Single-frame LH in-game freeze

[Gojira54]

Working on my first set of Single Frame Leader Heads, with a lot of help from various sources (Supa, Bathyskaff, Wuhjah, Blue Monkey).

What I have now is 4 LHs, with the right palletes, that appear in game as they should at civ-selection time. They also appear normal when you pull up the diplomacy screen with them, but when you click on 'Will you accept this deal?' the game freezes and then crashes out. This happens every time, but only with the 4 civs with the new LH, not the other 26 with the default.

I am using GIMP to create the pcx, TilesetPal for the palette work, and Civ3Flcdit to export the pcx into flc.

It is worth noting that I have the flcs and have updated the biq to use the new flcs, but have not done the other pcx work for the LHs yet.

So the question I have is this - what is causing the freeze? Do I need to make 127 copies of the first frame and add that to each flc? Is it due to the missing pcx? Both? Something else?

Just looking for some guidance on others past experiences. The pcxs I was going to do anyway, I'd like to avoid the multiframes if possible, but if that is what it takes that is what I'll do. Supa thinks he has had to do the 127 copies in the past, using the same tools I am, but Bathyskaff has not had to, but he uses an entirely different toolset.

Any help from you LH pros is very much appreciated!

 

[Supa]

>> Do I need to make 127 copies of the first frame and add that to each flc?
>> Supa thinks he has had to do the 127 copies in the past, using the same tools I am, but Bathyskaff has not had to, but he uses an entirely different toolset.

I've checked and I confirm that's what I did with my three static LHs. Whether it has something to do with your crash or not, I couldn't say. :-/

 

[wuhjah]

I did not make 127 copies. I made one. I used Animation shop to make the flc files, I think.

 

[Gojira54]

Thanks for confirming Supa. The LH I am using is just a unique oval seal per civ, with a green background for flc01 and a red for flc02. I am going to do an experiment here:

Take the first leaderhead I did, make a copy of it, and for each of the frames I will tweak the background color to go from green to red, and for flc02 have it go the opposite direction. If I have to make 128 frames, they might as well show the progression from happy to angry as intended. I will disable the other 3 civs in the biq that use the new LH, then start a game using a civ close to the one with the new 128 from flcs and see if that works.

Shouldn't take too much time, but I have to do this 62 times :S

Thanks for the help!

 

[Gojira54]

Wuhjah, Animation Shop is what Bathyskaff used too. If I can't get the 128 framed version to work, or if it proves to be a monumental effort, I may download that and give it a whirl.

I've attached the BMPs for the 4 flc01s if you are interested (though converted from the base PCX).

 

[tom2050]

Those FLCs require JASC Animation Shop for them to work. I believe it was something of the FLC version or format that JASC puts it in which was why it works and others don't. There was a free version around somewhere (JASC Animation Shop 3.11).

This might be it:
http://www.freewaregeeks.com/?page=detail&get_id=228&category=18

 

[Supa]

JASC Animation Shop 3.05 is what I've used for my animated LH. I think C3F can handle static ones (but definitely not animated). Anyway, JAS is really easy to use and creating 127 copies of one file is easy enough (copy it twice, then copy the 3 copies, then the nine, etc).

 

[Gojira54]

Thanks Tom. I thought Civ3FlcEdit was built specifically to make civ3-compatible flcs? I know there have been some black spot and color issues with it, but I thought/assumed it was on fully animated LHs.

OK, I will look for free JASC Animation Shop and DL it. Free is the key, as money is too tight these days to justify spending anything on this. Otherwise I would have Paint Shop Pro and all those other fancy programs

I will try the other Civ3FlcEdit 128-frame first, then if I am still DOA I'll try it with Animation shop.

GIMP is helping me on 3 new batches of resources, too BTW, all hand made...

EDIT:
Saw Supas post, I think I'll try JASC AP first now

 

[wuhjah]

Try the Animation shop; it's dead easy.
(Or upload the palettes for those files.)

 

[Gojira54]

It appears Corel bought JASC, and no longer offers Animation Pro directly, but one can still purchase it from vendors. The only thing free about it is the 30 day trial period. So I will go back the 128 frame method

 

[wuhjah]

I was tired last night and didn't even think about using Tileset to arrange the palette myself. Check these out if you don't want to go the hard way.

For the record, it's just Animation Shop, not pro. I think the link Tom2050 posted gave the same one I used and I don't have a limited trial.

 

[Gojira54]

Wuhjah - thanks! I DLed those and tested them in-game, and they work. I am still going to figure this out though, as I have 62 Flics for this mod to do, and this is my practice run for Modzilla and DR, which will each have another 62. The goal is to learn the process get good at it, then take it to the next level and start working on some animated ones. THat being said, this proved the issue is indeed the flc.

I also had missed that Tom had posted a link, looks like he added that after I read his post. I will uninstall the trial version I have and install that one, though I have had some issues with that site in the past.

Thanks for the help folks, I'll keep you posted!

 

[Gojira54]

We have success! My very first fully functional leaderhead. Started from scratch of the original base image from the seal. Circle > Oval IMHO.

Thank you all!

 

[Blue Monkey]

I lost track. What programs did you end up using successfully to make the flics?

 

[Gojira54]

Gimp -> TilesetPal -> JASC Animation Shop 3.

Had a few more bumps in the road, have to remove transparent layers from the base image first (if any), and I had an issue where solid white colors on the Santa Ana LH were transparent, I used Vuldacons tutorial to resolve that issue..

I've made 6 for OC so far, but have stopped briefly to collect the images needed for the 7 Modzilla Leaderheads, of which there will be 4 each, 1 per era.

I may take a stab at automating those somewhat, something ala Supa, where the King Of All Monsters eyes glow red as he gets more angry... we'll see, so far my work is equivalent to that of a childs