OK, this tutorial will update with time, I have not ventured into all forms of sprite creation, but I figured I could show people how I made what I posted.

A sprite is a two dimensional image used in Half-life for certain items such has the little life meter in the bottom of the screen as you play. Before you begin sprite creating, you should have some experience with image editing. Of course to make sprites for half-life you will need an image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop, or Paint Shop Pro. Also, you will need a program to convert your image to a sprite. There are probably several sprite converting programs, but I recommend one called Sprite Wiz(freeware : )).

Sprite Wiz (Wavelength Sprite Wizard)
xhfact12
xhfact12 includes
• • • Crosshair Packs
• • • Crosshair Palettes
• • • Pak Explorer
• • • Sprite Generator
• • • Sprite-Viewer
• • • and Tutorials

I am going to assume if you know how to edit images you know how to browse your hard drive folders, and use menus. Also, if you delete the wrong sprite, or loose the original, use the Pak Explorer program to retrieve the default sprite.

First you have to decide which sprite do you want to modify. It is best to use Pak Explorer and extract the sprites to a folder of your choice. This will allow you to browse all the sprites and guide you on your decision of which sprite you want to create. The Pak file for Half Life is located in the "C:\SIERRA\Half-Life\valve" folder. You will have to view the sprites with the Sprite-Viewer program.

Once you have decided which sprite to modify, use the Sprite Viewer program to extract the BMP file and the QC script file. To do that click the file menu, and select save sequences, the sprite file must have the same name.

Use the BMP file as a guideline for the image size, the sprite will have to be that size for it to view properly. Edit the image with the art program of your choice, and make sure you save the file as a " 256 color BMP" file under the same name as the extracted BMP file.
NOTE: For animated sprites to compile corectly, all bmp files must have the same color pallette.

Now to convert the BMP file to a sprite file you will use the program Sprite Wiz. The program is very simple, it will lead you through the steps in creating the sprite, just read the prompts.

There are 4 different types of sprites that can be created.
• • Additive - 256 color with additive transparency (Most Common)
• • Alphatest - 256 color, last color in palette is the transparent color.
• • Indexalpha - Greyscale, last color is the sprite color
• • Normal - 256 color, no transparency.

NOTE: The qc file extracted will tell you which mode you should pick when making the sprite. Also, if you choose to use alphatest, you may have to edit the palette for it to properly work, if you have created your own palette.

I recommend to save your deferent sprites you edit in different folders so you don't mix all of your work together.
Once you have created the sprite it is time to save it to your valve/sprites folder.
C:\SIERRA\Half-Life\valve\sprites\

Now you can enjoy your sprite you created while you play Half Life. If you think it's worthy send me a message in my forum and I will post it to my site. Then you can send your buddies over to this site to show off your work.