Using BA2's slick intro screens?

[GottaLove88s]

I've been investigating how BA2 runs its slick intro screens for the single player games, for example the text and arrows for Barbarossa Mission 1 below.

This code comes from the MISSION1_MAP.TXT file in BARBAROSSA\DATA\UI

But I can't find where its called from? Where does this get executed? It doesn't appear to be in the associated .BSF file for the MISSION1 scenario?

Thanks everyone...

Code: Select all

[#Anim1]

ANIM Place mission1_text0 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_text0 30 45 195 1
ANIM Bounce mission1_text0 30 1000 1000 10

ANIM Place mission1_text1 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_text1 60 170 367 1
ANIM Bounce mission1_text1 60 1000 1000 10

ANIM Place mission1_flag3 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_flag3 65 430 353 1
ANIM Bounce mission1_flag3 65 1000 1000 10

ANIM Place mission1_text2 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_text2 90 324 127 1
ANIM Bounce mission1_text2 90 1000 1000 10

ANIM Place mission1_flag4 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_flag4 95 452 219 1
ANIM Bounce mission1_flag4 95 1000 1000 10

ANIM Place mission1_text3 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_text3 135 725 140 1
ANIM Bounce mission1_text3 135 1000 1000 10

ANIM Place mission1_flag5 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_flag5 140 447 221 1
ANIM Bounce mission1_flag5 140 1000 1000 10

ANIM Place mission1_arrow1 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_arrow1 155 718 255 1
ANIM FADE Mission1_arrow1 155 00FFFFFF FFFFFFFF 30

ANIM Place mission1_text4 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_text4 185 658 458 1
ANIM Bounce mission1_text4 185 1000 1000 10

ANIM Place mission1_text5 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_text5 215 568 584 1
ANIM Bounce mission1_text5 215 1000 1000 10

ANIM Place mission1_flag6 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_flag6 220 483 539 1
ANIM Bounce mission1_flag6 220 1000 1000 10

ANIM Place mission1_flag7 0 -380 0
ANIM Move mission1_flag7 230 661 182 1
ANIM Bounce mission1_flag7 230 1000 1000 10


[mission1_map]
type display
level 9
MODAL

[mission1_text0]
type text
x 100
y 100
width 220
height 35
textleft 110
textwidth 200
texttop 105
textheight 25
font ComicFont
colour ffaaaaaa
file text_window_B.dds
Rescale
windowedback 10
string IDS_M1_INTRO_BARBAROSSA_TEXT0

[mission1_text1]
type text
x 100
y 100
width 220
height 35
textleft 110
textwidth 200
texttop 105
textheight 25
font ComicFont
colour ffaaaaaa
file text_window_B.dds
Rescale
windowedback 10
string IDS_M1_INTRO_BARBAROSSA_TEXT1

[mission1_text2]
type text
x 100
y 100
width 220
height 35
textleft 110
textwidth 200
texttop 105
textheight 25
font ComicFont
colour ffaaaaaa
file text_window_B.dds
Rescale
windowedback 10
string IDS_M1_INTRO_BARBAROSSA_TEXT2

[mission1_text3]
type text
x 100
y 100
width 220
height 35
textleft 110
textwidth 200
texttop 105
textheight 25
font ComicFont
colour ffaaaaaa
file text_window_B.dds
Rescale
windowedback 10
string IDS_M1_INTRO_BARBAROSSA_TEXT3

[mission1_text4]
type text
x 100
y 100
width 220
height 35
textleft 110
textwidth 200
texttop 105
textheight 25
font ComicFont
colour ffaaaaaa
file text_window_B.dds
Rescale
windowedback 10
string IDS_M1_INTRO_BARBAROSSA_TEXT4

[mission1_text5]
type text
x 100
y 100
width 220
height 35
textleft 110
textwidth 200
texttop 105
textheight 25
font ComicFont
colour ffaaaaaa
file text_window_B.dds
Rescale
windowedback 10
string IDS_M1_INTRO_BARBAROSSA_TEXT5




[mission1_flag3]
type image
x 10
y 10
width 36
height 24
file ussr.tga


[mission1_flag4]
type image
x 10
y 10
width 36
height 24
file ussr.tga



[mission1_flag5]
type image
x 10
y 10
width 36
height 24
file ussr.tga


[mission1_flag6]
type image
x 10
y 10
width 36
height 24
file ussr.tga

[mission1_flag7]
type image
x 10
y 10
width 36
height 24
file ussr.tga



[mission1_arrow1]
type image
x 180
y 130
width 180
height 130
file arrowS_E.tga


[mission1_map_ok]
type button
file tick_round_button.tga
x 488
y 684
width 64
height 64
HITEX button_hi.tga
HICOLOUR fffee37c
HISIZE 1
HISPIN 1
HIADDITIVE
command disable mission1_map

[pipfromslitherine]

IIRC (I didn't write this specific code change for BA2) the briefing UI file is loaded up and then the game looks for a UI object which is named <scenario_name>_MAP (so in your example, the scenario name was mission1). This should then be shown as the briefing for the mission.

Cheers

Pip

[GottaLove88s]

the briefing UI file is loaded up and then the game looks for a UI object which is named <scenario_name>_MAP (so in your example, the scenario name was mission1). This should then be shown as the briefing for the mission.

Thanks Pip!

Hmm, am experimenting with this. Have added a folder DATA\UI to the SEELOW scenario, containing two new files SCENUI_SEELOW.TXT and SEELOW_MAP.TXT

But they don't actually trigger anything when I run the scenario. Do I need to add something to the SEELOW.BSF too?

GL

[pipfromslitherine]

The critical part is the name of the root object of the UI screen, not the filename.

Cheers

Pip

[GottaLove88s]

Sorry Pip, sorry to be a coding dweeb... Err, confession, what's a root object?
What do I need to code, rename or include, to make this work...

[pipfromslitherine]

The name of the very first UI object, with the LAYER tag under it

[GottaLove88s]

Sorry Pip, I've just looked in all of the UI folders I can find in default BA2. I still can't find this.
Which folder/file do I need to open, to see how this works for Barbarossa for example?
(Thanks for your help... and patience with me)

[pipfromslitherine]

In barbarossa, look in DATA/UI at mission1_map.txt. The first UI object is called mission1_map.

Cheers

Pip

[GottaLove88s]

Thanks Pip... That's totally awesome... It actually works!

[GottaLove88s]

Pip, If I want to re-use your cool scenario startup animations from Bagration scenario 4... do I just use SCENUI_MISSION4.TXT in the same way that MISSION4_MAP.TXT brings over the map animations?

I've copied the Bagration 4 textures over into DATA\UI\TEXTURES, but scenario still skips this animation screen, and jumps straight to the map...

[pipfromslitherine]

Not sure what you mean by startup animations. The SCENUI_ files need to be named the same as the scenario they represent (e.g. SCENUI_<the scenario name>)

Cheers

Pip