Message.ini editing

[Fallen]

Well, my last question never really got answered about conversations ... despite valliant efforts, hopefully this one will get an answer.

I am working with the message display. I can get a message to appear no problem, fade in, fade out and so on. My problem is the grphic assigned to the message in the message.ini doesn't show up. The default is:

menu\sliders.bmp

That doesn't seem to work, I also tried:

bitmaps\menu\sliders.bmp

once again, doesn't seem to work.

I remember having this problem with the conversation system when I was trying to get it working also.

What is the proper path to put into the graphics attribute to refference the bitmaps folder in the media folder?

[steven8]

Hi Fallen,

I tried that day to get a conversation working but couldn't then I got busy with the menu creator and forgot. Sorry, buddy. In the online help for the message entity, it say's of the graphic callout in the ini file:

If you wish to have a graphic displayed underneath the text it can be defined with these entries.

graphic = - name of bitmap to use as graphic

graphicalpha = alpha map of graphic

graphicpositionx = - location of upper left corner of graphic on screen

graphicpositiony =

graphicstyle = - style of graphic display (0 to 4)

These are optional and can be left out if not needed.

graphicfadeintime = - number of seconds required for the graphic to fadein from transparent to solid

graphicfadeouttime = - number of seconds required for the graphic to fadeout from solid to transparent

If the graphicstyle is 1 to 4 then the following entries are need to define the flipbook action.

graphicframes = - number of frames of animation

graphicspeed = - number of frames per second in the animation

What that tells me, is that you do not need a path. Just the name, as though it were meant to be in the bitmaps folder only. The media\bitmaps folder is the first thing RF looks in for a graphic. The only reason for an extended path is for when it is within a folder within the bitmaps folder. On your computer, what folder is sliders.bmp in?

[Fallen]

Yes, I understand that steven8 and I thank you for your help on that. You were the "valiant effort" mentioned.

I have tried it with out a directory path with just the name of the file, also does not work.

I have a default setup of Reality Factory I am working with, so the diretory path of the slider files is:

C:\RealityFactory\media\bitmaps\menu\

is there another step to make sure the RFEdit Pro software points to the right folder when it compiles? I understand directory structures and the such pretty well being a Web Developer and would like to think that this shouldn't be as complicated as it seems.

[steven8]

\menu\sliders.bmp is correct.

I loaded the rftechv1 level into the editor, and it has a message with a background in it.

Here are its settings:

DisplayType - Special (this may be key)
Origin - unimportant, it's where you place it.
TextName - message
TriggerName - messagetrig

From the message.ini:

[Special] - DisplayType
type = static
positionx = center
positiony = 100
displaytime = 2
fadeintime = 0
fadeouttime = 0
fontsize = 8
graphic = menu\sliders.bmp
graphicalpha = menu\a_sliders.bmp
graphicpositionx = center
graphicpositiony = 85
graphicstyle = 0

From the Message.txt:

[message]
Message with Background

Now, just try to use these setting exactly and see if it gives you what you need. In the demo it works perfectly. My comments are in green. They are not part of the file. Here's hoping this valiant effort bears fruit!!

[Fallen]

lol, that it did. was a simple mistake this time ... and you had the key. my display type was incorrect. I ready in the documentation that "Static" was the only kind of message at present ... either in the message or trigger section of the online documentation and I ignored the feild all together. Fairly obvious when you actually look at it.

Thanks a ton Steven8!

[steven8]

You're very welcome. As soon as I saw that 'Special' field, I thought that might be it. Excellent!!