Slitherine

Making your own flags to look exactly like the original artwork is really simple and I’m assuming was the method used to make most of the flags that come with the game. For me when doing mods I always try to get the artwork to look as close as possible to the original so it blends in and doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb. This was one of the reasons I didn’t care much for any of the mods done by DMP.

For this tutorial I’ll be making a WWI Imperial German flag using GIMP. There’s no set way to do it and it might be a little different depending on if you’re adding new nations to the game or replacing the original flags.

First you’ll want to use the white flag that comes with the game to represent neutralized hexes or cities as a template.

Use the select tool to trace around the whole flag including the drop shadow. Copy it and create from the clipboard as a new image.
Next select only the flag not the drop shadow, the pixel size will be 21x16.
For the new flag you can do a google image search or use Wikipedia. You’ll want to find a flag that’s close to that size as possible and the more detailed the flag is the more important this is so that way when you resize the flag it won’t lose as much detail. The flag I’m using is 32x21 and I scale it down to 25x16, I don’t really worry about the width but it might be different depending on what kind of flag your doing, you just have to play around with it until it’s to your liking, keep in mind the flags that come with the game are not actually the correct proportions to real flags. Also the X/Y resolution might not matter but I always set it to 300.

Next copy and paste it into the white flag as a new layer and name it to whatever you like.
Keeping the first layer selected go to layer mode and select multiply. You also might want to lower the opacity; in this case I’ve lowered it to around 80 so the shading of the white flag stands out more. Merge the first layer into the second and select layer to image to size.
Open the original flags.png file and using the select tool trace around the original German flag along with the drop shadow and delete it. Paste in your new flag and merge it.

And now you have a flag that looks almost identical to the originals. Like I said there’s no set way to do it and my method might be a little more complicated than it has to be plus I was being a little sloppy in this tutorial but hopefully to whoever is reading this you get the idea.
The roundel flags on the side bar is a little more complicated and I never could get it to look exactly right but it involves using the blend tool. You might be better off doing a google search for those.

Perfectly Guide !

I feel like a real designer and my feeling in deep deep in my heart ...

PS. Can Im use Photoshop instead GIMP ?

Yrfin wrote:Perfectly Guide !

I feel like a real designer and my feeling in deep deep in my heart ...

PS. Can Im use Photoshop instead GIMP ?

Technically Photoshop is more advanced then Gimp so yes you should be able get even better results but I've used gimp for years and that's what I'm used to plus it's free.