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GAMMA Wing
Space Combat Flight Simulator
Developer's Kit
Version 1.0
(C) Copyright 1993
Rockland Software Productions
Description:
GAMMA Wing is a space combat flight simulator for the IBM PC. In
GAMMA Wing, you are part of an elite force defending mankind from a hostile
alien race. You fly missions against the enemy, and complete campaigns. As
you complete more missions, your ship gets better. As your combat victories
increase, your marksmanship increases. GAMMA Wing features bitmapped and
rendered graphics in the simulator its self, and digital sound effects. GAMMA
Wing is designed for long term play. Ship and marksmanship bonuses continue
until you complete 1000 missions/victories. GAMMA Wing is also designed for
user configurability. The GAMMA Wing Developers Kit (available separately)
lets you edit characters, edit missions, edit campaigns, edit targets, edit
weapons, edit target graphics, edit weapon graphics, edit weapon animation
sequences, change weapon sound effects, and import graphics for use in GAMMA
Wing.
System Requirements:
1. 286 or better.
2. 640K conventional RAM.
3. VGA graphics.
4. 3 Meg disk space.
5. Sound card required for FM soundtrack.
6. 200K XMS memory required for sound card digital sound effects.
7. MS compatable mouse required for developer's kit.
Installing:
Installing from diskette:
1. Put disk 1 in a drive, change to that drive, and enter "setup"
at the dos prompt.
2. The setup program will install a copy of the Developer's Kit on
your hard drive.
Archive contents:
*.bgi - video drivers
*.chr - fonts
*.exe - program files
*.grf - graphics
*.pal - palettes
gamma.doc - GAMMA Wing documentation
gammakit.doc - GAMMA Wing Developer's Kit documentation
support.doc - support information
catalog*.doc - Rockland Software Productions catalog
Running from GAMMA Wing:
1. Change to your GAMMA Wing directory.
2. Enter "gamma" at the DOS prompt.
3. You'll be asked if you want sound. Press y for yes or n for no.
4. If a gameport is detected, you'll be asked if you want to use a
joystick. Press y for yes, or n for no. If you say yes, you'll be
asked to move the joystick to various positions and then press its
button.
5. The opening sequence will then begin. You may skip any sequence
by pressing a key, or mouse or joystick button.
6. After the opening, you'll be asked to enter your pilot's name. Type in
a name and press enter.
7. You will then enter the lobby of the GAMMA Wing base.
8. The editors run when you select the following doors in the base:
Door: Editor:
Pilot's area - Edit Character editor
Operations area - Cmpgn Campaign editor
Operations area - Missn Mission editor
R&D - Tgts Target editor
R&D - Wpns Weapon editor
Vidlab - Anim Animation editor
Vidlab - Import PCX to GRF converter
Vidlab - Blend Palette blender
Vidlab - Mappal Palette mapper
Vidlab - Crop Auto cropper
Vidlab - Bitmap Graphic editor
Running the GAMMA Developper's Kit (GDK) menu program:
1. Change to your GAMMA Wing directory
2. Enter "gdk" at the dos prompt.
3. This will run the GDK menu program.
GAMMA Developer's Kit (GDK) menu program:
The GDK menu program is a menu that runs all the tools and editors in the
developer's kit. Select an editor or tool to run it, select Quit to
quit the GDK menu program.
Character editor:
The character editor allows you to edit pilot statistics. Menu options
are as follows:
Name - lets you change the pilot's name. The name is used to save the
pilot to disk, so it must be 1-8 letters.
Missions completed - lets you change the pilot's missions completed.
The more missions, the better your ship. The
game is designed to handle pilots with up to
1000 missions completed.
Combat victories - lets you change the number of combat victories the
pilot has. The more victories, the better the
pilot's chance to hit. When you fire, if there's a
target in the path of your fire, a check is made
to see if you hit the target. Chance to hit is
based on target speeds, range, and your pilot's
combat victories. GAMMA Wing is designed to handle
pilots with up to 1000 combat victories.
Current mission - lets you select a new current mission from the
missions in your current campaign. The current
mission is the mission the pilot will fly next.
Campaign - lets you select a new campaign for the pilot. The current
mission will automatically be set to the first mission in
the newly selected campaign.
Skill level - lets you set the pilot's skill level. Valid values are
0 through about 22 (depending on the max speed of the
fastest target). The highest valid skill level is the
max speed of the fastest target + 3. Skill level
effects are as follows:
Skill level: Effects:
0 Your ship's climb, dive, turn, and speed
are doubled.
1 Your ship's climb, dive, turn, and speed
are increased 50%.
2 None
3 Targets evade when fired at.
4+ Targets evade when fired at. Targets
adjust their speed to yours when
following you. Targets acceleration and
deceleration rates equal your skill level
minus three.
New - clears all values for starting a new pilot.
Load - loads a pilot from disk.
Save - saves the pilot begin edited to disk.
Quit - quits the editor.
Note: If you edit a character that you're playing, in GAMMA Wing you'll
need to load the character from disk after you quit the editor. Otherwise
you'll still be playing with the pilot you had when you started the
editor.
Campaign editor:
The campaign editor allows you to edit GAMMA Wing campaigns. Menu options
are as follows:
Campaign name - lets you change the name of the campaign.
Mission 1-10 - lets you change the individual missions 1 thru 10 in
the campaign. Selecting mission 1 lets you change the
1st mission, mission 2 lets you change the 2nd
mission,etc. When you select a mission, the mission
edit menu for that mission appears. The mission edit
menu lets you change individual missions in the
campaign. Menu options are as follows:
Mission name - lets you select a mission from disk to
run as this mission in the campaign.
Next mission - lets you change the number of the next
mission in the campaign to run if this
mission is completed.
Previous mission - lets you change the number of the
next mission to run if this mission
is not completed.
Done - returns you to the main menu.
New - clears all values for creating a new campaign.
Load - loads a campaign from disk.
Save - saves the campaign currently being edited to disk.
Quit - quits the editor.
When you begin a campaign, you fly its mission 1 first. Depending on
whether you complete the mission, you fly mission 1's next or previous
mission next. This continues until your next mission is greater than 10.
At this point the campaign is completed. The next time you fly, you'll be
asked to select a new campaign.
An example: In campaign unregis.cpn, mission 1's name is unregis1.mis,
its next mission is 2, and its previous mission is 1. If you complete
unregis1.mis, you fly mission 2 next, otherwise you fly mission 1 again.
Mission 2's name is unregis2.mis, its next mission is 3, and its previous
mission is 1. If you complete unregis2.mis, you fly mission 3 next,
otherewise you fly mission 1 (unregis1.mis) next. Mission 10's name is
unregi10.mis. Its next mission is 11, and its previous mission is 9. If
you complete unregi10.mis your next mission will be mission 11. Since
there are only 10 misions, you complete campaign unregis.cpn. If you fail
unregi10.mis, you fly mission 9 next.
Note that you don't have to go from mission 1 to 2 to 3... up to 10
for next missions in a campaign. You can skip around: 1 to 5 to 6 to 7 to
2 to 8 to 13 (ending canpaign). You don't even have to use all the
missions. The only restrictions are as follows:
* When a campaign is first started, mission 1 is flown 1st, so you must
have a mission 1.
* Next and previous mission numbers should not be less than 1.
* A next or previous mission number greater than 10 completes a campaign.
Mission editor:
The mission editor allows you to edit GAMMA Wing missions. Menu options
are as follows:
Mission name - lets you change the name of the mission.
Targets - takes you to a list of targets in the mission.
Orders - lets you edit the orders for the mission. Press Esc to exit
the editor.
Conditions - takes you to a list of conditions for the mission.
Your target - lets you set the player's current target.
New - clears all values for making a new mission.
Load - loads a mission from disk.
Save - saves the mission being edited to disk.
Quit - quits the editor.
The target list shows all the targets in the mission. Selecting a target
lets you edit that target. Target edit menu options are as follows:
Target type - lets you set the target's type (base, enemy ship,
etc.).
X, Y, Z - lets you set the targets starting position coordinates.
Their target - lets you set the target's target. (What they fly
towards and/or attack).
Done - returns you to the list of targets.
The conditions list shows all conditions for success and failure in the
mission. Select a condition to edit it using the condition editor menu.
The condition editor menu lets you edit individual conditions for success
and failure in the mission. Menu options are as follows:
Condition type - lets you set the condition type. (success, failure,
or not used).
Condition - lets you set the actual condition checked (all hostiles
destroyed, you reach a target, etc.).
Connector - lets you set the logical connection between this
condition and the next condition (AND or none).
Done - returns you to the list of conditions.
There are many condition checks to choose from:
None - no condition. always true.
Alignment destroyed - true if all targets of an alignment are
destroyed. Alignments can be friendly, neutral,
or enemy.
Targettype destroyed - true if all targets of a specific type are
destroyed. Target types are chosen from those
saved on disk.
Target destroyed - true if a specific target (1-10) is destroyed.
Target comes within x of another target - True if a specific target
(1-10) comes within a distance x of a second target (1-10).
Target goes beyond x from another target - True if a target (1-10)
goes beyond x distance from another target (1-10).
Fire weapon at target - true if you fire at a target (1-10).
Target comes within x of alignment - true if a target (1-10) comes
within distance x of any target of a specific alignment
(friendly, etc).
Target comes within x of targettype - true if a target (1-10) comes
within distance x of any target of a specific targettype (enemy1,
etc.).
Target goes beyond x from alignment - true if a specific target (1-10)
goes beyond distance x from all targets of a specific alignment
(neutral, etc.).
Target goes beyond x from targettype - true if a target (1-10) goes
beyond distance x from all targets of a specific target type
(base, etc.).
Fire weapon at alignment - true if you fire a weapon at any target of
a specific alignment (neutral, etc.).
Fire weapon at targettype - true if you fire a weapon at any target of
a specific target type (gamaship, etc).
Success conditions end a mission with completion if their condition
is true. Failure conditions end a mission with failure if their condition
is true. If a condition has an AND connector, both it and the next
condition in the list must be true for success/failure.
Target editor:
The target editor lets you edit target types used in GAMMA Wing. Menu
options are as follows:
Target name - lets you set the name of the target type.
Statistics... - takes to a list of statistics for the target type.
Bitmaps... - takes you to a list of bitmaps for the target type.
Weapons... - takes you to a list of weapons for the target type.
New - clears all valuse for making a new target type.
Load - loads a target type from disk.
Save - saves the current target type being edited to disk.
Quit - quits the editor.
The list of statistics lets you set various statsictics for the target
type. Options are as follows:
Max damage - lets you set how many damage points the target can take
before its destroyed.
Max speed - lets you set the target's maximum speed.
Max energy - lets you set the amount of energy the target type starts
a mission with.
Max shields - lets you set how many damage points the shields can
take.
Arc of fire - lets you select 10 degrees or 360 degrees. This is the
arc of fire around forward that all the target's
weapons have.
Turn rate - the number of degrees the target can turn per cycle of
the simulator.
Climb rate - the number of degrees/simulator cycle that the target can
decrease its mark value.
Dive rate - that number of degrees/simulator cycle that the target can
increase its mark value.
Acceleration rate - not used at this time.
Deceleration rate - not used at this time.
Can land on - lets you select YES or NO. If YES, you can land on the
target.
Alignment - lets you select an alignment (friendly, neutral, or enemy)
for the target type.
Done - returns you to the main menu.
The list of bitmaps lets you select the bitmaps for the target type. The
first option on the list is Number of bitmaps. This may be set to 5 or
16. Use 5 for targets that look the same from all sides. Use 16 for all
other targets. Below number of bitmaps, the bitmaps 1 thru 5 or 1 thru
16 are listed. Select a bitmap to change the name of the bitmap. Bitmaps
should be selected as follows: For 5 bitmaps, bitmap 1 is the largest,
and 5 the smallest. For 16 bitmaps, bitmap views are as follows:
Bitmap 1 Large front view
2 Large right front view
3 Large right view
4 Large right rear view
5 Large rear view
6 Large left rear view
7 Large left view
8 Large left front view
9 Small front view
10 Small right front view
11 Small right view
12 Small right rear view
13 Small rear view
14 Small left rear view
15 Small left view
16 Small left front view
Select Done to return to the main menu.
The list of weapons lets you select the weapons for the target type. The
first option, Number of weapons, lets you set how many weapons the target
has. Below that, the target's weapons are listed. Select a weapon to
change the weapon's type. Select Done to return to the main menu.
Weapon editor:
The weapon editor lets you edit weapons used by targets in GAMMA Wing.
Menu options are as follows:
Weapon name - lets you change the weapon's name.
Range - lets you set the weapon's maximum range. Visual range is 500.
Damage - lets you set the weapon's maximum damage. When a weapon hits
it does a random amount of damage, at least 1 point, and up
to maximum damage for the weapon.
Animation - lets you select an animation sequence for the weapon's
attack.
Rate of fire - lets you set how many times the weapon fires per
simulator cycle.
Sound - lets you select the digital sound effect for the weapon's
attack.
Ammo - lets you set how much ammo the weapon has.
Play sound - plays the attack sound for the weapon.
New - clears all values for creating a new weapon.
Load - loads a weapon from disk.
Save - saves the weapon to disk.
Quit - quits the editor.
Animation editor:
The animation editor allows you to edit animations used by weapons in
GAMMA Wing. Menu options are as follows:
New animation - lets you edit an animation you enter a filename for.
An animation file consists of a series of commands.
Commands take one of 2 forms:
g <x> <y> <filename> - displays graphic <filename>
centered at <x>,<y>.
d <millisecs> - delays for <millisecs> thousandths
of a second.
The editor is a simple text editor. Animation file
command help is shown on the screen. Type in the
commands for the animation. When you're done, press
Escape. You'll be given an option to save the file.
Edit animation - lets you edit a animation you select from those on
disk.
Play animation - lets you play an animation. Select the animation.
The playback screen (all black screen) will appear.
Press a key to begin playback. When playback ends,
press a key to continue.
Quit - quits the editor.
Graphic importer:
The graphic importer allows you to import graphics for use with GAMMA
Wing. It allows you to import 320x200 256 color PCX files into GAMMA Wing
graphics format. Select a file import, or cancel to Quit. If you select a
file, the importer will attempt to import it. A PCX file is imported by
reading it from disk, displaying it on the screen, and then saving the
image in GAMMA Wing format. If the file is imported correctly, 2 files
will be created. The first file will have the same filename with a .grf
extension. This is the bitmap in GAMMA Wing format. The second file will
have the same filename with a .pal extension. This is the bitmap's
palette information.
Auto cropper:
The auto cropper automatically crops graphics. Cropping reduces the size
of a grapic by trimming off all four sides up to the beginning of the
actual image. For example, say you import a new ship graphic. The image
will not fill the entire bitmap. Once you crop it, the result will be a
bitmap that is just big enough that the image fills its. The auto cropper
is menu driven. Menu options are as follows:
Crop a graphic - crops a graphic you select.
Crop a target's graphics - crops all graphics for a target type whose
name you enter.
Crop all graphics - crops all graphics in the directory.
Quit - quits the autocropper.
The autocropper will save the cropped version of a bitmap with the same
filename, and a .gf2 extension.
Grahic editor:
The grahic editor is a basic bitmap editor for editing weapon and ship
graphics. Menu options are as follows:
Draw - shows the bitmap being edited. Click with the left mouse
button to draw using the current drawing and brush size color.
Click with the right mouse button to return to the main menu.
Drawing color - lets you set the drawing color.
Fill a region - fills a region you select in a color and fillstyle
that you select.
Clear graphic - clears the current bitmap.
Brush radius - changes the radius of the drawing tool. The tool is a
square. The distance from the center to the edge of
the square is the brush radius. The radius is
specified in virtual pixels, where the screen is
10001x10001 virtual pixels in size.
Change a color - lets you change all pixels of a specific color to
another color. Select the color on the bitmap to
change. Then select the new color from the palette
of colors available. All pixels with the old color
will be changed to the new color.
Zoom graphic - lets you zoom a graphic larger/smaller. Enter the %
to zoom the graphic. The graphic will be zoomed by the
% you enter. Note that not all zooms will fit on the
screen. Only whats on the screen gets saved.
Crop graphic - Trims the bitmap down to a region you select.
New graphic - begins a new graphic. You'll be prompted for the size of
the new graphic.
Load graphic - loads a bitmap from disk.
Load palette - loads a palette from disk.
Save graphic - saves the current bitmap under a filename you enter.
Save palette - saves the current palette under a filename you enter.
Quit - quits Paint.
Palette blender:
The palette blender lets you create new palettes for use in GAMMA Wing.
A pc can only display 256 colors at once in VGA mode. A palette is a list
that tells the computer which 256 colors to display. A 256 color bitmap
has a matching palette to tell the computer which 256 colors to use when
displaying the bitmap. To display a 256 color bitmap, you tell the pc to
use its palette, and draw the bitmap on the screen. Different bitmaps
usually have different palettes. If you show bitmaps with different
palettes at the same time, only those that use the palette the pc is
currently using will look correct. Therefore all bitmaps must use the
same palette to look correct in 256 color video modes.
The palette blender blends the palettes from different bitmaps together
to create a new palette. The bitmaps can then be mapped using the palette
mapper to the newly blended palette. When the newly mapped bitmaps are
displayed using the newly mapped palette, all will look correct in 256
color video modes. This allows you to display different 256 color bitmaps
at once in 256 color video modes (a feat usually requiring 24 bit
color!).
To use the palette blender, begin by selecting the palettes to blend.
You'll be shown a list of palettes, select the palettes to blend. Select
cancel when done. Next select a blending speed. You have four choices:
Slow - uses floating point 3D color distance calculations. Yields
excellent results.
Fast - uses integer total delta color distance calculations. Yields
good results.
Turbo - uses floating point 3D color distance calculations. Stores
distances in memory. Yields excellent results.
Fast turbo - uses integer total delta color distance calculations.
Stores distances in memory. Yields good results.
The output will be a palette file called blend.pl2. The palette used by
GAMMA Wing is blend.pal. To use the newly blended palette, copy it
(blend.pl2) to blend.pal in your GAMMA Wing directory.
Note: The more palettes you blend together, the less true your mapped
graphic's colors will be. A blended palette is a compromise between
2 or more graphics over which 256 colors the computer will use when
showing the graphics on the screen at the same time. The more palettes
blended in, the more each graphic must compromise its true colors to
allow all graphics to be shown at once.
Palette Mapper:
The palette mapper allows you to map bitmaps to a common palette. Use it
to map all bitmaps to the palette created by the palette blender when you
import new graphics. The palette mapper is menu driven. Menu options are
as follows:
Map a graphic - maps a graphic you select from a palette you select
to a palette you select.
Map a target's graphics - maps a target's graphics from their
original palettes to a palette you select.
The origial palettes should have the same
filename as the graphics, and a .pal
extension.
Map all graphics - maps all graphics in the directory to a palette
you select. Each graphic is mapped from a palette
with the same filename and a .pal extension.
Quit - quits the palette mapper.
Whenever you map a palette, you will be asked to select a mapping speed.
You choices are fast and slow. Slow uses floating point 3D color
distance calcualtions, and yields excellent results. Fast uses integer
total delta color distance calculations, and yields good results. The
output of the palette mapper will be a new bitmap with the same filename
and a .gf2 extension. The new bitmap will look correct when displayed
using the palette it was mapped to.
Auto Zoomer:
The Auto Zoomer automaically zooms graphics by 50%. The Auto Zoomer is
menu driven. Menu options are as follows:
Zoom a graphic 50% - Zooms a graphic you select by 50%.
Zoom a target's graphics 50% - zooms all graphics by 50% for a
target whose name you enter.
Zoom all graphics - Zooms all graphics in the directory by 50%.
Quit - Quits the Auto Zoomer.
The autoizoomer uses .grf files for input, and writes the zoomed files
to the same filename with a .gf2 extension.
Auto Importer:
The auto importer allows you to easily import and use graphics for 16
bitmap target types. You enter the name of the target's graphics, and
select a mapping speed. The autoimporter then imports, crops, zooms,
creates bitmaps 9 thru 16 from bitmaps 1 thru 8, runs the palette
blender, and then mapps all graphics to the new palette. The auto
importer uses the 8 large views of the target as its input. The files
should be 320x200 256 color PCX files. The images should fill a 320x200
bitmap. Note that the images will be zoomed 50% to produce the final
large views, so you can use a 160x100 bitmap and zoom it 200% before
importing with no loss of detail. The files should have the same
filename, but end in the numbers 1 thru 8, ie: mytgt1.pcx thru
mytgt8.pcx. When you run the auto importer you enter the filename
with no numbers, ie: mytgt. The auto importer runs the graphic importer
to import the .pcx files to .grf and .pal files. It then crops and
zooms the .grf files 50% to get them to large view size (160x100, image
filling the bitmap). It then zooms them another 50% and copies the
results to .grf files 9 thru 16 to create the small views. It then copies
the .pal files 1 thru 8 to .pal files 9 thru 16. It then runs the palette
blender to allow you to blend a new palette that includes one of the
new target's palettes. After that it runs the palette mapper and maps
all graphics to the newly blended palette.
Importing graphics:
GAMMA Wing gives you the ability to add additional target and weapon
graphics to the game. GAMMA Wing uses 256 color bitmaps for its target
and weapon graphics. Normally you can't show 2 different 256 color
bitmaps at once without 24 bit color video hardware. GAMMA Wing provides
a method for showing more than one 256 color bitmap on the screen at
once in 256 color video modes.
A pc can only display 256 colors at once in 256 color video modes. A
palette is a list that tells the computer which 256 colors to display. A
256 color bitmap has a matching palette to tell the computer which 256
colors to use when displaying the bitmap. To display a 256 color bitmap,
you tell the pc to use its palette, and draw the bitmap on the screen.
Different bitmaps usually have different palettes. If you show bitmaps
with different palettes at the same time, only those that use the palette
the pc is currently using will look correct. Therefore all bitmaps must
use the same palette to look correct in 256 color video modes.
The solution to the problem is to create a palette that is a blend of all
the colors used by all the graphics, map all the graphics to the palette,
and then use the palette and mapped graphics. The result will be
different bitmaps on the screen at once that all look correct. However,
when you add new graphics that use their own palettes you add more
colors, so you must reblend palettes and remap graphics to crete a new
palette and set of graphics that includes the new graphics. Because you
must blend a new palette and remap all the graphics when you add
graphics, you must keep copys of all the original unmapped graphics and
thier matching palettes. GAMMA Wing uses .grf files for its original
bitmaps, .pal files for its palettes, and .gfx files for its mapped
bitmaps. The blended palette it uses in the game is called blend.pal.
Importing graphics for 16 bitmap targets:
1. Generate the large views of bitmaps 1 thru 8. Use a raytracer,
paint program, etc. to generate the views, and convert the output
to 320x200 256 color PCX format. The views for bitmaps 1 thru 8 should
be as follows:
Bitmap View
1 target facing towards you
2 target facing towards you and to the left
3 target facing to the left
4 target facing away and left
5 target facing away
6 target facing away and right
7 target facing right
8 target facing towards you and to the right
The actual image size should be about 1/4 of a 320x200 bitmap
(160x100). The following method works well:
A. Create a 160x100 bitmap where the image fills the bitmap.
B. Zoom the bitmap 200% to make it 320x200 for importing.
C. Once you import and crop it, zoom it 50% (using the Auto Zoomer
to get it back to the proper size. This way you don't have to
create a 320x200 bitmap (a real plus when rendering bitmaps!).
2. Use the GAMMA Wing graphic importer to import the views to GAMMA
Wing format.
3. Use the autocropper to crop the bitmaps to just bigger than the
actual image.
4. Use the Auto Zoomer to zoom each bitmap 50% to make bitmaps 9 thru 16.
For example: Zoom bitmaps 1 thru 8. Then copy the resulting .gf2 files
to .grf files 9 thru 16, ie. copy mytgt1.gf2 to mytgt9.grf, mytgt2.gf2
to mytgt10.grf, etc.
5. Create palette (.pal) files for bitmaps 9 thru 16 by copying the
palette files for bitmaps 1 thru 8 to 9 thru 16. For example, if
your bitmap 1 is mytgt1.grf, copy mytgt1.pal to mytgt9.pal, copy
mytgt2.pal to mytgt10.pal, etc.
6. Use the palette blender to blend together 1 palette from every
target type and weapon animation that will be in the simulation.
Select palettes from views that show all the colors the target
uses. Bitmap #1 for 5 bitmap tagets, and bitmap #2 for 16 bitmap
targets usually show all target colors.
7. Copy the newly blended palette blend.pl2 to blend.pal.
8. Use the palette mapper to map each graphic for each target and
weapon animation from its original palette to the newly blended
palette. The resulting set of target graphics will all look correct
even though they originally didn't use the same 256 colors.
9. Copy the new targets graphics (*.gf2) to the same filename with a .gfx
extension (*.gfx). The .gfx files are the ones used by GAMMA Wing.
Importing graphics for 5 bitmap targets:
1. Generate the large views of bitmaps 1. Use a raytracer, paint program,
downloaded GIF, etc. and convert the output to 320x200 256 color PCX
format. The actual image size should be about 1/4 of a 320x200 bitmap
(160x100). For graphics you create, the following method works well:
A. Create a 160x100 bitmap where the image fills the bitmap.
B. Zooming the bitmap 200% to make it 320x200 for importing.
C. Once you import and crop it, zoom it 50% (using the Auto Zoomer)
to get it back to the proper size. This way you don't have to
create a 320x200 bitmap (a real plus when rendering bitmaps!).
For graphics you download etc., the following method works well:
A. Use 256 colors bitmaps where the actual image fills a 320x200
bitmap (Cropping an image from a 640x480 256 color bitmap works
well). You can use bitmaps as small as 160x100 and zoom them
up to 320x200 for import with no pixelization (blocky low
resolution looking graphics) in the final bitmap.
B. Once you import and crop the bitmap, zoom it 50% (using the Auto
Zoomer) to get it back to the proper size. This way the final
image is never zoomed more than 100%, avoiding pixelization.
2. Use the GAMMA Wing graphic importer to import the views to GAMMA
Wing format.
3. Use the autocropper to crop the bitmaps to just bigger than the
actual image.
4. Use the graphic editor's zoom feature to zoom bitmap 1 80%, 60% 40%,
and 20% to make bitmaps 2 thru 5. For example: load bitmap 1, zoom it
80%, then save it as bitmap 2. Then load bitmap 1, zoom it 60%, and
save it as bitmap 3. Load bitmap 1 again, zoom it 40% and save it as
bitmap 4. Finally, load bitmap 1, zoom it 20% and save it as bitmap 5.
5. Create palette (.pal) files for bitmaps 2 thru 5 by copying the
palette file for bitmap 1 to 2 thru 5. For example, if
your bitmap 1 is mytgt1.grf, copy mytgt1.pal to mytgt2.pal, copy
mytgt1.pal to mytgt3.pal, etc.
6. Use the palette blender to blend together 1 palette from every
target type and weapon animation that will be in the simulation.
Select palettes from views that show all the colors the target
uses. Bitmap #1 for 5 bitmap tagets, and bitmap #2 for 16 bitmap
targets usually show all target colors.
7. Copy the newly blended palette blend.pl2 to blend.pal.
8. Use the palette mapper to map each graphic for each target and
weapon animation from its original palette to the newly blended
palette. The resulting set of target graphics will all look correct
even though they originally didn't use the same 256 colors.
9. Copy the new targets graphics (*.gf2) to the same filename with a .gfx
extension (*.gfx). The .gfx files are the ones used by GAMMA Wing.
Using the Graphic Editor to create graphics:
When using the graphic editor to create graphics, if you load blend.pal
before you start, you won't have to reblend or remap before using the
graphics. If you load a palette blended into blend.pal, you won't have to
reblend, and will only have to map the newly created graphic to blend.pal.
In other cases you will have to blend in the new graphics palette, and
remap all graphics to the new palette. In any case, be sure to save the
palette when you save the graphic, so it may be remapped in the future.
Maintaining a master graphics library:
Because you must blend a new palette and remap all graphics to the new
palette whenever you add graphics, you will want to keep a copy of the
original .grf and .pal files for all graphics. Once you import, crop,
zoom, and have all your .grf and .pal files for a new target, add them to
your master set of .grf and .pal files for the game. Once you have them
like this, they can be blended and mapped as many time as you like
without having to import, crop, or zoom ever again.
