.BMPs + Mac: Out of Luck?

[C. Bob]

For quite a while, I've been playing a Macintosh version of Civilization II Gold. It's proven adequate with most scenarios, with one notable exception.

I'm always dismayed when I note that a scenario I download has .BMP files -- because I have no way to convert them! Civ2 is horribly picky about graphics, so GraphicConverter straight-porting doesn't work, and clip2gif, which is fine for most occasions, isn't compatible with .BMP files at all.

So I'm essentially at a loss. Is there a way to convert these stranger files, or am I doomed to life without .BMP scenarios (which are quite good, in some cases)?

Please respond.

- C. Bob

 

[AlanH]

I don't play Civ2, but I do have a Mac. What do you need to convert them to?

 

[C. Bob]

Ah, thanks for the swift reply.

I need to convert them to old-style .PICT files. The real problem is that Civ2 apparently has some weird color palette, at least on the Mac end. So you can convert it, but unless you do it just right, it'll come out all weird when you put it in Civ.

That's the thing, really. I can technically make .BMPs into .PICTs, but they aren't Civ-friendly, so they're unusable.

The truth is that I'm not majorly sure what to do. I think I did try to use a copy of the Civ template at one point, but it didn't work -- or maybe I never got it in after all?

- Bob

 

[AlanH]

I must say I'm surprised that Civ2 requires PICTs. All the later versions of Civ work with the native Civ image formats that originate on the PC version - pcx in both versions of Civ3, and dds in Civ4.

Sorry if the following is a load of rubbish, but (a) it's a while since I played with PICT files and (b) I don't know anything about Civ2. I also assume you are running it in Classic environment or in OS 9 native?

I seem to recall that you could select a palette or create a custom one. Presumably that's what you need to do in this case when exporting from something like GraphicConverter? I see there's an option in the GC preferences to attach a 'pltt' (palette) and/or 'clut' (color lookup table) resource. Can you extract one or both of those resources from a working image file and then attach them to the new file you are converting? Is that what you mean by the "Civ template"?

 

[C. Bob]

I also assume you are running it in Classic environment or in OS 9 native?

Aye, I am.

I seem to recall that you could select a palette or create a custom one. Presumably that's what you need to do in this case when exporting from something like GraphicConverter? I see there's an option in the GC preferences to attach a 'pltt' (palette) and/or 'clut' (color lookup table) resource. Can you extract one or both of those resources from a working image file and then attach them to the new file you are converting? Is that what you mean by the "Civ template"?

Probably so. There was something that talked about converting GIFs to PICTs on Apolyton, and presumably it'd be good either way. I'll look into it when possible.

As far as the template -- sorry, I was trying to come up with another word for palette (too diverse speech), and blundered a bit.

- Bob

 

[C. Bob]

I seem to recall that you could select a palette or create a custom one. Presumably that's what you need to do in this case when exporting from something like GraphicConverter? I see there's an option in the GC preferences to attach a 'pltt' (palette) and/or 'clut' (color lookup table) resource. Can you extract one or both of those resources from a working image file and then attach them to the new file you are converting? Is that what you mean by the "Civ template"?

Well, I messed around a bit.

The problem is that I don't think those things actually have anything to do with the color palette as in GC, so.

I gave up on converting straight BMP to PICT, and tried porting it to a GIF. But it always messed up. I couldn't get it compressed 1:14 -- it was always 1:16, and the colors were never "sorted". I tried PICTing it anyway, but that inevitably failed.

Maybe I'm just doomed to fail. If there was a color palette that could have helped at one point, it seems to be gone. That stupid Apolyton customization page gloats about all these .GIF-only tools, while also touting converted scenarios -- woo, now can someone tell me just how those scenarios were converted?

I'm just tired and fed up with the whole problem. Maybe I'll just give up. There's a problem at every single turn.

The failed formulae I ended up using:

BMP to GIF

Resolution 72x72. No resample.

Save Copy As:
Preferences > Add Resource Fork
Options
Version: 87a
Row Order: Normal
Color Ordering: Windows
Dithering: No
Optimizing: No

clip2gif then
Make sure ttxt is the creator
Convert File

Test!

I guess I'll try one more time to get things rolling. If it fails, I'll have two options.

A: Give up completely.
B: Copy over/remake all the scenario's graphics so I can play the stupid thing.

B is *usually* what I do, but it'll be a pain here because some of them are actually for unique units that no other scenario incorporates. Meaning I'll have to recreate them, most likely in a pathetic way.

- Bob

 

[Mercator]

Does this link help?
http://apolyton.net/civ2/mac/customization/customize.shtml