Editing existing scenarios?

[K K Rossokolski]

Very nice, but.........!!
If the unit pictures are changed, for WF say, do they apply across all theatres, all the time. A UP for eg a Pz III with camouflage might be totally appropriate for Europe at certain times of the year.
But what about the Western Desert???

I would like to hear a bit more from someone who knows something about camouflage. I have been to the Western Desert....many years ago....and I dont recall too much vegetation. Lot of sand and stones, though.

Further on the eye candy topic, years ago someone did up some work on the terrain features for CS, published by the club as a patch, as I recall. Nice. My Talonsoft has them, but I have no idea what their file designators are. There may have been enhancements to UPs as well.
Some other lifers may recall this.

[Jason Petho]

Very nice, but.........!!
If the unit pictures are changed, for WF say, do they apply across all theatres, all the time. A UP for eg a Pz III with camouflage might be totally appropriate for Europe at certain times of the year.
But what about the Western Desert???

They are time dependent, unfortunately.

There are Early graphics, Mid-war graphics and Late-war graphics.

The standard Up01###.bmp being the standard midwar.

You can find the E-Up01###.bmp and L-Up01###.bmp graphics for early and late war in the SPECIAL folder in the game install. If these files don't exist, then the mid-war graphic is used throughout.

I don't recall off the top of my head what the magic dates are for game to trigger which graphics are being used.

Jason Petho

[K K Rossokolski]

Unfortunate indeed. Is it possible to consider including these very nice graphics as optional extras, additional to the basic unit icons? I'm all for eye candy, but it must first accord with reality. On the basis explained by JP above, these are not appropriate for WF, because of the diversity of theatres.

[Jason Petho]

Unfortunate indeed. Is it possible to consider including these very nice graphics as optional extras, additional to the basic unit icons? I'm all for eye candy, but it must first accord with reality. On the basis explained by JP above, these are not appropriate for WF, because of the diversity of theatres.

Of course, a separate folder in the USER MODS folder, as with the other MODs, you can add them if you wish.

The graphics above would be best suited to the L-Up01###.bmp categories in the SPECIAL folder, as they are more common in the late war... out of the desert.

Jason Petho

[Von Earlmann]

I guess I am not puter savvy........but I fail to see what the last few posts have to do with editing an existing scenario........please do not edit any of mine,at least til I'm dead............hopefully I won't roll over in my grave when you do :-)

It's ok to borrow maps and OOBs but best to leave someones scenario creation alone..........you don't have to like it but you should respect it and the creator enough to leave it alone......

VE
PS: This makes 670 posts.....I used quick edit to keep that way :-)

[K K Rossokolski]

That's a very good point. Surely no existing scens should be edited without the author's OK.

[Crossroads]

Very nice, but.........!!
If the unit pictures are changed, for WF say, do they apply across all theatres, all the time. A UP for eg a Pz III with camouflage might be totally appropriate for Europe at certain times of the year.

The improved unit bitmaps are located in the "Special" folder, under the game folder. E.g. "...\West Front\Special"

They have the following prefixes:
- E-upXXXXX.bmp (Early war look)
- L-upXXXXX.bmp (Late war look)
- S-upXXXXX.bmp (Standard look)

They are in effect when one chooses the "Use Special Icons" from the Options menu.

I have created a few alternatives for the late war look for West Front (L-up*.bmp files), the mods would have no effect for early war or for the Eastern and Pacific theatres.

Should there be interest for this alternative look, a similar new mod folder could be created. As usual, the original files would be easily available for returning to original files.

But what about the Western Desert???

I would like to hear a bit more from someone who knows something about camouflage. I have been to the Western Desert....many years ago....and I dont recall too much vegetation. Lot of sand and stones, though.

Definitively! Anyone?

Further on the eye candy topic, years ago someone did up some work on the terrain features for CS, published by the club as a patch, as I recall. Nice. My Talonsoft has them, but I have no idea what their file designators are. There may have been enhancements to UPs as well.
Some other lifers may recall this.

The "...\West Front\User_Mods" folder contains these types of modifications, including the "WINTER_ALTERNATIVE" mod. The mod, by Richard Simonitch, is very impressive to say the least, introducing fir trees, new mud graphics, night scenario compatibility ... etc...

Maybe this is the mod you had in mind?

[Crossroads]

I guess I am not puter savvy........but I fail to see what the last few posts have to do with editing an existing scenario........please do not edit any of mine,at least til I'm dead............hopefully I won't roll over in my grave when you do :-)

It's ok to borrow maps and OOBs but best to leave someones scenario creation alone..........you don't have to like it but you should respect it and the creator enough to leave it alone......

I agree 100% !!!

The original topic had to do with first, me getting familiar with the converted Panzer Leader scenarios and how to alter the unit placements in the map, all in the spirit mentioned by the author of the conversions, Alan R. Arvold, and second, nitpicking about one scenario where the original PL situation offered separate half tracks and the conversion had instead put self-propelled AA units into play...

[Jason Petho]

- S-upXXXXX.bmp (Standard look)

S-UpXXXXX.bmp are reserved for winter camo

Jason Petho

[Crossroads]

So here we go, thought I'd finish what I started.

Jason, thanks for the info, S*.bmp indeed are winter camos.

Here is a meeting with some modified armor bitmaps.

The germans have tried to camouflage their units as they could from strifing planes.

The GIs, meanwhile, have tried to strengthen their M4s as they could.

M4A1 guys (5SP) have put some tracks into their front place as was quite common at the time.

M4/76 guys have done the same (5SP units), the 4SP units have instead used sandbags. I found the latter from the specials folder, it was not by me. I especially liked the three kills the unit had made :)

Finally, the M4A2E3 guys have put some logs into their front plate, as was suggested in the picture of the tank in JTCS Unit viewer tool.



Here is the same scene with standard graphics:



Question: for some reason, the Use Special Graphics option did not work for the US armor in my JTCS :( The respective files (L-P10005, 6 and 7) were not there in the first place, and adding them as new files did not seem to help. They appeared to function in the JTCS unit viewer, though :conf:

I managed to get the new graphics only by adding them as normal units under the WF folder, which should not be the case...