Gimp

[ULC]

Hey, does gimp keep the palette intact? If not, does anyone know of a graphics editor that does? I have to do some tweaking with the graphics files, and I really can't get mithal to work for me.

[macsen rufus]

Which graphics in particular? If you're struggling with Mithel, I'd guess you mean non-campaign map LBMs like the uniticons? In which case GDS is your man (& IIRC I sent you a copy, though it is a pain in the rear to set up...)

[ULC]

Campmap (I have to adjust for balance), and uniticons. I'll try mithal again, and I have looked over GDS, but I'm wondering if Gimp 2.0 keeps the palette intact. If it does, then I can just skip those steps.

[Raz]

GDS?

[macsen rufus]

GDS = "Graphics Display System", it's about 15 years old, and is a clunky old command-line exe, but it does the trick Allows you to convert between BMP, LBM, JPG, TIFF etc etc etc. Obviously it's the LBM functionality that makes it so useful for MTW modding...

@YLC - Mithel is the canine's gonads for campmap conversion - if you're struggling, have you: (a) saved a good palette from a pre-existing campmap (I'd recommend the XL one, has all province slots set), (b) loaded this into your new map before saving as LBM? Again, that colour table/palette should be in the goodie bag I sent

[Raz]

And where can I get this "The GDS"?

[ULC]

I can send it to you Raz. Macsen, Yep, I got all that you sent me, but I'm a little confused at how you load the palettes, etc.

[Raz]

Macsen already beat you to it. Thanks for the offer though.

[Belisario]

Hi YLC, have a look at this thread about unit icons:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=96114

and to keep the palette intact I use Irfanview, first I open a Lukupmap.lbm and search the batch conversion option, then I convert the lbm map into, for instance, a tga of 8 bits. The result is an image which keeps the original palette and I can edit it in a graphic program like GIMP. When you have finished your work you can use Mithel to save the lbm. Mithel reads and save lbm and other two formats. I read people that first save the edited lukupmap as a lbm using Ultimate paint and then employ Mithel to save it with the correct MTW palette.

I hope it helps.

[macsen rufus]

I'm a little confused at how you load the palettes

You need to save "colortable.ct" in the main Mithel directory, then when you open a LUKUP map, go to File>Load Colourtable, and it will then import it. Another option is to open a good lukup map, and use File>save colourtable which will dump the file called colortable.ct ito the correct place. Use the XL map to have all 107 provinces (or the latest Ancient map - 107 provinces plus three extra searegions). The drawback is that Mithel can only use the one colourtable, so if for any reason you are doing different jobs with it, then you need to swap the .ct files around. It will only laod/save as 'colortable.ct'. But it's a small price to pay for such a powerful tool really