Post by {KHH}Super_Greg on Aug 25, 2006 12:04:09 GMT -6
Thanks Zope for posting this:
First there are a few rules you must follow when making your image. The horizontal and vertical dimensions (in pixels) must be multiples of 16. Also, for whatever reason, servers will reject your spray if the WADfile is more than about 15kb, so this means your bmp should be no bigger than about 12kb.
Here's a picture to illustrate allowed dimensions
When the logos are sprayed in the game, they are blown up to fill a certain space, and there is a certain amount of distortion because they are larger than the actual file size. You will find that your sprays look best if the long dimension is 256 or 128 pixels and I would not recommend making them with any other sizes because they will be ugly and blurry. For the short side, it does not matter quite as much, but you will achieve maximum quality if you use dimensions of 16, 32, or 64. Check out the pictures to see in-game examples of this ugliness. Because of the size limit of 15kb, this means that you will be limited to a max of 128x80 or 256x32. You can make them other sizes if you like but I would recommend 128x64 or 256x32. If your image is smaller than this, or you have shrunk it to be smaller, you can always just put the smaller image in with transparent space around the sides. This is a VERY important part of making your spray look nice!
The palette for your image is important also, and is often the part of the process that people get hung up on. It must have a 256-color palette, and the last color in the palette must be 100% blue. (In RGB this is 0 0 255). When you spray your logo, anything that is colored in with this 100% blue color will be transparent (it will not appaer). I am not sure if it matters or not but don't let any of the other colors in your palette be 100% blue.
Photoshop Tip: A simple way to get this working in Photoshop is to complete your image how you want it, and instead of coloring the parts you want to be transparent in 100% blue, color them some other odd color that's not used in your picture. Now, convert the image to indexed color (Go to Image->Mode->Indexed Color) using the Selective Palette option, and choose 255 colors. This will leave one empty space in the end of your palette (go to Image.. Mode.. Color Table to view it) which you can double-click and change to 100% blue! Now color the transparent areas with this new blue color and you're finished.
Before you move on the next step, make sure your image is in the proper format! Here are all the rules which must be followed in order for your image to be processed correctly into a WAD file to be used as a spray:
The next step is to save your file. Make sure you double check the palette, as well as the dimensions, and if they're correct, save it as a bitmap, 8-bit if you are asked a question about the bit depth. If you're going to run the batch file from this webpage to create your WADfile, you'll want to save it as 'pldecal.bmp' so you won't have to rename it later. After you've saved the bitmap, browse with 'My Computer' or 'Windows Explorer' to look at it and make sure it's no larger than 12 kbytes.
What you'll end up with is a brand spanking new WAD file, named pldecal.wad, and your image of choice will be named appropriately inside that WAD... ie {LOGO.
Please Note: Once Wally builds the WAD file, it won't automatically save the file to your hard drive. We're giving you a chance to back out of the decal in case something went terribly wrong... like you picked a picture of your sister instead of Latetia Casta. So... in order to finalize the deal, you're going to have to save the new decal. You'll be told of this as soon as you try and close the WAD, or close Wally. Just click on Yes when it asks you to save and Wally will put the decal in the appropriate directory. Or, just shortcut the whole deal and hit Ctrl-S. Of course, if something did go wrong, click on No and start over.
First make a copy of your pldecal.wad and save the copy as tempdecal.wad. Now browse to your cstrike directory (normally c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\yourlogin\counter-strike\cstrike) or search for a folder named cstrike. Copy both pldecal.wad and tempdecal.wad and paste them into the cstrike directory. It will ask to overwrite, just click yes. Now right-click pldecal.wad and click properties. Click on read-only then ok. Do the same for tempdecal.wad. No play Counter-strike and enjoy your new spray. NO CONFIGURATION IN COUNTER-STRIKE IS NECCESSARY.
Creating Custom Color Counter-Strike Sprays
Dimension Rules
First there are a few rules you must follow when making your image. The horizontal and vertical dimensions (in pixels) must be multiples of 16. Also, for whatever reason, servers will reject your spray if the WADfile is more than about 15kb, so this means your bmp should be no bigger than about 12kb.
Here's a picture to illustrate allowed dimensions
Quality Considerations
When the logos are sprayed in the game, they are blown up to fill a certain space, and there is a certain amount of distortion because they are larger than the actual file size. You will find that your sprays look best if the long dimension is 256 or 128 pixels and I would not recommend making them with any other sizes because they will be ugly and blurry. For the short side, it does not matter quite as much, but you will achieve maximum quality if you use dimensions of 16, 32, or 64. Check out the pictures to see in-game examples of this ugliness. Because of the size limit of 15kb, this means that you will be limited to a max of 128x80 or 256x32. You can make them other sizes if you like but I would recommend 128x64 or 256x32. If your image is smaller than this, or you have shrunk it to be smaller, you can always just put the smaller image in with transparent space around the sides. This is a VERY important part of making your spray look nice!
Palettes
The palette for your image is important also, and is often the part of the process that people get hung up on. It must have a 256-color palette, and the last color in the palette must be 100% blue. (In RGB this is 0 0 255). When you spray your logo, anything that is colored in with this 100% blue color will be transparent (it will not appaer). I am not sure if it matters or not but don't let any of the other colors in your palette be 100% blue.
Photoshop Tip: A simple way to get this working in Photoshop is to complete your image how you want it, and instead of coloring the parts you want to be transparent in 100% blue, color them some other odd color that's not used in your picture. Now, convert the image to indexed color (Go to Image->Mode->Indexed Color) using the Selective Palette option, and choose 255 colors. This will leave one empty space in the end of your palette (go to Image.. Mode.. Color Table to view it) which you can double-click and change to 100% blue! Now color the transparent areas with this new blue color and you're finished.
Requirements Recap
Before you move on the next step, make sure your image is in the proper format! Here are all the rules which must be followed in order for your image to be processed correctly into a WAD file to be used as a spray:
- Both dimensions must be multiples of 16
- Must have a 256 color palette
- Last color in palette must be 100% blue
Saving The File
The next step is to save your file. Make sure you double check the palette, as well as the dimensions, and if they're correct, save it as a bitmap, 8-bit if you are asked a question about the bit depth. If you're going to run the batch file from this webpage to create your WADfile, you'll want to save it as 'pldecal.bmp' so you won't have to rename it later. After you've saved the bitmap, browse with 'My Computer' or 'Windows Explorer' to look at it and make sure it's no larger than 12 kbytes.
Compiling using Wally
- Download the latest version of Wally (1.53 and up)
- Go to Wizard|HL Color Decal Wizard:
- Run the downloaded self-extracting EXE, and extract the program to your hard drive
- Start Wally
- Select your Half-Life folder (use the little [..] button to bring up a GUI)
- Choose the mod you want to put the decal in (IE cstrike for Counter-Strike)
- Choose where you're going to provide the image for the decal
-Clipboard: you must already have an image on the clipboard
-File: IE a BMP, PCX, or JPG file sitting on your hard drive
-Let me edit: you can make the decal yourself using Wally's editing tools - Click on OK when you're ready to have Wally create your decal
What you'll end up with is a brand spanking new WAD file, named pldecal.wad, and your image of choice will be named appropriately inside that WAD... ie {LOGO.
Please Note: Once Wally builds the WAD file, it won't automatically save the file to your hard drive. We're giving you a chance to back out of the decal in case something went terribly wrong... like you picked a picture of your sister instead of Latetia Casta. So... in order to finalize the deal, you're going to have to save the new decal. You'll be told of this as soon as you try and close the WAD, or close Wally. Just click on Yes when it asks you to save and Wally will put the decal in the appropriate directory. Or, just shortcut the whole deal and hit Ctrl-S. Of course, if something did go wrong, click on No and start over.
Installation
First make a copy of your pldecal.wad and save the copy as tempdecal.wad. Now browse to your cstrike directory (normally c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\yourlogin\counter-strike\cstrike) or search for a folder named cstrike. Copy both pldecal.wad and tempdecal.wad and paste them into the cstrike directory. It will ask to overwrite, just click yes. Now right-click pldecal.wad and click properties. Click on read-only then ok. Do the same for tempdecal.wad. No play Counter-strike and enjoy your new spray. NO CONFIGURATION IN COUNTER-STRIKE IS NECCESSARY.
