BAM frustration

[Baptor]

As you all probably noticed, the bam icon for the helm of balduran in the enhanced edition is not centered. It's very noticeably shifted left. 

I've been using the bam editor in near infinity to try and fix it. The basic idea was to move the center and adjust the bams position. While I was able to shift the x axis and save the changes, nothing in game changes. The helmet is always in the same place, offset to the left. 

Anyone know what I'm missing here? I really want to correct this. Thanks!

[jastey]

I'll point out the obvious because I made the mistakes myself often enough: start with checking the spelling of the BAM, whether it was really copied to the override, start a new game / cheat in a new version of the item when testing.

[Baptor]

1 hour ago, jastey said:

I'll point out the obvious because I made the mistakes myself often enough: start with checking the spelling of the BAM, whether it was really copied to the override, start a new game / cheat in a new version of the item when testing.

I have gone back and done the basic troubleshooting as you suggested. I actually named the BAM something different and then changed the icon of the helmet to the new BAM file to be sure. Then to be super sure, I checked the BAM to make sure the changes I made were there, and they were. I cheated in a new copy of the helmet as well. No change whatsoever. I am including some screenshots to show what changes I made. Any help is appreciated.

[argent77]

EE games ignore the center position of item icons. To change the relative position of the icon in an inventory slot you have to add empty space to the respective side(s) of the icon. Since the BAM in question contains multiple frames you can't use NI's BAM Converter to accomplish this. Otherwise, the "Center BAM frames" filter could have been used.

The best option is to export BAM frames to PNG images and use a graphics tool to add empty space to the first frame graphics. Many graphics tools call it "Resize Canvas" or something like that. Afterwards, import the modified frame back to the BAM.

I could fix the alignment issue for the Helm of Balduran by adding 6 columns of transparent pixels to the left side. However, the helmet shadow still overlaps the inventory slot on the right side, so you could add some additional space to the left and right sides of the frame.

Edited November 14, 2021 by argent77

[Baptor]

@argent77 OK, I know how to extract BAMs as PNG, but once I edit the file how do I convert it back into a BAM? Thanks!

[argent77]

1 hour ago, Baptor said:

@argent77 OK, I know how to extract BAMs as PNG, but once I edit the file how do I convert it back into a BAM? Thanks!

Use the button Add... -> Add file(s)... in the Frames tab to import an image as frame into the original BAM and remove the old frame. You may have to assign it to the right cycle in the Cycles tab afterwards.

[kjeron]

You can alternatively use "Trim BAM frames", Left only, 4-6 pixels.

The second frame isn't used, so there's not harm in altering it as well.

 

[Baptor]

1 hour ago, kjeron said:

You can alternatively use "Trim BAM frames", Left only, 4-6 pixels.

The second frame isn't used, so there's not harm in altering it as well.

 

Is "trim frames" in near infinity?

[argent77]

12 minutes ago, Baptor said:

Is "trim frames" in near infinity?

It's one of the transformation filters in the post-processing tab of the BAM Converter.

The Near Infinity Wiki has a page which explains all the feature available in the BAM Converter.

Edited November 14, 2021 by argent77

[Baptor]

@kjeron @argent77

It worked! And it was a LOT easier than I was afraid of. All I had to do was export as PNG, open it in GIMP. Then I got rid of the shadow and cut and pasted the helmet to the center of the frame using the magic wand tool. It looks perfect! I have included the BAM here in case anyone wants to use it as well. Thanks so much to BOTH of you!

1HELM00X.BAM

Edited November 15, 2021 by Baptor