There is a rather noticeable drawback though: all 2GK kits seem to suffer from compatibility problems with Glide (the graphics library used by 3dfx with their popular Voodoo graphics cards)... at least that's what a lot of people report at the relative forums on the Internet. Personally, I have also faced some of those problems, since I do own a Voodoo-3 card... for example, I haven't managed to successfully use both ordinary 32bit kits and 2GK kits with the modified texture.big file that comes with 2GK.

So, in this guide I'll try to explain the obvious way to convert a 2GK kit into a plain 8bit one... the same procedure also holds for converting a 2GK kit into an ordinary 32bit one, except that in this case you won't need to deal with color palettes (see below, at the end of this guide). But be warned that the outcome (8bit/32bit kit) will not be as sharp as the original (2GK kit). However, the differences are not that many, thus making it worthy to try the conversion in favor of compatibility.

I'll focus just to the conversion itself, which means that you should already (have a copy of and) be familiar with the basic usage of EA-Graph and the structure of both 2GK and standard Fifa 2001 kits (8bit). Also, you will need to have basic knowledge of Paint Shop Pro (or PhotoShop or any other decent graphics program) because you are going to need it for re-sizing and sharpening bmp-pictures.

So, lets get started!

Converting a 2GK Kit into a Plain 8bit One
Lets assume you want to convert the sample Manchester United 2GK kit provided by Ariel Santarelli (file: jh00011.fsh) into a plain 8bit one. You run EA-Graph and do the following:

• Open the 2GK kit file (jh00011.fsh) into EA-Graph.
    
• Notice the 7 image objects, on the left, forming a tree diagram (crst, hjfr, hjbx, hslv, hsht, hsck and hlsv).
  For each one of them, use the command File->Save As->BMP in order to create 7 new bmp-picture files (call them for example 2gk_crst.bmp, 2gk_hjfr.bmp, 2gk_hjbx.bmp, 2gk_hslv.bmp, 2gk_hsht.bmp, 2gk_hsck.bmp, and 2gk_hlsv.bmp, respectively).
     

  The picture shows all 7 image objects of the original (2GK) kit, opened inside EA-Graph. For each one of them you should create a corresponding picture file, in bmp format. To do so, use the command: File->Save As->BMP.

   

• Open those 7 bmp-picture files you have just created into Paint Shop Pro.
    
• Inside Paint Shop Pro, increase the color depth of all 7 bmp-picture files to 24 bit (with the command Colors->Increase Color Depth->16 Million Colors (24 bits)) and then resize them (with the command Image->Resize) to the following sizes:
    
  • 2gk_crst.bmp -> (32x32).
    Sharpen the re-sized image (with the command Image->Sharpen->Sharpen) and Save it to a new bmp-picture file (say crst.bmp).
      
  • 2gk_hjfr.bmp -> (128x128, 64x64 and 32x32).
    Sharpen the re-sized images and Save them to 3 new bmp-picture files (say, hjfr.bmp, mjfr.bmp and ljfr.bmp, respectively).
      
  • 2gk_hjbx.bmp -> (64x64, 32x32 and 16x16).
    Sharpen the re-sized images and Save them to another 3 new bmp-picture files (say, hjbx.bmp, mjbx.bmp and ljbx.bmp, respectively).
      
  • 2gk_hslv.bmp -> (64x64, 32x32 and 16x16).
    Sharpen the re-sized images and Save them to another 3 new bmp-picture files (say, hslv.bmp, mslv.bmp and lslv.bmp, respectively).
      
  • 2gk_hsht.bmp -> (100x64, 50x32 and 25x16) .
    Sharpen the re-sized images and Save them to another 3 new bmp-picture files (say, hsht.bmp, msht.bmp and lsht.bmp, respectively).
      
  • 2gk_hsck.bmp -> (64x64, 32x32 and 16x16).
    Sharpen the re-sized images and Save them to another 3 new bmp-picture files (say, hsck.bmp, msck.bmp and lsck.bmp, respectively).
      
  • 2gk_hlsv.bmp -> (64x64, 32x32 and 16x16).
    Sharpen the re-sized images and Save them to another 3 new bmp-picture files (say, hlsv.bmp, mlsv.bmp and llsv.bmp, respectively).
      
    So, you end up having 19 more bmp-picture files (at this point you may safely delete those seven 2gk_xxxx.bmp files you have created in the 2nd step of this guide and the 2GK fsh-file jh00011.fsh, since you won't need them any more).
     
• Now you need to find any existing standard 8bit kit (such as my Tottenham FC Photo3D/256 kit) and rename its fsh-file to jh00011.fsh, since this is the correct name for the home kit of Manchester United. If you are not sure which of your kits are 8bit or not, then click here to download a sample standard 8bit kit.
    
• Open the standard 8bit fsh-file (described in the previous step) with EA-Graph and start importing each one of the 19 bmp-picture files you have created two steps above into the corresponding image objects of the tree on your left. For example, the bmp-picture file crst.bmp should be imported into the image object crst, the bmp-picture file hjfr.bmp into the image object hjfr, and so on.
    
  (!) Hint: to import a bmp-picture into an image object, first select the object from the tree and then use the command Tools->Import Wizard... in there, select the very first option and follow the wizard.
    

  The picture shows all 19 image objects of the resulting (8bit) kit, just after importing them with EA-Graph. To apply the proper color palette to each one of them, please read my 8bit Kits Palette Mini Guide. To set the transparency of the crst-object, please read my Transparent Crests Mini Guide.

   

• There are a couple more things you should take care of, before your converted kit is finished. First you need to set the transparency of the image object crst and then to set the correct color palettes for the remaining 18 image objects. To do so, please read my Transparent Crests Mini Guide and my 8bit Kits Palette Mini Guide, respectively.

You are all set now. Just copy your freshly converted 8bit kit (jh00011.fsh) into the main folder of Fifa 2001 (typically C:\Program Files\EA Sports\Fifa 2001) and enjoy the game ;-)

Author Notes
Please note that whatever I wrote in this guide comes from my own experience, which by no way means it's either error-free or the best way to convert a 2GK kit into a standard 8bit one. If you think something needs to get improved or you've spotted out any inaccuracies please feel free to contact me and let me know about it.

But please do not ask me to make conversions for you, and take the time to read the whole guide before flooding my e-mailbox with questions :-) It is not that I'm not willing to help you out (if I can) but my spare time is really limited.

I hope you find the guide useful.

Send your comments to Harry Karayannis