Personal Star Wars Mod

posted on March 6th, 2013, 4:37 am

I use a program called TGATool2 to make build buttons and I use a stock blank build button as a template. All the program requires is Paint and TGATool2. You open your image in TGATool2 edit it in paint save it and then open up the blank build button in TGATool2 and double click that image to open up paint. Use your saved image, copy it and paste it to the blank build button in paint save it and then go back to the button in TGATool2 save it and you got your button. It's sounds tough but its actually very simple.

Don't know if it would work with the FleetOps button template that's why I don't use it. But it simply merges two images to make a build button. You just need a BMP image and a TGA file and simply Paint to do the main copy paste work. You might want to try it, it has been handy making stock build buttons for stock mods.

http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/train/tgatool2.htm

posted on March 6th, 2013, 6:08 am

Ok I've copied and pasted an image of the medium transport used as a construction ship, now how do i merge that image with the button templates and get rid of the white background?

You can do two things. When "cutting out" the image, you can select everything but the ship, and go to Select/Invert to select the ship itself, or you can select everything, go to Layer/Transparency/Add Alpha Channel and then delete everything but the ship.

posted on March 7th, 2013, 4:20 am

Ok I think I've got it. It's really ugly in the GIMP program but I'm gonna see how it looks in game.

posted on March 7th, 2013, 4:32 am

Like I said, it works better on a black background, and if you still cant get a good cut out, try using the "feathered edges" option on the fuzzy select tool.(its at the bottom of your floating tool bar thing after you select the tool) It will blur the edges a bit and sometimes make it look cleaner.

If you get a good cut out and want to get a little more advanced, I use the filter/lighting/drop shadow effect to give the pic a little shadow. It helps it blend in with FO buttons, but adds a bit of extra work. You will have to mess with the settings to get it to look right, but make sure, if you do try it, to uncheck the box "allow resizing." That can seriously mess things up.

posted on March 7th, 2013, 4:41 am

All I get in game is a white box. I'm pretty sure my sprite entry is off. But from what I saw in the guide it should have worked. Here is my sprite entry.

b_Reb_const Reb_const 0 0 90 90 # 1 1

The guide says that the first two numbers are the location of the button in pixels (x pixels down x pixels to the right) the second set of numbers is the size (90 px by 90 px) the # is unimportant, and the last two reference the location of the button in the set. 1, 1 should be the top left corner.

I've played around with a different numbers but I can't get it to show up. Here is what the file actually looks like.

Attachments

Button.jpg (133.72 KiB) Viewed 751 times

posted on March 7th, 2013, 6:39 am

Make sure you save without RLE compression. Open the texture in gimp again, save it, and when the "save as tga" window pops up, make sure to uncheck the RLE compression box.

posted on March 7th, 2013, 10:27 pm

Ok I've gotten the button to show up. Here is a picture. I'll have to play with the numbers a bit to center the image but it looks better in-game than in the program itself. Thanks for the help, now I can make build buttons for all the Federation ships I ported to FO for another mod. I might release a build button pack for people to use....One question, do I need the maker of the ship's permission to release a build button or would that be considered by own work?

Attachments

Build button.png (897.44 KiB) Viewed 714 times

posted on March 7th, 2013, 10:42 pm

Looks good though obviously, the numbers would need to be corrected.

I'd say no on permission. Just using an image of the ship for a button is nothing. I'd still give credit of course, but it would be no different then posting a pic of a ship you converted to FO.

posted on March 7th, 2013, 11:00 pm

Great thanks for the help. Any advice on how to get accurate numbers for the sprite entry?

posted on March 7th, 2013, 11:11 pm

The numbers depend on a few things. Most of it is better stated in the guide, but just as a summary, your texture needs to be square, your @reference needs to reflect the length or width of the texture, the first two numbers are the location, in x,y, and the second two numbers are the actual size of the button.

Basically, if your button is 90 x 90, you could make a texture called texture1, and have the texture also be 90 x 90.

I think all you would have to do is this:

@reference=90
b_ship1 texture1 0 0 90 90

and that should make it right.

If you made it a tile for FO, theirs are actually 96 x 96 so if you were in the top left of the tile, it would be like this.

@reference=512
b_ship1 texture1 0 0 96 96



Also, you don't need to put the @reference line in unless you are changing it, so if you put your ship button under the FO ones, the @reference is already set to 512, but if you changed to a different size, you would also need to add that line. For beginners though, it is usually easiest to just do it how it is already done in FO.

posted on March 8th, 2013, 3:09 am

Ok I'm I got the sprite entry corrected for the construction ship and it centered the button. But I renamed the texture and added a Rebel Base button and now I'm back to white blocks.

(BTW I think I found an easy way to make my entries correct since I'm using the build button template I can take the positions and sprite entries from the other build buttons and use them for my button texture, since they're in the same position it should work correctly)

Here are my sprite entires:

b_Reb_const Reb_build01 0 0 96 96 # 1 1
b_Reb_base Reb_build01 104 0 96 96 # 2 1

As indicated in the guide the first button should reference to Column 1 and Row 1, and the second button column 2 and Row 1. I don't understand why it went back to white blocks, 'Reb_build01' is what I renamed it too so it shouldn't have changed.

posted on March 8th, 2013, 4:23 am

Well, it will go back to white if you saved it with the compression again, and if your sprite texture reference and actual texture names don't match

So if your reference was

b_Reb_const Reb_build01 0 0 96 96 # 1 1

but your textures name was

Reb_build1.tga

it would show up white because the names don't match.

Also, you don't need the # 1 1 part unless it helps. the # and everything after it is just a comment left behind by the Devs program.

posted on March 8th, 2013, 4:40 am

yeah I had saved it with compression. Oh well I got it going again. I tried to cut out the Rebel starbase but I couldn't get a good cut. It shows up with a partial black background. I'll try again later.

posted on March 8th, 2013, 4:47 am

If your model is too close to black, you can try to lower the threshold settings on the fuzzy select tool, as it might help to separate the darker or different colored background.

Also, you can use the free select tool to literally cut out the image if all else fails. I would't suggest you "draw" the cut with it though. Making a relatively close point by point perimeter around the image, and then adjusting the points individually, is usually easier.

posted on March 10th, 2013, 4:12 am

Ok so my Rebellion Faction is well underway but I've hit a snag. I've converted the Nebulon-B class frigate over and established somewhat of a techtree. I have the ship using two small hanger weapons but they aren't launching anything. Secondly, I have a hanger upgrade to where the ship will launch X-wings and Y-wings instead of T-wings and Z-95 headhunters. The Problem is neither the upgrade nor the button will show up on the command pallete. Now I've gotton an upgrade for the Corellian corvette to work and upgrade to the Modified Corellian Corvette. So I just took that weapon and renamed a few things and it should have worked. I've checked the odf for the ship several times but I can't find anything wrong. All the weapons are in the correct order and spelled right. I could really use a second pair of eyes.

BTW, I used the Intrepid odf file as a template, that way I only had to do a little renaming, some copy paste and weapons changes.

basename = "Reb_Nebfrig"
verbosetooltip = "The Nebulon-B class frigate often serves as an escort for supply convoys. It can carry a limited number of fighters."
attackpower = 1.000
intrinsicvalue = 1.000
unitname = "Nebulon-B Class Frigate"
tooltip = "Nebulon-B Class Frigate"
race = "unitedfederation"
buildtime = 32
crewcost = 300
dilithiumcost = 250
latinumcost = 500
biomattercost = 18
worthxp = 47
recycledilithium = 119
recyclelatinum = 38
recyclebiomatter = 5
recycletime = 45
maxhealth = 103
curhealth = 103
healthrate = 0.282
maxshields = 4800
curshields = 4800
shieldrate = 5
shieldgeneratorhitpoints =300
engineshitpoints = 300
weaponshitpoints = 300
lifesupporthitpoints = 300
sensorshitpoints = 300
physicsfile = "smooth_physics_130.odf"
trekphysicsfile = "smooth_physics_130.odf"

weapon1 = "SWW_medium"
weaponHardpoints1 = "hp01" "hp02" "hp11"

weapon2 = "SWW_medium"
weaponHardpoints2 = "hp07" "hp18"

weapon3 = "SWW_medium"
weaponHardpoints3 = "hp08" "hp19"

weapon4 = "SWW_medium"
weaponHardpoints4 = "hp01" "hp02" "hp11"

weapon5 = "SWW_medium"
weaponHardpoints5 = "hp07" "hp18"

weapon6 = "SWW_medium"
weaponHardpoints6 = "hp08" "hp19"

weapon7 = "SWW_light"
weaponHardpoints7 = "hp10"

weapon8 = "SWW_light"
weaponHardpoints8 = "hp12"

weapon9 = "SWW_light"
weaponHardpoints9 = "hp13"

weapo10 = "SWW_light"
weaponHardpoints10 = "hp14"

weapon11 = "SWW_light"
weaponHardpoints11 = "hp15"

weapon12 = "SWW_light"
weaponHardpoints12 = "hp20"

weapon13 = "Reb_earlyhanger1"
weaponHardpoints13 = "root"

weapon14 = "Reb_earlyhanger2"
weaponHardpoints14 = "root"

weapon15 = "Reb_NebulonBhangupgrade"
weaponHardpoints15 = "root"

enginesTargetHardpoints = "hp19" "hp20"
lifeSupportTargetHardpoints = "hp10" "hp12"
weaponsTargetHardpoints = "hp13" "hp14"
shieldGeneratorTargetHardpoints = "hp10" "hp09" "hp17"
sensorsTargetHardpoints = "hp09" "hp15"
hullTargetHardpoints = "hp12" "hp13" "hp14" "hp20"
criticalTargetHardpoints = "hp19" "hp20" "hp12"

possiblecraftnames = "Liberty" "Rebellion" "Adarga" "Lightning" "Adjudicator" "Avenger" "Conqueror" "Courageous" "Crynyd" "Devastator" "Truth" "Emancipator" "Engager" "Endor" "Freedom" "Firestorm" "Gauntlet" "Shadow" "Intrepid" "Judicator" "Orion" "Majestic" "Justice" "Moonshadow" "Nemesis" "Pulsar" "Sword" "Reckoning" "Redoubtable" "Reliance" "Render" "Resolution" "Retribution" "Steadfast" "Supremacy" "Return" "Mon Remonda" "Triumph" "Vanguard" "Tantive" "Alderaan" "Remembrance" "Whirlwind" "Vasudra" "Trapse" "Force" "Rapture" "Value" "Enterprise" "Yavin" "Hope" "Atreus" "Skywalker" "Solo" "Organa" "Antilles" "Hoth" "Ghost" "Reaper" "Calamari" "Pride" "Valor" "Iblis" "Star" "Morning" "Night" "Evening" "Day" "Light" "Darkness" "Dusk" "Dawn" "Winter" "Fall" "Summer" "Spring" "Independence" "Rebel Dawn" "Solo" "Defiance" "Defiant" "Wind" "Reef Home" "Arrow" "Victory" "Venture" "Stalker" "Defender" "Miracle"

eventselect = "Basic2CruiserSelect"
eventacknowledge = "Basic2CruiserAcknowledge"
eventattack = "Basic2CruiserAttack"
eventstop = "Basic2CruiserStop"
eventmove = "Basic2CruiserMove"
eventrepair = "Basic2CruiserRepair"
shipclass = "cruiser"
shiptype = "C"
enginesrepairtime = 1.0
lifesupportrepairtime = 0.25
weaponsrepairtime = 1.0
shieldgeneratorrepairtime = 1.0
sensorsrepairtime = 1.0
avoidanceclass = 5
weldingradius = 0.25
fireball = "x_large_explosion"
classlabel = "craft"
ainame = "CraftProcess"
officercost = 0
shielddelay = 2
damagedscan = 50.0
enginescrewloss = 10.0f
lifesupportcrewloss = 10.0f
weaponscrewloss = 10.0f
shieldgeneratorcrewloss = 10.0f
sensorscrewloss = 5.0f
lifesupportloss = 2
engineshitpercent = 7.0f
lifesupporthitpercent = 7.0f
weaponshitpercent = 7.0f
shieldgeneratorhitpercent = 1.0f
sensorshitpercent = 0
crewhitpercent = 7.0f
hullhitpercent = 71.0f
ship = 1
has_hitpoints = 1
has_crew = 1
transporter = 0
alert = 1
show_sw_autonomy = 1
show_movement_autonomy = 1
can_explore = 1
combat = 1
can_sandd = 1
buildablebyownerraceonly = 1
specialenergydisplaymode = 1
extraweaponhardpoints = "root"
maxextraweapons = 20
rangescan = 800
shieldhit = "shield_fed_hitM"
shieldhitcritical = "shield_fed_hitcritM"
shielddown = "shield_fed_down"
scalesod = 4.0

Here's the upgrade weapon

wpnname = "Ship Upgrade"
tooltip = "Nebulon-B Hanger upgrade"
verbosetooltip = "Upgrades the Hanger of the Nebulon-B Frigate to carry X-wings and Y-wings."
buttonslot = 3
replacementmode = 2
replacement0condition = "Reb_Nebfrig"
replacement0class0 = "Reb_NebulonBhangup"
replacementevent = "ShipRefit"
dilithiumcost = 300
latinumcost = 150
replacementkeepname = 1
replacementdontremovefootprint = 1
overrideceasefire = 1
classlabel = "replaceweapon"
special = 1
replacementmaintainorders = 1
replacementregisterasnew = 0
replacementcreationtype = 1
overridesubsystem = 1
speakonattack = 0
attackspeech = 0

and the odf names in case anyone is wondering what they acutally are.
Reb_Nebfrig.odf (original ship)
Reb_NebulonBhangupgrade.odf (replaceweapon)
Reb_NebulonBhangup.odf (new ship, new hanger weapons)

the hanger weapon names are as follows:
Reb_earlyhanger1 or 2 (T-wings, Z-95s)
Reb_normhang 1 or 3 (X-wings, Y-wings

any help would be appreciated.