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Post by DSR on Apr 25, 2010 15:24:25 GMT
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Post by tyred2010 on Apr 25, 2010 21:16:09 GMT
You updated sponsors, including all pics (well, 95% of them).
And the images are truly beautiful.
You found a way to totally fix/avoid palette problems for the second set of images. I'm curious how you did that.
(Maybe other things are different too, but that's the most obvious when starting a game.)
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Post by DSR on Apr 25, 2010 22:26:14 GMT
You need to know the exact palette, in order. Then you can save an image as a headerless 256-color indexed RAW, which uses a single byte to represent each pixel just like the game data. So you can import images of any size directly into the file without any intermediate step. I used a pattern dither in photoshop to match the original images, and a lot of fine tuning on each individual image to get the best result from the limited palette.
But there's one more thing you might find interesting...
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Post by sifter132 on Apr 26, 2010 6:28:28 GMT
This is great. Thanks a heap mate. I'm gonna go back 10 years to a great time of my life and give this game another crack.
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Post by tyred2010 on Apr 26, 2010 16:08:47 GMT
DSR,
I've noticed some little things:
* 3 tyre manufacturers (any idea if there's a quality rating for tyres, fuel and materials that's different from financial power, akin to engines?); * the ratio-thingee in motoren.dat is constant at 3.89 * month-and-day dates seem different for races * some extra text changes ("auto" to like "7speed") * different pay from sponsors * For whatever reason, Renault is finishing somewhat stronger
There's also sponsor attitudes, that maybe I missed last time by using a different executable. It's probably not working like you originally hoped, since sponsor attitudes jumped 2 notches (like slight frown to slight smile) after the very first race.
Something else I'm missing?
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Post by DSR on Apr 26, 2010 17:05:20 GMT
Did you notice the materials suppliers all have separate logos? I added extra images into f1_e.rsc, check the file size.
I don't think so, but we can't rule it out. On the other hand can you even confirm they have a performance difference in the original game? Or is it just a matter of how much money you can squeeze from them?
I changed the engineer stars so there is a more balanced number of each available, and as a result Renault, for example, got a bit of a boost. But it could also be a coincidence.
Thanks for this, that's a bit of a problem. I'll look into it.
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Post by tyred2010 on Apr 26, 2010 22:59:46 GMT
I had previously wondered if stuff could be tacked on to the end of f1_e.rsc, when punkrohan alluded to sponsor.dat holding picture offsets. Never tried it though. (I doubt you're using my pic utility to change anything, but the last released version will probably corrupt f1_e.rsc files with modded file lengths, when used to alter anything.)
I can confirm that material contracts affect the final star quality of module production in the factory: all other things equal, a higher financial-power material-contractor *can* produce higher star-quality modules. (I have to say *can*, because in my very limited testing, 0, 1 and 2 star contractors were tied as a group; 3, 4, and 5 were better than the former group, but also tied with each other.)
The good news is that I did some tests with a simple mod of Advanced Composites to 5-star financial power, and they also became better at producing higher quality modules.
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Post by punkrohan on Apr 27, 2010 9:43:33 GMT
tyred 2010: "The good news is that I did some tests with a simple mod of Advanced Composites to 5-star financial power, and they also became better at producing higher quality modules."
So if you changed the financial levels of the composites, and this had a direct result of better quality modules, then changing the financial power of the fuels and tyres (in theory at least) will have an effect on performance - if the game recognises that these two compnenets have an effect on ultimate car speed.
DSR - did you just change the data in the sponsor file and re-assign a cash sponsor as a tyre sponsor, to create 3 tyre sponsors?
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Post by tyred2010 on Apr 27, 2010 11:20:51 GMT
In theory, assuming they work like material contracts. I'd guess the odds are good they do, but can't say for sure.
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Post by DSR on Apr 28, 2010 4:12:06 GMT
DSR - did you just change the data in the sponsor file and re-assign a cash sponsor as a tyre sponsor, to create 3 tyre sponsors? Exactly. Meanwhile, I have successfully added a sponsor logo to the car. But without automation it is an extremely time consuming process and somewhat delicate. I doubt I'd be able to do more than 2 per day this way, which means 56 logos x 84 sponsors /2 = 2352 days. The other concern is that logos in the same spot are different sizes so the only safe way is to add images to the end of the file, rather than replacing. Attachments:
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Post by punkrohan on Apr 28, 2010 8:40:15 GMT
Ahhhh.. the holy grail! ;D That..... is awesome. Tyred, do you think you will be able to automate that? Last thing then i suppose would be the "1997" car graphics in the sponsor screen?
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Post by DSR on Apr 28, 2010 14:24:40 GMT
Just to clarify - the problem is not related to importing images. Tyred's done some great pioneering work but I don't use any of his tools. I import the data directly without resizing and without having to go through 2 palette changes by importing into user_e.rsc. So it's not an extension of tyred's utility, although he may be able to write another program to do the following conversion.
In the game files, for non-square images space is saved by abbreviating 'empty' pixels in the form 00xx, where xx is the number of pixels in hex. So I need to expand every instance of that into a string of 00 bytes, which will give a square image you can view and understand. Then I need to do the reverse, count the number of 00s in a row and replace that with the 00xx shorthand to make a square masked image into one that works in the game. I'm looking into scripting the process but it's a little too complicated for me so far.
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Post by tyred2010 on Apr 28, 2010 23:29:07 GMT
With DSR explaining how the irregular pics work, I can at least do a decent job at drawing those pictures from f1_e.rsc (attachment). Delicate and precise work, tho. I'll see if I can write something that will "compress" 00 values like it's been explained now. Attachments:
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Post by tyred2010 on Apr 29, 2010 4:02:22 GMT
DSR: You can try the attached file on raw picture data, and see if it compresses 00's like it's supposed to do. I'm guessing it might not, but I can probably fix it if you can tell me what went wrong. Attachments:
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Post by tyred2010 on Apr 29, 2010 4:16:13 GMT
Last one only handles up to 10,000 pixels, but maybe you need more. So this one should handle up to 307,840 pixels. Attachments:
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Post by DSR on Apr 29, 2010 4:31:42 GMT
I think each half of the car is around 56k pixels.
The results of the compression were slightly different to the one I did by hand, I'm just checking to see if the source was slightly different.
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Post by DSR on Apr 29, 2010 4:57:21 GMT
The error was in my other file, it looks like your app works perfectly!
Now if you can reverse the process, I'll be able to make masks for all the sponsor graphics and - even better - the cars.
PS. In theory it shouldn't be necessary to ask the height of the image, only the width, right?
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Post by tyred2010 on Apr 29, 2010 17:45:16 GMT
Compression: Fixed a bug where files were still only reading <=10,000 pixels (presumably.) Decompression: New files No, it shouldn't be necessary. I only used it as a way of measuring how many pixels to read, and possibly avoid bugs with too much data at the bottom. With current version, you should be able to just hit "enter" for picture height, and it should read all <=380000 possible pixels in the file (minus some integer rounding effects)... just watch for bugs, since it isn't properly tested. Attachments:
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Post by DSR on Apr 29, 2010 18:41:46 GMT
Great job! Decompress hangs if I set the height to null or to more than the actual height of the image, but it works with a little trial and error. Results are promising: I'm going to work on the cars first, sponsors later.
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Post by tyred2010 on Apr 29, 2010 20:53:01 GMT
I think I see what was happening. Decompress was reacting badly when it encountered consecutive "00"s, like "00 00" in the header after compressed raw-picture-data. It read the first one as a compression prefix, and the second one as how many 00 pixels were compressed. This led it to become lost/hung. This version will probably fix it; but beware that extra consecutive 00's towards end of outputted file (and before lots of FF's) are presumably extra-garbage (like from next header), and not real picture data from the proper image. Attachments:
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Post by DSR on May 2, 2010 3:38:17 GMT
It's far from perfect, and the sponsor-zones haven't been done yet (need to find and catalogue 2x underlay images for each sponsor location on each car), but I thought you guys might like to see the prototype of a new livery in game... Attachments:
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Post by DSR on May 2, 2010 5:22:20 GMT
McLaren's looking quite good, with a nice chrome effect. You can see better what I mean about the sponsor underlays here. Attachments:
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Post by punkrohan on May 2, 2010 10:21:02 GMT
WOW.Keep up the great work DSR. These are the images i was referring to that needed to be changed! Is it going to be possible to patch these images into a game? I have my data set up in specific team order, so it would be quite handy if i could replace "stewart" picture with your renault picture. If you had the time, or wanted to share, it would be great if you could put up all your graphics in a zip file, DSR, as they are without doubt, truly exceptional. (team logos, driver pics, grandstand? engine pics etc) And ive just thought of something else.. has anyone found where the pre-existing engine sponsor allocations are located? The placement of the engine sponsors on the car when you start the game is not realistic...(top of side pod and front wing!) Also can the engine contracts length to start the game be edited so that ferrari has a contract with ferrari for 50 years, mercedes has a contract with mercedes for 50 years, mclaren has a contract with mercedes for 5 years? etc...
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Post by Simtek™ on May 2, 2010 15:11:40 GMT
OMG. Amazing work.
I am working on a website to centralise things, I was not aware of the level of editing DSR is doing in those screenshots.
So who is involved in what and I will compile this info, host and fully support this "2010 mod" so the community can have a central mod, not various (if there will be).
Can you guys not combine efforts? I can help too with data etc and ofc the site and tidying this place up. But you guys know 10 times more than me. Punk, Tyred, DSR.
Great again guys.
What are you working off? CD version? GER / ENG?
I would love if you are saying the CD version, but I can see benefits of the NO-CD ver.
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Post by DSR on May 2, 2010 20:28:47 GMT
Thanks guys. It will take some time so I may package an early update as 0.93 rather than the next milestone. Is it going to be possible to patch these images into a game? I have my data set up in specific team order, so it would be quite handy if i could replace "stewart" picture with your renault picture. If you had the time, or wanted to share, it would be great if you could put up all your graphics in a zip file, DSR, as they are without doubt, truly exceptional. (team logos, driver pics, grandstand? engine pics etc) 'Patching' it into a different file is not something I am prepared to spend any time on at this stage, and I won't be providing my .psd, .pcx, .raw, etc files for public consumption, sorry. I'm trying to make a comprehensive 2010 mod so all my efforts are directed at that goal right now. Yes, these are things that would be nice to change, but unfortunately I don't know the answers. Contract lengths I doubt is changeable - I expect you can change the contract for ALL cases, but not for individual teams. So who is involved in what and I will compile this info, host and fully support this "2010 mod" so the community can have a central mod, not various (if there will be). Can you guys not combine efforts? I can help too with data etc and ofc the site and tidying this place up. But you guys know 10 times more than me. Punk, Tyred, DSR. I'm happy if people take an interest in my mod but honestly I'm not sure what help I can accept. I've a very clear idea of what needs to be done and how to do it, and how long I expect each milestone will take. There's nothing I can think of off hand that can be done separately by someone else and just 'plug in'. What can be done to move the project forward? Suggestions, play testing, problem spotting, and finding new things to modify. I don't know what causes sponsor relations to revert to default after the first race; I'd like to know everything that affects team pace; F1 results history is something I won't be touching for a while; finally there are plenty of things that can't be modified, like paying points to more than 6 places - but there are things we thought couldn't be modified but now can be, so finding new stuff is very valuable. ENG CD version. I suppose most people will be using NOCD, so I was thinking of providing a cracked exe with the mod. Personally I mount the game directory as cdrom with DOSBox, but it was only recently I realised this doesn't work if you don't have MOVIE/WON.MOV there, so I worry that people may be using my mod with a different exe than the one provided...
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