# D2Mods Knowledge Base: Article 155
# Title: DC6 Item Conversions (by Joel Falcou)
# URL: https://d2mods.info/forum/kb/viewarticle?a=155

DC6 Item Conversions (by Joel Falcou)
		Written by: Phrozen Heart

		Written on: Fri May 04, 2007 2:35 am

				Views: 13189

		Description: Indepth tutorial on creating a new DC6 inventory image.

		Categories: Tutorials (1.1x) - Graphic and Sound Files

			Getting Started ...

 While moding your favorite Diablo II version, you'll surely feel the urge

  to give it a brand new look. If the simplest way is to change the various screen

  background, one of the most appealing temptation is to modify the old look of

  our beloved items.

 First we gonna talk about the required tools. Basically you need an image

  editing application that can handle the most common format like BMP, JPG and

  obligatory PCX format. MS Paint could be enough but you could grab a free trial

  version of the allmighty Paint Shop Pro at the

  JASC website.

 Then you'll need the modified version of DC6CON by Paul Siramy, that you could

  grab directly at The Phrozenkeep File Center.

  It's a MS-DOS based program that should work on every machines.

When you get ready, hang on to the next Section : Mastering the Tools.

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  Mastering the Tools

 Now you have all the forementioned tools, we gonna take a look at the functions

  we'll need to know.

   Paint Shop Pro :

   These are the following functions you'll use often. Some advanced users

    may use others, and I encourage them to send me their tricks. I don't mind

    to be omnipotent with this one ;)

    * Load/Save : Obvious isn't it but you get to know how to change

      the output file format by using the combo box of the Save

      As function.

      Shortcut : Ctrl+O/F12

    * Resize : This function will help you to get your image into the

      proper size. There are many options in this function that we'll see

      later.

      Shortcut : Shift + S

    * Load Palette : The bread 'n butter of us. With this one, you'll easily

      apply the correct

      palette to your image. Like the Resize function, the Load Palette function

      is a bit complex and will be described later.

      Shortcut : Shift + O

   Modified DC6CON :

   The easy one :) Paul has done a good job on this one. Without getting into

    the details, there is a little bat file

    that will simplify your life. Download it, I'll use it from now.

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  Finding Originals

 It's often the trickiest part :).

  Personnaly I use my friend Google to find out some pictures or artwork that

  look like the items I want to convert. The Medeival - Fantasy - Weapons - Armor

  keywords in the images seeking sections could do miracles.

  However, the major sources of new items are the other RPG. Without any order,

  the inventory images from Darkstone, Diablo/Hellfire, Prince of Qin, Nox, Throne

  of Darkness, the Baldur's Gate series and alike and many more is perfectly suitable.

  Don't hesitate to crawl over fan sites, strategy pages and the like.

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  The Conversion Process

 Here we'll cover the step-by-step process of converting an item gfx to dc6

  format. For this one I'll use an original item from Planescape Torment : the

  Godless Priestess Cleavage. Download

  the needed files and let's start !!

 First Step : Correcting colors

Open the original BMP file with Paint Shop Pro.

    Click to enlarge.

As you see the background is a bit green and some shadows don't look good.

  Use the Magic Wand to remove the green background and the obsolete shadows.

  You're Cleavage should now look like this :

    Click to enlarge.

 Now the Cleavage looks fine, open the custom palette that comes with this

  tutorial package. Select the custom.pal file, and check that the palette is

  applied by using the 'Nearest color matching'.

    Click to enlarge.

  When you have selected the palette, click on the color box on

    the right of the screen. This will open the palette screen where you'll select

    the index 0 color. With the custom palette, it looks bright blue. It's intentional.

    The actual tin' of this color isn't important. The game use the Palette Index

    to generate transparency so if you want to have a purple or green background,

    it's up to you BUT its index MUST BE 0.

    Click to enlarge

 Select the Flood fill tools and fill all the background with your new color.

  When the background is a bit tricky to access (fur items, hairs etc ...), use

  the Color Replacer to replace all the old background color with the new one.

  Your item should now look ike this.

    Click to enlarge

Now you get the proper colors on your items, hope to the next step ...

 Second Step : Size does matter

 All inventory graphics in Diablo II follow a strict pattern. Both width and

  height are aligned on a 28 pixels limit. If you look closely to your inventory

  screen in-game, you'll see that it's composed of a bunch of little square. Each

  of this square is precisely 28x28 pixels. So any items must be composed of an

  entire number of such square.

 Now, look at your cleavage item. Its size is 34x63. So if you look at a regular

  Diablo II armor, its size is 56x84. Yes, you guess it, it's 2x3 squares. So,

  as our cleavage fits in these limits, you'll just merge it with a blank image.

  If the item was bigger than 56x84, you should use the Resize function in 'Pixel

  Reduce' mode. If you use bilinear or bicubic resample, you'll create blurry

  pixels that will not fit right with the palette.

 With Paint Shop Pro, create a new image (Ctrl+N). Make it 56 pixels wide and

  84 pixels high. Turn it on 256 colors and click OK. You should get now two image

  : the blank one and the cleavage one.

    Click to enlarge

 Click in the blank image and load the custom palette (Shift+O). This ensure

  that you won't get color distorsions while copying the cleavage to its new container.

  Press Ctrl+A to select the whole Cleavage image and then copy it to the clipboard

  (Ctrl+C). Click in the blank image and paste the cleavage with Ctrl+E.

  Adjust the Cleavage position into the image and press Ctrl+D when you're satisfied

  of the result.

    Click to enlarge

 Now, we've finished with Paint Shop Pro. For safety needs, re-apply the custom

  palette. PSP could sometime forget to do it and save it into PCX format with

  the Save As ... command. Close all the images and close PSP.

 Third Step : DC6 forever

 The trickiets part is done now. Copy your pcx into your DC6CON folder. Drag

  the file over my dc6item.bat and let dc6con do all the work. If everything is

  right, you should get a little dc6 file along in this folder. Rename it to invclvg.dc6.

 Copy it into your datagloba/items folder. Open armor.txt and go to the Quilted

  Armor row. In the invfile row, change invqlt to invclvg. Save the file and close

  your text edition application. Launch Diablo II using the -direct -txt method,

  run a game and go buy a Quilted Armor. Normally you could now equip your sexy

  Priestess cleavage ;)

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  Tips

 Reallife photographs conversion

 When using a reallife photograph to create a new item image, some tricks have

  to be known. First don't try to cut out the items off its background. Instead

  resize the image right now and apply the custom palette. Then cut-off the item

  and correct pixels errors. When resizing, use the Bicubic resample options and

  check if every pixels stay fine.

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  Conclusion

 Here we are. Now the Items Gfx Conversions should be easy for anyone of you.

  If you got some tips or if you find some errors, feel free to send report to

  me.

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