kohlenklau Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Working on a mod I want for my new scenario "Rettet Soldat Reinhart". Inserted an alpha layer and got the windows to disappear on a small independent house when you cycle through damage modes with cltrl-left click. I had messed with this 2 story house but now have shifted focus to Building 003 and 011. A one story independent house. What I aim to get is a burned out look with black smoke damage above window openings with no actual windows there. I am playing with the roof alpha file and the damaged roof image. Need the roof to look nearly all gone from the fire. Need interior to look blackened and floor image to look like debris fell down and collected there. Also goofed around with adding some signs directly to the building wall images. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baneman Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Looking good - I'm always impressed by the work you modders do and the amazing effects you can end up with. Nice work ! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glubokii Boy Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 damaged buildings WITH NO WINDOWS is high on my wishlist for future mods ! Good luck with this project... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juju Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Looks great kohlenklau. Why do you think tags wouldn't work on independent buildings? You've done it before, haven't you? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umlaut Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Wow. Well done, kohlenklau! Which file did you mod? building-damage-a-alpha or building-damage-b-alpha? And how? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Juju, "Why do you think tags wouldn't work on independent buildings? You've done it before, haven't you?" Haven't tried it yet for buildings. So I don't know the answer yet. Part of my doubt is this: OK. We all know how you can keep numbering helmets, uniforms, right? Helmet bmp file names, etc. I tried that numbering with building walls. It had a 00, a 01 and a 02. I threw in a 04 and tried to cycle through the available wall paint jobs in 3D preview. It didn't show me my 04, just the stock 00, 01 and 02. So, I don't know if [vitebsk] after these file names will work. umlaut, Actually, in the first image I modded the building wall bmp. building000-front-bottom (00) Don't pop out the champagne yet. I did the alpha layer and it never showed as cleanly no windows in the undamaged version. I think I told you it was white where the windows went. But then I tweaked some more and in the undamaged mode, the wall disappeared entirely. But in the successive damage modes, it returned but with no windows. Let me keep messing around and report back. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpark Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Extra building textures do work, even with mod tags. I'm up to around 10 in one mod test folder. Let me look at my folders and see what you might be missing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpark Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 I lied- there are 20 different individual textures that I have going on in there. All of them are selectable in the Editor. I think the trick is to make a folder for each building. Then be certain to include every texture that building uses (windows, balcony, roof as well as the walls). Rename these to all be the same texture number of the structure you are working on. That should do it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 okay, for the record, I may get wordy here. But I do it for a reason, I can come back to this thread and detailed bread crumbs help me recall what I did. In fact, I just popped over to my vehicle modding thread in the CMFI GL mod forum and I quickly saw my notes for making a fast layer mask. See? I am not trying to be Aris. Heck, the Aris costume I ordered on amazon.com did not even fit! I had to send it back... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 benpark, I am working in the independent buildings. Mostly because I wanted to at first focus on the very small 1 story brick house. It sounds like you are in the modular buildings. I guess I must carefully state things. Numbering does not seem to work with the indy buildings, so far. I hope you prove me wrong and it does work. I probably will mess this all up and then at 4AM finally figure it all out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 This is some trial and error work here. Like watching your neighbor put up holiday lights. Sit back and get a good laugh. I think the program is angry I am messing with it and now doesn't show the wallpaper interior images. I wanted to make them blackened. Hey, when I saved the bmp's with the alpha layer, I saved them as 32 bit bmp's. Maybe that is the monkey wrench? At first I just saved them as 24 bit and that is when the window openings looked white. Dennis, any ideas sir? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpark Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 I just ran a test, using the same method as above for the modular structures, but this time with an independent one and it works. Just be sure you have all of the textures for that building renumbered, even if you aren't changing something like the floor- you still need it, or the modded building won't load. The entire structure needs to be done. Example- I wanted one side of building 100 to look like vomit. I changed that side of the building to look like vomit in Photoshop. I renumbered the file to (03). I then copied ALL of the other files for that structure, and renumbered them to (03), and put them in a folder together (not necessary, but organized). Double check the region you are in in the Editor, too. If you are in [Eastern Europe], your mod won't show in Russia. Does that solve the issue? If not, I don't know what it could be. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Thanks very much Ben. That must be it. I just renumbered the one extra exterior wall and in hindsight I see that didn't make sense. If adding an entire new option, then I obviously needed the full suite of items. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpark Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 No problem- happy to help. This stumped me for a bit, too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Shoot! Of course tags work with buildings. The [easterneurope] thing is right there in front of my eyes. sheesh... Which gives me an idea to try. I am going to tag all my modded files as [vitebsk]. I am curious to see if the alpha channel files can also be tagged. We shall see shortly... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 ok, it worked. [vitebsk] tag brings in or out the new roof damage alpha channels and the building walls with signs and such. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 I am gonna hit the sack but tomorrow I have a plan to try this: notes to self. save the roof damage and roof damage alphas as 32 bit [vitebsk] tag files and get them to go away? do new art for roof 00 [vitebsk] file to make it looked burned and fallen in. try to get at least this small brick building to look like a burnt out shell. if successful rename the tag as [burnedoutbrickhouse]? I wonder what is the max length of a tag name? See you tomorrow. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Shucks. I just looked back and saw that my first post with the 2 story building, it had the windows gone but still had interior wallpaper. Hmmm. 24 bit or 32 bit? I will go back and look at that file. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Starting off fresh from a good night's sleep. Well, upon closer inspection, my candidate for this mod, the independent building folder pack "building003 and 011" does not even have a wallpaper interior for some reason. I will check if it can take a wallpaper image from another building. Maybe it was just a mistake... If not then maybe I need to select a new candidate... At least I now see that I didn't somehow cause the interior images to stop functioning. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburke Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Some home owners are just cheap 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Need a new low cost home without the frills of interior wallpaper? Well then, call Boris Nosov. REMAX Vitebsk Real Estate Recently vacated homes! Air Conditioned! Historic Views! Easy commuting distance to the labor camp! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 My new candidate is the independent building house pack "building004 and 012". It still is 1 floor, no gable to interfere with my aim to mod the roof. And it does have interior image to mod as burnt. Thanks to Benpark I know I can add a new numbered version. It will be 06. It will be at first a copy of the brick one and then as I do the modded burn damage I can add a tag at the end. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpark Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 I'm curious as to what you mean by the bit depth references. 8 bit is the norm for the game, and shouldn't be changed in the editing. I'm not sure 16 or 32 will load- if they do, it's unnecessary at the scale of the image. Imagining bit depth is akin to seeing a staircase in profile- 8 steps is enough to do what you need to create a smooth looking image (with good tonal gradations) from the distance you are seeing it from. In general, if you are making a very large print, 16 bit becomes the better choice. We aren't doing that in CM, and we need all of the memory real estate we can get. Maybe I misunderstood you, but it might create some issues down the road to have 32 bit image files, and wanted to save you some grief. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohlenklau Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 I read somewhere on the internet that the bmp files to retain the alpha channel needed to be 32 bit, so when I tried to add the alpha channel, I saved as 32 bit to "retain" the alpha channel. I obviously do not know what I am doing. Please forgive me sir. I think I see now that for CM the alpha issue is handled by a separate file. Alpha channel is not imbedded in the bmp file at all like I thought I had to do. Edit: Maybe I am confused. I right click on any CM BMP file and drop down to properties and hit the Details tab and it shows Bit depth. Most say 24 and some say 32. Is this a different issue versus when I save after photoshop editing? 2nd EDIT: Hey. I just opened the stock roof damage alpha bmp file and it is 32 bit and in photoshop has the alpha channel just like the internet showed... Maybe I am on the right road? Think of me as a guy in the garage with a saw and some wood. Don't expect me to know about the teeth per inch on the saw or the wood species. Or as a cook in the kitchen, I just grab the spices and wing it. I guess if I make a nice table or the food tastes good in the end, then my limited in depth knowledge may be forgiven. It must be painful for folks who do understand this topic to see me bumbling along. Sorry! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpark Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 You can't make a table with spices! There isn't any need to save the .bmp as anything but an 8-bit file. The alpha channel will be saved. There are indeed a few separate alpha files- for things like "building-damage-a-alpha" and "building-damage-b-alpha", but in most every other case the alpha channel is embedded in the file itself. Are you using Photoshop? If so, I can do a few screens of how to add an alpha layer. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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