Coloring the inside of outline fonts in "display"-type boxes

[aussie]

Here is another question on display boxes. (*)

Anyway, I have this dark-grey display window instead of the custom white Sierra-style box.

I'd like the font inside the box to be white in the inside with a black outline. However, when I use the display instruction [i.e. Display("My text here");] the inside of my outlined font always shows in the color of the window background (dark grey). A dark grey font with black outline against a dark grey background doesn't look very good.

Lucasarts-style speech fills outlined fonts with color, so I guess what I need to do is possible. However, I don't know how to go about it.

Any ideas?

Thanks very much in advance.  




(*) I'm loving the new AGS editor, but I'm also having lots of trouble finding the functions I need. 

[Ghost]

IIRC you can work around that by just using a background SPRITE for the text window- and if you are using a non-shaded gray anyway, that's easy (the background sprite is tiled, so "solid monochrome works best). Hope that helps.

[aussie]

Nope. That didn't work. 

It sounded like a good idea. Thanks anyway.

Any more takers?

[pcj]

Change the text color in your text window GUI's properties.

[aussie]

Nope. That doesn't work either. It's the first thing I tried. 

That changes the color of the outline, but the inside of the font remains transparent.

Other ideas?

[pcj]

Uh, that works for me.  Make sure you have Game.NormalFont (and Game.SpeechFont for speech) set to the font and not its outline.

[aussie]

When I set white to the TextColor property I get the top message.



I would like to get the bottom one, which I made with photoshop just to show what it should look like.

Maybe it has something to do with you using a TTF font?

[Ghost]

You could, of course, write a custom display function that uses non-outlines text and draws the same string NINE times, with offsets and a colour you set:

BLACK:
x-1, y0
x+1,y0
x-1,y-1
x+1,y-1
x+1,y+1
y-1,y-1
x0,y-1
x0,y+1

WHITE
x0,y0

That would give you an outline (due to the offsets), and then the string on top of it. I think AGS already DOES outlining that way internally.

[edit]
As I re-read this, it really sounds very much overboard- but might be worth a shot.

Alternatively:
Calin wrote a Spritefont module-
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=44359.0

[pcj]

That's a bit over-compensating for what sounds like a simple problem.  Try a different font and see if that works?

[aussie]

You could, of course, write a custom display function that uses non-outlines text and draws the same string NINE times, with offsets and a colour you set:

BLACK:
x-1, y0
x+1,y0
x-1,y-1
x+1,y-1
x+1,y+1
y-1,y-1
x0,y-1
x0,y+1

WHITE
x0,y0

That would give you an outline (due to the offsets), and then the string on top of it. I think AGS already DOES outlining that way internally.

[edit]
As I re-read this, it really sounds very much overboard- but might be worth a shot.

Alternatively:
Calin wrote a Spritefont module-
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=44359.0

I guess that could work. As you say, however, it's simply too much trouble. I'd rather look into other alternatives. Thanks anyway.

That's a bit over-compensating for what sounds like a simple problem.  Try a different font and see if that works?

I just tried to no avail. All SCI fonts seem to do this. 

[Ghost]

Is there a reason for not using TTF, then? I got several that support "odd" characters, and would happily share.

[aussie]

Is there a reason for not using TTF, then? I got several that support "odd" characters, and would happily share.

I hadn't really thought about ttf fonts until I say pcj's post, really.

I guess I could use one of those. Trouble is, I already have like ten rooms already where I've implemented tonnes of messages with Spanish characters (I use @ to represent á, < for é, etc). Changing the font would imply going through all that again.

Look, don't worry too much about it. The normal font (not outlined) doesn't look that bad. I guess it'll have to do.

Thanks anyway. 

[Khris]

I tested this using the three default fonts that come with AGS.
I created a new TextWindow GUI and left the background dark gray. I set the TextColor to 15 (white).
When I want to replicate what you get, I specifically have to set Game.Normalfont to eFontSpeechOutline, as soon as I set it to eFontSpeech, I get what I expect: white characters surrounded by a black outline on a dark gray background.

[monkey0506]

If you want to change both the outline color and the font color just use a normal font instead of changing it to an outline font, and set game.text_shadow_color to the outline color you want.