Main menu customization

[Llynix]

Hello to all.
I'm a complete beginner when it comes to the OpenBor engine so I apologize if the info I'm asking of is already available elsewhere - I looked for it but didn't find what I need.
I'd like to know if it's possible to modify the Main Menu screen in an OpenBor game, that is for example removing the Movie Mode option or the Setup Player 3 from a 2 player only game.
I'm aware of being able to control certain commands from the Control Options using menu.txt but it doesn't cover the ones from the other menus.

Secondly, where can I find the parameters responsible for the colors of the menu font? As I import a bright font from one game into the other it turns out very dark.

Lastly, is it possible to change the dragon splash screen that appears when running the exe so that it's fullscreen instead of a small window? Perhaps there's a way to substitute it with a large-resolution file?

I understand that I'd have to compile the engine anew with certain modifications to implement these changes, but which files contain the necessary data?

Thanks!

 

[DCurrent]

Welcome to the community @Llynix. I hope the following doesn't give you a bad impression, because you just touched on the only two aspects of the engine that are difficult to modify.

I'd like to know if it's possible to modify the Main Menu screen in an OpenBor game, that is for example removing the Movie Mode option or the Setup Player 3 from a 2 player only game.

The menu is is mostly hardcoded to make life easy for begininers and ensure backward compataiblity with older games. To modify it, you essentially have to script your own menu to replace it outright. Look at Streets of Rage by @Kratus and some of @Bloodbane's projects for some examples.

Secondly, where can I find the parameters responsible for the colors of the menu font? As I import a bright font from one game into the other it turns out very dark.

See above. Menus are hardcoded. You can swap out the font files, but that will also swap fonts for other default things like score and pause menu. To take full control you need to use a menu script of your own.

Lastly, is it possible to change the dragon splash screen that appears when running the exe so that it's fullscreen instead of a small window? Perhaps there's a way to substitute it with a large-resolution file?

I understand that I'd have to compile the engine anew with certain modifications to implement these changes, but which files contain the necessary data?

I'll be honest - you are the first person to ever ask such a thing. The dragon logo is effectively the engine's trademark, embedded in the .exe and meant to display exactly as is. It's the one thing in the entire engine you can't work around without changing the source code.

We could look at some options for you, but just creating your own OpenBOR version isn't one of them if you want community support. The engine license permits you to make custom versions of course, but we highly discourage that practice for a litany of reasons, some of them explained here. The logo itself isn't all that important - keeping a unified version of the engine is.

DC

 

[Llynix]

Thank you very much for your reply!
I'll check out the examples you've provided and see if that helps.
As for the splash screen - it would be nice to have it in a large format, but it's such a minor thing anyway, so no problem.

Thanks again!

 

[Die_In_Fire]

Secondly, where can I find the parameters responsible for the colors of the menu font? As I import a bright font from one game into the other it turns out very dark.

This looks more like a palette problem of the font you imported. Check more about fonts in the Manual.

About the menu… movie mode? What version of the engine are you running?

About full screen vs window. In the main menu you can go to options to control the size of the window or fullscreen, if that’s what you mean.

 

[Llynix]

Thank you for your answer. I've actually already managed to figure out how the palletes work with regard to fonts.
Following your hint I've also updated my engine so that the Movie Mode is no longer there.

One more thing intrigues me - is it possible to use an animated gif, or any other type of animation as a matter of fact, for the character select screen of a game?

 

[DCurrent]

One more thing intrigues me - is it possible to use an animated gif, or any other type of animation as a matter of fact, for the character select screen of a game?

You can’t use animated .gif for anything but cut scenes, and even that's just for legacy compatibility.

Dressing up the selection screen (or the main menu) with animation is no problem though. It's only the menu itself that's hard coded. Everything else is fair game.

Here's one by yours truly. FTR, that's a real affine effect going on in the background. It's not being "faked" with pre-rendered frames.

This one from a former member is really old and does use faked frames, but still looks really nice IMO.

Unlike mine, this one is in the resources area for download. I will caution you though. It tends to rely on unnecessary brute force hacks to work. Ask us first before implementing something you see in it.

Rocket Viper 2

Created by Volcanic, Rocket Viper 2 is a heavily scripted module loaded with special effects and functionality. Wield an array of unique abilities from a huge selection of fighters. Stay alert! Enemies are plentiful and powerful. Think you can...

www.chronocrash.com

DC

 

[Llynix]

Much appreciated!
The Hackjob one is very impressive. All I really want to do is to add the dripping blood from the Japanese version of GA to the selection screen, it's probably about 30 frames max. I'll look into Rocket Viper and see if there's anything there that could help.

 

[DCurrent]

All I really want to do is to add the dripping blood from the Japanese version of GA to the selection screen

In that case, I'm tagging @kimono in. My most recent build pulses the Select Player like a heartbeat using sine wave controlled scaling, but I purposly left out the blood drip because I just never liked it. He has a project that either already has the drip or plans to. Might save you some time to look at his.

DC

 

[Llynix]

Thank you for the info, I'll get in touch with @kimono. Cheers!

 

[kimono]

Hi @DCurrent and @Llynix and thanks for the mention. This select screen will take some time to build it, considering the carousel effect and the bloody letters .
I will update the Golden Axe Remake game at the end of the year with this select scene .

 

[Llynix]

Hi! Well, let me know if you need some help with that. I know of a way to trace the movement of each of the blooddrops frame by frame so that I can make a gif of the whole background without the characters blocking the view. But actually implementing the animation into the select screen is where I am clueless.

 

[aL BeasTie]

You can summon panel entities from player's waiting and select animations for basic animated things, like animated background, animated text etc. Just loop the animation after the entity is summoned. Summon command instead of spawn so it won't respawn/summon every time you cycle chars. Also using summon it will replace the current panel entity when you summon a new panel.

loop 1 1 1
summonframe {frame} {x} {z} {a} {relative}
data/chars/misc/empty.png - gets summoned on this frame
data/chars/misc/empty.png - loops from this frame
..
.. etc

DOTT MOD - Animated Background on Select Screen using 'summonframe' and panel entity


TMNT character select

Summons name, then when char is selected summons the blue background etc.


(Examples are just some animated screenshots, not the full animations I have in the games)

 

[Llynix]

Thank you! Will try this out.