Adding custom heraldry to a shield tutorial - Revision history

Sunjammer: Adding category

2012-02-23T13:29:40Z

Adding category

2012-02-23T13:11:18Z

2010-07-12T04:00:45Z

‎Troubleshooting

2010-07-12T03:55:23Z

‎Choosing a template

2010-07-12T03:52:31Z

‎Troubleshooting

2010-06-30T05:00:06Z

‎M2DA

2010-06-30T04:59:23Z

‎Adding custom heraldry

2010-06-30T04:58:38Z

‎Validation

2010-06-30T04:57:33Z

‎Adding custom heraldry

2010-06-30T04:56:56Z

‎Resizing the mask (optional)

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:29, 23 February 2012
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	If your heraldry disappears at long distance in game, consider making three textures for each heraldry, similar to the official campaign. This might be more important if you're trying to overwrite an existing heraldry, rather than make a new one. The Heraldry 2DA appears to reference only the largest size - it's yet to be established whether the engine uses the smaller sizes under some conditions.		If your heraldry disappears at long distance in game, consider making three textures for each heraldry, similar to the official campaign. This might be more important if you're trying to overwrite an existing heraldry, rather than make a new one. The Heraldry 2DA appears to reference only the largest size - it's yet to be established whether the engine uses the smaller sizes under some conditions.
		+
		+	[[Category:Tutorials]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:00, 12 July 2010
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	If an unwanted stripe of colour appears at the base of the shield, try changing the mask so that there is significant clear space below the visible portion. It may not be possible to fill 100% of the shield's surface with heraldry, owing to this bug.		If an unwanted stripe of colour appears at the base of the shield, try changing the mask so that there is significant clear space below the visible portion. It may not be possible to fill 100% of the shield's surface with heraldry, owing to this bug.

−	If your heraldry disappears at long distance in game, consider making three textures for each heraldry, similar to the official campaign. This might be more important if you're trying to overwrite an existing heraldry, rather than make a new one.	+	If your heraldry disappears at long distance in game, consider making three textures for each heraldry, similar to the official campaign. This might be more important if you're trying to overwrite an existing heraldry, rather than make a new one. The Heraldry 2DA appears to reference only the largest size - it's yet to be established whether the engine uses the smaller sizes under some conditions.

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 Export some of the heraldry textures (prefixed h_) so that you can examine them using a tool which allows you to see the alpha channel.
 Note that the alpha channel contains a mask which determines which part of the original shield texture is over-written by heraldry.
 Choose one that is roughly the right shape - for example, h_primalora_0.dds is a good shape for a kite shield.

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:52, 12 July 2010
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	If an unwanted stripe of colour appears at the base of the shield, try changing the mask so that there is significant clear space below the visible portion. It may not be possible to fill 100% of the shield's surface with heraldry, owing to this bug.		If an unwanted stripe of colour appears at the base of the shield, try changing the mask so that there is significant clear space below the visible portion. It may not be possible to fill 100% of the shield's surface with heraldry, owing to this bug.
		+
		+	If your heraldry disappears at long distance in game, consider making three textures for each heraldry, similar to the official campaign. This might be more important if you're trying to overwrite an existing heraldry, rather than make a new one.

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 Unless you want to over-ride an existing Bioware heraldry, give your entry a new, unique ID number.
-All that this table contains is a name for your heraldry (for use in the toolset), and the name of your dds file.
+All that this table contains is a name for your heraldry (for use in the toolset), and the name of your DDS file.
 Owing to a [[Bug:_High_M2DA_ID_ranges_might_work_in_the_toolset,_but_not_in_game | bug]], your new ID numbers probably need to be in the range 0-255 - otherwise, your heraldry will work in the toolset, but not in game.

← Older revision	Revision as of 13:11, 23 February 2012
(No difference)

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 It doesn't matter if your custom image is slightly bigger than the original, but bear in mind that only the masked portion will be visible in DAO.
-Save the file with a new name (e.g. h_new.dds) in dds format in your module override folder with the following options : DXT5, mipmap 1/10, generate mip maps.
+Save the file with a new name (e.g. h_new.dds) in DDS format in your module override folder with the following options : DXT5, mipmap 1/10, generate mip maps.
 === Validation ===

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 === Validation ===
-Check that your new dds file is the same size as the original, with the correct alpha mask.
+Check that your new DDS file is the same size as the original, with the correct alpha mask.
-To check the mip maps, open it in Photoshop with the "load mipmaps" option - you should see 7 progressively smaller versions of the same image.
+Check the mip maps. In Photoshop, this is done by opening the DDS file with the "load mipmaps" option - you should see 7 progressively smaller versions of the same image.
 == M2DA ==

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 === Adding custom heraldry ===
-Over-write the image with your custom heraldry, using Paste Into (not Paste, which destroys the alpha channel mask!).
+Over-write the image with your custom heraldry. In Photoshop, use Paste Into (not Paste, which destroys the alpha channel mask!).
 It doesn't matter if your custom image is slightly bigger than the original, but bear in mind that only the masked portion will be visible in DAO.

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 === Resizing the mask (optional) ===
-If you like, you can resize the mask (Image > Resize > Image Size). If you do that, you must crop the image (or resize the background) so that it remains exactly 512 x 512 pixels.
+If you like, you can resize the mask (in Photoshop, Image > Resize > Image Size).
 The illustration at the top of the page illustrates that the heraldry can almost fill a kite shield if the mask is enlarged. If you look carefully, you'll see that the standard mask shape doesn't quite match the contours of the shield. If you don't like this "crudely painted" look, use a smaller mask, stick with the standard mask, or obtain a tool which lets you edit the mask.