Help:Images

This help page will provide instruction on how to add an image into an article.

Before uploading

Screenshots

By default, screenshots can be made in all Valve games with the F5 key. Fraps can also be used. GoldSrc games save them in BMP, Source games in JPG.

Anti-aliasing

The difference between non anti-aliased (above) and anti-aliased (below) models.

First, it would be better to choose the biggest resolution you can afford, and turn on the anti-aliasing. It can be found in the game advanced video options. It would look much better. Even if your computer can't follow, it does not really matter, since you are there to take pictures, not play seriously. Also, some graphic cards offer an override of the original game's resolution, which will look even better. For example, many sharp edges, such as the ones seen in trees or metal fences still look quite "ugly" without an override.

Don't just press "F5" right away

Do your best to provide screenshots where the related subject can clearly be identified. Don't crop too much, it is always better to clearly see the context surrounding the subject, but don't provide screenshots where the main subject is too far either. Try to be as artistic as possible, it cannot kill this wiki to provide good-looking screenshots, and be careful not to have too much ground/water in the screenshot, which is a mistake many people do, even in real life photography. It is always better to have more sky/ceiling than ground/water.

Also, while the GoldSrc games save screenshots in BMP, the Source games save them in JPG. The compression of the latter is too high and cannot be changed, so reduce the size of the image to lessen the JPG compression artifacts, or use Fraps to save them in another format, then convert them to JPG with a program that allows choosing JPG compression. So, avoid Paint at all costs, and prefer Photoshop or IrfanView.

Useful console tweaks

If you want to provide screenshots for general settings where the player's presence is irrelevant, you can use the below commands in the console (all are recommended).

Function	GoldSrc	Source	Requires sv_cheats 1
hide HUD	hud_draw 0	cl_drawhud 0	cl_drawhud is
hide crosshair	crosshair 0		No
hide weapon viewmodel	r_drawviewmodel 0	r_drawviewmodel 0 or impulse 200	Yes
noclip	noclip		Yes
invulnerablity	god		Yes
ignored by NPCs	notarget		Yes
freeze NPCs	?	ai_disable or ai_disabled 1	?

See these examples of an empty screen: example 1, example 2.

It is useful to bind a key to these actions. Enter the appropriate command in the console where '?' is the key you want.:

GoldSrc	bind ? "sv_cheats 1;hud_draw 0;crosshair 0;r_drawviewmodel 0;noclip;god;notarget;"
Source	bind ? "sv_cheats 1;cl_drawhud 0;r_drawviewmodel 0;noclip;god;notarget;"

ai_disable can be added if necessary. Make sure it is surrounded by semicolons (';').

File formats

Prefer JPG for these files, especially if they are really big. The PNG quality for screenshots is uselessly too high.

Custom games

An example of a customized canon game. Custom elements like this are not allowed in a screenshot.

Also, do not take screenshots from customized/tweaked canon games, like FakeFactory's Cinematic Mod or GameBanana offers. Prefer the original models and textures, the only canon render.

Other

To be more faithful to the original games, prefer taking screenshots in Half-Life rather than Half-Life: Source, unless you want to showcase the differences between the two games.

For the same reason, HD models should be used only in Blue Shift and Decay screenshots.

Models

In-game models are often better to help understanding how this NPC, weapon, technology device, etc. works. It does not really matter.

Covers

Unless you can find a better resolution, all covers are ok for now.

Logos

If you want to upload game logos from the game files or anywhere else, it would be better if they were in PNG. Also, if a SVG version is available, it is much better.

Uploading

All pictures should be uploaded by using this page - Special:Upload. You have to have an account and be logged in to upload an image. Don't forget to fill the information template.

Warning: do NOT upload images that do not have anything to do with this wiki, which is not an image repository; they will be deleted. However this does not apply to user images (to be used only on your userpage): however the information template is also mandatory for them.

Simplest form

Above is an image of Civil Protection. To put your own image into an article you just need to add this code:

[[File:Pick up that can2.jpg]]

Standard image format

However the above code offers no formatting options and so all images should follow the Wiki image markup language. The wiki markup language will only work if no capital letters are used. Most images should follow this Wiki format:

[[File:Pick up that can2.jpg|thumb|right|Example image caption.]]

Example image caption.

This code will create the image to the right. Looking at the code above we can see that:

• File:Pick up that can2.jpg is the image file name. When you upload a file a different name will be given to when you use this page to upload a file
• thumb: Using "thumb" forces the creation of a thumbnail or smaller picture.
• Location : 'right', 'left', 'center' or 'none'. Determines placement of the image on the page.
• Caption : The image should always have a short description which would replace the "Example image caption" text on your image.

DO NOT upload small thumbnails!

Please DO NOT upload anymore small thumbnails or pictures of Images that already exist on the Combine OverWiki! If you want to use this image, [[File:Station 7.jpg]] then link to that image! DO NOT upload a smaller version.

So here is [[File:Station 7.jpg]]:

If you want to show a small version then all you have to do enter the following code:

[[File:Station 7.jpg|200px]].
The "|200px" code allows you to make the picture any size you want just by changing the number as shown here where the 200px makes the image 200px wide:

DO NOT upload a small version of an existing picture!

Advanced image formatting

Options can be combined, and vertical bars ("|") are used to separate options from each other. The options can be put in any order. An unknown option is taken as the caption text, but this seems to appear only if thumb is specified. If there are two or more unknown options, the last one upstages the rest.

Here is the description of the options other than the caption text:

right 

The image is right-aligned, and text floats to the left of the File: [[File:Pick up that can2.jpg|right|70px|]] (shown on the right).

left 

The image is left aligned, and text floats to the right of the File: [[File:Pick up that can2.jpg|left|70px|]] (shown on the left).

center 

The image is centered, and...

the text following the image starts below it: [[File:Pick up that can2.jpg|center|70px|]] (shown above).

none 

The image is put at the left, and...

the text following does not float to the right (or to the left, obviously), and starts below it: [[File:Pick up that can2.jpg|none|70px|]] (shown above).

sizepx 

This option renders a version of the image that's [size] pixels wide (e.g. [[File:D-Halo.jpg|right|50px|]] shown on the right). Height is computed to keep aspect ratio (i.e. the shape of the image).

Last vertical bar law

What is between the last vertical bar and the closing brackets ("]]"), void or not, is taken as the last option, and works as usual. For instance, when the last option is right, the image is right-aligned, and text floats to the left: [[File:Pick up that can2.jpg|70px|right]] (shown on the right).

This text is displayed.

In particular, if the last option is the void text (that is, if there is nothing between the last vertical bar and the closing brackets), the caption is not displayed: [[File:Pick up that can2.jpg|thumb|This text is not displayed.|70px|left|]] (shown on the left) and [[File:Pick up that can2.jpg|thumb|This text is displayed.|70px|right]] (shown on the right).

Frame option

If you specify a "frame" option the image will not be scaled, and no size specifiers will be in the HTML. The image will be rendered at full size

frame 

Pick up that can.

With this option, the embedded image is shown with its actual size enclosed by a frame, regardless of the "thumb" or "size" attribute, and the caption, if any, is visible in the frame. Without the options left, center, and none, the image is normally on the right: [[File:Pick up that can2.jpg|frame|thumbnail|50px|Pick up that can.]].

Inline Images

With none of the options other than sizepx and alternate (caption) text, an embedded image is rendered inline.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, vel pulvinar felis faucibus sed.
[[File:Pick up that can2.jpg|150px|Pick up that can.]]
Massa dolor, blandit fermentum luctus nec, et laoreet quam. 
[[File:Vort Ep2.jpg|100px|This is a Vortigaunt.]]
Consequat fusce id purus ullamcorper, sem lorem commodo. 

gives

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris in semper elit, ut feugiat augue. Morbi congue tincidunt lectus, vel pulvinar felis faucibus sed. Massa dolor, blandit fermentum luctus nec, pellentesque vel orci. Suspendisse cursus id diam eget congue. Integer egestas lectus vitae leo lacinia, et laoreet quam. Consequat fusce id purus ullamcorper, vehicula arcu quis, ultrices est. Duis commodo, ligula vel volutpat finibus, sem lorem commodo.

Image with caption in the center

Pick up that can.

Use [[File:image name|alignment|type|size|<div style="text-align: center;border:none">Caption</div>]]

For example, [[File:Pick up that can2.jpg|right|thumb|100px|<div style="text-align: center;border:none">Pick up that can.</div>]] produces a caption in the center. However, this syntax is not recommended for long captions (for example, captions involving long, descriptive sentences running more than one line), for which the regular image syntax should be used. You can also specify the color of the border, like "border:solid grey".

Linking to the image description page

If you want to make a link to the description page for an image, use a leading colon before "File:" in an intra-wiki link, like this: [[:File:Pick up that can2.jpg|The can]] which yields: The can.

Image galleries

To make a gallery of Images you can use the following code:

<gallery>
File:Pick up that can2.jpg
File:Pick up that can2.jpg|Captioned
File:Pick up that can2.jpg
File:Pick up that can2.jpg|[[Help:Editing|Links]] can be put in captions.
File:Pick up that can2.jpg
File:Pick up that can2.jpg|Full [[wikipedia:MediaWiki|MediaWiki]]<br />[[wikipedia:syntax|syntax]] may now be used…
</gallery>

Which produces:

• 
• 

  Captioned.

• 
• 

  Links can be put in captions.

• 
• 

  Full MediaWiki
  syntax may now be used…

Notice that there are no brackets except for links within captions. Captions are optional. Images are separated by new lines.

Categories

Please add the proper category below the image you upload. Most common categories can be found here. If it does not exist, create it, but be really sure it does not exist!