How to edit player symbols (RAW-file)

BobaHat

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Hi all. New to the forums.
I love the Ultimate mod as well as the graphics mod and I have them both installed. The only thing I don't love is the new player symbols. I mean... a beer mug? An anarchist symbol? A communist symbol? None of them seem to fit the theme of the game... I am wondering which file(s) I need to edit exactly in the Textures folder to change these into my own custom symbols? There seem to be quite a few RAW-files that all look the same with the symbols. Also, how do I edit a RAW-file?
Thanks in advance.
 
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From what I could gather from other resources, a tool that will work is Photoshop. I'm not a big fan since it's quite expensive and I don't have it on my computer, but I have tested it on a friend's computer and it will allow you to edit the RAW files. I am still looking for free software that can open/edit these RAW files.
 
Heya! It's been awhile since I played with textures but GIMP has always been popular. It's free and very competent but relies on plug-ins to load RAW files.

As for the Player Symbols/Creature Tats....
This is straight from the B&W readme and I just tested it on a fresh v1.42 copy of the game.
I attached a pack of symbols I've collected. Might be something in there you like.
-------------------------------------------------------------
How to create your own player symbols and Creature tattoos
-------------------------------------------------------------

Black & White comes with 16 pre-defined player symbols/Creature tattoos. The same images are used for both. You can replace any of these images with your own. To do so, place a 64x64 greyscale .bmp image (8-bit) called symboln.bmp (where n is a number from 1 to 16) in your profile directory (default directory will be c:\program files\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White\profiles\yourname\ - where yourname is the name of the profile you created). The player logo/Creature tattoo will then be available to select in the usual ways.
--To swap back to the default logos/tattoos, simply delete the image files you created.
--Tip: Design your logos on a black background for best results.
 

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  • Symbols.zip
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The RAW files that Gimp produces don't work with Lndromat. So I had a look at the binary produced by PhotoShop (my gf has it) and reverse-engineered the format. The RAW format that Lndromat expects is merely a binary file of 512 x 512 bytes where each byte has a value between 0 and FF, that represents the height of the pixel.

I can't buy Photoshop, so the easiest way for me to produce RAW files was to:
- save my height maps as a 8-bit depth grayscale bitmap file
- write a bitmap-to-RAW converter in C# that extracts the colour palette (index) from the bitmap, and then converts the bitmap to a simple array of grey
- save the result (without headers) in a 512 x 512 bytes file (the RAW file)

I found the bitmap format spec here: http://paulbourke.net/dataformats/bmp/

I'm trying to make that tool a bit more complete (add and complete some of Lndromat's features), I'll put the code on GitHub at some point.
 
By the way, I'm dying to find the source code for BWSurveyor! It seems like a great tool and it's a shame it's not maintained anymore, and I'm sure there are heaps of valuable information in there. All the websites and contacts mentioned in the tool's readme are dead...
 
In regards to knowledge of the textures and programs, it would seem you're a ways ahead of me, my good sir, lol. That said, I'd love to stay up to date with any progress you make. Eventually I really want to knuckle down and learn the ins and outs of EVERYTHING that goes into these two games. Fresh knowledge, perspective, and possibly updated tools would be invaluable and I'd imagine appreciated by a few more than just me. A shame some of the old material out there is so hard to find. I've done my best to build a respository of all things B&W but I know it is still woefully incomplete. We lost a lot to time. :/
 
We really did. I'm frustrated because talented people obviously have done a lot of work on it and I feel like I'm late to the party :) I've read that back in the day a small team of B&W enthusiasts had contacted the game devs at Lionhead studios and obtained fantastic information about the game, file format specs, etc.
I think back in the day, GitHub wasn't as prevalent as it is today. I dream I can find that code and continue to make it live.

Anyway, I'm quite new to this forum, do you mind if I check your B&W "repository"? There might be stuff I haven't found yet.
 
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Oh man, that kills me knowing there was direct developer knowledge out there, especially concerning file formats and such. My extreme pipe dream is that one day we could reverse engineer Black & White and reproduce it in a modern engine. Creature AI and everything intact. It is a dream I have held for quite some time, lol.

Here is a link to my B&W stash. I keep multiple instances of it around, lol. Things are mostly organized with custom readme files jammed in everywhere. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yITGRpfUhlIAEGsIsoX8XWk0dr65aoL4?usp=share_link

P.S. I recommend the FAQs and Extra folders. I believe that is where I stashed all the best knowledge. I saved a lot of offline webpages.
 
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Thanks so much for the link! Readme files everywhere are a must :)

The really lucky thing is that the Landscape creation kit packed by BlueVandalX contains the source code for Lndromat as well as the .lnd info extractor. That's super useful to understand how .lnd files are structured, it just takes a lot of work to reverse-engineer... but that's also part of the fun!
 
More than happy to help and share. If you need help sorting through any of it, just message me. Although I think you'll probably be okay. Most confusing thing I think I did was collect various versions and repacks of landscape kits, lol. Went on a mad hoarding kick for at least a week at one point. XD

edit: Under BW/Tools/Modeling& Texture, I found a folder of source code. May be good to start there. I can't remember everything I have and where, lol.
 
Your collection is insane. Everything is there, neatly categorised :) you probably have the most comprehensive B&W library from the entire internet right now... Thank you for putting this together and sharing it!

The Modeling& Texture source you're mentioning is for villagers/trees/objects. I'm working on the landscapes right now but I'd be keen to take a look at the objects modeling later on.

I'm also convinced that the people who coded the various mods and patches must have a good understanding of the B&W engine, possibly with some source to share. Hopefully I'll get there.
 
The RAW files that Gimp produces don't work with Lndromat. So I had a look at the binary produced by PhotoShop (my gf has it) and reverse-engineered the format. The RAW format that Lndromat expects is merely a binary file of 512 x 512 bytes where each byte has a value between 0 and FF, that represents the height of the pixel.

I can't buy Photoshop, so the easiest way for me to produce RAW files was to:
- save my height maps as a 8-bit depth grayscale bitmap file
- write a bitmap-to-RAW converter in C# that extracts the colour palette (index) from the bitmap, and then converts the bitmap to a simple array of grey
- save the result (without headers) in a 512 x 512 bytes file (the RAW file)

I found the bitmap format spec here: http://paulbourke.net/dataformats/bmp/

I'm trying to make that tool a bit more complete (add and complete some of Lndromat's features), I'll put the code on GitHub at some point.
1692742525970.png
I figured out that with these Settings Lndromat is able to convert it into a map... but make sure it is only a single layer left!
-
I honestly am looking forward to create a newer and better editor for making B&W Maps.. only problem is that i'm unable to get the Height map with the Country values... The reverse Extraction doesn't work for me somehow... the Raw files i get are all kinda broken...
or i cannot find a way to export them ;-D
But does someone know a way to get the heightmap of an lnd. file? or where there is a documentation?
-
LG
Lungdrache
 
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