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Re: Phoenix discussion

Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2017 2:06 am
by mastnosis
Sukayo wrote:But nice discussion going on - what i do not get is - when a clone, why you try to understand original data? Creating it new will at least when documented secure that you now every bit of info stored inside.


I guess I could first argue that it is not a 'clone' in the true sense unless it represents the game exactly. But I think there are a few good reasons to use original assets. First, people like the familiar, so you want to recreate it as close to the original as possible. This will help cutback on negative feedback from your established base (the players of the original game). Once you have the base game up and running you can slowly make tweaks and changes and people can decide for themselves if they prefer the changes. Secondly, but perhaps more importantly is the reduced requirements to make a playable experience. If you can use the original assets it is one less thing to create. Once you do have the basics of a game up and running you can slowly swap out content as time and resources permit.
Another benefit is that some features or tools built for the clone can be used with the original (or vice versa). You can share content between the two.

Re: Phoenix discussion

Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2017 2:18 am
by mastnosis
As a progress report, I have most of the planetary window up and working. I just have to add the resource icons at the bottom and the unit list on the side. Once I have the majority of the planetary window functional I'll create the Space Window.
I have properly decoded almost all of the BIN files. The only ones that are a mystery to me are GLIMMER.BIN, S_BORD.BIN, and V_BORD.BIN. I can of course decode these images, but I'm not certain of the correct width, nor where these images might be used. Perhaps there is some clues in the Phoenix source code. I haven't looked there yet.

Re: Phoenix discussion

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 5:16 am
by TKComposition
GLIMMER.bin is a hexagon tile, just like the EFSTILE#.bin files except it's just a single tile (48x40). I haven't figured out S_BORD or V_BORD either, so I'm working around whatever they are. I also didn't figure out BORDER or SHIELD. If you have any tips you could share for those, I'm definitely interested.

Re: Phoenix discussion

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 5:43 am
by mastnosis
TKComposition wrote:GLIMMER.bin is a hexagon tile, just like the EFSTILE#.bin files except it's just a single tile (48x40). I haven't figured out S_BORD or V_BORD either, so I'm working around whatever they are. I also didn't figure out BORDER or SHIELD. If you have any tips you could share for those, I'm definitely interested.

I had forgotten about those two. Yeah, I wasn't 100% certain of those either.
**Edit**
Just loaded GLIMMER. So it is just the hex border? Why would they name it so confusingly? It's easy enough to draw the border via algorithm so the usefulness of this file is limited.

Decoding Fonts

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:35 am
by mastnosis
I'm wondering if anyone knows how to decode the .FNT font files for EFS? At first I thought Phoenix used them but I couldn't find any reference to them in the code. It seems like the author recreated the fonts by hand. I've thought about doing the same via gradients, but it would seem preferable just to use the provided fonts if I could figure out how to decode them.

Re: Phoenix discussion

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 2:19 am
by TKComposition
I looked into it a while back, but I don't think they're standard windows 98 fnt files at all. If they were I should have been able to open them with teh Fontedit tool (http://www.vsoft.nl/software/utils/win/fontedit/). I looked into the first few bytes of one of the files and it seems clear that it's a custom file format you'd have to have insight from the developers to interpret.

Re: Phoenix discussion

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:23 am
by Eightball Maniac
I'm running 0.60.0, is there a way to configure the resolution? I'm on a laptop with 1600x900 max resolution, which cannot accommodate the default 1280x960, so it forces 640x480 instead. Less than ideal, as you can imagine.

Re: Phoenix discussion

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:32 am
by Kosh2
Eightball Maniac wrote:I'm running 0.60.0, is there a way to configure the resolution? I'm on a laptop with 1600x900 max resolution, which cannot accommodate the default 1280x960, so it forces 640x480 instead. Less than ideal, as you can imagine.

No idea, sorry.
As my PC screen is 1920x1080 there isn't so big problem. But resolution options would be a huge improvement.