I was wrong, you can use Bink 1 to create non-transparent custom videos.

from GalCiv3 Forums

The first time I tried replacing a Bink 2(.bk2) video with a Bink 1 video(.bik), the video played, started to glitch and then GalCiv 3 crashed. It might have been due to an incorrect resolution. I can't remember.

Just to see if anythings changed or I was doing it wrong. I just tried replacing the Galaxy Spinning video by converting the .bk2 to .bik using the official RAD Game Tools. Then I renamed it to .bk2 as GalCiv 3 will skip files ending with .bik. It worked. No crashes in either new game screen or the loading screen where this video also used. Here is a screenshot:

Notice the black background for the Galaxy in above screenshot

However, while Bink 1 supports an alpha channel for transparent pixels, it heavily glitches if the setting "alpha plane options" is any other than "Do not include the alpha plane". Once it finishes a loop, the glitch clears and starts glitching again. As seen here:

I then created a Bink 1 video with plain Red, Green and Blue images and it worked.

I even tried converting a whole 1080p video. That also worked. Though there still may be an unseen performance hit.

RAD Game Tools downloads page - http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm

13,776 views 2 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Does this mean we can look forward to animated leader videos?  That would be exciting.

 

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

This means that you will SUBMIT to the will of the Ur-Quan!

I did not only get a custom video as a background movie. I also used an transparent 2x2 Bink video as a foreground with audio added. I will make new commit to my mod's Git repository so that others can look at it:

https://github.com/StarControlGalCiv/GalCiv3StarControl

@Stardock, although I achieved it with a hack. As OverrideMovie tag within ConversationDefs.xml replaces the background with a Terran one. This is a bug as there are Stardock's campaign scenarios where it replaces a different races background, like the Drengin in Altarian Prophecy Mission 2(Turn 10).

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