Art mods

[Reg]

This post contains the Installed Rotating Ship Artwork Display Tool - Beta Version 0.4.

This tool generates a HTML file which can be viewed on any web browser.

Installation:
Just unzip into a convenient folder somewhere.

Instructions:
* Double click on the icon and it will open a DOS window.
* Enter a path to the WITP-AE Game folder when prompted. This path can be absolute (starting at C:) or relative to the folder the script is located in.
* Enter the other prompts as requested (defaults are displayed).
* Be patient as generation may take a while....
* Open the generated .htm file if it didn't automatically load into Explorer. (It will be in the same folder as the script). Feel free to use your choice of Web Browser.
* Have fun

---

Note you may need some patience with this tool but bear with it, it will get there.
MSDOS, despite it's name runs disk access operations very slowly under windows... I found that accessing the same files with a windows program (ie refreshing the browser window) actually sped up the MSDOS file operations by a significant margin - by cacheing the disk file contents I assume. MSDOS isn't the greatest tool for this job but I used it as everyone has it installed on their computers.
The other issue is that the utility scans the game directories looking for all possible files. Unfortunately in computing terms a failed search is a most inefficient algorithm as all possible possibilities must be exhausted before the search can be declared a failure. There are a lot of files that this tool will fail to find.

However, you do not need to generate a HTML file every time you check your artwork files. Just save/rename the output HTML file and keep it for future use. I included a datestamp in the file for this purpose. If you use the include missing artwork links option, any new artwork you drop into the game folders will just appear in your browser without any need to regenerate the HTML file.

---

Download from this post for historical reasons only...[/color]


Edit: The above utilities have been integrated into the WITP-AE Revolving Bitmap Distribution Manager V1.6 available from here...

[Tracy White]

ORIGINAL: TOMLABELHowever, I did do all of the BB line in sea-blue for this mod class-wise, so if I'm wrong, please correct me.

It's too early to tell at this point.... there's just too much conflicting data and lack of finality. I'm hoping to do a trip to DC this fall to see if I can at least have some good progress or closure by the 70th .....

[TOMLABEL]

ORIGINAL: Reg

This post contains the Installed Rotating Ship Artwork Display Tool - Beta Version 0.4.

Wow! Thank you Reg! This looks like it will come in very handy!

TOMLABEL

[Reg]

After having a rather productive weekend I have also put together this Rotating Aircraft Art Display Tool which
I hope you find useful as well.

The trouble with revolving artwork is normally you can never see it in it's entirety and often the progression
sequence is not obvious. Usually as there is too much artwork to post as an index and in-game you can only see
the artwork which is currently active.

This tool scans the game rotating art folders for all installed artwork and hopefully displays it in a meaningful
manner. Because you are displaying the game artwork you don't need a second copy of the artwork for indexing
purposes. It should also be useful for verifying what artwork is attached to each slot and for finding holes in
your artwork distributions.

This tool should also be handy for the non-artists who just want to browse and see what artwork they have
installed and what it actually depicts without having to wade through the encyclopedia one item at a time.
You will now be able to see everything included in those rotating art downloads. [:)]

The screen shot below is from my rotating art distributions. Note that artwork on the left remains active until
over-ridden by other artwork further right. Hopefully the progression of the images in relation to the
aircraft should be obvious. The 'Year' columns (in yellow) are always present but the 'Month' columns are
added as required by the installed artwork. Note that the images in the default column (which is different from
the ship artwork) are from the A/J_PlaneSide.bmp and A/Jptop.bmp files.... This required a bit of extra effort
to extract but I think it was worth it to give the starting image for the rotating artwork.

As the data is drawn from the scenario files, any changes you make in a custom mod (such as additional aircraft)
will also be reflected in this tool.

I think I will take a break for a few days and come back to tidy up some loose ends and integrate these all these
utilities into a single package (will still be MSDOS but will have a menu system...)

Please have a play and all comments will be gratefully accepted.

The index to the Aircraft Rotating Art is is here....

[Reg]

This post contains the Installed Rotating Aircraft Artwork Display Tool - Beta Version 0.4.

This tool generates a HTML file which can be viewed on any web browser.

Installation:
Just unzip into a convenient folder somewhere.

(Note there is a second file with this distribution (Bit_Mask.txt) which must be in the same folder as the main .bat file.)

Instructions:
* Double click on the icon and it will open a DOS window.
* Enter a path to the WITP-AE Game folder when prompted. This path can be absolute (starting at C:) or relative to the folder the script is located in.
* Enter the other prompts as requested (defaults are displayed).
* Be patient as generation may take a while....
* Open the generated .htm file if it didn't automatically load into Explorer. (It will be in the same folder as the script). Feel free to use your choice of Web Browser.
* Have fun

---

Note you may need some patience with this tool but bear with it, it will get there.
Once again this may run a bit slowly due to MSDOS slow file access times(?). Once you start accessing files recursively (ie accessing files in every column from every row), execution time increases exponentially. I have included a data file (containing the definitions to extract the default images) to save time in generating this data. Hang in there, it's worth the wait.

However, you do not need to generate a HTML file every time you check your artwork files. Just save/rename the output HTML file and keep it for future use. I included a datestamp in the file for this purpose. If you use the include missing artwork links option, any new artwork you drop into the game folders will just appear in your browser without any need to regenerate the HTML file.

---

Download from this post for historical reasons only...[/color]


Edit: The above utilities have been integrated into the WITP-AE Revolving Bitmap Distribution Manager V1.6 available from here...

[Big B]

Hi All,
Ok, here's the haps'...before ship-art can be released - it seriously needs a new surface combat screen. The original does not work at all to ship art advantage (which is why there are all those irritable light shadows on the edges, oddly enogh - it's not so visible on the air-sea screen).
So we are working feverishly on a new surface combat screen that will show ALL ship art to better advantage in-game.
There are two examples with the new screen - the first is the main phase of Savo Island, the second is the main phase of the Battle off Samar (both with liberties) on the new screen.

ALL comments - positive and HARSH are welcome...and needed to get this guy going.
Thank you,
B

Below Savo Island;

[Big B]

And second - The Battle Off Samar;

[cantona2]

Looks great, release now [:D]

[Big B]

Well cantona2 - you's may be the one and only deciding vote! [:D]

ORIGINAL: cantona2

Looks great, release now [:D]

[Nomad]

Fantastic, release it.

[BigDuke66]

Looks really great!
I just started a game so is there only one screen for all surface combat?
No other screens that take time(day vs. night) or place(deep vs. sallow ocean) into calculation?

[Big B]

I am afraid that at present the engine does not allow for separate day/night screens - but that would be wild wouldn't it?!

For now though, until Matrix makes a patch, we have only one screen...

But thank you very much...

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

Looks really great!
I just started a game so is there only one screen for all surface combat?
No other screens that take time(day vs. night) or place(deep vs. sallow ocean) into calculation?

[Big B]

On a side note - that would make a whole lot more work for us artists... but to have day and night screens - I would do it!

ORIGINAL: Big B

I am afraid that at present the engine does not allow for separate day/night screens - but that would be wild wouldn't it?!

For now though, until Matrix makes a patch, we have only one screen...

But thank you very much...

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

Looks really great!
I just started a game so is there only one screen for all surface combat?
No other screens that take time(day vs. night) or place(deep vs. sallow ocean) into calculation?

[BigDuke66]

ORIGINAL: Big B
On a side note - that would make a whole lot more work for us artists... but to have day and night screens - I would do it!

I guess you mean every ship art would have to be turned darker to fit the darker layout of the night screen.
I don't have a clue of the graphic engine used but couldn't some kind of filter/overlay etc. put above the complete screen(background/ship art/animations)? In that way you wouldn't need to change any art.

[Big B]

As the game engine works now - yes everything...and I mean everything - would have to be (or rather - should be) retouched to be right...
And in all humility - not many outside moi would probably be able to do it justice ...on the other hand, the hero I am searching for may be out there to do it all...

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

ORIGINAL: Big B
On a side note - that would make a whole lot more work for us artists... but to have day and night screens - I would do it!

I guess you mean every ship art would have to be turned darker to fit the darker layout of the night screen.
I don't have a clue of the graphic engine used but couldn't some kind of filter/overlay etc. put above the complete screen(background/ship art/animations)? In that way you wouldn't need to change any art.

[eloso]

ORIGINAL: Big B

I am afraid that at present the engine does not allow for separate day/night screens - but that would be wild wouldn't it?!

Couldn't a pair of sunglass suffice as a work around?

[BigDuke66]

Big thanks to everyone here, that extra chrome is really marvelous.
I went thru the whole thread and downloaded everything and found some things that look strange:

@Dixie
There is a file in one zip called LCUntitled.png is that used by the game?

@Halsey
There are some files too were I wonder if the game engines uses them at all:
IJAAF Recon.bmp
IJAAF.bmp
IJNAF Patrol.bmp
IJNAF.bmp
USN Flight wings.bmp
ussr bomber.bmp
ussr fighter.bmp
ussr naval air.bmp
LCU_AUS.bmp
LCU_BR.bmp
LCU_BU.bmp
LCU_CA.bmp
LCU_DU.bmp
LCU_FR.bmp
LCU_IJ.bmp
LCU_IJA.bmp
LCU_IN.bmp
LCU_NZ.bmp
LCU_PI.bmp
LCU_PRC.bmp
LCU_ROC.bmp
LCU_RTA.bmp
LCU_US.bmp
LCU_USSR.bmp

@Lesbaker
Again a file were I wonder if it will be used:
AMP.bmp
And one seem to have a typo:
SHP4288.bmp

@Smeulders
Another one:
France Libre60.bmp

@TOMLABEL
Another one:
SHP_RANGER CV4.bmp


Altogether I can only advise to put the files into the appropriate directory (AlliedPatch or JapPatch) so players can be sure to where the files belong as it is not always so clear because either no readme is provided or the zip filename is shortened by the board and can't really help identifying the pack.
As far as I can see only Tone made one, Halsey 790 & Reg 547 Japanese Patches, is that correct?

[TOMLABEL]

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

@TOMLABEL
Another one:
SHP_RANGER CV4.bmp

Man you have some GOOD eyes!!!! No, the RANGER was added in the case that modders wanted to add the carrier RANGER to their mod of a particular scenario. Since it is not included in stock, I could not give it a "valid" name. It will not affect stock games as it (as it stands now) an invalid file name. But if you want to add it to your scenario database, then you can connect it to whatever slot you create the RANGER in.

Hope this explains it. If not, beat on my door again!

TOMLABEL

[Halsey]

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66
@Halsey
There are some files too were I wonder if the game engines uses them at all:

IJAAF Recon.bmp
IJAAF.bmp
IJNAF Patrol.bmp
IJNAF.bmp
USN Flight wings.bmp
ussr bomber.bmp
ussr fighter.bmp
ussr naval air.bmp
LCU_AUS.bmp
LCU_BR.bmp
LCU_BU.bmp
LCU_CA.bmp
LCU_DU.bmp
LCU_FR.bmp
LCU_IJ.bmp
LCU_IJA.bmp
LCU_IN.bmp
LCU_NZ.bmp
LCU_PI.bmp
LCU_PRC.bmp
LCU_ROC.bmp
LCU_RTA.bmp
LCU_US.bmp
LCU_USSR.bmp

These are generic bitmap holders that can be used by any player by renaming them to that type or country.
A do it yourself kit.[:D]

[BigDuke66]

Well the Japanese side seem to lack a lot chrome and I wonder if the LCUs & Ships could us something else as they don't seem to have real patches.
For the LCUs I looked into wikipedia and saw that a lot of them had call signs for example the 1st Infantry Divisions call sign was the "Jade Division" I wonder if something could be made out of this.
For the ships I couldn't find anything but maybe the Navy used some kind of short designation(number, symbol, etc.) that could be used.


In case any designer of patches wants to look over his work I would recommend to look at 3 points:

1. Let out generic patches(this goes mainly to Lesbaker & Reg) as there isn't much sense in bring in hundreds or thousands of identical patches, especially as one thinks the gap is closed only to find that it's closed by a generic patch, either the real or no patch would be better.

2. The patch should be used that was used when the ship, LCU or Airgroup enters or re-enters the theater, this goes mainly to the ships/subs as I saw some sub patches that had markings for sinking ships on it but as the player writes his on war so these patches are simply "wrong" for his storyline.

3. Use 70x70, some patches have rather "complicated" look and it's hard to see what is depicted on it so shrinking it even further is no help at all. For my taste even 70x70 is too small and I wouldn't have minded something above 100x100 but well we got to work with the room we have.