[Wanderer]

Well 8 bit PCX images should be ok too.

You can convert your TGA (or other) images to DDS images. But it is not really useful to work with DDS files. The conversion is just the final touch.

As for converters.. there are several different ones out there. Both ATI and Nvidia have their own and there are couple of other as well. I would recommend nvidia nvdxt command line tool but you'll probably find compressonator easier to use
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nv_texture_tools.html
http://ati.amd.com/developer/compressonator.html
http://files.filefront.com/DDS+Converter+21/;4470512;/fileinfo.html

[Warp Shadow]

It's quite simple really, all you need to do is say...

[p.s. sorry for the randomness but I made it a couple of days ago and was just dying to use it!]

[Mustang19]

At ease, young padawan. Your post count will increase soon enough.

[Warp Shadow]

It's not so much about the post count. It's just I made it myself and I just HAD to get it out there You know how it is! Don't you?

[ShadowGorrath]

I am using GIMP 2.2 , so it allows me to save it in DDS format . But there are a few options on DDS format that I dunno which to choose . Also , I need to know what file names , how many , and what each file should contain for the beam textures ?

[Wanderer]

What file names??

I have really no idea of the quality of the GIMPs DDS converter so i cant really say if that is a good one. Just keep in mind that any compressed DDS texture may have visible artifacts. For standard images use DXT1c and for images with alpha use DXT5.. That is if you use compressed textures. For uncompressed use u888 or u8888. So for beams DXT1c is most likely choice. But as said DO NOT EDIT the dds pictures. Always keep the original image (and the one which you keep editing) in some better format like TGA, JPGs (generally compressed) are no good.

Basically just place the image file in data/effects and then set the name to the table file. As for amount.. that is really up to you. I have some nice looking beams that use single texture that i have used in several beam layers. On the other hand some prefer to make every layer use different textures or even animate the textures (using eff animations).

[ShadowGorrath]

I made the beam texture and table editing ( copied the original Green Beam to my own ) . But it didn't work  . Once I put it in-game , it just didn't fire .

[Wanderer]

Did you remember to beam-free the ships (or set beams freed on all ships) as you tested the beam?

[ShadowGorrath]

Stupid question - of course I didn't forget 

[Wanderer]

So it works?

[ShadowGorrath]

Um ... No ? Cause it was beam-free-all , and ordered to fire the beam , but it didn't . I think that the problem is from the table side .

Can you clear me up - how do I make the new beam textures work ? I added it as a part of the beam , typed in a name . The texture is in DDS , has an alpha channel where the beam's tile is over and etc.

Sorry if I'm bugging you with this - it's my first try at making something like this 

[Wanderer]

Upload the image (texture) somewhere and let me have a look.

[Herra Tohtori]

My observation is that for stuff that has a lot of smooth gradients (like beams, weapon effects, subspace vortices and other light effects), uncompressed TGA looks a lot better than DDS. For ship textures which have geometric shapes and sharp contrasts, DDS works ideally.

Obviously the memory optimzed nature of DDS textures is a huge advantage, as is mipmapping, but some effects just look pixelated in DDS format, to the extent that I would prefer TGA textures for them...

[Wanderer]

That's why i tried to get him to stay with TGA textures...

[ShadowGorrath]

I don't really want to , as it will probably be in my mini-campaign ... But here - converted to JPG : http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/5213/beamtexturejpgrc4.jpg . The white part is an alpha channel .

And about DDS textures : I remember  saw a compare of TGA and DDS formats of the same texture . I couldn't see the difference , except for the fact that TGA was slow .

Also , my PC is 6 years old . TGA takes up too much firepower from my PC . TGA are like a Sathanas , and my PC is like a Fenris . Get the idea ?

[Wanderer]

All TGA takes more is a bit more of graphics memory. It wont miraculously slow the cpu down.

And then.. That image does not follow the 'power of two' tule. That should be fixed. That is 200 x 200 is bad. 256 x 256 is ok.

[Herra Tohtori]

You can make medium-quality and high-quality versions, you know... DDS for the graphically challenged computers, TGA for the rest.

Besides, alpha blending didn't work well at all in beams last time I tried it. Dunno if it has been since fixed, but it produced rather horrid results... Additive blending worked/works better if it hasn't been fixed. Meaning you have black as background colour and #000000 is interpreted as transparent.

[ShadowGorrath]

Eh ? Anyway , I think it's still the table fault . Cause if it actually fired but the textures didn't show , then it's a texture problem . But in this case the Deimos didn't fire AT ALL . I disabled all the weapons and left only my beam cannon ( with the All ships beam-freed by default , turned on in the mission specs ) .

Here is the tavle entry :

Code: [Select]

;---------------------------------------------------------------
; NOTE : most of the fields here are irrelevant and are only included so as not to break the parser
;        beam weapons are a very special case weapon - my own beam

$Name: BeamTest

$Model File: none ; laser1-1.pof
@Laser Bitmap:                laserglow01
@Laser Color: 0, 255, 54
; Pale green R 192 G 255 B 200
@Laser Length: 0.0
@Laser Head Radius: 0.3
@Laser Tail Radius: 0.3
$Mass:                          500.0
$Velocity:                      16000.0 ;; speed of the weapon (initially) -- may or may not change
$Fire Wait:                     60.0 ;; in seconds
$Damage:                        24000 ;; NOTE: for beam weapons this is kind of a "continuous" damage applied every few fractions of a second that the beam is on.
$Armor Factor:                  1.0
$Shield Factor:                 0.5
$Subsystem Factor:              0.5
$Lifetime:                      5.0            ;; How long this thing lives
$Energy Consumed:               0.30            ;; Energy used when fired
$Cargo Size:                    0.0              ;; Amount of space taken up in weapon cargo
$Homing:                        NO
$LaunchSnd:                     125              ;; The sound it makes when fired
$ImpactSnd:                     88              ;; The sound it makes when it hits something
+Weapon Range: 4000 ;; Limit to range at which weapon will actively target object
$Flags:                         ("Big Ship" "huge" "beam")
$Icon:                          icongun05
$Anim:                          LoadGun07
$Impact Explosion:              ExpMissileHit1
$Impact Explosion Radius:       120.0
$BeamInfo:
+Type: 0 ;; 0 - 4 are valid #'s
+Life:   2.0 ;; how long it lasts once the beam is actually firing
+Warmup:   7000 ;; warmup time in ms
+Warmdown: 7000 ;; warmdown time in ms
+Radius:   110.0 ;; muzzle glow radius in meters
+PCount: 20 ;; particles spewed every interval
+PRadius: 1.4 ;; particle radius
+PAngle: 60.0 ;; angle of the random "cone" where the particles are generated
+PAni: particleexp01 ;; particle ani
+Miss Factor: 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.7 1.4 ;; magic # - higher == miss more (only really applicable to type 0 and type 3 beams)
+BeamSound: 147 ;; the looping beam-firing sound
+WarmupSound: 154 ;; associated warmup sound
+WarmdownSound: 159 ;; associated warmdown sound
+Muzzleglow: beamglow3 ;; muzzle glow bitmap
+Shots: 0 ;; only used for TYPE 3 beams
+ShrinkFactor: 0.0 ;; what percentage of lifetime where beam starts shrinking (0.1 == 10% life left)
+ShrinkPct: 0.0 ;; what percentage of max width we subtract per second
+Range: 10000
$Section: ;; one section of the beam (you can have up to 5)
+Width: 25 ;; width of the section
+Texture: BEAMTEXTURE ;; texture for this section
+RGBA Inner: 255 255 255 255 ;; rgba values (only for non-textured beam compiles)
+RGBA Outer: 150 150 150 10 ;; rgba values (only for non-textured beam compiles)
+Flicker: 0.0 ;; how much it flickers (0.0 to 1.0)
+Zadd: 4.0 ;; hehe

; Bright light green R 137   G 252   B 96
; High Energy Green R 102 G 255 B 0
; Puke pale green R 192 G 255 B 200
; Forest Green R 2 G 142 B 18
; White Streek Green Tint R 215 G 249 B 219
Now I got to go to sleep . I hope someone helps me by tomorrow .

[Getter Robo G]

I made the beam texture and table editing ( copied the original Green Beam to my own ) . But it didn't work  . Once I put it in-game , it just didn't fire .

Um... Why don't you revert the table entry back to whatever it was ORIGINALLY. than go back and try the old texture. If it fires, use your NEW one. Solving simple problems is best before taking on more complex procedures.

Image switching is way simpler than a whole table value edit. (Been here since 2002, think I know what all that crap means? Hell no...)






   Beam by Trashman, modified by me!

[Vengence]

   Beam by Trashman, modified by me!

OWND 

(I even came up with a Command&Conquer 3-ish railgun, but I'll keep it a secret how to do it Tongue)

Speak. NOW!!!