RandomWW2 Mod

[russellesq]

I created my first mod to solve the desire to have real World War II nations in random generated games. This mod creates real World War II nation names, nation colors, real flags, real capitals and towns based on the nations used. I started work on this idea about a week after I got the game and solved the problem another week later.

The included nations are Germany, Italy, Finland, Rumania, Britain, United States, Australia, Canada, Soviet Union, France, Belgium, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Japan and China. The nations have been weighted so the major powers (Germany, Soviet Union, Britain, United States, and Japan) should be more likely to appear randomly than the minor nations.

I created two versions of the mod. The first is a Vanilla mod based on the most recent update of the game 2.05. The second version named Landscapes does the above plus replaces the landscape pictures in the game with real photos.

There is one known limitation thus far. In random games with more than 6 players, there can be a possibility that a nation is duplicated as a player, that is, two Soviet Unions. In that case, the work around is simply to run the random game generator again until you are satisfied with the result.

Thanks to: The Advanced Tactics community for putting out all the existing great mods for this game. I take no credit for any of the graphics included in my mod as I have borrowed liberally from many of the other modifications already released including Bomburmod; Barbarossa; Bulge; Realist; WAW, WWII, and XX Century graphics.

Future Editions: The next big release would be the Ultimate version which in addition to the landscapes would also replace the unit graphics with real photos from each regime. For example, a medium tank would show a Panzer IV for Germany and a T-34 for the Soviet Union. I already have all of the photos assembled in directories and ready to go. Altogether, the size would be over 23 mb. The problem is that there are approximately 153 categories of photos times 6 for each regime which is a lot of replacements to make. I will only be able to complete the Ultimate version if I can get some volunteers to help with each of the nations otherwise I fear it would take way too long by myself. I actually started the process in one of my early versions but ran into a problem with the file for a different reason and had to start all over. Anyone interested, please let me know.

The mod is now available on the Advanced Tactics Community scenario bank

[russellesq]

Out of curiosity, has anyone tried my mod?  As my first try, I would appreciate any comments or suggestions.  Thanks.

[Tac2i]

Re the "vanilla" mod. You include the new graphics even though they are not used. I'd recommend you take them out. Using real nation names/flags is good, though the default names are ok with me. I looked at the other mod with the new graphics and really didn't care for them over the existing ones. Again, just a matter of personal taste. You gave us a choice and that is always good.

Are you going to update your mod to ATG 2.06b?

Could you edit Lancer's RESOURCE mod to add in your changes?

[Jeffrey H.]

Not tried it yet, intend to at some point in time.

[budd]

I loaded it up and looked around, i like it and will be using it after i finish the random game i'm playing now. Wish you could combine mods, as i'd like to use your mod and the resource mod together, or have the game use JSME in some fashion. One thing though, i did find it weird playing Poland and having Paris as my capital, aren't the city names supposed to match the nation your playing?
Really wish Vic would make it possible to pick the nation you play, and pick the ones for the AI in random games. thanks for taking the time to make the mod, he's right ^ "choice is Good "
budd

[russellesq]

The fact that sometimes you might play as a minor power such as Poland but yet have Paris as a capital is a result of the regime structure. There are simply not enough slots for all the countries so one must place similar countries together under regimes. I thus treated regimes as either regions or allies. For instance, France, Belgium and Poland are under the same regime. Just the same, Germany, Finland, Italy and Rumania are under one regime as well. It is possible to have Brussels or Warsaw as your capital but less so than Paris. There is no way as of now to have specific capitals for specific countries as they are all handled as regimes. This is part of the tradeoff of having more countries for variety. It is either that or keeping it simple and only having the major powers.

[russellesq]

I kept the graphics in place even though they are not being used now so that they are available and ready for future updates. Likewise, they are also in place if anyone wants to now help with taking this mod to the next version with all the unit replacements.

Not sure about combining the RandomWW2 mod with the Resource Mod. While that is possible, it would require doing all the work all over again by making the changes to that other mod. Probably would make more sense if we would collaborate and share the work than one of us doing it all.