Fractal Softworks Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Poll

What did you find very usefull in this thread.

The examples
Ship sizes
Ferrus guide
BSF guide
Infestation guide
depth guide
medonca's spriting guide
avan's colouring guide
Tip and tricks
Light and shade guide

Pages: 1 ... 5 6 [7] 8 9

Author Topic: A spriter's first toolbox  (Read 138796 times)

Piroton

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 19
    • View Profile

I'm looking for a little help spriting with Battleships Forever: could some people share which parts packs they import in order to have decent looking segments?

I've downloaded this build: http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=5764
which has tons of custom segments, but there are so many and 95% are the 2-d line drawings that are completely useless for Starfarer. Or is there an easy way of filling those in with a matte color?

Thanks!
Just my little bits of advice

There's a little file in your Battleships Forever folders called "smsprites.ini". This file contains the file directories of every sprite you see in the sidebars (activate sidebars with z). I've been using a modified version of this done by some members of the BSF community a while back - It's available here.

To get the 'look', any sprite folder with "-sw" or "-swnc" in its name should have sprites that work just fine, as Thaago mentioned.

To get all the sprites working, you can either drag-and-drop the images from the sprites' folders into the ShipMaker [note: this does not work on Windows 7, for some reason] or you can use the modified smsprites.ini file. Another thing to note is colour when working with the sprites - it is entirely possible to set custom colours that load on startup for your colour palette (I believe it's right-clicking [or ctrl-clicking] on the sidebar with the colours, then selecting "save colours") but said colours shouldn't be saturated - saturation and the sprites don't mix well.
Logged

TheHappyFace

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1168
  • The critic
    • View Profile

any chance you could rewrite this into a turtorial so i can put it with the rest?
Logged
Fractalsoftworks limited edition ban hammer.

Cycerin

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1665
  • beyond the infinite void
    • View Profile



Supposed to be the oldest Blackrock ship still in active service. I wonder what to do with it. Ships devoid of asymmetry are usually less interesting, gameplay-wise... so I'll add some.

Was thinking armed exploration ship.

EDIT: ***, thought this was the other sprite thread
« Last Edit: January 13, 2013, 06:34:59 PM by Cycerin »
Logged

ValkyriaL

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2145
  • The Guru of Capital Ships.
    • View Profile

Hmm.. could be deep-space science vessel as well, it does give me that feel.
Logged

Cycerin

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1665
  • beyond the infinite void
    • View Profile

Yeah, you're right. :)
Logged

Sandremo

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 134
    • View Profile

Uh... since i like starsector and i wanted to help EnderNerdcore with his freespace 2 mod i'm now trying to learn spriting... but i cant seem to find any basic guides on weapon sprites... Modding seems a bit difficult so i think i might need some hand holding here. XD

Any help to point me in the right direction and/or tips would be... uh nice?

-Sandremo

PS. I looked through this guide only stuff about ships.. or is the basic concept the same?

Edit: Or i should actually read through the bloody wiki first before begging for help..
« Last Edit: February 26, 2013, 01:13:11 AM by Sandremo »
Logged

Pelly

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 757
    • View Profile

Uh... since i like starsector and i wanted to help EnderNerdcore with his freespace 2 mod i'm now trying to learn spriting... but i cant seem to find any basic guides on weapon sprites... Modding seems a bit difficult so i think i might need some hand holding here. XD

Any help to point me in the right direction and/or tips would be... uh nice?

-Sandremo

PS. I looked through this guide only stuff about ships.. or is the basic concept the same?

Edit: Or i should actually read through the bloody wiki first before begging for help..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA-Qpk8FNnM
Logged

Sandremo

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 134
    • View Profile

Aye that's what i mean by reading the wiki but thanks anyway. :D
Logged

TheHappyFace

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1168
  • The critic
    • View Profile

added to the guides
Logged
Fractalsoftworks limited edition ban hammer.

hadesian

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2058
  • It's been one of those days...
    • View Profile

Guys, how do I force GIMP to run on my 7970? I'm getting a ton of lag dragging the sprite around and I really want to show you all the redesigned Wanderer but this is slowing me down a ton
Logged
Changes as of May 24, 2013
  • Reinvented Starsector.
  • That is all.

TheHappyFace

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1168
  • The critic
    • View Profile

7970 is your graphics card?
if so do you have multiple graphic card?
if so you can just disable the one which is worst,
but you can also just try out a different program.

strange that it lags so muich while a sprite is something so little.

it might just be something else causing the lag. have you checked your processes in the task manager.
Logged
Fractalsoftworks limited edition ban hammer.

hadesian

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2058
  • It's been one of those days...
    • View Profile

7970 is your graphics card?
if so do you have multiple graphic card?
if so you can just disable the one which is worst,
but you can also just try out a different program.

strange that it lags so muich while a sprite is something so little.

it might just be something else causing the lag. have you checked your processes in the task manager.
I have a single 7970, along with 8GB of 1,600MHz CAS9 and a stock clock i5 3570K at 3.4GHz. My CPU usage spikes to around 35% with CPU 0 taking the brunt of usage. Memory usage sits nicely at 33% with Steam, Chrome and Skype running so that's not an issue either.
Really weird.
Logged
Changes as of May 24, 2013
  • Reinvented Starsector.
  • That is all.

hadesian

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2058
  • It's been one of those days...
    • View Profile

Behold! And help.
Spoiler
[close]
This is Wanderer. Currently, I have a few problems... let's see if I can garner any advice.
1. Wings I'm pretty much 100% OK with, but if you can see any problems or such do tell.
2. Those engine blocks suck. The three rectangles by the wings feel devoid of real... engineness. Plus the middle rectangles are meant to be stacked with a block of a different colour sandwiched between them (this will be where a phase glow will appear too).
I've put it on a black background due to the excessive white colours
Logged
Changes as of May 24, 2013
  • Reinvented Starsector.
  • That is all.

Sproginator

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 3592
  • Forum Ancient
    • View Profile

It's just a few boxes, not much to try to talk about xD
Logged
A person who's never made a mistake, never tried anything new
- Albert Einstein

As long as we don't quit, we haven't failed
- Jamie Fristrom (Programmer for Spiderman2 & Lead Developer for Energy Hook)

TheHappyFace

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1168
  • The critic
    • View Profile

please post your sprites in the spriters judgement thread.
Logged
Fractalsoftworks limited edition ban hammer.
Pages: 1 ... 5 6 [7] 8 9