Need Help - Can't Create Custom Files! Yaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!

Terraformer_Author · May 2014

Ok - here's the story...

I wanted to make custom files for Temperature, Rainfall, and Climates in FT3 to maybe stick into Terraformer 1.0 when I start working on it after I have my guts reassembled in the hospital - so I saved some test files into a desktop test folder thusly (see Graphic #1 below):

Terraformer_Author · May 2014

I then got two ".bcl" files - and one .clr" file - to which I proceeded to open in Windows Notepad to examine to see if new colors could be added (See Graphic #2 Below):

Terraformer_Author · May 2014

Now I discovered that the ".clr" image (Climate File) contained easily editable RGB strings (OH JOY!!!) - but the ".bcl" files looked like the gobbledeegook that you see below in image #3:

Terraformer_Author · May 2014

Question: Is there any other file formats besides this stuff in the .bcl that can be opened and loaded into the temp and rainfall deal? How can I plug in custom RGBs into these settings without having to use the default 256 color eyedropper? I have been collecting rainfall and temp maps all over the place to color sample - but now I find that you can't directly input RGB strings into .bcl files - any suggestions on how one might even begin to add / remove RGB values to a .bcl file? Below is the Climate Color file (.clr) - this I can work with, but the other two are a nightmare!

jslayton · May 2014

The most correct way to handle .bcl files is to use the editing facilities in FT. "No User Serviceable Parts Inside". You can set individual colors by clicking the color patches on the list.

There is more in the .bcl file than there is in the .clr file and it's that extra information that led to the binary format.

Terraformer_Author · May 2014

Thanks Joe - looks like I'll have to sample a color from the Temperature / Rainfall maps that I've collected - and then pick a color from the default CC3 palette attempting a "close approximation". All in all - at least I can customize the crapola out of the climate palette, lol.

Terraformer_Author · May 2014

One more question - are the temp and rainfall files (.bcl) files redistributable once they are made with the default CC3 color picker and then saved to a desktop folder?

jslayton · May 2014

Holding down Shift when using a color picker will give the Windows color picker instead of the CC2 one. For things that use RGB colors (that is, things that don't get exported to the CCx format), the RGB values should stick.

I'm not sure what you mean by redistributable. They're files. They go wherever they're copied. There can be no legal restrictions on those files as they contain only user-generated content.

Terraformer_Author · May 2014

Posted By: jslaytonI'm not sure what you mean by redistributable. They're files. They go wherever they're copied. There can be no legal restrictions on those files as they contain only user-generated content.

I meant that if I stick these newly created .bcl files into a zip file and post it (like making them a part of Terraformer 1.0) - could other users download them and use them - or is it like when you save a world in FT Pro - but you really can't post it for other folks because the generated world is linked to a specific filepath (I tried saving an FT world once - burning it to disk - and then opening in FT-PRO after reformatting and reprogramming my hard drive - and the map looked all smudged up and screwy)? By the way - THANK YOU for making the custom colors possible by clueing me in on the "shift" trick to access the windows palette sir. Now it appears that I can sample from exterior images and customize those files.

jslayton · May 2014

FT should only reference an external file in the case of a world created from a binary height file. In all other cases, the .ftw file should be self-contained. Files that get loaded (.lgt, .clr, .bcl, .srf, and so on) into FT are loaded and the external references shouldn't be kept.

If you have an RGB color set that contains colors not in FT's default palette and then export data to CCx (e.g. exporting a custom RGB altitude set to a CC3 file), then FT will pick the closest color in the CCx palette according to RGB distance. A better metric might have been HLS distance or a perceptual metric, but that's what I knew how to do back 20 years ago.

Terraformer_Author · May 2014

Posted By: jslaytonFT should only reference an external file in the case of a world created from a binary height file. In all other cases, the .ftw file should be self-contained. Files that get loaded (.lgt, .clr, .bcl, .srf, and so on) into FT are loaded and the external references shouldn't be kept..

I don't recall exactly why that was doing that with my worlds - but when I posted the problem (a long time ago in a galaxy far far away) - several folks told me that it was because the FT World (.ftw) was hooked to a specific file path (like C:/Users/Billybob/Desktop/FTWorlds). I was using FT Pro at the time, not FT3. In retrospect - Not trying to save worlds to a separate DVD ROM anymore seemed to clear it up for the most part, but every now and then my worlds would still get all weird whenever I attempted it again, lol. I was using Windows Vista at the time to - so maybe that had something to do with it - I don't know - I'm an old fartinsky - and it's been a while since then.

Posted By: jslaytonIf you have an RGB color set that contains colors not in FT's default palette and then export data to CCx (e.g. exporting a custom RGB altitude set to a CC3 file), then FT will pick the closest color in the CCx palette according to RGB distance. A better metric might have been HLS distance or a perceptual metric, but that's what I knew how to do back 20 years ago.

Well that's ok - as long as users can use the specialized colors within FT3 and on their non "to CC3" exported, produced FT3 maps - that's fine. I would assume that when they are exported into CC3, the CCx palette interpretation would be sufficiently close enough anyway as not to be that big of a deal - since it's no longer an FT map, but then would become a CC3 map anyway - apples and oranges roughly. I've done exports of maps from FT3 to CC3 as a test before and the colors didn't look all that different to me, except for being "cartoony" and maybe a little darker or a little lighter than the original FT3 map - depending on the specific color.

If there is ever an FT4 - then I guess making custom colors inter-useable between the two apps might be one of the things on the grocery list of upgrades to look into anyway I suppose.

I really do believe that since the color approximations on FT3 to CC3 maps are probably going to be extremely close anyway - nothing of any real consequence insomuch as color quality is concerned - is going to be tragically lost in translation after all. The colors are "generally" going to look "roughly" the same - give or take some changes in subtle hues and tones - after all - 256 colors isn't really anything to sneeze at as far as topical maps like rainfall, climate, temp, and just straight forward topographical contour maps. Temperature and rainfall projections actually look more "realistic" in FT3 anyway - because they look more like real radar maps from a space agency or weather service bureau.

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Need Help - Can't Create Custom Files! Yaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!

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