Juju

I've accepted the offer from the three people who applied to test the mod. Thanks to Rambler, Der alte Fritz and PhilM. These three should should cover all bases. All we need now is the actual game.

Valid points. But I should clarify that what I'm doing with these icons fits into the overall scheme of the mod. One of the main design elements is the use of colored icons for every individual weapon and vehicle instead of silhouettes. That goes for these icons as well. It'd take a lot of convincing for me to deviate from that direction. BTW, just to make things clear, I'm no artist either. Outside of CM I have zero-zip-zilch experience in the graphical world. I merely scratch the surface of what Photoshop is capable of. So I'm certainly no authority in this field either. If anything I'd call myself resourceful. My goal is simply to make pretty eye-candy for myself and you guys, and to have lots of fun in the process. So, yeah, keep those suggestions coming, but understand beforehand that I cannot honor them all.

Hope I did my research right on these. Here's a (WIP) preview of the new Soviet small arms plus a possible replacement for the Kar I'm considering:

You have to admit it does fit the Red Thunder scheme. Tell you what, if people like this concept, I'll see if I can cook up an Axis variant. Might be difficult to find the right picture, though.

Vinnart, I'm going to try if altering the soldier view background can produce the same effect without having to lighten all the weapons, cos I'd hat to do that.

Erwin made a very interesting point about an 'increasing range concept.' I decided to play around with that a little and came up with the following. I feel it's quite intuitive. BTW, they look so fuzzy because they've been blown up to 200%. Opinions?

Hmm, photos are going to be difficult as I need more than just a face to convey what an icon actually does or means. For now I'm thinking sober and simple is the way to go. You guys have already given me a handful of ideas to work with for now. Gimme a day or so, and I´ll post 4 all new ones. And if those don't work, well, knowing myself (rather well, actually) I'll likely make even more. And after that I'll probably give up on these for a year or so, and then try again.

They don't need to be changed. It's just that what has been default (and, let's face it, dead-ugly) doesn't fit in my plans for the new UI. Now, I'm a guy who swears by functionality over design'' so if, eventually, I don't get any new stuff to work out, I'll just stick to the originals and try to make that work. And there will always be the option to make them optional. Can't blame a man for trying, though. Hence the WIP part.

That little preview was made without much thought about any increasing range concept. Good idea, though. I'll take that into account when I have something new to show.

Okay, lots of valid criticism, suggestions and ideas. Keep 'em coming. Thanks. One thing, though; don't forget I only have 30x30 pixels to work with on these, which is not a lot. But I'll see what I can come up with. @regiment0: Voice = ear (indicating within hearing range). Heh, I've already tried that a while back. At 30x30 pixels it tends to look exactly like certain lady parts. So I wouldn't hold my breath for that one.

Thanks. I didn't mention this, but guys like you, who have firsthand experience with modding, do get 'extra points,' as you tend to know what to look for. Sadly, those are usually the ones who seem to play very little. But for now I'll wait a bit for some more volunteers, okay.

I really want to do away with the old C&C icons on this one (the title should read C&C, not CoC as well, BTW), but I feel deviating from them seems quite a big step. So far I came up with this. I'm still not sure about the 'visual close' icon, but I feel the others should work with a little getting used to. Opinions? Ideas?

The second item on the agenda is a bit of news. Marco suggested we collaborate our efforts, so from now on the design of the UI will take into account Marco's alternate silhouette mod. This means that in the future Marco and I intend to produce variants of his mod that should work seamlessly with 'Red Thunder UI!'

On to the first item on the agenda: Testers. When the time comes I'm going to need one or two. With around a 1000 files, there's bound to be things that I'll miss or inadvertantly mess up. Nothing I'd hate more than having to update and re-upload the whole mod because of a few stupid mistakes (yes, I'm looking at you, Besa machine gun). What I'm looking for are a few people who are playing the game A LOT. They should at least have some eye for detail. You'll be pointing out where I messed up, what could do with improvement, and, if it's not too heavily based on personal preference, offer suggestions or additions. Not all at the same time, please.

Welcome gentlemen, to Juju's 'Red Thunder UI' preview and discussion thread. Here you'll be able to view regularly updated previews, discuss likes and dislikes, and offer suggestions. I might even ask your opinion on things from time to time, too.

Holy shoulderboards, Batman, that's a lot of variation. Thanks! I sure am glad I only need to 'copy' the look of the structure BFCwill put in the game, otherwise I wouldn't see the woods for the trees. Oh well, best to practice a little patience at this point. Plenty of other things to tackle.

Some great and potentially useful links there, Fritz, thanks. I'd love to take a look at those rank structures please. PM me and we'll take it from there. So far, with my meager knowledge, and from what I can see in the videos, I cooked up at least some of the possible ranks. Had to estimate the colors by looking at photographs. Am I at least on the right track here? BTW, these are the size they would appear in the game.

Yep, found all those pics. Some look promising. Kinda. I could work something out from that. Problem is, there's not much point in doing anything without seeing what the game does/uses. I really hope we get access to the manual soon. They usually devote a couple of pages to the rank structures. Thanks anyway, guys! :-)

Thanks Lille, but I already found that one. Sadly these were used from 1958 to 1991. I guess there are plenty of Russian sites with the info I need, but since they're usually in Russian, I wouldn't know what to search for.

Yay, I'm bored, and what better way to kill time than to start preliminary work on my upcoming RT UI mod. Got most of the Soviet small arms weapon slots done and whipped up a couple of Soviet HQ silhouettes, but without the game (or simply a 1920x1080 bmp screenshot. Nudge, wink.) there's only so much I can do at this point. I could, however, already do with some help. I have little to no clue as to what the 1943-1945 Soviet rank structure looks like (or will look like in the game) and I'm having serious trouble finding useful pics or links. At all! Any of you grog boys (or one of the testers) here got some info on that? If so, help me out, please? Also, I'm looking for decent pictures of the Soviet RM41 50 mm and BM43 82mm mortar rounds. Kind of a long-shot, but if anyone has anything, that'd be sweet.

And guess who's made up his mind and started preliminary work on his upcoming UI mod? Oh yeah, me. I could already do with some help at this point. I have no clue as to what the 1943 Soviet rank structure looks like and I'm also having trouble finding useful pics or links. Any of you grog boys (or one of the testers) here got some info on that? If so, help me out, please?

When you're 'settled in' I'd suggest downloading them all and pick and choose which individual sounds you like best. These sound mods are all pretty diverse. Also, try Dietrich's_CMBN_German_voices_v1.0 and Mord's immersive american voices mod v_1.0a. You can even 'renumber' these, so you get to hear both the stock- and the modded voices for even greater variety. On a final note, if there's a must-have mod you should really get, then download all of Tanks a Lot's CMBN building mods. You won't regret it!

I'm still on the fence as to whether I'm going to buy RT, but if I do I don't think I could stop myself from doing something with/to that UI. Even if it's just to get rid of that hideous green color.

Meh. Some people probably won't like hearing this, but I'm still 'on the fence' regarding RT. On the other hand, good games for the PC (the only platform I use) are far and few between these days it seems, and I do need to get my fix, right? And I know that if I do get it I'll spend more time modding it than playing it. It's just as rewarding, though.

Hey, you're very much welcome!