Improving startup

#21 @Nils: Sure thing. Need a few changes:

1). In win32Window.h, just below the line:

/// Menu associated with this window.  This is a passive property of the window and is not required to be used at all.
   HMENU mMenuHandle;

add:

/// Background color brush associated with this window.
	HBRUSH mBackgroundColor;

2). In win32Window.cpp, in Win32Window::Win32Window() (around line 78), add:

mBackgroundColor(NULL),

3). In win32Window.cpp, in Win32Window::~Win32Window() (around line 102) add:

// free our background color brush
	DeleteObject(mBackgroundColor);

4). In win32Window.cpp, in Win32Window::_registerWindowClass() (around line 628) add:

mBackgroundColor = CreateSolidBrush(RGB(255,0,255));

Change the RGB param to whatever color you'd like. Hot pink may not be the best choice. :]

5). In win32Window.cpp, in Win32Window::defaultRender() (around line 926), comment out this line:

FillRect( logoDC, &lRect, (HBRUSH)GetSysColorBrush(COLOR_APPWORKSPACE));

and add this line just below it:

FillRect( logoDC, &lRect, mBackgroundColor );

That should be it.


As for displaySplashWindow(), I think UDK has the right idea in this case. It shows a splash screen as well but it hides the main game window until loading is complete so all the end user sees is a nice, responsive splash window and then their game is ready to go.

#22 @Chris; Wow, that works like a charm! Many thanks!!!

@Steve; minor detail: the splash doesn't go away until you close the game (window) if you move it to init.cs

#23

Quote:it hides the main game window until loading is complete

IMO this is probably the best solution. It will obviously be a platform-specific solution, and probably involve some different method calls on the window. I really have no experience in this area but I had a bit of a poke around the splashscreen stuff when I first thought of this.

Great find, Steve, that's tops. I think we should add a console method to destroy the splashscreen as well, instead of it being auto-destroyed on Canvas::onAdd (I think is where it happens). Then we could destroy it from script when the first GUI is pushed.

#24 So, is there a quick fix for Steve's idea, without having to go into the engine code?

I like how the splash stays loaded now by moving it into init.cs, just would like a quick way to force it to disappear once the startup gui has loaded. Because as stated it will now stay there until the game is closed lol.

Thanks
P

#25 I was fiddling around and found the CloseSplashWindow() function but there is no console function for it. Not horribly hard to make one - I'll hammer it out and post it later.