Layouts

[gemini]

Thanks, I'll take a look see.

------------------
Gemini

[gemini]

I looked in powerslic's and as far as I can see only message icons have been added, I couldn't find anything pertaining to adding a background image to a message box. Are you sure this can be done???

------------------
Gemini

[Martin the Dane]

Sorry I seem to be mistaken I thought you could add a pattern to the allertbox.

There is however another solution: The Throne Room!
You can modify the Throne Room almost as much as you like, so why not do something useful with it?

The way to bring up the throne room at any point in the game is this little bit of SLIC code that I patched together from PS and The tutorials.
(You'll have to modify the trigger of cause)

trigger 'Mod_Greetings' when (IsHumanPlayer(g.player) && (g.year == 0)) {
Message(g.player, 'Mod_Greetings');
}

alertbox 'Mod_Greetings' {
OpenThroneRoom();
Abort();
Button(ID_BUTTON_YES) {
Kill();
}
}

Luckily the Throne Room is defined in a couple of separate files, so you can make your own, without
changing to much. It's a lot of work but hey! isn't all mod making?

The files are:
..\ctp_data\default\gamedata\throne.txt
..\ctp_data\english\uidata\layouts\throneroom.ldl

You might have to modify
..\ctp_data\default\gamedata\script.slc
as well, as there a few triggers set for the Throne Room (I found tree).

Then if you make your own files (I'd advise you to do that) you'll have to replace the entries in the following files:

..\ctp_data\english\uidata\layouts\civ3.ldl
..\ctp_data\english\uidata\layouts\civ3_640.ldl
..\ctp_data\default\gamedata\gamefile.txt


If you have any questions regarding the ldl file just ask, and I'll try to answer.
You could also mail me as I don't visit the board to often.

Good luck.
Martin the Dane

[gemini]

Hey, this sounds !!!!

Thanks man, I'll definetely look into this, it should work!!!!!

------------------
Gemini

[Martin the Dane]

Well.... I forgot to mention that the Throne Room is always available from the Info-Screens, so If you don't want that you'll have to modify these windows as well.

[gemini]

Ya, I had a closer look at it, it should work out perfectly for my scenario, even if they can access it from the info screens, doesn't really matter. Thanks again man!!!! Never thought about using the throne room. Hopefully a little fooling around with it and I should be able to figure things out. If I can't I'll be back.

------------------
Gemini

[gemini]

Hey, using the throne room is working out almost perfectly, the one thing that is causing me some frustration is that at first I wanted the background bigger but after trying and trying I think I am going to give up. I partialy succeded though. I got the background to go as big as I wanted but, there was a border that I could not resize.
I'm pretty sure it was this line in the throne.ldl file that is mucking it up.

## Chromakeyed border with raised exit button.
	BorderImage {
		string	image0		"tbb000.tga"
		string	imagebltflag	"chromakey"
		int		xpix			0
		int		ypix			0
		int		widthpix		640
		int		heightpix		480
	}

This border picture I could not resize "tbb000.tga".

I tried to replace it but all I got was a crash, I tried to omit it but crash again, tried a whole bunch of different things but crash again.

Oh well, I guess it'll have to stay 640x480 for the background pic.

But I do have a question for you or anyone. Can I add a scroll bar to the side, that's about the only work around I could think of to doing what I want.

I honestly haven't a clue how to do that. If I am right I think it may be this that has to be added.

rangery {
			int	widthpix	15
			int	heigthpix	15
			string	type	"scroller"
			string	orientation	"vertical"
			string	pattern	"upba6417.tga"
			incy {
				int	widthpix	15
				int	heightpix	15
				string	pattern	"upba6417.tga"
			}
			decy {
				int	widthpix	15
				int	heightpix	15
				string	pattern	"upba6417.tga"
			}
		}

Well, I will try it tommorrow, but I was hoping maybe someone else has tried this and can save me some hassle by giving some advice.

------------------
Gemini

[Nordicus]

Hey, guys...

Good to see a thread of mine still alive after all these years

Lots of new names around here...and good to see the ol' Creation forum still active

[Martin the Dane]

Hi gemini,

Well I'm back, haven't been in here for a while.

quote: Originally posted by gemini on 08-16-2000 02:30 AM ... there was a border that I could not resize.

I just looked at the problem and it seams that unlike background images the images pasted on the background are not tiled, so changing the size of the image in the .ldl does nothing.

You are right about the source of the problem but what you have to do is either out-comment the whole block like this:

## Chromakeyed border with raised exit button.
##	BorderImage {
##		string	image0		"tbb000.tga"
##		string	imagebltflag	"chromakey"
##		int		xpix			0
##		int		ypix			0
##		int		widthpix		640
##		int		heightpix		480
##	}

or make your own border image. This however requires the use of transparency, and I have no clue as to which color to use.

quote: This border picture I could not resize "tbb000.tga". I tried to replace it but all I got was a crash, I tried to omit it but crash again, tried a whole bunch of different things but crash again.

How did you try that?
You should never use the same file name as the internal reference in the original, as they are sometime used in other places where you don't want to change anything.
Just to try, I replaced "tbb000.tga" with "mbv_Upba7506.tga" (one of the images in screenmod 2.0) and it worked fine.
There is one issue with replacing .tga files: you have to chose the same pallet and internal format as used by civ-ctp. The easy way to do that is to make a copy of one of the .tga files already there and resize and rename it and then edit it to suite your purpose.

I have played around with the "Throneroom.ldl" but could not make a scrollbox, no matter what I did it never showed up.

If you find a way let me know.

Martin the Dane

[gemini]

Okay, it worked, I figured out what I was doing wrong, I didn't resize the zoom in image but changed the value size to 800x600. It works now that I corrected that!!!!!!!

Thanks for your help!!!!!!

------------------
Gemini
[This message has been edited by gemini (edited August 24, 2000).]

[Martin the Dane]

[Martin the Dane]

[Nordicus]

Gemini:

Hey, bud...yeah, I tried to get ahold of you thru email, but I got a "mail administrator" error...so, do have you a new email address?

Anyway, give me a shout, man

Tom.

[gemini]

Hey Nordicus, ya I've had some problems with receiving e-mail lately, but keep trying, the problem is erratic and the mail will go through if you keep trying. Hopefully it's fixed now though.

------------------
Gemini