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Discussion in 'The Keep on the Borderlands' started by Shiningted, Sep 12, 2005.

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  1. Shiningted

    Shiningted I changed this damn title, finally! Administrator

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    I assume we do, and i would have already sent off a "hey Gaear I have a little task for you" PM if the task didn't look so ugly: basically a video, a bink or whatever, but every frame must have the letters cut out for the D&D logo, the appropriate Title, and all the clickable bits (load game, new game etc). Nasty.

    I'll have a look where they might be in the game tonight: presumably in the videos bit.

    [Edit 5 seconds later] Though presumably we can just skip the bink and have a flat pic at the bit, we won't miss a scrolling background that much.
     
    Shiningted, May 25, 2006
    #121
  2. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Don't think it's a bink, as I haven't ever seen that amongst the movies before. It may be something more akin to a GIF animation. At any rate, if it is a bink, I might be able to rebuild it somehow with the appropriate layer or opacity removed. Let me know.
     
    Gaear, May 25, 2006
    #122
  3. Cerulean the Blue

    Cerulean the Blue Blue Meanie Veteran

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    Actually, it's the original shopmap. I've been there before. I'll post more when I remember how I did it.

    Futher research leads me to believe it's actually an in-game animation. There are entries for the Main Menu (MM) in partsys0.tab, and in the meshes folder of ToEE1.dat.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2006
    Cerulean the Blue, May 25, 2006
    #123
  4. Shiningted

    Shiningted I changed this damn title, finally! Administrator

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    Thanks for the feedback guys, I'll see what I can do with it.
     
    Shiningted, May 25, 2006
    #124
  5. sontator

    sontator Member

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    Guys don't get me wrong, being just a lurker and not participating and all and now coming with some sort of fundamental criticism, i really appreciate all the work and genius going into this and am really looking forward to see it grow but...

    why do the backgrounds of the maps look like they do?

    i mean no disrespect, just they are a bit edgy, low polygon, simple lighting, simple textures...

    I guess it is because modelling and texturing them takes a lot of work?
    Maybe somebody could help with that?
    Or could the backgrounds be easily swapped even after they are pathed and clipped etc if there was some buff added to their look, like better textures, softer lighting, rounder looks and things like that?

    Not that it is really important, i think rpg does not need high end graphics to be enjoyable but on the other hand it ads to the atmosphere.
     
    sontator, May 25, 2006
    #125
  6. Cuchulainn

    Cuchulainn Windmill Tilter

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    Hey Shiningted,

    From your description it sounded like you were just haveing problems with the Alpha/Transparency thing. Did a quick test to confirm this (see below).

    The text is on a 256x256 tga(before it's split), but since it scrolls overtop of a background and they didn't want a huge black sqauare the entire pic is transparent except for the text. When you changed the text without changing the Alpha chanel only the outline of the old text was visible.

    If you open MainMenu_Title_0_0.tga and MainMenu_Title_1_0.tga in Photoshop and view the Alpha channel, you'll see the text in white and the outline of the D&D symbol, only what's outlined in white is visible ingame.

    If you want just send me the pic(s) you made up for a new menu (either whole or split) and I'll change the transparency settings for you.

    ------------

    BTW the scrolling background files are in "data\art\meshes\Scenery\Misc\Main Menu" if you want to play around with them, but it looks like a major PITA.

    [Edit in case someone besides Ted is interested] The title and logo are in "data\art\interface\mainmenu_ui".

    Cuchulainn.
     

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    Last edited: May 25, 2006
    Cuchulainn, May 25, 2006
    #126
  7. Cerulean the Blue

    Cerulean the Blue Blue Meanie Veteran

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    Hey, does this mean we can add Co8 Mod Pack xxx to the title screen for all Co8 Mods?
     
    Cerulean the Blue, May 25, 2006
    #127
  8. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    F***in' A it does. That would be very cool.

    Also - and I know this is Ted's deal, just making a suggestion - but we should change the rotating background for KotB to something other than the inside of the temple. Maybe Screeg could do the inside of the Keep.
     
    Gaear, May 25, 2006
    #128
  9. Lord_Spike

    Lord_Spike Senior Member Veteran

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    Or (if thaty's not possible) a series of slides consisting of KotB related artwork. Stuff from the module.
     
    Lord_Spike, May 26, 2006
    #129
  10. Cuchulainn

    Cuchulainn Windmill Tilter

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    Adding Co8 mod would be dead easy. :beer:

    Word of caution though, changing the background might be damn nigh impossible. It's a collection of models (ska, skm,) and well changing the colour is dead easy, without the ability to modify the model file we're kinda stuck with the shapes. Someone with enough time could map out all the current shapes, then break a picture down and make a bunch of interlocking textures to represent it. It would however be a HUGE PITA. Maybe someone else has a better idea of how to acomplish it.

    Cuchulainn.
     
    Cuchulainn, May 26, 2006
    #130
  11. Shiningted

    Shiningted I changed this damn title, finally! Administrator

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    Dang you Cuchulainn, I stay up all night trying to figure this out and you fix it in seconds with your alpha channel wizardry! Dang you! Dang you to heck!!! :rant:

    Actually it was a mighty good effort, well done! :notworthy

    Now, scrolling background: If I achieved nothing else, I figured how to change that. The background comes from Maplist.mes, the first entry.

    {5000}{Shopmap, 514, 445, Type: SHOPPING_MAP, Flag: UNFOGGED}

    The scrolling bit is from the parameter "Type: SHOPPING_MAP", removing this stops its scrolling.

    Now... changing the map DOESN'T cause the background to appear. There are no jpgs there as far as i can tell: the whole thing is sectored (using the MainMenu meshes mentioned above by C-Blue, well done Bluey ;) ). Soooooooo... changing it will be a pain.

    Luckily, I have already thought of a workaround. :D

    Spike, a series of slides sounds good to me. Knew those pix u sent me would come in handy ;) I'll see what I can do.
    Just before I rant at you, what maps are you talking about? The KotB ones Screeg did? Personally I thought they were very good, I don't think 'low polygon / simple textures' is a fair comment on them.

    There is more that can be done for them with lighting etc, yes, but that is not a high priority atm: plot etc before eye-candy, as I'm sure you'll appreciate.

    Actually the splash screen was never a high priority, but damn its good to be able to do it! :joy:
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2006
    Shiningted, May 26, 2006
    #131
  12. Shiningted

    Shiningted I changed this damn title, finally! Administrator

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    Ok, 9 hours is enough time to frig around with this issue.

    My workaround didn't work the way i wanted but i came up with something better (eventually), a way of doing the slides. Here is a quick mock-up: i will reposition the title, I think, centre it a bit better, and maybe match the colour to the other letters. But its a start :)

    O and that picture is scrolling past and is of course part of a slide-show of pix, a la what Lord Spike suggested. Pic size is based on models and is not negotiable, alas.
     

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    Last edited: May 26, 2006
    Shiningted, May 26, 2006
    #132
  13. Cujo

    Cujo Mad Hatter Veteran

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    you'd better get you tiling skills up then

    btw are you happy bout NSW winning the first SoO match?
     
    Cujo, May 26, 2006
    #133
  14. Lord_Spike

    Lord_Spike Senior Member Veteran

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    @Ted: Looks Great! A tweak or two from someone (and you know they're gonna...) will doubtless having looking even better.

    @ Cujo: Did you come out of "retirement" just to stir up football trouble, you Hooligan?!?
    :p
     
    Lord_Spike, May 26, 2006
    #134
  15. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Any way to do the Keep lettering the same as the ToEE lettering, Ted? That would be satisfyingly consistent for our three-module aspirations. ;)
     
    Gaear, May 27, 2006
    #135
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