How to install Mike's 'Alternate Tileset' for GH1?

[xpace]

I found some of the graphics in GH1 to be... disappointing, so I tried to install Mike Horvath's "Alternate Tileset" (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quadrant/3864/gea rhead.htm).  But after reading the ReadMe, I was stumped by something:

I've converted all .BMP images to .PNG format, so any files referencing the old images will need to be updated to reflect this. You'll need to use a text search-and-replace utility to scan all files within the GearHead directory... [snip]

Note: there's a patch in the Files section of the GearHead Yahoo! Group that is supposed to make all the necessary changes to the GearHead files (except for savegames, I'm guessing). I haven't tried it, myself.

I looked carefully in the files section of the gearhead_dev Yahoo group, but I can't seem to find the patch he mentioned. Could someone please tell me the filename of this patch and, also, how to install it?

[xpace]

While we're on the subject, could someone explain a couple things about this tileset:

1) The readme also said

Reduced color-depth of palette-swap sprites to 256 colors using a custom palette. (The custom palette can be downloaded from the Files > Graphics section of the Yahoo! group.)

So, can I assume that all images for GH1 can be either 24-bit color depth or 8-bit (256 colors)? If that's the case, then why would it be necessary to use the same custom 8-bit palette for every image (aside for making it compatible with players still stuck on an obsolete 256 color video card).

I have had similar situations for modding the images of other games and the only reasons I found to reduce the color depth to 256 colors was either for a game limited to 256 colors or just to save file space. Usually this is only done for .BMP images since they are such a tremendously bloated waste of space.

However, Mike's tileset uses the .PNG format, which already saves space. (Honestly, I see no excuse for any new game to use .BMP images!) But when I reduce the color depth I never use a single custom palette for every image, because that would just ruin the quality of the images. Instead, if I find it necessary to reduce the palette to 256 colors, I "Convert to" > "8-bit Palette" and choose "Optimized". This creates a new custom palette for each image that maximizes the color depth while sacrificing very little image quality. I've tried it both ways and the difference is obvious.

2) Finally, why are some images missing from Mike's tileset? Since we are supposed to move or rename the original 'Image' directory, the files in question will still be missing from the new folder. I count 191 files in the original Image folder of GH1. But while Mike's tileset has many images that the original GH1 did not, it still only contains 182 files (not counting the ReadMe). The missing files are:

* big_hill1.bmp
* big_hill2.bmp
* Extras.png
* hill_1b.bmp
* hill_2b.bmp
* hill_3b.bmp
* pure colors.pal
* touchup.pal
* Vera.ttf
* VeraBd.ttf
* VeraBI.ttf
* VeraIt.ttf
* VeraMoBd.ttf
* VeraMoBI.ttf
* VeraMoIt.ttf
* VeraMono.ttf
* VeraSe.ttf
* VeraSeBd.ttf
* wall_extra_a.png
* wall_extra_b.png
* wall_stone.png

"por_f_elisha.bmp" was a duplicate, of that I'm sure. And I assume the Extras.png, and wall_extra_a/b are just that... extras. I could also suppose that those hill_?b.bmp files are alternates. But I still wonder if the game will be missing something important. The *.ttf files are TrueType Fonts, but I don't know if they're necessary. I assume the *.pal palette files are necessary, but as mentioned the ReadMe mentions downloading his custom palette. (But then, if necessary, why weren't these custom palette files included in his archive?) There is a wall_stone_backup.png file in Mike's set, but I wonder if it was supposed to be named wall_stone.png? And I do wonder about the missing big_hill1/2 files.

[xpace]

First of all, I feel I should mention that Mike's instructions left out something important:

After renaming or moving the original "Image" folder and copying his replacement "Image" folder from the Tileset .zip, you MUST copy over all the ".ttf" files from the original folder. If the "Vera" .ttf font files are missing, then GearHead will spit out a window of error messages and promptly crash!

Well, I finally got Mike's Alternate Tileset installed correctly. But even though I looked long and hard for it, I never did find that patch he mentioned that would automatically change all references to .BMP files over to .PNG. As a consequence, I had to do all those changes manually, which was a tedious chore. Most had only one .bmp reference, but a few of the files had dozens of references to be changed. Here's the files that had to be changed (found by a file search for anything containing ".bmp"):

BuruBuru.txt
Claymore.txt
Excel.txt
Harpy.txt
Jos.txt
Kojedo.txt
Petrach.txt
Razer.txt
Rover.txt
Ultari.txt
Vadel.txt
Wasp.txt
Zerosaiko.txt
meta1.txt
meta10.txt
meta11.txt
meta12.txt
meta13.txt
meta3.txt
meta4.txt
meta5.txt
meta6.txt
meta7.txt
meta8.txt
meta9.txt
ADV_FederatedTerritories.txt
STCdefault.txt
TS_GSP_Rats_SCENE_1.txt
TS_LANCE_Z1004_STORY.txt
TS_PLOT_ThiefPromotion_Default.txt
WMONdefault.txt

Also, the following two files did not show up in the search because the .BMP references are encoded into the compiled programs. I had to use a hex editor (I used "Hex Workshop") to "Replace" all the .BMP references:

arena.exe
cosplay.exe

Anyway, I'm embarassed to admit the first time I did this I made the huge mistake of converting most of the ".BMP" references to ".PHP"! In my defense, I was very tired when I did this and probably had php on my mind. When I played GearHead again, I was dismayed to discover that most of the monsters were now invisible! After figuring out the problem, I had to go through the process of changing all those .PHP references to .PNG! Argh! If I had only found that patch Mike mentioned I could have avoided all that hassle...

[Erathoniel]

Don't most text editors have the ability to mass-change references like that? Under the edit tab, most likely.

[xpace]

Quoting: Erathoniel

Don't most text editors have the ability to mass-change references like that?

Yes, they do. And it does save time vs. doing it manually.
However, That only replaces text on an individual file. You'd still have to close one file, open the next file and do another search and replace until all of them are done. It's still rather repetitive and time consuming. And, as my own blundering shows, there is plenty of room for making a mistake along the way.

[Erathoniel]

Quoting: xpace

However, That only replaces text on an individual file. You'd still have to close one file, open the next file and do another search and replace until all of them are done. It's still rather repetitive and time consuming. And, as my own blundering shows, there is plenty of room for making a mistake along the way.

I've heard of at least one that affects multiple text files, but I can't remember it.

[SharkD]

.....................................begin thread necromancy routine
............................................parsing
............................................parsing
............................................parsing


LOL! I just found this thread after searching for something else. Someone should have PM'd me!!!

Anyway, the tileset was created before a lot of new portraits by Ladi et al were added to GH, so there's fewer images in it than the game itself has now.

I know that Notepad++ (Windows) or SciTE (cross-platform) can batch replace text in all files you currently have opened. If you want to batch replace all files in a folder, you might try a tool called InfoRapid Search & Replace (Windows) or grep (Linux, others?) and vgrep (Windows, but buggy). IIRC the latest version of GH already has these changes patched into it, so no modifications are necessary. (Am I right?)

I should really update the tilesets and instructions to reflect the current state of GH...


Next time tell me!!

.................thread necromancy operation completed
..........................exit code 666