Alternative Clan Colours - update to HERO EDITION released! Noif's submod still available
A samurai wearing a horo, reproduction of a woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
ALTERNATIVE CLAN COLOURS
A recolouring mod for the battlefield units of Shogun2
(excluding RotS and FotS)
Over two hundred new uniforms + banners available
including
all factions of the game with many optional themes
speciality of given major clan marked in corresponding units
all units from the Sengoku Jidai DLC turned really special
all units from the Heroes & Saints DLC made to appear a tough bunch
unique-looking hero units, ronin, imported matchlock ashigaru, onna bushi etc
and 22 generals in personal outfits
Note about download:
For Noif's submod, see attached file at the bottom of this post
* * *
Want detailed info about the mod? Read on!
Introduction
Ever since RTW, I've been wanting to do some retexturing and recoloring of the units in the great TW series of games. But I lacked the tools, money and time to do it. Now, with me venturing into the world of hex code editing for the very first time, I'm finally able to make a contribution in the visual department of mods. I hope you like the result. Whatever the case, I sure have had fun doing this thing.
Approach
The reason I started this project was of course my dissatisfaction with how some of the units looked, and my belief that I could improve on that a bit. For inspiration to my changes, I'd like to turn to historical sources. But in the case of the Sengoku period in Japan, good material seemed hard to find (for a westerner like me). Searching the web does not yield much, at least not quickly. But over time, I've collected a fair amount of material in pictures of authentic armors, re-enactment festivals, woodblock prints, paintings, miniature soldiers etc. The source that got me going first was the following illustration:
I have come to know its creator - good Mr Danborg, by fantastic coincidence also known as TomteOfDoom here at TWC and a fellow countryman (!) - as a person very knowledgeable of Japanese history during this period. So, unless otherwise indicated, I've based my work on this source. I've since then developped a certain degree of knowledge of this period myself, which has given me more creative freedom in the choice of colour themes.
According to my sources, as a rule, the warriors of this age and place did not wear uniforms. Each individual soldier basically provided or chose his own equipment as he saw fit. The parties on the battlefield distinguished friend from foe usually by the banners they carried, specifically the design of the crests on them, not the colours. Some clans did appear to have a custom of using lacing of a certain colour, which could serve as a mark to which clan the soldier in question belonged, but you could find all kinds of armor, clothing and colours in a given clan army of this period.
The notable exceptions to this rule were the Date and Il clans, and to some extent perhaps the Sanada. Some warlords within a clan, like Takeda Shingen's general Yamagata Masakage, were known to equip his closest men in similarly coloured armor, and the ashigarus in the Oda clan is said have been noted for their black armor with lemon-coloured clothing, to name a couple of the few examples where the soldiers wore anything reminiscent of a uniform.
For those interested in going a little deeper on the subject, check this conversation copied from a reputable site, www.samurai-archives.com:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Yuushi-sama:
“’ I am starting a 25mm samurai army and I'm having difficulties with the colour of the samurai armour. Basically, I have seen a bunch of different patterns, schemes, etc. but I can't seem to find an answer to this simple question:
Were samurai armour all the same colour in one unit or could it be different?’”
evalerio [a prominent contributor to the material hosted at this site, especially with regard to Japanese heraldry]:
“You are more likely to get the right look by painting an army with samurai in different type or different color of armour. A samurai army with 'uniformed' armour just doesn't look right.
There are only two exceptions. There are only two 'contingents' that I know of that have some 'uniformity' in armour for both samurai and ashigaru.
Ii clan 'Red Devils', from the highest 'ranking' samurai to the lowest ashigaru, all wearing red-lacquered armour. Samurai wearing red-lacquered armour with lacings in dark blue or yellow ochre. Ashigaru with red-lacquered okegawa-do, yukinoshita-do and tatami-do. I've seen different types of armour, but all are lacquered red for the Ii. Very rare examples with gold 'trimmings', with the shikoro, or sode or haidate with gold lames.
The Date clan are known for having the highest 'ranking' samurai to the lowest ashigaru with black-lacquered yukinoshita-do. Some have mon in gold on the breastplate. 'Units' would have some uniformity in the mon painted on the breastplate, from a simple gold disc to the more elaborate Date mon of birds in a circle of bamboo. The 'uniformity' in the type and color in the Date are more likely in the 'inner' circle, the highest ranking. All other types and color of armour are also there.
In most armies there would be no uniformity in the type or colour of armour worn by samurai. The same with ashigaru, the majority clad in simpler, cheaper type and quality, with the majority in black lacquer., in smaller numbers in brown and/or red.
Ashigaru armour in better equipped armies have the mon or some sort of 'unit' designs painted on armour. Most would have the mon in gold on black armour (breastplate, jingasa). The mon could also be painted red on black breastplate and/or jingasa. Red armour would have mon or other designs in gold or black on the breastplate and/or jingasa. The most common type seen are gold mon on black breastplate. Ashigaru tatami-do are most often all-black, red tatami-do are also common.”
kurosuke:
“I'd like to add something on colors of ashigaru armour.
About a year or so ago I did an inquiry in ashigaru armor. I took available photos of survived XVI-XVII cent. cuirasses (mainly okegawa-do) and tried to classify them by main color, color of design and type of design.
There were totally 79 cuirasses. Out of them the majority were black (72%), the rest brown (14%), red (11%) and even gold (mere 3% - 2 pieces).
2/3 of black cuirasses had golden design (65%) and those with red design occupied the second place (28%). Apart of one and only piece with silver design, the rest cuirasses were plain black. 56% of red cuirasses had golden design and 33% - black. Designs of brown do were evenly divided between golden and red (36%). 18% of brown do even had black design (2 pieces). Both golden cuirasses had black design.
As for design itself, more than half designed cuirasses bore mon (57%). 22% bore other objects (abstract designs, japanese figures), 13% were striped and 6% had characters painted on them.
Only 5 cuirasses out of totally 79 did not bear any design - 3 blacks, 1 red and 1 brown.”
JLBadgley:
”’evalerio wrote:
Ii clan 'Red Devils', from the highest 'ranking' samurai to the lowest ashigaru, all wearing red-lacquered armour. Samurai wearing red-lacquered armour with lacings in dark blue or yellow ochre. Ashigaru with red-lacquered okegawa-do, yukinoshita-do and tatami-do. I've seen different types of armour, but all are lacquered red for the Ii. Very rare examples with gold 'trimmings', with the shikoro, or sode or haidate with gold lames.’
Apparently Ii Naomasa took the idea from the Takeda, so he wasn't the first (just more famous for it, perhaps).”
evalerio:
“Takeda Shingen's general Yamagata Masakage didn't have all his troops in red armour, but clad his closest retainers in red and chose samurai who did wear red lacquered armour to be in the front ranks. Masakage may have 'absorbed' the all-red troops of the 'red regiment' of his brother Obu Toramasa who was executed for treason. Masakage's troops made an impression on Ieyasu at Mikata ga hara and Nagashino.
Probably plain looking ashigaru armour were not as appealing for collectors to add to their display. BUT 'old' armour that were still intact and functional were not just discarded, but were reused and recycled. Many plain-looking ashigaru armour in 'earlier' times were likely 'repainted' by later owners as ashigaru became more professional and permanent. The Matsuura army in the Edo period used ashigaru armour with different designs to identify different 'companies' or 'platoons'.”
Custine:
“A couple of years ago I visited Fukuoka in Japan which has a wonderful museum crammed with Samurai armour. Amongst the displays you could see red, blue ( in various shades), yellow, green and black armour. The range of colours was astonishing. SO yes there was blue samurai armour, as well as just about every other colour you can imagine.”
From the above, you can deduce that when you find an accurate source showing a samurai or suit of armor for a samurai and this being labelled as "Shimazu clan samurai armor" or some other specific clan designation, you cannot conclude that all samurais of the clan in question looked like that, but only that at least one samurai from that clan did once. A different design would not necessarily mean less historical accuracy.
Black appears to have been the most popular colour for armor in Japan at the time, with brown coming second etc. So if a given clan must be represented with one colour for armor in this game, and the most popular colour in reality, chances are that all factions featured in the game must be given black armor. Here's where I depart from "historical accuracy". I want the game to be interesting to play and all factions interesting to play. If they all look too similar, much of the fun and point of the game will be lost. My uniform themes are therefore examples of how samurais could appear as a whole, an attempt to represent this great mixture of design and colours that existed in the Warring States period, but still with some foundation in the particular case for each clan. So, from this perspective, my approach is "historically accurate", and probably gives a more realistic impression as a whole than if all clans in game wore the most popular armor of the clan.
Whatever the case, it's easier said than done to reproduce the colour scheme of a given historical source in S2. The game design only allows three colours to be changed and these usually in a different pattern than shown in the sources. Take the appearance of the Oda according to Danborg's illustration, for instance - black armor with strong patches of yellow on it. The game doesn't distribute the details of the armor in big patches like that, but in tiny details all over the place, resulting in this complementary colour not being seen properly from a certain distance and in effect blending with the colour of the armor. Unlike the clothing in Danborg's illustration, whatever colour you choose for clothing in this game will dominate the appearance. So sometimes it's not possible to get it "right", you'll have to settle for an approximation.
Towards the end of the development course for ACC version 59g, I came across sites showing traditional Japanese colours. These are special hues with a long history of use in this country, made of various natural products and processes, and given rich names with inspiration from nature, culture or customs. In older times, it was not possible to create all these millions of colours we can see in modern media thanks to our advanced technology. So soldiers of history were more likely dressed in gear dyed in these traditional colours. That's why I set out to update all colour values into these older hues. I had time to start a little on that project in 59g. With 59h, this has been taken a step further, and it will go all the way with the final 59i. The result is quite fascinating in the suggestive names for the colours used alone. The Uesugi clan, for example, are now decked out in youkan-iro armor with yanagi-susu-take details and kuri-iro clothing - i.e. kind of sweet colour armor with sooty willow bamboo colour details and black cray of riverbed colour clothing. That's why they look so good!
Add my drive for a realistic impression that has pushed me towards even grittier colours than seen in the first versions of this mod, and you get the soul of ACC, which will be refined even further for its final edition.
Illustrations
As examples of the result from this mod, I'm posting pics of different units in various environments clan-wise, but I have let the game decide the time of day shown. So if you think the result is difficult to see on occasion, then it seems it's meant to be a surprise when you see those units yourself in game. I may replace the first pics with others later.
Note that, in the case of ACC 59g or earlier versions, all shots have been taken with the Less Glossy Units Mod installed. This mod clearly improved upon the realistic look of the units, and I recommended everybody who used my mod to also use this other mod. In fact, I based my work on the effect which the LGUM had, and you wouldn't be able to appreciate it in full without that essential mod. So I provided a link to it here. Please give its creator, Ftmch, extra credit for this. Superghostboy has since developped a great alternative to Ftmch's variant, worthy of equal praise, and you can find that here. All shots of ACC 59h have been taken with his variant in place. Edit: Unfortunately, some time after the release of 59h, CA came out with one or two patches that changed the conditions for the anti-gloss mods, and it doesn't look like any of them work anymore.
Note also in the earlier pics the use of two other graphical mods: ToonTotalWar's retextured bow, found here (although this is no longer updated or working) and matmohair1's yari diversity mod, available here. Durruti1936 has since provided me with a good replacement in bow retexture, fetchable in post ¤18 here. Give them all some credit for their work.
Since the release of ACC 31d, the presentation of my work has been organized in the following way. All recolour themes for the major factions are displayed in this OP, whereas the greater number of minor factions and some faction-free units are found in posts #2 and 3, distributed about evenly there.
Also as of ACC 31d, all factions and units that I have recoloured are displayed as they appear with my banner mod installed. This second visual mod of mine is available separately from the first, and you can read more details about it in the special section for it below. In order to get the armies looking exactly like presented in the following shots, you therefore need to download and install two mods from this thread, one for the uniforms and one for the banners, as indicated by the mod names.
As of 26 June 2012, you should know that there's also a special submod for banners available, courtesy of Noif! See the section dedicated to flags below regarding details about that mod.
Anyhow, here it is, my alternative to vanilla or modifications of similar sort out there.
The position of ACC regarding vanilla colours - original image courtesy of Hazeyshot (also using The Hedge Knight's Unit Variety Mod)
Presenting the new
My hex code editor looks a lot like this - like a matrix made by aNdre-W.
Mod development
Tomoe Gozen, the famous female warrior, as percieved in a Japanese movie
Special units
The new and enlarged ACC features a lot of special units with uniquely coloured uniforms (unique as in no other unit has exactly the same combination of colours). This means that they depart from the "normal" ACC theme, if applicable, in one way or other. Erase one of them from the mod, and the "normal" ACC theme will return on that unit.
For an example of the ideas behind this differentiation, any faction-specific unit with a colour theme diverging from the main uniform theme for a major faction indicates that this clan specializes in that type of warriors. In the Takeda case, their speciality is cavalry. So all Takeda cavalry in ACC are made to look special, different from everything else, but still based on historical sources. See their section above for an example of this. The units in the latest Heroes & Saints DLC, on the other hand, could be regarded as independent specialists and elite troops for hire to anyone who can afford them. So, in ACC, they look the same regardless of which faction that uses them. But the other heroes are thought to be accompanied by the best troops the faction in question can muster from its own ranks. So when you recruit the single Bow Hero, Katana Hero, Naginata Warrior Monk Hero or Yari Hero, the soldiers following them will appear in their respective clan colours.
Here's the complete list of what version 59g contained with regard to special units:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Recoloured special units in ACC 59g
1. Ashikaga Haruuji
2. Bow hero
3. Bow ronin officer
4. Bow ronin soldier
5. Bow ronin standard bearer
6. Bow wako officer
7. Bow wako soldier
8. Bow wako standard bearer
9. Chosokabe bow ashigaru soldier and standard bearer
10. Chosokabe bow hero
11. Chosokabe bow hero soldier
12. Chosokabe bow samurai officer, soldier and standard bearer
14. Chosokabe bow warrior monk soldier
15. Chosokabe daikyu samurai officer, soldier and standard bearer.
16. Chosokabe Motochika
17. Date bulletproof samurai officer
18. Date bulletproof samurai soldier
19. Date bulletproof samurai standard bearer and no-dachi samurai standard bearer
20. Date Masamune
21. Date no-dachi samurai officer
22. Date no-dachi samurai soldier
23. Hattori bandit officer
24. Hattori bandit soldier
25. Hattori bow samurai officer and soldier
26. Hattori Hanzo
27. Hattori katana samurai officer and soldier
28. Hattori kisho ninja officer
29. Hattori kisho ninja soldier
30. Hattori naginata samurai officer and soldier
31. Hattori no-dachi samurai officer and soldier
32. Hojo cannon officer and soldier
33. Hojo fire bomb thrower officer and soldier
34. Hojo fire rocket officer and soldier
35. Hojo hand mortar officer and soldier.
36. Hojo mangonel officer and soldier
37. Hojo Tsunanari
38. Hojo Ujiyasu
39. Ikko-ikki bow warrior monk officer
40. Ikko-ikki bow warrior monk soldier
41. Ikko-ikko loan sword ashigaru officer
42. Ikko-ikko loan sword ashigaru soldier
43. Ikko-ikki marathon monk officer
44. Ikko-ikki marathon monk soldier
45. Ikko-ikki matchlock warrior monk soldier
46. Ikko-ikki naginata warrior monk cavalry officer
47. Ikko-ikki naginata warrior monk cavalry soldier
48. Ikko-ikki naginata warrior monk garrison (citizenry) officer
49. Ikko-ikki naginata warrior monk garrison (citizenry) soldier
50. Ikko-ikki naginata warrior monk hero officer
51. Ikko-ikki naginata warrior monk hero soldier
52. Imagawa Ujichika
53. Imagawa Yoshimoto
54. Imported matchlock ashigaru soldier
55. Imported matchlock ashigaru standard bearer
56. Ishida Mitsunari
57. Katana hero
58. Katana ronin officer
59. Katana ronin soldier
60. Katana ronin standard bearer
61. Katana wako officer
62. Katana wako standard bearer
63. Kobayakawa Hideaki
64. Mori Motonari
65. Mori wako raider officer
66. Mori wako raider soldier
67. Mori wako raider standard bearer
68. Naginata warrior monk hero
69. Oda bow ashigaru officer
70. Oda bow ashigaru soldier
71. Oda bow ashigaru standard bearer
72. Oda long yari ashigaru officer
73. Oda long yari ashigaru soldier
74. Oda long yari ashigaru standard bearer
75. Oda matchlock ashigaru officer
76. Oda matchlock ashigaru soldier
77. Oda Nobunaga
78. Oda yari ashigaru officer
79. Oda yari ashigaru soldier
80. Oda yari ashigaru standard bearer
81. Ogigayatsu Tomosada
82. Onna bushi officer
83. Onna bushi soldier
84. Shimazu heavy gunner officer
85. Shimazu heavy gunner soldier
86. Shimazu heavy gunner standard bearer
87. Shimazu katana samurai officer
88. Shimazu katana samurai soldier
89. Shimazu katana samurai standard bearer
90. Shimazu katana hero officer
91. Shimazu katana hero soldier
92. Shimazu Yoshihiro
93. Shimotsuma Nakayuki
94. Takeda fire cavalry officer
95. Takeda fire cavalry soldier
96. Takeda bow cavalry officer
97. Takeda bow cavalry soldier
98. Takeda light cavalry officer
99. Takeda light cavalry soldier
100. Takeda katana cavalry officer
101. Takeda katana cavalry soldier
102. Takeda Katsuyori
103. Takeda Nobukado
104. Takeda Shingen
105. Takeda yari cavalry officer
106. Takeda yari cavalry soldier
107. Tokugawa Ieyasu
108. Tokugawa mounted gunner officer
109. Tokugawa mounted gunner soldier
110. Uesugi bow warrior monk officer
111. Uesugi Kenshin
112. Uesugi marathon monk officer
113. Uesugi marathon monk soldier
114. Uesugi matchlock warrior monk officer
115. Uesugi matchlock warrior monk soldier
116. Uesugi naginata warrior monk hero officer
117. Uesugi naginata warrior monk hero soldier
118. Uesugi naginata warrior monk officer
119. Uesugi naginata warrior monk soldier
120. Uesugi Norimasa
121. Warrior nun officer
122. Warrior nun soldier
123. Yari hero
124. Yari ronin officer
125. Yari ronin soldier
126. Yari ronin standard bearer
And here's a complete list of which uniforms the new 59h edition have changed, in one way or other, from previous version or vanilla:
The choice of units to recolour has been based on those listed in the uniforms_table. There are more units listed there than I have recoloured. Both the Hattori and the Ikko-ikki, for example, could have gotten recoloured ashigaru units, too. But I thought they have enough variety as it stands, at least for now. I have not bothered to test adding a unit not listed in that table originally. I might do that later, to remedy the fact that some factions recieved few special units recoloured in this way, like the Mori or Tokugawa, whereas others got several, like the aforementioned Hattori and Ikko-ikki.
Note the limited availability of these units in game. Take Oda units, for example. Oda Nobunaga will show up in new colours at the historical Battle of Nagashino, but not his ashigarus; those ashigarus will show up new in campaign mode instead...but probably not Oda Nobunaga in that new outfit. I don't know why the game works in this way (why the uniforms_to_faction_colours file does not always take precedence over the faction_uniform_colours file), and I haven't tested how everything works in all areas yet.
To see all new generals in custom battles, you need to install a little jewel of a mod found in post #412 on page 21 of this thread, courtesy of Anton III (thanks again, man!). Since the TWC update recently, this tweak seems to have disappeared from its original place! I've re-uploaded it as another attachment at bottom of post #2 instead. But some technical problem with the site seems to stop the download link from working. Moderator notified. Hopefully the issue is solved soon.
Previews of the recolour work on all special units have been moved either up to their respective clan sections above or down to individual entries in posts #2 and 3 below.
Battle standards of the Takeda clan - pic on TWC supplied by iqwerty, thank you
Flags
The banners and sashimonos carried by the units are important for the overall appearance of the armies in S2. If the flags are two-coloured, and the units two-coloured in the same way, then the army in question is bound to look rather boring. So I've tried to make the hues and shades of the flags somewhat different from those of the uniforms. Few factions, if any, have been left completely untouched. All backgrounds in white or black, for example, have been made with more detail in the highlight and shadow, respectively, meaning that white flags will not appear as blinding white, and black banners not seem as black holes. As a rule, garish colours have been turned more natural and more appealing to the eye. All with consideration to historical sources.
Whatever the case, the goal has been to make the whole of the army look good. So if my banner mod is left out, chances are that my uniforms mod won't look as good as intended, should it mix badly with the vanilla banners or some other banner mod.
The use of banner mods might give you one problem, however, which AlCord discovered. The colour of the family crests (mons) on the flags seems to determine the colour of the bars on the campaign flags showing how many units the army contains. So if the vanilla flag is a dark-coloured mon on light-coloured background, for example, and you change the flag to the reverse, then you get flags with light-coloured bars on light-coloured background for the faction in question on the campaign map, making it difficult to tell how big the army is. This might affect the battle symbols on the big flags indicating unit types in battle mode as well. The obvious solution to this problem would be to mod those campaign map flags, too. But I don't know how to do that (yet). So you have to decide whether you can live with this drawback for the flag changes or not.
A wish list of future banner fixes for ACC has been submitted in post #332 on page 17 of this thread. If you're interested in improving this mod, please check that list out.
Noif's Flags for ACC
* * *
Antler kabuto
Gamers' View of ACC
Gamers who'd like to show their use of ACC in pictures, with or without other mods, and comment upon their experience of it have a place here. As I like to give up to ten different gamers a chance to do this and still keep it pretty manageable, the number of (full-sized) images from each gamer will be restricted to 3. I'll select those images from any number of them offered as alternatives by the gamers with the objective of showing the merit of ACC, but I won't touch any comment the gamers submit for being attached to those select images. The gamers and their pictures and comments are hereby presented below, in alphabetical order. Enjoy the show!
For views without pictures of ACC, see for example posts #472, 477, 478, 481, 498, 506, 545 and 574.
Katana with saya on stand
Final notes
Concerning permission to use ACC
Any feedback is welcome.
With this, I wish you all happy gaming with the new face and feel of S2!
Regards,
D
Last edited by Demokritos; October 24, 2020 at 03:53 PM.
Reason: Withholding mods pending TWC decision
Re: Alternative Clan Colours - Minor Factions and Special Units Part 1
MINOR FACTIONS AND SPECIAL UNITS PART 1
From the Amako to the Kuroda
Edit 7 Sept 2013: Some pics have gone missing in this post since the the site was upgraded, but at least I can finally edit it now. Will update it later.
Half of the game's non-playable factions and special units are covered in this post, the rest in the following post. The previews of them are not necessarily clear, as I like the game to decide the time of day on the battlefield and reserve some surprises for you on your own battlefields. Whatever the case, it will look better on your own comps, for technical reasons.
The recoloured objects are listed in alphabetical order. Greyed-out text means it's a planned task not yet started upon. Orange-coloured text means it's a task upon which work has commenced but not yet finished. Black bold text means that the work is both finished and released to the public, available as a downloadable file in the OP.
Sometimes there will be an optional recolour theme for a faction or unit available. In these cases, the required RGB values to edit my mod accordingly will be stated below one or two pics showing this alternative to the "standard edition". This in the order of armor, clothing, and details on the armor, just like given in the DB file for it. Instructions on how to enable this option are given at the end of post #3.
To see and play any of these minor factions and special units in game whenever you want, download and install the great mod for custom battles by The Hedge Knight, found here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=441030. Or see bottom of this post.
For the general availability of the special units, however, check the info in the dedicated section for them in the OP.
Here's what you get with ACC...
Additional mods
My own mod solution for playing all S2 factions in custom battles (built from scratch from patch7) features corrected faction icons in the selection menu (greatly thanks to Anton93), slightly different selection (to remove the risk of CTD's), and some new vanilla units enabled, including the Onna Bushi and The Black Ship. The latter part of this tweak will conflict with some other mods out there messing with the same table, so if you get into any functional trouble because of it, you'll have to decide which mod you prefer using (or delete one of these tables in the conflicting mods). This little mod of mine is attached below.
As of 29 August 2012, as more or less promised, I can finally offer a new mod of this sort that incorporates the clans of the Rise of the Samurai DLC. It contains the same features as the first mod, but now for both S2 and RotS, based on the latest patch23. The selection menu in custom battles thereby grows to appear like this:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
I haven't tested all factions presented here, but it seems to be working as it should. Let me know if anything appears out of order. I'll keep the old variant downloadable here for those who don't need the extra DLC function and file size on their comps.
Install as before, by downloading it, extracting it, and dropping the extracted file in the data folder.
Before anyone asks, I've refrained from adding the factions from the Fall of the Samurai in this mod because I've not bought that DLC and probably never will, and adding them would thereby be a service I did blindly, without being able to check how it works. But you can easily enable those factions yourself by editing the new mod I've provided here. If you're unsure how to do it, just PM me for instructions.
PS. Thanks to DramaBelli, I have discovered that Akaie's little jewel of mod enabling all recoloured generals to be recruitable in custom battles has disappeared from the place it was submitted earlier! Probably after the recent update for TWC as a whole, whcih has made other things disappear. First attempt to upload it here again did not work for some reason. Will make another attempt later.
Last edited by Demokritos; December 23, 2016 at 12:00 PM.
Re: Alternative Clan Colours - Minor factions and Special Units Part 2
You won't see action like this until you've downloaded the complete version of ACC...
From the Matsuda to the Yamanouchi
See post #2 for more info about this section.
Instructions on how to edit my uniforms and banners mod are found at the end of this post.
HOW TO EDIT ACC THE EASY WAY
I'm using a hex code editor for my work. The use of hex codes makes testing different colours and keeping notes of the changes easier. But the following way may be easier if you want to edit something in ACC.
How to revert a given clan back to vanilla colours; 1. Use PFM to open the lastest patch.pack from CA in the data folder (which currently, as of 25 February 2012, is patch14.pack).
2. Click the + sign to the left of the db section.
3. Scroll down to the faction_uniform_colours_tables, expand that entry and then mark the table of faction_uniform_colours. Then a table appears in the right part of PFM. All clans in the game are listed there.
4. Find the factions you want the vanilla values for and then note down the figures for them in all nine columns named "R1", "G1", "B1", "R2" etc here.
5. Once you've done that, use the PFM to open my mod. Open up the same table here.
6. Now go to the File menu at the top left corner of PFM and untick "CA Packs Are read Only": This used to be a necessary step in order to be able to edit mods for older TW games, but It seems no longer to be the case. To be on the safe side, however, do it here as well.
7. Find the clans in question on the list to the right and enter the vanilla values for those factions in the same order you saw them stated before. In other words, you enter the first of the three RGB values needed for the armor in the column named "R1", the second value in the column named "G1", and the third under "B1", then the three RGB values for the clothing in the same manner under "R2", "G2" and "B2" etc.
8. Once you've re-entered the vanilla values for the factions you want, set the file back to "CA Packs Are Read Only".
9. Save, and exit PFM.
10. Start up the game anew - voíla, your own version of ACC!
How to use the optional recolour theme for a given clan:
1. Use PFM to open my mod.
2. Click the + sign to the left of the db section.
3. Scroll down to the faction_uniform_colours_tables, expand that entry and then mark the table of faction_uniform_colours. Then a table appears in the right part of PFM. All clans in the game are listed there.
4. Go to the File menu at the top left corner of PFM and untick "CA Packs Are read Only".
5. Find the faction you want to use the optional values for on the list to the right.
6. Insert the nine RGB values for the optional set in the nine columns named R1-B3, like described in the decription how to revert back to the vanilla colours above.
7. Set the file back to "CA Packs Are Read Only".
8. Save, and exit PFM.
9. Start up the game anew - voíla, your own version of ACC!
How to remove the uniform theme of a given recoloured unit:
1. Open up my uniforms mod with PFM.
2. Find and select the DB file called "uniforms_to_faction_colours".
3. Find the entry or Uniform IDRef of the unit in question in the list that has appeared to the right.
4. Click on the empty greyish box to the left of its Uniform IDRef; this will mark the whole row for this unit, and highlight it in blue.
5. Hit the delete button, so that this row disappears.
6. Save and exit.
7. If you've done this for an Oda ashigaru unit, for example, this unit will now revert back to its normal ACC theme, which has purple armor details. Note that many units have the officer, soldiers and standard bearer individually recoloured, so you may have to delete up to three rows to return a given unit to normal ACC appearance.
How to edit my banner mod:
Proceed in a similar manner as for my uniforms mod above. There are three things to note here, however.
Firstly, the colour values are given in the reverse order from normal, i.e. the codes for the blue spectrum (B-columns) come first, then those for green (G-columns), and lastly those for red (R-columns). So if you want to use the colour of chili powder, which has the RGB code of 199-63-23, for example, you must enter it in the order of 23-63-199.
Secondly, the colour designating columns come in the order of mon, background and ties (one set of B-, G- and R-columns, i.e. three columns, each). The last of these sets of columns, i.e. the one for the ties, are placed after two columns named "Unknown".
Thirdly, the mons are determined by the designation listed in the second column from the left named "Unknown". So if you want to use the optional mon for the Ito, for example, then you replace the original "ito" with "honma" there.
Last edited by Demokritos; January 30, 2013 at 05:21 PM.
GNOTHI SEAUTON (Know Thyself) - precept inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece MEDEN AGAN (Nothing To Excess) - another precept inscribed in the aforementioned place
I believe that art with the clan colors was created by one of TWC's own for the mod "Ran No Jidai" for RTW. But I'm glad someone found it to create clan colors for Shogun2. I'll be looking forward to this.
I believe that art with the clan colors was created by one of TWC's own for the mod "Ran No Jidai" for RTW. But I'm glad someone found it to create clan colors for Shogun2. I'll be looking forward to this.
Really? Impressive work by that someone, I say! Would you happen to know who it was and the sources he or she used?
I found the pic by googling for Japanese clan colours or something, I don't remember the exact search terms. I did not find at TWC or www.totalwar.com.
GNOTHI SEAUTON (Know Thyself) - precept inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece MEDEN AGAN (Nothing To Excess) - another precept inscribed in the aforementioned place
You can look at the clan colors at the Ran No Jidai mod, its released actually, some concept images are still around in the first pages of the sub forum under Rome Total War hosted mods sub forum.
Good job!
You need to make the Shimazu torso armor green... I read probs of coloring, but there is black, not simply dark
Banners too in project?
You mean their armor was green with black details and not the other way around as I have made it here? Interesting idea.
GNOTHI SEAUTON (Know Thyself) - precept inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece MEDEN AGAN (Nothing To Excess) - another precept inscribed in the aforementioned place
Well I can't change the way the colours are distributed across the uniform without going into actual retexturing the units, and I have neither the tools, money or time to do that properly. Sorry about that.
Originally Posted by Erwin Rommel
You can look at the clan colors at the Ran No Jidai mod, its released actually, some concept images are still around in the first pages of the sub forum under Rome Total War hosted mods sub forum.
Thanks for this reference. I'll check those guys up.
Last edited by Demokritos; April 15, 2011 at 02:19 PM.
GNOTHI SEAUTON (Know Thyself) - precept inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece MEDEN AGAN (Nothing To Excess) - another precept inscribed in the aforementioned place
Holy SHITtakke mushrooms, LOVE the Chosokabe and Uesugi colouring ,I LOVE em' all, great work. I always wanted to play as the Uesugi but I always thought there purple attire was fugly. Theres something about color that attracts,I hope it ain't a "female" trait hahahaaha. Mahalo (thanks) for this and thanks for PM-ing me about this too,appreciate it!
Thanks for your input, Wind! Yes, I've seen those "toy figures" and saved some pics of them on my comp. I think their armor depicted here is usually either black with blue details, black with brown details or brown with blue details. Here's an example of more brown in an "Oda ashigaru camp"...
Most of those figures have blue shirts and brownish orange pants, but in this game you can't have the colours distributed like that and when you have to choose only one of them for clothing, the result is quite different. All blue? All brownish orange? All red from the pants in the above pic?
And then we have this...
Said to be an accurate reproduction of samurai armor worn by Oda Nobunaga's clan in the Sengoku period. But I did not find blue details on black armor looking good together with yellow clothing in this game and if I was to stick to yellow clothing according to Danborg's plate and, more importantly perhaps, keep the Oda from looking too similar to other clans, primarily the Date, I had to abandon that idea. But, like I stated in the OP, I will work on a different version that abandons yellow clothing. We'll see what the result is then. I suspect the result will be the current version being moved down to post #3.
Last edited by Demokritos; April 15, 2011 at 03:56 PM.
GNOTHI SEAUTON (Know Thyself) - precept inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece MEDEN AGAN (Nothing To Excess) - another precept inscribed in the aforementioned place
Really? Impressive work by that someone, I say! Would you happen to know who it was and the sources he or she used?
I found the pic by googling for Japanese clan colours or something, I don't remember the exact search terms. I did not find at TWC or www.totalwar.com.
You can ask Tomte of Doom if he's still around. He did a lot of great artwork for Ran no Jidai, unfortunately this was a long time ago so most of them are not up anymore. You can see some of it on this page. http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...t=33719&page=3