Battle of the Bulge terrain.......HELP!

[+baffmeister 1,205]

I'm looking for someone that can edit a couple of TGA's prior to releasing a beta version of the "Bulge" terrain. I would like to remove the Greyhound bus and the big blue Zentrum sign from the terrain. These Tod's were done with TGA's so I assume they could be removed by making that part of the TGA transparent. Here are screens of those objects and the TGA's are attached as well if someone wants to give it a try. 

TodFixPlease.zip

[Heck 496]

I tried to do what you requested in Gimp 2.8, baffmeister. Don't know if these will work. I think I've tried to do this before, and got a black box on the terrain instead. Let me know if these work for you.

 

TodFixPleasemaybe.7z

[+Crusader 2,082]

I join the experiments...

TodFixPlease_bus+sign_poof(i hope).zip

[+baffmeister 1,205]

Heck, whatever you did with the Zentrum sign TGA worked almost perfectly. Just one thin vertical line and a couple of small horizontal dashes at the top still visible. I can live with it, the lines aren't very noticeable.  The bus is a black box however, and I think you worked on an area that can be left alone because I also have a tall thin building tod that is now half black.

Crusader, are you sure you zipped the correct files, they appear to be unchanged from the originals and the bus and sign are still visible.

[Wrench 9,792]

you need to remove the 3d object(s) from the tod itself. Which means you might need the original tod files from the original creator. Unfotunately, you can't just repaint them. 

 

are they from stary's GCE tile set? maybe contact him and see if he 

a) still has the original 3d objects  to send for install INTO the TE, or

b) maybe he can remove them from the TOD, generate a new one and send it to you

 

[+baffmeister 1,205]

Wrench, I think because these particular Tods were made with TGA's it should be possible to make the "offending" part of the TGA transparent. It did work for the sign OK. I can't really think of a reason why it shouldn't work for the bus as well. [?]

[+baffmeister 1,205]

Here is a JPEG image of the TGA that has the bus. Shouldn't it be possible to remove the bus image from that area then make the area transparent?

[+baffmeister 1,205]

I may be seeing the light. It might depend on the type of Tod used in the original texture list, MapClass=0 for building Tods and MapClass=1 for tree tods. If the sign was made as a MapClass=1, like a tree, it allows transparency. If the bus was made as a MapClass=0, like a building Tod, it doesn't allow transparency and will default to the black box. I have seen black box buildings before due to missing BMP's.

[Wrench 9,792]

nail on the head, my brother!

also, that light pole is maybe on 1 or 2 pixels in thickness, like the trees, they really aren't 3d objects (alpha object)

whereas the bus is, as you said, like a building, (solid object). As such can only be removed by having the 3d object it is replaced with another without it.

(or maybe put a gas station over it??)

[+baffmeister 1,205]

Switching to plan B for Bus. Will try changing the bus into a building and then figure out which terrain tiles the bus is on then texture the tiles a bit so the building/bus isn't sitting in the middle of a road. Should be relatively simple copy/paste stuff I can do myself.

[+baffmeister 1,205]

Wrenchs' idea of a roadside gas station/garage/hot dog stand/whatever seems to work quite well. The bus shows up on at least two tiles, maybe more. I think I will just go with this for the beta terrain and leave the tiles alone.

[+Crusader 2,082]

Best solution apart from editing the tod file.

Ive edited only the alpha channel on my modified tga's, but... transparency doesnt work for buildings.. ugh.

[+baffmeister 1,205]

2 hours ago, Crusader said:

Best solution apart from editing the tod file.

Ive edited only the alpha channel on my modified tga's, but... transparency doesnt work for buildings.. ugh.

I can confirm your sign fix works fine with only a couple of small dashes visible at the top. As you probably expect now, the bus still shows with just the alpha channel edit.