Custom Crosshair Tutorial

[Kyllian]

[EDIT] Due to UnrealOps being down, the tutorial isn't available at this time

Name:Custom Crosshair Tutorial
Version:1.0
Compatibility:Full
Description:It's a tutorial for making custom crosshairs
Comments: Don't wanna be the only one making them ;)
Screenshot:
Credits:Me (Kel)
Homepage:http://www.unrealops.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=153
Download:http://www.unrealops.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=153


Considering I've seen a few people ask how to make them, I "slaved away" and made a tutorial that goes from making it all the way to tweaking the ingame xhair settings


Let me know if it doesn't work for you, I've already had one report from someone using it saying it didn't work

[Angel_Mapper]

Yay! Finally some tutorial company at UO. :p

[Kyllian]

I like Tycho's twist: Well it looks as though AngelMapper has some competition around here

:D:p

[Angel_Mapper]

Pfffff if only there were a Tutorial category in the MSU. :p

[Kyllian]

Originally posted by Angel_Mapper
Pfffff if only there were a Tutorial category in the MSU. :p I think we'd sweep right thru it :)

[legacy-Brain Trepaning]

I'd be in for the competition!

[legacy-BaymoJoe1563]

lol ya brain trepanings animation tutorial would prolly automatically win:haha: :up:

[Angel_Mapper]

Pfffffffffffff not against my ego. Or my tutorials too I guess. :p

[legacy-Brain Trepaning]

Is there any way to designate in a 1on1 DM which crosshair the opposing player would get, if I made a custom map? If so, I see a HUGE red opaque blob in the middle of the screen for my opponent's crosshair...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

[Kyllian]

Just out of curiosity, how many people have used my tutorial to make their own xhairs?

[Sinnthetika]

I have. Works great.

[legacy-ChaosJester]

I am trying but my computer won't recognize a .uc file as a uc file.
And all I wanted to do was make weapon function crosshairs.

[Kyllian]

Originally posted by ChaosJester
I am trying but my computer won't recognize a .uc file as a uc file.
And all I wanted to do was make weapon function crosshairs. o_O
You use windows or mac? If Mac, I dunno what to tell ya.
If windows, you can just choose "Open With" and choose notepad to open
Or do you mean it won't save as .Uc?

[legacy-ChaosJester]

Notepad will save a file as uc, but ucc make will not recognze the file as a uc. I am on windows. I am not trying to animate or anything, and the code I was using is the code in the tut for reliability. Couldn't see how the classes and file and foldernames came together.

[Kyllian]

:bulb:
I had gotten into the habit of keeping the classname/foldername/texturename different cuz if they match it can sometimes mess up UCC

The tutorial listing is the same as my own: C:\UT2004\DemoXHairs\classes\DemoCrosshairs.uc

Try this, save your code as .Txt and rename it to have the .Uc extension.
If UCC gives errors, post them and also look in System for UCC.log and post the contents as well

Just for reference, this is the code I put in my Uc(should match the tut code either way)

class DemoCrosshairs extends Crosshairpack
notplaceable;
#EXEC OBJ LOAD FILE=XHairDemo.utx
defaultproperties
{
Crosshair(0)=(FriendlyName="DemoDot",CrosshairTexture=XHairDemo.imagename)
}


If it still doesn't work, I don't know what to tell you.(other than maybe reinstall 2k4, but that probably would be too counter-productive)

[Hsoolien]

You have the description of DXT all fubared
DXT5 is not the most compressed format, in fact it's the least, and it also supports gradual alpha channels
DXT3 only supports like 16 variations in alpha (so is smaller on average for a mult alpha image)
DXT 1 had the highest compression (and on GeForce 3 and less tends to produce artifacts do a decompression issue if you image has more then 16bit colors), and it has a single level of alpha channel, making it the method I would reccomend for a crosshair pack ( and it woulf use about 1/3 them mem of a noncompressed texture)

[Kyllian]

Originally posted by Hsoolien
You have the description of DXT all fubared
DXT5 is not the most compressed format, in fact it's the least, and it also supports gradual alpha channels
DXT3 only supports like 16 variations in alpha (so is smaller on average for a mult alpha image)
DXT 1 had the highest compression (and on GeForce 3 and less tends to produce artifacts do a decompression issue if you image has more then 16bit colors), and it has a single level of alpha channel, making it the method I would reccomend for a crosshair pack ( and it woulf use about 1/3 them mem of a noncompressed texture) Oh.
Rarely use DXT, so I don't know a lot about it
Main reason I don't use DXT is that they tend to mess up and do a bit of blurring to my xhairs, which are intentionally pixelated to maintain their "solidity"

The way I construct my xhairs transparency is listed in the Tutorial, and since I use black in them, I'd probably be bad for me to use DXT1

I'll look into using DXT3/5, but I can't gaurantee I'll stick with it

[legacy-ChaosJester]

Got my Xhair to work. I think I understand notepad a bit more. I found out that the computer saves all my UT2k4 docs as .*.txt if I create them myself, which was the issue. Thanks for the tutorial. Might I suggest a very few things to make your tutorial a bit better for a coding/graphic design novice? I await your answer. The suggestions are not flame.

[Kyllian]

Sure, go ahead.
The main problem will be convincing Tycho to tweak it :p


[Edit]Curse you UEd!! :mad: Why can you not undo a dxt compression!
And I had made decent progress converting all 100+ textures to dxt3(so far it doesn't appear to reduce quality)

[Edit2]ugh... 20 mintues to convert all of them to DXT3.
Sweet jesus' testes in a chicken basket... 3.95MB reduced to 1.42MB(better be worth it, I don't want these things ending up degraded)

[legacy-SvL]

Originally posted by Kel
Just out of curiosity, how many people have used my tutorial to make their own xhairs?
I have, but mine sucked lol. So I just used someone elses.

PS. I cant get animated xhairs to work, and last time I read the tut, nothing was in there about it. Anyone help?

[Kyllian]

Originally posted by SvL
PS. I cant get animated xhairs to work, and last time I read the tut, nothing was in there about it. Anyone help? Gimme a few days an I'll assemble a animation tut

[legacy-ChaosJester]

Sweet Now if I could just get my gradiented Alpha mask to work I would really be happy.

[Kyllian]

Originally posted by ChaosJester
Sweet Now if I could just get my gradiented Alpha mask to work I would really be happy. I've found the best way to get gradient transparency/alphamasks is to go back into the file after you've saved it and recolor the areas that won't be solid(usually ensures they keep their color

Ok, it turns out it's going to take a bit longer to make the animation tut since I'm preparing the v7 release of my xhair pack(preview shot on my modworks page)

[legacy-SvL]

Originally posted by Kel
Ok, it turns out it's going to take a bit longer to make the animation tut since I'm preparing the v7 release of my xhair pack(preview shot on my modworks page)

I can wait :D

[legacy-ChaosJester]

Here Are the suggestions-

1) Center for 64x64 image is (32,32), (32,33), (33,32), (33,33)
The diff is only noticeable on large crosshair sections at a fairly high scale, but a good eye can be disoriented by the mistake and it can throw off a players aim just a tiny bit if they look for the center.

2) Explain the relationship between the class, filenames and the texturenames using the demoXhairs package to illustrate. Wish I had that but now I have it figured out.

Other than those very slight issues, the tutorial was incredible. I just hope I will be able to understand the next tutorials. Now I'm waiting for your next tutorial and xhair pack.

Is this a mod- xhair pack?

[legacy-BooGiTyBoY]

Well.. I was going to use the tutorial.. but I can't figure out how to extract the default Xhairs form the game. Is there a way to do this? I just want the default Xhairs with a small black outline so they are easier for me to see. Is there an easy way to get em' out without having to redraw all of them?

[Kyllian]

Yea, open up UEd and go to the Texture Browser(there is a button on the top row of UEd that looks like a picture between a speaker and an eye, that's to bring up the brower).
From there, click the Dropdown box and choose Crosshairs (when you first open the Texture browser, the dropdown box will say 2k4Chargers)

Once you have the crosshairs opened, right click the one you want to use and select Export To File
Unfortunately, they get exported as a DDS file, so you will need something to open it

I believe both PhotoShop and PaintShopPro need a DDS plugin, which you will have to find yourself.

After you get them extracted and opened, you can follow the rest of the xhair creation section to save and import as needed

[legacy-BooGiTyBoY]

TY Kel :D... I found the dds plugin on the nVidia site for photoshop. That was my problem. FOund em' in the texture browser no prob but the dds format confoozled me. :haha:

[legacy-BooGiTyBoY]

Poop... can't get them to open in photoshop with the dds plug-in. It opens them but it shows the file as a blocky half-white, half-black image that resembles a set of stairs more than a crosshair... :(

[Kyllian]

Oh, you're opening it with mipmaps
If it asks, tell it not to show mipmaps.
Either that or you'll have to change some settings

[legacy-briachiae]

Will I get kicked by Anti TCC if I do this?

[Kyllian]

Nope, custom xhairs are supported by 2k4 directly(with at least 3204 patch installed)

[legacy-gades]

Someone should sticky this thing.

Nice tut Kel, I've used this before, may use it again soon in my savage quest for the ultimate crosshair.
:cool:

[legacy-gades]

A small question plz.


SideNote: PSP sometimes has trouble properly doing Masks, which will result in a white outline on any black parts of your xhair. I recommend re-opening it and "over-coloring" the black areas. Meaning, any area that is to be removed by the Mask should be colored black.

Usually the little white outline appears around black areas if it's enclosed by a shape of some sort. But what excactly do you mean about "over-coloring" the black areas?

Thx.
:cool:

[Kyllian]

Best way I can describe it is, if an area of the image is going to be either removed by the mask or a color other than black, make it black.

This is what my Hammer xhair looks like without the mask on it
http://img14.exs.cx/img14/9057/hammer5qm.gif

This is with the mask on
http://img14.exs.cx/img14/2779/hammer24br.gif

[legacy-gades]

I'm not sure what your explanation means ... but opening the file up again and coloring around the black areas with black does the trick.

Thx!
:cool:

[legacy-xkznanna]

Nooooo!!!!!!

the download in the first post is broke somebody help

[Kyllian]

Originally posted by xkznanna
Nooooo!!!!!!

the download in the first post is broke somebody help Yea, I never set up a second site to have it placed on and since UnrealOps had to close, it's got no home at the moment

I should clean it up some before finding a new home for it

Hell, I might be able to convince Angelmapper to host it :D

[Edit]Wow, just realized it was up on UO for almost a year and a half

[legacy-fftunes]

Originally posted by Kel
Just out of curiosity, how many people have used my tutorial to make their own xhairs?

Thanks, but I figured it out myself (with a little insight on kAus' crosshairpack...) :p


About the renaming issue / ucc errors:
Somehow, when compiling a Crosshairpack, UCC makes an entry in the windows registry.
When compiling the pack again, UCC stops (don't remember the exact error message)

To solve this, you have two options:
1.) rename class / file / folder names before compiling, or
2.) clean out the registry (I used TuneUp Utilities 2003).

BTW your links are down, so I couldn't actually read your tutorial...
edit.: sorry, didn't read 'til the end...

[Kyllian]

Originally posted by fftunes
Thanks, but I figured it out myself (with a little insight on kAus' crosshairpack...) :p


About the renaming issue / ucc errors:
Somehow, when compiling a Crosshairpack, UCC makes an entry in the windows registry.
When compiling the pack again, UCC stops (don't remember the exact error message)

To solve this, you have two options:
1.) rename class / file / folder names before compiling, or
2.) clean out the registry (I used TuneUp Utilities 2003).

BTW your links are down, so I couldn't actually read your tutorial...
edit.: sorry, didn't read 'til the end... Glad to see you got it working :)

As for the UCC stopping, I've been lucky and never had issues(except for spelling errors that stop the compile)

The way I set up my folders is like this

UT2004
|_KAusXHair
|_Classes
|_KAusCrosshairs.uc
Never had an issue this way

As for the thread/links, I at least edited the first post so it's easier to tell that the links are down
Hopefully, I can set up a new home for it soon

[legacy-Invalid]

Heya kel, I remember playing with you in COR a long time ago. :)
This looks fun...I'll download it soon. Also, change the ChaosUT link in your sig, I'm always tempted to click it but then I get the error. :(

[legacy-mahe]

Any chances to get this tutorial?

[Kyllian]

As soon as I get it rebuilt and rehosted(AM has already agreed to, I just need to finish my end)

[legacy-mahe]

I see.

I can host a downloadable version too if you need a mirror ;)

[legacy--=SR=-Killer]

Looks like we have dead links here.

[Kyllian]

Looks like we have dead links here.
Seriously, look at some of the replies. I am fully aware it's down

And then there's the little edit of the first post: [EDIT] Due to UnrealOps being down, the tutorial isn't available at this time

This is the 7th time someone has "informed" me it's down
Guys, I know, I'm reworking it and as soon as it's finished, it will have a new home.
So chill

[legacy-eviL<3]

Seriously, look at some of the replies. I am fully aware it's down

And then there's the little edit of the first post: [EDIT] Due to UnrealOps being down, the tutorial isn't available at this time

This is the 7th time someone has "informed" me it's down
Guys, I know, I'm reworking it and as soon as it's finished, it will have a new home.
So chill

Thank you! :mdr1:

[Xyx]

Link's dead. Anybody still have it somewhere?

[legacy-eviL<3]

Have a look over here: http://www.ut4e.com/evil/forum/kb.php?mode=article&k=13

EDIT: http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=516389 and http://www.angelmapper.com/tutorials/crosshair1.htm ;)

[legacy-JP-Studios]

Yup all give thanks to Evil and AngleMapper (Glomps Angel and runs way) Nya nya catch me if you can Angel Bwhaahahahah!

[Xyx]

Ah, there it is. Thanks! :)

Good thing that Angelmapper pools all that useful stuff on her site.

[Kyllian]

Heh, was wondering why I had an email telling me of new replies to this thread :p

Ya know Xyx, you could have just checked my sig too :D

[Xyx]

I turn off sigs so I don't have to constantly see the "my e-member is yea big" hardware configurations.

[legacy-eviL<3]

If you'd turn them on, you'd see that there's hardly any of those ;)

[Kyllian]

Pretty much. I've only seen like 1 or 2 hardware sigs
Mine(in rough order) has the crosshairtut link to AM's
Link to KAus8 on ModDB, link to Skill-Club, link to ChaosUT and link to the KA8 thread here
A quote about UTComp
A link to a thread about Antioch
And a "sig virus" thing