Disable Intro?

[hailstone]

Anyone mind if I disable the intro? All it really does is show the glest.org website url which can be seen from the about menu. I prefer to go straight to the menu.

[ultifd]

I suppose that would be OK, but what we really need is just a better one. But I guess that can be in Glest 4...

[John.d.h]

Intro screens are really best for first-time players or people who don't play that often, but somebody like me who does a lot of testing would like to disable it.  I say put an option in the *.ini.

[Ishmaru]

Dont care for the intro. Its just dark screen for a while then Glest and website show up then black for a while. Not really the most epic scene Don't really need it. Make it switchable. 

[-Archmage-]

You guys are all aware you can click to skip it........ If that's trouble......

[ultifd]

If everyone always skips it, then there isn't really a point of it being there...  In the end we just need a better one I guess.

[MuwuM]

Why don't you create one, ultifd ?

[ultifd]

Maybe after the merge...but I think there are others who would do a better job.

[ChupaReaper]

Perhaps mpeg or some nice video format could be added for the intro (and cutscenes for scenarios too maybe).

[Psychedelic_hands]

Perhaps mpeg or some nice video format could be added for the intro (and cutscenes for scenarios too maybe).

I suggested cutscenes awhile back, but an video intro would be awesome too.
 

[ultifd]

Yep, that's what I'm talking about. But there's no point in doing now/no time, so I guess Hailstone can just disable it...

[hailstone]

I've disabled it now (commit f9b08c42..).

[ChupaReaper]

The menu music doesn't seem to play since it was removed.

[hailstone]

OK. Try now, I forgot to commit some changes.

[ChupaReaper]

Will do once I get home. Perhaps the intro could play when the game is first run and then an option to always show the intro whether the game is first run or not could be added.

[Omega]

Excuse my lateness. My two bits:

Yes, the screen should be disabled, but, not on the first run. You see, I never would have even come to this site, and thus found the forums, if I wasn't reminded of the web site when I played the game (yes, it's surprisingly easy to download a game, without actually even looking at anything else on the site). After that, I'm with Chupa in giving an option, preferably in the options menu, for toggling whether or not to show the intro. This could persist even when a real cutscene video is added (albeit, that video would have to be very high quality and probably entirely rendered in a video editor, not consisting of ingame clips. Something similar to civilization 4 comes to mind (though not necessarily such quality). Of course, then there's the problem with playing a video, as videos are huge, and the format that most games (including aforementioned civilization 4) is Bink, which is commercial, leaving us with fewer choices that won't create a massive filesize.

[Ishmaru]

Only Divx comes to mind, but that would require an extra install and who would want to install something extra...

[ChupaReaper]

Only Divx comes to mind, but that would require an extra install and who would want to install something extra...

Loads of people have Divx installed these days though, could include it in the installer.

[ChupaReaper]

I've updated to the latest GIT Master and there's a big problem. The music plays now however when you select one of the menu options like New Game, Load Game, Options, Scenarios, etc the music keeps playing fine, but if you choose Return and go back to the main menu the music stops and starts again from the beginning and at twice the speed, if you repeat this it gets faster and faster!

[hailstone]

It's playing the music multiple times because it's started when you go to the root menu. I should have realised that was going to happen when I saw it starting at the end of the intro. I've committed a fix.

[ChupaReaper]

It's playing the music multiple times because it's started when you go to the root menu. I should have realised that was going to happen when I saw it starting at the end of the intro. I've committed a fix.

Cool thanks

[silnarm]

Re: Video.

If we were to add the ability to play vids for the intro, campaigns, etc. then it would be theora.  Not sure how that compares with propriety formats but that is about the only option I think is available/attractive to us.

Re: Intro.

Code: [Select]

if (g_config.getMiscFirstTime()) {
setState(new Intro(*this));
} else {
setState(new MainMenu(*this));
}

Not sure how you have the music transitioning atm, and this could mess that up, but this is how would should aim to do it.

[Omega]

Code: [Select]

if (g_config.getMiscFirstTime()) {
setState(new Intro(*this));
} else {
setState(new MainMenu(*this));
}


The problem with that is they will only see it if the first time setting in the INi is true, which is generally only so for the first run, unless they manually change it. Thus, if they WANT to see the intro again, or don't really care (in which case, let's brainwash them with the website name, just so they might be tempted onto the forums) they don't have an easily accessable method of seeing it again, short of setting first time on again, which will overwrite other settings (not entirely sure what is configured on the first run, but many graphical limitations probably are). I instead propose making a new INI line for that, defaultly leaving the intro on unless the user chooses to toggle it off (and perhaps place said option in the options menu. .... and while we're at it, do a major revamp of the options menu, which is sadly lacking).

[Psychedelic_hands]

Why not just put the website in the logo or something?

[hailstone]

I think once video is put in have it play all the time but have the option to disable in the ini. I tend to only watch intros once.