WWII Interface for Conquests

Been missing me in the forums? Of course not. You probably didn't even notice that I've been away, working furiously on a project for El Justo. And this is the project:


Download

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UPDATES:
July 2,'13 - repaired missing Science pop-up. Post #9

July 30'13 Tweaked the small Wonder Splash a bit.

May 31'15 New popheads available! See post #31. Now included in the current download.
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Yep. Another military interface, this time for the boys of the Great War.

So here are the highlights, along with some screenshots: (Click on thumbnails)

Main Screen



Besides Betty Grable's famous gams, this screen features 12% larger buttons, courtesy of an innovation by Vuldacon. Unfortunately, the background terrain isn't included - that's my latest Southeast asian terrain, still a work-in-progress.

City Screen



Alot going on here. Much of it is like my Vietnam Interface, only brought back an era. The screen is snowy, as you'd expect from a TV screen in 1941 - had one even this good existed. I made some popheads to match. See post #31



These are the specialists: USO Entertainers, Administration, Engineering, MP's and Medical.

Field Manual



This came out nicer than I expected it to. The colors and textures (and some images) are straight out of an FM of that era.

Domestic Advisor


Headquarters Company. Your adjutant officer, or XO, will help keep your operations running smoothly.

Trade Advisor



Supply Company. I picture a Radar O'Reilly type pointing at the clipboard and saying "Well, sir, we could swap some horses for some coal. All depends on how we want to stay warm."

Military Advisor



Personnel. We visit this guy alot.

Foreign Advisor



Signal Company. Click on one of these guys and you get face to face contact, via RCA Photophone:



Culture Advisor



Civil Affairs. Somehow this screen always turns out nice. The signature on the poster is from a WWII-era letter I found while looking for something else.

Espionage Screen



This particular office is shared by military Counter-intelligence and by The OSS, the [Wiki]Office of Strategic Services[/wiki], which was the forerunner of the CIA. The gal in the picture is the infamous Tokyo Rose.

Wonder Splash



Again, used authentic document bits to get a realistic effect. Alt File for widescreen splashes included in the rar.

I included the labels and scripts files I was using while setting this up, so that you guys can get the labels for the various advisors, field manual, etc. from them. Easy enough to do, I guess.

Wow, good job! Very nicely done!

Perfection, well done.

Top quality work! Firaxis needs to hire you!

this is exquisite !!

+++DISPATCH FROM TECHNICAL OFFICE+++
SYSTEMS OPERATING STOP ViSUAL ASPECT PLEASING STOP PROMOTION RECOMMENDED TO HQ STOP FEED COOKIES STOP MELON MELON MELON MELON +++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR
SYSTEM REINSTATED STOP COMPLIMENT BALTHASAR STOP MORE WORK REQUIRED FULL STOP

Balthasar, that´s a wonderful work you have done, full with a lot of inspiration!

I especially like the pop-heads and some of the advisors.

Excellent!

Thank you Ares, Pounder, Gary, Tak, Civinator and Bowsling for the kind words. I'm particularly glad that you like it, El Justo, as it was your request!

Ahem. Business: Somehow the Science pop-up advisor got left out of the rar. I've fixed it for future downloads, but for those who've downloaded the rar already, here's the missing file:

View attachment popupSCIENCE.pcx

It belongs in the Art/SmallHeads folder.

Strange things happen during file transfers...

Two first-rate interfaces in six months. Flippin' brilliant.

spicoli !

that TV-city screen is brilliant! Amazing work once again, with a soul and a nice vintage touch to it

Looks amazing.

Thanks, Ogedei.

AnthonyBoscia said:

Two first-rate interfaces in six months. Flippin' brilliant.

Click to expand...

Thanks Tony; love the Spicoli gif. Righteous, dude.

themanuneed said:

that TV-city screen is brilliant! Amazing work once again, with a soul and a nice vintage touch to it

Click to expand...

Glad you like it. I was actually more concerned that everyone would hate the TV; that's why there's an Alt cityscreen background file in the download. Wanted to do something similar with the Diplo screen, but there, the leaderhead animation is on top, and is unaffected by the interface graphics.

I'm trying to find faults with your work other than the loss of image quality because of conversion to .pcx format. I… can't do it!

That is excellent. It definitely gets marks for creating the atmosphere that draws you in the game more.

How did I miss this thread Phenomenal work, Balthasar

Best,

Oz

Per PM from Balthasar, some comments on the Interface. Note, I have the greatest respect and admiration for individuals who have the ability and time to do work such as what Balthasar has done, as I do not have that. My abilities lie elsewhere.

Is there any way to change the leader heads to show those individuals actually in power during WW2? Catherine the Great of Russia and Elizabeth of England just are so drastically out of place for World War 2. Uncle Joe Stalin should be running the USSR, and while George the Sixth was King, Churchill was clearly the one in charge. I always have liked the photo of Churchill in his suit and bowler hat, cigar clamped in his teeth, and a Thompson sub-machine gun at the ready.

While Mao was around, when the Japanese invaded China in 1937, Uncle Joe made the cold-blooded decision that the most effective resistance to the Japanese could be made by Chiang Kai-Shek's forces, and supplied them with military equipment and a roughly 500 plane air force, flown by Russian personnel. What effects that had on post-war relations between the USSR and China is one for further study. At the same time, the Germans were training the Chinese Army, and the Italians were also supplying China with aircraft and pilots.

You probably could still use Julius for Italy, as both he and Mussolini were bald, with just a change of name and outfit. Maybe just change the name for Japan from Shogun Tokugawa of Japan to General Tojo, although he was not running things until the Fall of 1941, and was not in charge at the end either, although Hirohito would be a viable option, as he was much more involved in the Japanese decision-making for war than is generally thought.

I am not sure if you are including France in this, but if you do, the Joan of Arc is just about as much out of place as Catherine and Elizabeth. I know that Churchill made the comment that one of the greatest crosses he had to bear in WW2 was the Cross of Lorraine, but De Gaulle would be my choice for France.

While I view Lincoln as the greatest American President, FDR was the man in charge at the time. I am not sure who Brennus of the Celts is supposed to represent, as I have not tried to run the interface on my Mac. I have had limited success with major changes to the game on my Macs.

Germany is going to be a headache, as I an not exactly fond of Hitler, so in the interest of avoiding problems, you could stick with Bismarck. Not that I have any great fondness for him either, but he has less baggage than the alternative.

If you want, I could upload to you a couple of samples of actual Intelligence Bulletins of various types for those of the forum that might be interested, along with some translations of captured German and Japanese documents. The Japanese ones, in particular, make for interesting reading.

Correction: In the leaderhead, Caesar is not bald, although he was in real life. So, maybe do some editing and make him bald, or put one of Mussolini's black caps on him.

Heads for all the wartime leaders can be found in Storm over Europe and WW2 Global Solid Gold. Instructions on adding leaderheads should be available in the tutorials section.

timerover51 said:

I always have liked the photo of Churchill in his suit and bowler hat, cigar clamped in his teeth, and a Thompson sub-machine gun at the ready.

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A Deth McBones fan, it seems.

AnthonyBoscia said:

A Deth McBones fan, it seems.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. That happens to be my favorite Churchill pic, and I can barely remember Mr. McBones.

As for leaderheads, well, this is an interface, not a mod, so, while those suggestions are all well taken, users will have to go, as Tony says, to SOE or WWII GSG to get them.

As always, thanks for the compliments. They feed my fragile ego.