So now I am exploring how offsets work, at the moment I am fiddling with the dreadnought ACrab to see how I could possibly change the leg size / functionality. piipu has shown that to have the Actor higher off the ground the Walk path / Stand Starting Offsets need a + change to the Y, but I still do not fully understand the mechanics of the Walk Path or how to make different size legs lift the Actor.

If anyone can explain the different functions of the dislodge right n left, it might be helpful.

So far the experiment I am trying is to use the Dreadnoughts' .BMPs for the leg animations that have been doubled in size. So I now need to learn how the offsets work to make the legs functional in their current state:


Old Stuff covered so far:
Just how large can Actors be in CC? And how difficult is it to change this size?
> We have established that Actors can be as large as the .BMPs can be. Changing the size is as easy as changing the .BMPs <

I've looked over some of the wiki, and searched for some tutorials, but haven't really found anything in depth beyond definitions and explanations of what is what. Haven't found much defining limitations, or how the engine determines hit boxes / body size.
> The Bitmaps themselves are the hitboxes and body size. <

Does the Actor size have to be accounted for in an .ini?
> The Offsets must be adjusted to compensate for the altered size <

Yeah, the 'hitbox' is defined by the sprite. It can be a bit buggy though.

ok, so the engine will use the sprite itself as the hitbox, does that include the entire .bmp ? or will it exclude the transparent pixels?

Any idea on size constraints? or will it render the Actor size in proportion to the .bmp(s)?

.bmp size = actor size. You still have to change the offsets, walkpaths and such for it to act as you like.
Also, it will ignore the pink color found in the palette, so use that for transparency.

Alright, so then on to offsets, I've looked over the tutorials for the standard offset info.

Let's say for instance I want to take the dreadnought and give him bigger legs, which would in turn require I change the .bmps that are part of the legs animation as well as the variables in the .ini.

What would i need to adjust to make it so the dreadnought now properly stands on the ends of his newly sized legs? (for a theoretical reference, let's say I double the size of the .bmps for the legs)

You should double the StandWalkPath's StartOffset's Y value. Also increase other StartOffset's Ys by the same amount to have it walking around semi-properly.

Interesting, now I have a Dreadnought Ballerina! I suppose it would be better to map out all related parts and their offsets on something like graph paper...

Are there any tools that would help with this? Or bmp editors capable of showing the x / y grid for easy reference?

Most graphics programs list the x,y coordinates of where your pointer is somewhere around. Easiest way to do offsets is set the sprite offset at the exact middle of the sprite and subtract/add to go left/right or up/down. There is a tool to do offsets, but I never figured it out and I think the explanation might've been lost. If someone else knows how to work it...

Ahhh I'll give that a try, ... i just realized i need to offset the X too, by a quarter of the distance... since the bitmaps are twice as large now, the legs are crossing each other... that's probably my real problem...

I'm pretty sure once actors reach a certain size or weight, they can no longer stand up.

Note that the Y axis is inverted for some reason in CC. The lower the value of Y, the higher the offset. X is still alright though.

I don't understand why everyone makes such a big fuzz about CC being strange because of the inverted Y.
I don't even know any scripting language that would have the regular XY system we use in coordinates.
Think about it, which one is more logical: zero point offset in the upleft corner or in downleft corner?

I don't particularly find it strange, these pieces are being used at different angles anyway, so the whole negative part of it is completely arbitrary to how it is used in the engine. So honestly if we saw the utilization of the sprites in the programming mechanics somewhere along the way all the bitmaps line up with a correct - or + .

The only real issue is for people modding who need to keep the correct alignment in their heads while they do the math and enter it into the .ini

Such as I notice with crab legs, and the ACrab actors, the implementation of their legs is somewhat special... I still don't fully understand how the rotation works into it.

I see the animation frames have the leg on its' side if they were to extend from the angle they are represented in the BMPs then they'd be stretching upwards... so now I'm simply a little lost as to how to manipulate these offsets...

are the offsets in the ini referenced for how the BMP will be when rendered in the game? or do I pretend the world is rotated to agree with the BMP itself and then change the x / y to match that?