Starter Question

Kettleforger · #1 04-05-2005, 07:15 AM

I just found this site a few hours ago and learned I was able to make my own mods (something I've been desperately wanting to do, but have never done before in any game).

So I installed everything and began reading and reading...I understand what is going on and I've been fiddling around with some things. I also downloaded some of the available mods and compared them to the game defaults so I can see what people are doing to change particular items.

Now, I've picked something easy to start with, the Compass, and have a question or two on the default game one.

I understand that what is displayed is only a part ('crop') of the entire graphic. What I don't understand is why there is a huge scroll page with 3 of the exact same graphic in them (I checked the coordinates in the DDS file)...are the other two pics just 'buffers' to prevent some odd displaying when you reach the end of the graphic source rectangle?

Any insight appreciated.

hirebrand · #2 04-05-2005, 03:22 PM

When I open a DDS image in Photoshop it shows the image, then to the right a copy at half size, then a copy at quarter size and so on. This is for Mip-Mapping.

Not quite sure I understand what you mean. Does that help? As I recall the compass is not copied and only has one N E S W.

**Zonx** · #3 04-05-2005, 05:30 PM

Yes Kettle, the left and right copies are buffers. In fact I'm prety sure only 2 of the images are actually displayed (center and Right I think it was).

If you nudge the left up a tad and the right down a tad, you should be able to see the graphic shift ingame at some point (at dead East I think it was) and figure which of the 2 sides is being used based on the shift.

Kettleforger · #4 04-05-2005, 08:15 PM

Thanks, Zonx, that's what I figured...as this is all new to me, I want to make sure I understand everything each step of the way. And having 3 brain cells that sometimes agree on a thought with each other helps as well.

Hirebrand, Zonx answered me right on, but you do bring up another point I was interested in, the mips...why are these even used in the UI? At what point does the UI ever degrade enough to require any of the other mips (judging by the scales, it looks to be less than 75%)? Can I just get rid of the them to streamline my graphic files, and if so, would this help slightly with performance?

Wow, I guess that brought up a whole slew of things I was thinking about..hehe..but, as always, thanks for any insight...