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Thread: Grand Campaign Graphics Overhaul - Campaign Map Graphics, Character Graphics, Ancillary Graphics and Loading Screens

  1. #1
    jarnomiedema's Avatar Artifex ad Infinitum
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    Default Grand Campaign Graphics Overhaul - Campaign Map Graphics, Character Graphics, Ancillary Graphics and Loading Screens


    Introduction The Grand Campaign Graphics Overhaul Mod Project. Sounds like a mouth full. Well, if that's what you thought, you're pretty much right. Because this is a mammoth of a project. Certainly enough to pretty much drive me crazy when I look at all the stuff that still needs to be done in order to fulfill my 'grand idea'..

    This mod (or for the moment this 'work-in-project') almost didn't see the light of day. I started working on it a long time ago, balked at the sheer amount of things that would have to be changed, dropped it, picked it up again, decided never to play Empire anymore after the umpteenth crash, only to be dragged in again by a good friend of mine who recently discovered DarthMod, and so on and so forth. In the end, I picked up this pet project again, made some changes to my original work and am now all set to show you something I'm extremely proud of..

    Please bear with me, because I've got some explaining to do..

    Overview Back when I was first playing Empire one of my main turn offs were the campaign graphics. The cities looked like toy buildings, the generals, admirals, civil servants, gentlemen and rakes all looked alike, the event graphics and loading screens were in a style that didn't really suit me, the ancillary graphics seemed very unwhelming and so on and so forth..

    Usually, whenever I start making a mod, I do it for my own enjoyment first and that of others second. Sorry guys, but I usually don't share my mods with anyone until long after I decided 'now it's time to see if anyone ELSE might be interested'. That's what happened with the United Provinces Retexture Project and that's what happened with the Period Art Event Graphics. It's also what happened with this mod..

    Anyhoo, the main idea behind this mod is to correct the problems I listed in the first paragraph: I've reworked the look of the cities, I've changed the look of the ancillaries, the loading screens are now high quality, highly detailed period art and I'm hard at work at integrating as many historical portraits into the main game as I possibly can..

    Recap This mod will be based around the following 'minimods':
    • Period Art Loading Screens
    • Period Art Event Graphics (already released)
    • Realistic Looking Cities, Towns and Farms
    • Period Art Ancillary Graphics
    • Period Art Civil Servants & Agents Graphics

    All with the intention of turning Empire: Total War into a more epic game, with the historical grandeur and pomp it rightly deserves.

    Assistance Please? One of the main reasons for me to start this thread is to ask for your help. The Campaign Graphics, the Ancillaries and the Loading Screens are all set and done. I will not change them unless a truly spectacular piece of art comes along that I somehow missed..

    There area where I'm going to need a lot of help is the historical character area. Every single General, Admiral, Rake, Gentleman, King, Queen and Civil Servant will have its picture replaced by a detailed, historically accurate portrait, preferably from the mid to late 18th century (as in 'whigs' and 'hoop skirts').

    While I've found a great deal of art, I'm certain that with the help of the Total War community, I can integrate a lot more into the game than I could on my own.

    For more details, go to post nr. 4

    Updates In the posts below I'm going to elaborate on each individual section of this mod. These posts will be updated as soon as new work is integrated into the mod. Keep an eye out for new screenshots and discussions!
    Last edited by jarnomiedema; March 24, 2010 at 05:00 PM.



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  2. #2
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    Default Re: Grand Campaign Graphic Overhaul - Campaign Map Graphics, Character Graphics, Ancillary Graphics and Loading Screens


    Overview While I greatly admire the work the game's original artist did on the loading screens and Historical Event Messages, I feel they're greatly lacking in detail and scale. So I thought, why settle for what the game is shipped with and why not try and make some truly spectacular stuff myself? Take a look at the screenshots below and let me know what you think!

    Loading Screens The Loading Screens are, from top to bottom:
    • "The Warship 'Brielle' on the Maas before Rotterdam" by Ludolf Bakhuysen
    • "Marshal Villars leads the French charge at the Battle of Denain" by Jean Alaux
    • "The Battle of Texel" by Willem van de Velde the Younger
    • "The Death of General Wolfe" by Benjamin West
    • "View of the 'Herengracht' ('Gentleman's Canal')" by Hendrik Keun
    • "The Fall of Fortress Kolberg to Russian Troops" by Alexander Kotsebu
    • "The Battle of Trafalgar" by William Clarkson Stanfield
    • "The Battle of Scheveningen" by Willem van de Velde the Elder
    • "Declaration of Independence" by John Trumbull

    Furthermore, these loading screens are completely full screen, with no black bars and resizing anywhere. If I were to post those versions here, there would be nine 1920x1200 pixels images filling up your screen. In order to save bandwith and allow for easy viewing, I've resized the previews to 800x500 each.

    Loading Screens - Artwork
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

















    In-Game Example
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



    Overview This mod has been out for a while now, but I'd say it deserves some renewed attention. Once this entire mod is finished, the Period Art Event Graphics will also be fully integrated. You can already download it to give it a try.

    I'm considering redoing a few of the artworks, but for now this is a very low priority.

    In-Game Screenshots
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 








    All Event Messages
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



    Last edited by jarnomiedema; March 24, 2010 at 05:05 PM.



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  3. #3
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    Default Re: Grand Campaign Graphic Overhaul - Campaign Map Graphics, Character Graphics, Ancillary Graphics and Loading Screens


    Overview I decided to change the game's city graphics because I recently got to see how Napoleon: Total War looks and was amazed by what seemed like such a stark contrast with Empire's campaign map. Instead of the toy buildings, the look of Napoleon is one that immensely resonated with me.

    However, since I have not bought Napoleon and am still playing Empire, I thought to myself; why not attempt to make Empire look a bit more realistic, i.e. 'a bit more like Napoleon'.

    So, I went to work, and in the screenshots below you can see the result! While it might not be quite as festive and certainly a lot more uniform than the original Empire, I personally quite like it; it keeps the outrageous colours to a minimum and fits like a charm as far as I'm concerned..

    In-Game Screenshots
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
















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  4. #4
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    Default Re: Grand Campaign Graphic Overhaul - Campaign Map Graphics, Character Graphics, Ancillary Graphics and Loading Screens


    Overview This section of the mod aims to rework the ancillary graphics. So far, they've all been changed by using historical paintings that seem to convey the feeling of what the ancillary file is named after.

    Below is a preview. From left to right, top down, they are as follows:
    • Army Officer
    • Bedouin
    • Bishop
    • Black Servant
    • Clerk Type Servant
    • Comedy Transvestite
    • Craftsman
    • Florid Nobleman
    • Gorgeous Floozy
    • Grizzly Adams
    • Hussar Officer
    • Inbred Relative
    • Indian in Turban
    • Inventor
    • Loony
    • Masked Figure
    • Matronly Woman
    • Naval Officer
    • North American Indian
    • Professional Servant
    • Ratfaced Servant
    • Scottish Thug (this one has since been changed to something else)
    • Sergeant
    • Thuggish Servant
    • Turk with Turban
    • Turk with Turban - No Beard (well, this one has one)
    • Wealthy Merchant (this one has also been changed since the preview was made)
    • Youth

    Preview
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    In-Game Screenshots
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 













    Overview The other sections were tricky and at times difficult to figure out, but this one is going to be the most difficult, the most tricky and the most time consuming out of all of them. Why, you ask?

    Here are the number of characters in game:
    • 300 Admirals, young and old; so in effect 600 characters
    • 300 Generals, young and old; so in effect 600 characters
    • 100 Kings, young and old; so in effect 200 characters
    • 100 Queens, young and old; so in effect 200 characters
    • 300 Ministers, young and old; so in effect 600 characters
    • 300 Missionaries (all religions total), young and old; so in effect 600 characters
    • 50 Rakes, young and old; so in effect 100 characters


    That leaves us with the sum total of 1450 characters, or 2900 characters if you count young and old as seperate characters. That's a whole lot of work and I've only just gotten started!

    First things first; I've already decided off the bat that the whole 'young and old' system is out. So it'll just be a total of 1450 characters. For that, I'm going to need a lot of artwork. I've already compiled quite a database of useful artwork myself, but that still leaves me with a huge gap..

    So that's where you guys come in!

    I need your help! If you guys are interested in helping me, here are a few things you should know about what kind of portraits are useful and what kind are not..

    Here's a preview of some of the work I've done so far on the Admirals:
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    As you can see, they're very diffirent individuals, but they all have something in common: they're high quality, full colour portraits of historical people and they all fit the established size and relative shape of the existing files and in-game portraits.

    In order to understand what type of images I can use and what type I can't, here's a list of requirement for suitability:
    • The image needs to be relatively high quality; anything that's blocky or small is useless.
    • The image has to be full colour, so no pencil drawings of any kind.
    • The colours don't necessarily have to match the preview above. Even if you think the colours look odd, faded or a bit too yellow / blue / green / red, don't hesitate to link to it. Those problems can easily be resolved with Photoshop.
    • Each 'large' character file is 204x272 pixels. That means the image needs to be at least this size, but the best thing is to make sure that I can shrink the image down to that size and am still left with a head and a body to make it fit the pattern above


    Also, if you post your images here, please make sure they're between spoiler tags (as I've done in my own posts as well) to prevent the thread from clogging up and looking ragtag. For those of you who don't know where the spoiler button is: it's the large exclamation mark. Make sure you select your image URL and then press that button to make sure it dissappears.

    Websites and useful URLs are also highly appreciated!

    Lastly, all help and assistance will be rewarded with +rep and in case the images are used, I will personally make sure that your name is listed in the credits as a contributor. Thanks in advance for your help!
    Last edited by jarnomiedema; March 24, 2010 at 05:10 PM.



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  5. #5
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    Default Re: Grand Campaign Graphics Overhaul - Campaign Map Graphics, Character Graphics, Ancillary Graphics and Loading Screens

    For those of you that are interested, I've also created a thread in the "Released Mods" section, where you can download a preview version of the mod as it stands right now or each individual section of the mod in seperate files, whichever you prefer.

    Go to Released Mod thread



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