How to produce a "movie"

[larryfulkerson]

First of all you gotta have the advanced game option "movies" turned on for this to work.

And you'll need the GIFanimator.exe program. You can download it free from Gamesquad here:

http://www.gamesquad.com/forums/downloa ... le&id=1173

or you can send me an email ( larryfulkerson2002 (at) yahoo (dot) com ) and I'll send you a copy of the one I use.

If you have the movies turned on, when you end your turn the TOAW program will write two files to your saves directory. One will be lots bigger than the other one and it will represent the entire gamemap with all the units visible on it. The smaller one represents the minimap and the blue and red dots on it. Just delete the bigger file ( unless you want to print it out as a visual aid or something ).

[larryfulkerson]

After you have all the files you need for your movie ( and have converted them to GIF format ) open up your GIFanimator.exe program. It will look like this:

[larryfulkerson]

"Open" the first file into GIFanimator.exe and use the animation tab to set the looping and repeat forever checkboxes:

[larryfulkerson]

Use the Image tab to set the undraw method to "leave" and uncheck the transparency checkbox. I always use a duration of 100 to make the frame show for one second before the next frame is shown.

[larryfulkerson]

Use the "add frame" button to add more frames to your movie. Move the new frame to the bottom of the stack of frames and set the duration of the new frame.

[larryfulkerson]

After you have added all your frames use the "save-as" button to name your movie and save it to your hard disk.

[larryfulkerson]

you should now have a movie that you can post on the forum.

EDIT: while I use the minimap files that the "movies" option produces you can also use the screenprint button to capture game moments as well. This GIFanimator.exe will string together any GIF images into a movie so you can use just about any files you want to make any movie you can imagine making as long as they are GIF files.

[lojishen]

Thanks Larry,  I was just digging around on Gamesquad, looking for this.

[lojishen]

How do you get the .bmp files from the old End_Of_Turn files?  I open it, turn movies on, save it to a new name or old name, but don't get any .bmp files.
 
Thanks,
 
lojishen

[ralphtricky]

ORIGINAL: lojishen

How do you get the .bmp files from the old End_Of_Turn files?  I open it, turn movies on, save it to a new name or old name, but don't get any .bmp files.

Thanks,

lojishen

You may not be able to, I'm afraid. After the patch, you'll be able to open the files, shrink the map to it's most zoomed out and dump the map. It's still going to be a bit bigger than the micromap, though.

[Veers]

ORIGINAL: lojishen

How do you get the .bmp files from the old End_Of_Turn files?  I open it, turn movies on, save it to a new name or old name, but don't get any .bmp files.

Thanks,

lojishen

Easy. Open DO_NOT_SEND. Turn on movies. End turn. Mini-map and small icons will be (should be) produced.

[lojishen]

Ahh, got it.  I read end turn in Larry's notes, but had a mental block because I had already ended that turn.  I didn' realize you could end the turn again in those .SAL files and generate another .PBL file.  Very cool, and thanks for the help.

[ralphtricky]

ORIGINAL: Veers

ORIGINAL: lojishen

How do you get the .bmp files from the old End_Of_Turn files?  I open it, turn movies on, save it to a new name or old name, but don't get any .bmp files.

Thanks,

lojishen

Easy. Open DO_NOT_SEND. Turn on movies. End turn. Mini-map and small icons will be (should be) produced.

<DOH>[&o]

[Veers]

ORIGINAL: lojishen

Ahh, got it.  I read end turn in Larry's notes, but had a mental block because I had already ended that turn.  I didn' realize you could end the turn again in those .SAL files and generate another .PBL file.  Very cool, and thanks for the help.

Yer welcome.

[Veers]

ORIGINAL: ralphtrick

ORIGINAL: Veers

ORIGINAL: lojishen
How do you get the .bmp files from the old End_Of_Turn files?  I open it, turn movies on, save it to a new name or old name, but don't get any .bmp files.
Thanks,
lojishen

Easy. Open DO_NOT_SEND. Turn on movies. End turn. Mini-map and small icons will be (should be) produced.

<DOH>[&o]

Happens to the best of us, Ralph.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: lojishen
How do you get the .bmp files from the old End_Of_Turn files?  I open it, turn movies on, save it to a new name or old name, but don't get any .bmp files.
lojishen

I turned the movies option on and hit the end-of-turn button. I think the "end-of-turn" routine built into the game is what does the writing of the "movie" files. And that's how I used your END_OF_TURN files to produce the movie I posted in your AAR.

EDIT: If I had read further down in the thread I would have found that Veers had already answered this question. Sorry to all involved.

[Veers]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: lojishen
How do you get the .bmp files from the old End_Of_Turn files?  I open it, turn movies on, save it to a new name or old name, but don't get any .bmp files.
lojishen

I turned the movies option on and hit the end-of-turn button. I think the "end-of-turn" routine built into the game is what does the writing of the "movie" files. And that's how I used your END_OF_TURN files to produce the movie I posted in your AAR.

EDIT: If I had read further down in the thread I would have found that Veers had already answered this question. Sorry to all involved.

Heh heh.
There is a lesson for everyone here, however: Read the whole thread before replying. It makes everyone's life easier.

[Curtis Lemay]

If you just used the frames made by the movie thing then one thing that will be missing from the movie will be a frame showing the starting positions. I've gotten in the habit of making a starting frame to go with the others. Just start the scenario fresh, end your turn without moving anything and a frame showing the starting positions will be created.

[Veers]

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay
If you just used the frames made by the movie thing then one thing that will be missing from the movie will be a frame showing the starting positions. I've gotten in the habit of making a starting frame to go with the others. Just start the scenario fresh, end your turn without moving anything and a frame showing the starting positions will be created.

I do as well. Unless it's a sceanrio (Europe Aflame, etc) that doesn't 'srtart' untila couple turns in.