How to change unit banners and faction icons

**Monkwarrior** · 03-21-2005, 23:12

Modding Resource Header

Title: How to change unit banners and faction icons (formerly Total banners and symbols conversion)

Posted by: Monkwarrior

Modding area: Units (appearance), User Interface

Required programmes: Vercingetorix's X-Pak, an image editor capable of editing .DDS files (such as Photoshop or Paintshop Pro), Notepad (or other text editor)
Related links: xpak Tutorial, Nvidia dds plug-in
Summary: This guide details how to change the faction icons in the game - including the battlemap banners, strategic banners and user interface icons.

I had the idea of writing a guide for a complete conversion of all the symbols and banners in a given faction.
The first part for the faction selection menus has already been post here: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=45150

This guide is not intended to be a step-by-step tutorial, and it is supposed that the modder is able to use PSP or Photoshop in a correct way.

BATTLE MAP

The most relevant banners in battles are that for the general unit and the banner for the rest of units. These banners are included in one single file: standard_factionname.tga.dds placed in Data\models\textures folder. This is the example for the celts faction I did (I remember this is not a very artistic work, it is only for general information):

On the right the banner for the general unit, on the left the common banner. I did these banners from the "white" banner standard_routing_barbarian.tga.dds in the same folder. There are also white versions for eastern and western factions.
Here you have the effect in game:

Other banners appear in some units, but they are included in the textures of the units, in Data\models_unit\textures.
In the image (with a red circle) you can see also another banner, which is probably more difficult to find, as it is included in the packs.
Once unpacked, you can find these banners in the folder Data\ui\CAPTAIN_BANNERS, with the name CAPTAIN_CARD_FACTIONNAME.TGA. I did it simply by cutting the banner for the general unit, resizing to fit the new size and pasting it on the captain banner.

I hope this will help and next chapter will deal with the large amount of places where banners and symbols appear in strategic map.
Cheers.

**Monkwarrior** · 03-28-2005, 03:07

STRATEGIC MAP

In these pictures have tried to show most of occasions when the faction symbols and banners appear in the strategic map.

The CAPTAIN_CARD_FACTIONNAME.TGA placed in Data\ui\CAPTAIN_BANNERS folder appears also in the strategic map. It is shown in green in the first screenshot, in the prebattle screen when the armies are commanded by a captain instead of a general.

In blue you can see the places where a big symbol appears, for example in the right bottom interface pannel, in diplomacy or to show the AI movements at the end of the turn. It is coded in the file STRATPAGE_02.TGA placed in Data\ui\ROMAN\INTERFACE folder. This is the aspect of this file:

You must paste the new symbol on the old one. I use the symbol48_factionname.tga file (used for menu buttons) to copy, resize and paste the same symbol.

The small symbol also appears in many occassions, as can be seen in the screenshots (red marks), such as the prebattle screen, the battle results or the diplomacy screen. The small symbol is coded in the file SHAREDPAGE_01.TGA placed in Data\ui\ROMAN\INTERFACE folder. This is the aspect of this file:

The symbol must be pasted on the old one. I use the symbol24_factionname.tga file to copy, resize and paste the same symbol.

Finally, the banners in settlements and armies (white marks in screenshots) are specific for the faction only in the color (in descr_sm_factions.txt placed in Data folder) and the symbols, coded in the files symbols1.tga.dds to symbols8.tga.dds placed in Data\banners folder. The symbol for britons is placed in symbols4.tga.dds as shown in the figure.

What I do to modify the symbol is to cut the corner of the symbol, both in RGB and alpha channels. Then I paste the positive and negative of the new symbol in RGB and alpha channels, respectively and this is the final result:

I hope this tutorial will help in some way for a total conversion of the banners and symbols of a faction.
Please if you feel that something is not clear enough or that something is lacking, post it here.
Thanks.

**Meneldil** · 03-28-2005, 16:47

Do I have to repack the files, or even to delete the vanilla packs ?
Right now, the game crash while loading when I add the 2 tga files into Data\ui\ROMAN\INTERFACE

Edit : I achieved to have the game loading without a crash, but the symbols are still the same

**Monkwarrior** · 03-28-2005, 17:16

Originally Posted by Meneldil

Do I have to repack the files, or even to delete the vanilla packs ?
Right now, the game crash while loading when I add the 2 tga files into Data\ui\ROMAN\INTERFACE

In fact all these modifications were done for RTW 1.1.
In that case I was working with a completely unpacked version, and the packs had to be deleted to get the modifications visible.

Does the crash take place while loading the game or the campaign?
I am now adapting my mod to 1.2. I can only say that the game loads without problems with the two modified files. I can play custom battles but I have problems in loading the provincial campaign. However the problem is completely different (I will post it in the general forum).

Good luck!

**Meneldil** · 03-28-2005, 17:32

It now works (kinda, the large icons is showing, not the small one). I had to delete the packs in order to do so.

Anyway, thanks, that's a great tutorial

**Vetinari** · 03-29-2005, 13:48

Have you found a way to stop the grey background from appearing on the flags in the strategic map? I can change the symbols ok but they always seem to have the grey square behind them.

**Balbus** · 04-26-2005, 23:47

Originally Posted by Monkwarrior

STRATEGIC MAP

Finally, the banners in settlements and armies (white marks in screenshots) are specific for the faction only in the color (in descr_sm_factions.txt placed in Data folder) and the symbols, coded in the files symbols1.tga.dds to symbols8.tga.dds placed in Data\banners folder. The symbol for britons is placed in symbols4.tga.dds as shown in the figure.

Sorry if this is a stupid question (I'm new to modding), but I can't seem to find symbol for the Senate amongst these files.

symbols1.tga.dds contains the three Roman families, whilst 2 to 5 has the other factions. 6, 7 and 8 appear to be blank. Can anyone help? Thanks.

**Monkwarrior** · 04-27-2005, 08:36

Originally Posted by Balbus

Sorry if this is a stupid question (I'm new to modding), but I can't seem to find symbol for the Senate amongst these files.

symbols1.tga.dds contains the three Roman families, whilst 2 to 5 has the other factions. 6, 7 and 8 appear to be blank. Can anyone help? Thanks.

It's not a stupid question (at least the same problem happened to me at the beginning). I imagine you are not an expert in photoshop (as me

) and you are not familiar with alpha channels.
Some of the symbols are only visible in that channel (germans for example), as they are white.
In the menu open Window>Channels. You will have a new window and your visible (eye on the left) channels are RGB and the individual red, green and blue. Click on the alpha and you will see the senate symbol.

If the problem persists I will try to post some screenshots.
Good luck!

**gunnarstorms** · 04-28-2005, 04:16

i successfully changed the battle banners and the map unit banners, but i'm having trouble changing the interface shields because i can't find this Data/ui folder your talking about, where is it? i found a folder called /packs and ui_0.pak and ui_1.pak files in it, but i can't open them. What do i do?

**Meneldil** · 04-28-2005, 07:59

Download Vercingetorix' pak extractor, extract ui_1.pak (create a new folder, put ui_1 into this folder, then put the extractor and launch it) A DATA folder will appear, look into it and find the roman/interface folder, replace the files with your new ones, repak the file (there's a tutorial about repaking in the readme) and put the edited, brand new-repaked pak in your RTW pak folder.

IF you're using 1.2, you'll have to unpak patch_0.pak aswell, cause one of the required file is packed here.
To do so, put patch_0 in an empty folder with the pak extractor, rename patch_0 (ie : ui_0.pak or ui_1.pak), and launch the extractor.
Do not forget to repak everything once you'd edited the files (I think you have to rename it patch_0, but I may be wrong).

I hope I've been clear enough (I doubt it, but heh).

**Laridus Konivaich** · 06-17-2005, 16:04

Mokwarrior: Do you know where the files are for the settlement banner that is used when no armies are present?, the larger, square banner? Is this possibly the captain banner?

**Monkwarrior** · 06-18-2005, 07:02

Yes, I think so. But it is not 100% sure, as I tested it some time ago.

**Encaitar** · 06-18-2005, 10:54

The banners that appear above a settlement on the strat map when there are no units there are models_strat\textures\#banner_symbol_{faction}.tga.dds

These textures are referenced from the models_strat\symbol_{faction}.CAS files. Which specific .CAS file is for which faction is defined in descr_sm_factions.txt.