PERFECT SPRITE EXTRACTION

[Sombre]

Sorry for the caps but this really is a HUGE announcement. Thanks to something Endoperez said in a sort of offhand manner we now appear to have a way of extracting perfect (though not attacking) sprites from Dom3.

This is going to be a MASSIVE help to modders like myself who have previously had to pretty much redraw the sprites by eye and hand in order to modify them,... AND it's going to mean any random fool (if you'll pardon the term) can now make graphical alterations and new units and whatnot that fit in with Vanilla dom3 more or less perfectly. With this method there is literally no excuse for dodgy or very basic graphics any more.

Here's how I did it, following Endo's guidance.

Turn off the filter in graphical preferences.
Switch resolution to 800x600.
Find the unit you want and right click on it to bring up its display screen.
Then printscreen (screengrab), paste it into a graphical app and cut out the graphic you want.

THAT'S IT.

If I'd known this a few months ago,.... wow that woulda saved me a LOT of time. I'd also have made probably twice as many mods.

THANKYOU ENDO! I really can't stress that enough http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Endoperez]

It might not wprk just right, though. Half the human sprites I get are about 40 pixels high instead of ~32. Singularity's post (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showthreaded.php?Number=465577) has some details.

[Endoperez]

Okay, now I got why it didn't work when I last tried it. I used 800x600 resolution fullscreen and took the screenshots from windowed mode, thinking that what I saw was 800x600. However, it isn't! Even though the command line file, at least, claims that the default windowed resolution is 800x600, using commandline -r 800x600 in the shortcut makes Dom window much smaller. Unit screenshots can be grabbed from windowed mode if you have a shortcut with that property.

Any sprite wishes? I'll do some Caelum ones first.

[Endoperez]

Wow, it will be EXTEREMLY easy to grab sprites if you just change the GUI into something that is of single, even color everywhere and put GUI opacity into 1. Then just PrtScreen, paste, use color chooser to select all black that's ever-so-slightly hued by the background, change it into color of your choice. Then change the shadow, pure black, into magenta. VERY FAST!

[Sombre]

I honestly think this is so easy that we don't even need a sprite library any more - you can just get whatever sprite you need at any given moment.

I have just made two new units using this technique. The old way of doing things this would have been like an hours work or something, to get it this good. It took me literally 5 minutes.

The bmp with the two new units (which will be for ulm reborn) will be attached in a moment.

[Sombre]

I'd like to add that, now, if anyone needs any more complex artwork done for their mods (stuff that goes beyond changing the vanilla sprites a bit, making attack sprites etc) I will probably be free to do it, provided I like the mod.

Might be able to do some awesome stuff for padmassa, for instance, using vanilla sprites as a base.

[Endoperez]

LA Caelum unit sprites attached to this post. This is FAST! Choose unit, take screenshot, paste, select area tool, select unit, new window, paste, select eraser, select background color, erase background, move unit/shadow to nice position, save. I did most of these twice, due to not noticing the black area between their legs. INSANE SPEED!

[Endoperez]

Gandalf, or anyone else who happens to know the answer:

Would it be possible to do a shortcut for Dominions that first replaces guiborder2.tga with some other tga file, then launches Dom with a --postexec command that somehow replaces the new guiborder2.tga with the original? Or copy of the original, actually, but you know what I mean. It would enable one Dom directory to be used for both normal games AND for ultra-quick screen-grabbing of units, with the only difference being in the shortcut used to launch Dom.

I'm pretty sure it could be done with two .bat files, but I can't write those. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Sombre]

I don't even think it's that important to be able to do them super fast - I mean even without changing the borders and whatnot you can still get the sprite out cleanly and make the shadow in under a couple of minutes.

I really think there's no need to go extracting all the sprites, since it's so easy to just get the ones you need from right clicking 'em on the recruit screen and following the method. The rest can be got from the monster file cabinet map. I mean having all the sprites to hand would be nice and all, but it would only save you a few minutes - modifying them to look different instead of trying to extract them is what takes the time now, as it should be.

For sure the biggest thing to happen on this forum. Crazy that we only just got this working.

[Juzza]

It may not be able to do attack sprites but other that I have to share with Sombres Excitement! now I shouldn't look so stupid with my silly animations!!!

[Endoperez]

Nah, I don't think this's the biggest thing to happen here. Those who can draw will still draw their sprites by hand, but perhaps a bit quicker than earlier. Those who are too lazy to draw still won't. The handful of would-be modders who don't want to spend their time making pixel-soldiers will get their mods finished, and might post them here. However, this won't start an explosion of mods - we already had that one! Really, I don't remember having seen this many active mod threads in DomII forums, ever. I don't know what the big thing was, but it sure must have been spectacular to have this kind of an effect!

[normalphil]

Endoperez said:
However, this won't start an explosion of mods - we already had that one! Really, I don't remember having seen this many active mod threads in DomII forums, ever. I don't know what the big thing was, but it sure must have been spectacular to have this kind of an effect!



For me, I'm pretty sure it's the eras and not having to overwrite an existing faction. All of a sudden there's a narrative, and the reason for me to make a mod isn't just to see how a given set-up plays, it's also a way to tell a story. Was never seriously tempted to make a DomII mod.

[Gandalf Parker]

Its pretty much what was done in Dom2 to create the library we had. Someone also created a macro which worked its way thru the entire All_Units game to save all of the units to a graphic named for its unit ID number.

We do have a complete collection for Dom3. Altho its a couple of patches old so a few might be missing. Its in the Tools and Tutorials link.
Dom3 Unit Reference v3.04 (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=d3smm&Number=497218&Forum= All_Forums&Words=%2BTools%20%2BTutorials&Searchpag e=0&Limit=100&Main=486359&Search=true&where=sub&Na me=6873&daterange=1&newerval=5&newertype=y&olderva l=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post497218)

If I remember correctly there were like 5 filters that could be turned off in order to get the cleanest image-grab. The result tended to look ugly without the smoothing and shadowing effects that the game does, but the end results were better. If you edit a "smoothed" copy of an image, and then the game smoothed it again, it tended to be pretty blurry.

[Sombre]

I can't get that link working (the one pointing to the reference, not your one pointing to the thread) and I was under the impression the images weren't the right size.

Endo: I think you underestimate the difference between drawing a peltast with a new kind of shield by hand and just grabbing the shield from one unit and pasting it on another. Look at the hoch-hammer unit I made - it's basically a modification of the hochmeister, but in order to make that before I knew about this, I had to basically redraw the hochmeister himself. That takes a lot of time and effort.

Some of the mods on here have used some fairly shakey graphics. With this technique they can cut and paste and edit a bit using these graphics and make something which looks much better and fits with Dom3. Again, the difference between drawing from a very rough / blurry template or from scratch and just modifying an existing graphic is huge.

[Gandalf Parker]

Hmm worked just now for me using Firefox.

Editing sprites for this game IS much easier when there are some to cut-n-paste from. Making a combat image (the second sprite for the "combat" move in case there are lurkers reading this) is much easier by cut-n-pasting the arm into a new position. Making new sprites by changing some colors of a unit image, or pasting together pieces of different images, also helps. Even just having an example to use for sizing and such.

Of course eventually its good to draw your own but I think this is a great thing for that middle section between just changing the text and completely designing your own units. And it will be a particular help to the "improved nations" modders who are working with the nations that are already in the game.

[Foodstamp]

Bah, you got me excited. I thought you had found a way to extract the attack sprites too. Knowing the optimal settings will definitely reduce the time I spend on sprites if I decide to edit in game sprites.

Now if we can get the modding graphics limit cap fixed, I may consider replacing some of my reused sprites with custom ones in a few of my mods.

[Gandalf Parker]

I think he was emphasizing "perfect sprites" rather than "perfect extraction" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

and I thought the sprite cap was worked out. Something to do with the order that the commands were put into the mod file?

[Foodstamp]

Gandalf Parker said:
I think he was emphasizing "perfect sprites" rather than "perfect extraction" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

and I thought the sprite cap was worked out. Something to do with the order that the commands were put into the mod file?



Really? If so, this is great news. I have been steering clear of adding new graphics because of this bug.

[lch]

Endoperez said:
Would it be possible to do a shortcut for Dominions that first replaces guiborder2.tga with some other tga file, then launches Dom with a --postexec command that somehow replaces the new guiborder2.tga with the original? Or copy of the original, actually, but you know what I mean. It would enable one Dom directory to be used for both normal games AND for ultra-quick screen-grabbing of units, with the only difference being in the shortcut used to launch Dom.

I'm pretty sure it could be done with two .bat files, but I can't write those. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif


Something along the lines of <font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>@echo off
ren "&lt;path to file&gt;\guiborder2.tga" guiborder2.old
ren "&lt;path to file&gt;\guiborder2.new" guiborder2.tga
"&lt;path&gt;\dom3.exe"
ren "&lt;path to file&gt;\guiborder2.tga" guiborder2.new
ren "&lt;path to file&gt;\guiborder2.old" guiborder2.tga</pre><hr />
Batch files are like shell scripts, just a collection of commands that you would type into the command line window.

[Endoperez]

I know that, but I don't have experience with shell commands or command lines in general. Using renaming that way is also new to me. Thanks, I can use that.

[Sombre]

Foodstamp said:
Bah, you got me excited. I thought you had found a way to extract the attack sprites too.



Attack sprites are easy for the most part - just adjust an arm and a leg, shift the weapon a bit etc.

[Juzza]

Sombre said:
AND it's going to mean any random fool




I wonder who he meant when he said that!! *shifty eyes*

[VedalkenBear]

Well, if someone can tell me a graphics program that can open and manipulate a .tga file, I might be able to get something done.

As it is, nothing I have seems to work.

[Sombre]

I use Paint Shop Pro, but people here seem to like GIMP, which is free. Just google for it.

[Gandalf Parker]

alot of people use IrfanView (I think its free) as a viewer so that you can see the graphics in the maps folder easily. Very handy when you are batch-generating maps. An added benefit is that it offers to "save as" to many formats. So you can convert the tga to a bmp, use paint, then convert it back.

[VedalkenBear]

IrfanView? All right, I'll check into that, Gandalf, thanks. (All I need to do is change the filetype.)

I might look at GIMP too, but I'm really not that good at art. Pixel-by-pixel in Paint is about my limit. &gt;&lt;

[Endoperez]

I use MsPaint for the extraction because it's very quick to use and to open. Once I define the image size to 64x64 it's very easy to paste, copy unit, ctrl+n for new 64x64 blank, paste, edit and save. I could do the same in Gimp, but it opens much more slowly.

I use IrfanView to open Paint-saved .bmp files and to save them as targa files Dominions uses.

I use Gimp when I need to change the colors of the unit or of (some of) its equipment. It's easy to change e.g. all blue of a Ranger's (LA Ulm) clothes to green. The things you want to be able to do are:
1) use the color changing/shifting tools, and the blurring tools
2) use various selection tools (by area, all similar color, the magic wand selector tool) to restrict e.g. the blurring or the color shift into just parts of the sprite
3) use the basic tools for pixel-by-pixel editing to change one weapon to a different one, or to make a shield or change the shield's type, or to add a symbol, or to make an attack sprite.
4) use layers.


Examples:
You take a LA Ulm Ranger: a crossbowman clad in green. You choose a correct option from the toolbar and get to a window that lets you change all blue in the picture to a different hue, e.g. green. the boots are now discolored, so you paste another ranger into another layer, copy the original boots and paste them on the green one. Ta-da: a William Tell the Marksman!

You take a Vanir, and remove the horse. You take a Wyvern. You select the Wyvern's wing and move it into a separate layer. You add the riderless Vanir to a third layer. You realign the layers so that the rear wing is behind the Vanir, but the front wing is before him. Ta-da: a Wyvern Knight!

[Foodstamp]

You make it sound so easy. I may take a stab at graphic editing.

[Gandalf Parker]

Using a paint program is fun but learning layers sucks IMHO

[Endoperez]

Foodstamp said:
You make it sound so easy. I may take a stab at graphic editing.



I have a week of free time. I might make a few simple tutorials, mainly about which tools of Gimp you want to use.

Many nice tools affect the whole layer, so I move copy sprites into new layers pretty often, then use recoloring tool to change their color. Sometimes I have two-three layers of these recolored sprites, with various transparency settings, so that one makes a Great Eagle red, another (recolored orange and with high contrast and adjusted brightness) gives its wings bright red-yellow tips, and a third is another red eagle, almost transparent, that softens the deep shadows of the high-contrast layer a bit. SAttached, and shown below, is a double-size version of a sprite I posted into Fiery Caelum thread. Don't use this jpg in mods!

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/516233-firebird.jpg

EDIT:
As for Gandalf's comment...

I can make new layers, and paste content into them. I can also adjust their transparency level. That's all I do with layers, and it already allows all kinds of tricks. At least with Gimp's interface, it isn't hard.

[Gandalf Parker]

I tried to get gimp to do what I wanted. Working with maps of course. The white dots are the most important part of a map. You cant let them get fuzzied or smeared. I tried to grab all of the white dots to a layer for safekeeping. Then the border lines of the map into a layer. Then do some colorations to the map (such as blurs). And make the borders abit transparent. Then paste the layers back together.
Its.. um.. on my list of things to learn.

[Juzza]

I use CorelDraw for stuff like saving it as a TGA file and changing colours, I do all my other work in paint, I find it simple and easy, unlike Corel which is like, woa!!

And if a fifteen year old can do it so can all of you!!

[Foodstamp]

Ok Endo, you inspired me to give it a shot. Here is a Captain of Rohan I created using the Equite of the Sacred Shroud as the base unit. It took me about 30 minutes to make the unit because I am terribly slow and art is not my thing at all. But for a first attempt, I am really pleased with the results.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/516267-captainrohan.jpg

[BandarLover]

[/quote]

I have a week of free time. I might make a few simple tutorials, mainly about which tools of Gimp you want to use.



[/quote]

Huzza!! A tutorial on how to make units is exactly what I'm looking for!! I use to be O.K. with Illustrator but that was many years ago, and I've forgotten much since then. I NEED tutorials to walk me thru the process a couple of times before I feel comfortable doing things on my own. You'll be my friend forever if you do this Endo. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

And I feel sure I qualify as the 'any fool' Sombre mentioned earlier in this post. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Endoperez]

Very good! Congrats for getting started. It takes time, but the results are usually quite good when you have a good sprite or several which you use for reference. Copypasting and color-changing usually gives me the best results. You can get pretty fancy units if you remove the horse of a mounted unit, take sprite of a glamourous/ethereal unit and don't give it either, remove and/or add cape, wings, shield or mount. My avatar is a Horse Brother without a horse, my Warlord from Ulm Upgrade is LA Ulm Zweihänder with Black Lord's cape, Wyvern and DomII Daoine Sidhe (Van dressed in green) make a good Wyvern Knight, etc.

[Foodstamp]

I need a break from modding, I may retire to doing graphics a bit, kinda fun http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Amos]

Layers are a great tool, but when you get to 20-30 layers in 1 sprite, as I some times do, it becomes very confusing. Without layers though, painting sprites one pixel at a time is an extremely time consuming work.

[Foodstamp]

I think I am doing it the time consuming way. With a bit of planning, I can probably make better use of layers and speed up the process. Here is my second attempt, a displacer beast made from recolored Mind Lord tentacles and a Ghost cat.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/516291-displacerbeast.jpg

[llamabeast]

Both the Captain of Rohan and the Displacer Beasts look awesome! This does look like it's going to herald a lot of amazing mod graphics.

[VedalkenBear]

Those _do_ look quite nice, Foodstamp, but is there any way you can get the Displacer Beasts' tentacles over their head? That, and they're usually depicted a little leaner...

[llamabeast]

Do you reckon his displacer beast is too podgy, Vedalken? Greedy displacer beast! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Sombre]

It's interesting that you made a graphic using the ghost cat as a base, because I just did exactly the same thing for Jomon Broken. The Black Nekoni had been using the ghost cat graphic, but I decided to give it a new and more dinstinctive one. It took me about 5 minutes total, including extracting the sprite :]

A pic is attached - it also features the new Neko Maiden graphic, which I made by extracting a pic from a Jomon female of some sort. Note the red tail and cat ears. Much more distinctive. This also took about 3-5 minutes. Under the old method I wouldn't have even bothered it would have taken so much longer.

[llamabeast]

Are they tails that it has two of?

[Sombre]

Sure are. Is that not clear enough? I could redraw 'em.

[llamabeast]

They look like they have suckers or something on the end of them. Well, I might just be going mad. I think what it is is they get a bit wider at the end, and have a funny texture there as well.

[Sombre]

That's just what the vanilla sprite's tail looks like. Not my work at all -shrug-

But I can change it for next version no problem.

[Gandalf Parker]

Yes I thought they were DnD Displacer Beasts. They look like them. Cats with two octopus-style tentacles. They would be fighters with glamour.

[Foodstamp]

Sombre said:
It's interesting that you made a graphic using the ghost cat as a base, because I just did exactly the same thing for Jomon Broken. The Black Nekoni had been using the ghost cat graphic, but I decided to give it a new and more dinstinctive one. It took me about 5 minutes total, including extracting the sprite :]

A pic is attached - it also features the new Neko Maiden graphic, which I made by extracting a pic from a Jomon female of some sort. Note the red tail and cat ears. Much more distinctive. This also took about 3-5 minutes. Under the old method I wouldn't have even bothered it would have taken so much longer.



I like your graphic, I think the tales looked fine. The first time I saw the ghost cat in the all unit view, I thought "Oh wow, I gotta make a displacer beast out of this guy."

As gandalf was saying, I plan to slap glamour on the sucker when I implement it in game. I have no mods that need the unit currently, but I had to make it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Foodstamp]

Here is another one I did late last night. Rohan Banner Carrier. I used bits and pieces from some of my other units and used the Van Hero as the base unit.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/516655-rohanhorn.jpg

[BandarLover]

Foodstamp can't be stopped! He's a graphic making fool now!

Very nice work. So when's the Lord of the Rings mod coming out?

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Just kidding....or am I?

[Foodstamp]

I originally was going to add Rohan as a rare magic site. But it looks like that function is broke at the moment, your only able to add commanders and units to new magic sites that can be recruited by the original owner of the site.

That being said. LOTR is very low magic. So I am having a hard time coming up with enough units and ideas for mages for a total nation based on Rohan.

So far I have done graphics for:

Captain of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Rohan Banner Carrier
Shield Maiden
(All these names are subject to change)


I am going to do a few more and maybe start working on a nation, but I am not sure it is going to be something that would please the Dom3 community because it will be such a low magic mod and will probably lack variety in units. But for my massive singleplayer games It should be fun to play as them or encounter them. I can't wait to see Rohan vs Master of Magic Halflings &lt;3.

My overall goal is to add every nation I can possibly dream of in the early era and just play singleplayer dominions like woah http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[llamabeast]

If you don't make a full Rohan nation they could be an awesome cavalry corps as part of a larger nation (not necessarily LOTR themed). They're lovely graphics, I'm actually quite excited by them!

[Sombre]

Foodstamp said:
As gandalf was saying, I plan to slap glamour on the sucker when I implement it in game. I have no mods that need the unit currently, but I had to make it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif



Just make them a summon spell available to everyone and stick them in one of your mods.

[Juzza]

I've been wanting to see a sort of large spell mod that just adds a bunch of spells to the game, probably mostly summoning ones, perhaps we could band together and make a massive spell mod!

[Sombre]

That's actually a pretty nifty idea.

We could make a community "D&amp;D monster summons mod" containing some of the more interesting and iconic creatures from the monster manual.

[Endoperez]

Foodstamp said:
I originally was going to add Rohan as a rare magic site. But it looks like that function is broke at the moment, your only able to add commanders and units to new magic sites that can be recruited by the original owner of the site.



Yeah, I also noticed this. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif I made some Wyvern Knights, and hoped to have them guard a Castle Wyvern, but it didn't work. Still, it'd be nice to have several ideas ready for the day when we CAN mod magic sites. A "50 new magic sites, and defenders!" mod would be nice.

[Foodstamp]

I am looking forward to the day we can add custom sites like that. I have so many little ideas that do not warrant a nation, and I don't want to squash the existing site units or pop types.

[Endoperez]

Foodstamp said:
I am looking forward to the day we can add custom sites like that. I have so many little ideas that do not warrant a nation, and I don't want to squash the existing site units or pop types.



Start modding them, then. Or at least write them down and keep the paper somewhere safe! I've forgotten most of my little ideas. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif Once I even wanted to do a total conversion of DomII: Ice Age, with all kinds of tribals running wild (I made my avatar for that project), Jotunheim restricted to Niefel theme, Man restricted to Tuatha, etc. I abandoned it when I read about plans for Dom3, but I had written all kinds of stuff down on some papers I haven't seen in years.

[Foodstamp]

When I get an idea for something new, I normally type it up in a text file and put it in a folder called dom3notes. I come back to the ideas eventually and if they still seem interesting to me, I start working on them http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

btw, your tutorial has really gotten my graphic modding off the ground. It takes me about 5 minutes to do a simple graphic that was taking me 30 minutes to do before. Before I even start on a graphic now, I butcher the base unit up into reusable parts and save it in a file, makes things a lot faster, easier to color through shading tools etc, and the results look really great.

[Gandalf Parker]

Juzza said:
I've been wanting to see a sort of large spell mod that just adds a bunch of spells to the game, probably mostly summoning ones, perhaps we could band together and make a massive spell mod!


I like this. But to put my own brand of chaos into it...
how about a program that writes a mod which invents and adds tons of summoning spells?
Random spell name
Random level
Random cost
Random effect

OK maybe thats too crazy. Lets go with Semi-Randoms. Like the Semi-Random map working program that takes collections of premade provinces and builds off of it.

Spell Name: Air Drop
semi-random level: x to x
semi-random cost: xx-xx air gems
semi-random effect: will drop units into a far province you do not own.
units: one of a list of reasonable possibilties
x commander xxxxxx with xx units of xxxxxxxx
x commander xxxxxx with xx units of xxxxxxxx
x commander xxxxxx with xx units of xxxxxxxx
x commander xxxxxx with xx units of xxxxxxxx

Spell Name: ParaRescue
semi-random level: x to x
semi-random cost: xx-xx air gems
semi-random effect: will drop units into a far province you DO own.
units: one of a list of reasonable possibilties
x commander xxxxxx with xx units of xxxxxxxx
x commander xxxxxx with xx units of xxxxxxxx
x commander xxxxxx with xx units of xxxxxxxx
x commander xxxxxx with xx units of xxxxxxxx

The program could take the files and make random, but not insane, choices and write a mod called SURPRISE.dm

[BandarLover]

Foodstamp said:

That being said. LOTR is very low magic. So I am having a hard time coming up with enough units and ideas for mages for a total nation based on Rohan.






Meant to reply to this earlier but so sore so I will keep it brief. Games Workshop has really developed and fleshed out several army lists for LoTR that include 'casty' type commanders. You could check them out at least for ideas to help you out with a Rohan nation.

[Foodstamp]

Thats a good idea. Do you have a link available to those army listings?

[BandarLover]

Bah...I'm losing my mind. I looked them over but couldn't really find what I thought I would find. They added Shaman orcs but no real caster type for the heroes, beside Gandalf and Radagast and some Elf Heroes. Here is the link anyways:

http://store.us.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.us?do=List_Models&amp;code=16&amp;orignav=16&amp;GameNav =16


Should take you right to the online store for LoTR. See if anything strikes your fancy.

[Foodstamp]

That's great thanks. It looks like Games Workshop came to the same conclusion on names that I did. I like the Outrider so I am going to use that name to replace my mounted scout I was just calling Rohan Scout for now.

Like you said, no casters mentioned on the webpage. I have an idea for two casters that I have already done the graphics for. I call one "Royal Adviser" and the other "Wise Woman". The Adviser will be capital only, and the Wise Woman will be recruitable anywhere.

For holy magic I am using a mounted priestess that will be very similar to a standard priest, but with additional map/combat movement.

Thanks again for the link, I will atleast be using the Outrider name. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[BandarLover]

Awesome! Another Foodstamp mod to look forward too. *Crosses fingers* Glad I could help.

[Endoperez]

Have you ever wondered just how many units are in Dominions? This map shows you all of them. This map is full of spoilers, especially the last units which aren't yet recruitable, summonable or accessible in the normal game except via Wishing. This map is meant to be used by those brave souls daring to venture in to the world of modding. Because the map is black, it's easy to use with the sprite extraction method.

This is based on the map I've used for some time now. I don't know who did the 2.83 version, but I suspect it was Gandalf. Whoever it was, thanks for the map, it has been VERY useful.

[Endoperez]

Attached are four files that make sprite extraction easier, and a readme that goes into detail about their use, and explains how to use MsPaint to easily clear out the sprite for mod use. .

Contents:
A blank map (2 files)
A guibar2.new file (renamed .tga)
A .bat shortcut to launch Dominions windowed in 800x600 resolution with an alternate GUI setup, no filtering and low opacity. It needs guibar2.new to work properly.

If you use a black map (like the blank one provided) and launch Dominions via the .bat file, it's extremely easy to take a good sprite. You'll even get to keep the original shadow!

[Xietor]

If a friend was going to make you a sprite, and had never played Dominions before, what information would he/she need?

Just the pixel height, width, and resolution?

Say I wanted(i do not) a dinosaur sprite.

And I told my friend 64 x 64 pixels, 32 bit color, 2pixels space from feet to bottom of image, and to put it in a tga.file, and the image must be uncompressed or REL(whatever that is) is that enough information?

[Sombre]

You could give them a couple of pics from other mods that you like and that look right ingame. That should tell them what they need to know.

[Gandalf Parker]

Be careful how much material you get from other companies.
We might have to require that companies permission for the mod.

[Morkilus]

Gandalf Parker said:
Be careful how much material you get from other companies.
We might have to require that companies permission for the mod.



Are you serious? Has there been a video game mod law passed recently, because that would shut down 90% of the modding community.