Brighter tracers?

[PoorOldSpike]

Hi guys, is there a mod or script or magic wand to make tracer fire more dramatic, such as bright red, green or orange?
If not, can you tell me where exactly is the default tracer graphic in the BA files as I'd like to have a crack at it myself by jazzing up the colours with Paint or Photoshop.

[Paul59]

Hi guys, is there a mod or script or magic wand to make tracer fire more dramatic, such as bright red, green or orange?
If not, can you tell me where exactly is the default tracer graphic in the BA files as I'd like to have a crack at it myself by jazzing up the colours with Paint or Photoshop.

Open the Battle Academy main folder and type Tracer in the search box, top right of the window.

[Paul59]

I was intrigued by your query, and have looked a little deeper into the Tracer graphic.

The file you need is Tracer.tga, which is in the Battle Academy 2/Data/UI/Textures/Battle folder. The original Battle Academy has the same file location for the Tracer.tga, except that the Bulge and Desert campaigns have their own Tracer.tga files. I don't know what differences there are with the Campaign versions, I have not had time to look at them yet.

Merely changing the colour of the Tracer.tga does very little. As Pip suggested in your Battle Academy thread, you need to change the Alpha layer to make the tracer effect look more pronounced. The Alpha layer (or Mask) is like a hidden part of the texture that only limits the amount of the original texture that appears in game. You can modify the Alpha layer in Photoshop, but don't ask me to explain how! I use an ancient version of Paint Shop Pro, and I cannot understand how to use my version of Photoshop!

I am still experimenting, but by lightening the Tracer.tga Alpha layer and changing the colour to a much brighter yellow I have been able to make the tracer fire much more visible.

[PoorOldSpike]

..I am still experimenting..

Me too, Pip suggested I google "alpha" and read up on it, but I'm afraid it's beyond me as I don't know nothing about techy stuff, I only know how to do a few key presses and mouse clicks to make my little men run around shooting their guns (sniffle)
This is the best I could manage, the tracer line is always black like this no matter what colour I use but at least it's easier to see than the default.
Hey, you can send me your bright yellow tracer TGA if you like- pooroldspike(at)aol(dotcom) and i'll gift you any game you choose..

[kresper]

As for Photoshop, I have the same situation, I started using (linked removed). While for editing photos this service is in the first place for me

[PoorOldSpike]

Paul59 and me also discussed tracers at the BA2 forum and he put up 3 tracer mods (yellow,red and green) and they look pretty good, here's my Stug duking it out with a Stalin using the yellow mod..
(ignore the red arrows which I added in the AAR to show the Russian paths of advance)