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Author Topic:   Editing pictures of custom factions

MajiK6pt5 posted 06-11-99 07:48 PM ET
I made a custom faction with ACEdit, and det it to have the defaults picture files. ACEdit told me to edit the files "republic.pcx" and so forth (my faction's files)...
I converted republic.pcx to a BMP with MS Photo Editor, and edited the first base with MS Paint, just to see if it would work. When I saved the BMP as a PCX again, and tried to use it, it used the FACTION.PCX file instead, and when I set the faction.pcx file to my file, it just showed gray squares for all bases and other pics. Should I edit the pcx's directly? Help!?!
MichaeltheGreat posted 06-12-99 12:40 AM ET
There are actually a few different PCX formats, and the graphics files probably don't have the full 255 color palette, and definitely don't have the standard Windows pallete, but have a special custom pallette.
I've edited copies of these files in Photoshop 5.0, without format conversion - PCX is a compression algorithm, so MSPE probably uses a different version than SMAC. Graphics conversions from format to format are a pain.
Definitely edit the PCX's directly, and be careful to only use colors found in the existing PCX files - otherwise you can create ugly palette clash effects, even if you only use a few pixels of a new color.
These problems with palette clash and graphics file conversions have nothing to do with SMAC - they've been around for years.
MajiK6pt5 posted 06-12-99 08:38 PM ET
oh...
that really sucks...they should have named it to some other format then...would Paint Shop Pro work?
MichaeltheGreat posted 06-12-99 09:41 PM ET
I've never used Paint Shop Pro, but both Photoshop and Corel Photopaint work if you don't change from one format to the other. Most graphics formats, especially CODEC's, have different flavors - usually different bit depths and trade offs between image quality and compression.
I would assume that if you don't translate from one format to another, PSP will save to the exact variation of .PCX that it recognized when loading the file, so try it out - just be sure about not creating any new colors or changing the palette.
MajiK6pt5 posted 06-12-99 10:33 PM ET
ah, wait.
i got it to work, i was just saving it as
24-bit.
the transparency is all screwed up, though. it's listed as red 255, blue 0, green 255; but when i try to draw that color it comes out blue in the game...
is there any place that you would know of where i could possibly get a file (faction).pcx that has no bases on it, just the grid, and transparency?
MichaeltheGreat posted 06-14-99 01:57 AM ET
No - unless you made your own by modifying the existing game ones. I did that, and had a little trouble initially, but soon figured it out - but I don't remember what I did with it to solve the borders and transparency problem.
Sorry I can't help more than that right now. If I get a chance later this week I'll play around with it some more, and send you one, or tell you how to make it yourself.
MtG
Rackam posted 06-14-99 11:13 AM ET
There are a set of files called defaults.pcx, defaults2.pcx and defaults3.pcx. These are like the normal ones but have no leader pics or faction emblems, but in defaults, it has university bases. It does give the sizes of all these things (excluding bases).
~Rackam
MajiK6pt5 posted 06-14-99 05:37 PM ET
oh, well thanks a lot everyone.
Rackam - yeah, i'm using the defaults.pcx files for my faction (copies of them at least). I want to modify the bases and symbols, the rest are easy now, because they aren't transparent.
MtG - OK, thanks, and if you can get a file (defaults.pcx) without the writing of the sizes, or the bases (all transparent), please send it to me at [email protected].
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Author	Topic: Editing pictures of custom factions
MajiK6pt5	posted 06-11-99 07:48 PM ET I made a custom faction with ACEdit, and det it to have the defaults picture files. ACEdit told me to edit the files "republic.pcx" and so forth (my faction's files)... I converted republic.pcx to a BMP with MS Photo Editor, and edited the first base with MS Paint, just to see if it would work. When I saved the BMP as a PCX again, and tried to use it, it used the FACTION.PCX file instead, and when I set the faction.pcx file to my file, it just showed gray squares for all bases and other pics. Should I edit the pcx's directly? Help!?!
MichaeltheGreat	posted 06-12-99 12:40 AM ET There are actually a few different PCX formats, and the graphics files probably don't have the full 255 color palette, and definitely don't have the standard Windows pallete, but have a special custom pallette. I've edited copies of these files in Photoshop 5.0, without format conversion - PCX is a compression algorithm, so MSPE probably uses a different version than SMAC. Graphics conversions from format to format are a pain. Definitely edit the PCX's directly, and be careful to only use colors found in the existing PCX files - otherwise you can create ugly palette clash effects, even if you only use a few pixels of a new color. These problems with palette clash and graphics file conversions have nothing to do with SMAC - they've been around for years.
MajiK6pt5	posted 06-12-99 08:38 PM ET oh... that really sucks...they should have named it to some other format then...would Paint Shop Pro work?
MichaeltheGreat	posted 06-12-99 09:41 PM ET I've never used Paint Shop Pro, but both Photoshop and Corel Photopaint work if you don't change from one format to the other. Most graphics formats, especially CODEC's, have different flavors - usually different bit depths and trade offs between image quality and compression. I would assume that if you don't translate from one format to another, PSP will save to the exact variation of .PCX that it recognized when loading the file, so try it out - just be sure about not creating any new colors or changing the palette.
MajiK6pt5	posted 06-12-99 10:33 PM ET ah, wait. i got it to work, i was just saving it as 24-bit. the transparency is all screwed up, though. it's listed as red 255, blue 0, green 255; but when i try to draw that color it comes out blue in the game... is there any place that you would know of where i could possibly get a file (faction).pcx that has no bases on it, just the grid, and transparency?
MichaeltheGreat	posted 06-14-99 01:57 AM ET No - unless you made your own by modifying the existing game ones. I did that, and had a little trouble initially, but soon figured it out - but I don't remember what I did with it to solve the borders and transparency problem. Sorry I can't help more than that right now. If I get a chance later this week I'll play around with it some more, and send you one, or tell you how to make it yourself. MtG
Rackam	posted 06-14-99 11:13 AM ET There are a set of files called defaults.pcx, defaults2.pcx and defaults3.pcx. These are like the normal ones but have no leader pics or faction emblems, but in defaults, it has university bases. It does give the sizes of all these things (excluding bases). ~Rackam
MajiK6pt5	posted 06-14-99 05:37 PM ET oh, well thanks a lot everyone. Rackam - yeah, i'm using the defaults.pcx files for my faction (copies of them at least). I want to modify the bases and symbols, the rest are easy now, because they aren't transparent. MtG - OK, thanks, and if you can get a file (defaults.pcx) without the writing of the sizes, or the bases (all transparent), please send it to me at [email protected].