Warzone 2100 Custom Tile Tutorial

by

ElricIsDead - TWZ Graphics & Media

    First of I would like to say that this may not be the best method and is definitely not the only method. (If you know a better way than by all means do it) I am writing this because people say there is a need for it, I am not making any money off it nor do I wish too. Do not make any changes to this document in any way shape or form! If you wish to post it on your site or distribute it then by all means do so but make sure somewhere I get credit for my work, that is all I ask, well that and if this helps you then let me know.

Before you start, make a backup of your original texpages (tertilesC1.pcx, tertilesC2.pcx, tertilesC3.pcx)  usually found under your Pumpkin Studios\Warzone2100\texpages folder. I just make a new folder in that location and call it (Original_texpages). Then I select all three files and right click and copy them then paste them into that folder. Now that we have backed up all the original sheets we can play all we want without destroying the originals.

(click on the pics for larger view)

    For this tutorial I am going to use Photoshop to do all the texture editing. You can use any program that supports layers, blending, selection masks, and pallet loading and saving.

Concepts of Tile Creation

    I would like to start by explaining the difference between high resolution and low resolution maps and when to use one over the other. Now you may be wondering what does it matter, and the answer to that depends on whether you are making a new tile or combining old ones. I would suggest that if you are making new tiles to use a high resolution base texture and after you are done, resize it, and if you are making a combination of old tiles then I would suggest just working with low resolution maps.

    It is a lot harder to make a 64x64 tile look good, then it is to make a 512x512 tile look good. Let me show you why.

64x64                                              512x512

    On the 64x64 tile one out of place pixel would stick out like a sore thumb (for instance the white dot), where as a white dot on a 512x512 map you would not even be able to see. By the way both images above have a white dot on them.

    I have seen a lot of people say that after they make a 64x64 tile it looks bad or not as good as the original tiles and it is because of the out of place dots in the texture. I will show you how to keep this from happening during the tutorial.

    Keep in mind that there is 4096 pixels in a 64x64 tile and 262,144 pixels in a 512x512 tile.

Lets Get Started

    Lets start by opening Photoshop and click file new. In the window that opens lets name it Tileset1 and set the width to 576 pixels and the height to 640 pixels (because that is the size of the tile sheets in Warzone), and set the resolution to 150 pixels per inch, and the mode to RGB Color and click OK. Now open one of the texpages from the \Pumpkin Studios\texpages directory and find a tile that you can see all edges clearly on and zoom in on it until it takes up the majority of the screen. Then go view show grid, also make sure snap to grid is checked. Now make sure the rectangular marquee tool is selected and draw a selection box around the tile. (Make sure it selects the entire 64x64 tile, this is very important) Then hit CTRL-C on the keyboard to copy the tile.

    Now switch to the Tileset1 window and zoom in on the top left corner of the window, and hit CTRL-V to paste the copied selection into the window. Now select the move tool and make sure that the tile is lined up in the top left corner. Now select the magic wand tool and left click in the white area of the window and it should select everything but the tile you copied into it. Now left click select at the top then inverse and it should select the tile you pasted into the window. Next you want to make sure your color is set to black and select the pencil tool and set the brush size to 35

 and color the 64x64 pixel square all black. Now left click layer at the top and select flatten image. Select the rectangular marquee tool again and left click in the selection box and move it down and to the right like in the picture below. The top left corner of the selection box has to line up exactly with the bottom right corner of the black 64x64 tile.

    Now select the paint bucket tool and paint that selection box black. (The idea here is to make a checker board base so when you go to line up custom made tiles you don't have any problems) Use the same methods already described. Now after you have all your black squares placed you should have something that looks like this only larger. (Note I painted my white squares grey and for no particular reason)

    Now we need to set the color pallet so when we finish the tile sheets our new textures look correct in Warzone. Click on the tertilesC2.pcx window and left click image at the top then mode then color table. Then click save and go to the original folder we created earlier and change the file extension to .PAL and set the file name to original and left click save. Now select the Tileset1 window and left click image at the top then mode then select index color and a window will open up, select custom and a different window will open, now click load and change the file extension selection to .PAL and select the original.pal file you just saved, then click ok and that window will close and click ok and the last window will close. (Now the color pallet is set for your tileset and everything should show up fine in Warzone. Ok save this sheet so you will always have it when you decide to make new tile sheets. (No sense in making a new one every time)

Our First Custom Tile:

    First thing we need to do is open the tertilesC1.pcx file from our original folder we created. Now save it to the same folder as (old1.pcx). Now draw a selection marquee around the bottom right concrete tile. (The grid and the snap to grid should still be on) Now hit CTRL-C on the keyboard to copy the tile. Now left click file, new and a window should pop up. For name just put Tile and you should not have to set the width and height because Photoshop makes it the size of the copied tile automatically. Now left click ok and the new Tile window will open. Now hit CTRL-V to paste the tile into the new window and zoom in on it. You should have something like this.

    Now lets make a new fancier tile out of this old one. Left click layer at the top, then new layer, then layer and a window will pop up. Make the opacity 30% and the mode color burn and click ok. Now make sure that the color is set to black and select the pencil tool. Draw lines until they are 3 pixels wide just like the picture below.

    The cool thing about the color burn layer is that it will make whatever colored pixel that is under it darker. The reason we set it to 30 % in stead of 100% is because 100% would make the pixels under it black and we only want to make them darker. If we made them black then they would look very unnatural and that is what we don't want. Remember when I quoted some people saying that some custom tiles don't look as good as the originals? That is because of the pixel placement and the fact that since the tiles are only 64x64 a solid color will stand out just like the white dot. Never ever use a solid color to make a Warzone tile.

    Now click on layer at the top, then flatten image. Now lets add this to our tile sheet. Draw a selection marquee around our new tile and hit CTRL-C now select your Tileset1 window and zoom in on the top left corner, then hit CTRL-V and paste it into the window and move it into place. Now save your custom tile sheet as tertilesC1.pcx in the \Pumpkin Studios\Warzone2100\texpages folder. Now start up edit world to test your new tile and click file, then new, next a window will pop up, just click ok and you should see your one tile painted all over the map. (That means it worked)

    Now in order to complete this design I need to make 3 more tiles to go with it. The next tile we are going to make will be the tile that is going to go right next to it. Now switch back to the old1.pcx and select the concrete tile again and hit CTRL-C. Now click on file at the top then new and a window will pop up, just click ok. Now hit CTRL-V to paste it into the new window. Now zoom in on the tile and select the pencil tool. Left click layer at the top, then new layer, then layer and a window will pop up. Make the opacity 30% and the mode color burn and click ok. Now draw the lines across the tile like in the picture below.

    Now click on layer at the top, then flatten image. Draw a selection marquee around the tile and hit CTRL-C. Now select the tertilesC1.pcx window and zoom in on the square next to the last custom made tile and hit CTRL-V to paste it in and move it into place. Now save the tile set and open Edit World and check it if you want.

    Now repeat the process for the next tile in this design. (The process is exactly the same as the first tile just make the pattern in reverse) It should look like the picture below.

    By now you should be able to do these steps without any problems so I am going to just post pictures of the next three tiles that need to be made and leave the rest to you. If you need to just go back and forth in the tutorial until you get it. Make sure copy each tile you make to the sheet and then move it into place and make sure you save the sheet after each one. Now make the last 3 on the bottom (which is just a mirror of the top 3). You may wonder why I made all the tiles around the concrete design in stead of just making 3 and rotating them, well the way the original tiles are made they would not line up right and would become an eye sore.

    I used the technique I described above and added a strip to all the tiles and you can do the same if you want. Now you should have something like this but without the extra strip unless you went back and made it too.

    Save the tile sheet and check things out in Edit World and if all goes well. You should be able to make something like this with your new tiles.