EE Studio 2 Slicer (SST) - EE-modders/Empire-Earth-toolbox GitHub Wiki

EE Studio 2 - Slicer (SST)

by Philla007 (03/2021)

SUMMARY:

This amazing tool allows modders to create new Empire Earth backgrounds easily and without big knowledge to use it.

PART 1 - Slicing images

This part of tutorial enables modders to slice a custom image and after that use it as background image in the game.

Instruction - Slicing TGA > SST

NOTE: You may find that my background screen in Empire Earth (and Art of Conquest expansion) is wider, that is because I use DrexMod which enables higher resolutions and support for wider monitors.

  1. Find a image you want to use in Empire Earth. NOTE: use image with 1024x768 resolution.

  2. Convert the image to TGA format either online or with image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, etc.

  3. Open EE Studio 2 and select "Slicer (SST)".

Slicer.png

  1. Click on the button "Select SST/TGA", after that click on file format select "TGA image (*.tga)" and then find that TGA image.

  2. Configure to have 4 parts on "x-axis" and 3 parts on "y-axis" like on picture below.

Slicer2.png

  1. Click on "Output folder" button and select place where sliced image will be stored. After that click on "Slice" button and image will be sliced in 4 x-axis parts and 3 y-axis parts.

  2. Now you have sliced parts of one image in SST format which game uses.

  3. In order to use it in the game you need to rename files from custom image to correct name of the image that game uses. Let's use main menu background for example.

  4. Rename files like this:

    • RoadRunner_1_1.sst > mainmenuback_1_1.sst
    • RoadRunner_1_2.sst > mainmenuback_1_2.sst
    • RoadRunner_1_3.sst > mainmenuback_1_3.sst
    • RoadRunner_1_4.sst > mainmenuback_1_4.sst
    • RoadRunner_2_1.sst > mainmenuback_2_1.sst
    • RoadRunner_2_2.sst > mainmenuback_2_2.sst
    • RoadRunner_2_3.sst > mainmenuback_2_3.sst
    • RoadRunner_2_4.sst > mainmenuback_2_4.sst
    • RoadRunner_3_1.sst > mainmenuback_3_1.sst
    • RoadRunner_3_2.sst > mainmenuback_3_2.sst
    • RoadRunner_3_3.sst > mainmenuback_3_3.sst
    • RoadRunner_3_4.sst > mainmenuback_3_4.sst

  5. Put those newly renamed files to Empire Earth/Data/Textures folder.

  6. End result: Slicer3.png

Instruction - Slicing SST > TGA

NOTE: some background images in Empire Earth and it's expansion, Art of Conquest, use TGA format for images so this is part of tutorial for them. American Civil War image is used again as example.

  1. Find a image you want to use in Empire Earth. NOTE: use image with 1024x768 resolution.

  2. Convert the image to TGA format either online or with image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, etc.

  3. Open EE Studio 2 and select "Textures (SST)".

    SST_1.png

  4. Select "TGA -> SST" setting.

  5. Click on "Output folder" button and select place where image will be converted. You can also click on "use input location for output" if you wish to have converted file in same location as original file.

  6. Drag and drop that TGA image file into box where it says DRAG AND DROP HERE!!

  7. Go back to EE Studio 2 and go to Slicer (SST) section.

    Slicer.png

  8. Click on the button "Select SST/TGA", after that click on file format select "SST image (*.SST)" and then find that SST image.

  9. Configure to have 4 parts on "x-axis" and 3 parts on "y-axis" like on picture below:

    Slicer4.png

  10. Click on "Output folder" button and select place where sliced image will be stored. After that click on "Slice" button and image will be sliced in 4 x-axis parts and 3 y-axis parts.

  11. Now you have sliced parts of one image in TGA format which game uses.

  12. In order to use it in the game you need to rename files from custom image to correct name of the image that game uses. Let's use Art of Conquest expansion main menu background for example.

  13. Rename files like this:

    • CivilWar_1_1.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__1_1.tga
    • CivilWar_1_2.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__1_2.tga
    • CivilWar_1_3.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__1_3.tga
    • CivilWar_1_4.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__1_4.tga
    • CivilWar_2_1.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__2_1.tga
    • CivilWar_2_2.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__2_2.tga
    • CivilWar_2_3.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__2_3.tga
    • CivilWar_2_4.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__2_4.tga
    • CivilWar_3_1.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__3_1.tga
    • CivilWar_3_2.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__3_2.tga
    • CivilWar_3_3.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__3_3.tga
    • CivilWar_3_4.tga > bkg_cyber_ninja__3_4.tga

  14. Put those newly renamed files to Empire Earth - Art of Conquest/Data/Textures folder.

  15. End result:

    Slicer3.png

PART 2 - Joining images

This part of tutorial enables modders to join and after that modify background images from the game which are splitted in many parts.

Instruction - Joining TGA files

  1. Open EE Studio 2 and select "Slicer (SST)".

    Slicer.png

  2. Click on the button "Select SST/TGA", after that click on file format select "TGA image (*.tga)" and then find those splitted TGA images. Select all of them and click on "Open" button.

  3. The files will be now listed on the left table like shown on picture below:

    Slicer5.png

    Sometimes the order of images can wrong so it could look like this:

    Slicer6.png

    IMPORTANT: In order to have correct order of images like on first picture, use buttons "up" and "down" to adjust correct position.

  4. After every sliced part of image is imported and sorting in table is done (only if order is wrong), click on "JOIN" button. After that button is clicked, confirmation message will pop up and ask if order of parts is correct. If order of parts is correct, click on "Yes".

  5. Sliced images will be joined in one big image which can be now modified in image editing software.

    Instruction - Joining SST files

    About Joinining SST files, it is the same procedure like with TGA files. Only thing that needs to be done is to use SST format. After joining SST sliced images into one big SST image, conversion to TGA format is needed.

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