Topic: pak32 development of graphics?

[Hongkonger]

I have been playing Simutrans for a while, though I am not really skilled. Pak32 is the simplest pak available and I am interested to assist in its development. Another reason is that the graphics required is the simplest to draw and techniques for photo-editing software aren't really needed. I would like to ask if there are any supporting materials or software that I must use in order to complete a building .pak, as I couldn't find any at graphics.simutrans.com. Is there anyone I can approach for advice?

The attached file is for reference to show what I have tried to draw based on the graphics already in the set.

Are there any templates for different angles or modes and what are .dat files? Please provide comments and thank you for your valuable help.

[VS]

Umm.

First, you have to align the individual buildings so that they fit into a 32x32 grid. Think of the whole image as an invisible chessboard, and your buildings must always stand in a single column, with base of their ground tile touching bottom of some of the "chessboard tiles". The attached image shows exactly that. The blueish background is exactly the one needed, yours was a bit off The pink is there just to show the "chessboard", you'll have to fill it with the other colour to be transparent, too.

Second, you will want to write a dat file for these houses. You can take a look at existing .dat files, they are plain text which contains info about the building. There's a page on wiki on that, and you will want to look at image references, too. I've attached an example that works with the first two houses, so by comparing the actual thing and wiki you should be able to understand...

Next, you will have to get makeobj, a console program that compiles dat+png into pak files. Just run it as "makeobj pak32" in the folder with the two files and you should get two paks. I'm not sure if the whole console thing - path, running programs with parameters and working folder - is something you know, but I'll just assume that yes for now...

What you have so far + these three steps should yield pak files, which is more or less our "victory objective" here

To answer the question about templates etc.: I think there aren't any templates for this pakset. However, it's really easy to draw at least houses in this size. I assume you took the original picture from this page (btw, no problem with that), and the one thing that you can see is that most other buildings are drawn at "angle". Simply draw straight lines as 2:1 - two pixels horizontally, one vertically. This is the "default" orientation, the one building you changed is different

[Hongkonger]

Dear VS,

Thank you for replying. I have downloaded the Tilecutter and makeobj 52. I have outputed a .dat file using Tilecutter and tried the makeobj too, but the .pak file resulted was not found in the "build urban building" function after I put the file into the "pak32" folder. I tried once again using the files you attached but there is still no result. There are no error messages or anything. I don't know if it is something in the program or the .pak file that is wrong.  Are you able to make a .pak file for this? I attached the two files made with your .dat file, please see if they work.

Hongkonger

[VS]

You scared me for a moment Switch off "start from year" in the dialog with building list, then they show up. (Or at least that happens on two computers...)

[Hongkonger]

Thanks a lot for your help.  For other sizes of buildings, is it that I should only change the settings in the "backimage" square brackets and those numbers that follow? Additionally, are urban buildings only allowed to be 1x1 in size?

[Isaac Eiland-Hall]

Buildings that cities build that aren't otherwise special are limited to one tile in size, yes.

[mobo]

Dropping in after a loong time, i see someone wants to contribute to pak 32. That's really nice

So, hongkonger, you're really welcome. The sources of the set are available at sourceforge. If you register there you can even add your own stuff yourself, in case you want to. If you feel that's too complicated that's ok too. You can just upload here, and once you've reached a "critical mass" we can decide what to do with your creations.

BTW: Actually p32c needs a lot more vehicles, while buildings aren't really important for that type of game. but nice to have. So if you feel like doing a vehicle that'd be awesome. If you want to stick to buildings that's also ok, we can still use more, and i don'T think there can be too many.

So just do as you like  (took me many words to tell that)

Also Greetings to VS And Isaac and all the rest of the community, happy 2012!

[Hongkonger]

It's a pleasure to be able to contribute to an "international project". Actually I have made some buildings on the Chinese board. Please take a look.

What types of vehicles are needed? From what I have seen from the game, vehicles must differ greatly in terms of design for players to be able to differentiate between them. It is a limitation for the pak size, but none the less I am willing to help. I shall only be free in August though, which is quite a long time from now.

Wish the community all the best in the year of Dragon!

[mobo]

I've seen those buildings in the chinese board now, they look nice i like them.

About vehicles: Well it's been a while and i would have to take a look myself to name exactly what's missing when (in timeline). But i still remember ships are quite rare, trams are only a few. There's are some City buses but there could be more small ones, and travelling coaches.

Liquid transporters for rail and road are missing, i tried to make some once but the results weren't good so i deleted them.

Also airplanes monorails and maglev, but the problem is the infrastructure is still missing too.

There also could be some more Cur buildings on land but also in cities (these can be bigger than 1x1 btw)

Or just play it and see what you find missing. August is ok, just relax, i haven't done anything for the past year, at least, this is how we roll in p32, less pixels more time