Seeking advice for El Aurens v2

[Boco]

Unchecked Bare bones instructions for the spaceship

Originally posted by curtsibling
Boco, what program is best to extract and add the
replacement images for the spaceship sections?

Rather than hijack the Daleks thread, I'll hijack my own.

I prefer ResHacker. Fewer restrictions and a cinch to use. There are no secrets to hide (in fact this is old ground to a few whizzes), but to write even a basic run down would require more time than I have at present. Wellll, maybe just a picless rundown.

• Get ResHacker (RH) from Merc's site.
• Back up ss.dll.
• Open it with RH. You should see two panels: tree on the left and gfx panel on the right.
• Expand the tree, and click on GIFS/400/1033. I think you should see the spaceship spine in a box. That box represents what is taken from this resource to form the structural part of the space ship screen.
• GIF resources 401-440 represent all the possible structural images. Only one is displayed, according to the number of structurals that have been completed. Your image must fit in the blue squares of these panels.
• Somewhere around 433, the image gets bigger. If you exploit this change, be aware that the text may overwrite part of your expanded image.
• Panels corresponding to 441, 442, 455, 456 represent the components. I've pretty much ignored them (painted them transparent) and only have a rudimentary idea where they are placed atop the structure screen.
• Same with modules (470, 471, 480, 481, 489, and 490).
• IIRC, Panel 490 is an interface between components and structurals.
• AFAIK, 498 and mebbe a GIF resource from intro.dll (902/1033) are used in the spaceshot animations. Haven't gotten that far myself.
• 499 is the backdrop for the spaceship screen.
  
• To replace a gif, select Action|Replace Other Resource from the menus. Open your new gif (87, noninterlaced).
• Once the gif is selected, more input boxes appear.
• Enter GIFS into resource type (it's case-insensitive)
• Enter the resource number of the panel containing the image you want to replace. It's the two or three digit number linked in the tree to GIFS.
• Enter 1033 for language. Merc says that means Inglelish. All of Civ2's dll use 1033.
• When the replace button is enabled, click it. You should see the new image. If you don't, do not save. The dll is possibly corrupted, causing a time consuming crash in ToT.
• If the file has been replaced, you should be able to save the dll and see the change in ToT.

That's it for the basic rundown. Clear as mud? I'll touch on text and palettes later (if no one else does).

[Mercator]

Re: Unchecked Bare bones instructions for the spaceship

Originally posted by Boco
Get ResHacker (RH) from Merc's site.

Oh? That's news to me.

I suggest people get it here instead:

http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/

GIF resources 401-440 represent all the possible structural images. Only one is displayed, according to the number of structurals that have been completed.

I don't think this is entirely true. I believe it actually superimposes the last few structurals.

[Boco]

Re: Re: Unchecked Bare bones instructions for the spaceship

Originally posted by Mercator
Oh? That's news to me.

Sometimes I just report the way life should be.

Thanks for imposing your superimposition rectification.

[Mercator]

[curtsibling]

Cheers, Boco!

I will be looking into this tutorial in order to apply my own Spaceship replacement!

[Boco]

With your pixel skills, it should be excellent

[curtsibling]

Cheers man, I hope I can get it working...!

*Curt ends his EA thread hijack!*

[Patine]

Sorry to interject on this topic (I know this is an El Laurens thread), but I think I can use this for my Atomic Bomb-thingy in EotRS v1.2. However, I'd actually need an artist, I'm afraid. But, barring that, it's good to know how it can be done. Thanks Boco!

[Boco]

Right now, I'm just working with crude alpha-testing gfx to get the concept working. That is prerequisite to hiring an artist, since part of the test is to work out exact spacing and text phrases.

[Boco]

Still making progress...

The new reinforcement scheme plays more smoothly than I expected. Just to show that I'm still making headway, here's another screenie.



Current alpha test has encountered no major bugs through Feb 1917. The Western Desert and Darfur have been pacified, the Arab Revolt is just beginning to get in stride (if only there was a little more filoosh to encourage 'enlistment'), and the Welshmen just occupied Rafah. Only 22 months to go in the playtest!

In RL, the US just tied that powerhouse, Jamaica. From what I saw, the World Cup powers don't have much to fear.

[Edit]Case's great-great-uncle is escorting the Railway Construction Companies as they creep up to Gaza.[/Edit]

[jim panse]

When, oh Dave, when will I get my hands on that v2?

Your teasers are definitely working

[Boco]

Thanks, JP. It's getting close, but still needs a couple of weeks.

My alpha test went well through June 1918, but at that point, I found it needed a number of tweaks.

• Seems the Germans can't collapse before December 1918.
• AI gets repetitive in the Hejaz, Western Desert, and Darfur, but I want to get some beta feedback before adjusting it.
• Made several careless errors with coordinates of some reinforcements.
• The Allies get too rich toward the end, but that can be adjusted by Siege Arty costs and wonder expirations. Again that's a beta test issue.
• Spaceship gfx needs several tweaks. Can't figure out a way to keep ToT from calling Lloyd George an "A.S.S." during flight.

• Writing the readme scares me, but players might miss some important points without it. First draft will be a RTF file with no fancy formatting.


Some of the new ideas work well.

• Reinforcements (i.e. new units) are announced without excessive clicking.
• Building replacements for killed units works well.
• Allies can build Siege Arty (a kind of überunit) at immense cost. This forces some choices between city development, supporting the Arab Revolt, and building artillery. Just can't do it all.
• Saudi-Hashemite tensions boil over in 1918. Adds a new dimension. It's tough to find non-Western history on the net. I've been reading about the Arab Revolt for a while but only just discovered the friction at Khurma.


Just to tease a little more, here are some announcements of the massive withdrawals that occur in early 1918 to save the BEF from disaster:




Any editing suggestions for dialogs 1 (in events.txt) and 2 (@BARRACKS) are welcome (including merging them). Writing British, particularly Georgian British, is tough for me. The bottom one is locked, because it has multiple uses (@CIVADVANCE).

[jim panse]

Good to hear that, Dave

That Space Ship issue ... the "A.S.S." stands for "Allied Space Ship" (or whatever the "A." is meant to be). You could edit that by giving the playable civ another name methinks.

[jim panse]

Btw, I forgot to mention that I would *volunteer* for beta testing

[Boco]

You're right about the link to the civ name. ".S.S." is hardcoded in Civ2.exe, but "A" comes from Allies. I played a bit and came up with this. Besides the fact that I'm seriously going to need Sarsstock's help in a bit, it shows you can play with the title just a little. "ASC" happens to stand for "Army Service Corps", the logistical branch of the British Army. I've adjusted Game.txt to accomodate "Summary" as the human civ leader's name (haven't tested the diplo dialogs yet ). Never was comfortable with DLG micromanaging the campaign anyway. Just can't trust a Welshman!



Thanks for the beta offer!