Blank faction2.pcx and faction3.pcx files

[Alfador]

I've been searching through these and other Civ/SMAC/SMAX forums, trying to find blank versions of the faction.pcx, faction2.pcx, and faction3.pcx files. I DID manage to find a blank version of the first, but the other two only seem to be in archive files on sites that no longer exist.

I realize I'm almost a decade late to the party in terms of custom faction creation, but having tinkered with balance and text-cosmetic modifications to factions, I'd like to see what my artistic (read: copying, pasting, and Paint Shop Pro-ing) abilities can do to finish off custom factions.

I've already found Chuft's guide on custom .flc animations (and already experimentally established that the Hue and Saturation values should probably be changed to 160 and 64 for Paint Shop Pro 7 users, rather than Photoshop's 225 and 25), and done some searching on this and other sites, and am anxious to know if anyone has templates still floating around.

My photoshop-fu is not quite strong enough to actually create them from the existing faction images I have (especially since the punishment sphere images in faction2.pcx and faction3.pcx seem to get odd dot/fracture color patterns over them based on the faction symbol).

[vyeh]

Alfador,

Welcome to Apolyton!

I've been searching through these and other Civ/SMAC/SMAX forums, trying to find blank versions of the faction.pcx, faction2.pcx, and faction3.pcx files. I DID manage to find a blank version of the first, but the other two only seem to be in archive files on sites that no longer exist.

Which sites?

Edit: I asked Kilkakon at CivFanatics about blank versions of faction2.pcx and faction3.pcx. He uploaded them.

I have attached them here for your convenience. Is this what you are looking for?

[Alfador]

That is EXACTLY what I was looking for!! Thank you so much!

Edit: The sites I'd been looking at were http://alphacentauri.us/fac-tool/graphics.htm and their broken default.zip link, and references to a "Network Node" site. Again, thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

Edit 2: JPEG compression did a number on those blanks... I've touched them up a bit and uploaded them here now, along with a mess of notes on this and Chuft's FLC creation guide (the Hue and Saturation values are different for Paint Shop Pro than Photoshop, apparently).

Also, since both the SMAC and SMAX palettes have colors identical to their respective transparent color at index 208 and 252, I've also included "one-off" palettes that should be useful for importing or converting, as well as inserting transparent pixels in any program that behaves the way PSP does with duplicate colors in a palette (it always picks the first index that's an exact match, so there's no way to paint transparent pixels without altering the palette).

These are the kind of resources I wished I'd found when I made my first attempt at a custom-graphics faction back in college, five years ago. Perhaps now I'll actually finish that project.

[vyeh]

That is EXACTLY what I was looking for!! Thank you so much!

I will pass your thanks along to Kilkakon. If you want another modder to discuss issues, consider posting at CivFanatics.

Edit: The sites I'd been looking at were http://alphacentauri.us/fac-tool/graphics.htm and their broken default.zip link, and references to a "Network Node" site. Again, thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

You can find the faction files for Network Node in the SMAC section at Apolyton. (Click on the files tab, then the Faction category, then scroll down to "The Network Node factions." I am not sure if this upload includes some templates. There were 3 PSD templates, one PSP template and 3 jpg templates, which I have on the hard drive of another computer.

I did look around earlier (before Kilkakon rescued me) trying to find the default.zip file, but no luck.

Edit 2: JPEG compression did a number on those blanks.

Was it Jpeg or the zip compression I did (Apolyton has a 488kB limit on attachments)?

Perhaps now I'll actually finish that project.

Good luck.

[Alfador]

Was it Jpeg or the zip compression I did (Apolyton has a 488kB limit on attachments)?

It was JPEG; ZIP compression is lossless and the file had large areas of color that were ALMOST the correct color except when converted to SMAC palette, they didn't go to the right transparent color, and were near an edge (classic area where JPEG artifacts badly in non-photograph images). Should be good now with the .PCX's I attached!

Good luck.

Thanks!!

[gwillybj]

I realize I'm almost a decade late to the party...

This party will never end

[Alfador]

This party will never end

XD

Well it might... when we get a real colony near Alpha Centauri, Planet or no Planet.