Minor error in minimap in CTP tileset Babylon

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               

3RavensMore wrote...

Bannor Bloodfist wrote...

3RavensMore wrote...

Ummm...  Why were they encrypted to begin with?

To make the hard work that CTP performed on this set harder to steal.

Ok, that should have been obvious to me.  Thanks.  It's a wonderful set btw.

Thank you for the compliment.  There are litterally thousands of man/woman hours that were consumed getting that set ready.  From original artits on many of the groups/terrains that were added, to the various changes that CTP as a team had made.  We created things, changed things, retextured things and fixed all the bugs we could find.  Unfortunately, it appears that the minimaps I made had an option turned off that should have been turned on.  There is a setting to display or not display alpha textures.  Typically, when I am working on outdoors/rural type sets, I turn that feature off so that the tree tops don't hide the content of the tile... I must have left that turned off when I created the minimaps for the set.  

Just to be clear, we LOVE when people build a module or PW with the set as long as they require folks to download the original hak directly from the CTP vault page, what we don't want is someone taking that tileset apart or repackaging it as their own works. 

Just prior to release of that set, there was actual theft of some of our previous work that we asked the vault to remove since it violated the usage rights we had given to the files in question.  The vault graciously removed that content after it was proven that it was CTP work, under someone elses name.  That was why the encryption was performed on Babylon.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               Ok, I have uploaded a repaired version to the vault ftp site, and will have to wait for BeyondThePale to find the time to move it where it belongs.

This "fix" only fixes minimaps, and only for tiles with water.  There ARE exceptions to what was fixed.  Most of the shipping tiles have NOT been fixed, and any Rooftop tiles that may contain water were not touched.  However, water is now visible on all the other water related tiles.  I sincerely apologize for that error when I released this set.  If I had caught it prior to release, I would have corrected all the tiles before we went through the encryption phase of things.

Anyway, the shipping tiles were mostly left untouched as they are parts of groups that have random tiles assigned, and Veltools, TSC, NWmax, etc, can't load a group that has a -1 (random) tile assignment.  To fix this, I would have to generate a completely new .SET file, and manually assign water/dock tiles to those locations, and I just don't have time to do that right now.

Maybe down the road.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Estelindis]

               If there aren't too many shipping tiles, it might be possible to fix them manually (i.e. select transparent area and paste the water texture in).  I don't have the time to do that now either, but it's also a possibility down the road.  It might take less time than making a new set file.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               Actually, all I have to change in the .SET is the group definitions.  I just don't have time to do that sort of research on them right now. I have to place either tiles with water, OR tiles with docks and water for those -1 positions.

Since we used transparent texture for the water, you would have to be able to load a working minimap and capture that texture for the water to make it look right.  Not saying it is not possible, but that is something that I don't really know how to accomplish and have it look right in game.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Estelindis]

               Well, I was going to suggest taking a full water tile's minimap as the texture to paste into the transparent bits of the ship tiles.  But maybe I'm missing some rather important detail that would prevent that approach from working.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               Yep,  just a bit.

The minimaps are using the transparent bit of the texture... just painting the texture on top, may work, if you are using something that allows the layers to be seen beneath that water texture.  Does that make sense?  The minimaps actually enable the transparency and see through the texture, which otherwise looks just like a sold texture.

I know I am not making myself very clear here.  

Let me put it this way... I do NOT know how to use layers in any photo editing software and have the translucent layers show above a solid layer, without having the entire solid layer beneath be hidden by the alpha texture above it.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               This community is amazing! Thanks again :-)
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Estelindis]

               I think I know how I'd do it Bannor, but given that I don't have the time (and my main computer is being repaired anyway) it's all quite academic.  I appreciate the extra details, though.  Every day is a day I can learn something about NWN!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <dipping his quill...>

I'm pretty good with gimp (not as good as Birdman, though :-)
Anything I can do to help? Give me tgas to work with and I could try, anyway...

<...in someone else's ink>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Estelindis]

               Once the update goes up on the Vault, Rolo, please feel free to take a hand.  :-)  Post here or at the CTP forums if you have any questions or need any extra information.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <salutes...>

Will do :-)

<...properly, for once>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               Ok, vault update was actually completed today by BeyondThePale.

Link in sig or CTP_Babylon <<-- there.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               Ok, all minimaps have been fixed, and the update sent to the vault.  Once it is live, I will let you all know.

Sorry it took soo long, I forgot there was a VERY simple way to do the minimaps for groups with a -1 tile entry... simply remove the minus sign.  Since a -1 is a random tile, it truly doesn't matter what you use to fill that spot in the group when creating that minimap, as the REAL tile will already have a correct minimap.

Only thing to remember is to use a tile that already exist, and if you have more than one random tile, you should use more than one real tile, ie, change -1 to be 1, the second -1 to be 2 etc...

I was also able to decrypt and generate the minimaps for the Rooftops terrains.

Total of over 300 new minimaps were created and replaced the existing ones with water where needed.

Again, once the files have been cleared and moved by BeyondThePale I will let you know.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               **Applause**

Hmm..now I just need to get familiar with this new computer I bought so I could start doing something productive again soon...hmmm....
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Malagant]

               Your efforts are always appreciated, Bannor.