In need of serious help! I have no idea what to do! (Resolved)

[Radaron]

Hey, I'm new to the forum, but not to Rpg Maker.  Still, I have a problem that i can't get around.

Whenever I try to import any pictures into Rpgm2k3, the colors are always distorted.
I know that this problem has been discussed a lot, but I don't like the way it is handled.
First of all, I don't want to do the "copy into MS Paint" method because i want my monsters and characters to retain their exact colors.  I don't want any distortion at all.
Also, it seems too time consuming to find a monster with a good color range every time.

I tried downloading IrfanView and converting it to PNG, but it still tells me that it's an Invalid Color Depth.  Am I doing it wrong?  If so, what should I do?
And if the problem lies in the program I'm using to convert it, what should I use?
Any insight in this problem would be greatly appreciated.
With this in my way I have halted my project for over 3 months!

Edit: Problem Fixed.

[Grafikal]

I thought 2k/2k3 could only handle 256 color images? ... Why not try to save a bitmap or something with max 256 colors.

Edit::
Oh, here. The answer was stickied. You should learn to read those first. They're helpful for a reason.
http://rmrk.net/index.php/topic,9251.msg164823.html#msg164823

[Radaron]

Sorry, I don't quite understand what you're saying,

But if you're telling me to save it as 256 colors or bitmap... Well, it won't let me!
It doesn't allow those files.

[Grafikal]

Eh, well I would suggest to find a way to save them as 256. Photographs are generally Millions+ colors. Essentially you lose a lot of detail with less colors. Anyway, read that whole topic I linked, someone probably mentioned a way how to save them like that or programs that do save them like that. I'm not really fluent with 2k/2k3. Just trying to help out.

[Radaron]

I've read that sticky before, but they talk about the MS paint copy and paste trick.
I don't want to do that that , but if it's the only way to get around it I'll try.

[Grafikal]

Try it once to see if it works for you I guess. I'm sure someone else will be around tomorrow to discuss this further if you're still having problems, but it's best to try all your options.

[Radaron]

Thanks.

[Sirius]

Gimp is pure magic (that is, if you don't have any better image editing programs at your disposal). It'll retain essentially the exact picture in a PNG format suitable for 2k3, and it's free to download. The program might be a little hard to understand at first, but everything you need is right there for you to use.

[Radaron]

Really? Thanks!
I recently downloaded two programs to convert my files.
(IrfanView and Paint.net)
Ive heard of Gimp, but I hadn't checked it out.

[Lazer Ki]

IrfanView is one of the most popular programs to convert image files without changing the photo itself... so I reccomend that one.

[Radaron]

Alright, problem solved.

I used Paint.net and easily converted it to .png format.

The thing is, I couldn't use Gimp because it didn't open when I clicked it.
Then I got an error message saying it's a bad image and to check my diskette.

IrfanView opened up and I even saved it to .png format, but RpgMaker still wouldn't accept it.

Still, I managed to get through this and i can continue my project.

Thanks to everyone who replied to my original post!

[Nessiah]

You have to convert it to 256 colors.
Known as Decrease Color Depth in irfanview or indexed colors in photoshop/gimp