MML feature request: OpenGL texture scaling stuff

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General Tacticus
Cyborg
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Joined: Apr 5th '13, 04:27

I have been working on a plugin to replace the original sprites of the Marathon Infinity VacBob with higher rez versions. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the engine takes any texture you wish to replace a sprite with and sets it to the same dimensions as the original graphic.

This was not a problem until the ability to redefine the dimensions via mml was removed, alongside the ability to set offsets. The reasoning behind this decision eludes me.

Now currently, in order to replace a square sprite with a rectangle, one must:

1)create a new shapes file
2)add a new bitmap to the shapes file of proper size (Shapefusion does not allow batch import, by the way)
3)set the scale and offset of aforementioned shape via the frames (once again, no batch tools)
4)create a shape patch that one must include in the plugin
5)AND REPEAT 2-4 ONE EVERY TIME YOU WANT TO CHANGE ANYTHING.

On top of that, Shapefusion does not allow you to replace bitmaps at the top of the stack, so organization is impossible. Especially if you are using placeholder images.

There is a simple way to avoid all of that: Allow the user to define size and offset via MML

I apologize if this turns out to be a much larger task than I think, but the current workflow is extremely impractical.
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herecomethej2000
Mjolnir Mark IV
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Ah, that is a real pain. Especially for creating new graphics... The current system is fine when the graphics were already created and finalized, e.i. freeverse. But this....ewww.
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General Tacticus
Cyborg
Posts: 209
Joined: Apr 5th '13, 04:27

Yeah, it is very frustrating.

I have 54 frames rendered, but the workflow makes testing and implementation nearly impossible. I should probably use an older version of A1 for now, so I can at least get things to look good.
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treellama
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Sounds like this isn't an MML feature request (we shouldn't be adding anything to MML!), but rather a ShapeFusion one.
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General Tacticus
Cyborg
Posts: 209
Joined: Apr 5th '13, 04:27

I would like to be able to define sprite dimensions more directly. I have to import dummy frames into ShapeFusion one at a time just to make the engine not distort my graphics. The fact that I have to re-export a new patch file every time I change an offset just compounds things.

In order to make things half as convenient ShapeFusion would need the ability to:

Import multiple files simultaneously.
Set the scale and offset of frames en masse.
Be able to replace bitmaps at the top of the stack.
Directly edit shape patches.

Even then you are still adding several steps to an otherwise simple process. (I'd still have to duplicate every frame, scale correctly it in Photoshop, palette it, and then import it.)

Why get rid of the already existing features when they made things so much easier? The stuff I am asking for was already implemented pre-2014. It was just removed for reasons that have never been adequately justified.
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herecomethej2000
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treellama wrote:Sounds like this isn't an MML feature request (we shouldn't be adding anything to MML!),...
I understand not wanting to mess with old standards adding new features, but according to General Tacticus, a feature was removed. Isn't that just as bad as adding something new? Why was this done? Was it removed to the point where re-implementing it would be difficult? Or was the feature just simply broken?
{edit}
General Taticus edited his post so now it looks I'm repeating him and badgering you guys. :D Sorry about that..
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General Tacticus
Cyborg
Posts: 209
Joined: Apr 5th '13, 04:27

whoops, i should have checked the later posts before re-wording things.

Anyway, having given this a bit of thought, what ShapeFusion really needs most is the ability to select a bitmap, and import a new one in its place.
Spoiler:
A way to replace multiple bitmaps at once would be nice too, perhaps based on file name or something
That feature alone would make the program 10x easier to deal with, even without things like batch import or direct editing of ShPa files.

If we really are dead-set against changing mml, then I hope this particular request is not too unworkable.
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