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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Distant Worlds 1 Series >> Design and Modding >> Jon's Stuff, ExplosionsV20Light and some colour changing.

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Jon's Stuff, ExplosionsV20Light and some colour changing. - 1/5/2012 4:37:01 PM

Jon Micheelsen

Posts: 143
Joined: 12/26/2011
Status: offline

300x300 resolution combat explosions mod

Version log:

V20Light: Done some colour changing on 4 explosions that where standing out in a bad sense - this is only done in the light version. Further all explosion frames are now 300x300. Shaving off roughly 70% of the file size it gives a huge performance boost. They are still larger then the planet destroyed animation and will only rarely ever be stretched by the engine. Found one last frame that still had green dots in the corner, while re-sizing. Just to make sure all the 8 new explosions have been re-saved as png's in case it was the online clipper application I used on them that somehow left some png conflicting "bonus" data - initially they didn't work in game. I've left a link for the last 512x512 version, just in case someone needs high resolution data for something completely different

There seems to be a problem with memory after this latest addition, to some, so for now I will throw up the link for the V12 along with the V20. Fixed.

V20: Added the last 8 explosions. Jumpy frames should be minimized. The raw data used is up to several hundred frames for a single explosion with variation in duration, so cutting it down to 20, re-scaling, turning and so on, can make some of them appear a little bit jumpy - example - 14 seconds of animation cut down to 20 frames run in-game right next to a 4 seconds one with the same original frame rate cut down to 20 frames, can stress this factor. Maybe it's just my eye cathing this having looked too closely at the data for too long

On a note of turning and so on. Many of these explosions are used in tons of games over the years. I've done my best to make them as little recognizable as possible - as this is a thing often bugging my eye in general. Turning them odd degrees and playing with color balance makes it less obvious.

V12: Added six more explosions (Expl05b and all remaining Expl07) Improved upon jumpy frames in three Expl01 animations and Expl07h - I would have to redo them completely to perfect it, which will wait for now. Removed near completely transparent black dots, that occurred like the previous green dots in a few frames.

V11: Added one more explosion (Expl07h). Removed the pure green diagonal small dots that I had missed removing from corners in some frames.

V1: 5 different 512x512 animations turned in 4 versions 0/90/180/270

ExplosionsV20Light - Recommended version to use!
ExplosionsV20

The sample pictures here gives a pretty good idea.

On a note the samples are 40% original scale. They are all 512x512 pixels. I have yet to see the game engine scale them up, even when large late game space ports blow!

Install instructions:

To install you have to replace the original animations located in Distant Worlds(main folder)/images/effects/explosions/

Take a back-up of the originals, just in case!!

If you wanna use this in a mod, you are welcome - but please send me a pm, just to let me know!

Enjoy!!

< Message edited by Jon Micheelsen -- 7/10/2012 9:26:25 AM >

Post #: 1

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/5/2012 6:39:28 PM

Shuul

Posts: 133
Joined: 2/16/2011
Status: offline

Yes! Please make it! Maybe with debris will look awesome.

(in reply to Jon Micheelsen)

Post #: 2

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/5/2012 7:28:56 PM

Ogaburan

Posts: 23
Joined: 1/5/2012
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Been lurking, and i singed up just to yell you HELL YEAH! If you can include some new sounds as well i will pay for someone else to kiss you!

(in reply to Shuul)

Post #: 3

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/5/2012 9:05:44 PM

tjhkkr

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Joined: 6/3/2010
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Ogaburan
i will pay for someone else to kiss you!

*** Laugh, very good ****

_____________________________

Remember that the evil which is now in the world will become yet more powerful, and that it is not evil which conquers evil, but only love -- Olga Romanov.

(in reply to Ogaburan)

Post #: 4

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/7/2012 4:16:22 PM

Data

Posts: 3909
Joined: 1/3/2011
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Hey, don't discourage Jon....or if this actually motivates him keep it up

I also really appreciate this idea....I mean the modded combat explosions part, not the paying for kiss part

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Post #: 5

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/7/2012 7:37:47 PM

Ogaburan

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Joined: 1/5/2012
Status: offline

quote:

not the paying for kiss part

In that case i will PRAY for someone else to kiss him...

(in reply to Data)

Post #: 6

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/8/2012 11:03:38 AM

hewwo

Posts: 276
Joined: 4/22/2010
Status: offline

great idea!

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Post #: 7

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/9/2012 2:40:53 AM

the1sean

Posts: 854
Joined: 5/11/2010
From: Texas, USA
Status: offline

i am interested!

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Check out my GAMEPLAY REDUX MOD (ROTS)

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Post #: 8

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/9/2012 5:35:48 AM

Jon Micheelsen

Posts: 143
Joined: 12/26/2011
Status: offline

נשיקה ותפילה, לא רע!

It's a lot of work. I got one done and another almost ready. Had to do a lot of testing to find the right way to do it. Multiple layers, light blending and transparency, to go through, not to mention some 60 effect shots totaling almost 20000 frames of raw animation. I'm gonna make 512x512 as well as a 256x256 version - for those that ain't as crazy as I and go buy myself another 4GB of ram!

Now, if only the dear folks at CodeForce could make scaling of explosion animations available and maybe even allow us to add more frames than 20 pr bang, and maybe even more explosions in total, it could be really interesting! PS, CodeForce, I love you guys for using good old animated explosions!!

< Message edited by Jon Micheelsen -- 1/9/2012 5:36:43 AM >

(in reply to the1sean)

Post #: 9

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/10/2012 11:05:27 AM

Arcatus

Posts: 197
Joined: 1/2/2012
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Jon Micheelsen
(snip...)

for those that ain't as crazy as I and go buy myself another 4GB of ram!

(...)

Awesome dedication man, I am really looking forward to how this will turn out

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Post #: 10

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/10/2012 6:41:00 PM

Ogaburan

Posts: 23
Joined: 1/5/2012
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Jon Micheelsen

נשיקה ותפילה, לא רע!

I'm gonna make 512x512 as well as a 256x256 version - for those that ain't as crazy as I and go buy myself another 4GB of ram!

Cant wait to see anything that makes the graphical aspect of this game better.
I made myself a nice icon set, and wanted to change the components & resource Icons...

Yet, the icons are way to small to be worth the effort.

And i cant find a good source for the components. Something that wont look like its taken from 100 places and made by 50 different artists. Something that will keep its consistency art-wise. maybe some of you guys know of a place? I cant draw for the life of me.
Im on vacation atm, and i can pure allot of free time into "sorting out"/"browsing" different things.

Also a nice attack.png cursor, i eventually reverted to the default one. Nothing looked "spacy" enough.

(in reply to Jon Micheelsen)

Post #: 11

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/10/2012 8:12:43 PM

Astax

Posts: 126
Joined: 5/17/2010
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I would love it if we could have explosions by race, so that we can make different explosions for each race, based on what the aliens breathe :)

(in reply to Ogaburan)

Post #: 12

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/10/2012 10:24:55 PM

Jon Micheelsen

Posts: 143
Joined: 12/26/2011
Status: offline

@ Astax, with what we currently can mod, it's not possible.

Here's a few random frames, to show what's coming:

The color balance is set to match the original, so to not break the graphic style of the game if we want to use them side by side - if we get proper weapons modding some day(hint hint devs

). With a white background as here, they look a little too colorful, but in game, mighty fine.

Here's a little character bonus image, I've smacked together for an admiral in a little one planet super pirate race I'm using when testing explosions in all-auto-empire-control-one-super-ship games. Enjoy!!

< Message edited by Jon Micheelsen -- 1/11/2012 2:56:08 AM >

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Post #: 13

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/10/2012 10:39:59 PM

hewwo

Posts: 276
Joined: 4/22/2010
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BOOOM!! haha, looks awesome

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Post #: 14

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/24/2012 9:20:29 AM

Jon Micheelsen

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I've gotten a bit distracted from this explosion mod here, sorry about that. I had some trouble getting the flash and shock wave thing right, as spiffy and intense as the originals, so I took a break from it. If the flash ain't right the explosion become very non-intense and just another inserted-stock-footage-explosion like - no matter the resolution. The project is still running however!! If anyone got any experience in making an animated awesome flash/shock wawe or know a program that might help with this please let me know!?!?

In the mean time, I've been playing around with making the ships in the game more intense. Most of them are just too grey I think, so I've been spiffing up contrast, sharpness and distinct racial coloring, as well as making glows from windows, energy conductors etc. Here's a few from the "other" families:

I want the darkest parts to be black as space, so what you see is the signature highlight of the ship poking through the blackness of space and not the whole thing. It looks a bit silly when they are damaged and there are hull holes in a glow, but what the heck, can't have it all and more intense ships are just cooler in my opinion. What say you folks? The pictures are png already, so you can grab them and test them if you'd like

(in reply to hewwo)

Post #: 15

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 1/24/2012 12:12:17 PM

Arcatus

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Ooh, nice.
I am grabbing 4 out of 5 here.

I didn't like the big insect ship - maybe the contrast is a bit to high there...

As for your explosions - if you take a video of an explosion and look at it frame by frame you'll see that the frame with the "KA" in "KA-Boooom" (did that make sence?) is really bright - and big. The explosions in distant worlds (and many other games) grows slowly - reaches a maximum size, and then dims away.

But many real explosions grows really fast - within a frame or two - and then dims away over several frames.
Look at this clip from mythbusters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LptXaQ4Wkjw- around 0:58 you see that the explosion is instantly huge and bright - and then spend a (relatively) long time to dim away.

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Post #: 16

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/6/2012 6:33:54 AM

Jon Micheelsen

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Joined: 12/26/2011
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After having started over quite a few times I got some explosions coming up, just the way I like them! What kept bugging me, was that no matter what I did, the explosions kept looking copy pasted on top of each other. The fix was to go away from red yellow and orange hues - that really only makes sense in an oxygen atmosphere anyway, make some nice intense glowing white flares and in general crank up transparency for anything but pure white. This here is NOT an ingame shot but a test image that layers the explosions just like the game engine would.

I'll toss some animations together as fast as possible, so this mod can get ready to rumble!

(in reply to Arcatus)

Post #: 17

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/6/2012 2:33:24 PM

Igard

Posts: 2282
Joined: 3/29/2010
From: Scotland
Status: offline

Very nice!

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RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/6/2012 3:15:02 PM

tjhkkr

Posts: 2428
Joined: 6/3/2010
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I was skeptical myself; but that is a VERY job.
Nice work!

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Remember that the evil which is now in the world will become yet more powerful, and that it is not evil which conquers evil, but only love -- Olga Romanov.

(in reply to Igard)

Post #: 19

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/8/2012 10:57:35 AM

Jon Micheelsen

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So guys, I'm finally laying last hands on the first version. It'll feature a 0,90,180 and 270 rotation of 5 different 512x512 explosion animations - later I'll add more, not using rotation to cover all 20 explosions in the game. Question now is; any suggestions on a good free place to upload a mod zip around 20-40MB!?

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Post #: 20

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/8/2012 12:04:28 PM

Arcatus

Posts: 197
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Mediafire works for me. It is really easy to use
(though if someone has a better suggestion feel free to share)

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Post #: 21

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/8/2012 12:55:35 PM

Jon Micheelsen

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Thanks Arcatus!

Explosions V1, I've changed the first post, so look to the top! Comments and suggestions are welcome. Personally after a bit of quick testing, I think they could use a bit more red and some of them are a bit weak on the golden glow.

(in reply to Arcatus)

Post #: 22

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/8/2012 3:59:22 PM

tjhkkr

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Like I said, this is a surprising add on... I really like it.
Thank you!

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Remember that the evil which is now in the world will become yet more powerful, and that it is not evil which conquers evil, but only love -- Olga Romanov.

(in reply to Jon Micheelsen)

Post #: 23

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/8/2012 4:52:47 PM

Igard

Posts: 2282
Joined: 3/29/2010
From: Scotland
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Very nice work indeed!

Haven't tried in-game yet, but my image preview turned up some green artifacts in the corners of some of the png's.

Just checked in GIMP and they are there, but very small. Only a few pixels.

Looks great though, can't wait to try it out!

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The Picard Era for Distant Worlds

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Post #: 24

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/8/2012 8:09:14 PM

Jon Micheelsen

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Joined: 12/26/2011
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Thanks Igard, I thought I got them all

They are leftovers. I made a (4x512)x(5x512) picture, gridded it 512 and modified all frames at once. This way I can quickly add fading flash and glow to a lot of frames in one pre-made layer. I just realized this approach last night, instead of 20 seperate picrues, which speeds up the whole process immensely. When I cut them out to individual pictures in the end, I have to use the markers in two diagonal corners or the paste function in psp will crop the transparent part off giving me highly deformed frames. I might have missed removing a few! I think they will rarely be visible, as the frames are scaled down a lot most of the time. I'll make sure to remove them in the next version.

Green dots issue fixed!

< Message edited by Jon Micheelsen -- 2/8/2012 10:50:49 PM >

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RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/8/2012 11:19:34 PM

Speedy2511

Posts: 96
Joined: 3/4/2010
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Hi! Awesome explosions on the pics.

But i have a problem:
When i use your mod, and i load a save game my mouse cursor is hanging in the upper left corner of the display. It happend directly after the loading. No matter what savegame. I removed your mod (backed up the old explosion folder) everthing worked fine, so it is not the savegame.

Maybe any idea?

Greetings from Germany
Nico

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RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/8/2012 11:44:23 PM

Jon Micheelsen

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@Speedy2511: Wow, that is one odd error! I haven't had anything like that happen ever, and I've been switching tests back and forth all the time, even sometimes accidentally screwing up a file name or file format, which only made the game skip frames! Hmmm.... How did you install them? I've had the game misbehave, though not like what you report, when placing wrong things in the custom folder - where this mod should not go!! The way to install them is to replace the originals - make a back-up in case you don't like them

The originals are located in Distant Worlds/images/effects/explosions/

< Message edited by Jon Micheelsen -- 2/8/2012 11:51:29 PM >

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Post #: 27

RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/9/2012 12:48:25 AM

Speedy2511

Posts: 96
Joined: 3/4/2010
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Hi.

This is exactly what i have done.

Mhhh, maybe it's because my game had started a few patches ago. I will try it with a new one tomorrow evening, just for testing.

Greetings from Germany
Nico

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RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/9/2012 1:10:18 AM

Jon Micheelsen

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@Speedy2511;I just did some testing, and was completely unable to reproduce your bug. I have had no issues in any of the DW:L versions. I don't know about non Legends - you do run Legends?

On another issue, I did notice jumpy frames, that have miss aligned. I will avoid this in the future, by changing some of my steps. Further though I will correct I will only do so on explosions that I will not later replace as I add more new ones, so this will only be partially fixed in versions to come, until all done...

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RE: Combat explosions remake? - 2/9/2012 8:43:38 PM

Igard

Posts: 2282
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From: Scotland
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Very logical approach, Jon. I look forward to seeing this evolve. Again, great work!

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The Picard Era for Distant Worlds

Igard's Romulan Stormbird

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Distant Worlds 1 Series >> Design and Modding >> Jon's Stuff, ExplosionsV20Light and some colour changing.

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