questions about graphics moding

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

questions about graphics moding

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Norm Koger's The Operational Art Of War III >> questions about graphics moding

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

questions about graphics moding - 1/27/2008 4:47:07 AM

damezzi

Posts: 299
Joined: 7/18/2007
Status: offline

I like playing with graphics (in fact I work with it) and would like to try creating a graphics mod but, before losing my time trying to figure out how those tiles fit one another I thought of asking those in this list who already tried it.

Is there an established order for those tiles in the bitmap image which indicates how they fit together? Is there a efficient method to make those tiles fit exactly (like drawing them as a whole and splitting afterwards)? how do transparency work? I tried changing some tiles beeing careful not to change one bit of the background image, but got some artifacts around tiles.

Finally: is it possible to increase the resolution of those bitmap images to take advantage of the huge map view?

any help would be welcome!

Post #: 1

RE: questions about graphics moding - 1/29/2008 2:14:50 PM

BillLottJr

Posts: 333
Joined: 4/24/2006
Status: offline

quote:

Tree Style [Subscribe] S

I don't know the answer to the first part of the question.

For the 2nd part, according to the latest "what's new" file, there is now support for new tiles in the tiny & ultra tiny views, but no mention of support for the huge view. (see below). For those of us who are visually challenged, I think support for h_ files would be great.

21. Added optional files u_ and t_ (Tiny and Ultra Tiny) - These haven't been tested extensively,
contact Ralph Trickey if you're interested in developing these.

(in reply to damezzi)

Post #: 2

RE: questions about graphics moding - 1/30/2008 2:02:17 PM

*Lava*

Posts: 1924
Joined: 2/9/2004
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: damezzi

Is there an established order for those tiles in the bitmap image which indicates how they fit together? Is there a efficient method to make those tiles fit exactly (like drawing them as a whole and splitting afterwards)? how do transparency work? I tried changing some tiles beeing careful not to change one bit of the background image, but got some artifacts around tiles.

Hi!

Yes... there is a method to the madness...

You have to imagine a grid placed over the graphic images. Take a look at this:

All the images are set-up the same way, and thus in the editor, depending on how you place them, will always turn out the same... whether that be a marsh, a hill... they are all set out in the image files exactly the same. All the graphics touch at least one border of the hex, or more, and all are arranged in the same manner across the grid for all map images on all terrain files (except for one image that doesn't touch any border).

So, for example, take the far left, far bottom marsh file which is just a little bit of marsh poking up from the bottom. In the editor, if you place a marsh in one hex, and then click on the sides of the hex, it will fill in until it is a full marsh hex with no overlap onto any other hex. Now, click on every edge, except the bottom one, and you will have this image. And that happens for what-ever terrain you are working with.

One way to redo a complete image file would be to first make a hex grid 10 hexes horizontally and 8 vertically. You could do that by copying the empty hex I have constructed below the marsh images and then just pasting them in order. Note: the hexes do not overlap in any way.. the borders of each side just touch the borders of the other. Then, insert your graphics onto the hex grid such that they fill the grid location exactly like the originals. For example, look at the second grid at the top of the marsh file. This file is an image which portrays something which touches both the top and bottom of the hex, but no other side of the hex. Note: your graphics should overlap onto the hex grid where connections come together.

Also note that the graphics files are setup to read only the pre-set X,Y axis... so if you enlarge the graphic file size, like the one above, any tinkering you do outside of the grid, will not show up in the game. When I mod graphic files, I increase the vertical dimensions of the file and use the space below for messing about with new graphics.

Seems quite a chore though, as when you are finished, you must erase all of the hex grid so that it doesn't show up on the map. Personally, I have never redone an entire terrain file, but there are plenty who have, and hopefully, they will provide their experience to you to help make things easier.

As for transparency... transparency occurs where there is a white pixel. Absolutely white... no color what-so-ever. If something isn't showing through that should be (because it should be transparent) then that pixel is probably a super light gray that you can't see. Like I say, to have the graphics from other files show through overlapping files, they need to be absolutely white.

Hope that helps somewhat...

Good luck.

Ray (alias Lava)

(in reply to damezzi)

Post #: 3

RE: questions about graphics moding - 2/6/2008 12:17:10 AM

damezzi

Posts: 299
Joined: 7/18/2007
Status: offline

Thank you Bill and Lava!

I don't think I will try to change the shapes of those tiles since it seems to be a huge amount of work. Nevertheless, I found an easy way just to change the texture using the original tiles shapes.
I will share it here even if I think it may be obvious to some who already have experience with it.
I do it in photoshop.

1. click in the white background with the selection wand with tolerance set to 1 and NO ANTI-ALIASING.
2. go to selection > similar in the menu bar. (that will select all pure white pixels - 255,255,255 - in the image)
3. selection > invert on the menu bar.
4. adjust brightness and contrast (image menu) so that inside part of the selection turns to black or just fill it with black with no anti-aliasing.
5. invert image (image menu)
6. create a new layer and fill it with the pattern you want to use as texture. (all parts of it should be similar in terms of color and brightness in order to fit well)
7. On the lower part of the layer window, click the layer mask button.
8. Click on your black and white tiles layer, select all (CTRL+A) and copy to the clipboard (CTRL+C).
9. ALT + click on the layer mask you just created and a blanck image should appear. Paste (CTRL+V) the clipboard. You have just set your black and white image as mask for your pattern image.
10. Click on the left thumbnail of your pattern layer to leave mask edition.
11. Create a layer at the bottom of this one and fill it with white.
12. Flatten your image and voil�.

Well, I'm not with photoshop at hand here so that I reproduced it by memory. You will have to excuse me for any error.

Just as a suggestion for the game programmers. Wouldn't it be able to allow scenario designers to use bitmap images at the background as maps? They would just set all tiles they don't want to use to full white, so as to make them transparent and the bitmap would show at the background. Sure it would have to scroll. I'm not a programmer myself, so that I don't know if it would be easy, but for sure it would allow for a great variety of looks and even a much modern look. It would just be a matter of editing a bitmap image and using scenario editor to set terrain attributes to it. changeable characteristics could be set with normal tiles on the top of the background bitmap. That way one would be able to use any kind of map image and change details depending on scenario scale to have a visual scale feedback.

(in reply to *Lava*)

Post #: 4