how do you know what is called what in a .tga file

[Clandest]

Ok, so i opened up a .tga file cause i was curious and want to make a UI. And I was wondering when you are making your graphics do you make them all in seperate layers i would believe. But when I open up a Mod's TGA file they are all on one layer. How does the texture.xml know which image is which in the texture.tga file.

Thanks

[Slammy]

Basically, Textures.xml gives within one TGA file the square that surrounds the piece ( through upper left and lower right corner if I remember correctly ). Dual Layer TGAs in general with an Alpha transparent layer as background.

[Clandest]

I still don't get it. Say in the .TGA you want to add the player status bar to the Textures.xml

How will the texture.xml know which is the player status bar since the entire .TGA is just one flat image.

[neowulf]

I am by no means a good .xml coder. But to answer your question:

1. Designate the .tga that the graphic is located at "Textures.tga"
2. Designate the Cordinates of the graphic within this .tga "X=0, Y=275"

This means "X=Far Left coordinate (left/right)" + "Y= Far Top coordinate (up/down)= Absolute Position Of the Squared Graphic (including its alpha channel) you want to use.

This way, you have 1 .tga file with all graphics on it. You can then call each individual graphic located inside this .tga file by its coordinates inside of the .tga.

Why you may ask? Because of faster loading and ease of use by the program. Instead of having to open each individual graphic file..it uses one .tga.

At least this is the best way I can think to describe it.

[Clandest]

thanks, so i just find the coords of each image.

so would i find the coordinate for the entire image, or just say the top corner of it. ANd then just add the Width and Height?

[imported_Bee]

Yes. Essentially you need the top left x,y coordinates and the bottom right x,y for the width and height.

One other thing. DO NOT forget that the size of the full tga file must be a power of 2 (1024x1024 is most popular, but other variations on the theme work). If you do not do this, the images you make will be resized oddly in the game.

[Clandest]

so what would i write in the .xml file?

<Rect x="470" y="320" width="194" height="14" />

is the x and y the location inside the .tga?

[Nadger]

yes...you'll have to make sure your alpha channels are correct as well, otherwise the graphic wont show it up, it will be 100% transparent. black = transparent = white = solid...anywhere in between is your transparency scale.