Hello, my name is Carlos Lundhall. I'm a 3D-artist here at Paradox Development Studio and today I'm going to talk about a coming visual change in the coming 1.19 patch: New vanilla sprites! I started playing EU4 when working on the Mare Nostrum dlc to get a feeling for the game I was working on, and BAM! I was hooked! I now have 300+ hours in the game (I know, I know, it’s not a number to brag about) and love playing underdogs like Teutonic Order and Byzantium. Under all this hours in the game it really scratched my eyes seeing the old vanilla sprites compared to the new ones, so I decided to remake them, one by one. Here's a comparison between one of the new vs old sprites.
At first I was thinking of this as a personal project that would take a lot of time to realize. But after finishing the tier 1 western vanilla sprite using my free time and what we here at Paradox call Personal Development Time (basically we get a day each month to work on what we want as long as it is related to what we do in some kind, to develop our skills and try out new things), I pitched the idea to Catalak to give me some actual work time to redo some sprites, and I got it! From there it was business as usual, taking the sprites trough my character pipeline. So what does the pipeline look like? First off there's a lot of research. I have a good 1200+ reference pictures for all the different tiers combined, and it's being filled with new references almost daily (I guess I like to collect stuff). Then comes the concepts, where I try to do it old school style and just draw it on paper.
As you can see I had the ambition to remake the tier 1 cavalry also, but there was no time for that. Next thing is to make the sprite! I'm not going to bore you guys to death with all the technical 3D stuff that goes into making a model, so in short the process is as follows: * Concept * High poly modeling * Low poly modeling and UV mapping * Texturing * Get the model into the game. This picture below visualizes the process in a VERY rough manner.
Also there’s a lot of feedback from my dear colleagues, especially mr Carlberg, whom is a bottomless well of history knowledge and technical 3D stuff. I stumbled upon some obstacles along the way, one of the biggest obstacles was that there was some tags that used copies of the vanilla models, and were unique in the script. This gave me some countries that needed either 1. be redirected to use the new model and texture, and be colored with dynamic coloring, or 2. to make unique textures for them. I went with the second option, here's some of them.
Finally I remade the weapons also, I felt that they too needed a level up in visual quality.
And here's the final sprites.
For the tier 3 sprite I felt that we had such high quality material already, so I put together a sprite from existing parts. So that was all for me. Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy the new sprites! Read the original post [quote]Useful links Official Website Europa Universalis IV Wiki Europa Universalis IV Development Diary Archive

Main Features

• Make your own decisions: Nation building is completely flexible and the possibilities are endless.
  
• Use your Monarch Power: Experience the new system of monarch power where your choices are influenced by the caliber of the man or woman you have at the top and will direct the ebb and flow of gameplay.
  
• Experience history coming to life: The great personalities of the past are on hand to support you as you make your mark on thousands of historical events.
  
• Turn the world into your playground: Enjoy hundreds of years of gameplay in a lush topographical map complete with dynamic seasonal effects.
  
• Experience the all new trade system: The trade system adds a new dimension to the great trade empires of the period. Gain control of vital trade routes and make the wealth of the world flow to your coffers.
  
• Bring out your negotiating skills in a deeper diplomatic system: Use coalitions, royal marriages and support for rebels and explore the possibilities of the new unilateral opinion system.
  
• Engage in Cross-platform Multiplayer: Battle against your friends or try the co-operative multiplayer mode that allows several players to work together to control a single nation with up to 32 players. Featuring improved chat and new matchmaking servers.
  
• Create your own history & customize your game: Europa Universalis IV gives you the chance to customize and mod practically anything your heart may desire and uses Steam Workshop.

• Processor: Intel Core i3-2105 / AMD FX 4300Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 / AMD Radeon HD 5850Video Memory: 1 GB RAMIDIA GeForce 9600 or higher. 1024MB graphics memory requiredHard Drive:6 GB HD spaceOther Requirements:Broadband Internet connectionAdditional:GLSL 1.3. OpenGL 2.1. Controller support: 3-button mouse. keyboard and speakers. Internet Connection or LAN for multiplayer

• Processor: Intel Core i3 3240 / AMD FX 8120Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 TiVideo Memory: 1 GB RAMHard Drive:6 GB HD spaceOther Requirements:Broadband Internet connectionAdditional:GLSL 1.3. OpenGL 2.1. Controller support: 3-button mouse. keyboard and speakers. Internet Connection or LAN for multiplayer