Thought for moving start menu..

[nikfrozty]

Only images can be used to replace the start menu right?? Well I saw some .gif images that are moving. Is there a way to input the .gif image other than .png into the game?? Just a thought though. Sorry if I'm wrong.

[nfitc1]

Only images can be used to replace the start menu right?? Well I saw some .gif images that are moving. Is there a way to input the .gif image other than .png into the game?? Just a thought though. Sorry if I'm wrong.

I don't think it works like that. It'd be nice if it did though.

[Kranmer]

i dont think it can be done currently, but if you ask Aali he may be able to come up with somthing. I think he uses LibPNG (this is what i think and not a fact, if i am wrong feel free to correct me) so it may be possible for him to add APNG format (Animated PNG or Animated Portable Network Graphics) which acts like a GIF but uses the PNG format.

[nikfrozty]

So a png can also act like a gif image?? I never knew there were such things like animated png. I'm a noob with these things.

[Kranmer]

i only found out about them not so long ago, try google and just search for
APNG
and that will tell you alot more about it, if you try to use one in Aali's driver it will just load it as a normal PNG but if you ask him he may be able to make it move.

[nikfrozty]

Thanks for the info then. So if you know how it looks with the driver you have already tried it right?? So at least the apng still shows in the game even without the animation.

[Kranmer]

yes i have tried it, APNG's work but are used as a normal PNG so only the first frame is shown, (i tried different programs to make APNG's but they where all the same and just showed a still image in Aali's Driver, they all worked apart from gif2apng which outputed a APNG that didnt work with the driver at all).

[nikfrozty]

Its all up to Aali's Driver now. Hopes he adds support for APNG's as well.

[pyrozen]

support for APNGs would open up a ton of new avenues, all much larger than a simple start menu. You could have the field textures sway in the wind for example. However, it might be extremely laggy, since loading up standard PNGs adds a small amount of loading lag.

lee

[nikfrozty]

Well I wouldn't mind upgrading parts of my cpu to make it run faster. If it were just possible now to use these apng in the game. But I know the start menu is just a start if apng were possible and eventually it will lead to what things you're implementing. Damn that makes texturing a lot harder.

[pyrozen]

Damn that makes texturing a lot harder.

not as hard as you might think. Even subtle movement makes a difference. Look at the sands around golden saucer in the WMRP. It's very subtle(too subtle for some) but it gets the point across and it only took 15 minutes to get the extra motion. The oceans would be a good example too, since instead of 4 separate frames, you could condense it into one APNG. It would cut down on alot of the animation PNGs.

[sl1982]

Damn that makes texturing a lot harder.

not as hard as you might think. Even subtle movement makes a difference. Look at the sands around golden saucer in the WMRP. It's very subtle(too subtle for some) but it gets the point across and it only took 15 minutes to get the extra motion. The oceans would be a good example too, since instead of 4 separate frames, you could condense it into one APNG. It would cut down on alot of the animation PNGs.

Wouldnt that require hacking into the exe to get it to only load 1 image instead of 4?

[Tekkie.X]

Or still have it 4 images but each one being a small part of the animation making it look smoother, no need for hackage that way.

Of course we'd still need Aali to work his magic first.

[pyrozen]

Wouldnt that require hacking into the exe to get it to only load 1 image instead of 4?

i have no idea but it seems if aali can make it call a PNG for any given texture, it may be possible to make it call APNGs as well. Though that method may not work the animated textures, but i would imagine it could be possible to make an exclusion list to not call the other 3 TEX files of an animated texture, and only call the first, APNG version.

Just speculation on my part, i really don't know if any of this is possible.

lee