The cossacks conversion collection

Knight_Bond007, to finish all these units Steph needs help.
It's an easy work, that anyone can do, but is boring and take some time.
If you have good will to join this crusade, you just need to e-mail Steph and offer your help. Her e-mail adress is in this thread.

Steph will send you a 1 mg program and instructions.

Any help is welcome.

I don't finish my first work yet, but if everybody who use this site make this pre-job (it's not do the unit just made the first step) Steph would end this work early.

Thank you, and sorry for my english.

I know I am getting ahead of myself slightly seeing as all of these untis will not be finished until a while from now but...I had started converting mechs from MechCommander 2 until I saw this thread then, I figured work would get done alot faster if we all work together. And although I could eventually get all of the mechs done myself, it would take alot less time if some of youse guys and gals would help me (after we finish with the cossack units of course).

Just a fore thought. Also so you dont think im just ripping from the creators, I sent an email asking Fasa for permission...still pending.

Originally posted by mrtn
I just checked the Swedish pikeman in flicster, and found a problem. In the East direction the pike goes all the way to the edge. This leaves ghost images at the edge, of where the pike where some frames ago. I think that this will also show up in the game. If you make the frames slightly larger before assembly in flicster, this problem should disappear. I e, keep the pike a few pixels from the edge. To fix this it might be easier to just delete the tip of the pike. I don't know.
It is a problem in the Eastern direction of SwedishPikemanAttack, SwedishPikemanDeath and SwedishPikemanVictory. I don't know, but I suspect that this could be a problem in the other pikeman units also.

Click to expand...

Damned! I've asked Elsihe to check for it. I suspect he deleted only 1 pixel. Is it enough? Should I make it 2 or 3?

what about just shrinking the units a bit with the SBB. 5% shrinkage should do the trick and won't make the unit look too small compared to other units in the game.

ok. i'll e-mail steph then.

What units need to be shrinked? We have already reduced the size for the new version of pikemen and musketeer. The cavalry have not been redone yet.
Is the size of pikemen OK now? I won't reduce it further, or we may lose to many details in the process : the current units are not so nice as what they were in the first time.
The infantry has been reduced about 7% from their original size.

For cavalry, I've reduced them by 7% also, so they are scaled with infantry. But they are bigger than civIII cavalry. Shall I reduce them again to match the cavalry scale, knowing some details may be lost during the resampling, or should I keep the size, knowing they will be on scale with infantry, but not cavalry?

Originally posted by Steph


Damned! I've asked Elsihe to check for it. I suspect he deleted only 1 pixel. Is it enough? Should I make it 2 or 3?

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Hm? I don't really understand your questions. Apparently it wasn't enough (and, if you wonder, I downloaded the new version yesterday. This is the only one I've checked). The only thing I know about this is what I've read that Kryten has written, you might ask him about more details.
I think you should scale the cavalry to the other cavalry already in the game.

if a unit touches the left or right edge of the frame you get ghost images appearing in the flick, so any unit hat touches the edge of the frame, e.g. the pikemen in their attack, then you will get messed up flics. I would rather lose a little detail than have ghost images floating around in an animation, so saying that you will not reduce the pikemen further seems rather narrow minded.

I fixed the Swedish pikeman (with a little help from flicster and photoshop), get it here!
Nder: I think it only ever affects the eastern edge, not the western, by some bizarre programming glitch.
Steph: You might add this to the right place in the thread.
In the attack flic the iron tip of the pike disappears out the side of the edge in half the pics. Is this how the unit looked in Cossacks, or has it been cut in the conversion process?

A caveat: I haven't tested the unit in game, only in flicster.

I've fixed the Swedish pikeman, and I'm checking all the units done by Elsihe.
I've decided to simply remove a few pixels at the end of the pike, so it doesn't touch the eastern edge.

Nder : I would rather lose a little detail than have ghost images floating around in an animation, so saying that you will not reduce the pikemen further seems rather narrow minded.

Check the image below. The current size of the pikeman and of the swedish size is exactly the same (bottom of foot and top of head are exactly aligned. So a size reduction is a bad idea.

Second, when you have something like a pike which is only 1 or 2 pixels wide, durint the size reduction process you get something that does not look as nice as the original. And I don't want to lose to much quality. So if the only pb is the ghost image, I prefer not to be narrow minded as YOU are and focus on size reduction only, but try to find a compromise where the ghost pb is solved, the quality is kept, as well as the scale.

Third, do you have the slightest idea of the time Elsihe, Loulong or I have spent trying to bring these units into civ III? If my narrow mindness bothers you to much, I suggest you stop reading this thread, buy Cossacks and make the conversion yourself. I can even send you the cossacks animation viewer. I will do these conversion as I want, and this include using civ color or not.

Mrtn : the disappearance of the iron end comes from :
- Cossacks. The pike sometimes disappear
- The size reduction process, that could lose some details.
- The need to remove 2 pixels for the Eastern direction.

The only way to correct it would be to edit manually all the frames, but I don't have time for that. So just consider the iron tip is going in the body of the opponent!

I've just posting my first trial at making the unit to the end myself.

The Austrian Fusillier (or Austrian 18c musketeer) is now available.

Before doing the others, I will wait for your feeback about this unit, I hope I didn't mess with the palette as it is the first time I do this.

If it's OK, I will move to the next unit, and now that I know how to make the FLC from the storyboard myself, it should be faster.

Originally posted by Steph
I've fixed the Swedish pikeman, and I'm checking all the units done by Elsihe.
I've decided to simply remove a few pixels at the end of the pike, so it doesn't touch the eastern edge....

Click to expand...

I did this: I exported the flc to a pcx which had the width 120 pixels, not the original 110. Removed the ghosts in photoshop, and reexported it to a flc. So my version probably have more details and/or longer pike, don't you think? I think this is better than cutting off the pike.

Yes, it may be better, but as in the original Cossacks unit, the pike sometimes go outside the frame, to have something really nice would require to manually arrange all the frames.
More generally, some quality is lost during the conversion process, due to the size reduction. I think the units in original size are nicer.

I have taken a look at the austrian grenadier. I am no palette specialist and don't know the original so much but I think it looks OK.

They lose a bit in detail it is true. I am sure that a happy medium could be reached between size reduction and details, and you are definitely not too narrow-minded Steph !

Originally posted by mrtn


I did this: I exported the flc to a pcx which had the width 120 pixels, not the original 110. Removed the ghosts in photoshop, and reexported it to a flc. So my version probably have more details and/or longer pike, don't you think? I think this is better than cutting off the pike.

Click to expand...

good thinking, increasing the size of the frame rather than reducing the size of the unit any further! simple and effective.

Originally posted by LouLong
I have taken a look at the austrian grenadier

Click to expand...

I have a secret to tell you. It's not a grenadier

For all civ players fed up with the puny English UU, the man o war, the English red coats are available now : Pikes, 17c Musketeer, 18c musketeer and Grenadier.

Thanks

I'm starting to use the austrian fusilier...well..congratulations. great work.


well, i may start to annoy with all these quetions (sorry).....but i'm making a mod on wich i'm trying to use as many flavour units and posible..and at least an UU per era....as part of it....

ok...my question is as follow :

i'm thinking on using fusiliers and musketers as musketman replacement, for example, austrian one as german musketman.
but, what about 17c and 18c muskets? choosing or make'm both avaible?....

grenadiers for rifleman.

dragoons and hussar for cavalry...what about the english ironside?

Pikes for Pikeman

is all this correct, or i should think on opening other tech and put this units early or later than the ones i'm looking to diversify?

Could someone please clear me this points?

once again, great units!

i hope no one forgets about the other cossacks conversion, i only bring this up because thats where the prussian, and bavarian 18th century musketers are, and the saxon units lay.