modding/mobhack questions

[harlikwin]

I was wondering if anyone had a clue as to what the different types of movemnt other than the ones described by mobhack are?

Also I was curious as to how the game calculated damage/penetration values for the heavier caliber weapons, mainly how much they drop off with range and if there is a difference in terms of how the game handles the AP/sabot penetration values.

Also I'm curious how to use the winSPMBT palletes in something like photoshop or corel to edit the shp/bmps

[PlasmaKrab]

Also I was curious as to how the game calculated damage/penetration values for the heavier caliber weapons, mainly how much they drop off with range and if there is a difference in terms of how the game handles the AP/sabot penetration values.

The penetration and thickness values are in centimeters of roled homogeneous armour (RHA) steel equivalent. The range calculation formulas are built into the game engine and regularly updated, so you have to hope Andy will feel like explaining you!

Also I'm curious how to use the winSPMBT palletes in something like photoshop or corel to edit the shp/bmps

Mainly you can extract the images into Bitmaps and edit them with any color, SHPed will fit them into the palette when compressing to shp. Or use the "show palette" function, save screen and use this as a mobile palette. Then you can use it in any image editor you like, even MS Paint if you like detail work! Also beware of the glittering color when using grey/blue/yellow shades. If you don't want parts of your icons flashing on and off lazily, make sure to tick the NoFlash SP box in SHPed before importing edited pictures. I guess it works the same with lbms, since the palette is the same.

[harlikwin]

PlasmaKrab,

So the SHP editor when converting a bitmap will just use the closest color from the SPMBT pallete when converting from BMP->SHP?

[PlasmaKrab]

From what I have seen until now, yes.

Look at the SHPed help file in the 'Shp Files' seection on more info on how it works. Basically put, where a bitmap image pixel is coded in 256 shades of green, red and blue (16 million colors), this coding is replaced in the shp compression by a reference to the color number in the palette.
There are no other colors in the game than that in the palette, so I guess your answer is yes.

But since you can edit these images to the pixel, the result can be pretty detailed anyhow!

[DRG]

It's best when making Icons to work WITH the palette colours as much as possible. I like to have an "new Image" open in PSP that has had the palette aplied so I can click on it, pick a colour then go back and work on the Icon that is in 24 bit colour but it is ALWAYS better to allow your paint program to convert your 24 bit colour image to the game palette BEFORE putting it into SHPedit. You get fewer surprises that way

Don

[harlikwin]

DRG,

So I'm not sure how to apply palletes or anything of the sort using photoshop. Any suggestions?

[DRG]

harlikwin said:
DRG,

So I'm not sure how to apply palletes or anything of the sort using photoshop. Any suggestions?

I've never used photoshop so I cannot give you a procedure for that but perhaps someone else on the list can. Most of my Icon work is done with Paint Shop Pro and Corel Photo Paint.

Don

[harlikwin]

DRG:

So I picked up a copy of PSP so I could edit LBM files, and I'm not sure how to load the winspmbt pallete there or apply to it images? I was wondering if you could walk me throught that?

[DRG]

harlikwin said:
DRG:

So I picked up a copy of PSP so I could edit LBM files, and I'm not sure how to load the winspmbt pallete there or apply to it images? I was wondering if you could walk me throught that?

I'm using PSP7 so the procedure may be different for you

1]Load an image. It does not matter what image you choose.
Take your image and first convert to grey scale. Click on Colors then "Grey scale" and you will get a B&W image. Now you need to apply the game palette

2]Click on COLORS then click on LOAD PALETTE

3]When the new screen opens to allow you to load a palette search out the palettes folder in the game........

C:\Program Files\Shrapnel Games\The Camo Workshop\WinSPMBT\Game Data\Design\Palettes

You will see four choices
JASC_WINSP_COLOUR_PICPAL.pal is for the colour photos that appear when the games load
JASC_WINSP_FULL_PALLETE.pal is all the colours in the palette including the "flashers" used by water and smoke and you won't need to use this one at all
JASC_WINSP_ICON_PALETTE.pal is used for building Icons for use with SHPEdit in the game
JASC_WINSP_PICPAL.pal is the palette you apply to the Black and White LBM photos in the game

You want JASC_WINSP_PICPAL.pal for LBM's. Click on that and you will load that palette into your image

When you load a palette you have a choice of "Nearest colour matching" and "Error diffusion dithering" Some pictures react better to one OR the other so you need to experiment

Don