Duplicate Icons

I haven't had a lot of opportunity to sit down and really work on this, but I have been thinking about it quite a bit. I should have a comprehensive list made by the end of this week. However, the one thing that might slip through is if the same button gets used with two different file names. For example, Barracks and Garrison use the same icon, but they have different file names and so the only way we can tell they are the same is by an eyeball search.

I think there a few duplicate icons that I'm not going to change.

First, there are several unit class icons (Melee, Mounted, Siege, Gunpowder) that also use the same button for the anti-class promotion (Shock, Formation, Charge, Pinch). Since BTS did this, I think this is okay. It also helps make the icons MORE recognizable by giving a visual cue to what the promotion is supposed to do.

The other is that Automate Worker and Automate Missionary/Executive use the same button (the four arrows pointing to the corners). Again, BTS did it first, and I don't think there is any room for confusion. Worker units, Missionary units, and Executive units all have one purpose and having a single Automate button (do what you are built to do) is fine. Furthermore, Automate Missionary/Executive is one mission in the XML, and I wouldn't want to create separate missions for both.

@ Vokarya - I agree, generic buttons or actions shouldn't need a separate icon.

Automate "Unit" is a generic action. Its also an option in Bug in the game menu, where you can have workers, missionaries or executives start automated.

Barracks and Garrison, use slightly differing icons, the Garrison has a purple colour through it, small difference.

Promotions are a Generic action as well. I personally wouldn't want Melee, gunpowder, archery and mounted all having 4 different promotions icons for Anti (insert unit type) Plus all the later units.

Differing the buildings, I'm all for that, having the upgrade chains, great innovation to carry all the way through.

Thanks for all your efforts, they are appreciated and welcome.

We don't say it enough.

IPEX-731BA5DD06 said:

Thanks for all your efforts, they are appreciated and welcome.

We don't say it enough.

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I agree, no matter the AI improvements or crash fixing, this mod wouldn't be as great without your exceptional care for details.

I had some ideas that seemed pretty easy to put together.

First is a separate icon for Stealth Bomber. The Stealth tech and the Stealth Bomber use the same button. This is just taken from a Civilopedia screenshot, but I thjink it looks pretty good.

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Second is a separate icon for Civilized Jewelers Store. The Store currently uses the same building definition as the Civilized Jewelers HQ. I'd like them to be a little different. I tried putting the corporate logo on a Jewellery but it didn't look very good. I think it looks better on a Shopping District like this.

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I think that the Civilised Jeweller icon looks good, yes.

I finished making my list of duplicate icons. I count a total of 125 icons that need to be replaced. I've made some of them, but I still have a ways to go. Here is one replacement. The Speed promotion currently uses the same icon as the Navigation I promotion. The two promotions have identical effects (+1 movement range) but aren't exactly the same. Navigation is for water units and has three levels, while Speed is for land units and has only one. I think movement bonuses are more powerful on land units and so I would not want to see another level of Speed.

I made this new promotion icon by taking the original Navigation button, copying the hand and deleting out the blue areas around it, blowing the hand up in size and then pasting it on a new blank copy of the blue promotion button.

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Red Curtains Theater currently uses the same icon for its master corporation (not just its HQ) as the regular Theatre. This needs to be replaced. I did a lot of experimenting and I finally settled on an icon I like. I combined a piece of theater curtain clip art with RC in a fancy font. The colored part of the icon is the same size and shape as Aluminum Co, so I think that will make it able to splice into existing corporate buildings without too much trouble. I will leave the Gamefonts file alone. I don't want to mess with that unless it's absolutely necessary.

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I like the looks of the new Red Curtains Theater button

Vokarya said:

Red Curtains Theater currently uses the same icon for its master corporation (not just its HQ) as the regular Theatre. This needs to be replaced. I did a lot of experimenting and I finally settled on an icon I like. I combined a piece of theater curtain clip art with RC in a fancy font. The colored part of the icon is the same size and shape as Aluminum Co, so I think that will make it able to splice into existing corporate buildings without too much trouble. I will leave the Gamefonts file alone. I don't want to mess with that unless it's absolutely necessary.

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Hmmm... I reeeeeeealy like this one
So... Civ-ish.

Manor is one of the several buildings in this mod that is currently using the Rathaus building definition (building model and button). I went looking through some other mods and I found that RFC Europe has a really good button and model that we can plug in and use instead. I know the current mod defaults don't show buildings (except Wonders and defenses), but I am speculating that because the show-buildings toggle was a C2C addition to handle the numerous additional buildings they have, AND might be able to get away with setting the default back to show all buildings. I don't know for sure, but it might be worth testing once we get to a near-completion point.

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I went looking through the Mars Now mod and I found some icons I think we could use.

Here is a button for Clone Laboratory. Clone Lab, Biological Warfare Lab, Space Lab, and Technological Capital all currently share the same building definition and the same button. I don't mind reusing building models, but we can at least differentiate the buttons. The button doesn't have the usual frame, but all that really matters is that the button has the appropriate Alpha Channel.

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I also found another button for Hubble Telescope. It currently uses the same button as Apollo.

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And I just noticed another button for International Space Station. It currently uses the same button as Satellites and Skyroads. I haven't yet found a replacement button for Skyroads.

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Finally, I decided to make a button for the Fighter Engage mission. It currently uses the same button as Airstrike. I'm not sure if this is the best possible button; I took a screenshot of the Fighter from the Civilopedia and added a gunsight based on the Interception promotion. If you have a better idea, let me know.

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Vokarya said:

I went looking through the Mars Now mod and I found some icons I think we could use.

Here is a button for Clone Laboratory. Clone Lab, Biological Warfare Lab, Space Lab, and Technological Capital all currently share the same building definition and the same button. I don't mind reusing building models, but we can at least differentiate the buttons. The button doesn't have the usual frame, but all that really matters is that the button has the appropriate Alpha Channel.

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I also found another button for Hubble Telescope. It currently uses the same button as Apollo.

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And I just noticed another button for International Space Station. It currently uses the same button as Satellites and Skyroads. I haven't yet found a replacement button for Skyroads.

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If you could ad the frame too, they would be even more fantastic
I also like the new Manor.

Finally, I decided to make a button for the Fighter Engage mission. It currently uses the same button as Airstrike. I'm not sure if this is the best possible button; I took a screenshot of the Fighter from the Civilopedia and added a gunsight based on the Interception promotion. If you have a better idea, let me know.

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I don't think we need any better than this one.

Fighter engagement seems perfect.

Hubble is excellent

Satellites concise and relevant.

I had a realization about the buttons for the Guilds. Namely, we need new ones. The icons themselves are very difficult to tell apart and are not what I would call intuitive. I would like to use them to differentiate the Guild Headquarters icons and realized the current icons will not work for this and the symbols in the GameFont file for the guilds are only 16x16, which is too small to really see on a 64x64 button (on a religious building, the religion symbol is about 32x32) and can't be blown up very well.

So I am going to make some new icons for the guilds. I am starting with the Guild buttons from World of Legends, blanking out the symbol on the shield, and putting in a new one. I can change the shield color by recoloring the entire image in GIMP and then doing the symbol and redoing the border.

These are two versions that I came up with for Fishmongers Guild. I think I like the blue one better.

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Vokarya said:

I had a realization about the buttons for the Guilds. Namely, we need new ones. The icons themselves are very difficult to tell apart and are not what I would call intuitive. I would like to use them to differentiate the Guild Headquarters icons and realized the current icons will not work for this and the symbols in the GameFont file for the guilds are only 16x16, which is too small to really see on a 64x64 button (on a religious building, the religion symbol is about 32x32) and can't be blown up very well.

So I am going to make some new icons for the guilds. I am starting with the Guild buttons from World of Legends, blanking out the symbol on the shield, and putting in a new one. I can change the shield color by recoloring the entire image in GIMP and then doing the symbol and redoing the border.

These are two versions that I came up with for Fishmongers Guild. I think I like the blue one better.

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Very nice.
I like the blue one better too, but I think that the orange gives a clearer view, so I vote for that.

Awesome stuff! As long as you use some part of the guild-icons which remain the same for all guild things - maybe that shield and the surrounding background - then the color on the shield can vary and it will still be instantly recognizable as "a guild". <3 all of the new icons!

I think I'll stick with the orange/gold shield for all the guilds. Also, I think the current guildhall building buttons are too busy to try and add the guild symbols, so I'm going to go with putting the guild symbols on the main Guild Hall button like this one. Let me know if you think this will work and if the symbol is recognizable. I think it's quite recognizable here.

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The high-contrast image is good, yes.

I think I'd prefer just the orange shield with the fish on it.

It's hard to tell here - because I think you've blown up the image a little - but when it's an icon, it's too busy to make out quickly otherwise.

I'm not going to repeat the same icons for the guilds and guildhalls. The other guild button is worse. I think the problem is that the fish I used is the core fish button and it loses some of its color intensity when it is reduced in size. I haven't tried to do any of the other guilds yet, and I will have to be careful with what images I use. (For example, I plan to do a horseshoe with Equestrians Guild). I think the better thing to do is replace the fish button with a scallop shell (I actually used this a very long time for a button for El Camino de Santiago). Then it will look like this, which I think is easy to see at a glance. Which of these would work better overall, this or the previous pair?

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