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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thanks.

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.

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.

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

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!

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