Increasing the character count of my trigger_multiple messages

[Darth_Stewie]

I think there may be a text amount limit and even if there isn't,
it wouldn't be displayed long enough onscreen for you to be able to read it.

True, although I managed to sort that, by following Zop's advice given in another thread; I've set it so the text displays for as long as the player is in a trigger_multiple brush.

I would love to have the text all displayed in one go, so any advice on qc coding to do this would be awesome! I am experimenting with timed triggers to display multiple messages in succession, but that'd be a second choice to my preferred method.

[Henry]

trigger_multiple can be touched multiple times as the name already suggests. They are normally used for signs or book texts etc. in many mods and vanilla maps.
So the issue with the remaining time to read is not a big deal here. Just touch it again or stand inside the trigger field. That is a very common way to handle it.

However, in the end trigger_multiple messages will be displayed with a regular centerprint. And that is where the limitations are that Darth_Stewie is currently facing.


You have several options here:

If you are using an .ent file supporting engine such as FTE, DP, Quakespasm, etc. the solution is very simple: Add your long text into your map.ent file. No other changes necessary!

You can centerprint messages with many hundred characters.
Create your map.bsp the usual way with a short text version. Then load it in your engine and create your map.ent file. Type sv_saveentfile into the console for darkplaces.
Then replace the short text message version with the long one in one single line inside the map.ent file. Separate output lines with \n as usual.

I did it with start map and it will look like this:



If you are using an engine that does not support .ent files, you will have to use a qc modification for the centerprint. Behind_you showed one way to do it here: Inside3d Forums • View topic - Snippet


Sock faced the exact same issue in his InTheShadows mod. He found out that the fitzquake engine and all of its forks can display 480 characters (max 12 lines) due to a centerprint overflow bug.
He then added a qc check for these engines and added 2 different messages. A long version for these engines and an alternative short version with around 100 max. chars for the others. You can contact him directly for more details if you want . He is a member of this forum.


Anyway, your issue is a more or less common issue that mappers already solved in different ways. You should also post at func_msgboard to get the answers and solutions from the experienced mappers there.


If you are following the map.ent file option, take this example of the start map. I edited the hard skill entrance trigger_multiple message as shown in the screenshot. Search for "hard" in it.

[Darth_Stewie]

Hi Henry, some of these suggestions look great! I'm avoiding the .ent options because I can't for the life of me get any of those engines working. Darkplaces in particular refuses to work; I always get a missing or unlocatable content message with it, even though I legally own a copy of Quake. I'm better off with Fitzquake, which is what I always use, and have played Sock's In The Shadows mod with it. That one has readable text like what I want to go for. I couldn't understand how to use Behind_you's work, though. I have literally no qc knowledge and didn't understand where to put the code or where I should activate it.

I should maybe contact Sock or get someone to do this for me. I finished my first few levels years ago and left them because I couldn't get my messages to display fully. I was inspired to return recently after reading Masters of Doom and getting obsessed over the history of ID, playing quake mods, etc.! Everyone in the community is very helpful, but as someone who's not at all up on the lingo of qc I feel all your great expert advice is falling on my deaf ears! I'd love to reward and be part of such long-standing appreciation of a community that has supported one of ID's masterworks years down the line, but I feel that my creation wouldn't do that gesture justice without these messages.

[Adam]

Hey!
Another option you could think about, which doesn't require qc, is to include it as a texture.
Depending on your mods style, you could use a stone texture, make a copy of it, type out your text onto it, then texture a stone tablet in-game.
From that point you could have it just stand there or you could get fancier and have it rise up out of the floor and disappear when you are out of range.
Alternatively, you could texture it onto a door, a sign post, a banner or a computer screen.

Don't give up tho'

[Darth_Stewie]

Finally got it working! Used Henry's Darkplaces .ent modification suggestion; thanks so much, everyone, and to Henry specifically! had to listen to Handel's Hallelujah after I saw the full sentence appear in my level!

[Zop]

Nice. I'm glad it came together, finally.