Customizable menu system

[BeasTie]

@utunnels - Agree with DC sounds like a cool idea that would suit some mods.
Also it would be cool to allow some simple things to be changed in the current menu from options the MENU.TXT like

- what music file is played (instead of the remix/menu track)
- how long it waits to replay the intro scene when sitting in menu
- ability to rename the the front menu items like the "how to play" Start Game
- and/or be able to add a custom menu item that can point to a scene file like the how to play.

Just going off my memory of the original source it was quite easy to edit these directly, just editing values or changing flags of 0 or 1, the custom "how to play" was as easy as copying the old line of code and pointing to a new scene file.  Would it be possible to  make some these flags etc. set by the modder? or is this stuff that could only be hard coded?

just another idea that could go with this is ability to set whether music is paused or keeps playing when you pause in game, I remember this was a simple source change too.

Sorry to bother ya, just throwing some ideas out.

P.S - With player select menu we have SELECT animation, but it would be cool to have a separate idle animation for select menu, or ability to set which (idle) animation is used on select screen.

[Damon Caskey]

There already is a select menu idle: Waiting

[BeasTie]

@ DC - Damn I gotta stop sniffing ajax, some reason I thought that one wasn't around anymore, I got a few links for manuals it's been hard to get up to date with so much stuff. I guess I hadn't needed to use it lately,when  just thinking off top of my head sometimes I'm living in the past.

Ability to mess with the settings in-screen is what I was getting at thou, maybe for some they could make it use other animations on this screen rather than default ones.  Eg. you could tell it to play an attack animation instead of SELECT, without the need of a duplicate copy of that attack anim.  It can already display players so I'm guessing other ents can be displayed, could also set it to be able to add other entities to be spawned. (for decor objects or animated backgrounds)
Another anim that would be cool would be something that played just before idle/waiting anim when cycling between chars on select screen. Even option to set a large icon for players that would display on select screen.

Just trying to think of simple options that could be added to enhance the menu without need for any heavy script etc.

Edit: @UT - just saw your new post UT - maybe as a temp workaround skipselect could just have option to force a certain level to run before the chosen level set as well.  Sorry if you don't really like hearing ideas that are made without much coding knowledge, just take an interest in openbor development.  You've done some amazing and cool stuff and I find it fun seeing all things come to reality that were once just stuff people dreamt of.

Thanks for all the hard work.

[utunnels]

OK, I'll do some experiment to see how it works if the whole menu is skipped.

In theory, you don't need different sets, because you can simulate that with branches and a custom menu. Hall of fame and stage clear screen can also be simulated with a special level. The most difficult part might be the save/load game logic, which requires the file stream. But still that is not out of question.

Things need to be worked out is a more tolerable skipselect command, which allows the default select screen to be skipped but without forcing to choose a character, and a special level type which allows absense of players and ignores the HUD logic.

[Bloodbane]

 I agree with this as well.

a special level type which allows absense of players and ignores the HUD logic.

 That's good idea but can we have a script function to hide HUD? I think it would be useful if modders want to show something in game without have to set astronomical setlayer value.

 And are you planning to have players start at that special level when mod is run (assuming there's no main menu at all)?

[utunnels]

Eventually.


First of all I need an example and enough plannning out.

[Plombo]

I think it's about time for an update on the original topic of this thread - the customizable menu system.

I've started implementing a menu system that scripts will be able to access and porting the existing menus in OpenBOR to use the new system.

What I've done so far (updated June 9, 2012):

• Decided what the both C API and script API for the menu system should look like.  They're very similar, so the interface modders use to access the menu system with script will be very similar to what we developers will use inside the engine.
• Implemented the 50% or so of the C framework that is essential for basic menu functionality.
• Ported the root menu of the OpenBOR engine (Start Game, Options, How To Play, Hall Of Fame, Quit) to the new menu system.  It is completely functional.

What still needs to be done before committing this feature to OpenBOR SVN:

• Copy the existing OpenBOR behavior of replaying the intro sequence if there is no input for a certain length of time on the root menu.
• Port the rest of the menus in OpenBOR to the new system, except for the video settings, sound settings, and control settings menus.
• Finish the rest of the list framework.
• Figure out the best way to expose certain features to script.
• Implement the script interface.

So as you can probably see from the above lists, it will be a while before this lands in OpenBOR SVN.   It's still good news for the OpenBOR community though!

[volcanic]

Though customized menu is already fully  implemented by script,
I'd to see how it works without script.

Edit:
Here is my demo video
http://lavalit.com:8080/index.php/topic,6719.0.html

[Plombo]

Though customized menu is already fully  implemented by script,
I'd to see how it works without script.

Script will be needed to access the new menu system from a mod.  The difference between this and current script-based menus is that the modder can access and change the menus that are part of the engine.  So, for example, if you wanted to remove "How to Play" or "Hall of Fame" from the main (root) menu of OpenBOR, you could.

Of course, you will be able to use this new menu system for your own menus if you want to.

[volcanic]

Yeah, sounds great.
And much easier to use right?
I have been waiting for this since long time ago.
But what I know to modify the menu system is a tough work.

Ut's solution is to SKIP the inner menu and open some menu funs to script.
This opened all the possibilities to Modders but the flaw is it is a little bit complicated.

[Plombo]

Yeah, sounds great.
And much easier to use right?
I have been waiting for this since long time ago.
But what I know to modify the menu system is a tough work.

I think the alpha masking feature I added was more challenging to implement than this has been.

Ut's solution is to SKIP the inner menu and open some menu funs to script.
This opened all the possibilities to Modders but the flaw is it is a little bit complicated.

That's useful for its own reasons.  But the problem with making a whole menu system from scratch is that you can't do some things that are in the OpenBOR menus, like most of the settings.

[volcanic]

I think the alpha masking feature I added was more challenging to implement than this has been.

Ah, that's a great feature. Really cool!
Could add alphamask access to script?

[Plombo]

I think the alpha masking feature I added was more challenging to implement than this has been.

Ah, that's a great feature. Really cool!
Could add alphamask access to script?

I'm not sure what accessing alpha masks with script would be useful for...

[Plombo]

Update: my to-do list post from yesterday has been edited to reflect progress and design decisions.

The changes are that replaying the intro sequence is fixed now, the options menu has been ported to the new system, and certain options menus will not be ported to the new system at all.

I'll continue to update like this whenever I make significant progress.