Trying to learn transparency

[ZergMazter]

Ok so the first time I did it my file worked. I'm not sure if I'm missing something because the 2nd file came out with the magenta color in-game.

I did:

-256 colors indexed.
-Moved the magenta and green colors down the palette to the very last 2 spots.

I'm trying to do things myself, but I actually need help as this is an unknown issue.

Take a look at the first one and you'll notice it works on the map. The second one (volcanos Forests) shows magenta all over. Yes they are volcano files that look like hills. It's part of my multi texture modifications for my planetary mod.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Your Volcanos forests.pcx was only indexed to 254 colors (because there weren't a full 256 in the image to begin with), and so when you moved the transparency colors to the last two index slots they were in positions 252 & 253. However, depending on your graphics program and settings, any unused index slots up to 256 will automatically become black. So what happened is positions 254 & 255 had black assigned to them instead of the transparency colors. All you need to do is go in and move your transparency colors to the end.

 

[ZergMazter]

Thank you!!!! Problem solved. I did something odd but hey it works. I selected a 'default' map, then undo it. When I went look just like u said thats what had happened. The extra colors re-appeared in black, so I moved my transparents to the last spots.

Silly things break my stuff lol. I just learned how to do this tonight. It really isn't as hard as I thought. It was just time consuming asking the right questions and finding the right info on google.

I never thought I'd be able to do this lol what a shock. 4 hours well worth it tonight. I found a new friend. It's called the magic wand on Gimp2. You don't wanna know how I use to crop my graphics in the past

 

[Laurana Kanan]

I did something odd but hey it works. I selected a 'default' map, then undo it.

I never thought I'd be able to do this lol what a shock. 4 hours well worth it tonight. I found a new friend. It's called the magic wand on Gimp2. You don't wanna know how I use to crop my graphics in the past

What was it that you were trying to do?

 

[ZergMazter]

Ok there were 2 missing squares of colors. I noticed the good one had 255 squares. I selected a default colormap, then I clicked undo to remove that color map. This as a result gave me the missing 2 squares. When I looked it said 255, and they were black as u mentioned since the PCX did not use those. I proceeded to place my green and magenta on 254 and 255.

The file worked. I have no clue how to give my pcx missing color squares on the colormap. I thought by indexing to 255 would fix it. Thats why I tried that random thing and it placed the missing squares on the colormap even though I had undoed the default colormap. Its weird I know, but dont ask me lol. I just learned gimp a little more.

It was one of those moments when you rage quit smashing your keyboard, and by accident you fixed things.

Edit:

Oh and what I'm trying to do is this:

You know how some tiles have multiple graphics pcx as you place a forest or a jungle close to them? Well im using those with a carefully thought out plan to get the look of 4 different terrain graphics on my mod. 1 for each planet.

Hills+grasslands+forest = 1 look, and so on and on. Same with the mountains. I realized that volcanoes do that too and thats why I'm reassigning them as hills, and mountains since there are 3 volcano graphics.

Its gonna be so neat! Its looking much better than in my previous pictures already since I've begun work on the actual PCX editing.

To consolidate space I make forests show all of their graphics by placement (Plain, grassland, and tundra forests). What I mean is all their graphics show on a single terrain. On a grassland planet green forests show up on normal grass. Yellow forests show when the small forest graphics is triggered, etc. By placement you can trigger them all and thats just with grasslands. Thats how I plan getting most of my unique planet look on each tile type.

I will finish it off by modifying the actual base tiles myself. My biggest challenge will be blending the water with space oh boy. As of know I have no clue what awaits me with that water but I'll learn it and do it.

 

[Blue Monkey]

I have no clue how to give my pcx missing color squares on the colormap.

Put some blobs of color not used in the actual terrain in the magenta area off to the side. Index the file. your colormap will be full. You can then go back and fill in the blobs with magenta if you like, but it's not required since the game engine won't look at that unused area. If there are a lot of unused colors make the graphic slightly larger than the finished file will be. Fill the extra area with a rainbow gradient. After you index the file, trim the border. Goodbye gradient, hello filled out colormap.

That unused area can come in handy. Many of Balthasar's forest pcx have unused trees at the right side. since the pcx is already indexed it's simple enough to cut & paste variations.

 

[ZergMazter]

Thanks a lot.