AGS 3.2 Final 5 - Recession-busting edition

[TM]

Here's what I get when two GUI Buttons with an alpha-channel image overlap as opposed to how it should look in a Photoshop mock-up:


The overlapping area is drawn much too dark. This is in Final 5 with AdditiveOpacity.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Interesting how it isn't just darker but actually makes the white line underneath it almost black.  If you look at the area inside the holes of the skull eyes you can see that it's almost universally darkening everything underneath it, even items that shouldn't be blended at all.

[TM]

Well, there is this slight black smoke-like shade underneath the skull that's supposed to be very subtle. On the left, you can see the sharp edge where the pixels begin to have some opacity.

[edmundito]

I found that game.speech_music_drop disappeared from the 3.2 "game variables" manual mage even if it's supported by the "old style scripting". By the way, what is the new equivalent for adjusting that?

[Calin Leafshade]

theres an option in the Audio section of the editor which is on a per-file basis

I dunno if its availble at runtime

[GarageGothic]

By the way, what is the new equivalent for adjusting that?

Game.SetAudioTypeSpeechVolumeDrop

[Ryan Timothy B]

Alright. Perhaps the GUI alpha issues isn't a new issue. I tried it both with 3.2 and then the most recent release. Not sure why I remember it working properly in the first place when clearly it doesn't and didn't. Obviously using AdditiveOppacity.

This is what it looks like with an alpha channel background image on the GUI, and two overlapping alpha channel buttons:


The GUI background image: http://www.bryvis.com/entertainment/other/agsf/transparent_piece.png
And the image for the 2 buttons: http://www.bryvis.com/entertainment/other/agsf/transparent_piece_shad.png

Edit: The only solution is to literally make those buttons their own GUI. And that can suck.

[Pumaman]

Ok, so are you saying that the alpha behaviour doesn't the work the way you'd like it to -- but it does work the same way as in previous versions of AGS?

If that is the case, then 3.2 Final 5 hasn't broken anything that used to work, and I can go ahead and release it. The AGS GUI alpha behaviour can always be improved in a later version.

If you switch round which GUI button is on top (by using the Send To Back / Bring To Front options in the editor) does that affect the result?

[Ryan Timothy B]

Ok, so are you saying that the alpha behaviour doesn't the work the way you'd like it to -- but it does work the same way as in previous versions of AGS?

Yes. Sorry for being confused earlier. Maybe Calin also remembered it working properly before too? Unless he actually knows of a new issue. His post did sound quite confident.

If you switch round which GUI button is on top (by using the Send To Back / Bring To Front options in the editor) does that affect the result?

Yeah it pretty much overlaps in the same manner as what I posted above.

It would be super cool if the alpha channel worked just like layers in Photoshop. I'm not sure which request for me is most important.
Alpha channels that work as expected on a GUI, or DrawingSurfaces fully supporting alpha channels.
Argh. Tough choice.

[Calin Leafshade]

RT, did you notice i provided a solution to the drawing surfaces thing?

Its a little inelegant but:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=41524.0

[Ryan Timothy B]

Yeah I did. I didn't check it out until now, though. It's actually quite impressive what can be done through a plugin, I hadn't realized.

I would still prefer it to be done through AGS. It's one of those features that I think should work out of the box. It's already half coded, it just needs that final addition.

[Sadistyk]

Hi. I don't know if this is a bug, but when a character is performing a blocking walk (with the method Walk), he seems to ignore the regions (the region walk-onto event).

[Calin Leafshade]

I double checked the original bug I mentioned. i.e 8bit alphas not working on buttons and it seems I was wrong.

They work when the background is transparent (i.e colour = 0)
but they dont work on a coloured background or a background image.

I think i got confused because it was essentially the opposite for font anti aliasing which worked on coloured backgrounds but not on transparent ones.

[Pumaman]

Hi. I don't know if this is a bug, but when a character is performing a blocking walk (with the method Walk), he seems to ignore the regions (the region walk-onto event).

This is due to the way the script blocking works, it has always been this way and isn't an issue specific to the 3.2 release.

I double checked the original bug I mentioned. i.e 8bit alphas not working on buttons and it seems I was wrong.

They work when the background is transparent (i.e colour = 0)
but they dont work on a coloured background or a background image.

But can you please clarify if this used to work in previous versions and is now broken in 3.2 Final 5, or if it has never worked in AGS?

The recent fixes related to GUI alpha have been related to if you have an alpha-transparent background image on the GUI -- however if you have an opaque background and draw an alpha-transparent button on top of it then the alpha channel will be lost with both Classic and AdditiveOpacity, as far as I know AGS has always done this.
This is definitely an area for improvement but I don't think it's anything that used to work and is now broken?

[Calin Leafshade]

Sorry I wasnt clear enough.

I was wrong about it working in previous versions (I tested it again in 3.1.2). It has never worked in those circumstances

[Pumaman]

Ok, thanks.

So does anyone actually have any problems with 3.2 Final 5, with things that used to work ok in 3.1.2?

If not, I think this finally ready to be an official release!