TRIPARTITE PACK for AoD (new graphics and audio)

[Titan79]

_______________

The Tripartite Pack is a mod which enhances both icons/graphics and sound effects for AoD. Its goal is to improve the user interface to make it better looking and, when possible, a bit more informative. Also, the new sounds try to add to the player's immersion. Scroll down to see a preview of some of the changes contained in this mod.

Suggestions, comments and any other feedback welcome. Enjoy!


INSTALLATION

The mod is updated for the latest AoD patch (1.08). You can get it here:

● Tripartite Pack

Also, be sure to install this (essential!) adjustments and compatibility file after you've installed the main mod:

● Corrections (updated 28/10/2012; contains a lot of new icons and other tweaks, and ensures compatibility with the latest patch)


Alternate download link:

● Tripartite Pack alt. link (---> NOTE: this one doesn't need "Corrections" to be installed as well, as it is already updated to the latest version)


You have to install my modifications after you've applied any official patches. Simply unpack into your main AoD folder (for example, C:\Games\AoD).

The correct install sequence, therefore, is:

1) AoD patch 1.08;
2) Tripartite Pack (overwrite all files when prompted);
3) Corrections (overwrite all files when prompted) (---> NOTE: if you have downloaded the TP from the Rapidshare link, skip this last point).

Note that your checksum will change; this will in no way affect the game. Be only sure to have the same checksum as your other fellow players if you plan to play a multiplayer game.

You'll also notice there will be a new folder in your AoD directory, called "Country-specific themes". Here are stored some country-unique graphics and audio; if you want to install one of these packs, please follow the instructions in the readme.txt file included in each of them.


OVERVIEW

This mod is called "Tripartite Pack" mainly because I liked the pun. Don't be mislead by its name, though: although I started it by mostly modding Germany, Japan and Italy, the pack now contains a full set of icons, graphics and sounds for both Axis and USSR/Allied powers (as well as many minors), so as a matter of fact it could be called "World War 2 Pack".

The main focus of this mod lies in icons - currently over 5000 which I have collected from various sources or made by myself. Anyway, I've modified them all to give them the same look - a complete standardization work to avoid odd and annoying effects I've too often experienced in the past. Now all icons from the same branch will have their flag, name, tier indication etc. in the same visual code as the others.

The greatest innovation are probably top-view aircraft icons. Since nothing like this existed before (apart from a lone set for Germany, which served as an inspiration) and I always liked HoI2's top-view aircraft concept, I've decided to make a full set of such icons myself, each of course matching its corresponding airplane model, for all the majors and many minors.

Other improvements you'll find in this pack include:

- modified counters with small symbols on the border to let you identify at a glance your armor, HQs, paras etc. even when they're in a stack (see screenshots below)
- new terrain map mode colors (more similar to real-world ones)
- tweaked political map mode colors (e.g. Japan less eye-hurting)
- improved skins for major countries
- new look for synthetic oil & materials plants
- new weather symbols
- improved look for attachments
- some more urban provinces (where in WW2 have been fought bloody battles)
- country-unique graphics (for example, mouse cursors) for ENG-GER-ITA-JAP-SOV-USA
- country-unique sound effects (combat & messages) for ENG-GER-ITA-JAP-SOV-USA
- modified other generic sound effects
etc.

Please refer to the "Tripartite Pack for AoD.txt" readme file for a full list of changes contained in this mod as well as for additional info.


CREDITS

|AXiN|
Cpack
Denniss
kronoss
Phil K
Tenryu
TeutonburgerW
tuore
Warlimont

Also, many thanks to:
- bestmajor, De_Spinoza, manfred1126, Hister, Epaminondas, Blood_RavenAUS for finding suitable images from which to make some aircraft and land icons;
- Julle64, Zsumi for finding suitable audio files from which to make some custom sfx.

I apologize for everyone I might have forgotten or miscredited; that wasn't my intention.

_______________


If you plan to use some of the files contained in this mod you're free to do so but please, be so kind to ask me first - thank you in advance!


Before / after:

1:
---
Here you can see, on the map: new terrain mode colors; improved counters which let you tell at a glance that the Soviets have e.g. an HQ and an armored unit in the province north-east of Polotsk (look near the top-right corner of the screenshot); slightly brightened up German counters for better contrast with the symbols on their right border; historical counter markings for Germany, both for army and airforce; new icon for AA guns; reversed airfield icon (no longer resembling a big "A").
In the unit panel, from top: new colored clock; colored symbols for HQ nearby - unit in supply; marked bars for unit carried oil/supply (at 0%-50%-100%); new icons for every unit; new experience star; new font for writing "SS" correctly [PLEASE NOTE: the symbol will not appear automatically, one has to write it (use the "@" key to see it displayed - read here for more info)]; marked ORG bars (at 33% and 66%); new oil icon; new look for brigades (blue background: uses oil; gray: doesn't use oil); restored HoI2 buttons like offensive supply, split unit etc.; new buttons for Scorched earth and Victory or Walhalla; new German sidebar.


2:
---
Darkened red for USSR; new attack arrows on counters (more visible when on red provinces, like the Soviet ones); some other German icons (Luftwaffe, this time. From top: Focke-Wulf Fw 190, Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, Junkers Ju87G, Heinkel He 111).


3:
---
Note the improved terrain colors which let tell e.g. desert from hills much better than before; new urban provinces (Aachen, Breslau, Brest-Litovsk, Odessa, Sevastopol); new coal, oil and money resource icons in the topbar (as well as the new nuke, dissent and TC icons); new "show arrows" icon (no longer resembling a cross); narrower topbar folders; improved German topbar with eagle, motto and historical flag; restored HoI2 icons for province-army-navy-airforce selection (over the sidebar); new wooden background for minimap; new map mode buttons; darkened max zoom level buttons to be more visible.


4:



Improved USA topbar with Statue of Liberty; new color for USA (I've never been very fond of the original blue); smaller circle symbol for capital city; new nuclear reactor map icon; some USAF aircraft (from top: Boeing B-29 Superfortress, North American P-51D Mustang, Douglas C-47 Skytrain); new color for escort fighters.


5:
---
Some US ships with naval attachments (with new look and new colors); new button for naval kills; new button for splitting units; new button for naval stand ground; (on map) new rocket research site icon.


6:



New UK topbar with Big Ben; some RAF aircraft (from top: Vickers-Armstrong Wellington Mk.III, Lockheed Hudson); new naval fort icon (in Tobruk). And please note: in Tobruk there are a MOT inf division and a Garrison, while in Bardia the Italo-Germans have two MOT inf units and two armored units. In Sollum there's a UK light armored division.


7:
---
New colors for political map; new Soviet topbar no longer reddish as before and with added Lenin; some Soviet ships with attachments.


8:
---
New weather symbols (taken from HoI2 but improved: rain and storm darkened to tell them at a glance from snow clouds, added rain to storm and a flash effect you've got to see in game); new land fortification icon.
In the sidebar/province screen: new icons for AA guns, land forts, infrastructure, coal, oil, synthetic fuel/rubber plants (with fuel barrel and tyres to tell them at a glance); new Japanese sidebar.


9:

Another screen to show the improved counters and some other US aircraft (Douglas A-20 Havoc, Martin B-26 Marauder, North American P-51D Mustang).


10:

An aircraft overview to let you see some other models and airforce markings. From top left to bottom right:
1st row: (AST) Bell P-39 Airacobra; (BEL) Renard R-40; (BRA) Republic P-47 Thunderbolt; (BUL) Arado Ar 196A Akula; (CAN) de Havilland Mosquito B.XVI; (CHI) Curtiss Tomahawk; (CZE) Avia B-534; (ENG) Avro Vulcan; (FIN) VL Pyörremyrsky; (FRA) Liore-Olivier LeO 451
2nd row: (GER) Focke-Wulf Super Lorin; (GRE) Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV; (HOL) Fokker D.XXIII; (HUN) Junkers Ju 86; (IRQ) Gloster Gladiator; (ITA) Piaggio P.108; (JAP) Mitsubishi G3M Chukou; (NOR) Hawker Hurricane II; (NZL) Handley Page Hampden; (PHI) Consolidated PBY Catalina
3rd row: (POL) PZL P.11c; (ROM) Junkers Ju 52/3m; (SAF) Bristol Brigand; (SLO) Messerschmitt Bf 109G; (SOV) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17; (SPA) Messerschmitt Bf 109D; (SPR) Polikarpov I-15 Chato; (TUR) Fairey Battle; (USA) Vought F4U Corsair; (VIC) Dewoitine D.520

[Titan79]

Here's a list of the aircraft icons that are still missing (well, at least the ones that are missing in the models.csv file, which doesn't include every aircraft model for every country).

If you want to help me, you can try to find suitable images for these aircraft models. I was unable to find them, but this doesn't mean you couldn't be luckier than me.

Top-view colored images would be best, although b/w ones will do, too. Just send me a link to the image and I'll do the icon - thank you in advance!


● ARG

Consolidated P2Y-3A Ranger

● FRA

Dewoitine D.552
Arsenal VG.70
Farman F.420
Potez-C.A.M.S. 141
Bloch MB.221

● GER

Heinkel He 274
A good one for the Messerschmitt Bf 109K, possibly with purple shades in its camo (as it was common for that plane)

● HOL

Fokker F.56

● MEX

Vought O2U-2M Corsair
Douglas A-24 Dauntless
Beech C-45 Expeditor

● POL

PZL P.45 Sokol
PZL P.62
WSK LIM-6P
PZL P.63
PZL P.56 Kania
WSK Mielec LIM-1
WSK LIM-2
PZL P.49 Mis
RWD 22
PZL Losos
PZL 27

● SPA

Hispano HA-200D Supersaeta
Hispano-Suiza H/S-AV8S Matador
Hispano HA-1109
Hispano HA-300P
CASA 201 Halcon
CASA 207


I'm also looking for drawings, to make icons from, for:

- Soviet paratroopers
- Soviet mountain troops
- British cavalry
- Commonwealth infantry (I still need New Zealand and South Africa, maybe Australia as well)
- Axis minors infantry (Finland, Romania, Hungary - Siam would be cool, too)
- Italian infantry and militia
- Japanese infantry
- Japanese mountain troops
- Japanese marines

[bestmajor]

wow cool and thanks, that looks like a hil of work so thank you a lot and all all other contributors!

as for the missing models, i cant promise anything but i'll keep my eyes open.

without having anything installed i can tell that i especially like the oil icon and the XP-star + the clock of course! (+ D01 and other thingies i havent discovered yet)

but you definately need a new pic of von dem Bach



please dont abandon this, dude!

[Titan79]

wow cool and thanks, that looks like a hil of work so thank you a lot and all all other contributors!

as for the missing models, i cant promise anything but i'll keep my eyes open.

without having anything installed i can tell that i especially like the oil icon and the XP-star + the clock of course! (+ D01 and other thingies i havent discovered yet)

but you definately need a new pic of von dem Bach



please dont abandon this, dude!

Thank you! Glad you like it. Well, I can only suggest you to install it and tell me how do you like the parts of it you've yet not seen.

I somehow expected you were going to like the clock and, as you can see, Ger HQ III is no longer the one it used to be...

Don't worry, I won't abandon this easily. It cost me so much time and work to make all of that, that I'd have to be crazy...

P.S.: thanks for the pic

[bestmajor]

Don't worry, I won't abandon this easily. It cost me so much time and work to make all of that, that I'd have to be crazy...

P.S.: thanks for the pic

cool Titan. if you liked the pic and you have AoD installed go to the pic folder and search for "_ger", you'll find some more. - or simply take the german CSVs from AoD 1.02.
as for the Bodenschatz Screenie with Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 - is it possible to turn this plane icon around? - just if its not to much trouble for you guys.

thanks again!

can you post a list in your second post of the missing models?

EDIT:

; new font for writing "SS" correctly;

i think you need to include the unitnames.csv for that? as the ss is replaced by an @ or # there?- or maybe i miss sth and its a different one?

[Titan79]

Is it possible to turn this plane icon around? - just if its not to much trouble for you guys.

Well, aircraft icons are a creation of mine, so I'm the one you have to ask.

To be honest, the Stuka is reverted on purpose as all other CAS since this is how they looked in the original HoI2 icons which overall look I tried to preserve.

can you post a list in your second post of the missing models?

Hm, this could be a good idea, although I hoped to avoid that by posting the link near the end of the text part in the first post. Anyway, I'll probably do it. Edit: done

Edit II:

new font for writing "SS" correctly

i think you need to include the unitnames.csv for that? as the ss is replaced by an @ or # there?- or maybe i miss sth and its a different one?

Just try this yourself - tapping shift+2 (no unitnames.csv needed).

[TeutonburgerW]

Kudos!

[Epaminondas]

Oh dear Lord, Titan. You don't know what you've done to me!

I've just spent a solid week collecting and colouring icons from many of the sources you've used and am on the brink of getting my German set pretty much as I want it. Now I find you've spent many, many, many weeks doing the same thing - and so much more. I could have been watching the cricket, or playing cricket, or drinking, or all of the above at the same time.

This looks absolutely brilliant - I always have preferred the cleaner look of 'unbackgrounded' icons - and on top of that there are all the other improvements. I can't wait to check it out in detail. Many thanks.

[Titan79]

Kudos!

Oh dear Lord, Titan. You don't know what you've done to me!

I've just spent a solid week collecting and colouring icons from many of the sources you've used and am on the brink of getting my German set pretty much as I want it. Now I find you've spent many, many, many weeks doing the same thing - and so much more. I could have been watching the cricket, or playing cricket, or drinking, or all of the above at the same time.

This looks absolutely brilliant - I always have preferred the cleaner look of 'unbackgrounded' icons - and on top of that there are all the other improvements. I can't wait to check it out in detail. Many thanks.

Thank you! And yes, creating a "standard" for all icons was one of my primary goals (and indeed the part which took most of the time). This to let other people find a work already polished and not having to do it themselves.

Glad you like it!

[Epaminondas]

You don't know where I can find a set of Scytth's original icons do you? I think they were astonishingly good but I've somehow lost or buried them and they're not available at the Icon Factory.

[Kirkegaard]

/downloaded

[Titan79]

You don't know where I can find a set of Scytth's original icons do you? I think they were astonishingly good but I've somehow lost or buried them and they're not available at the Icon Factory.

No, sorry, even for I'm not a great fan of those icons (although I reckon their high artistic value, IMHO they aren't very informative at a glance - and that would make gaming actually more "painful", at least for me). You'd better ask him directly via PM, for example.

/downloaded

Nice, ty

[Epaminondas]

I've just run through a few months of the game with your Tripartite Pack installed, Titan, and I have to say it's a big plus. I think it's a measure of the success of the mod that the only negatives I can find are at the detailed level while the positives are all big picture items (pun sort of intended).

For me the three outstanding positives are, first, the new colour scales. We spend such a lot of time fussing about icons and the like when by far the most obvious graphic element is the game map, and I think the new scales are both functionally superior and more appealing to the eye. Second, though, is the comprehensive icon set. It's clean, it's colourful, it's standardised, and it seems to be very comprehensive (covers all of the nations I've had time the to check out, including minors). Finally, the new sfx files ramp up the immersion factor no end - it tickles me pink that I can have an MG42 effect for German machine gun fire.

For three on the picky side I'll nominate the colour of your urban terrain (shows up very close to that of ocean on my display), the fact that some ship images on the production screen overspill the icon plate (don't know whether that can be enlarged and moved further left but I suspect not), and last the fact that some of your detail additions are a little off the mark (e.g. you use what appears to be a HJ symbol on your Luftwaffe icons). Pretty small potatoes when you stack them up against the the big improvements.

Really well done and much appreciated.

Whoops, last note, did you consider incorporating Vaximillian's skins? There's some dynamite stuff there.

[bestmajor]

Fairchild C-119J Flying Boxcar

http://www.pacificaircraft.com/model...ne-p-1259.html

does that one work? (bottom)

Douglas C-124A

http://www.anigrand.com/catalog_HB-2.htm

well no idea if you can do sth with these ones?

[De_Spinoza]

Utterly stunning work dude! I've been waiting for something like this a long time, SKIF was a bit too chaotic for me but this is perfect.

Thanks for sharing this magnificent work

edit: Found some images for Dutch planes. Black/white top views + coloured artist impressions... Should work I think.

Schelde S.21:
Schematic/top view: http://www.nederlandseluchtvaart.nl/...jpgattachments
Normal camo: http://www.nederlandseluchtvaart.nl/...en-oost-nl.jpg
East Indies Air Force camo: http://www.nederlandseluchtvaart.nl/...alvo480pix.jpg
Alternative camo: http://aircraft.fsdownload.com/downl...ker_g1_(1).JPG

Fokker F-7:
http://richard.ferriere.free.fr/3vues/fokker_f7_3v.jpg
http://museumvictoria.com.au/image.j...75&image=26234
Couldn't find a coloured version, you're best off using the camo of the Schelde S.21 I guess.

Fokker T.IX:
This is the only decent picture I could find: http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contri...nhard/5124.jpg

[Titan79]

First of all, thanks to all of you - comments like these (and links as well!) motivate me even more to further improve this mod.

Now:

For me the three outstanding positives are, first, the new colour scales. We spend such a lot of time fussing about icons and the like when by far the most obvious graphic element is the game map, and I think the new scales are both functionally superior and more appealing to the eye.

Glad you appreciate it. My thoughts as well: we look too much time at the map to let white color (???) be the one used for plains...

Second, though, is the comprehensive icon set. It's clean, it's colourful, it's standardised, and it seems to be very comprehensive (covers all of the nations I've had time the to check out, including minors).

I'll unveil you a "secret" - I made/collected the icons for this mod mostly thinking about WW2 development, i.e. I've tried to cover all the models for the countries which were actually involved in WW2 but I haven't dedicated the same attention to the ones which didn't fight (with some exceptions). I'm considering to expand a bit the set, though.

Finally, the new sfx files ramp up the immersion factor no end - it tickles me pink that I can have an MG42 effect for German machine gun fire.

That's a thing I like, too.

For three on the picky side I'll nominate the colour of your urban terrain (shows up very close to that of ocean on my display)...

You're right. The problem with this is that originally I would have liked to have urban provinces to be gray, but then I'd have had to find another suitable color for mountains which I can't think of, honestly. The solution I came up with isn't probably the best, yes, although I like the bluish color better than the previous yellow one. Another matter I won't go too deep in, though, is that changing a terrain map color affects other map modes as well which means that, if you want to mod one, then you'll probably have to mod another one to offset the new weird appearance of another map mode. That is just what happened with the urban areas - maybe you've noticed that now, when you deploy a new division, the uneligible areas are blue instead of yellow (but this lone side-effect doesn't bother me - I hope it's the same for you, too).

Do you have any suggestions, maybe? One thing I could do would be to darken/lighten urban provinces, but I'd rather like to read your opinion on that.

...the fact that some ship images on the production screen overspill the icon plate (don't know whether that can be enlarged and moved further left but I suspect not)...

The problem here is that it would require to change the production screen display, I guess. I don't know if that would be possible without screwing things up - I'll look into it and see what can be done.

...and last the fact that some of your detail additions are a little off the mark (e.g. you use what appears to be a HJ symbol on your Luftwaffe icons).

I know. As a matter of fact, I've tried to replicate the symbol the Luftwaffe painted on the tails of its aircraft - and they gray part of that marking should just be a stylized end-part of an aircraft's tail. I could have used the Balkenkreuz (the symbol German aircraft had on wings) but it was already used on German army icons, where I liked it, so I decided to leave it there and opted for the tail marking instead.

By the way, USSR is the only other country with tail symbol used as national identifier on airforce icons - all other countries use wing roundels instead.

Really well done and much appreciated.

Whoops, last note, did you consider incorporating Vaximillian's skins? There's some dynamite stuff there.

Thank you again - well, no, I didn't consider that option. They're very good, true, but I've sort of tried to keep other users' contributions to the bare minimum (and even so there are many, many icons and some other miscellaneous stuff from them) so this is the main reason I chose to leave them out. Nothing stops you from installing them separately if you wish, however (but then remember, especially if you play Germany, to overwrite the topbar with one of my added-motto ones ).

Fairchild C-119J Flying Boxcar

http://www.pacificaircraft.com/model...ne-p-1259.html

does that one work? (bottom)

Douglas C-124A

http://www.anigrand.com/catalog_HB-2.htm

well no idea if you can do sth with these ones?

Excellent, bestmajor, thank you! The second link with all those images is especially amazing. There are many missing models there - I'll do my best to convert them into good icons.

Utterly stunning work dude! I've been waiting for something like this a long time, SKIF was a bit too chaotic for me but this is perfect.

Thanks for sharing this magnificent work

edit: Found some images for Dutch planes. Black/white top views + coloured artist impressions... Should work I think.

Schelde S.21:
Schematic/top view: http://www.nederlandseluchtvaart.nl/...jpgattachments

Fokker F-7:
http://richard.ferriere.free.fr/3vues/fokker_f7_3v.jpg

Thank you again too, De Spinoza! I have too never been a big fan of SKIF icons for the same reasons you wrote (despite their incontestably high artistic standards). The first purpose of icons IMHO is to be very quickly understandable; of course, if they are also nice looking then even better.

About the links: good work, I have two more icons to work at! Also, thank you for the photos, too, but all I need is just images for top-view icons like the two in the links I've left in your quoted post.

[De_Spinoza]

No problem. By the way, I just found a schematic top-down image of the Fokker T.IX on some obscure website.
http://www.airwar.ru/image/idop/sww2/fokt9/fokt9-1.gif

I'll post some Italian planes next time, excuse me for my patriotism regarding Dutch planes.

[Titan79]

I'll post some Italian planes next time, excuse me for my patriotism regarding Dutch planes.

No need to apologize for your patriotism - indeed, those Dutch planes were badly missing since they were low-tier ones, i.e. with a high chance to show in a standard game. Good work! You can provide any aircraft you manage to find: the more, the better. Italian planes are worth just like all others; but if you've already found some, then please post links!

If I were to choose some, however, I'd like to fill a bit the French and Polish ranks which miss a lot of models yet. And I'd like to finally find the Douglas C-32 (aka C-39 or DC-2) which would complete USA planes set.

By the way, bestmajor and De Spinoza,

please take a look at the results of you recent research:

[De_Spinoza]

No need to apologize for your patriotism - indeed, those Dutch planes were badly missing since they were low-tier ones, i.e. with a high chance to show in a standard game. Good work! You can provide any aircraft you manage to find: the more, the better. Italian planes are worth just like all others; but if you've already found some, then please post links!

If I were to choose some, however, I'd like to fill a bit the French and Polish ranks which miss a lot of models yet. And I'd like to finally find the Douglas C-32 (aka C-39 or DC-2) which would complete USA planes set.

By the way, bestmajor and De Spinoza,

please take a look at the results of you recent research:

Beautiful work as before! Especially like the S.21 Schelde, its quite an unconventional design for a regional country. Would be fun to see those tactical bombers as the German invader too, adds a lot of flavor. Minors/regionals usually built a lot of them .

I didn't get around to searching links for those Italian planes yet, but I think I'll focus on the Polish planes instead like you suggested. Should give Fall Weiss some good flavour too for both a German and a Polish player .

I'll try to post a big list coming weekend. Study, getting up early, and afternoon naps because of stupid sleeping patterns are taking a lot of time during a normal week, unfortunately.

[Titan79]

Beautiful work as before! Especially like the S.21 Schelde, its quite an unconventional design for a regional country. Would be fun to see those tactical bombers as the German invader too, adds a lot of flavor. Minors/regionals usually built a lot of them .

I didn't get around to searching links for those Italian planes yet, but I think I'll focus on the Polish planes instead like you suggested. Should give Fall Weiss some good flavour too for both a German and a Polish player .

I'll try to post a big list coming weekend. Study, getting up early, and afternoon naps because of stupid sleeping patterns are taking a lot of time during a normal week, unfortunately.

Thank you - and yes, it would be nice to see those new aircraft when playing against the Netherlands as Germany. Well, icons are ready; now it's only up to the Dutch to build them.

Polish planes would be a good choice, although I've probably already made the only planes that a German player will ever see from Poland (at least in singleplayer): those are Int I-II-III, Tac II-III, Nav II and CAS I. Anyway, at least making Fig I, Tac I, Nav I and Trs I would be nice.

Re: single and multiplayer, by the way: if you're going to play a multiplayer game, be sure to have the same checksum as the other players. This can be done by either 1) everyone installing the Tripartite Pack (plus Corrections.rar file), by far the best choice or 2) by overwriting \db\country.csv and \db\province.csv files with the original AoD corresponding files (i.e., the ones from the AoD patch you're going to play).