FWWC Map mods?

[phoenix]

Can anyone help? I'm looking for a FWWC map mod - or at least a mod to the terrain contour colours or alternatively to the hex edges - that will help define the contours at the lower altitude levels? 

The pic is what my game looks like and - to my ageing eyes - I can't really tell the difference between the contours here. I can add contour lines, of course, but they're not so clear either. 

The ideal situation would be hex edges as we have in the PC WW2 series, but I can't work out how to get those into the FWWC title. The title doesn't seem to come with hex edges.

This is France 14 I'm playing, and I've already modded it to get rid of the jison-type hexes which really make things hard for me to see, I find. I modded it using Phillipe's lovely mod. 

I already have Phillippe's mod and Warhorse's mod. I like the colours in the Warhorse mod  - they make the contours clear - but the 'paper' effect confuses things for me. 

I ask just in case anyone knows any other FWWC map mods that I haven't managed to find here, or have their own graphics that they're willing to share? 

Many thanks. 

[Lowlander]

Hmm, the diamond shaped wood in the middle of the map, SE of Mons is on a hill, are you sure you have " hex contours " turned on, I'm sorry but I prefer " Jison style " although I was'nt immediately converted to it.
By the way I'm a older guy with glasses.

Edit, why don't you have a look at " Serbia shall live " in the AAR section above, scroll down to the zoom-in shots all the contours are clearly visible.

[-72-]

Fwiw- I am pretty sure that hex edges won't work in FWWC - I don't know if I tested this out or not -but ordinarily something like that would have required an engine change so that the programming goes looking for the specific area on a bitmap file to read it off of.


Looking at a screenshot of the same file for both titles, my guess is that Ed (Williams) never bothered asking for that change to be made -so the only way that elevations shifts would be, I guess, highlighted, would be by toggling on and off the contours command line.

Personally I am not a fan of that particular command as it seems a little outdated. I'm more of a fan of the way Mr Freer added in his own style of elevation changes. For what it's worth I think that he really nailed that one. 

But that is a different story ... different artist in FWWC, different working style.

In order to get to where you are talking about (and mind you I think it is a reasonable enough comment) - but one would have to do some trial and error testing on the colour spectrum being used for all of the elevations. It can happen, but it is a little tougher to do with out the aid of the elevation change hexside graphics.    

I mean to be entirely honest too, that particular engine (in my opinion only) is missing a riverbank/shore hexside as well -which could be used to sort of make those areas look less hex-y -but that's just my personal preference style --- give me more, and then let me decide to leave things out if that has a better look/feel to it. Far easier to omit things that are in there than it is to try to come up with a work-around (which in some cases, is just not possible due to the limitations of the medium).

[phoenix]

Thanks, guys. I think the original vanilla colour differences (with jison-type hard hexes) make the elevations more apparent than the colours Phillippe has used in his mod, which is what I'm using in the picture above. But the jison-type hexes really really put me off, as I've said before, and I simply wouldn't play these games if I had to look at that hex grid the whole time, so I only bought this FWWC title because I knew in advance I could use Phillippe's mod to get rid of the jison hexes. But now I'm trying to make the contours more visible. I might just give up. Modding the terrain grids myself is a bit too much, I think, would take me a very long time, as I have neither the skills nor tools. I did just start doing that in 'paint', but it's a very trial and error process.

I agree with you, Trauth, that David's hex sides solution is really excellent. I only truly realise how excellent when I try to do without, as with these FWWC titles. I guess I just won't buy any more of them, which is a shame as both the other two titles interest me.

For what it's worth, Lowlander, when I look at the zoom image in, for example, post 23 of the 'Serbia shall live' thread, I see nothing that I can clearly read in terms of height differences. To me it just looks like a jumbled mess of lines. If there were hex edges it would be clearer. It would even be clearer without the jison hard-hexes, I'm sure, which just add to the jumbled mess of lines. To use that graphic set with an eye to moving around I would have to manually interrogate the height of each hex, I think.

[Lowlander]

Phoenix I sure I read somewhere that Volcanoman was content to continue with Jisons work including the unit cards.
This is what I use slightly modded 50 and 100 2D views.

[phoenix]

It's strange to me, Lowlander, that you can play with a map looking like that - especially since you're so good at modding the graphics - I mean - what is it? What on earth is it? It looks like an odd honeycomb. It doesn't look like a piece of planet earth, does it? It certainly doesn't look like a map of Mons in Belgium. Not one I've ever seen, anyway. I have honestly no idea how that map style became so popular. Maybe like a viral meme....

I would have to compare it, for example, to the really first rate map style used in Campaign Series: ME. Or the map style in Panzer Battles, or the really excellent Panzer Campaign Gold maps when you use the folders provided to get rid of the jison type hexes. At least all those examples look like some kind of map.

Lol. Take no notice of me. Those jison hexes must be my pet hate... Though, to be fair to Jison, he once did a really beautiful map for Gary Grigsby's WitE, which didn't include all that daft, useless hexy clutter. I do realise it's all a question of taste. Indeed, I seem to be in a minority.

[Lowlander]

Phoenix, you are correct we are all different, each one of us is unique and I will fight for your right to express your opinion.
No offence taken and hopefully I have not caused any undue strife.
I used to paint metal toy soldiers especially Napoleonic's, does that explain everything.

[CountryBoy]

When I see Jison hexes as posted above, they do look kinda odd, but when I play the game I don't even notice them. It's a bit like traffic noise, they just fade into the background.

[Jison]

Let me just add, in case it has gone unnoticed by some, that nowadays the mod have a much less obtrusive hexgrid than the one shown on the above images.



Jison

[CountryBoy]

My post makes it sound like I don't like your mod Jison, which is not true. it's the first thing I download after buying a PzC game...I'm definitely a fan.