01-05-2002 19:20									#1
	Anyone who knows C++ Put an end to popups!

I am trying to add some modifications in the UI.
I want to decrease the population per pop number from 10,000 to 1,000.
So i heard Locutus saying that the UI is based on C++. Then i looked for the integer to this number in the UI and I found out it is PopulationValue.
So in C++ I want to write something like

code:

PopulationValue = PopulationValue/10

	01-05-2002 19:22									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Add a ';' to that and it's good C code alright. But where did you want to insert it so that it works? AFAIK you need the source code for that...

	01-05-2002 21:30									#3
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Actually this was going to be the question after i had the code. Still I was think in insert inside the file i want to change.

	01-05-2002 21:46									#4
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Anyone who knows C++...

want to write a program to decode sprites?

	02-05-2002 03:24									#5
	Re: Anyone who knows C++ Enter the AD-FREE zone

quote: Originally posted by Pedrunn PopulationValue = PopulationValue/10

I'm making my living with C++. As Locutus said, if you add a ; it will be correct. A shorter form would be:

code:

PopulationValue /= 10;

	02-05-2002 03:25									#6
	Inflate your Upload Space

Sir Ralph, don't confuse these poor old kids any more than they already are

	02-05-2002 04:20									#7
	Tired of ads?

Maybe that's why the SLIC documentation is so cryptic: it was written by programmers.

	02-05-2002 04:28									#8
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I could have told you that years ago (in fact, I think I did)...

	02-05-2002 14:27									#9
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just don’t go to activsion for the source code you’ll get some bloke on the end of an email going I think you may have to look at one of the patches for that and he gets pretty upset with you on the next e-mail after you tell him Satan him self is more help full when you want to sell your soul.

	02-05-2002 17:30									#10
	Put an end to popups!

Now if you add commas and periods, that would be wonderful and it could be possible to figure, what your point is...

	02-05-2002 17:40									#11
	Inflate your Upload Space

it is in the style of the bloke from activsion

	02-05-2002 18:39									#12
	Full PM-box? Change here!

Sir Ralph, would you consider attempting to decode the sprite files for the greater good?

	02-05-2002 18:49									#13
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wombat i am looking into that for you if you want to help mail me

	02-05-2002 20:48									#14
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quote: Originally posted by Immortal Wombat Sir Ralph, would you consider attempting to decode the sprite files for the greater good?

If it fits in my abilities and (more important) time frame, why not. Although I still don't understand what you want .

	02-05-2002 20:51									#15
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he wants a sprite decompiler

	02-05-2002 21:22									#16
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For some help in the readme for the sprite maker the last cheapter is made for programer who whish to write a program that can interpret, draw, or export sprites. This chapter also contains some fractments of C++ code, I guess it is code ripped of the sprite maker source code, to help programers to creater a sprite viewer/editor.

-Martin

	03-05-2002 08:44									#17
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quote: Originally posted by Locutus Sir Ralph, don't confuse these poor old kids any more than they already are

Dont worry it happened exacly what i thougt it would... It did not work .
It worthed the try anyway.

	03-05-2002 12:54									#18
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Yes martin I have been looking at that for some time ( a few days) and one thing strikes me the product of the program would be forced to have the shadow merged with the unit pic, on the other hand I am very close to being able to write some pseudo code to de compile it ones I get a c++ de compile to see the rest of this program.

	03-05-2002 14:32									#19
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quote: Originally posted by Martin Gühmann For some help in the readme for the sprite maker the last cheapter is made for programer who whish to write a program that can interpret, draw, or export sprites. This chapter also contains some fractments of C++ code, I guess it is code ripped of the sprite maker source code, to help programers to creater a sprite viewer/editor.

Where can I find this program/description? Do you have a link for me? Sorry if this question is dumb, but consider that I didn't take a single look for all this modding stuff yet.

	03-05-2002 15:32									#20
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http://www.apolyton.net/cgi-bin/ctp...view.cgi?ID=566

I thought the code was pasted into a thread somewhere, but I can't find it

	03-05-2002 17:27									#21
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Thanks IW. That's indeed valid C code, obviously for Microsoft Visual C++. It doesn't compile yet, because it has six undefined symbols (in fact it has much more, but the rest I could easily figure):

Pixel32 - a data type (may be unsigned integer 32 bit?)
Pixel16 - a data type (may be unsigned integer 16 bit?)
g_is565Format - a boolean variable (true or false)
spriteutils_AveragePixel32() - a function
RGB32Info() - a function
RGB32Components() - a function

I will look into it, when I get the time, but it may last a while.

Edit: spriteutils_AveragePixel32() can also easily been figured, given it appears in a function named spriteutils_CreateQuarterSize(). Pixel32 is definitely a 32 bit integer, and Pixel16 a 16 bit integer. The rest remains a mystery so far... now back to the coding for what I'm paid.

Edit2: RGB32Components() was also not so hard to guess. Now, what shall the program do? Reverse the sprite building (make a bunch of pictures out of a sprite)? Or what?

Last edited by Sir Ralph on 03-05-2002 at 19:23

	03-05-2002 19:46									#22
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quote: Now, what shall the program do? Reverse the sprite building (make a bunch of pictures out of a sprite)? Or what?

Ideally, it should do something like TileEdit does. Decompile a sprite into its component pictures, and a script file, build so that it is possible for the user to export pictures from, import pictures to, and alter pictures in the sprite file and resave.

	03-05-2002 19:49									#23
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Of course a sprite editor/builder would be much more comfortable, but it is enough to have a sprite viewer with the ability to save every frame in the sprite as single picture. Or at least to say it in your words: A program that makes a bunch of pictures out of a sprite. Maybe the script rebuilding of the sprite would be also usefull, but not necessary if you just want to have the graphics.

	03-05-2002 20:46									#24
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There's no such a thing like a script encoder in the published C code, so I probably won't be able to extract it. It's all about graphics only. Also, the quality of the extracted pictures will be worse than their originals were, because as far as I can see their quality (color width) is vastly reduced during the sprite building. So it surely won't be beneficial if you extract/reinsert them several times.

I will try the decoding in "a bunch of pictures" first, as step one. I'm not much of a Windows programmer, may be somebody writes a GUI and an editor in Visual Basic, or if not, I might do it later. Step by step.

	03-05-2002 21:06									#25
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Sir Ralph,
You know this the slippery slope right?
Good luck and if you can make this thing work then the CTP2 community will owe you big time, and the Civ3 one by the sounds of it too

	03-05-2002 22:48									#26
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Yeah, sorry, I was a little overambitious perhaps If you can just get some *.tif files out of the sprite, its as much as I dared hope for really. We will owe you big time. No more b!tching about Civ3

quote: Also, the quality of the extracted pictures will be worse than their originals were, because as far as I can see their quality (color width) is vastly reduced during the sprite building

Yet they look ok in the game... Does the game uncompress the colours again?

	03-05-2002 23:14									#27
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

We'll see. Still the function RGB32Info() is missing. And the code shows only the translation of one picture (and not even complete), but the *.spr file has also headers and probably a block structure, which are not yet described. And about the script I also didn't care yet. Well, you already have a compiler (this MakeSpr.exe), so if I succeed to decompile the sprite, you could edit the files in a traditional graphics program like PSP meanwhile, may be later I or somebody else can unify all 3 parts (decompiling, editing, recompiling) in one program.

As to the reduced quality: It's no criticism and the sprites look ok, but take the "cow" example: the size of all source pictures added is 8.3 MB, the resulting sprite has 240 KB, and there is no compression (like Huffman or so) in the algorithm. Also, one pixel of the source files is 32 Bit (red, green, yellow and alpha each 8 bit), a pixel of the sprite seems to have only 16 bit and I don't know yet how R/G/B/A are distributed, may be there's even a 256 color cap.

Edit: After I had a look in it's inner part, i'm sure now, the SPR file is not strong compressed. Ways too much FF's in it, that can't be the typical compression "randomness". Hence, the size reduction is achieved only with quality reduction. At the start of the file is a 512 bytes array that looks like a color table, but has only 128 elements.

About the file format: Seems it must be a TIF file. I already downloaded a format specification (heck, they are even four different, not much of a standard) and at the first view it's quite complicated. I hope I can get along with it. If not, I can save at least BMP files, but the conversion will have to be done manually.

Last edited by Sir Ralph on 04-05-2002 at 02:46

	07-05-2002 12:50									#28
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You lot are going to love me then I just started a vb project to do just that once we get the basic c++ de compiler I am working on a project which will let you adjust the colours and then save the file back as a sprite

Sir Ralph I have also been looking at the de compiler for sprites and there seams to be loads of stuff missing . from the sounds of it you know a lot more about c++ then me or any of my friends.

	07-05-2002 17:13									#29
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

Thank you, guess there must be something my company pays me for .

The RGB32Info() function is crucial for the compiler and is still missing. I try to complete the compiler (with a dummy RGB32Info) and comparing the output and the *.spr structure I try to guess what this function does. It's not a one-weekend-shot anyway. Once I completed a working compiler, I can reverse the process, thus making a decompiler. If I succeed with it, I put it in a DLL and you can use it with VB at will.

	07-05-2002 17:26									#30
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if I get the vb to open the tiff I am having some big problems with that