Having trouble please help

[admiralk]

Ok i always had a problem making a unit for CTP2 but now i got a nice chance to do it and I really want to but I am having a problem. I use Paint shop pro 7.0 full. And every time i try to create the sprite using the makespr thingy it says alpha error. I use the tutorial provided on this site as a gudie for how to make the unit and do Exactly as they say to and it still doesn't wrk. Can any1 help please

[The Big Mc]

The Big Mc to the rescue

I had the same problem

All you have to do is put you unit on a black background
Make the alpha channel save it
And here comes the problem you may be having
Press edit undo alpha and then save the file
As long as the alpha channel has some black to remove your fine.

[admiralk]

thanks for your reply I will try that after work.

[Immortal Wombat]

And try to make sure you have no black pixels in the unit picture. If one is near black, colour it in dark brown or something.

[The Big Mc]

Any more problems with it just say so here i will be willing to help

[admiralk]

hey, thanks for the help but it still didn't work. I think it could be me. Maybe I'm making the alpha channel wrong. Here's what i do anyway. I put a pitch black background with 0 everything. Then I go to masks-new-from image-any non zero number-ok. Then all the black disappears. Then when I look at the graphic again there is no black except the rectangle where my unit is in. I try makespr and it says Error in bitmap data pixel with no associated alpha. I hope you guys have some more tricks up your sleve.

[Martin Gühmann]

I prefer Paint Shp Pro 4 with this version it is much easier to create the alpha channel you should try to paint all the pixels that changed their colors to black again. That should help IIRC.

-Martin

[Immortal Wombat]

The PSP instructions document is wierd, I never use that way.

Try this:
1) Draw/paste the pic into a 96*72 tif file. Try to avoid using black in the image
2) Select all black pixels (use the magic wand)
3) selections -> invert (you now have all non-black pixels)
4) selections -> save to alpha channel
5) selections -> select none
6) save.

That should work no problem.

[Locutus]

Yes, IW is right, the PSP instructions in Harlan's guide never seem to work, what IW describes is very similar, if not identical, to what works for me.

[Immortal Wombat]

From your extensive sprite making experience?

[Locutus]

Well, I *did* do some work... I bet I converted more AoE units to CtP format than you

[admiralk]

WOW!!!! It worked, it really really worked. IW is GOD!!!!! Life begins and ends with IW. Thanks a million IW.

[admiralk]

I hate bugging you guys like this but I have to keep asking questions so here goes:


Ok, like always i just ran into a new problem. How do I add units in the game? Also how do I make an attack animation for the game?---(Don't wrry once i start making a scenario hundreds more SLIC questions will pop up..lol)

P.S. Where can i find a good SLIC guide for beginners. It'll save me the embarrasment of asking you guys again and again for questions and answers.

[Immortal Wombat]

IW is GOD!!!!!

No he's not. Just a prophet or something

Adding units to the game - Hexagonia's site There's a modders guide with full instructions, but basically, you need to change units.txt, uniticon.txt, newsprite.txt, gl_str.txt, Great_library.txt and UnitBuildLists.txt

Follow the patterns and its not too hard.

For unit animations, you need to build them into the sprite. If you have the cow sprite tiff files, you can see the death animation, you need to do a sequence of frames for each animation. Then figure out how to write the sprite script file...

SLIC guides are indexed here and mine is written out in full.

I bet I converted more AoE units to CtP format than you

Probably not if you included AoE2. Did you ever release them?

edit: buggering server change has screwed every thread link on the whole site.

[Martin Gühmann]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
The PSP instructions document is wierd, I never use that way.

Actual these instructions are made for PSP4/5, at least I know that they were correct for PSP4, I tried a demo of PSP6 and this version made the whole process of sprite creating more complicating. And the best thing of my copy I own is that it isn't an expired demo.

-Martin

[Immortal Wombat]

Aha, that would be it. Maybe its time for an update?

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
No he's not. Just a prophet or something

You stole my line!

Probably not if you included AoE2.

Dunno, but that's why I didn't...

Did you ever release them?

I think I posted a link to one or two fo them somewhere in the CtP1 forums (was a looong time ago). Most of 'em should still be on my HDD or back-up CDs though... somewhere... (Doesn't really matter since I s*ck at graphics so they're ugly anyway).

[admiralk]

Thanks for the reply the information is very helpful. I'll get started as soon as I can access the SLIC modification stuff, for some reason it don't work. Thanks alot you are very helpful people.

[Immortal Wombat]

You stole my line!

I thought you were Sid's Messiah?

[admiralk]

Ok 1 more question. Where can I get a list of-----if---thingy's. I don't know what they're called but you guys know. The if this **** happens then the event happens. Thats all I think I need to know before I start trying out SLIC2.

[Immortal Wombat]

HTTP://apolyton.net/ctp2/modification

[Martin Gühmann]

Maybe you like also to visit this place. There you can also find some useful stuff especial the slic2 documentation. But be careful this place is very assimilating. But actual Resitance is futile.

-Martin