Reskinning Step 1 : Duplicating game objects

[Zyxpsilon]

Soooo... you'd want to us to pull any of these off the server to produce the eventual 256x128 versions, right?

[Amineri]

They are there for your use, whatever that might be. I've made a few sample 256x128 strategy images to use while trying to develop/test the GFX changes necessary for dynamic loading of same.

[Zyxpsilon]

Kay - you had me worried there for a moment cuz this *IS* the place (( http://www.flags.net/mainindex.htm )) i trust most for accurate coloring of any world flags.

I've search extensively on the subject in the past and there are sooooooo many online variations and errors that it's very easy to fall prey to such flaws.

 

I'll begin work on the whole list over the next couple of days while creating the basic 256x128 strategy versions. And, since these will directly serve as resource for the Armor (with cloth)... it will just be a matter of going through the entire set to put the layer over the images and resave with different tag names.

They'll all be PNG files.

 

Sending the Zipped results to JL eMail would be my choice.

 

PS; Nepal & Sri-Lanka are special cases, btw. Would you want their "Background" to be black to fill out the irregular shaping style they both use?

Edited November 25, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[wghost81]

johnnylump, the main reason to mutate nationalities code is indeed to make it highly configurable without a need for re-compilation. I will try to make up some generic data format for this purpose. Suggestions are welcomed. :smile:

[Drakous79]

Zyxpsilon, very nice XCOM flag! I like its regural feel.

 

Good idea with creating 256x128 as the source. But there are deformations, when you look on the texture with 32 flags.

 

http://i.imgur.com/JkiY0Xh.jpg

 

The worst with flags are different proportions. Some national flags are 2:3, some 4:7 aso. Flags in XCOM are 1:2, but flags for pawns seems to be stretched to 2:3 ??? in the end. Japan UI flag on the picture is exported from UICollection_Common_SF.upk. Tried to take a screenshot of SM_Deco_Kevlar0_Male model too. Orange area is highlighted mesh using flag material.

 

Note image dimensions:

• UI 128x64 px
• Pawns 256x128 px

I am using CorelDraw and do every flag in original ratio using vectors and RGB colors. Then it can be cropped for UI, deformed for pawns and textured. Currently I have Indonesia, Iran and Pakistan in raw form. Would like to do Czech flag as it is my country.

 

I had a thought of packing all flags into one image and add country codes, when we are done. This could serve as quick reference. For an example I don't know all country flags :smile:

 

IMO UI flags seem to be low res, but scaled as needed. We should try to feed the game with 256x128 px UI flag (or bigger) to test how it looks. Low quallity is quite notable on stars of USA flag on soldier list in baracks.

 

Edit: Decided to do quick test with TexMod (used an image from Wiki) and the best looks 128x64 px. Wondering, why vanilla flag looks not so good.

 

http://i.imgur.com/k8DP3ya.jpg

 

When it came to resize 10:19 flag to 1:2, I proportionally resized it to 128 px height and prolonged stripes as needed. Maybe devs went similar way.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Drakous79

[Drakous79]

Btw if we do old flags as well, we can change cloth pattern used.

[Zyxpsilon]

Oh - absolutely. The ratio for National flags is highly variable.

 

(PS; Thanks for the opinion on my XCom Flag! :blush: )

 

But to me, what matters most is how the resulting images we produce show up on the UI within EW+LW gameplay. For example, i don't even hesitate to re-organize central glyphs (ex;Portugal) so that they get a level (based on personal instinct) of certain visual priority on the images. Qatar is another "proportion" dilemna since left (white) & right (dark Red with the wavy zig-zag) section aren't matched with the "normal" 4x3 or 2x1 principles. So i had to take some creative license to obtain what's below... as i will for others, if need be.

 

http://s8.postimg.org/r0nvjfg8l/Qatar.png

 

Worthy of note here (as you explained above) is --indeed-- the built-in rescaling function of (i suspect) the EU code and what pictures Firaxis art staff ended up packaging in their final files. A number of "graphic" flaws are (sadly) transfered to people's game screens since the source material is **already** of very bad quality. Case-in-point the USA stars rendered in the blue corner. 128x64 is terrible for accurate (or better) re-scaling of such tiny elements. Even SVG would have plenty of troubles to make these shine through with enough precision -- at *that* resolution.

 

Comes 256x128 to the rescue. Which certainly can alleviate (some of) the most unpleasing problems of re-scaling (either at production time for our versions or within LW gameplay code that will eventually dispatch all of these to the UI) screw-ups. It's the nature of imaging, AFAIC. There's isn't much that can be done in certain situations to enhance details except maybe for BiLinear or Lanczos (etc) filtering workarounds. Think Saudi-Arabia and you won't be far from the pinnacle of high density details;

 

http://s16.postimg.org/uqfshqjo5/Saudi_Arabia.png

 

(( This is the final 256x128 i plan to hand over to the LW team while it *IS* different from the EU file by Firaxis ))

 

Technically, we should concentrate our attention to the tricky cloth effect. I've inserted a sample layer file in a previous post but i'd be curious how you'd go about designing an alternate way. Mine has to be fiddled with extensively in certain color (white being by far the toughest to deal with, in fact) combos (and god knows how complex these can get in world flags! )... contrast, brightness, intensity, saturation (etc) - have to be tuned in order to approximate the EU_Default 32s.

 

I think what we should do is create whatever we want and offer BOTH our results to JL and its team for examination. They'll simply pick & choose their final flags out of (two, maybe more) various ways to represent them. Kill a bird with two stones, or one with two! :wink:

 

Old flags with **new* cloth? Makes sense... but i'd be willing to try your layer file first. Standardizing the whole set of new Flags with the old is better to get some consistency feeling (at least, as near as possible if we can) for the UI.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[Zyxpsilon]

Btw, JL... one way to (somehow) resolve the Bilingual Canadian "code-flipflops" with French or English would possibly be to just give the Quebec flag a slot. I may be biased with this (or jealous that Drakous will have his own Czech glory time! :wink: ) but i think, it's a cool flag!

 

http://s30.postimg.org/aky0y9l9d/FW_Quebec.png

 

:D

Edited November 25, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[Zyxpsilon]

Speaking of Flags for Armors, btw.

 

Amineri, did LW "fiddled" with the rendering of the Female-Titan Armor somehow? Cuz on my UI, their flag location is being "replaced" by a weird effect.

See below;

 

http://s27.postimg.org/lfo8q2adv/Titan_F_Back.png

Edited November 25, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[Drakous79]

Please just keep in mind, that if you do 256x128 flag for pawn texture, its height will be stretched on 3D model. So if there's a circle on the flag, it will become an oval. To produce the circle, an oval should be on 256x128 flag. See Japan example :smile:

 

Female titan has a bug.

 

Edit: It was ok in EW initial release, but since Patch 1 it is broken. Seems broken in EW.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Drakous79