How to: convert CivIII animations to HoI2 sprites

[Killerrabbit]

Hello

Please, I need help. I saw this explanation, and it did not seem to difficult. Therefore I wanted to upgrade the Modern Day Scenario graphics with modern sprites. The animation itself looks good, but the box and colors are horrible.

All I did in photoshop was to make it RGB, then make it 256-color. (It was the right size, 1760 x 160, 11 frames.)

How do you do step 3-6 in Photoshop?


The BMP-file:

The spr file: (I did not know what to put in origin, so I used default values)
Sprite = {
Bitmap = "T-FIGHTER A-STAND C-MIN L-1.bmp"
Origin = { x = 52 y = 93 }
Frames = 11
Speed = 5
Palette = "T-FIGHTER C-MIN L-1.bmp"
}

The palette is the default Doomsday palette

Could someone tell me what to do?

PS, I have converted all the files, but did not want to upload more than nessesary, so I choose the A-STAND files.

@Halibutt - I'm more than happy to volunteer and help you convert sprites if anyone can help me out here...

 

[Killerrabbit]

Anyone?

 

[unmerged(58849)]

I have the same problem. The animation works OK but colours and box are wrong. I am using Gimp 2.2.

Can anybody help?

 

[unmerged(42723)]

Look into a standard Paradox unit bmp's palette. You'll see that the magenta color used for the background (transparent in game) and the cyan color used for shadows (half-transparent grey in game) always occupy the same slots for all units. Make sure it's the same with your modded GFX.

I case of Killerrabbit the colors got probably re-arranged when converting from 24bit RGB to 8bit, 256 color BMP. I convert a copy of the 24bit gfx to 8bit, then move those two colors into the right slots again. Now the colors of the pic may look wrong, but the palette is corrected. Then paste another 24bit copy of the same pic into the 8bit pic with corrected palette - my software does automatically use the re-arranged colors to display the pic correctly, and the position of the colors will not be changed again.

If you have all this right, make sure the PALETTE = entry in the spr file points to the correct palette file.

 

[Killerrabbit]

Look into a standard Paradox unit bmp's palette. You'll see that the magenta color used for the background (transparent in game) and the cyan color used for shadows (half-transparent grey in game) always occupy the same slots for all units. Make sure it's the same with your modded GFX.

I case of Killerrabbit the colors got probably re-arranged when converting from 24bit RGB to 8bit, 256 color BMP. I convert a copy of the 24bit gfx to 8bit, then move those two colors into the right slots again. Now the colors of the pic may look wrong, but the palette is corrected. Then paste another 24bit copy of the same pic into the 8bit pic with corrected palette - my software does automatically use the re-arranged colors to display the pic correctly, and the position of the colors will not be changed again.

If you have all this right, make sure the PALETTE = entry in the spr file points to the correct palette file.

Thank you very much for your reply. I'm uncertain about a thing or two, though.

I've corrected the colors of the GFX -file.
I do not understand the basic principle of the 4x4 palette. How do you make one, and what determines how they should look like. (All of them look different)

4:Then change the type of the image to RGB. That's important since we'll use a different palette than the one pre-coded. Now change back to 256 colours and make GIMP generate a 256-colour palette for you.
5: The image itself should not change at all. Open the palettes dialog ("Dialogs -> Palettes" or "Ctrl-P"), right-click the new window and select "Import palette" and import a palette from the Image you have currently opened. Let's say you named it "Fighter" - and a new "Fighter" palette is now available through the Palettes window.
6: Double-click it and edit the first two colour tiles precisely the way Sekinoss suggests here.

How do you do this in photoshop? Edit: I'm downloading GIMP to avoid problems

 

[Killerrabbit]

I've progressed, but not so much.

How do I apply my saved palette (In GIMP) to the 4x4 palette file?

I have done everything else correctly...

 

[Gukan]

I've progressed, but not so much.

How do I apply my saved palette (In GIMP) to the 4x4 palette file?

I have done everything else correctly...

Make sure the background color in the frames file are the index 0 in the palette and the shadow color are index 1.
Open your 1360x160 file, resize it to 4x4 and save it as the palette file, drop it at doomsday/gfx/palette folder use it in the PALETTE = part of the txt file

 

[Rodrico Stak]

Out of curiosity, is there any way to convert Civ IV animations?

 

[Halibutt]

Ignore my previous post. I found one, and followed the instructions. I've gotten so far as to have it show up ingame, but the shadow is pink and the sprite is outlined in pink. Also, it stands nowhere near the flag. I suppose I can fix the flag problem by editing the origin in the .spr file, but what do I do about the pink outline?

It's yet another problem with fine-tuning. In order to make this work just use the colour selection tool and click anywhere in the pink background. You'll notice that what's left is not only the soldier, but some other pink pixels around him. Just select those pixels (colour selection tool) and flood them with the appropriate shade of pink.

The same is with the shadow: just select the shadow and flood it with the colour you chose for the shadows (blue by default). And that's it.

This is where I start to get messed up. I am supposed to close the image now without saving and do the cut and paste onto a blank image that Sekinoss suggested. It doesn't seem relevant.

It is relevant. If you do save, the colours would get messed up, and that's not what you want.

Should I just fill the background with the pink colour?

Yup, that should do it - provided you chose pink as the first colour in your palette. You might just as well pick the background colour you already have in the strip and add it to the palette as the first one in line.

How do I apply my saved palette to the 4x4 palette file?

In the GIMP it's done by "Import palette", so it is in PSP. Not sure about other GFX editors.

How do I apply my saved palette to the next image?

Same way.

I am lost from here. My attempts so far result in black squares or a radioactive looking image in a brown square.

This doesn't seem to be the problem with the graphics itself, but rather the palette file. Are you sure it's all right? And are you sure the .spr files point to the right palette you just created?
Cheers

 

[Halibutt]

Out of curiosity, is there any way to convert Civ IV animations?

I looked at them, but they did not seem that easy to convert. First of all, if I remember correctly they are not animations but models. So you'd have to download some Civ IV model conversion tool (there are plenty out there at their forum), convert it to universally-usable 3d format, and then proceed along the lines set in the tutorial by Sekinoss. Too much work for too little money if you asked me
Cheers

 

[unmerged(89511)]

sprites

i have been trying for 2 weeks almost none stop using probably the same tuturial as most from stony. after converting from flicster i draged the the filmstrips into paint shop pro
i ignored gimp as i could not figure it out , i resized them and changed the pallet to hoi saved pallet then made a mistake by saving everything down as bmp' when i clearly was not finished had a problem of frames shifting pink box to name the major ones, forgot to mention am using paint shop pro 7 so i tryed taking a filmstrip checking the box size creating a new box ctrl c to copy from 1 to the new click on new box ctrl to past and position carful on positioning. after that a discoverd my units moved more fluidly than before but still in a box of pink. after reading hallibut bebro sorry if i mispelled. a refrance to killerrabits problem helped me i loaded pallet for say sov into there units and the sov stand is almost perfect but a thin line appears to the right of the icon. and in walkin anim not so good no box but anim jerky thats me progress over 1 day 7 half hours dead i need me bed lol

 

[unmerged(89511)]

Allmost Figured It Out

1 draged all the filmsrips into paint shop pro and resized them
2 individualy altered there pallets to get the shadows from red to 0 255 255 on the number 1 pallett slot.
and the zero pallet slot 255 0 255 magenta.
3 i then saved me pallet down i saved all me sprite actions down but left them on screen.
4 i found myself on unknown territory as i tryed to work my way through i increasesed the pallet to 24bit.
and decreased it to 8bit and loaded me saved pallet back into each strip and saved them down and tryed them out

5 results so far the hungary sprite looks good in the standing anim shadows and coulor very good.
in the walking anim he is a little jerky again coulors good shadows good apart fro one whos shadow i forgot to do eny idea where me problem lies
SMALL UPDATE have converted finish infantry using the same route as before
standing anim again has good shadow and coulour but he is moving to the left like he is on a convayor belt rest of the walk anims the same a bit jerky and flashing a bit.
i had noticed a thin line under some of them so i re positioned my stand anim the line has gone but he is still moving to the left .
hope some of the info helps the chaps like me out who are feeling there way forward lol

 

[unmerged(89511)]

Frustrating Work This

well not to shure what me problen is checked me pallet both pink and the blue are in the right place.
thats on the pallet and each animation me problems are the same as the above.
i have discovered for some reason that aircraft are not as badley efected.
i have a british hawk75 in finish coulors works almost perfect .
and yet land anims fire and walk very jitery like flashing as thay move and finlands standing anim slides to the right and back and walkin like flashing along
got me scratchin me head.

 

[unmerged(89511)]

where am i going wrong

I recently converted a set of CivIII animations to sprites (see a link in my sig) and perhaps some of my experiences might be useful. So here it is: a "how to convert CivIII gfx to HoI sprites" walkthrough:

1. Pick one of the CivIII graphics. A decent and fairly complete list is located here. Download it and unzip it anywhere you like.
2. Download FLICster and install it somewhere.
3. Open FLICster. It will tell you it cannot locate CivIII directory, but simply ignore it. Then click File > Open... > and navigate to where your CivIII graphics is unpacked.
4. You'll see several .flc files, along with some other files you can simply ignore. Open the file named run.flc
5. A multi-tabbed window will open. In the "View Animation" tab you can check if the animation is the one you were searching for. If so, go to "Export" tab.
6. Click "Export Type" and change it to "Multiple Filmstrip PCX". Also uncheck the "Border" box.
7. Leave the rest of the options unchanged and click Export.

You're done with FLICster. You can safely close it now and open some graphics edition software. Photoshop is nice, but GIMP would do just as good. I use it and never had any problems with it.

1. Navigate to where Flicster unpacked your CivIII animation. You'll see 8 .pcx files, each with a direction marked by a symbol. Looks familiar? That's almost the format we need for HoI, so most of the work is already done.
2. Open any one of them. You'll see a long, HoI-like strip with frames of our animation. Usually around 16 frames, though the number might differ. Looks familiar?
3. First pick the selection tool (shortcut "R") and choose some absurd pre-fixed length (longer than the strip itself, usually 5000px is enough). To choose the height you'll have to count the frames and make them square. Ie. if the CivIII strip is x*136px long (with x being the number of frames), then it would have to be 136 high as well. Type those dimensions in tool options, point the cursor to the upper left corner (0,0) and select the area. Once the area is selected choose the <Image> Crop tool and... voila. Double-check that the strip is indeed precisely <No. of frames>*<width of frame> by <width of frame> size, precision is paramount here.
4. Then change the type of the image to RGB. That's important since we'll use a different palette than the one pre-coded. Now change back to 256 colours and make GIMP generate a 256-colour palette for you. The image itself should not change at all.
5. Open the palettes dialog ("Dialogs -> Palettes" or "Ctrl-P"), right-click the new window and select "Import palette" and import a palette from the Image you have currently opened. Let's say you named it "Fighter" - and a new "Fighter" palette is now available through the Palettes window.
6. Double-click it and edit the first two colour tiles precisely the way Sekinoss suggests here.

That's about it. The rest of the procedure is already explained in Sekinoss' tutorial. Just let me know should you have any problems - or need some help. Should you still have problems, I'll explain the entire procedure in more detail.
Cheers

hi mate done the flicster bit.
i then drag them into paint shop pro change there pallets on each strip the same and redo the backdrop pink 255 0 255 and no 1 slot 0 255 255 .
save the pallet down then save them down .
create the pallet 4 by 4 save them down such as t-infantry a-stand l-1.
create the spr thay look good transparancy fine walkin firing anim jerky
did i need to crop them and if so how do i crop them in a filmstrip without choping it up and trying to get a working well ballanced filmstrip again .
eny advise whould be great. thanks

 

[Halibutt]

Frankly speaking I have no idea, it's been ages since I used PS for the last time...

 

[unmerged(89511)]

Frankly speaking I have no idea, it's been ages since I used PS for the last time...

ok mate iv dowloaded gimp to try and size did not have much luck the first time i tryed .
where do i alter the 5000 px lenth where it says size or position and then the size details for the other box.
i originaly used the size box for the size of the strip and where it says size for yes you got it the filmstrip size .
what gets me thinking u use a example of 136 px and most strips are at least 1500 wide by lets say 100.
and a frame to those messurments are 100 by 100 how can i be shure of what figures im suposed to put in mate and yes im sorry for wasting your time mate .
im just keen to crack it