Author Topic: New Tilesets  (Read 659 times)

Offline ghostdancer

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New Tilesets
« on: July 02, 2017, 09:50:42 AM »
Okay guys, I am trying to figure out how to create a new tileset. Right now it is baby steps and I am not mucking around with creating new objects. All I want to do is create a new terrset folder and swap out the BMPs used for the terrain types. I am currently confused by both the editor and previous posts on the subject.

So say if I just want to swap out the images for the Europe summery say the Italy SEA terrain is it as simple as creating subfolders and then going to:

- germanyw\terrset00\texsrc\

And then placing a new BMP version for each texture in there?

type0.bmp
type0_a0.bmp
type0_b1.bmp
type0_n.bmp
type0clutter.bmp

type1.bmp
type1_a0.bmp
type1_b1.bmp
type1_n.bmp
type1clutter.bmp

type2.bmp
type2_a0.bmp
type2_b1.bmp
type2_n.bmp
type2clutter.bmp

type3.bmp
type3_a0.bmp
type3_b1.bmp
type3_n.bmp
type3clutter.bmp

type4.bmp
type4_a0.bmp
type4_b1.bmp
type4_n.bmp
type4clutter.bmp

type5.bmp
type5_a0.bmp
type5_b1.bmp
type5_n.bmp
type5clutter.bmp

type6.bmp
type6_a0.bmp
type6_b1.bmp
type6_n.bmp
type6clutter.bmp

type7.bmp
type7_a0.bmp
type7_b1.bmp
type7_n.bmp
type7clutter.bmp

type8.bmp
type8_a0.bmp
type8_b1.bmp
type8_n.bmp
type8clutter.bmp

type9.bmp
type9_a0.bmp
type9_b1.bmp
type9_n.bmp
type9clutter.bmp

type10.bmp
type10_a0.bmp
type10_b1.bmp
type10_n.bmp
type10clutter.bmp

type11.bmp
type11_a0.bmp
type11_b1.bmp
type11_n.bmp
type11clutter.bmp

type12.bmp
type12_a0.bmp
type12_b1.bmp
type12_n.bmp
type12clutter.bmp

type13.bmp
type13_a0.bmp
type13_b1.bmp
type13_n.bmp
type13clutter.bmp

type14.bmp
type14_a0.bmp
type14_b1.bmp
type14_n.bmp
type14clutter.bmp

type15.bmp
type15_a0.bmp
type15_b1.bmp
type15_n.bmp
type15clutter.bmp

type16.bmp
type16_a0.bmp
type16_b1.bmp
type16_n.bmp
type16clutter.bmp

type17.bmp
type17_a0.bmp
type17_b1.bmp
type17_n.bmp
type17clutter.bmp

type18.bmp
type18_a0.bmp
type18_b1.bmp
type18_n.bmp
type18clutter.bmp

type19.bmp
type19_a0.bmp
type19_b1.bmp
type19_n.bmp
type19clutter.bmp

Along with:

- germanyw\terrset00\defset.txt
- germanyw\terrset00\texsrc\atlas0.txt
- germanyw\terrset00\texsrc\atlas1.txt
- germanyw\terrset00\texsrc\catlas0.txt
- germanyw\terrset00\texsrc\catlas1.txt

All I am really trying to figure out is how to swap out terrain textures (BMPs) like we did back in AH2. Take Europe summer and make it look like Europe winter when you are flying over it. Not concerned right now with having snow on buildings, tree, clutter, etc. ... just baby steps at the moment.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 11:12:52 AM by ghostdancer »
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Offline Easyscor

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Re: New Tilesets
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2017, 02:03:07 PM »
I started to reply but when I checked some of it, I've found something has changed. I will try to explain it later when I know it works.
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Offline ghostdancer

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Re: New Tilesets
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2017, 03:33:20 PM »
Well done some more experimenting and I have found that so far that works. I found a copy of the old test images Waffle created so I crated those folders within germanyw, placed the 60 some BMPs and was able to successful build with those BMPs. Now germanw is all red and green with text saying ATLAS TYPE 1, etc.

Didn't affect the textures in teh bases but I understand I would actually have to open up those tiles and changes things in the object editor to swap out BMPs. But for the first go around looks like I could just swap out BMPs for a SEA terrain once I scrounge up the BMPs I listed.
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Offline Easyscor

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Re: New Tilesets
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2017, 04:54:59 PM »

I'm sure Hitech will be along if I get any of this wrong.  :)

The terrset you've referenced, with type0.bmp, type1.bmp, etc., was from the very earliest beta example release. You will want to start with the later released htcterrset.zip, probably already on your hard drive. The old zip files are no longer available, so we're waiting on htc to post the latest revision from the terrset update a couple of weeks back. Hopefully it will be edited into Hitech's Aces High Default Tiles post at the top of this forum.

I suspect you downloaded the htcterrset.zip file last year and it's on your hard drive, or at least the unzipped files are on your hard drive. That's a great place to begin as the textures will give you a good starting point. Modify or replace the textures you want changed.

The rest of this is meant to help others watching.

We must talk about file names and paths now.
Unless we hear otherwise, file naming conventions will probably still apply, 8 characters max for the master texture bitmap name.
When you open the default terrset folders (htcterrset.zip) and examine one of the atlas.txt files, you'll see that the htc file paths are embedded at the top of each text file. I'm going to make a leap here and suggest you don't have the same directory structure. Currently, the recommendation is to keep your custom terrsets together inside your terrain project folders. There are two choices to fix this file path issue, but I'll only discuss what's needed to follow the recommendation.

Edit all the atlas file paths for your target terrset as follows:
atlas,C:\art\ah2\stdtexnew\atlas\terrset00
512,ImageSize
Becomes
atlas,
512,ImageSize
This will force the OE/TE to look inside your terrain folder for the terrset folders and files.

The purpose of the atlas files has been covered elsewhere so I won't rehash it.

Suppose you have a germany terrain with the Euro terrset00, and you've made a copy of the project named germanyw. Copy the unzipped terrset00 folder into the terrain folder. When you open the new terrain, the textures inside the terrset00\texsrc folder will be installed. Currently, there will be no trees or building in your terrain because there were no .swa files shipped in those beta htcterrset.zip files. The clutter and detail will be there, but no trees. You can add trees and buildings later.

Edit the textures in PS or GIMP. If you're creating new textures with new names, be sure to edit the entries in the appropriate atlas.

I always remove any dot htx, dot sta, and dot stb files created by the TE in the terrset0x folder as they would override my new texture changes in the past.

When you reopened the terrain in the TE and set the tile set to match your custom terrset, you should see the ground textures called for in the atlas. If it fails to install the texture, or worse, check your atlas, and then check that the bitmaps are at the appropriate bit depths etc. I will usually leave the default textures and only modify one at a time.

On my FE, as I've said, the clutter is there but the .swa file and its trees and buildings are missing.

Save your terrain. When your texture(s) is finished and working, install your trees and buildings with the OE.

Open your target texture in the OE, using the primary bitmap for the tile.
The OE will spit an unhelpful error if the terrset folder number doesn't match the terrset you've set in the tiles Properties dialog of the OE, Euro for 00 etc. As soon as these two match, you'll see the texture.
It will cover a 2x2 mile surface.
The only speedtree objects listed for installation will be those from the correct terrset.
Add a tree or two and save. This will create the .swa file for this tile, [tilename].swa, in your terrain. Without that file, things can go badly, as in invisible objects, dropped objects, etc. Close and reopen the tile and continue.

When done, the TE will make binary versions of the .swa files with the extension .swb. Until that conversion happens, you won't see the trees in the TE or in the game.
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Offline ghostdancer

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Re: New Tilesets
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2017, 05:18:33 PM »
Yep, I actually used the latest htcterrset.zip. The whole notes on the folder structure confused me so I tried a few things and came up with:

  • Take the terrset00 folder from htcterrset.zip (tilesswa\swa\terrset00) and copy it into my terrain (ah3terr\germanyw\terrset00)
  • Make sure that the swa folder is present and has objects (ah3terr\germanyw\\terrset00\swa)
  • Put the defset.txt into my terrain (ah3terr\germanyw\defset.txt) - not sure if I really need to do this or not
  • Put the atlas0.txt into my terrain (ah3terr\germanyw\terrset00\atlas0.txt)
  • Put the atlas1.txt into my terrain (ah3terr\germanyw\terrset00\atlas1.txt)
  • Put the catlas0.tx into my terrain (ah3terr\germanyw\terrset00\catlas0.txt)
  • Put the catlas1.txt into my terrain (ah3terr\germanyw\terrset00\catlas1.txt)
  • In the terrset00 directory create a texsrc directory (ah3terr\germanyw\terrset00\texsrc)
  • In the texsrc directory put in my replacement BMPs

As you said this is just for swapping out the textures used to paint the terrains. Yep, I had those sample BMPs from when Waffle made them avaiable back in 2015. So I just drop them in to try today (once I figured out the folder and file structure). Basically seems that if the AHedit finds a BMP in there it will use that versus the built in ones for terrset00. So I have been able to swap all or just a few selectively. Recreating how we used to override the terrain textures back in AH2 but a lot more BMPs now to deal with.

As for creating a new tileset (instead of suppressing textures and using new BMPs) as you state that is a bit more indepth ... creating a terrset04.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 06:33:29 PM by ghostdancer »
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Offline Easyscor

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Re: New Tilesets
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2017, 05:34:54 PM »
Yes, I forgot about the \tilesswa\swa folders. Those are the current trees etc. Having them will save a lot of time when the new winter trees come out.
Easy in-game again.
Since Tour 19 - 2001