Problems creating Flags

[DS_CL]

I am attempting to make a mod to play with my girlfriend. We want to make flags with our names on them for our nations.

I’ve downloaded Bad Ronalds flags and installed the in the CustomAssets folder. These work fine. I then copied this to my Mod folder. Again, works fine. I then opened America.dds with a DDS program. I modified the flag and saved it as a America.dds on my desktop and copied and pasted it on the existing America.dds in my Mods folder. When I load the game I see white flags for America now. If I remove the .dds I created it return’s to Bad Ronald’s American flag.

What am I doing wrong? I’ve tried using DTXbmp, Photoshop’s .dds plugin, and DDS Converter 2. I don’t believe it is an XML problem as Bad Ronalds graphics show up when I delete my custom graphic. Any help is appreciated, I really hope to figure this out.

 

[grallon]

I have a similar problem with some of the graphic atlases (religion/techtree). I use Paint Shop Pro with the DDS plugin and it worked great - I cut and pasted at will, adding icons and such. But now those 2 files have doubled in size and the original content is multiplied by 4

I think the problem is when I save... Still I also edited the unit atlas to add my Pantheist Missionary - in the same fashion as with the other 2 and there's no problem with that one.

I'm including a zip of the religion atlas to show my point.

HELP!



G.

 

[Futumch]

I am attempting to make a mod to play with my girlfriend. We want to make flags with our names on them for our nations.

What am I doing wrong? I’ve tried using DTXbmp, Photoshop’s .dds plugin, and DDS Converter 2. I don’t believe it is an XML problem as Bad Ronalds graphics show up when I delete my custom graphic. Any help is appreciated, I really hope to figure this out.

Is your alpha channel black or white? (It should be black) Then set the Whiteflag option to 1 in the appropriate XML file.

(I can find the correct file for you once I get home from work)

 

[Futumch]

This is a sample of the XML you need to modify in the \Civilization 4\Mods\(your mod name)\Assets\XML\Art\CIV4ArtDefines_Civilization.xml file.

<CivilizationArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_CIVILIZATION_EIRE</Type>
<Button>,Art/Interface/Buttons/Civilizations/Eire.dds,Art/Interface/Buttons/Civics_Civilizations_Religions_Atlas.dds,1,6</Button>
<Path>Art/Interface/TeamColor/flag_eire.dds</Path>
<bWhiteFlag>1</bWhiteFlag>
</CivilizationArtInfo>

There should be a whole bunch of these declarations in that XML file, and the main part you need to adjust is in BOLD above.

Good luck to you!

PS: make sure your DDS file is saved in DXT3 format (RGB + explicit alpha). Photoshop will give you a warning saying that the alpha channel is all zero if you've done it right.

 

[grallon]

PS: make sure your DDS file is saved in DXT3 format (RGB + explicit alpha). Photoshop will give you a warning saying that the alpha channel is all zero if you've done it right.

Yes that is the default selection. And yet, as I said, some of those files get ...expanded. I think the game is doing it since after reading your answer I checked those files again and they were normal. It's as if the engine couldn't read them properly. As for that msg you say Paint Shop should be giving me I never saw it. One thing though - the plugin always ask me if I want to apply the MIP option when I save... I've answered both yes and no without seing any difference.

Anyhow there's another question : I've created new buttons for my Pantheist religion (temples & such) and I noticed the other building files all had a duplicate "shadow" file - how do you create that one ?

Also how do you create the skins for the building to be displayed on the city model ?

I'm no graphic artist so that one will be a ***** !

Easy to mod indeed !



G.

 

[DS_CL]

Futumch,

I used your suggestions on creating my flag and it works! I found when I opened Bad Ronald's flag, Photoshop was giving a white alpha instead of a black alpha. This makes sense to me now that I think about the white emblems on the standard flags having a white alpha, wheras the background has a black alpha. Thanks again for your help.

 

[Futumch]

Futumch,

I used your suggestions on creating my flag and it works! I found when I opened Bad Ronald's flag, Photoshop was giving a white alpha instead of a black alpha. This makes sense to me now that I think about the white emblems on the standard flags having a white alpha, wheras the background has a black alpha. Thanks again for your help.

Thanks DS_CL, sharing the knowledge is what it's all about.

Grallon, I'm not really familiar with how the Nvidia DDS plugin works with Paint Shop Pro, as I said - Photoshop will give you the warning, but PSP obviously doesn't.

I'm fairly sure that if you save the image without mipmaps then they'll be generated at runtime, but the file size difference is so low that you might as well save them with mipmaps on.

I haven't really had much of a play around with the skins and buttons yet, so I can't really offer many suggestions there. Perhaps just play around with them in a new mod folder...

Have fun!

 

[grallon]

*bump*



Anyone has a solution for this issue ?



G.