Counter Making Tool

[KeldorKatarn]

Hi friends,

since manually making a counter has proven to be way too much work, because you have to edit the palette of the bmp and not just the bmp itself, I recently decided to make a small tool which does that work for me.

I now created an exe file which is very easy to use. You just create the counter you want as a 24bit color bmp with Photoshop or whatever.
Then you mark that file and a prototype counter bmp (which I included but which came with HoI2 anyway, it is the counter.bmp in [GameDir]\gfx\palette\) and drag and drop BOTH files on the exe. The tool creates a new 8bit counter with correct palette info and ready for ingame use. You just have to copy it to the \gfx\palette folder and you can start use it in the game.


Here a few examples of counters I created with it and which are included
in the package:

Austria:


Croatia:


Deutsche Demokratische Republik - DDR:


Denmark:


Bundesrepublik Deutschland - DFR:


And here finally the link:

http://www.wcrevival.de/joker/countermaker.rar

Oh and.. comments are welcome and wanted

PS: The included 'hoi_counter_strip.bmp' can be copied to [GameDir]\gfx\map\ if you want the game
to use the roundel instead of the flag on your counters in the game for air force units.

[Yukala]

Many gracious thanks for this tool !!

I look forward to using it soon. Just an hour ago I was dreaming about just such tool, or an easier means to make counters. Well any easy means as I hadn't figured it out yet.

Again thanks,

Yukala

[AstroCat]

Really nice!! Thanks!

[Zen01]

Not intending to use it but id like to say Thank You on behalf of the community. Keep the custom content coming people.

[Sir Reinout]

Extremely usefull! Thanks a lot!

[Lothos]

WOW DAMM NICE Mind if I put this up in the TRP DOwnload section?

[KeldorKatarn]

WOW DAMM NICE Mind if I put this up in the TRP DOwnload section?

Nope of course not. But mentioning my name there would be nice. (You can never have enough fame lol)
Btw.. if there's any programmer around who's had more experience with programming a windows graphical user-interface.. I' d be happy to share the source if he wanted to try and build such an interface around this tool.

KeldorKatarn

[Lothos]

If you wrote it using .NET I could help

[KeldorKatarn]

If you wrote it using .NET I could help

Nope, plain simple C++

[Lothos]

Sorry then can't help you

[KeldorKatarn]

Sorry then can't help you

No problem. The tool is so simple in use that it doesn't really need an interface anyway


And some more:



Afghanistan - AFG:


Albania - ALB:


Algeria - ALG:


Japan - JAP:


Alien Invaders (Romulan Empire ) - ALI:

[Yitzak]

has anyone made a European Union counter set? and if so would you mind emailing one too me, much thanks.

[KeldorKatarn]

You mean a counter with the Blue Star Banner?
Would be no problem. Any idea for a roundel?

How about this?

[Ayeshteni]

These are fantastic!!!!
I dont have a graphics program at moment. So how do I use these (right click and copy them (or save them?) and place them where?)

Do I have to change any text files?

Oh by the way Romulan Counter colours are black on a red background (ask any Star Fleet Battles player - like me )

Ayeshteni

[KeldorKatarn]

You can download the countermaker.rar file anyway, even if you can't use the tool itself, since it includes all the counters on this page. Those you just have to put into your /gfx/palette folder. There you should see all the other counters the games uses too. The counters already have the correct filenames so if you copy them there overwriting the old ones (maybe you want to make a backup first) then they are immediately used in the game.
The included hoi_counter_strip.bmp goes to the gfx/map/ folder. That one you only have to copy if you want the game to use the roundels instead of the flags for air force units. That's disabled by standard. You might definately want to backup the old file since using that file is only worth a try so far since there are currently two problems:

First: Most counters don't have and roundel yet, and some have a wrong one.

Second: Even if most of the counters had roundels it might be confusing for you and might make it difficult to identify air force units at first sight. Depends on what you prefer. Historical correct symbols and icons or an easy way to identify your units without having to learn two symbols per country.
But that's a matter of taste. Feel free to try the file, but as I said.. better backup the original (which should be done anyway when using mods)

Enjoy!

PS: The Romulan one was just meant as a joke since I don't know where the "Alien Nation" (an "Alien Invaders" nation really exists in the game) shows up in the game, if at all. So I didn't really put much effort into it

[mib]

A somewhat related question:

Is it possible to get the game to display the CORRECT counter, ie. if I add an artillery brigade to an infantry division, it shows an X with a dot in the middle, as per the accurate designation.

[ExMech]

A somewhat related question:

Is it possible to get the game to display the CORRECT counter, ie. if I add an artillery brigade to an infantry division, it shows an X with a dot in the middle, as per the accurate designation.

\Hearts of Iron 2\GFX\Interface\auxiliary.bmp is the file with brigade icons.

But you can't get the game to pick a unit counter based on brigade attachments. 1 country, 1 counter.

[KeldorKatarn]

If you mean that you want realistic division/korps-type symbols on the counters then I'll have to disappoint you :P There is a file which has them in it (hoi_counter_strip.bmp), but:
First: a brigade isn't shown in the divisions symbol, so Infantry division remains an X whether you add a Brigade or not
Second: Those are NATO symbols. Those weren't in use (certainly not for the Wehrmacht) in World War II. So they aren't historically correct anyway. Brigade or not.
Most of them are not existing as well. that symbol for Cavalry is the NATO symbol for reconnaissance forces.

If you want to change them then you'd have to change them to e.g. Wehrmacht symbols. Which would probably be wrong for other nations then.
So best is you leave them as they are =)

[KeldorKatarn]

New Version of the tool is online.

Now it correctly reads also strange flag formats like the flag of Switzerland or Nepal. There was one color which sets the color for the upper and right and the right half of the lower black flag outline. By setting that color to the background color it is possible to realize flags like the quadratic Swiss one (unfortunately not the one of Xibei San Ma since the left part of the lower outline is still visible and can't be removed).
So if you're using the old version download the new one (same link) and use that one instead so you can produce counters with quadratic flags (must be exact the same size, since the lower outline rest will always be as long as the flags of Swizerland and Nepal are wide right now. Just load the flag of Switzerland in Photoshop and compare it with other counters and you'll see what I mean.
For normal counters, nothing will change. The tool simply reads another color which is just black for all normal counters.

PS: Older counters which have normal 14:9 flags which were produced with the older version can of course be used, there's no need to "redo" them. That wouldn't change one bit in those counters since the prototype reads black for the color in question anyway.

[mathewannis]

hey when i try to look at those icons, it just shows them as a little red cross like it hasnt recognised them, and when i try to load up that program it asks what to use to open it with... any ideas??