Ozhara’s guide to graphic objects (slp/dat)

Overview

This guide is thought to help you modding slp files by showing you the used naming conditions.

Introduction

In case you want to mod some non-terrain graphics, you have to deal with slp files.

How to edit them (and mod AoE2 in general) I already explained in my modding guide.

This guide focuses on finding the slp file you are searching for and giving it the ‘correct’ name.

To do so can be a little difficult, for the extracted (by yourself or by using the already extracted files from patch 4.0 and onwards) are named with the graphics id which isn’t that meaningfull.

You can just use the so named slp file later from 4.0 onwards, but you and others will find a specific slp file later much more easily if you rename the slp file to the graphics internal name. That one is cryptic too, but with knowing the used naming conditions you’ll find a specific file in no time! 🙂

This guide is for now wip, for the FE graphics will be changed with the upcoming expansion (that will also add new ones). It already contains almost all AoC slp files, and parts of FE (that I did before 4.0/the expansion was announced – so it makes no sense to finish the FE part right now before the expansion is out).

You can get everything as a color coded excel-sheet from my skydrive here: Link to onedrive[1drv.ms]
This excel-sheet will always contain the last version.

In this excel sheet all different naming sections are color coded which makes identifying a specific part of a slps name or getting into the naming conditions itself even more easy.

The guide contains the same data as the 3 worksheets (still working on adding all content – it’s a lot 😉 ):

– a list of all slps with their id and name
– an overview for all naming conditions including all possible values for each section
– a list of all units/buildings and their names/abbreviations

1.1 Slp ids & names 1-170

You may have seen some units in the graphics replacement mega mod using the wrong graphics/animations.

This is caused by the new system HiddenPath introduced for modding AoE2 (seperated slp files). Depending on used ids and/or names some graphics are applied to the units different than they are when loaded from the drs files. This is still the case with 4.0 as it seems.
But this is supposed to be fixed with the upcoming expansion.

For now, each id that references several names on the right side and each name beeing used more than once will cause this issue for all animations/graphics referencing either one of the ids or one of the names on any side of each affected row in this table.

As an example, id 75 references 5 names in the second column. Each time a graphics object is used that either points to id 75 or one of these 5 names, they will all use the same grahic in case there is a slp file named like one of these.

If id 200 would also reference one of these names, each graphics object pointing to id 200 (or any other name it might reference) would also use the same slp file for they are all connected by either id or name references.

1.2 Slp ids & names 171-…

2. Naming conditions

For a colored version, download the excel sheet from the introduction.
(For the different sections of a name are different colored there, it might help to get into the naming conditions more quickly.)

This is a list of the general types of naming conditions and the possible values a section can contain.

• [unit] _ [animation type] [layer type]
• [building] [age] [animation type] [layer type] [graphic set]
• [M] _ [missile name] _ [missile type]

Missile

• R: default
• F: Flaming
• S: Shadow
• D: Dead

Age

• 0: ?
• 1: dark age
• 2: feudal age
• 3: castle age
• 4: imperial age

Animation

• A: attacking
• D: dying
• F: standing
• S: decaying
• W: moving (wandering)
• N: no animation
• R: running
• T: second action (tracking?)
• C: carrying/construction
• B: ?
• W: water
• U: ?

Layer

• N: main image
• 0: additional layer 1 (mostly shadows)
• 1: additional layer 2 (mostly additional animations)
• 2: additional layer 3
• 3: additional layer 4
• 4: additional layer 5
• 5: additional layer 6
• 6: additional layer 7
• 7: additional layer 8
• z: ?

Graphic Set

• E: north european (european)
• F: asian (far east)
• M: arabic (middle east)
• W: west european
• G: all (gaia?)
• X: South American
• H: Goths
• I: Vikings
• J: Japanese
• L: Celts
• N: Mongoloan
• P: Persian
• R: Frank
• S: Saracens
• T: Turkish
• U: Teutons
• Y: Byzantines
• B: Britons
• Z: Chinese
• C: Spanish
• G: Huns
• M: Mayan
• A: Aztec
• K: Korean

Some units/buildings use even further sectioned naming conditions than their type of graphic uses in general.

Villagers
[[V] [sex: F/M] [job type]] _ [animation type] [layer type]

Job

• BAS: – (basket/gatherer ?)
• BLD: Builder
• FAR: Farmer
• HUN: Hunter
• LUM: Lumberjack
• MIN: Miner
• REP: Repairer
• GLD: Gold (Miner with visible gold)
• FOR: Forager
• SHE: Sheppard
• FIS: Fisher

Gates
[[GT] [direction: A/B/C/D] [gate part]] _ [animation type] [layer type]

Gate Part

• A: Closed
• B: Raised
• C: Tower
• X: building

Sea Gates
[[SG] [direction: A/B/C/D] [gate part]] _ [animation type] [layer type]

Gate Part

• A: Closed
• B: Raised
• C: Tower
• X: building

Town Center image layers

• N: Main Building (corner)
• 0: Shadow
• 2: Roof left (doesn’t block units)
• 3 + 4: Roof left support/pillar (blocks units)
• 5: Roof right (doesn’t block units)
• 6 + 7: Roof right support/pillar (blocks units)

Bridge
[[BG] [direction: A/B] [Bridge part}] _ [layer type]

Bridge Part

• A: End right
• B: Middle
• C: End left
• D: Broken Middle
• E: Broken End left
• F: Broken End right

Ships

• 1H: Hull

Sails

• A: front to behind?
• B: behind to front?
• W: wind
• F: flat
• S: ?
• C: ?

Damaged Walls
[[WDS] [wall type 1/2] [damage type A/B/C]] [animation type] [layer type] [graphic set]

—————————————————————————————————————-

Names ending with ‘X’ mostly come from an expansion, or the name is too short (units < 5).

While buildings have seperate shadow files, units don’t.
Shadow files are displayed transparent, therefore units have black shadows.

3. Unit names and abbreviations

A list of all units/buildings and their abbreviation/internal name:
(incomplete!)

ACOAR arbalest (?)
ARCHR archer
ARRG archery range
BRKS barracks
BTRAM battering ram
BLAC blacksmith
BCANN bombard
LANCE camel (?)
CANOE canoe
CBATR capped ram (capped battering ram)
CSTL castle
CATAP cataphract
PALDN cavalier (paladin)
CVRCH cavalry archer
HEROI champion (hero infantry)
CHUKN chu-ko-nu
CLF cliff
CNST construction
CARCH crossbowman
DEER deer
DOCK dock
FLM fire (flames)
FSHSP fishing ship
HLBDM halbedier
HCANR handcanoneer
HCLRY heavy camel (heavy cavalry)
HCVAR heavy cavalry archer
HWBAL heavy scorpion (heavy ballista)
HJODA hero joan the maid
HOUS house
JANNI janissary
WCTW keep (watch tower)
KINGX king
KNGHT knight
LTCAV light cavalry
LNGBT longboat
LNGBW longbowman
THSWD longswordman (two-handed swordsman)
MAGYA magyar
DERVI mameluke (dervish)
SWDMN man-at-arms (swordsman)
MANGO mangonel
MOSUN mangudai (?)
MRKT market
SPRMN militia (spearman)
MILL mill
CRCH monastery (church)
MONKX monk
RMONK monk with relic
ONAGR onager
HEROC paladin (hero cavalry)
WALL pallisade / wall
ISPKM pikeman (?)
PORT port
RUBL rubble
SMURI samurai
SCBAL scorpion (scorpion ballista)
SCOUT scout cavalry
SNAGR siege onager
SGRAM siege ram
SIWS siege workshop
XBOWM Skirmisher (?)
HXBOW elite skirmisher (?)
PKEMN spearman (pikeman)
TKNIT teutonic knight
TAXEM throwing axeman
RTWC town center
TCARE trade cart empty
TDWS trade workshop
TREBU trebuchet
HTHSW two handed swordsman
UNIV university
MPCAV war elephant (?)
WCTWR watch tower
WBRSK woad raider (woad berserker)