Tutorial for Loading screen.
Softwares needed.
1. Photoshop, or any photo editing software.
2. Fshed.
3. May also need a Hex Editor.
And ofcourse you will need a loading screen template (341cf61cb6f2f38262f7203d0d3bde7b.fsh).
Basically If you open any loading screen with Fshed you will see that a picture is divied into 8 parts. The picture is to be divided in this pattern.6 parts in 256*256 dimension and 2 parts in 128*256 dimension.
Step 1.
Find a suitable picture fro the loading screen, and open it with photoshop.
Step 2.
Select File -> New.
type in the dimensions as shown in the picture. (width-896, and Height-512) The resolution is upto you. But a minimum of 72 is appropriate.
Step 3.
Copy the picture to the new page. You can just click and drag it. as shown in the pic. (Make sure the move tool is selected.)
IMG]http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/7656/34um1.jpg[/IMG]
Step 4.
scale the picture as required make sure the main material is in the middle of the page. To scale press Cntr+T or you can get it from Edit -> Free Transform.
Edit the image as you wish or you can add the Ea logo. Thats upto you. but when satisfied make sure all the layers are merged into a single layer. (to merge just select the linked icons and press Cntr+E.) It wouldnt matter if there is white on the two sides as they would be cropped down automatically.
Step 5.
Now open a new file with the dimensions of 256*256.
Then create a new layer, and fill it with a colour of your choice. Select and drag it to the main pic.
Set it at the top left corner.(it will snap.)
Now make copies of the layer. Press Alt and drag the image to make a copy.
You will see that Horizontally you can copy the image thrice(The third one being half) and vertically just once.
So once you are done with all the layers, now you'll have to make the different bmps.
(These layers that were created are forming the 8 divisions of the picture in correct dimensions.)
Once done you can turn off the visibilty of the layers.
Step 6.
Now press the ctrl key and click on the first layer as shown on the pic. This will create a marquee selection of the layer. Now make sure that the layer of the main pic is selected then press Cntr+C to copy.
If you still have the 256*256 dimension file opened, paste there. If not Create a new file with 256*256 dimension and press Cntr+V to paste. You will see that the pic will fit. The top left division of the loader is thus formed. Save it as a bmp naming 1.bmp.
Similarly you will now have to copy and paste the different divisions of the picture as you did for the first one. So Press Cntr and click on the second layer to create a marquee selection for the next division and copy and paste it in the 256*256 file to create the second part. This way you will have to create all the divisions. But the top Right and the bottom right divisions are 128*256 in dimensions so you'll need to create a new file of the same dimension to make these divisions.
This was the trickiest part of the process. This way you'll have 8 bmp files. If you named them according to me you will have six bmps (1.bmp, 2.bmp, 3.bmp,5.bmp,6.bmp, 7.bmp.) in 256*256 dimensions and 2 files (4.bmp and 8.bmp) in 128*256 dimension. As you can see in the picture.
Step 7.
Make sure you keep a backup of the bmps in a different folder.
You may have to edit these in Hex editor to avoid the stream error which is shown in Fshed while importing. All you need to do is delete the last two lines and save.
You can omit step 7. If you follow this. ( Thanks to Saurabh ) :hpraise
If you save the bitmap in OS2 format, then you wont need to edit them in Hex editor. Fshed wont show any stream error, and will import it without any trouble.
Step 8.
Open a loading screen file (341cf61cb6f2f38262f7203d0d3bde7b.fsh) with fshed.
Now you'll have to import the bmps in the order.
This is where the names (1.bmp, 2.bmp etc) will come handy. Place the bmps according to their numbers.
Click save.
Your loading screen is ready to be used. Copy the file to the Cricket 2005 directory and you are done.
I hope this tutorial helps. I guess its a bit confusing but I've tried my best to create this tutorial so that the amateurs can also have a go at it. Feel free to post your querries.
Softwares needed.
1. Photoshop, or any photo editing software.
2. Fshed.
3. May also need a Hex Editor.
And ofcourse you will need a loading screen template (341cf61cb6f2f38262f7203d0d3bde7b.fsh).
Basically If you open any loading screen with Fshed you will see that a picture is divied into 8 parts. The picture is to be divided in this pattern.6 parts in 256*256 dimension and 2 parts in 128*256 dimension.
Step 1.
Find a suitable picture fro the loading screen, and open it with photoshop.
Step 2.
Select File -> New.
type in the dimensions as shown in the picture. (width-896, and Height-512) The resolution is upto you. But a minimum of 72 is appropriate.
Step 3.
Copy the picture to the new page. You can just click and drag it. as shown in the pic. (Make sure the move tool is selected.)
IMG]http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/7656/34um1.jpg[/IMG]
Step 4.
scale the picture as required make sure the main material is in the middle of the page. To scale press Cntr+T or you can get it from Edit -> Free Transform.
Edit the image as you wish or you can add the Ea logo. Thats upto you. but when satisfied make sure all the layers are merged into a single layer. (to merge just select the linked icons and press Cntr+E.) It wouldnt matter if there is white on the two sides as they would be cropped down automatically.
Step 5.
Now open a new file with the dimensions of 256*256.
Then create a new layer, and fill it with a colour of your choice. Select and drag it to the main pic.
Set it at the top left corner.(it will snap.)
Now make copies of the layer. Press Alt and drag the image to make a copy.
You will see that Horizontally you can copy the image thrice(The third one being half) and vertically just once.
So once you are done with all the layers, now you'll have to make the different bmps.
(These layers that were created are forming the 8 divisions of the picture in correct dimensions.)
Once done you can turn off the visibilty of the layers.
Step 6.
Now press the ctrl key and click on the first layer as shown on the pic. This will create a marquee selection of the layer. Now make sure that the layer of the main pic is selected then press Cntr+C to copy.
If you still have the 256*256 dimension file opened, paste there. If not Create a new file with 256*256 dimension and press Cntr+V to paste. You will see that the pic will fit. The top left division of the loader is thus formed. Save it as a bmp naming 1.bmp.
Similarly you will now have to copy and paste the different divisions of the picture as you did for the first one. So Press Cntr and click on the second layer to create a marquee selection for the next division and copy and paste it in the 256*256 file to create the second part. This way you will have to create all the divisions. But the top Right and the bottom right divisions are 128*256 in dimensions so you'll need to create a new file of the same dimension to make these divisions.
This was the trickiest part of the process. This way you'll have 8 bmp files. If you named them according to me you will have six bmps (1.bmp, 2.bmp, 3.bmp,5.bmp,6.bmp, 7.bmp.) in 256*256 dimensions and 2 files (4.bmp and 8.bmp) in 128*256 dimension. As you can see in the picture.
Step 7.
Make sure you keep a backup of the bmps in a different folder.
You may have to edit these in Hex editor to avoid the stream error which is shown in Fshed while importing. All you need to do is delete the last two lines and save.
You can omit step 7. If you follow this. ( Thanks to Saurabh ) :hpraise
If you save the bitmap in OS2 format, then you wont need to edit them in Hex editor. Fshed wont show any stream error, and will import it without any trouble.
Step 8.
Open a loading screen file (341cf61cb6f2f38262f7203d0d3bde7b.fsh) with fshed.
Now you'll have to import the bmps in the order.
This is where the names (1.bmp, 2.bmp etc) will come handy. Place the bmps according to their numbers.
Click save.
Your loading screen is ready to be used. Copy the file to the Cricket 2005 directory and you are done.
I hope this tutorial helps. I guess its a bit confusing but I've tried my best to create this tutorial so that the amateurs can also have a go at it. Feel free to post your querries.
Last edited:
Reps 4U
, are you sure mate. 
:
