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Problems Changing Special Art


8BitMonk

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I'm having problems changing Special Art A & B in the Hyperspin Main Menu and subwheels.

It seems pretty straightforward, deselect 'default' in HyperHQ for each wheel and then place an appropriately named (SpecialA1.swf, SpecialA2.swf) swf file in the Media/Mame/Images/Special or Media/MainMenu/Images/Special folders. When i create a simple 300x100 swf with a plain square box and for testing though it doesn't appear in Hyperspin, just blank.

Are there any special swf considerations, size, actionscript version, flash version etc? I'm using CS4 and tried to save it with old flash compatibility as well as actionscript 1.0, 2.0. Still nothing. I also thought maybe the X Y coords were just off and so it was offscreen but that wasn't it either.

I'm also curious if actionscripts in the swf will stay intact. I have an 'on key press' action that I'd like to trigger within Hyperspin.

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Thanks for the reply Jay. I came across that while searching as well as a comment by BBB that it had to be Flash 9 and above though since we're up to CS 5.5 that seems a bit dated.

I was hoping BBB or one of the creators/admins would confirm the compatible version(s) of flash and if there are any quirks to saving the .swf for Hyperspin. I'm also interested if any actionscripts placed on the Special Art timeline can be triggered within Hyperspin. There's nothing mentioning the versions of flash or actionscript or any more specifics on the tutorial page.

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Hey, I just tried replacing SpecialA1 and it worked. I created an AS 3.0 document in CS5 that was 300x100 and just exported using default movie settings and put it in Special directory. When I enter mame wheel I see my image.

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Thanks for confirming what works Jay. I had originally created the flash document as AS 2.0 and changed the publish settings to AS 3.0 for testing which it doesn't seem to like. Starting with a Flash 9 AS 3.0 document from the get-go works. I'm using CS4 btw for anyone else wondering.

Also interesting is the fact that the actionscript event listener for keypresses works within Hyperspin. This is cool since I can now do for myself what I had requested as a feature awhile back. You can trigger an animation that will cover the entire screen with a help menu or sample CP for navigating Hyperspin. For me this is preferential to cycling through controls at the bottom of the screen.

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Using a listener in the special art creates an automatic memory leak in the program, due to inability to clean up since the code is dynamic and non communcative with HS. This is pretty much one reason swf support for special artworks probably wont be available in the next release.

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D'oh, bummer. I guess I hadn't noticed the memory leak since I didn't get a chance to test it thoroughly. I just saw that it initially worked when i pressed my scripted key. So BBB if the Special Artwork won't have swf support in v2 of Hyperspin does that mean you're foregoing animating the Joystick, Free Play and Genre items?

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All the new artworks are generated by code now, you can see some pictures in the following post. All the text is now set by the settings file and are no longer pictures, you can change colors, fonts, size etc... to you liking, you can change joystick colors and types per system. Theres even an xbox 360 controller you can choose from thats all animated.

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?p=92207#post92207

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I've done some further testing with a popup help menu and really like the effect.

What are the side-affects of the memory leak? I'd still considering using a popup if the side affects aren't too drastic. Will it just bleed the memory and eventually crash Hyperspin? I didn't see anything noticeable in HS though I only test for 5 minutes or so, triggering the popup window several times.

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Memory leak will take some time to effect the system. Just like when you leave a web browser open, over time it starts to eat up the memory. I've never had it crash the system but it's possible. Now, how long will it take with that, I don't know. Do a little more extensive testing. Leave it on for several hours and see what it does. I can help with if you want me too. You can send me the movie you've created and I can lunch it and leave it overnight and see if I notice any leaks.

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It will create a new leak every time you enter and exit a menu, if you just start HS and leave it there it should be fine, but if you enter mame, there will be 1 leak, then if you have that art in mame and exit mame then that will create another etc.. etc..

The leak is the file playing in memory but not visible. These can build up quickly.

You will be able to add your own artwork but non animated. As far as how is it animated if it isnt flash. I never said it wasnt flash, its just programatically created.

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just to test i added two listeners to a special art sample, and left an older laptop running at work with HS running. Everytime myself or a few other people at work walked by we would switch to another menu. i'd say it took about roughly 6hrs to get to a point where HS performance was definitely hurt. Granted only had 1gig ram, like i said it's an old laptop, but it did build up over time. Not a very scientific test, but definitely proof of concept.

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Thanks for the additional info everyone. I'm going to do some more testing on my own as well to see the effects of the memory leak over time with a more complex info animation.

So Bill, for the animations in v2 since they are programmatic it will be limited to scale, rotate, fade etc. and not separate images in a frame like the current HS joystick that looks like it's rocking forward/backward/left/right?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've put together some art for a popup help screen and a modified swf. I broke the animation into a couple of scenes and added stop actions on the timeline to make sure it isn't running in the background. I haven't experienced problems with the memory leak though I don't switch wheels often.

Jeep, let me know if you'd like to test it and I'll get you the swf.

hyperhelp_small.png

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  • 3 years later...

I have special art c displaying a genre icon in the top right corner of my wheel. Works perfect. I'm wondering if there is a way to display a favorites icon for special artwork c. Maybe I have to create a favorites xml to accomplish that but watched to check first that I'm not over thinking it.

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  • 11 months later...
  • 1 month later...

All the new artworks are generated by code now, you can see some pictures in the following post. All the text is now set by the settings file and are no longer pictures, you can change colors, fonts, size etc... to you liking, you can change joystick colors and types per system. Theres even an xbox 360 controller you can choose from thats all animated.

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?p=92207#post92207

link for the post doesn't work. 

 

 

I've put together some art for a popup help screen and a modified swf. I broke the animation into a couple of scenes and added stop actions on the timeline to make sure it isn't running in the background. I haven't experienced problems with the memory leak though I don't switch wheels often.

Jeep, let me know if you'd like to test it and I'll get you the swf.

hyperhelp_small.png

love this, where can i find it?!

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  • 3 weeks later...

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