Solving color shifting in SCURK for Windows in SimCity 2000

If you notice the colors of images you paste into SCURK for Windows getting scrambled, you'll need to follow the guidelines below. The problem is caused by color palette conflicts, and can be fixed by giving the image you want to import a new color palette. The new palette will not ruin the image in any way (for most GIF/PCX files).

Before starting, you'll want to download and install the shareware version of Paint Shop Pro (available from the JASC web site). Other paint programs may work, but I've only tested it with PSP.

Creating a SCURK4WIN-compatible palette file

• If you aren't feeling adventurous, you can download such a palette here and then skip to the next section, "Applying the new palette"
  1. From SCURK, go to Paint the Town
  2. From the file menu, export the current graphic to a BMP file. Remember the filename and path
  3. Open Paint Shop Pro and then open the BMP file you just created
  4. Now, from the colors menu in PSP, select Save palette. Give the palette a name you'll remember
  5. Go on to the next section...

Applying the new palette

• 1. From within PSP, load the image file that you want to import into SCURK (most likely a GIF or PCX)
  2. From the colors menu, select load palette and open the palette you just saved (or downloaded from this site)

     Note: the "apply palette using" option from the Load Palette window should be set to "nearest color matching". If it is set to "error diffusion" or "maintain indexes", the process will not work properly.

  3. The image should now be using the new palette. You can now copy it to the clipboard and then paste it into SCURK. You may want to save the file first for future use