Cutscenes

[Zen3001]

there needs to be more support for cutscenes, playing arround with acs and the camera just doesn't feels right, there should be a lump for it and I want to be able to use somekind of video file format to make these (mp4, avi or whatever works the best with gzdoom).

I'm guessing that this one is a hard thing to implement but I really want it...

[Graf Zahl]

Sorry, won't happen. It'd be reinventing the wheel (i.e. ACS) for the most part.

[Enjay]

I want to be able to use somekind of video file format to make these (mp3, wav or whatever works the best with gzdoom).

You'll be delighted to know that ZDoom used to have exactly that feature. You could call a video file from the game and it would play, then return you to the game.

At least that was the theory. It was very prone to crashing, windows specific and eventually it just became broken to a point that it simply wasn't workable. You'll also notice that there isn't exactly a vast number of mods out there that used the feature (maybe a grand total of zero?) so the very reasonable decision to axe it entirely was taken. Shame, because it could be cool but the system as it was simply wasn't worth saving.

[Gez]

MP3 and WAV aren't video formats by the way.

[Zen3001]

MP3 and WAV aren't video formats by the way.

my fucking confused brain...

[Zen3001]

At least that was the theory. It was very prone to crashing, windows specific and eventually it just became broken to a point that it simply wasn't workable. You'll also notice that there isn't exactly a vast number of mods out there that used the feature (maybe a grand total of zero?) so the very reasonable decision to axe it entirely was taken. Shame, because it could be cool but the system as it was simply wasn't worth saving.

Sounds useless but still I just want to experiment with it, what version is it?

[Zen3001]

Sorry, won't happen. It'd be reinventing the wheel (i.e. ACS) for the most part.

I'm not specifacally talking about playing videos, creating cutscenes in generall seems to be limiting. Is there really noting more possible than what gzdoom allready has?

[Graf Zahl]

Why "nothing more"? You got a fully featured scripting language to define your cutscenes. What do you actually want?

[Gez]

Old-school Bink FMVs apparently.

[Rip and Tear]

Making cutscenes in ACS is certainly tedious, but the tools are all there in the language. What would certainly help would be if someone made an ACS library to handle the annoying parts of making cutscenes.

[Kinsie]

Why "nothing more"? You got a fully featured scripting language to define your cutscenes. What do you actually want?

A button to make the player dance, of course.

[Enjay]

Sounds useless but still I just want to experiment with it, what version is it?

Honestly, I'm not sure. It was added many, many years ago (15 years or so I'm guessing) and stuck around for quite a long time. I think part of the reason that it stuck around for so long was that no one was using it so it just kind of sat there, mostly forgotten. During that time, as ZDoom changed, the feature became more and more broken. So, it might be possible to find a version where the feature was officially in, it would be trickier to find a version where the feature actually worked.

[Graf Zahl]

The video system was hopelessly broken. It was deactivated in 2008, I think, when the D3D backend got added. It only worked with DirectDraw and even there is was a gamble. On modern systems it's unlikely that anything here may still work at all.

So, which version? ZDoom 2.0.98 maybe? Defiinitely not in GZDoom, it never got implemented for the hardware renderer because the entire implementation was hardwired to how ZDoom managed its screenbuffer back then.

In all honesty, this is one of those things that's better left buried and forgotten.

[Rachael]

I know I am not the only one with this sentiment, but I realize I still may be a vocal minority about this:

My biggest concern about this feature is it introduces the possibility of a more "modern" styled mod that resembles recent games. Sounds great, right? Not really. In my opinion, many of those games are nothing more than glorified, semi-interactive, playable movies.

I don't want that in GZDoom. Little short 3-5 second cutscenes I don't mind, and those can be done easily in ACS. But this feature is a true pandora's box - if you put it in, you will definitely reap what you sew. Maybe it might not be that bad, but I rather like GZDoom the way it is without that. It IS an engine limitation, but it's one that forces you to be more creative about how you tell a story. And I see nothing wrong with that.

I don't like in-game cinematics, I never did, and it's not something I want GZDoom to have.

[Zen3001]

What I was imagining is something more like max payne, I think a short cutscene in the beginning of a level is a great way to improve the atmosphere of it and it would be great if I could use real life footage for it, right now the only way to do anything similar is to create a small cinema inside the map and it's limited to pictures only.