Creating Review-Panel bifs

Hi, if anyone is interested in reworking the icons that came with the game or has made ones of their own this guide might help.
The following is the only way I know to create a review panel icon that shows faction colors and yet does not have those annoying black dots:
(1) First, you will need a utility called “Seqgrab.exe” which is available in the collection of utilities called “CA_BIF_BUF_Utils” which can be downloaded from http://www.mizus.com/Tools/Files/.
(You will also need the readbif program, and a program which can properly save lbm files, I use “GrafX2,” paint-shop, etc., will not work for this.)
(2) Now open the bif icon in readbif and extract it as a bmp.
(3) Open the bmp in GrafX2 and save as an lbm named “10001.lbm” (note, the quotation marks throughout are only used here to show emphasis, do not use in actuality).
(4) Open the program called Seqgrab, and set the information as follows:
– In “path to images” write the location of the 10001.lbm file, e.g., for mine it was “C:\Program Files\Total War\CA_BIF_BUF_Utils”
– In “filename stub” type “1”
– Choose grab from lbm
– Check the square that says “whole frame grab”
– Check-off the square that says “purple as transparent”
(5) Then click “ok” and a bif named “1.bif” will appear; simply rename this with what the original bif file was named and paste it into the appropriate folder and you are done. Now the bif icon image will not have any black dots, faction colors will be rendered appropriately, and it will be as good as anything that came with the game.... or better.

Thanks. Lysander.

Thanks alot Lysander This is one is a pure gem http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ons/cheers.gif

It gives me a memory error while Seqgrab conversion. Does it works with Wimn XP?

Flip, I use win xp so that probably is not the problem. Can you tell me if this is the error message you get:
“The instruction at ‘0x00402f8b’ referenced memory at ‘0x00149000.’ The memory could not be ‘written.’”
I got this message when I used lbm files that were not compatible with the game (e.g., those that were saved in paint-shop). When I used GrafX2 to save the lbm, the game recognizes it and so does seqgrab. I was hesitant to think this could be your problem because I know you know how to save game-compatible lbm files due to your work with Hellenic Total War; but, I am not sure what else the error could be. Maybe you could try GrafX2 to save the lbm, http://www.mizus.com/Files/k0rgs8gVt/Tools/gfx2b965.zip
If this is not the problem, I will keep looking.
thanks.

I cant find a way to save it as a new name, I have to save it overwriting it over a previous lbm file. Hows the procedure?

Flip, let me ask first, as to having to rewrite a file, are you talking about saving a file in GrafX2 (or another program) or is this a problem with seqgrab

sorry,yes its inside the GFX2, a crazy DOS program LK told me about.im producing a new dead page LBm with it. I have to overwrite while saving, if I write the name the mouse becomes disabled and Return key do nothing. Im using my bmps, that I used to make the shields bif, but I have the black dots. So I used directly those bmps, didnt extrated them back from the BIF. Is this wrong? It gives memory errors and no BIF. 2 popup errors , the sort you had.

OK,I was messing with GrafX2 and it seemed that if I choose the file format first, lbm in the format box by using the up or down arrows there, it is easier to then backspace the two dots in the name box and then type the new name, "10001" and save as a new lbm file. This way you do not have to overwrite.
Flip, I am not sure how to really solve the trouble you are having otherwise with GrafX2 so I am going to write a quick guide for using a lbm and tga saved with a more modern program like paintshop, and then using seqgrab to save the tga as a bif.

This is an alternative way to save a bif using a tga, without relying on an lbm file saved through Grafx2. (I used the version of paint-shop-pro avaliable in the tools download area to do this.)

First, take a bmp extracted from the original bif and save it as both a tga and lbm in a program like paint-shop- pro. The tga file will need to be saved as “10001,” for simplicity sake I named the accompanying lbm 10001 also.
Second, open the program called Seqgrab, and set the information as follows:
– In “path to images” write the location of the 10001.lbm file, e.g., for mine it was “C:\Program Files\Total War\CA_BIF_BUF_Utils”
– In “filename stub” type “1”
– Type in the location of your new lbm file, the one saved as 10001.lbm, where it says "lbm to import from...", e.g., for mine it was “C:\Program Files\Total War\CA_BIF_BUF_Utils\10001.lbm”
– Check the square that says “whole frame grab”
– Check-off the square that says “purple as transparent”
Choose OK and a bif named "1" should appear.

Man, I tried all, now with this new metod I cant get the transparency greens. This is hard http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/frown.gif

This may not be the case, but maybe you forgot to check off the square that renders purple as transparent. The default setting is to use a color other than green as transparent, so you will have to check this setting off. Maybe try your procedure with a icon that came with the game, which has not been altered, just to eliminate one variable. I don't know much else right now. Sorry.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Lysander @ May 24 2004,12:41)]Hi, if anyone is interested in reworking the icons that came with the game or has made ones of their own this guide might help.
The following is the only way I know to create a review panel icon that shows faction colors and yet does not have those annoying black dots:
(1) First, you will need a utility called “Seqgrab.exe” which is available in the collection of utilities called “CA_BIF_BUF_Utils” which can be downloaded from http://www.mizus.com/Tools/Files/.
(You will also need the readbif program, and a program which can properly save lbm files, I use “GrafX2,” paint-shop, etc., will not work for this.)
(2) Now open the bif icon in readbif and extract it as a bmp.
(3) Open the bmp in GrafX2 and save as an lbm named “10001.lbm” (note, the quotation marks throughout are only used here to show emphasis, do not use in actuality).
(4) Open the program called Seqgrab, and set the information as follows:
– In “path to images” write the location of the 10001.lbm file, e.g., for mine it was “C:\Program Files\Total War\CA_BIF_BUF_Utils”
– In “filename stub” type “1”
– Choose grab from lbm
– Check the square that says “whole frame grab”
– Check-off the square that says “purple as transparent”
(5) Then click “ok” and a bif named “1.bif” will appear; simply rename this with what the original bif file was named and paste it into the appropriate folder and you are done. Now the bif icon image will not have any black dots, faction colors will be rendered appropriately, and it will be as good as anything that came with the game.... or better.

Thanks. Lysander.

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An easy way to rework the icons is to use Bif reader as the editor same the work as a BMP then use the dragon editor to save as LBM and BIF. No black dots either.

https://forums.totalwar.org/forum/no...s/gc-blush.gif
Thanks Turbo, I did not know about the dragon-editor when I wrote the above.
I feel kind of silly to know there is such a simpler way to do all of this.