2K FrankenCounters for Older Eyes Release v1.1

[epower]

In 2022 I made a few modded counters for my own use in SC:WAW, largely adapted variants of IronX superb v4.4 counters with a historical unit patch twist. We'll discuss those later. Today the Navy has precedence.

Two years later I've jumped back into SC with the release of War in the Pacfic and to my horror, I'm finding it a major challenge to see the little numbers on my 2K screen and most definitely on my Ultrawide LED gaming monitor.
Maybe ignoring my High school Biology teacher Mr Neupauer's warning was a mistake and I'm going to go blind after all.
Age 60 came and went last year, horrifying to type that btw.

Inspired by the outstanding work of Spires, Unfortunate Son, IronX and the many other artists whose talent far surpasses my own, I dove down the rabbit hole and this is what I've come up with so far for Naval counters. All silhouettes taken from the Office of Naval Intelligence recognition manuals.

Below is a full comparison of the different counters for all unit upgrades.
Counters, representing a ship class, change with each upgraded level of their dominant unit attribute.

With Advanced Subs max = 5, Subs use all 6 counter variants. 0,1,2,3,4,5
Amphib units also have 5 levels but I kept the counter the same for all.

With Naval Weaponry capped at 2, all other naval vessels excepting CVLs will use 3 variants. 0,1,2

Escort Carriers have ASW capped at 3 despite being able to research ASW up to level 5 and so will only have 4 counter variants. 0, 1, 2, 3

************************Edited for Release v1.1 (27 Dec 2024)*******************************************************

2K FrankenCounter for Older Eyes is my own particular Frankenstein monster consisting of the IronX v4.7 Land and Air counters plus a few of my own modded land counters, each of which retain his particular design style. This mod collection is very much an homage to IronX's work which so enriched my playing experience of SC:WAW. I have cleaned up the few remaining rough spots, polished and darkened a few bases for easier viewing, and flipped the right half the counter sheet so that they will mirror the enemy in game. Man, that last bit was a ton of work. Soviets got some bloody red bases and lots of actual horse cavalry too.

Inspired by Spires superb work, I've included my own take on large Hexagonal Naval Counters, with ship silhouettes taken from the Office of Naval Intelligence recognition manuals.

Part and parcel of the mod for older eyes are bitmaps from my own customized component mods which help us geezers see things a little better:

Brighter Unit Mode dots - unit_mode_sprites.png
Even Bigger & Brighter Strength & Upgrade Numbers v1.2 - unit_strength_values_sprites.png
Lower experience dots - unit_experience.png

Lower Unit Activation Sprites - unit_activation_sprites.png
This mod not only lowers the unit activation sprite (which looks nicer) but also adds IronX's USA Roundel as well as a Tibet and Manchukuo flag sprite.

Historical Flag Mod v1.1 - Bill Runacre's recent release with the following changes:
Replaced the flag of Nationalist China with a higher res version I made for WAW.
Added flag of Manchukuo to correct spot lower right.
Added flag of Tibet
unit_nato_flag_sprites.png
unit_nato_flag_sprites_zoom.png

**********INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS**********

In the archive attached there are 5 separate individual mods. Extract or place these mods inividually into your mods folder. They are numbered thus so they'll sit together at the top of your in-game modlist in order:

1a - Frankencounter IJN Blue Base
1b - Frankencounter IJN Rising Sun with Blue Base
1c - Frankencounter IJN Yellow & Blue Base
1d - FrankenCounter IJN Option - Rising Sun Sky + Yellow-Blue Base
2 - FrankenCounter Main Package

Place all five individual folders into this location:

%HOMEPATH%\Documents\My Games\Strategic Command WWII - War in the Pacific\Mods

Start the Game and in the Settings screen complete the following 2 steps:

1. Enable ONE, and ONLY ONE, of the 4 IJN Counter options. Remember to disable any active IJN mod before enabling another. Each option contains identical Land and Air Counters but with different naval counters.

2. Enable the FrankenCounter Main Package. This contains unit counters for all nations except Japan. Also included within are the above mentioned bitmaps which improve the viewing experience on higher resolution monitors.

The top of your mods installation screen should look something like this, with only ONE of the IJN options enabled:

Correct installation.jpg (563.04 KiB) Viewed 704 times

Cheers,

epower


Changelog:

v1.1 - Added 4th IJN Option (1d. FrankenCounter IJN Option - Rising Sun Sky + Yellow-Blue Base)
- Reset all mod.ini files to 'Enabled = 0' to prevent mods from being automatically enabled at start.
- Included screenshot of correct mod installation.




Download Link to full version 1.1 here: https://mega.nz/file/Dc9zxS7I#1FXiZdSGy ... mrCPP4zH3w

Download of IJN Option (1d. FrankenCounter IJN Option - Rising Sun Sky + Yellow-Blue Base) only.
For those who previously downloaded v1.0

1d. FrankenCounter IJN Option - Rising Sun Yellow-Blue.7z

(2.21 MiB) Downloaded 27 times

[OldCrowBalthazor]

I will want to use these possibly when you get finished.

[BillRunacre]

These look very promising!

[usit64]

I also entered my 6th decade this month and my lenses grow thicker every year , so I appreciate your work very much! Please give a link where to download! Thxalot!

[epower]

I'm off to kayak the Adirondacks until Friday but having posted a teaser, I wanted to drop this beta for testing. I won't have access to my computer until I return so should any problems arise, the fix will have to wait.
Please bear in mind this is a beta test of the visibility changes I incorporated and there's still some polishing left to do.

From the ReadMe:

My own particular Frankenstein monster consisting of IronX 4.7 Land and Air plus a few of my own modded land counters as well as my new large Hexagonal Naval Counters.

EDIT: Added the UK Naval counters to this one.

epower

Japan, UK, USA Naval Counter Options.png (1.22 MiB) Viewed 2237 times

EDIT: Below is a screen of IronX's amazing v4.7 Counters with a few of my own tossed in.

Land Units.png (6.18 MiB) Viewed 2236 times

I didn't have time for Communists so I'll deal with Communist China and the USSR at a later date.
Allied & Axis Minor Navies remain the original IronX counter for now.

****Edited 23 Dec 2024. Removed older file versions version in anticipation of v1.0 release

[epower]

There are 3 options for the IJN.

Place these folders

2k FrankenCounter IJN Blue
2k FrankenCounter IJN Rising Sun Blue
2k FrankenCounter IJN Yellow

into this location:

%HOMEPATH%\Documents\My Games\Strategic Command WWII - War in the Pacific\Mods

***** WARNING: ENABLE ONLY ONE IJN MOD AT A TIME *****
***** DISABLE THE PREVIOUS IJN MOD BEFORE MAKING A CHANGE ****

Happy hunting,

epower


*****Edited 23 Dec 2024: Removed deprecated files in anticipation of v1.0 release. These install instructions for the 3 Japanese Counter Set Options remain correct.

[OldCrowBalthazor]

Will definitely use these when you finish with the Reds
Looks great!
Kayaking in up-state New York eh? Have fun and stay safe. I stay out of rivers and stick to lakes now haha.

[epower]

OldCrowBalthazor,
We stick to lakes as well. Many options in that area.
Edited the earlier posts with more and better screen shots to give an idea.

Bolsheviks are at the top of the list when I return.

[OldCrowBalthazor]

OldCrowBalthazor,
We stick to lakes as well. Many options in that area.
Edited the earlier posts with more and better screen shots to give an idea.

Bolsheviks are at the top of the list when I return.

Yep these are super good.

[ATCSMike]

In 2022 I made a few modded counters for my own use in SC:WAW, largely adapted variants of IronX superb v4.4 counters with a historical unit patch twist. We'll discuss those later. Today the Navy has precedence.

Two years later I've jumped back into SC with the release of War in the Pacfic and to my horror, I'm finding it a major challenge to see the little numbers on my 2K screen and most definitely on my Ultrawide LED gaming monitor.
Maybe ignoring my High school Biology teacher Mr Neupauer's warning was a mistake and I'm going to go blind after all.
Age 60 came and went last year, horrifying to type that btw.

Inspired by the outstanding work of Spires, Unfortunate Son, IronX and the many other artists whose talent far surpasses my own, I dove down the rabbit hole and this is what I've come up with so far for Naval counters. All silhouettes taken from the Office of Naval Intelligence recognition manuals.

This is a work in progress but here are three basic options for IJN, and one for USN.
Resolution is 2K (2650 x 1440) full screen capture from the editor. I'm not sure how to get the pics to display at the proper size. You may need to download them and alter their size to get a proper sense of counter size.

I've used my Lower Experience Dots mod as well so the dots are easier to see.


2K Hexagonal Naval Counter Options.png


Below is a full comparison of the different counters for all unit upgrades.
Counters, representing a ship class, change with each upgraded level of their dominant unit attribute.

With Advanced Subs max = 5, Subs use all 6 counter variants. 0,1,2,3,4,5
Amphib units also have 5 levels but I kept the counter the same for all.

With Naval Weaponry capped at 2, all other naval vessels excepting CVLs will use 3 variants. 0,1,2

Escort Carriers have ASW capped at 3 despite being able to research ASW up to level 5 and so will only have 4 counter variants. 0, 1, 2, 3

USN
SB - Iowa Class
BB - Washington, North Carolina, South Dakota
CC - Alaska Class
CA - Northampton, New Orleans, Baltimore
CL - Brooklyn, Atlanta, Cleveland
DD - Flush Deck, Gridley/Bagley, Fletcher
CVL- Bogue, Casablanca, Independence, Commencement Bay
CV - Lexington, Enterprise, Essex
SS - S-Boat, Sargo, Tambor, Gato, Balao, Tench
MT - 80' ELCO for all
T - Laconia for all. Ahistoric but easy profile.
AV - Higgins Boat LCVP for all.
AVL- Haskell Class Attack Transport for all


IJN
SB - Yamato for all
BB - Nagato, Fuso, Kongo
CA - Myoko, Mogami, Tone
CL - Kuma, Nagara, Agano
DD - Mutsuki, Fubuki, Akizuki/ Yugumo
CVL- Ryujo, Zuiho, Chitose, Kaiyo
CV - Kaga, Shokaku, Taiho

Japan starts with 2 levels of advanced subs.
SS - [J1, KD-6 (I-168 Class)] @ start
B1 (1-15 class)
KD-7 (I-176 Class)
I-400
I-201

MT - T-14 for all
T - Modern 1930s Japanese Liner
AV - Diahatsu for all
AVL- No. 101 Landing Ship for all.


Full IJN v USN Comparison.png

More to come.

Why are the Alaska Class CC instead of CB as the Navy classified them? Seems to me that the Higgins, etc could be AGs (Auxiliary) instead of AVs which are Seaplane Tenders. I personally like BB for all Battleships, no matter the class. Could possibly put a little mark on the counter to differentiate the Iowas and Yamatos or even a slightly different colored counter.
This is just me, spitballing. Anyway, they look very very good.

[Jack59]

Great Counters and am planning on using them! Once you finish with the Russians don't forget the minor countries. They are currently too vanilla.

[epower]

@Jack59 - Almost done with the Bolshies. I'm despairing of a creating legible RED counter so I may, in the interest of completing this project, default to IronX v4.7 for Russian land and Air. Soviet Navy, otoh, has a nice bloody red base.

As for the Allied and Axis Minors, the game limits the options to just the two, I've made some naval counters in the same hexagonal style.
Fortunately there are very few naval vessels among the minors, but the Royal Dutch Navy, if they can escape the Java sea, will have a part to play.

@ATCSMike - A fair question. I went with the stock game designations for consistency sake since I also plan on releasing a version with the stock NATO land & air counters. CB for USN, CC for RN and CA for the Kriegsmarine heavies, and the IJN upgraded theirs to fast BBs... and the waters get muddier than I want. Having said that, I can see why improper designations and the above mentioned AV might grate a bit on an old salt. Seaplane tender it most certainly is.

Not sure what the best alternative would be since the Amphibious unit as used in the game represents a composite landing force. Hairog, in his marvelous Naval Mod, addressed this particular issue with his task force concept.

As for SB, the NATO game counter is actually DN. I may go with your suggestion and add an asterisk for the Yamatos and Iowas - BB*

EDIT: Latest versions have BB* replacing DN/SB for the big boys. Thanks for the suggestion.

Cheers,

epower

p.s. For those of you keeping score at home, 'Kriegsmarine' most brutally autocorrects to margarine. Make of that what you will.

[OldCrowBalthazor]

Red is a difficult color to work with when manipulating images I've found. Side note. A long whiles back, I bought a Warsaw Pact-Nato wargame. Can't remember the name. Anyways, the developer chose a horrid livid reddish-violet color for the Soviets. It was so awful we could not get past two turns playing it haha.

Can't wait to be able to use your set once it's done.
Cheers.

[DamagePoint]

Everyone should use a 2k Moitor to protect their eyes and get rid of the stamp look forever.
Joking...
But since I've been using a 2k, I just don't want to look at my old monitor anymore.

lol

[Jazon]

Hi,
any news when this marvelous set will be ready? And if anybody tested if Unfortunate Son's counters for WaW could be applied to the War in the Pacific?
Cheers
Jazon

[Platoonist]

And if anybody tested if Unfortunate Son's counters for WaW could be applied to the War in the Pacific?

As far as I know Unfortunate Son had yet to release his World at War counter set. Just the War in Europe set, so consequently there is no Japanese or Chinese unit art. If you use his WiE mod you get an interesting mishmash. Germans for Chinese, Italians for Australians and the game's original counter art for the British and Japanese.

The US counter art is good although the super battleships have the old dreadnought silhouettes. But then that's true for the Spires mod as well.

US-mod.jpg (60.8 KiB) Viewed 1508 times

[Jazon]

HI,
Thanks for the info. I tried Spires MOD, its nice, but I can't get used to change in map textures, and moving and attacking cursors. My top of the top is Unfortunate's Son counter set, it remind me old times cardboard table wargames, when I was teenager. We had a bunch of those games, and I spent loads of hours playing with my friends, so with Unfortunate Son's counters I fell like the old times. Well, I need to be patient then.
Cheers All
Jazon

[OldCrowBalthazor]

HI,
Thanks for the info. I tried Spires MOD, its nice, but I can't get used to change in map textures, and moving and attacking cursors. My top of the top is Unfortunate's Son counter set, it remind me old times cardboard table wargames, when I was teenager. We had a bunch of those games, and I spent loads of hours playing with my friends, so with Unfortunate Son's counters I fell like the old times. Well, I need to be patient then.
Cheers All
Jazon

Patience is a virtue. I know Unfortunate One is working on finishing a set for WaW and Pacific again. All I can say at the moment.
In the mean time I would use these, but also the Russians are not done yet with this counter mod apparently. I'll use either when they are available.......
Also. Jazon, your not that old. I am though haha.
1972>Avalon Hills 'Stalingrad', 'Midway', 'Jutland', and my favorite, 'Blitzkrieg' which was on a giant board with two Great Powers and 5 Minors on a hypothetical continent knocking it out WW2 style. Few years later drank my first beers and split bong water over the board playing that. Good times in the Stone Age

[Platoonist]

1972>Avalon Hills 'Stalingrad', 'Midway', 'Jutland', and my favorite, 'Blitzkrieg' which was on a giant board with two Great Powers and 5 Minors on a hypothetical continent knocking it out WW2 style.

Epic tank battles in the Great Koufax Desert. "Sandy" Koufax...get it? Apparently the Blitzkrieg map designer must have been a Dodgers fan.

Great-Koufax-Desert.jpg (45.09 KiB) Viewed 1436 times

[OldCrowBalthazor]

1972>Avalon Hills 'Stalingrad', 'Midway', 'Jutland', and my favorite, 'Blitzkrieg' which was on a giant board with two Great Powers and 5 Minors on a hypothetical continent knocking it out WW2 style.

Epic tank battles in the Great Koufax Desert. "Sandy" Koufax...get it? Apparently the Blitzkrieg map designer must have been a Dodgers fan.


Great-Koufax-Desert.jpg

LoL that's absolutely true!
Btw I got the 1985 variant rules, and Minor Country counters (original no minor military representation as you must know)
A company I found online makes some excellent counters for all these older games. That 85 rules included real elaborate air rules and naval units.
I still play this solo about once a year. It would be an excellent mod for Strategic Command.
Thanks for sharing this image!