Never Get Lost mod

[cbelva]

I have been playing around with the modding capabilities of SOP and have been very impressed. Several of the annoyances that I have found I have been able to reduce of even eliminate by adjusting the "csv" files. I have created a mod for my own use. It contains something new (my own mod), something old (someone else's work), and something old (original counters).

[cbelva]

One frustration that I have (and I have heard others voice the same) is that it is easy to loose units when you zoom out. By adjusting the "csv" files, I have found that you make units larger as you zoom out. You can also turn the unit icons into flags at a certain zoom point to make you forces more noticable (as in TOW).

[cbelva]

In this third picture, it is easy to see your forces scattered around the various islands you control. You can also tell where your fleets are located. Notice even the names of the fleets are enlarged.

[cbelva]

Even at extreme zoom, you can still where your forces are located along with other countries' forces that you have a los to.
Being able to make these changes has really helped my enjoyment of the game.

By the way, I did not like the blue color of the USA so I changed it to a green as seen in the one fleet in the picture.

[Frido1207]

Hi cbelva,

interessting work. Would you like to share your mod with us?
Or would you at least share your knowledge, about which lines in the unit csv files has to be edited to reach the "flag effect", you described in your second post?

[cbelva]

th1207, I hope the following helps. I posted these pixs to show others what I had learned.

Land_units.csv, naval_units.csv, and air_unit.csv in the respective [MapSkins] folder under the gfx folder controls the placement of individual icons. You can open and alter these files using wordpad. The land_unit.csv file for the stock counter units in the game looks like this:

#Land units appearance description file;;;;;;;;;;;;;
#Format: will be later;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Details;;;;;;;;;;;;;
200;Zoom level;;;;;;;;;;;;
0;0;62;12;Background Src;;;;;;;;;
52;114;62;12;Background Dst;;;;;;;;;
0;91;64;33;Levels Pack Src;;;;;;;;;
50;62;64;29;Level Dst;;;;;;;;;
80;0;22;8;Types Pack Src;;;;;;;;;
50;50;22;8;Type Dst;;;;;;;;;
0;24;8;8;AP Left Pack Src;;;;;;;;;
72;116;8;8;AP Left Dst;;;;;;;;;
8;24;8;8;Supply Pack Src;;;;;;;;;
79;116;8;8;Supply Dst;;;;;;;;;
16;24;8;8;Replacement Pack Src;;;;;;;;;
86;116;8;8;Replacement Dst;;;;;;;;;
117;28;11;10;Frozen Src;;;;;;;;;
100;115;11;10;Frozen Dst;;;;;;;;;
114;0;14;14;Commander Src;;;;;;;;;
75;47;14;14;Commander Dst;;;;;;;;;
24;24;8;8;Attack Pack Src;;;;;;;;;
93;116;8;8;Attack Dst;;;;;;;;;
-58;126;280;15;Arial;17;20;255;255;0;0;0;0;Name Text Dst and Font
85;93;32;20;Impact;22;0;255;140;0;0;0;0;AP Text Dst and Font
50;93;32;20;Impact;22;0;220;20;60;0;0;0;Strength Text Dst and Font
55;116;12;8;Flag Rect;;;;;;;;;
19;30;128;100;Sprite Dst;;;;;;;;;
Any line with # in front of it is for info only and is not read by the program. The forth line (200; Zoom level) sets the zoom level. 200 is the maximum zoomed in level. The next to last line controls the flag icon. The first number is the x coordinate, second number is y coordinate, third number sets the width of the icon, fourth number sets the height of the icon. The last line controls the icon for the unit. If you replace the x and y coordinate with 0’s, the icon will not be drawn. The line with the following words at the end “Name Text Dst and Font” controls the name of the unit drawn on the map.

The following is the land_unit.csv file for my mod showing the changes I made. You will see quite a different.

#Land units appearance description file;;;;
#Format: will be later;;;;
Details;;;;
200;Zoom level;;;
0;0;62;12;Background Src
52;114;62;12;Background Dst
0;91;64;33;Levels Pack Src
50;62;64;29;Level Dst
80;0;22;8;Types Pack Src
50;50;22;8;Type Dst
0;24;8;8;AP Left Pack Src
72;116;8;8;AP Left Dst
8;24;8;8;Supply Pack Src
79;116;8;8;Supply Dst
16;24;8;8;Replacement Pack Src
86;116;8;8;Replacement Dst
117;28;11;10;Frozen Src;;;;;;;;;
100;115;11;10;Frozen Dst;;;;;;;;;
114;0;14;14;Commander Src;;;;;;;;;
75;47;14;14;Commander Dst;;;;;;;;;
24;24;8;8;Attack Pack Src;;;;;;;;;
93;116;8;8;Attack Dst;;;;;;;;;
-58;126;280;15;Arial;17;20;255;255;0;0;0;0;Name Text Dst and Font
85;93;32;20;Impact;22;0;255;140;0;0;0;0;AP Text Dst and Font
50;93;32;20;Impact;22;0;220;20;60;0;0;0;Strength Text Dst and Font
55;116;12;8;Flag Rect;;;;;;;;;
19;30;128;100;Sprite Dst;;;;;;;;;
#;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Flags;;;;;;;;;;;;;
15;Zoom level;;;;;;;;;;;;
0;0;62;12;Background Src;;;;;;;;;
52;114;0;0;Background Dst;;;;;;;;;
0;91;64;33;Levels Pack Src
50;62;0;0;Level Dst
80;0;22;8;Types Pack Src
50;50;0;0;Type Dst
0;24;8;8;AP Left Pack Src
72;116;8;8;AP Left Dst
8;24;8;8;Supply Pack Src
79;116;8;8;Supply Dst
16;24;8;8;Replacement Pack Src
86;116;8;8;Replacement Dst
117;28;11;10;Frozen Src
100;115;0;0;Frozen Dst
114;0;14;14;Commander Src
75;47;0;0;Commander Dst
24;24;8;8;Attack Pack Src
93;116;0;0;Attack Dst
-58;126;0;0;Arial;17;20;255;255;0;0;0;0;Name Text Dst and Font
85;93;0;0;Impact;22;0;255;140;0;0;0;0;AP Text Dst and Font
50;93;0;0;Impact;22;0;220;20;60;0;0;0;Strength Text Dst and Font
35;50;200;134;Flag Rect;;;;;;;;;
19;30;128;100;Sprite Dst;;;;;;;;;

I added another zoom level (15). I basically copied the original 200 zoom and pasted it below. The only changes I made was to the flag. I enlarged it. Now as I scroll up on the map, when the map hits the 15 zoom level, the icons will be replaced with my enlarged flags. Really the icons are still on the map, but under the flags. I didn’t bother to “0” out the Sprite Dst line since the icon were small and would be covered by the map.

You can do the same with the air and naval units. You can also enlarge the unit icons and the text the same way.

I learned most of this thru reading the TOW forum and my own trial and error playing around with these files.

[Frido1207]

Thank you for your detailed explanation.

[doomtrader]

Really nice work in here.