Playing .OGV works on some computers, others, not...why?

Knox · Sun 18/04/2010 20:16:47

Hi,

Im able to play .ogv files on my computer in D3D 9 or DirectDraw 5 from within AGS (playVideo)...those movie clips are 1024x768 .ogg renamed to .ogv...no problems.

However, Ive tried to play those videos from my game on other computer and they dont play at all (both modes)...just black screen. I was wondering:

What can I do to make sure my videos (ogv) will work on "most computers"...and hidden? Ive converted the ogg files to MWV no probs...and placed those vids in the compile folder...however, I dont like having the video files unhidden. Whats cool about the ogv is its inside the exe so people cant watch them when they want. Ive got "bonus videos" as a reward for completing certain puzzles so having the vids unhidden isnt something I want!

Are there any other options available to me so I can make sure most users will be able to play the vids + have them hidden? I considered using animated views but at 400+ frames per view for each video (1024 x 768)sprites, its kind of crazy....

Ill try some tips from here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=25522.0

But in the meantime...Any other ideas/tricks anyone has found other than the ones posted in that thread?

xenogia · Mon 19/04/2010 22:46:07

Are you getting any audio when the black screen appears?

Knox · Tue 20/04/2010 22:56:48

Hey Xenogia,

Well for now the vids dont have audio, Im testing more than anything (place-holder intro/logo animation).

Im going to go with windows media video for now and let the .ogv aside...seems I cant figure why some computers can play the video from the game while others cant...at least the wmv can be played by almost all computers Ive tested them on.

Sslaxx · Tue 20/04/2010 23:24:33

Quote from: general_knox on Tue 20/04/2010 22:56:48
Hey Xenogia,

Well for now the vids dont have audio, Im testing more than anything (place-holder intro/logo animation).

Im going to go with windows media video for now and let the .ogv aside...seems I cant figure why some computers can play the video from the game while others cant...at least the wmv can be played by almost all computers Ive tested them on.

Welcome to the wonderful world of codecs and codec support... sounds like you have the Ogg codecs installed.

monkey0506 · Wed 21/04/2010 01:27:27

Isn't one of the purposes behind OGG Theora so that you don't have to have a specific codec installed, but rather that the decoder is built into the program itself? Therefore wouldn't it be AGS that would be required to decode the video, not a user-based codec? Thus the appeal of Theora?

Because I can play Knox's Theora videos externally, but I cannot see them when played from AGS.

xenogia · Wed 21/04/2010 01:38:22

The question is what program are you using to encode the videos?

monkey0506 · Wed 21/04/2010 01:54:48

If it's a Theora video that shouldn't make any difference..unless of course the video itself is being corrupted somehow. But then why would AGS properly decode the video on some systems but not others?

Knox · Wed 21/04/2010 03:24:38

Exactly...Im dumbfounded!

Ok, the program Im using to convert my vids (usually .mov) to ogg is:

"G-Frontend (ffmpeg2theora) 2007.2"

However I dont see why the program is important since AGS is supposed to be able to play the .ogv on any system, no?

What ill try to do though is install the ogg codecs onto those systems and see if the ogv's will play...perhaps something is wrong with the implementation of theora in AGS?...or maybe something to do with larger video files.

The video files are 1024x576 (widescreen-ish) in a 1024x768 game...could that be cause of the problem?

Works on my cpu though,

PS: Oh, another "weird" thing...Since Ive been using wmv's, when I run PlayVideo with the 0 or 1 flag, it plays it "stretch to fullscreen" when I run the game fullscreen...so no matter what, it wont play the video at its original size (even if I put the flag to "0", still stretches it fullscreen). I also tried unchecking "side borders on widescreen", but all this does is stretch the video all the way to the side edges of the screen...still does not play in its 1024x576 dimensions. I hope I dont have to do it this way: make the videos 1024x768 but put black bands on the tops and bottoms to "fake" 1024x576".

xenogia · Wed 21/04/2010 05:50:32

Have you tried encoding the videos at a lower res and seeing what happens?

Maybe email CJ with the video files in question and see if he has the same problem.

Knox · Wed 21/04/2010 17:19:08

Ok Ill send him a pm.

**In the meantime:

I resized the videos to match the game's dimensions (1024x768) and now when I place the flag to "0" it plays at its original size, BUT, when I put the flag to "1" it doesnt stretch the video to fullscreen at all, judt plays at its original size...!

Very weird...

Knox · Mon 03/05/2010 17:35:34

Ok I sent the video files to CJ, I'll keep you posted of what he finds.