Q re: custom graphics

[Hellen_slith]

I think I am not seeing some custom graphics with some scenes, noticed there are about four (or more) "Custom Graphics" folders all around the hard drive. There is also "Graphics Override" folder, so maybe I am putting stuff in one of these wrong folders. So, my question is, which folder do those graphics w/ custom icons in them go, do those go into "Custom Graphics" (and the scene folder) or do they go in "Graphics Override" folder / scene.

And what is difference b/w "Custom Graphics" and "Graphics Override"

Thanks!

[TheeWarLord]

My experience is that mods go into the over ride folders. Over ride is just as the name implies it will supersede graphics in the game. There is a way to customize or modify a particular scenarios, which can be explained more thoroughly under mods and scenarios instructions.

[Shadrach]

The general advice seems to be that custom graphics for specific scenes go into the "Graphics Override" folder, in a sub-folder named the same as the scenario.
However, by looking at the "toawlog.txt" we can see the actual search path for bitmaps, in this case for a scene named "Nordkapp 83":

[font="Times New Roman"]
f:\games\The Operational Art of War IV\Scenarios\Modern - NATO vs Warsaw Pact\Nordkapp 83\
C:\Users\Stian\Documents\My Games\The Operational Art of War IV\Scenarios\Modern - NATO vs Warsaw Pact\Nordkapp 83\
C:\Users\Stian\Documents\My Games\The Operational Art of War IV\Graphics Override\Nordkapp 83\
f:\games\The Operational Art of War IV\Graphics Override\Nordkapp 83\
f:\games\The Operational Art of War IV\Graphics\Nordkapp 83\
C:\Users\Stian\Documents\My Games\The Operational Art of War IV\Graphics Override\Nordkapp 83\
f:\games\The Operational Art of War IV\Graphics Override\Nordkapp 83\
f:\games\The Operational Art of War IV\Graphics\Nordkapp 83\
C:\Users\Stian\Documents\My Games\The Operational Art of War IV\Scenarios\Modern - NATO vs Warsaw Pact\
C:\Users\Stian\Documents\My Games\The Operational Art of War IV\Graphics Override\
f:\games\The Operational Art of War IV\Graphics Override\
f:\games\The Operational Art of War IV\Graphics\
[/font]

"F:\games" here would be "c:\Program Files (x86)\" by default I guess.
Basically, this means you can place graphics in a sub-folder of the actual scenario folder, in this case "Modern - NATO vs Warsaw Pact\Nordkapp 83". Which for me at least is much more elegant.
You could also place them in the same folder as the scene but that would be a mess I think.

No idea why it seems to look in some folders twice though, just a quirk I guess.

You should only have *two* Custom Graphics folder though, in the Program Files (install) folder and one in the Documents folder. Actually not sure about that last one, I have it but I think I created it myself for organising downloaded scenes.

Do you have an example of such a scene where the graphics don't show?

[Hellen_slith]

I was trying the "Call to Arms 1775" scenario,
which looked like it had some special icons and stuff,
but they all look like regular chits to me.

in the "my documents\The Operational Art of War IV\" directory there is
"Graphics Override" folder, w/ a bunch of scene folders

and now it dawns on me, that the "Customs Graphics" folder is under \scenarios,
and that is just the directory the game reads for starting those in that game category.

So, I need to put the stuff in "Graphics Override" in its scene folder w/ the same name.

I got myself confused. They go in "Graphics Override" in the appropriate scenario folder.

So, maybe the "Call to Arms 1775" is a legacy TOAWIII scene? Not sure,
that is the one is seems to be not working,

ok, well, thanks! Sorry for any confusion.

[Shadrach]

Yeah... all those units files are not used in TOAW4. The rest are pretty shitty quality and to be honest I'd just delete them and the map would look better for it.

For instance the Tiles_misc - the game will use it, but since there's no "huge" h_ version it will look like crap.

Too bad about the custom units like ships and cavalry, someone would need to edit the "h_units.png" and override them there, then place it in the override folder.

I don't know the rationale for the devs keeping those files around, probably too much work cleaning it all up I guess. Maybe they just don't want to mess with the work created by the original scene designers.

[Raindem]

To add a couple more observations to this discussion...

Unit icon graphics under T3 were bmp files, while under T4 are png files.

Terrain graphics, under T3, could utilize either one depending on player settings. So a designer had to make 2 sets of every custom graphic. I'm not sure if T4 offers the same flexibility.

In both cases (custom unit and custom terrain graphics), I believe that Matrix distributed all the associated files with the legacy T3 scenarios, whether or not T4 would use them. I also remember that Call to Arms wound up in the Pre-WWI folder instead of custom graphics (at least on the original release of T4). But I don't think that should affect playability as long as the graphics overide folder is correct.

From what I've seen, there are really 2 main issues with getting legacy scenarios with custom graphics to display right. The first is that the designer is going to have to go in and make the changes to the graphics files. The second issue is that TOAW's directory structure has been unstable ever since they made it compatible with Steam. The program always seems to be forgetting where it is or where it needs to look for things. I'm developing a new scenario right now, and even with a scenario that's been born and bred in T4, it keeps losing track on where to look for custom files. Neither of the issues are insurmountable. It's just going to require more fiddling to get them to work.

[r6kunz]

ORIGINAL: Hellen_slith

I was trying the "Call to Arms 1775" scenario,
which looked like it had some special icons and stuff,
but they all look like regular chits to me.

in the "my documents\The Operational Art of War IV\" directory there is
"Graphics Override" folder, w/ a bunch of scene folders

and now it dawns on me, that the "Customs Graphics" folder is under \scenarios,
and that is just the directory the game reads for starting those in that game category.

So, I need to put the stuff in "Graphics Override" in its scene folder w/ the same name.

I got myself confused. They go in "Graphics Override" in the appropriate scenario folder.

So, maybe the "Call to Arms 1775" is a legacy TOAWIII scene? Not sure,
that is the one is seems to be not working,

ok, well, thanks! Sorry for any confusion.

re Call to Arms. Incidentally, a great scenario that is just the right scale for this period. FYI should be played in conjunction with Rick Atkinson, The British are Coming.
It has been updated to v.3 by the designer to TOAW IV and has the Colonial icons. This game alone is worth the price of admission. It can be found above in the Mods and Scenarios, the second page, I believe.

[Hellen_slith]

Thank you! I must have had an older version in my TOAWIV directories, I cleaned out the older versions, then d/l installed the updated version from here, and it is working w/ the Colonial icons! Many thanks again, looking forward to trying this one.