Making Flags invisible...

[Jack ONeill]

All,

I hate it when I can't remember this stuff.

Awhile back, Dav figured out how to make the unit flags,(GFX_French_Unit, GFX_British_Unit, etc,), invisible. They are still there, as far as the game engine knows, but they are gone as far as we can see. Does anyone remember how to do that? I'd like to make the Artillery Field Gun flags go away.

Thanks.

"Molon Labe"

Jack B)

[RebBugler]

Open Graphics/Flags...find the desired flag sheet, open and delete said flag. To help identify it, check out the gfx file referencing the OOB name. I'd use paint.net for the delete and save back steps, other graphics apps can also serve this purpose. Hope this helps.

[Jack ONeill]

Thanks Reb.
There is also another way. When the Nap Peninsular Mod first came out, some of the British units, (Artillery and some commanders), did not have flags. I fixed it, rather absent-mindedly and now I can't remember what I did or how it looked before I did it. DOH!

"Molon Labe"

Jack B)

[RebBugler]

Hey Jack, forget my first example, it would mess up the DDS files...the other flags on that sheet.

Best way would be through the gfx file. Create an invisible flag calling a blank area on any flag sheet listed there, probably 0,0 will work. Call a tiny area and then scale it up making selection easy. Keep it simple by giving it just 1 frame.

[alexjack]

Yes I did it something like that.I selected a flag sheet i did not want to show, I think it was the 'Corps' flags, in Paint I unselected the flag layer and then any units I didn't want showing flags I simply assigned them the Corps flags in the DDS files. That way the only units that do show flags for me are the Infantry and Cavalry.Once you've played the game you know where the invisible flag is for any particular unit so you can still click on that area and bring the unit up in the GUI where you've got all the information you need.

[Davinci]

Jack - I do remember your original post about this roughly a little more than a year ago.

After, I posted I located how someone on the previous forum came up with the invisible flag, which is a great idea.

But, have you tried using the csv file to reduce the flag to something like 0.001 and then give it a -100 in the height. That should place it below ground.

Sort of guessing on my part that that will work.

davinci

[tim]

Or go into the relavant graphics files and black out the alpha channel (assuming here you have gimp, paint.net or photoshop).

[Jack ONeill]

The attachment screen0078.jpg is no longer available

All,

Did it! Created what I will call a "Ghost" unit for the GFX .CSV file. Created it by altering the base flag set-up and reduced the default flag to (almost) zero size. It IS still there, you can click on it, but you kind-of have to guess where it used to be.

I use NotePad rather than Excel so you'll have to compensate for that:
Paste the following line into the gfx.csv file of your choice, next to the other GFX_******_Unit lines -

GFX_Ghost_Unit,Unit_Flags.tga,1,1,0,0,1,Unit_Flags.tga,30,30,0,0,1,2,1,2400,310

Type in/edit your OOB with this line - GFX_Ghost_Unit, replacing the GFX_British_Unit, GFX_French_Unit, etc. to remove the unit-sized flags from Cannon and/or whatever.

Takes a bit of typing but it could be cool. Enjoy!

"Molon Labe"

Jack B)

Yes, it will work on the ACW side, too. :cheer:

[Saddletank]

Looks nice and uncluttered, might be good to remove them from generals too.

[Jack ONeill]

Tank,

Yes, it will work for that too. I've gone back and forth on the Generals flags. It IS really uncluttered, but I like to be able to find my Generals at a distance. Gonna play with it a bit and see.

"Molon Labe"

Jack B)