.com.unity Forums
  The Official e-Store of Shrapnel Games

This Month's Specials

BCT Commander- Save $8.00
winSPWW2- Save $5.00

   







Go Back   .com.unity Forums > The Camo Workshop > WinSPMBT
Notices


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old October 6th, 2011, 01:31 AM

Gurachn Gurachn is offline
Private
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 45
Thanks: 9
Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts
Gurachn is on a distinguished road
Default Problem with ShpEd for terrain tiles

I am trying to add a bit more detail to trenches, but am having a few problems.
I can get the bmps out of the .shp fine (I have started with the Z5 version of the summer trench tiles)
I have edited each icon in photoshop, and have no trouble using ShpEd to convert the .bmps to .shp.

After replacing the image in the new .shp and renaming (from BigNew.shp to TER52Z5.SHP) the trouble begins...

Often after I have viewed the icon I want to replace, and open the SP Fix, I find that for some reason the new image seems to be half clipped.
Moving the crosshairs doesn't seem to fix this, in fact the cross hairs often seem to move in the opposite direction to what they seem to be intended to.
This doesn't seem to happen in every case, and I have managed on several trys to replace up to the first 4 icons with no problem, only to find that the 5th is half missing.

Any ideas what I am doing wrong and how to avoid this problem?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old October 9th, 2011, 04:10 PM
DRG's Avatar

DRG DRG is offline
Shrapnel Fanatic
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: GWN
Posts: 12,227
Thanks: 3,798
Thanked 5,389 Times in 2,686 Posts
DRG will become famous soon enough
Default Re: Problem with ShpEd for terrain tiles

Do not use "Use old header"

Don
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old October 10th, 2011, 07:53 AM

Gurachn Gurachn is offline
Private
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 45
Thanks: 9
Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts
Gurachn is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Problem with ShpEd for terrain tiles

Hi Don,
Thanks for the tip, but I tried SP fix the shps with the "Use old header" unchecked, but I'm afraid I had the same problems.
Part of the problem, I suspect, is the fact the SP Fix window is actually smaller than the '...z5.shp' 300x300 icon images, and it seems it's not possible to resize it.

I can load the first couple of icons without a problem, but I always seem to reach a point where the centering arrows seem to switch direction (e.g. the right pointing arrow starts to move the vertical cross hair left instead of right) and then the final image ends up badly centered and/or half cropped off.
Any suggestions?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old October 11th, 2011, 05:43 PM
DRG's Avatar

DRG DRG is offline
Shrapnel Fanatic
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: GWN
Posts: 12,227
Thanks: 3,798
Thanked 5,389 Times in 2,686 Posts
DRG will become famous soon enough
Default Re: Problem with ShpEd for terrain tiles

If you make any change to the outer dimensions of a terrain shape file you will have problems.

Terrain can be re-worked and created. I've done it many times but ONLY for the Z4 zoom levels. THE GAME creates new versions of the other zoom levels automatically from the reworked z4 set but O*N*L*Y a pure DOS version of the game with the new zoom levels will build those new levels and it will only build those new levels IF it finds them missing when it tries to load them and it will ONLY do all of that IFyou are running a pre XP version of Windows.

Working with terrain in this game is akin to witchcraft and the game will NOT tolerate errors.

That said, have you tried the revised version of SHPedit I posted on these forums ? I haven't tried doing what you are doing for about 12 years but that new version will show larger images and *might* do what you want it to do.

Don
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old October 11th, 2011, 08:55 PM

Gurachn Gurachn is offline
Private
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 45
Thanks: 9
Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts
Gurachn is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Problem with ShpEd for terrain tiles

Ah, I started with the z5s as they were the largest images. I was thinking if I got those done it would be easier to batch action the other z levels to the right size.

I think I still have my original version of SP, and have an old 486 laptop which I can probably get it to run on. So if I edit the z4s, and fire up DOS SP1 it will create all the other zoom levels?
Don, I just noticed in another post that you mentioned having a 'special DOS copy of the game that was built to produce all six zoom levels', so does this mean the stock DOS game is not sufficient?

Sorry, I can't seem to find the revised version of SHPedit you mentioned. Could you post a link?
Thanks again.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old October 12th, 2011, 03:33 AM
void1984's Avatar

void1984 void1984 is offline
Corporal
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 196
Thanks: 93
Thanked 19 Times in 14 Posts
void1984 is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Problem with ShpEd for terrain tiles

For DOS games use dosbox. Much easier then a second PC.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old October 13th, 2011, 12:35 AM
DRG's Avatar

DRG DRG is offline
Shrapnel Fanatic
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: GWN
Posts: 12,227
Thanks: 3,798
Thanked 5,389 Times in 2,686 Posts
DRG will become famous soon enough
Default Re: Problem with ShpEd for terrain tiles

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gurachn View Post
Ah, I started with the z5s as they were the largest images. I was thinking if I got those done it would be easier to batch action the other z levels to the right size.

I think I still have my original version of SP, and have an old 486 laptop which I can probably get it to run on. So if I edit the z4s, and fire up DOS SP1 it will create all the other zoom levels?
Don, I just noticed in another post that you mentioned having a 'special DOS copy of the game that was built to produce all six zoom levels', so does this mean the stock DOS game is not sufficient?

Sorry, I can't seem to find the revised version of SHPedit you mentioned. Could you post a link?
Thanks again.

The old DOS game will not create the new zoom in level we use.

I have found the game VERY particular about remaking terrain files and have not had any success with DOSBOX

I have no idea where the revised SHPedit went to. I had thought I had stickied it

Attached is the revised shped in a zip ( I'm having problems with zips atm, let me know if this one gives you trouble )

Save the original shped in a temp folder

Don
Attached Files
File Type: zip ShpEd.zip (525.8 KB, 75 views)
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old October 13th, 2011, 10:52 AM

Gurachn Gurachn is offline
Private
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 45
Thanks: 9
Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts
Gurachn is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Problem with ShpEd for terrain tiles

Thanks Don,
No problem with the zip, and that version fits much better for the z5s.
Had a quick try and it still seems to be a bit finicky with the centering but perhaps I just need to play with it a bit more to get a feeling for it.

Frankly though its starting to look like more trouble than I had anticipated.

The aim was to shrink the trench lines and give them more of the characteristic zig zag, with a bit more detail in the form of gun pits and listening posts.
After experimenting a bit on trying to map out a scale version of the terrain at Dien Bien Phu, I realized that wirh the stock tiles I just couldn't capture the feel of the very extensive and convoluted fortifications there. Especially since many of them were actually quite small.
The heavily contested firebase (containing up to 3 inf. companies and a few tanks) on hill Eliane 2 was only about 100x 150m. A simple loop of trenchline around 2x3 hexes just can't capture the image.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old September 5th, 2012, 06:01 AM
mkr8683's Avatar

mkr8683 mkr8683 is offline
Sergeant
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 239
Thanks: 160
Thanked 81 Times in 51 Posts
mkr8683 is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Problem with ShpEd for terrain tiles

Grant, an easy trick is to simply place a brown dot in the upper left hand corner. I find it easier to paste the new BMPs, which are roughly the same angle and dimension, over the old ones. DO NOT use the crosshairs - they seem to cause nothing but headaches. Manually set the Left and Top fields to 0 each, then the Right and Bottom fields to the dimension of the new icon. The game will center on the corner dot, and as it is brown, it is invisible on any terrain hex. If you need to make adjustments, do so by adding and subtracting from the left, top, right, and bottom fields - ie., to move an icon five pixels to the right that is 50x20, add 5 to the Right field and subtract five from the Left field.

It's late here, and I may have typed some of that backwards..
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:24 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©1999 - 2024, Shrapnel Games, Inc. - All Rights Reserved.