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See Download link in Post 3 below

Hybrid Counters Ver 2.0 (Ready for download)

Hi All,

I’ve finished what should the final version of my Mod. It includes the following features:

Hybrid Counters is a “Vanilla Graphics Mod” with no other changes to maximize compatibility.
All infantry will have NATO icons with some exceptions.
Progressive silhouettes for other units change with Tech upgrades.
HQs will have a general’s portrait (but with limited control over their display using the AA Defense Value)
It only works in Max Zoom View. Any higher level views retain the original unit icons.
New! Optional 3D View replacement with Hybrid counters which allows for transport animations.
New! Optional 3D Units will reverse facing based on map location (Naval Ensign matches sailing direction)
New! Higher Contrast Unit Strength Values for improved visibility.
New! Introduced Brigade (X) and Divisional (XX) designations. Corps units remain blank.

Installation:
It’s recommended that you do not overwrite the original game files.
If you already have your own custom mod saved that uses the standard game icons or a previous version of the Hybrid Counters then you just download the zip file and extract the Bitmaps folder. Then copy the extracted Bitmaps folder and overwrite the existing Bitmaps folder in your saved campaign. That’s it. Start the game, select 3D or NATO icons and you should be set to go.

If you have not already created your own custom campaign or need more detailed instructions please follow sPzAbt653’s excellent How to use Mod Files illustrated instructions posted here:
tm.asp?m=4300169

Note PBEM gamers must both be playing the same custom campaign and both have the Hybrid mod installed or they will only see the icons installed in their own campaign folder.

Recommended Mod:
SIPRES has designed a 1939 Campaign using Hybrid Counters Mod which gives greater control over which HQ Generals portraits are displayed. See Link tm.asp?m=4342847

Hope you like them.

Cheers,

Angus

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Original Post: 1/10/2017

Hi All,

This Mod that I’ve been working on is a little mash-up of different icon styles from games I’ve played in the past, Panzerblitz, Clash of Steel, Third Reich etc. But first thanks goes to Agent S, sPzAbt653, Bill Runacre and Sipres for pointing me in the right direction with regards to the tools I would need. Last of course, thanks to Hubert and his team for such a fine game.

My goal is to make it easier to spot high value units and enemy build ups while balancing this with aesthetics. I’ve decided to make Tank Corp and other special units a darker shade of their national colours with two exceptions. German and Russian Tank Corps and Special unit backgrounds will be Black and Red respectively.

Normal infantry will have the standard NATO icons while mechanized and air units will have progressive silhouettes as the upgrades take place. You will have to forgive me for exceeding the counter limits in some cases. This was purely to maintain detail and a sense of scale. In most cases bigger will mean better.

Finally, I’ve accelerated the airplane upgrades curve. In the area of aeronautics most will agree that the Germans were ahead of most. If they were already using the Me-262 operationally and with the Ho-229 and Ta-183 in the testing stages, Level 5 aircraft will be represented by Korean War type aircraft for the Russians and the Allies. Sort of a 1946 scenario. I would like to make it clear that the actual in game unit attributes or performance is not modded, just the icons representing units will change.

I hope you like what I’ve done so far:

Cheers,

Angus

Nice!
ETA?

Download Latest Ver 2.0 Hybrid Mod attachment below

Ver 2.0 released Oct 24, 2017

-Introduced Optional 3D View replacement* with the same Hybrid counters which allows for transport animations.
-Optional 3D replacement units will reverse facing based on their map location (Naval Ensign matches sailing direction)
-Higher Contrast Unit Strength Values for improved visibility.
-Introduced minor unit variations e.g. German Tech 0 Panzer II when facing East switches to Panzer 38(t) when facing West
-Fixed incorrect German CV and CVL icons.
-Adjusted Transport icons to start at level 1 rather than the unused level 0
-Cleaned up some unit icons and fleshed out some missing progressive Tech trees.
-Re-aligned Italian HQ Generals with Messe in the fifth slot to accommodate the optional scripted DE701 Italian Army ARMIR deployment to Russia. The scripted (BEF, DAK and ARMIR) deployments only display the correct corresponding HQs when using SIPRES’s 1939 Campaign using Hybrid Counters Mod
-Several other minor graphic changes

*Note when using the 3D replacement option the minor Allied/Axis flags no longer display properly and must be manually changed using units AA Defense value. This problem does not affect the NATO counters. This is a compromise because of current limitations in the game interface.

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Ver 1.02 Update Notes Sep 11, 2017

Updated to synch up with changes to SIPRES 1939 Campaign using Hybrid Counters Mod Ver 1.02
Re-organized Minor Axis and Allied HQ General Portraits
Re-organized British and German HQs to facilitate the scripted BEF and DAK deployments.
Several minor bitmap improvements.

Allied Minor HQ Roster
0 Default/Generic General - Guy Simonds (Canadian)
1 Greek - Papagos
2 Dutch/Belgium General - Winkelman
3 Turkey - Toydemir
4 Spain - Franco
5 Canada - Crerar

Axis Minor HQ Roster
0 Default/Generic General - Petre Dumitrescu (Romania)
1 Hungary - Heszlenyi
2 Finland - Mannerheim
3 Bulgaria - Marinov
4 Sweden - Thornell
5 Spain - Franco

Please note that SIPRES’ Campaign Mod already includes these changes and this update is not required to update his latest Mod.
If you are updating a previous Hybrid Counters installation, select replace the existing folders and files when prompted.

well, please don't stop!

Awesome work ! You've picked up on how to do graphics mods nicely.

Nice one. Saves me the trouble of making them!

Great work!!!

Good Job Angus

Continue this way

Rgds

Christophe

So far this counter mod is the one who is looking best to me.
Great Job!!!

Thanks for the support guys.

I need to clean up the silhouette creation process. Still not happy with the lack of clarity in some cases.
I'm starting the Brits and will revisit the German counters later.

I'll post updates as soon as I can.

Cheers,

These look really really cool![X(][&o]

Keep up the great work!

Cheers,

C

Looks great, especially the air and naval counters

Hi all,

I’ve been busy preparing the British counters and hope to post an update soon.

In the meantime I have a question for Bill, Hubert and the Team.

I’m just creating updated counters for the British HQ units. Ideally I would like to create one for each of the Generals but as you know the current limitations don’t allow us to specify which of the counters will be displayed. Will you consider patching or modifying the game to allow a specific counter to represent each General?

Currently there are twelve such counters reserved for each major nation in the counter mix which means ten of them are going to waste. You must agree that adding an actual face to an HQ unit would add so much more atmosphere and immersion to the game.

Attached are some of the old HQ icons I was using when playing SC2. I’ll update the contrast of some of the paler ones to give a more consistent look before importing them and hopefully others.

It would be so cool to be able to get the actual General’s face to appear in the game. Otherwise I’ll be stuck with a half dozen or so Guderians staring me back in the face.

Please say yes…

sorry, interface messes me up.

ORIGINAL: HimAgain

sorry, interface messes me up.

This would be fantastic and add a lot of "flavour" to the game!

That reminds me - General Richard O'Connor (is that him top row, third from left?) is seriously under rated in SC3 - he has just a rating of 5 - I think he should be at least a 6 or even a 7. if you compare with the values assigned to some other (pretty mediocre) British commanders.

O'Connor routed the entire Italian army in North Africa (150,000 troops) with just two divisions (36,000 men) and could perhaps have kicked the Italians out of Libya entirely, if he hadn't been stripped of troops for the ill-fated Allied expedition to Greece. He was captured in April 1941, if he hadn't been the Allies fortunes in North Africa in '41 and '42 may have turned out differently and he would be better known.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Compass and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_O%27Connor

Correli Barnet makes this point well (that O'Connor was an under-rated general) in his excellent "Desert Generals" book - a must read, if you're interested in the Desert War.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Desert ... 0304352802

Also the Italian General Messe arguably merits better than a 5, he was probably Italy's best combat general of WWII (not hard, though, as most were pretty bad), he mostly fought in Russia, but also played a very good defensive delaying game in Tunisia.

See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Messe

Superbly done HimAgain, the HQ counters are excellent.

ORIGINAL: James Taylor

Superbly done HimAgain, the HQ counters are excellent.

Agreed!

Thanks SeaMonkey and Oxford Guy, but these are from my old SC2WaW Mod.
I'm hoping to port them over but it would be a waste unless they change the current limitations on HQ unit counters as described above. I can only handle so many Kesselrings smiling back at me.

With regards to General O'Connor, I would have to agree with you Oxford Guy. From what I've read he was probably the best suited commander in the desert. He was able to change and adapt his tactics and objectives on the fly as demonstrated during his charge through North Africa. Much more flexible than most.

This is very much in contrast to the style of Montgomery for example.
In my opinion the latter was more a WWI General fighting set piece battles of attrition with WWII weapons, costs be damned.

If you were able to look at a comparison of gains vs costs ratio, O'Connor would shine.
Then again, he was mostly fighting the Italians. You would be challenged to find a more disinterested, disillusioned and poorly lead army at the time. Not to disrespect the individual Italian fighting man for which there were many examples of courage, overall they were no comparison to the Germans. Their hearts were simply not in it.

Having said that, I would not want to be the Italian gunner facing down a rampaging Matilda tank with the 2nd rate antitank guns they had. Until the 88 showed up, they were unstoppable.

Perhaps "rampaging" Matilda is not the best description.
Lumbering might be a better word.