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title: Modding_graphics

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## Contents {#mw-toc-heading}

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-   [[ 1 ]{.tocnumber} [ Grayscale pictures in HoI2

    ]{.toctext}](#Grayscale_pictures_in_HoI2)

-   [[ 2 ]{.tocnumber} [ Some troubleshooting advice

    ]{.toctext}](#Some_troubleshooting_advice)

-   [[ 3 ]{.tocnumber} [ SKIF (Scytth & Kristoff Icons Factory)

    ]{.toctext}](#SKIF_.28Scytth_.26_Kristoff_Icons_Factory.29)

-   [[ 4 ]{.tocnumber} [ DMP (Design Mod Projekt)

    ]{.toctext}](#DMP_.28Design_Mod_Projekt.29)

:::

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## [ Grayscale pictures in HoI2 ]{#Grayscale_pictures_in_HoI2 .mw-headline}

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The grayscale pictures in HoI2 like the leader, minister or techteam

pictures are not really grayscale pictures. Instead the first two colors

are reserved for transparency. See the picture for an example. The left

picture uses a normal grayscale palette, the right picture uses a

grayscale palette were the first two colours are reserved for

transparency.

​

[Same picture without and with correct

palette](/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Upload&wpDestFile=Greyscale_transparency.png "File:Greyscale transparency.png"){.new}

​

The easiest way to handle transparency problems is by just using one

picture which comes with the vanilla game (and thus has the right

palette) as a template for your graphics. Just prepare your graphic with

a normal grayscale palette and when it is finished, copy & paste it into

the your picked template picture. Then save the picture under a new name

and you are done.

​

You should also note that all the grayscale pictures have a white margin

of one pixel width. This margin isn\'t necessary, but it usually

increases the contrast.

​

## [ Some troubleshooting advice ]{#Some_troubleshooting_advice .mw-headline}

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Right now this will only be a truobleshooting section, because you\'ll

really need to know quite a bit about graphics before you can make your

own graphics to a degree.

​

The important things to know are these:

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-   Try to get a good graphics editing program. It\'s extraordinarily

    hard to do things like blend and create colour gradients with Paint.

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```{=html}

<!-- -->

```

-   Learn about the different graphic types BMP, JPG and GIF, their

    advantages and disadvantages. Especially BMP, because that is the

    graphic that Paradox uses 100% of the time. A very basic image

    format description can be found at [WikiPedia:Graphics_file_format

    Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_file_format_Wikipedia "wikipedia:Graphics file format Wikipedia"){.extiw}

    .

​

**In-game, my graphic looks roughly like what I did, but it\'s all in

funny colours!**

​

-   You have the wrong palette. In the GFX\\palette directory, you\'ll

    find the palettes used for most of the graphics. You have to either

    change these palettes or adopt them yourself in order to get your

    graphics looking right.

​

See [Modding Palettes](/wiki/Modding_Palettes "Modding Palettes") for

more detail.

​

**In-game, my graphic is in all random coloured dots and looks NOTHING

like the graphic that i made!**

​

[Screwed up Image

File](/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Upload&wpDestFile=Problem1.gif "File:Problem1.gif"){.new}

​

-   If it looks something like the picture above, then your issue is

    that the size is incorrect. You\'ll need to change the graphic to

    the right size.

​

**Why do some of my graphics have bright green or bright pink borders

around them?**

​

-   Paradox has two values for .bmp information. Bright green (RGB color

    0,255,0) signifies transparent data. Information in this color will

    be clear, allowing you to see items behind the image such as skins.

    Bright pink (RGB color 255,0,255) signifies opaque data. Information

    in this color will function as a dark screen, such as can be seen in

    the diplomacy screen. Note that if you change these colors they will

    appear on screen.

​

**In-game, my province images aren\'t showing up.**

​

-   Province images will ONLY appear in provinces with urban terrain. To

    change a province into urban terrain, you\'ll need to edit the

    province.csv file.

​

**Where do I get the HoI2 Skin Template?**

​

-   Right here:

    [https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/hoi2-skin-template.180563/](https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/hoi2-skin-template.180563/){.external

    .free rel="nofollow"}

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## [ ]{#SKIF_(Scytth_&_Kristoff_Icons_Factory)} [ SKIF (Scytth & Kristoff Icons Factory) ]{#SKIF_.28Scytth_.26_Kristoff_Icons_Factory.29 .mw-headline}

​

A fantastic little graphics touch-up to the in game unit icons.

​

[Paradox Interactive Forums SKIF

Thread](https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/skif-icons-for-hoi2-dd.236771/){.external

.text rel="nofollow"}

​

[SKIF

Website](http://www.star.net.pl/~scytth/hoi2/page/index.html){.external

.text rel="nofollow"}

​

\

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## [ ]{#DMP_(Design_Mod_Projekt)} [ DMP (Design Mod Projekt) ]{#DMP_.28Design_Mod_Projekt.29 .mw-headline}

​

A big Modproject with alot of new sprites and graphics for alot of

countries.

​

[DMP Website](https://www.designmodproject.de/){.external .text

rel="nofollow"}

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