THE COMMAND & CONQUER PALETTES


The .PAL files are the most important files for editing C&C SHP images.
I found out that the Temperate and Winter palettes were exactly the same.
But, more important, this file will tell you where the palette differences
between the Temperate and the Desert palette are.

This is what a C&C palette looks like (in Mix Manager or RAMIX)
The "__" are just other colors, without specification.

        0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  A  B  C  D  E  F

   0   BG __ __ __ SH __ __ __ __ __ __ __ BL DG LG WH
   1   __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
   2   AW AW AW AW AW AW AW WH WH XX __ __ __ __ __ __
   3   XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
   4   XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
   5   XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
   6   XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
   7   __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
   8   __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
   9   __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
   A   __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
   B   GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG
   C   MT MT MT MT MT MT MT MT MT MT MT MT MT MT MT MT
   D   __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
   E   XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
   F   XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX WH

Legenda:
-------
BG : 00: Background color. Normally black. Better change this before
     converting. I use purple: you immediately see what is black
     and what is background.
SH : 04: Shadow color. Bright green. You can use the green color for icons.
BL : 0C: Black.
DG : 0D: Dark Grey
LG : 0E: Light Grey
WH : 0F/27/28/FF: White. Always use the 0F color for white. The others
     could have strange effects (one of them is the blinking color used
     for "on hold"; I think that is FF). Better change 27, 28 and FF to
     something else to avoid mixing up.
AW : 20-26: animated water
XX : 29/30-6F/E0-FE: Palette differences between temperate and desert
     theater. For editing, I suggest erasing these colors by replacing
     them by a color you never use.
GG : B0-BF: GDI colors. Use these for editing. Most of the time, when making
     new units by hand in an image editor, I stick to these colors only
     by making a palette where EVERYTHING except B0-BF, 00 and 04 is erased.
MT : C0-CF: Metallic colors: same as GDI colors, but grey/blue. Used in
     the game for Nod units. Don't use this as team colors: only the colors
     B0-BF are reserved for that.

Written by Maarten 'Nyerguds' Meuris
http://cnc2sw.planetcnc.gamespy.com/