1. Extract all of the art from the original .GRP file. Type "kextract duke3d.grp *.art"
in your Duke directory.
2. Run EditArt, it will go in and load all of the tiles (14 to start)
3. You'll start out on the first tile. Hit 'V' once and you'll see something
very similar to Build when looking at tiles. Move to the tile you want to edit
by using the arrow keys. Hit Enter on any tile and it will bring you back to
the editing screen. Hit PgUp or PgDn to cycle through the tiles.
4. To jump to a specific tile, hit 'G' at any time. The user art
starts at tile number 3584. Jump to this, and you'll see a little User Art
tile.
5. To start a new tile, select one that's empty (3585 sounds
good), and hit 'S'. This will let you enter the X and Y dimensions.
6. You'll start with a tile that is shaded entirely pink... it's not really
pink; it is the masking color, which shows up as invisible during the game.
7. You probably won't want to do any actual editing in EditArt.
It's really a pain in the butt. I use Paintshop Pro to do all of my
editing... it's much easier. Save all of your files in the .GIF format...
EditArt really doesn't like anything else. Also, save them to your Duke
directory. It makes loading the images in much easier.
8. The best thing about EditArt is its import capability. Make a
new tile, and size it to match the original image. Hit 'U', and you'll be
presented with a list of image files in your Duke directory. Select your
original, and hit ENTER. Note... sometimes EditArt will pick up a tile
automatically and display it. If this happens, just hit ESC and you'll
see the directory listing.
9. You'll see your full image, with a white-bordered box flashing
around it. This is the actual size of your new tile, which should match
your original image. Hit ENTER to load that image in.
10. Hit PgUp to select the next tile, it will ask you if you want
to save the current tile. Hit 'Y' and you're done. Hit ESC then 'Y' in the
main editing screen and it will update the corresponding .ART file. It is
pretty standard policy among Duke Builders to put any custom art in
TILES014.ART, which begins with tile #3584. You can distribute this file
with your levels (named to something other than TILES014.ART,) just tell
the players to rename any current TILES014.ART as a backup. Then rename
your file to TILES014.ART and they're all set.
11. Most of the time, EditArt won't correctly import your image's
"invisible", or masking color. If this happens, and your sprite has pink
stuff all over it, you need to actually use EditArt to go in and change your
tile. Find your tile, move the little pixel pointer (mouse works here, or
the arrow keys) to any one of the pixels representing the color you wish to
make masking. Hit BACKSPACE, which will select the masking color (the palette
is down in the lower-right.) Then hit 'C', which will change all of the
pixels matching the pixel color you have pointed-at to the color you have
selected from the palette. To manually select a color, hold down shift and
use the arrow keys to move around the palette.
12. To get the correct Duke palette for programs such as
PaintShop Pro, find any original tile and hit F12. This will create a
screenshot named CAPT000.PCX, which you can then load into your Paint
program, and save the palette. You can also download
the palette here.
Animation:
To create animated sprites, place your tiles in sequence someplace in
TILES014.ART. They must be together as a group in order for animation to
work. For example, if you have a four-tile animation sequence, and you've
placed the first tile at 3584, the last one must be 3587. Run EditArt and
find the first tile you wish to animate. The first tile is the only tile
which needs to be changed to allow animation. Leave the others alone. Hit
the [-] key to cycle through the different animation options: NoAnimation,
Oscillate, Forwards, and Backwards. Once you've got the animation option
you'd like, hit the [+] key to change the number of tiles in the animation
sequence. This number must be one less than the total number of
tiles. Hitting the [-] key here will decrement the number of tiles to
animate until it reaches 0. Once it reaches 0, it will begin to change the
animation type again. In our example here, because we have four tiles, the number
must be set at 3. If you want to test the animation out, hit the [A] key on
your first tile.
That's about all you really need to know to get in and make your own art.
I suggest highly that you use a separate paint program to make/edit your
tiles. EditArt just isn't very powerful or friendly. You must use it to
actually load and create the .ART files, but that should be it. Also, be
careful when running EditArt and Build in another DOS box (if you run in
Win95)... messing with the tiles can sometimes wreak havoc with Build.
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