Icon Art

[Putmalk]

Okay, I'm sure anyone who has modified text knows what this is referring to. I'm referring to "[ICON_RES_IRON]" or "[ICON_CAPITAL]" or "[ICON_RESEARCH]", all the things that produce a graphic in-game. However, I can't seem to find where the actual images are defined. I want to change the graphic of "[ICON_RES_ALUMINUM]" to something else, but all I can see is "CIV5IconFontMapping.xml" where it defines something as "IconMapping"...but no image file. I'm very confused.

Any pointers on how this works?

My best guess is that it simply pulls an image out of the actual .dds that defines the large icons (the ones you see in the civilopedia) and shapes it to fit the icon...in that case it would be impossible for me to modify that image and I'd have to use an in-game replacement that will not match the modified icon.

Also, I'm very curious as to what [ICON_WTF1] and [ICON_WTF2] look like. And [ICON_MUSHROOM]? [ICON_TEAM_USA]? All these unused icons. O_O Maybe a bit of a test for me just for fun? =D

 

[Spatzimaus]

Any pointers on how this works?

You can't modify them like you do other icon atlases. You MIGHT be able to replace the .dds the game uses for them with a modified version through the VFS, but I'm not sure the game would even recognize any additions you make; it might just be hard-coded.

My best guess is that it simply pulls an image out of the actual .dds that defines the large icons

No. They're completely separate from the large icons, and are not dynamically generated. If it's not in that .dds file, you can't do it.

Also, I'm very curious as to what [ICON_WTF1] and [ICON_WTF2] look like. And [ICON_MUSHROOM]? [ICON_TEAM_USA]? All these unused icons. O_O Maybe a bit of a test for me just for fun? =D

You can always just make a test text string to see all of them; it's what I did when I was picking icons to represent my new resources. WTF1 is a dot in the lower-left corner of the icon space, WTF2 is an L-shape, Mushroom is pretty much exactly what it sounds like (a Super Mario-style mushroom), and TEAM_USA is the same shape as the other Team flags, just using the actual red-white-and-blue instead of one solid color.

 

[Putmalk]

You can't modify them like you do other icon atlases. You MIGHT be able to replace the .dds the game uses for them with a modified version through the VFS, but I'm not sure the game would even recognize any additions you make; it might just be hard-coded.



No. They're completely separate from the large icons, and are not dynamically generated. If it's not in that .dds file, you can't do it.



You can always just make a test text string to see all of them; it's what I did when I was picking icons to represent my new resources. WTF1 is a dot in the lower-left corner of the icon space, WTF2 is an L-shape, Mushroom is pretty much exactly what it sounds like (a Super Mario-style mushroom), and TEAM_USA is the same shape as the other Team flags, just using the actual red-white-and-blue instead of one solid color.

Bummer, more hardcoded stuff. Yays.

And that last bit was an observation of mine out of humor.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Bummer, more hardcoded stuff. Yays.

Yes, but they've added a number of unused icons to play with. In my own mod, I added three new resources, and used three of their unused icons for them: the Flower icon (which looks a lot like the old ICQ icon) for my biological Omnicytes resource, the Star icon (think shuriken, not sun; I think it's supposed to be a compass star, with 4 points) for my fusion-ish Dilithium, and an Omega for my last resource, Neutronium. It's worked pretty well. I also added three building-generated luxuries (Hit Movies, Information, Ambrosia) using the pirate, mushroom, etc. icons. While I'd love to see them add another dozen or so unused icons for folks to play with, they've given enough for us to use for now. For instance, for my mythological yield (Favor) I'm using the same 5-pointed star that's used for the Capital icon, and I'd like to be able to make something a bit more distinctive. (Ideally, a yin-yang symbol or something similar.)