Finding and modifying City Icons

[Trigan Emperor]

I'm trying to locate the City Icon graphics so I can create a couple of new ones based on the originals.

I've downloaded the Development Assets package and have been trying to locate the Icons in the ModBuddy Asset Browser, without success.

Here are the two icons I'm trying to find:

Here are references to them:

<Row Name="ICON_OTHER_CITIES" Atlas="ICON_ATLAS_EXPANSION_1_CITY_CAPITAL" Index="3"/>
<Row Name="ICON_CITY_STATE" Atlas="ICON_ATLAS_EXPANSION_1_CITY_CAPITAL" Index="4"/>

How do I find them?

 

[Trigan Emperor]

I found it!

In the Expansion1_Icons_CityBanner.XML file, there's the following section:

<GameInfo>
    <IconTextureAtlases>
      <Row Name="ICON_ATLAS_EXPANSION_1_CITY_CAPITAL" IconSize="22" IconsPerRow="8" IconsPerColumn="1" Filename="Cities22.dds"/>
        <Row Name="ICON_ATLAS_EXPANSION_1_CITY_BANNER_STATUS" IconSize="18" IconsPerRow="8" IconsPerColumn="1" Filename="XP1_CityStatus18.dds"/>
        <Row Name="ICON_ATLAS_EXPANSION_1_CITY_BANNER_EFFECTS" IconSize="20" IconsPerRow="8" IconsPerColumn="1" Filename="XP1_StatusEffects20.dds"/>
  </IconTextureAtlases>

Then I searched for the "Cities22.dds" file on my computer. It's a .dds compressed graphics file, so I converted it online into a PNG, and now I have a PNG of the City Icons.

 

[Trigan Emperor]

I'm guessing I can link to new icons with the following XML code. I'll make my image with new icons the same size as the "Cities22.dds" file image, and place the new icons in the positions of the first two icon slots.

<GameInfo>
	<IconTextureAtlases>
		<Row Name="ICON_ATLAS_CITY_ORIGINAL_OWNER_MOD" IconSize="22" IconsPerRow="8" IconsPerColumn="1" Filename="City_Original_Owner_Icons.dds"/>
  	</IconTextureAtlases>
	<IconDefinitions>
		<Row Name="ICON_ORIGINAL_CIV_CITY" Atlas="ICON_ATLAS_CITY_ORIGINAL_OWNER_MOD" Index="0"/>
		<Row Name="ICON_ORIGINAL_CITY_STATE" Atlas="ICON_ATLAS_CITY_ORIGINAL_OWNER_MOD" Index="1"/>
  	</IconDefinitions>
</GameInfo>

 

[Trigan Emperor]

If I want to add a new texture for my mod, "City_Original_Owner_Icons.dds", do I have to go through ArtDefines, or do I just add the file in the modinfo file?

 

[Trigan Emperor]

I've been looking around for a guide that explains the basics of adding art to the game, but haven't found any.

So I've been looking at existing mods to try and understand what other modders have done.

This game is insane. It appears that multiple files and hundreds of lines of code are needed to add art to the game. I like games in which one can add artwork by making a couple of lines of code and dropping a PNG file into a folder.

Here's a list of files that may or may not be needed to a add a single texture image to the game:

DEP file - This is a code file with hundreds of lines of code titled <AssetObjects..GameDependencyData>
ARTDEF file - This is a code file titled <AssetObjects..ArtDefSet>
DDS image - This is the artwork image in compressed format.
TEX file - This is a code file with dozens of lines of code titled <AssetObjects:TextureInstance>
SQL file - This is a code file.
BLP file - This isn't a code file.

I will report back if and when I have gained any further understanding.

 

[Trigan Emperor]

I found this thread and a post by a poster named Horem, in which he writes:

We can add our own Icons without the use of BLP's. You add the dds files to the Import part of the ModInfo:

I don't know what BLPs are, but if I don't have to use them, I'm happy with that.

So I've tried to follow the instructions he's laid out and adapt them to my mod.

Here's a bit of code I've added to MODINFO:

    <ImportFiles id="COOI_Import">
           <Items>
               <File>ArtDefs/testmodDDS.dds</File>
           </Items>
       </ImportFiles>

I have the Icon Atlas and Icon Definitions in an XML:

<GameInfo>
    <IconTextureAtlases>
        <Row Name="ICON_ATLAS_CITY_ORIGINAL_OWNER_MOD" IconSize="22" IconsPerRow="8" IconsPerColumn="1" Filename="testmodDDS.dds"/>
    </IconTextureAtlases>
    <IconDefinitions>
        <Row Name="ICON_ORIGINAL_CIV_CITY" Atlas="ICON_ATLAS_CITY_ORIGINAL_OWNER_MOD" Index="0"/>
        <Row Name="ICON_ORIGINAL_CITY_STATE" Atlas="ICON_ATLAS_CITY_ORIGINAL_OWNER_MOD" Index="1"/>
    </IconDefinitions>
</GameInfo>

I've added this code to the MODINFO. (I didn't really understand what I was doing from hereon in).

       <Icons id="COOI_Icons_Component">
           <Items>
               <File>ArtDefs/Icons.xml</File>
                  </Items>
       </Icons>

In the ArtDefs folder I put an Icons.XML with the following code, that I copied from another mod that also had an XML file called Icons, along with the DDS file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<AssetObjects..ArtDefSet>
    <m_Version>
        <major>4</major>
        <minor>0</minor>
        <build>253</build>
        <revision>867</revision>
    </m_Version>
    <m_TemplateName text="UserInterfaceBLPs"/>
    <m_RootCollections/>
</AssetObjects..ArtDefSet>

It didn't work.