Civ4 Atlas.dds images unpack / repack - what to use ??

[onkelm]

Hi to all,

is there a tool/programm to unpack the Atlas.dds images into the seperate images and later repack all again ?

Or is it done all manually with gimp ?

Thanks for any hint

 

[onkelm]

no one ??

 

[Leoreth]

I am not aware of a tool for this purpose. Whenever I had to handle DDS files from an atlas I exported it to bmp and afterwards converted the output back to DDS.

 

[onkelm]

Thanks.
That means: the whole atlas imported in lets say gimp, convert, cut out, change, reimport to gimp and later convert back to atlas dds ?
so not very comfortable. I thought there will be an easier way

 

[Leoreth]

To be honest, I think so too every time I have to edit an atlas. Most of the buttons in my mod are in simple DDS files for that reason too. I should probably consolidate things into atlases at some point.

 

[onkelm]

That’s very disappointing. Really. Hmmmmmmm. One would have to ..
Let me think about it.

 

[<Nexus>]

1. Gimp can directly edit dds files.
2. Gimp can handle layers so you can copy one icon frame (attached), add your image, cut off the edges, merge and copy all over an existing atlas on a new layer to position everything properly and than remove or hide the old layer. Than you export it to dds. That's all.

 

[Leoreth]

I have never been able to edit DDS files in Gimp, it seems to always lose the alpha layer. Perhaps I was doing it wrong? Maybe it's worth to learn that to avoid the extra hop via DXTBMP.

 

[<Nexus>]

I never had such problems.
I just installed the dds plugin and worked on dds files as if they were any other image files. Honestly, if there's a secret of how to do it right, than I'm not aware of it

 

[onkelm]

O.k., I do have actually a lot of Code procedures from developing the mapmaker. I did some tests and made a tool to load an Atlas, split all in single tile images with name (loaded from the XML files), This works so far and was pretty easy and fast.
Actually I am trying to let it work now the other way arround too. Means edit an Atlas or even create one.
I keep you informed

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

Why does one even need to use an atlas? Loose single buttons/icons work just as well, and are easier to manage and simpler to point to (at least in my experience). I haven't seen any drawbacks to not using atlases.

 

[onkelm]

That whats I am thinking too. However to unpack all images from Atlas, I wrote already a working toolwhich even names the Icons from the XML while splitting

I need this more or less, for my mapmaker project - to implement all icons from a Mod.
Some more coding, and it will work also the other way arround, hopefully.

 

[<Nexus>]

Why does one even need to use an atlas? Loose single buttons/icons work just as well, and are easier to manage and simpler to point to (at least in my experience). I haven't seen any drawbacks to not using atlases.

When I was adding 15+ corporations at the same time with HQs, stores and executives it was easier to organize.
But otherwise I agree

 

[onkelm]

Hi,
So, I have a version running. Loading an atlas, automatic naming of the icons, and saving all icons individually as PNG or DDS works so far.
Should work for all Versions of Civ4, Vanilla, Warlords, BTS and Colonization/We the people
I guess also for all Mods.

Doubleclick will only save selected Icon. split and save atlas is doing what the name says

Download Link: https://www.swisstransfer.com/d/38ad698f-3a1d-4576-acf5-c261afcb74bd​