"High-Visibility Low-Clutter" resources.pcx

[Dr Alimentado]

This is a small mod I have made for the resources.pcx.

[ok, mistakes fixed, only outlined version posted as it's better than the orig version I did]

Outlines Preview:

grab it here:
Resources_OL.zip



Please note, only the 'bonus indicators' icons are mine, and I got the idea from ejday's quicklook resources. The strategic and lux indicators are from skankyburns easy to spot resources. The actual resources themselves are a bit of a mix from several sources.

If anyone wants them I can post just the bonus layer so it can be added to any resources.pcx
[posted 4 posts down]

 

[zulu9812]

yep - please post the bonus layer (nice work, btw)

 

[Ville]

Looks great

 

[Taé Shala]

Good work!

 

[Dr Alimentado]

Hi All, here's the bonus layer only:

[EDIT: removed orig version, posted fixed OL version]

download:
lowclutterOL_overlayONLYv2.zip


and why not, a preview:

Enjoy

 

[Dr Alimentado]

Hmmm, I'm still testing/tweaking this... on Snoopy's terrain at least the food icon is a little hard to spot on plains, so I might change it to a green icon or maybe try an outline around the icons, we'll see.

 

[Dr Alimentado]

version with outlines added to first post (MUCH clearer for gold/wheat icons on plains)

how can you tell I've been waiting for my pbem opponents to show up today...

 

[Tacit_Exit]

Furs only give +1 production, or is this for a Mod?

 

[Dr Alimentado]

Tacit, not for a mod, I'm just a little . (Also, Game has +2 food not +1...)

Me fixed now

 

[Tacit_Exit]

I can imagine working on this stuff would make you a little

fits the game 'look' very well.

 

[Dr Alimentado]

Originally posted by Tacit_Exit
I can imagine working on this stuff would make you a little

fits the game 'look' very well.

hehe, the funniest thing is that in the original version I posted the furs were correct I think I just got a little over-enthusiastic when I was copying the outlined versions from my 'master' onto the overlay!

And I agree it looks dam good in-game even if I do say so myself.
btw- I heartily recommend using it on top of Snoopy's Terrain (greener version) for best effect. (and I have a sneaky suspicion the whale resource graphic will only 'work' with that terrain set )

 

[Ukas]

Hey, can you make version of GIDustin's resources icon compilation with these graphics?

 

[Dr Alimentado]

Originally posted by Ukas
Hey, can you make version of GIDustin's resources icon compilation with these graphics?

I know your joshing me but that's a very scary idea!!

Thankfully it's also impossible, as the resources have no set value until they're integrated into an actual mod. If any modmakers want to incorporate these into a mod their welcome though

There is also a slim chance I'll do TeT/TAM/MEM conversions as I actually play these mods myself... just depends as atm I am having too much fun playing pbem to play much solo

 

[cracker]

Unfortunately upon reviewing these graphics in game, I have to say that these images look cool but are a form of cheating because the images get too large and peak out from under the FOW by way too much.

This is one of those deceptive issues where you need to overlay the resources with a diamond shaped mask that represents what should be covered up when the resource location should be hidden in the game.

By extending all the stuff that you put in the images up into the corners you basically add graphics flags that cause the resources to be exposed even when they should not be.

I know you ment well here but the impact is basically to give away a cheat instead of just making the resources easy to see after they have been revealed in the game.

 

[anarres]

cracker, even the smilie faces are just visable through the FOW, how come you haven't raised this in that thread, or any of the other threads that have similar graphics?

Even in the GOTM you havent banned the smilie mod for lux resources, and I think it's getting petty to call this a 'a form of cheating'.

Lots of mods change the outside of the tile, so would you advocate only playing without modded graphics?

 

[Dr Alimentado]

Originally posted by cracker
Unfortunately upon reviewing these graphics in game, I have to say that these images look cool but are a form of cheating because the images get too large and peak out from under the FOW by way too much.

...snip...

I know you ment well here but the impact is basically to give away a cheat instead of just making the resources easy to see after they have been revealed in the game.

Hi Cracker

I'm glad you think my mod looks cool in-game but a little dissappointed that you consider it a form of cheating.

I see what your referring too, the fact that if a resource is in a tile right on the edge of the fog of war you'll get some info you wouldn't otherwise get. However, this is IMHO a fairly trivial 'extra', not to be entirely discounted for sure, but acceptable to many I suspect.

No-one has to my knowledge raised this issue before with any of the other similar resource mods, indeed the reactions to all these types of mods have been positive. A good quote from skankyburn's "easy to spot" resource mod (which mine gets the smilies and strat indicators from) is:

Originally posted by Thunderfall

They are nice indeed. I would say it's one of the must-have mods.

Now if you want to ban these types of mods from GOTM that is of course your decision, but IMHO people using these mods (for non GOTM games at least) should not be branded cheaters. I play pbem, and I know at least 2 of my current opponents (and other pbem players) also use this mod, none of us consider it a cheat in any way.

If I appear to be a little over-sensitive it is because your remarks carry the weight of a moderators opinion, and it would be a shame if these mods went unused because of that.

So go ahead people, use these mods and do not consider yourself a cheater.

 

[cracker]

Unfortunately Dr. Alimentado your actions here are irresponsible and harmful to others.

Urging people to use your graphics for you own gratification when you now know that they are cheating is deliberately creating conflict that you could fix by being a little more aware of the negative impact you have here.

You can easily re-arrange the graphics elements to have your good work not cross the reasonable boundary between being an asset and becoming a full fledged cheat.

The problem here is that the modification in this case turns virtually all the resources into cheat exposure in almost every case. If you will overlay a working layer in the sahpe of an appropriately shaped diamond and then relocate the cehating parts of the graphics to be under the diamond then you will have done the responsible thing on multiple levels.

A player using these graphics would have an unfair advantage over all other players and would be able to alter the game events. This may not matter much to you but in the big picture it demonstrates a fundamental problem.

What it ends up doing is sucking away human resources from positive things we are doing.

This forum is slightly out of my jurisdiction but issues of technical game play and cheating are not. If you post any additional messages that conflict with this determination that your graphics mod is a banned cheat in its current form that will require stronger intervention to protect players from having their games disrupted by your choices here.

If you proactively modify the graphics to accomplish your objectives without actively being a cheater then you will satisfy all concerns.

 

[Bamspeedy]

Unfortunately Dr. Alimentado your actions here are irresponsible and harmful to others.

And you are being unreasonable.

If you want to disallow this modpack or any other for the GOTM, fine. But that does not mean you have the right to shut down any modpacks just because of that. The GOTM does not (and should not) control all other aspects of Civfanatics. Some competitions disallow mapstat and apollo, should those be taken off the civfanatics forum? How about the various save game editors?

Urging people to use your graphics for you own gratification

Many other people enjoy these graphics, so perhaps he is posting this as a convenience for other people who want to enjoy the game more, and not have to bring out their magnifying glass to see a few pixels that some of the game's default graphics sneaks out from under the fog.

You need to set your personal opinions aside. Not everyone wants to play the game the same way you do.

I don't see what the problem is if someone wants to use this for their own games, or games where all the participants are aware of this. It is up to the participants to decide what is allowed and what isn't. And in that sense it is NOT a cheat.

The world does not revolve around the GOTM.

 

[Cartouche Bee]

I was against mod packs for ages, about a month ago I installed my first graphic mod cause I was about the only one on the planet not using them. All mod packs are provided for the intended target users and every mod pack changes game play in many ways, unless you don't mod at all, it's an advantage in some way over the original game, even if it's just for your own enjoyment. But from the number of users playing mods, no one cares. Have fun or stop playing mods.

 

[cracker]

Originally posted by Bamspeedy
I don't see what the problem is if someone wants to use this for their own games, or games where all the participants are aware of this. It is up to the participants to decide what is allowed and what isn't. And in that sense it is NOT a cheat.

The issue is not my personal opinion because I agree with you here in this personal choice concept. If players in a group want to play with revealed maps of turned off FOW, or known maps that is their choice.

The only issue is actively promoting the graphics mod as not being a cheat which it clearly is.

It's OK to say we will allow the cheat by mutual agreement if that is what players choose to do.

It just isn't right to delude ourselves and say the mod is not a cheat.

What if the mod included a broad visible X from corner to corner on each resource square under the resources? Would that be cheat? You betcha.

What if you took the same nifty thought process and modified the goody hut graphics to add marking at the edges and eliminate the transparency fringe? Would that be a cheat? Again, absolutely.

The only real issue is understanding what you are doing with the graphics. If the objective is to improve visibility once the graphics are supposed to be revealed then some better work needs to be done to eliminate the inadvertent cheat that is incorporated in an otherwise worthy attempt to do something nice.

If the objective of the graphics mod is to promote cheating then it needs to push revealing content out into the corners of the squares beyond the expected diamond limits just like what is being done here.