Graphics Enhancement Mod (GEM) v2.4. Updated: December 22, 2012

[Unforeseen]

Has anyone seen or heard from the author lately?

[Darkspire]

ORIGINAL: Unforeseen

Has anyone seen or heard from the author lately?

He left the forums, so no, not much chance.

Darkspire

[Unforeseen]

Oh well, thanks

[AstroCat]

Are you going to finish fixing them? If so, would you upload them? Thanks!!

[LeFoureur]

Thank !

[AstroCat]

Well I've fixed barrenrock, continental and forest. I'll try and do the rest as I get time, and then if noone else does I'll upload them.

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: AstroCat

Well I've fixed barrenrock, continental and forest. I'll try and do the rest as I get time, and then if noone else does I'll upload them.

Please do thanks!

[AstroCat]

updated in later post!

[AstroCat]

Gah! All his overlays are out of whack too, grrr! Ok, I'll try and fix those too, but for now I wouldn't use them since they don't line up with the planets for the same reason.

Actually this is a much bigger issue because it seems any graphic mod that doesn't use the original game dimensions is going to have this issue which pretty much sucks.

Maybe we can ask what is going on?

[Darkspire]

ORIGINAL: AstroCat

Gah! All his overlays are out of whack too, grrr! Ok, I'll try and fix those too, but for now I wouldn't use them since they don't line up with the planets for the same reason.

Actually this is a much bigger issue because it seems any graphic mod that doesn't use the original game dimensions is going to have this issue which pretty much sucks.

Maybe we can ask what is going on?

I thought I might help, even If I do not use the mod [:)]

Done the planets.

That is all the planets and overlays for the volcanic planets.
No folder structure, extract the zip in the planets folder and overwrite all of them.

Now the bad news, the gas giant images, frozen and gas giant, are not even being used by the mod, they need renaming, I can do them as well but not till later on today, with a bit of luck.

I will have a look at the rest of the mod as well when I do the gas giant images and update where necessary.

Darkspire

[AstroCat]

Yeah any mod that does not use the original file sizes needs to be resized and then rescaled to fit, this includes overlays. I also fixed all the planets minus the gas ones. Made a batch action in PS.

I wonder if this is for all graphics mods, including effects? This could be a real mess when trying to use older mods.

[Darkspire]

ORIGINAL: AstroCat

Yeah any mod that does not use the original file sizes needs to be resized and then rescaled to fit, this includes overlays. I also fixed all the planets minus the gas ones. Made a batch action in PS.

I wonder if this is for all graphics mods, including effects? This could be a real mess when trying to use older mods.

I am reading from page 14 of the manual as regards the renaming, there also sequence number images missing from this mod in some of the planet folders as well.

Do you want me to continue with updating the theme or do you want to collaborate on sections? If so I will PM you a dropbox link and we can tackle the various sections between us if you want?

Darkspire

[AstroCat]

Yeah, I'm happy to help out.

Also note you can not just resize the images, they will appear too small in the game, you have to actually re-scale them after you re-size them. It's a bit of a pain, because I had to make 2 different scale transform templates because the barren planets where a little off. It works but it is not as simple as just resizing the image unfortunately.

I did it by trial and error of lining the images up after the scale transform until they matched, then I'd load them in-game to make sure they fit the shadow file.

Problem now is none of the overlays are the correct size either. So it seems all mods have to be the original image size and scale to work, which seems like a mess!

[Darkspire]

ORIGINAL: AstroCat

Yeah, I'm happy to help out.

Also note you can not just resize the images, they will appear too small in the game, you have to actually re-scale them after you re-size them. It's a bit of a pain, because I had to make 2 different scale transform templates because the barren planets where a little off. It works but it is not as simple as just resizing the image unfortunately.

I did it by trial and error of lining the images up after the scale transform until they matched, then I'd load them in-game to make sure they fit the shadow file.

Problem now is none of the overlays are the correct size either. So it seems all mods have to the original image size and scale to work, which seems like a mess!

I never have used it, I spent an hour or so making a script up and resizing them, never noticed the rescale, scrap than plan then, I will take the download down on the previous post.

Your right, this is a major overhaul, I have done a few things for the UI in Darkverse but I like the default planets so have never really looked at this as a viable option for an enhancement.

If you make a list of what has been done and what needs doing I will have a go at anything outstanding as you have already covered the planets?

Darkspire

[AstroCat]

Yeah, I got all the planets done, minus the gas ones. The gas ones are extra annoying because they are different sizes, so each size has to be basically redone as it's own set. All the other object like the stars, etc I think also have to be re-done. And this would go for any mod.

I asked about this issue because it seems like a major change that would screw up all previous mods because most people used different file sizes.

The key is figuring out which images this problem effects and which it doesn't.

[necaradan666]

It's my understanding from reading this thread that Martian never worked on the gas giants. The images included in GEM are merely from the game which he just left in their folder when he uploaded. No need to work on them.

[AstroCat]

Well the gas planet file dimensions in his mod are different from the vanilla game but when I look at them they seem to be the same style and resolution. So, I think I'll skip the gas giants and move to the overlays because for sure they are not lining up any more.

What I really want to know, is this a bug? And what other files are messed up now?

Also this bug will screw up any other mod's planets unless they are the same size as vanilla, at least that is the way it seems so far.

[AnddyiRaynor]

I'm pretty sure the mod guide says you cannot change stars/suns.

[necaradan666]

AstroCat you've resized the planets but neglected to rename and copy the GEM files according to the new Universe structure, your zip includes base Universe planets. GEM only had 20 continental images Universe has added more, eg in Universe the images for continental planet 0004 has been changed to 0003, 0007 has been changed to 0006 both of which didn't exist earlier and all those between and after have moved up one, they've added copies of 0019 and 0020 called 0022 and 0023.. there is no 0021. This is the same for all the planet types, I renamed them all in my game because when playing with GEM installed I think I saw a base game ocean planet. I guess I could upload my folder somewhere if you wanted to batch rescale and resize again (I don't have the skillz and only paint) but it might be quicker for you to do your own renaming I won't have time to upload until after work.

[AstroCat]

Thanks for the catch. I'll see if I can fix the naming and reupload... I need to compare the vanilla game files to GEM. Thanks.