Problem with palettes of new images

[Duke John]

Here's the deal:

I have edited the icons, infopics and the interface itself and they all share the same problem when viewed inside R:TW (no problem in PSP or PS). While the original R:TW interface is shown perfectly the palette is completely screwed for new parts. To make this clear I have edited a part of the interface like this:


And this is how it turned out in R:TW:


How screwed up is that!?! I have tried all my graphic programs but nothing is working and if we cannot find a way to properly use new images then it will look pretty bad for total conversions.

I tried using colours that were in the original interface: didn't work.
I made a sample of some bright colours (pink, cyan, yellow, etc) and they were displayed, so there shouldn't be a limited palette since I doubt that those colours are used. And even then the original interface has 1000s of colours so I doubt that a palette is being used.

It seems that there is a problem with gradients, but only when you make your own stuff! Original images with gradients are no problem.

The filesize of an edited interface image is exactly the same as the original. No fault in saving.

What is going?!?

[Duke John]

Could someone please at least tell me wether he encounters the same problem? Or am I the only one editing the interface?

[Myrddraal]

I intend to edit the interface for my WoT mod, but haven't started yet. I'll tell you if I get the same think soon enough.

[Dead Moroz]

I noticed such thing too comparing how the describing pictures looks like in any image viewing programm and in game. Seams like RTW uses some worse color engine (16 bit or even 8 bit) for these pictures (though they saved in 24 bit format).

I didn't experiment with it but here is my possible solution. Save the picture first in gif format with 256 colors and 100% diffusion dither. You'll have the minimum of colors and your picture will looks more or less ok (most likely...). Then save it in tga.

[Duke John]

But then you lose alot of colours. A single interface image contains alot of buttons, factionshields, and such. Reducing it to 256 colour will make it very ugly.

I was thinking the same as you, but I made a screencapture and counted the colours of only the middlepiece where the unit/building icons are and it was in the 1000s. So it doesn't seem to be using a small palette.

I made a sample some time ago with a piece of parchment that only had 100 colours or so. And still R:TW displayed it all messed up. But the weird thing is that the rest of the original interface is looking 100%. So everything original is giving no problems, but if you change something it is suddenly screwed.

I doubt that the saving method is to blame since when an image is opened and saved it is displayed correctly. Only when you change something it gets messed up.

[Dead Moroz]

But the weird thing is that the rest of the original interface is looking 100%. So everything original is giving no problems, but if you change something it is suddenly screwed.

I noticed the same modding the map. This game is something strange indeed.