I hope you don't mind a bit of constructive criticism.
Nearly everything I've seen so far has impressed me, but I do have a couple of reservations.
1. The HQ star doesn't look right at all. It would be much better to have an officer or a staff car.
2. It was a good idea to make use of the icons for the infantry, but the head-and-chest view doesn't look right somehow, especially when set against whole vehicles.
3. The infantry sprites also take up too much space on the map and look too big when compared to the vehicles.
Now for the constructive part. Your idea of using the icons from Darkest Hour Full got me thinking. Have you ever seen Titan79's Tripartite Pack for Arsenal of Democracy? Among other things, it has new icons for the game that include full-view pictures of infantry for various levels.
Not only are there various levels, there are also various types of unit (marines, paratroopers, etc). Couldn't you use these? (after asking Titan79 of course) The only problem is that because its for AoD there aren't any pre-WWI icons.
(I tried to include pictures but it didn't work. The Tripartite Pack is at
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?513765-TRIPARTITE-PACK-for-AoD-(new-graphics-and-audio)
Here are links to some pictures at least:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/405/screensave0new.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/808/iconsj.png/
I've got no idea how to make sprites, but I'm guessing that if you can convert the DH icons, you could also convert others.
Thanks very much Chicken Spadge for your comments, all of them.
I wasn't aware of Titan79's pack, but I'll go have a look.
I love the Star for the HQ, and I've seen it in-game, and to me it's good. It stands out better than before and can been seen immediately, which is what I wanted.
Chest and Heads and basically Size overall:
You see, the overall problem with HOI2, is that the game works only with bitmaps. Bitmaps are pixels, 1-colour per pixel, and you really need a certain overall size to get any image at all. Going smaller has 2 problems:
1: I'm nearly done, and I'd have to re-do everything.
2: Going smaller would mean less definition and clarity to the image. I'd rather have a bigger map and bigger images ... But that's not going to happen?
3: In-game, using the OOB images, the player can easily see what infantry he has, as the 1936/39/42/45 infantry units are totally different.. wheareas before you'd have to click on the unit on the map, (the worms) and then look at the OOB to see what have I got here?
Even with cavalry, I need to have a certain size so you can see the soldier and the horse with some level of quality. The cavalry I did before, was twice the size, so I've had to make it smaller, but still trying to maintain some quality. I'm now thinking I'll have to cut the legs off.... more Chest and Heads... just so I can maintain some kind of clarity and quality...
Overall, this is only a first attempt...
I did do a tutorial on making sprites, I think it's in the Mod section, useful tools or some such.
But yes, I take on board what you said, a lot I agree with... but I'm still left with a solution.. and I don't have one... But I'll take a look at that pack and see if it helps me out.
Thanks again.
