Unused Graphics

This is a sub-page of Rise of Nations.

Units#

Numbered iface_unitsnew.tga~ files inside /art folder (also viewable in the cached iface_unitsnew~ .dds files for the non-Extended Edition versions) 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 an unknown Gunpowder Infantry unit, as seen in this pre-release screenshot. Possibly Arquebusiers before the introduction of Musketeers, given that in another screenshot, we can see the unit available at the same time as Crossbowmen (implying that it's not Musketeers - though it's possible the unit lines didn't merge in Enlightenment Age at the time). The unit icon art is very similar to that used by Spanish Royal Tercios.

"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.

"Pew pew"
Icon for the scrapped Information Age Romans Tank Killer unique unit. The icon for its Modern Age predecessor (Tank Destroyer) was recycled for the Armored Scout Car unit.

(Source: unitrules.xml, unit_graphics.xml and internal design documents (RoNDesign doc.doc) in Beta 2 release: https://archive.org/details/rise-of-nations-beta-2)

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.

Oh the humanity!
The icon for the scrapped Industrial Age Zeppelin unit, the once-predecessor to the Modern Age Bomber.

(Source: Internal design documents (RoNDesign doc.doc) in Beta 2 release: https://archive.org/details/rise-of-nations-beta-2)

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

Unit name	Unused	Used
Slingers
Javelineers	Oh my, He's aiming at me! Too aggressive!
Pikemen
Elite Pikemen
Steppe Nomad (Mongols Heavy Horse Archer) (not quite sure though)
Samurai (Japanese Elite Pikemen)	What are you looking? Don't break the fourth wall!	That's better.
Destroyer
Dreadnought		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.

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	‎
Bisons	‎	I'm so alone now...
Citruses		Ooh! It's oranges! To prevent scurvy, you know.
Copper
Diamonds
Dye	‎
Fish	It's not so hygienic to place fish right on the table.
Furs (previously: "Fur")
Horses
Marble		A statue! Not damaged! Okay, now it's definitely not Ruins.
Papyrus
Peacocks		Oh! It's peacock. Okay...
Relics		At least they don't look as creepy now.
Silk		Oh, it's Wool rare resource. No, wait...
Wine
Whales
Wool

(Source: Old Microsoft page for Rise of Nations rare resources: https://web.archive.org/web/20120819190526/http://www.microsoft.com/games/riseofnations/rare_resources.aspx)

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

This file includes the resource icons shown in the scrapped zoomed-out strategic view (see below). Note that there appear to be icons for 8 basic resources whereas the final game only used 6 of these. One of these is for Wool when it was a basic resource instead of a rare resource (Knowledge replaced Wool).

(Source: Internal patch notes (new_version.txt) found in the Beta 2 release: https://archive.org/details/rise-of-nations-beta-2)

Also unrealized rare resources are presented here, such as gas, rice, lead, olives (which made a return later as Olive Oil in Thrones & Patriots), and many other unknown resources.

It could be for decreasing negative effects when artillery is out of supply.

Graphics of a scrapped Lead rare resource can be found in iface_specialresource.tga in the /art folder. Lead was scrapped at a relatively late stage of development in July 2002, being replaced by Wool as a rare resource (which itself was previously a basic resource).

(Source: Internal patch notes (new_version.txt) found in the Beta 2 release: https://archive.org/details/rise-of-nations-beta-2)

Could it be? Mysteries are everywhere. Actually they can be so cute...

Lead and Furs (using its previous fur seal art rather than bear art) have 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. The button's original function was an extremely zoomed-out, abstract "strategic view" of the game world, providing a more "grand strategy" type of view. In this scrapped view, units, buildings, rare resources, and even terrain features such as trees / mountains were abstracted to simple icons.

(Source: Paul Stephanouk, producer for Rise of Nations)

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#

{{{!}} class="wikitable" style="width:80%;" ! style="width:20%;"| 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 alongside other (used) tech icons in iface_buildings_upgrades_01.tga (and iface_buildings_upgrades_Generic_01.tga, though these three unused icons are the same in both files). These were replaced by just using the icons for the units themselves instead of having separate art for the units and the tech upgrades that unlock them.

The same file has this unused icon. 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.