Map Mod

[Agent Smith]

I still have a soft spot for Tactics II, and Avalon Hill's D-Day, Afrika Korps, and S&T Magazine's Cobra.
Games I played endlessly. With that in mind, I tend to go for desaturated colour palettes.

[Agent Smith]

Here is a before after. You can see how vibrantly intense the sea is, and the plains are very yellow. I'm thinking a darker map will also create a sharper contrast for the units.

[Agent Smith]

here is the modified tile

[Agent Smith]

I've managed to modify all the tiles!
Step 1: Installed the BIMP plug-in into Gimp, and Hue Saturation modified all the files in a batch conversion.
Time 45mins (approx.)
Unfortunately all the files saved as 32 Bit colour, so they were either black or grey in game.



#BIMP 2.6
#MANIPULATION SET DEFINITION
[USERDEF0]
procedure=gimp-hue-saturation
num_params=5
PARAM0=NOT_USED
PARAM1=1
PARAM2=0
PARAM3=0
PARAM4=-35

[USERDEF1]
procedure=gimp-drawable-hue-saturation
num_params=6
PARAM0=NOT_USED
PARAM1=5
PARAM2=0
PARAM3=-70
PARAM4=-50
PARAM5=0

[USERDEF2]
procedure=gimp-hue-saturation
num_params=5
PARAM0=NOT_USED
PARAM1=4
PARAM2=0
PARAM3=0
PARAM4=-100

[USERDEF3]
procedure=gimp-drawable-hue-saturation
num_params=6
PARAM0=NOT_USED
PARAM1=3
PARAM2=0
PARAM3=-30
PARAM4=0
PARAM5=0

[USERDEF4]
procedure=gimp-hue-saturation
num_params=5
PARAM0=NOT_USED
PARAM1=2
PARAM2=0
PARAM3=25
PARAM4=-65

Step 2: Used ImageMagick with the command line: magick mogrify -depth 24 -type Truecolor *.bmp to convert all the .bmp files to 24 Bit color.
Time <30seconds.


Every tile now playable.

[Agent Smith]

Battle for Anzio, Rome.
(May tweak a little, but now I know the entire process takes about 1hr.)
Time to play.
(these are screen grabs, so you can adjust the brightness accordingly).

   
• The plains tile, is now a more neutral 'bone' colour.
• Forest greens have been tweaked up.
• The Hills/ Mountains are similarly toned down.
• The brightness, can vary depending on monitor intensity, but as there is both white and black text, this current mod keeps both legible.
• Blue could be brighter in later mods, but there is not a great emphasis on sea battles in this game.
• The map colour palette when zoomed out, actually looks like a camo pattern.

[UPDATE] Couple of hours in, much easier on the eyes, the mountains always looked like chocolate sprinkles. This is the most cardboardy pc game I've played. Thanks Ron.

[Agent Smith]

Google Drive LINK

   
• Map Tiles (all zoom levels changed)
• Terrain Key Card reflects new tiles.
• Minimap on Command Panel etc.

Zip File is just under 1GB (945.3MB)
(Feedback most welcome).
It's JSGME compatible.
[UPDATE]
I noticed I needed to update the high level map. (now done).
If anyone needs that file, or wants to download the mod, PM me, and I'll send through an updated link.
Given I've had no feedback, I'm not sure if anyone actually has.

[Agent Smith]

What's next...1. A lighter variant on base scheme.
2. A Tactics II. option.

[Agent Smith]

Now for the extraneous stuff.

   
• Detailed Report Card
• Order of Battle-1 (W.I.P)
• Order of Battle-2
• Game Status Sheet (next post)

[Agent Smith]

Old school report card vibe.

[Agent Smith]

Concept Stage. But so far okay...

[Agent Smith]

Checking a possible workflow for redrawing the entire map. GIMP + Inkscape.
Stay Tuned.

[Zovs]

Checking a possible workflow for redrawing the entire map. GIMP + Inkscape.
Stay Tuned.

Please note that there are 23 files with graphic errors in the original 1,395 low level images. I have corrected them and sent them on to Ron.

[Agent Smith]

Thanks for the heads up Zovs.
Still working my way through putting them all together.
The 19px overlap between tiles is annoying, but almost sorted.
Once I have a completed low-level map, I'm going to import it into inkscape and draw a vector map.
Then import out as .bmp, and slice and dice back in GIMP.


Very interested to see where this all leads.
Were the graphic errors significant? (I have yet to arrange all the tiles.)


(Also noticed we're the same age. I guess good graphics still count for some folks).

[Agent Smith]

Hey Zovs,
I think you're the only one reading this so...
I think you're also a couple of moves ahead of me.
I've placed a row of tiles and a column of tiles to create a low level map grid.
The image size is 23907 PX x 21631 PY.
These are odd numbers to my mind, can you confirm the low map size if you've made one.
I'm checking grid points, before filling in the rest.

[Zovs]

In some ways we are both ahead and behind each other.

I have not tried to stich together the 1,395 low level maps to make one big map. I have only concentrated on re-coloring/re-styling each individual map and also checking for any discrepancies.

The 23 graphic errors range from subtle to outright glitches.

I'll be 59 next year so its good to be in good company,

I have inkscape but am still learning how to use it. Maybe we can coordinate offline to share files. I have 4 mods for WWII-E and the most recent one I am working on I a doing the hex outlines in a style like Compass Games Proud Monster Deluxe.

I think my map colorization looks pretty good but I also know beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Don (you can reach me at my email)

zovs66 (AT-Sign) gmail (DOT) com