Linking to the Winsetup through a settings panel

[Ghostlady]

If I set up a "settings" gui and add a button for setup, how can I link in the winsetup file to get accessed?

[Khris]

You can change some settings like language and fullscreen/windowed while the game is running. So the question is, what do you want to achieve?

My point is, even if there was a way to open winsetup from inside the game, I don't think it's the solution to your problem. Winsetup changes acsetup.cfg, which is only read when the game is started.

[Ghostlady]

What I was looking for was an option to play in window mode through a settings panel. Since it's an older game with older graphics, playing in a windowed mode may be beneficial to some.

[eri0o]

You can add a button to toggle from

Code: ags

System.Window != System.Window;

[Ghostlady]

Wow, nice, thank you.

[Crimson Wizard]

@Ghostlady you can do that, but you should know that player may toggle between windowed<->fullscreen on their own by pressing Alt + Enter.

[Ghostlady]

This is even better yet.  Thank you!!!

[Ghostlady]

The Alt + Enter definitely works, but when I moved my game over to a very large screen, about 27 inches in length, it hosed up the game.  I couldn't move the cursor.  I had to kill it with task manager.  Is there something in the settings that needs adjusted?

[Crimson Wizard]

The Alt + Enter definitely works, but when I moved my game over to a very large screen, about 27 inches in length, it hosed up the game.  I couldn't move the cursor.  I had to kill it with task manager.  Is there something in the settings that needs adjusted?

AGS had certain issues on very wide monitors. One of the known bugs is that switching from fullscreen to windowed on a ultra-wide monitor can lead to wrong window size. From your description I cannot tell what was the case though.

Which graphics driver do you have set in setup? I may suggest trying OpenGL, if Direct3D does not work. Also the general recommendation is to have "Fullscreen as borderless window" checked by default.

[Ghostlady]

That is exactly the problem. When I move it over to my large screen in window mode, all is ok. I change to fullscreen, all is ok. When I go back to windowed mode on my large screen, that's where I experience the mouse freeze.  I changed the setting to OpenGL but the problem still existed. "Fullscreen as borderless window" was already the default.

I also noticed that when I run the game through the AGS Editor I have sound/music but if I select the game exe I have no sound or music. Is there something I need to do.  I remember a "compile" function in the older versions which I don't see anymore.

[Crimson Wizard]

That is exactly the problem. When I move it over to my large screen in window mode, all is ok. I change to fullscreen, all is ok. When I go back to windowed mode on my large screen, that's where I experience the mouse freeze.  I changed the setting to OpenGL but the problem still existed.

This does not seem like exactly the same problem, as in the previous user case which I knew about it was Direct3D problem, and switching to OpenGL handled the issue. Also, I don't think they had a mouse freeze, they only mentioned window not resizing. The mouse freeze in game could be a result of mouse cursor being not inside the window though (as an example).

To clarify, have you changed to OpenGL in winsetup or in editor's "default setup" pane? What is displayed if you press "Ctrl + Alt + V" in game?

Is it only mouse that is freezed, or whole game; does the game continue to run, animate, etc?

I also noticed that when I run the game through the AGS Editor I have sound/music but if I select the game exe I have no sound or music. Is there something I need to do.  I remember a "compile" function in the older versions which I don't see anymore.

The command is "Build -> Build EXE", and there's also "Build -> rebuild all files".
Is your audio configured to be packaged inside "In Main Game Data" or "In Audio VOX"? This may be found when you select audio folders.
Do you have audio.vox present in the Compiled/Windows ?

[Ghostlady]

Some interesting observations.  If I change my large monitor in be the "main display" the issue does not happen.
I had originally changed to OpenGL in the winsetup.  Tonight I changed it in the editor's "default setup" pane.  Issue happened in both places.
I found it happens in the room where there is animation going on. It's the mouse that freezes. I was able to capture it for you in video. You can see the mouse in the middle of the screen shaking. It is froze.

https://youtu.be/xjffgv36iuM



I'll look at the audio stuff tomorrow.

[Ghostlady]

For the Audio:
The command is "Build -> Build EXE", and there's also "Build -> rebuild all files". (saw these and did that)
Is your audio configured to be packaged inside "In Main Game Data" or "In Audio VOX"? This may be found when you select audio folders. (I can't find the setting for this)
Do you have audio.vox present in the Compiled/Windows ? (Yes, audio.vox and speech.vox)

[Crimson Wizard]

The command is "Build -> Build EXE", and there's also "Build -> rebuild all files". (saw these and did that)

So it still does not work when you run game.exe from Compiled/Windows?
Which version of AGS are you using?
Do you have anything set in "audio driver" in winsetup other than "default"?

Is your audio configured to be packaged inside "In Main Game Data" or "In Audio VOX"? This may be found when you select audio folders. (I can't find the setting for this)

It's in Project Explorer -> Audio -> Double-click any audio folder ("Music", "Sound" etc) -> DefaultBundlingType

[Ghostlady]

This time when I looked in the compiled folder the game file was not there.  So I redid the Build EXE and it created a new one.  Now the music works.    So a little confused about that but I am happy it is working now.
Did you see my post above about the frozen mouse?

[Crimson Wizard]

Did you see my post above about the frozen mouse?

Yes, it looks as if the engine restricted mouse movement to a tiny rectangle in the middle of a screen.

[eri0o]

Perhaps it's using the native game resolution as the dimension to restrict the mouse?

The video code that figures the exclusive fullscreen video resolutions is a bit confusing.

[Crimson Wizard]

The video code that figures the exclusive fullscreen video resolutions is a bit confusing.

Please elaborate, how is it confusing?

Note, the problem happens when switching to the windowed mode, with OpenGL renderer too (which does not support exclusive fullscreen) and the user said that she has "borderless window" checked in setup.

Some interesting observations.  If I change my large monitor in be the "main display" the issue does not happen.

I think this may hint what the source of the problem is, the engine likely relies on the "main display" settings when selecting size of the window and drawing rectangle.

[Ghostlady]

Going forward, should I put the setting back to what it was or leave it as OpenGL.  I am thinking of when the game is complete and put on Steam, I would prefer the best possible performance and less people having to fiddle with settings.

[Crimson Wizard]

Going forward, should I put the setting back to what it was or leave it as OpenGL.  I am thinking of when the game is complete and put on Steam, I would prefer the best possible performance and less people having to fiddle with settings.

Only settings in Default Setup are written into the config in Compiled/Windows,
you may still experiment and test the game with different settings by changing them in winsetup. Winsetup writes config file in your user documents, and that won't affect the game that you distribute to others.

As for which setting is best, I cannot tell that personally, it may be worth asking game developers with popular commercial releases, they likely track these and other usage statistics.