Seattle's "Vicky2 Vintage Map Colours"

[seattle]

I'm not sure I like UK pink, especially considering how much land they have. I'm all for gay rights and everything, but it's rather displeasing on the eyes to see that much pink on the map.

Perhaps a darker red?

Well, this shade of pink is pretty much the colour of the British Empire in historical maps. It's THE classic colour for the empire. It further more distinguishes Britain from everyone else, which is obviously pretty important for the biggest empire in the world.

I won't change the colour to anything other than a different shade of pink. If anyone has a better RGB code for a British pink, please tell me.

If you want to use my mod, switch the British colour to a darker red using this website:
http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html
It can easily be done within 2 minutes. Open common/countries/united kingdom.txt and change the three-digit number in the first line.

[seattle]

Have you also checked how your changed colors work together, when new nations are released (like when austria splits up, or germany is crated, ect.)?

a) Well, yes of course...
-> militancy +5 for all POPs once they find out that I'm full of sh*t

b) Nope, nothing done there.
-> militancy -1, consciousness +3 for all POPs immediately

I first wanted to focus on the existing nations. No time yet. If someone hands me the RGB codes, I can quickly implement them. Otherwise you'll have to wait.

Also check the color for Modena, it looks like it has very low contrast to Austria (might be better on the ingame map), consider maybe a blue or red for that one.

Yep, nice catch. Probably didn't notice it because of the lack of contrast. Striking irony... Will be done in the next version.

And the yellow Ottomans... well they need to get used to, i prefer the classical light green we saw in other paradox titles, but i agree that its a good contrast to russia. Tastes differ, thats okay too i guess

I tried light green. The main problem is the incredibly ugly shader (or whatever the term is) Paradox uses. The colours are not identical to the RGB codes. In-game they look more blurry than they should. That's especially a problem for lighter colours. Strong, darker shades of red, green and blue look just fine. Yellow in general is a problem in Vicky 2. Light green is a disaster.

However, now that I gave Russia a darker green. Light green for Ottoman might work. If anyone is interested to fiddle around with light green, please post the results and I might change it.

Tekcor uses a light green for Ottoman in "Victoria's Coloring Book" (check modding section)


I like the Ottoman colour a lot, but Russia looks unpleasant to me. Changing Russia back to green would render Ottoman's colour impossible. Unfortunately one of those nations has to make a sacrifice.

[Alexspeed]

(...)
I first wanted to focus on the existing nations. No time yet. If someone hands me the RGB codes, I can quickly implement them. Otherwise you'll have to wait.

Nice choices

No problem, i am sure you get it done, every mod needs its time to grow
I am sorry i dont have a RGB list for releasable countries, i guess such a thing could be handy.

I tried light green. The main problem is the incredibly ugly shader (or whatever the term is) Paradox uses. The colours are not identical to the RGB codes. In-game they look more blurry than they should. That's especially a problem for lighter colours. Strong, darker shades of red, green and blue look just fine. Yellow in general is a problem in Vicky 2. Light green is a disaster.

I noticed that problem with light colors too, it might be perhaps a limitation of the engine. The thing is when you make a color lighter, the color wanders in the more white/grey part of the spectrum, therefore you have more "parts of grey/white" in a bright color, than you would have in a dark one (they have more parts of black, obviously).

Now to me it seems that the engine interpertes this greyness in the color as a kind of noise that it adds, and then it looks more washed out and blurry than it should.
But overall, yes its noticable, but no, i didnt found it so irritating that i would complain a lot about it.

Of course it can differ from monitor to monitor, because every Monitor is a little different, and so is the brigtness and the contrast that the pepole use.
So even if its looking washed out and horrible for you, it could look ok for others, or vice versa. It can get that worse that what you see as a yellow, another person could see as a shade of orange for example.

I personally use a color profile for my monitor (you can get one from the manufacturer, or use a industrial standard one, like from Kodak or Fuji) and calibrated the monitor over a website (just google Monitor Calibration).

In conclusion, maybe you are (your eyes) more sensitive to these color differences than mine are, or your monitor could use some adjustment, or we have just a different tollerance for what we find acceptable in regard to color blurryness

However, now that I gave Russia a darker green. Light green for Ottoman might work. If anyone is interested to fiddle around with light green, please post the results and I might change it.
Tekcor uses a light green for Ottoman in "Victoria's Coloring Book" (check modding section)
(...)
I like the Ottoman colour a lot, but Russia looks unpleasant to me. Changing Russia back to green would render Ottoman's colour impossible. Unfortunately one of those nations has to make a sacrifice.

What about choosing a red for the ottomans, someone in the sexiicolours thread suggested that, because they had red uniforms (he said).
I know, red is difficult, but it could be done and would also have a good contrast to the green that you had for russia, you just would have to check also the other neighbouring countries the OE has and make changes where necessary.

[Olaf the Unsure]

What about choosing a red for the ottomans, someone in the sexiicolours thread suggested that, because they had red uniforms (he said).

I know, red is difficult, but it could be done and would also have a good contrast to the green that you had for russia, you just would have to check also the other neighbouring countries the OE has and make changes where necessary.

I have an old atlas from when I was a kid that uses purple for the Ottoman Empire (perhaps as a carryover from the Byzantine Empire). So for my own use, I made the Ottoman Empire purple, using the same color as used for a country (B-something) north of India. I works well -- provides a nice contrast with Russia, easily identifies any OE expansion in North Africa or elsewhere and, mostly importantly, doesn't conflict with the colors used for any of the other major countries. Seems to me that each major should have a very distinct color, and a purple OE works for me.

[seattle]

Hmm, I didn't even think of red. It's strikingly logical, really. I'll see what I can do. What shade of red? I'd say medium.

As for purple: I don't know about that one. I'll definitely try it. But red sounds a lot better considering the flag and well, purple looks like a sissy colour to me.

[Olaf the Unsure]

Hmm, I didn't even think of red. It's strikingly logical, really. I'll see what I can do. What shade of red? I'd say medium.

Problem with red is that the map already contains every possible variation of red except dark red, and the darker the color, the worse it looks scrolled in.

purple looks like a sissy colour to me.

Tell that to the Romans.

[Blublub]

I like the purple option for OE also - red will cause inevitable clashes with Egypt.

[seattle]

I like the purple option for OE also - red will cause inevitable clashes with Egypt.

Obviously I'd have to change Egypt's colour. Maybe I'll simply give them the Ottoman yellow.

@Purple and Romans
That's a fair point. I'll try some shades of red and purple for Ottoman then. As always: If anyone has a good colour, just post the RGB code. It would help a lot!

[seattle]

Version 0.6 is out!



Thank you guys for your comments and proposals. I switched Modena to a dark blue which now makes it visible on the map.

I gave Egypt the Ottoman yellow which does fit Egypt quite nicely, I think. It's also the colour you would associate with Egypt anyways.
Ottoman Empire now sports an orange-reddish colour. I like it, what do you guys think? It's pretty similar to the red I used for Denmark which is why I made Denmark darker.

[Olaf the Unsure]

I like it, what do you guys think?

Purple's better.

I think there's already too much red on the map as is.

[seattle]

Here's a comparison between vanilla Victoria 2 and Vicky2Vintage 0.6:





I like the crayon look of "Arsenal of Democracy". Unfortunately it doesn't work with the Vicky2 engine.

I will still consider purple for Ottoman Empire, but it'll have to wait a while. Is there really too much red on the map? Red is one of the primary colours and I don't believe there's more red than blue and yellow.

As always folks: Please post some RGB codes for countries you'd like to add/change!

[San_Felipe]

I must say that you've done an excellent job here Seattle and I'm glad that someone has finally sorted out the colours for Japan, China. By the way I think the UK pink is nice (pink is actually considered a boys colour, blue is for girls). But I do agree with the above post, maybe if you darkened it a little bit, not too much, just a darker pink, then I think you've got it spot on. By the way, I love the Ottoman's new red, goes in well with their flag.

Keep it up!

[wedgeskwalker9]

I'll try to find a nice medium-dark blue for the USA. After all, a country of that size ought to look pretty. You really like the vanilla France? What about United Kingdom? I think people will be split 50/50 on my colour. I think it's quite historical and pleasant to look at. In general I'll try to find warm, pastell colours.

I meant that the vanilla France color would be good for the US. You seemed to have found a pretty good color for it though, so I'm downloading as I type this. Only gripe is that UK should be a bit darker IMO, I know people seem to prefer it pink for some reason

[seattle]

As I caught some flak for the British pink (too bright), I decided to publish 3 alternative shades of pink.



Just open common/countries/united kingdom.txt and paste the following into the beginning of that file (make sure to delete the existing "color =..." line.
Now just pick the version you like best and put a "#" in front of the other lines. In the example below, alt.3 is used in-game.

#color = { 255 145 200 } V2V 0.6
#color = { 255 150 160 } alt.1
#color = { 255 145 150 } alt.2
color = { 255 146 165 } #alt.3

I won't release another version just yet only for Britain. So if you like a different pink better, that's a quick hotfix.
Please give me some feedback what shade of pink I should choose for the next version. I'll leave the alternatives in there anyways.

--------------



Here's a purple version of the Ottoman Empire which I quite like.

#color = { 255 51 0 }
color = { 112 0 224 } #purple

What do you guys think? Red or purple for the Ottomans? And what shade of the respective colour? I like the contrast purple provides, but red is more in touch with the Ottoman flag.

[San_Felipe]

Ottoman Empire can't be yellow!? :O

Totally agree, yuck! No offence but now you've gone from too many yellows and a yucky yellow Ottoman Empire to one that's completely bonkers. What's with the PURPLE???? Man, your maps gone from nice to a bit weird now.

Purple's better.

I think there's already too much red on the map as is.

WHAAAAAAAAAA!!!! PURPLE??? Guess that's why your called the unsure huh? (joke)

Here's a purple version of the Ottoman Empire which I quite like.

What do you guys think? Red or purple for the Ottomans? And what shade of the respective colour? I like the contrast purple provides, but red is more in touch with the Ottoman flag.

Personally I liked your previous Ottoman Empire better since you are right, red does go in contrast with the Flag, however traditional the Ottoman Green is. Frankly, there should only be two choices of colour for the Ottoman's.

1) Ottoman Green
2) Turkish Red

Going anywhere near the obscenity that has possessed you to colour the Ottoman's Purple is just bonkers. Hehehe I don't even know any map maker in history or any Ottoman maps where its been coloured purple. I mean sure purple would be grand with Byzantium, but for the Ottoman Turks, no way. I wouldn't touch it with a 9ft barge pole.

As for the UK's colour, man you haven't done anything wrong so don't know why people are going over board with the pink. Truth is, the British Empire on all Victorian and most recent maps have all been coloured pink, just in different shades that's all. Fact that you're trying your best to improve it goes to show how much you care about other people's opinions. We should all be lucky here that you actually go out your way and listen to us.

Anyway, I do love the effort you've shown Seattle. I think that the more constructive criticisms you get, the more your work will keep on improving. Just keep it up bro because I know and please try to fix this monstrosity yikes! I don't know what's possessed your mind lately bro?

[seattle]

Totally agree, yuck! No offence but now you've gone from too many yellows and a yucky yellow Ottoman Empire to one that's completely bonkers. What's with the PURPLE???? Man, your maps gone from nice to a bit weird now.

That's exactly what want: Honest to god criticism. If you hate a specific colour, tell me like San Felipe did. No need for false courtesy.

I like the purple, especially for the nice contrast it provides. I will definitely provide red and purple for the next release version. Only question: Which one will be the default colour.

I tend towards red, but if the vast majority favours purple I will set purple to default. Thus far we have two for purple, two for red. Whatever the final colour will be. Since I provide both in the file, it's easy to change.

1) Ottoman Green
2) Turkish Red

If Ottoman's green, what is Russia? I don't like Ottoman green and muddy grey-green Russia (Victoria's Colouring Book). I will 100% take green for Russia. So how can Ottoman be green? Unless it's a very light green maybe.

Fact that you're trying your best to improve it goes to show how much you care about other people's opinions. We should all be lucky here that you actually go out your way and listen to us.

It goes both ways. I hated vanilla colours and wasn't totally satisfied with the other mods. So I started my own project. To enjoy my own mod, I need input of the community. The more feedback, the better for me.

[Olaf the Unsure]

I like the purple, especially for the nice contrast it provides. I will definitely provide red and purple for the next release version. Only question: Which one will be the default colour.

The main reason I use purple myself is because of the contrast it provides with the other colors, giving the OE a unique color among the majors.

The other factor, for my tastes anyway, is that the darkest shades of any of darker colors (red, blue, green, etc.) look much too dark when the map is zoomed in. It's one thing to make a map that looks great when zoomed out, but gameplay often requires that you zoom in, and the darkest shades tend to obliterate the map details. Using purple allows a distinctive, contrasting color, without having to go to a too-dark shade of a more common color.

(I frankly hate the zoomed in version of the political map in any color. The real modding prize should go to whoever figures out how to make the zoomed out version of the political map work zoomed in.)

[donnerknall]

very nice!

NGF should keep prussian blue

[seattle]

(I frankly hate the zoomed in version of the political map in any color. The real modding prize should go to whoever figures out how to make the zoomed out version of the political map work zoomed in.)

To be honest, I have no clue how the map looks zoomed in. Since I started this mod I haven't actually played the game anymore. I only load it to check the difference after I altered the colours. Now I don't want to zoom in anymore.

About the purple... I kind of like it too, but then I prefer the red version a little more. It feels more historical and it has this nice touch to it when you play Austria and the turkish hordes invade you. Purple kind of breaks the immersion. But like I said, purple will remain in the file so everyone can easily switch the colour.


@Donnerknall
NGF same colour as Prussia? I can see the reason, but in game terms there has to be a change. It can remain blue, but definitely a different shade.


@New version
No idea when and if there will be a new one. If I get request for certain countries or ideas then it will speed up the process.

[San_Felipe]

The main reason I use purple myself is because of the contrast it provides with the other colors, giving the OE a unique color among the majors.

The other factor, for my tastes anyway, is that the darkest shades of any of darker colors (red, blue, green, etc.) look much too dark when the map is zoomed in. It's one thing to make a map that looks great when zoomed out, but gameplay often requires that you zoom in, and the darkest shades tend to obliterate the map details. Using purple allows a distinctive, contrasting color, without having to go to a too-dark shade of a more common color.

(I frankly hate the zoomed in version of the political map in any color. The real modding prize should go to whoever figures out how to make the zoomed out version of the political map work zoomed in.)

@ Olaf the Unsure: Its also to do with lighting and the size of the country in particular. For instance, Haiti's colour would always look darker than that of the USA, since Haiti is very small in comparison. Also, with the USA being so large, if you look closely, as you scroll from the US coast towards the centre, you will see it get lighter. That's because the coast has a darker shade of the colour and this is why I used Haiti as an example because the smaller the country, the more contrast in colour.

That's exactly what want: Honest to god criticism. If you hate a specific colour, tell me like San Felipe did. No need for false courtesy.

I like the purple, especially for the nice contrast it provides. I will definitely provide red and purple for the next release version. Only question: Which one will be the default colour.

I tend towards red, but if the vast majority favours purple I will set purple to default. Thus far we have two for purple, two for red. Whatever the final colour will be. Since I provide both in the file, it's easy to change.



If Ottoman's green, what is Russia? I don't like Ottoman green and muddy grey-green Russia (Victoria's Colouring Book). I will 100% take green for Russia. So how can Ottoman be green? Unless it's a very light green maybe.



It goes both ways. I hated vanilla colours and wasn't totally satisfied with the other mods. So I started my own project. To enjoy my own mod, I need input of the community. The more feedback, the better for me.

@ Seattle: Just doing my job bro. I'm a very frank person, I like to get my point across because at the end of the day, I hate having to explain why. So whether you like it or not, I will always tell you my God to honest opinion.
Besides, I like what you're doing and just for the record, I have kind of strayed away from the game too. I kinda just mod it now, not just colours, but regions too.

As for the votes on the best colour for the Ottomans, I personally think that the red you used is nice. Green will work with Russia, but you need to get the right shade of Green for Russia. Remember, Imperial Russian uniforms worn both by regular and cavalry troops have always nearly been associated to wearing muddy green coloured uniforms. Politically, Russia has never really had its own colour. People just colour it green to get a better immersion of the game and its association to the uniforms worn at the time.

Purple on the other hand has always been used or associated with Macedon, Eastern Roman Empire and the Byzantium. This is because Purple is usually associated with Alexander the Great, which in turn influenced the Roman Emperors since only Gods or descendent of Gods and Royalty could wear it. However, RED for the Ottomans would for me and most others provide a better immersion, because in reality the Ottoman dress code for regular and cavalry troops has also been associated with maroon red. The green political colour that the Ottomans used to be known for was only in use up to the change in their flags colour from green to red.

This is the flag was the flag of the Ottoman navy. The Ottoman navy was the largest and most feared at the time, asides from the Janissaries that marched on Vienna. This flag influenced the Ottomans and this is why the Ottomans associate their political colour with this flag.
Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ot...y1453-1789.svg

This one is the latest and last of their flags. It wasn't as famous as the first, but it became their nation symbol and twas this flag that influenced a change in their political colour.
Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ottoman_Flag.svg

In other words, the Ottomans and most countries around the world at the time and today associate their political colour with their flags and uniforms. That's why the USA and Prussia are blue, Russia green and Ottomans & Brits red & pinkish red.