[Resource] StarCraft 2 Resource Thread

[exwizard]

This thread will be where I post my attempt to rip SC resources. Please note that these youtube videos are shot in zDoom with the doom palette. The actual files, however, are PNG-8s. I will create a StarCraft palette for my sprites and textures later on.



I've taken down the download links as there seems to be little interest in me updating these files as I go along. I will release a pack when I am done. If, for some reason, you want to get your hands on some of these sprites before that just PM or respond in this thread.

[BouncyTEM]

Just wondering, but, uh, wouldn't these look a lot better as true color PNGs for Gzdoom?

Since as it is right now it looks kinda decent but I imagine it could look so much better.

It also looks a bit aliased and rough around the edges.

[exwizard]

I'd encourage you to load them into zDoom or Gzdoom. There is absolutely no aliasing (I created uncompressed avi's from the Galaxy editor, which results in hard edges, and then extracted every frame as an uncompressed BMP before converting to PNG [and then from PNG to doom-format]).

The reason these are not in PNG is that in PNG the sum total of animations results in a 52 MB pk7 file. That's unmanageable once any significant number of units like this are introduced (I do, in fact, have these in PNG format as well in case I want to compress it differently). If you have a better idea for compression I'm all ears but, like I said, PNG is too large.

Edit: Here is a sample of the PNG version.

HYDRW1.png (43.89 KiB) Viewed 1909 times

[Captain Awesome]

Shouldn't you crop it?

[exwizard]

Cropping 1070 files takes a long time. I setup the batch commands for it in PS and tested it on other sets. The difference is only 1-2 kb a file as its only transparent.

[CrystalWolf]

This is illegal, you know.

I'm not trying to down you, but I'm just pointing that out.

[phi108]

With true-color rips, if you want to lower the filesize but still keep each individual PNG looking good and almost true-color in GZDoom, you can use Pngquant to give each file it's own 256 color palette. It might be smaller or larger than your current filesize, but it might look better.

As it is, I think each individual character seems to have too large a filesize. You might want to use a lower resolution, or maybe animate at a lower fps, to keep it reasonable.

[wildweasel]

This is illegal, you know.

I'm not trying to down you, but I'm just pointing that out.

Y'know, he's right...not to rain on the parade, but Activision/Blizzard tend to be a little more active than most when it comes to enforcing their properties, so good luck using these in anything without them trying to "fox" it.

[Nash]

Just wanted to chip in... Photoshop allows you to automate the process of cropping. Start recording, use the magic wand at [1, 1], inverse selection, then crop. Stop recording, save the action, and you can do this for thousands of files with just one click. The advantage of cropping is it's even easier to calculate the offsets if you use grabpng on the command line to set the sprites' offsets. width / 2 should pretty much cover it.

Then to save even more space, before stopping your recording, add these procedures: convert it to 8 bit PNG paletted, use its local palette, then turn on transparency.

To save even MORE space, run pngquant on all the files.

But anyway... yeah, you might get a cease and desist for this.

[exwizard]

This is illegal, you know.

I'm not trying to down you, but I'm just pointing that out.

Y'know, he's right...not to rain on the parade, but Activision/Blizzard tend to be a little more active than most when it comes to enforcing their properties, so good luck using these in anything without them trying to "fox" it.

It's as illegal as any other form of ripping and, in fact, I got the idea to do these kinds of rips after see a similar rip of a 'Tank' from Left 4 Dead on these very forums (though I'm not sure just how detailed that rip was as I had no need for such a sprite). However, if a mod wants me to stop I will obviously comply.

Weird that this becomes an issue for you folks when the vast majority of resources on here are rips...

Just wanted to chip in... Photoshop allows you to automate the process of cropping. Start recording, use the magic wand at [1, 1], inverse selection, then crop. Stop recording, save the action, and you can do this for thousands of files with just one click. The advantage of cropping is it's even easier to calculate the offsets if you use grabpng on the command line to set the sprites' offsets. width / 2 should pretty much cover it.

Then to save even more space, before stopping your recording, add these procedures: convert it to 8 bit PNG paletted, use its local palette, then turn on transparency.

To save even MORE space, run pngquant on all the files.

But anyway... yeah, you might get a cease and desist for this.

Did you think I was manually editing 1070 files? I use photoshop batch functionality to get to the point I am at now. Batch functionality still requires opening each file, performing the action, saving and closing. Even without the need for any human input this takes a long time in just the png conversion and transparency phase.

I can't just auto trim every frame because that won't preserve a common offset for the purpose of animation. Just setting it to half width results in very poor animations with moving feet. Especially bad with zerg that have tails as that results in them swaying about dramatically. Thus, in order to get rid of transparent space, I need to...

1. Batch trim top-left of every frame. (1070 opens and saves)
2. Batch resize from bottom left corner to a common size and then trim bottom right (another 1070)
3. Batch resize from top-left corner to a common size (a final 1070)

That takes a heck of a long time and only saves 1-3kb a file (from files that are 15-45 kb). I may do this to files once I am absolutely sure I am set on keeping that set of sprites but, for purposes of covering as much ground as possible, it is more efficient to look at alternate compression methods.

With true-color rips, if you want to lower the filesize but still keep each individual PNG looking good and almost true-color in GZDoom, you can use Pngquant to give each file it's own 256 color palette. It might be smaller or larger than your current filesize, but it might look better.

As it is, I think each individual character seems to have too large a filesize. You might want to use a lower resolution, or maybe animate at a lower fps, to keep it reasonable.

I will try PNG-8 with local palette and pngquant, though. I"m also struggling with just how smooth I want every animation to be. Right now, I limit every animation to under 26 frames.

[SoulCrow]

I think the difference here is that Blizzard actually has a history of dealing with this sort of thing, whereas most companies don't.

[exwizard]

I think the difference here is that Blizzard actually has a history of dealing with this sort of thing, whereas most companies don't.

Fair enough. They used to go after WC3 modders who imported WoW models fairly aggressively. They even had some sites shut down and TheHive (premiere WC3 modding community) stopped hosting WoW models. That being said, they seem to have mellowed on that for now.

If Blizzard wants this taken down, it will, of course, be taken down. Ditto if the mods want it taken down. If not... update! Marine added, youTube video preview, and Hydralisk tweaked and implemented in DECORATE.

[Nash]

Batch functionality still requires opening each file

No it doesn't. Dump all your unprocessed rips into a folder, then in the Batch dialog, choose "Folder" as the Source, set the correct folder path, then tick the boxes "Override Action Open Commands" and "Suppress File Open Options".

As for Destination, choose Folder as well, then pick a destination folder to store the processed graphics. Now tick "override Save As action commands".

I've done this a million times with literally tens of thousands of graphics. :)

(Okay not really a million times but I do this a lot)

EDIT: Forgot to mention that before starting the action recording, you actually perform your recording on a dummy file, not one of the actual files you plan to process. Just make sure your dummy file is similar in content to the rest of the graphics you plan to process. For example, the A frame would serve well as a dummy file for you to record your actions on. Remember that the 2 last steps before you stop recording would be Save As, then Close (important otherwise you'd end up with thousands of open windows).

EDIT 2: With regards to the wagging tail offset problem, what you can do in the recording step is first crop as I've suggested, then do a horizontal canvas resize to what is the best width you think will suit all of the frames, so the animation won't seem jumpy. You can save this as a separate Action preset for specific purposes.

[exwizard]

Thanks! I wasn't aware of "Override Action Open Commands" and "Suppress File Open" Options in batch functionality.

The problem with your solution re: eliminating transparent space is that it requires a correct guess. My method (which requires running 3 sets of batch commands) ends up giving me the exact smallest the image could be and still fit every single piece of non-transparent data into it. With your tip re: not having to open each file, I should be able to trim each frame. Though, it doesn't save much space... with this and pngquant I am seeing a 5-7 kb reduction in each file.

[Phucket]

Honestly, I think it's safe to say this won't last long after it's released. You're using these rips for an iwad, not just a pwad, in other words, what's essentially a stand alone game. Needless to say, that's a big no no.