Hasty Mod - test

[Redmarkus5]

I went through the map files but can't see an easy way to mod them, which is a pity.

Maybe the devs can add town names for the unnamed towns on the map? Should be easy for them to do based on the structure I see.

[nenad]

No, it's easy to add a custom label. Put your png into labels directory following the existing naming convention. Add the appropriate xml manifest file. Then, in the parent directory in the "freeobj.xml" file add a reference to your new label. Should work fine.

[mariovalleemtl]

I find the 3D icons look very nice. I also like the SSG's more nato style counters .

[Redmarkus5]

ORIGINAL: nenad

No, it's easy to add a custom label. Put your png into labels directory following the existing naming convention. Add the appropriate xml manifest file. Then, in the parent directory in the "freeobj.xml" file add a reference to your new label. Should work fine.

OK thanks, I will look at that, but it would be better if you guys could add names to all locations

[Redmarkus5]

Still messing around with the profile icons - no NATO as yet.

I made the counters smaller. So far I have stuck to one color for all Axis units as the different colors for Italy etc. made the map confusing. The icon size is too small to support a flag for each nation.

Comments?

[Barthheart]

Not too bad.

The white profiles, however, hide the movement arrow and the attack lightening bolt. Maybe use black instead.

Soviet infantry profile kinda looks lie aliens... the Axis profiles are good.

[CarnageINC]

LOL, there you go again Red, always gotta tinker with stuff [:D]  I like the first set's armor and the second set's infantry.  Keep at it, you'll come up with a winner I'm sure [;)].

[Rosseau]

Hey Guys. How exactly do you open and edit those .usc and usx files? The open xml's in the data folder are much appreciated [:)]

[pzgndr]

We won't be adding the counter option anytime soon. However, I'd love to see a well executed nato mod. As already demonstrated - this is fairly easy to do technically. It doesn't involve a lot of physical work because the total number of different unit icons is relatively small.

While I agree that this is technically pretty easy to do, I tried making a few counter mods yesterday and found the total number of .png icons is not exactly small, nor is it intuitive how to get counters centered just right for best display. Also there's like 60 different rotational images for each unit icon that all need to be modded and I couldn't seem to get this to work well. [&:]

As a modest request, could we maybe get a blank template for a properly centered square unit counter for the different image directories? There's a difference between what's shown on the map and what's shown on the Info Sheets. We don't need all the different units, just a few templates to edit. That would be helpful. Thanks.

Perhaps redmarkus4 has already figured this out and could post something for download. The counter size in post #25 above looks good. [8D]

[nenad]

As already has been said elsewhere, at present we simply cannot actively support modding in any way.

Changing counters is really simple though. Each on-map unit icon is composed of two overlying pngs of the same pixel-size: main graphic in data/unit_rot and underlying ellipse in data/unit_icons.

For nato style counters you would probably want to ignore ellipses. Just replace them with blank images.

The main unit graphics is indeed a rotation animation consisting of 60 individual png frames. But for nato symbols you obviously wouldn't wand to have any rotation. So all that is needed is to mod only the first (default) image in the sequence (*_00.png). When you're satisfied with how it looks just copy it to other 59, using one of the free file management utilities that support regular expressions. Once you've established the frame for one unit type you can use it as a template for all the others.

If you have problems aligning to hex grid, screenshot the map with grid enabled and use that as a guideline.

Each unit has three more additional images, all of them in data/unit_icons. Two of them (left and right oriented) are for the info/combat sheet and third (BW) is for reinforcements bar.

That's all there really is to it.

Hope this helps at least a bit.

[Rosseau]

Okay guys, but how about those .usc and usx files? The Matrix page says the game ships with an editor, which I know was not accurate when I bought the game. But I would like to "alter" a few scenarios if it is possible.

Have a great, long weekend.

[nenad]

You can open them with zip/rar, What's inside is mostly human-readable.

[Rosseau]

"Open with..." did the trick.

I think it's a good sign the modding forum is so quiet. People are too busy playing the game to worry about hacking it.

[pzgndr]

Changing counters is really simple though. Each on-map unit icon is composed of two overlying pngs of the same pixel-size: main graphic in data/unit_rot and underlying ellipse in data/unit_icons.

It's simple enough but not trivial. I've spent some time figuring this out finally and managed to mod the German Infantry icons with something I like, so now I have templates to work with. Works fine, but replacing all 60 unit_rot images takes a while. Ah well, on to the next one.

[sbdb]

All the suggested NATO designs are butt ugly. Sorry, I'm just giving my honest opinion as an experienced designer, none of them come even close to the excellent work of the person who designed the GUI and graphics of this game, heck they even seem to be totally out of place, since the designs don't even match the overall look of this game.

I never understood this ultimate need for NATO symbols anyways, they're not aesthetically pleasing to begin with and just confusing to people who are new to this genre and who often don't even buy the game because of that. Oh well...I guess some people want to avoid losing respect in the community of die-hard old-timers, after all it seems to be blasphemy to them to move heads instead of NATO symbols! It reminds me a lot of web designers who want to sound professional by claiming that they only use "notepad", while funny enough a more professional code editor like PhpED would save them a lot of time or offer numerous other advantages! [:D]

Well done 2x2 games for dumping these ugly NATO symbols and not creating (from a graphics design point of view) yet another boring looking Gary Grigsby’s War look-a-like, those who want the symbols will get them anyways, since even a child can make those. Now you present yourself at least to potential customers as a "new kid on the block", you sure got my attention because of this, that eventually resulted in buying this game.

[pzgndr]

it seems to be blasphemy to them to move heads instead of NATO symbols!

Not at all. Just a personal preference. Perhaps something that comes from serving in the military and having a more serious interest in military wargaming than in eye candy? Regardless, nobody's demanding anything, just requesting some options so we all can play our games the way we would like to play them. Experienced designers looking to market to the widest audience possible should consider different customer preferences and offer options, yes? And I for one am not criticizing the 3D graphics, they are all very well done and the game itself is quite enjoyable.

[Moltke71]

ORIGINAL: redmarkus4

Still messing around with the profile icons - no NATO as yet.

I made the counters smaller. So far I have stuck to one color for all Axis units as the different colors for Italy etc. made the map confusing. The icon size is too small to support a flag for each nation.

Comments?

I like these/ Let me know where to get them. I'll use them after I finish my review.

[TomBombadil711]

ORIGINAL: sbdb

All the suggested NATO designs are butt ugly. Sorry, I'm just giving my honest opinion as an experienced designer, none of them come even close to the excellent work of the person who designed the GUI and graphics of this game, heck they even seem to be totally out of place, since the designs don't even match the overall look of this game.

I never understood this ultimate need for NATO symbols anyways, they're not aesthetically pleasing to begin with and just confusing to people who are new to this genre and who often don't even buy the game because of that. Oh well...I guess some people want to avoid losing respect in the community of die-hard old-timers, after all it seems to be blasphemy to them to move heads instead of NATO symbols! It reminds me a lot of web designers who want to sound professional by claiming that they only use "notepad", while funny enough a more professional code editor like PhpED would save them a lot of time or offer numerous other advantages! [:D]

Well done 2x2 games for dumping these ugly NATO symbols and not creating (from a graphics design point of view) yet another boring looking Gary Grigsby’s War look-a-like, those who want the symbols will get them anyways, since even a child can make those. Now you present yourself at least to potential customers as a "new kid on the block", you sure got my attention because of this, that eventually resulted in buying this game.

I do not think it is fair to call the present mod attempts "butt ugly". Not all of us are experienced designers like sbdb and I will highly appreciate any mod that will be made available for the community. I have bought the game despite the unit symbols and like the game very much - in the meantime even the unit symbols. Nevertheless I will give other symbols a try. What about icons used in Gary Grigsby's World at War? Is it possible to use similar symbols in this game?

[Kipper]

@redmarkus4

Great work - seriously thinking about picking this one up now. Well done and thanks! [&o][&o][&o]

[Kipper]

@pzgndr

Looks really well - great work!