"NoScreenWipe" MAPINFO property
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 5:22 am
There have been a few times this has cropped up as a feature suggestion over the last ten years or so, but I am wondering if this is more of something that the devs would want explicitly set by the user, if it's that there is no interest in the team to implement such a feature, or maybe a mixture of the two.
If I remember correctly, there was a suggestion to add a "WipeStyle" MAPINFO (GameInfo block AND/OR in a map definition block) key that forces the screen transition to be of one of the existing types regardless of user setting. This was ultimately denied for the reason that it would be annoying for those who play with the "none" style, having disabled it for the express purpose of not having to wait for the screen to finish wiping. If the user was given the ability to define a wipe style in this manner, would it be possible to check whether or not the style is set to anything but "none" before forcibly setting the screen wipe style for this particular mod or map?
If not, then it seems like it would be more sensible to simply disable it altogether with a "NoScreenWipe" property. The reason why I'm interested in such a feature is to facilitate seamless transitions between levels that are not interconnected by a hub among other things. However, I propose this doesn't just include NoIntermission map-to-map transitions, but as well as map-to-intermission and map-to-text-screen transitions. The reason for this is to allow the modder to have finer control over the look and feel of the mod without having to suggest to the player loading the mod that they create a separate configuration file with WipeStyle set to none. While the end result of this seems inconsequential, some possible applications like total conversions such as Blade of Agony and WolfTC seem like they could benefit from a feature like this where fade-ins-and-outs could be accomplished seamlessly without the melting, burning, or crossfading of the screen, again, without having to suggest to the user that they disable screen wipes just for this particular mod.
With all of that, I would imagine that if this feature were to make it into the engine, it would be best represented by a MAPINFO GameInfo property, which could be overridden on a map-by-map basis below similar to how there is a "Translator" property for both GameInfo blocks and map definitions.
Of course I don't expect to be of any particular interest of the devs currently as I postulated above, so I suppose what I would like to ask is if this would be PR material.
If I remember correctly, there was a suggestion to add a "WipeStyle" MAPINFO (GameInfo block AND/OR in a map definition block) key that forces the screen transition to be of one of the existing types regardless of user setting. This was ultimately denied for the reason that it would be annoying for those who play with the "none" style, having disabled it for the express purpose of not having to wait for the screen to finish wiping. If the user was given the ability to define a wipe style in this manner, would it be possible to check whether or not the style is set to anything but "none" before forcibly setting the screen wipe style for this particular mod or map?
If not, then it seems like it would be more sensible to simply disable it altogether with a "NoScreenWipe" property. The reason why I'm interested in such a feature is to facilitate seamless transitions between levels that are not interconnected by a hub among other things. However, I propose this doesn't just include NoIntermission map-to-map transitions, but as well as map-to-intermission and map-to-text-screen transitions. The reason for this is to allow the modder to have finer control over the look and feel of the mod without having to suggest to the player loading the mod that they create a separate configuration file with WipeStyle set to none. While the end result of this seems inconsequential, some possible applications like total conversions such as Blade of Agony and WolfTC seem like they could benefit from a feature like this where fade-ins-and-outs could be accomplished seamlessly without the melting, burning, or crossfading of the screen, again, without having to suggest to the user that they disable screen wipes just for this particular mod.
With all of that, I would imagine that if this feature were to make it into the engine, it would be best represented by a MAPINFO GameInfo property, which could be overridden on a map-by-map basis below similar to how there is a "Translator" property for both GameInfo blocks and map definitions.
Of course I don't expect to be of any particular interest of the devs currently as I postulated above, so I suppose what I would like to ask is if this would be PR material.