An idea about achieving 1-1 scale in large battles.......

[JamesLL]

I've had an idea on how to reproduce a 1 to 1 scale without breaking the sprite limit. I don't know if its been tried before or if its practical but here goes:

- Ok, a sprite is a single animated entity...at the moment it depicts a single figure 12ft high in relation to the land.

- But what if a single sprite depicted a group of 4 men at correct scale to the land?

- If the sprite scale was then set to 4 to 1 then each sprite illustrating 4 men would visually reproduce every man of a unit.

- At 200 sprites per unit max you would see up to 800 men per unit which covers most regiments.

- The buildings could then be scaled down to correct dimensions as they don't need to match the 12ft size single sprites.

- The correct frontage could also be found with the 4 man sprite.

Do any of the experienced modders here think this could work? Could a sprite be remodelled and reanimated to into a single 4 man entity?

[RebBugler]

You have some very good ideas about achieving large scale SR1 battles. As an SR1 enthusiast I definitely hear your call. However, there is at least one snag in your concept that I believe would never fly. When four sprites within a frame representing and replacing the one are killed, they would drop as one. No way around it, and at least for me an immersion killer.

[Saddletank]

No need to do that Reb. Just have one animated dead sprite per casualty. Four standing sprites would be shown until four casualties were inflicted then you remove the block of four.

However with 4 sprites in a square (2 rank, 2 file) layout, how do we represent 3-deep lines or 3-deep squares with some men kneeling?

[RebBugler]

But tank, then you would have to have 4x the number of 4 sprite blocks, defeating the whole purpose of eliminating the advantage of less frames.

Oh well, think I'm right, it's 3 AM and one too many beers, off to bed. :S

[JamesLL]

No need to do that Reb. Just have one animated dead sprite per casualty. Four standing sprites would be shown until four casualties were inflicted then you remove the block of four.

However with 4 sprites in a square (2 rank, 2 file) layout, how do we represent 3-deep lines or 3-deep squares with some men kneeling?

That's how I see it about casualties Saddletank. As for formation type that's a good point. What if the figures in the single 4 man sprite were drawn in a line XXXX?

From that you could build 2 or 3 rank lines. If this was part of a square then the front rank 4 man sprites would be kneeling.

For columns: Two 4 man sprites abreast the rest in file behind.

For skirmishers: scattered 4 man sprites, this would represent small groups acting under an NCO rather than individuals which seems plausible.

I would like to give it a try. The main thing I need to know is could a sprite be remodelled and reanimated to into a single 4 man entity?

[gunship24]

I did the same thing back in Take command second manassas. I wanted to try to create more sprites and i did that by rendering one sprite as a block of 2x2 men.

It looked like this:

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I even rendered out 6x2 (this screenshot actually shows 500 men in an attack column (of sorts):

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Then as already stated you are stuck with the formation issue of always having double lines. A way round that is to render 3x3. However the bigger you go, especially if the sprite is longer than it is deep the more the sprite will 'pivot' as you pan the camera round, with a small infantry sprite like we have you don't get that. So there are compromises to be made.

[JamesLL]

So it can be done! Gunship - how did you do it? Do you think a sprite depicting 4 men in a single row would work?

[gunship24]

First of all you have to be able to create sprites which requires 3d modelling. Mine are from my Nap mod for SoW:GB, no where near as good as the Waterloo sprites. Secondly a single line of 4 would work, but graphically you would have the long sprite pivoting in the centre as you panned the camera, so not ideal for aesthetics.

I am thinking of doing a 1:1 mod based on this concept and my older sprites in the future. Having too much fun playing and testing to mod at the moment though.

[JamesLL]

Thanks again Gunship for your tips. I'll do my homework on 3D modelling and see what I can come up with - it may take some time!

In the meantime I look forward to your multi figure sprite mod, it'll be truly awesome to play full scale battles at 1-1!