Moviepack Developers' Edition

For developmental things relating to the graphics of the game.
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Phytotron
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Moviepack Developers' Edition

Post by Phytotron »

From the standpoint of creating moviepacks/textures, I think it might be very handy to have a stripped-down version of the game for just that purpose. The idea is that it would only have the local game and the detail settings menus. No need for the online components and so forth.

But then additionally, while in game one would have the ability to swap out any of the textures found in either the moviepack or textures folder (depending on whichever one is working on) on an individual basis. So, for instance, one could hit ESC, go to a menu, and change just the dir_wall.png, or just the bike.png. This would go for any of the textures used, not only those. Then, on a restart (after crashing yourself)—or even immediately, if that were possible—the new texture would be loaded.

As it stands, if I'm wanting to try out a series of textures to see what they look like in the game, I have to continually quit, go to the moviepack or textures folder, copy in the new texture(s) I want to try, and start up the game again. Rinse, wash, repeat. Needless to say, this gets a bit tedious. It would be a lot nicer if I could just move all the ones I wanted to try into some folder (or whatever), and then do the switching around while still having the game loaded, ya know.

So, as you all know, I don't know the first lick about programming, and therefore don't know how easy or difficult it would be to put together such a build, as you say. Nevertheless, there's my suggestion/request. Thoughts?

(As an aside, it would also be handy if in the actual version of the game one had the ability to change moviepacks by use of a menu.)
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Jonathan
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Post by Jonathan »

r

(shortest answer ever? It's a key that reloads textures AFAIK)
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Your_mom
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Post by Your_mom »

http://forums.armagetronad.net/viewtopic.php?t=2059
http://forums.armagetronad.net/viewtopic.php?t=1675
http://forums.armagetronad.net/viewtopic.php?t=1478

in responce to your suggestions. but yeah try what Jon suggested most but not all skins can be changed on the fly.

edit- *
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philippeqc
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Post by philippeqc »

Oscilloscope, I think what you are wanting would be better served by changing the way the game treats the textures.

First of all, there could be settings associated to all the textures. Instead of depending on a fixed location and name for a file, it would be possible to specify it in the same fashion that you specify any of the other settings, ie: from the config file, some from the menu, from the game console, and from the server in a network game. In your particular purpose, the config file, the menu (if they are changed to present a texture sub-menu) and the console would allow you to quickly mix and match different textures and see the results.

Second, rather than to treat the textures as files, they could be treated as resources. The difference between a file and a resource might seem hair thin in this case. To obtain a file, you query the file system of your OS, and to obtain a resource, you query the resource manager of the game. But already, the resource manager does't limit itself to file on the file system. It has already the capacity to query the web for the resource. Even if the web capacity isn't something that might interest you during the process of assembling a "texture pack", the resource manager alway search in 3 locations for files on your hard disk. It searches in the files that are included with the game, the files that have been manually installed by the player, and the files that have been automatically downloaded from the web at a previous time.

Third, some of the textures are loaded only once in the game, which makes it impossible at the moment to change them. I guess the order of event is somethign like this:
A- The game program start
B- Some initialisation is performed,
C- Loading the settings.cfg
D- More initialisation is performed,
E- The game menu appears for the user
F- When a round starts, the cycles are created.

Because some of the textures are only loaded once in the whole execution of the program, even with the first and second item presented, it would mean:
- At the moment, what ever textures are loaded in step B wouldn't be changed by a change of the associated setting in the config file.
- Textures that are loaded in step D could be influenced by the config file, but after that, they would stay the same for the execution of the game
- Textures that are loaded at step F could be influenced by any of the config, menu, game console and server settings at each round start.

What is needed here is a mechanism that allow for every change of the config to affect the texture that is describe. I'm not going to say "refresh" or "each round" or anything else because I do not know what would be the best and what would be possible to code.

Fourth, it is my beleif that the game would benefit from merging the "default pack" with the "movie pack" ways of funtionning. In the default pack, only one rim texture is required and in the movie pack, four textures are needed. It could be easy to think that in an "unified pack", it would be possible to specify from one to four textures for the rim, or possibly any number of texture. By combining the capacities and eliminating restrictions (like the 4 textures required for the rim in the moviepack), I beleive that if would be easier for people to mix and match to create their own desired effect.

Now, I've already solved the first and second point on some code on my hard disk, so it is Bacchus material. I was on my way to tackle the third item when I had to take a leave from the forum and aa. Without it, only a very small subset of the textures are modifiable from their default value. The work done on the fourth item is only defining the goal to reach "I want to combine the capacities of both packs in a unified one. I want to allow each variation to exist where behavior was different, and I want to generalize them for greater flexibility."

In short:
- textures description as settings and manipulate them as resources,
- You shouldn't need a tuned down version of the game, it should be standard capacity,
- Menu manipulation would require step 3 to be completed,
- While point 4 could simplify some items for the users, it is not as trivial as one would expect to implement it. Also, it is not a requirement for any other items.
- Because of 3, your desire for moviepack switch capacity in Arthemis (the coming version) would require a miracle, and I fear only our own little private god (z-man) has the power to grant it.

-ph
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Phytotron
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Post by Phytotron »

Well, like I said, I didn't even necessarily intend it to be in the full version of the game. I was just wondering if there might be a way (hopefully not too difficult) to make a separate, stripped down version just for testing moviepack textures (hence, "moviepack developers' edition"). But maybe that would be more difficult than just adding in something to the full game. I've said it once; I'll say it again: What do I know about this programming stuff? As I've begun to notice, some things that seem simple conceptually can actually be more difficult to execute in practice.

It was just a thought in trying to make things a little more convenient for myself and others. :)
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Post by Revan »

I've gone into the textures folder and replaced the grid walls with a moviepack wall...That and you can also change the font, grid, and I almost got the cycle walls to look different. Then I tried to restore the defaults and it just f***ed up Armagetron. So don't try to do that unless you want LOTS AND LOTS OF ERRORS.

I hope I've helped a bit :D
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Phytotron
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Post by Phytotron »

Um, actually, no. I've had no problem replacing any number of textures (both in the moviepack and textures folders) any number of times. Me thinks you've missed the point of this topic.
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Post by Revan »

Yes I know the point of it I'm just saying that's somewhat of another way to replace...And I agree that there should be a watered down version JUST for moviepacks.
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philippeqc
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Post by philippeqc »

Hi Oscilloscope,

I guess I wasn't as clear as I expected.
Oscilloscope wrote:Well, like I said, I didn't even necessarily intend it to be in the full version of the game. I was just wondering if there might be a way (hopefully not too difficult) to make a separate, stripped down version just for testing moviepack textures (hence, "moviepack developers' edition").
I was playing with the "re-loading" of textures. It doesn't seem to have any easy way to do it (see the big text I wrote). I think a stripped down version would need the same investment to fix.
while in game one would have the ability to swap out any of the textures found in either the moviepack or textures folder (depending on whichever one is working on) on an individual basis
That is exactly the thing that isn't working and would need a good re-write of the code.
But maybe that would be more difficult than just adding in something to the full game. I've said it once; I'll say it again: What do I know about this programming stuff? As I've begun to notice, some things that seem simple conceptually can actually be more difficult to execute in practice.
I'm sorry that my attempt to tell you why it was a problem wasn't written in a better way.
It was just a thought in trying to make things a little more convenient for myself and others. :)
Me too, I just failed in explaining it. ;)

-ph
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Phytotron
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Post by Phytotron »

No no, I did understand you, which is why I responded in the way I did. It was a sort of lamentation, see, heh.
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Post by philippeqc »

z-man pointed the multiple errors in my model for the textures. I retract everything.

I hope someone else will be able to give you an answer to your question.

-ph

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