Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => Modding => Topic started by: Flux on September 28, 2014, 07:53:10 PM

Title: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on September 28, 2014, 07:53:10 PM

 ;llap Hey all, I just found these forums. I haven't been playing AC for that long, but after I played my fair share of games I thought it would be cool to try and make my own faction. I used the template called "FACTION" in the folder that has everything to run AC. I have the quote for when you select the faction, the base names, and the plural/adjective and leader name working.

Ron of the Followers - paranoid
"Isolation is the only way to peace"
[He spends his time] laughing like a maniac and plotting our destruction
Capital: Followers Keep

In order to keep from repeating the tragedy
of Earth, the only way to stay safe from the
atrocity that is war is to keep to ourselves
isolated from one another. Then we can truly
achieve piece for all mankind.
^
^        -- Follower Ron
^           "The Reason for Peace"
"I will not tolerate an enemy, pledge blood truce or regret it."

Beyond that I'm not really sure what to do. It uses the Gaian art for bases, and the Gaian picture. Did I mention it uses the Gaian audio file for my opening quote?
Anyway, what I want to do is change the emblem, the picture, and use one of the base graphic packs I found or at least change it from the Gaian one. I also want to change the gender to Male, and remove the opening audio.
Sorry if that is a noob question compared to some of what is here, but I am really a beginner when it comes to this stuff.

--First post woo-- :danc:

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 28, 2014, 08:00:28 PM

Woo indeed!  :danc: :D

Check the Graphics thread, stickied above in this forum.  It's a bit of a slog to find everything, but I've posted tutorials about how to do everything I can think of, artwise - I'd rather empower you with graphical skills than take care of it for you, even if the latter is less trouble.  Please post questions at will, and/or your work in progress.

We were all newbs once, and it's great to meet a new modder.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on September 28, 2014, 08:38:27 PM

Okay so I finished the template for my faction.
I do not know how to implement it into AC though.
Also it is a JPG. I thought AC used PCX?

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 28, 2014, 08:47:23 PM

Yes; you need to save it as a .pcx.  What program are you using for graphics?

-If you don't have the .txt part ready, at this stage I usually temporarily replace the graphics for an existing faction, and have a look at a old gamesave with a lot of that faction's bases.

You're a quick learner, if you can in here not knowing how to do any of the art stuff.   ;b;

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on September 28, 2014, 08:54:16 PM

I am using Paint.net.
I will try to test it out on an old save like you suggested.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on September 28, 2014, 08:55:08 PM

Alright, turns out Paint.net does not support pcx.
EDIT:
I did finish the .txt for it, using the FACTION txt file as a template. Everything there seems fine except the gender is female still.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 28, 2014, 09:10:56 PM

My best suggestion if you want it done soon without spending money is to download GIMP.  Then follow the instructions in the tutorials for making a transparent background and pasting into a fresh copy of blank.pcx.pcx and saving as Followers Nation.pcx.

As to installing the new faction, hold on a few minutes while I look for the files to quote from.  It's not tough, once you know how.

The gender is one letter in the first line one the faction info starts, like this example from hive.txt:

Quote

;
; Sid Meier's ALPHA CENTAURI
;
; FACTION FILE: The Protectorate
;
; Copyright (c) 1997, 1998 by Firaxis Games, Inc.
;
; ALPHA CENTAURI reads the rules of the game from this file at
; startup. Feel free, at your own risk, to experiment with editing
; this file. We recommend you make a backup copy of the original.
;

#HIVE
The Protectorate, The Dictator, Hive, M, 1, Shin, M,  1,  1, 0, 1, 0,

The "M" bolded and underlined in my quote of the beginning of the file tells the game Yang is a dude.  For Deidre, ect., it's an "F".  -Note also the "#HIVE" making up the line before.  That one trips up a lot of new faction modders.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 28, 2014, 09:18:01 PM

Okay - find the following section in your alphax.txt file:

Quote

; First item is file name, second item is search key.
; These should always be the same except for debugging purposes.
;
#FACTIONS
GAIANS,   GAIANS
HIVE,     HIVE
UNIV,     UNIV
MORGAN,   MORGAN
SPARTANS, SPARTANS
BELIEVE,  BELIEVE
PEACE,    PEACE

;
; First item is file name, second item is search key.
; These should always be the same except for debugging purposes.
;
#NEWFACTIONS
CYBORG,   CYBORG
PIRATES,  PIRATES
DRONE,    DRONE
ANGELS,   ANGELS
FUNGBOY,  FUNGBOY
CARETAKE, CARETAKE
USURPER,  USURPER

;
; These are factions you want included in the startup list.
; These may also be chosen when a random faction is selected.
; First item is file name, second item is search key.
; These should always be the same except for debugging purposes.
;
#CUSTOMFACTIONS

Under that last line add so it's like this:

Quote

; First item is file name, second item is search key.
; These should always be the same except for debugging purposes.
;
#FACTIONS
GAIANS,   GAIANS
HIVE,     HIVE
UNIV,     UNIV
MORGAN,   MORGAN
SPARTANS, SPARTANS
BELIEVE,  BELIEVE
PEACE,    PEACE

;
; First item is file name, second item is search key.
; These should always be the same except for debugging purposes.
;
#NEWFACTIONS
CYBORG,   CYBORG
PIRATES,  PIRATES
DRONE,    DRONE
ANGELS,   ANGELS
FUNGBOY,  FUNGBOY
CARETAKE, CARETAKE
USURPER,  USURPER

;
; These are factions you want included in the startup list.
; These may also be chosen when a random faction is selected.
; First item is file name, second item is search key.
; These should always be the same except for debugging purposes.
;
#CUSTOMFACTIONS
Followers Nation, Followers Nation

-I believe it's not case sensitive, but try to make the "Followers Nation" match exactly in filenames and the "#Followers Nation" line in the faction txt.  (I don't know if it'll let you use two words for that...)

Let me know how it works out.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on September 28, 2014, 11:27:02 PM

Oh no, I have the faction play in the starting list. It just is basically a re-named Gaians with a few modifications to the civ buffs.
Anyways, the gender thing is not like you said. Mine is like this:
; Factions -- Names & personalities
;
; formal, desc, noun, masc/fem, sing/plural, name, gender, ai-fight, ai-power, ai-tech, ai-wealth, ai-growth
;    title, characteristic, adjective
;    SPECIAL RULES, parameters, ...
;    SOCIAL PRIORITY, setting, result
;
; formal      = Following
; desc        = Isolation is the only way to peace
; noun        = Followers
; masc/fem    = masc
; sing/plural = plural
; name        = Ron
; gender      = M
; ai-fight    = -1,0,1
; ai-power    = 0
; ai-tech     = 1
; ai-wealth   = 1
; ai-growth   = 0
Weird stuff.
Also, I already had gimp but was not using it. Do I need to get rid of the purple backround and blue outlines?

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 28, 2014, 11:53:51 PM

The one drawback to GIMP is that it has trouble with the transparent background if you do ANYTHING to it - so a simple [Ctrl]a, [Ctrl]c of your .jpg - switch to GIMP and paste it in, won't work.  You'll get solid blue boxes around your bases, ingame.  Loading it directly into GIMP and saving as a .pcx will probably have problems with .jpg artifacts messing up the background.  That's what blank.pcx.pcx is mostly for - the workaround.  It was created in Photoshop, which CAN handle the background.  You just need to paste your faction graphic into a clean copy without the OLD background.  (It's a simple Layer>Transparency>Add Alpha Channel, use the Select by Color tool w/ Threshold dialed down to zero to select the purple background>Delete, and paste then the lot into the blank and save with the new filename.

Attached is a copy of your avatar with transparent background and slightly blown up to fit.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 30, 2014, 08:59:43 PM

Quote from: BlueFlux on September 28, 2014, 11:27:02 PM

Anyways, the gender thing is not like you said. Mine is like this:
; Factions -- Names & personalities
;
; formal, desc, noun, masc/fem, sing/plural, name, gender, ai-fight, ai-power, ai-tech, ai-wealth, ai-growth
;    title, characteristic, adjective
;    SPECIAL RULES, parameters, ...
;    SOCIAL PRIORITY, setting, result
;
; formal      = Following
; desc        = Isolation is the only way to peace
; noun        = Followers
; masc/fem    = masc
; sing/plural = plural
; name        = Ron
; gender      = M
; ai-fight    = -1,0,1
; ai-power    = 0
; ai-tech     = 1
; ai-wealth   = 1
; ai-growth   = 0

BTW, that's not from the faction.txt - compare the Hive's "The Protectorate, The Dictator, Hive, M, 1, Shin, M,  1,  1, 0, 1, 0," with Deirdre's "Gaia's Stepdaughters, The Green, Gaians, F, 2, Deirdre, F, -1, 0, 0, 0, 1," lines, and note the "M"s versus "F"s in the respective files.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 01, 2014, 12:57:45 AM

Alright, so I replaced Gaians, gaians2, and Gaians3 with my followers graphics but for both the Gaians and Followers everything is using Gaian textures.
Weird. I wonder why?

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 01, 2014, 01:34:16 AM

It's probably something to do with the filenames - again, the #Followers line in the faction .txt, the filenames, and the line under #CUSTOM FACTIONS in alphax.txt have to match exactly.  I bet you're seeing the default graphic, which is identical to Gaian.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 01, 2014, 11:09:15 PM

 :( So, I discovered the faction editor. I think using the GUI to set up a faction is a lot easier.
But, the graphics still show as Gaian. Everything else works now. Even the gender.
I am baffled as to why. I would assume the fac editor would add the correct names in text files and such.
Anyone know why? ;morgan;

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 01, 2014, 11:14:08 PM

This is FacEdit you're talking about?  That thing is of the devil - buggy as heck.  I cannot recommend the nasty thing.

We need to talk a coder into fixing it...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Yitzi on October 02, 2014, 12:06:50 AM

Quote from: BUncle on October 01, 2014, 11:14:08 PM

This is FacEdit you're talking about?  That thing is of the devil - buggy as heck.  I cannot recommend the nasty thing.

We need to talk a coder into fixing it...

Honestly, it'd probably be easier just to make a javascript tool to do the job and have sisko put it on the website.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 02, 2014, 12:18:42 AM

Sure - I haven't been able to get Acedit running for years, and anything would help.

Only, newbs are always wanting to use the official thing.  I've been seeing this for years.  It would be easier to talk them into using a patched version of the piece of crap they already have from Sid than something else.  -Also, the interface on FacEdit is admittedly pretty.  Dumb stuff like that counts.

I cannot too strongly underline what a treat ANY working faction .txt tool -that ran reliably on modern OSes, handled the alien stuff, and without inserting a million bugs- would be.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Yitzi on October 02, 2014, 12:36:41 AM

Quote from: BUncle on October 02, 2014, 12:18:42 AM

Sure - I haven't been able to get Acedit running for years, and anything would help.

Only, newbs are always wanting to use the official thing.  I've been seeing this for years.  It would be easier to talk them into using a patched version of the piece of crap they already have from Sid than something else.  -Also, the interface on FacEdit is admittedly pretty.  Dumb stuff like that counts.

I cannot too strongly underline what a treat ANY working faction .txt tool -that ran reliably on modern OSes, handled the alien stuff, and without inserting a million bugs- would be.

I'm pretty sure I could do the javascript version; I could even describe what each thing does in there (which would be fairly difficult in FacEdit).  The question is whether it's more important than fixing bugs in, and adding features to, the actual game. 

I could probably fix FacEdit bugs as well, though only one at a time and only if they're described to me...and OS-specific problems would probably be completely unfixable.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 02, 2014, 12:47:29 AM

I just know I miss having a faction .txt editor.  It would do the faction modder community a lot of good...  ;nod

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Yitzi on October 02, 2014, 01:27:15 AM

Quote from: BUncle on October 02, 2014, 12:47:29 AM

I just know I miss having a faction .txt editor.  It would do the faction modder community a lot of good...  ;nod

Indeed it would.  The question is simply one of priorities; you'd know better than me what would be best for the site, a faction .txt editor or another version of my patch.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 02, 2014, 01:32:24 AM

Wellll - you're going to be revising your patch for pretty much ever...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: gwillybj on October 02, 2014, 01:52:48 AM

I can't help with any exe coding, but I might be able to help with getting the faction's txt file in order; possibly with pcx's, too. Not sure how quick I can be.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Yitzi on October 02, 2014, 02:32:59 AM

Quote from: BUncle on October 02, 2014, 01:32:24 AM

Wellll - you're going to be revising your patch for pretty much ever...

Probably, though after a point it'll include things that are somewhat lower priority.

Maybe it will help if I describe what I expect (as a rough estimate, and excluding stuff I've already done and isn't in the latest patch yet) to be able to accomplish in the time it would take to produce the faction editor:

-Make it so the "enhanced information" feature updates properly when cycling between bases.
-Make the "attack along road" modding option work properly.
-Make the "tech to remove maintenance cost" feature work properly.
-Give an option to make techs protect units from genetic warfare like they do population.
-Allow amphibious ships to capture coastal bases if that is enabled.
-Make it so you can unload marines into an enemy base by moving the transport into the base.

So, are those worth more or less than the faction editor?

Quote from: gwillybj on October 02, 2014, 01:52:48 AM

I can't help with any exe coding, but I might be able to help with getting the faction's txt file in order; possibly with pcx's, too. Not sure how quick I can be.

Would you be able to use javascript to make an automatic txt file editor?

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 02, 2014, 04:34:43 AM

I could only make that call on a selfish basis...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Yitzi on October 02, 2014, 06:46:39 AM

Quote from: BUncle on October 02, 2014, 04:34:43 AM

I could only make that call on a selfish basis...

You have factions you want to make?

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: gwillybj on October 02, 2014, 11:46:43 AM

Quote from: Yitzi on October 02, 2014, 02:32:59 AM

Would you be able to use javascript to make an automatic txt file editor?

I don't know java. I've dabbled in simple html, and played with BASIC ages ago...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Yitzi on October 02, 2014, 12:18:01 PM

Quote from: gwillybj on October 02, 2014, 11:46:43 AM

Quote from: Yitzi on October 02, 2014, 02:32:59 AM

Would you be able to use javascript to make an automatic txt file editor?

I don't know java. I've dabbled in simple html, and played with BASIC ages ago...

Javascript isn't the same as java.  But if you don't know javascript (generally used to make web pages that actually do stuff instead of just being there) either, and aren't interested in learning it (wherever you learned html probably has something on javascript too, as they're used together) or don't feel up to the task even if you do learn it, then it depends on whether BUncle thinks it's worth me taking time from my next patch for.  (I'd probably just split the time, some to the faction editor and some to the patch.)

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: gwillybj on October 02, 2014, 12:48:50 PM

Okay. My stepson thinks I should be able to learn it in a reasonable time. I'll need a day or two to look into it and get back to you.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 03, 2014, 02:03:31 AM

Anyone know where I can get a graphics set? I saw one that had a few walls and bases, with an outline of someone for the faction picture. Mostly I want the walls though.

EDIT: Found one in the graphics section.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 03, 2014, 02:59:14 AM

Alright, I guess I'll do a little progress update.
TXT File - Complete (Although strangely, although it didn't before, everything has a -2 behind it)
Graphics: WIP (the followers file is done, but followers2 and 3 both are still using default textures.)
The bases have blue boxes around them.

Finished-o-meter:  :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :( :( :(
(7/10)

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: JarlWolf on October 03, 2014, 08:07:07 AM

I can help you with your faction graphic if need be... just upload it all in zip file. I can work with it- I made my own custom faction and helped others in past so I know what to do.

And as another note- I used face edit for ALL of my factions. But there is a lot of tricks you have to do- primarily having backup copies of your graphics and then after loading/editing your faction ingame, you have to overwrite the faction graphics of your faction with your backups. Faceedit does a weird bug where it kills any custom graphics and replaces it with stock Gaian graphics... so keep that in mind.


As for the blue box problem, that is because the palette of your faction bases wasn't actually "clear," as in it wasn't truthfully transparent. BUncle gave me a blank faction thing in GIMP a long time ago... I typically cut out and lasso tooled the bases and graphics with great care and focus and then pasted it onto the palette..

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Yitzi on October 03, 2014, 11:02:07 AM

Quote from: BlueFlux on October 03, 2014, 02:59:14 AM

Alright, I guess I'll do a little progress update.
TXT File - Complete (Although strangely, although it didn't before, everything has a -2 behind it)
Graphics: WIP (the followers file is done, but followers2 and 3 both are still using default textures.)
The bases have blue boxes around them.

Finished-o-meter:  :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :( :( :(
(7/10)

Your datalinks still have the Hive's stuff.

It looks like a fairly serious powerhouse, to be honest.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 03, 2014, 10:48:22 PM

To:
Yitzi: You mean OP? Yeah, maybe so. Possibly a little much. But since it will probably be the faction I use the most, I won't complain about that. I can always just raise the difficulty when I'm playing SP, right?

JarlWolf: Yeah, I would appreciate it. When you have 1 layer (I think) and a certain shade of pink is the transparent color, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me why that isn't clear. I'll put the files as an attachment, although I feel bad about myself just giving it to someone else. Oh well.

BUncle: Hey, thanks for the help. It certainly is a welcoming community.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 03, 2014, 11:01:06 PM

It is a pleasure to spread the big knowledge.  I feel pride whenever I see someone I taught doing art modding - without me having to do the work. :D

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 04, 2014, 02:53:19 AM

 ;morganercise Although a bit off-topic, I'd like to say I made my first contribution to the AC community. ;morganercise

Um, maybe a bit of a waste of a post.
Anyway, if you want to check it out I have it posted on fanfiction.net. Titled "Pirates of Alpha Centauri"

EDIT: I took the suggestion from BUncle.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 04, 2014, 03:17:20 AM

 ;b;

You should post it here: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?board=14.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?board=14.0)

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 04, 2014, 11:19:13 PM

So I just played an ENTIRE game of AC on Specialist, just to see if I liked my faction.
I won by ascent to transcendence.
TXT file issues - None, although judging by my ending energy credit reserve of 1 1/2 trillion credits I may have put in a wrong number there.
Graphics issues - Only the smallest bases have a graphic for defense, and blue boxes appear.

I'm surprised, it was a lot of fun to play as them... Even if they did Planetbust the majority of Chiron.
Now, what was the deal with the blue boxes again? I seriously don't know why they are there.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 04, 2014, 11:46:31 PM

Blue boxes happen because GIMP can't handle the transparency - did you make a blank faction file w/ original SMAC pink background yourself?  If so, there's your problem.  Even though you replaced whatever was on the original with the identical background color, GIMP does something with the color slots that causes the game to not register it as transparent.

Hold on - I'm having a look at your .zip posted above right now...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 04, 2014, 11:49:33 PM

Yeah, the only thing I changed from that ZIP since is the lvl 1 defense isn't glowing yellow.
I made my graphic by putting my images over a renamed morgan graphic.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 04, 2014, 11:55:19 PM

'Bout to post a walkthrough of the fix w/ screenies - please stand by...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 04, 2014, 11:57:00 PM

Quote from: BUncle on October 04, 2014, 11:55:19 PM

'Bout to post a walkthrough of the fix w/ screenies - please stand by...

*Standing by

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 04, 2014, 11:58:02 PM

:D  Hafta size/crop the screenies and upload, but it'll just take a few minutes.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 12:37:11 AM

Quote from: BUncle on October 04, 2014, 11:58:02 PM

:D  Hafta size/crop the screenies and upload, but it'll just take a few minutes.

...You okay in there? It's been more than a few minutes...
I hate to seem impatient, but I have a feeling you got sidetracked.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 05, 2014, 12:40:04 AM

Naw - it just takes a lot longer to organize all this info than to actually do what I'm demonstrating, which took less than a minute.

---

Okay, I opened your file:
(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=693)

Layer>Transparency>Add Alpha Channel:
(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=692)

Select by Color Tool w/ threshold set to zero>select background (Note the red arrows):
(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=694)

[Delete]
(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=696)

[Ctrl]a(selct all)>[Ctrl]c(copy)>Switch over to Blank.pcx.pcx:
(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=695)

[Ctrl]v to paste
(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=701)

deselect and save
(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=702)

Blank.pcx.pcx file: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=65 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=65)

---

Your shields problem is because you didn't place all the shields in the shield rows.  See this tutorial, towards the end: http://alphacentauri2.info/My%20Custom%20Factions/Custom%20FactionsPage2.htm#Faction%20Bases:%20Making%20&%20Placing (http://alphacentauri2.info/My%20Custom%20Factions/Custom%20FactionsPage2.htm#Faction%20Bases:%20Making%20&%20Placing) (All my tutorials are in one place on that page, incidentally.)  Note that I talk about only having to place shields once, and copy/pasting over the seabase rows.  You'll probably get a lot of use out of the file below: 

Bare Shields file:  http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=64 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=64)

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 12:59:41 AM

Hmm. That looks simpler than I would think. I have a feeling I will use the shields alot, but I did already have that file. Thanks for including it anyway.
I like your tip about the simple water seabase platforms in your other tutorial you linked also. Lazy, but it looks alot better anyway.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 05, 2014, 01:06:01 AM

I should really do a tutorial just about shields and placement of same, shouldn't I?  It's covered in that one, but sorta buried in a lot of other stuff and not gone into in fine detail.

...Faction artists and aspiring faction artists I meet all seem to be self-starters good at filling in the blanks, but I like to make it idiot-proof not so much for the idiots as persons of other nationalities whose English language skills aren't strong.  That's why all the screenies...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 01:20:40 AM

Wow, the shields you posted are likely going to be something I come back to every time I make a faction. It's a shame that the actual blue&yellow shields are too small for 2 bigger bases. Oh well.
Yeah, you might want to do the tutorial if you have nothing better to do, I suppose. I could see some people less creative people getting stuck with things like, say, the bottom of the base being over the fence.


I'm pretty sure by the end of today the "epic" conclusion to this thread will come, putting me into the AC modder community officially :D. I'll post the finished fac once I'm done.

EDIT: I decided to take a different course with my fac, and made a new type of base so it definetly isn't ready yet.
It might actually be something original enough that people may download it. Who knows?
Hint: Followers of Ron(ald)

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 03:24:01 AM

Alright, I finished my first faction. THE REAGAN REPUBLIC

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 04:35:38 AM

Alright everyone. I really appreciate the help, and I've now created my first faction available to the public. "The Reaganites".
You've definitely won a long-term member. I will continue making factions. Who knows, maybe one day I'll learn to code and make one of those city view things they have in CIV 1 and 3, so you can see how pitiful your capital is.
Anyway, I appreciate the help. Followers was a test faction, because as soon as I finished it I realized I'd rather make a new-america faction.
With that said, I'm done with this thread. I'll check it for the next day or two.

Thanks for the help.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Yitzi on October 05, 2014, 04:51:27 AM

Quote from: BlueFlux on October 05, 2014, 03:24:01 AM

Alright, I finished my first faction. THE REAGAN REPUBLIC

Do you have gameplay info/txt file as well?

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 04:58:53 AM

Yeah, I do. I started a thread called"Flux's Factions". If you go over there you can download all the stuff you need for it. I'm actually quite proud.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 05, 2014, 08:01:38 PM

Okay, you're really coming along, but the perspective on those shields for the Regan bases (which are excellent, BTW  ;b;) is way off and there's nothing to distinguish the tachyon fields from the basic shields.

I jiggered around the brick walls to fix the perspective better (and make them symmetrical - I believe I created those for elongated rectangular bases in one of my earliest factions) and made a shinier blue version that tries to look metallic.  Try these.

---

Is the distorted small council portrait a deliberate artistic choice?

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 08:27:46 PM

Meh, you don't really notice ingame from my experience.
It looks better than having the whole picture really small when your looking at battle portraits.
...So you changed the perspective? Looks like I can't just drag them over after all...
Maybe I will just put the normal perimeter def. as the wooden fence instead...
I have to say, since I've had quite a bit of freetime this weekend I've already made three faction graphics. (Latest one is gungan, but I haven't put it up yet.)
EDIT: I see what you mean on the wall perspective... I guess i should just man up and redo it, eh?


The base graphic is actually a random drawing I found online, don't give me much credit.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 08:55:18 PM

Alright, so I cleaned up the Reaganite tachyon field and perimeter def.

(http://i.imgur.com/opCJwXo.png?1)

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 05, 2014, 09:05:39 PM

Okay. ;b;

You're going to have the same perspective problems with the sea platforms on the shielded sea bases.   Ingame, that'll look like an UPRIGHT disk BEHIND the bases.  If you made this by laying out the first row of unshielded land bases then copying that row five times, fixing it would take just a minute to fix: replace those rows with the unshielded sea row, (which has good platform perspective,) and then copy/paste the shielded land rows over them.

I really should right this up in fine detail with screenies...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 09:14:17 PM

Quote from: BUncle on October 05, 2014, 09:05:39 PM

Okay. ;b;

You're going to have the same perspective problems with the sea platforms on the shielded sea bases.   Ingame, that'll look like an UPRIGHT disk BEHIND the bases.  If you made this by laying out the first row of unshielded land bases then copying that row five times, fixing it would take just a minute to fix: replace those rows with the unshielded sea row, (which has good platform perspective,) and then copy/paste the shielded land rows over them.

I really should right this up in fine detail with screenies...

Gah, effort is required.
To think I have to restart half it... Actually, I might be able to just delete some of the blue on the last 2 rows of bases... Let me try that

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 09:21:40 PM

I sincerely hope you don't have a keen enough eye to point out another flaw.
(http://i.imgur.com/aaD8D8I.png?1)

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 05, 2014, 09:22:56 PM

Really, it's all select>delete>copy/paste.  Just take a few minutes once you're used to it.

[ninja'd] That's better...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 09:26:07 PM

It's a fun faction to play as.
So I've already finished 2 factions, although the other is a bit rough (Imperial Army). I'm rather proud of myself.

Hey, I know you make base packs sometimes. Look up some bases from Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds. It's basically a giant mod to AOE 2 that went on sale in 2001, so the setting and angle is perfect.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 05, 2014, 09:34:37 PM

Okydoke.  Thanks for the tip.  Easy to google base images?

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 09:56:40 PM

Well, you can find them with  a little grass around them, all alone if you get lucky. Or you could take a screenshot.
they look great though. Google 'Galactic Empire command center SWGB" and you'll find one.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 05, 2014, 10:38:09 PM

I may do that.  The pickin's seem a little slim lately in the GalCiv2 files someone gave me.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 10:42:39 PM

Quote from: BUncle on October 05, 2014, 10:38:09 PM

I may do that.  The pickin's seem a little slim lately in the GalCiv2 files someone gave me.

I sent you a message with eight buildings that would make great bases. Save you some time.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 05, 2014, 10:43:44 PM

They're all winners. ;b; That there's going to make up Bases16.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 11:28:40 PM

Quote from: BUncle on October 05, 2014, 10:43:44 PM

They're all winners. ;b; That there's going to make up Bases16.

:) Cool. Again, they came from Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds.
I'm surprised nobody has used them for a faction before me... Just out of curiosity, how many people do you think use those packs anyway? Most I've seen have their own base graphics
1 - Like, nobody
5 - Meh, you find a few every now and then
10 - Most of them

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 05, 2014, 11:32:56 PM

No idea.  There are thousands and thousands of fans out there, and when you cast graphics goodies to the wind like I do, most of them never thank you or talk to you at all, but the work turns up here and there.  I meet a lot of SMACX art modders and faction creators who found my customs factions page years ago.

[shrugs]  I'm not doing it for the applause, but to know I done a good thing, which I did and I do.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 05, 2014, 11:49:13 PM

Well, uh, thanks for the Bases8 graphic? I used that for my test fac, the main focus of this thread, Followers of Ron.
I actually have used 2 of the graphics I sent you. So umm, thanks?

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 06, 2014, 12:21:11 AM

You're welcome.

You know, my custom faction page actually got me bad-mouthed on 4Chan. :D

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 06, 2014, 12:29:15 AM

Quote from: BUncle on October 06, 2014, 12:21:11 AM

You're welcome.

You know, my custom faction page actually got me bad-mouthed on 4Chan. :D

...How does that work? You put it in a package for people to use easier...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 06, 2014, 12:38:37 AM

Actually, it was more praise.  Someone found my page and said of the factions, quoting as well as I can quote from memory: "A lot of them are herp-derp or stupid, but there a lot of good stuff there."  Human nature being what it is, the herp-derp or stupid part struck me harder than the praise.

I notice you've been skipping the scanlines.  http://alphacentauri2.info/My%20Custom%20Factions/Custom%20FactionsPage2.htm#Scanlines%20in%20GIMP%20made%20simple,%20fast%20&%20easy (http://alphacentauri2.info/My%20Custom%20Factions/Custom%20FactionsPage2.htm#Scanlines%20in%20GIMP%20made%20simple,%20fast%20&%20easy)

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 06, 2014, 12:58:52 AM

Scanlines? Are those for leader portraits?

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 06, 2014, 01:09:30 AM

Uh-huh. ;nod  Also logos.

It's not strictly necessary, but little touches like that make your factions fit in better with the official ones (and other peoples' custom factions), and thus are more useful to others and likely to be popular.  It's also a thing other modders notice and tend to take as a sign of quality work. ;nod

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 06, 2014, 03:24:42 AM

I just read your tutorial, and made my bigger Reagan portrait have scanlines...
I have to say, I NEVER would have thought to just make a lower contrast image and delete every other row-genius!
After careful examination, I noticed the scanlines for the Believers. Your right, it does look alot better now.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 06, 2014, 03:40:34 AM

;b;

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 06, 2014, 10:42:57 PM

Quote from: BUncle on October 06, 2014, 03:40:34 AM

;b;

;b; indeed.
I suppose with that I'm done with this thread. If I see any more posts, I'll probably read them.
But the faction is done.

This being the first thread I made, I'd like to say that you've won yourself a dedicated member.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 07, 2014, 01:02:45 AM

Uhh...
So I have a pic of Tim Cook for the leaderhead of the next faction of mine (The Apple)
So when I paste it into the .pcx it turns blue and purple... Is it just the pallet?
I've attached it. It does look rather cool, so I may use it anyway. But I'd rather not.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 07, 2014, 01:06:26 AM

Supper.

I'll have a look shortly...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 07, 2014, 01:11:39 AM

Quote from: BUncle on October 07, 2014, 01:06:26 AM

Supper.

I'll have a look shortly...

It's not the PCX. I just remembered I'm using a copy of it I made into a .PNG so I could use Paint.net...
Still confused.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 07, 2014, 01:30:00 AM

Okay - when I pasted it into a faction .pcx, his hair was blue and tan, which does not look good.  Some photos paste in beautifully, but some don't take to the limited 255 color SMACX palette very well at all.

Basically, that's an exaggeration of what's in your .png, if you look close.  I'm guessing you need to use the Fuzzy Select Tool to (TEDIOUSLY) select his hair and reduce the color saturation a lot.  Let the gray hair be gray.

Processing photos into paintings is tough to teach -it's a lot more intuitive than most faction art skills- but it's doable.  My avatar began as a photo, believe it or not.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 07, 2014, 05:30:30 PM

Sick days give me way to much time.
Take a gander at the Boys from Brazil fac graphic.
(http://i.imgur.com/g9DRxmZ.png?1)
EDIT: Wrong Thread

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: gwillybj on October 07, 2014, 07:20:27 PM

Here's a version of your Tim Cook leaderhead without purple hair. I did it in the old version of Paint Shop Pro I always use (v3.11).

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 07, 2014, 07:23:43 PM

Why Tim Cook and not Steve Jobs, anyway?  They're all clones...

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Nexii on October 07, 2014, 08:12:56 PM

A faction set of 7 large Earth corporations might be interesting. 

Pharma > growth
Oil > economy
Tech > research (Apple)
Telecom > probe
Retail > support, or efficiency
Aviation/defense > morale
Commodities/conglomerate > industry

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 07, 2014, 08:23:38 PM

Quote from: BUncle on October 07, 2014, 07:23:43 PM

Why Tim Cook and not Steve Jobs, anyway?  They're all clones...

Actually, this Tim Cook is supposed to be the real one who lived long enough for the immortality tech that keeps all the leaders alive in the game to be invented.

Title: Re: Helping A Newbie With His Faction
Post by: Flux on October 25, 2014, 03:06:50 AM

This will hopefully be the last time I dig this up.
Anyway, I'm trying to add a voice file for the quote to my Creche faction.
The pitch is EXTREMELY deep. Like, you wouldn't be able to tell what he was saying if it weren't for the blurb text.
So, I changed the pitch to be higher. Turns out the file... Stutters? I think thats the right word.
Well, the mp3 sounds fine. But it stutters ingame.
Anyone have a clue why? I'm attaching both the upped pitch and normal .mp3's.
( CRECHE - is the normal pitch.)