Staredit Network

So I had this amazing idea the other day when I was testing the buttons for SCR and getting them wrong over and over again, because I couldn't get the colors right. If you're a bored programmer with nothing to do right now, and want some recognition I would suggest you consider this:

This program that my idea is for would be like a much more specialized and limited version of paint. It would be used for the sole purpose of quickly making new build/ability buttons for Starcraft.

On the left side of the window, you would have a palette of yellows, blacks and greys (the button colors from the cmdbtns.pal or whatever it's called). Next to it would be a window for painting in.

You could make it load any picture (with any colors) but only paint in certain ones. Here's how it would be set up:



You pick a black/grey/yellow on the side to put on your brush, then when you paint in the paint box, it lays down the corresponding shade of blue/purple/pink. There could even be a "preview" button, so you can see what you're doing.

It would be awesome if someone had time to do this and it would make making buttons so much faster.

That may be usefull:)

Well it may be easier, but it's simple enough for me to just edit the original buttons in purple/blue in PS

Or you could even make it where you paint and see yellow/black/grey, and when you save it, the program then converts the whole thing into blue/purple. I think that would be even better.

Hmm, maybe I should make my own program for converting the .grp files. I already have a good understanding of the .grp format; I made a library for displaying them. I could just make code that does the reverse of what that does. And then from there do other stuff with it.

Even if I only added support for creating .grp files in my grp library, that would at least help someone else make a program for doing what you want.

I could do fancy graphics for the program if needed

You could also make the program be able to edit the grp without decompiling it,
that would help alot and make grp editing take up less room (I tried to make a program for it, but failed )

What do you mean by that exactly? Do you just mean editing it without converting to another format first?

I had a similar idea, but not just limited to specifically Icon files..

yes, I meant editing the grp without changing its format in order to save space,

but if you did make that,
you would also need to include the import/export for people that like using a specific image editor better then it

I think it would still be necessary to decompile the GRP, atleast to a temporary location, to edit it.

if necessary, you could set it up to make a (filenamehere).bmp, and erase the file when the program closes

if so, you would have to set it up to remember which file to load for editing, in case someone has other bmps in the folder

For what DaMiNaToR mentioned, I could have an option to make it so that only a certain part of the palette is outputted the the bmp file. That would make it so that when editing it, in most editors it would limit you to those colors only.

ADDITION:
BTW, what do the current converters output? (like RetroGRP or any other ones)

only unique~ ? wtf~ ?

Does it output any other files at all besides the bmp file?

It outputs a .Ral file too.

i.e. the RAL file looks like that when opened with notepad:

tank.grp
tank000.bmp
tank001.bmp
tank002.bmp
tank003.bmp
tank004.bmp
etc...

Hmm, how about a feature to convert an individual frame and open it in an editor of your choice all in one step? And then a single button to import it back in as long as you saved it in the same place without changing the name?

Also remember that there are special .grp's that don't follow the standard file specs, such as game\icons.grp which contains the minerals and gas icons.

It's a relic from the WarCraft I archives, I belive, there called alpha-GFX files.

Heh, from looking at that file just now, I've already figured out the format. As for a way to distinguish the two, I don't know. I'm not sure if it is possible to automatically distinguish the two.

-EDIT-

Actually, I did think of one possibility. I could compare the dimensions of the frames to the size of the frame in bytes. Multiplying the dimensions would give the uncompressed size in bytes. If the size matched that, then it would likely be one of those alpha-GFX files you are talking about.

If you do manage to make that, you might could make a option to add a boarder to a image (for icons and stuff)

I really don't see the point in us posting all these sugguestions...first make it work then post a topic in modding assistance

OK, I've got my grp library properly displaying game\icons.grp and regular grp files now. The next release will have support for it and I may also have support for making grp files in that release.

BTW, I wonder if Starcraft supports compressed grp files in addition to uncompressed ones for game\icons.grp? Maybe by using checks similar to the ones I added, for example.

Even if I don't make a converter program, someone else could make one that uses the raw data that my library makes and convert that to another format, then also converts that format to raw data to pass to my library to make a grp file.

Yeah, I've known the format for quite some time too.

I've considered making an editor, but my programming skills are bad, and I've got little freetime.

ShadowFlare, you awesome freako - if you make the lib, the whole editor program is just one step away. I may even do it, when I have time.

As for suggestions, maybe an option to outpout in formats different than BMP would work? This would save space, although the quality would be affected too...