Removing the minimap "swoosh"?

You'll have to look in the library, but I believe there is a mod that will remove the glare looking thing. Don't know if you can play metaverse with it though.

Edit: Here it is No glare minimap

Constuctive critisism and benevolent praise to follow.

I hate that glare. It's not fun! Glares are bad but they put this one in the game on a map that is used for tiny detail. What the ....? C'mon'.....Remove it, Stardock! This is a future interface for the leader of a civilization. Glares can be eliminated!

Fix this and improve other details and more of us might actually consider buying the next expansion. I will play another game again once the "feel" and atmosphere of it is better.

Yes. I agree it's a great game that boosted this genre. I don't need to here from all you dedicated play nothin' elsers. I like alot about this game but many aspects seem pieced together as after thoughts and tossed in.

I won't list details here. We've all read the positives and negatives already from others too. No, I'm not a negative grouch, well, maybe at this moment I am. I look forward to coming back to 'Galactic Civilizations II' soon. Til then It's 'Civilizations IV Beyond the Sword' with next update and 'Space Empires V' with next update.

Tsk tsk tsk....even in the future glare still haunts the computer screen.


But any way there IS a mod in the library, but I think it's only for DL....not DA.

Thank you, it works fine in DA. The mod is a simple one that replaces a file and creates a backup in case you want to restore the glare feature. I don't play Metaverse, so I can't verify, but the readme says it should be OK for that as well.

i think i even remember Cari saying it was MV compatible, on some random forum, but like shiva, it's not really my bailewick.

I've always wondered why that mini-map distortion was there. That mod works great. Any way to get that fix for Dread Lords?

It's actually a pretty simple mod. Just find the appropriate .dxpack file (mainwnd.dxpack, I think?), rename it to a zip file, open and modify the appropriate image, then name it back to .dxpack.

Just asking, but why did the devs put this stupid glare on the map in the first place? As if there wasn't enough glare on my screen right now!  

I have looked in MainWnd.dxpack (DL) and I can not find anything that looks like it would create the glare on the minimap.

Please devs, you know that a lot of us do not like the glare - and you know exactly what needs to be changed.
Could you either modify it for us and make it available for download, or tell us exactly what needs to be changed?

If the background shows up white, you won't be able to see it. You'll need to overlay it on a dark background to make it visible to remove, in that case.

No Glare Mini Map

ZzzombieBunny, that mod is only for DA. It does not work with DL.

Kryo, I tried that and still could not see any difference.
However, that led me to check on the file properties, and I noticed that it had an alpha channel. The alpha channel was where the mask is, which I was able to edit.

So, for those that wish a no-glare minimap for Dread Lords, here it is:
WWW Link

Just copy this MainWnd.dxpack into C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Screens, overwriting the original. No need to start a new game, the effect is universal and immediate.

Copy the original to another location as a backup first, in case you want to change back.

I'll also submit it to the Library to make it easier to find in the future.


Edit:
If your browser saves the file with a .zip extension, simply rename the file with a .dxpack extension.
(I uploaded it with the correct extension, but when I tested it by clicking the link it saved as a .zip.)

My bad, shouldnt be posting before morning coffee

While were on the subject of the minimap, is there anyway to enable the Ship Range view while having territory view enabled? Or is there hotkeys for enabling/disabling the various minimap functions.

Ah, you were probably using an editor that doesn't render the alpha channel directly as transparency in the image, then.

The icons to the right of the minimap do that.

Third row down on the right is the one for ship range.

I was using Paint Shop Pro. I had to first load the mask from the alpha channel, and then it rendered it directly

Again, my bad. At a closer look Ship Range does seem to work with the Ownership filter. I guess the problem is that the the Ship Range filter has a color that is virtually impossible to distinguish (at least on my monitor and the color settings I have).

What files modifies with color of the Ship Range filter? A more green color would be more fitting than the light grey one that it uses by default.

Thank you very much, but when I opened the zip file after dowloading the link, there was a bunch of files in there, but no MainWnd.dxpack.

Craig, read the rest of Moose's post.

Oh, okay, didn't see that bottom part. Need more coffee