Text question: How do they (very creative Germans) do this?

[DrHat 10]

Hi there!

I am in the VERY early stages of messing with my own mission (in fact I haven't really done anything, except edit an official Zeus mission, to be configured the way I want it..VERY basic stuff).

So I was doing some stuff with my mission presentation in the Description.ext and I remembered this thing I saw some German Altis Life guys doing, and I was wondering if anyone could help me understand what they're doing (ie. Tell me how I'd do something similar) - They had this text on the right side of the screen, which would cycle through various pieces of information. It looked really cool! (props to the creative Germans ^_^)

I'm guessing this is not something that goes in the Description.ext, since that seems to be stuff that happens *before* a player spawns. Where as this stuff happens shortly after you spawned into the server for the first time (Any subsequent death and respawn, doesn't invoke it, but disconnecting and reconnecting does)

Here is what I mean

This text fades out, and more text fades in with more info, like their TS info etc.

Any help is appreciated! :o

Note: For any answers, please explain like I'm 5, thank you! (And sorry...) :p

Edited May 8, 2014 by DrHat
typo

[Von Quest 1163]

Guessing you want BIS_fnc_typeText or maybe BIS_fnc_dynamicText

[[ ["W-I-P<br/>Those darn crafty Germans...<br/>","<t align = 'right' shadow = '1' size = '0.7'  font='PuristaBold'>%1</t><br/>"] ],-safezoneX,1.1] spawn BIS_fnc_typeText;

Put that into your init.sqf file which goes in your Mission Folder.

cutText ["", "BLACK FADED", 999];    
[] Spawn {	
["<t size='.6'>STARFLIGHT 602 - CASPIAN SEA</t>",0.02,0.3,15,1,0,3010] spawn BIS_fnc_dynamicText;
sleep 2;
   cutText ["", "BLACK IN", 5];

};

Edited May 8, 2014 by Goblin

[DrHat 10]

Guessing you want BIS_fnc_typeText or maybe BIS_fnc_dynamicText

[[ ["W-I-P<br/>Those darn crafty Germans...<br/>","<t align = 'right' shadow = '1' size = '0.7'  font='PuristaBold'>%1</t><br/>"] ],-safezoneX,1.1] spawn BIS_fnc_typeText;

Put that into your init.sqf file which goes in your Mission Folder.

cutText ["", "BLACK FADED", 999];    
[] Spawn {	
["<t size='.6'>STARFLIGHT 602 - CASPIAN SEA</t>",0.02,0.3,15,1,0,3010] spawn BIS_fnc_dynamicText;
sleep 2;
   cutText ["", "BLACK IN", 5];

};

Hi!

Meant to reply to you sooner, but had a long day at work..so meh. Anyway I shall rush in and try your idea right away, just to show those darn crafty Germans :D

Results pending!

---------- Post added at 18:52 ---------- Previous post was at 18:25 ----------

Well, it certainly works..but isn't what I was looking for. The text in the centre is, well centred :-/

The text to the right is nicely animated and makes an odd noise, which is cool, but its too far right, and the noise shouldn't be there, and it was not what I wanted..BUT! It is certainly appreciated nevertheless and I'm sure I can make something with this. So thank you good sir ^_^

I shall research more!

---------- Post added at 19:00 ---------- Previous post was at 18:52 ----------

I think I feel a bit stupid now, because I'm beginning..slowly..to realize that BIS_fnc_dynamicText is probably what I want. At least from what I'm reading. Incidentally my head hurts, because I am a COMPLETE non-coder, non-scripting sort of person..all of this stuff is highly confusing to me. Add my laziness/inability to read tutorials, this is difficult ...but at least now I think I understand a little better.

---------- Post added at 19:06 ---------- Previous post was at 19:00 ----------

Actually, can I turn this ship around a bit?

cutText ["", "BLACK FADED", 999]; <-- What does this bit mean?

[] Spawn { <-- I assume this means "When the player spawns, do something

["<t size='.6'>STARFLIGHT 602 - CASPIAN SEA</t>",0.02,0.3,15,1,0,3010] spawn BIS_fnc_dynamicText;

sleep 2; <-- I guess this is a bunch of parameters, followed by "sleep 2", which I guess means, sit there and do nothing for 2 seconds?

cutText ["", "BLACK IN", 5]; <-- Again, what is this??? *suspicious stare, poke, poke, more staring*

};

[IndeedPete 1038]

cutText ["", "BLACK FADED", 999]; <-- What does this bit mean?

This means you'll start with a black screen that stays for 999 seconds.

[] Spawn { <-- I assume this means "When the player spawns, do something

No, this just means you're opening a new thread. If you run this from the init.sqf it will start post init at the beginning of the mission.

["<t size='.6'>STARFLIGHT 602 - CASPIAN SEA</t>",0.02,0.3,15,1,0,3010] spawn BIS_fnc_dynamicText;

sleep 2; <-- I guess this is a bunch of parameters, followed by "sleep 2", which I guess means, sit there and do nothing for 2 seconds?

The parameters are what you want to change. Some of them are likely screen coordinates. See the functions library ("f(x)" button in the top bar of the editor) for explanation of every parameter. Sleep holds the script for two seconds.

cutText ["", "BLACK IN", 5]; <-- Again, what is this??? *suspicious stare, poke, poke, more staring*

};

This fades in from your black screen from beginning within five seconds. I suggest you find out what the parameters of the BIS_fnc_dynamicText function mean and then fiddle around with them.

Best regards,

a darn crafty German ;)

[DrHat 10]

This means you'll start with a black screen that stays for 999 seconds.

No, this just means you're opening a new thread. If you run this from the init.sqf it will start post init at the beginning of the mission.

The parameters are what you want to change. Some of them are likely screen coordinates. See the functions library ("f(x)" button in the top bar of the editor) for explanation of every parameter. Sleep holds the script for two seconds.

This fades in from your black screen from beginning within five seconds. I suggest you find out what the parameters of the BIS_fnc_dynamicText function mean and then fiddle around with them.

Best regards,

a darn crafty German ;)

¨

Ah! Ze crafty Germans have found my thread! How crafty! :P

I am VERY pleased with your step by step explanation..I wish I could get more of those. <3

So strictly speaking I don't actually *need* the cutText part, do I?

Secondly, thanks for pointing out being able to find it in the editor (sorry, I really am new at this..) :D

Thirdly, how do I make the initial text fade out, then have another text fade in, etc. ?

Fourthly, how do I force the thing to wait for like, 5 seconds before it appears? The text I mean?

Sorry for all these questions, questions I'm sure could be answered if I bothered to read and experiment...but then, I wouldn't be here if I did that.

<3

- Drhat

Edited May 9, 2014 by DrHat

[IndeedPete 1038]

¨

Ah! Ze crafty Germans have found my thread! How crafty! :P

There are more than 80 million of us by now. We had to stumble across it eventually!^^

¨

I am VERY pleased with your step by step explanation..I wish I could get more of those. <3

If you're really a newbie try looking for guides on editing in general. Youtube, google and the wiki should offer tons of stuff to cover the basics.

¨

So strictly speaking I don't actually *need* the cutText part, do I?

If you don't want your text to show up on a black background then no.

¨

Secondly, thanks for pointing out being able to find it in the editor (sorry, I really am new at this..) :D

See second sentence. ;)

Thirdly, how do I make the initial text fade out, then have another text fade in, etc. ?

Run the function again with the other text. You might have to add a sleep command between the two function calls.

Fourthly, how do I force the thing to wait for like, 5 seconds before it appears? The text I mean?

Add a sleep command before the function call.

[DrHat 10]

There are more than 80 million of us by now. We had to stumble across it eventually!^^

I know..I live near Stuttgart in southern Germany. I work here...though I'm natively Danish. SO MANY GERMANS! EVERYWHERE! AHHH! *runs around in panic* :P

If you're really a newbie try looking for guides on editing in general. Youtube, google and the wiki should offer tons of stuff to cover the basics.

I know this too..I'm really shit at this though. Also, I can't ask tutorials questions if I don't understand. In other words..Its difficult for me to stay focused on tutorials, because I'm a very spontaneous guy :(

I wish this wasn't the case, because I really want to learn..

If you don't want your text to show up on a black background then no.

argh! Text stopped showing up..wtf *stares judgingly at the editor*

See second sentence. ;)

See my reply about this :P

Run the function again with the other text. You might have to add a sleep command between the two function calls.

Thanks! Will try!

Add a sleep command before the function call.

I promise you, I'm learning from all this..I'm not *just* looking for specific answers to my problems..I analyse the answers I get very carefully and things begin falling into place when I do.

I respond well to having things demonstrated :P

Also "<t size='.6'>STARFLIGHT 602 - CASPIAN SEA</t>",0.02,0.3,15,2,0,3010] spawn BIS_fnc_dynamicText; "¨

It mentions in the FX functions thing in the editor, that this part is the "Resource layer" parameter...what on earth is a "resource layer" parameter, and what does it mean when its set to 3010? This is not explained anywhere X_X halpz!

Either way, I thank ze darn crafty German that is you <3

Edited May 9, 2014 by DrHat

[IndeedPete 1038]

I had a Professor from Stuttgart once!^^ Other than that I know nothing about Stuttgart. And, no offense, I don't really care either. :D

But it's true, under every stone lurks a fucking German. And if you don't turn back the stone exactly how it was before he will complain and call the Ordnungsamt. (Off-topic, this is awesome. Only the Bratwurststand thing is a little bit exaggerated. :D)

Did you delete both cutText lines from your code?

Defining the resource layer becomes important once you have several textlines / pictures / whatever and want to put it onto each other. A resource on a higher layer will cover resources on lower layers. For example, you want to see a black background, then a picture on it and some text below or in it. Either you go to photoshop (which also uses layers) merge it together and the fade in the result or you do it script based - layer 0 the black background, layer 1 the picture and layer 2 the text.

Keep learning! Or maybe you'll be more concentrated after a good Smørrebrød! :D

[DrHat 10]

I had a Professor from Stuttgart once!^^ Other than that I know nothing about Stuttgart. And, no offense, I don't really care either. :D

But it's true, under every stone lurks a fucking German. And if you don't turn back the stone exactly how it was before he will complain and call the Ordnungsamt. (Off-topic, this is awesome. Only the Bratwurststand thing is a little bit exaggerated. :D)

Did you delete both cutText lines from your code?

Defining the resource layer becomes important once you have several textlines / pictures / whatever and want to put it onto each other. A resource on a higher layer will cover resources on lower layers. For example, you want to see a black background, then a picture on it and some text below or in it. Either you go to photoshop (which also uses layers) merge it together and the fade in the result or you do it script based - layer 0 the black background, layer 1 the picture and layer 2 the text.

Keep learning! Or maybe you'll be more concentrated after a good Smørrebrød! :D

(I just live near Stuttgart, I don't care that much either :P it's beautiful here though, I'll give it that)

Oh god that "What I know about Germans" has me in a laughing fit..can't..breathe.afhegh0 93h8gf03q1hrf ! XD

Lot of it really IS true! :D

Anyway I found out that if I move stuff out of that "[] Spawn" thread, it works..and now I came up with this:

Sleep 10;

["<t size='1.0' color='#ffffff'>Text</t>",0.7,0.7,6,2] spawn bis_fnc_dynamictext;

Sleep 4;

["<t size='1.0' color='#ffffff'>Text 2</t>",0.7,0.7,6,2] spawn bis_fnc_dynamictext;

It begins to produce the sort of effect I'm looking for fjh3920q hgfj=HFAAH AAAhaahahahaah I'm still laughing so hard at that list, that is brilliant :D

Is it a bad idea to move it out of the Spawn thread? What does that do anyway?

[IndeedPete 1038]

Yes, this Australian girl was in the news and even wrote a book. I agree, I recognise myself in some points. But I don't eat Bratwurst (at least not the fine ones), don't wear socks & sandals, Fußball is boring to me and I really don't like Sauerkraut! She's right about the beer though. ;)

It's not necessary to have in your case. It would be if you had other stuff following your code because the sleep command delays its execution until the mission starts. (The init.sqf runs pre-mission.) Spawn is like execVM or call a way to execute scriptcode in Arma.

[DrHat 10]

Yes, this Australian girl was in the news and even wrote a book. I agree, I recognise myself in some points. But I don't eat Bratwurst (at least not the fine ones), don't wear socks & sandals, Fußball is boring to me and I really don't like Sauerkraut! She's right about the beer though. ;)

It's not necessary to have in your case. It would be if you had other stuff following your code because the sleep command delays its execution until the mission starts. (The init.sqf runs pre-mission.) Spawn is like execVM or call a way to execute scriptcode in Arma.

Okay FINAL question about this subject (thank you SO much so far, and thank you for the explanation about when init.sqf runs etc)..can you give me an example of multiple lines? ie. like this

I tried with different layers and text sizes, and at different locations, but they still overwrite each other (ie. one makes the other disappear)

So far this is what I got:

Sleep 10;

["<t size='1.0' color='#ffffff'>Text 1</t>",0.7,0.8,6,2] spawn bis_fnc_dynamictext;

Sleep 5;

["<t size='0.5' color='#ffffff'>Text 2</t>",0.7,0.6,6,3] spawn bis_fnc_dynamictext;

---------- Post added at 21:45 ---------- Previous post was at 21:35 ----------

Hmm..I might actually have solved my own problem..I thought the parameter looked a little short..turns out I was missing a few things.

So now I got

Sleep 10;

["<t size='1.0' color='#ffffff'>Text 1</t>",0.7,0.5,6,2,0,1] spawn bis_fnc_dynamictext;

Sleep 2;

["<t size='0.5' color='#ffffff'>Text 2</t>",0.7,0.6,6,2,0,2] spawn bis_fnc_dynamictext;

Which seems to work somewhat, hurrah!

[IndeedPete 1038]

Well, then congrats!

[DrHat 10]

Well, then congrats!

Is there a way to align text? By align I *don't* mean align = "left" (since that throws the text off screen, or at least makes it non-visible) , I mean: Once you have given the coordinates for where the text should be placed, any text you write seems to be set on "centered", so creating nicely aligned text is nearly impossible unless you do spacing manually.

Right now I have:

Sleep 10;

["<t size='1.0' color='#3366CC'>Welcome, to a server by:</t>",0.7,0.6,6,2,0,1] spawn bis_fnc_dynamictext;

Sleep 2;

["<t size='1.0' color='#ffffff'> http://www.kanium.org</t>",0.7,0.7,6,2,0,2] spawn bis_fnc_dynamictext;

Sleep 10;

["<t size='1.0' color='#3366CC'>Teamspeak 3 Info:</t><br/><t size='1.0' color='#ffffff'>teamspeak3.i3d.net:10077</t>",0.7,0.6,6,2,0,1] spawn bis_fnc_dynamictext;

Sleep 2;

Having multiple lines doesn't seem to solve it.

---------- Post added at 22:51 ---------- Previous post was at 22:47 ----------

Son of a BITCH! ...It seems every time I try to ask a question, go back and try again..it works anyway! >_<

["<t align = 'left' size='1.0' color='#3366CC'>Teamspeak 3 Info:</t><br/><t align = 'left' size='1.0' color='#ffffff'>teamspeak3.i3d.net:10077</t>",0.7,0.6,6,2,0,1] spawn bis_fnc_dynamictext;

Apprently works just fine ...WTF! @_@

Sorry!

Much <3