Sprite size in Keen 1(-3)

Request patches for Keens 1-3.
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Tulip
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Sprite size in Keen 1(-3)

Post by Tulip »

There seems to be a maximum sprite size you can give your monsters.
I made a Tankbot replacement, that is 38x216 in size.
I imported the graphics and the program is still running without the "try unloading all TSRs" message.
But when I enter the level the program crashes right when the monster should come in sight.

Is there a patch to make this size not crashing the game?
levellass
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Post by levellass »

Well, the issue here is something more than plain sprite size; the game, like Keen 4 stores different numbers of copies of graphics in memory somewhere. So you can indeed have graphics that do not take up the entire 'static' graphics memory, but a little extra is needed when running levels, and that can really do it. (Ask shikadi, he had a similar problem.)

Sadly, I do not know how to fix this. I know Dangerous Dave II and Shadow Knights get around it by caching only those graphics need in the level, I am afraid you may be bound by these limits friend.
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Tulip
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Post by Tulip »

It's a shame.
I've been pushing the graphics closer together so I'm now down to 192x38 instead of 216x38, now the game isn't crashing anymore, but the graphics don't display correctly, the whole monster looks jumbled.

That's what it would have looked like:
Image

I can't think of a way to make this smaller, so I'm gonna have to think of a new monster if there's no way to make this working.

EDIT: I was actually able to reduce the size, now it's working, but it looks less fierce...
levellass
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Post by levellass »

Sadly yes, you have run into the limits of this engine, which is why Shadow Knights uses sprites made up of several images. It's a sad fact, but your Keen 5 mod will be better, and I'm working on making more flexible Keen engines moddable.
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