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[darkhog]

My goal is to make a completely free (as in freedom, licensed under CC0) graphics set for DF 50+ comparable with the Premium. I can draw tiles, mobs, etc. just fine (tileset will be 16x) However to do that, I need to be able to access the new renderer from the Classic version. Any info on how to do that?
Every graphics will be done from scratch by yours truly, so I don't foresee any legal issues.

[Ziusudra]

Second to last option on the Video tab in Settings, https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Settings#Video

[darkhog]

Yeah, but on the tileset making side of things.

[mikekchar]

It's a matter of adding the relevant data to the raws.  Unfortunately there is no documentation and I don't think anyone has really tried yet.  If I were doing this, I would start with taking a look at some of the mods that *modify* the graphics and seeing what they are changing.  Realistically, I think you will need to purchase premium so that you can get a look at what Toady has done.

If you don't already have premium and can't afford it, DM me.  If you promise to put in at least 10 hours into the project (which is obviously not even a tiny fraction of what it will take), I'll pick up the tab for you.

P.S. I'm bad at DMs, so if I don't respond right away, that will be the reason.  I'll try to check regularly, though.

[darkhog]

I have premium, so no need to hurt your wallet for me . But I wonder if using the raws supplied with premium, but with different graphics and audio, would be okay from the legal perspective - messing with the graphics directly by replacing them as is and then adding the "premium" raws to handle them in the game (no premium art/sounds would remain in the game) would be actually easier for me as all I'd need to do is to just replace the art/audio without touching the premium  raws and repackage the thing, but unsure about legalities of it.

[mikekchar]

There are a couple of approaches I would take.  First I would go through the file structures and find all the files in premium that aren't in classic.  Make a list of them and then go through the ones in premium and try to guess what they are for.  Make notes.

Second I would go through the files that exist in both and see if there are any differences.  Since they are all text files (I think), you can use a too like diff just to see how they differ.  You might want to store those differences somewhere.

Then make a todo list and work your way through them.  Because classic and premium are *exactly* the same code bases (possibly with some minor changes), the differences will only be in the raws.  Doing this should allow you to see what you need to do.

I would never mix the two.  That's asking for trouble.  You *will* forget something.

Also, I mentioned this to someone on reddit: Set up a github repository and work using git (you may have to learn how to use it, if you don't already) to store and share your progress.  This is a *massive* undertaking.  Allow others to give you a hand.  Many hands make light work :-)  There are a lot of people who are keen to see this happen, but don't have enough time to start their own project.

Give me a shout if you'd like help getting started.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Remember the raws are free. Only the graphics themselves (and the music) is "premium".

All txt files in the "vanilla_*" folders and their subfolders, and all files in the "interaction examples" and "examples and notes" folders, are released into the public domain:  to the extent permitted by law, we waive all copyright to them.  We will not pursue a copyright claim even if this waiver is not applicable in a given area.

But, yes, huge job, which is why there aren't any complete sets out there yet. That and the new interface has trouble with quite a few of the different tileset sizes right now, which I don't think is fixed yet, is it?

[darkhog]

I plan to stick to the size of the Premium set, so it will have the exact same tile and sprite sizes, just completely custom graphics. Can't do it right now due to the Dwarfcember being full effect on my Youtube channel (meaning new DF vids every day), but sometime in spring I will be doing that. Good to know that I can use the raws with Steam version as is, only having to replace the audio and the graphics (with audio I will just use one that ships with DF classic, unless some talented composer comes forward to make some DF music and license it under either CC0 or CC-by).

[DPh Kraken]

With regards to music, the Soundsense pack is CC-BY. I don't know if I've updated my port of it on DFFD to have the correct volume, but that's a viable source of songs.

[darkhog]

Not sure about soundsense being cc-by - got dinged by ContentID in the past for it.

Anyway, I would probably be doing it after the adventure mode gets released, since I'd need to update it to have AM graphics anyway.

[mikekchar]

You might as well start now.  This is going to take thousands of hours...

[darkhog]

I want to livestream the process, that's one thing, and I don't really have time for that until April anyway as I have Dwarfcember going on right now on my channel and then working on a video that hopefully will bring me much more subscribers, couple of thousands maybe. Plus, I have a couple of pixelart tricks up my sleeve that allow me to work very fast and it's not like DF graphics are 4K HD.