RE: 653H Mod (Full Version)

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sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 12:41:43 AM)

And a word about unit count. Except for the Soviets, there are actually less units. In the stock campaign there are many double units [armies and their corps represented], and build limits are often higher than historical. So the Soviets are the only real concern for those afeared of a high unit count, and what you will find is that when the Eastern Front is at its' widest you need those units, but when the front shortens as you get into Germany and Romania you have too many units. So here's the thing - no need to move them all !

I've played this at least 15 or more times all the way thru, that's a pretty good sample. The only thing I would consider an issue would be the Italians. They had a lot of corps that they needed to defend their extended homeland coastlines, plus their occupied areas in Yugoslavia and Greece. When I play the Axis side they are still hard pressed to cover everything even with historic numbers [because they didn't keep entire corps in one area, they spread the components out]. But the issue is the computer, when it plays the Axis it takes all these Italian corps and spreads them into France and Russia. Well, I look at it as a bit of an unintended advantage for the computer [:D]



Hartmann -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 1:10:52 AM)

Ah, I see ... your sprites are actually there in the folder on my system too - still for some reason they don't show in my game (regardless of zoom level).



Rosseau -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 1:36:30 AM)

Yes, I have same issue with the Soviet sprites. However, I did manual install and didn't just copy all folders over.



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 2:09:34 AM)

Well this sucks. I'm sorry guys, I have no idea what the issue is. If you can't figure it out within a reasonable amount of time, we'll post something in the tech section to see if someone knows.



IslandInland -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 8:39:35 AM)

Thanks for the mod, sPzAbt653.

I played it for a bit last night and enjoyed it. I much prefer the all corps set up and the more accurate OOB over the base game.

I'm working on a scenario of my own but it won't be anywhere near as ambitious as yours. [:)]




Hartmann -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 9:30:40 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

Well this sucks. I'm sorry guys, I have no idea what the issue is. If you can't figure it out within a reasonable amount of time, we'll post something in the tech section to see if someone knows.


What I really find strange is that while your modded files are in place in the folder (and the old folders backed up), the game still shows the vanilla sprites for the Soviets. How can this even be? It's as if the game is loading these sprites from somewhere else ...

Another idea: For one zoom level you kept the old sprites (infinity signs for aircraft). Could it be that the game uses those for all zoom levels for the Soviets?

But then again, I guess the modded Soviet counters work fine in your own game, don't they?



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 10:34:52 AM)

Yes, they work fine here [:(]
quote:

It's as if the game is loading these sprites from somewhere else ...

Wanna hear a funny story ? I've changed some of the scripts, and on one occasion some of the scripted events were firing as if from the original campaign. Well, I double-triple checked everything and couldn't see what the problem was. Turns out it was reading from the Recycle Bin, an older version that was uninstalled [X(]

Just for giggles, here are the two Soviet png's that are used. If you like, please delete the same two files from your 'Major 4' folder, then add these two back in [just to be sure that what you have now isn't somehow corrupted].

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nnkp0zo2o61b1hh/unit_sprites_nato_zoom.zip?dl=0



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 10:37:34 AM)

quote:

For one zoom level you kept the old sprites

Yes, I did one and it looked horrible so I decided that for the middle zoom it wasn't really necessary for some icons. So, Air Icons are original at the middle level, but some others are as they are in the low zoom.



Hartmann -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 11:12:54 AM)

It's not a problem of corrupted files - at least I just tried with the new files the result being the same.



Hubert Cater -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 11:56:38 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hartmann

Ah, I see ... your sprites are actually there in the folder on my system too - still for some reason they don't show in my game (regardless of zoom level).


Just in case the installation understanding here is incorrect as I've just tested this mod on my end, all you need to do is simply paste the mod into the users documents folder for the game as shown by sPzAbt653 in post #2 of this thread.

After that there is really nothing else to do as it is a self contained mod that has its own set of bitmaps and other changes that don't interfere with the base game as is, i.e. no need to backup the old bitmaps folders or graphics files and overwrite them anywhere else as the mod understands to only load its own files.

If it still doesn't work after this, please let me know as I just wanted to make sure we are all on the same page first before investigating any further.

Thanks,
Hubert



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 12:20:53 PM)

Thanks Hubert. I didn't think too good about that, so I just added some clarification to the Install Procedure in Post #2.



Hartmann -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 12:31:21 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hubert Cater

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hartmann

Ah, I see ... your sprites are actually there in the folder on my system too - still for some reason they don't show in my game (regardless of zoom level).


Just in case the installation understanding here is incorrect as I've just tested this mod on my end, all you need to do is simply paste the mod into the users documents folder for the game as shown by sPzAbt653 in post #2 of this thread.

After that there is really nothing else to do as it is a self contained mod that has its own set of bitmaps and other changes that don't interfere with the base game as is, i.e. no need to backup the old bitmaps folders or graphics files and overwrite them anywhere else as the mod understands to only load its own files.

If it still doesn't work after this, please let me know as I just wanted to make sure we are all on the same page first before investigating any further.

Thanks,
Hubert



I didn't know that and replaced the original bitmaps with the ones from the bitmap folder of the mod. But shouldn't this work too? (For it mostly did, just not for the sprites in Major_4.)

If I just want to use the bitmaps (for now) what do I have to do when using the documents folder? Do I just put the bitmap folder of the mod there? Or do I have to retain the folder-subfolder-structure of the mod?



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 1:13:30 PM)

I'm not sure what you mean, but maybe you want to use the icons from 653H with the stock campaign ? If so, things won't match up as there are others besides the air units, and there are new categories for 653H, so the icons don't match with the stock campaign. If this isn't what you mean, please explain a little more [8D]



Hartmann -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 1:24:48 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

I'm not sure what you mean, but maybe you want to use the icons from 653H with the stock campaign ? If so, things won't match up as there are others besides the air units, and there are new categories for 653H, so the icons don't match with the stock campaign. If this isn't what you mean, please explain a little more [8D]


Yup, that's exactly what I want to do right now - use your icons with the default "Storm over Europe" campaign. Actually, I am already doing that and (apart from it not working with the Soviets) the only "odd" thing I noticed so far is that all Axis medium panzers on the map became SS units. It's a bit strange, but the visual improvement of the airplane counters outweighs that so much! What else should I look out for?

If someone would *just* make a graphics mod, how would that be implemented? Also by using the documents folder?






Hartmann -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 1:32:35 PM)

And NOW I actually found out why the Soviet sprites aren't working! What I did was I replaced everything in the bitmaps folder of the game. But it seems that the game uses those folder only when there are no overriding bitmap subfolders in the campaign folder! Now there is exactly one such bitmap subfolder in the "Storm over Europe" campaign folder - and it's ... tadaaa ... for Major_4!!!

So what I have to do is to reinstate the original bitmapfolder and then place YOUR bitmap folder in the "Storm over Europe" campaign bitmap folder.

I didn't do it yet, but I'll eat Stalin's beard if that's not the solution.



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 2:26:55 PM)

quote:

If someone would *just* make a graphics mod, how would that be implemented?

Do you have any experience with Paint.Net ? You can easily cut and paste whatever you want wherever you want, it only takes a couple minutes. It literally takes me less than ten minutes to make an icon, and that is much more complicated than what you want to do.



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 2:29:15 PM)

And I think that they way they have it set up, if you want to make any mod, you should open the campaign in the Editor, Rename it and save it, then you will have your own mod in that My Documents folder. That keeps it separate from the stock campaign folders.



Hartmann -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 2:34:48 PM)

Thanks for the tips, I maybe will have a try at some modding too in the future.

Btw the Soviet sprites are correctly showing now. I wonder what the difference are between the Soviet sprites in the Major_4 folder of the game and the Major_4 folder of the "Storm over Europe" campaign.



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/3/2016 2:38:14 PM)

quote:

Btw the Soviet sprites are correctly showing now.

Yippee !
Hopefully the bit I added to Post #2 will prevent this happening in the future.



Hartmann -> RE: 653H Mod (12/5/2016 9:04:44 AM)

Btw with all the work you've already done on counters, would you be interested to release your own "counter mod" to the public? I'm having great fun using your counters in the vanilla campaign and it seems that (except the German medium tanks which all show as SS units) everything else is already compatible.



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/5/2016 11:00:12 AM)

quote:

except the German medium tanks

I think it is more than that, but I will look into it when I get time. Thanks !



Christolos -> RE: 653H Mod (12/7/2016 8:43:07 PM)

Hi sPzAbt653,

The stock Nato counters are great but I don't like the fact that certain unit types like the tanks and mechanized units don't have any xxx designations for corps and/or xx designations for division sized units.

I see that you have remedied this in the 653H Mod, but my understanding is that the altered bitmaps for the 653H mod are not compatible with the stock campaigns as there are different unit types and perhaps not enough if overbuilds are allowed. Is this correct?

I also like the fact that you have added an SS unit type build.

I will try the 653H Mod shortly but I was wondering how easy would it be to only implement the xxx designation for stock units that currently don't show it, and the addition of SS unit builds?

Any tips or comments would be much appreciated as I would like to try my hand at trying to create this as a more simple mod focused only on the counters for now.

Thanks,

C



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/7/2016 11:04:51 PM)

Hi C,
Graphics Mods are really fun and easy to do once you get a few of the basics. Professionals can do a better job, but in most cases an amateur hack job [like mine] is certainly good enough.

To answer your first question, I use Paint.Net [a free program] to make simple cut and pastes. We can take any unit size symbol and copy and paste it. In the example below, in the yellow circle you can see that we can hit 'S' on the keyboard and with the mouse draw a rectangle around the corps symbol, then copy it, them paste it to any other unit.

You can open the 653H 'unit_sprites_nato' in Paint.Net and copy entire sections and paste them into the stock graphics. Pick and choose what you want. One thing to beware of, all countries units are named the same 'unit_sprites_nato', they are located in different folders to keep them separate. So it is easy to make a mistake and overwrite them with the wrong ones. Always keep an original backed up!

[image]local://upfiles/24850/5FC19D65DE7F493781F78AE214182DEA.jpg[/image]



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/7/2016 11:12:16 PM)

quote:

how easy would it be ... the addition of SS unit builds?

This is more complex as to do it properly you need to make adjustments in the editor. For the SS units I used the 'Medium Tank' category, which is not used in 653H, and changed it to 'SS Panzer Korp'. Changes then need to be made to most of this category's statistics in order to be balanced with the rest of the game. There is a 'localization' file that needs to be edited. Then you can add in the icons.



Christolos -> RE: 653H Mod (12/9/2016 12:54:35 AM)

Many thanks! [:)]

C



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/9/2016 2:08:19 PM)

A look at the Research screen for 653H.

Categories have been reorganized, with the main four at top left, strategic categories middle left, and general categories lower right. Resource AAA is by itself at lower left.

Some categories have been combined with others for simplicity. Mousing over a category will provide details at the bottom left. In this shot we are mousing over the Infantry category and can see the details at bottom left.

Expenditures have been lowered from 2 to 1 for all categories. The four at the upper right that show red numbers and N/A's are performance categories that are tailored for each major country and cannot be changed by the player.

Build Limits will increase with advances in some categories, details can be seen in the mouse overs.

[image]local://upfiles/24850/861F3545C6FD4A748EAF99190281173C.jpg[/image]



sPzAbt653 -> RE: 653H Mod (12/9/2016 2:20:09 PM)

The German Purchase screen for 653H.

Some categories have been modified, as seen in the center column, to provide a wider variety of historical units. For example, currently highlighted is the 'SS Panzer Corps' category. As you can see at upper right, these are unavailable for build until October 1941.

The Armor category just below the SS Panzer category is used for the regular army Motorized/Panzer corps, and on the Allied side for Soviet Tank Army's.

As stated in the previous post, the Build Limits for some of these units increase with Advances in certain Research categories.

[image]local://upfiles/24850/727F330A2DA64846AD8A5105B625DEDB.jpg[/image]



ScottGridley -> RE: 653H Mod (12/11/2016 1:14:34 PM)

Thanks for sharing this, sPzAbt653. Downloading now and hoping to have a go this afternoon!



Hartmann -> RE: 653H Mod (12/11/2016 9:40:17 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

quote:

except the German medium tanks

I think it is more than that, but I will look into it when I get time. Thanks !


Yeah, there is a bit more, but not much: In the meantime I found that medium bomber counters have no modded plane sprite (probably because you don't use them in your mod).



Iņaki Harrizabalagatar -> RE: 653H Mod (2/13/2017 6:13:29 PM)

<hi
<i have just started to play your mod, and I have taken a look into the Italian production queue, and I have seen there are 3 Italian battleships, all of them named Taranto, to show up in 1940, is that WAD?



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