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A volunteer to draw a better backdrop eh? Would something like a vintage WW1 era weathered and worn requesition form be what your looking for?
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Re: Honesty helps!
Ah, okay. Good.Originally posted by Boco
Using ResHacker.
Much of the tackiness does arise from using the original palette. For some reason, I had thought that I couldn't replace it. Thanks for the info!
Ah yes, that was the word I was looking for, tacky.
I didn't really know either, but I did a bunch of testing to see how it all worked. So I also found out the red/green/cyan aren't in that palette, and I hoped that perhaps it was using colours from the old units.gif or something, but that wasn't the case either.
Merc, some of your criticisms are a tad premature. (...)
Ah, ok, I didn't know that.
I think whether you have any paintings depends on the overall design of the thing.
I was thinking, now you're using components to mark troops, perhaps you can use structures to do that. Have a front line or so drawn on that map (perhaps even coloured, um, sort of like in the Civ1 replay) advancing with every structure you build.
I was also thinking that perhaps you can have the entire screen use the map (say, a map of Europe of some convenient part of it), with the spaceship part being highlighted. Have the entire thing look like some sort of strategic map. Hmmm, maybe something EU like (um, Europa Universalis, that is, though I'm just going by screenshots I've seen, because I never played the game) would work, because the bright colours of it would mean the fixed text colours don't stick out like a sore thumb.Comment
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@Sarsstock: I'll send you files (and links) on this as I learn it, but since we're both jammed for time, it won't happen before Sunday at best. Your theme sounds apropo. Thanks!
@Merc: the map idea might work: fix the map so that the fronts that move are in the spaceship zone, while the rest lies outside. Seems daunting, though. Salonika and NE Italy fronts also moved. Have to admit, I like the idea of paintings or sketches. I'll leave it to my backdrop artist!
Is palette replacement also possible on the diplo screens? Do all gifs that show at once need to share the same palette?Comment
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Maybe just use the spaceship area for the entire map then. That'll leave you your space for those stupid paintings too.Originally posted by Boco
Seems daunting, though. Salonika and NE Italy fronts also moved.
Hmmm, just got an idea for that... How about turning it into some sort of strategy table, if you know what I mean. The table the generals would be standing around, looking at the battlefield. You could have some pictures lying around on the table (i.e. those paintings), as well as things like a pencil and compass or something... But that'll be harder to match with the ugly colours again.
Hmmm, don't know. I'd check it myself, but I'm a bit busy, so you check.Is palette replacement also possible on the diplo screens? Do all gifs that show at once need to share the same palette?
Last edited by Mercator; January 14, 2006, 13:22.Comment
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Merc, you were supposed to be the guy with oodles of spare time during this season. It's on my list:[list=1][*]Work out alpha test bugs[*]Finish researching spaceship parameters[*]Revise pedia, advice, etc.[*]Revise Impxx.bmp's[*]Beg for gfx*[*]Test diplomatic dialogs.[*]Research DLL stuff I can't hoodwink Merc into doing. 
[*]Revise dip gfx[/list=1]
Currently, I've made varying degrees of progress on items 1-4. Unfortunately, in RL I have about 2 months of work to complete be for the holiday break. Seems to be par for the course around here.
*Note to artists I've approached: no sense in rushing on any art until I send you the scenario files. At that point, you'll be able to see how your work fits in with the overall visual themes (or lack thereof
).
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Oh? You know something I don't know?Originally posted by Boco
Merc, you were supposed to be the guy with oodles of spare time during this season.
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Okay made a little progress on #'s 2 and 3.
On the spaceship, I've found a series of maps from War Times Journal: West Front Summary. Specifically there are ~21 images in the linked javascript maps tracing the front and battles that are ideal for this. You can follow the campaign from 12/1915 to 4/1918 (when the ss must launch). This sort of scheme can give the player a dynamic visual reminder of what is going on in the West as he's playing.
I will probably not use the various snippets used for modules and components (i.e. the squares marked 1L and 2L). Maybe later, but right now the ~19 images associated with these widgets just complicate things. It'll be hard enough to even roughly sync the maps with the player's anticipated building pace.
This screenie (think of it as a Warvoid SL memorial page
) is just to show the idea. It still uses the old palette (and therefore, buttons).
Sarsstock, I'll take that as an offer that I won't refuse. This image is a good starting point, since it shows where the text pops up. The title is 0,255,0 (rgb). It can be selected from the green banner (0,255,75) with PSP's magic wand in intolerant subtract mode. The data headers are 255,0,0 and the data 0,255,255. The odds statement is 255,0,0 with a 0,0,0 shadow. As long as it fits the theme, I'm open to your ideas. Any palette that you use will also be used for the maps. Should I send you the maps I've been using? Are you familiar with ResHacker?
I was going to ask you to really do this fast, but since Merc is too busy to playtest this week, I'll be going a tad slow myself. I'm aiming for a January beta release.Comment
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Doing so serious alpha-testing. So far (June 1916) so good!
Had to tweak the map for play balance. Catfish posted a very useful spreadsheet to help with hex editing. With but a few tweaks , it can become a poor man's map editor.
Btw, I forgot what combos in a square weren't allowed among the following: city, fortress, airbase, pollution, and transporter. Anyone have a link or a quick answer? I'd like to tweak the xls a bit more before sending it back to Catfish.
Fairline, here's an example of that new unit. It's the blue gash down the middle of the screen. Supposed to be the canal. As far as the AI is concerned, it's like a field of flowers near a bee hive (or a pile of ___ near a bunch of flies)!
[Edit]Thanks for the unit key ideas curtsibling![/Edit]Comment
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Can a square have only one item in each of the following three groups?
City, Fortress, Airbase
City, Pollution, Transporter
Irrigation, Mining, Farm
It doesn't appear that you can you pollution in an airbase. Is that right?Comment
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I think a city eliminates all the other improvements, doesn't it? And you can't have a fortress and an airbase in the same spot.Comment
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You can sneak a mine into a city square if you're careful. Strategy-whizzes time settlers to start mining (but not complete) before a city is founded. I've hexed one into EA.
Hexing pollution and airbase yields a whacky label, but I'm not sure of its function.Comment
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Correct. The code for an Airbase is City + Fortress, the code for a Transporter is City + Pollution, and the code for Farmland is Irrigation + Mining. So none of the items in those 3 groups can co-exist.
Airbase + Pollution would be City + Fortress + Pollution. That could either make it work like a combined Airbase and Transporter, or it could just do neither. Though "whacky label"? Is it using some other graphic? Perhaps you can see if you can find where that graphic is, if you can actually change it without it interfering with other graphics and if this combination is actually functional. Could be interesting...
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Catfish posted a very useful spreadsheet at CivFanatics. I can't resist tweaking a spreadsheet any more than Fairline can leave a Units.bmp alone.
Catfish, Mercator (even though the program is useless to you — xls vba ), does this interface make any sense? It doesn't actually hex edit a file. Just uses AXE v2 to jump to the offset (via SendKeys! 
) and figures out what should be entered. All listboxes except Byte 5 are single selection boxes. The whole thing has a whopping 14 lines of code. 
@Catfish. This uses the DEC2HEX function. Since it's a pain to tell people how to install Add-Ins, I'm going to try to write/google my own vb function to do the same thing. If you have the Add-In installed, I'll send the file your way. Haven't thoroughly tested it, though.
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It looks cool. What does it do?Originally posted by Boco
Catfish posted a very useful spreadsheet at CivFanatics. I can't resist tweaking a spreadsheet any more than Fairline can leave a Units.bmp alone.
Catfish, Mercator (even though the program is useless to you — xls vba ), does this interface make any sense? It doesn't actually hex edit a file. Just uses AXE v2 to jump to the offset (via SendKeys! ) and figures out what should be entered. All listboxes except Byte 5 are single selection boxes. The whole thing has a whopping 14 lines of code.
@Catfish. This uses the DEC2HEX function. Since it's a pain to tell people how to install Add-Ins, I'm going to try to write/google my own vb function to do the same thing. If you have the Add-In installed, I'll send the file your way. Haven't thoroughly tested it, though.
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I ... cannot .... resist ...
Turns blue
*Sorry for this OT rambling*Last edited by jim panse; January 5, 2006, 05:20.Comment
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