New Grafix

[Fredrik Olsson]

Drake, the url given at dmweb.free.fr to a page with new grafix by you is dead. Is there another link or work in progress?

[cowsmanaut]

well, I've done some new art for it yes.. the link is dead though due to the fact that the guy I was getting the space from wasn't able to keep it active so I gave up.

I've been thinking about making a new link for this but I need a place that will take the kind of traffic I would expect for something like this.. you see on my home space I have a limit to how much someone can d/l from my page per month. since graphics are large and there are a lot of us here I can imagine I would be hit with service charges.

My option then is to find a free web page where it can be stored.

Any ideas?

[amaprotu]

How big is the file?

- Amaprotu

[cowsmanaut]

it's not just one file it's several. if I keep them full size and full depth then they currently come to about 7megs however I've been thinking of making them 256 cols and set for 320x200 and seeing if George can make me a dat file that way they'll be much smaller and be about the same size as the current .dat or close to it anyway.

I still have a bunch of small bits to do like wall and floor patches and a few monsters so it's not a complete set. Not yet anyway..

[beowuuf]

What about over in the DMJ website? Who was hosting the graphics again? Just a thought, as anyone with a paint package could convert them to the .gif format, and vice versa. It seems that any graphics set (except walls, right?) can be used for either....

I'd keep them at full colour if possible, since George has the 24 and 32 bbp support and it would be nice to see them in their full glory!

As a side note, can anything quick and simple be done with the original graphics? The scaled distance graphics look great, and put the full sized ones to shame. Is there any way to expand, smooth out the colours, then resize to normal the original to get that same effect?

[amaprotu]

I don't know about the DMJ site.

However I was asking how big a zip file of the override folder would be for your new graphics. If you can get it down to 5 megs I can host it for you...

- Amaprotu

[George Gilbert]

If I get time then I was planning to include an option in the init.txt file for the linked contents of your override.txt file to be packed up into a data4.dat file to solve exactly this problem. Furthermore it would then be linked into the *.rtc file so that specific dungeons can be designed with pre-prepared new graphics for that dungeon.

Might be a while though, but that's the plan

[cowsmanaut]

well as I said I could get it down to around 1 meg zipped if I drop the colour depth and size.. putting them as 256 cols is not such a bad thing infact you don't really notice it since they are small and use less than 256 cols per tile anyway.. each tile can contain a different 256 cols so none of the 'glory' is really lost.. crunching them to half size is not so bad either really.. after all they would still be better than the old apple IIe stuff that has been lingering with it all these years.

also George , you are the only one with the ability to put in new walls at the moment so this is why I would submit them to you.. without the walls in place everything else will not fit..

[Gambit37]

Yeah, you can make significant savings by dropping the colours down to 8, 7, 6 or even 5 bit graphics (256, 128, 64 and 32 colours respectively). A package like ImageReady or Fireworks will allow you to experiment with various settings and you can preview the results to see which works best.

A door in RTC at 192 x 176 pixels and 24-bit colour is 99KB. With my replacement standard wooden door graphic, by taking it down to 32 colours which is the lowest I can go before it begins to look noticeably degraded, the file is 19.8Kb - quite a saving.

As George has said that RTC converts all images to 24-bit on startup, using this technique can really reduce the file size for downloads, and you make greater savings by reducing the palette than you do simply by compressing the files using WinZip or something similar.

[cowsmanaut]

here is a link to some of the graphics I've done not all of them yet just a taste really much work needs to be done on a few items but it's something anyway.

<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/bc2/cowsmanaut ... manaut/</a>

If you would like to give me some feedback or ideas feel free to post them to me here:
Cowsmanaut@collegeclub.com

put RTC in the subject line or it might get deleted as junk mail.

Cheers

[cowsmanaut]

the link above has been updated with a whole WHACK of new stuff.. I put in a new webpage with links and even a beginners guide for DM go check it out!!

www.angelfire.com/bc2/cowsmanaut/

[Soul]

Just check

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/fmunoz_/dm/dm. ... dm.html</a>

I know that most of you also check Dungeon
Master Java board and you are bored with my
post of a added a new pic now, added a new
one later, and such...
But I'm a junkie and can stop posting and
drawing.

Soul

[beowuuf]

To Soul: nah, the constant postings are cool - I'm a junkie for downloading them!

To Drake: you did warn that as an artist you'd fill the site up, and it's looking great! Those banners at the top are totally ruining your work though - can you create space for them at the top of each page? And I STILL can'ty download the graphics set - I've tried to let everything download it - ie, netscape, gozilla, and all of them get corrupt files. Am i missing something. The page, one time, did warn it doesn't like external downloading links when i tried for it directly...

As it's so small, there is freedrive too, to temporarily place it, login in: dmdungeons, passowrd: dungeons
Actually, if you wanted you could place a largeer set there, as it's still got almost all of it's free 20Mb space available.
From what i've seen in your other shots, and the DMJ intro, the set will look good when I can finally get it! : )

[dbarron]

I found I couldn't dl the graphics either. I think the web server has a time-to-live set on it's connections.
I did manage to get the file by using lynx from my ISP's machine (since that was instantaneous..versus my less than 56K).

[beowuuf]

yep, I have a 56k, so that could be it

[cowsmanaut]

well, I have tried downloading it myself and it works but I never tried unzipping the file so it could be a corrupt file. I'll replace it and see what happens.

I'm a cable user myself.. but only for the last month so I know about 56k probs.. and they are still fresh in my mind.. how was the site for download?

As for making space.. I put up a black cover over the banners to prevent you from having to look at them. in only one instance does the banner really show through. are you seeing it on other pages as well?

I left the banner in on the links page where it should be but I figured on the other pages it took away from everything.. if it is a big problem I can re work the pages to allow for it.

I plan on putting together a Bio for all the DM heros.. a little fiction about their past and who they are. A full body pose will be included with them. Now if anyone would like to help by giving me some ideas on what to write....

at any rate.. anyone who is still having problems d/ling the graphics after my update email me and I'll send them out that way untill I figure out what's wrong.

Cowsmanaut@collegeclub.com

post any and all ideas to that email as well.. put RTC in the title. No spam..

[Zyx]

Your page is great, Drake!
On the intro page, there is some white pixels on the right which allow to email you: is on purpose?
A previous and next button would be cool when reading the pages of the Book.
There are several mispelled words in the magic page.
There is some ad text in the upper left corner merging with your text.

[Gambit37]

Well, the banners still show up.

I don't see what the probelm is though - just move everything down the page a bit - it's not that hard!

[cowsmanaut]

well, I'll move it all down to show the everlasting adverts.. I guess I wasn't being as clever as I thought..

As for Typos .. they are on nearly every page not just the magic one.. there are also several gramatical errors as well but I'm not so worried since it was after not sleeping for hours on end that I decided to do it. I know they are there I'm just too lazy to fix them all.. but since I'll be updating, I'll get a few of them outta there.. I'm still sleep deprived though so don't expect perfection

I find Back buttons pointless.. sort of a redundant option. you have back buttons in your browser. A back button on the page actually takes you forward (if that makes sense) it throws you to the main previous page sure but if you wan to get to a page from before that's not linked to that page you need to user your browsers buttons anyway. So all in all I don't think they are worth it.

has anyone been able to download the graphics since I updated the link? I was thinking of puting the file on geocities and linking it through the page on angelfire.. since geocities may not have the same limitations..

[beowuuf]

Nope, I haven't had any more success, but wanted to see if other people were going to complain to see if it was me. Yahoo/Geocities are also a pain though, from the few times I have tried to place external links to files in my filespace people have also complained having 'file not found' messages.

The banners are almost crushed now, but just occasionally poking through.

[cowsmanaut]

ok well the banners not completely covered are now showing again.. much to my disgust. I jsut think they take away from the whol look.. but hey it's a free web page right...

now.. hmmm download problem.. I would do a idrive thing or freedrive etc.. however it requires people to log in and all that junk.. I'd preffer it to be easy for you to get it.. however if you have to choose between that and not getting it at all.. well I suppose it's not much of a choice..

ok what I'll do is break them up.. I was going to do it eventually.. this way they will be several small zips that even a 56k'er should be able to handle.. this should take about a half hour or so to set up the links and pages upload etc..

[Zyx]

Drake, The previous and next buttons were meant to read all the "chapters" of the book as if turning the pages, without going back to the "index".
Hmmm, I don't know if I made it clearer...

[cowsmanaut]

I get it now.. hmmm .. hmmmm .. yeah,I suppose that could work.

Maybe I'll try that out..

On annother note... I'm starting that fictional character profile thingy.. I still have not gotten any suggestions..

Everyone must have a favorite character(s) What makes them your favorite? What do you think they are like.. what kind of people are they? I have not played all of the characters in the game (gasp! I know) however I can make some stuff up..

anyhow.. don't be shy.

[cowsmanaut]

the first champion is up.. I'm going to try to get one per day done, but no promises.

The first is gothmog.

Go to the Heros chapter in the book and click on champions from that page..

[beowuuf]

I call Stamm, old reliable himself!

[cowsmanaut]

Syra is up now with good old Gothmog in the Champion's Bios. I'll try and put up Stamm thursday or friday night then comes Wuuf..

[cowsmanaut]

whew! the seem to be getting more detailed each time.. I shouldn't be taking longer and longer to do them they should be getting easier..

Anyway, Thanx to Beowulf for the bio.. I edited it a bit to make it match better with the others but most of it is the same.

Wuuf is next.. then.. who knows. Any ideas?

[Zyx]

Wasn't Wuuf a female?

[cowsmanaut]

Not so far as I can tell... after all ther isn't anything to support either way I guess..

things I found in refrence to bika other than those mentioned in the bio are

Moses son of Bika

Anylasis of Bika as a girls name

and it also means beach in annother language.

there is also and author (male) named Bika Reed who wrote about egeyptian myth and about anumbis and the sea of the dead. (which is where I think Wayne got the name from in the first place)

so, from what I can tell I think Male is the most likley..

cheers

[beowuuf]

zyx's textmute can read/alter the character stats hidden in the text pads for DM games - and found that there is an actual gender reference! So wuuf and wu-tse are female! But i always think of the guy as male too (cough plus stamm is possibly a dwarf, but i like my version better : ) )

the research into bika is impressive, btw!