Converting a panel to 8 bit .. no joy

[keenrw 15]

Hi i have been trying to convert a panel to 8 bit for better fps , im using paint shop pro 8 and i click on decrease to 8 bit with the default settings and save it .. now when FS loads i i choose the a/c with the panel it displays ok but the out side view is black .. i use the dropper tool and it says 3,3,3 were as it should say 0,0,0 .. how do i get it to change to 0,0,0 so that i can see the view out side , i have replaced the bmp with a back up copy so i can fly the A/C . Its the Eurowings 2004 ATR 42/72 panel. Chears Rich

[Guest HartmannH]

HiYou won't get better fps from that but if you still want to try it, try using "Octree" when you convert the bitmap to 8 bit. You have to make sure that the transparent area (black in the bitmap) is pure black. Red, green and blue must all be zero. Otherwise, FS won't show the area as transparent.

[mcwdainow 0]

Use the selection tool and/or magic wand, marquee the area you wish to change to 0,0,0 and fill it with that colour.

[Guest HartmannH]

>Use the selection tool and/or magic wand, marquee the area>you wish to change to 0,0,0 and fill it with that colour.That won't work because PSP already created an 8-bit palette for the bitmap and that palette doesn't contain a 0,0,0 color (otherwise it would have been used automatically). Changing one of the palette colors to 0,0,0 will result in holes in the panel (non-transparent areas would become transparent). So the only way is to convert the original bitmap using octree.BTW: the bitmap is loaded into memory as 24 bit, no matter which format the file has. So this whole conversion thing is just useless ;-)

[keenrw 15]

Hi Thanks a lot for the replys , it looks like i will be giving up on this then and try other ways to get better FPS , at the mo if fly any Airliners then i change the AG to low .. who sees the houses /trees at FL250 + any way ... if im flying VFR then i have it at very dence . Chears all Rich

[Guest Mathias]

First of all I know from experience that the loading times of 8 bit textures are LOADS faster than of any 24/32 bit one :-) Can't say anything about framerates though.Secondly, having transformed that texture to 8 bit with formerly pitch black now being 3,3,3 convert it back to 24bit, fill in the 3,3,3 area with 0,0,0 and re-convert back to 8bit using a custom pallette automatically genrated on-the-fly while converting. This usually works for me. I use Corel Photopaint which makes me feel VERY odd in these flightsim circles, but I know pretty well by now how to get the results I want from it :-)

[Guest GC707]

>>Use the selection tool and/or magic wand, marquee the area>>you wish to change to 0,0,0 and fill it with that colour.>>That won't work because PSP already created an 8-bit palette>for the bitmap and that palette doesn't contain a 0,0,0 color>(otherwise it would have been used automatically). Changing>one of the palette colors to 0,0,0 will result in holes in the>panel (non-transparent areas would become transparent). So the>only way is to convert the original bitmap using octree.>>BTW: the bitmap is loaded into memory as 24 bit, no matter>which format the file has. So this whole conversion thing is>just useless ;-)My suggested solution would be to use the dropper to determine which colour has been used and change it to something outrageous like 255,0,255 (magenta). This will make the holes in the panel clearly visible, whence you can use colour replacer to replace them with some other dark colour in the palette. Once only the windows are in 255,0,255 edit the palette again to make them 0,0,0.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

"My suggested solution would be to use the dropper to determine which colour has been used and change it to something outrageous like 255,0,255 (magenta). This will make the holes in the panel clearly visible, whence you can use colour replacer to replace them with some other dark colour in the palette. Once only the windows are in 255,0,255 edit the palette again to make them 0,0,0."That is very helpful advice, but given it has been almost a year since this thread last saw activity, I really hope the forum member who opened the thread has found a solution by now :)Still, one of the best ways to introduce yourself to the forums is with a post that offers help--so with that said, welcome to the forums!-John