snatcher

Thank you. Here is an updated version of "Outlined Yellow" based in your latest code. The image of the ring is no longer fully transparent and it comes with an outline now for improved clarity. Base colors of the image are now shades of grey and the color of the widget is now changed by making use of the matcolor property so that colors of both the widget and the text could change simultaneously via user input. z_Subs_212_Outlined_Yellow_20240108.pk4

@stgatilov, would you mind sharing your latest version of tdm_subtitles_message.gui?

What I found is that changing the color of the text by using the escape character [^] is a feature of the Doom 3 engine and not something created for the subs in TDM. What is happening in your "extremely bolted" example is that when using a color other than the default we are also rendering all eight "shadows" in that other color, hence the bold appearance. The above solution doesn't solve a thing and I cannot think of anything other than having the source code deliver a copy of the subtitles stripped from color escape characters. In any case, imagine for a second you are watching a TV series and each episode comes with subs in different colors...

Thank you. Lovely name

Can you share a subtitle file with mixed regular, bold, italic, colors... such as the above example so that I can see what you can see in my PC? The ugliest the subs the merrier

In your code you have a duplicated "visible" line. The last line needs to be removed. Excuse if I didn't make myself clear.

Here you are, plus the Gimp template. Let me know if you need anything else. subtitle_location_ring.xcf subtitle_location_ring.tga

Download the "White" or "Geep" version from this post. Latest code by Geep can be found in this post (the second "visible" parameter from SubtitlesLocationBacking must be removed). Unless we are talking different things text must be rendered with 8 shifts, otherwise it doesn't look as good: top-left, top, top-right, right, bottom-right, bottom, bottom-left, left.

The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King won an absurd amount of Oscars as a reward for a superb three-part movie ride. Thief: The Dark Project, The Black Parade deserves a similar treatment as the leading vehicle of 25 years worth of Fan Mission content.

@Geep You must settle on something that is ready to be shipped and "submit" it to @stgatilov for review and approval asap. The next build might be around the corner and it may very well be your last chance. You have a whole year ahead to improve and innovate. Players will enjoy your work up until this day in the meantime. Cheers!

Yes. I am using your download just as presented in the latest beta with no modifications or addons.

I get this consistent behavior when moving the mouse around.

Actually, you can notice in my graphic I moved the center point a couple of pixels back because otherwise there was too much "empty space", if you know what I mean. Having the red dot off by half unit compensates in a way for that. EDIT - The above statement about the red dot is BS because the dots are more far away from each other that way. I don't know, having both the center point and the red dot a little off in opposite ways looks good to me. The widget (source) isn't pixel perfect but it gives the idea that there's more room ahead of you than behind. I don't know

Very well done, Geep! Remove the second "visible" parameter from SubtitlesLocationBacking and we have a RC1 (Release Candidate 1). What do you think of the result so far? You mentioned your version of the code didn't make into the beta for whatever reason. @stgatilov should run a sanity check now. It was intentionally off from the beginning to support the 3D illusion, along with the thickness on lower half of the ellipse. I don't mind it one way or the other.

All the space we need is already available in this screenshot: Leave ~two pixels top and bottom for the text. Move the widget up by a pixel or two. Forget about this for the moment. Just leave the widget outside of any backgrounds (if you aren't sure how to create a dedicated background for it). Does it? Probably I mixed up things at some point, I don't know. My current white is ok. Added to the list of things to check in the future.

If you like the above idea, and since you are used to working with the gui, can you make it so that only the text is surrounded by the background and the bottom of the widget is almost touching the top of the background?

How about we proceed next with something like this? If done right the widget can have its own background, and blocks will naturally stand out from one another. Please note the above pic comes from a quick an dirty hack to illustrate the idea so I won't share any code. Backgrounds can eventually be replaced with images with round corners or whatever.

Definitely an improvement, @Geep I am sure you can still borrow a few pixels here an there and let the widget breathe a little.

Don't think the current solution is perfect, eh

I am convinced outlined yellow is the superior version over outlined white. I encourage everyone interested to test the yellow version (z_Subs_212_NoBG_Yellow_v5.pk4) vs the improved original (z_Subs_212_YesBG_Geep_v4.pk4). You can find the downloads in this post.

Don't use quickload when switching pk4. For some reason the save keeps the font color. Start a new mission each time you have a new pk4.

That above would be for @stgatilov or somebody else. How come there's this this difference between the top and the bottom? (asking because I am not sure if there's technical reason or not) I am thinking we could probably include the widget and the text in a same block.

The widget needs a background or a shadow or outline otherwise it cannot be seen in some situations. I am not sure how to deal with this. At this point, I think you are leaning to: The existing background and background color (but from your code that includes a narrower background for barks) Original white text color Newest widget in white color closer to the text it belongs to, similar to the original More centered text

Tested it and it doesn't look as good. Similar to v3. Sure. Settle on an style first please (background and color). Overlapping elements is what looks bad. I think players should also be able to toggle the situational graphic off and on. It is well executed but it draws too much attention. I rather not focus on it but on the text and my surroundings. Personally, regular subs is all I need but hey, that's just me.

One last chance! In the two mock-ups attached to this post I am printing out each block of text a total of 9 times. In my humble opinion this is as close as we can get to a true outline. 9 times may sound excessive but I recall very complex in-game digital screens with tons of text and graphics in Doom 3 and I assume my approach cannot hinder performance in any way. I can be wrong, though. Download a pk4 and place it in your TDM root folder. Do not use quicksaves/loads, start a new mission when switching pk4. Delete the pk4 once you are done with testing. Some missions to give this a go: Seeking Lady Leicester: Intro Braeden Church: Beginning The Black Mage: Intro + Beginning A New Job: Intro + whole mission Here is a comparison in extreme situations (better to experience it in-game because of image compression): Outlined white [z_Subs_212_NoBG_Yellow_v5.pk4]: Outlined yellow [z_Subs_212_NoBG_Yellow_v5.pk4]: And also attached the original, improved version [z_Subs_212_YesBG_Geep_v4.pk4]: z_Subs_212_NoBG_Yellow_v5.pk4 z_Subs_212_NoBG_White_v5.pk4 z_Subs_212_YesBG_Geep_v4.pk4