Object Transparency

Tricorder · #1 November 6th, 2001, 01:30 AM

Okay, given up on Ancient Ruins thing for the moment...

I want to use the attached background for starmap, but when I do, the objects like planets over it really show the black box of the object's dimension over the nebula images of the background.

I know bitmaps don't have transparency, but is there any way to get rid of this black box around the objects?

If you try the attached starmap.bmp to try what I mean, back up your starmap.bmp file though. This is for 1024x768 image in that directory, too.

Suicide Junkie · #2 November 6th, 2001, 02:31 AM

You've got to go into the map editor.

Go to each system in turn, edit it and check the "Mask Background Objects" box. This will cause any pure black areas around the planets/stars/etc to be drawn as transparent.

It DOES work, but you've got to generate, save and then edit each map before you play

Tricorder · #3 November 6th, 2001, 02:33 AM

Tis cool, thanks. May get tired of that very fast. I wrote to Malfador and hopefully this transparency thing will be incorporated in the engine later. Thanks.

Phoenix-D · #4 November 6th, 2001, 02:49 AM

No, you don't have to do it manually.

The storms and black hole systems do masking by default.

quote:

Name := Standard 3
Description := Standard solar system.
System Physical Type := Normal
Background Bitmap := Starmap.bmp
Empires Can Start In := TRUE
Mask Background Objs := FALSE

this is from systemtypes.txt. That Last entry is the relevant one. Just go in and change that to TRUE for the system types in question, and you're good to go.

Phoenix-D

Suicide Junkie · #5 November 6th, 2001, 02:53 AM

Even better. Thanks.

Tricorder · #6 November 6th, 2001, 04:10 AM

Very cool, thanks... but I noticed that the actuall stars in the center of systems still has a black ring around them showing, like they aren't totally masked/transparent or whatever.

I did put every heading that uses the starmap.bmp to masking=true. Any idea why the actual stars/suns for systems still show black?

I think this starmap.bmp I posted below is a little 'loud' for systems anyway, but now I know what to do if I find a REALLY good one, thanks.

Tricorder · #7 November 6th, 2001, 04:34 AM

Ya, that one I posted below a little 'loud' for spotting ships and stuff.

Here's a good starmap replacement which includes the matching blackhole one, too. And the smaller Versions are also included. A bit of color added to the small stars in background, but no 'loud' stuff.

I suggest unzipping to a temp directory then backing up the files in the matching SE4 directories first.

Suicide Junkie · #8 November 6th, 2001, 04:56 AM

What you're probably seeing is the fading edge of the star.
As the color goes from bright yellow to black, the outermost edges will look black, but not be black-enough to qualify for the masking routine.

Load the bitmaps into an editor, and set those really dark edge pixels to pure black.

Andr�s · #9 November 6th, 2001, 05:59 AM

quote:
Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
What you're probably seeing is the fading edge of the star.
As the color goes from bright yellow to black, the outermost edges will look black, but not be black-enough to qualify for the masking routine.

Load the bitmaps into an editor, and set those really dark edge pixels to pure black.

That's possible but editing all stars/planets ect is too much.
Note that if your diplay color dephth is 16 bits instead of 24 bits, your system will have a little more tolerance. I discovered that in the other way, when I didn't want some shadows to appear transparent and was puzzled when some pictures masked correctly in some systems and not in others. Well, actually Aaron told me, that's it.