Menu Graphics

[Phantom48]

Hey, just working on my game, and i realized, I NEED a new menu background. is there any good free programs to make one? and any good tuts? THX BYE

[jonas]

There's actually a program being developed right now, for making menu's. But at the moment you have to manually edit the menu.ini file. You can check on the menu editor progress here

[vegas WP]

Until the editor comes out, I'll tell you what I did to create my menu. You can check your changes by running the demo game as often as you need. I recommend doing it after nearly every change until you have a better understanding of what changes will affect what portion of the screen.

I opened the menu.ini file (just search your RF directory if you don't know where it's at) in NotePad. Just remember when you save, to change it from a .txt file to all files. It should prompt you to "overwrite menu.ini?"

Before you do anything else, save a copy of your menu.ini file elsewhere on your computer. I created a temp folder on my desktop. That way, if you mess up your menu, you can cut and paste the other menu.ini back into your RF folder.

If you look through the file, you'll see a line that says:

background=0 turner2.jpg
background=1 turner2.jpg

Background=0 references the background image of your menu screen. Change the filename to the name of your image you want to use. Put that image in the same folder as the image you are replacing. Background=1 references the background image used on the "Credits" menu. Your .jpg will be different than turner2, as I have already changed mine and this is just a cut and paste from my .ini.

If you scroll back up about 13 lines, you will see this line:

designsize=500 500

Change that line to the dimensions of your background image. Just change the 500 500 (the numbers you see will probably be 640 480 or similar) and put in your dimensions. Leave the rest of the line intact.

main=0 0

; define New Game button
; format : screen_X screen_Y image# width height image_X image_Y mouseover_X mouseover_Y Animation# AnimationOver#

newgame=23 128 0 128 32 0 0 128 0 -1 -1

; define Multiplayer button
; format : screen_X screen_Y image# width height image_X image_Y mouseover_X mouseover_Y background# title# Animation# AnimationOver#

multiplayer=23 160 0 128 32 0 32 128 32 0 1 -1 -1

; define Load Game button
; format : screen_X screen_Y image# width height image_X image_Y mouseover_X mouseover_Y background# title# Animation# AnimationOver#

loadgame=23 192 0 128 32 0 64 128 64 0 2 -1 -1

; define Save Game button
; format : screen_X screen_Y image# width height image_X image_Y mouseover_X mouseover_Y background# title# Animation# AnimationOver#

savegame=23 224 0 128 32 0 96 128 96 0 3 -1 -1

; define Options button
; format : screen_X screen_Y image# width height image_X image_Y mouseover_X mouseover_Y background# title# Animation# AnimationOver#

options=23 256 0 128 32 0 128 128 128 0 4 -1 -1

; define Credits button
; format : screen_X screen_Y image# width height image_X image_Y mouseover_X mouseover_Y background# title# Animation# AnimationOver#

credits=23 320 0 128 32 0 192 128 192 1 6 -1 -1

; define Quit Game button
; format : screen_X screen_Y image# width height image_X image_Y mouseover_X mouseover_Y Animation# AnimationOver#

quitmain=23 352 0 128 32 0 224 128 224 -1 -1

; define Return to Game text
; format : screen_X screen_Y font

returntext=0 320 FONT9

Those lines are the links to other menu screens such as New Game, Load Game, etc. Just change one at a time until you find a result you like. The numbers in the position screen_X lets you move the .bmp for things like New Game button over left or right. 0 represents all the way left, and higher numbers move the image right. Same rules apply for screen_Y, top of the background image is 0, and higher numbers move the "button down.

You can change other .bmps and such as you feel like doing.



I would suggest tinkering with the above until you get a feel for things.

[Phantom48]

Ok, thanks for the help, but what i actualy need is just a new BACKGROUND GRAPHIC. like a main menu pic or somthin

[vegas WP]

I explained how to change the background image.

[shadow]

Hey Phantom48

So your asking how to actually make the background image.
As in a paint program like Photo shop or paint shop pro?

2 free tools are
Paint shop pro - http://www.download.com/Paint-Shop-Pro/ ... 01995.html (30 day trial)
Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/

I'm sure there are others...

[samysam]

But if youre looking for somthing good I meen REALY good for picture editing and willing to pay 600 buck (no realy 600 bucks) then get photoshop