New Aircraft and Ship art

[mandt]

Hi fellas-

I've prepared some new ingame graphics which Spooky has been good enough to post at his site.

I have updated the Allied aircraft art to v1.1. In addition to the original reworks of F4Fs, F4Us, F6F, B17, B25s, And SBD, I have now included new art for the P-47C and P-47D. I also went back to tweak a few of the previous remakes.

I have also taken a whack at a few other things, including new art for the ELCO 80 Class PT Boat (PT-109), Japanese Barge, LST, and a new "No Fly" symbol. (I notice that REG has also done one of these. So now those of us that hate the dreaded "Ghostbusters" symbol have a couple of alternatives to choose from.)

I still have some more work to do on the Allied planes, and then I'll start some of the Japanese aircraft.

As always, all comments, suggestions and criticisms are welcomed.

Here's a link to Spooky's excellent UV site.

http://uncommon-valor.chez.tiscali.fr/

[U2]

Truly nice stuff:D

BTW any chance of changing the Val type camoflage that the Judy currently has to something it really did have in larger numbers? (at least what I have seen on photos)

[Subchaser]

Hi Mandt

Thanks for your wonderful work. I have one proposal; plane art looks better without propeller blades, in this scale they are too fat, and it’s hard to make them thinner than 1 pixel, may be it’s better to remove them at all.

[Fred98]

If it were possible, the best thing to mod would be the map.

To extend the life of this game we need:

1. Players to amend short scenarios so that the Japanese player has a chance to win. And then upload them to the game's web site.

2. A new map. Perhaps a fictitious map made up of islands and bases.

The point is that a new map is like playing a whole new game. Perhaps the modding gods know how to mod the map.

[Yamamoto]

Originally posted by Joe 98
If it were possible, the best thing to mod would be the map.

In earlier versions of the game you could edit the map data in-game. I forgot how but if you check the forums with the search engine I bet you can find it. Data that could be edited included such things as whether a hex was land or not, which sides of a hex could be passed through, and I think maximum base size.

If someone made a new map it would be possible to reinstall the earlier version of the game and change the map, hex by hex, so that the data matched the graphical image. Of course, the AI would be clueless I bet. Maybe that Med campaign is closer than we though.

Yamamoto

[mariovalleemtl]

Great job mandt !

mv:)

[LargeSlowTarget]

Nice work, but... may it be that the icons for the barges and the Elcos are a bit too large, esp. in comparison with the SC class? The SCs now look smaller than PTs and barges, and I don't think that was the case IRL.

[mandt]

Thanks fellas. Let me see if I can answer a few of the questions.

U2-

I'm still working on the Allied Air, but will start on th eJapanese air soon. Do you have a link with a pic of the Val camo you are referring too?

Subchaser-

Ya know? Those props have been bothering me too. I may try experimenting using gray or a shade of the background.

Mario-

Thanks.

LargeSlowTarget-

I don't think any off the ship art in the game is to scale, and some, if compared side-by-side are going to look whacky. I believe I made the Elco PT art about the same size as the original PT art. Or at least it's close. The Japanese Barge is approximately the same size as the American LCT, which is the art the original game usde for the LST. Some of those Japanese Barges were abotu the size of an LCT.

Nevertheless, I'll take a look at them and see if I can't make them a little smaller without losing too much detail.

Thanks again fellas.

[frizt]

Mandt:

How about some new Japaness Aircraft arts? Keep going

[LargeSlowTarget]

Originally posted by mandt

LargeSlowTarget-

I don't think any off the ship art in the game is to scale, and some, if compared side-by-side are going to look whacky. I believe I made the Elco PT art about the same size as the original PT art. Or at least it's close. The Japanese Barge is approximately the same size as the American LCT, which is the art the original game usde for the LST. Some of those Japanese Barges were abotu the size of an LCT.

Nevertheless, I'll take a look at them and see if I can't make them a little smaller without losing too much detail.

Thanks again fellas.

I really don't want to criticize you, since overall I like your mods very much, but your barge and PT art sizes are less then close to the original size. Sure, the ship arts are not exactly to scale, but still they show the hierarchy - a CL looks bigger than a DD, a SC looks smaller than a DD. But your PT and barge arts are too large in comparison with other ship classes higher up in the hierarchy - especially when compared to the SC art. PTs displaced less than 60 tons, the SCs were in the 250-300 tons range. I know I'm nitpicking, but I find it an odd picture when I see my mixed SC/PT forces in combat with barges and the actual biggest ships in the engagement are depicted as the smallest! But it's just irritating, not more. And since your new arts are more detailed, I'll use them nevertheless. But still it would be nice if you could try to make them smaller.

Anyway, the one ship art that really needs some revision IMO is the CLAA Atlanta/Oakland art. Those ships looked beautiful, elegant and almost fragile (well, they were), but the UV art doesn't do justice to this.

Edit: It's 3 o' clock in the morning and I can't sleep because of my failed invasion of Luganville, that's why I'm grumbling...

[mandt]

Originally posted by frizt
Mandt:

How about some new Japaness Aircraft arts? Keep going

I will Frizt. I have a few more Allied air to adjust, such as the B-24, and A-20, and then I'll take on the Japanese. There are a few there I'd like to rework. Do you have any special requests?

[mandt]

Originally posted by LargeSlowTarget
I really don't want to criticize you, since overall I like your mods very much, but your barge and PT art sizes are less then close to the original size. Sure, the ship arts are not exactly to scale, but still they show the hierarchy - a CL looks bigger than a DD, a SC looks smaller than a DD. But your PT and barge arts are too large in comparison with other ship classes higher up in the hierarchy - especially when compared to the SC art. PTs displaced less than 60 tons, the SCs were in the 250-300 tons range. I know I'm nitpicking, but I find it an odd picture when I see my mixed SC/PT forces in combat with barges and the actual biggest ships in the engagement are depicted as the smallest! But it's just irritating, not more. And since your new arts are more detailed, I'll use them nevertheless. But still it would be nice if you could try to make them smaller.

Anyway, the one ship art that really needs some revision IMO is the CLAA Atlanta/Oakland art. Those ships looked beautiful, elegant and almost fragile (well, they were), but the UV art doesn't do justice to this.

Edit: It's 3 o' clock in the morning and I can't sleep because of my failed invasion of Luganville, that's why I'm grumbling...

Large, you're a man unto my own heart. It was similar feelings that got me started on these mods in the first place. Funny thing about that Elco, I hesitated poating it cuz I'm not entirely happy with the final results. I just know I can come up with a better piece of work. Like I said above, I'll take another look at it. I'm considering increasing the resolution of the art to allow for a smaller graphic that would still retain good detail. What I don't want is a smaller piece of art, that's more to scale with the SC but looks like no more than a little gray blob.

Those Atlanta class cruisers were beautiful ships. Are you using the original art from the game, or did you download the new arts from Spooky's site? I don't know if there's any difference. I just want to be sure we're on the same page. I'll take a look at that one too.

Thanks again for the feedback. Keep it coming.

[U2]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mandt
Thanks fellas. Let me see if I can answer a few of the questions.

U2-

I'm still working on the Allied Air, but will start on th eJapanese air soon. Do you have a link with a pic of the Val camo you are referring too?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ah the Judy unfortunately has the same camo as the Val. That was my problem:) I'll try to get you some Judy pictures....one of the camos I'm thinking of is the classic green camo like the A6m5 had.....I do believe the Judys had the same on the IJN carriers....

Cheers
Dan

[LargeSlowTarget]

mandt,
thanks for your kind reply and even more for your hard work on improving the ship and plane art. I'm using Rowfl's alternative ship art with the ship type and class names added (could you do this with your barge, Elco & LST art, too?) Rowfl's arts are quite good, the only picture I'm taking issue with is the CLAA class. Since I haven't saved the original Matrix art I can't say whether there is a big difference. Anyway, the CLAA art I'm currently using looks only distantly related to the real thing. Unfortunately I have no experience with creating computer graphics, so it's up to you to design a worthy illustration of this graceful ship class!

[mandt]

Hiya Large-

I'm using Rowlf's mods too. They are really nice. I wouldn't even attempt to better his work. But I'll take a look at that Atlanta again. Perhaps that's one he didn't do a lot with. Thanks for the pic. I've also got some good ship resources.

Anyway, I'll try to take a look at it tonight and get back to you tomorrow, and we'll discuss what we think we can do with it.



U2-

I'll see what I can come up with too.

[Lrfss]

Hi All!

D/L'd some of that great art today, very good stuff and much appreciated!

Later,

Lrfss

[LargeSlowTarget]

Hey, is that the big bad biker who's kicking my butt on, above and around Luganville? I told ya, the mods are cool. Got the map mod from Rowlf, too? Since Reg just learned me the secrets of screenshots, here's one of my current UV look with various mods. I'll send my next turn in a few!

LST a.k.a. Huey

EDIT: 'learned' ??? Should be 'taught', of course. Demon alcohol...

2nd EDIT: Completely messed up this post while trying to replace the first screenshot with a new one just showing the active window, this apparently didn't work. Doesn't matter since Lrfss got the message... Sorry guys, I'm still learning.

[Lrfss]

Hey Huey/LST et al:

Yeah, it's me waiting for my turn, LOL!!

The mod's are very good!

Have not D/L'd all the ship Mod's or the Icons yet....

Did the Allied A/C stuff though so far, the map, clouds, etc.

The map makes a large diiferance IMHO

Later,

A tired Lrfss

[Reg]

Originally posted by LargeSlowTarget
Since Reg just learned me the secrets of screenshots, here's one of my current UV look with various mods.

Looks like I created a monster....

By the way, Holding down the Alt key as well as the Print Screen key only captures the active window

Reg.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Reg - another useful hint, thank you! And I just realized the mistake I've made - hell, my English proficiency sucks.