diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/Game.cs b/OpenRa.Game/Game.cs
index a97f177de1..b3ec25dce4 100644
--- a/OpenRa.Game/Game.cs
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/Game.cs
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ namespace OpenRa.Game
 			Rules.LoadRules();
 
 			for( int i = 0 ; i < 8 ; i++ )
-				players.Add(i, new Player(i, string.Format("Multi{0}", i), OpenRa.TechTree.Race.Allies));
+				players.Add(i, new Player(i, string.Format("Multi{0}", i), OpenRa.TechTree.Race.Soviet));
 
 			map = new Map(new IniFile(FileSystem.Open(mapName)));
 			FileSystem.Mount(new Package(map.Theater + ".mix"));
diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/GameRules/Footprint.cs b/OpenRa.Game/GameRules/Footprint.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5d6435f4b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/GameRules/Footprint.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Text;
+using System.IO;
+using OpenRa.Game.Graphics;
+
+namespace OpenRa.Game.GameRules
+{
+	class Footprint
+	{
+		Dictionary<string, string[]> buildingFootprints;
+
+		public string[] GetFootprint(string name)
+		{
+			string[] val;
+			if (!buildingFootprints.TryGetValue(name, out val))
+				buildingFootprints.TryGetValue("*", out val);
+			return val;
+		}
+
+		public Footprint(Stream s)
+		{
+			var lines = Util.ReadAllLines(s).Where(a => !a.StartsWith("#"));
+
+			Func<string,string[]> words = 
+				b => b.Split( new[] { ' ', '\t' }, 
+					StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries );
+
+			var buildings = lines
+				.Select(a => a.Split(':'))
+				.SelectMany(a => words(a[1])
+					.Select( b => new { Name=b, Pat=words(a[0]) } ));
+
+			buildingFootprints = buildings
+				.ToDictionary(a => a.Name, a => a.Pat);
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/GameRules/Rules.cs b/OpenRa.Game/GameRules/Rules.cs
index e0b3aef668..7bb949e4ec 100755
--- a/OpenRa.Game/GameRules/Rules.cs
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/GameRules/Rules.cs
@@ -9,11 +9,13 @@ namespace OpenRa.Game
 	static class Rules
 	{
 		public static UnitInfo UnitInfo;
+		public static Footprint Footprint;
 
 		// TODO: load rules from the map, where appropriate.
 		public static void LoadRules()
 		{
 			UnitInfo = new UnitInfo( new IniFile( FileSystem.Open( "rules.ini" ) ) );
+			Footprint = new Footprint(FileSystem.Open("footprint.txt"));
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/OpenRa.Game.csproj b/OpenRa.Game/OpenRa.Game.csproj
index 24ddd6e70b..ead638dc3b 100644
--- a/OpenRa.Game/OpenRa.Game.csproj
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/OpenRa.Game.csproj
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@
   <ItemGroup>
     <Compile Include="Actor.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Controller.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="GameRules\Footprint.cs" />
     <Compile Include="GameRules\Rules.cs" />
     <Compile Include="GameRules\UnitInfo.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Graphics\Animation.cs" />
diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/Sidebar.cs b/OpenRa.Game/Sidebar.cs
index 9ff72ad2df..cb66832e27 100644
--- a/OpenRa.Game/Sidebar.cs
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/Sidebar.cs
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ namespace OpenRa.Game
 
 		public void PrepareOverlay(Game game, int2 xy)
 		{
-			game.worldRenderer.uiOverlay.SetCurrentOverlay(xy, 2, 3);
+			game.worldRenderer.uiOverlay.SetCurrentOverlay(xy, Name);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/UiOverlay.cs b/OpenRa.Game/UiOverlay.cs
index 3433535c8f..50b251fb78 100644
--- a/OpenRa.Game/UiOverlay.cs
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/UiOverlay.cs
@@ -36,39 +36,47 @@ namespace OpenRa.Game
 			if (!hasOverlay)
 				return;
 
-			Func<int, int, bool> passableAt = (x, y) =>
+			Func<int2, bool> passableAt = a =>
 				{
-					x += game.map.Offset.X;
-					y += game.map.Offset.Y;
+					a += game.map.Offset;
 
-					return game.map.IsInMap(x, y) &&
+					return game.map.IsInMap(a.X, a.Y) &&
 					TerrainCosts.Cost(UnitMovementType.Wheel,
-						game.terrain.tileSet.GetWalkability(game.map.MapTiles[x, y])) < double.PositiveInfinity;
+						game.terrain.tileSet.GetWalkability(game.map.MapTiles[a.X, a.Y])) < double.PositiveInfinity;
 				};
 
-			for (int i = 0; i < width; i++)
-				for (int j = 0; j < height; j++)
-					spriteRenderer.DrawSprite(passableAt(position.X + i, position.Y + j) ? buildOk : buildBlocked,
-						24 * (position + new int2(i, j)), 0);
+			var footprint = Rules.Footprint.GetFootprint(name);
+			var j = 0;
+			foreach (var row in footprint)
+			{
+				var i = 0;
+				foreach (var c in row)
+				{
+					if (c != '_')
+						spriteRenderer.DrawSprite(passableAt(position + new int2(i, j)) ? buildOk : buildBlocked,
+							24 * (position + new int2(i, j)), 0);
+					++i;
+				}
+				++j;
+			}
 
 			spriteRenderer.Flush();
 		}
 
 		bool hasOverlay;
 		int2 position;
-		int width, height;
+		string name;
 
 		public void KillOverlay()
 		{
 			hasOverlay = false;
 		}
 
-		public void SetCurrentOverlay(int2 cell, int width, int height)
+		public void SetCurrentOverlay(int2 cell, string name)
 		{
 			hasOverlay = true;
 			position = cell;
-			this.width = width;
-			this.height = height;
+			this.name = name;
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/footprint.txt b/footprint.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5b2d1c7404
--- /dev/null
+++ b/footprint.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# 
+# Building footprints
+#
+
+# default is indicated by *
+
+x			: ftur sbag brik fenc gun pbox hbox silo tsla agun gap kenn *
+xx xx xx	: powr dome barr tent domf hpad atek stek
+xxx xxx xxx	: fact facf syrf syrd weap weaf spen spef apwr
+xx			: sam mslo
+_x_ xxx xxx xxx : proc
+xxx xxx			: afld
+_x_ xxx _x_		: fix
\ No newline at end of file