Importing masks in 640X400

[Snake Blisken]

So long as I use 320X200 or 320X240 resolution, I can import walkable areas, hot spots, etc from a bitmap file created in paint. It seems to work with images of any size. However, if I use the same background image and the same mask images in any other resolution, I get "Error: mask does not have same size as background scene. Must be 320X200"

If I create the game with 320X240 resolution, import my background and walkable areas, then change the resolution to 640X480, it works ok, but then then the room looks HUGE compared to the character.

I want to be able to create my background image in paint with diminsions of 640X480, then use that image to create the walkable areas, hot spots, etc. I would then like to import that image and the masks into a game with a resolution of 640X480. I like having the zoom option and other features in paint.

I am using AGS v2.70 on Windows 2000 professional. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Gilbert]

Currently, hi-res area mask is supported only for walkbehind areas. That means, for a hi-res, room, say, a 640x480 one, the resolution of the area mask MUST be halved in both x and y res (except walkbehinds, where you can use 640x480 area masks), which is 320x240.
If you want a 640x480 room, you can make the masks with either one of the following methods:
1) Draw your background in 640x480, just draw the mask in 640x480, and then shrink the mask image to 320x240, remember that your programme just do a direct pixel shrink, not using any of the filters/interpolations/etc. which WILL mess up the mask.
2)  Draw your background in 640x480, and then shrink the background to 320x240 and save it as a copy, which is used as reference to draw the area masks in 320x240.

Personally I recommend method 2.

[strazer]

Related tracker entries:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker.php?action=detail&id=367
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker.php?action=detail&id=434

[Snake Blisken]

Wow, thanks for the quick replies, and the links to the tracker. I don't know if this solution is going to work for me, however, because I am limited in what graphics programs I can run on this computer. I can't "install" any software due to permissions. Luckily, AGS does not need to "install". And paint does not have a scale feature.

Ahh, well, thanks anyway. At least I know now what I need to be able to do. Now, I just have to find a way to do it....

Peace

[Gilbert]

Well, as far as I know, you can scale graphics with M$Pain that came with XP, don't know if it's possible to do the same for the one provided with win2k, however since 2k and XP are close enough I think there's a high chance your version can also do the same.
For my version, it's the "stretch/twist" option under the "image" menu (since my version of Windows is not in English, this may not be the exact name), just delect everything (this works only for the selection if there is one), choose that menu item and enter 50 for both horizontal and vertical scales.
Unfortunately, it seems that this function interpolates the scaled image (I'm not sure, when I used it years ago it didn't do that, maybe it's a version specific or machine specific behaviour), so I'd advise using method 2 to draw your mask (if you shrink your mask afterwards, the interpolation can destroy the mask).

I think there're plenty of simple and free graphics apps online that does not require installation, you may check out one of the stickie-on-top threads in Critics Londge and see if there're something suitable to you, and better than M$Pain.

[Snake Blisken]

Well, thanks to the "Big List Of Paint Programs" I found Ultimate Paint. Something didn't go exactly right in the install, but everything seems to be working ok so far. SWEET!!!

Thanks so much for all your help!