Photo import

[philliesguy]

What program do you use to import a new photo/portrait into a fsh file?

I have my new photo ready (128 x 128)

I extract the fsh from portraits.big with EA Graph

I open 0543.fsh with EA Graph

Import my new photo (0543.jpg) to replace the existing photo in 0543.fsh

Import 0543.fsh into portraits.big with EA Graph

Game crashes when player is selected to view photo.

Help please?

Thanks in advance

[bigbully]

if you have photoshop, save your photo as a .psd - then import it w/EA Graph. Then open the fsh file w/nfshtool - this will create an alpha image for you. Finally import the photo via MVPEdit.

This method may be a little long but it works

[philliesguy]

Cool, Thank You for the info.

Its a bit different than when I last did any type of mods for games.

Used to be just EA Graph and or gfxpak....lol

[philliesguy]

Finally import the photo via MVPEdit.

How do import a photo with MVPEdit?

if you have photoshop, save your photo as a .psd - then import it w/EA Graph. Then open the fsh file w/nfshtool - this will create an alpha image for you.

Did this part. After opening the fsh with nfsh tool I have the 3 files in a folder.

My image (0000.bmp), the alpha image (0000-a.bmp) and the index file.

I tried putting the fsh back together by dragging the index file to the nfsh.exe then importing the fsh with EA Graph. Nada. Crash to desktop.

Next step/s please? What am I missing?

Thanks in advance.

[bigbully]

How do import a photo with MVPEdit?

Did this part. After opening the fsh with nfsh tool I have the 3 files in a folder.

My image (0000.bmp), the alpha image (0000-a.bmp) and the index file.

Once nfshtool creates your folder, w/the 3 files, then close that folder (but remember where it's at).

With MVPEdit, select the player you want - under Tools/Options make sure you have "show player portrait" checked. Now you should be on the player tab, player is selected and his portrait is showing on the right. Right-click on the portrait - a new window pops up - this is where you 2 files nfshtool created go. Add picture, add alpha, click go - DONE!

[philliesguy]

Ok, both options are checked but no player faces are showing at all to right click on.

I have the directory set to my MVP/data folder. It searches for the picture for a few seconds but says "no picture found".

I am trying to replace an existing photo, not sure if I mentioned that.

Gotta be something I missed somewhere.

[big shmooz]

Can it be that you have more than 2,999 files in the portraits.big? If so, MVP edit will not display photos. The trick is, to use the default portraits.big (whilst saving the one you normally use to a different location in order to retrive it later on) Then do as explained above. Your photo's should display. Btw... the folder the pics are located in is not the data folder, but rather the frontend folder. (though that should not matter anyway, since the pics display even when not clicked on any particular folder.) After you finish making the .fsh file in MVP edit do the following... Go to the MVP edit folder using windows explorer. There you will see the newly created .fsh file. Take it & copy & paste it to somewhere else. Then import the .fsh file into the portrait.big using eagraph. (make sure you put in the portrait.big file that you backed up earlier back into the frontend folder) Then go into bigGui & navigate to the portrait.big file. Find the .fsh file you imported & compress it (do not rebuild) & close bigGui . That's all there is to it. You're done.

[big shmooz]

if you have photoshop, save your photo as a .psd - then import it w/EA Graph. Then open the fsh file w/nfshtool - this will create an alpha image for you. Finally import the photo via MVPEdit.

This method may be a little long but it works

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I finally can do photo's. I don't have paint shop, but I did not know how to make the alpha till you told me to simply open the fsh with fshtool. I always opened it with a different program & so the alpha was never made. Now that you taught me that step I can finally make an alpha. Thanks again :D

[big shmooz]

Update... It does not seem to work. I tried making a an fsh out of a jpg using the program called "irfanview". That part worked well enough. I then opened the .fsh with fshtool. It made a new folder with a bmp & the index.fsh but no alpha file. :?

[bigbully]

when I do them, I make sure the background is transparent. Try that and see if it works

[biker_jim_uk]

why are you using irfanview? bully told you how to do it, and I didn't see any mention of irfanview in his instructions?

[big shmooz]

How do I make the background transparent with Irfanview? How do I even separate the background from the main part of the file? All it is, is a jpg image that I converted with Irfanview into an fsh image. Can you please explain what you mean?

[biker_jim_uk]

use the select or lassoo tool on the background area around the head. open another new image the same size as your portrait ( 128x128? ) and make it 255,255,255 white. then copy your selection into the new image and flood fill black 0,0,0 smooth the edges, then greyscale and save as portrait name-a.bmp, then import portrait name.bmp with fshed.

[big shmooz]

why are you using irfanview? bully told you how to do it, and I didn't see any mention of irfanview in his instructions?

He instructs "to open the fsh file w/nfshtool". I am using Irfanview to make an fsh file. You need to remember that I don't have photoshop on my computer so I cant make a psd file. How else would you recommend I get my jpg photo to beome an fsh photo? (so that I can then open the fsh in nfshtool to make a alpha file out of the jpg)

[big shmooz]

use the select or lassoo tool on the background area around the head. open another new image the same size as your portrait ( 128x128? ) and make it 255,255,255 white. then copy your selection into the new image and flood fill black 0,0,0 smooth the edges, then greyscale and save as portrait name-a.bmp, then import portrait name.bmp with fshed.

But Irfanview has no such select or lasso tool. Is there any way I can use MVP edit to make such a lasso or to make an alpha image for my photo?

[biker_jim_uk]

then get the trial version of psp from www.jasc.com

and at what point did I mention making a psd or fsh? fshed makes the fsh

[big shmooz]

ok... so If I make the fsh from fshed, & then open the fsh with nfshtool, will that create an alpha image?

[big shmooz]

FSHed does not make an fsh file. I opened fshed just now, & the only thing it looks for are fsh files. But my file is a jpg file. So fshed won't even RECOGNIZE my file.

[biker_jim_uk]

ok I'm going to leave this to someone else as my instructions are obviously not making sense

[bigbully]

is it just one portrait? or do you have a bunch?

[big shmooz]

I can't believe it, but I got it to work.

What I did was I created a bitmap out of the jpg file with irfanview. That was easy enough. Then I opened up fshed & I clicked on "new". This allowed the prgram to recognize bitmap files by allowing the "new object" icon to be clicked on there. This opened a new window called "object properties". I then clicked on the button called "new". This allowed me to grab the bitmap I had made. I then clicked on the button called "update". This brought me back to the main screen & I now had the pic showing in the window in the main screen. Then I opened again the "new object" icon. I then navigated to the mvpedit folder & grabbed the "blank8.bmp" file (which is going to be my alpha file.) & again clicked on "update". Then I clicked on "save as" & saved it as xxxx.fsh. That's all there is to it.

Then I followed the procedure to open the fsh in nfshtool. This then created the 2 bitmap files (main file plus alpha) in a new folder. I then went to MVP edit & double clicked on the picture area, inserted the main file plus the alpha. Then I navigated in windows explorer to the mvpedit folder, copied & pasted the fsh that was now there. Then I shut down mvpedit. Then I went & inserted the file to the portrait.big file with eagraph.exe Then I opened biggui & compressed the file. Voila... all done!

AND IT WORKED!!!

Edit... I no longer use biggui to compress. I use eazip. It's much easier since it can be done with a batch file & also it is done before even inserting the portraits into the portrait.big file. Hence when I insert it with eagraph.exe, they are already compressed properly & ready to go.

[big shmooz]

is it just one portrait? or do you have a bunch?

Well, it was one portrait. But now that I know how to do this, I may do more. The only thing is, it probably won't be good enough to upload since I am not cleaning up the background because I don't have any tools with which to do this. (Irfanview doesn't have a background wipe-out)

[philliesguy]

bigbully & big shmooz THANK YOU

I got it to work too.

[bigbully]

I can't believe it, but I got it to work.

What I did was I created a bitmap out of the jpg file with irfanview. That was easy enough. Then I opened up fshed & I clicked on "new". This allowed the prgram to recognize bitmap files by allowing the "new object" icon to be clicked on there. This opened a new window called "object properties". I then clicked on the button called "new". This allowed me to grab the bitmap I had made. I then clicked on the button called "update". This brought me back to the main screen & I now had the pic showing in the window in the main screen. Then I opened again the "new object" icon. I then navigated to the mvpedit folder & grabbed the "blank8.bmp" file (which is going to be my alpha file.) & again clicked on "update". Then I clicked on "save as" & saved it as xxxx.fsh. That's all there is to it.

Then I followed the procedure to open the fsh in nfshtool. This then created the 2 bitmap files (main file plus alpha) in a new folder. I then went to MVP edit & double clicked on the picture area, inserted the main file plus the alpha. Then I navigated in windows explorer to the mvpedit folder, copied & pasted the fsh that was now there. Then I shut down mvpedit. Then I went & inserted the file to the portrait.big file with eagraph.exe TheN I opened biggui & compressed the file. Voila... all done!

AND IT WORKED!!!

Once you put the 2 bmps in w/MVPEdit, you don't have to do anything more - MVPEdit automatically places it in your portrait.big file. Just trying to save you a little time

[big shmooz]

Once you put the 2 bmps in w/MVPEdit, you don't have to do anything more - MVPEdit automatically places it in your portrait.big file. Just trying to save you a little time

Normally that would be correct, but in this case I have to do it. The reason is, because my portrait.big file contains more than 2999 files in it, so gfxpak CRASHES my mvpedit unless I put in an old portrait.big that I don't actually use (which has less than 2999 files in it) while I back up the one I do use in another location. Then I reinsert the other portrait.big & install the file to that version of portrait.big so I can use it in my game & still have all the other photos. (currently at 3,477 files)

P.S. Not that it matters to me, (since I have to manually insert it anyway, for the reason I explained above) but it may matter to other people who might want to make portraits for themselves... does mvpedit also compress the file for you when it inserts it automatically to the portrait.big file? For if it does not, you still need to go into the portrait.big file with biggui in order to compress the file. Otherwise the file will crash the game.