Question about indexing csps..

[Alphatron]

If using smashbox/brawlbox, do I have to index anything at all? When I extract the original picture and then edit it in photoshop, the edited picture seems to take on the properties of the original anyway. For example, kirby's 06 texture is colored in grayscale. When replacing it with this, it becomes all black and white as well. (If there's a way around this, please let me know)

However, I had a problem a while back where I would use a picture of strikers Luigi as a csp and the game would freeze on me. So basically, do I need to index anything?

[Hakumen]

You NEED to index them, or else they'll look like [censored] in game.

Also, as for Kirby's grayscale CSP, it's not in grayscale format, so it shouldn't be turning grayscale. It's not grayscale when I replace it.

[Alphatron]

Odd. Although thank you for explaining why my CSPs had such crap quality in game. I would attempt to index the texture after I'd already replaced the original with it, but only to see that the picture was already in the indexed color format...

To be honest, I don't really get indexing. Local perceptual, but I'm not sure how many colors I'm allowed to put. Only that Game & Watch doesn't allow a lot and I don't use textures for him anyway.

[Hakumen]

Odd. Although thank you for explaining why my CSPs had such crap quality in game. I would attempt to index the texture after I'd already replaced the original with it, but only to see that the picture was already in the indexed color format...

To be honest, I don't really get indexing. Local perceptual, but I'm not sure how many colors I'm allowed to put. Only that Game & Watch doesn't allow a lot and I don't use textures for him anyway.

You can index to any amount. Though, the highest is 256.

[mnsg]

Although SmashBox (BrawlBox) does automatically index images that need an indexed palette, it is recommended that you index it manually with The GIMP or Photoshop.  The only exception to this rule is if you're editing Fox's headgear and want to maintain the visor's semi-transparency.

Anyway, regarding the CSP files, most use a maximum of 240 colors, but some do use a smaller palette or use up to 256 colors (mostly for Wario though).  Make sure that your custom portraits do not use more colors than what the texture part will accept.

Kirby's 6th portrait uses up to 80 colors, so any custom Kirby portraits that replace that portrait can't use more than 80 colors.  The other Kirby portraits use either 240 (portraits 1, 5) or 224 (portraits 2, 3, 4) colors.

P.S.: You don't need to bother with perfect magenta (#ff00ff) when using SmashBox, since PNG images use an Alpha Channel, even if they're indexed.

[Alphatron]

^Thanks! I'm gonna tackle kirby's grayscale csp again and see if I can fix it. Is there a reference list for the maximum colors you're allowed to use for each character's portrait?

[mnsg]

^Thanks! I'm gonna tackle kirby's grayscale csp again and see if I can fix it. Is there a reference list for the maximum colors you're allowed to use for each character's portrait?

If you use SmashBox to look at common5.pac or sc_selcharacter.pac, you should find an archive called char_bust_tex_lz77.  Inside that archive is all of the CSP texture parts, and each one uses an indexed palette.  Look at the palettes, and you'll see how many colors each one uses.

And like Shadow said earlier, Kirby's 6th portrait isn't limited to grayscale colors; it would be named tex#00_09+2 if ASHable.  You can use any RGB colors, as long as the portrait uses no more than 80 colors.

[Alphatron]

Alright. Thanks again. Finally, I know I need to edit something else in order to get the result screen pictures to appear. That's the sc_selcharacter.pac file, right? If I want to do battle portraits, that's something completely unrelated to that file?

[Hakumen]

Alright. Thanks again. Finally, I know I need to edit something else in order to get the result screen pictures to appear. That's the sc_selcharacter.pac file, right? If I want to do battle portraits, that's something completely unrelated to that file?

Battle portraits have their own location. In Info > portrite is where they lie.

[Alphatron]

Extra questions. Does Dither matter? I still get the quality reduction when copying my personal indexed image and pasting it over the image I exported in photoshop.