Spooky

I have been meaning to write this for a while now:



ROTTool (primary) or ROTTool (mirror)

It will open/view/extract any .ROT file out there (I hope) which I have found to be either DDS(DXT1 and DXT5 formats) or TGA. The DDS/TGA files are saved as the same name as the .ROT only with a different extension (obviously ).

Next version will make .ROT files as well

Have fun.

Sparafucile

arr! thanks much Spooky

nickersonm

Nice work. Suggestion: make it refresh after it loads it, it's not showing up because it's obscured by the dialog box. Or, set AutoRedraw for the picture box to True. Unless you're constantly updating it, that shouldn't impact performance very much.

Also, it doesn't correctly open all files (either that or a small fraction of my extracts are corrupted). Check \ui\commandicons\ and ui\tacticsicons\. On some files it will display a solid block of color.

Edit: it only obscures it when loading small files, that are drawn before the dialog completes unloading itself.

- nickersonm

Langy

I can't seem to load any files at all with this. All that comes out is occasionally a pure white screen, and occasionally a white square in the center with a multicolored border surrounding it.

nickersonm

First, make sure you have correctly extracted files. D/L Delphy's latest RelicArchiveExtractor (http://www.a-fluffy.demon.co.uk/homeworld2), and re-extract the .big file. That was my problem.

If that still doesn't work, make sure to hit the "refresh" button after you've loaded the file. Try loading some ui\mapthumbnails\multiplayer\ files - those all worked for me.

- nickersonm

Langy

Delphy changed the code for extracting the ROT files or something? Didn't know that. *heads to extract .big again*

Spooky

First of the .ROT creation bits now written, this is a .BMP image that has been stored as a TGA within a .ROT:



Now to finish the DXT1,DXT5 and TGA code.

FreeZy

Whenever I try to open the art>fx files I get an "Unkown Texture Format: EOF" Or something like that... Weird. It just displays a white screen.

Spooky

FreeZy - can you post the entire debug text - or give me the file name you are having trouble with?

As a simple test here is my first attempt at altering one of the SP load screens:



The original image was a DXT1 DDS file within the ROT. I extracted this, saved as a BMP file, flipped it vertically, loaded back into the application and converted it to a TGA file within the new ROT. As you can see it works a treat .

Thursdays Child

Hurray!

Joel622

Here's what I get when I try to open data\art\fx\ion_beam\ion_beam.rot:

Spooky

Well there is one I missed The texture format for this file is a DXT3 .DDS! I have now added the ability to look at and extract these ones as well. Hopefully I can release a new version tomorrow...

starfleet

*waits patently for spookys* (off view the rifle being polished just in case )

can't wait until we can make things into .rot

FreeZy

well, I'd post it but Joel just posted the exact message I get. So this is good news to me. ... Now if only I could get your .hod extractor to work.

Spooky

OK - as promised here is the new version:



Major new features are the ability to read DXT3 format ROT files and CREATE ROT files from .BMP,.TGA and .DDS (DXT1/3/5) format source images.

Only 1 MIP level is supported at present. The next release will allow multiple levels.

ROT Tool

The above image is the main Tanis texture extracted from the HOD and turned into a ROT BTW...

starfleet

*puts shotgun away* nice spooky

-Grins- thanks now i can actually make new fighter images <dances>

FreeZy

Yay! Awesome job, Spooky!

thesamonthemoon

Download not working...

starfleet

http://homeworld.star-fleet.org/mod...s.php?cat_id=12 <-- has it as well though you'll need to register most likely to get anything from that catagory.

Sparafucile

apparently, b5mods.com just got around to updating their site, and moved some files around. use this link:

ROT Tool

Spooky

Main link now works - sorry about that.

thesamonthemoon

Excellent. Thanks.

BentusiTrader

Do you need to re-flip the image files that you extract once you're done editing or can you insert them into the .ROT the right way up?

shadow51689

hey, I created a TGA image, and tried to create a rot file with it, and it said 'unknown file format'... I saved the file again as a bmp, and I sucesfully created a rot file... but the thing is SERIOUSLY discolored now...

shadow51689

ah I see, 'Only 32 bit TGA images currently supported'

OK nm then

shadow51689

damn, none of my programs can save above 24 bit...

FluxX

Little secret.....

Add a mask to your 24 bit TGA... it magically becomes 32 bit

where does it get extracted too? How do I open DDs files?????

BlueTech

YAY SPOOKY!!!!!! YOU ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so now u can put preview and luac into ur big viewer?



YYYYAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! D

Mikail

There's a freeware tool called transgen that will turn any white-colored area into the transparency layer, thereby turning 24-bit tga's into 32-bit tga's. So, if you need somthing that has a white color to NOT be transparent, paint it R=254, G=255, B=255 (slightly off-white).

http://www.thirdwishsoftware.com/freeware.html#TransGen

-Mikail

Spooky

A cunning feature of the ROT Tool:

If you use a 24 bit .BMP as your source file, create a .ROT from it and then load that .ROT file it will automatically create a 32 bit .TGA file as the output.

Demon_Eyes

link is down?

Spooky

Yes it is (TGU server appears to be down). I have provided an alternative link in the first thread that should work...

Demon_Eyes

thanks Spooky!

shadow51689

Thx Mikail!

shadow51689

and you too spooky... now to figure out how to import it into the game lol

DarthVaygr

Yeah I was wondering myself........how DO you import it into the game? :hmm: Tell us neewbiez please?

Spooky

Errr - very very simple really. Find the ROT you wish to replace, create a new texture with the same dimensions and characteristics (alpha layers etc) and create a new ROT with the same name...

Aces

what do i use to open *.dds files?

Demon_Eyes

photoshop with the dds plugin, do a forum search or :google: and you should find links

thesamonthemoon

Question: How do we get the game to use .ROT's with different dimensions and characteristics?

thegoatman

@ thesam: I would imagine you would make a new effect.

@ Spooky: When i open the DDS files in Photoshop, it seems that their Alpha channel seems a bit corrupted. I can make out the shape of the picture, but it looks like soem kind of read-order problem. Some of these files actually need alpha to display (then again, some of them arn't used afaik). It may just be the files themselves (or they may not even have alpha channes. some of them are Additive-blend anyway). Other than that minor issue, the tool works great.

Just one suggestion: could you add some sort of batch conversion feature? its a bit slow selecting things one at a time.

Sparafucile

spooky, can you do some do some more work on the RotTool? currently, it won't write rot files with more than one mip level. i saved a dds file from photoshop with a few mips. i was gonna test if custom badges could be ROT files (some of the stock ones are) to it could look better in the game lobby where it's shrunk. i tried both dxt3 and dxt5 dds files, out of photoshop (with the plugins), but the RotTool stripped off all the mip sizes below the first one (which was 64x64 of course).

hmm... i went back to look at the stock badges that are rot files and have different mip levels, and the RotTool says they are Targa files. can normal tga files have mip levels? or is that because it's inside the rot file?

anyway, get back to me when you can. thx

@ thegoat: there is a significantly newer version of the dds plugin available from nvidia (download here). don't know if it'll help, but.. <shrug> just out of curiosity, which files?

Delphy

Spara,

The ROT file is pretty much a "container" for the images inside (which can be either TGA or DDS), so you could have a ROT file made up of various TGA files inside it at different mip levels down to 1x1, it's just a question of shrinkage

Spooky if you need some good image shrinking code, let me know, I've collected a lot of that stuff over time

thegoatman

Hmm...Looking over it, all the DDS files have wierd alpha, even the ones that are addative and don't need an alpha channel.

@ Spara: I was specifically looking at the alpha-addative effects in 'Firery explosions'

Testing the effects in-game, they have normal alpha. I suppose the tool could be writing an alpha channel that doesn-t exist, somehow. I don't really know. I never really learned how to write programs that read complex formats (only ASCII ).

Spooky

Spara - I am currently finishing off the changes to a new version of the tool that both extracts and creates multi MIPed files. It should be ready very shortly.

As for the Targa stuff - although I have them loading in as .TGA files they could equally well be A8R8G8B8 .DDS files which would then give you the multi-MIP ability for these. I am adding that option as well in the new version.

I have noticed that some of the FX alpha channels have the strange 'liney' look. I am at a loss to explain it the moment unless there is something more odd going on with the format than I first thought. I am currently looking into this...

IonCannonier

help i cant see the image in the program all i get is a white screen

RomRoig

hi, i have the same problem, all i get is a white screen, the refresh button is not working and when i try to do FILE/OPEN nothing happens. help me please.

RomRoig

hi all

i don't know what to do...

i have all .net stuff installed:

Microsoft® .NET Framework Version 1.1 Redistributable Package.exe
Microsoft® .NET Framework Software Development Kit (SDK) version 1.1.exe
Visual J# .NET Redistributable Package v1.1.exe
Supplemental UI Library for Visual J# .NET v1.1.exe

and my .ROT wiever still not working.

Spooky

My ROT Tool does not use .NET so having those present makes no difference whatsoever. Make sure you have the VB6 SP5 runtime files installed. I have not experienced any problems like these so cannot reproduce them I'm afraid...