Building Icon Bug

[Lacklulster]

I'm new to modding, so I apologize if my question is a bit newb-ish.

I created my first building and I made my own icon for it. When I view the icon in-game, however, the circular icon appears as it should, but around it is a black box. The box is larger than the given size of the icon, so it ends up covering parts of the text. More importantly, it's just ugly and unfitting. This applies to all instances regardless of the size.

Any suggestions on how to fix this issue?

 

[Spatzimaus]

You probably didn't use the correct template. The templates are already set up to cut off anything outside the circle. But without knowing exactly how you made your icon's atlas, there's no way to be more specific.

 

[Lacklulster]

I set the icon so that it would not go past the preset boundaries. I used the 512 template and rescaled it down from there.

 

[PawelS]

What program have you used to edit the icon? It seems the transparency was lost in the process somehow...

 

[Kwadjh]

It occurs, because you use the template improperly.

In the file provide, there is different "calques / layer ".
There is a layer with the little circle and there is a black Background.

When you created your icons, you will create another layer where you have to set each of your icon to the proper place using the layer provide.

What happen is probably that you "fusion" the different "layers". By doing so, the program think your icon is not only the little circle you have created, but also the black part.

The final file you have to use in your mod is only the "calque / layer" with the icons you created, not the layer with the circle or the black background.

I hope I have been understandable.

 

[Lacklulster]

I'm sorry, but I had a little trouble following you. I used Adobe Photoshop CS4. I used 4 layers for this: the black background, the white circles, the circular border that surrounds all CIV5 icons, and the core of the picture.

I followed Kael's instructions, but I have no idea where I went wrong.

 

[Kwadjh]

Sorry my english is awful.

So let me try again. The dds file you have to put in your MOD is only the layer with the core picture. Don't keep the others layers, they are only here to help you to create your icons.

In the background you must have nothing.

NB : Just don't forget to resize the layer with the core picture to the good size (2048x2048 for the 256 pixels icons). If you don't do so, the size of the picture will automaticaly adapt to the size of the core picture and because the icons are not at the edge of the picture it will shrink a little, and the icons won't be at the right place.

 

[Lacklulster]

Ohh. I see. Thanks Kwadjh. I thought I was supposed to keep all the layers. I'll give it a try.

 

[Spatzimaus]

What you really want to do is use the 2-channel .xcf templates (they're in a post over in the References forum, I think), and NOT the officially-supplied 4-layer DDS templates. It's just much easier to work with, since any cut-and-paste will automatically go into the correct layer and the second layer will automatically trim your image down to a circle if you extend beyond it. (The vanilla game has some icons that extend beyond their circle, but there's really no need for that in general.) And with those, there's no need to discard any layers, because it's already taken care of for you.

If you can't find the thread with those, I'll try to find my own copies and attach them.

 

[Lacklulster]

I'm not exactly sure what you are referring to. Sorry.

EDIT: Kwadjh, I tried what you suggested. It didn't work. Now there's a white box instead of a black one.

 

[Kwadjh]

If there is a white box, than it means, that there is the color white in the background.
You have to keep only the core picture with the icons.

I am using Gimp so it may looks different on my computer, but at home when I have no background, it looks grey with small square...


NB : could one of you remember me where goes the picture when I am doing a printscreen of my desk ? Sometimes a screen is better than 100 words, especially mine.

 

[Lacklulster]

I can't figure out what's wrong. I followed Kael's guide, but do I need to do something additionally?

 

[Kwadjh]

It's hard to figure what's going wrong without seeing what you are doing step by step.

Kael's guide is very helpfull but sometimes may not be precise enough.

If someone can answer my last question, I can try do a mini guide to explain the best way to create an icon. Unfortunately I am using GIMP, but it's free and you can find it quickly on the net.

Question :
Could one of you remember me where goes the picture when I am doing a printscreen of my desk ? Sometimes a screen is better than 100 words, especially mine.

 

[Lacklulster]

If you do a screenshot of your monitor, you have to paste it somewhere, such as Microsoft Word or even MSPaint.

 

[PawelS]

My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\Screenshots