Problem with title screens.

[Lonkut]

All I do to a custom title screenb is enlarge the pic to 1024X768. Is there anything else that i leave out? Because when I load the game my screen is black with only the options showing.

[Steel General]

It needs to be reduced to 8bit (256 Colors)

[Lonkut]

ohh ok I'll try that.
EDIT: w00t it worked thnx. But my pic which I enlarged from a smaller pic it has some black dots on some parts, is that normal?

[Bjornlo]

You probably do not have the palette set correctly.
Compare the palette of your new image to the original one.

[Steel General]

Originally Posted by Lonkut

ohh ok I'll try that.
EDIT: w00t it worked thnx. But my pic which I enlarged from a smaller pic it has some black dots on some parts, is that normal?

I'm sure Bjornlo is correct about the palette's (they are always my downfall), but enlarging a smaller image is never really a good idea, things tend to get 'pixellated' or 'grainy'.

But if you really like the image, and the 'graininess' doesn't bother you than you're all set. Glad I could help out.

[Bjornlo]

You could always use despeckle filter to cut down some of the noise (at the cost of some contrast).
You can "up-size" an image a little and get away with it. But Steel General is right, it will never be quite as good as starting with a larger image to begin with.
For what it is worth, I'm fairly good with photoshop, but even so I almost never try to increase an image size since to my tastes it is never going to be good enough.

[vbraun]

Also one of the colors of the title screen can not be #FFFFFF (pure white) otherwise it will show up as black. One way to fix this is to change all the pure white areas to something like #FEFEFE

[Lonkut]

Originally Posted by Bjornlo

You probably do not have the palette set correctly.
Compare the palette of your new image to the original one.

How do I do that?

[Steel General]

There should be some kind of color replacer function in the image editing program your using.

[Bjornlo]

Originally Posted by Lonkut

How do I do that?

As steel general said, there is some sort of color replacement tool in almost every paint program. It varies from program to program. Look for color table, palette, or something similar.

[Lonkut]

How can I make the palete 'Exact' and have 256 colors?

[Bjornlo]

Are you asking how to set it to 256 colors but have all the colors as a 16.7million image? This can not be done.
Are you asking how to set it to the type of index color called Exact? You simplly select that within your paint program. But you will not get a full 256, since a couple of the places in the color table (index) are reserved.
But have a look at some of the images done by others, it is not that limiting.

[Lonkut]

Is there a tutorial for these things because I think I need one.

[Bjornlo]

There might be a tutorial that can help you, have you looked in that section? The problem is there are so many paint programs, and each one behaves somewhat differently.
I use photoshop. Others use Paintshop Pro, some use the free GIMP. Pounder use the largest amount on here that I know.
Also there are unique things to some of the images. For example, I do alot of civilopedia icons (buildings, units, etc). I also do a bunch of tech icons and Wonder Splashes.. Those are the sorts of still images I know about. I didn't forget to mention the problem with pure white in title screens that VBraun brought up. I never knew this, since it didn't apply to other images.

Simplified:
All static images must be 256 colors.
in photoshop:
The first color must typical FF00FF and the 2nd 00ff00
In PaintShop
The last color must typical FF00FF and the 2nd to the last 00ff00
Those two colors are reserved and should not be used (they can be, but it makes organizing your palette harder). But, their position in the Palette/color-table must not be used.

[Lonkut]

There might be a tutorial that can help you, have you looked in that section?

Yeah there was nothing that could help me. Well I will try and practice with photoshop, thnx for the help.

[Bjornlo]

Here is a series of tricks I do, since you're using the same tool I know they will work.
1. Begin with a very large image. The larger the better.
2. Edit the image in RGB (except when I need single pixel precision, then I prefer to edit in index 256 (with out transparency)).
3. No matter what changes you do, always change it to index(with out transparency) then back to RGB before you resize down. Changing it to index causes it to strip some of the colors. Resizing it in RGB then gets it to dither better.
4. If the image is a little blurry or grey, use the unsharpen mask filter. If this makes it too pixelated, then follow with a despeckle filter. Typically a unsharpen-mask + despeckle will make a image that reduces in size but maintains a higher contrast when doing so. Using contrast (including auto-contrast) typically can change the color of the image.. often in ways I don't like. Experiment to see if you like it. If the results are ok, then following despeckle with a constrast adjustment can help
5. Once the image is the right size, select the entire image with CTRL+a.
6. Copy the image to the buffer with a CTRL+C
7. Change the image to index (with transparency).
8. Go to color table (the palette) in image\mode\colortable.
9. Take a look at the first two colors. Pick the one that is most imporant to your image. Note the color value (either the 255,0,255 or the ff00ff, your choice).
10. Go to the last color in the color table, if you remembered to select index with transparency, this will be a checkerboard not a color. Open this color and change it to match the color you picked from the first two.
11. Change the first color to ff00ff (or 255,0,255) and the second to 00ff00 (or 0,255,0).
12. once the color table is closed, your image will look messed up. Now you select the image and past the original from your buffer with ctrl + v. This wil cause photoshop to map the the nearest colors to the originals for the colors you moved or replaced.
13. Admire your new master piece.

enjoy
-Bjørn

[Lonkut]

Alright thnx I'll try it.