Posts: 132
From:Netherlands
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-15-2000 11:38 AM            

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Somewhere half my level Lara is walking along the canals in Amsterdam....but I have a little problem there:
The buildings aside the canal are different in hight and all have these half transparant graphics at the top so you can see the sky graphics.(great when you stand in front of it but not from an angle when you actually should see the side of a taller building next to it.)
If I texture the walls of the outside room like this I can go up till 20 clicks without texture loss....but the buildings all look flat like a cardboard scenery.
If I create a room for each building and connect them to the large outdoor space I can't devide the door panels to texture a house on it.
If I stack rooms to create one house and connect this to the larger outdoor area only one of the stacked rooms will connect, the others give an error message.
So now I don't know how to create a believable outside world !

If anyone has a suggestion...please

Regards,
Pytr

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Posts: 152
From:Greece
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-15-2000 04:34 PM               

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A simple but NOT so high quality trick:
Select some squares from one side of your room,randomly(be sure to leave
'gaps'between them)and raise them several clicks in multiple hights.Now select one of the remaining wall sections and using the -ceiling button bring a line from the top 2 or 3 clicks down.Repeat the same for the remaining sections lowering the line more or
less clicks in each section.Hit TRANSPARENT
and select the black color from the palette.Now,'paint'these segments along with the entire ceiling and texture your buildings.
I know its no special ,but it works...

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~{^I*X^}~

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Posts: 132
From:Netherlands
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-15-2000 07:28 PM            

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I'll give it a shot, thanx for the reply !

Pytr.

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Posts: 152
From:Greece
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-16-2000 07:12 AM               

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Here is a sample screenshot that might help you

Ok,the room is not textured properly,i just put some random tiles from London.tga...

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Posts: 132
From:Netherlands
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-16-2000 07:47 AM            

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Thnx, I think your solution is the best.
Problem is you draw a room and than think of a better way to do it, so you do it again and so on till your level is never finished.
I also noticed in the original "City of dead" level simular problems as I had.

Another thing is creating stacked rooms in an outdoor space. If you look up you look trough several 'doors' and that shows in the graphics, you see then the building being build up from ground till top. Also seen in 'City of dead'. Appearantly it is something they can't work around either.

O.k. I'll rebuild the room following your tip. THNX.

(I wanted to put in a picture, but it seems not possible unless it is on some URL)

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Posts: 398
From:England, Sheffield
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-16-2000 07:48 AM               

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wow is that your level ( immortal x )

that looks brill

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Posts: 398
From:England, Sheffield
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-16-2000 07:51 AM               

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how did you get that screenshot on your message

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Posts: 152
From:Greece
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-16-2000 12:58 PM               

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No it's not a full level,it's just a test.
For info about UBB code:images/ubbcode.html

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~{^I*X^}~

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Posts: 132
From:Netherlands
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-17-2000 07:33 AM            

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This is what my 'Amsterdam' looks now.

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Posts: 132
From:Netherlands
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-17-2000 07:58 AM            

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Sorry mistake,

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Posts: 132
From:Netherlands
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-17-2000 08:55 AM            

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o.k. you're right I did work to long on the editor and no I did not get enough sleep but now I'm getting really confused.
It does not work, I still only see sky graphics through my half transparant rooftops (c picture) and not the side of the building next to it.

If I create an extra room on the top of the building in order to texture it with 'toggle opacity' I can't get my panel divided.
If I click 'floor+' it actually raises the floor of the large outside room. AAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH

Maybe get some sleep and try it again.....

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posted 12-19-2000 09:01 AM              

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Lookin' good! Unfortunately when you have a transparent background on a tile, such as the ones on your peaked building front, it will look through to the sky graphics and not what is actually modeled on the other side......you were right in your thinking to try using two rooms and the toggle opacity feature, but that does get tricky both in that you can't divide the panels for texturing purposes (as you discovered) and you can't connect several stacked roooms to one large room, so you end up making a lot of rooms and doors and have to do a lot of pre-planning!! The only solution is to create your peaked roof in a different way...actually model the shape of the roof, or just make all your roof tops flat, but varying heights for interest. Good luck...looks like a great level in the making!! BTW, did you know you can change the color of the moving clouds if you want to?

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Posts: 132
From:Netherlands
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-20-2000 02:26 PM            

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Hi REB,
THNX for the reply,
I tried to change the color of the sky texture and tried to open the city.raw file in Photoshop but it asked for the exact size of the file I wanted to open. I got close to the size but when it opened the sky texture was brown and not green so I left it for the time being.

- Do you know the size and color depth of the .raw files ?
- Do you know if the color should appear different in a paint program than in game ?

p.s. Could you take a look at "Petition"... I had an idea concerning the repeated questions for wads..

THNX.
Pytr

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Posts: 23
From:somerset, UK
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-20-2000 06:03 PM               

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Ihad a go at changing the sky for the city wad, but it doesn't seem to have worked... I changed it from green and black to white and blue, and then saved it, but when I use it in a level, it still appears at the old colors, even thought the file has been changed...

Oh, and the specs for the .raw are 256 X 256, 8 bit.

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"the clash of ideas
brings forth the spark of
truth"

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Posts: 23
From:somerset, UK
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-20-2000 06:09 PM               

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And, on your roof problem. I'd get around it by building everything below the lowest roof level in one room, and then model the actual roofs in a separete room. I know this means that you'd have to put an extra room over the top of all of the outside areas next to the roofs, but that shouldn't be to much of a hindrance. The only problem would be if the space between your lowest rooftop and highest rooftop is more then 8 clicks, because you can only devide the blocks once.

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"the clash of ideas
brings forth the spark of
truth"

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Posts: 278
From:Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-21-2000 11:32 AM               

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Dox, concerning your attempt at changing the sky colour: I believe that the background colour MUST be black (check the manual).

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Just putting in my two cents.

[This message has been edited by MrEDude (edited 12-21-2000).]

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posted 12-21-2000 02:23 PM              

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Using PS 5.0, you can use the hue/saturation feature and manipulate the hue bar until you like the color...it leaves the background black. Just save as over the file and the new color should appear in your level....

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Posts: 93
From:The Netherlands
Registered: May 99

posted 12-22-2000 07:01 AM               

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I did as you said, but instead of the dark blue sky I intended, I got a yellow sky!?!
Why is this?

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"Ahahahaha, right, in your next life!" Sophia Leigh (or is it Lee?)

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Posts: 132
From:Netherlands
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-22-2000 06:42 PM            

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I still can't get the .raw loaded properly in PS 5.
It askes for the RAW options
-dimensions (if I go higher than 39/39 pixels PS tells me the specified image is larger than the file)
-channels(count 3)
-interleaved or non interleaved
-depth (8 bit?)

could somebody help with those specs ?

HTNX
pytr.

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posted 12-28-2000 12:26 PM              

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How are you opening the file? When I open it in 5.0, I don't have to type in any parameters...(try dragging the file onto your ps shortcut icon)

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Posts: 106
From:Lake Jackson, TX USA
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 12-28-2000 01:56 PM            

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Hope this helps.

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Posts: 62
From:Lisbon, Portugal
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-29-2000 02:31 AM               

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aren't you supposed to be opening a BMP file?
that is the OPEN\RAW file..
something's wrong there mate....

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