Spring RTS Engine

when something says it is 16bit is is not 16 bits per channel which is what people talk about when they talk about height fields.

old conversation about bbp and the formats

what you need for your height field is 16 bits per channel

16, 24, 32 each only use 8 bits per channel which means they only have the range of 0-255, with 32 bit allowing for an alpha channel.

What you are looking for is closer to a 16 bit raw.

then the question basically becomes :

a) how do i pull something with 16 bit greyscale depth from max
b) what program can i use to crop/resize said image and export as 16 bit raw?

What I think you should do is go supcom2 style and duplicate the map several times over so you have 3 platforms, and then put in a big landscape, maybe a bridge or two, just make it epic/impressive

KaiserJ wrote:a) how do i pull something with 16 bit greyscale depth from max

not sure, there are others who have done it though, picassoCT used to do maps in max but I am not sure if he had the 16bit raw heightfields or not.

KaiserJ wrote:b) what program can i use to crop/resize said image and export as 16 bit raw?

photoshop cs3 or later/the gimp.. or least I have heard the gimp can.


AF: I think what kaiser is doing is plenty swank enough, let the guy be so he can get the first one out before you start making demands.

demands are fine, i like his idea... im demanding help, only fair that i reciprocate.

if i can get this going, im either going to release my tiles for general use, or hold a graph-paper mapping contest (design a map using my tiles, and i will make it)

ofc, i wouldn't judge said contest. i'd leave it to people who are good at designing maps for gameplay (a wild beherith appears?)

torrenting CS3, as much as i hate photoshop, if its what i have to do, then its what i have to do.

also : this test map, im not going to bugger around with adding a metalmap... consider it a GRTS wip.

just gonna list the formats i can export with here; maybe someone can point me towards one that will work or at least suffice.

.png (claims 16 bit, i think its a liar)
.bmp (8 or 24 bit)
.rla (no idea what this is, looks interesting... apparently i can have 32 bits per channel, but there are a lot of options i dont understand)
.rpf (same as rla, but with MOAR things i dont understand)
.tga (maybe i used this before, it boasts 32 bits per pixel... is that <> 32 bits per channel?)
.tif ("32 bit SGI LOG-luv" ... sounds like it enjoys poop?)
.dds (17 selectable radio buttons, all with strange, unusual names. the best seems to be 64 bits per pixel, divided evenly between R G B and alpha)

edit : my thoughts are that i'm getting a workable 16 bit hmap in .tif format, but loading it into gimp and formatting (i have to crop the document and stretch it to a useable size) is the part of the process in which im losing height information

It is a guess but probably64bit is 16bits perchannel with an additional 16bit channel for alpha got a 48 bit option?

Kaiser, I can do it for you if you like.

here is the beginning red (faction 2) anti air mech. it's the shape of my plan, but looks annoying to me. maybe its too Battletech-ish?

I like it but the legs are not really connected O.o
When he shoots 1 missile he fall back and break in 1000 mini mechs :O

Looks good gogogogogo

red's fighter

Sexy, gogogogo

red gun ship.
hmmmm. looks familiar...

a russian looking not russian tank

bobthedinosaur wrote:here is the beginning red (faction 2) anti air mech. it's the shape of my plan, but looks annoying to me. maybe its too Battletech-ish?

i would love to see it as storm replacement

bobthedinosaur wrote:here is the beginning red (faction 2) anti air mech. it's the shape of my plan, but looks annoying to me. maybe its too Battletech-ish?

<3

Gets my seal of mecha-approval. Go for it!

Yeah looks nice...

That a railgun or something on the front?

bobthedinosaur wrote:
a russian looking not russian tank

is that the turret from a BT demolisher?

yes, its a redone demolisher. you caught me