Banner Creation Guide 1: Introduction

[Paul59]

To start let’s look at how the Banners work.

Please note that in these guides I will use the terms "Banners" and "Flags" interchangeably. They mean the same thing.

In the vanilla game we have 7 sets of banners, and there are two different banners in each set, the first for the warm side and the second for the cool side.

To help differentiate between the two armies in a battle the vanilla game uses a colouring convention for clothing/shields/banners. One side (Side0), usually the players side in SP games, uses warm colours (reds, oranges, yellows, browns, white). The other side (Side1), usually the AI side in SP games, uses cool colours (blues, greens, black, greys). Pat Ward gives more details in this post:

http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 92&t=79817

I have tried to stick to this convention in the TT Mod.

You should note that Roman and Spartan armies are a bit of an exception to this colouring convention, as the game is scripted so that they will always use warm textures. Unless, of course, both sides are Roman or Spartan in which case Side1 will use the cool textures.

All the nations in the game are allocated to one of the 7 sets:

Banner Numbers Nations
00 and 01 Roman
02 and 03 Carthaginian/Seleucids etc.
04 and 05 Celts/Gauls/Germans/Spanish etc.
06 and 07 Greeks/Hellenistic/Italians etc.
08 and 09 Persians, other Iranians etc.
10 and 11 Indian
12 and 13 Hun

Examples
We have a battle where Side0 is Carthaginian, and Side1 Spanish. The Carthaginians will use Flag 02, and the Spanish will use Flag 05.
In a battle where Side0 is Roman, and Side1 is Persian, the Romans will use Flag 00, and the Persians will use Flag 09.
In a battle where Side0 is Seleucids and Side1 is Roman, the Seleucids will use Flag 03 and the Romans Flag 00. Remember, the Romans will always use the warm colours.
In a Roman Civil War, Side0 Romans will use Flag 00 and the Side1 Romans will use Flag 01. As both sides are Roman, one has to use the cool textures.

All the Banner texture and model files are in the Data/Battle/Banners folder. Just like the unit textures, there are three texture files for each banner; a Diffuse, a Normal, and a Spec. Each banner also has a .s4f file (which is the model) and a .txt file (the animations). All the banners have an identifying number in the name of it’s files.

So for the “warm” side Roman banner we have:

Flag_00.s4f
Flag_00.txt
UnitFlags_00_Diffuse@.dds
UnitFlags_00_Normal@.dds
UnitFlags_00_Spec@.dds

There are also two very important text files, that the game uses to determine which banner to use:

1) Banner.txt
This file sits in the Data/Battle/Banners folder, along with all the banner texture and model files. It lists the Banner index numbers, and the flag files that they refer to. The index number is always one more than the flag number. So the Roman 00 flag is actually Banner index 1. Do not ask me why it is like that!

2) BannerSideIDs.txt
This is located in the Core folder. It lists the Banner Index numbers and the nations (sidenumbers) that use them.
We will take a closer look at these files later, when I show you how to add extra banner sets.

[carlos99]

Excellent thanks for the guide