Main Menu

[therfiles]

So as I mentioned, I'm gonna try to make a menu with a real time map behind it. I was thinking of what map would be cool enough to use, then I realized - Why choose? Wouldn't it be cool if the map behind the menu was the mission you last were on? For example, if you just were playing on Hoth, you would be treated to sweeping camera pans of the arctic tundra. In the corner it could say "Current mission: Hoth" and you could click for more info about Hoth and the mission. I'm still thinking about how to fully implement something like this, but would this be cool?

 

BTW - here was the "map behind menu" concept I refer to.

[Futuza]

Oooh I like this idea.  Not sure it'd be all that interesting applied just to base, but I'm sure a lot of mods would want to implement this sort of thing.

[therfiles]

Oooh I like this idea.  Not sure it'd be all that interesting applied just to base, but I'm sure a lot of mods would want to implement this sort of thing.

 

Yeah, it would really spruce it up I think. Something new for a rather boring main menu And yeah, I'm willing to help other mods get this implemented.

[Futuza]

How long does it take to load the map if you do something like that?  The usual time?

[Circa]

Even better! This would be so epic if you can pull it off.

[therfiles]

How long does it take to load the map if you do something like that?  The usual time?

 

Basically. So start up time would be start up time + map load.

 

Even better! This would be so epic if you can pull it off.

 

Thanks! Hope I can get it to work!

[Futuza]

Basically. So start up time would be start up time + map load.

This, I think is the biggest hangup, because one shouldn't have to wait for the map to load before seeing a menu.  Menu's should be quick to pull up.  What might work is pre-recorded videos of the level (we have level shots, why not level motionshots?), loading would be far faster.  This is I believe what the base jka menu does anyway (the video of the ship and the planet in the background).  Another possibility that might make it work better, would be having some kind of fake map that acts as the preview map.  This map is tiny, extremely optimized, and takes less than 10 seconds to load, it would feature only highlights you want to show off in the actual map.

[Circa]

Except you can only use ROQ videos, which are utter crap.

[Futuza]

Except you can only use ROQ videos, which are utter crap.

eezstreet is working on allowing flash videos and some various codecs such as xvid, so we can play anything with JKG, if that gets finished, I'm sure we'll share it with everyone.  (Especially since...we're open source...lol)

[Futuza]

Hmmm had another idea, if you had it load in the background and then overlay the menu on top of it, you could still use the menu even if the map hadn't finished loading (just display black or some static image until it is finished loading).  This would require making some stuff using multi-threading, and would be a lot of work, but might work

[eezstreet]

Why bother with this, frankly? It raises the load times and the effect might not be desired.

[ChalklYne]

Maybe cuz it looks super badass. XD Desired effect could be achieved with a custom map. it would be incredible to incorporate this. And I'm actually growing weary of people complaining about loading times. Decade old game. And we have just been mauling this engine to our liking. Bound to have a few drawbacks. You can't have base loading times unless u want base experience. Which most people have been experiencing for a decade. A breath of fresh air is always appreciated.

 

Just my 2 cents

[Tempust85]

I'm all for this idea, however I think the map should be as small as possible to counter load times.

 

HL2 has annoying load times due to the map loading.

[ChalklYne]

Ahhh good call... yeah just like... a portion of a map..

 

afew walls if anything u know? 

 

would be purdy sweet

 

now ive noticed, when i made significant changes to the UI, the actual engine took forever to load??

[Tempust85]

Have a look at the load time for the ui in the console, see if its taking ages. Could be something else.

[ChalklYne]

yeah i removed the UI pk3 and it was golden. I'm pretty sure my problem was, when i wrote and made the UI, I was still learning and naive and tried "HD" textures for everything. It was a huge fail. trial and error I guess lol

[therfiles]

That would be the biggest problem with this idea. Unless I can get my grubby hands on the original .map files for every single SP map to cut away unneeded parts, I'll have to use the original map and add the cameras in via script, meaning the load time will be a bit longer. I get the argument that the load time is longer, but I think the pay off is worth it and, like Chalk said, "a breath of fresh air". Plus, the idea is to make some wicked installer that allows the player to choose what features they want installed, and if the players are turned off by the longer load time they can simply opt out of the UI portion of the mod.

 

 

Maybe cuz it looks super badass. XD Desired effect could be achieved with a custom map. it would be incredible to incorporate this. And I'm actually growing weary of people complaining about loading times. Decade old game. And we have just been mauling this engine to our liking. Bound to have a few drawbacks. You can't have base loading times unless u want base experience. Which most people have been experiencing for a decade. A breath of fresh air is always appreciated.

 

Just my 2 cents

 

Thanks man

 

 

Why bother with this, frankly? It raises the load times and the effect might not be desired.

 

Agreed, but having the option for those who want a more graphically enhanced menu is definitely something we want to provide. And plus, the Gold Pack exists solely to push the boundaries of SP and make the game better. And, for those who don't want the longer load, they can just opt out of it.

 

eezstreet is working on allowing flash videos and some various codecs such as xvid, so we can play anything with JKG, if that gets finished, I'm sure we'll share it with everyone.  (Especially since...we're open source...lol)

 

This has the potential of being incredible! Hope this works out. The technique is just nifty because it doesn't require a video to be made every time a change is made or for every map. It just adds a whole new level of versatility, while unfortunately sacrificing load time.

 

 

Hmmm had another idea, if you had it load in the background and then overlay the menu on top of it, you could still use the menu even if the map hadn't finished loading (just display black or some static image until it is finished loading).  This would require making some stuff using multi-threading, and would be a lot of work, but might work

 

Sounds really cool! Would require some code edits, but definitely an interesting idea.

 

Except you can only use ROQ videos, which are utter crap.

^

 

Thanks a lot for all of the feedback

[eezstreet]

"graphically enhanced"

If you mean graphically inferior to a good 'ol 2D menu or something done via ROQ, then sure.

[therfiles]

"graphically enhanced"

If you mean graphically inferior to a good 'ol 2D menu or something done via ROQ, then sure.

 

I guess we'll agree to disagree

 

What I refer to do as graphically enhanced is a menu that looks better. I wouldn't say this is graphically inferior to 2d or ROQs, as this will look much better and allow motion and crispness from the game itself. Sure, performance wise, it may be inferior, but I consider an enhancement to be in this context is something that will drastically overhaul the current menu and create something totally unique and look a lot cooler.

[Tempust85]

I'll be interested in trying this idea out in DF2 and see how it goes.

 

 

@@therfiles

 

It wouldn't take too much work to decompile JKA's maps, cut out the parts you don't want and rebuild the areas you do want. The structure stays intact, entities look normal and so do the texture assignments (just not texture scaling, etc).

[therfiles]

I'll be interested in trying this idea out in DF2 and see how it goes.

 

 

@@therfiles

 

It wouldn't take too much work to decompile JKA's maps, cut out the parts you don't want and rebuild the areas you do want. The structure stays intact, entities look normal and so do the texture assignments (just not texture scaling, etc).

 

Awesome!

 

Yeah, the whole texture alignment thing always worries me. Don't the models disappear too? The only reason this may be a bit tricky is that the areas I'd recreate would probably be fairly large and recreating all the texture scales for that area will be tough. I'm definitely open to this, as this will drastically cut loading times!

[Tempust85]

Can JKA/OpenJK load maps in menus currently, or will this need to be coded?

[eezstreet]

Needs code and will look ugly anyway.

[therfiles]

Needs code and will look ugly anyway.

 

This is what I like about the Gold Pack. We want to "improve" the game. But how is that possible if everyone has different ideas of what an improvement is? That's why it's essential to make as many choices as possible so everyone can have a choice that will hopefully satisfy them. So will we add a basic 2D menu? Maybe. It's all about what people want. People seem to have shown some interest in this, so I'm gonna pursue it.

 

And it looks pretty. B)

 

 

Can JKA/OpenJK load maps in menus currently, or will this need to be coded?

 

Yep! No code required! Theoretically and practically, this should work with no code edits. However, some edits could be main to customize or streamline some of the problems that will arise (ingame commands still working, etc), I still encourage you to try it out! You won't be disappointed! If the desired map is fully optimized, the additional load time should be minimal.

[Circa]

I say go for it. Why not? 

 

We can also have revamped 2D menu as well if people want that.