Video clips in WADs?

[Woolie Wool]

Is it possible to play an actual video clip in a wad? There's a setting in the options menu called "movie volume". This would be interesting for something like the Lord of the Rings TC idea that pops up in my head every couple of weeks.

[Enjay]

Not from a wad, no, but from a file on your HD, yes. Zdoom can play any movie file format that Windows Media Player can. In fact, what it actually does is put Zdoom on hold, start a dedicated instance of media player, play the movie, then return to Zdoom. You can run it using ACS or from the console.

[Lexus Alyus]

That's pritty cool if someone can make rendered scenes... could be great for enhancing a story in away that cant' be done in Doom.

[Bio Hazard]

Hmm, Since ZDoom just passes the file off to WMP, pesumably with the arg being the file. Couldn't ZDoom create a temporary file and write the contents of the video file lump to it and pass that off to WMP?

There is probably a better way to do it, like passing it a pointer to the location of the lump in the wadfile, but you probably can't do that with WMP...

[Nash]

The movie feature would be a lot more useful if ZDoom plays the movie inside ZDoom's window itself rather than open a Windows Media Player window...

For those who play ZDoom in full-screen can enjoy the movies in full-screen...

[Enjay]

For those who play ZDoom in full-screen can enjoy the movies in full-screen...

Not sure what you are saying there, but to be clear, if you play Zdoom fullscreen, then the movie is played fullscreen. It doesn't just pop-up a small WMP window. It's WMP that is showing it, but it is fullscreen. Or were you saying it's only people who use full screen that can see the movies in fullscreen?

The only problem I have had in the past is that when switching between the programs, Zdoom hung. Hasn't happened for a long time. Mind you, I haven't played many movies in Zdoom recently either.

[Nash]

Well, what I was saying was, the movie should be drawn WITHIN ZDoom's window, instead of actually calling WMP...

You know, like a built-in movie codec in ZDoom... so the only app that's running will be ZDoom, instead of ZDoom and WMP.

[skadoomer]

the only reason it was added was because of direct draw. I think its a bit too much to ask for it to be changed since nobodys using it to begin with.

[Enjay]

As I recall, Randy included it as the result of a specific request for a certain project. Randy (understandably) wouldn't say which project but the smart money was on Daedalus at the time. However, that has since been released and no video.

[randi]

To clear up a misconception: ZDoom does not start Windows Media Player to play the video. Rather, it uses DirectShow. So does Media Player. DirectShow is a media library provided by Windows that any program can use. Windows Media Player is probably the most common program you will see using it, but the two are not one and the same.

The video code also originates from a time before VMR when the only way to show video was to open another window to do it. If somebody is serious about using it, I could see what needs to be done to make it render directly into ZDoom's window. Otherwise, it's not worth the effort.

And I can't remember which project I was thinking of when I added it, either.

[Lexus Alyus]

A lot of older games ported from console use this method (I presume). Games like Resident Evil would appear to open a new window and shoe the movies... it was only just noticable, but every PC game I've played that had movies have done the same, so IMO, if people knew how to render scenes then this method would be really effective.

The program that mouse uses for her sprites is pritty simple to use and can render full scenes... I wonder if LWM knows about thos feature? Maybe she does but can't render scenes? I dunno...

http://www.doga.co.jp/english/

That's the program mouse uses for her sprites, it's pritty good and amaizing for beginners. It's kind of like lego for 3D rendering (that's what mouse said, I used the program and agree ). Saying that, it still requires skill to create what mouse has created. I'm very tempted to buy the full version cus you can achieve some really good effects.

[Enjay]

To clear up a misconception: ZDoom does not start Windows Media Player to play the video. Rather, it uses DirectShow.

Aha! Thanks for clearing that up. I've been blabbering about it using WMP for years now.

I could see what needs to be done to make it render directly into ZDoom's window. Otherwise, it's not worth the effort.

Well, the feature has been there for years now, and not a single project has been released that uses it. I have used it here at home, but even then, not enough to justify your time unless you really want to spend time on it.

[Woolie Wool]

I thought of an awesome intro for a Space Marine vs. Space Marine "mutiny" wad--a rendered cutscene of a futuristic Washington D.C on an overcast day with fires smoldering here and there and a tattered American flag on the Capitol. The music would be the theme from Terminator 2, and when it kicks up in volume, the title would appear, followed by the names of the people who made the wad. The camera would move around the war-torn city and would zoom in on the flag atop the Capitol as the music ends.

[Chris]

Just to note, video playing is Windows-only. Although for Linux, I could try invoking an mplayer slave process using ZDoom's active window, I'm not totally sure how easy that will be to find the right command-line switches.

[Bio Hazard]

"xine -pfhq %s"?

It should: play immedately, fullscreen, not sure, quit when done the file named %s

But of course thats not MPlayer