Creating 512 res tiles

[ranger822]

Sherlock - You can accomplish your goal without runtiles. Any graphics conversion package will make downsized terrain tiles for you . . . I have a G4 Macintosh and it comes preloaded with Graphic Converter 4.9x - it converts mose formats out there and does resizing, changing palettes, etc and it will do batch processing. A wonderful program.

Another shareware program called AnyImage is absolutely great - I bought the license it allows for batch processing and was only 20 dollars but it also make Falcon compatible 256BMP indexed graphics a snap - converts PSDs to BMP and DDS instantly and it also does resizing - - I am not sure but the fartiles.pal may not be important if you are using DDS . . . as far a naming files - well you are probably going to create and save each master tile anyway - - so establish your naming convention that way . .

Lastly, if you are going to go to the trouble to make splash screens you will need a palette tool like ColorCache - trialware but worth the price of a license as it makes splash screens and making indexed graphics for cockpits much easier.

[Sherlock]

Hiya Ranger!
Thanks for the advice. I am modding AF so DDS doesn't apply in my case. Still working with pcx. So the palette is still a concern. The compounding problem is that all the graphics conversion stuff is pretty new to me so if I were using a new method (other than runtiles 512) I wouldn't know if the output product was correct or not. That's why I was asking for the tried and true Runtiles 512. That way I will know that what I am getting out the other end is usable in Falcon.

[ranger822]

have you taken a look at SM's script? I seem to recall it was pretty simple - - wonder if you might not be able to update a few things . . . of course - have you tried using the script you have and seeing what happens?

AF doesn't use DDS? I didnt' realize - bummer dude. The fartiles thing - you might be able to keep the same fartiles.pal if you keep the same palettes for your other tile sets - so then all you would need is just a batch processor to downsize your tiles.

If you don't want to buy a batch program - just send me the tiles you want to down size - I can do it and send back the smaller tiles. It only takes maybe a minute - - just send them all at once when you are done. You can then test them . . .

The bad news about the fartiles.pal is that you are limited in the number of colors that the fartiles will be able have - think of it another way - - you have 256 colors - now you have to find tile sets that are fairly close in color sets in order to have enough colors in the fartiles.pal to give you a reasonable transition from a regular tile to a fartile. For example if you have lots of varied tiles - greens, blue, yellows, reds, etc. . . you maybe find that you only have say 20-30 colors per tile set - i.e. the more varies your tile sets and the more colors they do not have in common with other tile sets - the less of a smooth transition you will get. There isn't a good way to demonstrate the point I am trying to make. But, what I can tell you is the fartiles.pal is nothing more than a palette that reduces all the color palettes of all your tiles down to 256 colors (well 252 since four color are left for bright (night colors). So if you have say 210 sets of tiles - with say 40 differernt color palettes among those sets- that doesn't leave you with a lot of room to maneuver with color variance. Korea Theater is mostly greens and browns. ODS is a lot of browns, tans, and some greens - - so you would be better served to try to make new tile sets using an existing color palette - otherwise your fartiles are going to look like crap . . .

Too bad Snakeman isn't doing this stuff you could really use his advice on this one - he could write you the script and also advise you on color tile creation . . .

[Sherlock]

Thanks Ranger.
I appreciate the help. Yes, I ran the script of SM's on the ODS tiles for a test and none of the tiles over 640x480 (e.g., 512x512) were not processed because the regular runtiles is using the demo version of ALchemy and it is limited to the 640x480 maximum size.

I have a program that will auto resize, etc. My only real concern was resampling the proper palette when creating the T-tiles. Everything else I have sorta covered with the other batch processor (I'm using JASC Image Robot; old but useful).

Sherlock