Test of Time conversion

[mrtn]

I went over to the Civ 2 forum (*gasp*) and asked if there is a flicster-like program for the Test of Time sprites.
It turned out that there were, so they should be able to convert to Civ 3 flcs.

The program in question is made by Mercator and can be found here.

It's a hazzle to find out which frames of the animation goes where, but I am fairly sure it can be done.
You also have to mirror the SW, W and NW directions.
Another problem is if the shadow colours show up in the unit, but most of them should be OK.
Here's a preview of the SW attack animation of the Liche unit (I have finished the whole attack flic).

 

[Quinzy]

yes! wooooooooo! i can't wait for ToT units. I LOVE that game! i'll D/L it now!

 

[Quinzy]

hey, everyone, i'm just doing the Nidus from the Sci Fi part, and i gotta say, this thing is great! heres another example:

 

[mrtn]

I just posted the finished Liche.
One thing I did, was that I animated both the img and the msk parts of the file (with SBB). Then I just pasted the mask storyboard over the image one; marked all the white areas, and turned the colour of the clothes in the image part blue. This way you get quite exact civ colours.

Another thing I did was to turn the shadows into a shadow colour (green in this case), to avoid getting black shadows, which I know that at least some posters dislike (I prefer transparent shadows myself).
Remember to check in the Sound folder for any nidus sounds.

Nice to see some interest.

 

[Quinzy]

thanks for the tip mrtn. i dont think i'll bother with the SBB-.msk thing, cos im making this for me, and black will do for me, and i will post it, but its still for me, and if they don't like the black shadows, well, they can make their own.
phew, ok, well, thanks again.

 

[mrtn]

The msk thing was for the civ colour, not the shadow. I posted two tips.

 

[Quinzy]

oh. well. right then.
but im still not doing the shadow thing.... grumble grumble...

 

[Stormrage]

mrtn, take a look at this:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3458600&postcount=24

 

[Quinzy]

i too have seen this, and have "favourited" it. i want to do one of the Element creatures.

 

[Stormrage]

What I don`t get from the previews on that site is do those units have only one type of attack? It would look kinda stupid if say a barbarian would swing his axe in only one manner... I`m pretty sure they have more attacks in the games they come from, so I hope those are just simplified previews..

 

[Quinzy]

hopefully... but if not, then we'll just have to do with whats available.

 

[mrtn]

i too have seen this, and have "favourited" it. i want to do one of the Element creatures.

I like em too, but the download link seems to go to a paysite.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

This is excellent news.... Some of the Sci-Fi units (well just about all of them) would be useful in the MoO mod I plan to eventually make, and several of the fantasy units would work for the FF mod.....

 

[Stormrage]

I used to DL mods for Morrowind from FilePlanet all the time. I think you just need to register, cause I never payed for any of those. If you are just registered, and not a subscriber, than you get normal dl-speeds, and have to wait in line a minute or two... I tried to DL it, it offers only the subscriber version... %#&&#%&!!! Maybe Darque can send you the files? I think he has them..

 

[flamescreen]

Or if you have the games already, you can dload the Infinity engine editor and do some work yourself(which should give you some more control). It's what I'm doing.

As for ToT conversion, talk about potential there. I had no idea they're so close to civ3 format.

 

[Quinzy]

actually, when you export the sprites, it gives you every single frame as a seperate .bmp, but you gotta mirror some anims cos there isnt an original i.e: no W animation. you must mirror the E animation.
you gotta make a new thing in flicster and open in your paint program, and c&p them all in. well, thats how i do it.

 

[flamescreen]

Believe me, it's not that different than making a unit from scratch(it's just better artwork in fantasy units than what we'd create ourselves). I have to compose from seperate bmps, as well for one(not to mention postwork, often).

I was thinking of doing that with CTP units, but realised myself they need loads of work, as was mentioned in the relative thread.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Actually, it would be easier if you just exported the different BMPs into folders labeled N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE & SW (you'd put the frames you had to mirror into both "mirrors".... I.e put the E animation into the W folder), then use PSP to batch convert all the ones needing mirrored, then use Steph's Story Board Builder to get one nice, neat storyboard without all the C&P.

 

[Quinzy]

oh, cool. i'll try that. thanks

 

[Quinzy]

errr.... how do you use the SBB to do this, cos i just cant figure it out...
could someone give me a quick tut.?