Brief Mod Sprite Tutorial

[Uh-Nu-Buh]

1. get The Gimp for graphic editing. It is like Photoshop, but open source. You will need the installer and the GTK+ graphical library from: http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

2. install GTK+, then The Gimp.

3. unless you are an Artiste, you will want something to start with. Sites like this:
http://www.popularcollections.com/du...--dragons.html
provide great small graphics that are suitable for use. Download them to your desktop. For this tutorial, click on the first one--the big red demon dude. This will take you to a page of more icons. Right click on the red demon dude from this page and choose "save image as" change the filename to bob.gif.

4. open the Gimp. open bob.gif. File-->Open File-->Desktop--Bob.gif. You'll notice Bob is 167X180 pixels. We want Bob to be about 128X128.

5. Resize Bob. Image-->Scale Image. You'll see Image Size has a Width and a Height, with chains to the right. Click the chains to break them. This allows us to resize out of scale. This is ok for Bob, as it will just make him look a bit squatter and more powerful. Make Width and Height both 128, then click the lower right hand Scale button. Look at his muscles bulge!!!

6. We need to make Bob a Targa file (.tga). This will increase his hit points tremendously, and give him the ability to teleport. Well, it will make him compatible at least. File-->Save As-->Select File Type By Extension and scroll down to .tga. Choose Save. Turn off RLE compression and click OK.

7. Bob needs to be RGB. Woe to anyone who does not make Bob RGB. Ng Thug Narfl. Image-->Mode-->RGB.

8. Bob needs a transparent background if he wants to fit in with the crowd and make friends with all the other demons and horrors in Dom III. Right click on Bob's white background. Filters-->Colors--Color to Alpha. A preview pops up with all the white turned to checkerboard. Checkerboard is Gimpese for Transparent. This is good. Choose Ok.

9. Save Bob. File-->Save

You now have a very nice looking sprite that is compatible with Dom III. Now you need to use it. Tips:

--have a sprites folder specifically for each mod, e.g. mod WatershipDown keeps all sprites of rabbits in a folder called wsd. Beware the rabbits seeking Dominion!! Their evil rabbit pretender god will nibble your celery and drink your carrot juice....
--Dom III doesn't seem to care if you use win or *nix slashes. I.e. #spr1 .\wsd\bob.tga works just as well as #spr1 ./wsd/bob.tga This is a good thing.
--if you get an error on trying to use the new mod then check filename spelling, pathing, sprite size (must be a multiple of 16; 16X16, 32X32, 64X64, etc.), rgb, indexed, uncompressed....

Enjoy!