XCOM EU Miscellaneous Graphic Assets.

[8wayz]

Update II

I am not doing much but I am advancing on the art project for the wiki:
Proof of concept

More questions coming your way:

- I could not extract the Vortex armor item card in .dds format. I switched format to .png and succeeded. Is there any reason for this behavior?
Checksum:0x8F7139BE. Also I would like to ask whether there is a log or some sort of error message when a texture can not be saved by Textmod?

- You were completely right about the attributes' icons, I went to the soldier selection screen in the Barracks and could not select any of them. I had to resort to adapting existing icons from perks and whatnot, as you can probably see in the article linked. What do you think about my versions?

- Expanding on question 1. If I can not extract to .dds and resort to .png, is there a way to remove the teal background? When I try, there are tiny cells all over the image and I presume I will have to fill them in black or white one by one, since the "Fill in" option does not seem to do the job. I am using Paint by the way. :)

- So far I have browsed through the Engineering, Customise and Selection (Barracks) screens. Most of the time I do not filter, so there are about 5000 textures to go through. I have yet to see most of the perks, I have seen probably 10-15 total in all those textures. Do I have to go to the Abilities screen and filter in order to access all perks (or the relevant ones to that class) ?

[Zyxpsilon]

1) Vortex DDS extract flaw? I wouldn't know. Yet that armor is exactly the same as Psi-Armor from both EU&EW. I originally found it in Command1.UPK of EU. Included in the Zip below.

Error_Log from Texmod... not that i remember ever seeing in its operating folder. It does create an extract log (which later can serve as basic asset to produce a custom TPF file) though as you might have seen already.

 

2) They look good, lot better than the previous attempt! If only LW "coders" could simply hand over their authentic templates to you, damn it. :wink:

 

3) Sadly, flawed PNG(s) extraction it is. You could also try TGA, as some files get translated with the corresponding transparency layer with TGA. (A perfect example for HUGE amount of in-game image sources is the biggy **2048x2048--i'd say** "HQ_DecalSheet_A.TGA" file... splitting the RGB channels from that very special set of glyphs reveals many gameplay facts!) Paint? Uh?? Oh-man, *DO* get The (Free) GIMP 2!8 - you'll love it and probably adopt it as your main drawing tool, forever. As a semi-professional solution, i somehow prefer Corel PSPro X3... but i had to spend a hefty bu$n$ch for it.

 

4) Strangely, the game code loads up **ALL* perks in sequence (IIRC, twice... btw!) when any soldier (Rookie or Colonel, whatever) customization process is active. Filtering certainly is faster to obtain what you want.

 

Okay, i've joined (in the attached Zip) a few more tricky "Tiny" images that i've gathered over the many months of Re-CoLoRing project design steps. You'll find them useful - if you haven't extracted some of them already! The included time clock is "rare" as it never was used by Firaxis in the final EU product. It probably served as the base image for the SWF version mentioned earlier and that you *HAD* to snap out from the UI, i think. Enjoy!

 

PS; Btw... on the wiki page. You don't really need to name *all* of them Armor, don't you?? Except for the Tac--Vest! :laugh:

 

PS2; Couldn't find it earlier this evening... But digged it out from "oldish" locations. I had converted the actual Foundry Timer-Clock as a test from a SWF-Movie extraction process. Included in the ZIp, you'll find the PNG (128x128 with Alpha) result for that somewhat (and yet very rare!) tricky file. Use as you see fit!

 

EDIT; File removed.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[Zyxpsilon]

wghost81,

Here's the "UPK_mod" files mentionned in your tweak thread.

Edit; No longer needed... *AND* i'll need the extra space. (( :sad: Nexus Limits!))

Edited September 1, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[XMarksTheSpot]

Here's the collection of vectorized symbols used in Long War so far (soldier stats and overwatch), as per request here.

 

Feel free to shoot me any questions about GFX hexing you might have.

Edited August 30, 2014 by XMarksTheSpot

[Zyxpsilon]

Thanks for the SVG files, if i ever come across "strange" questions or requests i'll know exactly who to contact for some strictly graphic code related issues!

But don't worry... i normally work very hard to obtain facts alone when possible. It takes much to force me into a "quest" for trusted answers.

[Zyxpsilon]

I've just made a bunch of new LW ranks (mostly for the multiple Sergeants and others for Lance & Corporal).
These are 128x128 PNGs at this point and they would need to be correctly adapted to the valid 64x64 (anchored near the TL corner) if need be.
I'll make some more for the Officers from 1 to 5 in each category later this week.

Preview(s) of something wild:

1) SGT + LT + CPT...:

http://s18.postimg.org/8mgnht3h5/Preview_SGT_LT_CPT.png

... and finally
2) Majors, Colonels & Field Commanders...:

http://s30.postimg.org/e90u00xs1/Preview_MAJ_COL_FC.png

I won't be joining the Zip of the above six sets for Nexus space allocation reasons and its archaic limits. If it ever comes to proper integration to LW, i'll still have all of these files ready & willing. :yes:

PS... ((EDIT)) The files that were previously here (in Zips!) are no longer necessary since - well - someone in power knows why!! :laugh: :woot:

 

PS2... ((EDIT)) Last corrections to enhance both Majors & FieldCommanders since their "tag icons" were a bit too small when rendered. As recommended by JCLewis, btw!

Edited September 18, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[JCLewis]

Good work on the rank icons so far. They look good. I'm a bit concerned that some of the details might be too small at certain resolutions (especially on smaller monitors), but that's about my only critique.

[Zyxpsilon]

A fair observation.

 

Isn't the UI proportionnally rendered by default while it self-adapts to people's choice of resolutions?

 

If i remember well, i once tried much lower settings (going from my default of 1680x1050 to 1024x768... for example) and i couldn't notice much of a loss in the display framework for most icons and popups. Maybe the text showed up a bit smaller though.

 

But... you are still right about some the "details" being smallish. My reasoning was simply -- if players can already manage to detect a LOT of other miniaturized stuff everywhere else they should have no troubles with mines.

 

Although, this is all speculations (nerdy) at this point. Up to the LW team to make it happen -- eventually -- somehow -- somewhere in this wonderful world of Modders combining their efforts to create magic and fun for others!! :wink:

Edited September 3, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[JCLewis]

It's something I've noticed in my own work on the sub-class icons and abilities. I've made Icons using existing assets, but what's dawning on me is that I should just go right ahead and start making entirely new icon art in the same visual style.

 

It's not so much the case of people being able to pick out detail, it's more a case of icon design. If the purpose of new icons is to help players see what is what, then having images that are recognizable at a glance is useful, yes? Small details are easy to miss when scrolling down a list of similar icons.

 

That's the theory anyway, and that's why I'd recommend you perhaps make the rank differences more prominent on the SGT (last three), Major and Field Commander icons. The size on the other icons is perfectly readable, even at a glance. :smile:

 

 

[Zyxpsilon]

You'll possibly be stunned by this strange fact also... the Sergeants tiny inserts were originally MUCH bigger on the shield-shaped symbol.

 

But it really looked like a silly overshot! As a test solution, i thought about re-sizing the source image by 125%. Yet again, weird results. Then, 110% -- oooppps, one more jarring effect, somehow. Then as a last resort... completely changed the proportions between the black circles and the central icons. Guess what! STILL not balanced enough for my taste.

 

Coming from a fellow artist, trust me i know exactly how you feel. WE are almost never satisfied by anything. We'd always fiddle with our "scrap stuff" extensively for hours and just give up in the end.

 

There's a motto i'd like to share with you (hinted by my precious Art-School Teachers - may god have their Souls forever!)...

** TRY once or twice, and if you must or should want to re-try multiple times -- remember this boy; 90% of the time your first two tries probably already had what you wanted or ever require.**

 

Perfection is such a crazy concept. I wish our minds could handle it, correctly most often than not.

 

I will return to the last three Sergeants stuff (moving & enlarging their central section by about 15-25% to make room for somewhat bigger symbols) - promised! Many thanks for the recommendation.

 

PS; And yet... Majors!! The sword handle has even smaller "Tags". Arrrrrgggghhhh. :laugh:

Edited September 4, 2014 by Zyxpsilon