Are the Colonial Unit Models broken?

[Dakka]

Landed my English troops in the New World. I noticed that neither my nor Castille's or France's unit models are shown as the Colonial unit models from the DLC. Upon further inspection, it seems that Colonial Nations have the right models but the parent nations do not. Is this intentional or a bug?

 

[SaintDaveUK]

This is a new change and WAD. The idea is that mother country will always use their proper unit pack, and colonial nations and colonial cultures will always use the colonial units. The goal is to add a bit more sense of variety when playing in the Americas, and also so there's a visual disparity between regular crown troops (even when fighting in the New World) and colonial militias, as there was historically.

That said, I'd be happy to take feedback on it.

 

[Dakka]

This is a new change and WAD. The idea is that mother country will always use their proper unit pack, and colonial nations and colonial cultures will always use the colonial units. The goal is to add a bit more sense of variety when playing in the Americas, and also so there's a visual disparity between regular crown troops (even when fighting in the New World) and colonial militias, as there was historically.

That said, I'd be happy to take feedback on it.

I don’t have a problem with the decision. Just wanted to see if it was intentional or not
At first the CNs had vanilla western models as well but after I refreshed the game they flipped over.
I will admit that it may be worth considering changing over the T1 models at least. They, for the most part, have more of an explorer/conquistador vibe to them and it may be fitting to still have the tier 1 models be shared by mother nations. Especially since there won’t be many colonial nations that early in the game for there to be much overlap before hitting mil tech 11 and changing to tier 2.

 

[SaintDaveUK]

I considered having armies led by conquistadors having colonial unit models, what do you think about that?

 

[Dakka]

I considered having armies led by conquistadors having colonial unit models, what do you think about that?

I think that’s a great idea! If it’s doable that would be an awesome change!

 

[Aybara978NE]

I considered having armies led by conquistadors having colonial unit models, what do you think about that?

I really like this idea too!

 

[Blobhemian]

I think that’s a great idea! If it’s doable that would be an awesome change!

This is one of the benefits of the new unit model distribution system. I was kinda bummed that it broke all my personal mods and I had to format everything from scrach, but it now provides flexibility to assign models based on pretty much any condition. I don't really know if you can come up with such conditions by yourself as a modder or if the devs need to define them first, but technically you could easily make unit models change with religion, distance from capital, overseas, etc, not just tags. However, the priorization system is imho kinda messy, sometimes it's really hard to deal with various overlaps.

 

[Dakka]

This is one of the benefits of the new unit model distribution system. I was kinda bummed that it broke all my personal mods and I had to format everything from scrach, but it now provides flexibility to assign models based on pretty much any condition. I don't really know if you can come up with such conditions by yourself as a modder or if the devs need to define them first, but technically you could easily make unit models change with religion, distance from capital, overseas, etc, not just tags. However, the priorization system is imho kinda messy, sometimes it's really hard to deal with various overlaps.

Yeah I had a lot of my own unit model mods that broke with the new system but I just... Idk, hadn't had the drive to fix or adjust

 

[pgroves]

I considered having armies led by conquistadors having colonial unit models, what do you think about that?

That would be great, I think!

BTW if I form Great Britain with Scotland, will it get the Scottish unit models (kilts!) as their main (non-colonial) models? Also will they be coloured red as their primary colour, rather than yellow? I had to mod this in when I last did a Scotland>GB run last year, before the changes to how unit models are assigned. Thanks!

 

[SaintDaveUK]

I don't really know if you can come up with such conditions by yourself as a modder or if the devs need to define them first

I think you can use any trigger. The problem is that the unit models don't know that they have to update if you change religion for example, so either the player must restart the save, or the modder must put the new "update_sprite_pack = yes" command in an event or onaction

BTW if I form Great Britain with Scotland, will it get the Scottish unit models (kilts!) as their main (non-colonial) models? Also will they be coloured red as their primary colour, rather than yellow? I had to mod this in when I last did a Scotland>GB run last year, before the changes to how unit models are assigned. Thanks!

I believe so! Untested in a 'real' game but it seemed to work with console commands.

 

[pgroves]

I think you can use any trigger. The problem is that the unit models don't know that they have to update if you change religion for example, so either the player must restart the save, or the modder must put the new "update_sprite_pack = yes" command in an event or onaction

I believe so! Untested in a 'real' game but it seemed to work with console commands.

When I modded the units myself for a Scottish Great Britain before this year's patches, the level 2 ones ended up looking like this, which I thought was rather nice (also notice modded flag)

 

[Dakka]

I think you can use any trigger. The problem is that the unit models don't know that they have to update if you change religion for example, so either the player must restart the save, or the modder must put the new "update_sprite_pack = yes" command in an event or onaction

I believe so! Untested in a 'real' game but it seemed to work with console commands.

Was playing a bit last night and was wondering a couple things:

1. Would it be possible to change it so Gotland continues to use their own models rather than the pirate models? It's really cool that the pirate models are going automatically but it's a shame we never see the new models for them as a result. (I'm not sure if this is the case for Palembang but I assumed not since they aren't western).

2. Would it be possible for the Moroccan units to get dynamic coloring? It seems that Tlemcen uses them but they still have the Moroccan coat of arms on their chest. I know this is a taller order.
Additionally, if Cyprus could use the Knights T1 models for their own T1 but with their own coat of arms that would be really great. Iirc this is the last case of the ugly Eastern European unit model being used. I figured it would make sense for Cyprus to be using the Knight models given that they are essentially all that is left of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Otherwise, I really like how unit models have been revamped. Seeing a lot of models that were never used (like American models in British Colonies, even if this basically removes the the British New World models near-entirely). Really great work and I look forward to seeing this treatment expanded if time is available. There are still several cannon and cavalry units that use base models as opposed to some of the newer ones. Really great work overall! Compliments to the art team.

 

[Blobhemian]

Was playing a bit last night and was wondering a couple things:

1. Would it be possible to change it so Gotland continues to use their own models rather than the pirate models? It's really cool that the pirate models are going automatically but it's a shame we never see the new models for them as a result. (I'm not sure if this is the case for Palembang but I assumed not since they aren't western).

2. Would it be possible for the Moroccan units to get dynamic coloring? It seems that Tlemcen uses them but they still have the Moroccan coat of arms on their chest. I know this is a taller order.
Additionally, if Cyprus could use the Knights T1 models for their own T1 but with their own coat of arms that would be really great. Iirc this is the last case of the ugly Eastern European unit model being used. I figured it would make sense for Cyprus to be using the Knight models given that they are essentially all that is left of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

I have a very comprehensive list of such issues coming up, but I kinda failed to keep up with all the updates and changes for now. Good thing is that most of them can be fixed with simple mods, e.g the wrong or missing artillery models or units using wrong animations. Models using non-dynamic colours or coat of arms that belong to different tags, however, require advanced modding that goes beyond text edits, so it would be nice to see them fixed by the devs. Mare Nostrum specifically could absolutely use a comprehensive bug-fixing pass, there are literally broken and missing assets, not to mention the original T2 Italian models that got removed in a hotfix for some reason (at least they should have been kept around for modders to use, the current T2 models don't fit the 30y war fashion at all).

 

[Dakka]

I have a very comprehensive list of such issues coming up, but I kinda failed to keep up with all the updates and changes for now. Good thing is that most of them can be fixed with simple mods, e.g the wrong or missing artillery models or units using wrong animations. Models using non-dynamic colours or coat of arms that belong to different tags, however, require advanced modding that goes beyond text edits, so it would be nice to see them fixed by the devs. Mare Nostrum specifically could absolutely use a comprehensive bug-fixing pass, there are literally broken and missing assets, not to mention the original T2 Italian models that got removed in a hotfix for some reason (at least they should have been kept around for modders to use, the current T2 models don't fit the 30y war fashion at all).

I'm glad you are. I used to make mods to fix missing and broken unit packs and spread them out to get rid of the aged generic models, but I just don't have the time anymore. Especially after the script changed. Paradox for the most part has already stepped up and done what I used to do with mods but there's still some work to be done. I think a comprehensive list would help them a lot and if you need help I would be happy to help you catalogue

Re: Italian T2
I remember when the pack came out; it had a lot of issues that, for the most part, were fixed. They got removed for being anachronistic but, yeah, they were just kind of removed instead of repurposed. I think they could probably be used elsewhere without a problem.

 

[Dakka]

This is a new change and WAD. The idea is that mother country will always use their proper unit pack, and colonial nations and colonial cultures will always use the colonial units. The goal is to add a bit more sense of variety when playing in the Americas, and also so there's a visual disparity between regular crown troops (even when fighting in the New World) and colonial militias, as there was historically.

That said, I'd be happy to take feedback on it.

So after playing a bit more and seeing that most Colonial Nations flip to their “American” cultures, most games it appears the British T3 and T4 units will be replaced my the American Dream units. Is this preferred or would there be a desire to change the American models to only be used by the US/Thirteen colonies tag? It’s cool that they’re finally seeing the light of day but I think it may be cooler limiting that particular unit model set to the Thirteen Colonies/US region and let, say, Caribbean and Canadian British nations retain the CoP unit models. This would further increase model variety beyond a bunch of Revolutionary Americans

 

[pgroves]

So after playing a bit more and seeing that most Colonial Nations flip to their “American” cultures, most games it appears the British T3 and T4 units will be replaced my the American Dream units. Is this preferred or would there be a desire to change the American models to only be used by the US/Thirteen colonies tag? It’s cool that they’re finally seeing the light of day but I think it may be cooler limiting that particular unit model set to the Thirteen Colonies/US region and let, say, Caribbean and Canadian British nations retain the CoP unit models. This would further increase model variety beyond a bunch of Revolutionary Americans

I would prefer this change too, if feasible