Ambrosia Garden Archive
    • I need some general plugin problems


      I am trying to make a good plug-in for Escape Velocity Override 1.0.0 using a program that you might be familliar with: EV edit. AS you know, for the ships there are two major things required: a Sprite and a Mask of the ship. The problem is, when i make the sprites and masks they work but two things occour. The First, when the ships are tested in the game, you can buy them, but when you leave the planet, they come out all fuzzy, like a TV that needs tuning, its like you can hardly see them against the black. The second thing that happens is that if I make too many ships they take up too much room, and for some reason they make the startup of the game say that more "allocated memory is required". Then, when i get info on the game and increase the memory, it still did not work. I went as high as 25000 kb, yet is still said that more memory is needed. I believe that my images are too large, so i tried to shrink them. The allocated memory alert did not happen, but the mask/sprite thing did, and the images were pixelated. Does it have to do something with vector images? or am i just going about it wrong?
      Please help me!!!

      <---here are a list of the programs I use:------->
      Adobe Photoshop 5.5
      Newtek Lightwave 5.0
      Specular infini-d
      Extreme 3D 2.0.0
      Simpletext
      EV edit 2.0
      ResEdit (though i do not really know it all too much)
      Spritemaker(or something like that, i forgot what it was called)
      Adobe Imageready 3.0

      you can see some of my work if you choose to at: (url="http://"http://www.phyre.pyar.com")www.phyre.pyar.com(/url)

      ------------------
      +---------------------+
      |Admiral Zombat |
      +---------------------+

    • Ok, you need to make sure the masks are SOLD WHITE. Oh, and the memory error, well, thats just EV-Edit. EV-Edit is the bane of plugs in existance. It can shred a plug to bits in nothing flat, pull out its organs, tie them in a granny-knot, stick the organs up your computer's vents, then do various other unspeakable things to your plug. As CottenMouse said, "I wouldn't touch EV-Edit with a 10' crap pole." Go get Lord Of Lemmings' EVOBAE. Then get Res Edit. Its not that hard. Even I can do it. Again, with EV-Edit, a memory problem usually can't be fixed (in my experiance). I hope you made a back-up copy of your plug, because chances are EV-Edit has ƒ•çked up your plug beyond repair.

      -Dave

      ------------------
      --
      "Do or do not. There is no try."
      -Yoda

      P.S. Those graphics you've made look pretty good. Good luck on yer plug.

      (This message has been edited by Dave Lesovoy (edited 05-19-2000).)

    • I agree. I have found one use for EV Edit: If you don't know what size your ships are, you can copy them into a plug file, and use the sizing thing on there (very cool) and guess-and-test. Then just remember the numbers and plug 'em in with Resedit!

      If you want to learn Resedit easily, download "the beginers guide to resedit". It's for EV, but it's all the same. Follow it to the letter, it's a very good guide.

      Also, Resedit is a "learn by doing" type of thing. Just jump in. But don't open up anything in your system folder. 🆒

      ------------------
      Dan! The food's gone!

    • hehe- "I need some general plugin problems"

      you can sure have some of mine! come and get them...i have all kinds of stuff: buggy graphics, weapon unbalances, misspelled dëscs...

      🙂

      ------------------
      "You have to understand what you don't understand"
      -Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park

    • One very common mistake that can drastically increase your plug size is failing to reduce the color depth of your final images. Before putting them into your plug, make sure all color graphics (spins, purchase, comm, and target pics) are reduced to 8-bit system palette (Photoshop can do this easily, but you should adjust its dither settings in the Indexed Color dialog manually for best quality) and that all masks are one-bit bitmap images (again Photoshop can do this, I recommend using the 50% threshold conversion mode.) Hope this helps!

      PS: Why are you writing for EVO 1.0.0?
      ------------------
      “If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?” - T.H. Huxley

      (This message has been edited by Glenn (edited 05-20-2000).)

    • Quote

      Originally posted by Glenn:
      **One very common mistake that can drastically increase your plug size is failing to reduce the color depth of your final images. Before putting them into your plug, make sure all color graphics (spins, purchase, comm, and target pics) are reduced to 8-bit system palette (Photoshop can do this easily, but you should adjust its dither settings in the Indexed Color dialog manually for best quality) and that all masks are one-bit bitmap images (again Photoshop can do this, I recommend using the 50% threshold conversion mode.) Hope this helps!

      PS: Why are you writing for EVO 1.0.0? **

      'cause im too lazy to download the updated one.

      ------------------
      Admiral Zombat

      "...insanity is the next step..."