Scenery stuff and such...

I took a few moments and came up with an edit of the car GraySwandir showed. The side door has a re-enforced shielding. A slightly old B.O.S spray-paint is visible. Overall color of vehicle has been changed a wee bit. I sort of repaired the wind shield too.

Before:
CARSPEC2burn1000000.BMP.png


After:
carx.png
 
Sadly I lost the file already. But to replace it I tried to make something from scratch. Don't be fooled by the blue, it looks pretty good when blue is gone.

cubebuilding.png
 
Krizalis said:
Do you plan to work similar to this:
Click to expand...
Nope, at least not me. Walls are pretty much retarded work, where you must use Mapper, and I refuse to install this piece of shit. Also, without hi-res patch Mapper is destroying PS' windows while returning from full screen 640x480 to 1280x1024. Adjusting without full screen 640x480 is rather hard - everything is fucking small. To prevent this really annoying behavior I must keep Frame Animator opened "above" PS each time I want to run Mapper and because of that I got even more fucking clicking :yuck:

Maybe some day finally someone will make/release some decent Mapper, where you'll be able to preview/adjust at once, instead of constant switching between Mapper and Frame Animator :wall: IIRC, FOnline Mapper got this NEXT-GEN AWESOME feature.
 
Adjusting without full screen 640x480 is rather hard - everything is fucking small.
Click to expand...

I make screenshots, count the pixels in zoom mode of some image editing software, adjust the offsets via frm animator, done. :P

Can't use mapper without high-res patch anymore. You have a so much better overview with that thing. Even if you don't play the game in a higher resolution, to me, it's absolutly needed in the mapper.
 
Lexx said:
I make screenshots, count the pixels in zoom mode of some image editing software, adjust the offsets via frm animator, done. :P
Click to expand...
Counting pixels? Hmm... It sounds like some form of self punishment! :ugly:

Lexx said:
ICan't use mapper without high-res patch anymore. You have a so much better overview with that thing. Even if you don't play the game in a higher resolution, to me, it's absolutly needed in the mapper.
Click to expand...
Yes, for better overview, but not for adjusting, or checking for problems. High resolution isn't comfortable for me - pixels are really small "units".
 
Continuum said:
Lexx said:
I make screenshots, count the pixels in zoom mode of some image editing software, adjust the offsets via frm animator, done. :P
Click to expand...
Counting pixels? Hmm... It sounds like some form of self punishment! :ugly:
Click to expand...

But it's very easy math. Adjusting / calculating stuff that way has been proven to me to be much more effective than "guessing" the offsets. I simply check the distance between pixel A and B and add / remove the difference in the image offset. :>

 
The forum must have found out that i had a sixt toe and I wasn't allowed to write anymore... Luckily, I have it removed now.

Personly, I make a screenshot, then I past the blue color of an existing wall on the image so I don't have to care with the offset. This only work right if the wall on the screenshot is already more or less adjusted. So I usualy past some texture on the Continuum model, then cut 2 and 1 model for the walls. And copy past the details on the model to limit the errors.
 
Much of my life has been taken up with opening the mapper – checking the new artwork (shit 2 pixels to the left) – closing the mapper – opening the FRM animator – (move object 2 pixels, copy into folder) - opening the mapper – checking the new artwork (shit 1 pixels to the top)…etc…etc. :crazy:

I wonder what tools Black Isle used for this messy frame moving stuff…ideally the mapper should have it built in as Conti suggests. Its interesting how so many of the talented programmers don’t even bother touching the mapper…the thing that builds the game, if just one could sit down and play around with it who knows many of the problems could be settled for good. Unlike some…no names…I actually like the mapper and the engine (it’s a shitty old man), but has character.

As for the resolution patch for the mapper (bless you Matt), I’ve been editing the maps at 640x480 (fixing the broken scroll blockers for RP), and I seem to notice a lot more bugs than at the higher resolutions, it’s like a magnified version of the game. Normally I play at 800x600, but build at 1024x768.
 
Lexx said:
But it's very easy math. Adjusting / calculating stuff that way has been proven to me to be much more effective than "guessing" the offsets. I simply check the distance between pixel A and B and add / remove the difference in the image offset. :>
Click to expand...
No, no, no, no, Herr Lexx. We're still talking about some PAST-GEN techniques. Let's talk about NEXT-GEN stuff.

Now, how such tool should work. Let's see...

We have six .gifs/.pngs/.bmps/whatever in our input folder. We're opening our tool. Right. Now let's go into the options to specify size of "map" we want to work with. For small pieces we can use 640x480, for example. Ok, now let's load our bitmaps into the program. "File --> Open images". Ok, let's select all bitmaps we have in our input folder. Ok, bitmaps are loaded into our "map" (640x480) and randomly placed there. Our working window should look like Frame Animator one (hexes + blocking hexes + bitmaps). We can work with pieces in two modes:

a) Move. This feature is working in similar way as moving pieces around the map in Mapper. Standard stuff.
b) Adjust. When this mode is ON small-ish window is opening, where you can enter X and Y values. You can also use left mouse button to change position to blocking hex. Standard stuff in Frame Animator.

Now, we adjusted our pieces and moved them close to each other (final look). How the fuck we can know now how to select a correct piece? Simple, when you move the mouse over the bitmap piece will be highlighted! Awesome, isn't it? :D

Ok, we finalized all adjustments, how we can save it now? Simple, right click on the piece and select "save as FRM". But wait... We'll need to repeat the same procedure for each piece! Oh noez! :o Clicking SUCKS! :yuck: No, no, no! Our NEXT-GEN tool will save everything with one click! But how?! Simple, go to "File --> Save All as FRM". But still something isn't right... But what? I know! After selecting "Save All as FRM" program will send a note to us: "Please enter no more than six characters for file name". Why six? Because last two are reserved for file number (01, 02, 03, etc.). Cool! But I WANT to have files in specific order, not some random shit!!! Then name your bitmaps XXXXXX01, XXXXXX02, XXXXXX03, etc. Program will check the last two characters and save in the order you specified, just with one click! AWESOME!!! :D

But what if I want to adjust my custom pieces to the existing FRMs? Simple - program is able to load FRMs!

But pixels are fucking small to work with it!!!! No problem, our NEXT-GEN software got zoom feature! Awesome, isn't it? :D

Of course, our NEXT-GEN tool should have real-time feedback. For example we made one piece two pixels too wide. We're changing, overwriting and program is automatically updating bitmap in our working window! Incredible, isn't it!!! :D

Support for animated objects (more than one frame) isn't needed, you can do it in PAST-GEN programs. 99% of scenery/walls/tiles isn't animated.
 
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