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Topic: Star Control 2 - 3DO Fonts - Possible to add this in UQM? (Read 3434 times)
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GBAura
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For those who saw a couple of glimpses of (or own) the 3DO version of Star Control 2 since a lot of us are using UQM, you'll note that the most interesting thing about it is that the game uses the "thicker" version of font from the PC version. For whatever reason, this font is not available in UQM nor in the source code, which is a shame because it fits with the "Flat" option in UQM, yet this font in particular is left out. There is a good reason for that, as I'll get into later.
I'm not 100% sure why this wasn't imported to UQM. Is that font copyrighted? The reason for me asking this is because no one or any other source mentioned this. I know the FMV option isn't distributed with UQM because Crystal Dynamics still owns the rights to it, but why this one bit left out?
If you're left in limbo and have no clue what I'm talking about, here's the images so you can compare the differences for yourself:
PC:
3DO:
UQM:
I was making the fonts work in UQM as I ripped the graphics through screen-caps. I also tweaked the symbols that weren't edited from the 3DO version, so you can say this is *almost* all the fonts from that port. However, there IS a reason why those symbols aren't edited, as I realized it caused a graphical error at the last frame.
As a misc note, Commander Hayes uses the same font as the player. He was supposed to use the thin font like in the PC version but since the commander.fon folder was removed in UQM 0.7.0, the comm screen uses the player.fon folder instead. I know why that happened, it's meant to reduce space as the code was redesigned to make is user-friendly (and that's one heck of a commitment!)
OK, the problems with the absence of this font. UQM as we all know has a lot of options for users to edit the game for their own pleasure, and one of them is the ability to change the text style from PC to 3DO. With the PC options, you get a thin fonts well as gradients to the ship screen, it's appropriate as it looks nice for PC users. The 3DO one uses a 'Flat' scheme, and while it's unappealing compared to the original, it makes the text easier to read as it uses a maroon colour and a thicker font style for the ship screen, and that is where the problem comes in. The thick font that the ship screen uses doesn't apply to the text around it! With the thick fonts absent, the PC font is kinda difficult to read for some people even if they choose the 3DO option, and this is kinda bad for when mods are made to port the game to consoles. The fact that UQM's goal is recreate the two versions as much as it can and this is not included is kinda strange if you think about it.
Sorry for coming off as harsh, I'm not trying to force this change, but I'm confused why this wasn't available since the initial release. Can anyone explain to me why it's absent? I'd really appreciate it.
-GBAura
Edit: If you're wondering about the line change in UQM, I did that. I modified the game to fix various bits of music, graphics, and the dialogue since some parts kinda bothered me. This is merely a personal edit.
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« Last Edit: February 27, 2013, 01:48:20 pm by GBAura »
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onpon4
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What about just the spacing between the lines? It's almost double-spaced in UQM.
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GBAura
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Meep-Eep: Thanks for clearing that up!
Opon4: Well, I edited the graphics for the Player font in UQM prior to your request and got this:
So, what do you think? If you're wondering how I did it, again, I edited the graphics. When you are looking in the player.fon folder, notice that one of the images is completely black? Just open the file in any picture editor and change the size from 4x9 to 2x9. With the tiny folder for the 3DO graphics I changed the spacing graphic to 1x9.
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In other news, here's some other images that the font is affecting, looks good, doesn't it (aside from some glitches)?
As you can see from the images, I noticed that you can just keep the Gradients option due to the replaced .fon files. I actually made the 3DO font available anyway. Is it possible that the newest version of UQM can let users choose what fonts they want to display insted of going to the Flat option? That would be neat!
I will upload the graphics of what I got so far when I finished editing and ripping the contents. Unless, no, I can't submit fan things to UQM since half of the fonts are edited by me... If you really want to me to, let me know.
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Kaiser
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Not so much as fan-made or edited... Rather... Restored by yourself to the 3DO values.
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GBAura
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It's been a long time, huh? I was planning to post earlier, but I had a lot of stuff to do IRL and most of the UQM related sites went down before I could post...
Here's some more images to show what it would also affect:
(Keep in mind that the 3DO port also affected these areas, even the picture above, so nothing major needs to be changed in the code to fix certain issues. All except for one bit below.)
You should notice that on the second image had a small error, since the text is slightly biggen than the PC font, the "Marypup" overlaps the Crew and Fuel units a bit. If you compare that to the 3DO port, you would get something like this:
Yes, they shifted the Crew and Fuel icons slightly so the text can fit in. Maybe there could be an alternative for UQM to fix that issue?
Here's the fonts if you guys want to try them. Sadly, I don't know how to make the add-on package work, so I will give you the raw materials instead.
http://www.mediafire.com/?v6bdtpki4pcudqn
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