Home before the leaves fall (Historical Flag Mod)

Strategic Command World War I: The Great War provides you with the opportunity to re-write history in a war that changed not only the destiny of Europe but of the whole world.
Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

Home before the leaves fall (Historical Flag Mod)

Post by Philippeatbay »

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(Marsden Hartley's Portrait of a German officer)

Marsden Hartley v. 2.0:


The purpose of the Marsden Hartley mod is to make the representation of flags and symbols a little more in keeping with
what was actually used at the time. This is a graphics-only mod, and does not change any of the internal game
mechanics. What that means is that it in a PBEM game it won't matter if one player is using it and the other isn't
because it doesn't effect gameplay.


The original version of this mod lived at the Battlefront site where the game was originally published. Because of
limitiations in the Battlefront Mod Repository the mod had to be broken up into three pieces and was a pain to download
and install. The mod has been reassembled into one piece, simplified, and updated.


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What's changed since Marsden Hartley 1.0 (the Battlefront version):



The only scenarios that have been modded are the WW I scenarios that came with the game. Custom scenarios and scenarios
from other wars have not been modded.

Activation icons for the majors have been repainted. All of the icons are now miniature flags, so you'll never find
yourself wondering what a blinking crown means. Most of the experience icons are the same as before, though that may
change in future versions.

There are fewer German tricolors on the headquaters units: they're still there, but show up for the most part in the
later scenarios. The earlier scenarios tend to use the war ensign, but the 3D Nato counter HQ units use the tricolor
exclusively. The flag the vanilla version of the game uses for the Germans isn't completely incorrect.
It's a naval jack that you'd only see flying from the bow of a German warship. The flags that you'd actually see would be the national flag (the triclor) and the war ensign.

Austria-Hungary is confusing to the uninitiated, and was confusing to the people who lived there. It was technically
two separate countries, hence the double naval ensign so popular in computer games. Hungary had its own flag, similar
to the one used today but sporting the crown of St. Stephen in its center. But the dual monarchy had a flag which
everyone associated with their political arrangement, and this was the yellow and black flag of the Hapsburg monarchy.

That is the flag that you'll see flying over headquarters units and capitals, whereas the double ensign with two flags
and two coats of arms has been relegated to the activation icon.

Several scenarios exist in both the Great War and the Breakthrough game. Whenever that happens I have only modded the
flags in the Breakthrough game, since that is the most up-to-date version of the game engine. So for example, I've
modded the 1914 Call to Arms campaign in the Breakthrough game but not in the Great War game. But that doesn't mean
that there aren't interesting and unique campaigns and scenarios in the Great War game, and when there is something in
the Great War that doesn't show up in Breakthrough, I've modded it. The 1917 Fate of Nations campaign from the Great
War is my favorite part of the whole game, and it only exists in its Great War format.

The Russian flag causes a certain amount of confusion. At the start of the war it was the white, blue, and red tricolor
that is still in use today. The double-headed eagle on a gold field was added to the canton in November 1914, after the
disasters in East Prussia, but it tended to coexist with the earlier flag (which is also the modern flag). Scenarios
that take place only in 1914 won't have the eagle.

There are a lot of flags for a lot of countries in this game, and many of them were released in their mid-twentieth
century form. I've tried to turn back the clock wherever possible, but I may have missed a few. The game also has an
astonishing number of moving parts, all of which look pretty much the same, so it's really, really easy to make
mistakes. If you spot anything that seems off please give a shout and I'll take a look.

There are a few changes to the base game that don't involve flags. I remember toning down the saturation and hue on
several 3D units in the first version of the mod. That was several years ago and those changes are still present in the
mod (and probably discussed in my original notes). There were also changes to some of the symbols used, particularly
the fortification symbol and belligerent symbols, and those changes are still present in the current version. In
general, the Convoy and War Maps should be examined closely because they've changed slightly from the vanilla version of
the game.

I had to do a lot of tinkering with the Nato symbols (especially for the East Africa campaign) even though I prefer not
to use them in this game. But if you look at the Nato symbols in that campaign you'll notice that I've imitated the ship profile for the Graf von Goetzen in the German naval counters.



THE MOD CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM HERE:


The Matrix version:


https://app.box.com/s/z5sosoigu8zqomwwuzxjx7b6hftxrucg





The Steam version:



https://app.box.com/s/sts0znizzxmh3x7g2l4y45kj7edj6fg0




How to install the mod:



The mod is designed for manual installation. I don't like mod installers because people should know what they're putting
in their computers. Don't try unzipping this mod directly to where it's ultimately supposed to go because you'll
probably get it wrong. Unzip it to a safe holding folder somewhere, and consider backing up your originals (I had to
say that, though I rarely do it).

The Mod comes in two versions, the Matrix (non-Steam) version and the Steam version. They aren't interchangeable. I
released the Steam version first on the Steam forums because it has a more complicated installment path.

The structure of the mod in its folders mimics the folder structure of the game, so all you have to do after you
download and unzip it is to copy and paste it to wherever your Matrix folder lives.
The mod folder that you're looking for is simply named 'Matrix Games', and has other folders inside of it (but don't go
looking for them).
On my ancient Windows 7 computer that would mean pasting it inside of the C:\Programs (x86) directory, but different
people put their Matrix Games folder in different places, so I'm trying to keep this as generic as possible.
If you paste the folder into the right place your computer will immediately start asking you if you want to over-write
things. The answer of course is yes to everything, and if you aren't asked the question several times you're trying to
install the mod into the wrong place.

The two most common mistakes that people make with my mods is that they navigate too far inside the mod folders before
they try to copy and paste, or that that they navigate to the game inside their computers before they try to paste.
Either approach will yield no results. Try not to make any assumptions about how things work when installing one of
mods. As my girlfriend can attest, I don't think like other people.

Most people won't have any problems installing this, but as a precaution against accidents you might want to consider
backing up your originals.




elmo3
Posts: 5797
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2002 10:00 am

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by elmo3 »

Great looking mod. Thanks.
We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. - George Bernard Shaw

WitE alpha/beta tester
Sanctus Reach beta tester
Desert War 1940-42 beta tester
Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »


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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

Post by Philippeatbay »

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Philippeatbay
Posts: 867
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:27 pm

RE: Home before the leaves fall

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