Screen

This page describes SOMA’s Screen effect.

Screen effects draw a material over the screen. One Start overload leaves the image active for manual fading; the other gives it fade-in, hold and fade-out times. The source explicitly requires images that work at both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios.

Before you start

1. Open the map script inside your own mod. Keep its generated includes, cScrMap : iScrMap class and callback structure. See Add your first script if you have not edited a map script yet.
2. Add the helper include shown below alongside the script’s other includes.
3. Read the stock example before copying its calls: named entities, voice subjects, materials and callbacks must belong to the map or resources you are using.

Follow the stock example

#include "helpers/helper_effects.hps"

Effect_Screen_Start: manual fading

Creates a images that shows up on the screen, it must be faded manually Remember that these must work on both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio

Parameter	Meaning
asMaterial	material to use
avPosition	position on the screen, values between [0,1]
avSize	size of the texture

Effect_Screen_Start: timed image

Creates a images that fade in and then out Remember that these must work on both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio

Parameter	Meaning
asMaterial	material to use
avPosition	position on the screen, values between [0,1]
avSize	size of the texture
afTargetAlpha	alpha it should stop fading at
afFadeInTime	how fast it should fade in
afStayTime	how long it should stay after fading in
afFadeOutTime	how fast it should fade out again

In maps/_e3/_e3_01_02/_e3_01_02.hps, SOMA calls Effect_Screen_Start as follows.

Effect_Screen_Start("water_splash_screen.mat", cVector2f(0.5, 0.5), cVector2f(1.8, 1.8), 1, 0.4f, 0.2f, 0.6f);

Parameter	Value in this stock call
asMaterial	"water_splash_screen.mat"
avPosition	cVector2f(0.5, 0.5)
avSize	cVector2f(1.8, 1.8)
afTargetAlpha	1
afFadeInTime	0.4f
afStayTime	0.2f
afFadeOutTime	0.6f

This is an excerpt from that stock script; its referenced names and variables belong to that script.

Effect_Screen_FadeAlpha

Fades the transparency of a material

Parameter	Meaning
alID	id of the screen material
afAlpha	transparency of the material value between [0,1]
afFadeTime	time to fade over

Check your change

Save the script and restart the map in development mode with F5. If the script fails, open F1 and use Show Error List or Show HPL Log. See the development loop for the launch and debugging steps.

See also

• SOMA effects helpers