[MERGED] Soldier Diaries 1.0

[XOps]

Yeah, I would love to train to acquire that skill.   I'm not sure where hue and saturation are impacting the indexing conversion.  That conversion is always so destructive for me, that I can't seem to figure out how to make it look any better.  If i desaturate, I can get a beautiful, completely white indexed image, but that doesn't seem to be a useful skill. XD

I really need to make a tutorial on working with colors one day in photoshop. Uncontrolled dithering is one of the most common mistakes I see with a lot of mod artwork. If you are switching to index color mode within the image itself, it shouldn't be dithering at all. At least it doesn't on mine. Now if you copy and pasted over to an indexed color image, then the conversion is very destructive. Using File-> Save for Web & Devices lets you control the colors and level of dithering. Still even if you get a good clean conversion, you will almost always need to touch up.

[Dioxine]

I've PM'ed you with the solution (TURN THE DITHERING OFF ), I am simply lucky to have an old Photoshop it seems By fine-tuning I mean getting colors closer to what the palette can support, so the result will attain more smooth look (that's how I've managed to get the Cross without any wild green pixels - you have to work with very limited yellows, so I've reddened the whole medal a bit, so it errs in the orange side, has plenty of shades to choose among, instead on going into very dangerous vivid green territory where it has only a couple of shades to work with).

Oh yeah and (dithered) backgrounds that IMO look a little better than yours (I'd advise pasting non-dithered medals over them):

[ivandogovich]

Just got the new .exe installed. 

I ran an IronMan test. One soldier, medium scout.  Liberal application of HE Packs and Grenades.

Result, one Ironman and one Nike Cross!   except that the soldiers's award screen shows Three gold stars on the Iron Man and on Bronze Star on the Nike Cross.

Is that the intended effect of:

Code: [Select]

  - type: STR_MEDAL_NIKE_CROSS_NAME
    description: STR_MEDAL_NIKE_CROSS_DESCRIPTION
    sprite: 32
    criteria:
      totalAllAliensKilled: [1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3]

  - type: STR_MEDAL_IRON_MAN_NAME
    description: STR_MEDAL_IRON_MAN_DESCRIPTION
    sprite: 19
    criteria:
      totalIronMan: [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]
??

Cheers, Ivan

[ivandogovich]

Also, due to Dioxine's awesome coaching, I have figured out how to dither my backgrounds and not my medals, and combine the two to make a much nicer image.



Image on the left is with dithering everything at the "Save for Web and Devices" step, and the image on the right is with a pre-dithered background image and the medallion and Ribbon saved without dither.

The key to this is to convert (As Dioxine said) to index prior to "save for web and devices."  This will flatten everything, so you need to carry out, just your ribbon and medallion and no background, or maybe a transparent color like pink? 

Once indexed, to bring the back ground back in, the image(s) need(s) to be reconverted to RGB. Select pixels, copy medal, paste into background,  and voila!

Cheers! and thanks for helping me figure this stuff out!

[Shoes]

Just got the new .exe installed. 

I ran an IronMan test. One soldier, medium scout.  Liberal application of HE Packs and Grenades.

Result, one Ironman and one Nike Cross!   except that the soldiers's award screen shows Three gold stars on the Iron Man and on Bronze Star on the Nike Cross.

Is that the intended effect of:

Cheers, Ivan

Yes it is! That was to avoid commendation spam. If I had 10 commendations of every kind, I would need to give one out on every "first" a soldier does. Also, the tougher commendations have fewer levels to make reaching the last one possible. That's why Iron Man has only one level: 3 gold stars. Also notice how it still said "first award"? Everything is working :D

[cjones]

Hello,

Got this mod installed with another and noticed that I cannot see the full medal info screens?  the blown up ones with a quote and further info about the medal as well as a full view of the medal?  I am getting medals and can see them in my soldier data screens, but how do I get the full medal description?  are they pedia entries?

Attached is my save and config if that helps,

thanks!

[Shoes]

They're not in the mod yet

[cjones]

Ah OK. Thanks!

[ivandogovich]

@cjones  -- sorry about that.  

I have been working on them, but I don't have all the graphics done and need to redo alot of them, now that Dioxine taught me how to make them look better.

 I'm about 75-ish percent done with the medals, and  I have it as an additional mod ruleset that I am building that makes the ufopedia entry.   

When I get all of these complete, I'll at least post them here so that others can use them until Shoes incorporates them fully into the base mod.  He will work on getting a separate Ufopedia section for the awards, I think.

Cheers, Ivan

[cjones]

Cool.  Another quick question.  I am using latest nightly and I downloaded the mod for latest nightly.  But my open xcom reports as 1.0?  Is this due to the custom exe?

[Shoes]

Cool.  Another quick question.  I am using latest nightly and I downloaded the mod for latest nightly.  But my open xcom reports as 1.0?  Is this due to the custom exe?

I've noticed that too. Does it normally not say 1.0? It's been compiled with pretty recent code, like as recent as last week. Not sure what that's about ;p

[cjones]

I think it usually says 1.0 if you are using the milestone build.  I believe it tells u what nightly build otherwise

[Arthanor]

Actually, I've had that conversation with Supsuper recently when I was trying to compile the nightly version. The "1.0" is just a string somewhere, so if you compile the nightly yourself, it will say "1.0" (or whatever you replace that string with). The funky version number in the nightly is put there when they compile the code for people to use, so people know what version they have (for bug reports), it is not in the code itself.

Just check if your version contains some of the features that are only available in the nightlies, like.. sorting by category in manufacture, and that will tell you that you have a nightly version (1.0 just lists everything in manufacture). Then you will know.

[ivandogovich]

@Shoes:  Question about Grenadier's Medal.

I have a soldier who killed four sectoids in one batch with an HE Pack.  He didn't receive a Grenadier's medal. 

According to this code: Any thing with Battle Type Grenade, should count, right?

Code: [Select]

  - type: STR_MEDAL_GRENADIERS_MEDAL_NAME
    description: STR_MEDAL_GRENADIERS_MEDAL_DESCRIPTION
    sprite: 14
    criteria:
      killsWithCriteriaTurn: [1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4]
    killCriteria:
      -
        3: ["FACTION_HOSTILE", "STATUS_DEAD", "BT_GRENADE"]
      -
        3: ["FACTION_HOSTILE", "STATUS_DEAD", "BT_PROXIMITYGRENADE"]

AmmoCan's record from Save file. (four kills on turn 1803)

Code: [Select]

      - diary:
          killList:
            - rank: STR_LIVE_SOLDIER
              race: STR_FLOATER
              weapon: STR_GRENADE
              weaponAmmo: STR_GRENADE
              status: 6
              faction: 1
              mission: 1
              turn: 309
            - rank: STR_LIVE_ENGINEER
              race: STR_FLOATER
              weapon: STR_PISTOL
              weaponAmmo: STR_PISTOL_CLIP
              status: 6
              faction: 1
              mission: 1
              turn: 345
            - rank: STR_LIVE_SOLDIER
              race: STR_FLOATER
              weapon: STR_PISTOL
              weaponAmmo: STR_PISTOL_CLIP
              status: 6
              faction: 1
              mission: 2
              turn: 606
            - rank: STR_LIVE_MEDIC
              race: STR_FLOATER
              weapon: STR_PISTOL
              weaponAmmo: STR_PISTOL_CLIP
              status: 6
              faction: 1
              mission: 2
              turn: 609
            - rank: STR_LIVE_SOLDIER
              race: STR_FLOATER
              weapon: STR_PISTOL
              weaponAmmo: STR_PISTOL_CLIP
              status: 6
              faction: 1
              mission: 2
              turn: 609
            - rank: STR_LIVE_SOLDIER
              race: STR_SECTOID
              weapon: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
              weaponAmmo: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
              status: 6
              faction: 1
              mission: 6
              turn: 1803
            - rank: STR_LIVE_SOLDIER
              race: STR_SECTOID
              weapon: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
              weaponAmmo: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
              status: 6
              faction: 1
              mission: 6
              turn: 1803
            - rank: STR_LIVE_SOLDIER
              race: STR_SECTOID
              weapon: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
              weaponAmmo: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
              status: 6
              faction: 1
              mission: 6
              turn: 1803
            - rank: STR_LIVE_SOLDIER
              race: STR_SECTOID
              weapon: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
              weaponAmmo: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
              status: 6
              faction: 1
              mission: 6
              turn: 1803
          missionIdList:
            - 0
            - 1
            - 2
            - 3
            - 4
            - 6
            - 7
            - 13
          regionTotal:
            STR_CENTRAL_ASIA: 1
            STR_EUROPE: 1
            STR_NORTH_AMERICA: 5
            STR_SIBERIA: 1
          countryTotal:
            STR_CANADA: 1
            STR_INDIA: 1
            STR_RUSSIA: 1
            STR_UNKNOWN: 2
            STR_USA: 3
          typeTotal:
            STR_TERROR_MISSION_LC: 3
            STR_UFO_CRASH_RECOVERY_LC: 4
            STR_UFO_GROUND_ASSAULT_LC: 1
          UFOTotal:
            NO_UFO: 3
            STR_LARGE_SCOUT: 2
            STR_MEDIUM_SCOUT: 3
          scoreTotal: 378
          killTotal: 9
          winTotal: 6
          daysWoundedTotal: 9
          terrorMissionTotal: 3
          nightMissionTotal: 3
          nightTerrorMissionTotal: 2
          monthsService: 4
          shotAtCounterTotal: 2
          importantMissionTotal: 6
          timesWoundedTotal: 1
          commendations:
            - commendationName: STR_MEDAL_HONOR_CROSS_NAME
              decorationLevel: 0
            - commendationName: STR_MEDAL_DBLKILL_TMPNAME
              decorationLevel: 0
            - commendationName: STR_MEDAL_LONGEST_NIGHT_NAME
              decorationLevel: 1
            - commendationName: STR_MEDAL_ORDER_OF_EARTH_NAME
              decorationLevel: 1
            - commendationName: STR_MEDAL_MILITARY_CROSS_NAME
              decorationLevel: 1
            - commendationName: STR_MEDAL_PURPLE_HEART_NAME
              decorationLevel: 0
            - decorationLevel: 0
              commendationName: STR_MEDAL_SERVICE_MEDAL_NAME
Also the HE pack code from Xcom1Ruleset

Code: [Select]

  - type: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
    size: 0.2
    costBuy: 1500
    costSell: 1200
    weight: 6
    bigSprite: 22
    floorSprite: 22
    power: 110
    damageType: 3
    battleType: 4
    invWidth: 2
    invHeight: 1
    blastRadius: 5
Cheers, Ivan


EDIT:  One more funny thing:  Suicide Bombers are getting a Double Kill medal for killing themselves and an enemy with HE Packs. XD

Code: [Select]

diary:
      commendations:
        - commendationName: STR_MEDAL_HONOR_CROSS_NAME
          decorationLevel: 0
        - commendationName: STR_MEDAL_DBLKILL_TMPNAME
          decorationLevel: 0
        - commendationName: STR_MEDAL_DEFENDER_MEDAL_NAME
          decorationLevel: 0
        - commendationName: STR_MEDAL_FALLEN_NAME
          decorationLevel: 0
      missionIdList:
        - 15
      killList:
        - rank: STR_ROOKIE
          race: STR_HUMAN
          weapon: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
          weaponAmmo: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
          status: 6
          faction: 0
          mission: 15
          turn: 4530
        - rank: STR_LIVE_TERRORIST
          race: STR_CYBERDISC
          weapon: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
          weaponAmmo: STR_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE
          status: 6
          faction: 1
          mission: 15
          turn: 4530
      regionTotal:

[Shoes]

I will look at the grenadiers thing. It might have been a decision I made to tell the difference between a "doube kill" and a "triple kill", ie if you get a triple kill you actually got two double kills :x Might be a bug, might be me saying "bah, that'll never happen"

As for the double kill in killing ones self and an enemy: lol! I am almost tempted to leave that in there ;p