Need help with unit frame resize and background issues

[MadEmperor]

Hi all Civilized People,

I am in the process of creating a scenario that cherrypicks the best of the best in all of the big mod packs out there in order to enhance and extend the Civ 3 experience. As I am not a computer graphic guru like some of you are (I salute you), I hit the wall when it comes to the following issue: I am trying to implement either an F-22 or F-35A by Wyrmshadow into an 'Advance Fighter Tech' towards the final area and due to the fact that the units sit on rather a large frame i.e. 200x200, thus it places, what is an awesome design unit, the default.flc still image outside the right bottom menu, which kind of annoys me as I am chasing a 'factory' feel to my scenario. Every time I put the FLC files through either Civ3FlcEdit or manually in GIMP after extracting the stills in FLICster in order to trim the background and adjust the offset, it returns the unit with background issues, generating a shade in-game that corresponds in dimensions to the altered frame size. I tried to play around with the palette colors, thinking that the index 255 color has to be the 255 0 255 pink shade. It does not work. Wyrmshadow's units use a different shade of the 255 index color - 230 9 230 pink. Surprisingly, when I choose to apply the hardcoded palette for the last 32 colors option in Civ3FlcEdit, the main issue of background color goes away but the unit and shadow outline become distorted. Logically, this suggests color palette issues when processed by either Civ3FlcEdit or GIMP, even when palette colors are the same as the original file. Moreover, simply changing the palette colors of index 255 to 255 0 255 makes no difference. Petty that FLICster only has an upscale option for the unit frame and no downsize. Anyway, hope someone has an idea, maybe Wyrmshadow is still out there...

 

[Vuldacon]

MadEmperor... This is a Palette index problem. This happens with Graphics programs when loading palettes to nearest color matching and the nearest color is Not the correct color.

If you post your Adjusted F-35A Flc, I will see and adjust the problem.

 

[MadEmperor]

Vuldacon, thank you for getting back to me mate! I attached two zip files for two units both by Wyrmshadow, F-22, and A-10, which I originally wanted to use in my scenario as the F-35A was a desperate attempt at frame resizing as it was a smaller plane and did not require as much as background trimming. All I did when putting the original Wyrmshadow .flcs through Civ3FlcEdit was: trimmed the default.flc to fit the unit menu window and the rest of .flcs with the bottom half by 50 pixels only and adjusted the offset to sit about center in the square grid as in the default.flc. I did not touch colors and kept the default output settings in Civ3FlcEdit. I have attached screenshots to show as they sit in the game after adjusting the offset. I appreciate your time and do not know how can I return the favor. At least I will share my completed scenario on the page. For context, I attached a screenshot of the tech and why having the F-22 sit well in the scenario would be a nice touch to the game. Sending regards from Sydney!

 

[Vuldacon]

MadEmperor... OK, I am checking it all out now... I will get back soon.

 

[MadEmperor]

Thank you mate, much appreciated.

 

[Vuldacon]

MadEmperor... Both Units had palette # 224 and # 255 the same color.
Palette #224 is the lightest Smoke Shade Slot.
When the palette was loaded, the Graphics program selected the 1st closest color match on the palette and that was #224 making all Backgrounds the Lightest Smoke Shade.

If you have this problem again, the following is how to correct it:
To correct this I generated new Storyboards for all Flcs.
I loaded each Storyboard in Paint Shop Pro then I opened the Palettes and changed the Palette Slot #244 to Pure Green (0-255-0) and I changed Palette Slot #255 to Pure Magenta (255-0-255).
I closed the Palette and using the Color Replacer Tool, I change the now Pure Green (0-255-0) Storyboard Background to Pure Magenta (255-0-255). This changed the Background color to the Pure Magenta (255-0-255) color I set on Palette #255 and that set the Background Color used on the Storyboards to the Correct Transparent Palette color Slot for the Transparent Backgrounds..
Although the Light Smoke Shade, Palette Slot # 244, was not used, I changed that back to its original Color.

 

[Vuldacon]

Had difficulty uploading the Zip File.

 

[MadEmperor]

Thank You for your help, works great! Also, thanks for sharing your tips.

 

[Ozymandias]

He's just that kind of guy ... And, "Welcome Aboard!"