 Due to the new graphics engine, Stronghold 2 is well equiped to be graphically modified to fit the player's desires. Even though the game comes with hundreds of pre-made crests (usually called coat of arms), there is always room to improve upon them, or to create entirely new designs. Enter in to find out how!
Submitted by Roborob, Lord Gray, WitchHazel, Aubergine, TTemplar, Sir Knight, ice20gr1 and LordBritian
Eventually, the red griffin becomes stale to look at, as does Lord Barclay's green chevron. Since many want to see their own imprint actually displayed in the game, the easiest way is to update the game's crests, which are also called coat of arms.
The crest will fly from every flag and banner the player owns, will be displayed on every sheild, both on military units and on buildings. Even the knight's horses will be regally dressed in the custom coat of arms. Just follow these simply stesp and only be bound by your artistic imagination.
First, a friendly reminder. Always backup your files. Create a new folder called backup, and place copies of the original files there. This will save a lengthy re-install as the only means to recover the original files.
What needs to be updated
All the crests that come with the game are found in the FireFly Studios/Stronghold 2/crests folder or in its subfolders, and each ends in the PNG extension. Each sub folder has 100 crests sorted by particular color schemes. The same designs are found in every colored folder.
Refer to this table to determine which file to update for the corresponding Lord. All of these files are in the main 'crests' folder.
| Lord | Crest File Name | | Neutral Estate | crest0.PNG | | Player | crest1.PNG | | Olaf | crest2.PNG | | Barclay | crest3.PNG | | The Hawk | crest4.PNG | | The Bull | crest5.PNG | | Sir William | crest6.PNG | | Edwin | crest7.PNG | | Lady Seren | crest8.PNG | | The King | crest9.PNG | | Sir Grey | crest10.PNG |
The most simple way to customize the crest to your liking is to just replace the original crest(s) with a pre-made crest. All you must do is look through all the crest folders and find one you like, or find one in our Custom Crests Gallery. Copy the crest into the main 'crests' folder and rename to the desired file name, using the table above for reference. Just retrieve your 'backup' file(s) to restore the original(s).
Designing a New Crest
First you will need an editor that can edit and save PNG files. Microsoft Paint can do this as well and all versions of Adobe Photoshop. To find out if your editor can save PNG files, just try to save any file, and under the 'Save As' or 'Save File As' field, check to see if PNG is an option.
To update an existing crest, open the file in your editor of choice. If you want to start from scratch, create a new file and make sure the Image Size is 128 pixels by 128 pixels. To do this in MS Paint, choose the 'Image' menu, and then 'Attributes'. Make sure the Units is Pixels and type in 128 in both fields.
In Photoshop, choose the 'Image' menu, and then 'Image Size…'. Make sure that Pixels is the dimension field and type in 128 twice. Don't worry about the Print Size options.
Now you are ready to create your custom crest. Check these sites for a display of some Medieval Coat of Arms and to Learn about their Meanings. Also, here are few design considerations that we have found that will help you produce the best results:
First, keep the background to one or two colors which helps the crest blend in with other aspecs of the game.
Next, the crest will show a reversed side when hanging from flags, so avoid text and other instances that do not reverse well.
Lastly, place the details of the crest in the middle portion of the crest, (the center 70 by 70 pixels area). Since the crest is used on thick and short flags as well as on thin and tall shields, this will insure that the detail of the crest is always seen. Use the below picture as a guideline.
When the design is complete, save the file as a PNG file type. Then copy it into the desired location (after making the appropriate backups!) and load the game. All your work is now seemlessly displayed inside of Stronghold 2.
All Done
Here are few examples of what Stronghold-Knights.com members have made so far.
To find more member contributions to this subject, read the Custom Crest's and Guide to Custom Crest's threads in our forums. Go make some new designs and have them added to our Custom Crests Gallery.
|
