Every new update to Hearts of Iron 4, I like to dig into the game files and see what remnants there are of content that almost, but not quite, made it into the game. It's an interesting insight into paths the dev team explored but ultimately did not complete, and I also like to use these in mods from time to time. So this time I thought I'd make a thread here about what I found because this update has quite a lot of unused portraits.
Honorable mention goes to Victor Baydalakov, who doesn't count as a new portrait in Barbarossa due to having been in the game since (as far as I'm aware) initial release, but does warrant a shoutout in the comments of the Soviet characters file. I didn't really expect the White path to be crafted around him, but it's nice to see a sign that the devs were at least thinking of this portrait at some point in designing it.
In total, I count 23 unused portraits in this update, three of which are in the free patch and the remaining 20 are DLC locked. The free portraits are Paradoxians Daniel "Da9l" Sjöberg and Vachon Pugh, added in a new "DEV" folder for unclear purpose, as well as Victorio Codovilla, who it seems was added during a rejigging of Argentinian communist leaders owing to the longstanding (and now corrected) misidentification of Fanny Edelman née Jabcovsky.
There are some signs of intent to flesh out the Tsarist focus tree somewhat with additional claimants. Two commented out focuses refer to imposing a constitutional monarchy under Tsar Vsevolod Ivanovich, and there is also an easter eggy looking Tsar Joseph I (who is even scripted as a character, but never recruited and so cannot appear in game). The SOV folder also contains two portraits of Aleksandra Kollontay, which differ slightly in hair style, one of several hints that the Soviet opposition branches were at some point anticipated to be even more elaborate than they are in the final release!
The Don and Kuban Cossack states do not have leaders scripted, but they do have portraits painted. Vladimir Sidorin and Ivanis Vasily Nikolaevich respectively seem to have missed out on being scripted as leaders (according to comments in the history files this was assigned to someone named James). There is also a portrait of the Nazi Governor-General of Poland Hans Frank, but without a Reichskommissariat-style decision there is no clear way he might be included.
In the Baltics, it appears there were plans for more characters in the communist branches, and the officer corps in particular, with generals such as August Kork, Jukums Vācietis, and Vincas Vitkauskas, who either openly sided with the communists early or defected upon the Soviet invasion. Civilian communists Karl Säre and Martin Latsis also suggest more communist content, and perhaps even an international reach of The Purge. On the anti-communist side are Estonia's Ants Kurvits and Latvia's Rūdolfs Klinsons, as well as Mārtiņš Peniķis (who is in fact in the game as a Field Marshal, but with a generic portrait). Finally, short-lived King of Lithuania Mindaugas II has a portrait along side his son's, which is a little surprising as he died in 1928.
Lastly, Poland has the Dmowski-aligned Jędrzej Giertych and the communists Michał Rola-Żymierski and Marian Spychalski. Presumably planned for their respective paths, it's not clear why they didn't make the cut.
That's all I could find, did I miss any?
Honorable mention goes to Victor Baydalakov, who doesn't count as a new portrait in Barbarossa due to having been in the game since (as far as I'm aware) initial release, but does warrant a shoutout in the comments of the Soviet characters file. I didn't really expect the White path to be crafted around him, but it's nice to see a sign that the devs were at least thinking of this portrait at some point in designing it.
In total, I count 23 unused portraits in this update, three of which are in the free patch and the remaining 20 are DLC locked. The free portraits are Paradoxians Daniel "Da9l" Sjöberg and Vachon Pugh, added in a new "DEV" folder for unclear purpose, as well as Victorio Codovilla, who it seems was added during a rejigging of Argentinian communist leaders owing to the longstanding (and now corrected) misidentification of Fanny Edelman née Jabcovsky.
There are some signs of intent to flesh out the Tsarist focus tree somewhat with additional claimants. Two commented out focuses refer to imposing a constitutional monarchy under Tsar Vsevolod Ivanovich, and there is also an easter eggy looking Tsar Joseph I (who is even scripted as a character, but never recruited and so cannot appear in game). The SOV folder also contains two portraits of Aleksandra Kollontay, which differ slightly in hair style, one of several hints that the Soviet opposition branches were at some point anticipated to be even more elaborate than they are in the final release!
The Don and Kuban Cossack states do not have leaders scripted, but they do have portraits painted. Vladimir Sidorin and Ivanis Vasily Nikolaevich respectively seem to have missed out on being scripted as leaders (according to comments in the history files this was assigned to someone named James). There is also a portrait of the Nazi Governor-General of Poland Hans Frank, but without a Reichskommissariat-style decision there is no clear way he might be included.
In the Baltics, it appears there were plans for more characters in the communist branches, and the officer corps in particular, with generals such as August Kork, Jukums Vācietis, and Vincas Vitkauskas, who either openly sided with the communists early or defected upon the Soviet invasion. Civilian communists Karl Säre and Martin Latsis also suggest more communist content, and perhaps even an international reach of The Purge. On the anti-communist side are Estonia's Ants Kurvits and Latvia's Rūdolfs Klinsons, as well as Mārtiņš Peniķis (who is in fact in the game as a Field Marshal, but with a generic portrait). Finally, short-lived King of Lithuania Mindaugas II has a portrait along side his son's, which is a little surprising as he died in 1928.
Lastly, Poland has the Dmowski-aligned Jędrzej Giertych and the communists Michał Rola-Żymierski and Marian Spychalski. Presumably planned for their respective paths, it's not clear why they didn't make the cut.
That's all I could find, did I miss any?
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