Changing Unit Cards

[12money]

Hello, im not new to modding, so i know the basics about unit editing. But i need your help.

Ive edited Silver Shield Swordsmen variantmeshdefinition file, so now they have silver hoplons instead of vanilla thorax shields. So basicly, their unit card show thorax shield and the question is - how can i simply replace it with hoplon shield in the unit card? (like Silver Shield Pikemen have)
I really like vanilla style unit cards. Looking at Radious Mod i can see that creator did pretty good job to create cool-looking unit cards.
How can i assemble unit card from already existing vanilla unit card parts? (different shield types, helmets, weapons, armour ect.)
Thank you!

[crawe1]

Just open up the unit cards in Gimp or Photoshop and then it's a simple copy and paste job. Also, don't forget to also edit the accompanying masks in the same way.

[12money]

Thank you, crawe1. But thats where i have most of my problems in modding I dont know how to operate in photoshop ect. If it dont bother you too much i can use a little step-by-step tutorial on how to assemble unit card from different .dds (or .png) images in photoshop. That would really be awesome! Btw thank you for replying

[crawe1]

I use Gimp - it's really user friendly. Also, there should be a fair few tutorials on the internet covering specific issues. Nor sure about Photoshop - never used it, but shouldn't be too different.

In Gimp, you just open your two .png files (or however many you want to canniblaize) and copy, cut, paste, etc. from one to the other. So for instance, open the silver shield swordsmen icon and the silver shield pikemen icon. Just copy the shield from one and paste onto the other. It may be easier, however, to simply cut the pike from the pikemen icon and copy & paste the sword from the swordsmen icon onto it. Alternatively you could cut the pike from any unit - thorax pikemen, etc. - and just paste a sword onto that icon. Basically just find any pikemen icon that matches the silver shield swords as closely as possible in terms of armor, shield and helmet.

When you save, don't do "save as". Instead do "export", which is also under the File drop-down menu. Name the file "Silver_Shield_Swordsmen.png" (or whatever) and export.

Before exporting, you need to go into your Data folder and create a new folder entitled "UI" (it may already be there). Inside that, you'll need to create a new folder named "Units". Inside that, two more new folders - "Icons" and "Masks". Export your new icon to the "Icons" folder.

Finally, you also need to create a new mask to go with your new icon. This is the same process as creating the icon itself - just cannibalize existing masks, then export to the "Masks" folder.

Hope that helps. Once you play around with Gimp, you'll find how easy it is. I was in the same position as you a few months ago - but through trial and error, it's pretty easy to figure out.

[12money]

I use Gimp - it's really user friendly. Also, there should be a fair few tutorials on the internet covering specific issues. Nor sure about Photoshop - never used it, but shouldn't be too different.

In Gimp, you just open your two .png files (or however many you want to canniblaize) and copy, cut, paste, etc. from one to the other. So for instance, open the silver shield swordsmen icon and the silver shield pikemen icon. Just copy the shield from one and paste onto the other. It may be easier, however, to simply cut the pike from the pikemen icon and copy & paste the sword from the swordsmen icon onto it. Alternatively you could cut the pike from any unit - thorax pikemen, etc. - and just paste a sword onto that icon. Basically just find any pikemen icon that matches the silver shield swords as closely as possible in terms of armor, shield and helmet.

When you save, don't do "save as". Instead do "export", which is also under the File drop-down menu. Name the file "Silver_Shield_Swordsmen.png" (or whatever) and export.

Before exporting, you need to go into your Data folder and create a new folder entitled "UI" (it may already be there). Inside that, you'll need to create a new folder named "Units". Inside that, two more new folders - "Icons" and "Masks". Export your new icon to the "Icons" folder.

Finally, you also need to create a new mask to go with your new icon. This is the same process as creating the icon itself - just cannibalize existing masks, then export to the "Masks" folder.

Hope that helps. Once you play around with Gimp, you'll find how easy it is. I was in the same position as you a few months ago - but through trial and error, it's pretty easy to figure out.

Thank you, mate! Im goin to give a try on this. It was helpfull i should say I have couple of questions already, but that would be stupid to ask without trying to do it by myself.
Please,stick to this thread as im going to reply on results.
Thank you

[12money]

Ive made it,thank you. I was kinda lost at the beginning but trough the editing process ive caught the rhythm So, what ive done is: i took masilla_hoplites card and silver_shield_swordsmen card. I cut off pike and add sword, then cut off helmet and put helmet from silver_shield_swordsmen to masilla_hoplites card - in result ive had swordsmen with hoplon. Why ive picked masilla_hoplites, becouse they have thorax armour as silver_shield_swordsmen. After that i picked my edited silver_shield_swordsmen and took hoplon painting from silver_shield_pikemen. And thats all. I have my silver_shield_swordsmen unit card.
All that left is to edit unit card mask.... but wait it is the same as silver_shield_pikeman (as i took their hoplon painting remember? ). So ive added it to my ****.pack and loaded it with ModManager.Here what i have in result


Thats all!
I want to thank you crawe1, you have helped me a lot.
Why i wrote so much - it is for those who might be surching how to create vanilla style unit cards. It can be helpfull, guys.

[12money]

please edit my mistakes (pikeman,surching )from my post above and delete THIS post

[crawe1]

Well done, mate, the unit card looks seamless - as good as the originals. Editing unit cards in R2 is so much easier than R1, where it was a real pain.

Also, check your PM - I sent you a reply ref. the camel cataphract variant def. Hope it helps.

[Geiseric]

And how can I open the edited Unit Cards with the PFM?

[Magnar]

you cant

you need something like photoshop or GIMP

See link in my signature for tutorials on unit cards

[Geiseric]

Thanks for the tutorials.
I just made a little thing wrong, so that I couldn't include the unit card in UI/units/icons in my mod.
Now it is on the right place.

I hope it will work in the game.
But before I try if it works, I have to make the mask. Luckily, there's also a tutorial of you

[Geiseric]

Thank you very much!
My first Unit Card is finished and works!

[Magnar]

great