ad000001.smk - Creating a new banner

Joe Schmoe wrote:

Hello,
So I want to try creating a new banner.
I have downloaded and installed Old Smacker Tools and I was wondering if it can be as simple as finding an image and then converting it to smk and placing it the PvPGN directory.

Is there a step-by-step tutorial somewhere? I found the one on the forum here, but I followed the steps (importing an image, setting the palette types, creating ring, etc...) but when I renamed it ad000001.smk and put it in the folder, it crashed with an error from Diablo II.

It's pretty annoying to mess with this tool. I remember when I made my banners, I had to generate a GIF with seconds, and then transform into SMK. Otherwise the banner appeared for milleseconds in the game.

This was the best tutorial I found, and I was able to do the banner for him. Performing the conversion from GIF to SMK.

https://web.archive.org/web/20071218044 … up_id=2291

Added: 04.02.2019 08:09

Remember to configure the ad.json or ad.conf file

Added: 04.02.2019 08:41

Exemple my config and banners.

Banner 1 - ad00000.smk  10.8 Kb  (475)
Banner 2 - ad00001.smk  10.6 Kb  (434)
Banner 3 - ad00002.smk  11.3 Kb  (388)
Banner 4 - ad00003.smk  11.3 Kb  (392)
Banner 5 - ad00004.smk  12.2 Kb  (386)
Config File - ad.json  0.6 Kb  (475)

Ok, I got it to work. Replaced the default ad000001.smk banner. I used Windows Paint and Old Smacker Tools.
Feofilaktt, I used the link you gave me and also this savagesteel.free.fr/diablo/tutor … /index.htm guide. Thanks again, man. Appreciate all your help. I'm not so sure there's much left that I want to implement to this server... Although, I have said that a few times already. Seeing your example banners is already giving me ideas.

Joe

Added: 04.02.2019 23:32

Feofilaktt wrote:

Joe Schmoe wrote:

Hello,
So I want to try creating a new banner.
I have downloaded and installed Old Smacker Tools and I was wondering if it can be as simple as finding an image and then converting it to smk and placing it the PvPGN directory.

Is there a step-by-step tutorial somewhere? I found the one on the forum here, but I followed the steps (importing an image, setting the palette types, creating ring, etc...) but when I renamed it ad000001.smk and put it in the folder, it crashed with an error from Diablo II.

It's pretty annoying to mess with this tool. I remember when I made my banners, I had to generate a GIF with seconds, and then transform into SMK. Otherwise the banner appeared for milleseconds in the game.

This was the best tutorial I found, and I was able to do the banner for him. Performing the conversion from GIF to SMK.

https://web.archive.org/web/20071218044 … up_id=2291

Added: 04.02.2019 08:09

Remember to configure the ad.json or ad.conf file

Added: 04.02.2019 08:41

Exemple my config and banners.

Banner 1 - ad00000.smk  10.8 Kb  (475)
Banner 2 - ad00001.smk  10.6 Kb  (434)
Banner 3 - ad00002.smk  11.3 Kb  (388)
Banner 4 - ad00003.smk  11.3 Kb  (392)
Banner 5 - ad00004.smk  12.2 Kb  (386)
Config File - ad.json  0.6 Kb  (475)

Ok, I have an issue with the new banner. I created a banner with 150 frames and put it into the correct folder in PvPGN. The banner displayed in game, but it only showed for 12 seconds. Then I tried adjusting the ad.conf so that the time was set to "0" as that should make it display infinitely, right? I tried setting the conf to start the banner as "init" and also as "start" but that didn't change anything. So out of curiosity, I made another ad000001.smk with 300 frames. This time it displayed for 24 seconds. So it was just running through all the frames and then ending. Is there a way to get it to loop? What I want is for one banner to display infinitely.

Right now, it's configured like this in the ad.conf:

"ad000001.smk"  start   0  "www.pvpgn.org"            0x000000  "NULL"

Joe

Added: 05.02.2019 06:36

Looks like maybe I'm playing catch up here:

https://github.com/pvpgn/pvpgn-server/issues/115

I'm still wondering if there is a way to make a banner display infinitely.

Ok, I got it to work. Replaced the default ad000001.smk banner. I used Windows Paint and Old Smacker Tools.
Feofilaktt, I used the link you gave me and also this savagesteel.free.fr/diablo/tutor … /index.htm guide. Thanks again, man. Appreciate all your help. I'm not so sure there's much left that I want to implement to this server... Although, I have said that a few times already. Seeing your example banners is already giving me ideas.

Joe

Added: 04.02.2019 23:32

Feofilaktt wrote:

Joe Schmoe wrote:

Hello,
So I want to try creating a new banner.
I have downloaded and installed Old Smacker Tools and I was wondering if it can be as simple as finding an image and then converting it to smk and placing it the PvPGN directory.

Is there a step-by-step tutorial somewhere? I found the one on the forum here, but I followed the steps (importing an image, setting the palette types, creating ring, etc...) but when I renamed it ad000001.smk and put it in the folder, it crashed with an error from Diablo II.

It's pretty annoying to mess with this tool. I remember when I made my banners, I had to generate a GIF with seconds, and then transform into SMK. Otherwise the banner appeared for milleseconds in the game.

This was the best tutorial I found, and I was able to do the banner for him. Performing the conversion from GIF to SMK.

https://web.archive.org/web/20071218044 … up_id=2291

Added: 04.02.2019 08:09

Remember to configure the ad.json or ad.conf file

Added: 04.02.2019 08:41

Exemple my config and banners.

Banner 1 - ad00000.smk  10.8 Kb  (475)
Banner 2 - ad00001.smk  10.6 Kb  (434)
Banner 3 - ad00002.smk  11.3 Kb  (388)
Banner 4 - ad00003.smk  11.3 Kb  (392)
Banner 5 - ad00004.smk  12.2 Kb  (386)
Config File - ad.json  0.6 Kb  (475)

Ok, I have an issue with the new banner. I created a banner with 150 frames and put it into the correct folder in PvPGN. The banner displayed in game, but it only showed for 12 seconds. Then I tried adjusting the ad.conf so that the time was set to "0" as that should make it display infinitely, right? I tried setting the conf to start the banner as "init" and also as "start" but that didn't change anything. So out of curiosity, I made another ad000001.smk with 300 frames. This time it displayed for 24 seconds. So it was just running through all the frames and then ending. Is there a way to get it to loop? What I want is for one banner to display infinitely.

Right now, it's configured like this in the ad.conf:

"ad000001.smk"  start   0  "www.pvpgn.org"            0x000000  "NULL"

Joe

Added: 05.02.2019 06:36

Looks like maybe I'm playing catch up here:

https://github.com/pvpgn/pvpgn-server/issues/115

I'm still wondering if there is a way to make a banner display infinitely.

Added: 05.02.2019 11:54

Joe Schmoe wrote:

Ok, I got it to work. Replaced the default ad000001.smk banner. I used Windows Paint and Old Smacker Tools.
Feofilaktt, I used the link you gave me and also this savagesteel.free.fr/diablo/tutor … /index.htm guide. Thanks again, man. Appreciate all your help. I'm not so sure there's much left that I want to implement to this server... Although, I have said that a few times already. Seeing your example banners is already giving me ideas.

Joe

Added: 04.02.2019 23:32

Feofilaktt wrote:

It's pretty annoying to mess with this tool. I remember when I made my banners, I had to generate a GIF with seconds, and then transform into SMK. Otherwise the banner appeared for milleseconds in the game.

This was the best tutorial I found, and I was able to do the banner for him. Performing the conversion from GIF to SMK.

https://web.archive.org/web/20071218044 … up_id=2291

Added: 04.02.2019 08:09

Remember to configure the ad.json or ad.conf file

Added: 04.02.2019 08:41

Exemple my config and banners.

Banner 1 - ad00000.smk  10.8 Kb  (475)
Banner 2 - ad00001.smk  10.6 Kb  (434)
Banner 3 - ad00002.smk  11.3 Kb  (388)
Banner 4 - ad00003.smk  11.3 Kb  (392)
Banner 5 - ad00004.smk  12.2 Kb  (386)
Config File - ad.json  0.6 Kb  (475)

Ok, I have an issue with the new banner. I created a banner with 150 frames and put it into the correct folder in PvPGN. The banner displayed in game, but it only showed for 12 seconds. Then I tried adjusting the ad.conf so that the time was set to "0" as that should make it display infinitely, right? I tried setting the conf to start the banner as "init" and also as "start" but that didn't change anything. So out of curiosity, I made another ad000001.smk with 300 frames. This time it displayed for 24 seconds. So it was just running through all the frames and then ending. Is there a way to get it to loop? What I want is for one banner to display infinitely.

Right now, it's configured like this in the ad.conf:

"ad000001.smk"  start   0  "www.pvpgn.org"            0x000000  "NULL"

Joe

Added: 05.02.2019 06:36

Looks like maybe I'm playing catch up here:

https://github.com/pvpgn/pvpgn-server/issues/115

I'm still wondering if there is a way to make a banner display infinitely.

I'm now using 5 different banners. I have them all listed in the ad.conf and according to format. But only one banner actually displays for about 30 seconds. The rest of the banners never display. PvPGN 1.8.0rc2 version. Any ideas?

"ad000001.smk"  init      30  "www.pvpgn.org"            0x000000  "NULL"
"ad000001.smk"  start   30  "www.pvpgn.org"            0x000001  "NULL"
"ad000002.smk"  norm   30  "www.pvpgn.org"            0x000002  "NULL"
"ad000003.smk"  norm   30  "www.pvpgn.org"            0x000003  "NULL"
"ad000004.smk"  norm   30  "www.pvpgn.org"            0x000004  "NULL"
"ad000005.smk"  norm   30  "www.pvpgn.org"            0x000005  "NULL"