Slitherine

I see players using tanks with various camouflage skins on the normal scenarios and campaigns. I see many threads about mods and custom files but it isn't that informative for a modding newbie. They list a title, description, compatibility, and a download link but I don't see any previews of the actual units.

Many of the custom unit skins are too colorful or crude looking and take away from the game, but some of them are simply different colors of the standard Panzercorps units. How do I just get basic unit skins.

Many of these are adding dozens to hundreds of new units, plus new color schemes, but are these mods for custom scenarios or battles or can they be used with the standard game and standard GC's? Like can I have dozens of tank units and play the Grand Campaigns? When I see AAR's most people are using the basic game with basic colors.

I also see mod guides where you can make your own, but I assume you need some experience with graphic design.

I also don't see concise step-by-step guides to how to use these mods without screwing up the game.

Can someone point me to a skin set that is compatible with the regular stock Panzercorps and how the heck I can install it. Do you actually buy tanks of different colors, or do you get a random colored one when you buy it?

In the mods, each skin is actually a different unit with identical stats and then a different graphic file attached.

Rayrard wrote:I see players using tanks with various camouflage skins on the normal scenarios and campaigns. I see many threads about mods and custom files but it isn't that informative for a modding newbie. They list a title, description, compatibility, and a download link but I don't see any previews of the actual units.

I'm imagining you are looking in the stickies in the mod forum? Those are there mostly to make it easy to find download links. All of the stuff about the mod is usually found in the thread about the mod (usually with a title that is the name of the mod, such as "WWI Kaiserschlacht v3.3" for my WWI mod). If you have found something you like, just search it while in that forum. If you haven't found something specific yet, but say want a skin for a Panzer IV, just search "Panzer IV skin icon" and browse through the results.

Rayrard wrote:Many of the custom unit skins are too colorful or crude looking and take away from the game, but some of them are simply different colors of the standard Panzercorps units. How do I just get basic unit skins.

Each unit has one graphic file, so it is possible to replace all PzIVF2 s with a different PzIVF2 icon if you wish, but you can't have 2 different skins for a PzIVF2 in the default maps, excluding purchased ones - the scenarios will have a specific entry in the equipment file to represent that unit.

If you wanted to replace ALL PzIVF2s in the game with say, a winter camo version, then you can download a winter camo PzIVF2 graphic and use it to overwrite the original. That will also overwrite it for a couple of other units as multiple units are assigned to a single graphic.

Rayrard wrote:Many of these are adding dozens to hundreds of new units, plus new color schemes, but are these mods for custom scenarios or battles or can they be used with the standard game and standard GC's? Like can I have dozens of tank units and play the Grand Campaigns? When I see AAR's most people are using the basic game with basic colors.

Most AARs are for the base game, without mods, so they will use the stock stuff. Any files used in mods can be used in the base campaigns as well, but making them work is quite a fiddly process and more likely to go wrong the less experience you have with it. Some mods, particularly mine, use units that are based on their own counterparts, and copying a Mongol horseman in could severely upset the balance of the game. However others, including most WW2 ones (but not all!) can be copied in and work alongside the base stuff reasonably well. I recommend that you just use the modded units in their modded campaigns, as those will give you the best experience.

Rayrard wrote:I also see mod guides where you can make your own, but I assume you need some experience with graphic design.

Making a unit graphic is basically copying a picture from the internet and resizing it to be in the same arrangement as the stock ones. Animations and stuff for them is much more difficult though.

Rayrard wrote:I also don't see concise step-by-step guides to how to use these mods without screwing up the game.

Most mods use the GME, which there are install guides and stuff for in the stickies. Others are just copying a file or two into a certain folder. Some can be quite messy though. Ask the author of the mod for help if you are still unsure.

Rayrard wrote: Can someone point me to a skin set that is compatible with the regular stock Panzercorps and how the heck I can install it. Do you actually buy tanks of different colors, or do you get a random colored one when you buy it?

The last bit is impossible, as one unit is tied to one graphic. For the first point, guille1434 has made a (very large) number of unit graphics in a similar style to the base ones, with huge variations of colours and units (including many of my WWI ones and lots of post-WWII ones as well. I think his thread has over 1500 posts). Those ones are just copy-and-rename jobs, where the source ones are in C:/Program Files/Slitherine/Panzer Corps/Graphics/Units

- BNC

Thank you for the information. Just a few followups

1. You said each is a separate unit but with identical stats... so if I replaced the Tiger icon with a black Tiger in the game file it would replace every Tiger with a black one.
2. If I got say 6 Tiger camouflage skins, would those all get pasted in the game folder and would come up as SIX different purchasable Tiger tanks on the purchase menu? Or would putting six different Tigers mess up the game on stock settings?
3. You said that if an icon replaced the Pz4F2, that all the F2's and Pz4G's in the entire game would be replaced with that winter camo. But would I be able to keep the regular and also add a winter camouflage to the game as an optional purchasable unit and keep the base game with the original gray scheme? That would make two Pz4 color schemes in game. Or do I have to use only one at a time?
4. I assume changing the schemes (winter to summer scheme) would have to edit the game icon file while in the middle of a campaign?
5. I have seen the various threads on mods. I guess I have to wade through them. There are so many and it's not clear if these are mega-expansion mods versus simple color changes without reading through the extensive discussions.
6. It would be nice to have a game mod where you select a Tiger and then get the option of a custom color for it in a drop-down menu like in many games where you choose a character and a color of their clothing. Having a dozen Panthers on the purchase screen would seem redundant, unless you give each Panther color some bonus attribute and an increase in unit cost to make up for it.

Rayrard wrote:
1. You said each is a separate unit but with identical stats... so if I replaced the Tiger icon with a black Tiger in the game file it would replace every Tiger with a black one.
2. If I got say 6 Tiger camouflage skins, would those all get pasted in the game folder and would come up as SIX different purchasable Tiger tanks on the purchase menu? Or would putting six different Tigers mess up the game on stock settings?
3. You said that if an icon replaced the Pz4F2, that all the F2's and Pz4G's in the entire game would be replaced with that winter camo. But would I be able to keep the regular and also add a winter camouflage to the game as an optional purchasable unit and keep the base game with the original gray scheme? That would make two Pz4 color schemes in game. Or do I have to use only one at a time?
4. I assume changing the schemes (winter to summer scheme) would have to edit the game icon file while in the middle of a campaign?
5. I have seen the various threads on mods. I guess I have to wade through them. There are so many and it's not clear if these are mega-expansion mods versus simple color changes without reading through the extensive discussions.
6. It would be nice to have a game mod where you select a Tiger and then get the option of a custom color for it in a drop-down menu like in many games where you choose a character and a color of their clothing. Having a dozen Panthers on the purchase screen would seem redundant, unless you give each Panther color some bonus attribute and an increase in unit cost to make up for it.

1 to 3. Each distinct unit type has one icon, so if you change the icon all units of that type change. However, you will have noticed that SE units and captured units have different camo patterns. SE Tiger, Captured Tiger and normal Tiger are all different units. If you wanted to have different camo pattern for, say 1st Panzer division and 2nd Panzer division, it would be possible to create a mod with 1st Division Panzer in one pattern, and another unit 2nd Division Panzer with the same unit stats but a different icon. PHCAS has created a mod which assigns unit markings to icons, so it can work.
4. You'd need someone else to help you on that.
5. Some searching might be needed as some of the threads have a lot of entries. I know that there are posts on adding new units because I had to read them a few times to make things work. Try starting at the earliest posts (when everyone needed help on modding).
6. As mentioned above, you could have several tiger units, each with a different pattern, and if you are doing that, it isn't a lot of extra work to adjust the units stats. SE tanks all have one particular pattern and all get +1HA and +1 ammo. You could give pattern 1 has +1 HA, Pattern 2 has +1AD, Pattern 3 has +1 ammo or whatever works for you.

Important things I learnt when modding include: keep a secure backup of the original files, organise your modded files better than I do, and try to be methodical - finding and fixing a problem after changing one thing is not so bad, but if you change a lot of things at once it is much harder.

4 could end pretty badly if you try to do it and stuff it up. What I would recommend is you make a summer camo Tiger and a winter camo Tiger, and use the multipurpose column in the equipment file to allow you to switch through them.

- BNC

I guess I can try the mod for one unit type and see if it works. If I screw it up I can easily fix it. Getting into things like adding new units and countries and multiple skins per unit can come after I figure out the easy stuff.

Does anyone recommend a specific thread for changing skins?

Dwight's Camo Sprayshop is good. I found the earlier versions a little bit easier to use but later versions have more features. There are quite a few people who use it so you should be able to get help if stuck.

If it's dropped down the Panzer Corps pages, a google search should find it for you.

Rayrard wrote:I guess I can try the mod for one unit type and see if it works. If I screw it up I can easily fix it. Getting into things like adding new units and countries and multiple skins per unit can come after I figure out the easy stuff.

Does anyone recommend a specific thread for changing skins?

These are good threads to look into:

http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 47&t=36536 (veeeery long and lots if icons there)

http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 47&t=44183

http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 47&t=42725