[REQ] Medals & Ranks?

[Beery]

Originally Posted by Tigrone

Has anyone looked at the, yuk, medals and , shudder, ranks? The ranks are not accurate at all for the time. The medals are just cracker jack box trinkets.

Don't worry. These things are relatively easy to fix (if SH4 is like SH3 - and it seems to be). Medals and ranks are high on my priority list, so if no one else does it first I'll do it.

[Barkhorn1x]

Originally Posted by Beery

Don't worry. These things are relatively easy to fix (if SH4 is like SH3 - and it seems to be). Medals and ranks are high on my priority list, so if no one else does it first I'll do it.

You da man!

[Lukemb]

I'm still trying to work on the crew medals but I'm having a few problems with the alpha channels in the dds file.

I'm using Photoshop but am not having great results

For now Fullmetalhedges has done a great work with his mod.

[Beery]

Originally Posted by Lukemb

I'm still trying to work on the crew medals but I'm having a few problems with the alpha channels in the dds file.

I'm using Photoshop but am not having great results

For now Fullmetalhedges has done a great work with his mod.

For some reason Photoshop always seems to have problems with alpha channels. What Photoshop version are you using?

[fullmetaledges]

I was using photoshop 7.0 and was working with the crewsystemmanagement.dds file. I changed the .dds to a targa but as soon as I make any changes to the targa it would screw up the alpha channel and i could never figure out how to do it. I can send you the files that i was working on if you want to mess with it.

[Beery]

Originally Posted by fullmetaledges

I was using photoshop 7.0 and was working with the crewsystemmanagement.dds file. I changed the .dds to a targa but as soon as I make any changes to the targa it would screw up the alpha channel and i could never figure out how to do it. I can send you the files that i was working on if you want to mess with it.

I think there's a plug-in available that allows you to work directly with DDS files, but I'm not sure where to get it or what Photoshop versions it works with (you could probably google 'photoshop dds plug-in'). Once I get my new copy of Photoshop tomorrow I might be able to help out with this stuff, but my computer crashed recently and until tomorrow I can't even see targa files.

[Psycluded]

Download this file and place it in your photoshop\plugins\file formats directory.

The file is courtesy of Microsoft, as it comes from the DirectX SDK.

[Beery]

Originally Posted by fullmetaledges

I was using photoshop 7.0 and was working with the crewsystemmanagement.dds file. I changed the .dds to a targa but as soon as I make any changes to the targa it would screw up the alpha channel and i could never figure out how to do it. I can send you the files that i was working on if you want to mess with it.

Here's how to work on dds files in Photoshop Elements 5.0 (I just figured it out by trial and error):

First you'll need the dds plug-in package from here

Install that into your Adobe\Photoshop Elements 5.0 folder.

Once you've done that you'll be able to edit dds files in Photoshop.

Now, to save a file with its alpha channel intact you'll want to do the following:

Open the file in Photoshop and edit it as normal. After editing, click on the 'Select' tab and 'load selection' (in Photoshop alpha channels are called 'selections'. This will load the alpha channel. Now click on the 'Select' tab again and 'Save selection'. Select 'Alpha 1' in the 'selection' window and select 'Intersect with selection' in the 'operation' window, then click okay.

Now you can save the file by using 'Save as'. A window will pop up and you need to choose DXT5 (interpolated alpha) in the drop-down list. Then save and that's it. The file should be the same size as the original. If the file is half the size of the original it means the alpha channel is not saved.

There may be an easier way to do it, but this worked for me when I altered the moon graphic.

[fullmetaledges]

Originally Posted by Beery

Here's how to work on dds files in Photoshop Elements 5.0 (I just figured it out by trial and error):

First you'll need the dds plug-in package from here

Install that into your Adobe\Photoshop Elements 5.0 folder.

Once you've done that you'll be able to edit dds files in Photoshop.

Now, to save a file with its alpha channel intact you'll want to do the following:

Open the file in Photoshop and edit it as normal. After editing, click on the 'Select' tab and 'load selection' (in Photoshop alpha channels are called 'selections'. This will load the alpha channel. Now click on the 'Select' tab again and 'Save selection'. Select 'Alpha 1' in the 'selection' window and select 'Intersect with selection' in the 'operation' window, then click okay.

Now you can save the file by using 'Save as'. A window will pop up and you need to choose DXT5 (interpolated alpha) in the drop-down list. Then save and that's it. The file should be the same size as the original. If the file is half the size of the original it means the alpha channel is not saved.

There may be an easier way to do it, but this worked for me when I altered the moon graphic.

yeah i finally got it last night, im waiting to find the awarding criteria file so i can edit that then I will release it

[icemotoboy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_of_the_United_States_Government

The images of all badges, insignia, decorations and medals on the institute web site are protected by Title 18, United States Code, Section 704 and the Code of Federal Regulations (32 CFR, Part 507). Permission to use these images for commercial purposes must be obtained from The Institute of Heraldry prior to their use.

While this does exist, I have worked as project manager on a few gaming projects of significant size and we've never bothered to ask for permission. I cannot recall any case law around the use of US insignia, medals, or ranks, in eithe fiction or entertainment. In fact, there is solid case law around the use of uniforms although the Department of Navy insists that people should seek their approval for use of Uniforms/material/facilities before doing so:

Page 7-9:

(8) Support will not imply endorsement of a commercial

enterprise or a partisan political candidate. This includes
commercial requests for use of uniforms and insignia, which
require ASD(PA) approval.

[Tigrone]

"The images of all badges, insignia, decorations and medals on the institute web site are protected by Title 18, United States Code, Section 704 and the Code of Federal Regulations (32 CFR, Part 507). Permission to use these images for commercial purposes must be obtained from The Institute of Heraldry prior to their use."

This does not touch on what the developers or we are doing. It just says you cannot steal the dipictions of the decorations from the Institute of Heraldry website or link to them without permission. The made them, so they want a cut if you make money off what they made. The artistic renderings they created belong to them. Any one is free to make and properly use for artistic or historical purposes their own dipictions of the decorations.

The dipiction of decorations in their normal use in a historical context is not prohibited at all. If it were, one could not paint a portrait of any soldier, George Patton say, with all his medals. Decorations are no greater symbol than the flag itself. Their artistic depiction is OK in the same way a dipiction of the flag is. There is not and never has been anything that prevents it.

The actual wearing of a decoration, not awarded (there are exceptions), or the false claim to a decoration is against the law, as is impersonating an officer of the United States. US law was just changed recently to give greater protection to the Medal of Honor at the time an official personal Medal of Honor flag was created for display by holders of the medal. DOD is tighting up the regs. and beginning to enforce them, but they have nothing to do with historical or theatrical simulations.

By the way, Fullmetaledges' US medal swap works great, and they look great. It's a done thing. Hooray!

This thread has run it's course. Go to the medal [REL] thread.