SMACivilization

[dalauder]

I mean random Earth-looking terrain. But your changes to the city centers look pretty good too. Your scope is A LOT bigger than what I had in mind, but might agree with everything I was thinking.

Paint.NET is free and a lot easier to use than Photoshop, IMO (https://www.getpaint.net/). It isn't as good if you want to create real art though. It'll only cost you five minutes to figure out if you like Paint.NET. I can load the PCX files into it with the plugin from here: https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/2135-pcx-plug-in/page/2/

But I haven't edited the right files to see it pop up in game. I know there are some issues with palette compatibility. So after I get it to successfully show up in game, I'll get back her to share.

[Buster's Uncle]

I can help you if you have technical trouble - GIMP, again, can't handle the SMACX transparent background color, but there's an easy workaround - I gots mucho experience with this stuff and how it works.


Just in case you haven't found it yet, much of the advice and insights will still translate for working in Paint.NET, I hope, if not the precise buttons/order given.  All about custom faction-making, but many skills/techniques translate to terrain modding, so much so that I never wrote the latter up as redundant.
Alpha Centauri 2 - Articles - Modding resources



Multi tasking/distracted all week - we'll see how soon I make time for looking into your helpful links, thanks for those.

[dalauder]

Thanks, I'll update soon. Either it'll be easy or everything is totally not working.

[dalauder]

Thanks, I'll update soon. Either it'll be easy or everything is totally not working.

So Paint.NET definitely allows me to edit the images. However, it doesn't adhere to the palette. It even has a checkbox called "Use original palette", but some things still show up as black dots in game. It does have Preset Palettes to choose instead, so it looks like I've gotta go into the text file included with the mod and add an Alpha Centauri color palette.

Do you happen to have an Alpha Centauri color palette text file?

[Buster's Uncle]

I totally do, but first, see this: https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=29

That's instructions for a faction, of course, and the blue lines would be wrong on the blank .pcx linked even if the palette for that was quite the same - I'll attach my new blank texture.pcx.  The blue lines don't do anything but keep the artist lined up - the game only looks at each area inside, whether the lines are there or not.


The palette, I know how to make in GIMP, and it doesn't seem to help there - and I wouldn't know where to look in Paint.NET, but we'll try to track that down together if this simple workaround doesn't work for you and your tools.  You'll need to make one from texture .pcx if so - it's slightly different than the others, no idea why.

[dalauder]

It seems I'm clear on the transparencies.

But there are a bunch of colors showing up as dots in the wrong color. For example, I changed the obelisk to a light tan instead of red and blue lines instead of green (just to see how it looked). Now some of the bright lines on the obelisk are partially blacked out out now. It seems there are a lot of scattered orange and yellow dots on the land now too. It looks bad, but it's not a transparency issue.

In Paint.NET, I "global select" each of the transparency colors and copy and paste them into a new layer to make sure that none of those lines ever get touched. Then I played with colors and collapsed everything back down to one layer and saved as a PCX. But some of my new colors somehow don't match the palette and show up as black (or maybe yellow & orange) dots.

I'll try pulling a palette from the textureblank.pcx, but for some reason Paint.NET only pulls 96 colors from saved palettes.

[Buster's Uncle]

Huh.  Well tan as black is a known problem that doesn't come up often, but does come up -it's a semi-transparency they use in base shadows, especially noticeable in older pink background factions- use a color select tool on very low setting, to get THAT exact tan>change brightness, tint, saturation, one or all about 15% to make it close, but not that same tan.  It probably will take more than one try to get something that works and still looks right, so patience, my young padiwan.  You can do this.


To the random dots, my only advice is to figure which landscape squares it's occurring in from your modded .pcx - that's key to tracking down what's causing it, or at least finding a solution that works, whether or not you understand why.  Sounds vaguely related to the tan problem.  -Or maybe just the terrain palette translating a few pixels of color oddly in a way that doesn't show easily not in-game...




Love your new avatar & personal text.

[dalauder]

Semi-transparency makes sense, as it's for shadows of obelisks and a few other things. I didn't select that as a transparency color to NOT edit. I'll copy and paste it directly from the originals.

For those miscellaneous dots--I agree that it's gotta be a palette issue with one or a couple colors. I'll try "global select" on one of the dots not showing up correctly in-game and see if recoloring it with a color sampled from the screen that shows up correctly works.

Thanks for the help, but my work has to slow down as I cleared COVID protocol and have to go back to REAL work now. Haha.

EDIT: That art was gonna be Shaka originally, but Genghis looks better I thought with the tiny image.

[Buster's Uncle]

Def. Civ 1, yes?


Hard game to get running these days, but the DOSbox thing does work.

[Kingmaker]

Alexander here at Buster's Uncle's invitation.

I'm gratified to see that you've revived the old project after all this time. I'm happy to answer any questions or make suggestions but I'm content for you to do whatever you want with it.

My original idea was just to make a SMAC mod that was an extension of Civilization in general, not specifically Civilization II, but I like that concept.

Re: the Aztec faction, they were indeed meant to be "space Mayans" rather than Aztecs, hence the use of Tikal for the base and a Mayan glyph for the logo, etc. I think I was going to name the leader "Chaac Balam" or somesuch. But if you'd rather they were Aztecs so they line up with Civ2, that's fine.

Re: the Egyptians, the base design was meant to be a composite of a mastaba and Djoser's step pyramid for an angular "sci-fi" look, maybe a little bit Stargate-ish. But again, if a more overt pyramid is preferred, that's totally fine.

Thanks for the invite and for all your modding efforts!

[Buster's Uncle]

I took up playing II kinda heavily a couple years ago, is where this is coming from - that and the obvious creators' intent to do a II sequel w/o the rights is inspiration behind all this - and your excellent designs were a natural fit.

Yeah, if I wasn't clear, I did get that about mustabas and step pyramids.

I wonder if I'm obligated to change the blue in the logo back to north Mexican green now.  Probably.  I like the Mayan blue better, though.


P.S. insert enthusiastic Hey Buddy stuff here.  I'm thinking it.

[dalauder]

Def. Civ 1, yes?


Hard game to get running these days, but the DOSbox thing does work.

Yes, Civ 1. D-Fend Reloaded has an automated profile for it. Turns out I didn't have it installed. WOW it's a great game. I'm not sure that it isn't superior to Civ VI. Really, the new Civilizations look pretty, but I'm not sure they're more fun. They definitely take FOREVER to play.

But Civ II is pretty much just Civ 1 with prettier graphics. And Civ II is totally moddable.

[Buster's Uncle]

There it is.

[Kilkakon]

Ooh.  Since when will GIMP open and let me alter .flcs?  This might be BIG news for SMACX faction modders.



Here's a .gif version of what I did with the End Turn button:

Before: 


C2ified:

This is news to me! I never was able to modify the flcs back in the day for factions. Any fancy settings needed or just did it out of the box?

[Buster's Uncle]

Out of the box, IIRC.  I'm stumped/flabbergasted, too.  I haven't actually tested those in-game...

Investigation into what GIMP can do w/ the leader biography sequences is definitely called for...