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--== OSF Mods uploaded to CMMODS ==--


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Originally posted by junk2drive:

Are the older mods dated today any different than the ones uploaded before?

No. I have only altered the name of the old mods; the database seems to replace the files as new ones.

What is meant by the compressed graphics?
All OSF graphics are bitmap files with a color index. Colors (data) that are not being used are not implemented in the bitmap file. This results in a much smaller file size (33%). These textures will run smoother on your screen then regular 24 bits bitmap files. The quality stays exactly the same in CM smile.gif

I used the technique for OSF because the scenarios were huge and still needed to run smooth on somebody's screen.

I find it strange that Battlefront didn't use indexed bitmaps for their releases because you can save sumfink with this technique. (Think about demo releases and updates)

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This is a very interesting technique, and the space saving is significant.

How do you set up a color index? What happens if you try to mod an indexed bmp, and is there any way to convert all the existing bmp's to indexed format?

I can't believe this is a free lunch. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

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That's some nice work eichenbaum. smile.gif

About converting to indexed color, Philippe is right about "no free lunch". The file size will shrink to one third, but unfortunately the game converts them back to full color. A lot of people claim it will run smoother at 8-bit, but technically it shouldn't.

Hopefully Kwazydog can confirm this for us.

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Thanks! smile.gif

Of coarse I don't know if the CM engine handles 8 bit bitmaps as 24 bit; but with the testing of OSF were the results very clear. It's also visible that the engine does not show 24 bits colours; especially when you take a look at them when the scenario is set to morning, night or dawn. But again; maybe it is my and the rest of the OSF team's perception...

To get indexed coloured bitmaps you use a photo editor like Adobe Photoshop. Covert 24 bits RGB bitmaps to Indexed coloured bitmaps manually; that means you choose a palette carefully so that the quality of the texture is preserved. If the magenta colour (255 0 255) for transparency is needed then you should 'force' it in the palette (fixed). It's also important to save the palettes you pick and use them on textures that are series or sequences. Save as 8 bit bitmaps after conversion.

There's a way to convert all the files with a Photoshop batch but that doesn't preserve the quality for all textures.

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As an experiment, I converted all the buildings to 2-colors (1-bit). Then created a map with dozens of buildings. I then measured the frames per second with a tool called fraps. There was basically no significant difference in frames per second between the full colored buildings and the 1-bit buildings. :(

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I loaded into my CMAK AIW the OSF pavement, roads, wall and rubble. The CMAK desert uses mostly yellow rock theme.

Comments for CMAK ONLY

Roads paved, too yellow, edges are for OSF.

Roads dirt, good colour, found some pinks on one curved section.

Wall, oops, needs renumbered for desert in CMAK. Looks a lot like stock CMAK wall.

Rubble, GREAT, looks like desert rock and roadblock is very good.

Pavement, great job, colour match is difficult, I tried it with OSF roads and Juju's cobblestone. I won't give up on this one.

Overall mod Might work well in CMAK Crete for Greece.

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Originally posted by Tanks a Lot:

As an experiment, I converted all the buildings to 2-colors (1-bit). Then created a map with dozens of buildings. I then measured the frames per second with a tool called fraps. There was basically no significant difference in frames per second between the full colored buildings and the 1-bit buildings. :(

Interesting experiment smile.gif

OSF had a lot of 8 bit terrain textures, filled 2x2 km maps and battalions running in the field. Hope I find the time to test it with fraps to, to see whether there's a difference. But I can read from your results that it won't be that dramatic redface.gif

What about physical memory use?

It would have been awful to see your magnificent buildings in black & white :S

Thanks Tanks a Lot!

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Originally posted by junk2drive:

I loaded into my CMAK AIW the OSF pavement, roads, wall and rubble. The CMAK desert uses mostly yellow rock theme.

Comments for CMAK ONLY

Roads paved, too yellow, edges are for OSF.

Roads dirt, good colour, found some pinks on one curved section.

Wall, oops, needs renumbered for desert in CMAK. Looks a lot like stock CMAK wall.

Rubble, GREAT, looks like desert rock and roadblock is very good.

Pavement, great job, colour match is difficult, I tried it with OSF roads and Juju's cobblestone. I won't give up on this one.

Overall mod Might work well in CMAK Crete for Greece.

Indeed are OSF textures originally designed for BB and may look odd in AK. It was worth a try I guess.

Maybe the abbey / castle textures are nice to build Monte Cassino with? Probably there are already mods for it. Nevermind ;)

Still Magenta pixels left? Ai... that's not good of me. Should have worked a bit more precise then.

Thanks Junk2drive!

----

Edit: The wall texture has been made from a Discreet's 3ds Max texture map. I think that BFC has used the same recource to make theirs!

[ January 14, 2005, 07:19 AM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

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"Maybe the abbey / castle textures are nice to build Monte Cassino with? Probably there are already mods for it. Nevermind "

No factory in CMAK, but the bmp might work on the flat top buildings in Afrika.

I have been wanting a light colour dirt road for Korea. I may rework the "paved" road for that purpose. I use the OSF rock for Korea.

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Originally posted by eichenbaum:

A part of the graphics that were used in OSF have been uploaded

to CMMODS for use with CMBB (and maybe CMAK).Nils

Hi Nils, Thanks for all good things you've done !

I can't find in your uploaded mods the special OSF Sky mod, could you help me ? Pat

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Originally posted by eichenbaum:

Skymod? I have never published any skymods becasue I didn't find the quality good enough. But I shall look on my system what I've got.

Yes I know you've never uploaded it, but we can see on some pictures you've published, "mountains" on the background.

Pat

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Sorry Pat, the skies aren't finnished projects. Normally you have 3 bitmaps (N+S, W and E) for each background and I only developed 3 the same bitmaps for each sky. No sun, sunset, moon are made for East or West backgrounds and they don't 'tile' good enough yet. Sorry :(

There are a lot of these projects unfinished on my system since I didn't had the time anymore to work at OSF.

Even found a Crimean trench project just now:

OSF_Trench01.jpg

OSF_Trench02.jpg

<font size=-2>(Sumfink impossible becasue the trench image is tiled when playing and only single -like in the pics- when displayed in editor) </font>

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Originally posted by eichenbaum:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Tanks a Lot:

As an experiment, I converted all the buildings to 2-colors (1-bit). Then created a map with dozens of buildings. I then measured the frames per second with a tool called fraps. There was basically no significant difference in frames per second between the full colored buildings and the 1-bit buildings. :(

Interesting experiment smile.gif

OSF had a lot of 8 bit terrain textures, filled 2x2 km maps and battalions running in the field. Hope I find the time to test it with fraps to, to see whether there's a difference. But I can read from your results that it won't be that dramatic redface.gif

What about physical memory use?

It would have been awful to see your magnificent buildings in black & white :S

Thanks Tanks a Lot! </font>

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Originally posted by junk2drive:

I had to load a CMBB battle to see all the mods.

Great. Water and rocks especially nice.

Any reason for not doing all the marsh tiles?

That was still in the pipeline of OSF. I wanted to create waterfalls and creeks with the marsh tiles. You can't find these tiles in the OSF scenarios yet.

Like the softground tiles some textures had other functions:

Crimean_Rocks2.jpg

Here the softground tiles are used as solid rock.

It's a bit of a problem to upload them to CMMODS because a standard CMBB scenario doesn't use those textures in that way.

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