Background Image

[KilltheSand]

MY background image gets screwed up when I load it into AGS.

Here is the bmp I'm using
ftp://members.aol.com/sotwizz/Project/Bedroom.bmp

Here is a screenshot from AGS
ftp://members.aol.com/sotwizz/Project/Copy.jpg

It is set up for hi-color.  All the help file says is, "Also, make sure your image is created at the colour depth that you chose earlier for the game."  It's a 24 bit bitmap; is that the problem?

[KilltheSand]

No bitmaps?  That's all that AGS uses!  I guess I am with stupid.

[scotch]

On the web you should use one of
PNG - recommended for high colour or 265 colour images where you don't want artifacts
GIF - recommended for 256 colour images, also no artifacts or
JPG - recommended when small filesize is priority over image quality in high colour images.

Bmps are just big, especially for dialup users, too many people were posting them so now they aren't allowed, it's easy enough to save a compressed format like those above in any paint program, even newer versions of MS paint.


But from the jpg shot I think I know what you're talking about. when you import a 24 bit colour graphics into ags it gets reduced to 16 bit colour, 16 bit has less colours so the gradients don't look so smooth, there are some ways around it such as dithering an image down to 16 bit, not sure exactly how to do it as I never get this problem (must just be my style of drawing with less smooth gradients)

[Ginny]

I don't know about Paint but in Photoshop (and PSP too probably) you can go to Image>Mode>Indexed Color to make the image 256 colors. I just tried it with 100% dithering and Preserve Exact colors.

Tip: I read in a tutorial (who wrote it I can't remember now) that to reduce a game's size when using hi-color, you can change your image to have 227 colors (the number of free slots in the pallette). I did this with your image:

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Bedroom1.bmp

Try it and tell me if it works.

I left it as a bmp for convinience.
When posting here I'd use one of the formats scotch mentioned.

Btw, AGS also uses PCX, but they aren't appropriate for posting online.

[earlwood]

Can you state exactly how it screws up?  

[Ginny]

Lol, he linked to the screenshot of it. The gradients become not smooth, err, if you know what I mean:

ftp://members.aol.com/sotwizz/Project/Copy.jpg

Actually, when I look at it, I find the screwed up image more interesting than the smooth original one. Maybe I'm just weird.

[scotch]

I quite like it too, one way around it is just to have less smooth gradients, sicne you are working in 3d break it up with more details and bump maps... it won't be so noticable then.  CJ seemed to be considering adding 32bit colour to ags one day, so you could wait til then if you like

[TerranRich]

Well, this question has now been added to the Beginners' FAQ, as do all repeated questions.

[KilltheSand]

Wow, I still have some distortion but I played with the colors and the brightness a little.  That worked very well.  Photoshop is awesome!  Sure the distortions look kinda cool but that's not what I need for this room.  Thanks alot for the help.