Posted: 7/20/2011 1:26 PM
Post subject: Emulator/site idea: "screenshot frame" flag for movie files
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Dada
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
This is just an idea that popped into my head earlier on IRC. This would basically be a way of automating the screenshot part of a publication. Imagine: you're making a TAS, and halfway through the game something fantastic happens. Could be a glitch or a great example of skillful playing; at any rate, it's a good screenshot candidate. Why not make it so that authors can then hit and record a special input key that marks that frame a "screenshot frame"? That way they can mark any number of frames they want. Then, when they submit their video, our system could (where available) play back the movie file and take screenshots at the frame numbers the author marked, and automatically place them in the topic. Failing that, we'd have a list of frame numbers the author thinks are good screenshots. Anyway, I'm not sure if this is worth the effort, but I think it's a neat idea anyhow. It would require making a modification to the supported emulators, the movie file formats, and to the site's code, so it's probably too laborious.
Posted: 7/20/2011 3:44 PM
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Warp
Banned User, Former player
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
I don't know enough about lua scripting in the emulators, but I'm wondering if something like this could be implemented in lua without having to modify the emulators themselves. The script could save the frame numbers with some special keyword in the metadata/comments of the keypress file.
Posted: 7/20/2011 4:26 PM
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ALAKTORN
He/Him
Player (99)
Joined: 10/19/2009
Posts: 2527
Location: Italy
DS TAS of 2012
sounds cool, don't know if feasable
Posted: 7/20/2011 4:29 PM
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Derakon
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Each emulator has its own movie file format that would need to be updated for this, but otherwise the only complicated bit is automatically playing back the movie when the run is submitted to generate the screenshots. Bisqwit had a system to do that, but I don't know if it made the transition to the new ownership (nor if it's in any condition to be used right now).
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 7/20/2011 4:31 PM
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Tub
Joined: 6/25/2005
Posts: 1377
How about, instead of hitting a (yet to be implemented) "mark as screenshot" key, you just hit the "screenshot" key and submit the screenshot together with your movie later?
m00
Posted: 7/20/2011 5:21 PM
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Warp
Banned User, Former player
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
Tub wrote:
How about, instead of hitting a (yet to be implemented) "mark as screenshot" key, you just hit the "screenshot" key and submit the screenshot together with your movie later?
It would still be useful if the frame number was also included. This is something that could be embedded in the metadata of the image file (iirc at least png supports free metadata). Lua can't probably be used for this, though.
Posted: 7/20/2011 5:22 PM
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p4wn3r
Player (42)
Joined: 12/27/2008
Posts: 873
Location: Germany
Lucky TAS of 2011 Gameboy TAS of 2011
Tub wrote:
How about, instead of hitting a (yet to be implemented) "mark as screenshot" key, you just hit the "screenshot" key and submit the screenshot together with your movie later?
I agree, many authors won't care about screenshots and for the ones that do, it suffices to put the frame number in the submission. I don't see the need for this feature, it'd make publishing work easier, but it doesn't seem screenshot selection is so hard to demand such a change. EDIT: Properly quoted because Warp posted before me.
Posted: 7/20/2011 6:04 PM
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DarkKobold
Skilled player (1638)
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 2202
Location: Killjoy
Arcade TASer of 2010 PCE TASer of 2010 Arcade TAS of 2010 Lucky TAS of 2009 Lucky TAS of 2007
Warp wrote:
I don't know enough about lua scripting in the emulators, but I'm wondering if something like this could be implemented in lua without having to modify the emulators themselves. The script could save the frame numbers with some special keyword in the metadata/comments of the keypress file.
If you are going to go to the length of having a lua script (and loading it every time you tas), just take the screenshot. Also, this gets killed if you have any other script running - every emulator (but gens) only allows for one script.
Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.
Posted: 7/20/2011 7:22 PM
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Warp
Banned User, Former player
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
DarkKobold wrote:
every emulator (but gens) only allows for one script.
Idea for future improvement of emulators?-)