[WMCoolmon]

There's just one funny thing about this main hall.

It's not done with the code. It doesn't require any extra media other than a table. (Although MediaVPs are definitely recommended.

It's done entirely via scripting. The basic concept is based on a title screen idea I had for Ferrium; the only big difference is that I replaced a planet in the lower-left with the ship model, because I could only get the drawMonochromeImage() function working in a way that would let me use the upper-right portion of a planet in the lower-left of the screen. (FYI, the aabitmap function is what the HUD uses to draw its graphics.)

If you take a closer look at the table you'll see this:

Code: [Select]

#State Hooks
$State: GS_STATE_MAIN_MENU
...
#End
What I've done is I've enabled you to link into any Freespace state (Read: room, like the techroom, or the ready room) and have it execute whatever's in the $Hook: variable rather than what's on the room.

You can also use the setEvent() command to change to a different room/state. This is how I made the buttons work for the Mainhall. Using getEventTypeName() and getNumEventTypes() you can with a for loop, you can get a list of all events you can switch to. For states, look up code/gamesequence/gamesequence.h in CVS.

The ship model is done with an easy-to-use render function that's part of the shipclass object. So, all you need to render a 640x480 GTF Hercules in the upper-left corner is add the following lines to any hook

Code: [Select]

ship = tb.getShipClass("GTF Hercules")
ship:renderTechModel(0, 0, 640, 480, false)
I've provided three extra arguments that let you turn the ship any which way you choose; you have to rotate it manually using the bs.getFrametime() function (See my scripting.tbl).

Variables by default are persistent between frames. So if you set a variable called "my_dog", the value will still be there the next time that a hook is run. It will also be available to any other hook.

There are a number of functions that I didn't use in the mainhall example; use output_scripting to get the scripting reference, or get the version I just uploaded.

If you're totally new to Lua, I recommend you check out this page on their wiki, it has a number of tutorials to get you started.

Right now I'm a little concerned that this may be a little user-unfriendly. So if you have any suggestions/comments/questions, now would be the time to air them. As I add more functions it gets progressively harder to change the way things are set up.

Requests for functions that you're going to use is also good. Nothing motivates me (or most of the other coders, I suppose ) more than seeing stuff get used.

The Build and Table

[kasperl]

Could you post the tbl file as well? Or am I missing something?

[WMCoolmon]

Actually, it was something that I was missing. 

[Gast9991]

hi

nice idea

my first question is what i all possible can i rebuild the old Mainhall from Freespace 1
or is this to difficuld in few time i think i will test if i can redone the mainhall
i have an little question does it go to CVS or official build ?

[Mr_Maniac]

Well... The biggest problem in remaking the FS1 Mainhalls is the resolution..

The FS1 Mainhalls were 640x480 only...
There are High-Res renderers from the Mainhalls, but you would still have to resize the animated areas...
And if you do this, they look very blurry...

OR you would have to build the Mainhalls in a 3D-Program and render them... But that would take its time if you can even do it...

I think someone in this forum already tried to "convert" the mainhalls...
He succseeded, but like said, the animated parts are looking bad...

[starfox]

That looks fantastic !
There are few things I'd like to know.
First of all, is this new mainhall permanent addition to the SCP Arsenal or just an experiment ? *Hope it's going to stay*
Also, if this a permanent addition, it would be worthwile to get Shiblab working again...

Is it possible to prevent some ships (etc. escape pod) from showing up in the mainhall ?
Are there plans to recreate barracks and techroom etc, similar way the Mainhall is ?

Once again, magnifient work ! 

[WeatherOp]

Hmmm, Hey Coolmon, maybe you need to inform Omni on this great piece of work.

[WMCoolmon]

Hmm...well, right now the limitations of this one are that keystrokes aren't working, I didn't put sounds in (though I just added some scripting sound support to CVS) animations aren't really supported. You can get away with animations by doing them manually (Drawing a bunch of images in sequence, using a variable to increment them over time).

So at this point an FS1 mainhall would be kind of difficult...

If you want to have the button click sound play, add the sd.playInterfaceSound into scripting.tbl in the next CVS build:

Code: [Select]

if ms.isButtonDown("Left") then
bs.setEvent(event)
gr.drawRectangle(x1, y1, x2, y2, false, false)
sd.playInterfaceSound("user_c.wav")
end
This mainhall is mostly a demo/test of the scripting of the scripting system at this point. I 'spose I could add it to the mediaVPs. What's the "shiblab", btw? Did I break something?

It's pretty easy to keep certain ships from showing up. I just added a getType() function to CVS for ship classes, so you could do this to keep escape pods from showing up:

Code: [Select]

if maybe_ship:isInTechroom() thento

Code: [Select]

if maybe_ship:isInTechroom() and not maybe_ship:getType()=="Escape pod" then
Barracks and techroom can probably be reworked with the proper scripting functions, if anyone wants to...for barracks, you'd just make a table entry like

Code: [Select]

$State: GS_STATE_BARRACKS_MENU
$Hook: [
--Put your barracks stuff here...just write "Barracks" for now
gr.drawString("Barracks", 5, 5)
]and obviously fill it with data.

[MetalDestroyer]

Hum interesting, we could put some animation into it.
As an exemple, you could put some ships moving in formation (escort cargo, fighter formation, etc..) and put some moving camera like X2 The Threat or X3.

[starfox]

"Shiplab" is that screen, where you can examine weapons/Ship, their LOD:s and pretty much everything about the game models. This Feature was accessed via F1 in the mainhall.

[knn]

Hum interesting, we could put some animation into it.
As an exemple, you could put some ships moving in formation (escort cargo, fighter formation, etc..) and put some moving camera like X2 The Threat or X3.

How about flybys of the Aquitane or the Psamtik or the Memphis, depending on which ship you're stationed on. Add a nice background, a few fighter escorts, a little camera movement and it'll look great.

[Gast9991]

hi WMCoolmon

yes rebuild in 3d and rerender it would be the perfect but it takes very much time
were can i get mainhalls in highres i only found bastion mainhall at descent network
but i cant find the galatea or aquitene (hope i write it true)
were can i get mainhalls from the others
the animation is not the bigest problem if it is in same format as the original mainhall background
the descent network pic isent it it have all doors open and they should be closed

thx for help

[knn]

The Bastion is the only high res available, and this was used in FSPort. Aquitane and Psamtik already are 1024*768, but there is no higher res version. Galatea is unfortunately unavailable in high res, only 640*480

[Mr_Maniac]

hi WMCoolmon

yes rebuild in 3d and rerender it would be the perfect but it takes very much time
were can i get mainhalls in highres i only found bastion mainhall at descent network
but i cant find the galatea or aquitene (hope i write it true)
were can i get mainhalls from the others
the animation is not the bigest problem if it is in same format as the original mainhall background
the descent network pic isent it it have all doors open and they should be closed

thx for help

Uhm... Like I said... You will ONLY find "static" High-Res-Renderers...
You WONT find High-Res-Animations!

Oh... And for the shiplab:
It still works... For me it never stopped working!
Just press F3 in th Mainhall...

[starfox]

Strange...While using the new Mainhall, the Shiplab does not work me.

[Admiral Nelson]

Thanks, WMCoolman, for the cool stuff.

I'm not sure how to determine what functions are available for use with this script. For instance, is there an available function to return a ship class by name, and not by index?  I guess it isn't clear to me what is being stored in the render_ship variable.  What would be interesting is to display a set ship based on the active mission in a campaign.  Thus one would need to be able to assign a ship class to be rendered based on the string name of the ship,  and also one would need a function to return the active mission within the active campaign.  Is this possible?

FWIW,  I can't choose the accept button in the campaign room in this build.

[TrashMan]

A animated 3D mainhall would be uber cool..

It could be done like in Freelancer. You basicly have a file that tells you where the camera is and which objects/background is htere and when they are doing.. Allso what special effects and similar are you using.

Similar to FREDing a mission, only far simpler and smaller.

If this could be implemented it would be more then cool.
Than one could make a model of a hangarbay and use it in there

[aldo_14]

hi WMCoolmon

yes rebuild in 3d and rerender it would be the perfect but it takes very much time
were can i get mainhalls in highres i only found bastion mainhall at descent network
but i cant find the galatea or aquitene (hope i write it true)
were can i get mainhalls from the others
the animation is not the bigest problem if it is in same format as the original mainhall background
the descent network pic isent it it have all doors open and they should be closed

thx for help

The animation is the biggest problem as we don't have the anis at the correct resolution for 1024x768, only the lower res.  And - I think someone already mentioned this - we can't just simply resize those, as there will be a very clear difference in qualify between the animation and the higher res background behind it.  The descent network pic probably has all the doors open simply to show the complexity of the model, behind-door bits and all.

[WMCoolmon]

Ahh, the Lab isn't working because (like I said) when you put in a state hook right now, it totally overrides the state. So the usual code to process keystrokes in the mainhall is being ignored.

tb.getShipClass() gets a ship class by name, tb.getShipClassByIndex() is there mostly so that you can iterate through them (ie techroom list). render_ship is of type shipclass.

I've added massive numbers of Campaign scripting functions to CVS. Not only will you be able to get the next mission name, but the previous mission, or any mission in the campaign for that matter, the status of all of the events, goals, and any SEXP variables in that mission (assuming you played it).

See the Campaign Library and Cmission object type for details. It is much easier and faster to add stuff in scripting than in SEXPs. These are untested, but they were pretty simple to add.

Edit: By the way, I think you guys are underestimating the potential of this...you can change _any_ room using scripting. If you set $State: to "GS_STATE_BARRACKS_MENU", the normal main hall will return while the barracks will become the example.

You could almost make a techroom with the given functions; the only thing missing is a function to get the ship's description.

Incidentally, does anyone have a good name for a combined "Get/set" function? Right now I'd have "getName()" and "setName(new name)", but I could combine those into a "getsetName(new name)" where the function would always return the current name, but wouldn't change the name if it wasn't given.

[Admiral Nelson]

I'm guess the campaign stuff isn;t in the build you posted already?

Trying:

"Welcome to " .. cn.getDescription()

Blows up with:

LUA ERROR: [string "GS_STATE_MAIN_MENU"]:6: attempt to index global `cn' (a nil value)
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LUA Stack:
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