26-12-2000 08:15									#1
	Transluscent Colours for Unit Icons in TOT? Enter the AD-FREE zone

So, I've been working on putting together a comprehensive Mod Pack for TOT. Part of that process has been collecting and editing icons for units.

While checking the look of the new units on an actual
TOT (Original terrain) map, I noticed that the "stealth" units I'd chosen (the Stealth Bomber from
the "Cold WarX" modpack, and the Stealth fighter....not sure of the original source) blended in
very well with their terrain. "Neat!" I thought, and
carried on.

This afternoon, I accidentally created another similar
(translucent) icon. I'd noticed that if the unit icons
from TOT are "sharpened" using PaintShop Pro, a lot of them actually come out looking quite decent. (Some clean up is required, as PSP will blend unit edges into the transparent background.

I was looking for a suitable icon for a space marine,
so I had a go at the sci-fi directory's units.bmp.
(not sure what the unit is called, I haven't played enough to have them all memorized, but couting the top row as 1 and the left column as one, it's the fourth unit in the fifth row...looks like a Mech with a sheild). As near as I can recall, I loaded the units.bmp into PSP (ver 7.0), selected the entire icon
square, sharpened it (twice), and then added into my
working copy of units.bmp (opened through Win98's Paint program). I then made some cosmetic changes (mainly cutting and pasting), and and fired up the saved game I'd been using to check the look of units on the map. The unit I'd just created blends in with it's background. It's although the icon is translucent and allows the colours of the terrain beneath it to
show through.

I've repeated this process in the hopes of duplicating the effect, but I've had no success.

Has anyone else encountered this? If so how is it done?

(if not I can upload the units in question....just let
me know where)

	29-12-2000 04:31									#2
	Tired of ads?

Thoth, I supect that this has nothing to do with the graphics you're using. Since the units in question are in the Stealth bomber (and fighter) slots, they are invisible. What you're seeing is how invisible units look to their owner in Test of Time.

Making other units invisible is easy. Open the Rules Text file, got to "Units Advanced" and look in column "G". The last number in column 'G'(the last one on the right) controls invisibility. To make the unit invisible, use a '1'. To make it visible, use a '0'.

Keep in mind that these units are only invisible to another human player. The AI knows where you are!