any country, for example [units_Finland] and the game will display the counters I create in the Finland folder.

If this is correct it is truely awesome!

thanks
jack

got the answer thanks Bleck!

[Michael the Pole]

ORIGINAL: Agent S

good stuff Michael, keep them coming.
perhaps we need a thread in mods for good pix/ resources.

Thanks Agent S.[8D]
I do have one or two others. but I hate to keep horning in on Jacks thread. For example, this is the symbol of the Finnish Army.

[jack54]

thanks Michael,

No problem at all. Bleck told me a folder can be created for each minor this is good news indeed!
I've been playing with all generic minors can't wait to try some changes.

The only thing is; I thought I was almost done, not quite it seems,lol. But it's fun anyway!

jack

[Michael the Pole]

Ya know, Jack, now that I give it a second look, I can distinguish the French from the Germans! (Maybe I'm just more awake.[X(])
BTW, I sent you an email.