Shp editing help

[thatguy96]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask questions, but I've successfully used the shp editor that comes with WinSPMBT to edit and create a new icon. Now I'm just totally confused how to import the image into the shp collage.

Could someone perhaps direct me to a more helpful help file than the one included or possibly write a detailed step by step method for importing newly created icons.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and everyone will be welcome to the icons I create of course.

[PlasmaKrab]

Read thoroughly the help file through, it is very clear once you know what it is about!

Seriously now, the method is the following:

-Open SHPed.exe

-Button bottom-left, open WinSPMBT palette (WinSPMBT\Game Data\Graphics\WinSPMBT_Palette.pal)

-Button top-left, open the iconXXXX.shp file you wish to modify (all in the same folder as the palette above, refer to WinSPMBT\Game Data\Design\WinSPMBT_MasterIconList.txt to know which icon is in which file).

-Button bottom-center, open the icon collage to find the icon you are looking for.

-Change the icon number accordingly in the small number window (type or select with arrows). Careful: SHPed starts with icon #1 which is the SPMBT logo buffer, so you will always have a difference of 2 between the icon number in SHPed and in the list.

-Extract the selected .shp icon to Bitmap file (top middle button, arrow going DOWN to drive).

-Fiddle with the Bitmap icon as much as you want, using whichever image editor you are accustomed to (from MS paint to Photoshop), make sure to keep it the same size (89x89 pixels, 108x108 for larger units e.g. some aircraft)

-Be careful not to change the background color of the image, since it is the default transparent color for the game. You don't want your new units to hang around in the middle of a large white square!



***If you have followed these steps so far, you are now ready to import your modified Bitmap icon(s) into the .shp file:

Prerequisites: SHPed running, right palette selected, right shp open.

-Select the number of the icon you want to replace with you modified one

-Open the SPfix module (bottom right) and click 'show'. An image of the original icon will appear with a blue crosshair on it and columns of figures. Both indicate the centerpoint of this icon as used in the game. You'll use that later, leave it untouched for now.

-In SHPed main window, press the 'import bmp image' button (top-center) and select your modified Bitmap icon.

-Press the next button to the right, 'convert to shp'. If you had a shp icon or collage displayed (blue background), the display will now show your new icon.

-Not done yet! Now press the second last button on the top-right to replace the old icon in the file with your imported one. Make sure the icon number is correct!

-Modified .shp files are always saved as Bignew.shp in the same folder as the original .shp. Now open Bignew.shp with SHPed.

-The new Bignew.shp file should show the content of the original iconXXXX.shp you have opened first, bar the first icon you have added.

-Now using the counter and collage, go back to this icon.

-Now back to SPfix: if you have left this window open and untouched, it should still show the header coordinates of the original icon. If your new icon is roughly the same as the original one, or at least has the same size, press 'write'. The crosshairs will be adjusted to your new icon.

-Using the small arrow tastes on the bottom and right edges, place the center of the crosshairs where you want your icon to be centered. This point will be displayed at the center of the hex in the game. Be careful for turreted units, both body and turret icons must have the same centerpoint, which will be the pivot of the turret.

Now repeat that procedure with all the icons you have to replace, then exit SHPed without bothering to save.

Your new shp file will be in the same folder as the original one and will always be called "bignew.shp". So be sure to rename the new ones everytime you change files. Backup your original shp, then give its name to your freshly modified file.

Now you have it!

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Plasma

[cronos3807]

Hi Plasma !

Do you speak french? If so, can you send me by Email the method to modify shp with Shipedit? In french of course.
Thanks for your precious help and your kindness.
Cheers.

Cronos3807.

email: gabriel1807@free.fr

[thatguy96]

You are right, that's pretty much the method described in the help file, for replacing images with others. Thank you for writing it out like that though, I'll keep that as a far better written explination.

My problem, which I realize I didn't articulate properly, is that I was to add in completely new icons, not replace old ones which I also want. Is it possible to add in icons to existing icon collages or do you have to create completely new shp collages and then fit them into where placeholders have already been defined?

[PlasmaKrab]

The only placeholders you need to keep in mind are those used in the MasterIconList.txt file, that is, the overall icon assignment list. Any shp file or icon out of these bonds will not be considered by the game.
Read this file thoroughly, you will find the holes in the actual list and the unused/ uncreated files counted in the list. Once again, these are the only ones the game will look at.

As far as I know SHPed doesn't allow to create shp files from scratch, so the best way to create a brand new file is to edit any original file containing few icons. The icon shp in the game are generally filed up with blank images, so you can use one of these. Reversely you can use any file and replace any unneeded old icon with a blank image (full background color).

To add a new icon at the end of your file use (carefully) the last top-right button in the main window, while making sure the number entered is always that of the last existing image in your file. else bug

Hoping I have answered the right question this time!

Otherwise I guess you can post here again. And again... and again