Images for new movement types?

[Mark50]

I see in-game shots around with people using horse transports, bicycle infantry and motorcycles in their mods and I`m assuming new movement types may have been added in these cases. Has anyone also made new images for them, ideally in the PzC style? I`m basically referring to the icons from Panzer Corps/UI/movement. The only one I am aware of is bebro`s excellent amphibious movement image from his Japanese campaign.

[Razz1]

Someone posted a mod for these or there were a couple of mods if not three that had different movement icons.

Don't know where they are hidden in the forum.

[Mark50]

My point exactly. I could have bet there are some, but I went through all the mods that I have and realized none (apart from bebro`s) has any movement icons. I`m hoping someone may see this thread and point me in the right direction. Otherwise, I`m hoping some of the guys who do great 2d stuff around this forum might get inspired and make a wooden wheel for a horse cart movement or something.

Speaking of which, there`s also the icon that appears over the hex when you select the unit and move the mouse over the hex where you want it to go. They`re in Panzer Corps/Graphics/Overlays. Currently there`s just a movehalftrack and a movetruck. It would be helpful to see the image of the horse transport or a tracked transport (like those based on converted tanks; the Kangaroo springs to mind) appear so you know immediately what the unit will "transform" into when moved.

[Mark50]

So, nobody cares about the graphics for the movement types?

[asuser]

That could be a new interesting task.

Do you need also a picture for "unitclasses"? It exists 2x in UI Folder/unitclasses and UI/purchase/classes. It's the same picture (e.g. "0" for infantry) for different uses?

[Mark50]

Thank you for your interest!

Do you need also a picture for "unitclasses"? It exists 2x in UI Folder/unitclasses and UI/purchase/classes. It's the same picture (e.g. "0" for infantry) for different uses?

So far I haven`t thought about new unit classes. As far as I`m concerned, things like horse carts, motorcycles and such can stay in the transport class. What I`d like most of all would be an icon for the horse transport, if possible in the style of the vanilla graphics. Maybe a spoke wheel for the UI/movement images and a silhouette of a horse cart for a movehorse.png in Graphics/Overlays. And speaking of which, it would be nice to have the silhouette of a tracked transport too since they are used even in the vanilla game. The Kangaroo for example. Obviously, you can right click and check, but it would be much more convenient to just see theat icon when you want to move the unit and realize it will transform into a well armoured Kangaroo, instead of a halftrack for example.

[asuser]

Ok, how about that, it's nearly what you are looking for?:

horse_movement.png (942 Bytes) Viewed 4137 times

horsetrack.png (5.42 KiB) Viewed 4137 times

If it's fit for your needs, please give us the explanation how it works into the system.

Greetings!

[Mark50]

Thank you very much! Both look excellent.

I need to apologize for the Graphics/Overlays file. I was convinced it will be loaded by name association, but after trying several things it turns out it doesn`t. Also, after looking through all the text files that looked relevant I just don`t think the option is in the accessible files so I`m guessing it`s hardcoded. Unless someone knows a workaround I`m afraid the only image we can actually change is the one that appears in the recruitment menu and info panel (when you right click the unit). Hopefully, the next expansion will make this option available and we`ll be able to use the new image as it was announced that horse transport will be included for the soviets.

As far as adding new movement types (and corresponding icons) are concerned the subject is very well documented by ThvN:
viewtopic.php?f=147&t=50707#p479524
As a summary, you just need a new entry at the beginning of movement.pzdat for the name of the new movement type and then a set of terrain effects which should be added at the end of that file. The name entry from the beginning needs to also be present in the strings.pzdat file (added at the end this time). The .png file is loaded by association of its name (number) to the number of the entry from movement.pzdat (with the mention that the .png files are numbered starting with 0). And of course, the unit that should have the new movement should be edited in equipment.pzdat to have that number in the Type of Movement column.

Anyway, it`s a pity that the Graphics/Overlay icon couldn`t be loaded because it looks very good, but I still think the UI/movement image you made adds alot to the game and if you find more time it would be great to have icons for mule/horse pack transport (for the mountain guns), motorcycles and bicycles. It would make for a nice add-on that all mods with new movement types ought to include.

[peterw]

I've done some test myself and I think too the transport movement is hardcoded.
Therefore I wait for Soviet Corps myself.

But it's possible to enhance "normal" movement types. And for this you can add new pictures too.
I implemented new movement types for the next version of Italia Victor!. As I have no new pictures I used the existing once (for other movement types) so far.

[Horst]

I’m also using horse/mule transports in my mod. The horse-drawn icon of asuser is really nice, although I don’t really need it as I’m fine with using the horse movement type and a mule movement type with the same horseshoe. Well, if someone paints a pretty mule icon, I welcome that, of course!
The time you see that overlay icon during movement orders is usually that short that I haven’t really bothered about it. Looks that way that you can’t add something there, similar like the support of additional movement types in the game’s library; or at least I hadn’t the patience so far to figure that out.
The lack of available custom-made movement type icons shows that not many really bother about additional movement types. Additional unit icons rather matter and bring most fun to the game. I’ve also painted, or rather modified, some lousy new movement type icons. It’s not too hard to draw a water line for amphibious types or copy the bridge icon on top of a tank chassis, something like that below:

[asuser]

Hello Mark50 and any other comrades...

Are there any new ideas to make further steps for using these nice types?

Still needs other movement type icons and how you will use it?

[Mark50]

There are two sets of images used in unit movement types:

1. you have those from Graphics/Overlays namely movehalftrack and movetruck. These appear on the hexes of the battle map to help you see where the unit will use its transport and of which kind this is. Unfortunately these seem hardcoded and we can`t add more of them. Which is a very poor design choice since even the vanilla game has fully tracked and horse transports which have to use improper images.

2. there are the images from UI/movement. These appear in the unit purchase and unit info panels next to the movement value and the good thing is that you can add as many of these as you have movement types in the game. You just need to have entries for the desired movement type in movement.pzdat and in strings.pzdat and then give that movement type to the unit you want in the equipment file (the value in column W if opened in Excel). I am currently using your horse cart image for my horse transports and I`d love to have images for bicycle, motorcycle and mule/horse pack transport (for the mountain artillery transports).

[Yrfin]

Hello Mark50 and any other comrades...

Are there any new ideas to make further steps for using these nice types?

Still needs other movement type icons and how you will use it?

I need new icons for my Cars 4x4, Heavy Tanks and extended T-34 tanks types of moving.

[asuser]

As ever, making the icons isn't the big problem.

Will see, what goes and comes around...