Zombie Elephants!

[Supa]

Vuldacon > I don't have much time right now, so short and slightly disorganized post, but my problem isn't (yet) fixing the duplicated frame - I have enough experience with GIMP to be quite confident about that part - but seeing it. Cf. post 21, nowhere I can find (generate) a storyboard with a different number of frames than what was rendered in the first place. You do you get it ?

This problem seems to hit the run animation harder - but it's mainly a missing frame problem, not a duplicated one. I guess the duplicated frame replaces another one - so there is no additional frame in total - explaining why I can't seem to find a faulty storyboard by just counting the frame number. I'll check it out next time I'll got a chance to. It would make sense. If the duplicate frame indeed replace another one, I'll also need to render the first frame twice (or the last one if the duplicate just push the last out of the stb) so nothing is lost before I fix the duplicate.

 

[Vuldacon]

Supa... yes, #1 and #2 Frames may simply be a Duplicate of the 1st Frame and that may have removed the last Frame as it kept the same number of Frames on the Storyboard.

Civ3FlcEdit use to add an additional Frame that was a duplicate... never knew it could also duplicate the 1st frame and Push Out the last one. In any case, I do not ever use it and prefer Flicster.

I do know that Civ3FlcEdit will not duplicate a Frame after you have an existing Flc and generate a Storyboard from that because the FXM file is Kept the same as the Original Flc.

I am sure your Original Storyboards are OK from SBB so what you could do is Generate New Storyboards and FXM files from your Finished Flcs. Keep the New FXM files and Replace the Storyboards with your Originals from SBB to make the New Corrected Flcs. That should correct the problem of duplicates that probably pushed out the last frames.

 

[Supa]

I guess the duplicated frame replaces another one - so there is no additional frame in total - explaining why I can't seem to find a faulty storyboard by just counting the frame number.

Supa... yes, #1 and #2 Frames may simply be a Duplicate of the 1st Frame and that may have removed the last Frame as it kept the same number of Frames on the Storyboard.

Yes, I confirm the hypothesis. I made a simple animation with numbers going from 1 to 9. Civ3FLC PCX is fine, but the preview is already missing the 9 although 1 is not duplicated then. But the FLC has two 1 and no 9.

And yes, nothing is lost, I've never erased any production files, only archived them. So I'll be able to walk my way through my previous creations and fix this bug. I've noticed the strange run on several of my units and thought it was a problem related to how Civ3 moved the file around. It was trying to fix it within the .INI and by changing the number of frames for each run, without success obviously. It never occurred to me that C3F was not only duplicating a frame but also erasing another one. It's a shame, Civ3FLC import function is much more ergonomic to use than Flicster Create/Modify [Load Palette/Load BMP Storyboard]/Load storyboard routine.

 

[Supa]

I encountered a bug in Flicster not unlike the one that made me abandon the software in 2004.

I managed to update Rotten's Run, Fortify & AttackA without any trouble, exporting a new FXM and PCX out of the faulty FLC and replacing the faulty PCX with the correct one - in GIMP, copy-pasting the new over the old. No trouble here.

But with AttackB, the very same procedure leads to a faulty preview & FLC. In fact, even opening the PCX in GIMP and saving it without any modification is enough to produce the bug.

I've attached both FLC (+ FXM & PCX companion files), if anyone can take a look and tell me what's wrong ?

Back in 2004, we came to the conclusion that Flicster couldn't support large PCX made with GIMP (2.0 back then).

For the time being, I found a way around - I'm just not using GIMP, but Civ3FLC PCX, but it means for future units, I'll still have to use Civ3FLC to generate the PCX.

 

[Supa]

Updated! Thanks to Vuldacon for pushing the duplicate frame issue. I was miles away from grasping the full extent of the problem.

1.2 Uploaded 22th October 2011.
+ Fixed Civ3FLC bug
-- Rotten Elephant (all FLC - except default)
-- Rotten Elephant (Small) (all FLC - except default)
-- Zombie Elephant (all FLC)
-- Zombie Elephant (Small) (all FLC)

I'll probably start updating my previous units soon too. I don't know if I'll do one every x times, or do all of them before I start working on something new.

 

[Vuldacon]

Supa... The difference between the Two Storyboards is the Resolution that changed the Size.

Before = 240 Resolution and After = 300 Resolution.

Both have Width 5303 and Height 1313 but the resolution changed the size in inches.
240 Resolution = Width 22.096 inches, Height 5.471 inches
300 Resolution = Width 17.677 inches, Height 4.377 inches
So the 300 Resolution is smaller even though it uses the same Width and Height settings. This size difference causes what you see in Flicster using the FXM that does not go with the Storyboard.

If you use the Previous FXM files and your Original Storyboards with them... you should be able to generate corrected Flcs.
I do not use Gimp so perhaps it is what is causing some problems concerning Copy and Paste.

 

[Supa]

Supa... The difference between the Two Storyboards is the Resolution that changed the Size.

Before = 240 Resolution and After = 300 Resolution.

Both have Width 5303 and Height 1313 but the resolution changed the size in inches.
240 Resolution = Width 22.096 inches, Height 5.471 inches
300 Resolution = Width 17.677 inches, Height 4.377 inches
So the 300 Resolution is smaller even though it uses the same Width and Height settings. This size difference causes what you see in Flicster using the FXM that does not go with the Storyboard.

I wasn't aware GIMP could change that without any human input - it's damn weird.
It's strange that it's only occurring with PCX with a large number of frames (rather than sheer dimensions, in fact). Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Vuldacon]

Supa... Glad you are able to straighten out these Great Units... Too Good to let any details "slide".

I believe you can use the existing FXM files with your Original SBB Storyboards to generate corrected Flcs but if needed, simply make new FXM files with Flicster using the correct Frame Size and Number of Frames. You can then replace the Storyboards that are generated with your Original Storyboards from SBB.

 

[ruby_sauce]

oh, almost forgot to say what I actually thought of the units

well, they are awesome!

 

[Takhisis]

Wow, Supa. Just wow.

P.S. is this model for free? You did say it was by DAZ3D.

 

[Supa]

Thanks, Ruby & Takhisis.

The model is indeed sold by DAZ3D (original artist is Debra). It was free for a while, offered in the Safari pack. That's probably why you've seen it more often around on these boards. Now, it's back at 10$.

 

[Takhisis]

Damn! Could have used it for the Ballista Elephant thingy.

 

[Blue Monkey]

They do have a free mammoth. Depending on your skill you could probably adapt that.

If you're patient the elephant will most likely be free again. I'm aware of at least 3 times it's been offered for $0. Once was as part of a mega-starter bundle.

 

[Gojira54]

PEEAANUUUUUTS!

There is not much I can say about these that hasn't been said already and summed up perfectly by you Supa. Your timing right before Halloween was impeccable. I happened to be listening to Michael Jackson's Thriller when I first saw this post, after watching Fantasia with my girls, so had a nightmarish and comical image of undead elephants in pink tutus doing the raised arm dance from Thriller invading my town...

As for the sounds debate, obviously I would prefer a unit with sound, but since I usually play with the game muted it wouldn't make a big difference to me, and the way I see it you are gifting the modding community with your tremendous hard work, talent, and dedication, so if you provide us with something we can then customize to our needs, we are that much better off for it. One can always scavenge "living" elephant sounds from many places if they did not wish to zombify it.

Since Destiny Reborn utilizes both The Undead and Animal units as barbarians, I see no reason it can't have Undead Animals too. It could possible be a human unit it Modzilla: The Beginning, too - an earlyish attempt at reanimating dead tissue as a precursor to Cyborg Zilla. Probably an escape from the lab every x turns, a la The Great Zoo.

 

[Supa]

Thank you, Justin.

 

[Supa]

The Zombie Elephant won the first place in the October 2011 Monthly Competition, along Grandraem's Wizard!