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Old April 30th, 2022, 10:38 AM
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Default Re: 4K and large monitors

Quote:
Originally Posted by DRG View Post
I will touch on a number of issues raised

One thing both Andy and I disliked about the SP3 game engine was those annoying pop-up message boxes and that's why they are not in our versions of the game. To remind myself what it was like I just ran a quick game and it all came back to me immediately why I didn't like it ( didn't like it A LOT )

Another thing we both agree on is during game play we both focus on what is happening on the screen. We don't need a message to tell us our infantry unit is taking casualties we can see it as the game centres the screen on the relevant action. And as a result, I hardly ever look at the messages on the screen except when I am picking a target to check which one has the best hit chance.

That said it *might* ( maybe) be possible to code in message display option that lets players choose either the SP2 type message display or the SP3 type message display (maybe) but right at this moment in time we both have many other Real life/ non game development things we both want and need to do and MAYBE this idea MIGHT be explored some time in the future ( MAYBE)

EDIT....... Andy just emailed me that this is definately NOT going to happen as "every instance of where we put a message on the bottom of the screen would need finding and an if/else clause wrapped round it also messages at the top line, and likely elsewhere - plus on the sub screens like the encyclopaedia"

I just checked the code and there would be thousands of places this would need code added in both games so not going to happen especially for something we never liked. I only mentioned it to him on the hopes the option to display that way could be handled with a specific bit of code

Finally the comment from Wdll

Quote:
play in windowed mode. Yes I know it's far from perfect, but we are talking about a very old game engine
Considering there was no windowed mode option for SP until Andy wrote the code to make it happen the "very old game engine" comment is a BIT odd but as I have said many times and the information is included right at the start of both Game guides........ if the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen is somehow ruining your gaming experience, run the games with "Borderless Gaming"

https://github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming/releases

It is simple and it gives you the game running in windowed mode which is how it was designed to be run but it will look exactly like a game running full screen and if anyone finds as I do that the Changes MS has made to windows show a couple of pixels width of the desktop on the left and right of the game in windowed mode ........"Borderless Gaming" eliminates that for free and for very little effort.

For me personally, the taskbar exposed and available while the game is running is one of the best features of SPMBT or SPWW2 but that's primarily because during game development I might need to have 4 or 5 programs running AND the game. Really....... neither Andy or I see the taskbar showing as the "issue" that some players do but Borderless Gaming has the solution..... for free

Just to clarify something that perhaps need clarification.

My point about the game engine being old was exactly that. The game is old and the fact that we have so many things added to it (one of my fav is the mini map additions) should be considered lucky. Adding new things is not easy if possible at all. Also, how many games which have as long history as this one keep having active support, updates? A handful not including another handful of MMOs which are their own thing?
I too, as I have mentioned it in the past here in the forum, would like something more done regarding messages/text in the game. Few years ago larger text option was added as we all know, but unfortunately for me, I still find the text too small for my taste. But I have come to peace with it and I completely get it why we are most likely never going to see something more done about it. I get it.

Now, I don't know about the specific of the pop up windows mentioned, last time I played other Steel Panthers games was about 20 years ago. I don't remember the details of the GUI of those games, so I can't comment on this specific suggested solution.
Not that it would matter for reasons explained and make sense.
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