Graphics Help

[WarHunter]

Here is a picture of the files you will be looking to replace.
Download ZIP file is in the previous Post #: 120.

[AxelNL]

ORIGINAL: WarHunter

Before making a new thread for download. Anyone following our work can download and see how it looks on your PC. In case we missed something.

You need to replace files in 2 folders.
Folder 1 "Map Data" 2 files. C:\Matrix Games\World in Flames\Data\Map Data
Folder 2 "Unit bitmaps" 32 files. C:\Matrix Games\World in Flames\Bitmaps\Unit Bitmaps

If you need any help. Just ask.

I found two Autralian air units off-colour. pm sent which ones....

Anybody knowing best how to change the skins? There are .mskn files in the Skins directory (in the bitmap directory). These are "Theme Engine" files containing the background colour of the forms. To finalise this mod it would be nice to adapt the CW and Russian files as well. The latter is too pale and looks like the new CW colour....

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Just a comment about people who have trouble differentiating color: which colors pose problems are varied. Remember when you took the eye test and they showed you several different numbers within circles and asked you what numbers you saw? Each picture can be seen several different ways depending on the rods and cones in your retina. And they have a couple of pictures to cover other variations in color perception.

My point is that what might work for some, might not work for all.

There is a lot of information on color perception differences on the web. Someone pointed me to a good article years ago which I used to decide on a lot of the color decisions I made for MWIF. I can't remember where that information is.[:(]

Here is what I have as in-line notes in the code.

===

Code: Select all

// ****************************************************************************
 // Colors for Color Blind palette; R G B;
 // ****************************************************************************
 //  R   G    B      B   G   R
 // 18, 122, 177     AB  7A  12
 // ****************************************************************************
   clCBOrange = $009FE6;             // 230, 159,   0   Orange.
   clCBSkyBlue = $E98256;            //  86, 130, 233   Light Blue.
   clCBBlueishGreen = $739E00;       //   0, 158, 115   Teal.
   clCBYellow = $42E4F0;             // 240, 228,  66   Yellow.
   clCBBlue = $B27200;               //   0, 114, 178   Blue.
   clCBVermillion = $005ED5;         // 213,  94,   0   Red.
   clCBReddishPurple = $A779CC;      // 204, 121, 167   Brown.
   clDarkGray = $484848;
   clPaleGreen = $A0FFA0;
   clPaleBlue = $FFD0A0;
   clPaleRed = $A0A0FF;

[YellowNo5]

Those Indian counters give me a headache. [:)]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: YellowNo5

Those Indian counters give me a headache. [:)]

I agree. Red and green is a bad combination. Unless I am mistaken, they mimic the colors used in the board game for the Indian units.

[WarHunter]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: YellowNo5
Those Indian counters give me a headache. [:)]

I agree. Red and green is a bad combination. Unless I am mistaken, they mimic the colors used in the board game for the Indian units.

YellowNo5,
I'd be happy to tailor make an aspirin of colors you would like to see for the Indian counters. [:)]

If you have been following the discussion here, you know we want to create a mod that will be usable by the majority of players. I'd like to keep to the spirit of color combinations from the board game counter mix. But if that is not possible, lets change it together.

Shannon V. OKeets,
If using a green shade for the Outline and Abbreviation IND.
What color should the interior be? [:)]

[Dabrion]

yes, roughly same contrast. pdfs have #99d420 and #ef3220.

[YellowNo5]

I meant no offense by it. I love the work you are doing. They are just ugly colors (like the real KiF).

Edit: Did the IND colors get switched around somewhere? I was looking through the threads and they used to be green with red outlines now it is red with green outlines. Is that for the IND abbreviation to be green?

[AxelNL]

ORIGINAL: YellowNo5

I meant no offense by it. I love the work you are doing. They are just ugly colors (like the real KiF).

Edit: Did the IND colors get switched around somewhere? I was looking through the threads and they used to be green with red outlines now it is red with green outlines. Is that for the IND abbreviation to be green?

Yes, I think so. The original on blue was worse imho.

[WarHunter]

ORIGINAL: YellowNo5

I meant no offense by it. I love the work you are doing. They are just ugly colors (like the real KiF).

Edit: Did the IND colors get switched around somewhere? I was looking through the threads and they used to be green with red outlines now it is red with green outlines. Is that for the IND abbreviation to be green?

I never felt you were giving offense. Just you disliked the color combo. Green on Reddish.

Yes you are correct. The Green was chosen to have the IND appear as in the Counter mix for the board game. We can change either color. But i'm looking at changing the interior color as a primary plan.
I'm interested in getting some ideas about what the color inside the box should be for better contrast.

If you have a color in mind, we can work with it.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all your hard work! It looks great. A very welcome improvement from the dark blue!

[Dabrion]

ORIGINAL: AxelNL

ORIGINAL: AxelNL

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

For land units, the colors are defined for each country. See the appendices in Players Manual volume 2 for the details concerning that.

I understand why Khaki in Flames was released. Dark blue is a bit strenuous for the eyes. I still might change only the colours for the ships and planes in the future for that reason. Will accept the aliasing which will occur. CW does not have that many land units.....[;)]

Is see what you mean. See screenshot. Air units are no problem, not that many of the naval units have this actually.

Perhaps a little late, but I didnt notice earlier.

This phenomenon can be treated with this pipeline:
1) "Fuzzy Selection" (aka wand) on the background color. This will follow the color gradiend of the background as a connected component.
2) Shrink the selection from 1) selection by 1 or 2 px, have to find the right value. Most AA filters will only have one or two pixels of support.
3) Check if you miss too many small features. If so mask the detailed regions and save them to a layer for later iteration.
4) Proceed with the bucket fill on the selection.

Result should get rid of the AA artifacts from the original background around the shapes. Also works well for as a preprocessor for the color-to-alpha tool, if you want to preserve the colour in the shapes.

[AxelNL]

I'm afraid it is too late. Our two heroes did it the old-fashioned way.

Might you have a similar smart idea about how to change the skin colour in the .mskn files in the skin folder? (see post 122)
We found a tool which could open the file, and saw indeed it contains the background colour of the forms. But changing it did not make any difference. The tool might not be the best one available. It is the last thing we need before Warhunter posts the final files. I have a lead in Australia, but as you might be an independent source of technical wisdom you could be of help here?

[WarHunter]

Changed the Indian counters from Green & Red to Green & Purple. So as not to strain our eyes.
How does it look?

[AxelNL]

Much better! Another improvement over the original colouring imho.

[paulderynck]

Personal opinion only - I don't like it. I'd rather see for India, the interior of the Nato symbol green (but different green than Rhodesia) and the letters red or black.

I like all the others...

[WarHunter]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck
Personal opinion only - I don't like it. I'd rather see for India, the interior of the Nato symbol green (but different green than Rhodesia) and the letters red or black.
I like all the others...

Opinion personal like.

paulderynck, Purple is really much to majestic for the Indians. Better to save the color for my Italians in Purple mod. [8D]

The Black is more of a charcoal color with a flat jade interior.
How does the screen shot look?

[paulderynck]

Looking again, I'd swap the Northern Rhodesian NATO interior with the Indian one. That would be sweet! (IMO)

[WarHunter]

paulderynck, Thinking you will like this combo. I do. Good suggestion.

[paulderynck]

I had hoped the twinges of orange would go with the NATO color.

Edit: now if they were swapped again, along with the orange this time (because I think it looks better with that paler shade of green).

I think this is what's hitting me subconsciously (yes I know it wasn't the flag until 1947)...

Of course on that note, you need to also swap Canada and Australia.