New ships dont displayed in game

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Vipersp
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New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Vipersp »

Greetings All,

I'm testing some ideas for a "what if" Korea War mod and started dealing with US CVs art from the period;
Fortunately I got a nice Essex Long Hull art at Alternate Wars website;
Converted both side and shil files to bmp and they are displayed by editor at ship classes tab and all looks fine but when I test the scenario I cannot see the ship image[&:]
the ship is in place but why cannot see her picture??

Any help will be highly appreciated!

Cheers,

Vipersp

wdolson
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by wdolson »

I know the graphics engine for the game is sensitive to the type of BMP file format. I suggest starting with a working ship graphics file from the game and then copy and paste your artwork onto that.

Bill
WitP AE - Test team lead, programmer
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Vipersp
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Vipersp »

ORIGINAL: wdolson

I know the graphics engine for the game is sensitive to the type of BMP file format. I suggest starting with a working ship graphics file from the game and then copy and paste your artwork onto that.

Bill

Hi Bill, thanks for the input! just to be sure I got your meanning , I should get a bmp image from an Essex ship that is already working and deal with it at Paint shop for example, right?
What I think strange is that the art I got was a png file created by Tom Label who is a well know artist for the game and I used GIMP to convert this one to bmp, and GIMP is a software mentioned by other modders here..a bit weird for sure[&:]
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TOMLABEL
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by TOMLABEL »

Vipersp,

Thank you. Just one of many, more talented than me. Are you looking for my WW2 version of the Essex Long Hull or the Korean version?

Send me you email address and I'll email both of them to you.

TOMLABEL
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Art by the Rogue-USMC

WITP Admiral's Edition: Ship & Sub Art/Base Unit Art/Map Icon Art

"If destruction be our lot - it will come from within"...Abraham Lincoln
Dili
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Dili »

Maybe if you can post your bmp others can try it.
Vipersp
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Vipersp »

ORIGINAL: Dili

Maybe if you can post your bmp others can try it.

Greetings all,

Tom kindly sent me both versions of the Essex LH already in bmp format and they worked nicely[&o]

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Reg
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Reg »

ORIGINAL: Vipersp

ORIGINAL: wdolson

I know the graphics engine for the game is sensitive to the type of BMP file format. I suggest starting with a working ship graphics file from the game and then copy and paste your artwork onto that.

Bill

Hi Bill, thanks for the input! just to be sure I got your meanning , I should get a bmp image from an Essex ship that is already working and deal with it at Paint shop for example, right?
What I think strange is that the art I got was a png file created by Tom Label who is a well know artist for the game and I used GIMP to convert this one to bmp, and GIMP is a software mentioned by other modders here..a bit weird for sure[&:]

I have had issues with bmp files edited with Gimp not displaying in game ever since I upgraded to Win8 from XP. Maybe it has something to do with the codecs. [&:]

Anyway I have found that if I load them into MS Paint or Irfanview and save them again they will show up in game.

Very strange..... (particularly since I have been doing in game art for a long time using the same tools). [:(]

Cheers,
Reg.

(One day I will learn to spell - or check before posting....)
Uh oh, Firefox has a spell checker!! What excuse can I use now!!!
Vipersp
Posts: 144
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Vipersp »

ORIGINAL: Reg

ORIGINAL: Vipersp

ORIGINAL: wdolson

I know the graphics engine for the game is sensitive to the type of BMP file format. I suggest starting with a working ship graphics file from the game and then copy and paste your artwork onto that.

Bill

Hi Bill, thanks for the input! just to be sure I got your meanning , I should get a bmp image from an Essex ship that is already working and deal with it at Paint shop for example, right?
What I think strange is that the art I got was a png file created by Tom Label who is a well know artist for the game and I used GIMP to convert this one to bmp, and GIMP is a software mentioned by other modders here..a bit weird for sure[&:]

I have had issues with bmp files edited with Gimp not displaying in game ever since I upgraded to Win8 from XP. Maybe it has something to do with the codecs. [&:]

Anyway I have found that if I load them into MS Paint or Irfanview and save them again they will show up in game.

Very strange..... (particularly since I have been doing in game art for a long time using the same tools). [:(]



Hi Reg,

Yes but I am still running my old and reliable win 7..I now do quite the same..save all as PNG and open with paint and save as bmp and all is fine;
One question in particular to you regarding the air art files:
In an earlier tread I started about how to mod air stuff, you pointed me to a mod guide how to deal with sides,tops and alfas..for some strange reason or my lack of hability I cannot make the single plane files loading and replacing the standard one at the game[:(]
What am I missing??[&:]
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Korvar
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Korvar »

The likely culprit for images not displaying in game is that the image editing software you are using is not defaulting to 8-bit RGB when saving a bitmap. Keep in mind the terminology can get confusing because an "8-bit RGB" BMP file is also properly called "24-bit" BMP file as well.

8-bit RGB means 8 bits for each of the three Red Green and Blue color channels, hence giving you 24 total bits.

Reg, the reason re-saving the images in MS Paint and such works is because the standard BMP file format specification calls for 24 bits spread symmetrically through the three chroma channels. Fancier image editing software is more likely to give additional options with regards to the specific file format, whereas the more straightforward programs like Paint are going to default to the most common standards.

I'm a Photoshop user myself, but look for the following menu in GIMP (saving as a BMP by exporting the file?):

Image
Vipersp
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Vipersp »

ORIGINAL: Korvar

The likely culprit for images not displaying in game is that the image editing software you are using is not defaulting to 8-bit RGB when saving a bitmap. Keep in mind the terminology can get confusing because an "8-bit RGB" BMP file is also properly called "24-bit" BMP file as well.

8-bit RGB means 8 bits for each of the three Red Green and Blue color channels, hence giving you 24 total bits.

Reg, the reason re-saving the images in MS Paint and such works is because the standard BMP file format specification calls for 24 bits spread symmetrically through the three chroma channels. Fancier image editing software is more likely to give additional options with regards to the specific file format, whereas the more straightforward programs like Paint are going to default to the most common standards.

I'm a Photoshop user myself, but look for the following menu in GIMP (saving as a BMP by exporting the file?):

Image


Thanks for the input Mate!![&o]
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Reg
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Reg »

ORIGINAL: Vipersp
ORIGINAL: Reg

Hi Reg,

...

One question in particular to you regarding the air art files:
In an earlier tread I started about how to mod air stuff, you pointed me to a mod guide how to deal with sides,tops and alfas..for some strange reason or my lack of ability I cannot make the single plane files loading and replacing the standard one at the game[:(]
What am I missing??[&:]

Have a look at this post. http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/fb.asp?m=4094782

It gives an example of how to insert a single aircraft image. You may need to open the editor to find the correct bitmap number for your aircraft slot.

Its pretty simple. [:)]

Cheers,
Reg.

(One day I will learn to spell - or check before posting....)
Uh oh, Firefox has a spell checker!! What excuse can I use now!!!
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Reg
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Reg »

ORIGINAL: Korvar

The likely culprit for images not displaying in game is that the image editing software you are using is not defaulting to 8-bit RGB when saving a bitmap. Keep in mind the terminology can get confusing because an "8-bit RGB" BMP file is also properly called "24-bit" BMP file as well.

8-bit RGB means 8 bits for each of the three Red Green and Blue color channels, hence giving you 24 total bits.

Reg, the reason re-saving the images in MS Paint and such works is because the standard BMP file format specification calls for 24 bits spread symmetrically through the three chroma channels. Fancier image editing software is more likely to give additional options with regards to the specific file format, whereas the more straightforward programs like Paint are going to default to the most common standards.

I'm a Photoshop user myself, but look for the following menu in GIMP (saving as a BMP by exporting the file?):

Image

If only it were that simple. [:(]

I was already aware of the bitmap format options but you are probably correct in your explanation. The Gimp R8G8B8 or any other available option does not produce (on my machine) a bitmap capable of being displayed on my machine (though I'm sure it used to). Loading and saving the file under Irfanview fixes the issue.

I have also downloaded some of ChemKids panels that had the same issue so I'm going to blame something on my PC (the Win8 codecs??).



EDIT: ....or maybe it is. The "Do not write colour space information" flag appears to be important!!
I have never really noticed it before and just left it unset (default). Tried it just now with this flag set and Gimp seems to be able to produce good bitmaps...

Woo Hoo, thanks for your tip!!! [:D]

Cheers,
Reg.

(One day I will learn to spell - or check before posting....)
Uh oh, Firefox has a spell checker!! What excuse can I use now!!!
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Korvar
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Korvar »

ORIGINAL: Reg

EDIT: ....or maybe it is. The "Do not write colour space information" flag appears to be important!!
I have never really noticed it before and just left it unset (default). Tried it just now with this flag set and Gimp seems to be able to produce good bitmaps...

Woo Hoo, thanks for your tip!!! [:D]


You're welcome!

Yeah, the "do not write colour space information" flag is important because otherwise you are actually saving a 32-bit BMP file. The 32-bit file adds 8 bits for an alpha channel to enable transparency support. You can see how far back in time we're going because the BMP file got transparency somewhere in the Windows 3.1 / Windows 95 days.

I don't think you can be faulted because the GIMP export menu isn't very intuitive. You basically have to already know the all the details of the file format to make sense of it. FYI, here's what the Photoshop menus look like in comparison:

Image

Advanced menu option - rarely needed unless you need an asymmetric bit distribution, etc.
Image

Last but not least, I'm especially glad I was able to help fix a problem for you - I love your rotating aircraft art mod! So take it as thanks for the awesome work you did on that - I'm eagerly awaiting the 6/42 US rollout on my 1st grand campaign! [:D]
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Reg
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Reg »


Yes I understand that now that you mention it. This is why the plane tops require the Aptop_alpha files which are simply the alpha channel/layer in a separate file.

Goodness this game engine is old.... [;)]



P.S Why don't they use the term alpha , I would have twigged straight away. [:D]

Cheers,
Reg.

(One day I will learn to spell - or check before posting....)
Uh oh, Firefox has a spell checker!! What excuse can I use now!!!
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Reg
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by Reg »

ORIGINAL: Korvar

Last but not least, I'm especially glad I was able to help fix a problem for you - I love your rotating aircraft art mod! So take it as thanks for the awesome work you did on that - I'm eagerly awaiting the 6/42 US rollout on my 1st grand campaign!

As much as I would like to take credit for it, originally I tended to just do art touch ups and fill in holes in the collection though many of the artworks are now mine as my artistic skills improved over the years. My main contribution was to reformat and organise the art files to make up these distributions and to write the utilities to manage the artwork sets.

The real artist is Cathartes who created all the wonderful artwork that forms the basis of the rotating aircraft art sets. [&o] [&o] [&o]

Cheers,
Reg.

(One day I will learn to spell - or check before posting....)
Uh oh, Firefox has a spell checker!! What excuse can I use now!!!
chemkid
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RE: New ships dont displayed in game

Post by chemkid »

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