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Rise of Nations/Unused Graphics

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This is a sub-page of Rise of Nations.

Units

iface_unitsnew~ .dds and iface_unitsnew.tga~ (for Steam version) files inside /art folder contain a lot of unused graphics of units.

This icon was most probably redone in order to unify icons of different ages. Full-face Pre-Industrial Citizen holds a wand, and Industrial one - a wrench, in the same manner. The continuity of generations, yay!
Early version of Citizen icon, was used in May-Oct 2002 period of game development. Can be seen in least one pre-release screenshot.

"Do you mean I'll have to live shirtless until Industrial Age? Oh, come on! It's so cold at nights!
Unused version of Gunpowder\Enlightment Age Merchant. The Merchant game model for morphes properly in these ages and looks just like this icon.

Water wheel? LOL
The unused icon of an unknown ship, probably an early iteration of the Dreadnought.

Father of Indiana Jones??
Unused version of Scout, or probably Explorer icon.

Well, he's looking somewhere, so he must be Explorer, right? Right?
Another unused icon of unknown unit, presumably Scout\Explorer.

Worst nightmare of any Heavy Ship.
Unused version of Fire Ship icon.

Strange configuration for a howitzer.
Unused version of Howitzer icon.

Actually looks more like a yacht.
Unused version of some unit from Light Ship unit line icon, most probably Bark.

There is even a texture that exists for this aircraft, but sadly without a model.
Icon for an unused alternate version of the Jet Fighter unit.

Totally represents action of nuclear units.
Unused version of Nuclear Missile or ICBM icon.

Later developers just mirrored this picture and used it.
Unused version of Royal Tercios icon - unique Spanish Enlightenment Age Light Infantry.

"searching for unused content"
Unused version of Fisherman icon.

"looking for unused content"
Unused version of Explorer icon, as could be seen on this pre-release screenshot.

Unusual yellow painting for this tank.
Unused version of T-80 icon - unique Russian Information Age Tank.

You can see a little paddles above the waterline.
Unused version of some unit from Heavy Ship unit line icon, most probably Trireme.

Looks better than the used counterpart, seriously.
Unused version of V-2 Rocket.

The model and even texture of this unit, lightbomber.tga\bh3, is still in the game's files.
This icon represents Light Bomber - a scrapped unit which would represent Bomber unit line in Industrial Age.

Maybe it was planned as a Helicopter unit for Industrial Age. Who knows...
A... blimp icon? There are no blimps in the release version of the game, so it might be a scrapped unit. Perhaps it would be a unique German version of the scrapped Industrial Age Bomber or an Industrial Age Helicopter.

Several units have their early (or just unused) versions in these graphic sheets.

Unit name Unused Used
Slingers A dyed tunica? Impossible! Also need to add a beard. Even while in-game model is beardless.
Javelineers Oh my, He's aiming at me! Too aggressive! Yes, turn him around and redirect this aggression inside.
Pikemen Ew, sun. Ah yeah, a dreary landscape.
Elite Pikemen A bit of blurry. The sharpness was increased.
Steppe Nomad (Mongols Heavy Horse Archer)

(not quite sure though)

Is this archer armour? Come on, they are nomads. They must be lightweighted for fast raids.
Samurai (Japanese Elite Pikemen) What are you looking? Don't break the fourth wall! That's better.
Destroyer Wrong orientation. Since you are in Industrial Age, Light Ship, you should now face to the left, 45 degrees.
Dreadnought And you too? Discipline is ruined in this Icon Academy! You, my dear Heavy Ship, now face to the right! Don't forget about 45 degrees angle!

There are also many placeholder icons in the game's files.

Looks like a typical Boeing-7xx. Another yacht? Come on. M1 Abrams... Not sure if it's Twilight Sparkle or Pinkie Pie.

Blank examples of placeholder icons - aircraft, naval, tank and cavalry units. Actual placeholder icons, presented in "iface_unitsnew", also have text of the represented unit on placeholder.

Who stole my blank placeholder for infantry?
Typical placeholder for infantry units. There is no blank placeholder for infantry units.

Militia That's all forks, kids!
Minuteman At least it's not Secondman, girls might be not pleased.
Partisan AK-47 for everyone!! "salutes".

There are unused icons for Militia upgrade line. They are hidden in .dds icon file for building upgrades (in AppData folder for user). Used icons are located in .dds icon file for military units and upgrades.

This unit was rejected for use twice - in original RoN release and later for TaP expansion. What a terrible fate...
An icon of a scrapped unit from the Thrones and Patriots expansion - Trireme Catapult. This unit was supposed to be a Classical Age variation of Siege Ship unit line specially for the CTW Alexander the Great campaign.

Do you remember that annoying "We are number one!" meme? Well, here it is.
Unused texture of alternate model for Jet Fighter unit, based on F-4 Phantom fighter. Thus image is located directly in \art folder.

Rare Resources

Name Unused Used
Amber Not enough ambers, people might not recognize. Two is better than one.
Bisons Now... there're too many bisons. I'm so alone now...
Citruses Not surprised they decided to change the picture. Are they apples or peaches? Ooh! It's oranges! To prevent scurvy, you know.
Copper Unused rare resource - Dirt Blocks. Slightly better.
Diamonds Not enough diamonds! People might not recognize! Not so alone now.
Dye Lack of bushes. Bush is added to the right side.
Fish It's not so hygienic to place fish right on the table. Slightly more representative.
Horses Not enough horses!! People might not recognize!! Friendship is magic now.
Marble Might be confused with Ruins. A statue! Not damaged! Okay, now it's definitely not Ruins.
Papyrus ...not enough representative? Throw those parchments into this basket.
Peacocks What a nice turkey! Oh! It's peacock. Okay...
Relics Facing to the right is not allowed. At least they don't look as creepy now.
Silk It can be confused with paper. Oh, it's Wool rare resource. No, wait...
Wine A little improvement was needed. Leaves were removed from grapes.
Whales Maybe game developers decided it might be confused with a submarine. Do submarines have split tails?
Wool NOT ENOUGH SHEEPS!! PEOPLE MIGHT NOT RECOGNIZE!! Look at me, walking wool!

Many unused icons of rare resources can be found in iface_unitsNEW3.tga in the /art folder. Looks like this file was temporary storage of producing icons during early stages of development.

They really ran out of imagination while doing Copper icon.

resource_icon.tga

Seems to be a very early version of the rare resource icons file. Note in there are 8 types of base resources instead of the final's 6, including separate food and animal food icons. The game developers probably had planned to make two Food resources during early stages of development. Also unrealized rare resources are presented here, such as gas, rice, lead, olives, walruses and many other unknown resources.

What are you for, walruses? Sea lions? To laugh enemies for death by your tricks with ball? Actually they can be so cute... it might be worked at attrition.

It could be for decreasing negative effects when artillery is out of supply. Could it be? Mysteries are everywhere.

Graphics of some unknown scrapped rare resources can be found in iface_specialresource.tga in the /art folder. The first resource is either walruses or sea lions and the other is lead. These resources were definitely scrapped in relatively late stages of development - small versions of icons for showing near the left edge of the screen when being collected are already created.

HUD Icons

Maybe it was planned as a scale change button?
This icon is presented in many of the HUD files, although in the actual game it is replaced with an icon with crossed swords. Presumably it was intended for the "Next Military" button.

It's pretty interesting, what these clasped hands were intended for.
A small spreadsheet full of unused static cursors. The parachute cursor is definitely related to a cut Paradrop ability.

Techs

Not. Enough. Food.

An unused icon hidden in .dds file for technology icons. Judging for some text strings in .xml files, it was for scrapped Granary technology which would increase Food produce to 35, which was supposed to be the fourth food technology after Food Industry.