SPWAW Graphics Needed (?)

RockinHarry · Post by **RockinHarry** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 2:01 am

Originally posted by Marder:
to rockin harry

"Marder,..do you think the SPWAW row houses don´t include european city buildings? Do you have aerial photos or graphics, so I know how they look like?"

no i don´t think so, the new graphics are very european, i would just need some buildings like a university or a big museum (7-hexes buildings-especially diagonal)
And perhaps a "rubble on the street"-graphic!

Marder

Hi marder,

there might be some useful stuff for you in Ter81 Shape file. It´s Multihex buildings ( 3 - Row ) in SPWAW Editor. Best to view with the "tile transfer" function in Fred MapEd.

____________
Harry

Don Doom · Post by **Don Doom** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 2:11 am

Herr RockinHarry
Any chance of having a flak towers and u-boat pen's or airfield runways/building can be made if I can send pic's or links to site's w/pic's.

Fabs · Post by **Fabs** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 9:32 pm

Rockin'Harry: The snow covered buildings look fantastic!

One "nice to have" option would be a road layer that would also add, alongside the road, telegraph poles and lines.

No value as far as game play is concerned, just purely decorative.

Mediterranean style rowhouses for Italian/Sicilian villages, where houses were very close together would also be nice. I can't supply pictures but maybe some of our Italian friends could.

David Boutwell: I'm really looking forward to the new Hill 112 map. Are you going to use the mountainizer to give a more realistic relief to it?

[ August 10, 2001: Message edited by: Fabs ]

David boutwell · Post by **David boutwell** » Sat Aug 11, 2001 10:04 am

Fabs,

I'm not even sure what the mountainizer is! Where can I find it? If an Earth Science teacher can't create a hill that realistically resembles correct topographic features, though, I need to either quit teaching topographic maps, or making maps with hills!

Actually, I'm using the maps found in Saunders' book to create the correct shape of the 100, 110 and 120 feet elevation contour lines, so the hill at least looks like the maps in the book.

Regards,

David Boutwell

Originally posted by Fabs:
Rockin'Harry: The snow covered buildings look fantastic!

One "nice to have" option would be a road layer that would also add, alongside the road, telegraph poles and lines.

No value as far as game play is concerned, just purely decorative.

Mediterranean style rowhouses for Italian/Sicilian villages, where houses were very close together would also be nice. I can't supply pictures but maybe some of our Italian friends could.

David Boutwell: I'm really looking forward to the new Hill 112 map. Are you going to use the mountainizer to give a more realistic relief to it?

[ August 10, 2001: Message edited by: Fabs ]

skukko · Post by **skukko** » Sat Aug 11, 2001 1:33 pm

Originally posted by RockinHarry:

Heh mosh....what does that mean???

_______
Harry

I mean that I'll need ambulance craphic from some truck that I can evacuate my crews from the front line in pbems as well as in campaigns. You know, I don't want to give a free kill to enemy

Now I don't have any graphic to it and I use normal trucks, but I do loose them among other trucks and usually get them exploded...

mosh

Fabs · Post by **Fabs** » Sat Aug 11, 2001 8:57 pm

David, Mountainizer is a program developed by Ectizen that processes a map raising all hex elevations by 30.

It will do that as many times as one wants, making it possible to have as many elevation levels as one wants in one map.

The idea is to start with a normal map, use the editor to draw the top 3 levels, put it through the Mountainizer that will raise the whole map by 30, carve the next few levels out, put it through the Mountainizer again etc. until all the desired levels have been obtained.

At the moment it's at the beta stage, and I have been lucky enough to have been able to play around with that. It's amazing!

Ectizen says it will be available for download on his site very soon.

I'm on holiday right now and I don't have my 1:25,000 maps of Normandy handy, but I seem to remember that the elevation differences between the top of Hill 112 and the villages of Maltot, Esquay and Evrecy nearby (the ones I can remember) were gereater than just 30 meters. (I could be wrong).

The Mountainizer would make it easy for you to use the actual number of levels if these were greater than 0 - 30m from the lowest to the highest point on the map.

[ August 11, 2001: Message edited by: Fabs ]

David boutwell · Post by **David boutwell** » Sat Aug 11, 2001 11:44 pm

Fabs,

You're killing me!! I'm almost finished with the map. What you are telling me would almost make me have to start over, if I want to do the map accurately, which I do. It's just that I started before I even knew anything like this existed! Can I use it without erasing my current terrain??

Actaully, Maltot's average elevation looks to be about 40 feet, Esquay is around 60-70, and the Orne River is around 20 feet in elevation. The three elevation levels that I'm using represent the changes in elevation around the hill, as I only had three to work with, and those elevation changes are, to me, the most significant.

I eagerly await the "mountainizer"!

Regards,

David Boutwell

Originally posted by Fabs:
I'm on holiday right now and I don't have my 1:25,000 maps of Normandy handy, but I seem to remember that the elevation differences between the top of Hill 112 and the villages of Maltot, Esquay and Evrecy nearby (the ones I can remember) were gereater than just 30 meters. (I could be wrong).

The Mountainizer would make it easy for you to use the actual number of levels if these were greater than 0 - 30m from the lowest to the highest point on the map.

[ August 11, 2001: Message edited by: Fabs ]

Fabs · Post by **Fabs** » Sun Aug 12, 2001 2:08 am

David, believe me, I feel yhour pain! I have to redo my Otta map.

I'm looking forward to the finished product, but not to doing the work!

However, if you are anything like me when it comes to perfectionism, knowing that a new tool such as the Mountainizer exists will eventually push you to update the map.

David boutwell · Post by **David boutwell** » Sun Aug 12, 2001 8:10 am

Tell me about it, Fabs. In a way, I can't wait for this game, and all of the cool support stuff that is coming down the pike, to settle down, so that I don't have to keep re-doing stuff! Some people like getting new cars and gadgets every time something new comes out. I have to have all of the new toys that keep popping up and making this game better, and better, and better...

David Boutwell

David boutwell · Post by **David boutwell** » Sun Aug 12, 2001 8:14 am

RockinHarry,

How do you handle adding these new terrain icons to your game? Do you keep a custom set of terrain files, or do you just not post any of your work?

David Boutwell

RockinHarry · Post by **RockinHarry** » Sun Aug 12, 2001 2:52 pm

Originally posted by Don Doom:
Herr RockinHarry
Any chance of having a flak towers and u-boat pen's or airfield runways/building can be made if I can send pic's or links to site's w/pic's.

Herr Don Doom

..if you have these links or pics, then send them. Actually I started this thread for exactly that reason,..to get know what graphics are needed/wanted in SPWAW and where to get the material to finally make these additions to SPWAW shape files.
I´m not a "Warhorse" or other gifted graphic artists, but these guys seem to be off for Combat Leader and so I try to step in. Wouldn´t it be a pity this free graphic slots not be used?

This is what came up so far:

Jungle Huts (pix needed)
Corduroy roads (?)
castles/chateaus (pix needed)
improved bridge design including trestle and rail (..in the works)
a transport ship like an old Liberty Ship (..in the works)
real radio tower (pix needed)
more military buildings (pix needed)
a log foot bridge (?)
PT Boat (...looking in OOBs)
non-moveable airplanes (...looking in OOBs)
ambulance (-station, hospital) (..in the works)
flak towers and u-boat pen's or airfield runways/building (..pix needed)
________
Harry

RockinHarry · Post by **RockinHarry** » Sun Aug 12, 2001 3:08 pm

Originally posted by Fabs:
Rockin'Harry: The snow covered buildings look fantastic!

One "nice to have" option would be a road layer that would also add, alongside the road, telegraph poles and lines.

No value as far as game play is concerned, just purely decorative.

Mediterranean style rowhouses for Italian/Sicilian villages, where houses were very close together would also be nice. I can't supply pictures but maybe some of our Italian friends could.

David Boutwell: I'm really looking forward to the new Hill 112 map. Are you going to use the mountainizer to give a more realistic relief to it?

[ August 10, 2001: Message edited by: Fabs ]

Hi Fabs,

you can do experiments with these "snow" covered wooden buildings, if you like:
http://members.surfeu.de/ug2010/SPWAW/Terrain82Shapes.zip

...I´ll have to redo them as I found out about these "color cycling" thing too late!

Same as this "corduroy-road", would be nice to have these details like "telegraph poles" and the like, but I´m not quite sure they fit into SPWAW scale! If they´re right they´re probably not bigger than 1-2 pixel. Don´t know if this would be worth the work. I already tested this corduroy road and there really wouldn´t be much difference to the common SPWAW dirt road. Making the corduroy pattern more apparent would mean the logs are much bigger as they should for SPWAW scale. Nevertheless...will try some of these micro-detail things....

__________
Harry

RockinHarry · Post by **RockinHarry** » Sun Aug 12, 2001 5:41 pm

Originally posted by David boutwell:
RockinHarry,

How do you handle adding these new terrain icons to your game? Do you keep a custom set of terrain files, or do you just not post any of your work?

David Boutwell

All that I do is for everybody once I got some stuff finished. First I try to figure out what graphic adds are welcomed then I try to get the needed base material like photos or premade stuff from the existing shape files newly arranged. Would be nice if some people help,..giving pictures or links but also other "shape"-workers are welcome as I´m also still learning how to do the stuff best with Freds Editors and graphic programs. By now I´m investigating in the "centering" of shapes issue and already found out some interesting stuff.

Shape files in question: 82,83,84,85,86,90 and maybe more. At least these ones are supported directly by SPWAW through the various key-commands. (a,~,use-X,SHIFT-1..) Of course all zoom levels need to be made also. The size ratios are: Highest zoom (z4) 100%, 2.zoom (z3)=80%, 3.zoom (z2)=60% and 4. zoom (z1)=~35%. The working steps usually are: Exporting the shapes in question with freds ShapeEd to BMP format. Do the changes in graphic program and reimport the changed BMPs into the Shapefiles again with Freds ShapeEd. Fred has most of the info needed to work with his programs kept in either the helpfile or a historyfile. That´s what I´m working with. No secrets.

Some facts: Shapefiles may have upto 255 graphic slots. (most have less than 100 now or just dummies) Building type shapes have a 2-3 pixel "autoshadow" in the game. The shadow is below and left, the lighting in SPWAW obviously seems to come from North-East.

BTW: The new city street graphics look best when placed on the "floor" layer of SPWAW. By now they are placed on layer 6 and so covering these building "autoshadows". (..makes the row houses looking a bit flat at times) The changes need to be made with Freds MapEd only.

___________
Harry

RockinHarry · Post by **RockinHarry** » Sun Aug 12, 2001 7:20 pm

Originally posted by skukko:

I mean that I'll need ambulance craphic from some truck that I can evacuate my crews from the front line in pbems as well as in campaigns. You know, I don't want to give a free kill to enemy Now I don't have any graphic to it and I use normal trucks, but I do loose them among other trucks and usually get them exploded...

mosh

Ah....should be simple. Red Cross sign on any truck? Will see..
What about the civilian bus in norway OOB?
________-
Harry

[ August 12, 2001: Message edited by: RockinHarry ]

adantas · Post by **adantas** » Mon Aug 13, 2001 8:49 pm

Originally posted by RockinHarry:

Herr Don Doom <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

..if you have these links or pics, then send them. Actually I started this thread for exactly that reason,..to get know what graphics are needed/wanted in SPWAW and where to get the material to finally make these additions to SPWAW shape files.
I´m not a "Warhorse" or other gifted graphic artists, but these guys seem to be off for Combat Leader and so I try to step in. Wouldn´t it be a pity this free graphic slots not be used?

This is what came up so far:

Jungle Huts (pix needed)
Corduroy roads (?)
castles/chateaus (pix needed)
improved bridge design including trestle and rail (..in the works)
a transport ship like an old Liberty Ship (..in the works)
real radio tower (pix needed)
more military buildings (pix needed)
a log foot bridge (?)
PT Boat (...looking in OOBs)
non-moveable airplanes (...looking in OOBs)
ambulance (-station, hospital) (..in the works)
flak towers and u-boat pen's or airfield runways/building (..pix needed)
________
Harry

Hi Harry!,

Nice job mate! <img src="smile.gif" border="0">
well, one thing I would like to see are defensive walls from medieval ages or Roman age.
many cities in Italy and around the Mediterain have defensive walls surrounding then.
static planes are a nice ideia too.

Go ahed with the job mate!! <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

Alessandro

--------------
Senta à Pua!!!

kord · Post by **kord** » Tue Aug 14, 2001 8:31 pm

One Graphic I would appreciate to have would be a terrain overlay (like town streets) to make pretty Piers and/or Jetty.

It it possible to copy/modify some of the town streets overlays to do that ? (It is far beyond my competence...)

Kord

RockinHarry · Post by **RockinHarry** » Wed Aug 15, 2001 12:28 am

Some news...

the easier things first:

Finished some hospital tents as terrain overlay. They´re placed in terrain shapefile 90 ("~" - key), so they actually have no terrain classes affiliated. But as they´re graphic overlays, they are same terrain class as the underlying terrain.
In the snapshot you can see the tents shown as "wooden building". I made these terrain stats in Freds MapEd AFTER I placed the overlays in SPWAW Editor. Another way would be to place the "hospital tent" tile in the "wooden building" shape file ( Ter82(z4) Single Wood Building Use1) right from the start. What do you think? Fixed as wooden building or generic overlay?

http://members.surfeu.de/ug2010/SPWAW/Hospital_LibertyShip.jpg

Another change is the civilian bus from norway OOB, I´ve given it some red cross marking on roof.

The "liberty ship" actually is the shape from US OOB LST ship. (idea by adantas) It´s also an overlay and not a unit!

I also tinkered a little bit with the "road" shapefile and added a new rail bridge of wooden type.

As none of the above examples have all the apropriate zoom files finished I don´t post them here yet.

Any opinions or suggestions?

_________
Harry

RockinHarry · Post by **RockinHarry** » Wed Aug 15, 2001 12:53 am

Originally posted by kord:
One Graphic I would appreciate to have would be a terrain overlay (like town streets) to make pretty Piers and/or Jetty.

It it possible to copy/modify some of the town streets overlays to do that ? (It is far beyond my competence...)

Kord

Maybe this can be added later by someone. ( or by me) What you can do now is placing a stone bridge in the water and then place F.E. a "town street" tile on top.

Would look like this:

http://members.surfeu.de/ug2010/SPWAW/Piers_Jetty.jpg

BTW: Town Streets are "a"-key and SHIFT-1 for tile numbers. Type 99 for overview.

_________
Harry

RockinHarry · Post by **RockinHarry** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 9:48 pm

I would like to know who made all the SPWAW building graphics. Some of them are clearly recognizeable, others are a little bit misterious.
Is there any description available by the original graphic designers?

BTW: I just updated my "Freds Map Edit" Doc file and put the link to my profile. I´ll update it from time to time, the link will stay the same.
Any comments and ideas on subject are always welcome.

Also proof readers are needed.
__________
Harry

RockinHarry · Post by **RockinHarry** » Sun Nov 18, 2001 12:58 am

BUMP

..for Tracker and others interested in the subject.