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Sprites in the Combat and Reorganisation Windows.

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Chicken Spadge

Chicken Spadge

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Aug 3, 2009
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I'm just putting the final touches to a new sprite pack for the game. One problem is that you can't position converted sprites in the correct places both on the map and in the combat and reorganisation windows. So you end up with something like this:



with the sprites in the bottom right-hand corner of the combat window and half off-screen when the reorganisation window comes up.

I'm assuming that nothing can be done about the position of the sprites when you're converting a Civ3 unit, but is it possible to fix it so that the sprites don't appear at all in the combat and reorganisation windows, leaving them simply blank?
 
Tried changing the 'Origin' entry inside the spr file but I noticed no effect whatsoever (I'm guessing that relates to the sprite's position on the map). I reckon MichaelM could be able to shed some light on this.
 
Yes, the Origin co-ordinates only concern the position on the map.




I'm almost certain that the problem lies in the fact that the Civ3 strips are bigger, with more transparent space surrounding the unit, as you can see from the above. That's why I'm guessing that nothing can be done about this apart from turning the sprites off in the two windows concerned.
 
I see. Might it be possible to resize the unit by selecting and resizing just the area around the unit?

Something like this:

View attachment 85418

In effect there would be no need to enlarge the units (and lose quality) as the original bmp files are smaller than the Civ3 ones.
 
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Therion said:
I see. Might it be possible to resize the unit by selecting and resizing just the area around the unit?

Something like this:

View attachment 85418

In effect there would be no need to enlarge the units (and lose quality) as the original bmp files are smaller than the Civ3 ones.
Click to expand...

How did you do that? My GIMP skills don't go that far! Have you managed to keep each frame exactly the same size?
 
First you need to crop a rectangular area around each unit. I'm not sure how this is done on GIMP but you can easily do it by using IrfanView (freeware, available here) as per screenshot below.

View attachment 85441

Select the desired area around a unit, then choose Edit->Crop Selection. As you can see from the selection information at the top of the screen the cropped frame in this case will be 50 x 52 px. Do the same for each unit in the sequence.

Then create a new file in Photoshop/GIMP with the appropriate dimensions. In case of a sequence of ten units each being 50 x 52 px, the appropriate dimensions would be 500 x 52 px.

Then import all the cropped frames in the Photoshop/GIMP file and place them adjacent to each other in the correct order.

Once you're done save as bmp.
 
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OK, thanks for your help. I've downloaded Irfanview and worked out how to use Crop Selection, but what's the best way to transfer the cropped areas into the new GIMP file and then arrange them into a new frame sequence? The only method I've managed to work out is to use copy and paste, and then drag the areas into position. It works, but it's a bit clumsy and time-consuming. Isn't there a faster and easier way?

Unfortunately, I'm still a bit of a novice when it comes to using GIMP. I've only ever used it to convert the Civ3 sprites, so I'm not familiar with most of the features.
 
Well, I've been doing some experimenting with the cut, paste and drag method described above and here's the result compared to the original sprites (the third unit down in the corner hasn't been changed):



So, it was all connected with the size of the strips. The positions aren't quite the same, but it's close.

It takes a long time, though! I hope that there's a quicker way to do it.

At least you only have to do the one STAND and two FIRE files and not the eight WALK ones.
 


That's how I feel now - like the Byzantine sprite above. Darn it! Just when I thought the pack was finished!

Another thing is that I'll have to reposition the sprites on the map again because now they're too far north and west.

I never had these problems with Darkest Hour!

Anyway, I'm going to leave the pack up as it is for the moment. I'll gradually change the STAND and FIRE files and post up new versions when they're completed.
 
Chicken Spadge said:
OK, thanks for your help. I've downloaded Irfanview and worked out how to use Crop Selection, but what's the best way to transfer the cropped areas into the new GIMP file and then arrange them into a new frame sequence? The only method I've managed to work out is to use copy and paste, and then drag the areas into position. It works, but it's a bit clumsy and time-consuming. Isn't there a faster and easier way?

Unfortunately, I'm still a bit of a novice when it comes to using GIMP. I've only ever used it to convert the Civ3 sprites, so I'm not familiar with most of the features.
Click to expand...
In Photoshop I just drag the images from the desktop. I'm guessing it works the same way in GIMP.

View attachment 85509

What's that unit at the bottom right hand corner of the battlefield?
 
Therion said:
What's that unit at the bottom right hand corner of the battlefield?
Click to expand...

It's an Albanian, represented by the sprite I used for the Eastern European minor states
 
Therion said:
Yeah but what's it doing there?
Click to expand...

If Byzantium immediately attacks the Ottomans in Macedonia, the Albanians come to their aid. I haven't altered that particular sprite yet so it's still in the wrong position in the combat window.

Meanwhile, here's a before and after of the reorganisation window.



This whole thing is rather complicated. For one thing the game crashes if the strip is certain lengths, and the sprite shakes if it's certain others. 960 pixels works as a strip length, so the altered sprite can be 64 pixels wide, but not 65, for example. The strip width means that the STAND sprite, which is quite narrow, has to be placed towards the right side of the rectangle so that it appears in the correct place in the reorganisation window.

I will eventually alter all the STAND and FIRE sprites in the pack, but it's going to take quite a long time, so my advice to people is to download the pack now if you're interested in using it.
 
Titan79 said:
I'd just want to let you know that with the recentering of the sprites this truly looks fantastic - you have all my moral support, don't give up! :)
Click to expand...



I won't!
 


Well, I've just finished all the Level 1 sprites and am now starting on Level 2.

There are more sprites for Level 1 than for any other level, so I reckon I've done at least 30 percent of the work.
 


Coming soon to a For the Glory game near you!

I've nearly finished this now, keep an eye out for it on the Sprite Pack thread in the Gfx section.
 
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