Would this be a good tool to use for adding 3D models to new units? I'd like to try and lend a hand at making units for the Expanding Fronts mod (mainly to work on a faction for the Black Sun).

This tool would be used to convert rendered frames of your 3D models (doesn't work with 3D itself) to SLP format, which the game uses for 2D graphics.

As for adding Black Sun, see my post in the EF thread.

Updated SLX Studio to version 1.1! You can download it from the download section or the Discord server.

Change Log:
- Overhauled player color detection in the Data Graphics tools. Now you can choose to use a preset color array and/or up to 3 different colors to detect player colors in graphics.
- Added radius option for Omit Grays in Data Graphics tools.
- Added CSV support for custom DRS lists in the DRS Viewer. CSV files must be at the same location and named the same as the DRS file.
- Added CSV support for building DRS files. This allows you to keep resource files with alphanumeric names and assign ID numbers with a CSV file.
- Added auto-positioning when opening SLPs in the SLP or DRS Viewers.
- Terrain Builder now properly uses the selected color palette for SLPs without needing to also set the palette in SLP Color Settings.
- Added "PlayerColorSetIndex", "PlayerColorGroup", "PlayerColor2", "PlayerColor3", "GrayRadius", and renamed "PlayerColor" to "PlayerColor1" in the .ini configuration settings file.
- Fixed an issue with SLPs having partially broken lines in some rare cases.
- Other fixes and improvements.

DRS CSV files must be in this format (without brackets) with the last 2 values being optional: [ID Number], [Extension], [Custom Name], [Directory Path]
Example line: 15055, .slp, Grass 4

When building a DRS with a CSV file, it will search for the file within the CSV file's folder path unless another directory path is provided.
Example line: 15055, .slp, Grass 4, C:\Users\My Name\Documents\SLP\


-------------------------

SLX Studio (v1.1a) hotfix changes:
- Fixed an issue with AoE1 terrain elevation frames being drawn incorrectly on PCs with high DPI settings.
- Fixed shadows for AoE1 SLPs.
- Added Batch Replace SLP Colors tool to the SLP menu. Changes all instances of a color index to another index and exports all altered SLPs to a destination folder.

[This message has been edited by Tevious (edited 10-21-2018 @ 09:32 AM).]

Updated SLX Studio to version 1.2! You can download it from the Downloads section or the Discord server.

SLX Studio (v1.2) changes:
- SLX Studio now utilizes the %temp% folder. All progress, including graphical changes, is only applied to your SLX project once saved.
- Added "Undo" option to the Edit menu to undo all unsaved progress.
- Added "Refresh All Images" and "Refresh Selected Images" options to the Edit menu to update frames with their source images and data images.
- Added "New" (blank SLX) option to the File menu and moved "New Custom SLX" from the File menu to the Edit menu as "Generate Custom SLX Data".
- Replaced the Color Picker dialog with a new one by "Cyotek". Now supports 32-bit colors and features a screen capture eyedrop tool.
- Added "DRSPath" in the .ini configuration file as the default browse folder location for building DRS files.
- Added "QuickDRSPath", "QuickDRSFilename", and "QuickDRSType" to the .ini configuration file and added a Build > Quick DRS option in the DRS menu. Use these to set up a DRS that you frequently build.
(A "QuickDRSType" value of 1 = Galactic Battlegrounds, 2 = Age of Empires.)
- Added a 4th Player Color button to the Data Graphics tools and "PlayerColor4" to the .ini configuration file.
- Added Mirror Image tool.
- Added a multi-file select option for Decode Voobly SLP (Selecting mutliple files will have a "_decoded" suffix in the file name)
- Added a multi-file select option for Resize Image, Mirror Image, and Rotate Image. (Note that multiple files will overwrite the selected images rather than prompting you to Save As each individual file)
- Added dither options to palette applications. (Note that "Diffusion" can be a little slow.)
- Updated EF_Graphics color palette and the EF Color Set.
- Added palettes from AoE: DE and AoK: HD to the palette list and updated the "Palette#Name" and "Palette#Path" entries in the .ini configuration file.
- Auto-palette now correctly selects the palattes for AoK:HD SLPs with special palettes (trees/cliffs).
- Changed the way Auto-palette records color palette indices within SLX Studio created SLPs, which should fix certain types of AoKHD SLPs from crashing.
- Added "Advanced SLP" option when exporting to SLP to customize variables such as the SLP version, comment, frame palette offset, frame palette properties, and other settings.
- Removed Directory and Options groups from the FX Editor, as they are now unnecessary. All results from using the FX Editor can now just be saved as a new SLX project to avoid overwriting your initial SLX project.
- Splitting shadows in the Data Graphics tool will now prompt you to Save As a new SLX project for the generated shadow SLX. Frames will be created at the location of the SLX file that you save.
- Loading a Shadow SLX now prompts you to open a shadow SLX file instead of using the "Shadow Sub-Folder" field.
- Replaced the "Shadow Sub-Folder" text box on the main form with a SLP Color Palette combo box for convenience.
- The .ini configuration file will update entries upon first loading a newer version of SLX Studio and without overriding your existing changes.
- Preview image on the main form will no longer crash.
- Fixed crashes with Generate Data tool when auto-cropping blank frames.
- Fixed an issue where certain SLPs that were both 32-bit and 8-bit weren't reading correctly.
- "Batch Extract SLP to SLX" now functions again.
- Other fixes and improvements.

Updated SLX Studio to version 1.3! You can download it from the Downloads section or the Discord server.

SLX Studio (v1.3) changes:
- AoE Deluxe Edition 4.0X SLPs are now fully readable with shadows.
- Implemented "4.0X DE SLP" as an export option for Export To SLP.
- Using 0 padding (X and Y) with Auto-Crop in the Data Graphics tool should now correctly have no background padding. If using outlines, a minimum padding of 1 is forced due to how outlines are drawn.
- Corrected SLP and DRS Viewers to properly use only Read status, except while saving, to prevent locking of files.
- SLP and DRS Viewers now support saving color palette frame indices to the palette offset field of each frame. A "Set" button has been added next to the Color Palette box to set the current palette (not in auto-mode) to the frame. Changes must be saved before loading another SLP to be permanent. (This feature is not supported with AoE1 SLPs.)
- Terrain Builder now has a save option for "User Patch Terrain SLP" with advanced options. (Brightest color index is automatically determined.)
- Converting to SLP with missing data frames will now be read as if they had pure white data frames. (Useful for creating icon SLPs)
- Updated Delta Object Positioner to work with newer SLP options.
- Improved the way files are renamed and deleted. Deleted images are now sent to the Recycle Bin.
- Added "AnchorColor" to .ini configuration settings to change the color of the anchor crosshair.
- Added SlpMaskOnToggle, SlpShadowOnToggle, and SlpOutlinesOnToggle to .INI configuration settings for SLP and DRS Viewers.
- Replaced "CustomPlayerColorSet" items in the .INI configuration settings with "CustomPlayer#StartIndex". Set the start index for each player color and then each entry in the custom palette from that point for "CustomPlayerColorsLength" colors in length will be set to the colors for that player.
- Updated EF color palette and grey color set.
- Double-clicking the graphic image now gets anchor point coordinates for zoomed graphics.
- GIF images can now be inserted as frames. Each frame of the GIF will be extracted as either .PNG or .BMP images and added to your SLX project. (Drag-drop also supported)
- Added new file association options for .PAL, .ACT, and .GPL.
- Updated icons, including a new logo design, courtesy of "nKo_D". (Re-set file associations to get the new file icons)
- Palette files opened with SLX Studio will now automatically load straight to the Color Palette Editor.
- Added some "Omit Alphas" checkboxes to Tolerance bars which will ignore differences in color opacities.
- Added "Select" button next to the "Reset" frames button on the main form to set the selected start and end frames.
- Added shortcuts "Shift + S" to select the frames range and "Shift + A" to reset the frames range to all frames.
- Added new "stun_sparks" FX to FX Editor.
- Added an 8 direction (E, SE, S, SW, W, NW, N, NE) option for some FX.
- Added a "Sort Frames Alphanumerically" option to the Rename tool.
- Added additional zoom options by clicking the graphic while pressing Ctrl to zoom in and Alt to zoom out.
- Fixed anomalies with zoomed graphics that contained transparent pixels or the mask turned off.
- Fixed Auto-Crop in the Data Graphics tool from converting 32-bit graphics to 24-bit.
- Fixed SLP Import to properly open the created SLX project.
- Fixed lag when using "Apply to All" or the "Ctrl + A" shortcut to select all frames.
- Fixed blurred edges with Resize Image tool.
- Fixed an issue with SLPs where pixels would be displaced by 1 pixel after a very large gap.
- Fixed a crash with "Create Terrain Map From Texture" tool.
- Several other fixes and improvements.

[EDIT] Updated again (04/11) with version 1.3a to fix some things that broke with v1.3.
- Fixed bugs introduced with new features from v1.3.
- Rearranged some keyboard shortcuts.
- Fixed "Save All Frames" options in SLP and DRS Viewers to correctly display 4.0X SLP shadows.
- Fixed crashes for OpenFileDialog and SaveFileDialog with High Contrast Mode.
- Ctrl key + shift buttons now shifts selected frames to the top or bottom.
- Fixed crashes when trying to save an SLP that is already opened or in use.
- Added "gun_smoke_big" FX to FX Editor.

[This message has been edited by Tevious (edited 04-11-2019 @ 04:43 AM).]

Damn, never thought you would be back here to design something like this.

Good job man. Hope you are doing well.

Hi, Bendak! Well, since my tool supports all of the genie engine games, it gets a lot of use with modders outside of Galactic Battlegrounds, especially with Age of Empires II, which still has a thriving modding community. For GB, we pretty much just have the Expanding Fronts mod these days. You should check that out and join the Discord if you are interested.

Great to hear. I dont have much time for gaming/making games nowadays but its pretty awesome what you guys are doing to keep this all alive.

Tevious, sorry. Could you make it possible to extract sprites without cropping the canvas?

Then it’s very problematic to center sprites to pack into another game.
It turns out like this:


Do it please, sprite extraction, as in "SWGB DRS Tools - Viewer / Extractor (v0.5b)".

[This message has been edited by Soldiers_TODD (edited 01-19-2020 @ 07:05 AM).]

It's already possible, but you're going about it the wrong way. What you need to do is instead of extracting frames from the viewer tools, extract the SLP from the DRS, convert it to SLX, and use the Tools > Resize Graphic Canvas tool, which will do exactly what you want and keep the unit centered.

You misunderstood me.
I need to pack not in "Star Wars: Galactic Battleground", but pack in another game. And for this purpose, I need uncircumcised sprites / frames.

I didn't misunderstand you. You want the frames to look like the 2nd GIF to use in another game. The steps I told you are the steps that you need to do to do that. You just have a misconception on how SLPs work. You are assuming that the SLP frames have a lot of dead/empty space in them to keep the sprites centered, but that's not how it works. The frames in the SLP are already cropped like in the first GIF. My tool isn't "circumcising" the frames at all. The reason they aren't jumpy like that is because SLPs contain anchor points; X and Y coordinates that position the sprite. When you extract the frames directly from the viewer, you lose those anchor points. It wouldn't be ideal to make the viewer image extraction tool just change the size of the frames. So like I said, convert the SLPs to SLX. SLX is just a series of .PNG or .BMP images with the SLX file that contains the anchor data. From there, using the Resize Graphic Canvas tool will resize the canvas space of each frame and draw the sprites using the anchors to center them and that's exactly what you want.

[This message has been edited by Tevious (edited 01-20-2020 @ 02:24 AM).]

Thanks. Understood.
Tevious, sorry, I have a few more questions.
1. You could make it so that when unpacking, the first digit in the name of the sprite would mean the angle number, and the second digit would mean the frame number (1_001 ... 5_008, see the example in the archive)?
https://www.mediafire.com/file/xqyedaotshckejg/Droid_(example_of_frame_name).7z/file

2. Why can’t I change the shadow color of some units? For example, the droids of the trade federation.
I have to manually repaint the shadow in paint.net of each sprite, and this takes me time.

You can rename frames how you want in Edit > Rename Selected, but if you're on version 1.3a, I'm not sure if it was working correctly then. I had to fix some things at least twice since then. If that's not good enough, there is a very useful app called "Bulk Rename Utility" that you may want to use.

As for the shadows, some units in GB, generally most of the trainable ones, just use black pixels for shadows. And then there are other units, such as heroes, that use special shadow pixels (like buildings do) and those you can change to whatever color you want by changing the shadow color in Graphics > Graphic Color Settings (or formerly SLP > SLP Color Settings). If the shadows are black pixels, there's no perfect solution that SLX Studio can do about that. You could try using the Color Replace tool and change black to whatever color you need at like 40% from bottom, but that gets tricky if there are supposed to be black pixels on the unit that are not shadows.

[This message has been edited by Tevious (edited 01-21-2020 @ 07:46 AM).]

You could try using the Color Replace tool and change black to whatever color you need at like 40% from bottom, but that gets tricky if there are supposed to be black pixels on the unit that are not shadows.

I have already tried. This is the essence of the problem, not only the pixels of the shadow are painted over, but also other black pixels of the image. Therefore, I have to repaint each sprite manually.
Tevious, do you know why heroes and buildings have a different shadow from other units? Why is this done?

Yeah, it's very unfortunate that they did it that way. My hypothesis is that it's just because AoK has black shadows for all units, so LucasArts did their units the same way. Maybe eventually they realized that they could use shadow pixels for units, but instead of redoing all the assets again, they just decided to use them for heroes and large units like mechs where it's most noticeable.

I haven't updated here in a long time and so this update is a combination of all updates since version 1.3a.

SLX Studio (v1.4) changes:
- Added support for SMP and SMX formats.
- Added new AoE2 DE color palettes.
- Added DDS saving support to Graphics Viewer (for converting images to icon, terrain, menu, and particle textures).
- Added file association support for DDS format.
- Added file association support for SMP and SMX formats with file icons. (Also changed the PAL icon to green.)
- Setting file associations now stores icons in the `AppData\Local\SLX Studio\` folder.
- Import now uses the temp folder and no longer creates a folder at SLP location.
- Importing 4.0X SLPs now merge shadows into the frames.
- Added "Decay" type and 4.1X SLP option to the 4.0X SLP export form that auto-generates the decay or "sinking" progression.
- Graphics Viewer uses a "Decay Scale" control for version 4.1X Decay SLPs.
- Graphics Viewer uses a "Damage Scale control for SMP/SMX building damage/darkening effect.
- Added palette and palette ID customization options to Export forms. You can now select frames to use different palettes.
- The default auto-palette IDs in the export forms can be changed in the .INI configuration settings with "Palette#ID=".
- The Sprite Sheet Splitter tool now allows for tiles to exceed the boundaries of the sprite sheet image. A background color button and tooltips were also added.
- Added Multi-Select tool under "Edit" (Ctrl + M) to select (or deselect) every N items in the Frames List.
- Added Extend / Truncate Frames tool under "Edit" to increase or decrease the amount of frames. (Increasing creates duplicate frames and decreasing deletes frames.)
- Added flamethrower FX to FX Editor and added 8 directions option to all "spray_flames" FX.
- Added option (checkbox) to Generate Data Graphics to generate a blank damage data graphic.
- Made revisions to some tools: Generate Data Graphics, Color Replace, Batch Generate Data Graphics, Batch Color Replace, and Batch Convert.
- Made changes to .INI configuration settings file and removed some now obsolete entries.
- Added Deassociation option for files in the File Association settings.
- Fixed some issues regarding renaming and saving.
- Fixed some issues regarding deleting and duplicating frames.
- Fixed an issue with loading custom .ACT palettes under some circumstances.
- Fixed an issue with creating a new blank SLX project.
- Fixed an issue with creating AoE1 terrain SLPs in the Terrain Builder.
- Fixed high-DPI over-scaling issues.
- Fixed some issues with the SLP terrain-map viewer option in the Graphics Viewer.
- Fixed X and Y coordinates in Delta Object Positioner tool.
- Other fixes and improvements.


--------------------------------------------

SLX Studio (v1.3e) changes:
- Upgraded .NET Framework to 4.6.1.
- 4.0X SLPs now correctly supports the VFX type for semi-transparency with color palettes.
- Renamed "Shadow SLX" to "Attachment SLX" in the 4.0X SLP export options since there is more than one type of attached data in the SLP.
- Renamed "SLP" to "Graphics" and "DRS" to "Data Resources" in the menu strip.
- Renamed "SLP Viewer" to "Graphics Viewer" as it can now view other image formats: .BMP, .PNG, .JPG, .TGA, and .DDS.
- Changed Export options: "Standard 2.0N SLP File" now prompts the user to select a color palette and has 8-bit, 32-bit, and Terrain choices. "AoE1 2.0N SLP File" will now automatically use the AoE_Graphics palette.
- Replaced Gif creator with an improved one. (Should no longer have color anomalies.)
- Added "Resize Graphic Scale" tool to resize SLX project images with adjusted anchors.
- Added "Extract SLPs From AKS or AKX" tool in the Graphics menu.
- Added player color selection to Graphics/DRS Viewer forms. (So you don't have to go into SLP Color Settings every time.)
- Added "Export To Selected Folder" option in the Graphics menu for Batch Convert To SLP that creates the SLP files at the selected browser path instead of the path of the SLX files. This is turned on by default and can be turned off from the menu or in the .INI configuration settings with "ExportToSelectedFolder=0".
- Added 32-bit Terrain SLP option in the Terrain Builder (for AoE1 DE).
- Added a terrain tile size selection option in the Texture to Terrain Map tool.
- Added more terrain tile sizes for AoE1 DE (x2 and x4).
- Added 32-bit checkbox to the color palette options. This removes color palettes and allows the use of dither methods without a palette.
- Added new options to the .INI configuration settings.
- Added a jump to next directional frame shortcut to the Graphics/DRS Viewers for supported 4.0X SLPs.
(Use Ctrl + Down/Right for clockwise and Ctrl + Up/Left for counter-clockwise.)
- "Save All Frames" in the Graphics/DRS Viewers now saves frames at the current zoom size.
- Files with extensions of .PER, .RMS, .PAL, and .BMP now automatically get sent to the BIN table without having to be renamed with a .BIN extension when building DRS files.
- Improved performance for Select All in the Frames List.
- Improved speed of the Diffusion method.
- Improved performance of operations with large SLX files.
- Added progress bars with cancellation support to many operations, such as opening SLX projects, editing frames (Delete, Duplicate, Rename), Undo, and Save All Frames in the viewer tools.
- Fixed an issue with resized images having ghost borders.
- Fixed a continuous loop bug with the anchor buttons.
- Fixed some issues with auto-crop in the Data Graphics tool.
- Made improvements to saving methods.
- Added some protections against invalid image files that cause crashes or bugs.
- Other fixes and improvements.

--------------------------------------------

SLX Studio (v1.3c) changes:
- Added a display terrain map option to the View menu of the Graphics and DRS Viewers to see terrains unsplit.
- Fixed a crash with creating a new DRS file.
- Fixed an issue with color palettes not changing for some people.
- Fixed an issue in the FX Editor where the last frame was not applied in some cases.
- Fixed Import SLP to force a magenta background in the data graphics.

--------------------------------------------

SLX Studio (v1.3b) changes:
- Added a Frames Selected count and a Total Selected count to the main form above the Frames List.
- Added Player Colors option to "Batch Replace SLP Colors" to change only player color indices.
- Fixed "Batch Extract SLP to SLX" to work again.

Hey Tevious,

I have a question about using SLX Studio:

I’m trying to create an SLP from my SLX project, but converting it is giving me an SLP file that cannot be read because it’s corrupted.

I think it may have to do with setting the colour to 32 bit. My PNG images in the SLX file use a range of colours outside the 8 bit range, so I need to use 32 bit or the graphic looks weird.

I’m probably doing something wrong because I’m still learning the program, but if you had any ideas for troubleshooting I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks!
Syncytial

Version 1.4 has a bug where it doesn't correctly sign SLPs as 32-bit. I've already fixed this for version 1.4.1 and I'll try to release it as soon as I figure out what's causing another bug.

As a side note, since this is SWGBH... If you aren't aware, SWGB doesn't use 32-bit SLPs. But then maybe you're doing something in AoK HD?

[This message has been edited by Tevious (edited 03-04-2020 @ 08:27 AM).]

Okay thanks for letting me know! I am working with SWGB, so that would be why things weren’t working out. I kind of gathered as much through trial and error.😅

Anyways, despite my ineptitude I really like this tool. It works great and is designed really nicely. So I just wanted to say thank you for creating it. You’re awesome!

SLX Studio (v1.4.1) changes:
- DRS files can now store filenames (only readable with SLX Studio). Filenames should first contain the ID number, then an underscore, then the name of the file and file extension. Filenames should also not exceed 48 characters (not including the ID and first underscore).
- The Color Replace tools now has "Update" buttons to apply changes to the currently selected item in the grid box.
- The Color Replace tools now remember your color changes in the grid box after closing the form.
- Fixed a problem with exporting SLPs to 32-bit not being signed as 32-bit.
- Fixed player colors when importing 4.1X SLPs.
- Fixed an error with shifting multiple frames to the top or bottom of the Frames List (Ctrl + Shift Up/Down buttons).
- Fixed an issue with deleting frames from the Delete Selected (Advanced) form in the Edit menu.
- Fixed an error when attempting to open the "Extend/Truncate Frames" form from the Edit menu.
- Fixed an issue with the SLX file icon not being created when setting up File Associations.
- Fixed an issue with Batch Convert to SLP/SMP/SMX that ignored SLX files that had blank frames.
- Importing SLPs now automatically determines the color palette based on the signed palette ID used within the SLP file.
- Added a "Force Color Palette on Import" checkbox in the Graphic Color Settings form for using the selected color palette rather than the signed palette ID.
- Added an "Options" button on the main form next to the Import/Export Palette combo-box to conveniently open the Graphic Color Settings.
- Added "Skip Directions" and "Clear Selected" options to the Multi-Select Frames form in the Edit menu (Ctrl + M).
- Added "Preview Selected" button to the Apply Color Palette tool in the Tools menu.
- Added "blast_cannon" FX (for SWGB) to FX Editor.
- Other fixes and improvements.

Pardon if this comes off as a dumb question but do you have to type in coordinates to set up an anchor point or can you just double-click the image to setup one?

EDIT: Nevermind, the answer was already in the video you made.

[This message has been edited by Captain Keno (edited 06-04-2020 @ 01:12 PM).]