Outpost Universe Forums

Projects & Development => Projects => Other Projects => Topic started by: HaXtOr on December 02, 2005, 11:09:46 AM

Title: New Project Idea
Post by: HaXtOr on December 02, 2005, 11:09:46 AM
besides the demo mode in op2  there really isnt a Outpost 2 screensaver...
 
Would people like to see one?

is this a good idea?
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: spirit1flyer on December 02, 2005, 11:10:32 AM
sounds good to me! :)
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Leviathan on December 02, 2005, 11:59:13 AM
of chorse we wanna c one!
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Eddy-B on December 02, 2005, 12:33:30 PM
that would be KOOL!
a windows® screensaver - one that shows a battle - with or without sound.. takes a lot of coding to do this without utilizing op2.exe
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Freeza-CII on December 02, 2005, 12:56:21 PM
lol if you can do it with out the exe might as well go remake the entire damn game lol
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: spirit1flyer on December 02, 2005, 01:51:16 PM
there might be a way of doing it with all the recorded played games we have
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Leviathan on December 02, 2005, 02:07:46 PM
IrfanView can create slideshows screensavers from pics.
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: leeor_net on December 02, 2005, 03:09:14 PM
You know, I've been thinking about doing a ScreenSaver for a long time now? (about 6 months) I just never got around to it because I've got OPUTool, OP:MIA and OP3:GEN.

But I'd like to help if you need it.
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: leeor_net on December 02, 2005, 03:12:10 PM
After actually reading the rest of the posts, my idea wasn't that of creating on-screen battles. That's one hell of a project. But have various units come on-screen to do various things... such as a RoboMiner comes on screen and builds a mine. Then cargo-trucks come around and collect some ore and the screen clears and another sample comes up... Like a lynx rolling up to a Thor's Hammer Tiger and getting blasted to pieces. That sort of thing.

It could also have the option of being drawn on a solid colored background (like black) or having a tiled background (probably randomnly generated).
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Eddy-B on December 02, 2005, 03:35:02 PM
.. i have my own slide-show program i made last year. A minoir mod can turn it into a screen-saver. Then, all i need are images (it accepts any portable img, like jpegs, bmps and gifs)

edit: i can even add something really cool: i can have it draw pictures off the opu website, and have those updated live - so we'd all see the same pics at the same time :)  .. plus it opens up the possibilities to add / modify the pictures


oh, btw: leero: that's a screen-buddy. There are plenty like that around - they react on icons and windows: the screensaver starts by taking a snapshot of your currect desktop, and going from there...
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: dm-horus on December 03, 2005, 01:54:32 AM
i already made a flash version of outpost 2 vehicle pong :P i just dont have the software i need to turn it into a screensaver. i forget what its called, even.
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Betaray on December 03, 2005, 01:03:12 PM
could you use a simmiler system to what op2 uses to show battles when your idle at the main menu too long, I know we can mod that, so mabe that would help
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: HaXtOr on December 03, 2005, 01:25:27 PM
I was thinking more of hackign into the op2 shell useing exported functions and all
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Stormy on December 03, 2005, 04:14:12 PM
That, and I'd like to figure out how to make Dynamic 3D Screensavers! That would be sweet!!!

Thing is, I don't know how you'd make it run as a screensaver.., hmm.... I have an Idea :) (I'll get back to you soon maybe with it)
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Betaray on December 03, 2005, 08:10:43 PM
persionally, I think were streaching ourselves too thin, we are starting too many projects, and not finishing enough

we need to consoladate, all of us working on one, mabe 2 projects
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Stormy on December 03, 2005, 08:32:15 PM
Heh, this won't hinder the development of OP3 at all! We have to get the models done anyway, and I need some more practice animating stuff.
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Betaray on December 03, 2005, 08:37:47 PM
ok, if your not taxed, im all for new stuff
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: dm-horus on December 04, 2005, 03:14:46 AM
i know what u need to make a dynamic 3d screen saver. the way i know best uses flash. you get proggy called swift 3d, draw yur 3d model and import into swift which lets you put it in flash. but then you need another proggy that converts it into an executable but i cannot afford it.
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Eddy-B on December 04, 2005, 05:16:51 AM
screensaver-slideshow done.
doing some final testing and bug-hunting.
If people can get me some nice pics to add to it (prefebly all in 4:3 format)
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: HaXtOr on December 04, 2005, 01:28:38 PM
Ive actualy gotten the shell to do some fun things... like display a picture then crash... maybe we can make our own shell?  
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: BlackBox on December 04, 2005, 02:42:35 PM
Well, I would just recommend to use something like the OP2 demo exe.

As for starting the actual game environment, like for the demos, they just used a TApp::StartSingleGame call from the shell.

And as for a screensaver: A screensaver is nothing more than an EXE file with a .SCR extension, that accepts some special parameters. You can go read about it online.
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Betaray on December 04, 2005, 03:12:26 PM
so is this thing just a slideshow, or will it achelly have battles playing on it?
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: Eddy-B on December 04, 2005, 04:21:38 PM
the one i made is just a modified slideshow.
As hacker pointed out: a screensaver (*.SCR) is just an ordinary 32bit exe with its extentions changed. Also it reacts to commands from the control panel, allowing it to have a properties/setup dialog.

It would be way kool to have it play battles. This could be done (by me) also, by just changing it to display AVI's or other video format insteasd of just stills. I'll work on that this week...


... hm, i cannot attach files, so i'll have it uploaded. It's coded with C-Builder, and it's roughly 600kB. It loads images (JPEG, GIF, BMP and PNG) from harddisk, and has no limit to the number of images .. i think.. (it uses a ListView, same thing that windows explorer uses, so i don't think it has a limit). Images can be selected with a browse button, or by drag&drop operation.

My OP2 website (http://www.eddy-b.com/op2)
Title: New Project Idea
Post by: leeor_net on December 10, 2005, 01:13:02 AM
Quote
oh, btw: leero: that's a screen-buddy. There are plenty like that around - they react on icons and windows: the screensaver starts by taking a snapshot of your currect desktop, and going from there...

That's not what I was talking about. When I say a tiled background I mean using the tilesets built into OP2 and create randomly generated 'maps' out of them.

Quote
i know what u need to make a dynamic 3d screen saver. the way i know best uses flash. you get proggy called swift 3d, draw yur 3d model and import into swift which lets you put it in flash. but then you need another proggy that converts it into an executable but i cannot afford it.

Or you could just code a screensaver the way screensavers are coded.

SS's are essentially programs but they have two functions that are important: 1, the need the Options Dialogue wich is called through a specific funtion.

2, you need an entry-point funtion.

Most programs for Win32 would use WinMain, but Screen Savers have a different entry point.

I already have a fully-functioning refresh engine and I've done some preliminary testing to see if it would work for a screensaver and... it does! So it's a downright possibility for 3D screensavers... plus it's easy enough to generate scenes through code.

Moogle's idea of using OP2 as a shell would probably make the most sense. Starting a screen saver is easy enough. Once that's done you can pretty much do what any program does so having the Config dialogue point to the OP2 directory and define a screen resolution and then having the entry-point function set a resolution and use OP2's internal commands and whatnot seems completely feasible.

How to use and what the OP2 funtions are is a mystery to me but I can do the screensaver general programming.