Including new dynastic coat of arms

[enderbr]

QUESTION - Including new dynastic coat of arms

So, I was looking to start my little vanity project of including my own family in CK2 and looked everywhere in the forums but didn't find any information on how to add new family coats of arms to the game.

Anyone tinkered with that already? I even have the CoA DLC but didn't notice any new files to be honest.

Edit:

Silly me! For some reason GG made me reinstall the pre-order DLC. I can see now there is a file. Will look into it.

Ok, first attempt failed badly... everybody in the game turned Lowborn. Might have something to do with the rest of the mod scripting though.

Second attempt failed... less badly... I was able to tinker with the dynasty CoAs. I tried expanding it horizontally and adding CoAs. Instead of recognizing new CoAs though it shifted all CoAs in game by some pixels (so that I was seeing half and half of a particular CoA in each char).

 

[enderbr]

Finally got it.

Only way I could get it working was by creating a file with the same name and path as the DLC uses and replace some of the CoAs there.

I imagine there must be a better way. I also haven't found a way to use the templates the game uses to generate random shields.

Btw, do the colors the game chooses for random CoAs strike anyone else as odd or is it just me?

 

[pothkan]

I'm also interested in solution. I've tried files named as dynasty numbers in "common" file, but it didn't work. Either in COA directory, or flags. I wondered if that was connected to required size, but no - COAs in DLC also use 128x128 TGA. Unfortunately, default dynastic COAs in CK2 are IMHO very poor (some of territorial also, but these are easily moddable), and 50 DLC families is a little too few for me.

 

[enderbr]

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?585665-portraits-and-coats-of-arms

This pretty much points towards the answer. I feel kind of dumb for not looking into interface =(

Hope it helps. Thinking of writing a mini-tutorial though I don't think there would be much need now. PI modders are quite advanced =)

 

[iron0037]

No, I'm not that advanced . I'm guessing that others aren't either, so let me walk through the process, for my own sanity as much as anything. Let's take the Plantagenets for example:

coat_of_arms = {
		template = 0
		layer = {
			texture = 3
			texture_internal = 34
			emblem = 0
			color = 0
			color = 0
			color = 0
		}

Cross-referencing with coats_of_arms.txt in the interface directory, we can see terms like template, texture, etc. Zero-based indexing appears the norm here, so the Plantagenets use "coa_plain:1" since they're a Christian dynasty. Presumably, this maps to a blank background file, but I don't see it in gfx/coat_of_arms. All the other DLC dynasties have a value 0 here from what I can tell, so let's just stick with that .

Within the layer code, texture = 3 corresponds to element 4 in the coat_of_arms.txt:

texture = {
                file = "gfx\\coats_of_arms\\dynasties.tga"
		size = { x = 51 y = 1 }
		noOfFrames = 51
		color = 0
		random = no # Do not use for random CoAs
               }

Now we're getting somewhere. The Plantagenets pull their image from dynasties.tga, which exists in the dlc directory under the zip file. Check the path of dynasties.tga and see that it maps to gfx/coat_of_arms. texture_internal is also key in that the Plantagenet CoA is element 35 of the long tga graphic file. noOfFrames specifies there are 51 frames in total, and size specifies the shape of the matrix (51 columns, 1 row). Presumably, each entry has to be a precise pixel size.

All that other stuff about emblem and color relate (again I'm guessing) to the randomly generated CoAs in the gfx/coat_of_arms directory. There's an emblem.dds, but I don't know how to read that file. Theoretically, if you could decipher it, you could create custom CoAs without having to start from scratch. But that's not what I think most people want.

What I'm going to attempt when I get off work is to create my own tga file that has a single CoA in it. I'll attempt to point a dynasty to it. There might be some alpha channel considerations, but if I can overcome that and get the right pixel size, this should work .

My idea for dynasties.txt:

coat_of_arms = {
		template = 0
		layer = {
			texture = 5
			texture_internal = 0
			emblem = 0
			color = 0
			color = 0
			color = 0
		}

And in coat_of_arms.txt, adding:

texture = {
	file = "gfx\\coats_of_arms\\my_dynasty.tga"
	size = { x = 1 y = 1 }
	noOfFrames = 1
	color = 0
	random = no # Do not use for random CoAs
	}

 

[knuckey]

Wow, many thanks for finding this out! I can confirm the above method works:

Spoiler

 

[enderbr]

Presumably, each entry has to be a precise pixel size.

Each entry is 128 x 128 pixels in the file.

There's an emblem.dds, but I don't know how to read that file. Theoretically, if you could decipher it, you could create custom CoAs without having to start from scratch. But that's not what I think most people want.

This file contains some heraldic charges that the game places on top of the CoA when building random CoAs. It doesn't apply to the problem at hand. There is a free plugin to open dds files in GIMP.

Thanks a lot for the detailed walkthrough , it really shines a light on it for people who want to see their own real or fantasy CoA in the game. By the way, I found that random CoAs are really easier on the eyes for me when I severely restricted color and color combination choices in coat_of_arms.txt. This is what mine reads like right now:

	color = {
		{ 255 149 0 }	#0   Or (Gold)
		{ 245 245 245 }  #1   Argent (White )
		{ 48 92 164 } 	#2   Azure ( Blue)
		{ 201 43 43 } 	#3   Gules (Red)
		{ 20 20 20 }	#4   Sable (Black)
		{ 129 24 164 }	#5   Purple
		{ 113 0 0 }		#6   Sanguine (Blood Red)
		{ 205 87 10 }	#7   Tenné (Tawny aka orange)
		{ 133 194 226 }	#8   Bleu-Celeste (Sky Blue)
		
		
	}

	banned_colors = 
	{ 
		{ 0 1 }				#0		
		{ 0 1 8 }				#1		
		{ 2 3 5 6 7 8 }			#2		
		{ 2 3 5 6 7 8 }			#3		
		{ 5 6 7 8 }				#4		
		{ 2 3 5 5 6 7 8 }			#5		
		{ 2 3 5 5 6 7 8 }			#6		
		{ 2 3 5 5 6 7 8 }			#7		
		{ 2 3 5 5 6 7 8 }			#8

I done away with colors that were VERY rare in medieval heraldry (green mostly and some of the stains - even though you can find maybe a dozen CoAs with green on it, it was a color associated with Islam because of the Fatimids flag and usually shunned so it shouldn't pop everywhere). This effect could be better simulated by maybe using lots of similar (or even the same repeated) color for the popular ones (white, yellow, blue and red) and less and less for the less common ones.

I still see quite a lot of room for improvement (doing away with emblems, for instance since I find that their style don't usually match the generated CoA very well and quite often the color can clash heraldically (tincture on tincture or metal on metal, for instance). This should be possible by extending the current patterns to include charges.

 

[unmerged(447908)]

No, I'm not that advanced . I'm guessing that others aren't either, so let me walk through the process, for my own sanity as much as anything. Let's take the Plantagenets for example:

coat_of_arms = {
		template = 0
		layer = {
			texture = 3
			texture_internal = 34
			emblem = 0
			color = 0
			color = 0
			color = 0
		}

Cross-referencing with coats_of_arms.txt in the interface directory, we can see terms like template, texture, etc. Zero-based indexing appears the norm here, so the Plantagenets use "coa_plain:1" since they're a Christian dynasty. Presumably, this maps to a blank background file, but I don't see it in gfx/coat_of_arms. All the other DLC dynasties have a value 0 here from what I can tell, so let's just stick with that .

Within the layer code, texture = 3 corresponds to element 4 in the coat_of_arms.txt:

texture = {
                file = "gfx\\coats_of_arms\\dynasties.tga"
		size = { x = 51 y = 1 }
		noOfFrames = 51
		color = 0
		random = no # Do not use for random CoAs
               }

Now we're getting somewhere. The Plantagenets pull their image from dynasties.tga, which exists in the dlc directory under the zip file. Check the path of dynasties.tga and see that it maps to gfx/coat_of_arms. texture_internal is also key in that the Plantagenet CoA is element 35 of the long tga graphic file. noOfFrames specifies there are 51 frames in total, and size specifies the shape of the matrix (51 columns, 1 row). Presumably, each entry has to be a precise pixel size.

All that other stuff about emblem and color relate (again I'm guessing) to the randomly generated CoAs in the gfx/coat_of_arms directory. There's an emblem.dds, but I don't know how to read that file. Theoretically, if you could decipher it, you could create custom CoAs without having to start from scratch. But that's not what I think most people want.

What I'm going to attempt when I get off work is to create my own tga file that has a single CoA in it. I'll attempt to point a dynasty to it. There might be some alpha channel considerations, but if I can overcome that and get the right pixel size, this should work .

My idea for dynasties.txt:

coat_of_arms = {
		template = 0
		layer = {
			texture = 5
			texture_internal = 0
			emblem = 0
			color = 0
			color = 0
			color = 0
		}

And in coat_of_arms.txt, adding:

texture = {
	file = "gfx\\coats_of_arms\\my_dynasty.tga"
	size = { x = 1 y = 1 }
	noOfFrames = 1
	color = 0
	random = no # Do not use for random CoAs
	}

Oh, your explanation is really good, and it works!

Now my question is ... how can we include several custom COAs for 2, 3, 4, ... dynasties at once? What is the system?

 

[Orinsul]

im sorry probably this has already been said im just having trouble understanding all the technicals.

but this bit here file = "gfx\\coats_of_arms\\my_dynasty.tga" specifies a .tga
so could you theoretically put a "gfx\flags\k_sejuk_turks.tga" or similar entry there and put something in dynasties to have the Sejuk dynasty use the Sejuk title flag as their dynastic CoA?

 

[enderbr]

Alberto and Orinsul, let me see if I can clarify this.
You are not limited to 1 CoA. You can add as many as you want (there's probably an upper limit, but I don't know it)

And in coat_of_arms.txt, adding:

texture = {
	file = "gfx\\coats_of_arms\\my_dynasty.tga"
	[b]size = { x = 1 y = 1 }[/b]
	[B]noOfFrames = 1[/B]
	color = 0
	random = no # Do not use for random CoAs
	}

Size and No of frames is the variable that defines how many CoAs your TGA file has in. X and Y in size defines a matrix, for instance
[coa0][coa1][coa2]
[coa3][coa4][coa5]
with X = 3 and Y = 2
No of Frames defines the total number of CoAs, in this case 6.

A full example:

texture = {
	file = "gfx\\coats_of_arms\\coapack.tga"
	[b]size = { x = 4 y = 2 }[/b]
	[B]noOfFrames = 7[/B]
	color = 0
	random = no # Do not use for random CoAs
	}

Will expect a file like this:
[coa0][coa1][coa2][coa3]
[coa4][coa5][coa6][xxxx]
Where there are 7 CoAs, in a 4x2 matrix. The last spot (the 8th one) can have any data, the game won't be looking at it.

You would use those in dynasties.txt by the number of the texture (which is the order in which it appears in coat_of_arms.txt) and then the attribute texture_internal. Suppose, in the example above you put your coapack as the 5th texture in coat_of_arms and you want your dynasty to use the 3rd one from the left, top line:

coat_of_arms = {
		template = 0
		layer = {
			texture = 5
			texture_internal = 2
			emblem = 0
			color = 0
			color = 0
			color = 0
		}

Don't forget the first one is texture_internal = 0, so the 3rd one would be 2.
I did CoA using 128x128. The patterns for random CoAs don't use these dimensions though, so I think it's possible to use different dimensions, I just didn't test it.
So, Orinsul, answering your question, you should change the seljuk dynasty entry in common\dynasties.txt to use the appropriate coat_of_arms that you put in. The name of the file has no impact, for all the game cares you can call the file "turkdudes.tga" =)

Hope that helped some. I'll post my dynasty mod once it's ready and hope people can use it as a template of sorts.

 

[Keanon]

I still see quite a lot of room for improvement (doing away with emblems, for instance since I find that their style don't usually match the generated CoA very well and quite often the color can clash heraldically (tincture on tincture or metal on metal, for instance). This should be possible by extending the current patterns to include charges.

Personally I'm working on a mod that does just this, but I've used graphics made by the user named Birger in here, from his coat of arms homepage and I am waiting for him either allowing me to share or telling me he prefers me not to in which case I can't share it and must keep it to myself. But I've done extensive changes and I have a ton more to do, even started putting in correct arms for families through this system.

One thing bothering me is that the patterns using 3 colours seems slightly bugged, a 3 way partition (Like the flag of France) have been seen with Black, Gold, Gold which is making me consider only using 2 colours always.

 

[enderbr]

One thing bothering me is that the patterns using 3 colours seems slightly bugged, a 3 way partition (Like the flag of France) have been seen with Black, Gold, Gold which is making me consider only using 2 colours always.

Bummer, they ought to fix it, two color is really simpler, though. By the way, I'm aware that charges may "clash" with the background as per most heraldry rules, it's just that they don't seem quite right. Maybe they are useful if we limit the patterns that may use them to really simple ones. Anyway, let me know if you need a hand.

By the way and this is a bit off topic. Has anyone been able to change or set barony shields?

 

[InnocentIII]

Personally I'm working on a mod that does just this, but I've used graphics made by the user named Birger in here, from his coat of arms homepage and I am waiting for him either allowing me to share or telling me he prefers me not to in which case I can't share it and must keep it to myself. But I've done extensive changes and I have a ton more to do, even started putting in correct arms for families through this system.

One thing bothering me is that the patterns using 3 colours seems slightly bugged, a 3 way partition (Like the flag of France) have been seen with Black, Gold, Gold which is making me consider only using 2 colours always.

Some way to insert a 128x128 emblem without a ton of "mod" type work would be fantastic. Most people, I think, just want to add one CoA for themselves in any given game.

 

[unmerged(243088)]

Has anyone figured out how random CoAs are generated? I really don't want to go through the trouble of adding ~50 new CoAs for the new dynasties I've created, and if I could just add a few emblems and have them be randomly generated, that would be great.

 

[Keanon]

They're randomly generated by themselves if nothing is assigned to them.

 

[enderbr]

Has anyone figured out how random CoAs are generated? I really don't want to go through the trouble of adding ~50 new CoAs for the new dynasties I've created, and if I could just add a few emblems and have them be randomly generated, that would be great.

You can reference the existing patterns for random CoAs just as you reference a modded file. They are texture 0 through 3 I think. You should be able to set the colors and emblem as well. I never tried it though. Let us know how it goes.

 

[unmerged(243088)]

Can I add new graphical cultures? I can't figure out where the already existing ones like normangfx and norsegfx are located.

Rather, I know where they are located, but it's just a text file that lists all of them. Where are they defined? I know different graphical cultures use different pattern.tga files for generating CoAs, but I can't find where that is mentioned so I can edit it.

 

[Keanon]

Can I add new graphical cultures? I can't figure out where the already existing ones like normangfx and norsegfx are located.

Rather, I know where they are located, but it's just a text file that lists all of them. Where are they defined? I know different graphical cultures use different pattern.tga files for generating CoAs, but I can't find where that is mentioned so I can edit it.

Are you sure about this? I can only see the the divide between Christian and Muslim.

 

[unmerged(243088)]

I think it has to be. I mean, scandinavians' randomly generated flags are quite clearly different than, say, french random coas or italian random coas. The graphical culture also defines how the characters are going to look, as I've observed while testing my mod.

 

[Keanon]

But I've extensively modded the COA's and I've seen no such thing at all, and because everytime I change them they're random again, I can tell you that they're just as random everywhere.