Parallax Worlds

[Jeoshua]

Hi, guys. Been a while, eh?

I just uploaded a new version of Parallax Worlds (http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=1174) compatible with Transcendence 1.3b2. I'm currently having some trouble with the masking of the stars, and I need a bit of help.

The idea behind the graphics is that the corona is supposed to be thin and airy, like the edge of the gas giants in the game, now... only it doesn't seem to want to cooperate. I can't figure out if it's the star glow or if I'm creating the masks wrong, but whenever I try to reduce the coronas, or make them more transparent, I keep getting flashes and discolored spots. For now, the version that I've uploaded is working, and looks pretty good, but it could look better.

I have included the Gimp XCF source files in with the mod, to try and get some help on this. Am I doing it wrong? Did I miss something? Or have I found a limitation of the engine in regards to transparencies?

Oh, and this version of the mod should be free from quest bugs and will leave the original asteroids in their place, instead spawning extra asteroids of the proper type to fill the fore- and background. And the annoying "pop in" was taken care of by our pal George. Thanks for that.

[AssumedPseudonym]

 Just downloaded it, but the only thing in it is the XML file. No graphics look to have made it into the zip.

[pixelfck]

Maybe (I can't read your code because the zip is mostly empty, as AssumedPseudonym already mentioned) you have a backColor attribute specified on you <Image .../> elements?

Code: Select all

<Image UNID="&unid;"	bitmap="Resources\Planet.jpg"	bitmask="Resources\PlanetMask.bmp" backColor="0x00000000"/>

from StdTyped.xml:

Code: Select all

<!-- RESOURCES ================================================================

	NOTE: For images that have a 1-bit mask, we specify the backColor attribute
	to apply the mask to the in-memory image. This saves us from having to carry
	around the mask. Images that use an 8-bit mask should not use this technique
(...)
-->

In other words, if you don't want the engine to treat your masks as black and white images, you need to omit the backColor attribute.

If you already knew this, just ignore my post

Cheers,
Pixelfck

[Jeoshua]

It appears that my file was too large, with the XCF file included. I'm uploading it again, without the source file. Sorry about that. It seems that it was just over 10 megs and I didn't realize that xelerus would fail silently when not uploading. I just verified it, this is the correct one. The graphics are there, this time.

I know about the bitmask value. The bitmasks are greyscale bmps, 8 bit, No colorspace included. I have played around with the export settings in Gimp and all I ever get seems to be 4 levels of transparency: Fully transparent, you can see the stars through it, crazy inverted colors, or fully opaque. All of this would be so much simpler if the game just understood transparent png files.