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QUAKE 3
X-HAIRS WITH PAINT SHOP PRO v5.03
Many thanks to Cerberus for his help with this.
ALTER ONE OF THE ORIGINALS
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Pure and Non Pure
Servers. Custom crosshairs can only be used at
servers that have the Pure Server option set to "off". At Pure Servers,
you'll need to get your crosshair file to the server. If you know the owner or admin
on the servers where you usually play, you can ask him. If not, or if he doesn't
want to be bothered, send me your crosshair and if it's significantly different than the
ones I already, have I'll include it the next Pure Server Player Pak and the next update
to Server Pak for Pure Servers operators. Then send the server admin
here, to the Pure Server Section to get the Server Pak. |
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| 2. |
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Open Winzip( or
any unzipping program ) and use it to open the pak0.pk3 file.
This file is really a zip file rather than the traditional pak file used by id
Software. You can also rename it to pak0.zip and
click on it to open it with Winzip if the .zip file extension is associated with Winzip. |
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| 3. |
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Extract a copy of
any of the files called crosshairb.tga thru crosshairj.tga file to a temporary folder. |
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| 4. |
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Open the crosshair?.tga in Paint
Shop Pro. There is no need to delete the mask first with PSP v5.03. You
can start redesigning right away, or using the eyedropper, choose a spot on the
background of the original to activate the transparent color, then choose a brush to erase
all of the original design and create an empty (transparent) canvas on which to
paint. If the original design has a dot in the very center spot, you might want to
keep that visible while you create your new crosshair, just so you know where the exact
center is. You'll want to Zoom way in (maybe 10 to 1), choose a bright
color, and a small (1 pixel ) brush to start, and have fun. Turning on the Grid
(View menu) will help you to keep more involved designs symetric. |
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| 5. |
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When done
designing, choose Edit, and then Copy. Now choose
Masks, New, From Image. Check "Any non zero value". Make sure Invert
Mask Data is NOT checked. Click OK. Now you should see your design on top of a
grey/white checkerboard background. That background is the masked or transparent
area. If there
are black spots (there shouldn't be any) in the mask area, read the following. If
not skip to step 6. The black spots are holes
in the mask and will show up as black spots in the game. To lose them, choose Masks,
Edit. Choose the background color with the eye dropper and paint over those black
spots. As you do, the gray/white checkerboard should replace them. Make sure to
choose Masks and UNCHECK Edit before proceeding. |
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| 6. |
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Choose Masks, and
Save to Alpha Channel. Make sure it's the only
item on the list. Highlight each if there's more than 1 to see which is NOT your new
design. Delete the one that's not your new design. Click OK, and then click OK
again in the Selection name box. No need to give either the document or the channel
a name. |
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| 7. |
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Choose Edit, and
Paste as New selection. Move the new design to line up
with old one exactly. Make sure it's 0,0 coordinates in the bottom left corner of the
screen. Click the mouse. SAVE. |
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| 8. |
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DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PUT
THE NEW CROSSHAIR BACK INTO THE PAK0.pk3 FILE. Any change in the content of
the pak0.pk3 file will cause your game not to work at online Pure Servers. Go
to #6 HERE to learn how to create a new
pk3 file for your new crosshair. |
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BUILD A NEW CROSSHAIR FROM SCRATCH
| 1. |
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Choose File, New.
For image dimensions, choose 32 x 32. Pixels and pixels/inch.
Pick a black background and 24 bit color. Click OK. |
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| 2. |
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You'll want to zoom
in for easy painting. View, Zoom in, 10:1 is usually good.
Using the Grid will help you to find dead center, which is a good place to start.
You can adjust the grid size in File, Preferences, General Program Preferences,
Rulers and Units. Try 1 by 1 for spacing. |
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| 3. |
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In View, Toolbars,
bring out the Control Palette to choose your brush size. For most
crosshair designing you'll want the smallest brush size of 1 pixel. |
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| 4. |
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When finished
designing, chose Edit, Copy. Then
choose Masks, New, From Image, Any non-zero value. Invert Mask Data should be
UNchecked. Click OK. You'll now see your design on top of a grey/white checkered
background. Choose Masks again, then Save to Alpha Channel. Make sure it's the only
document on the list. Delete anything that doesn't resemble your new design.
No need to give either the document or the channel a name. Just click OK and OK. |
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| 5. |
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Choose Edit, Paste
as New Selection. You'll again see your design
with the black background appear in the same window on top of the one with the checked
background. Position it over the checked version at 0,0 coordinates so it is an
exact match. Click and SAVE AS a tga file. Choose Colors/Set Transparency
Values. Click yes if it says it has to reduce it to 1 backgound layer. Then
accept the defaults in the next window. Then choose Set the transparency color to the
current background color. Save again. |
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| 6. |
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DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PUT
THE NEW CROSSHAIR BACK INTO THE PAK0.pk3 FILE. Any change in the content of
the pak0.pk3 file will cause your game not to work at Pure Servers. Go to #6 HERE to learn how to create a
new pk3 file for your new crosshair. |
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