problem with Lowlanders units - graphics query

phoenix · 02-05-2022, 08:05 PM,

I love the Lowlander Unit counters for Vietnam (and other titles), but the company markings don't show on them in game. I'm wondering if there's some way I can fix this, and if anybody would be able to explain to me how the company markings work so that I can figure out what I need to change? Do the company colourings come from a file other than the Units files in the Maps folder? Thanks.

Xerxes77 · 02-05-2022, 08:58 PM,

(02-05-2022, 08:05 PM)phoenix Wrote: I love the Lowlander Unit counters for Vietnam (and other titles), but the company markings don't show on them in game. I'm wondering if there's some way I can fix this, and if anybody would be able to explain to me how the company markings work so that I can figure out what I need to change? Do the company colourings come from a file other than the Units files in the Maps folder? Thanks.

Are those the ASL-inspired counters? If so, the likely reason you're not getting the company markings is that the units have a colored background. This prevents the company markings from coming through. Organizational colors are hardcoded and can't be modded, I'm afraid.

However I think there's a relatively simple solution. Assuming ASL uses a different background color for each nation, you'd have to remove the colored backgrounds in the 2dUnitxx.bmp files, preserving the units' silhouettes, and instead paint the unit bases for each nation with the desired color - these are the 2dSymbolsxx.bmp files inside each nation folder.

phoenix · 02-06-2022, 03:11 AM,

(02-05-2022, 08:58 PM)Xerxes77 Wrote:
(02-05-2022, 08:05 PM)phoenix Wrote: I love the Lowlander Unit counters for Vietnam (and other titles), but the company markings don't show on them in game. I'm wondering if there's some way I can fix this, and if anybody would be able to explain to me how the company markings work so that I can figure out what I need to change? Do the company colourings come from a file other than the Units files in the Maps folder? Thanks.

Are those the ASL-inspired counters? If so, the likely reason you're not getting the company markings is that the units have a colored background. This prevents the company markings from coming through. Organizational colors are hardcoded and can't be modded, I'm afraid.

However I think there's a relatively simple solution. Assuming ASL uses a different background color for each nation, you'd have to remove the colored backgrounds in the 2dUnitxx.bmp files, preserving the units' silhouettes, and instead paint the unit bases for each nation with the desired color - these are the 2dSymbolsxx.bmp files inside each nation folder.

Thanks Xerxes. They look like this:

[Image: 1.gif]

phoenix · (This post was last modified: 02-06-2022, 03:15 AM by phoenix.)

Xerxes, I could easily paint over the backgrounds within each counter. But what colour should I put there? You mean use the organisation/nation colours in the 2d symbols files? But how would I know which colour goes where?

Xerxes77 · 02-06-2022, 04:22 AM,

(02-06-2022, 03:12 AM)phoenix Wrote: Xerxes, I could easily paint over the backgrounds within each counter. But what colour should I put there? You mean use the organisation/nation colours in the 2d symbols files? But how would I know which colour goes where?

So I haven't tested this but I don't see why it shouldn't work... the basic idea is that first you should pick the colors used in the mod for each nation and paint the respective counter bases with them. For example, if those bright green counters were German, you would go into the \German folder in the root and paint the square bases found in 2DSymbols100.bmp and 2DSymbols50.bmp in the same bright green.

Once you've adjusted the bases for all the nations, next you'd have to restore the original background color in the 2DUnitsxx.bmp counter sheets, leaving only the figures of the soldiers against it. This background color (which you can pickup from the vanilla 2dunitsxx.bmp files) will become transparent in the game, thus allowing the organizational markings to show their own colors.

Hope that wasn't too confusing, maybe you can test it with a few counters and see how it goes.

phoenix · 02-06-2022, 04:40 AM,

Ah. When you mentioned bases, Xerxes, you meant the 3d pics? But I never use 3d, so no need to worry about that. Can I just then paint Lowlander's counters with the 'neutral' background colour, all of them, then the Company marking will work in 2d?

In which case, how do I identify the neutral background colour?

Many thanks for your help! Appreciated.

Xerxes77 · 02-06-2022, 05:14 AM,

(02-06-2022, 04:40 AM)phoenix Wrote: Ah. When you mentioned bases, Xerxes, you meant the 3d pics? But I never use 3d, so no need to worry about that. Can I just then paint Lowlander's counters with the 'neutral' background colour, all of them, then the Company marking will work in 2d?

In which case, how do I identify the neutral background colour?

Many thanks for your help! Appreciated.

Hi phoenix, sorry if I'm abusing the language. By counter bases I mean these:

[Image: symbols.jpg]

Here left to right you see three base counters for infantry, respectively: normal mode, highlighted, highlighted (alt.). Then comes a set of bigger counters for vehicles, but we don't need to touch those for the moment. So using the example above you'll want to paint the first three in "bright green", taking care not to erase the borders.

(By the way, general tip unrelated to this procedure: you may want to darken/brighten the inside color in the "highlighted" squares. I found it helps a lot in-game to spot the units that are highlighted! Should be the default, IMO)

To identify the neutral color for the unit sheets, you can simply open the vanilla (non-modded) 2dunits100.bmp and use the eyedropper/color picker tool in your graphics package. Smile

phoenix · 02-06-2022, 05:21 AM,

Ok. Thanks, Xerxes. Will mess around a bit....

Xerxes77 · (This post was last modified: 02-06-2022, 06:06 AM by Xerxes77.)

(02-06-2022, 05:21 AM)phoenix Wrote: Ok. Thanks, Xerxes. Will mess around a bit....

Sure. Just did a quick test:

[Image: test.jpg]

Here the upper counter is showing the company markings. The soldiers probably need to be better centered. The main challenge here is that the silhouettes of the soldiers have been compressed and their color information has merged with the background, which is why they look greenish. Perhaps higher resolution images of the soldiers can be sourced from elsewhere to get a crisper final look.

Also: for the neutral color you can use the blue that's already there as background in the same counter sheet -- it works.