Smoking Campfire April 23, 2009

This is a small Smoking Campfire with Flames.
You could use it alone but I am uploading it for all of you creative people to use in your Animated game creations to help with this simple thing if wanted

I changed, Modified the CIV III Civil Disorder Fire in part to create this Campfire.

It is small so you will be able to use it to add where you want it.
Game Tested as always
Flc, .ini and Read Me File Included.

You can get the Download here

Small Preview:

That's nice!

Vuldacon said:

I am uploading it for all of you creative people to use in your Animated game creations to help with this simple thing if wanted

Click to expand...

I've been thinking about a way to have a capturable unit "guard" victory points in the Hollow Earth scenario. This looks like it would work well, except I'd like to do it with a little less smoke. Sort of like the "Fire of Life' in She. Do you think it would be difficult for me to remove part of the smoke? Would simply changing part of the palette to the "invisible" colors work alright? The other thing I'd do myself, I think it would be simple, is to put a little civ-color ring (like bricks or a pit) at the base.

Nice ! It has a good usage for me ;I`m gonna make a Multi-Unit out of it. Some Warriors and a woman around it ...
btw: Is there one .flc out here showing a "Baby" (human) ?

Bye
General 666

Blue Monkey... Sure you can easily remove the Smoke either by manually Painting out what you do not want or Changing the Smoke Shades to Pure magenta. IF you change the Smoke Shades to Pure Magenta, be sure to Reload the same Palette and Use "Nearest Color Matching" so all of the Changed Smoke Shades will then be indexed to the Last Magenta on the Palette which is the Transparent background.

There is Plenty of Room for More Colors on the Palette so Make the part you want then Remove any CIV Specific Colors, Shadows and Smoke shades from it. Reduce colors to the Number of Colors that can be added to the remaining slots on the Palette.
Take a Screen Shot of just your new Colors by Opening that Palette and pressing Alt+Print Screen. Paste it Ctrl+V and save as a .bmp.
Add those Colors to the Existing Palette using Pedit.
You can then apply that Palette to your New storyboard with your New Additions and changes.

When you are adding your New Additions, change the Storyboard to 16 Million Colors and add your New items. The Reason to make the new additions separately or separate them from all of the Original Images is so you can control the number of extra Palette Colors. Otherwise, just make a New Palette by Changing the CIV Specific colors, Shadow and Smoke shades and the Background to Black... then reduce the Colors to 160 colors. Take a Screen Shot of the Palette and Save as a .bmp for use in Pedit to add those colors to the Essential Color Palette.

I stated in the Unit Read Me file that it is Best to Change all of the Smoke Shades to a Pure Color that is Not in any of your Images. This will allow you to Copy and Paste them correctly because the Indexes will retain those exact colors. Then after you finish working on it, you can apply the Palette and Maintain Indexes to have the Smoke Shades return to their correct shades.

Blue Monkey and anyone else who might want these for use...
Here are three 15 Frame Fire images without the Logs and that I have with the Normal Palette, the Alpha Palette and a Palette with the Smoke Shades Colored so they will copy and paste correctly. When using the Colored Smoke Images, Be sure to place the Same Colors for those Smoke Shades on the Palette you are pasting to.
When you have completed Pasting, you can load your Normal Palette and maintain indexes to reestablish the Correct Smoke Shades.
Blue Monkey... Please view the Fire in game because the Smoke is Not White. It is More translucent. This will show you what you want or need to remove for what you want to do.

I included all three of these Palettes. The Palettes also have a Few of the Wood Colors in them so Not all Colors are needed just for the Fire.

Wow, Vuldacon! Thanks for all that extra effort & clear instructions. I will look at the fire in-game. Maybe I won't need to change the smoke at all and just add the circle from the civ-color part of the palette as it already exists.

edit: I do most of my graphics work on a Mac, so not all of the directions apply directly (like how to get a screenshot) but they're clear enough so I'll have no problem applying the same techniques in the programs I use. Thanks.

I thought this excerpt of a pm would be worth posting in case it's of use to anyone else who wants to adapt this animation:

Vuldacon said:

One possibly helpful thing I can tell you is when you are doing Copy/Paste procedures... Place a Black 4 pixel Square or an X ner the Image you want to Copy and Paste. Copy the Square or the X with your Image. Paste it as a Floating Image to your New Storyboard and move it around until you like it...then click to set to place.
You can then Copy the Square or X along with just a Corner of the Frame and paste the Square or X in all Frames across the New Storyboard. You use the Corner of the Frame to aid in placement. This will keep the Square or X in the same place in all Frames.

Copy and Paste the Square or X that you made on the 1st frame of the 1st storyboard across that Storyboard too.

Now you can simply copy each Frame Image and the Square or X then paste each of them to the New Storyboard accurately by aligning the Squares or X's.

This is Handy when trying to go from one size frame to another...otherwise you would not need the Squares or X's...just use the Frames and the Guide.

Click to expand...

I think this is a very good moment to remind these tutorial of Vuldacon ;

How to Combine Multiple Palettes into One :
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=124744

It`s not only about combining palettes. You can find a whole bunch of useful information in that tutorial. I just naming it because strangly NOBODY has ever posted there and so I guess a lot of members have missed it ! (If I have questions ,I will love to bump it !)

Bye
General 666

Blue Monkey... Glad you can adapt and use the information and I hope you can use the palettes.
One thing that would be very easy is to make a Circle around the Fire that is CIV Specific Colored. You could even go elaborate and make it Multiple Shades of the Civ Color. IF not a Circle, perhaps an Oval so it appears to be at an angle as the Map Tiles are.

IF you like, I can Upload an animated Flag that is CIV Specific Colored. That is yet another possibility although a Flag might seem odd.
... Perhaps make a Small CIV Specific Colored Camping Tent near by

Play around with it and your ideas and IF I can help just let me know

General 666... Most Tutorials are a bit long and somewhat difficult to "Wade Through" and mine are no different really. It is Because anything that is technical and requires procedures should be explained where anyone can perform them... and that requires many words to explain clearly. The Good thing is that once it is understood, it can open doors to fast and easy ways to do things. There are always other ways to do the same things concerning computers and programs but we have to get a start by understanding any procedure first.

I am very surprised that more people have not bothered with units_32 files to make them very Nice. It is as if they do not matter. Probably after all the time required to make a Unit, most do not consider a units_32.pcx file important enough to spend time on.

...in any case, there are many helpful tutorials here that at least help to teach some of the "How To's" concerning MODs and the things in them to get a start.

Vuldacon said:

I am very surprised that more people have not bothered with units_32 files to make them very Nice. It is as if they do not matter. Probably after all the time required to make a Unit, most do not consider a units_32.pcx file important enough to spend time on.

Click to expand...

Sadly that is even true for the majority of Modder/Scenario-Maker here. You can not imagine what crappy sheets I have found in the DL`s.
Or try to dl a unit coming with a shadow-free units_32.pcx. It`s near to impossible.
But it`s Okay with me ,I have taken it as a chance to become more familiar with these file !

Bye
General 666

General 66... If anyone looks at the Original units_32 File, they could see that shadows are not used and the Images are Sharp and use Civ Specific Colors.
Some units are easy and some require more work to make them look good... but the point I am making is that even such a minor thing is worth the effort.

Vuldacon said:

General 66... If anyone looks at the Original units_32 File, they could see that shadows are not used and the Images are Sharp and use Civ Specific Colors.
Some units are easy and some require more work to make them look good... but the point I am making is that even such a minor thing is worth the effort.

Click to expand...

In the last week I have revised my best units_32.pcx (included in my epic) which includes now 2500 single pics. I will have a lot of work making them shadow-free and let them really use the 32x32 tile (resize). So do you know a good way how to make them all at once (resize at once is not possible ,but for the shadows ? Does it work ?) ?

btw: I must enlarge my sheet to 7500+ or so. Have I any problems to await ? Or is there a limit ?

Bye
General 666

General 666... You could try to resize all at one time with a good technique but you will have varied results...best to do one at a time.

As for the the size of your sheet...you should be ok but watch the Game unit limit. WOW you have a LARGE one there!

Vuldacon said:

General 666... You could try to resize all at one time with a good technique but you will have varied results...best to do one at a time.

As for the the size of your sheet...you should be ok but watch the Game unit limit. WOW you have a LARGE one there!

Click to expand...

Yeah , I have now 5400+ units on my HD and feel sick making a own sheet for every single of my Mod/Scenarios (now 8). Having a giant one (7500+) will save me time in the future. If it would not forbidden by Zulu I would upload mine for other members. Not that I`m using the pics in his crappy sheet. It`s only his sorting order left...

Great Campfire! Now I'm trying to figure out how I could use it.

Grandraem... ... it is basically intentioned as an extra animation addition that can be added to other things or used as wanted.
I suppose it could be added as a Pre-placed "Unit" but it has no Attack or Defense. It could be added without Attack or Defense and as Immobile. That way it could just be there... Now where are my Hotdogs and Marshmallows

Vuldacon said:

Blue Monkey... Glad you can adapt and use the information and I hope you can use the palettes.
One thing that would be very easy is to make a Circle around the Fire that is CIV Specific Colored. You could even go elaborate and make it Multiple Shades of the Civ Color. IF not a Circle, perhaps an Oval so it appears to be at an angle as the Map Tiles are.

Click to expand...

That's my thinking - a fire ring of stones or bricks, ovalled so it looks right.

Vuldacon said:

IF you like, I can Upload an animated Flag that is CIV Specific Colored. That is yet another possibility although a Flag might seem odd.

Click to expand...

Anything you make is worth seeing, using, and learning from.

General 666 said:

[...] If it would not forbidden by Zulu I would upload mine for other members.

Click to expand...

Huh? I wasn't aware that was/is Zulu's wish; I've already u/l-ed it once (I'm not sure, but I presume you're talking about his units_32 ... ?)

Best,

Oz

Blue Monkey and anyone else who can use them.
*Animated CIV Specific Colored Flag
*Small Rocks
*CIV Specific Colored Small Rocks
*Skull and Skull on Post with Rocks

The Flag only needs Four Colors other than the CIV Specific Colors on the normal Blue Civ Specific Colored Unit Game Palette. So for example, you could add those four colors to the Smoking Campfire Palette and then Copy and Past the Animated Flag where you want it. The Frame Size is 100 x 100, same as the Smoking Campfire so that should also make it easy.

I made these items as simple additions just to help if you need them for
use with your CIV Game creations.
... Copy and paste is the easiest way to use these simple things. If questions, contact me.

Ozymandias said:

Huh? I wasn't aware that was/is Zulu's wish; I've already u/l-ed it once (I'm not sure, but I presume you're talking about his units_32 ... ?)

Best,

Oz

Click to expand...

Hi Oz !

Yes ! I have talked about Zulus "Units_32.pcx" (v6.6 - 3300+). I have seen your upload and wondered about your deed. Even more because his original DL is still function !?! So given a link to the member who has requested it has been enough.

To say Zulu has forbidden it is a little bit harmless for the words I have found in one of his posts. Should I look out for the post ? But I can easily tell you that he has strictly forbidden other members to post their work (meaning his sheet with own additions). And thats for me the point :
MY sheet is not longer HIS sheet !!! The most pics have been upgraded/changed by me. Lot of pics made by my own. I have changed the size itself. Fixed over 100 gaps found in the borders. So I have changed every aspect ,that let somebody else say it is `his work. Should I been forbidden by a dead member to not upload MY WORK ??? At least I`m talking about the biggest Units_32.pcx EVER !

Bye
General 666