Made a cool new ability that doesn't seem to have a fitting command card button? This is how you can put whatever picture your heart desires in one of the pressable squares in the bottom right corner of the UI. This tutorial uses Photoshop, the easiest program I find to make the required .dds file type for the icons. Don't worry, if you aren't a Photoshop pro, the things you have to do are pretty straightforward.
76 pixel x 76 pixel picture of whatever you want your custom ability represented by
1. Install Photoshop then the NVIDIA plugin
2. Open your picture with photoshop (background preferably black if you want it to match other SC buttons, which you will)
3. Resize and center your picture so as to leave a 4-pixel-wide border around the edge of the frame. Making a frame this exact in size is easiest done by zooming way in until the individual pixels are visible.
4. Highlight everything EXCEPT the 4-pixel border.
5. Under the Select tab, choose Save Selection.
6. Press OK on the next dialog box.
7. Click the CHANNELS tab (right next to the LAYERS tab which by default is on the right).
8. Click "Save As" and under Form choose .D3D/DDS (if you installed the NVIDIA plugin incorrectly, .dds won't appear).
9. On the NVIDIA save screen, choose DXT5 from the dropdown menu at the top then click Save.
10. Go into your Galaxy Editor and go to the import menu (F9 from terrain layer).
11. Import your new file. Note that everything is checked by default, uncheck everything but your .dds picture. Click Save.
12. Go to the buttons tab in the data editor. Under the "Icon" field find the .dds file you uploaded.
13. Assign this button to a unit via the "unit" tab under the "Ability: Command Card +" field. - DONE!
Let me know if you have any questions or problems.
Let me know if you have any questions or problems.
3. Resize and center your picture so as to leave a 4-pixel-wide border around the edge of the frame. Making a frame this exact in size is easiest done by zooming way in until the individual pixels are visible.
I have a problem with step 3. How do you resize the picture so you can have the 4-pixel-wide border and what does this step look like when finished? I skip step 3 and did the rest of the steps and everything worked. But skipping step 3 resulted in a faded outline around the button.
@Bilxor: Go Thank you for this tutorial. I solved my problem with the faded outline. What I did was copy the alpha layer on the Yamato cannon and then I past the alpha layer on the Blue Yamato cannon alpha layer. Now the Custom button looks like the rest.
Made a cool new ability that doesn't seem to have a fitting command card button? This is how you can put whatever picture your heart desires in one of the pressable squares in the bottom right corner of the UI. This tutorial uses Photoshop, the easiest program I find to make the required .dds file type for the icons. Don't worry, if you aren't a Photoshop pro, the things you have to do are pretty straightforward.
You will need:
1. Install Photoshop then the NVIDIA plugin
2. Open your picture with photoshop (background preferably black if you want it to match other SC buttons, which you will)
3. Resize and center your picture so as to leave a 4-pixel-wide border around the edge of the frame. Making a frame this exact in size is easiest done by zooming way in until the individual pixels are visible.
4. Highlight everything EXCEPT the 4-pixel border.
5. Under the Select tab, choose Save Selection.
6. Press OK on the next dialog box.
7. Click the CHANNELS tab (right next to the LAYERS tab which by default is on the right).
8. Click "Save As" and under Form choose .D3D/DDS (if you installed the NVIDIA plugin incorrectly, .dds won't appear).
9. On the NVIDIA save screen, choose DXT5 from the dropdown menu at the top then click Save.
10. Go into your Galaxy Editor and go to the import menu (F9 from terrain layer).
11. Import your new file. Note that everything is checked by default, uncheck everything but your .dds picture. Click Save.
12. Go to the buttons tab in the data editor. Under the "Icon" field find the .dds file you uploaded.
13. Assign this button to a unit via the "unit" tab under the "Ability: Command Card +" field. - DONE!
Let me know if you have any questions or problems.
<Click Here> To See My Epic Single Player Campaign (LifeForceCampaign.com)
I have a problem with step 3. How do you resize the picture so you can have the 4-pixel-wide border and what does this step look like when finished? I skip step 3 and did the rest of the steps and everything worked. But skipping step 3 resulted in a faded outline around the button.
@Bilxor: Go Thank you for this tutorial. I solved my problem with the faded outline. What I did was copy the alpha layer on the Yamato cannon and then I past the alpha layer on the Blue Yamato cannon alpha layer. Now the Custom button looks like the rest.
Before
After