Fin2bmp not working -- workarounds?

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KeenRush
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Fin2bmp not working -- workarounds?

Post by KeenRush »

As many know, I've been diligently working on my new mod. But last week I ran into a problem I haven't managed to solve yet. lmodkeen has never worked for my full-screen images, it has always messed them up (as it does now), so for them I've used the old fin2bmp. However, now when I needed it (finally, after so many years) I noticed I can't run the program... Not running on my 64-bit system. Last time I needed it I was running 32-bit. How do I run this program now? I tried compiling it from the source but being notoriously bad with technical stuff like that, I couldn't get that done. The program and source can be found here: http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Fin2Bmp
Can anyone make a version of it for 64-bit Windows (7)? Or do you have some other method?
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Fleexy
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Re: Fin2bmp not working -- workarounds?

Post by Fleexy »

I think it should work in DOSBox. You might also need CWSDPMI present for it to run.
KeenRush
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Re: Fin2bmp not working -- workarounds?

Post by KeenRush »

Doesn't work in DosBox for me, it says "Load error: no DPMI". So possibly what you linked is needed because it has that DPMI in it. I have no idea what that is or how to use it.
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Fleexy
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Re: Fin2bmp not working -- workarounds?

Post by Fleexy »

Somehow CWSDPMI allows DOS programs to use more memory. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but extracting BIN\CWSDPMI.EXE into the same directory as Fin2Bmp appears to do the job.
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Re: Fin2bmp not working -- workarounds?

Post by levellass »

Curious. Does Keengraph give the same sort of error? Maybe your graphics program messes with palettes?
KeenRush
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Re: Fin2bmp not working -- workarounds?

Post by KeenRush »

Hah, seems pretty much like a magical program. But it makes fin2bmp work, thanks. But now even that doesn't help. The image still comes corrupt. I don't get it. The program I use is Paint Shop Pro 6, I've always used it for screens before and I use it for all other Keen graphics just as well, and I've never had this problem with any sprite or tileset.

The image comes with wrong colours and parts of it replicated in a strange way, so it'd suggest that somehow the data layers are set wrong. How that can be I have no idea. As for Keengraph, I'll have to investigate, which I'll do right now...
KeenRush
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Re: Fin2bmp not working -- workarounds?

Post by KeenRush »

That worked! Thanks for help. Perhaps there is a bug in the original fin2bmp compression routines and Keengraph has it not? Whatever it is, the problem is solved -- I shall use Keengraph to create the full-screen images from now on.
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Re: Fin2bmp not working -- workarounds?

Post by levellass »

Hmmmn, if I recall correctly sometimes you get an incorrect compression with fin2bmp if you have a line of 128 pixels of one color in a certain circumstance... I know I came across it long ago but can't recall the details.
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Re: Fin2bmp not working -- workarounds?

Post by KeenRush »

Now when you mention it, that's familiar to me too - my memory is returning. There seems to be a bug like that in the fin2bmp routines; an easy oversight to make while programming. I had a case of it with some screens back in the day, and I placed a few different pixels to break those lines and things worked. (Somehow I instinctively thought it was a matter of long lines of same colour.) But with my current mod's images such extra pixels wouldn't have worked (artistically) so I'm very glad Keengraph works correctly. Someone should write something about this to Keenwiki.
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Nisaba
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Re: Fin2bmp not working -- workarounds?

Post by Nisaba »

I would if I only understood the main issue here. it might be better if one of you guys adds this piece of information...
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