Shped

[DRG]

For those that do use this utility this is the version I use now and it has a few changes made.....


-The main screen is a bit larger and the buttons are slightly re-organized.

- It automatically loads the Camo workshop game palette on start up ( other palettes can still be loaded manually )

- The transfer button now shows the correct info when the cursor passes over it

-It can now load 800x600 sized screens

- Displaying a typical SHP Icon or Terrain SHP file will now show 9 images per row and 7 rows = 63 images ( instead of five rows of 7 images = 35 images)

- The Fix Screen is larger which allows larger icons to be fully viewed while centering. Also, the fix screen now clears out old images correctly and no longer leaves previous Icon residue when going from larger to smaller Icons



Don

[oragus]

You know I have used it a ton Don.

[mkr8683]

I've been using SHPED for over a decade. So it will load 800x600 screens, does that mean that when editing a menu SHP, we don't have to dump the entire icon with UNSHP.exe, edit the BMP, and then repack it with MAKSHP.exe? The only real gripe I have with SHPED is the way it handles terrain icons. It may be the fault of the game rather than SHPED, but the necessity of manually SP-fixing each and every tile, then having to do the same thing for each zoom is asinine. I discussed this with Fred Chlanda a while back, he didn't seem to really understand what I was trying to say.

[DRG]

I set up the revised version to handle 800x600 screens for my own purposes for possible changes to the game down the road. Previous to this I have NEVER had to use UNSHP or MAKSHP to enter or save screens. Every screen in both games was added using SHPED alone and I have not use either of the other two programs for at least 10 years for any reason. WHY you feel you have to is a mystery to me. If I had to guess I'd guess you are trying to use "use old header" for screens

As for terrain. The game creates the terrain SHP files automatically for the other zoom levels when it does not find those other levels in the game files and it's been that way since G&B first started to build SP1 in the early 90's. The trick is having a computer that can run a pure DOS environment AND a copy of a DOS EXE with the new SP Camo zoom IN level and I'm not planning on passing that around.

Otherwise anyone trying to make terrain needs to do it the hard way and as you have found there are quirks in game with the header info when doing them manually that is neither Fred's SHPEd's fault nor the game. The game was designed to do this automatically. We just haven't bothered to take the considerable amount of time required to figure out why a windows environment screws up the automatic terrain creation routine when I have a W95 box behind me that will do all the other zoom levels in less than a minute. The tedious part is moving the files back and forth with floppys


So, yes, you have to do it manually and it can be tedious and you have to do it manually becasue the reduced zoom levels do not use the same sized background as the z4 set


Don

[mkr8683]

Originally Posted by DRG

Previous to this I have NEVER had to use UNSHP or MAKSHP to enter or save screens.

For whatever reason, when editing, say, Battle.shp in SHPED, I could not view the first tile which is a menu screen. None of the menu screens would ever display that way. However, in the case of Battle.shp, I could view all the other tiles, flags and such, behind that one menu tile. I've used the UNSHP and MAKSHP for menus since Day One for this reason. Maybe the problem is having the Use Old Headers box checked.. I'll experiment. It'll probably be an epiphany to me.

As for terrain.. the trick is having a computer that can run a pure DOS environment ..

What a miracle if I could make this work. So players trying this trick can create z3, z2, and z1, at least?

We just haven't bothered to take the considerable amount of time required to figure out why a windows environment screws up the automatic terrain creation routine..

That's quite understandable. Not many people editing terrain icons. I wonder if a separate program could be written specifically to handle this issue? I'll see if Fred Chlanda is still around. The poor man has had some major health issues, from what I understand.

[DRG]

Originally Posted by mkr8683

What a miracle if I could make this work. So players trying this trick can create z3, z2, and z1, at least?

IF you have a machine that runs a version of windows before XP and IF you have an old copy of the DOS game around and IF you add just the new z4 terrain to the SHP folder using an existing terrain file name and IF you delete the old z3, z2, and z1 so the game cannot find them the game will create them when you run the game and load a map with that terrain and then zoom in and out but you will not get z5

Originally Posted by mkr8683

I'll see if Fred Chlanda is still around. The poor man has had some major health issues, from what I understand.

Fred had a stroke not long after he completed the final version of SHPed in the late 1990's. If he's having further health issues now I would advise leaving him alone. Eventually we will be getting around to dealing with this issue


Don

[mkr8683]

I went ahead and emailed Fred, waiting on a response. I corresponded with him a few months back, so he was in good shape at least then. Don, if you guys can simplify the terrain SHP creation process, I would worship at your feet. I sincerely hope this can be done. There are not many of us who fiddle with things like this, so even a hint that it will be resolved is greatly appreciated.

I tried out your custom SHPED program, and I like the changes! I especially like how the SP-Fix function will display the whole icon now.

[DRG]

The terrain creation process in regards to the different zoom levels has always been simple if you were running from DOS. As I already said it's been an automatic process since SP1. The changes we made to the code when converting to windows doesn't write the header info correctly but that didn't matter to use becasue we had a DOS back up. Fred cannot help you with this becasue Fred doesn't have the code but as I said, eventually, when time allows, we will be looking into this.


Don

[mkr8683]

I didn't mean it like that. What I asked Fred for was a program that automatically generated the zoomed-out BMP sets at the correct canvas sizes. Theoretically a user could then place all the BMPs back into the SHP and go from there. Still tedious but it would knock out about half of the work. Anyway, I'm glad that you guys are working on a solution.

[mkr8683]

Eureka!

SP1, run in DosBox, will create the remaining zooms, EXCEPT for the z5.