Icon0099.shp

[Warhero]

One thing came to my mind as I followed this topic... Ok, now I can only copy modded OOBs via main window/manage OOB sets (or take off from use to choose defaults if wanted) but is it any way possible to add same function for shps too into future patches? Maybe just adding "default shps" folder etc.?

[RecruitMonty]

Well, as far as I can tell, that wouldn't even be necessary as Don stated that all they would have to do is programme in some new slots (like they did in the past).

Put it this way, the only reason we (those of us who mod) have reached capacity (will reach, for those not quite there yet) is because the next slots haven't been programmed in. Capacity has therefore only artificially been reached.

What you are refering to was done with SPWAW, another Steel Panthers game (WW2) whose internal workings I am a little more familiar with.

[thatguy96]

Warhero said:
One thing came to my mind as I followed this topic... Ok, now I can only copy modded OOBs via main window/manage OOB sets (or take off from use to choose defaults if wanted) but is it any way possible to add same function for shps too into future patches? Maybe just adding "default shps" folder etc.?

I still would love a .shp function similar to that of the OOB replacement function. It would allow for more flexibility with this "artificial limit," and easier rapid testing of new icons.

[junk2drive]

I have had great success with Jones Software Generic Mod Enabler (JSGME) with the other games that I play and mod. Might work for what you want.

[RecruitMonty]

That wouldn't help though would it. For testing sure. Good Idea it saves having to have more than one copy of the game. Great, but...

It might help if you are only modding in one or two .shp files but if you've got 15 of the damn things and apparently X number have already been overwritten in the latest patch then you are up a well know creak without a paddle if 120 is as far as you can go.

[thatguy96]

RecruitMonty said:
It might help if you are only modding in one or two .shp files but if you've got 15 of the damn things and apparently X number have already been overwritten in the latest patch then you are up a well know creak without a paddle if 120 is as far as you can go.

I have four modded .shp files for my total conversion pack, none of which were altered by the most recent patch. If you're out of space its no doubt because as you've said you're looking to have a plethora of specific icons. While I can understand the desire, for the average person, it would be nice to have the ability to rapidly change .shps, especially when installing mods. Patches are always going to cause headaches for modders, and shifting icons is probably the most tedious exercise.

[RecruitMonty]

I heartily agree, the problem is the developers seem to view our efforts as thoroughly trivial and seemingly think they are not worth supporting, hence they refuse to produce dedicated extra space which forces those of us with lots of icons and big plans further and further into a corner. A corner which will become progressively tighter and force our work into obsolesence.

If Don and the gang had not wanted us to mod the game then why were all those things, previously mentioned, freely available to us in the end product? CH LANDA's Shape editor of course could have been gotten hold of, but that still doesn't explain the two template icon files and the other stuff.

Wouldn't it make more sense to create a surplus of X thousand Icons for the modding community to play around on top of what there is already? I very much doubt they would all get used up by the game itself, if enough distance was put between game units and modded ones, or at least if the potential for distance was there.

Its not like a request to re-invent the wheel is being made.

[RecruitMonty]

Although, as is often the case it seems to be being treated as such.

[thatguy96]

I feel like if it was as simple as just changing a single number in the code, a very large number would've been picked from the start. There has to be a reason why this wasn't done from the start, and I imagine the process of changing the number and potentially of formatting the requisite icon files, to be tedious and lengthy.

[RecruitMonty]

We'll never know, will we.