Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: HoustonAerosFan
Does CE use the same databases as ANW? If not, can the CE databases be edited and if so what is the editor to use? Happy T-Day!!

quote:

ORIGINAL: HoustonAerosFan

Thanks.

Do I need MS Access installed or will the Open Offfice equivalent work?

quote:

ORIGINAL: HoustonAerosFan

Thanks.

Do I need MS Access installed or will the Open Offfice equivalent work?

quote:

ORIGINAL: SteveF2006

From my experience (admittedly it is limited), you really need Access 2003 or better to get the full benefit of the PE. Because I am NOT any type of programmer, I can't give details. But I know that there is for instance, an issue with the number of loadouts a plane can have due to the limitations of the older Access versions. Maybe one of the vets here can give the details!

Steve

quote:

ORIGINAL: TonyE

throw together custom reports

quote:

ORIGINAL: erict

Office 2007, I cant use the editor. If I choose YES to convert I get all kinds of errors. Either way if I convert or not when I click on edit aircraft or whatever nothing happens.

What version of Access do I need to use to get this to work?

Also what is the easiest way to add photos for units with no photos?

quote:

ORIGINAL: erict

Ah Ok I got it thanks.

OK PIC ID. WHat table has all the photos? How to add photos?

Also what are the photo constraints? Max Width, height, format: JPG, BMP, etc.

Thanks

quote:

In HC Gold and newer the images shown in the platform editor (for the commondb battlesets, aka EC2003 and WestPac) can be changed by the user and new images can be added.


Game Requirement: In the game (GE, Winharp32.exe) you must turn off animations. If you do not do this, the game may crash with GetAnnex errors when the animations should show. In the Settings menu, Game Options, uncheck:

* Enable Launch Animations
* Enable Area Defense Animations
* Enable Hit Animations

The Images:

* RGB encoded Windows bitmaps (aka BMP)
* Maximum dimensions 320x240 pixels
* 16 or 256 colors, limited support for more colors (images tend to cut off at > 256 colors)

What to name and where to put the images:

* Make sure you have your database loaded into the Platform Editor.
* Find the file in the commondb\rsr with the largest number (in my case, res384.bmp).
* Save your first custom/new image in that directory and name it with the next number in the series, in my case res385.bmp. Continue numbering your next images in the same manner, with no gaps in numbers.
* Once your custom images are saved into commondb\rsr directory, go back to the platform editor.
* Find the platform that should have your first custom image you saved, change it's PicID to the image 'number' minus 154. In my case, res385.bmp - 154 = Pic ID 231.
* Save the record in the PE, change any other Pic IDs you need to change and Export your database from the PE.
* Give the Game a whirl and your new graphics should be associated with the correct platforms in the platform display.

You may also replace the existing images, so you could swap out the image for the Ticonderoga (Pic ID 4 = res158.bmp) with a different image by over-writing res158.bmp with your custom image and re-exporting your DB.


Special Pic IDs

* 0 - Shows the no image graphic
* -1 - The unit will not show up in the platform display

Note: If you distribute your DB to others, to see the changed images you will have to distribute not only commondb.res from your game directory but also commondb.rsr.


Paint Shop Pro palette of original 16-color HC palette:
R G B
0 0 0
0 87 0
0 171 0
0 171 171
171 0 0
171 87 0
171 171 255
171 171 171
87 87 87
0 87 171
255 171 171
87 255 255
255 87 87
87 87 0
255 255 87
255 255 255

quote:

ORIGINAL: erict

Good info, thanks. Actually what I want to do is add images for units that don't have any photos associated with them. I can do this right? For example if I wanted to add an image for the SSN Virginia.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Divefreak


But there´s 1 big Problem

you can only substitute those pics (no154 and higher), otherwise you can break some stuff or you need to turn off the animations.