A sprite editor is born!

[Mercator]

(just in time for Christmas )

http://www.civgaming.net/mercator/mapedit

I don't have much to add beyond that... Or maybe I do.

CivSprite (I'm still looking for a more interesting name) exports all images in a sprite file to bitmaps in a specified folder or imports a folder of bitmaps back into a sprite file.

It is not possible to change animation properties, only possible to change individual frames. E.g. the whale animation starts with the whale spouting some water. In the animation you'll see that the "fountain" goes up and down a bit. That's part of the animation properties, going back and forth between the same frames.
So you can't change this going back and forth yet, although you can turn the whale into some other creature or thing for which such looping would make some sense.
The same goes for the fading out of dying units, the number of frames in an animation and a number of other things.

Just read the readme file and start up CivSprite.

If you have any comments or questions, fire away!

[techumseh]

tech Merc

[techumseh]

I've installed it, and did get the missing files error notice you referred to in the readme. I found the missing file, here: http://www.webattack.com/help/missingfiles.html I downloaded it into my CivSprite folder. That can't be right, 'cause I still get the error message. Also, I'm running XP - will that make any difference?

[Mercator]

You need to put it in your windows system directory (windows\system32 for XP, I think)... After you've done that you must "register" it by running:

regsvr32 comdlg32.ocx

(it's comdlg32.ocx you were missing?)

But, erm... Both files (comdlg32.ocx and mscomctl.ocx) should already be included with MapEdit (you have that?)... First check to see if the file is already on your system, if it is, try registering it first (it might have gone wrong earlier). If the file isn't in the windows or system directory, you must specify the full path to it in the command I mentioned above.

Does that help?

[techumseh]

Ok, I've got it now. It was mscomctl.ocx that needed to be installed. I reinstalled MapEdit, but somehow it didn't change anything (MapEdit runs fine) so I added it manually just as you suggested. Now it works.

But that's quite the format, isn't it? 160 separate images plus an equal number of masks per unit animation. I'm wondering if we can break it into specific sequences, eg. moving, fighting, dying and so on. If each sequence could be put in it's own animation file, then it would be a lot easier to edit each sequence. I have AnimationShop, which comes with PSP 7, and I think it could be very useful if we could get the individual images into the right format.

Hats off to you Mercator!

[Mercator]

Strange about the ocx thing...

The main reasons I didn't add them to the package are the size of the files (which many may already have) and because the files need to be registered.

That either means I have wrap the program into an installer, like MapEdit, or I have to trust the users' intelligence and explain how to do it in the readme. And hope it works the same way for all Windows versions. But you didn't seem to have any problems with my instructions, so the difference between windows version isn't too dramatic after all then... Well, I'll just have to see what I do about them...

But that's quite the format, isn't it? [...]

Indeed. Not quite the handiest for you perhaps, but it was easiest for me, which in turn is good for you since I was able to release something useful much earlier.

Exporting animation files would be a lot easier for you, probably, but a lot harder for me to do.

First of all, the bitmap file format is trivial, GIF format is not free (not to mention it's limited to 256 colors) and I don't know anything about the MNG format.

Secondly, while it should be fairly easy to export (disregarding the complexity of the file format), it would be difficult to import efficiently.
Sprite animations are not just a plain and simple chronological sequence of frames, nor can you specify frame display time. I'd have to take all those discrepancies into acount.

Still, you can import the bitmaps into an animation, edit it and export the frames back to bitmaps, if you want "animation editing powers".

Once I know more about the animation information in the sprite files, I might start thinking about more handy exporting methods. If not in animated format, I could at least export each animation to a separate subfolder.

I have been thinking about an "advanced" version, but I'll just have to see how that will come along.

Have you tried it yet?

And, thanks!


Oh, yet another thing... If, say, you're only interested in changing one animation, you can delete all the other images you've exported. Importing will only change images it finds replacements for.

[Boco]

Graphics unleashed!

One feature request -- make me draw well.

THANKS!

[fairline]

Excellent work Mercator

Unfortunately I can't get it to run - I get a message telling me that the file 'OLEAUT32.DLL' is out of date. I downloaded this file from www.dll-files.com, but when I try to put it in the windows/system directory my damned PC tells me the file is in use and can't be replaced . Any ideas how to get round this?

[Mercator]

Download the VB6 runtime files available at my website.

IMPORTANT WARNING!!!!!

I discovered a rather annoying bug (the hard way)... My program does NOT make backups when importing new images. I'll update the download shortly with a fixed version.

[Mercator]

By the way, I bumped into that bug when trying out the following:

The bitmap images need not be the prescribed size. That is, if you fancy, you can make your unit images have any size you want (well, there might be some limit, but 128x128 seems to work at least). Different frames of one animation don't even have to match.

There are only two slight problems: As with earlier Civ2 versions, anything below the unit's diamond won't be displayed. Secondly, only the standard 64x64 "box" will be updated properly in the Civ2 display.
The unit "box" is always aligned to the bottom and left of the current tile.

On the other hand, there's at least one advantage: The health-bar will be displayed at the top rows of the sprite image. So, if you have a sleek, low unit, you could make the unit, say, only 32 pixels high (rather than 64). In that case the healthbar will be displayed with its top aligned to the top of the sprite image. I think this will be handy especially for units you don't want to have a healthbar, although it's still a bit limited.

Another thing that might be the case (but I'm not sure)... For moving units having images larger than 64x64 will not be optimal because of the bad graphic rendering beyond the 64x64 box. But for 0-move units it might not be a problem. If it isn't you could for instance recreate the mountains Favoured Flight did in his LOTR scenarios, but with several extra large units, rather than a bunch of normal-sized ones...

[geoffrey arnold]

Sorry Im a bit dum. I downloded this utillity and ity comes up with mscomctl.ocx. Iv got windows meleniam and have no Ideia what it is you said above bout this problem sorry again

[fairline]

Originally posted by Mercator
Download the VB6 runtime files available at my website.

IMPORTANT WARNING!!!!!

I discovered a rather annoying bug (the hard way)... My program does NOT make backups when importing new images. I'll update the download shortly with a fixed version.

Right, thanks Mercator, I've got it working. Guess I should have read your readme file properly . I think I'm going to have a go at some units - when will the debugged version be ready? I assume it's not a good idea to use the current editor to repack the sprites.

judging by the first unit I unpacked (the warrior) there are over 150 frames of animation. I may just try 8 different facings without combat and movement animation initially, and duplicate the rest of the frames. Anyone got any thoughts on making the process of full animation any easier (using civ3 unit conversions, perhaps?)

[fairline]

Random idea - anyone know of a decent (and cheap ) 3D drawing package? - I'm guessing that would be the best way to churn out loads of different 2D views of the same unit.

[Mercator]

The debugged version is already done and available.

I don't have Civ3, but its animations are in PCX format, no (or is that just the still images)?

About the 3D drawing... I think BeBro would be the one to ask about that...

I found a free program after a little search on the Internet:

http://www.anim8or.com

[Subliminal]

if you need the run times go here;

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=BF9A24F9-B5C5-48F4-8EDD-CDF2D29A79D5

thats the VB6 SP1 run time support pack and if that means nothing to you but Mercators programs dont work then it's what you need