Confused on Sponsor Logo (Alpha, Gradient, Glow Icon)

[ThyFalseKing]

The question I had was does anyone know what is required to get a Sponsor Logo working?

I understand that at least now it's a full square and we are going to need:
<IconAtlas>CIV_COLOR_ATLAS</IconAtlas>
<AlphaIconAtlas>CIV_ALPHA_ATLAS</AlphaIconAtlas>
<GradientIconAtlas>CIV_GRADIENT_ATLAS</GradientIconAtlas>
<GlowIconAtlas>CIV_GLOW_ATLAS</GlowIconAtlas>

My issue is I have no idea on how to turn the logo into a alpha, gradient and glow version as well.
Civ 5 only required an IconAtlas and and Alpha (never got to understand alpha).

Could anyone shed some light on what it is exactly? I've looked through both of the released mods on steam so far and seen how they look, but I have no idea on how to achieve that.

My account got jumbled up in the recent corruption so I ended up making a new one for now.

 

[ThyFalseKing]

Another question I had is why is it every time I try to save the image as a 57 and 45 I get: "Image Width and Height must be multiples of four" ?

EDIT: Had to use GIMP to make it DDS since NVIDIA wasn't allowing it.

Still need help figuring out Gradient and Glow though.

 

[ThyFalseKing]

Pretty sure I figured this out myself. Can't delete so feel free to think of this as resolved.

 

[Nutty]

"Image Width and Height must be multiples of four"

The trick for the 57x57 icons is that you use a 228x228 atlas (and use the top left 57x57 quadrant for your icon. For the 45x45, you'd use a 180x180 atlas. Then you'd set IconsPerRow and IconsPerColumn in the IconTextureAtlases table to 4.

As for the icon content for Glows and Gradients, you just have to edit your atlas and apply a glow and a gradient effect, respectively. Compare to the base game icons to get it right. The atlases themselves appear to have a gradient too.

It's always nice to describe what you did if you fixed your problems. It can help other people.

 

[Artisanix]

Then you'd set IconsPerRow and IconsPerColumn in the IconTextureAtlases table to 4.

In Civ5, and I presume for CBE it makes no difference too, you could set rows and cols both to 1 if you have just one icon. Those values are not connected directly to filesize, so actual image dimensions can be larger.
And that requirement (dimensions divided by 4) applies to DXT1/DXT3/DXT5 mainly. If you use ARGB 8888 compression you can save in any dimensions you want.

As for the icon content for Glows and Gradients, you just have to edit your atlas and apply a glow and a gradient effect, respectively. Compare to the base game icons to get it right. The atlases themselves appear to have a gradient too.

Well, the matter with Glows and Gradients seems to be a bit "fishy" ;]
The point is that I carried out some tests, and these features while present in code and dds files, well, it seems they have not been enabled in final game - they simply don't work. All gradient and glow effects on icons you can see in game are integral part of color maps. The only other files beside color maps that seem to work are separate dds files with alpha... *fishy, fishy...

 

[ThyFalseKing]

When I meant fixed I had to use Gimp to make DXT1 files that had lengths and heights that weren't in multiples of four. The rest I used Photoshop CS with an Invidia addon.

For gradient and glow I got some prime examples from the Holy See civilization, while the rest of the mods I looked at simply used alpha.

Gradient still left me confused.

 

[Artisanix]

When I meant fixed I had to use Gimp to make DXT1 files that had lengths and heights that weren't in multiples of four. The rest I used Photoshop CS with an Invidia addon.

You don't need to use GIMP in your workflow. There's a simple "trick" in PS which was just mentioned by Nutty. Simply just increase the dimensions of the image (but not the content!) by 4. The file size increase is not a big deal as those odd images are relatively small anyway.

quick how to:

1. resize your biggest image to 45x45 or 57x57
2. from Menu: Image -> Canvas Size...
3. and then:
- change pixels to percent
- in width/height type 400
- uncheck relative
- as anchor select top left square
- press OK and you can now save.

For gradient and glow I got some prime examples from the Holy See civilization, while the rest of the mods I looked at simply used alpha.

I saw that mod too. Its author was probably just inspired by original solution, which as I just mentioned, is in the code, and with the actual glow and gradient files present. But this concept neither in original game nor in this mod seems to work.

I carried out some tests with original files and with the files from this mod. The point is no matter what is the content of these files (either as nice and smooth like originals, or black, white, red, whatever), the changes are not visible in game.

So, I think right now that's rather an unused feature (that may be enabled by some future patch), or simply just some kind of leftover which wasn't properly removed.

 

[ThyFalseKing]

I saw that mod too. Its author was probably just inspired by original solution, which as I just mentioned, is in the code, and with the actual glow and gradient files present. But this concept neither in original game nor in this mod seems to work.

I carried out some tests with original files and with the files from this mod. The point is no matter what is the content of these files (either as nice and smooth like originals, or black, white, red, whatever), the changes are not visible in game.

So, I think right now that's rather an unused feature (that may be enabled by some future patch), or simply just some kind of leftover which wasn't properly removed.

I simply made it 4x4 to appease the system and that worked. It's good to know I simply have to change the dimensions and it works as well.

I couldn't figure out what was done to those files to add the gradient or glow. I understand it doesn't matter right now, but later down the road I'd like to know how.