OMF Pilot Picture Converter version 1.2 By Craig Boston Copyright (C) 1995 Craig Boston Table of contents: 0 - Legal crap 1 - What is OMFPIC? 2 - Files included with OMFPIC 3 - How to use OMFPIC 4 - Limitations of OMFPIC 5 - Source code for OMFPIC (QuickBasic) 6 - Source code for OMFPIC (QBasic) 7 - OMF pilot picture file format 8 - Tips for drawing pilot pictures 9 - Palette conversion 10 - Bug reporting Chapter 0 - Legal crap --------------------------------------------------------------------------- OMFPIC is Freeware. You can do whatever you want with it as long as all of the files mentioned in chapter 2 are distributed with it in an archive file (ZIP, ZOO, ARJ, etc.). You can send it to the moon for all I care. "{beep} Mission Control to Space Shuttle Atlantis, we just got an OMF modem support patch and I'm itching to try it out. Switching to data transmission mode. Plug the shuttle radio into your flight computer." Anyway, I'm not responsible for any damage caused by this program either accidentally or intentionally. In other words, it's not my fault if some- thing happens and it somehow screws up OMF.EXE and you accidentally had erased your backup disks earlier that day. Chapter 1 - What is OMFPIC? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- OMFPIC is a program that will allow you to convert a GIF file (or part of a GIF file) into the picture format for One Must Fall 2097 and load it into a tournament character file. Chapter 2 - Files included with OMFPIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following files should be in the directory that you installed OMFPIC to: OMFPIC.EXE - Compiled version of OMFPIC. OMFPIC.BAS - Source code for OMFPIC (requires QuickBasic 4.5). QOMFPIC.BAS - Source code for OMFPIC that will work under DOS QBasic. OMFPIC.TXT - Documentation for OMFPIC. You're reading it now. README.TXT - File that tells you to read the instructions. PICFMT.TXT - Text file that explains the OMF picture format. LWV24.EXE - Self-extracting program with files necessary to use OMFPIC.BAS. Chapter 3 - How to use OMFPIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you start up OMFPIC, it will display a credits screen. Press any key to continue with the program. A dialog box will appear and give you a list of all the GIF files in the current directory. You can change the current drive and/or directory by double-clicking on the drive/directory (people who use Windows should be familiar with this dialog). To open a GIF file, either double-click on it or click on it to select it and click the OK button. After a short pause, the GIF file will be displayed on the screen. When it has finished loading, a 71x54 box will appear. Use the cursor keys to move the box. When you have positioned the box on the section of the picture you want to convert, press Enter. If there is a color that is not in the OMF palette, you will be asked if you want to convert. Refer to chapter 9 if this happens. After another short pause, the program will ask you the name of the character. Enter it EXACTLY as it appears in OMF. For example, if you have a character named STUPID PERSON, you would type STUPID PERSON and press Enter. After another brief pause, it will say "Done." and wait 3 seconds or until you press a key. It will then exit to DOS. Chapter 4 - Limitations of OMFPIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The character you wish to modify must be registered in the North American tournament. If it is not, OMFPIC will display an error message and exit to DOS. 2. The GIF file cannot be interlaced. That's all the limitations that I know of so far, if anyone finds any more, contacts me on CompuServe at 74442,2200 and let me know. Chapter 5 - Source code for OMFPIC (QuickBasic) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have included the full source code for OMFPIC. If you have QuickBasic 4.5 or higher, keep reading. If you don't, skip to Chapter 6. First, you must extract the external libraries that OMFPIC requires. Copy all of the OMFPIC files into the QuickBasic directory. At the DOS prompt, type LWV24 and hit Enter. Several files will be extracted automatically. You must start QuickBasic with the following command: QB /L LANGWIN /AH Then open OMFPIC.BAS. Chapter 6 - Source code for OMFPIC (QBasic) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have also included a version of the OMFPIC source code that doesn't use the external library. The filename is QOMFPIC.BAS. You can load it into the QBasic program that comes with DOS 5.0 and higher. Chapter 7 - OMF pilot picture file format --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The format of the OMF pilot picture is explained in PICFMT.TXT. Chapter 8 - Tips for drawing pilot pictures --------------------------------------------------------------------------- To draw your own pilot pictures, you will need a paint program. I strongly recommend Deluxe Paint 2. It's very easy to draw pilot pictures with (and apparently the designers of OMF agree with me, it's what they used) and it comes with it's own screen capture program, which you will need. First, you must capture a screen from OMF that has a pilot picture in it. You only need to do this once if you keep the file that it saved to. Load it into your paint program. It should read the palette data and switch to the OMF palette. If it remaps the palette or the colors don't look like they do in OMF, the paint program that you are using may not have the ability to use the OMF palette (this is true for most Windows based paint programs). If it works, use a filled rectangle tool and clear out a space big enough to draw a face in (use black as the primary color). Do not use the file|new option, as that will erase the palette. Draw the face and save it. Now you will need a program to convert the file you saved to a GIF file. There is a shareware program called VPIC that does the job quite well. After converting, load it into OMFPIC and replace a character that you just created (or one of your old ones). Chapter 9 - Palette conversion --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you answer yes when OMFPIC asks you if you want to convert the palette, you will be asked whether you want black to be opaque or transparent. This determines if your picture will have see-through parts. Note that OMFPIC treats color 0 as black. If the picture has another color with the RGB value of 0,0,0, OMFPIC will treat it as opaque. The screen will go blank for a few seconds. While it is blank, OMFPIC loads the old and new palettes. This may take a few seconds. The portion of the picture that you selected will be displayed. OMFPIC will go through and change the colors to a new value. They may look strange or not appear at all. This is normal, there's no way I know of to display more than one palette at once. After the change is complete, the colors will become normal again and the program will continue as normal. Chapter 10 - Bug reporting --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a friend of mine once said, it's virtually impossible to write a program that doesn't have a few bugs in it (except, of course, for those "Hello, world" programs). If you find any, you can contact me at 74442,2200. I regularly hang out in the Epic MegaGames forum, so contact me there if possible. Otherwise, send it E-Mail.