| rdfs:comment
| - The game interfaces are created using Scaleform, which allows us to take Flash 8 files and use the as game interface. However, in order to optimise performance, a lot of the flash is actually loading image files, usually .dds files. The interface is found in \Data\Interface In this directory are : \Bits \Cfg \DDSTexture \Fonts \Icons \Panels \Screens \Video Now, first the easiest folders and work our way up : Interface:OpenPanel("SOMEPANELNAME") Now, Panels have 2 files : So for instance in Data\Interface\Panels\Planet there is
* Planet.gfx
* Planet.lua function PLANET:OnUpdate()
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| abstract
| - The game interfaces are created using Scaleform, which allows us to take Flash 8 files and use the as game interface. However, in order to optimise performance, a lot of the flash is actually loading image files, usually .dds files. The interface is found in \Data\Interface In this directory are : \Bits \Cfg \DDSTexture \Fonts \Icons \Panels \Screens \Video Now, first the easiest folders and work our way up : Video and Fonts contain any videos and the game fonts. “Screens” describe the game screens : The intro, the main menu, the main game view, and so on. These are described using LUA files. Usually these have OnOpen() and OnClose() functions that are called when the screens are initialised. A screen can show one or several Panels (which are stored in the Panels directory), these Panels are usually started in the OnOpen function of the screen, using a call like this : Interface:OpenPanel("SOMEPANELNAME") Now, Panels have 2 files :
* A gfx file, which is the export of the Flash file (and Actionscript) generated by the scaleform exporter
* A .lua file which is used as “glue” between the interface and the code. So for instance in Data\Interface\Panels\Planet there is
* Planet.gfx
* Planet.lua Now, here is the start of the S_PLANET.lua screen file :. S_PLANET = {} function S_PLANET:OnOpen() InterfaceMgr.CurrentScreen ="PLANET" PLANET:HideRessourceLayer() Interface:OpenPanel("PLANET") PLANET:OnPanelOpen() PLANET:Init() Interface:OpenPanel("PLANET") is what opens and shows the Planet.gfx file, and the other PLANET:functionName() calls are functions in Planet.lua that are being called when the S_PLANET screen is being opened. For each of these Panel files, there is the possibility to define a function that will be called when the game loop is called. This function is of the form PANELNAME:OnUpdate(). However for a lot of these functions, there is simply a call to the main interface loop manager, called InterfaceMgr, which manages the different processes going on in the interface. For instance, for Planet.lua, the OnUpdate function is as follows : function PLANET:OnUpdate() InterfaceMgr:UpdateInPlanet() end Incidentally, that is also where the InterfaceMgr.CurrentScreen ="PLANET" comes from, it is telling InterfaceMgr what state the game is in. You won’t find InterfaceMgr in the main Interface directory, it is in fact in the script directory (Data\Design\Script) in the Interface sub-directory. Panels can load up smaller files which are also Flash / Scaleform exports, these smaller elements are called “Bits” and are in the Bits subdirectory of the main Interface directory. These are usually called something like _Bits_PaneName.gfx In general these are smaller panels that serve a specific purpose or are not the main screen panel. For instance, in the Planet.gfx panel, we load in : _Bits_FindCities.gfx (the “search cities” pane) _Bits_MapFilter.gfx (the map selection pane) _Bits_MyCities.gfx (the list of my cities) and so on. Each of these (Panels & Bits) can load in dds files. These files are to be found in Data\Interface\DDSTexture The files are DDS files, either DXT1a or DXT5 format. The button files are in Data\Interface\DDSTexture\Buttons
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