LoadingScreen (how-to)

Just a short note about loadingscreens and the usage of loadingscreen images used in the campaign or official scenarios (which seems to be a good idea, since these images are - with ~1mb - quite huge)

First things first: you cannot link to the loadingscreen.ext (which defines the dialogues) in \CA\Missions_e\campaign\. The funny thing is: it works as long as you're loading/playing the mission in the editor, but as soon as you try to export to scenarios, your game will crash, because the file couldn't be found. But do not worry, you may still access the loading screen image.

Let's have this at the top of your "Description.ext":

#define LOADSCREEN "\CA\Missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_OneShotOneKill.Takistan\loading_oneshotonekill_co.paa"
#define LOADSCREENTEXT "Mission Title"
#include "LoadingScreen.ext"

loadScreen = LOADSCREEN;
onLoadMission = LOADSCREENTEXT;

Note that we may access the image in \CA\... but we have to copy the LoadingScreen.ext file into our mission directory. This:

#include "\CA\Missions_e\campaign\loadingscreen.ext"

will crash your game as soon as you start up the scenarios. loadingscreen.ext not found.

Then you may embed the loading screen like this in your "init.sqf":

StartLoadingScreen["", "RscLoadScreenCustom"];

// heavy calculations..

// show/update progress (from 0.0 to 1.0)
progressLoadingScreen 0.25;

// more calculations...

progressLoadingScreen 0.75;

// done
progressLoadingScreen 1.0;
endLoadingScreen;

And that's it. While the mission gets prepared, you may watch a beautiful image at no (download/filesize) cost instead of a frightening empty screen. And sure, you may still use your own wallpaper if you feel it's worth it.

Happy loading screens to everybody. :D

or

You could Just use 1 simple line

loadScreen = "armabg1.paa";

easy ;)

Word of advice. If something goes wrong, you might end up with a stuck loading screen. Only way out of this one is Alt+F4 to force a shutdown.

Yup, i've had this before, really annoying... xX

or

You could Just use 1 simple line...

Sure, but this post was more about "how to use the official wallpapers/loadingscreens to save a mb".. I was quite confused that this stopped working yesterday, after I've exported a mission to single player missions only to see the scenario screen crash the game, while it did work fine while still in the editor/preview.

Yup, i've had this before, really annoying... xX

It isn't _that_ annoying. If you're regularly writing errors, just comment out the start-/endLoadingScreen and don't put them back in unless you're sure that the rpt file doesn't get flooded with errors while loading your mission. :)

But I agree, such a dead end is never nice to experience.

I just had some problems with MP editing. Some things got executed serverside only, some not and it just didn't work the way i wanted. So i decided not to use the loading screen. Well, i don't have a suitable picture anyway because self-made screenshots seem to have a very low resolution or aren't shown correctly.:(

the loading screen is best at 1024x1024 which is about 1 meg in .paa format

Yes, i use 1024x1024 but there's something wrong with the colors. Maybe i can take a screenshot of it later. Or is it because i used .jpg instead of .paa?

uhm, guys? The image certainly isn't a square. It's 2048 x 1024. And yes, you better should use a paa. At least I've read about problems using jpgs time and again.

I think you will find its properly behind a tint layer or faded slightly giving that dull effect.

---------- Post added at 02:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:45 PM ----------

uhm, guys? The image certainly isn't a square. It's 2048 x 1024. And yes, you better should use a paa. At least I've read about problems using jpgs time and again.

the game will auto size the image no matter what size you use..

Yes, but then the image will either be awefully stretched out of proportion or half the screen stays black/empty. At least BIS has used 2048x1024 for their loadingscreens, which seems reasonable for todays monitors. But hey, as you like. :)

How can I extract Missions_e.pbo to get the "loadingscreen.ext"-file? I tried with Arma pbo view but it dosent regonize the file as pbo and I cant get the kegetys tools to work. Or is there another way? Or link to download this file?

Edit: Now it works even without it. I didnt have first the "OnLoadMission"-text command in desc and then it didnt show the picture. So now I have nothing in init.sqf and these in desc (picture is still little blurry but ok):

onLoadMission = "Text on load screen";
loadScreen = "picturefilename.jpg";

Thanks for information. Custom loading screen looks great.

Is there a good, free, standalone Jpeg->Paa converter around? I've been using jpegs but I should probably switch. :o

Edit-

Ahem, I suppose I was looking for TexView

Thx, AnimalMother92. I also converted my loading pic to paa. Looks much better now.

Hmm, well I've tried in jpeg and paa but my loading screen still looks stretched. It's a 2048x1024 image and my monitor is 1920x1200. It just looks horrid..

Hmm, well I've tried in jpeg and paa but my loading screen still looks stretched. It's a 2048x1024 image and my monitor is 1920x1200. It just looks horrid..

try it 1024 x 1024

Hmm, well I've tried in jpeg and paa but my loading screen still looks stretched. It's a 2048x1024 image and my monitor is 1920x1200. It just looks horrid..

Have you defined your own loading screen dialog? Or are you simply passing the image to StartLoadingScreen? I guess that's your problem. You're supposed to launch a dialog (where you can define how the image should be displayed) with StartLoadingScreen and not the image itself.

I suggest you copy the "LoadingScreen.ext" from the campaign and use that - either directly or as starting point. Anyway, something like this would need to be defined, so that your image keeps the aspect ratio:

class RscLoadingPicture: RscPicture
{
style = 48 + 0x800; // Keep aspect ratio
 x =  SafezoneX;
 y = SafezoneY+SafezoneH*0.075;
 w = SafezoneW; 
 h = SafezoneH*0.85;
 text = "";
};

This class is then used by RscLoadScreenCustom (in LoadingScreen.ext too), which finally will be started up with the StartLoadingScreen command:

StartLoadingScreen["", "RscLoadScreenCustom"];

Now if you simply write this:

onLoadMission = "Text on load screen";
loadScreen = "picturefilename.jpg";

then you shouldn't wonder, that the image is stretched the hell out of proportions.

try it 1024 x 1024

nonsense

nonsense

not if your using the default settings

not if your using the default settings

ohhhh, very well then.

:D

Can someone who has already depbo the right files please tell us/me all the names of the loading screens ?

I will start with the only two i know:

ca\Missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_OneShotOneKill.Takistan\loading_oneshotonekill_co.paa"

ca\Missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_HikeInTheHills.Takistan\loading_HikeInTheHills_co.paa";

Please tell me/us all other file paths to that nice loading-screens !

I would be interested in all these paths too...

Can someone who has already depbo the right files please tell us/me all the names of the loading screens ?

[...]

Please tell me/us all other file paths to that nice loading-screens !

Why don't you depbo the missions_e.pbo, search the images and then maybe post the result by yourself?

But sure, beeing lazy and shouting in forums is a nice strategy too... :rolleyes:

Why don't you depbo the missions_e.pbo, search the images and then maybe post the result by yourself?

But sure, beeing lazy and shouting in forums is a nice strategy too... :rolleyes:

Thats has nothing to do with lazy or something... ;)

I can use the new dpbo tools that work for OA on my current PC, thats why i ask !

Here the ones I could find:

ca\missions_e\campaign\missions\CE0_Backstab.Zargabad\img\loading01_co.paa
ca\missions_e\campaign\missions\CE1_GoodMorningTStan.Takistan\img\loading02_goodmorning_co.paa
ca\missions_e\campaign\missions\CE2_Pathfinder.Takistan\img\loading03_co.paa
ca\missions_e\campaign\missions\CE3_ColtanBlues.Takistan\img\loading04_co.paa
ca\missions_e\campaign\missions\CE4_OpenSeason.Takistan\img\loading05_co.paa
ca\missions_e\campaign\missions\CE5A_Sandstorm.Takistan\img\loading06_sandstorm_co.paa
ca\missions_e\campaign\missions\CE5B_FromHell.Takistan\img\loading06_fromhell_co.paa
ca\missions_e\campaign\missions\CE6_EyeOfTheHurricane.Zargabad\img\loading07_co.paa
ca\missions_e\campaign\missions\CE7A_FinishingTouch.Takistan\img\loading08_finishingtouch_co.paa
ca\missions_e\campaign\missions\CE7B_PhoenixOp.Takistan\img\loading08_phoenixop_co.paa
ca\missions_e\campaign\missions\CE8_scenePressConf.Zargabad\img\loading09_press.paa
ca\missions_e\MPScenarios\MPE1_Dogfighters.Takistan\loading_mpdogfight_co.paa
ca\missions_e\MPScenarios\MPE_MountainWarfare.Takistan\loading_mpwarfare_co.paa
ca\missions_e\MPScenarios\MPE_SectorControl.Zargabad\img\loading_mpsectorcontrol_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_Benchmark1.Takistan\loading_benchmark_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_DeathFromAbove.Takistan\loading_deathfromabove_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_HikeInTheHills.Takistan\loading_hikeinthehills_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_Jackal.Takistan\loading_jackal_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_LaserShow.Takistan\loading_lasershow_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_Littlebird.Takistan\loading_littlebird_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_OneShotOneKill.Takistan\loading_oneshotonekill_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_SteelPanthers.Takistan\loading_steelpanthers_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_Vehicles_Allies.Takistan\loading_shownato_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_Vehicles_Civilian.Zargabad\loading_showciv_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_Vehicles_TKA.Zargabad\loading_showtk_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_Vehicles_TKG.Zargabad\loading_showgue_co.paa
ca\missions_e\scenarios\SPE1_Vehicles_US.Takistan\loading_showus_co.paa

Remark:

I used

DIR loading*.paa /S /B

on the command line. ;)

Wow, thanks HeliJunkie !