Historical Flags and Symbols mod WTP edition

[Philippeatbay]

What started out as a partial mod ended up becoming a full mod.

The Matrix version of the mod can be downloaded here:


https://app.box.com/s/dcobsy119z53sjrb7mwr

or here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/80zjou98azi39 ... 2.zip?dl=0



The Steam version of the mod can be downloaded here:


https://app.box.com/s/bo7hn04awe9wzlps20aklfmcwq9vz6hy


or here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i5gzcyaxias4w ... 9.zip?dl=0


Sometimes I run out of bandwidth in my Box account around the end of the month. If that happens you can use the Dropbox link, or download the non-Steam version from Vic's website:


http://www.vrdesigns.net/scenario.php?nr=219




Most of the features of this mod work in the plain vanilla scenarios, but until the official patching process catches up with them, some need to be activated in their own special scenarios.

Since some people will use the mod and some won't, I've made as much of the mod as possible compatible with the plain vanilla version of the game. In addition, I've provided a set of scenarios (that can be accessed through the load scenario button) that mirror all of the official scenarios in the game. The only thing that these scenarios do is to activate icons and unit colors that will not otherwise show up in the game. [Actually, the only unit color that I changed was for the Luftwaffe, which now shows up in the exact same shade of blue as in Case Blue].

[Philippeatbay]

I broke down and bought the game.


Many thanks to Vic for holding my hand while I learned how to use the relevant parts of the editor.


Here are a few screenshots:


This is from one of the modded scenarios (Fall Weiss), and shows the Polish roundel as well as the blue Luftwaffe units.

[Philippeatbay]

The non-swastika option has been refined since it first appeared in the Case Blue mod and is now fully textured.

[Philippeatbay]

A special feature of this mod is that the Slovakian army now appears in its full glory:

[Philippeatbay]

All of the flags were repainted to improve clarity and authenticity. Here's what the Western Front looks like when it's fully zoomed out.

[Philippeatbay]

The Belgian roundels now appear on Belgian units, though until the next patch this will only happen in the Fall Gelb scenario.

[Philippeatbay]

The Netherlands has two roundels to choose from. This one matches the icons on the units, but there's another one that looks a bit too medieval for WW II.

[Philippeatbay]

This gives an overview of the earliest stage of Sealion. The selected unit is in the extreme upper left corner, and it's icon is a silver fern.

[Philippeatbay]

Here's a detail of a Canadian unit fairly close to the front line. Judging from their color, a couple of the units nearby must be paratroopers.

Silver ferns, maple leaves, and blue Luftwaffe only appear in the attached Unternehmen Seeloewe scenario.

[Philippeatbay]

Once again I would like to thank Vic for teaching me how to use the relevant parts of the editor.


The Matrix version of the mod can be downloaded here, and includes installation instructions, a list of what's changed, as well as notes on how to install the non-swastika version of the mod:


https://app.box.com/s/dcobsy119z53sjrb7mwr


The Steam version of the mod can be downloaded here:


https://app.box.com/s/bo7hn04awe9wzlps20aklfmcwq9vz6hy

[Philippeatbay]

From the program notes:

Historical Flags and Symbols v.1.0


Most of the changes that I have made will always appear, though some will only appear if you play one of the special scenarios included with this mod. The special scenarios were identical to the standard scenarios at time of writing, except for a few (very few) graphics adjustments. These are the kind of changes that can be made in other games without using a game editor, but I decided that making this mod compatible with other people's mods was more important that ease of use. My guiding principle in making changes was to be as historically authentic as reasonably possible and to try to stick fairly close to the graphics of the original, and that is why there are not nato-symbol or unit-color changes.


The special scenarios that will show all of the graphics changes in this mod are:

Fall Weiss

Fall Weiss DC2 AI

Fall Gelb

Unternehmen Seeloewe

Bzura Graphics

Netherlands Graphics

In other words, everything that you could play normally except the Campaign and the Tutorial.



Germany:


A roundel derived from the Parteiflag (Nazi party and also national flag) is now the default roundel.


The Reichskriegflag (German warflag) is the default flag for headquarters units.


Shadows have been removed from the German army/side icon (balkenkreuz).


SS units use SS runes for their army/side icon.


Luftwaffe units use the Luftwaffe Adler and the same shade of blue as in DCCB, but only in the special scenarios. In the vanilla scenarios they use dark grey as their color and a balkenkreuz for their icon.



Slovakia:

The Slovakian warflag will now appear on Slovakian headquarters units, and the Slovakian national symbol will appear as an army/side icon, but only in the special scenarios. In vanilla scenarios they look pretty much the same as German units.



Poland:

Poland now has a Piast eagle on its roundel, and its headquarters flags all have the Piast eagle on a red shield in the white horizontal band. This was the warflag, and is similar to the flag that flyies in front of Polish embassies and consulates today.



France:

The French flag is no longer reversed, and has its blue band on the hoist (next to the flagpole) and its red band on the fly (on the outside). The colors of the French flag have also been darkened to make them more authentic.


United Kingdom:


The Union flags on headquarters units have been repainted. They are now clearer and more distinct.


Belgium:


The Belgian flag is no longer reversed, and has its black band on the hoist. It has also been repainted to reflect historical colors.


The Belgian army/side icons will now appear on Belgian units, but only in the special scenarios.


Netherlands:


The Dutch are now using a roundel that was in use just before the war started. I've included an alternate roundel of the royal lion on an orange background. I prefer the lion, but it looks a bit out of place in WW II.


The army/side roundel is the same as the larger default roundel (a red, white, and blue Venn diagram with an orange dot at the intersection).


Canada:

Canadian units use a maple leaf as an army/side icon in the special Sea Lion scenario (Unternehmen Seeloewe).



New Zealand:

New Zealand units use a silver fern on a black background as an army/side icon in the special Sea Lion scenario (Unternehmen Seeloewe).



Please let me know if I've missed anything.

[ernieschwitz]

Looks very nice Good work!

[Vic]

Excellent work!
Don't forget to upload it to www.advancedtactics.org as well!!

best wishes,
Vic

[Philippeatbay]

The mod is now updated to version 1.1 and can be downloaded from the original link several posts above.

I've made a small change to one of the unit icons in the Unternehmen Seeloewe scenario (the graphics-modded version of the Operation Sealion scenario). The French Foreign Legion 13th demi-brigade (it isn't called that in the game) now uses a croix de Lorraine as its unit icon.

Once I'd decided that it was appropriate to use it that early on in the war, the big surprise was the color. As far as I can tell the French were pretty indifferent to the absolute color of the thing: they knew what it was by the shape. And there were even two versions of the shape, one with trefoils on the ends of crossbars and one without. The main point, since they were French, after all, was that it had to look good in context. So sometimes it was red, sometimes it was black, sometimes it was dark blue, sometimes it was enameled and light blue with a white edge, and sometimes it was red, white, and blue. But whatever the color, a croix de Lorraine is a croix de Lorraine, and everybody knows what it means.

[gazfun]

WoW!!!
I agree, this will work with Random Games as well? We are considering it for the group

[Philippeatbay]

Glad you like the mod. Not sure I understand the question because I don't know what a Random game is.

[gazfun]

ORIGINAL: Philippe at bay

From the program notes:

Historical Flags and Symbols v.1.0


Most of the changes that I have made will always appear, though some will only appear if you play one of the special scenarios included with this mod. The special scenarios were identical to the standard scenarios at time of writing, except for a few (very few) graphics adjustments. These are the kind of changes that can be made in other games without using a game editor, but I decided that making this mod compatible with other people's mods was more important that ease of use. My guiding principle in making changes was to be as historically authentic as reasonably possible and to try to stick fairly close to the graphics of the original, and that is why there are not nato-symbol or unit-color changes.


The special scenarios that will show all of the graphics changes in this mod are:

Fall Weiss

Fall Weiss DC2 AI

Fall Gelb

Unternehmen Seeloewe

Bzura Graphics

Netherlands Graphics

In other words, everything that you could play normally except the Campaign and the Tutorial.



Germany:


A roundel derived from the Parteiflag (Nazi party and also national flag) is now the default roundel.


The Reichskriegflag (German warflag) is the default flag for headquarters units.


Shadows have been removed from the German army/side icon (balkenkreuz).


SS units use SS runes for their army/side icon.


Luftwaffe units use the Luftwaffe Adler and the same shade of blue as in DCCB, but only in the special scenarios. In the vanilla scenarios they use dark grey as their color and a balkenkreuz for their icon.



Slovakia:

The Slovakian warflag will now appear on Slovakian headquarters units, and the Slovakian national symbol will appear as an army/side icon, but only in the special scenarios. In vanilla scenarios they look pretty much the same as German units.



Poland:

Poland now has a Piast eagle on its roundel, and its headquarters flags all have the Piast eagle on a red shield in the white horizontal band. This was the warflag, and is similar to the flag that flyies in front of Polish embassies and consulates today.



France:

The French flag is no longer reversed, and has its blue band on the hoist (next to the flagpole) and its red band on the fly (on the outside). The colors of the French flag have also been darkened to make them more authentic.


United Kingdom:


The Union flags on headquarters units have been repainted. They are now clearer and more distinct.


Belgium:


The Belgian flag is no longer reversed, and has its black band on the hoist. It has also been repainted to reflect historical colors.


The Belgian army/side icons will now appear on Belgian units, but only in the special scenarios.


Netherlands:


The Dutch are now using a roundel that was in use just before the war started. I've included an alternate roundel of the royal lion on an orange background. I prefer the lion, but it looks a bit out of place in WW II.


The army/side roundel is the same as the larger default roundel (a red, white, and blue Venn diagram with an orange dot at the intersection).


Canada:

Canadian units use a maple leaf as an army/side icon in the special Sea Lion scenario (Unternehmen Seeloewe).



New Zealand:

New Zealand units use a silver fern on a black background as an army/side icon in the special Sea Lion scenario (Unternehmen Seeloewe).



Please let me know if I've missed anything.

I am also quiet sure that you have the New Zealand units here as an error. New Zealand troops where part of the ANZAC Corps in WW1 which consisted of 3 or 4 Australian Divisions, and 1 New Zealand Division. Hence the name ANZAC Corps.
Australian & New Zealand Army Corps. This Corps was commanded by an Australian Army Commander by the name of General John Monash.
He was Knighted in the field the first man after 200 years for getting a knighthood in the field for defeating the Germans in 1814 or 1815 by giving Germany there darkest losses of the war. Look up General John Monash as a reference.

As an Australian its about time we get due recognition of this. Under Australian Command.
The Australian and NZ Flags do look similar Australia has the federation star, and the southern cross on the flag with white stars, the NZ flag has the southern cross only with red stars.

[gazfun]

ORIGINAL: Philippe at bay

Glad you like the mod. Not sure I understand the question because I don't know what a Random game is.

A Random game is one where you press the New Random game and Classic Random game button on the main ATG Intro screen

[gazfun]

I also want to ask another question about putting manually the file as it says in the instructions, in the Matrix Folder? dont you mean in the ATG Folder?Matrix/Advanced Tactics Gold/

[Philippeatbay]

There are no Random games in Decisive Campaigns: The Blitzkrieg Warsaw to Paris as far as I know. This is a mod for Decisive Campaigns: The Blitzkrieg Warsaw to Paris, and that is why this thread is posted in this part of the forum. It has nothing to do with ATG. If it did, it would be posted in the ATG thread and the mod wouldn't be titled DCWtP Historical Flags and Symbols version whatever but rather ATG Historical Flags and Symbols. I don't own ATG and have no plans for getting it.

This is a graphics-only mod. The special scenarios are only different in their representation of units in the game. If you disagree with the presence of a particular type of unit or nationality, take it up with the designer of the original scenario: what's inside a given OOB has nothing to do with my mod. Having said that, since Sealion and Unternehmen Seeloewe are a hypothetical scenario based on some pretty far-fetched premises, it's not much more of a stretch to rationalize the presence or absence of any unit the designer chose to throw in or omit, except possibly space aliens and the Tinfoil Hat Brigade. If you don't like something you see in one of the scenarios, feel free to make your own: that's what the editor is for. I didn't like the way the graphics were presented and that's what I did.

Please read the installation instructions a little more carefully without making any assumptions. They are very explicit and, I hope, very clear. I do not say, though I could have, that you should paste the mod folder named Matrix inside the C directory of your hard drive. The reason I said paste my mod's Matrix folder to wherever you keep your Matrix folder is that some people might conceivably install their Matrix folder somewhere else. If I were certain that everyone was installing the Matrix folder in their C directory, I would have put my mod inside a C folder so people could install it to the root directory of My Computer. The folders are set up the way they are so that you don't have to do anything.



Addendum:

Thanks for calling my attention to Monash's biography. Wrong war, but very interesting guy, and I will look at him a bit more closely when I get a chance.

I'd have to fire up the game to be certain, but I suspect the New Zealand units in the Sealion scenario were part of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary force that were originally destined for Egypt but diverted to Scotland following the German invasion of France. It arrived in Scotland in June 1940 in real life, so it's pretty reasonable to see it turning up in a Sealion scenario. The wiki article on the Sealion OOB uses Nafziger as its source for the British OOB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea_Lion_order_of_battle) who puts the New Zealanders under the command of General Freyberg.