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I'm considering buying this but just wanted some clarification on this customization bit before I do. One of the annoying things about TOAW--and I love it and have purchased every reiteration since 1998, so don't get your protective undergarments in a wad--was the generic nature of the icons in the top right. I ended up replacing most of these bitmaps with similar icons from Talonsoft's Campaign Series games, thus making them nation specific. However, there was a limited number of nations that I could do. I also created terrain mods to reflect the theater, i.e. Med buildings, East Front terrain, the latter season specific, etc.

So can someone in the know elaborate on this? I don't play anything apart from WW2 scenarios and really want the ability to mod within that time frame alone. Thanks.

EDIT: I should add, I'm talking strictly about what appears in the information box on the top right, not the map. For that I only use counters.

Okay, I've purchased and installed the game but can't find anything about customization in the manual. Is this feature detailed anywhere?

You can put alternate graphics into a folder with the same name as the scenario. The game should pick them up as first choice over the standard ones.

Thanks. Yes, I figured this out just before your response by checking out the file structure and running some tests by tossing some images into the Frozen Steppes graphics folder. It prioritizes whatever is there. That's a real jackpot for those of us wanting to add "chrome" to these scenarios. Gotta get to work. [:)]

One more question:

I noticed that there is a bitmap called "s_major_escarpment" in the Frozen Steppes graphics folder, but this file does not exist in the main Graphics folder. How does the game know what to do with that file since it's not replacing anything?

ORIGINAL: jbunnelle

One more question:

I noticed that there is a bitmap called "s_major_escarpment" in the Frozen Steppes graphics folder, but this file does not exist in the main Graphics folder. How does the game know what to do with that file since it's not replacing anything?

Well actually the s_major_escarpment file doesn't replace anything at all because it's mis-named. If you open up Frozen Steppes and have it displayed in small 2D mode, you'll notice the substitution of escarpments with rivers doesn't work. Good catch on this one, it somehow managed to slip through before release.

Rename s_major_escarpment in s_tiles_major_escarpment and it'll work as it should.

I'm not sure if either of you guys know anything about this, but I will ask anyway:

The way TOAW selects what 3D aircraft icon to display in the information panel is totally confusing. A long time ago I tried to figure it out but it was very inconsistent. For instance, I was modding the grey bitmaps into BF109Es, ME110s, HE111s, JU87s, etc., just to make them a bit less generic looking. But sometimes, for counters showing the bomber silhouette, the smaller fighter bitmap was shown in the info box. I tried altering all of this in the scenario editor, thinking that the counter selected determined what aircraft bitmap was used. But that wasn't the case. Any ideas? Figuring this out is really essential to those of us starting to work on graphics mods (yeah, I know, I'm probably the only one, but still.... [:)] )

I'm pretty sure that it looks at the unit's "line one equipment" and chooses the 3D bmp for that piece of equipment.

Ah, I think you're right.  Unfortunately it looks like the dive bombers and the fighters use the same bitmap file.