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Issue with Portraits during Sprite Editing

Started by AriusScorpius, December 29, 2020, 01:11:03 am

AriusScorpius

Hey guys. So I'm just starting out with modding FFT and I've downloaded a few of the sprites from this site just to get my hands dirty with Shishi, Graphics Gale, etc. However, with all of the .bmp and .spr character spreads that I downloaded, all of the portraits look more like the negative of a photo rather than their correct palette. Has anyone else run into this issue? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Nyzer

They don't use the first eight palettes like sprites do. They use Palettes 9+.
  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

AriusScorpius

I'm not sure I follow what you're saying. So I'll explain a little more... When I view the sprites on the website, the portraits look fine, just like the sprite work. But when I save it and try to view it in any of the programs I have that can view photos, only the portrait looks like the negative of a photo. They even look that way in the thumbnail in the folder I have it saved in. And really, it's only the portrait that I'm having an issue with. I've managed to fix one formation sprite and all of the battle sprites I wanted. I just got hung up on this portrait thing.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Orkney

Hi,

Maybe you'll have to deal with the checkbox "Always use corresponding palette for portrait" just under the dropdown menu allowing you to choose the sprite number.

If not present, download the latest version of FFTPatcher.
  • Modding version: PSX

AriusScorpius

No, that checkbox is there and active. Let me break it down entirely.

I'm modding a PSX .iso. I saved several sprite sheets off of FFhacktics, but when I view them on my PC and try to screenshot them so I can rotate them and use them, they look like negatives. Not when I boot up my patch, not when I even apply the portrait. It's just the way that it's saving from the website to my PC. So pretty much I need to figure out a way to get just the portraits I want without them looking like negatives. Does that make sense? Like, it looks fine on the website, I download it and save it, I go to look at it... And everything on the sprite sheet is colored correctly except the portrait. Here's a pic.

BanonLodeKnight.bmp

How do I fix that?
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Orkney

Here's is a tutorial (a bit outdated) but i think you'll find a way to load the portrait's palette correctly

https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=6702.0

It'll be something like load your bmp in shishi, screen capture it and reload it with the correct palette in graphic gale...


  • Modding version: PSX

3lric

Quote from: AriusScorpius on December 29, 2020, 04:34:40 amNo, that checkbox is there and active. Let me break it down entirely.

I'm modding a PSX .iso. I saved several sprite sheets off of FFhacktics, but when I view them on my PC and try to screenshot them so I can rotate them and use them, they look like negatives. Not when I boot up my patch, not when I even apply the portrait. It's just the way that it's saving from the website to my PC. So pretty much I need to figure out a way to get just the portraits I want without them looking like negatives. Does that make sense? Like, it looks fine on the website, I download it and save it, I go to look at it... And everything on the sprite sheet is colored correctly except the portrait. Here's a pic.

BanonLodeKnight.bmp

How do I fix that?

Thats normal, shishi should clean it up on import for the port. You can use palette editor as well, load the sprite in there, click the first color on the sheet and itll fix the port. Then just save it
  • Modding version: PSX

AriusScorpius

Okay, so I was following that tutorial, but when I load up the sprites to take the necessary screenshot that I have to cut and paste, the issue is the picture still looks like that. It does in fact clean it up in Shishi for the in battle sprites, but it's the formation sprite portraits that I'm having issues replacing. I can't copy and paste the negative version of a portrait.

Edit: For the sake of reference, I can't complete Step 8 or 9 of her the tutorial because the only portrait I'm able to cut from looks like the negative of a photo. Does that clear things up a bit?
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Nyzer

It's not a negative version of the portrait. It's using palette 9+, as I said. Celdia's tutorial (the one Orkney linked) covers an explanation of palettes:

QuoteOpen that BMP file and you will get a new window with a whole bunch of little colored tiles. On the left are the palettes
from the BMP you opened. On the right is the palette for the image you're editing, be it the unit or the portrait.
The top 8 rows are the unit palettes while the bottom 8 are portrait palettes. Drag and highlight the top row of colors
from the one you're editing, unit or portrait, and then click the left-most tile on the right. This will replace the entire
palette.

She also mentions one of the methods to get the portrait in the correct color:

QuoteLoad up the sprite you have already replaced in the ISO with Shishi and take a screenshot with PrntScrn.

Each sprite only uses 16 colors at a time, but because sprites have more color variance in their clothing/armor than a headshot of the unit does, yet the zoomed in headshots need more detailed color, they use different sets of 16 colors - different palettes. Each palette is saved in one of the 16 rows of 16 colors. So a unit's battle sprite and portrait palettes do not match. Ever.

The portrait colors are set up in a specific order so that when the game starts loading portrait palettes, the colors it's using from palette 1 correspond with the correct color slots in palette 9 that make the image look like a real portrait, and not the graphical fuckery you see otherwise.
  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

AriusScorpius

I couldn't get a decent shot from Shishi, but I did end up figuring it out. It's a bit of an annoyance, but I managed to get a good copy of the image by right clicking and choosing "View Background Image" and then saving the image from there. I was able to then load it up into Graphics Gale and copy and paste away. So I did manage to make it work. Thank you guys for all of your help. I really appreciate it. Hopefully, I'll have something playable out in the next month or two. It probably won't be too much, but it'll be something for a start. Anyway, thanks again.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Orkney

Quote from: AriusScorpius on December 29, 2020, 11:08:41 pmI couldn't get a decent shot from Shishi

That's odd...

I load your bmp in shishi and the portrait was ok (checking and unchecking the box make him change)...

I'm glad you manage to find another way.
  • Modding version: PSX

AriusScorpius

It was never an issue in Shishi. And after messing around a little more, what Nyzer was saying was what I needed to hear, I just didn't understand it at the time. But anyway, I've figured it out and now I can move on to learning the event editor and the map editor. And as I said earlier, thanks for the help.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL