Creating X-hair Q.'s


Undertow
06-24-2004, 07:10 PM
I read the MSA sticky about creating sprites
The tutorials posted within the thread didn't help me
(or i am just dumb)
i have downloaded the the sprite viewer and wizzard

was wondering if any1 could post a link to a better tutorial
preferably that can teach me how to make dynamic x-hairs (of thats possible)

this is my first time working on my on customizations so bear with me
lol cough cough im a nub here

BillyNair
06-25-2004, 02:03 AM
BEFORE YOU EVEN READ THIS POST, BACK YOU STUFF UP! ! !

If you are a graphics n00b to where you don't know how to convert from RGB to Indexed stick with MSPaint, it is limited but when first starting out that can be a good thing (WHY? because MSPaint will keep the same format as the original so that there are no conversion errors, one less thing to worry about, after you get you first crosshairs to work in game then play with different colors, things you need Gimp or PhotoShop for)
If you know how to convert to indexed, make sure to keep the same dimentions as the original and no more than 256 colors (that is indexing)


NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF
To keep things easy only use colors that are currently in the BMP (Use the eyedropper)
remember that all but one of those cross hairs are dynamic (Been a while but I dont think you can customize the dynamic one much)
only change one of the crosshairs at first then see if it will compile and run in game
remember to keep the center of the hairs in the same place
if I remeber correctly each crosshair is 16 X 16 pixels, stay in that size
use the command "cl_xhair_style 1" in the console to change between the crosshairs so you can see yours ("cl_xhair_style ##" is the command where ## is 0 ~16 i think)

I don't realy know where you are stuck at so I don't know what exactly to say, just back up your files and don't be scared to play with stuff.

My first modification was in counter strike where I made a crosshair to counter the recoil system they use (as in making a T so the bullets are going where the cross is rather than having the + where the bullets are shooting way high, I have since switched to DOD, and play CS only when I want to remember why I stopped playing, but ever since then I have enjoyed modifying the games I play maybe more than actualy playing them ;) )

Hope you figure it out, changing stuff is why I still even play games anymore.

Undertow
06-25-2004, 09:52 AM
I guess that helped some
ALot of terms i don't understand though

I have Photoshop7 and MSPaint (windows paint prog)

I tried making my first with no sucess Using MSPaint

i started with a 256x256 white background
put in a orange 3 pixel dot
Saves as BMP
Used SPrite Wiz
Selcted the BMP to be used
Used ADditive color mode
**?? What mode should be used for x-hairs additive, alphatest, Indexalpha, or NOrmal**

Then i saved it as a sprite
Changed Name to customXhair.spr ( or whatever it is to be used ingame)

made a game
got a big white box where my x-hair normally is but i couldn't see the orange dot i put in


maybe u can point out what i need to do right

BillyNair
06-25-2004, 04:34 PM
it looks like you got the format and everything right as far as the BMP goes, now for the indexing help. in photo shop, press these buttons
<ALT + I>, <M>, <T> this will give you the indexed table
(using the mouse: Image >> Mode >> color Table)

the last color needs to be your white (I am assuming #FFFFFF)

and play with the alphaIndex / alpha test, I cant remember which, but it is one of those 2, do one of each and swap them out to see which one it is. From what I remember spritwiz tells you which you need (last color is transparent, or last color is sprite color)

You will soon find these will be your best friend if you skin much:
ALT + I, M, R
ALT + I, M, I
ALT + I, M, T

Undertow
06-25-2004, 09:43 PM
Wow this ****s over my head -_-

should i take the bmp i made in MSPaint open it with PS7

do all that **** u talked about and then use spr wiz?

* i think i almost understand what last color is now

hmm its late and i got a raging head ache
check back tomorow and i'll post my progress
btw Thanx alot for ur help

* edit
No i have never skinned maybe one day in the future
I think once i master sprites i'll take on the next challenge l0l:cool:

isn't white in RGB [ 255 255 255 ]

Undertow
06-26-2004, 04:47 PM
Wow I thinki got the hang of this


Q-1. if i wanna make a custom pack to i just combine 16
16X16 pixel area X-hairs into 1 image
then do colortable and stuff then use sprite wiz


Q-2. Can i use any Color as long as its in my color table and not the last 1 and will it show up

Q-3. Can i PM any q. that may arise at a later date to u ?

thanx

BillyNair
06-26-2004, 11:37 PM
Originally posted by Undertow
Wow I thinki got the hang of this Good, once you do it isn't hard at all, the first one is always the hardest

Originally posted by Undertow
Q-1. if i wanna make a custom pack to i just combine 16 16X16 pixel area X-hairs into 1 image then do colortable and stuff then use sprite wiz You don't need to make all 16, just as many as you want (not sure if 16 is upper limit though)

Originally posted by Undertow
Q-2. Can i use any Color as long as its in my color table and not the last 1 and will it show up I am pretty sure, but black is the standard
(BTW black = #000000 = rgb(0, 0, 0)
white = #FFFFFF = rgb(255, 255, 255) so yes you were right.

Originally posted by Undertow
Q-3. Can i PM any q. that may arise at a later date to u ? I am realy not the most qualified one here, just the one that answered first. You can PM me but I rarely check my PMs, since I can't get them to alert me when I get one. I sugest posting here in the forums, because if I dont answer or I dont know chances are some one else will.

Originally posted by Undertow
thanx No problem, just make sure when you are famous you remember me.

Undertow
06-27-2004, 10:09 AM
LOL no thanx u

now that i can make these lousy non moving ones

I wanna make dynamic ones

Is taht even possible with 1.2?

BillyNair
06-28-2004, 02:02 AM
I have not played with the dynamic crosshairs, but from what I have heard, you can change the colors, but the shape is just the dot with the 4 lines. I could very well be wrong though, try it, you can't break anything (and if you do, just remove the file and steam will use the defaults)

Undertow
06-28-2004, 06:10 PM
how does one go about getting the defualt x-hair file so i can change the color

because with steam its hidden or what ever .......

i dunno if taht makes sense but

John Wolf
06-28-2004, 09:28 PM
I have a custom Dinamic Xair in dod 1.2, I didn's make it, but if i have a custom is because it can be done.-

BillyNair
06-28-2004, 10:02 PM
mr wolf, can you post a screen shot of the cross hairs open and closed, I just want to see how they are diffent than the default dynamic. Or where to pick up a set, i am interested in seeing what modifications are posible.

as for getting the original, you need to get
GCFScape (Curent version as of this second = v1.1.2 Beta) (http://countermap.counter-strike.net/Nemesis/)
you also need to get the Microsoft .NET (Dot Net) run time libraries
Microsoft .NET Framework Version 1.1 Redistributable Package (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&displaylang=en)
If you don't want to hog up 24 megs on your computer for the .NET file, try finding another customized dodcross.bmp and redoing that, but if you are planning on spending any amount of time in the MSA forums, you might as well get it.

Capt. Darling
06-29-2004, 02:33 PM
I've attached the default crosshair from 1.0, I think it's the same you'd get if you were to use the GCF extractor. You can play around with the sprite but apparently there's only so much you can do without making it look funny or go off center, in which case you'll have to edit hud.txt (I've attached it too) through some sort of trial and error process.

You can download other dynamic xhairs from sites like DoDEC or schlex.net, that should help you figure out how the different crosshairs work. Also, check out icu's crosshairs, they're pretty good too:

http://www.dayofdefeat.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22713

Undertow
07-02-2004, 02:05 PM
i AM 2 new for that

way to confusing o well

Day of Defeat Forum Archive created by Neil Jedrzejewski.

This in an partial archive of the old Day of Defeat forums orignally hosted by Valve Software LLC.
Material has been archived for the purpose of creating a knowledge base from messages posted between 2003 and 2008.