Making & naming "Unit Handbook" graphics files & adding them to the "pictures" folder

[Hoplite1963]

Hi
I have noticed that in the "Unit Viewer" each separate platoon type shown (even if the only difference is the number of strength points) has its own 6 digit number proceeded by a "P" and that the first two digits of this number are also the same as that for the nationality files for its parent country that are currently the sole occupants of the pictures folder and which appear as the image if any platoon unit of that nation is selected and the "Unit handbook" entry opened for it .

Does this mean that if you wanted to make a Unit handbook" image for say a 3 vehicle strength Syrian T54 tank platoon it should be a 197 pixels wide and 143 pixels wide BMP file called P260016 ? If so. are there any other constraints that need to be adhered to in preparing the file?
Many thanks

Ian

[Crossroads]

Hello Ian! In principle: yes. The code reverts to a default nation specific bitmap if unit specific is not found. At the moment those are the map snippets with the nation's flag in it.

Off my head I am not sure about the maximum size, maybe that is it. I'll check when I get home. (I have 250x125 popping up from my head, but maybe that's the max size of Scenario Pictures.)

Also I can't recall from top of my head if the Unit Picture needs to be the same as the Unit Bitmap and not Unit ID (in your sample: maybe Up260016, maybe one under another SP size), as often there's several entries for same unit type but with different Strength. I'll check that too later.

EDIT: See HERE. By Unit Bitmap I refer to parameter #20, in the sample see how the two SA-6 platoons have the same parameter value there: despite of the two entries of two sized, they are represented by the same Unit Image 3D bitmap file. In case of SA-6, both Unit ID P238009 (Strength: 4 platforms) and Unit ID P238010 (Strength: 2 platforms) use P238009.bmp.

One thing about the bitmaps: they need to be on a 256 color mode, make sure you save them in that manner. They need not be black and white, they can be color too, as long they're stored in 256 color mode.

And: they need to be saved under \Pictures folder.

I'll get back to you, would be cool to have a User Mod with Unit Pictures.

[Crossroads]

Ian, having checked this, and based on what I see but not knowing how the code handles this:

[*] There is no strict size requirements for Unit Pictures. Lots of old ones are say 175x130, but they can be larger. Try it out, say 200x150 should work, if you want to have it as big as possible. Having said that. 195x145 is something that there's a few examples here and there.
[*] Look indeed for parameter #20 in the platoon file for the Unit Bitmap ID, that is the one that is used for Unit Pictures as well. This is good news, as in your case one picture will suffice for the various size variants of the said unit.

Any questions just give us a holler. Looking forward to what you will come up with! [:)]

[Crossroads]

Picture > 1000 words, right, so here is a quick sample I did.

[*] Googled for a random Libyan T-72 picture
[*] Sized it to 230*150 just to see what happens
[*] Saved it as a 256 colour bitmap.

Checked the Libyan Platoon29.oob as what the parameter #20 values tell me. For four T-72s (2x T-72 and 2x T-72M1), there's only two Unit Bitmap IDs, P290013 (T-72) and P290015 (T-72M1).

Here they are, both with F2 Unit Handbook (never mind the mock-up background, it is the same code with CSME 1.02), and with Arkady's Unit Viewer.

I'd stick to say 200x150 bmp as a template. Should be large enough to do the job.

[Hoplite1963]

Hi Crossroads
Thanks very much for this. I was planning to start with off map aircraft and then move on the individual nations. It would be interesting to know if you could taken the same approach for the current World War titles ? Always fancied doing a mod for the Spanish Civil War !

Regards
Ian

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Ian in Brentford

Hi Crossroads
Thanks very much for this. I was planning to start with off map aircraft and then move on the individual nations. It would be interesting to know if you could taken the same approach for the current World War titles ? Always fancied doing a mod for the Spanish Civil War !

Regards
Ian

Glad to be of help Ian! Really looking towards what you will achieve with this [:)]

Regarding your question re Civil War, do you mean JTCS WF module? It works the same way, so if you want to do something similar there the basic are the same. I believe there's even a few scenarios already available.

Having said that, we really want to cover that conflict in the coming CS titles, as part of the new West Front game tbd. Just got to get those Vietnam and East Front games out first [;)]

[Hoplite1963]

Here is an example of the sort of thing I am art work I plan to do here. In this case a Syrian Meteor Jet from the 1950s

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Ian in Brentford

Here is an example of the sort of thing I am art work I plan to do here. In this case a Syrian Meteor Jet from the 1950s

Nice!

Question: is that (158x108) the ultimate size you're planning to implement? I'd suggest 200x150 while at it. [:)]

[Hoplite1963]

Hi Crossroads
Yes the image field is 150 by 100 with a 4 pixel border round that. To be honest I am not keen on going larger at the moment as this shows up the limitations of the 256 colour range we have to use now. For what its worth down the line wondered if at some point in the future consideration could be given to allowing 24bit colour files, which is the format I used to make the image in the first place? Here is an example of what the image looks like before it was reduced to 256 colours.

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Ian in Brentford

Hi Crossroads
Yes the image field is 150 by 100 with a 4 pixel border round that. To be honest I am not keen on going larger at the moment as this shows up the limitations of the 256 colour range we have to use now. For what its worth down the line wondered if at some point in the future consideration could be given to allowing 24bit colour files, which is the format I used to make the image in the first place? Here is an example of what the image looks like before it was reduced to 256 colours.

Good point, the 256 color range is a bit of a limit at the moment, as visible in the T-72 mock-up I did too. Go for it, that size looks very nice as well [:)]

[Jason Petho]

ORIGINAL: Ian in Brentford

Here is an example of the sort of thing I am art work I plan to do here. In this case a Syrian Meteor Jet from the 1950s

That is gorgeous!!

[Hoplite1963]

Done some further work on this project and now looking at how land units should be done. Decided to make a start with the Syrian army doing one set of images for before and another since 1959. Here is a Syrian R35 tank unit from the 1948 war as it appears in the unit viewer.

Regards
Ian

[Crossroads]

Very nice, Ian

[Hoplite1963]

Thanks ops its actually one of their H39's do the R35 next.

[Crossroads]

That's right, a Hotchkiss isn't it. Looking forward to see these all in action [:)]

[Hoplite1963]

Here is what the H39 looks like viewed in the unit handbook

[Hoplite1963]

For infantry units I am going to follow the handbook style used for the Steal Panthers games and show the most common weapon carried by a unit or its most important weapon if using that is what the unit is for. Thus for an infantry unit I will show the most numerous weapon carried by the squad whereas for an HMG unit I will show the HMG. Here is a Syrian infantry unit from the 1948 war which I am depicting using a EX French MAS 36 rifle.

By the way I think the details given in the game about Syrian Infantry weapons in the 1948 War are wrong and that Soviet equipment such as the M1944 rifle and DPM LMG would not yet be used and that they would have the MAS 36 rifle and FM 24/29 LMG instead. I think it is just the text in the “Unit Handbook” and “Unit Viewer” that needs changing here and not any images or weapons stats.

[fritzfarlig]

very nice

[Crossroads]

Just a quick heads-up in case any of you guys are working with these:

[*] As of Middle East 2.0 a Unit Picture is standardized as 200px * 150px. Smaller (and larger) pictures will be displayed, but their positioning might be off.
[*] Unit pictures can be 24bit bitmaps as well (full color). No more 256-color files. Yay!

New Unit Pictures can be prepared in a piecemeal fashion. If the game does not find the unit specific file, it reverts to nation specific default.

Any questions let me know [:)]

[Hoplite1963]

This is very good news. Having cracked how to add extra nations to the Great War mod concentrating on that at the moment but will certainly start adding some images here staring with aircraft.

256 coulours is so last centaury.