Workbench 3.1 in 256 colours but icons look rubbish

vroom6sri · 13 January 2011, 13:55

Me again with another question with a no doubt simple-when-you-know-how answer. Here goes...

Now my A1200 is nicely pimped (28mhz Indiv Comp accelerator & CF hard drive thingy) I thought I'd up the colour count in WorkBench assuming that those nice, detailed icons on some demos and games would like virtually perfect. However, they still look naff.

I have based this sumption (perhaps naively) on how Windows behaves when it displays a desktop background, etc. with 16 colours which then gets progressively better looking as you up the colour count.

Is this a simple thing for me to fix / tweak please? I'm going to be showing my A1200 to a mate of mine in a week or so and I'd LOVE to have WB looking sweet.

Big ta.

fitzsteve · 13 January 2011, 14:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by vroom6sri

Me again with another question with a no doubt simple-when-you-know-how answer. Here goes...

Now my A1200 is nicely pimped (28mhz Indiv Comp accelerator & CF hard drive thingy) I thought I'd up the colour count in WorkBench assuming that those nice, detailed icons on some demos and games would like virtually perfect. However, they still look naff.

I have based this sumption (perhaps naively) on how Windows behaves when it displays a desktop background, etc. with 16 colours which then gets progressively better looking as you up the colour count.

Is this a simple thing for me to fix / tweak please? I'm going to be showing my A1200 to a mate of mine in a week or so and I'd LOVE to have WB looking sweet.

Big ta.

Check out Classic Workbench

http://classicwb.abime.net/

Its a bit more than a little tweak though!

If you just want to correct colours on your current bench I think you need to edit the pallet pref's.

There are also Icon packs you can install, have a search of Aminet if you just want to update your current workbench.

Steve.

Konrad · 13 January 2011, 14:47

Original icons just have 4 colors. MagicWB icons have 8 colors. NewIcons can have up to 256 colors, most are 16+, though.

MagicWB and NewIcons look funny when the required patches aren't running.

ajk · 13 January 2011, 14:52

You could have a look at this thread and see if you can find something you like. Then ask what you need to achieve a similar look, if it's not explained.

vroom6sri · 13 January 2011, 17:55

Thanks for the info. Thinking about it, the "fancy" icons look like actual picture snapshots from the game or demo so presumably these are special ones that require patch(es) for "NewIcons". I will see what I can find...

thomas · 13 January 2011, 18:03

NewIcons icons can be identified easily: open the icon information for one of these icons and then look at the tooltypes. If there is one reading "don't remove the following lines" followed by a lot lines all reading IM1=rubbish and another lot lines all reading IM2=rubbish, then the file also contains a palette-mapped image for use by the NewIcons patch. Note that "rubbish" is not real rubbish, but holds the image in encoded form. Do not touch these tooltypes.

If the icons are not NewIcons, they probably need a fixed palette. Change the screen mode to 8 colors and run the Click_Me program from the MagicWB archive. If the icons then look fine, you need to install FullPalette and fix the first eight pens to MagicWB palette.

If you run OS 3.9 you can also enable the "Use MagicWB palette" checkbox in Prefs/Workbench. But if you ran OS 3.9, you wouldn't have problems with NewIcons.

fishyfish · 13 January 2011, 18:36

Something else to bare in mind is that a 256 color Workbench in AGA is horribly slow. Even on an '060 (8x the raw speed of your system or thereabouts) 64 colors is about the best you'll get and have it acceptably fast. For an '030 Id stick with 16 colors, or at most 32 if you're willing to sacrifice some speed.

There really is an art to making a nice looking AGA/ECS workbench, and it doesnt necessarily have to mean more colors. Unfortunately learning the art will take a lot more than a week.

vroom6sri · 13 January 2011, 20:25

Thanks for more info. I've reduced colour count to 32 and checked some of the icons in question. None refer to "IM..." and only 2 mentioned the word "icon" at all - "ROMicon".

I've found MagicWB 2.0 on Aminet so will try it out when I move the next load of bits N bobs over to my CF hard drive.

PeterK · 13 January 2011, 23:40

You could try out my experimental WB 3.1 configuration for 256 color icons.

These two archives offer you a minimal setup to show OS 3.5 icons on a system with OS 3.1, nothing more. The RAR file contains an ADF-image.

Removed the old stuff. Please try the newer IconDemo ADF images:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=64079

13 January 2011, 13:55	#1
vroom6sri Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Peterborough Age: 47 Posts: 849	Workbench 3.1 in 256 colours but icons look rubbish Me again with another question with a no doubt simple-when-you-know-how answer. Here goes... Now my A1200 is nicely pimped (28mhz Indiv Comp accelerator & CF hard drive thingy) I thought I'd up the colour count in WorkBench assuming that those nice, detailed icons on some demos and games would like virtually perfect. However, they still look naff. I have based this sumption (perhaps naively) on how Windows behaves when it displays a desktop background, etc. with 16 colours which then gets progressively better looking as you up the colour count. Is this a simple thing for me to fix / tweak please? I'm going to be showing my A1200 to a mate of mine in a week or so and I'd LOVE to have WB looking sweet. Big ta.

13 January 2011, 18:36	#7
fishyfish Banned Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Australia Posts: 475	Something else to bare in mind is that a 256 color Workbench in AGA is horribly slow. Even on an '060 (8x the raw speed of your system or thereabouts) 64 colors is about the best you'll get and have it acceptably fast. For an '030 Id stick with 16 colors, or at most 32 if you're willing to sacrifice some speed. There really is an art to making a nice looking AGA/ECS workbench, and it doesnt necessarily have to mean more colors. Unfortunately learning the art will take a lot more than a week. Last edited by fishyfish; 13 January 2011 at 18:41.

13 January 2011, 23:40	#9
PeterK Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: digital hell, Germany, after 1984, but worse Posts: 3,378	You could try out my experimental WB 3.1 configuration for 256 color icons. These two archives offer you a minimal setup to show OS 3.5 icons on a system with OS 3.1, nothing more. The RAR file contains an ADF-image. Removed the old stuff. Please try the newer IconDemo ADF images: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=64079 Last edited by PeterK; 11 November 2018 at 02:17.

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13 January 2011, 14:47	#3
Konrad Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Germany Age: 43 Posts: 742	Original icons just have 4 colors. MagicWB icons have 8 colors. NewIcons can have up to 256 colors, most are 16+, though. MagicWB and NewIcons look funny when the required patches aren't running.

13 January 2011, 14:52	#4
ajk Registered User Join Date: May 2010 Location: Helsinki, Finland Posts: 1,341	You could have a look at this thread and see if you can find something you like. Then ask what you need to achieve a similar look, if it's not explained.

13 January 2011, 17:55	#5
vroom6sri Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Peterborough Age: 47 Posts: 849	Thanks for the info. Thinking about it, the "fancy" icons look like actual picture snapshots from the game or demo so presumably these are special ones that require patch(es) for "NewIcons". I will see what I can find...

13 January 2011, 18:03	#6
thomas Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 7,009	NewIcons icons can be identified easily: open the icon information for one of these icons and then look at the tooltypes. If there is one reading "don't remove the following lines" followed by a lot lines all reading IM1=rubbish and another lot lines all reading IM2=rubbish, then the file also contains a palette-mapped image for use by the NewIcons patch. Note that "rubbish" is not real rubbish, but holds the image in encoded form. Do not touch these tooltypes. If the icons are not NewIcons, they probably need a fixed palette. Change the screen mode to 8 colors and run the Click_Me program from the MagicWB archive. If the icons then look fine, you need to install FullPalette and fix the first eight pens to MagicWB palette. If you run OS 3.9 you can also enable the "Use MagicWB palette" checkbox in Prefs/Workbench. But if you ran OS 3.9, you wouldn't have problems with NewIcons.

13 January 2011, 20:25	#8
vroom6sri Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Peterborough Age: 47 Posts: 849	Thanks for more info. I've reduced colour count to 32 and checked some of the icons in question. None refer to "IM..." and only 2 mentioned the word "icon" at all - "ROMicon". I've found MagicWB 2.0 on Aminet so will try it out when I move the next load of bits N bobs over to my CF hard drive.

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