[2.10] Beta testing new Main Menu GUI

[stgatilov]

5 minutes ago, Dragofer said:

I think the most common usage would be:
- custom background for the main menu (pregame and ingame) and its submenus: Load/Save, Settings, Select Mission.
- stock background for everything else: TDM credits, anything after Start Mission (briefing, objectives, shop), success/failure screens and so on

Usually when someone overrides main menu background, they do the same for difficulty selection and shop too.
Briefing does not matter because it is usually replaced completely, and background is not visible anyway on briefing video state.

Quote

Also, I think the parchment overlays should be kept by default. If a mapper is engaged enough to draw a new menu box they'd probably want to use the more advanced method.

Parchments are not included into backgrounds.
However, all the graphical effects on success/failure screens are considered backgrounds. So if you override those with simple image layer, then you won't see skull or mission success text.

[Dragofer]

6 hours ago, stgatilov said:

Parchments are not included into backgrounds.

Just saying because when I uncommented the custom_title section and changed the image path the parchment was gone.

6 hours ago, stgatilov said:

Usually when someone overrides main menu background, they do the same for difficulty selection and shop too.

My reasoning for that suggestion was that I think there are 2 kinds of backgrounds:

• scenes that look good when they occupy the left half of the screen in the main menu, like in the Hidden Hands series, but not so good if most of the screen is covered by i.e. a shop.
• more uniform backgrounds i.e. blue fog like in the Shadows of Northdale series which is good at bordering any menu.

I think having a choice between 2 basic macros depending on what type of background the mapper has, where 1 macro only affects menus with enough screen space to show a scene and the other macro affects all menus, would be suitable.

 

 

A further comment is that mainmenu_background_custom.gui should have a description of how to uncomment the windowDef, especially since a different comment system is used here (setting "#if 0" to "#if 1").

[stgatilov]

36 minutes ago, Dragofer said:

My reasoning for that suggestion was that I think there are 2 kinds of backgrounds:

• scenes that look good when they occupy the left half of the screen in the main menu, like in the Hidden Hands series, but not so good if most of the screen is covered by i.e. a shop.
• more uniform backgrounds i.e. blue fog like in the Shadows of Northdale series which is good at bordering any menu.

I think having a choice between 2 basic macros depending on what type of background the mapper has, where 1 macro only affects menus with enough screen space to show a scene and the other macro affects all menus, would be suitable.

This criterion was already used to split main menu into MAINMENU (left half visible) and EXTRAMENU (whole screen used).
The background figures are only visible on MAINMENU, but not present on EXTRAMENU  --- which includes choosing FM and settings by the way.

I'm afraid there are many sensible ways to unite individual macros into groups.

I think I'll only make one "meta" macro which would cover everything except for success and failure screens.
The rationale is that such macro strives to remove "switches". Except for a switch from failure/success screens back to main menu.
Also, that's how most of the existing FMs work.

Failure/success screens depend a lot on their current backgrounds, so if someone wants to override them, he has to do it explicitly anyway.

[JackFarmer]

17 hours ago, stgatilov said:

//stgatilov #5323: customize background in main menu the new way
#define MM_BACKGROUNDS_MAINMENU_NOTINGAME	BackgroundCustomHHI
#define MM_BACKGROUNDS_EXTRAMENU_NOTINGAME	BackgroundCustomHHI
#define MM_BACKGROUNDS_MAINMENU_INGAME		BackgroundCustomHHI
#define MM_BACKGROUNDS_EXTRAMENU_INGAME		BackgroundCustomHHI
#define MM_BACKGROUNDS_BRIEFING				BackgroundCustomHHI
#define MM_BACKGROUNDS_DIFFSELECT			BackgroundCustomHHI
#define MM_BACKGROUNDS_SHOP					BackgroundCustomHHI

The updated FM works properly in 2.09, except that custom menu background is gone.

This means, the background image is gone and the default image shows up again?

[stgatilov]

4 hours ago, JackFarmer said:

This means, the background image is gone and the default image shows up again?

Yes, the background is gone in the old versions of TDM (<=2.09).
It will work only properly only in the new versions (>=2.10).

Read the original post for details.

[JackFarmer]

15 hours ago, stgatilov said:

Yes, the background is gone in the old versions of TDM (<=2.09).
It will work only properly only in the new versions (>=2.10).

Read the original post for details.

Sorry, I misread, I thought you were referencing 2.10. I fully understand now.

Regarding HHTLC: I am just doing an update to minimize the jumping problem on the roof of the first building which started with 2.08. I will send you the update until the end of the week. Thus, I would kindly ask you to wait before you update HHTLC with the new GUI protocols.

[duzenko]

@stgatilov

Is it possible to add support for subtitles in GUI while you're looking at it?

[stgatilov]

18 hours ago, duzenko said:

@stgatilov

Is it possible to add support for subtitles in GUI while you're looking at it?

Do you mean for the videos?

[duzenko]

13 minutes ago, stgatilov said:

Do you mean for the videos?

At least that

But in-game GUI too if possible

[stgatilov]

Looking at "Shadows of Northdale 1" by @Goldwell.

Here is the question: should background in the "success" screen be overriden too?
It seems that now it displays the custom blue background instead of the default redish one with "Mission Success" text.
On the other hand, the failure screen is not affected, I suppose...

The more obvious thing would be to leave success screen with default graphics, but I can override it if needed.

UPDATE: Rechecked it in 2.09: the success screen has default background instead of custom one.
In fact, the same behavior applies to every FM with overriden mainmenu_background.gui.

 

[stgatilov]

Ok, repacked "Shadows of Northdale 1" by @Goldwell .

I removed the illegal overrides, and added the following to mainmenu_custom_defs.gui:

//stgatilov #5323: disable briefing state
#define ENABLE_MAINMENU_BRIEFING 0

//stgatilov #5323: override background in all default menu states
#define MM_BACKGROUNDS_META_ALLSIMPLE BackgroundCustomNorthdale1

Notice the usage of the new "meta" backgrounds define.

Of course, I also added BackgroundCustomNorthdale1 window in mainmenu_background_custom.gui.

It looks fine in 2.10.
In 2.09, it works, but the main menu background is reset back to default, and empty briefing is displayed after video.

[stgatilov]

The next is "Now and Then" by @joebarnin.

It was overriding GUIs to specify background (also to tweak title location?)
I have removed gui files which should not be overriden.

Added define for custom background in mainmenu_custom_defs.gui:

//stgatilov #5323: override backgrounds in menu the proper way
#define MM_BACKGROUNDS_META_ALLSIMPLE BackgroundCustomNowAndThen

Also defined the window BackgroundCustomNowAndThen in mainmenu_background_custom.gui.

The updated version shows fine in the new TDM.
In 2.09, it plays fine but lacks custom background (as expected).

[stgatilov]

The next one is "In The Black" by @VanishedOne.

It overrides mainmenu_objectives.gui with the following patch:

--- mainmenu_objectives.gui
+++ mainmenu_objectives.gui
@@ -6,0 +7,3 @@
+ 
+ 'I've modified a lot of such files containing that warning and hey, I'm still here.' -- Obsttorte, http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18729-how-about-redesign-tdms-mainmenu/page-3#entry405730
+ 
@@ -284 +287 @@ windowDef ObjectivesMenu
-			rect		12,80,123,62
+			rect		12,80,128,32
@@ -287 +290 @@ windowDef ObjectivesMenu
-			textscale	0.36
+			textscale	0.4
@@ -331 +334 @@ windowDef ObjectivesMenu
-			rect		12,208,123,62
+			rect		12,208,128,32
@@ -334 +337 @@ windowDef ObjectivesMenu
-			textscale	0.36
+			textscale	0.4
@@ -370 +373 @@ windowDef ObjectivesMenu
-			rect		12,336,123,62
+			rect		12,336,128,64
@@ -373 +376 @@ windowDef ObjectivesMenu
-			textscale	0.36
+			textscale	0.4

Basically, it makes difficulty titles slightly bigger.

I have simply removed this file.
I don't notice any difference, to be honest.

Work perfectly well both in 2.09 and in new version.

[stgatilov]

Next is "Requiem" by @Moonbo.
It used debriefing, which is "controlled by SDK".

I removed weird letters "bri" at the beginning of mainmenu_custom_defs.gui.
Then added the following lines:

//stgatilov #5323: enable debriefing video page
#define ENABLE_MAINMENU_DEBRIEFING_VIDEO 1

//stgatilov #5323: specify what video to play (same way as for briefing)
#define MM_DEBRIEFING_VIDEO_MATERIAL_1 "Requiem_Credits"
#define MM_DEBRIEFING_VIDEO_LENGTH_1 60000
#define MM_DEBRIEFING_VIDEO_SOUND_CMD "music Requiem_Credits;"

Now debriefing video plays fine in the new version of TDM.
TDM 2.09 silently skips it.

[stgatilov]

The next one: "Sneak & Destroy" by @SeriousToni.
This one was also using debriefing video.

I added the following definitions into mainmenu_custom_defs.gui:

//stgatilov #5323: enable debriefing video state
#define ENABLE_MAINMENU_DEBRIEFING_VIDEO 1

//stgatilov #5323: specify debriefing video the classic way
#define MM_DEBRIEFING_VIDEO_MATERIAL_1 "video/pens_outro"
#define MM_DEBRIEFING_VIDEO_LENGTH_1 14000
#define MM_DEBRIEFING_VIDEO_SOUND_CMD "music kneipe_ending;"

The debriefing video plays nice with the new TDM version, including the sound.
TDM 2.09 skips debriefing, as expected.

[stgatilov]

Now consider "Accountant 2" by @Goldwell.

For some reason, I don't see custom background texture here... somehow I was expecting it to be present.

Aside from that, it overrides mainmenu_briefing_video.gui and mainmenu_objectives.gui in order to skip the empty briefing screen. The second file also slightly adjusts size of difficulty names, which I have already seen somewhere, and which actually makes no visible difference.

I removed the two overrided files and added the following lines to mainmenu_custom_defs.gui:

//stgatilov #5323: don't show briefing with empty parchment
#define ENABLE_MAINMENU_BRIEFING 0

The updated FM runs as before in the new TDM version.
In TDM 2.09, it shows empty briefing after video, as expected.

[stgatilov]

"Crucible of Omens: Behind Closed Doors" by @Bikerdude and others.

Again, one file mainmenu_briefing_video.gui overriden in order to hide empty briefing.
Removed that file and added the line into mainmenu_custom_defs.gui:

//stgatilov #5323: don't show briefing with empty parchment
#define ENABLE_MAINMENU_BRIEFING 0

However, there are also two files tdm_objectives.gui and tdm_objectives_core.gui.
It seems they were added in order to squeeze 8 objectives into the in-game objectives parchment instead of default 5 per page and up/down arrows.

To me it sounds like a dirty hack for a minor difference.
Given that now the failure screen is also part of the main menu, we will have to refactor objectives GUI in the nearest future, and I don't want this to be a problem.
So I have renamed these two files to .gui_removed, so they will no longer have effect.

With the updated FM, empty briefing is properly skipped in new TDM, and not skipped in 2.09.
The in-game objectives show 5 points, with both brackets and mousewheel working to scroll through them.

[Dragofer]

On 6/6/2021 at 9:31 AM, stgatilov said:

Fixed mission should play well in 2.09, except that main menu can look differently, and probably briefing/debriefing video can be skipped.

This would seem like a good occasion to be able to download different versions of the same FM. Missing a briefing/debriefing video seems quite severe, and reverting a highly customised main menu to default simply because the FM version isn't compatible with the TDM version isn't so nice either.

So if someone still plays on TDM 2.09 after 2.10 is out, i.e. because of technical problems with 2.10 or any other reason, they'd get a 2.09-compatible version of the FM from the downloader.

If they manage to upgrade to 2.10+ later on, the downloader offers them an update to the 2.10-compatible version of the FM.

Maybe such a feature would help with future maintenance and modernisation of FMs for new TDM versions.

[stgatilov]

On 7/5/2021 at 7:53 PM, Dragofer said:

This would seem like a good occasion to be able to download different versions of the same FM.

I recall I speculated about this option when I started working on tdm_installer, i.e. using zipsync for FM downloads too.
The common opinion was that's not necessary... now a lot of things happened, and turning the wheels would mean a lot more development.
Also, it was common opinion that even though we provide older versions of TDM, we don't support them.

I'll create 2.09 tag in SVN before committing the breaking changes (and will create tags before every major release), so the state of 2.09 will be saved.
But I don't think players will be able to access it.

[stgatilov]

Mission "Lord Edgars Bathhouse" by @Goldwell

Here we see mainmenu_briefing_video.gui overrided in order to remove empty briefing page.
I have deleted this file from FM, and added the following to mainmenu_custom_defs.gui:

//stgatilov #5323: don't show briefing with empty parchment
#define ENABLE_MAINMENU_BRIEFING 0

Now everything is OK in the new TDM, and 2.09 shows the empty briefing page as expected.

[stgatilov]

Mission "Briarwood Manor" by @NeonsStyle.
This one overrides mainmenu_briefing_video.gui in order to hide briefing.

I have removed the file and added the lines to mainmenu_custom_defs.gui:

//stgatilov #5323: don't show briefing pages
#define ENABLE_MAINMENU_BRIEFING 0

Verified that it works as expected in new TDM.

In 2.09, the briefing state is shown.
Interestingly though, it is not just an empty parchment, but a full-fledged text script of the second half of the video

[stgatilov]

Mission "Dragon's Claw" by @Bikerdude.

First of all, this one overrides mainmenu_background.gui to show custom background.
Second, it overrides mainmenu_utils.gui so that if Esc is pressed while briefing video is being played, the menu switches to difficulty selection instead of briefing. Interestingly, this FM does not have briefing video, so this change has no effect.

I have removed both overrided .gui files, then added the following to mainmenu_custom_defs.gui:

//stgatilov #5323: override background in main menu
#define MM_BACKGROUNDS_META_ALLSIMPLE BackgroundCustomDragonClaw

Then added background layer in mainmenu_background_custom.gui:

windowDef BackgroundCustomDragonClaw
{
	rect		0, 0, 640, 480
	background	"guis/assets/dragon_claw_background"

	BACKGROUND_DEFAULT_BEHAVIOR(BackgroundCustomDragonClaw)
}

Initially I tried to reference "guis/assets/mainmenu/background_empty" for material/texture, but as the result this custom background crept into credits screen, which is undesired. It turned out that guis/assets/mainmenu/background_empty is the core background image, which is overridden here. So I had to rename file dds/guis/assets/mainmenu/background_empty.dds to dds/guis/assets/mainmenu/dragon_claw_background.dds.

Now everything looks as expected in new TDM.
In 2.09, everything is good also, except that main menu shows default background.

[stgatilov]

Mission "The Elixir" by @Bikerdude and @Obsttorte.
This one overrides only mainmenu_briefing_video.gui to skip empty briefing page.

Removed overridden file and added the following to mainmenu_custom_defs.gui:

//stgatilov #5323: disable empty briefing page
#define ENABLE_MAINMENU_BRIEFING 0

Now it works fine in the new TDM (briefing page is skipped).
In TDM 2.09, everything looks fine, except that empty briefing page is shown after video.

[stgatilov]

Mission "Gatehouse" by @Bikerdude and @Goldchocobo.
This one overrides background.

First of all I removed mainmenu_background.gui.
Then renamed dds\guis\assets\mainmenu\background_empty.dds to background_gatehouse.dds.
Then added to mainmenu_custom_defs.gui:

//stgatilov #5323: set custom background in main menu:
#define MM_BACKGROUNDS_META_ALLSIMPLE BackgroundCustomGatehouse

And finally, added new file mainmenu_background_custom.gui:

windowDef BackgroundCustomGatehouse
{
	rect		0, 0, 640, 480
	background	"guis/assets/mainmenu/background_gatehouse"

	BACKGROUND_DEFAULT_BEHAVIOR(BackgroundCustomGatehouse)
}

Now everything is OK in the new TDM, including the custom background in menu.
In 2.09 however, the default background is shown. All the rest works fine.

[stgatilov]

Next mission: "LIch Queen's Demise" by @Sotha.

This one overrides mainmenu_briefing_video.gui to skip briefing parchment.
Also it overrides mainmenu_objectives.gui in order to exit straight to main menu if user clicks "Back" on difficulty selection screen, and also to tweak sizes of difficulty texts slightly.

I removed all custom gui files.
Then added to mainmenu_custom_defs.gui:

//stgatilov #5323: skip empty briefing parchment properly
#define ENABLE_MAINMENU_BRIEFING 0

The updated FM works fine in the new TDM.
In 2.09, the only difference is that empty briefing page is displayed after the video.