Dungeon Master Forum

I was just thinking... OW!

I discovered a little trick a while back and I'm not sure if the peoples around here would know it: When working with flooritems like the DM2 castle entrance, setting the first 3 pre-scaled images as NULL makes the last image scale up (remove FRONT0/SIDE0, FRONT1/SIDE1 & FRONT2/SIDE2 but you keep FRONT3/SIDE3). When this image is placed in the dungeon, it actually appears larger than the object you cloned's image. Then all you have to do is scale down the actual image you've used and darken it (to make it look further away). I've used this trick to create a DM2 entrance that can be seen from 7 squares away (it blends with the background and there's no 'pop-in').

Here's hoping that someone out there finds this as useful as I have.

veeeeeery interesting ! can you post a zipped example ?

ok i've tested it myself, i think i am missing something. i tried with flooritem entrance castle from thicket south and a dm2 round grate. looks like the bitmaps have the same size as before...

Um... not sure I understand this. You're saying to create a tiny image for view 3 and it'll be scaled both up (view 2, 1 amd 0) and down (some unknown number of distant tiles)????

I can't imagine how this works, since the RTC drawing routines only work for four tiles out. If it's scaling further than this then it's probably a bug and shouldn't be relied on.

In addition, how do you make the image look good when scaled up? Doesn't it look all blurry and pixellated?

I think you should post a screenshot...!

I was meaning that it's most useful purpose is for faking the +3 squares away view (like the tower in FoD). However, my main point was about the scaling weirdness. Here's an example, clone a floorgrate... change the FRONT0/FRONT1/FRONT2 images to NULL, and set FRONT3's image to the one that was used for FRONT1. You'll only be able to see the affect when you're standing 3 squares away, but the floorgrate appears MUCH larger... and this is what makes it useful for creating extra views for objects, you just use triggers to toggle the visibility of the right objects (you keep the actual object sitting just within view).

@Gambit: And, yes, it does look blurry, but when we're talking about an object being seen from more than 3 squares away, then shouldn't it look a little blurry anyways? But as I said before, it's still a useful trick (especially for entrances when your using the original wallsets)... and I thought I'd let all you peoples know.

Lord_BoNes wrote:you just use triggers to toggle the visibility of the right objects (you keep the actual object sitting just within view).

Ah right, so you only gave half the explanation originally. Your wording suggested that you could get 7 tile views automatically. It would be useful in future to explain things more accurately

Sorry. My bad Haven't been sleeping much lately (only getting 2-5 hrs each night, most nights)

I often find your posts confusing as you don't fully explain things. Sorry if that sounded harsh. Get some sleep

i still cannot reproduce the blurry/scaled up effect with the grate. all i have is the normal front1 bitmap at front3 view, and nothing more.

Based on the extra info, I don't think there's anything actually new or useful here, unless I'm missing something? Might as well just do multiple items with toggle switches the way you already did in FoD.

i hope that we won't need tricks like these to have further flooritems in future versions of DSB.

You won't in my engine (when it get's off the damn ground!)