Working with unit graphics

A forum for discussing map making ideas and problems for the Myth series.
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Pyro
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by Pyro »

The image for this version of the tagset.
MindBrain
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by MindBrain »

Cool thanks, I gotta say they look quite a bit sharper to me
MindBrain
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by MindBrain »

Pyro wrote:The image for this version of the tagset.
It's that time again! "What time is it?" Time for Pyro to update MindBrain's high res Warrior tags! Seriously these new bmps should be much improved, more detail, more smoothness, edge pixels are cleaned up.

Now I want to run this PS action on every sprite in the game
http://www.mediafire.com/?hdbc6w55l46a5si
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Pyro
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by Pyro »

The 4th image and the 4th tagset out of the 5th attempt of your modified images.
MindBrain
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by MindBrain »

Pyro wrote:The 4th image and the 4th tagset out of the 5th attempt of your modified images.
Cool, I like how these are turning out, except for that splotch on the sword. Hey I have Oak now so is it hard to do this myself? Could you post a quick tutorial, ehehe it might save you some time in the future, cause I want to do all the sprites, or I guess at least just the units to start. Also if I could test on a map with like 200 - 400 warrior units at once I can see how much performance is affected, know of a map off hand, or I could just add the units in the map editor...
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Pyro
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Re: Working with unit graphics

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Open Oak, select "Foundation" as it is the same as selecting the 5 "...install" foundation tag files which are most of the default game files. A few are modifed or even stored in the Patch plugins. Once you have selected, double click on "Collections" which is on the right side. To go straight to the "warrior" collection you could press "W" to get you close. Double click on "warrior".

If you want to see the bitmaps, you could press "Grid". You could also just click on the Sequences tab and open a sequence you wish to see. Oak has menus which can be seen if you right click depending on what you right click on. Go to the Bitmaps tab. Right click on any image (List or Grid mode, doesn't matter which). Now move your mouse over "All Bitmaps" and select "Export". Choose a folder which will contain all the exported bitmaps. If you select "By Numbering" mode it exports the bitmaps with a new naming scheme like "bitmap #0000.bmp". If you select "By Bitmap Name" mode, it extracts by the bitmaps current names.

I know I used the "By Bitmap Name" for the Warrior stuff, but it might cause you issues to use this if the collection has multiple bitmaps with the same name. An example of that would be the "warlock" collection. Scroll down and see the numbers on bitmap names. So if you don't care about their names being different, use "By Numbering".

Once you have the images modified and wish to replace the original, open the warrior collection and right click on a bitmap. Select "All Bitmaps" > "Replace". Select all bitmaps you wish to import. Ctrl A will auto select all in the folder. Once this is done, the easy part is over.

Click on the Sequences tab and double click on a sequence. Double click on any of the bitmaps you see from that sequence. You will have to re-align/re-center all the images. You probably want to see the original collection and compare with the new one. Click and dragging will move the bitmap. Holding Ctrl while click dragging will move all bitmaps of the same view (vertical column) for that sequence. Holding Alt while click draggin will move all bitmaps of the same frame (horizontal row) for that sequence. Holding Ctrl and Alt will move all bitmaps of that sequence.

Myth2 uses the selection box of the first Idle sequence. To know which sequence that would be, open Fear. Go to the monster tag of your choice and click on Sequences tab. The sequence at the very top is the one the unit will use for the selection box. So in Oak, just adjust the selection box by grabbing the sides with the mouse. To save, just close the collection and save the changes. You will still need to manually align some of the images since some of them were wider than others so weren't align with each other to begin with.
MindBrain
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by MindBrain »

Pyro wrote: Once you have the images modified and wish to replace the original, open the warrior collection and right click on a bitmap. Select "All Bitmaps" > "Replace". Select all bitmaps you wish to import. Ctrl A will auto select all in the folder. Once this is done, the easy part is over.
Does this replace the units permanently, or is this how you were making the tagset? I'd like to make 1 tagset for all the units...
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Pyro
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by Pyro »

Once you modify the collection tag, the new one is saved in your local folder. You will need open Fear and find the "object" tag the monster tags for those units use. Modify their scale so they aren't like twice the original size. For example, if the modifed images are twice the size and the scale of the unit was 1.0 then the new scale would be 0.5. Those modified tags will also end up in the local folder.

Once you are done or wish to make a test plugin just load up Fear. Go to File > Build Plug-in File... then file it out. Give it the name you want, you could leave the URL field empty or put whatever in there even just text. Then have all the tags you want to include into the plugin checked. So if you only got tags you intended on using without any extra tags you can click on the All or Invert button. For a plugin to be a tagset make sure not to include "mesh" tags which you won't need since you will only modify collections and object tags. You won't need to check the 4 checkboxes above the area you select the tags. Then just hit OK and the plugin will get created in your plugins folder.

Either rename or delete your local folder so those tags don't interfere with Myth2. Then just enable the tagset before loading any map.
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by MindBrain »

Pyro wrote:Once you modify the collection tag, the new one is saved in your local folder. You will need open Fear and find the "object" tag the monster tags for those units use. Modify their scale so they aren't like twice the original size. For example, if the modifed images are twice the size and the scale of the unit was 1.0 then the new scale would be 0.5. Those modified tags will also end up in the local folder.
How did you get the gore pieces to be normal size? I set the "scale fraction" to ".5 to .5" but the gore flesh pieces are still double size while the unit is sized ok.

Also the Fetch unit after I export it the blue back ground is not 255 blue, but around 217 and different in other parts. So when I replace it back in Oak the background is not transparent, know why the fetch is like this? All other units so far have the correct blue 255 background...
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Pyro
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by Pyro »

For the projectiles, they use a different object tag then whatever you thought they might have been using. Look at the projectile tags to find the correct object tag they use. As for the different background color for the Fetch, it does not matter which color it uses. Perhaps it was an accident when the original collection was made, but you can make it any color you want as long as it isnt used/needed by the part of the Fetch that is visible.

Also, I forgot to mention, keep the status icon the same size as the original. Making it bigger will just make it not fit in the status bar location for it.
MindBrain
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by MindBrain »

I'm having trouble matching some of the names in Oak with it's counterpart in Fear. For instance the warrior in Oak says the tag is "wam2" but I can't find it in the Fear objects, the "warrior" in Fear says the tag is "waob" so the resizing didn't work...
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Pyro
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by Pyro »

Those are tagids, and make sure you are looking at the same type of tag. For example, there could be a monster tag with a tagid of "mon1". It could be linked to an object tag with a tagid of "mon2". So while their tagids are not the same, they are still linked.

So open Fear... look for the monster tag of your choice. Open it and see what object tag it uses. Then go find that object tag. Don't just blindly guess by tag name, confirm it by seeing it linked to the monster tag with your own eyes.
MindBrain
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by MindBrain »

Pyro wrote: Click on the Sequences tab and double click on a sequence. Double click on any of the bitmaps you see from that sequence. You will have to re-align/re-center all the images. You probably want to see the original collection and compare with the new one. Click and dragging will move the bitmap. Holding Ctrl while click dragging will move all bitmaps of the same view (vertical column) for that sequence. Holding Alt while click draggin will move all bitmaps of the same frame (horizontal row) for that sequence. Holding Ctrl and Alt will move all bitmaps of that sequence.
How do I easily compare to the original? Also, I'm assuming I have to move the shadow independent of the unit? What is Reg Point and Key Point, I see I can't move Reg Point, but will I need to move Key Point?
Graydon
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by Graydon »

I still think it's great that you're pursuing this, but it's to no ends.

Someone should point him to TWindA demo perhaps? A) It would save Mind a ton of time, B) It would show him how high res sprites lag computers.


Just to add to pyros comment about tags, it's probably less likely in the default tags, but it's totally possible to have the same tag ID for multiple types of tags. I personally like to organize like this.
Image
MindBrain
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Re: Working with unit graphics

Post by MindBrain »

Graydon wrote:I still think it's great that you're pursuing this, but it's to no ends.

Someone should point him to TWindA demo perhaps? A) It would save Mind a ton of time, B) It would show him how high res sprites lag computers.


Just to add to pyros comment about tags, it's probably less likely in the default tags, but it's totally possible to have the same tag ID for multiple types of tags. I personally like to organize like this.
That's weird cause I running The Desert Between Your Ears, max warrs and thrall. No slowdown at all, computer doesn't run any hotter, blew up the whole army with some wights, no slowdown. Unit's look better far away and zoomed in (in my opinion) I'm on a Macbook Core2Duo 2.4ghz 9400m, 2gigs of ram...

I just need help scaling the projectiles, fixing the selection boxes, and aligning the animations. I want to either just use it for myself, or make a multiplayer version (highresify all the trees, the baron, flag and ball)

If anyone wants me to post the plugin to check it out themselves I'll do that. If anyone has a link to other plugins attempting the same thing then show me. If anyone wants me to shut up about the whole idea I'll do that too (when I start having too much trouble with the project that is eheheheh) At this point it hasn't been too difficult and I like the way it looks...
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