What is different about this screenshot?

[softcoder]

Can anyone tell me what this means

[will]

you should have set it up as an animated GIF with only one frame being Rick

[softcoder]

We will support playing videos (like intro videos) using libvlc.

[Ishmaru]

Really looking forward to movie intros + scenario cut-scenes!

[softcoder]

Now that is all working nicely, where else should we allow for video's to be played? Menu background instead of a model? Others?

[MightyMic]

Now that is all working nicely

does that mean in the latest svn it's supported?

Menu background instead of a model? Others?

definitely in scenarios... so a lua command that suspends the game, plays the video and then restarts the game after the video is finished. At least that's what I was thinking when you said video support (along with the menu background of course)

[TotalNoob]

Vid in main menu would definitely reduce resource demand there but on the other hand I like the way menu switches between elements (that passing effect between points) which would be difficult to achieve if there would be only vid. Maybe vid should be only in Internet Game menu, since we sit there most of the time waiting for other players

[tomreyn]

I like the idea of having interstitials (possibly implemented as videos) between stacked scenarios. This would be a bit like the storyline screens Wesnoth has there, which I also find nice. On the other hand I have my doubts as to whether there will be people producing videos for this, but then I assume libvlc can also play back formats which consist of stacked single images, displayed for a fixed duration, which seems more likely to be used.

[Omega]

I'd rather that a video be used only for an intro, leaving the main menu model, as it's more practical, allowing interactivity, and of course, videos are massive, best to use prudently (a half decent quality intro video could add some serious bytes to MegaGlest's download size, alone).

[softcoder]

Just tested and it will work for streaming youtube videos also, which is great as it will allow you to change the videos after a version has been installed.

UPDATE:

New lua method added in svn that allows auto pausing of the game and playing a video:

playStreamingVideo('#39;)

[treba]

really cool feature!
but what happens if there's no internet connection available? is there a way to check that or to specify alternatives?

[softcoder]

Done in svn, you may specify a primary and a fallback URL / filename:

IntroVideoURL=
IntroVideoURLFallback=/media/dlinknas/pilgrimsprogress.avi

[Omega]

Done in svn, you may specify a primary and a fallback URL / filename:

IntroVideoURL=
IntroVideoURLFallback=/media/dlinknas/pilgrimsprogress.avi

What would be the point of a fallback, though? Wouldn't it be better to just use the local version only, as you'd have to download the video either way, and streaming it would just use bandwidth every time, not to mention slow connections would experience a lot of lag.

[tomreyn]

To me, it looks like the same person criticising embedded / offline videos for their filesize is now criticising streaming videos for the bandwidth they cause. You can only optimize one or the other.

Unrelated to that the fallback, quite clearly, is useful when streaming of one or more videos fails, in which case a small locally stored fallback video can still provide visual feedback on this situation to the user.

I do think that streaming downloads should be either opt-in or opt-out, though (think of 3G connections).

[softcoder]

Streaming allows for dynamic changes over time, wheres files are just static content. Agreed, we can make this feature togglable so we never try to load streaming videos.

[Ishmaru]

Done in svn, you may specify a primary and a fallback URL / filename:

IntroVideoURL=
IntroVideoURLFallback=/media/dlinknas/pilgrimsprogress.avi

What would be the point of a fallback, though? Wouldn't it be better to just use the local version only, as you'd have to download the video either way, and streaming it would just use bandwidth every time, not to mention slow connections would experience a lot of lag.

An option to save download time is to include a shortened or low res video with game and have more higher/longer quality videos available via streaming is one idea.

I think having the ability for a  video as a menu option is a good idea for mods. 

I think having videos for faction + Scenarios are good ideas too. Show casing gameplay or units or even a nice cinematic. Would be great as previews for Mods, Scenarios + Tilesets in mods menu as well!  Since the view space would be small, videos could be small in resolution to save disk space.

[softcoder]

- added faction preview videos in svn! If we find preview_video.* then first match will be used, otherwise the old behavior is used.