Difference between revisions of "Loading Screen Images"
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reformatting, cleanup
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== | == Important Information about Loading Screens == | ||
[[Image:besteffort.jpg|thumb|right|Best effort to create an Oblivion-style loading screen at this time.]]Loading screen images have a resolution of 1024x512. The odd aspect ratio | [[Image:besteffort.jpg|thumb|right|Best effort to create an Oblivion-style loading screen at this time.]]Loading screen images have a resolution of 1024x512. The odd aspect ratio is probably to allow for wide-screen computers. The sides of your image will be clipped in the game, but for some reason in the CS preview window stretches it to the right size. Don't worry about this. | ||
Alpha channels are not used for the final image. | Alpha channels are not used for the final image. | ||
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== Modding and DDS Conversion == | == Modding and DDS Conversion == | ||
[[Image:loading_screen_editor.jpg|thumb|right|A custom loading screen in the CS.]]This part isn't too hard, but you must follow the directions closely as it's easy to mess up. Once you have your image the way you want it to look in the game, you'll need to save it as a DDS file using one of the [[DDS Tools]]. When you go to save as a DDS format file, you are presented with a plethora of options, but there are only a couple you will need to change. One is to set the format to DXT5 as that is what the original loading screens use. The other is to set MIP-maps to No; they won't be needed for a non-3D texture and just add to the file size. Save the file to your Oblivion directory in ''Data\Textures\Menus\Loading''. If you have to create the directories, make sure | [[Image:loading_screen_editor.jpg|thumb|right|A custom loading screen in the CS.]]This part isn't too hard, but you must follow the directions closely as it's easy to mess up. Once you have your image the way you want it to look in the game, you'll need to save it as a DDS file using one of the [[DDS Tools]]. When you go to save as a DDS format file, you are presented with a plethora of options, but there are only a couple you will need to change. One is to set the format to DXT5 as that is what the original loading screens use. The other is to set MIP-maps to No; they won't be needed for a non-3D texture and just add to the file size. Save the file to your Oblivion directory in ''Data\Textures\Menus\Loading''. If you have to create the directories, make sure that you do it correctly, remembering that the directories are CaSe-SeNsItIvE. | ||
Now you only need to make the game recognize the new loading screen image. You'll need the Construction Set, of course. So, open that up. In the Object Window, go to Miscellaneous>LoadScreen. If you see a list of all the loading screens already in the game, you're in the right place. To add a new one, right-click and then select New. Give your new loading screen a unique ID first. It's usually your name, initials, or alias; the name of the mod; and the name of the object. This ensures that your ID is unique. Then add the image; this is rather straight-forward. The loading screen text is not required, but you can fill it in if you like. It's perfect for adding tips about a mod if you're not just modding the loading screens. If you want the loading screen to only show for a particular cell, add the cell to the form list by dragging it from the Cell edit dialog which is found under World>Cell. You're done, so hit OK and save. | Now you only need to make the game recognize the new loading screen image. You'll need the Construction Set, of course. So, open that up. In the Object Window, go to Miscellaneous>LoadScreen. If you see a list of all the loading screens already in the game, you're in the right place. To add a new one, right-click and then select New. Give your new loading screen a unique ID first. It's usually your name, initials, or alias; the name of the mod; and the name of the object. This ensures that your ID is unique. Then add the image; this is rather straight-forward. The loading screen text is not required, but you can fill it in if you like. It's perfect for adding tips about a mod if you're not just modding the loading screens. If you want the loading screen to only show for a particular cell, add the cell to the form list by dragging it from the Cell edit dialog which is found under World>Cell. You're done, so hit OK and save. | ||
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At this time, it appears that the ''BC3/DXT5'' option does in fact work for load-screens, but unless you have only one layer in the image there can be some funny results. The other compressions, particularly ''BC3n/DXT5n'' create truly bizzare effects, washing out certain colors, strengthening others and merging areas of color into a black or white static. | At this time, it appears that the ''BC3/DXT5'' option does in fact work for load-screens, but unless you have only one layer in the image there can be some funny results. The other compressions, particularly ''BC3n/DXT5n'' create truly bizzare effects, washing out certain colors, strengthening others and merging areas of color into a black or white static. | ||
When exporting make sure the ''Generate Mipmaps'' box is unchecked. | When exporting make sure the ''Generate Mipmaps'' box is unchecked. Don't even bother with the advanced options. | ||
== Replicating the Existing Image Format == | == Replicating the Existing Image Format == | ||
The outer area of the loading screen has no colors; it is only composed of an outline of the starting image. The outlines are created with a find edges filter. | |||
High luminance (white) portions of the starting image should be made transparent so that the underlying paper can be seen instead. | |||
The outlines on the inner area are thicker than those of the outer area. | |||
There are two regions where the opacity is reduced so that only the paper background is visible. One is for the "Loading..." bar, and the other is for the tip. | |||
The inner border and paper textures can be gotten from a PhotoShop image included with Oblivion at ''\textures\menus\loading\load_troll.psd''. Use an unpacker (see [[BSA_Unpacker_Tutorial]]) to extract this file from ''Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa''. | |||
=== Near-Perfect Loading Screens using Photoshop CS3 === | === Near-Perfect Loading Screens using Photoshop CS3 === | ||