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New Possible Way Of Getting Video On TVs


VulpesHilarianus

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I don't know if anyone's tried this, but this is something that's been bugging me for quite a while now.

So basically it boils down to three things.

1.) We've already got Flash capability in the game. By using embedded containers in .swf files we might be able to insert and play videos natively without the complicated method employed by Videos Of The Wasteland. If people can port outside Flash games like Alien Hominid and Line Rider like we've seen, it can be done with video.

2.) The pip-boy and TV have the same screen ratio, of 4:3. By taking the holotape playing abilities of the pip-boy and applying those properties to a TV or a peripheral that goes with the TV, we have the ability for the TV to play .swf files.

 

3.) Some terminals use the same system as the pip-boy, and all can play the holotapes with attached .swf files like Red Menace. Instead of using the pip-boy screen we use a terminal screen. This prevents issues like the TV and third-person pip-boy playing the same video despite the TV being in Sanctuary and the player being at Nahant Pier, and allows for multiple videos to be shown at once in different locations.

 

Combining these three things could let us have actual videos longer than about six minutes in the game, and make it easier for people to make their own holotapes. Instead of using tiled textures and syncing audio and everything we basically just dump a bunch of empty .swf files attached to holotapes in the game and let people overwrite them like with Art Connoisseur,

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http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/11448/?

 

probably as close as you'll get for a while. Textures and .wavs are probably a little easier on the game to handle while it's rendering everything else around it. Usually when you're at a terminal or pip-boy, the engine only has to handle that and not a flash video in addition to the normal rendering requirements. My Flash knowledge is slim and rusty, so I'd like to be wrong (this time, at least, and don't tell my wife I said that)

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I have to echo Ethreon's sentiment. If it was a simple process, it would have already become a mod by now, but I highly doubt it's that easy to impliment this kind of framework into the game via flash.

Besides, Beth didn't use flash video files for the main-menu video (or the other video files either) which is somewhat telling, considering that the menu interface does use the .swf format.

The method that Razorwire used for VotW is proven to work, and it's not complicated to create your own holotapes; can be time-consuming if your working on lots of sets, but the process is fairly straightforward.

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  On 2/22/2017 at 12:01 PM, Ethreon said:

Then do it if it seems easy :smile:

I've not said it would be easy, I only suggested it might be a cleaner solution in terms of creating new and longer videos in the game. I myself have no clue how to do much with the Creation Kit beyond basic NPC and item editing because of how much of a mess the interface is, so I don't even know if it's possible.

 

  On 2/22/2017 at 8:35 PM, AGreatWeight said:

I have to echo Ethreon's sentiment. If it was a simple process, it would have already become a mod by now, but I highly doubt it's that easy to impliment this kind of framework into the game via flash.

Besides, Beth didn't use flash video files for the main-menu video (or the other video files either) which is somewhat telling, considering that the menu interface does use the .swf format.

The method that Razorwire used for VotW is proven to work, and it's not complicated to create your own holotapes; can be time-consuming if your working on lots of sets, but the process is fairly straightforward.

 

Considering that Fallout 4's mod scene has slowed down considerably I didn't know if someone was working on this or not. I saw Videos Of The Wasteland as a short-term solution until something better could be made, but it does make sense that if this was a working alternative that someone would've at least made an alpha version by now.

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@VulpesHilarianus

You may just be onto something here!

thanks for sharing an awesome ideas thread.

You're right, it is a bit of a Fermi-Drake paradox level of what the?;

you'd think, given the quantity of awesome modders, murphy's law would apply at some point hehe.

so, perhaps there's more to it, or perhaps its just, no-one has yet tried that approach etc.

 

you're essentially using these objects as a 'sprite', which is awesome!

other users were also considering making the 'hacking' mini-game using dosbox,

so as folks could... actually hack. well, not really, but have a more accurate and complex hacking minigame.

flash might also be a way to do that.

 

I don't know what got you onto thinking about all that,

though for me, it was the non-lava lava lamps... it bugged me. Why aren't my lava lamps, lava-y?

not even a simple sprite on a face-group? just solid orange?

where are the hologram stuff, like in previous FO games?

having experimented with .gif(adam7) and .mov or .ogg,

I had to cut a hole in the texture and make the screen transparent/faintly grey-green.

sometimes you also have to 'back-light' the object too, and put a light instance inside of it. Noclipping ruins the illusion hehe.

 

it would be potentially simpler and have more access to more mod collaborators,

if .swf and xml stuff could be made interoperable.

that might allow the read-write function you're envisaging.

 

Imagine, that the image folder is updated from a camera in-game, like old-school cutscenes.

You could have 'news bulletins' which show your ingame locale in 'real-time'.

 

Imagine, making reflections for various surfaces in-game;

a camera at the reflective surface renders what it sees (this will be tricky if what that camera would see exceeds the cell it is in,

we need a get.that.celldata call and function so as that camera can see what the other cells are doing...).

Though, if we could batch stuff, and use flash to make some 'sprite animations',

maybe we could bodge something that makes it look halfway decent hehe.

 

and, that AGIXML chatbot talking heads feature,

perhaps that can be simpler to add or make interoperable via a flash approach -

that's how several chatbots presently function hehe.

 

-----

I'd like to see a 'drag and drop' feature for a folder in your virtual-install directory, so as you can dynamically place stuff there,

and it will appear in the game on the TV and etc for background 'ambience'.

It'd be great at Books (wasteland schools) etc. AvE, JoergSprave, and RoyalNonesuch or Backyard Science could be 'teaching' 'science' hehe.

you could then have different subfolders, so as you could drag and drop for different areas and not have to futz with converting stuff...

 

we're also looking at other ways to match potential animation likenesses

to corresponding audio livestream embedded objects -

you might find those projects interesting too.

say you wanted the audio and visual to sync up periodically...

or lets say you wanted to play the audio-format of OEIS sequences 'livestreamed' in-game, from in-game audio nodes.

We're looking at how you might be able to do that.

If that is successful, we'll be looking at how to integrate immersively in game with soundcloud stream or other stream into an audio-node.

that way, we can apply effects in-game to the audio node, and also, pre-apply effects to the audio-stream source itself too,

perhaps more effects than solely in-game.

 

Thanks again, VulpesHilarianus,

and I look forward to seeing this and related projects materialize.

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  On 2/23/2017 at 2:13 AM, Ethreon said:

You seem to have a grasp on it. What stops you from trying since nobody else cares to?

Probably because my experience in modding the game only extends to simple things, such as replacing textures and importing models for weapons. For something as complex as piecing together several hierarchies that involve dynamic objects that are interactive I've got no clue on how to actually do it, but have observed enough in my meddling to have seen possible ways of achieving it.

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If your reasoning for thinking VotW is a short-term solution because of the video length for each holotape being 6 minutes and (roughly) 50 seconds using the mod as-is, I think your time would be better served using the existing framework from VotW, and basically learning how to increase the length/duration of videos via nifskope editing (from what I know, that's a pretty tedious task involving a lot of repetitive work) rather than stepping into the deep end and attempting to create a brand new framework from scratch with zero experience that might end up not even working in the game.

Someone contacted me recently via PM to let me know that his mod for VotW has had holotapes that are ten minutes long

-edit I've just been trying to find it but it appears to have been removed from the Nexus database for some unknown reason-

If it's more to do with allowing users to simply drag-n-drop flash video files that can then be played in-game, that approach would likely come with it's own set of restrictions, and users would still have to convert video files in other formats to .swf format (no idea if the audio would have to be converted to .xwm format though)

Admittedly, that might be a more immediate process than VotW's, but I'm of the opinion that expanding on what Razorwire implimented is a better move (and would remove any incompatibility issues that would arise between a new framework and the mods already released for VotW)

Anyway, I wish you luck if you attempt to bring your idea to fruition (and I'll readily admit I was wrong if proven so)

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