A_CustomFlash(str statement, int layer)

[Lioyd_Irving]

Lioyd again...for another idea.

I've been poking around with the A_GunFlash function for a while, when it hit me like a roundhouse kick to the face.

Let me explain. You all know that A_GunFlash allows playing another animation over the weapon and which does not depend of the current weapon anim, right ?

So, here's the idea. An A_CustomFlash function would play another statement at the same time than the current one, simplifying several things : a clip falling from a weapon, for example, would not depend of the weapon sprite offset anymore. If you've been diving in the .ART files of any Build game, you'll get how it works.

This would allow the use of "layers" to make animations more precise and having the ability of correcting the elements' offsets individually, instead of having to anticipate them when editing the sprite.

I know all my suggestions have been busted because they were stupid or impossible, but I really think this one is worth coding.

[Grimm]

Actually, upon thinking about it, this would be a GREAT way to save space in WAD files.

ALSO! This could allow things like bullet meters to be implemented easily. Currently you'd have to include 666 different sprites for one gun if you wanted to do something like have a bullet readout right on the gun (ala Doom 3). With this, you could just have the meter itself included and placed over the gun. (You could, of course, do this already with a_GunFlash, but then you'd have nothing to do muzzle flahses with. While that may not be a big deal with a gun with 4 different sprites or so, when guns have larger ones, trust me, it makes a HUGE difference. )

I fully support this idea.

[HotWax]

Very similar to this thread: (especially DoomRater's post at the end, and Graf's response)

http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=14949

[Grimm]

Wow . . . WFDS is decidedly not a cool answer to this.

[Enjay]

Wow . . . WFDS is decidedly not a cool answer to this.

Given that we've been W'ing FDS for something like six years now, it ceased to feel like a cool answer for anything some time ago.

[Graf Zahl]

Tell that to the person whose name starts with 'R'!

[Cutmanmike]

Yeah for the love of god get your crap together, ReX!

[The Unmaker]

Yeah for the love of god get your crap together, ReX!

ReX? I thought it was Risen!

[Remmirath]

Nono,i think that person is our master programmer...if i'm not wrong...

[HotWax]

Not to nitpick, but his name starts with an 'r' (ASCII 114), not an 'R' (82).

[randi]

Hey, you don't think I did the garbage collector solely for potential benefits on busy maps, do you? That's more of a side effect than a primary motivation for adding it. I wanted to be sure I had a stable garbage collector that didn't bog the game down before going further, since whether or not I have one impacts various other implementation details.

[Enjay]

I'm more complaining that I'm as fed up, if not more so, of people saying WFDS as I am fed up of actually waiting for it. WFDS has long since ceased to be meaningful other than effectively meaning "no" in the life of any project under development IMO. What's more, it is (as often as not) "said" by people who aren't directly involved in anything to do with making DS a reality and may not know how DS-y the particular topic is.

Although, I've moaned about this before so I'll stop right there.

[Lioyd_Irving]

I don't get how it turned to a DS debate, but I don't want that...Let's go back to the topic, people.

Actually, upon thinking about it, this would be a GREAT way to save space in WAD files.

ALSO! This could allow things like bullet meters to be implemented easily. Currently you'd have to include 666 different sprites for one gun if you wanted to do something like have a bullet readout right on the gun (ala Doom 3). With this, you could just have the meter itself included and placed over the gun. (You could, of course, do this already with a_GunFlash, but then you'd have nothing to do muzzle flahses with. While that may not be a big deal with a gun with 4 different sprites or so, when guns have larger ones, trust me, it makes a HUGE difference. )

I fully support this idea.

EXACTLY ! I also thought about this. Seeing your current ammo on a weapon wouldn't need insane number of sprites
anymore - just 1234567890 sprites on different spots and some coding.
It'd be so great to finally have visible ammo on the screens of the D3 weaps for instance.

[DBThanatos]

...just 1234567890 sprites...

I thought the limit was 32,768 entries in total, didnt know it could handle 1,234,567,890 sprites (joke)

I really support this idea. For muzzle flashes, it'll be great!!

[Lioyd_Irving]

didnt know it could handle 1,234,567,890 sprites (joke)

Yeah, I first wanted to say "some 1234567890 sprites" but it made "some" twice in the phrase with "some coding".