Widescreen behaviour of INTERPIC graphic

[Enjay]

That syntax looks like it would make the mapinfo parser explode, perhaps simply something like this.

titlepage = "TITLEPIC"
creditpage = "CREDIT"
infopage = "HELP", "CREDIT"
titleresize = "scale" // forces it to screen size
creditresize = "full" // displays all, shrinks if nessessary, adds black borders
inforesize = "crop" // crops edges to fit

I'll agree my syntax is ugly and I'd happily accept something else. However, the above just says whether to scale the various screens or not. What it doesn't do is allow a modder to use different optimised graphics for the different display types. If it was possible to do that, then it would be possible to compose different versions of the title screen (etc) differently (eg the positioning of text on the titlepic could be placed appropriately for the different ratio modes. Certainly, if such an option was available I would use it.

Do not forget console background, it also stretches currently.

There are actually quite a few full screen graphics that haven't been mentioned yet. I'm not sure that all of them are appropriate for consideration - but some probably would be. Then. of course, there is the possibility of specifying your own supplied graphic names in various places (eg endpics) too.

Hmmm... this suggestion seems to be growing arms and legs. Perhaps a simple approach along the lines suggested by Demolisher would be best.

[Demolisher]

My method is probably one of the simplest, but also most likely the easiest to implement, and most likely to get implemented. Besides, why would you need to supply different graphics for different aspect ratios if you can manipulate the behavior that will happen with only one?

[Tormentor667]

I like Enjay's suggestion, that looks easy and clean

[Nash]

My method is probably one of the simplest, but also most likely the easiest to implement, and most likely to get implemented. Besides, why would you need to supply different graphics for different aspect ratios if you can manipulate the behavior that will happen with only one?

It's not uncommon to do that. I've seen a few commercial games that supply different graphics for different aspect ratios in their data files.

[CommanderZ]

It's not uncommon to do that. I've seen a few commercial games that supply different graphics for different aspect ratios in their data files.

I don't like this. My title screen is about 1.5 MB, having it in there four times (4:3, 16:10, 16:9, 5:4) in there would be silly and would lead to useless bloat.

Modern games are often more than 4 GB big, a few title screens can't change that. But 100 MB is a lot for Doom mod.

[Enjay]

Besides, why would you need to supply different graphics for different aspect ratios if you can manipulate the behavior that will happen with only one?

Please excuse the tasteless and crudely edited example. It's just the first pic I found on my HD that had suitable proportions.

16:10 Widescreen version

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4:3 Adjusted alternative graphic

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What autocropping the edges of the 16:10 version would remove

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How a graphic that can be cropped safely would look (plus result)

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Even with these crude examples, it should be clear that the graphics actually designed for their respective ratios look best.

[Nash]

I don't like this. My title screen is about 1.5 MB, having it in there four times (4:3, 16:10, 16:9, 5:4) in there would be silly and would lead to useless bloat.

Modern games are often more than 4 GB big, a few title screens can't change that. But 100 MB is a lot for Doom mod.

People are already making Doom mods that are hundreds of megs in download size. Most of Torm's latest projects are graphics heavy. I don't think this is an issue anymore with most users having fast connections these days.

(Same argument applies with downloading Steam games... OH HI ENJAY :D)

But yeah, Enjay's example perfectly demonstrates why an automatic solution may not always be the answer.

And also... guys, you're all talking about widescreen graphics... what about 5:4? :P 5:4 screen modes will produce black bars at the top and bottom of the screen...

[CommanderZ]

The issue is that it is not only title screen. It is also intermission screen, help screen, credits screen, console background, victory screen, defeat screen (last two might have multiple team variants),...

If you want to have these screens in high-res and full color, you will need at least megabyte for each. Now, multiply it by four of the aspect ratios (well, you might ignore 5:4, but the rest are all very common) and you get...6 x 4 = 24 MB. In most mods' cases, this would be vast majority of total mod size. Not to mention the maintenance overhead.

[Enjay]

If you want to have these screens in high-res and full color, you will need at least megabyte for each.

Exactly if you want. It's optional. Replacing graphics is optional. It's optional for the modder and it's optional for the player. The modder doesn't have to do it and the player doesn't have to download it.

The current behaviour would still be the default. So, providing a single graphic would still be possible (and what most people would do I suspect). Also, notice my original example, it implies the ability to use one graphic for more than one of the ratios (I grouped 16:9 and 16:10 together deliberately to try and illustrate that point). Further, if it was possible to do this with TEXTURES, then the screens could be composite graphics just like a normal texture with very little need for additional megabytes of data.

Also, those example pictures that I posted are hi-res compared to the original Doom screens, are in a format supported by the game but do not take up the kind of space you indicate. OK, I accept that most people would want bigger/better quality pictures but widescreen doesn't have to mean huge multi-megabyte images. The aspect ratio, not the overall size is the issue that this suggestion is trying to address.

Now, multiply it by four of the aspect ratios (well, you might ignore 5:4, but the rest are all very common) and you get...6 x 4 = 24 MB. In most mods' cases, this would be vast majority of total mod size. Not to mention the maintenance overhead.

I think you are picking an extreme case and I doubt that many, if any, mods would end up having a full 24MB of fullscreen graphics data (but I accept that it is a possibility).

If I really wanted to, I could bulk-out a mod right now with a single big image. Modders don't do that and many modders actually try to package their mods responsibly to try to reduce download sizes. I don't expect that to change.

I suspect that any mod likely to be doing something along the lines you suggest would be a big mod anyway and would contain a lot of other data too, not just be a single sector map with 24MB of intermission screens.

[InsaneFury]

Perhaps related, does this apply to the strife dialog as well?

I'm using a backdrop for my dialog that's in the original doom resolution. When displayed in a 16:9 dialog, it displays with the correct ratio, but the left/right (i.e. widescreen) surface of the display is completely see-through. It'd be nice if the dialog screen could either stretch to fullscreen 16:9 (ugly though), or if the sidebars could have a solid color fill as background (black).

[Tormentor667]

...so any news on the actual implementation?

[Graf Zahl]

Did you see any activity in the changelog recently?

There's currently no developer doing any active work on ZDoom, except the occasional bugfix.

[Tormentor667]

I actually do not check the changelog, sorry, but is there any specific reason?

[InsanityBringer]

Well, half of the reason is that Randy's been dealing with the flood in his region, I presume.

[randi]

Why, yes, that might be related.

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