How to edit dt1 file Palettes

[Black Heart]

How to edit dt1 file Palettes

Tools needed:

A copy of Paint Shop Pro

DT1 Tools: Created by: Paul Siramy
This a package of simple programs for the management of the DT1 files.

Files needed:

D2_pal_for_psp : Created by: Paul Siramy
Diablo II Palettes for Paint Shop Pro.

data\global\tiles\ACT1\TOWN\objects.dt1

In this exercise we will be changing the pallet of Act1 Objects to palette 0 for use in any act.

Step 1

Place a copy of the objects.dt1 into the dt1tools directory
First we need to edit a bat file to unpack the dt1 file.
Open the "2-DT1extr Tristram.bat" and make the following changes to the command line (dt1extr objects.dt1 -pal d2pal\act1.dat) save and close.

Now run the bat and it will produce 3 files

objects-fs.pcx
objects-wu.pcx
objects.ini

-fs stand for "Floor Static"
-wu stand for "Walls Up"
ini is a sort of a dump of the other data that the dt1 have, but that we
Can’t draw on a bitmap. Like tile's sound, floor flags, orientation...

Step2

Open the objects-fs.pcx file using PSP

Then from the tool bar select color/edit palette opening the plate edit window. Select the palette index 0 entry the top left double click it opening the color submenu. index 0 is currently set to #616161 (97/97/97) change this to #00FFFF (0/255/255)

Step3
Then from the tool bar select color/load palette locate the directory you used to hold D2_pal_for_psp. Select d2-act0 save and exit. Choosing the "Nearest color matching" option is the best method.

Step4
Repeat process on the objects-wu.pcx


Step5
Now we need to edit the 3-DT1make Tristram.bat
Change the command line to (dt1make objects.ini) save and exit
Run the 3-DT1make Tristram.bat repacking the file objects.dt1.
This produces a file named "NEW_objects.dt1".

Step6
Place "NEW_objects.dt1" into the data\global\tiles\act1\town and rename file to objects.dt1.


This file now can be used in any act.

Special thanks to Paul Siramy for providing the tools and information needed to write this tutorial.

edited: using information from Paul

[Paul Siramy]

You have written a good explanation, but may I add 2 little notes ?

Step3
Then from the tool bar select color/load palette locate the directory you used to hold D2_pal_for_psp. Select d2-act0 save and exit.

Usually, choosing to recolor with the "Nearest color matching" option is the best method, tough "Error diffusion dithering" *may* be usefull (but I doubt it). In all cases, the option "Maintain indexes" must NOT be choosed.

Step5
Now we need to edit the 3-DT1make Tristram.bat
Change the command line to (dt1make objects.ini) save and exit
Run the 3-DT1make Tristram.bat repacking the file objects.dt1.

Step6
Place new objects.dt1 into the data\global\tiles\act1\town

The repacking don't overwrite the dt1, it create a new one. Here, it'll be "NEW_objects.dt1". That's this file which needs to be copied in data\global\tiles\act1\town and then rename to "objects.dt1".

[reiyo_oki]

Hmm....looks good for PSP users...but this can't be done with the Photoshop pallettes, as there are no act-specific ones in the zip...Is there a way to do this with the Photoshop (.act) pallettes? Or is there a method for converting the d2 pallettes from .dat to other types of pallettes?

[Paul Siramy]

I don't have Photoshop, but here is the general logic :

make "act 0" palette., this is a special palette that I made, and isn't present in D2 :
* Use dc6con to produce a pcx from a dc6.
* Open this image in photoshop : if you used my modified version of dc6con, you should have correctly RGB colors, else it'll be incorectly interpreted as greyscale.
* Edit the palette this way :
- the palette colors in photoshop are reversed, so here the color index #o should be white, and #255 black.
- edit color #255 to be cyan (RGB = 0, 255, 255)
- edit colors #1 to #30 to magenta (RGB = 255, 0, 255)
- save the palette somewhere

* Now, you can use the tutorial above : load the pcx with the dt1 tiles in photoshop, edit the palette to make the gray into cyan (color index #255), and then load the "act 0" palette you made. It should recolor the pixels without using the act-dependant colors.

[reiyo_oki]

Thanks for the reply Paul, that explains quite a bit. With this info I should be chugging merrily along in my conversion of the BGII maps

[kiddemik1416]

hi who can help me please create new dt1 with new floors?

[kiddemik1416]

hi guys i am new here and i need youre help to creat a new mod from diablo 2?
who wanna help me ?